Nasal palatal approximant

Nasal palatal approximant
Nasal palatal approximant
j̃

The nasal palatal approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some oral languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨j̃⟩, that is, a j with a tilde. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is j~, and in the Americanist phonetic notation it is ⟨ỹ⟩.

The nasal palatal approximant is sometimes called a nasal yod; [j̃] and [w̃] may be called nasal glides.

Features

Features of the nasal palatal approximant:

Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by narrowing the vocal tract at the place of articulation, but not enough to produce a turbulent airstream.
Its place of articulation is palatal, which means it is articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised to the hard palate.
Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
It is a nasal consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the nose, either exclusively (nasal stops) or in addition to through the mouth.
It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

[j̃], written ny, is a common realization of /j/ before nasal vowels in many languages of West Africa that do not have a phonemic distinction between voiced nasal and oral stops, such as Ewe and Bini.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Hindustani^[1]		संयम/sanyama	[səj̃jəm]	'patience'	Allophone of /ɲ/ before [j]. See Hindustani phonology
Kaingang^[2]		[j̃ũ]		'brave'	Possible word-initial realization of /j/ before a nasal vowel.^[3]
Lombard		bisògn de	[biˈzɔj̃ d̪e]	'need for (sth)'	Allophone of /ɲ/ before a consonant. See Lombard phonology
Polish^[4]		koń	[kɔj̃]	'horse'	Allophone of /ɲ/ in coda position or before fricatives. See Polish phonology
Portuguese	Brazilian^[5]	sonho	[ˈsõj̃ʊ]	'dream'	Allophone of /ɲ/ between vowels, nasalizes the preceding vowel. Language's original /ɲ/ sound.^[6]^[7] See Portuguese phonology
	Most dialects^[8]	cães	[kɐ̃j̃s]	'dogs'	Allophone of /j/ after nasal vowels.
	Some dialects^[6]	me ame!	[ˈmj̃ɐ̃mi]	'love me!'	Non-syllabic allophone of /i/ between nasal sounds.
Shipibo^[9]		^{[example needed]}			Allophone of /j/ after nasal vowels.^[9]

Notes

^ Canepari (2005:335)
^ Jolkesky (2009:676, 681)
^ Jolkesky (2009:681)
^ Gussman (2007)
^ Perini (2002:?)
^ ^a ^b Portuguese vinho: diachronic evidence for biphonemic nasal vowels
^ Mattos e Silva (1991:73)
^ Vigário (2003:77)
^ ^a ^b Valenzuela, Márquez Pinedo & Maddieson (2001:283)

References

Canepari, Luciano (2005), "Hindi", A Handbook of Pronunciation, Lincom Europa, p. 335
Gussman, Edmund (2007), The Phonology of Polish, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-926747-7
Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2009), "Fonologia e prosódia do Kaingáng falado em Cacique Doble", Anais do SETA, 3, Campinas: Editora do IEL-UNICAMP: 675–685
Mattos e Silva, Rosa (1991), O Português arcaico – fonologia, Contexto
Perini, Mário Alberto (2002), Modern Portuguese (A Reference Grammar), New Haven: Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-09155-7
Valenzuela, Pilar M.; Márquez Pinedo, Luis; Maddieson, Ian (2001), "Shipibo", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 31 (2): 281–285, doi:10.1017/S0025100301002109
Vigário, Marina (2003), The Prosodic Word in European Portuguese, De Gruyter Mouton, ISBN 978-3-11-017713-8

Nasal palatal approximant

Features

Occurrence

See also

Notes

References

Further reading