Nasal and prenasalized consonants in the evolution of phonological systems

Consonnes nasales et demi-nasales dans l’évolution des systèmes phonologiques

André-Georges Haudricourt (1)

1 LACITO - Langues et civilisations à tradition orale

The purpose of this paper is to bring out the panchronic conditions governing the evolution from nasal consonants to oral consonants. In languages with nasal vowels, there can be (i) a carry-over of orality into a following consonant: *am>abm (and *ãm>am), or (ii) an anticipation of orality into a preceding consonant: *ma>mba (and mã>ma). [This is a translation of: Consonnes nasales et demi-nasales dans l’évolution des systèmes phonologiques, Actes du Xe Congrès international des linguistes [Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of Linguists], 105-108. Bucarest: Editions de l’Académie de la République Socialiste de Roumanie [Publishing house of the Academy of the Socialist Republic of Romania] (1970).]

Mots clés: Nasal consonants; Nasal vowels; Historical phonology; Diachronic linguistics; Panchronic phonology; Transphonologization

Domaines: Linguistique

André-Georges Haudricourt. Nasal and prenasalized consonants in the evolution of phonological systems. 2017. ⟨halshs-01631485⟩