Rhinoglottophilia

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Nasalized and glottalized
◌̰̃

In linguistics, rhinoglottophilia refers to the connection between laryngeal (glottal) and nasal articulations. The term was coined by James A. Matisoff in 1975. [1] [2]

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There is a connection between the acoustic production of laryngeals and nasals, as can be seen from the antiformants both can produce when viewed via a spectrogram. This is because both sounds in a sense have branched resonators: in the production of nasal sound, both the oral cavity and the nasal cavity act as resonators. For laryngeals, the space below the glottis acts as a second resonator, which in turn can produce slight antiformants.

In Krim, a language without contrastive nasal vowels, vowels are nonetheless strongly nasalized after /h/. A similar correspondence occurs after /h/ and /ʔ/ in Pirahã. It is also attested in some varieties of American English, such as [hɑ̃ːvəd] for Harvard by the Kennedys. [3]

Rhinoglottophilia may have occurred historically in the development of Inor, one of the Gurage languages. Inor has nasal vowels, unusual for a Gurage language, and in many cases these occur where the language etymologically had a pharyngeal or laryngeal consonant. [4] Rhinoglottophilia has been documented elsewhere in Gurage, also. [5] Similar processes have also been reported for Irish, [6] Basque, [7] North-Central Hlai [8] and in Nyole, where Bantu *p appears as /ŋ/ rather than as /h/ as in other Luhya dialects.

Avestan also shows the effects of rhinoglottophilia: Proto-Indo-Iranian *s normally becomes h in Avestan, but becomes a velar nasal between a/ā and r, i̯, u̯, or a/ā. Examples include aŋra'evil' (Sanskrit asra), aŋhat̰'he may be' (Sanskrit ásat), and vaŋ́hō'better' (Sanskrit vasyas). [9]

Rhinoglottophilia may occur with any laryngeal sound, not just specifically glottal ones. For example, correspondences such as Khoekhoe xárà' meerkat ' and Khwe xánà' banded mongoose ' (and similar correspondences between nasalized and nonnasalized clicks) have been explained as pharyngealization of the vowel in proto-Khoe.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Matisoff, James A. (1975). "Rhinoglottophilia: The Mysterious Connection between Nasality and Glottality". In Ferguson, Charles A.; Hyman, Larry M.; Ohala, John J. (eds.). Nasálfest: Papers from a Symposium on Nasals and Nasalization, Universals Language Project, Stanford University, Stanford. pp. 265–87.
  2. ↑ Sprigg, Richard Keith (1987). "'Rhinoglottophilia' re-visited: observations on 'the mysterious connection between nasality and glottality'". Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 10 (1): 44–62.
  3. ↑ Childs, G. Tucker (2003). An Introduction to African Languages. John Benjamins. pp. 61–62. ISBN   9789027295880.
  4. ↑ Boivin, Robert (1996). "Spontaneous nasalization in Inor". In Hudson, Grover (ed.). Essays on Gurage language and Culture. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. pp. 21–33. ISBN   9783447038300.
  5. ↑ Ahland, Michael (2006). "Nasal spreading, rhinoglottophilia and the genesis of a non-etymological nasal consonant in Mesmes". Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: 13–24.
  6. ↑ Ó Maolalaigh, Roibeard (2003). "Processes in nasalization and related issues". Ériu. 53: 109–32.
  7. ↑ Igartua, Iván (2015). "Diachronic effects of rhinoglottophilia, symmetries in sound change, and the curious case of Basque". Studies in Language. 39 (3): 635–63. doi:10.1075/sl.39.3.04iga.
  8. ↑ Norquest, Peter K. (2007). A Phonological Reconstruction of Proto-Hlai (PhD thesis). Tucson: University of Arizona.
  9. ↑ Martínez, Javier; de Vaan, Michiel (2014). Introduction to Avestan. Translated by Ryan Sandell. Leiden: Brill. pp. 36–37. ISBN   978-90-04-25809-9.
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