Nasal vowels are vowels that are produced with a lowered velum. This allows air flow to escape through the nose and mouth simultaneously. Oral vowels are produced without nasalization. Nasalized vowels are vowels that are influenced by adjacent nasal consonants.
The English word sand has a nasalized vowel. The vowel is influenced by the following nasal which occurs in the same syllable. However, in the case of nasal vowels, no audible nasal consonant follows the vowel.
Nasal vowels are usually a little lower than oral vowels. This is the case with the French words beau (beautiful) and bon (good). The vowel of beau has a higher tongue position than the vowel of bon.
Languages with nasal vowels include Breton, French, Polish, Portuguese and Yoruba. Nasal vowels are not so common. Every language with nasal vowels has oral vowels, but many languages with oral vowels lack nasal vowels. Nasal vowels can thus be considered marked.
-
The opera Turandot features an Asian princess who many men wish to marry. However, if they wish to do so, they must answer three riddles c...
-
Most English compound nouns are endocentric. This means that the central meaning of the compound is carried by the head. The head of English... -
All English sentences can be classified as canonical and non-canonical clauses. Canonical clauses are the most basic sentences we can constr...
No comments:
Post a Comment