The voiced palatal nasal is a type of
consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced w ...
used in some
spoken language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
s. The symbol in the
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation ...
that represents this sound is , a lowercase letter ''n'' with a leftward-pointing tail protruding from the bottom of the left stem of the letter. The equivalent
X-SAMPA symbol is
J
. The IPA symbol is visually similar to , the symbol for the
retroflex nasal, which has a rightward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of the right stem, and to , the symbol for the
velar nasal, which has a leftward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of the right stem.
The IPA symbol derives from and , for nasality and denoting palatal. In
Spanish and languages whose writing systems are influenced by
Spanish orthography, it is represented by the letter , called ''eñe'' ("enye"). In
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
and
Italian orthographies the sound is represented by the
digraph .
Occitan uses the digraph , the source of the same
Portuguese digraph called ''ene-agá'' (), used thereafter by languages whose writing systems are influenced by
Portuguese orthography, such as
Vietnamese.
In
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
,
Hungarian and many African languages, as
Swahili or
Dinka, the digraph is used. In Albanian and some countries that used to be Yugoslavia, the digraph (
Nj) is used, and sometimes, for the languages with the Cyrillic script that used to be part of Yugoslavia, uses the (Њњ) Cyrillic ligature that might be part of the official alphabet. In Czech and Slovak, // is represented by letter whilst Kashubian and Polish uses .
The voiced alveolo-palatal nasal is a type of
consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced w ...
al sound, used in some
oral languages. There is no dedicated symbol in the
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation ...
that represents this sound. If more precision is desired, it may be transcribed or ; these are essentially equivalent, since the contact includes both the blade and body (but not the tip) of the tongue. There is a non-IPA letter (, plus the curl found in the symbols for alveolo-palatal sibilant fricatives ), used especially in Sinological circles.
The alveolo-palatal nasal is commonly described as palatal; it is often unclear whether a language has a true palatal or not. Many languages claimed to have a palatal nasal, such as
Portuguese, actually have an alveolo-palatal nasal. This is likely true of several of the languages listed here. Some dialects of
Irish as well as some non-standard dialects of
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...
are reported to contrast alveolo-palatal and palatal nasals.
There is also a post-palatal nasal (also called pre-velar, fronted velar etc.) in some languages. Palatal nasals are more common than the palatal stops .
Features
Features of the voiced palatal nasal:
Occurrence
Palatal or alveolo-palatal
Post-palatal
See also
*
Nasal palatal approximant
*
Index of phonetics articles
A
* Acoustic phonetics
* Active articulator
* Affricate
* Airstream mechanism
* Alexander John Ellis
* Alexander Melville Bell
* Alfred C. Gimson
* Allophone
* Alveolar approximant ()
* Alveolar click ()
* Alveolar consonant
* Alveolar e ...
*
Ɲ (upper and lower case letter used in some orthographies)
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
{{IPA navigation
Nasal consonants
Palatal consonants
Alveolo-palatal consonants
Pulmonic consonants
Voiced consonants