SIL Electronic Working Papers
SILEWP 2006-001
- Author:
Eugene E. Loos
Title: Discontinuous Nasal Spread in Yaminahua
Language: Yaminahua
Country: Peru
Subjects: nasalization, Panoan language group, Peru, Yaminahua, nasal spread
Abstract:
Paper: PDF (385 kb, 20 pages)Rachel Walker's (1998) analysis of the universal characteristics of nasal spread provided a unified account of nasal spread that enabled the formulation of predictable spread patterns. The present analysis presents a new type of data not included in Walker's account: Yaminahua (Panoan) diverges significantly from hitherto identified patterns of nasal spread by allowing nasalization to skip over intervening nasalizable segments. By positing nasal autosegments this paper provides a rationale for the Yaminahua exceptions to Walker's universal pattern.
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