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Connections between Nasality and Vowel Duration and Height: Elucidation of the Eastern Algonquian Intrusive Nasal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2026

D. H. Whalen  and
Patrice S. Beddor
D. H. Whalen*
Affiliation:
Haskins Laboratories
Patrice S. Beddor*
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
*
Haskins Laboratories 270 Crown Street New Haven, CT 06511-6695
Program in Linguistics 1076 Frieze Building University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109
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Abstract

In certain Eastern Algonquian languages a nasal vowel developed from the long low vowel /a:/, regardless of consonantal context. A series of experiments showed that longer vowels (regardless of height) were perceived as more nasalized than shorter ones, but only when some nasalization was actually present. Further experiments showed no evidence of an increase in nasalization for long vowels in oral contexts. If some nasalization was nonetheless introduced (either randomly or by a general increase in nasalization) into these languages, the vowels most likely to be perceived as nasalized were the long ones. This perceptual process may have been responsible for this unusual historical development.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 65 , Issue 3 , September 1989 , pp. 457 - 486
Copyright
Copyright © 1989 Linguistic Society of America

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