Voiced palatal nasal

Voiced palatal nasal
ɲ
IPA Number118
Encoding
Entity (decimal)ɲ
Unicode (hex)U+0272
X-SAMPAJ
Braille⠿ (braille pattern dots-123456)
Audio sample
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Voiced alveolo-palatal nasal
n̠ʲ
ɲ̟
ȵ

The voiced palatal nasal is a type of consonant used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɲ⟩, 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 ⟨ɲ⟩ is visually similar to ⟨ɳ⟩, the symbol for the retroflex nasal, which has a rightward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of the right stem, and to ⟨ŋ⟩, 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 ⟨n⟩ and ⟨j⟩, ⟨n⟩ for nasality and ⟨j⟩ denoting palatal. In Spanish and languages whose writing systems are influenced by Spanish orthography, it is represented by the letter ⟨ñ⟩, called eñe ("enye"). In French and Italian orthographies the sound is represented by the digraph ⟨gn⟩. Occitan uses the digraph ⟨nh⟩, the source of the same Portuguese digraph called ene-agá (lit.'en-aitch'), used thereafter by languages whose writing systems are influenced by Portuguese orthography, such as Vietnamese.[citation needed] In Catalan, Hungarian and many African languages, as Swahili or Dinka, the digraph ⟨ny⟩ 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.

The voiced alveolo-palatal nasal is a type of consonantal sound, used in some oral languages. There is no dedicated symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound. If more precision is desired, it may be transcribed ⟨n̠ʲ⟩ or ⟨ɲ̟⟩; 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 ⟨ȵ⟩ (⟨n⟩, plus the curl found in the symbols for alveolo-palatal sibilant fricatives ⟨ɕ, ʑ⟩), 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 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 [c, ɟ].

Features

Voiced palatal nasal.svg

Features of the voiced palatal nasal:

  • Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Because the consonant is also nasal, the blocked airflow is redirected through the nose.
  • Its place of articulation is palatal, which means it is articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised to the hard palate.
  • Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
  • It is a nasal consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the nose, either exclusively (nasal stops) or in addition to through the mouth.
  • It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
  • The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Palatal or alveolo-palatal

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
!Kung [example needed] Represented by ⟨ny⟩
Albanian një [ɲə] 'one'
Aranda [example needed] Alveolo-palatal and dento-alveolo-palatal.
Basque andereño [än̪d̪e̞ɾe̞ɲo̞] 'female teacher'
Bengali অঞ্চল/anycal [ɔɲtʃɔl] 'area'
Burmese ညာ/nya [ɲà] 'right(-hand side)' Contrasts with the voiceless palatal nasal /ɲ̥/.
Catalan any [ˈaɲ̟] 'year' Alveolo-palatal or palatal. See Catalan phonology
Chinese Mandarin 女人 / nǚ rén [ny˨˩˦ ɻən˧˥] 'woman' Alveolo-palatal
Sichuanese [nʲy˨˩˦ zən˧˥]
Wu / Shanghai dialect 女人/nyú nyǐnh [n̠ʲy˩˧ n̠ʲɪɲ˥˨]
Czech ň [kuːɲ] 'horse' May be intermediate between palatal and alveolo-palatal. See Czech phonology
Dinka nyɔt [ɲɔt] 'very'
Dutch oranje [oˈrɑɲə] 'orange' Not all dialects. See Dutch phonology
French hargneux [arɲø] 'belligerent' See French phonology
Galician viño [ˈbiɲo] 'wine' See Galician phonology
Greek πρωτοχρονιά / prōtochroniá [pro̞to̞xro̞ˈɲ̟ɐ] 'New Year's Day' Alveolo-palatal. See Modern Greek phonology
Haketia [ru.ha.ˈɲi] 'spiritual' In free variation with [n] when immediately before [i].
Hindustani Hindi पञ्छी/पंछी/pañchī [pəɲ.t͡ʃʰiː] 'bird' Usually written in Urdu with [n], and usually with anuswar in Devanagari, written here with the dead consonant to demonstrate proper spelling. See Hindustani phonology
Urdu پنچھی‎/pañchī
Hungarian anya [ˈɒɲɒ] 'mother' Alveolo-palatal with alveolar contact. See Hungarian phonology
Italian Standard bagno [ˈbäɲːo] 'bath' Postalveolo-prepalatal. See Italian phonology
Romanesco dialect niente [ˈɲːɛn̪t̪e] 'nothing'
Irish inné [əˈn̠ʲeː] 'yesterday' Irish contrasts alveolo-palatal /n̠ʲ/, palatal/palatovelar /ɲ/, velar /ŋ/ and, in some dialects, palatalized alveolar /nʲ/. See Irish phonology
Japanese / niwa [ɲ̟iɰᵝa̠] 'garden' Alveolar or dento-alveolar. See Japanese phonology
Khasi bse [bsɛɲ] 'snake'
Khmer ពេញ / nh [pɨɲ] 'full' See Khmer phonology
Korean 저녁 / jeonyeok [t͡ɕʌɲ̟ʌk̚] 'evening' Alveolo-palatal. See Korean phonology
Kurdish Southern یانزه/yanyza [jäːɲzˠa] 'eleven' See Kurdish phonology
Latvian mākoņains [maːkuɔɲains] 'cloudy' See Latvian phonology
Macedonian чешање/češanje [ˈt͡ʃɛʃaɲɛ] 'itching' See Macedonian phonology
Malagasy [example needed] Palatal.
Malay banyak [bäɲäʔˈ] 'a lot' Does not occur as a syllable-final coda. Allophone of /n/ before /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/ so /punt͡ʃak/ 'peak' is read as [puɲt͡ʃäʔ], not *[punt͡ʃäʔ]. See Malay phonology.
Malayalam ഞാ/ñān [ɲäːn] 'I'
Mapudungun ñachi [ɲɜˈt͡ʃɪ] 'spiced blood'
North Frisian Mooring fliinj [ˈfliːɲ] 'to fly'
Norwegian Northern mann [mɑɲː] 'man' See Norwegian phonology
Southern
Occitan Northern Polonha [puˈluɲo̞] 'Poland' Simultaneous alveolo-palatal and dento-alveolar or dento-alveolo-palatal. See Occitan phonology
Southern
Gascon banh [baɲ] 'bath'
Polish koń About this sound[kɔɲ̟]  'horse' Alveolo-palatal. May be replaced by a nasal palatal approximant in coda position or before fricatives. See Polish phonology
Portuguese Many dialects nia [ˈsõ̞n̠ʲɐ] 'Sonia' Possible realization of post-stressed /ni/ plus vowel.
Brazilian sonhar [ˈsõ̞ɲaɾ] 'to dream' Central palatal, not the same that /ʎ/ which is pre-palatal. May instead be approximant in Brazil and Africa. See Portuguese phonology
European arranhar [ɐʁɐ̃ˈn̠ʲaɾ] 'to scratch' Dento-alveolo-palatal.
Quechua ñuqa [ˈɲɔqɑ] 'I'
Romanian Transylvanian dialects câine [ˈkɨɲe̞] 'dog' Alveolo-palatal. corresponds to [n] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology
Scottish Gaelic seinn [ʃeiɲ̟] 'sing' Alveolo-palatal. See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Serbo-Croatian њој / njoj [ɲ̟ȏ̞j] 'to her' Alveolo-palatal. See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovak pečeň [ˈpɛ̝t͡ʂɛ̝ɲ̟] 'liver' Alveolar. See Slovak phonology
Spanish español [e̞späˈɲol] 'Spanish' Simultaneous alveolo-palatal and dento-alveolar or dento-alveolo-palatal. See Spanish phonology
Swahili nyama [ɲɑmɑ] 'meat'
Tamil ஞாயிறு/ñāyiru [ɲaːjiru] 'Sunday' Alveolo-palatal. See Tamil phonology
Tyap nyam [ɲam] 'animal'
Ukrainian тінь/tin' [t̪ʲin̠ʲ] 'shadow' Alveolo-palatal. See Ukrainian phonology
Vietnamese nhà [ɲâː] 'house' "Laminoalveolar". See Vietnamese phonology
West Frisian njonken [ˈɲoŋkən] 'next to' Phonemically /nj/. See West Frisian phonology
Yi / nyi [n̠ʲi˧] 'sit' Alveolo-palatal.
Zulu inyoni [iɲ̟óːni] 'bird' Alveolo-palatal.

Post-palatal

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
German Standard ngig [ˈɡ̟ɛŋ̟ɪç] 'common' Allophone of /ŋ/ before and after front vowels; the example also illustrates [ɡ̟]. See Standard German phonology
Lithuanian men [ˈmʲæŋ̟k̟eː] 'cod' Allophone of /n/ before palatalized velars; typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ŋʲ⟩. See Lithuanian phonology
Mapudungun dañe [ˈθɐɲe̞] 'nest'
Polish węgiel [ˈvɛŋ̟ɡ̟ɛl] 'coal' Allophone of /n/ before /kʲ, ɡʲ/. See Polish phonology
Romanian anchetă [äŋ̟ˈk̟e̞t̪ə] 'inquiry' Allophone of /n/ used before the palatalized allophones of /k, ɡ/. Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ŋʲ⟩. See Romanian phonology
Turkish renk [ˈɾeɲc] 'color' Allophone of /n/ before /c/ and /ɟ/. See Turkish phonology
Uzbek ming [miŋ̟] 'thousand' Word-final allophone of /ŋ/ after front vowels.
Vietnamese nhạc [ɲa̰ːʔk˨˩] 'music" Final allophone of /ɲ/. See Vietnamese phonology
Yanyuwa [l̪uwaŋ̟u] 'strip of turtle fat' Post-palatal; contrasts with post-velar [ŋ̠].

See also


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