Voiced uvular nasal

The voiced uvular nasal is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is Template:Angbr IPA, a small capital version of the Latin letter n; the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is N\.

The uvular nasal is a rare sound cross-linguistically, occurring as a phoneme in only a small handful of languages. It is complex in terms of articulation, and also highly marked, as it is inherently difficult to produce a nasal articulation at the uvular point of contact.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite journal</ref> This difficulty can be said to account for the marked rarity of this sound among the world's languages.<ref name=":2" />

The uvular nasal most commonly occurs as a conditioned allophone of other sounds,<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref> for example as an allophone of {{#invoke:IPA|main}} before a uvular plosive as in Quechua, or as an allophone of /q/ before another nasal consonant as in Selkup. However, it has been reported to exist as an independent phoneme in a small number of languages. Examples include the Klallam language, Tagalog language, the Tawellemmet and Ayr varieties of Tuareg Berber,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> the Rangakha dialect of Khams Tibetan,<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref> at least two dialects of the Bai language,<ref name=":3">Template:Cite report</ref><ref name=":4">Template:Cite book</ref> the Papuan language Mapos Buang,<ref name=":1" /> and the Chamdo languages: Lamo (Kyilwa dialect), Larong sMar (Tangre Chaya dialect), Drag-yab sMar (Razi dialect).<ref name=":8">Template:Cite book</ref> In Mapos Buang and in the Bai dialects, it contrasts phonemically with a velar nasal.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":1" /> In the Chamdo languages it contrasts phonemically with /ŋ/, /ŋ̊/, and /ɴ̥/.<ref name=":8" /> The syllable-final nasal in Japanese was traditionally said to be realized as a uvular nasal when utterance-final, but empirical studies have disputed this claim.Template:Sfnp

There is also the pre-uvular nasal<ref>Instead of "pre-uvular", it can be called "advanced uvular", "fronted uvular", "post-velar", "retracted velar" or "backed velar". For simplicity, this article uses only the term "pre-uvular".</ref> in some languages such as Yanyuwa, which is articulated slightly more front compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical uvular nasal, though not as front as the prototypical velar nasal. The International Phonetic Alphabet does not have a separate symbol for that sound, though it can be transcribed as Template:Angbr IPA (advanced Template:Angbr IPA), Template:Angbr IPA or Template:Angbr IPA (both symbols denote a retracted Template:Angbr IPA). The equivalent X-SAMPA symbols are N\_+ and N_-, respectively.

Features

Features of the voiced uvular nasal:

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans	Many speakers	lang}}	main}}	'pleasant'	main}} before {{#invoke:IPA|main}}; realized as Template:IPAblink in formal speech. See Afrikaans phonology
Arabic	Standard	lang}}/Template:Transliteration	main}}	'coup'	main}} before {{#invoke:IPA|main}}; more commonly realized as Template:IPAblink.
Armenian		lang}}/Template:Transliteration	main}}	'brainless'	main}} before a uvular consonant in informal speech.
Bai	Enqi dialect<ref name=":4" />		main}}	'to walk'	Phonemic, and contrasts with /ŋ/.
	Luobenzhuo dialect<ref name=":3" />	我/nò	main}}	'I'	Phonemic, and contrasts with /ŋ/.
Bashkir		lang}}/{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}/Template:Transliteration	main}}	'wilderness'	main}} in back vowel contexts.
Dutch	Netherlandic	lang}}	main}}	'pleasant'	main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}} before Template:IPAblink, in dialects that use it. Can be realized as Template:IPAblink in formal speech.
English	Northumbrian	Template:Example needed			<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Georgian		lang}}/Template:Transliteration	main}}	'hip joint'	main}} before uvular consonants.
Iñupiaq	North Slope	lang}}	main}}	'he will study'	Corresponds to [ʁn] in other dialects.
Inuvialuktun		lang}}	main}}	'to where?'	Allophonic; see Inuit phonology
Kalaallisut		lang}}	main}}	'crawls'	Occurrence and phonemic status depend on the dialect.
Kazakh		lang}}/{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}/Template:Transliteration	main}}	'new'	Allophone of /ŋ/ in back vowel contexts.
Klallam		lang}}	main}}	'big tree'	Contrasts with a glottalized form, but not with /ŋ/.
Lamo			main}}	'five'	Contrasts with /ŋ/, /ŋ̊/, and /ɴ̥/.
Mapos Buang<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref>		lang}}	main}}	'widower'	Phonemic, and contrasts with /ŋ/.
Mongolian		lang}}/ {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}/Template:Transliteration	main}}	'Mongolia'	Allophone of /ŋ/
Okinawan<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>		lang}}	main}}	'grandmother'	Post-glottal allophone of /n/.
Quechua	Peruvian	lang}}	main}}	'heart'	main}}.
SpanishTemplate:Sfnb		lang}}	main}}	'shriveled'	main}}. See Spanish phonology
Turkmen		lang}}	main}}	'bell'	Allophone of /ŋ/ next to back vowels
YanyuwaTemplate:Sfnp		lang}}	main}}	'adolescent boy'	Pre-uvular; contrasts with post-palatal Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp

See also

• Index of phonetics articles

References

• Template:SOWL
• Template:Citation
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External links

• Template:Phoible