linguistics Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure ...

, rhinoglottophilia refers to the connection between laryngeal (glottal) and nasal articulations. The term was coined by

James A. Matisoff James Alan Matisoff ( zh, , t=馬蒂索夫, s=马蒂索夫, p=Mǎdìsuǒfū or zh, , t=馬提索夫, s=马提索夫, p=Mǎtísuǒfū; born July 14, 1937) is Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a not ...

in 1975. There is a connection between the acoustic production of laryngeals and nasals, as can be seen from the antiformants both can produce when viewed via a

spectrogram A spectrogram is a visual representation of the spectrum of frequencies of a signal as it varies with time. When applied to an audio signal, spectrograms are sometimes called sonographs, voiceprints, or voicegrams. When the data are represen ...

. This is because both sounds in a sense have branched resonators: in the production of nasal sound, both the oral cavity and the nasal cavity act as resonators. For laryngeals, the space below the glottis acts as a second resonator, which in turn can produce slight antiformants. In Krim, a language without contrastive nasal vowels, vowels are nonetheless strongly nasalized after . A similar correspondence occurs after and in Pirahã. It is also attested in some varieties of American English, such as for '' Harvard'' by the Kennedys. Rhinoglottophilia may have occurred historically in the development of Inor, one of the

Gurage languages The Gurage languages (Gurage: ጉራጌ), also known as Guragie, is a dialect-continuum language, which belong to the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by the Gurage people, who inhabit the Gurage Zone within t ...

. Inor has nasal vowels, unusual for a Gurage language, and in many cases these occur where the language etymologically had a pharyngeal or laryngeal consonant. Rhinoglottophilia has been documented elsewhere in Gurage, also. Similar processes have also been reported for

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

, North-Central Hlai and in Nyole, where Bantu *p appears as rather than as as in other Luhya dialects. Avestan also shows the effects of rhinoglottophilia: Proto-Indo-Iranian *''s'' normally becomes ''h'' in Avestan, but becomes a

velar nasal The voiced velar nasal, also known as agma, from the Greek word for 'fragment', is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It is the sound of ''ng'' in English ''sing'' as well as ''n'' before velar consonants as in ''Englis ...

between ''a/ā'' and ''r'', ''i̯'', ''u̯'' or ''a''/''ā''. Examples include ''aŋra'' "evil" (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

''asra''), ''aŋhat̰'' "he may be" (Sanskrit ''ásat''), and ''vaŋ́hō'' "better" (Sanskrit ''vasyas''). Rhinoglottophilia may occur with any laryngeal sound, not just specifically glottal ones. For example, correspondences such as

Khoekhoe Khoekhoen (singular Khoekhoe) (or Khoikhoi in the former orthography; formerly also '' Hottentots''"Hottentot, n. and adj." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, March 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/88829. Accessed 13 May 2018. Citing G. S. ...

''xárà'' ' meerkat' and Khwe ''xánà'' '

banded mongoose The banded mongoose (''Mungos mungo'') is a mongoose species native from the Sahel to Southern Africa. It lives in savannas, open forests and grasslands and feeds primarily on beetles and millipedes. Mongooses use various types of dens for shelt ...

' (and similar correspondences between nasalized and nonnasalized clicks) have been explained as pharyngealization of the vowel in proto-Khoe.

References

{{reflist, 2 Phonetics Phonology Terms coined by James Matisoff

See also

References