Nasal palatal approximant

Nasal palatal approximant
j̃

The nasal palatal approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some oral languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨j̃⟩, that is, a j with a tilde. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is j~, and in the Americanist phonetic notation it is ⟨ỹ⟩.

The nasal palatal approximant is sometimes called a nasal yod; [j̃] and [w̃] may be called nasal glides.

Features

Features of the nasal palatal approximant:

• Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by narrowing the vocal tract at the place of articulation, but not enough to produce a turbulent airstream.
• 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

[j̃], written ny, is a common realization of /j/ before nasal vowels in many languages of West Africa that do not have a phonemic distinction between voiced nasal and oral stops, such as Ewe and Bini.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Hindustani		संयम/sanyama	[səj̃jəm]	'patience'	Allophone of /ɲ/ before [j]. See Hindustani phonology
Kaingang		[j̃ũ]		'brave'	Possible word-initial realization of /j/ before a nasal vowel.
Lombard		bisògn de	[biˈzɔj̃ d̪e]	'need for (sth)'	Allophone of /ɲ/ before a consonant. See Lombard phonology
Polish		państwo	[ˈpãj̃stfɔ]	'state, country'	Allophone of /ɲ/ in coda position or before fricatives. See Polish phonology
Portuguese	Brazilian	sonho	[ˈsõj̃ʊ]	'dream'	Allophone of /ɲ/ between vowels, nasalizes the preceding vowel. Language's original /ɲ/ sound. See Portuguese phonology
	Most dialects	cães	[kɐ̃j̃s]	'dogs'	Allophone of /j/ after nasal vowels.
	Some dialects	me ame!	[ˈmj̃ɐ̃mi]	'love me!'	Non-syllabic allophone of /i/ between nasal sounds.
Shipibo					Allophone of /j/ after nasal vowels.

See also

• Palatal nasal
• Nasal labio-velar approximant
• Labiodental nasal, which may be an approximant in the one language in which it is phonemic
• Voiceless nasal glottal approximant
• Index of phonetics articles

References

• Canepari, Luciano (2005), "Hindi", A Handbook of Pronunciation, Lincom Europa, p. 335
• Gussman, Edmund (2007), The Phonology of Polish, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-926747-7
• Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2009), "Fonologia e prosódia do Kaingáng falado em Cacique Doble", Anais do SETA, Campinas: Editora do IEL-UNICAMP, 3: 675–685
• Mattos e Silva, Rosa (1991), O Português arcaico – fonologia, Contexto
• Perini, Mário Alberto (2002), Modern Portuguese (A Reference Grammar), New Haven: Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-09155-7
• Valenzuela, Pilar M.; Márquez Pinedo, Luis; Maddieson, Ian (2001), "Shipibo", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 31 (2): 281–285, doi:10.1017/S0025100301002109
• Vigário, Marina (2003), The Prosodic Word in European Portuguese, De Gruyter Mouton, ISBN 978-3-11-017713-8

Further reading

• Shosted; Hualde (2010), (Current Issues in Linguistic Theory volume 315) Romance Linguistics 2009: Selected Papers from the 39th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), Tucson, Arizona, March 2009, John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 43–61, ISBN 978-90-272-4833-6