Thoughts on the phonological interpretation of {nasal,oral} contour consonants in some indigenous languages of South-America

<p>An intriguing feature of the Americas as a linguistic area is the frequent occurrence of oral/nasal contour consonants. In this paper we will study a number of languages that have these sounds and discuss the explanations based on the enhancement of phonological contrast that should...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: William Leo Wetzels
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho 2008-07-01
Series:Alfa: Revista de Lingüística
Subjects:
Online Access:http://seer.fclar.unesp.br/alfa/article/view/1500