[a]→[n]Certainty: 4/5Commonality: 3/5

Open front unrounded vowel to Alveolar nasal

The shift from a vowel [a] to a nasal consonant [n] often occurs via an intermediate stage of nasalization. In some contexts, a nasalized vowel 'unpacks' or resolves back into a full nasal consonant, a process known as re-consonantalization.

Phonetic Effects

Nasalization, Re-consonantalization, Excrescence

Language Examples

French to English Loans Romance

tante [tɑ̃t]→aunt [ænt]— The French nasalized vowel resolved to a vowel + nasal consonant in English.

English Dialects Germanic

messenger (via French)→messenger [+n]— Nasal excrescence: insertion of [n] after the vowel.

Related Transformations

Reverse Inverse path: Nasal deletion

More Nasalization Shifts

[ã] → [õ] — Raising [a] → [ã] — Assimilatory Nasalization [a] → [∅] — Elision [a] → [ʔ] — Glottalization [a] → [ə] — Vowel Reduction

Sources & References

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