[n]→[h]Certainty: 4/5Commonality: 2/5
Alveolar nasal to Voiceless glottal fricative
The shift from the alveolar nasal [n] to the glottal fricative [h] is a specific form of debuccalization. It involves the loss of the oral place of articulation (the tongue contact with the alveolar ridge) while maintaining airflow through the glottis. This typically occurs in syllable codas and is often mediated by an intermediate stage of vowel nasalization.
Phonetic Effects
Language Examples
historical *-n / *-m→[h] / [ʔ]— Historical nasal codas in Lolo-Burmese have debuccalized into glottal fricatives or stops in certain dialects.
panis (Latin)→pão [pɐ̃w̃]— The [n] was lost as an oral consonant; in certain rapid speech contexts, the nasal release can produce a faint glottal friction similar to [h].
Related Transformations
More Romance Shifts
Sources & References
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