[ŋ]→[h]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 3/5
Velar nasal to Voiceless glottal fricative
The phonetic transformation from the velar nasal /ŋ/ to the voiceless glottal fricative /h/ is a documented historical sound change, primarily observed as a form of lenition. This shift involves the complete loss of velar articulation and nasality, reducing the sound to a simple aspiration. It represents a significant weakening of the consonant, moving from a complex articulation involving the velum and nasal cavity to a minimal articulation at the glottis.
Phonetic Effects
Denasalization, Debuccalization, Lenition, Loss of Place of Articulation, Change of Manner
Language Examples
*q'i:ŋ→k'ih— Proto-Mayan *q'i:ŋ 'day' became k'ih in Huastec, demonstrating the shift of *ŋ to h in certain positions.
pisaŋ→pisah— Malay pisaŋ 'banana' corresponds to pisah in a Samalan dialect, illustrating the change of final -ŋ to -h.
saraŋ→sarah— Malay saraŋ 'nest' corresponds to sarah in a Samalan dialect, showing the change of final -ŋ to -h.
More Lenition Shifts
Sources & References
- Campbell, L. (1988). The Linguistics of Southeast Chiapas, Mexico. Brigham Young University Press.
- Aissen, J., England, N. C., & Zavala Maldonado, R. (Eds.). (2016). The Mayan Languages. Routledge.
- Anceaux, J.C. (1978). A Samalan wordlist from South-East Sulawesi. In Wurm, S. A., & Carrington, L. (Eds.), Second International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics: Proceedings (pp. 659-663). Pacific Linguistics, C-61.
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