[ŋ]→[m]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 2/5

Labialization Fronting Austronesian Germanic

Velar nasal to Bilabial nasal

The shift from the velar nasal [ŋ] to the bilabial nasal [m] is a process of labialization and fronting. This transformation typically occurs as regressive assimilation when a velar nasal is adjacent to a labial sound, or through an intermediate labial-velar [ŋ͡m] stage where the velar component is eventually lost.

Phonetic Effects

Labialization, Fronting

Language Examples

English (Synchronic) Germanic

king power [ŋ]→[kɪm paʊə]— Regressive assimilation of the velar nasal before the bilabial stop [p] in rapid speech.

Oceanic Languages Austronesian

historical *ŋ→[m]— Historical shift often passing through a stable labial-velar nasal [ŋ͡m] stage (found in languages of Vanuatu).

Related Transformations

Inverse: Velarization

More Germanic Shifts

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

Sources & References

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