Voiceless alveolar nasal

Voiceless alveolar nasal
n̥

The voiceless alveolar nasal is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨n̥⟩, a combination of the letter for the voiced alveolar nasal and a diacritic indicating voicelessness. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is ⟨n_0⟩.

Features

Features of the voiceless alveolar nasal:

• Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also nasal, the blocked airflow is redirected through the nose.
• Its place of articulation is alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
• Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords.
• It is a nasal consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the nose, either exclusively (nasal stops) or in addition to through the mouth.
• Because the sound is not produced with airflow over the tongue, the central–lateral dichotomy does not apply.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Burmese		နှာ	[n̥à]	'nose'
Central Alaskan Yup'ik		ceńa	[tsəˈn̥a]	'edge'
Estonian		lasn	[ˈlɑsn̥]	'wooden peel'
Icelandic		hné	[n̥jɛː]	'knee'
Jalapa Mazatec		[n̥ɛ]		'falls'	contrasts with a voiced and a laryngealized alveolar nasal
Kildin Sami		чоӊтэ	[tʃɔn̥te]	'to turn'
Welsh		fy nhad	[və n̥ad]	'my father'	Occurs as the nasal mutation of /t/.

See also

• List of phonetic topics

Bibliography

• Jacobson, Steven (1995), A Practical Grammar of the Central Alaskan Yup'ik Eskimo Language, Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center, ISBN 978-1-55500-050-9 
• Jones, Glyn E. (1984), "The distinctive vowels and consonants of Welsh", in Martin J. Ball and Glyn E. Jones, Welsh Phonology: Selected Readings, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, pp. 40–64, ISBN 0-7083-0861-9 
• Kuruch, Rimma (1985), Краткий грамматический очерк саамского языка (in Russian), Moscow 
• Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996), The Sounds of the World's Languages, Oxford: Blackwell, ISBN 0-631-19815-6