Nasals

English has three nasals in the following places of articulation: bilabial /m/, alveolar /n/, and velar /ŋ/. The first two of these can occur in all word and syllable positions, but the last one has defective distribution in that it can only occur in syllable-final position.

Like the stops, a nasal will have one prolonged closure in cases where it is followed by an identical nasal, as in ten names [tεn:emz], some more [sΛm:ɔɹ̣].

The alveolar nasal, /n/, is articulated in a more forward fashion (dental) when it is followed by an interdental (/θ, ð/): tenth [tεn̪θ], ban the film [bæn̪ðəfɪlm], when they [wεn̪ðe].

Bilabial and alveolar nasals become labio-dentals when they are followed by a labio-dental sound, as in emphasis [εɱfəsɪs], comfort [kΛɱfɚt], invite [ɪɱvaɪt], infant [ɪɱfənt]. This assimilation is not restricted to the adjacent sounds in the same word and still occurs when the labio-dental fricative is at the beginning of the next word, for example come first [kΛɱ fɚst], on fire [aɱ faɪɹ̣], warm feet [wɔɹ̣ɱ fit].

The susceptibility of nasals to assimilation is further demonstrated by total change in place of articulation in the following: ten pairs [tεmpεɹ̣z], one piece [wΛmpis], ten girls [tεŋgɚlz], you can go [jukəŋgo].

The above-mentioned cases of regressive assimilations that nasals go through do not exhaust all the assimilatory possibilities. The alveolar nasal /n/ is retroflexed when it occurs after /ɹ̣/ (progressive assimilation), as in burn, barn. Finally, /m/ and /n/ are also subject to progressive assimilation in cases of partial devoicing after the voiceless obstruent /s/, as in snail [sn̥el], small [sm̥ɔl].

As mentioned earlier, nasals, together with liquids, can be syllabic in English. In words such as sudden, button, open, taken, and chasm, the second syllables may be represented solely by nasal consonants ([sΛdn̩], [bΛtn̩], [opm̩], [tekŋ̩], [kæzm̩]). Although these forms are possible, and indeed are preferable over the ones with an [ə] in the second syllables in running speech, the same is not possible in words such as felon, carom, which are pronounced only as [fεlən] and [kæɹ̣əm] (not [fεln̩] and [kæɹ̣m̩]) respectively. Neither is it possible to have a syllabic nasal in film or charm. Why? The key issue appears to be the manner of articulation of the segment preceding the nasal. For a nasal to be syllabic, it has to be immediately preceded by an obstruent. Since the segments preceding the nasal in film and charm are sonorants, the nasals cannot be syllabic. It should also be stated that when the consonant preceding the nasal is preceded by another consonant, the nasal tends not to be syllabic, as we normally insert an [ə] in that syllable, as exemplified by piston [pɪstən] not [pɪstn̩], Lincoln [lɪŋkən] not [lɪŋkn̩].

One issue that has been subject to some controversy is the homorganicity of the syllabic nasal and the preceding obstruent. The overwhelming majority of examples of syllabic nasals come from homorganic sequences such as bidden [bɪdn̩], golden [goldn̩], Latin [lætn̩], kitten [kɪtn̩], etc. Indeed, the motivation for homorganicity is further revealed by examples such as ribbon [ɹ̣ɪbən] vs. [ɹ̣ɪbm], open [opən] vs. [opm̩], bacon [bekən] vs. [bekŋ̩], broken [bɹ̣okən] vs. [bɹ̣okŋ̩], in which the syllabic nasal assimilates to the place of articulation of the preceding obstruent in colloquial speech. While these examples support the homorganicity view, it should be pointed out that we can also encounter words such as madam [mædm̩] and modem [modm̩] with [dm̩], and chasm [kæzm] and prism [pɹ̣ɪzm̩] with [zm̩], which present notable exceptions, because their syllabic nasals are not homorganic with the preceding obstruent, and they are not subject to further assimilation to become *[mædn̩] *[modn̩], *[kæzn̩], *[pɹ̣ɪzn̩].

Finally, mention needs to be made of some points unique to the velar nasal. As stated above, /ŋ/ can occur only in coda position in English. However, even in that position there are further restrictions: it can only be preceded by / ɪ, ε, æ, Λ, ʊ/ (lax vowels). Another point worth mentioning is related to the ortho graphic correspondences for this phoneme. While /ŋ/ is typically represented by the ng sequence orthographically, this is a unidirectional relationship. While some words with orthographic ng in the middle have the pronunciation /ŋ/ only, others will have /ŋg/. Morphology seems to be a factor. For example, while ng in finger, mango, and anger stands for /ŋg/ ([fɪŋgɚ], [mæŋgo], [æŋgɚ]), it stands for /ŋ/ in singer, hanger, and wrongful ([sɪŋɚ], [hæŋɚ], [ɹ̣ɔŋfʊl). The difference between the two groups of words is that while the former are monomorphemic words, the latter have two morphemes. There are, however, other monomorphemic words such as sing and hang in which ng stands for /ŋ/ ([sɪŋ], [hæŋ]). Thus, the generalization will have to be made in the following manner: the orthographic ng stands for /ŋ/ at the end of a morpheme, or when inside a polymorphemic word. Such a generalization will have one notable exception related to comparative and superlative suffixes. While adjectives such as long, strong are pronounced with a /ŋ/ ([lɔŋ], [stɹ̣ɔŋ]), their comparatives and superlatives have /ŋg/ ([lɔŋgɚ], [stɹ̣ɔŋgɚ], and [lɔŋgəst], [stɹ̣ɔŋgəst]).