Voiced palatal nasal

"Palatal nasal" redirects here. For the voiceless consonant, see Voiceless palatal nasal.

The voiced palatal nasal is a type of consonant used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɲ⟩,^[1] a lowercase letter n with a leftward-pointing tail protruding from the bottom of the left stem of the letter. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is J. The IPA symbol ⟨ɲ⟩ is visually similar to ⟨ɳ ⟩, the symbol for the retroflex nasal, which has a rightward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of the right stem, and to ⟨ŋ⟩, the symbol for the velar nasal, which has a leftward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of the right stem.

Voiced palatal nasal
ɲ
IPA Number	118
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɲ
Unicode (hex)	U+0272
X-SAMPA	J
Braille
Image

Voiced alveolo-palatal nasal
n̠ʲ
ɲ̟

The IPA symbol derives from ⟨n⟩ and ⟨j⟩, ⟨n⟩ for nasality and ⟨j⟩ denoting palatalization.^[2] In Spanish and languages whose writing systems are influenced by Spanish orthography, it is represented by the letter ⟨ñ⟩, called eñe ([ˈeɲe]). In French and Italian orthographies the sound is represented by the digraph ⟨gn⟩. Occitan uses the digraph ⟨nh⟩, the source of the same Portuguese digraph called ene-agá (lit. 'en-aitch'), used thereafter by languages whose writing systems are influenced by Portuguese orthography, such as Vietnamese.^[3][4] In Catalan, Hungarian and many African languages, as Swahili or Dinka, the digraph ⟨ny⟩ is used. In Albanian and some countries that used to be Yugoslavia, the digraph (Nj) is used, and sometimes, for the languages with the Cyrillic script that used to be part of Yugoslavia, uses the (Њњ) Cyrillic ligature that might be part of the official alphabet. In Czech and Slovak, /ɲ/ is represented by letter ⟨ň⟩ whilst Kashubian and Polish use ⟨ń⟩. In Bengali it is represented by the letter ⟨ঞ⟩.

The voiced alveolo-palatal nasal is a type of consonantal sound, used in some oral languages. There is no dedicated symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound. If more precision is desired, it may be transcribed ⟨n̠ʲ⟩ or ⟨ɲ̟⟩; these are essentially equivalent, since the contact includes both the blade and body (but not the tip) of the tongue. There is a non-IPA letter, U+0235 ȵ LATIN SMALL LETTER N WITH CURL; ⟨ȵ⟩ (⟨n⟩, plus the curl found in the symbols for alveolo-palatal sibilant fricatives ⟨ɕ, ʑ⟩), which is used especially in Sinological circles.

The alveolo-palatal nasal is commonly described as palatal; it is often unclear whether a language has a true palatal or not. Many languages claimed to have a palatal nasal, such as Portuguese, actually have an alveolo-palatal nasal. This is likely true of several of the languages listed here. Some dialects of Irish as well as some non-standard dialects of Malayalam are reported to contrast alveolo-palatal and palatal nasals.^[5][6]

There is also a post-palatal nasal (also called pre-velar, fronted velar etc.) in some languages. Palatal nasals are more common than the palatal stops [c, ɟ].^[7]

Features

Features of the voiced palatal nasal:

• Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Because the consonant is also nasal, the blocked airflow is redirected through the nose.
• Its place of articulation is palatal, which means it is articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised to the hard palate.
• Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
• 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.
• It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
• Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Palatal or alveolo-palatal

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
!Kung[8]		[example needed]	—	—	Represented by ⟨ny⟩
Albanian		një	[ɲə]	'one'
Amharic		ዘጠኝ / zäṭäňň	[zɛtʼɛɲ]	'nine'
Aranda		[example needed]	—	—	Alveolo-palatal and dento-alveolo-palatal.[9]
Asturian		cabaña	[kaˈβaɲa]	'hut'	See Asturian phonology
Basque		andereño	[än̪d̪e̞ɾe̞ɲo̞]	'female teacher'
Bengali[10]		মিঞা / miña	[miɲɑ]	'mister'
Bulgarian		синьо	[siˈɲo]	'blue'	Only occurs before ь, ю, and я. See Bulgarian phonology
Burmese[10]		ညာ / nya	[ɲà]	'right(-hand side)'	Contrasts with the voiceless palatal nasal /ɲ̥/.
Catalan[11]		any	[ˈaɲ̟]	'year'	Alveolo-palatal or palatal.[9] See Catalan phonology
Czech		kůň	[kuːɲ]	'horse'	May be intermediate between palatal and alveolo-palatal.[6] See Czech phonology
Dinka		nyɔt	[ɲɔt]	'very'
Dutch[12]		oranje	[oˈrɑɲə]	'orange'	Not all dialects. See Dutch phonology
English	Malay dialect	canyon	[kɛɲən]	'canyon'	Common in Malay, allophone of /nj/.
French		ognon	[ɔ.ɲɔ̃]ⓘ	'onion'	See French phonology
Galician[13]		viño	[ˈbiɲo]	'wine'	See Galician phonology
Greek		πρωτοχρονιά / prōtochroniá	[pro̞to̞xro̞ˈɲ̟ɐ]	'New Year's Day'	Alveolo-palatal.[14] See Modern Greek phonology
Haketia[15]			[ru.ħa.ˈɲi]	'spiritual'	In free variation with [n] when immediately before [i].[15]
Hindustani	Hindi	पञ्छी/पंछी/pañchī	[pəɲ.t͡ʃʰiː]	'bird'	Usually written in Urdu with [n], and usually with anuswar in Devanagari, written here with the dead consonant to demonstrate proper spelling. See Hindustani phonology
	Urdu	پنچھی / pañchī
Hungarian[16]		anya	[ˈɒɲɒ]	'mother'	Alveolo-palatal with alveolar contact.[9] See Hungarian phonology
Italian	Standard	bagno	[ˈbäɲːo]	'bath'	Postalveolo-prepalatal.[17] See Italian phonology
	Romanesco dialect	niente	[ˈɲːɛn̪t̪e]	'nothing'
Irish[5]		inné	[əˈn̠ʲeː]	'yesterday'	Irish contrasts alveolo-palatal /n̠ʲ/, palatal/palatovelar /ɲ/, velar /ŋ/ and, in some dialects, palatalized alveolar /nʲ/.[18][19][20][5] See Irish phonology
Japanese[21]		庭 / niwa	[ɲ̟iɰᵝa̠]	'garden'	Alveolar or dento-alveolar.[9] See Japanese phonology
Khasi		bseiñ	[bsɛɲ]	'snake'
Khmer		ពេញ / pénh	[pɨɲ]	'full'	See Khmer phonology
Korean		저녁 / jeonyeok	[t͡ɕʌɲ̟ʌk̚]	'evening'	Alveolo-palatal. See Korean phonology
Kurdish	Southern	یانزه / yanze	[jäːɲzˠa]	'eleven'	See Kurdish phonology
Latvian		mākoņains	[maːkuɔɲains]	'cloudy'	See Latvian phonology
Macedonian		чешање / češanje	[ˈt͡ʃɛʃaɲɛ]	'itching'	See Macedonian phonology
Malagasy[9]		[example needed]	—	—	Palatal.
Malay		banyak / باڽـق	[bäɲäʔ]	'a lot'	Does not occur as a syllable-final coda. Allophone of /n/ before /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/ so /punt͡ʃak/ 'peak' is read as [puɲt͡ʃäʔ], not *[punt͡ʃäʔ]. See Malay phonology
Malayalam[22]		ഞാൻ / ڿٰانْ / ñān	[ɲäːn]	'I'
Mandarin	Sichuanese	女人 / ȵü3 ren2	[nʲy˨˩˦ zən˧˥]	‘women’	Alveolo-palatal
Mapudungun[23]		ñachi	[ɲɜˈt͡ʃɪ]	'spiced blood'
North Frisian	Mooring	fliinj	[ˈfliːɲ]	'to fly'
Norwegian	Northern[24]	mann	[mɑɲː]	'man'	See Norwegian phonology
	Southern[24]
Occitan	Northern	Polonha	[puˈluɲo̞]	'Poland'	Simultaneous alveolo-palatal and dento-alveolar or dento-alveolo-palatal.[9] See Occitan phonology
	Southern
	Gascon	banh	[baɲ]	'bath'
Polish[25]		koń	[kɔɲ̟]ⓘ	'horse'	Alveolo-palatal. May be replaced by a nasal palatal approximant in coda position or before fricatives. See Polish phonology
Portuguese	Many dialects[26]	Sônia	[ˈsõ̞n̠ʲɐ]	'Sonia'	Possible realization of post-stressed /ni/ plus vowel.
	Brazilian[26][27]	sonhar	[sõ̞ˈɲaɾ]	'to dream'	Central palatal, not the same that /ʎ/ which is pre-palatal.[28] May instead be approximant[29][30] in Brazil and Africa. May be pronounced [soj̃'ŋ̚ja(ɹ)]. See Portuguese phonology
	European[31]	arranhar	[ɐʁɐ̃ˈn̠ʲaɾ]	'to scratch'	Dento-alveolo-palatal.[9]
Quechua		ñuqa	[ˈɲɔqɑ]	'I'
Romanian	Transylvanian dialects[32]	câine	[ˈkɨɲe̞]	'dog'	Alveolo-palatal.[32] corresponds to [n] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology
Sanskrit		यज्ञ yajña	[ˈjɐd͡ʑ.ɲɐ]	'Sacrifice'	See Sanskrit phonology
Scottish Gaelic[33]		seinn	[ʃeiɲ̟]	'sing'	Alveolo-palatal. See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Serbo-Croatian[34]		њој / njoj /	[ɲ̟ȏ̞j]	'to her'	Alveolo-palatal. See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Sinhala		ස්පාඤ්ඤය / spāññaya	[spaːɲɲəjə]	'Spain'
Slovak		pečeň	[ˈpɛ̝t͡ʂɛ̝ɲ̟]	'liver'	Alveolar.[9] See Slovak phonology
Slovene	Some speakers, archaic	konj	[ˈkɔ̂nʲ]	'horse'	See Slovene phonology
Spanish[35]		español	[e̞späˈɲol]	'Spanish'	Simultaneous alveolo-palatal and dento-alveolar or dento-alveolo-palatal.[9] See Spanish phonology
Swahili		nyama /نْيَامَ	[ɲɑmɑ]	'meat'
Tamil		ஞாயிறு / نَايِرُ / ñāyiru	[ɲaːjiru]	'Sunday'	Alveolo-palatal.[36] See Tamil phonology
Toki Pona	Some speakers	linja	[ˈliɲ.(j)a]	'line'
Tyap		nyam	[ɲam]	'animal'
Ukrainian		тінь / tin'	[t̪ʲin̠ʲ]	'shadow'	Alveolo-palatal. See Ukrainian phonology
West Frisian		njonken	[ˈɲoŋkən]	'next to'	Phonemically /nj/. See West Frisian phonology
Vietnamese	Hanoi	nhanh / 𨗜	[ȵajŋ̟˧]	'agile, to run fast, vivacious'	"Laminoalveolar".[37] See Vietnamese phonology
	Ha Tinh	nhanh / 𨗜	[ɲɛɲ˧˥˧]
Wolof		ñaan / ݧَانْ
Wu	Shanghainese	女人 / nyú nyǐnh	[n̠ʲy˩˧ n̠ʲɪɲ˥˨]	'women'	Alveolo-palatal
Yi		ꑌ / nyi	[n̠ʲi˧]	'sit'	Alveolo-palatal.
Zulu		inyoni	[iɲ̟óːni]	'bird'	Alveolo-palatal.[9]

Post-palatal

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
German	Standard[38]	gängig	[ˈɡ̟ɛŋ̟ɪç]	'common'	Allophone of /ŋ/ before and after front vowels;[38] the example also illustrates [ɡ̟]. See Standard German phonology
Lithuanian[39]		menkė	[ˈmʲæŋ̟k̟eː]	'cod'	Allophone of /n/ before palatalized velars;[39] typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ŋʲ⟩. See Lithuanian phonology
Mapudungun[23]		dañe	[ˈθɐɲe̞]	'nest'
Polish[40][41]		węgiel	[ˈvɛŋ̟ɡ̟ʲɛl]	'coal'	Allophone of /n/ before /kʲ, ɡʲ/.[40][41] See Polish phonology
Romanian[42]		anchetă	[äŋ̟ˈk̟e̞t̪ə]	'inquiry'	Allophone of /n/ used before the palatalized allophones of /k, ɡ/.[42] Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ŋʲ⟩. See Romanian phonology
Turkish		renk	[ˈɾeɲc]	'color'	Allophone of /n/ before /c/ and /ɟ/. See Turkish phonology
Uzbek[43]		ming	[miŋ̟]	'thousand'	Word-final allophone of /ŋ/ after front vowels.[43]
Vietnamese	Hanoi	nhanh / 𨗜	[ȵajŋ̟˧˧]	'agile, to run fast, vivacious'	Final allophone of /ɲ/. See Vietnamese phonology
Yanyuwa[44]		lhuwanyngu	[l̪uwaŋ̟u]	'strip of turtle fat'	Post-palatal; contrasts with post-velar [ŋ̠].[44]

See also

• Nasal palatal approximant
• Index of phonetics articles
• Ɲ (upper and lower case letter used in some orthographies)

Notes

1. Ladefoged (2005), p. xviii.
2. Heselwood (2013), p. 113.
3. "Does the current Vietnamese alphabet/script derive from Portuguese or French?". Quora. Retrieved 2022-05-05.
4. Michaud, Alexis (2010-01-01). ""The origin of the peculiarities of the Vietnamese alphabet": translation of an article by André-Georges Haudricourt". Mon-Khmer Studies.
5. Ní Chasaide (1999).
6. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), p. 33.
7. Ladefoged (2005), p. 163.
8. Doke (1925), p. ?.
9. Recasens (2013), p. 11.
10. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), p. 111.
11. Carbonell & Llisterri (1992), p. 53.
12. Gussenhoven (1992), p. 46.
13. Regueira (1996), p. 119.
14. Arvaniti (2007), p. 20.
15. Cunha (2009), pp. 42, 43.
16. Ladefoged (2005), p. 164.
17. Recasens et al. (1993), p. 222.
18. Quiggin (1906).
19. de Bhaldraithe (1966).
20. Mhac an Fhailigh (1968).
21. Okada (1999), p. 118.
22. Ladefoged (2005), p. 165.
23. Sadowsky et al. (2013), p. 88.
24. Skjekkeland (1997), pp. 105–107.
25. Jassem (2003), pp. 103–104.
26. Considerações sobre o status das palato-alveolares em português Archived 2014-04-07 at the Wayback Machine, p. 12.
27. Aragão (2009), p. 168.
28. Cagliari 1974, p. 77. Citation:Em português, o [ɲ] se aproxima mais do [ŋ] do que do [n]; por isso será classificado como "central" e não como pré-palatal. O [ʎ] em muitas línguas se realiza como "central"; em português, [ʎ] tende a [lj] e se realiza sempre na região prepalatal.
29. "Portuguese vinho: diachronic evidence for biphonemic nasal vowels" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-04-13. Retrieved 2014-04-10.
30. Mattos e Silva (1991), p. 73. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFMattos_e_Silva1991 (help)
31. Cruz-Ferreira (1995), p. 91.
32. Pop (1938), p. 30.
33. Oftedal (1956), p. ?.
34. Landau et al. (1999), p. 67. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFLandauLončarićaHorgaŠkarić1999 (help)
35. Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003), p. 255.
36. Keane, Elinor (2004). "Tamil". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 34 (1): 111–116. doi:10.1017/S0025100304001549.
37. Thompson (1959), pp. 460.
38. Krech et al. (2009), pp. 49, 97.
39. Ambrazas et al. (1997), p. 36.
40. Gussmann (1974), pp. 107, 111, 114.
41. Ostaszewska & Tambor (2000), pp. 35, 41, 86.
42. Sarlin (2014), p. 17.
43. Sjoberg (1963), p. 12.
44. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), pp. 34–35.

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External links

• List of languages with [ɲ] on PHOIBLE