Nasal harmonyNasal harmony is a tendency for assimilation of other consonants and vowels to the nasa
Nasal harmonyNasal harmony is a tendency for assimilation of other consonants and vowels to the nasality of a neighbouring nasal vowel or nasal consonant. For exemple in Guaraní certain affixes have alternative forms according to whether the root includes a nasal (vowel or consonant) or not. For example, the reflexive prefix is realized as oral je- before an oral stem like juka “kill”, but as nasal ñe- before a nasal stem like nupã “hit”. The ã makes the stem nasal. Nasal harmony occurs in many South American languages like Guaraní, other Tupi languages, Emberá, Otomi languages, Chibchan languages (e.g. Ngäbere) and some Bantu languages (like Umbundu and Kimbundu). These languages are mainly in central and South America and in Africa. If you know other languages that exhibit this phenomenon please let me know! -- source link
#languages#linguistics#linguistic maps#phonology#guarani#angola#mexico#paraguay#brazil#tupiguarani#language maps