School of Languages and Linguistics - Research Publications

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Investigating universals of sound change: the effect of vowel height and duration on the development of distinctive nasalization

HAJEK, JOHN ; Maeda, Shinji (Cambridge University Press, 2000)

It is widely assumed that the development of vowel nasalization is conditioned by vowel height. Most commonly it is thought that low vowels are preferentially nasalized. However, there is conflicting cross-linguistic evidence of low vowels in some languages and high vowels in other languages being subject to preferential nasalization. Experimental evidence is also found to provide similarly conflicting results. These differences can be accounted for by different vowel duration effects: longer vowels are more likely to be perceived as nasal. Where low vowels are longer, they will be preferentially nasalized, where they are not longer than higher vowels, the latter will be preferentially nasalized.
The hardening of nasalized glides in Bolognese

HAJEK, J. (Turin: Rosenberg and Sellier, 1991)

This is a detailed examination of the historical development of nasalized vowels and glides in Bolognese. In this variety of Italo-Romance, velar nasals have developed as a result of glide hardening and can appear in word-medial and word-final position, e.g. LUNA > loNna 'moon', and PANE > paN 'bread'.