Universals of nasal attrition

Abstract

The claim that there is a hierarchy governing the attrition of nasals according to place of articulation is put to test in this paper by examination of cross linguistic data from two language groups which are unrelated genetically and geographically: the Romance dialects of Northern Italy and the Lower Cross group of South-Eastern Nigeria. Results of this new survey provide interesting food for thought: developments in the Northern Italian dialects support, to a large extent, predictions that follow from phonetic considerations. However, the Lower Cross languages at first appear to contradict expectations. This suggests that other factors may need to be taken account of, before a true universal tendency, if one exists, can be established.