Nasal consonant

In phonetics, a nasal consonant is a special sound made when the soft roof of the mouth (called the velum) is lowered. This lets air flow out freely through the nose while making the sound. Most common sounds in languages are made with air flowing out through the mouth, called oral consonants, but nasal consonants are different.

In English, we use three nasal consonants often. These are the sounds at the beginning of words like nose [n], bring [ŋ], and mouth [m]. These sounds are very important in speaking clearly and understanding each other.

Nasal sounds like these are used in almost every human language around the world. Some languages even have more kinds of nasal consonants than English does. This shows how useful and common these sounds are in how people talk to each other.

Definition

Nasal consonants are sounds made when air flows out through the nose instead of the mouth. This happens because the mouth is closed by the lips or tongue. Examples in English include the sounds in "nose," "bring," and "mouth."

Most nasal sounds are made with the voice, like the "n" and "m" sounds. Some languages have nasal sounds made without voice, such as in Burmese, Welsh, Icelandic, and Guaraní. These sounds are special because they can act like both smooth sounds and blocked sounds, depending on how they are used in a language.

Voiceless nasals

Some languages have special sounds called voiceless nasal consonants. These sounds are made without using the voice and allow air to flow through the nose. Languages that use these sounds include Icelandic, Faroese, Burmese, Jalapa Mazatec, Kildin Sami, Welsh, and Central Alaskan Yup'ik. The language Iaai from New Caledonia has many of these sounds, including /m̥ m̥ʷ n̪̊ ɳ̊ ɲ̊ ŋ̊/, as well as some special voiceless sounds made closer to the front of the mouth.

Other kinds of nasal consonant

There are different types of sounds made with the nose. Some sounds, like the m, n, and ng sounds in English, let air out only through the nose. Other sounds mix air from the nose and mouth.

Languages also use sounds where the nose is used only part of the time, or where special clicks are made with the nose, like in Zulu. Some languages even have special hissing sounds made with the nose.

Languages without nasals

Some languages, about 2% of them, do not have special sounds called nasals. This surprised a researcher in 1963, who thought all languages had at least one nasal sound. But there are exceptions!

A few languages, like some Niger–Congo languages and the Pirahã language, don’t have true nasals. Instead, their sounds can change depending on the word. For example, in some Niger–Congo languages, nasal sounds only appear before certain vowels. This makes it tricky to decide if these are true nasal sounds or just changes in pronunciation.

Some languages around Puget Sound, like Quileute, Lushootseed, and Makah, have no nasal sounds at all, except maybe in special ways of speaking. This change happened after contact with other cultures, where nasal sounds turned into other sounds like "b" or "d". Even in Korean, some nasal sounds are slowly changing into "b" and "d" sounds at the start of words.