An ultrasound study of the nasal substitution in Javanese

Abstract

Nasal substitution in Austronesian languages refers to replacement of voiceless obstruents by homorganic nasals under certain morphological conditions. In Javanese, for example, the active form of verb [tuku] “buy” is [nuku] and that of [tʃakar] “scratch” is [ɲakar]. However, exception does exist; namely, the sibilant [s] is paired with a palatal nasal [ɲ], e.g., the active form of [sawaŋ] “see” is [ɲawaŋ]. This ultrasound study aims to verify: i) whether the perception of two distinct places of articulation ([s]/[ɲ]) is matched in the articulation, suggesting an abstract relation between the two sounds, ii) or whether the homorganic pattern seen elsewhere in this morphological paradigm is matched in the articulation, suggesting a concrete relation between the two sounds. SS ANOVA results based on data of 8 Javanese speakers reveal that tongue position of /s/ bears more resemblance to /t/ and its nasal counterpart /n/, whereas the the tongue position of the nasal counterpart of /s/ is more posterior and closer to that of /tʃ/ and its nasal counterpart /ɲ/, which supports the abstract relation between [s] and [ɲ].