On the presence of voiceless nasalization in apparently effaced Somali Chizigula prenasalized stops

Abstract

Somali Chizigula (G311; xma; also Mushungulu) is an endangered language spoken in Somalia and by Somali-Bantu refugees abroad. We report on an acoustic and aerodynamic study of N + stop sequences in Somali Chizigula. Our findings illustrate that while the only acoustic cue for the nasal in voiceless prenasalized stops is aspiration of the oral stop, appearing to have undergone total effacement, aerodynamic data show robust nasal airflow prior to the oral stop. Although nasal devoicing is not rare in Bantu languages (e.g., Bura and Bondei; Maddieson and Ladefoged 1993), the lack of acoustic cues during the nasal is. The current state of the devoiced nasal in Somali Chizigula could lead to a reanalysis of effacement as [nt → ntʰ → (n ̥tʰ)→ tʰ]. In addition to providing acoustic and aerodynamic data, we propose an articulatory phonology (Browman and Goldstein 1993) account for the voiceless prenasalized stop as it compares to other nasal + stop sequences in the language.