@article {47, title = {The aerodynamic puzzle of Scottish Gaelic nasalized fricatives}, year = {2014}, publisher = {Nederlandse Vereniging voor Fonetische Wetenschappen}, address = {Utrecht, The Netherlands}, abstract = {

Scottish Gaelic is sometimes described as having nasalized fricatives (/ṽ/ distinctively, and [f̃, x̃, h̃] etc. triggered by assimilation). However, there \ are claims in the phonetic literature that\  \ it \ is \ not\  \ aerodynamically \ possible \ to\  \ open\  \ the\  \ velum \ for\  \ nasalization \ while maintaining frication noise.

We present aerodynamic data from \ 14 native \ Scottish Gaelic \ speakers to determine how the \ posited nasalized fricatives in this language \ are \ realized. \ Most tokens demonstrate loss of the \ nasalization distinction, \ but \ some productions include nasalization with \ the consonant realized as an approximant, nasalization of [h̃], nasalization on the vowel preceding the \ consonant, or sequential frication and nasalization, none \ of which pose an aerodynamic conflict.\  A very \ few tokens do contain nasalization and frication at the same time with \ a trade-off in airflow.

We also present perceptual evidence showing that Gaelic listeners can hear this distinction significantly better than \ chance, but not well. \ Thus, instrumental phonetic data from \ this language, one \ of the \ few \ in the \ world described as having \ nasalized fricatives, confirms that\  \ such \ a \ distinction \ is \ possible,\  \ but\  \ not\  \ through \ producing \ strong \ nasalization concurrently \ with\  \ clear\  \ frication \ noise.\  \ Furthermore, \ although speakers \ most \ often neutralize the distinction, when they \ maintain it they \ do so through a variety of phonetic mechanisms, even within a single language.

}, author = {Natasha Warner} }