2009/12/01 by Robert Blust · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Psychology · #Linguistic Variation and Morphology #Phonetics and Phonology Research #Multilingual Education and Policy #Phonology #Linguistics #Vocabulary #History #Psychology #Philosophy
paper · doi:10.1353/ol.0.0043
openalex publication_date 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
One of the more striking features in the historical phonology of Palauan is the addition of a velar nasal before word-initial vowels. Because final vowels were unstressed, and almost always disappeared, it is difficult to determine whether a velar nasal would also have been added after final vowels had they been retained. However, a number of loanwords, mostly from Spanish and English, show the addition of a velar nasal after word-final vowels. The change in native vocabulary is exceptionless, while that in loanwords is irregular. Moreover, the two changes appear to be historically disconnected, yet they suggest a common canonical target that persisted over many generations of speakers.