Date:  Thu, 10 Jul 1997 15:57:50 -0400
From:  Gregory {Greg} Downing <downingg[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]IS2.NYU.EDU>
Subject: Re: nasal flaps?

At 02:51 PM 7/10/97 -0500, you wrote:
>I had my doubts about the existence of nasal flaps but checked with a
>phonetician, a colleague of mine, and she says that nasal flaps common and
>"flap" is indeed the term. In the relevant pronunciation of ATLANTA "nasal
>flap" is apparently the correct term. How about that, Peter? We are on the
>same side this time!
>

Orally they are flaps, with nasalization -- just like a nasal consonant such
as m is a stop but also nasal. Perhaps "nazalized flap" would be less
misconstruable. But since one can't flap anything articulatorily in the
nasal cavity whether as flap or stop (tell me if I'm wrong!!!), nasal flap
could probably only mean a flap with nazalization. Is that right? (I didn't
pay as much attention in phoentics as I might have done -- reminded me of
sight-reading in music, which I also didn't appreciate at the time.)

Gregory {Greg} Downing, at greg.downing[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]nyu.edu or downingg[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]is2.nyu.edu