sidnn

Narrow-band See spectrogram
Narrow focus See focus.
Narrow transcription A phonetic transcription which records a good deal of phonetic detail.
N-ary feature [ˈenəri] A phonological feature, which unlike binary features and elements, can take more than two values. In SPE stress is treated in this way, vowels being capable of being marked as [1 stress], [2 stress], [3 stress], ...
Nasal (1) the same as nasal stop - see stop. (2) The name of a binary feature. Often abbreviated to [nas]. [+nasal] sounds have a lowered soft palate and nasal airflow - nasal stops and nasalised vowels.
Nasalisation [ˌneɪzəlaɪˈzeɪʃn] (adj. nasalised [ˈneɪzəlaɪzd) A nasalised sound is one which has simultaneous airflow through the oral and nasal cavities. Nasalisation may be contrastive, as in French which has the nasalised vowels [ɛ̃ ɑ̃ ɔ̃ œ̃] The presence or absence of nasalisation may distinguish words, as in fait [fɛ] (=done) vs fin [fɛ̃] (=end). More generally, all languages have nasalised segments at the phonetic level. Vowels and approximant consonants are regularly nasalised in the vicinity of nasal stops. Compare the lateral segments in English fill [fɪɫ] and film [fɪɫ̃m].
Nasal release The release of a plosive by lowering the soft palate rather than by moving the active articulator. When necessary nasal release is symbolised with the diacritic [ⁿ]. Nasal release is found in English when a plosive is followed immediately by a homorganic nasal as in the word madness.
Nasal stop See stop.
Nasopharynx [ˌneɪzəʊˈfærɪŋks] The part of the pharyngeal cavity which lies behind the nasal cavity.
Natural class A group of segments which are phonetically similar and which occur frequently as the input, output or environment of phonological rules. The following formal definition for natural class has been proposed: A class of segments which can be specified using fewer features than it would take to specify any member or any subset of the class. For example: voiceless plosives may be specified as [-son, -cont, -delrel, -voi]. A subset such as [p t] would need a specification which added [+ant]. [p] alone would need to add [+ant, -cor] to the specification. An arbitrary collection of segments, such as [p ʒ m u] does not have the formal property described above, and moreover, would not be expected to be treated as a class in the phonology of any language.
Neutralisation The situation where a contrast between two or more segments is suspended or invalid in a particular environment. The classical example is the contrast between voiced and voiceless obstruent segments in German, which holds in most environments, but is absent in some, especially at the end of the word, where only voiceless obstruents may occur.
Neutral vowel See schwa.
Non-linear phonology A theory of phonology which views phonological structure as consisting of a number of independent tiers rather than as a simple string of segments and boundaries.
Normal voice See modal voice.
Northern Cities Shift A set of vowel quality changes currently taking place in some of the urban accents in the northern part of the USA. Some of the quality changes are listed below:
- ɪ → ɛ̈
- æ → ɛə/ɪə
- ɛ → ɐ
Nuclear tone One of a small number of pitch configurations which are attached to the intonation nucleus and any following syllables in the tail of the intonation pattern.
Nucleus (1) Also called tonic. The final accented syllable in an intonation pattern. The location of the nucleus in many languages is an important signal of focus. The pitch pattern which starts at the nucleus and which continues up to the end of the intonation pattern is called the nuclear tone. The term nucleus is especially connected with British analyses of intonation such as O'Connor & Arnold, but is also used informally in many other treatments.
Nucleus (2) Also called syllabic peak. The only obligatory component of the syllable in most languages. The nucleus is sometimes viewed as a subcomponent of the rhyme, and is most usually filled by a vowel segment, although some languages (English, for example) allow consonants to fill the nucleus.