UCL Working Papers in Linguistics 11 (1999)

Prenasalisation and melodic complexity

KUNIYA NASUKAWA



In the northern Tohoku dialect of Japanese (Kanai 1982), it has been assumed that the melodic structure of prenasalised plosives is more complex than that of voiced plosives. This paper questions that view, however, calling upon the argument that prenasalisation occurs only in truly voiced plosives in an intervocalic environment. The analysis refers to the principle of Licensing Inheritance (Harris 1994, 1997), and examines its influence on the headship status of the nasal prime (Nasukawa 1998).


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