On 2007-05-29 16:30, Joao S. Lopes wrote:
> Is there another language with nasal diphthongs like Portuguese?
>
> examples:
> lea~o /lea~w/ "lion"
> leo~es/leo~ys/ "lions"
> ma~e /ma~y/ "mother"
Yes, Polish, for example. Our <a,> are <e,> are spelt in a manner
suggesting pure vowels, but the actual pronunciation is diphthongal,
with a strongly nasalised [w~] glide, which usually becomes [j~] before
palatal consonants (so that e.g. my surname, <Ga,siorowski>, is
pronounced [goj~s'oro(f)ski]. Also Polish nasals are commonly (though
not obligatorily) realised as nasalised glides before fricatives, so
that <szansa> 'chance' becomes [s^aw~sa] and <kon'ski> 'relating to
horses' becomes [koj~ski], except in pedantically careful speech styles,
where a nasal stop may be used.
Piotr