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<p>This study investigates anticipatory nasal coarticulation (ANC) across three languages with distinct phonological uses of nasality: Standard German, Northern Urban French, and American English. While previous research has established nasalization as a coarticulatory phenomenon preceding nasal consonants, we demonstrate how language-specific phonological systems fundamentally shape its temporal dynamics. Our analysis of 93 native speakers reveals three systematic patterns: French (where nasality is contrastive) shows systematically constrained nasalization; American English (with phonologized but non-contrastive nasality) exhibits the most extensive temporal domain, often spreading beyond pre-nasal vowels; and German displays intermediate patterns with notably high inter-speaker variability, which we attribute to both minimal phonological constraints and individual articulatory-anatomical factors. Crucially, we document ANC beginning substantially before the pre-nasal vowel when no articulatory inhibitors are present, thereby challenging segmentally bound accounts of coarticulation. The findings indicate that American English pre-nasal vowels have become reliable coarticulatory markers rather than passive targets of nasal spread. These results advance our understanding of how phonological organization modulates low-level articulatory phenomena and demonstrate the non-local temporal reach of coarticulatory effects with direct implications for second language acquisition, particularly explaining why English learners of French struggle to suppress nasal spread, and applications for digital speech processing in multilingual contexts.</p>

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Temporal domains of anticipatory nasal coarticulation: evidence from contrastive, phonologized and neutral nasal systems

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年1月31日

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  • Juan Lei

摘要

This study investigates anticipatory nasal coarticulation (ANC) across three languages with distinct phonological uses of nasality: Standard German, Northern Urban French, and American English. While previous research has established nasalization as a coarticulatory phenomenon preceding nasal consonants, we demonstrate how language-specific phonological systems fundamentally shape its temporal dynamics. Our analysis of 93 native speakers reveals three systematic patterns: French (where nasality is contrastive) shows systematically constrained nasalization; American English (with phonologized but non-contrastive nasality) exhibits the most extensive temporal domain, often spreading beyond pre-nasal vowels; and German displays intermediate patterns with notably high inter-speaker variability, which we attribute to both minimal phonological constraints and individual articulatory-anatomical factors. Crucially, we document ANC beginning substantially before the pre-nasal vowel when no articulatory inhibitors are present, thereby challenging segmentally bound accounts of coarticulation. The findings indicate that American English pre-nasal vowels have become reliable coarticulatory markers rather than passive targets of nasal spread. These results advance our understanding of how phonological organization modulates low-level articulatory phenomena and demonstrate the non-local temporal reach of coarticulatory effects with direct implications for second language acquisition, particularly explaining why English learners of French struggle to suppress nasal spread, and applications for digital speech processing in multilingual contexts.