Nasaaliäänteet

Nasaaliäänteet, known in English as nasal consonants, are speech sounds produced by obstructing the airflow through the mouth while allowing it to escape through the nose. This is achieved by lowering the velum, the soft tissue at the back of the roof of the mouth, which opens the nasal cavity. The air then passes through the nasal passage while the articulators in the mouth (lips, tongue, teeth) create a point of obstruction.

The most common nasal consonants in many languages are the bilabial nasal /m/, the alveolar nasal /n/, and the velar nasal /ŋ/ (as in the English word "sing"). The specific articulation involves different parts of the mouth coming into contact. For /m/, the lips are pressed together. For /n/, the tip of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge behind the upper teeth. For /ŋ/, the back of the tongue touches the soft palate.

Nasal consonants are phonemic in numerous languages, meaning they can distinguish between words. For example, in English, "man" and "ban" differ only by the presence of the nasal /m/ versus the oral stop /b/. In Finnish, where the term "nasaaliäänteet" originates, nasal consonants play a similar distinctive role. The production of nasal sounds is a fundamental aspect of human speech, contributing to the rich variety of sounds found across the world's languages. They are crucial for intelligibility and are produced in a consistent manner by speakers of all languages.