Nasals

Nasals are a class of consonants produced with the velum lowered, allowing air to escape through the nasal cavity. During articulation, the oral passage is blocked by the tongue or lips, while the velopharyngeal port remains open, creating nasal resonance in the vocal tract. This places nasals among the sonorant sounds of a language.

The most common nasal stops are bilabial [m], alveolar [n], and velar [ŋ]. These are typically voiced, though voiceless nasals (such as [m̥] or [n̥]) occur in some languages or phonetic contexts, often as allophones near voiceless consonants. Additional nasal consonants exist in various languages, including palatal [ɲ] and other nasal articulations, such as dental or retroflex nasals. Some languages also have syllabic nasals, where a nasal functions as the nucleus of a syllable without a vowel.

Nasalization is also a widespread phonetic feature of vowels. In certain languages, vowels can be phonemically nasalized, producing nasal vowels such as those found in French, Portuguese, and Polish. Nasal vowels arise when the velum remains lowered during the articulation of a vowel, letting air pass through the nasal cavity.

In writing systems, nasals are represented by letters such as m, n, and ng, and by diacritics or ligatures in some orthographies. Phonologically, nasals typically contrast with oral stops and sometimes with other nasal segments, contributing to a language’s inventory of consonantal sounds.