"

13.6.5 Nasalization and n-Deletion

Before all consonants other than plosives, AN /n/ tends to be elided after having nasalized the preceding vowel. As a result of this /n/-deletion, words like zonlichtongeluk may be [ˈzɔ̃lɪχt], [ˈɔ̃χəlʏk].

 

Advice for Dutch learners
Although /n/-deletion also occurs in GA (see the section on nasal deletion), it does not apply in the same contexts as the Dutch rule. In words like sunlightunrestunwise, the nasal is not normally elided, even though the vowel is at least partly nasalized. So try to make a firm alveolar contact for /n/ in words like:

dancing         mention     inch              lunches

only                 unrest         onwards      insensitive

moonlight     unsure         unlit             sunshine

dancing

only

moonlight

License

Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

An Introduction to American English Phonetics Copyright © by Ton Broeders and Carlos Gussenhoven is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.