IPA – number	118
IPA – text	ɲ
IPA – image
Entity	ɲ
X-SAMPA	J
Kirshenbaum	n^
Sound sample (help·info)

The palatal nasal is a type of consonant, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ɲ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is J. The IPA symbol is a lowercase letter n with a leftward-pointing tail protruding from the bottom of the left stem of the letter. Compare n and ɲ. The symbol ɲ is similar to ɳ, the symbol for the retroflex nasal, which has a rightward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of the right stem, and with ŋ, the symbol for the velar nasal, which has a leftward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of the right stem.

Palatal nasals are more common than palatal stops ([c] or [ɟ]). ¹ In Spanish and languages whose writing systems are influenced by Spanish orthography, this sound is represented with the letter eñe (ñ).

Features

Features of the palatal nasal:

• Its manner of articulation is stop, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract.
• Its place of articulation is palatal which means it is articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised against the hard palate.
• Its phonation type is voiced, which means the vocal cords are vibrating during the articulation.
• It is a nasal consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the nose.
• It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the middle of the tongue, rather than the sides.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the lungs and through the vocal tract, rather than from the glottis or the mouth.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Albanian		një	[ɲə]	'one'
Basque		ekaina	[ekaɲa]	'June'
Catalan2		bany	[baɲ]	'bath'	Alveolo-palatal. See Catalan phonology
Chinese	Shanghainese	gniugnin/女人	[ɲyɲiɲɪ]	'woman'
Croatian		konj	[koɲ]	'horse'
Czech		kůň	[kuːɲ]	'horse'	See Czech phonology
Dinka		nyɔt	[ɲɔt]	'very'
Dutch3		oranje	[oˈrɑɲə]	'orange'	Not all dialects. See Dutch phonology
English	some dialects	onion	[ˈʌɲən]	'onion'	Corresponds to /nj/ in other dialects. See English phonology
French4		montagne	[mɔ̃taɲ]	'mountain'	See French phonology
Galician		leña	[ˈleɲa]	'firewood'
Greek		Πρωτοχρονιά	[pro̞to̞xro̞ˈɲa]	'New Year's Day'	See Modern Greek phonology
Hungarian5		anya	[ɒɲɒ]	'mother'	See Hungarian phonology
Indonesian		banyak	[ˈbaɲaʔ]	'a lot'
Italian6		bagno	[baɲɲo]	'bath'	See Italian phonology
Japanese7		庭/niwa	[n̠ʲiw͍a]	'garden'	Alveolo-palatal. See Japanese phonology
Malay		banyak	[baɲaʔ]	'a lot'
Malayalam8		ഞ	[ɲan]	'I'
Norwegian	Northern and central dialects9	mann	[mɑɲː]	'man'	See Norwegian phonology
Occitan	Northern and Southern	Polonha	[puˈluɲo]	'Poland'
	Gascon	banh	[baɲ]	'bath'
Polish10		koń	[kɔn̠ʲ] (help·info)	'horse'	Usually alveolo-palatal. See Polish phonology
Portuguese11		arranhar	[ɐʀɐ'ɲaɾ]	'to scratch'	See Portuguese phonology
Quechua		ñuqa	[ˈɲɔqɑ]	'I'
Scottish Gaelic		seinn	[ʃeɲ]	'sing'
Serbian		коњ/konj	[koɲ]	'horse'
Slovak		pečeň	[ˈpɛtʃɛɲ]	'liver'
Spanish12		enseñar	[ẽ̞nse̞ˈɲar]	'to teach'	See Spanish phonology
Vietnamese		nhai	[ɲaɪ]	'to chew'	See Vietnamese phonology

See also

• List of phonetics topics

References

Bibliography

• Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), "Catalan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 (1-2): 53–56 
• Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 25 (2): 90–94 
• Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "Illustrations of the IPA:French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23 (2): 73–76 
• Gussenhoven, Carlos (1992), "Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 (2): 45–47 
• Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (1): 103–107 
• Ladefoged, Peter (2005). Vowels and Consonants (Second ed.). Blackwell. 
• Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (2): 255–259 
• Rogers, Derek; d'Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (1): 117–121 
• Skjekkeland, Martin (1997), Dei norske dialektane: Tradisjonelle særdrag i jamføring med skriftmåla, Høyskoleforlaget (Norwegian Academic Press)