On Prenasalized Stops in Dialects of Southern Hokkaido

Abstract

This paper examined three prenasalized stops [^mb], [ⁿd], and [^ŋg] in Todohokke dialect and Setana dialect of Southern Hokkaido. The existence of those sounds has been thought to be one of the characteristics which distinguish the dialects from Standard Japanese, while the sounds has been reported to occur less frequently, even in conversation performed by elderly speakers.

The free utterances of three participants were recorded and the prenasalized stops were searched for. A small number of examples of each sound were confirmed in the utterances. In the same environment, however, non-prenasalized variants [b], [d], and [ŋ] were also observed more frequently.