Chapter 16. Nasalization and lengthening

In this paper, we discuss nasalization of vowels with and without lengthening in Frisian. As to nasalization without lengthening the approach outline here follows Visser (1985). As to nasalization with lengthening, we make a new proposal. Nasalization and lengthening are considered to be separate processes. Lengthening is a rule that operates exclusively on non-derived words. Furthermore the rule is sensitive not for stress, but for syllable-structure. More specifically the rule appears to interfere with the status of schwa-initials as syllabic appendices, as proposed for Dutch by Kager & Zonneveld (1986).