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Glite Dictionary
🤧 Behind the nose 🗣️ After a nasal sound
postnasal

postnasal

8.1
Happens right after a sound made with the nose in speech
  • adjective
  • /ˌpoʊstˈneɪzl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : postnasal
  • The postnasal sounds in English can be tricky for learners.

Examples

  • The linguist studied the postnasal voicing of consonants in the local dialect.

  • In some languages, a postnasal sound can change the pronunciation of the following letter.

  • Researchers observed that postnasal features were common in the speech patterns of the region.

  • He pronounced the postnasal consonants clearly.

  • The linguist studied the postnasal voicing of consonants in the local dialect.

  • In some languages, a postnasal sound can change the pronunciation of the following letter.

  • Researchers observed that postnasal features were common in the speech patterns of the region.

Compounds

postnasal drip
1 3.6

Mucus from the nose that runs down the back of the throat and causes coughing or throat irritation

Surface Forms

postnasal positive

Morphology

postnasal = nasal (transparent) = post + nasal

The prefix 'post-' clearly indicates 'after' and combines with 'nasal' to mean 'after a nasal sound'.

Etymology

Postnasal comes from the parts post- meaning 'after' and nasal meaning 'nose' or 'a sound made with the nose'. So postnasal describes a sound or change that happens immediately after a nasal like 'm' or 'n'.