We propose that the two types of nasal differ in the presence vs. In §2.3 we outline our proposal to account for this behaviour of nasal consonants. Then, in §2.2, we provide the results of our cross-linguistic study, which reveals nasals to be phonotactically the most versatile consonants, being more widely attested than other consonants both in the coda and in the nucleus, i.e. First we review the literature on sonority, the sonority hierarchy and sonority sequencing, with particular attention to the role of nasals. In §2 we provide the theoretical background for this study. In such cases, evidence about their sonority can be drawn from their combinatory properties within complex syllable constituents, and from other phonological diagnostics. This distinction need not be reflected in the phonetics, as the nasal segment can be realised as a plain nasal in both positions. That is, nasals could manifest low-sonority properties in the onset and high-sonority properties in the coda. In languages that don't show a contrast, the sonority of a nasal may be determined by its position. Depending on the position of contrast in the syllable, it is realised as plain nasal vs. Languages allow either both types or just one if both types are found they may be in complementary distribution, with low-sonority nasals in syllable onsets and high-sonority nasals in rhymes, or the language may display a contrast between the two types, in which case they are also phonetically distinct. We find compelling evidence that there are actually two types of nasals, low-sonority nasals and high-sonority nasals. Our findings challenge the perceived wisdom that nasals occupy a relatively low position on the hierarchy, between obstruents and liquids. In this paper we investigate the behaviour of nasal consonants in syllable phonotactics in a survey of over 200 languages. The basic order of major segment classes in the sonority hierarchy has been by and large unchallenged since Sievers ( Reference Sievers1881: 157).
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