Perhaps many Americans know at least some basics of Spanish? I think the Spanish ñ letter, as in “el niño”, is proper palatalization. (But I do not speak Spanish.)
My understanding of Spanish (also not a Spanish speaker) is that it’s a palatal nasal /ɲ/, not a palatalized alveolar nasal /nʲ/. With a palatal nasal, you’re making the sound with the tip of your tongue at the soft palate (the soft part at the top of your mouth, behind the alveolar ridge). With a palatalized nasal, it’s a “secondary” articulation, with the body of your tongue moving to the soft palate.
That said, the Spanish ñ is a good example of a palatal or palatalized sound for an English speaker.
Yeah, that’s absolutely more correct, but it is at least a little helpful for a monolingual English speaker to understand what palatalization is.
Perhaps many Americans know at least some basics of Spanish? I think the Spanish ñ letter, as in “el niño”, is proper palatalization. (But I do not speak Spanish.)
My understanding of Spanish (also not a Spanish speaker) is that it’s a palatal nasal /ɲ/, not a palatalized alveolar nasal /nʲ/. With a palatal nasal, you’re making the sound with the tip of your tongue at the soft palate (the soft part at the top of your mouth, behind the alveolar ridge). With a palatalized nasal, it’s a “secondary” articulation, with the body of your tongue moving to the soft palate.
That said, the Spanish ñ is a good example of a palatal or palatalized sound for an English speaker.
And Irish (Gaelic) has both! (/ɲ/ is slender ng, /nʲ/ is slender n)