preˈnasal, a. and n.
A. adj.
1. Anat. and Zool. [f. pre- B. 3 + nasal a.] In front of the nose or nasal region.
| 1875 Huxley & Martin Elem. Biol. (1883) 170 The lateral angles of this truncated face are produced outwards and forwards into two flattened præ-nasal processes. 1891 Flower & Lydekker Mammals ix. 282 A peculiar prenasal bone is developed at the anterior extremity of the mesethmoid, which serves to strengthen the cartilaginous snout [in the Suidæ]. |
2. Linguistics. [f. pre- B. 2 + nasal n.] Occurring before a nasal consonant.
| 1973 J. M. Anderson Struct. Aspects Lang. Change 137 Modifications in French, revolving around nasalization of prenasal vowels. |
B. n. Linguistics. [f. pre- A. 2 + nasal n.] A prenasalized consonant.
| 1948 R. A. D. Forrest Chinese Lang. v. 93 The Heh-Miao..have rid their language of all compound consonants (except the prenasals). Ibid. 94 The irregular representation of the initials with prefixed homorganic nasals (‘prenasals’) is puzzling. |
Hence prenaˈsality, the quality or state of being prenasalized.
| 1976 Language LII. 332 Another class of consonants involving nasality..argues against any solution to the problem of prenasality in which a single feature has the entire segment as its domain. |