#3736: Manbo/anbago (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: oloffsonram <oloffsonram@globelsud.net>


I'm not a linguist, though I've known one or two. What I've found is 
that when an "n" is followed by a "b", in creole, to an American it 
becomes an "m". This comes from the closing of the lips to get to 
the "b". The way a native creole or french speaker avoids this 
phenomenon is by going nasal with the "n". I first discovered this with 
our song "Ambargo" which someone eventually corrected to "Anbago". 
The "m" was coverted to an "n"(nasal) and the "r" was dropped as is 
common in creole. In English, "embargo" has the "m". "Mambo" would 
sound phonetically correct to someone who wasn't native to the 
nasal "n" sound.

Richard Morse