<p>It's the IPA diacritic for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_release" rel="nofollow noreferrer">nasal release</a> from a stopped consonant:</p>
<p>Quoting right from that Wikipedia page:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>That is, the /d/ is released directly into the /n/: [ˈsʌdⁿn̩].</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Where <code>[ˈsʌdⁿn̩]</code> is the IPA transcription of the English word &quot;sudden&quot;, where the blocked air flow from the articulation of <code>/d/</code> is released through the nose (you should feel it vibrating in your pharynx).</p>
<p>For those who don't have the font installed, I believe the character in the OP is:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/bNcli.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/bNcli.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-19T22:18:56.877Z
/dⁿ/ doesn't seem to be close to n or l though, no?
Mou某
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-19T22:27:56.007Z
@Mo. there are similarities, right? After all /d/, /n/ and /l/ are all dental consonants. And actually to articulate /dⁿ/ from /d/ you (roughly) just have to route the air flow through the nose after releasing the obstruction (tongue, teeth and lips don't move), and to change /dⁿ/ to /n/ you (roughly) don't obstruct the air flow (tongue, teeth and lips again don't move). Kinda close, but your mileage may vary
blackgreen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-19T22:30:39.603Z
Less similarities with /l/ (el) as that is a lateral.
blackgreen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-19T22:48:29.747Z
Well I believe it is /Ĩ/ with a tilde, sorry I got lazy in my comments there.
Mou某
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-20T08:32:54.050Z
@Mo. based on my experience with phonology and linguistics, I think the relation with the laterals (nasalized or not) is less marked. I think of /Ĩ/ (el with tilde) as the phoneme south-westerners use when they speak Mandarin with an accent and replace /l/ with a nasal sound -> e.g. 物流 (logistics) "wu-liu" -> "wu-niu" where the n is actually /Ĩ/. So *that one* to me is quite unlike /dⁿ/
blackgreen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-19T21:21:34.750Z
2020-08-19T21:43:50.177Z
2020-08-19T21:43:50.177Z
blackgreen
<p>While answering @Qiangong2's question here: <a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/q/40795/4136">Are Characters customized in different provinces due to dialectal differences?</a> I was looking through the table on <a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9B%9B%E5%B7%9D%E6%96%B9%E8%A8%80%E5%AD%97" rel="nofollow noreferrer">四川方言字</a>.</p>
<p>On the table the following initial keeps showing up:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>/dⁿ/</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For instance here is one single entry:</p>
<blockquote>
<p> | nang¹ | dⁿaŋ˥ | 形 | 瘦小、弱小</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The entry for this word in《成都话方言词典》is notated as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p> [Ĩaŋ⁵⁵] 身体瘦小</p>
</blockquote>
<p>《现代汉语方言音库 • 成都话音档》writes it as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p> naŋ⁵⁵ 瘦小</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I've seen both /n/ and /Ĩ/ as an initial, I have a preference of the two, but I have never come across /dⁿ/. I'm guessing that a simplified writing of /dⁿ/ would be: d‘, but how d‘ sounds anything like /n/ or /Ĩ/ is beyond me.</p>
<p>Ideas?</p>

<pronunciation><topolect><phonology><ipa>
What does the inital /dⁿ/ stand for?
# What does the inital /dⁿ/ stand for?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-08-19)

While answering @Qiangong2's question here: [Are Characters customized in different provinces due to dialectal differences?](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/q/40795/4136) I was looking through the table on [四川方言字](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9B%9B%E5%B7%9D%E6%96%B9%E8%A8%80%E5%AD%97).

On the table the following initial keeps showing up:

> /dⁿ/

For instance here is one single entry:

> | nang¹ | dⁿaŋ˥ | 形 | 瘦小、弱小

The entry for this word in《成都话方言词典》is notated as:

> [Ĩaŋ⁵⁵] 身体瘦小

《现代汉语方言音库 • 成都话音档》writes it as:

> naŋ⁵⁵ 瘦小

I've seen both /n/ and /Ĩ/ as an initial, I have a preference of the two, but I have never come across /dⁿ/. I'm guessing that a simplified writing of /dⁿ/ would be: d‘, but how d‘ sounds anything like /n/ or /Ĩ/ is beyond me.

Ideas?

**Tags:** pronunciation, topolect, phonology, ipa

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-08-19. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

It's the IPA diacritic for the [nasal release](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_release) from a stopped consonant:

Quoting right from that Wikipedia page:

> That is, the /d/ is released directly into the /n/: [ˈsʌdⁿn̩].

Where `[ˈsʌdⁿn̩]` is the IPA transcription of the English word "sudden", where the blocked air flow from the articulation of `/d/` is released through the nose (you should feel it vibrating in your pharynx).

For those who don't have the font installed, I believe the character in the OP is:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/bNcli.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/bNcli.png)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: /dⁿ/ doesn't seem to be close to n or l though, no?  
> **username_1**: @Mo. there are similarities, right? After all /d/, /n/ and /l/ are all dental consonants. And actually to articulate /dⁿ/ from /d/ you (roughly) just have to route the air flow through the nose after releasing the obstruction (tongue, teeth and lips don't move), and to change /dⁿ/ to /n/ you (roughly) don't obstruct the air flow (tongue, teeth and lips again don't move). Kinda close, but your mileage may vary  
> **username_1**: Less similarities with /l/ (el) as that is a lateral.  
> **username_0**: Well I believe it is /Ĩ/ with a tilde, sorry I got lazy in my comments there.  
> **username_1**: @Mo. based on my experience with phonology and linguistics, I think the relation with the laterals (nasalized or not) is less marked. I think of /Ĩ/ (el with tilde) as the phoneme south-westerners use when they speak Mandarin with an accent and replace /l/ with a nasal sound -> e.g. 物流 (logistics) "wu-liu" -> "wu-niu" where the n is actually /Ĩ/. So *that one* to me is quite unlike /dⁿ/  

---

