Can alpha (α) in the summarised rule also represent alveolar?

Answer

This is the summarised rule:

alveolar voiced nasal α voiced nasal / _____α

(alveolar voiced nasal becomes alpha voiced nasal when found before alpha)

The answer can be both yes and no, so you’re always right!

An alveolar sound doesn’t really have to change to an alveolar sound, so in a way there is no need for a rewrite rule. It is most likely that ‘on’ with an alveolar [n] is the default sound that applies whenever the special rewrite rule above does not apply.

However, you can imagine that the rule always applies. The ‘on’ prefix always checks its surrounding to see what it has to sound like, and if it is before an alveolar it just doesn’t have to change much.

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