Afijos nasales en el estado irrealis: análisis fonológico-cognitivo en el ashéninka

Within the framework of Cognitive Linguistics, and considering its application to phonology, this study examines the phenomenon of nasal affixes that appear in the irrealis state of the Ashéninka language. In particular, the study focuses on the factors that determine the categorization and prototypicality of nasals. Methodologically, the research adopts an exploratory qualitative approach based on a sample drawn from the available documentation. Among the findings, it is shown that the underspecified nasal constitutes a radial category in which multiple phonetic realizations are grouped by similarity and function. The study concludes that the occurrence of the nasal prefix and its variation—in [m, n, ŋ]—is determined by three factors: the social (time), the phonological, and the phonetic (allophones) factors.