The structural changes as well as the anomalies displayed by some phys
ical properties in the temperature interval which precedes the martens
itic transformation in Ni2MnGa compound have been studied. It is concl
uded that the TA(2) soft phonon condensation at T=T-1 >T-M (T-M being
the martensitic transformation temperature) is responsible for the beh
aviour mentioned above. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.