South Mande Reconstruction: Initial consonants1 - Langues mandÃ© ...

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sets will not be given in this paper unless they represent some specialinterest). Let us consider correspondence series attested in South Mande.In the following comparative sets, the semantics of the word in eachsingle language is not indicated if it corresponds directly to the semantickey of the set (given at the beginning of each set; a number with a dashcorresponds to the number of the root with the indicated semantics in mycomparative database).In the correspondence sets, sources of information are indicated withtwo-digit letter codes (cf. «Abbreviations» at the end of this paper). Thesymbol # signifies that the data stems from the unpublished dictionariesof my students, colleagues from St. Petersburg State University (mentionedin 1.3.) and myself. Names of the languages are given in bold. Translationsof the words and comments are in italics. Forms whose belongingto the set is questionable are given with a question mark (?). Sometimesgiven forms (almost) certainly do not ascend to the proto-form but arenevertheless of some interest (e. g. loanwords from related languages);these forms are put in curly braces, {}. In nasal feet, nasality can be indicatedin the consonant (n-, m-), in the vowel (with a tilde) or both. In otherwords, transcriptions m and m; ỹn, yl, yn and yn should beregarded as equivalent (except for Beng); their phonological transcriptionis /ɓ/ and /yl/ respectively. -r- is always a combinatory variant of thephoneme /-l-/. In Mwan, for nouns and verbs whose lexical tones arereplaced in some contexts with high tone, the modified forms are givenafter a slash.Reconstructions for vowels, internal consonants and tones are tentative.I proceed from the hypothesis that the Proto-South Mande languagehad a vocalic system like the one found in modern Guro and Yaure (3vocalic series: +ATR, –ATR and nasal), a nasal semi-vowel ŋ (like in Dan,Tura, Wan, Gban, Mwan), nasal and oral consonant harmony; it had 3level tones, and each vocalic element of a foot could carry a tone of itsown (for a partial substantiation of the phonological type of Proto-Mande,on the basis of the SM evidence, see [Vydrine 2001; Vydrine 2004]).3.1. Unvoiced labials3.1.1. There are two series of correspondences which can go back toProto-SM *p, series 1 and 2. The following reflexes in Mwan and Wan setthem apart: p- in the first series, f- and sometimes p- in the second. The
question is: should we postulate two different proto-phonemes, or maythese cases be in a complementary distribution?The sets representing the first series are considerably more numerous:13 against 5 (plus 8 sets where Mwan and Wan forms are missing: 'small-2', 'tale', 'tear', 'testicles', 'thing-3', 'twin', 'untie', 'winnow'). If we examineclosely the sets of the series 2, it becomes evident that– the structures of the Mwan and Wan forms are always CV, CVV orCVŋ, whereas the Proto-SM form should be reconstructed as *CVLV or,rarely, as *CVyV;– the initial consonant in both languages is always followed by a frontvowel.In the meantime, among sets of series 1 this conditioning is not attested(with one exception: Mwan p-ɓ 'iron'). We can therefore postulate*p- > f- in Mwan and Wan before a front vowel, accompanied by simplificationof the foot structure: *pVLV > fE, fEE or fEŋ, *pVyV > fE. It isinteresting to note that in the set «wash», where this simplification of footstructure occurred in Mwan, but not in Wan, *p- > f- only in the former,which seems to confirm the link between the fricativization of the labialinitial consonant and the elision of the internal consonant, connected withregressive vocalic assimilation. 6 .If so, both series 1 and 2 go back to Proto-SM *p-.Series 1:SMande Dan Tura Mano Guro Yaure Gban Mwan Wan Beng*p p p p f f f p p p*p dig-2 (to) > Dan (bl), Dan (gw) p vt dig out; pierce, Tura # p vt dig(soil; hole), Guro # f, perf. fa˜ vt pierce, Mwan # p vt pierce, Wan # p vtpierce, Beng p vt pierce*plŋ drum-3 > Guro VV fn, Mwan pl, plŋ, Wan # plŋ*pèlé *fall (to)-3 > Dan (bl) p, Dan (gw) p, Dan (kl) p vi fall; (bl)make a mistake, Tura # pèlè, pl vi fall down; vt inflict (smb. – t) with, ManoZE, VV pèlè, Mwan p (?) vt drop, cut down*p fell (to) > Dan (bl, gw) p vt knock down, Mwan # p/p vt drop; cutdown6I hope to find out at the stage of the reconstruction of Inlaut consonants andvowels why these changes took place in this word in Mwan, but not in Wan.
Page 2: necessary some serious corrections
Page 7 and 8: 2. Phonological systems of the Sout
Page 9 and 10: c) The phonological status of palat
Page 11 and 12: 2.5. Yaure [Lautenschlager 1992].Co
Page 13: Note: The phonological status of ll
Page 17 and 18: Series 2:SMande Dan Tura Mano Guro
Page 19 and 20: 3.1.4. Series 4 and 5 differ only b
Page 21 and 22: 3.2. Voiced and implosive labials3.
Page 23 and 24: esemble (smb. - m); help (smb. - v)
Page 25 and 26: *magólóŋ mango > Dan (bl) malo,
Page 27 and 28: *bùò wake up-2 > Dan (bl) b vi, M
Page 29 and 30: ? *ɓl respect-2 > Dan (bl) ɓl, Da
Page 31 and 32: Type I: *m. This series rises no qu
Page 33 and 34: 2) for the same stem, the Mano form
Page 35 and 36: *t red-1 > Dan (bh, yi) t, Dan (kl)
Page 37 and 38: ? *tó chest-2 > Dan (gw, kl) # tȍ
Page 39: VIII. Tagung der Vereinigung der Se
Page 43 and 44: *ɗó leave (go away)-1 > Dan (bl,
Page 45 and 46: *ɗŋ place-3 > Dan (bl) ɗ, Dan (g
Page 47 and 48: uncle's wife, Mano ZE lèē, Mwan #
Page 49 and 50: *s oilpalm grain-2 > Dan (bl) s n o
Page 53 and 54: *zèē here-2 > Dan (bl) z, Dan (gw
Page 57 and 58: *ka house-1 > Dan (bl, gw, kl) k, T
Page 59 and 60: In the 'skin' set, the Kla-Dan form
Page 61 and 62: *gŋ hill-2 > Dan (bl) gōō, Tura
Page 63 and 64: (For further examples cf. series 29
Page 65 and 66:
? *ƙùl round-2 > Dan (bn) gl, Dan
Page 67 and 68:
*gb baboon (Papio cynocephalus) > D
Page 69 and 70:
SMande Dan Tura Mano Guro Yaure Gba
Page 71 and 72:
of the types *kUlE, *kUlA, *kUE, *k
Page 73 and 74:
*y breast-3 > Dan (bl, gw, kl) y, T
Page 75 and 76:
SMande Dan Tura Mano Guro Yaure Gba
Page 77 and 78:
process may be reconstructed: *yl >
Page 79 and 80:
*wūō cry-1 > Guro ST wū, Guro BN
Page 81 and 82:
*wōlō pick up > Dan (bl) lōō vt
Page 83 and 84:
4. The reconstructed proto-SM syste
Page 85 and 86:
Abbreviationsadj - adjectiveadv - a
Page 87 and 88:
Flik 1977Flik, Eva. Tone glides and
Page 89 and 90:
Prost 1950/1968Prost 1953Prost Ms.R
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