South Mande Reconstruction: Initial consonants1 - Langues mandé ...

Type I: *m. This series rises no questions; it should just be noted thatin Proto-South Mande it is not a separate phoneme, but a nasal allophoneof */ɓ/.Type II: *mb. Two of Claire's sets, 'to go out' and 'dumb', in my Proto-SM reconstruction have initial *ɓ- ('go out (to)' and 'mute-1', cf. 3.2.1.)rather than *b-. Her Guro forms b 'to look like' and bō(b)ō 'dumb' are mostprobably taken from the dissertation of H.-Cl. Grégoire (unfortunately,Claire does not provide the list of her data sources). 8 As for the Yaureform bura, it is certainly not genetically identical to the other forms for 'goout'; there is another form in this language, ɓɔ, which fits the set very well,especially if we take into account the polysemy of this verb in thelanguages of the group (and of other Mande languages as well).The third set, 'to cover', is represented in my data as *blŋ bury > Dan(bl) b hide, Tura # b, Mwan # bŋ, Wan # bla (?), Beng # bl, whichcorresponds more or less to Claire's data for South Mande. At the sametime, this set raises two serious problems.First, my Proto-SM form has *b-, unlike those for 'go out' and 'dumb',which is incompatible with their being put together in one «type».Second, I disagree with Claire as to the links of the stems in otherMande groups. For me, this stem corresponds to Soso br vt bury (animal,object), Mogofin biri vt bury, Nyokolo Maninka and Xasonka bùruu vtbury, Kankan Maninka br vt bury, Soninke bulu/bullu vt bury, dig in. Asfor the forms for Manding and many other West Mande languages providedby Claire, I consider them as a different stem 'bend-1', whose reflexesare as follows:Vai b' vi stumble; get caught (as in a trap)P.Manding *bDi(n), Mandinka bti vt shut, close; cover; finalizemarriage with, Nyokolo Maninka bidi vt cover, Xasonka búti vt cover withsth. (sth. – kùnna); vr bend down, curve; hide oneself, Kagoro VV bti vioverturn, come down; vt bend; turn over (vessel); cover with sth. (sth. – na); vrbend down, curve, Maninka bdi˜, bri˜, bdi vi fall prone; vt bend (one's back,head), curve, stoop; cover with sth. (sth. – l, k); sit on (eggs); vr bend down,stoop; lie face down, fall prone; n ambush, Bamana bri vi fall prone; overturn,come down (upon – k); vt bend (one's back, head), curve, stoop; turn over(vessel); cover with sth. (sth. – l, k); vr bend down, stoop; conceal oneself, skulk,lurk; lie face down, fall prone; lean backBobo plē/plē vi bend (of a vessel)8As was mentioned above, in this dissertation b and ɓ are often not distinguished.