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

? *tó chest-2 > Dan (gw, kl) # tȍ, Wan # t, Beng # zū. 93.3.4. In two other sets, d- in Guro corresponds to t- in the otherlanguages. These irregularities may have different grounds. The firstlexeme belongs to the semantic group «names of elder relatives». Nounsof this group in many West Mande languages display traces of a prefixalmorpheme that I reconstruct as *Ń- (Vydrine 1994, 2001). According tothis hypothesis, the Proto-SM form for this word could be reconstructedas *Ń-tn.As for the other set, I do not see any reasonable explanation; the Guroform d may be just unrelated to the forms of the other languages.*Ń-tn paternal aunt > Tura # t, Guro BN dn*t heap > Tura # t, t adj numerous, in a great number; n pile, heap;scrap-heap, [Guro # d adv much; very; adj numerous, in a great number] GbanST tȕ, Wan # t adv much, Beng GL tŋ n heap, pile, # t vi gather together, vtgather3.3.5. Series 13 (t- in Yaure, d- elsewhere) undoubtedly corresponds toProto-SM *d-.Series 13:SMande Dan Tura Mano Guro Yaure Gban Mwan Wan Beng*d d d d d t d d d d*dna ant-3 > Dan (bl) drū n small black ants (sp.), Guro # dn nsmall red ants*dlŋ beer (< Jula dl, dr; the word may have also been borrowedindependently into each SM language) > Dan (bl) dl, Dan (gw) dl n redwine (imported), Tura # dl n red wine (imported), Guro BN dl n red wine,Gban ST dl, Mwan dl red wine, Wan # dl n wine*dn borrow > Guro #, BN dn n debt, credit, Gban # d (?) n debt,credit, Mwan # dr n debt*dn cook (to)-4 > Guro # dn vt, Yaure HP tw, t vt, Wan # drò vt*dl cold-2 > Mano ZE, VV dl adj cold; slow, Guro # dl adj calm;peaceful, Mwan # d adj fresh; wet, Wan # dl adj cold, cool; slow*dŋ deep-1 > Mwan # d adj deep, Wan # dùŋ n deepness9 Another option is to include this Beng form into the set *heart (series 20).