Penultimate lengthening in Bantu
-
Larry M. Hyman
Abstract
It is often remarked that Eastern and Southern Bantu languages that have lost the historical Proto-Bantu vowel-length contrast tend to have a process of penultimate lengthening (PL). However, there has never been a general, cross-linguistic survey of the phenomenon. In this paper I (i) delimit the geographical distribution of PL; (ii) determine the domain within which PL occurs: it is assumed that the process was innovated before pause, later “narrowing” to the right edge of phrases, then words; (iii) survey the factors that contribute to or block PL; and (iv) propose a historical relationship between PL and the restriction of length contrasts to metrically strong positions (penultimate, antepenultimate), which, I argue, leads to the ultimate loss of contrastive length.
Abstract
It is often remarked that Eastern and Southern Bantu languages that have lost the historical Proto-Bantu vowel-length contrast tend to have a process of penultimate lengthening (PL). However, there has never been a general, cross-linguistic survey of the phenomenon. In this paper I (i) delimit the geographical distribution of PL; (ii) determine the domain within which PL occurs: it is assumed that the process was innovated before pause, later “narrowing” to the right edge of phrases, then words; (iii) survey the factors that contribute to or block PL; and (iv) propose a historical relationship between PL and the restriction of length contrasts to metrically strong positions (penultimate, antepenultimate), which, I argue, leads to the ultimate loss of contrastive length.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
-
Part I. Structures and typologies
- Discourse semantics and the form of the verb predicate in Karachay-Balkar 3
- Typology and channel of communication 47
- Marking versus indexing 69
- Head-marking languages and linguistic theory 91
- Lessons of variability in clause coordination 125
- Noun classes grow on trees 153
- Affecting valence in Khumi 171
- Capturing diversity in language acquisition research 195
-
Part II. Distributions in time and space
- Who inherits what, when? 219
- Polysynthesis in the Arctic/Sub-Arctic 241
- A (micro-)accretion zone in a remnant zone? 265
- A history of Iroquoian gender marking 283
- The satem shift, Armenian siseṙn, and the early Indo-European of the Balkans 299
- Penultimate lengthening in Bantu 309
- Culture and the spread of Slavic 331
- The syntax and pragmatics of Tungusic revisited 357
- Some observations on typological features of hunter-gatherer languages 383
- Typologizing phonetic precursors to sound change 395
- Distributional biases in language families 415
- The morphology of imperatives in Lak 445
- Subgrouping in Tibeto-Burman 463
-
Part III. A (cautionary) note on methodology
- Real data, contrived data, and the Yokuts Canon 477
- Language index 495
- Name index 499
- Subject index 505
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
-
Part I. Structures and typologies
- Discourse semantics and the form of the verb predicate in Karachay-Balkar 3
- Typology and channel of communication 47
- Marking versus indexing 69
- Head-marking languages and linguistic theory 91
- Lessons of variability in clause coordination 125
- Noun classes grow on trees 153
- Affecting valence in Khumi 171
- Capturing diversity in language acquisition research 195
-
Part II. Distributions in time and space
- Who inherits what, when? 219
- Polysynthesis in the Arctic/Sub-Arctic 241
- A (micro-)accretion zone in a remnant zone? 265
- A history of Iroquoian gender marking 283
- The satem shift, Armenian siseṙn, and the early Indo-European of the Balkans 299
- Penultimate lengthening in Bantu 309
- Culture and the spread of Slavic 331
- The syntax and pragmatics of Tungusic revisited 357
- Some observations on typological features of hunter-gatherer languages 383
- Typologizing phonetic precursors to sound change 395
- Distributional biases in language families 415
- The morphology of imperatives in Lak 445
- Subgrouping in Tibeto-Burman 463
-
Part III. A (cautionary) note on methodology
- Real data, contrived data, and the Yokuts Canon 477
- Language index 495
- Name index 499
- Subject index 505
