Open AccessOn the origin of tonal classes in Kinande noun stems
Author(s) -
Michael Kenstowicz
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
studies in african linguistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.178
H-Index - 4
eISSN - 2154-428X
pISSN - 0039-3533
DOI - 10.32473/sal.v37i2.107295
Subject(s) - bantu languages , linguistics , syllable , tone (literature) , noun , cognate , history , philosophy
This paper investigates the Proto-Bantu origins of the principal tonal classes in Kinande nonderived mono- and disyllabic nominal stems. The temary H vs. L vs. 0 distinction in the final syllable of the current language is traced back to a binary H vs. L contrast in Proto Bantu on the basis of two strata of reconstruction: first, a shallow one based on c. 200 PB cognates shared with the closely related Lacustrine languages Runyankore, Haya, and lita, and second, a deeper one based on c. 100 PB cognates shared with the more distantly related Congolese languages Tembo, Luba, and Lingala. A chronology of tone changes is postulated in which different sequencing of the same changes as well as altemative phonologizations of ambiguous phonetic structures playa key role.