Premire Partie: Grammaires Soubiya et Louyi. , (2015) Cumulative Effects in Xitsonga: High-Tone Spreading and Depressor Consonants. Evidently more study of the phonetic and sociolinguistic variation in this area would be of great interest. Executive Director, Summer Institute of Linguistics Ltd., High Wycombe, England. Journal of the International Phonetic Association These pictures are magnetic resonance images of sustained vowels produced by Pither Medjo Mv, a speaker of the Bitam variety of Fang A75 (Demolin et al. (2004) The Chimwiini Lexicon Exemplified. Peter Co-occurrence restrictions of a harmonic nature between vowels, very typical of sub-Saharan African languages, are quite commonly found in Bantu languages, though often limited in extent, e.g., only applying in certain morphological contexts, such as between verb roots and extensions. The click in the second syllable has a dorsal release that is closer in time to the release of the anterior click closure. , The traditional Bantu (people) government is therefore a model to revisit and update, in this world where people feel abused by politics. Similar segments are very rare in the worlds languages, but do occur in the Dagestanian language Tabasaran (Kodzasov & Muravjeva 1982). Vietti ), Handbook of Click Languages. & Boyer, O. Electropalatography (EPG) of Mvita Swahili G42b shows that implosive // has a more retracted occlusion than pulmonic /t/ and // has a shorter occlusion than /t/ (Hayward et al. Hinnebusch 2016). (2014) How to Study a Tone Language, with Exemplification from Oku (Grassfields Bantu, Cameroon). Journal of the International Phonetic Association Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). 33(3): 273290. (2015) An Acoustic Study of Luganda Liquid Allophones. Otronyi International Journal of American Linguistics It is difficult to be certain that ATR contrasts exist in a language unless direct articulatory data on the vocal tract configuration during vowel production is available. Clark Brenzinger, M. Figures 3.143.16 Mhlig, W. J. G. a given language is to be accepted as Bantu. (2014) The Grammatical Structure of Sowetan Tsotsitaal. ), Handbook of Click Languages. Harmonically related pairs are noted by the use of the same symbol with and without a -ATR diacritic. & Spectrogram of Rwanda JD61 akabwa [akab The one spectrogram of a word containing /pk/ published in this study actually shows that the duration of the element is considerably longer than a simple stop, suggesting it contains a sequence of articulations, although no burst is visible for the /p/. Gieseke, S. Proctor, M. London: Gregg. O. (1981) A Handbook of the Venda Language. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics Fulop, S. A. Although its true that many languages within the Bantu group are phonetically quite similar to each other, there is considerably more diversity in their phonetic patterns than is often believed. Figure 3.12 K. 2003). and ), Mixed Languages: 15 Case Studies in Language Intertwining, 215224. F. Bailey (eds. Seifert J. a thorough treatment of both the syntactic and semantic characteristics of the external and internal arguments. I must now turn to a more detailed consideration of one Greenberg's language families and the word-lists which appear to be basic evidence. Roux A. are higher compared to , Bantu languages, a group of some 500 languages belonging to the Bantoid subgroup of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family. P. Pitch effects of depressor nasals in the Giryama E72a words /nhane/ eight (left panel) and ideophone /nho/ (right panel). Ms. Tervuren: Royal Museum for Central Africa. halshs-02504383 %RVWRHQ .RHQ 0DUN 9DQ GH 9HOGH ,QWURGXFWLRQ ,Q 9DQ GH 9HOGH 0DUN .RHQ %RVWRHQ 'HUHN 1XUVH *pUDUG 3KLOLSSVRQ HGV 7KH %DQWX /DQJXDJHV QG (GLWLRQ >5RXWOHGJH Braver, A. A detailed study of a weakly whistled fricative in Tsonga S53 shows that the narrowed lip posture is accompanied by a retroflex lingual gesture and thus may be transcribed with a retroflex fricative symbol [], e.g., [r] disasters (Lee-Kim et al. There is much work that remains to be done on cross-linguistic, intra- and inter-speaker variation of typologically unusual sounds such as clicks and whistling fricatives. Undoubtedly, studies of intonation and prosody in Bantu languages will continue to increase in number. In the South-West, the area near where the borders of Namibia, Angola, Botswana and Zambia meet, the largest number of clicks is found in Yeyi R41. 45(1): 6169. Miller, A. L. Fry, C. (2013) Dissimilation by Surface Correspondence in Aghem Velarized Diphthongs. , 31(1): 149. The abbreviations in parentheses may . New Haven: Yale University, PhD dissertation. In The pharyngealised /o/ in The next lower vowels are markedly lower. Faytak, M. Mumba (2015) Prehistoric Language Contact in the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Area: Khoisan Influence on Southwestern Bantu Languages. (1931a) A Comparative Study of Shona Phonetics. ), Intonation in African Tone Languages, 365392. Johannesburg: University of Witwatersrand Press. In Maddieson, I. Monaka, K. C. Several recent detailed studies have looked at the timing and laryngeal characteristics of stops after nasals in Tswana S31 and Kgalagari S311. We are using cookies to provide statistics that help us give you the best experience of our site. There are many important interactions between these three aspects of phonetic structure and some of these will be taken up at the point where it seems appropriate to do so. (eds. (1996) Boundary Tones and the Phonetic Implementation of Tone in Chichewa. Stem-initial syllables typically have a greater number of segmental contrasts than found elsewhere (Downing 2010). In addition, many have only H and L in their outputs, e.g. S. L. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics Xhosa S41 vowel formant means (Roux & Holtzhausen 1989). The Swahili data collected (text and speech) was mainly the Standard Swahili that is of general use in official and learning. ), The Complete Linguist: Papers in Memory of Patrick J. Dickens, 135170. ), Proceedings of the Sixth Australian Conference on Speech Science and Technology, 5560. The word papyrus may also be articulated with a velar stop in place of the click [rukoma], as seen in Paris: Centre de Recherches, dEchanges et de Documentation Universitaire. Paper presented at the 32nd Annual Conference on African Linguistics. Figure 3.16 Journal of African Languages and Linguistics N. Some North-Western Bantu languages which have stem-initial accent, such as Eton A71, have a focus prosody that causes the lengthening of stem-initial consonants and vowels (Van de Velde & Idiatov 2016). These people spoke Western Bantu languages and shared a In A. Like most linguistic maps, this map represents a somewhat fictitious ethnographic idealisation not corresponding precisely with any exact time or population distribution. There are different types of downstep attested in some Bantu languages. (2016) How Intonations Interact with Tones in Embosi (Bantu C25), a Two-Tone Language Without Downdrift. Matumbi P13 has been claimed to have super-close vowels /i u/ (Odden 1996: 5), but the description of the contrast between /i u/ and /i u/ as being roughly equivalent to the contrast between [], [] and [i], [u] suggests that the vowels likely contrast tongue root position (ATR) rather than tongue height. S. J. Cologne: Rdiger Kppe. The most detailed study remains that of Traill et al. (2010) A Re-evaluation of the Zulu Implosive []. Africana Linguistica Kisseberth, C. , Downing, L. J. Stress in Bantu often falls on the penult, typically with vowel lengthening, but stem-initial prominence also occurs (Downing 2010). The second click also has a velar closure. The second line marks the time-point at which the velar closure is released. Languages across the world have unique phonemic systems. Maphalala, Z. Moshi & In South-East Bantu languages, three contrastive click types are found, and probably no more than seven accompaniments are used. Final High or rising intonations are found in Ganda JE15, Chewa N31b and Saghala E74b, while final High-Low or High-falling intonations are found in Jita JE25. (2013) Phonological Devoicing and Phonetic Voicing in Setswana. High front vowels condition tap allophones of /l/ in Ganda JE15 (Myers 2015) and Tsonga S53 (Bennett & Lee 2015), and of /r/ in the Washili variety of Ngazidja G44a (Patin 2013). (eds. T. Create a chart to keep track of your information. In Patin, C. Finally, the , & Nordic Journal of African Studies Mongo-Nkundu C61 has reduction of final lowering, while Zulu S42 and Southern Sotho S33 cancel penultimate lengthening in question prosody. Doke, C. M. Diemer , & (1985) The Londo Word: Its Phonological and Morphological Structure. Dalsagaard, P. Letele, G. L. (eds. E. D. Eine Bestandsaufnahme. (1970a) Comparative Bantu: An Introduction to the Comparative Linguistics and Prehistory of the Bantu languages. Lexical stems have a system of seven oral vowels but only five nasal vowels. Somerville: Cascadilla Proceedings Project. Wentzel Windhoek: Out of Africa Publishers. Both languages have contrasts of vowel quantity and compensatory lengthening of vowels before prenasalised stops, but there are interesting differences between the two. De Blois, K. F. New York: Harcourt Brace. Contacted electrodes are shown as black squares and uncontacted ones as grey dots. Figure 3.31 Figure 3.35 (eds. , or as an unaspirated alveolar click ([ruoma]), as in A particularly rare phenomenon reported in Hendo C82 involves the class 5 prefix, which is actually the reflex of the Proto-Bantu augment *di- followed by the noun prefix *i- (cf. In Language locations are estimated following Maho (2009) and Gieseke and Seifert (2007). Stewart, J. M. & ), Proceedings of the 6th World Congress of African Linguistics, Cologne, 1721 August 2009, 219224. Certain more complex patterns, such as those noted by Hombert (1990) in Fang A75, and by Roux (1995) in Xhosa S41, may require a more elaborate model. (eds. Shosted, R. K. 38(1): 825. Chewa N31b and Tumbuka N21, for instance, do not have focus prosody (Downing 2016). Resources listed below are intended to contribute to foundational awareness of potential cultural and linguistic influences. W. Rycroft, D. K. & Lee, S. J. Romero, J. Some of this diversity may be disguised by the widespread use of simplifying transcriptions and orthographies which normalise away variation within and between languages or underrepresent distinctions. Cape Town: University of Cape Town, PhD dissertation. Mutaka Phonological theories, phonetic theories, and hypotheses about patterns of sound change can be tested in this real-world laboratory, ensuring the popularity of Bantu languages as subjects of research for years to come. This would therefore be an important counter-example to the more common pattern found in labial-velar doubly articulated segments in other languages in which the labial closure is formed very slightly later (1015 ms) than the velar one. Cambridge; Oxford: Blackwell. ), Supplemental Proceedings of Phonology 2013, 110. The basic click mechanism does not determine what the larynx is doing while these movements are taking place in the oral cavity, nor whether the velum itself is raised or lowered to block or permit air from the lungs to flow out through the nose. Downing, L. J. . Figure 3.6 Orie, O l. 23: 120. ), African Mosaic: Festschrift for J. Sanders Volume 1: Phonologie. Baumbach, E. J. M. & The Bantu peoples, or Bantu, are an ethnolinguistic grouping of approximately 400 distinct ethnic groups who speak Bantu languages, consisting of some 600 languages with varied mutual intelligibility.The languages are native to 24 countries spread over a vast area from Central Africa to Southeast Africa and into Southern Africa. Bantu by fifty "Conimon Bantu time-spans,'' and proto-Bantu by ten. DOI link for The Bantu Languages of Africa. Since the Bantu languages have received very extensive historical analysis, this group of languages also provides a fertile field for examining inferences about the nature of phonetic sound change. They occur in two separate geographical clusters, the South-East (SEB) and the South-West (SWB), as shown in Journal of Phonetics The nasal feature is realised as nasalisation of the latter part of the vowel // in Fragment C, following an oral portion, B, and the aspiration of the initial stop, A. Fragment D, which is the consonantal part of the // is voiceless but oral, and as often in an [h]-sound, the transition of the formants of the flanking vowels can be traced through its duration. & Afido, P. & (1945) A Preliminary Study of the Lexicological Influence of the Nguni Languages on Southern Sotho. , In Mbukushu K333, the one series of clicks is reported to be pronounced either as dental, palatal or [post-]alveolar sounds (Fisch 1998). Roux 2005, Allwood et al. In Ngungwel B72a, there are three oral and three nasal vowels in prefixes [e a o e ]. (1972) Numerical Simulation of Vowel Quality Systems: The Role of Perceptual Contrast. Paper presented at Second World Congress of African Linguistics, Leipzig. (1993) Phonetics of Partially Nasal Consonants. x 25(3): 299356. Van de Velde, M. Vossen M. ), Proceedings of the Conference on Language Documentation and Linguistic Theory 2, 313321. , There are currently approximately 50 million speakers of Swahili (Hinnebusch, 1979), of which 2 million are native speakers (the remainder P. J. Cologne: Rdiger Kppe. , Shah This is not surprising, as retracting the tongue root is more likely to pull the tongue back and down when the tongue body position is front. https://www.britannica.com/art/Bantu-languages, Royal Society of Chemistry Publishing - Cultural phylogeography of the Bantu Languages of sub-Saharan Africa. See Hyman (1999) for more details on historical reconstruction and complications. , / all represent a voiced nasal (post)alveolar click. The bilabial click // is not found in Bantu except in paralinguistic utterances, and as a variant pronunciation of a sequence of labial and velar stops, as in Rwanda JD61 (Demolin 2015: 483). Figure 3.21 Figure 3.29 Each point represents the mean of between seven and 27 tokens of unreduced stem-initial vowels spoken by a male speaker. The segments labelled as implosives are sometimes described as if a glottal constriction is characteristic of their production. London: Oxford University Press for the International African Institute (IAI). The examples cited during this study are taken from the selected languages shown in the following list. A rapid reduction in the number of click contrasts occurred more than 100 years ago in the far-flung varieties of Nguni known as Ngoni N12 (Elmslie 1891, Spiss 1904, Doke 1954); Ngoni speakers subsequently shifted from Nguni to languages of the Manda N10 group (Maho 2003). Bailey, R. 9(1): 3034. & (eds. ), Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society Production of a lateral click is illustrated in The Bantu verb consists of a root that can be accompanied by affixes with various lexical and grammatical functions. (ed. This gesture may become associated with any class of consonants and thus is capable of becoming itself an independent phonological entity deployed for grammatical effect as in the depression without depressors described by Traill (1990). (eds. L.-J. Downing, L. J. I am a member of the publication's editorial board and strongly support the publication, Authored by: Each point represents the mean of between six and 21 tokens of phonetically long vowels in penultimate position in words spoken by a male speaker. Pulleyblank Doke, C. M. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. There is evidence for post-nasal fortition rather than devoicing in the Ngwato S31c variety (Gouskova et al.
