The Range and Beauty of Internal Reconstruction: Probing Hausa Linguistic History
The Range and Beauty of Internal Reconstruction: Probing Hausa Linguistic History
Author(s): Paul NewmanSubject(s): Phonetics / Phonology, Morphology, Lexis, Historical Linguistics, Comparative Linguistics
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Hausa; Klingenheben’s Law; historical linguistics; internal reconstruction; diphthongs; compounds
Summary/Abstract: Using examples from Hausa, this paper demonstrates the probative value of Internal Reconstruction (IR) as a method for unearthing linguistic history. Five developments in the history of Hausa discovered by means of IR are described. These are Klingenheben’s Law; two previously unrecognized diphthongs, *iu and *ui; the emergence of the phoneme /h/ from a phonetic feature of word onset; vowel lowering resulting in asymmetry in plural formation; and the preservation of an archaic third person singular masculine pronoun *ni in fixed compounds.
Journal: Studies in African Languages and Cultures
- Issue Year: 2014
- Issue No: 48
- Page Range: 13-31
- Page Count: 19
- Language: English