1. Towards Proto-Niger-Congo: Comparison and Reconstruction, Paris, 1.09.2016 Konstantin Pozdniakov (INALCO-IUF-LLACAN-LABEX EFL). Proto-Niger-Congo root structures

2. *NC had lexical roots. These roots had various structures. 2 questions: What structures did they have? How can we try to reconstruct these structures?

3. *PB Many structures: How to put them in order?

4. ‘Initial C-… / Initial V-…’ - the front / back faces of the cube ‘Final -V / Final -C’ - the left / right faces ‘Monosyllabic / Polysyllabic’ structures - the top / bottom faces (handout) 3 main features

5. These 3 features imply 3 questions concerning ptrototypical structures of the NC lexical roots: 1) What was / were the initial segment/s? Did the NC roots have initial *C- or *V-? 2) What was / were the final segment/s? Did they have final *-C or *-V? 3) How many syllables did they have: *CV(C)? CVCV(C)? CVCVCV(C)?

6. 1)Initial? Balant and Basari are both Atlantic languages, but: in Balant – 100% of words have *C-, while in Basari – only 14% of words have *C- What did we have in Proto-Atlantic?

7. 2) Final? Did the NC roots have final *-C or *-V?

8. Many NC languages: 0% -C 100% -V

9. Palor: 92% -C 8% -V *NC? But many opposite cases

10. 3) How many syllables did the NC roots have: CV(C)? CVCV(C)? CVCVCV(C)? Does the simple scale (monosyllabic, disyllabic, trisyllabic roots) suffice and is it suitable for a systematic comparison of root structures?

11. % of monosyllables in Atlantic languages 1st line – Atlantic languages – 2 coulours = 2 branches 2 nd line - % of monosyllabic words in the dictionaries (a decreasing order) with the average % for Atlantic (41%) - red We see the enormous difference in frequencies: What was the frequency of Mono- in Proto-Atlantic? Like in Konyagı? Bedik? Average? Konyagi and Bedik – the same subgrouping (tenda)– 73% and 1% respectively. Moreover, the same language (Jaad) in 2 different sources (blue) shows very different %. The same is for Joola (green) and in Manjak. It is clear that our characteristics is not good for any conclusion about syllabic structures. Why? Konyagi – Bedik – comment. In Bedik + CM (even in Verbs – infinitives) What can we do? ( handout )

12. How could these 3 parameters become so different in modern NC languages? 1)Phonetic changes : for example, *NC *CV > Atlantic (in some conditions) *CVk (so, PB *CV ~ Atlantic *CVC) 2)Phonotactic changes: *-C > -CV – in many NC languages independently 3)Morphology: noun class markers, verbal derivation.

13. A very powerful tool for finding the traces of morphemes is to compare frequencies in Nouns and Verbs Assumption: In lexical roots, the frequencies of a structure in Nouns and Verbs must be equal or similar. If they are not similar, it indicates that we deal with morphemes to be found

14. In Baga Mb (Atlantic) Verbs are longer (verbal derivation) In Temne (Mel) : Nouns are longer (traces of noun classes) Red colour – the number of observed (obs) words is much higher than the expected number – there are too many words Blue colour – the number of observed words is much lower than it was expected. 2 examples

15. INITIAL CONSONANT / VOWEL?

16. Yoruba (Benue-Congo, Defoid) The only one V- verb is ɔ́dà ‘ordonner’ All nouns have V- structures V- is a trace of CMs

17. Other BC 172

18. Details: C-/V- V + Nasals BC: Cross

19. Kom (Bantoid) a – cl.7 ə – cl. 1, 3, 9, 19 i – cl.5 BC

20. Other NC branches

21. 2 different cases: 1 st case – Manjaku: (Nouns +) – Vowels as CM 2 nd case – Bedik: (Verbs +) – Vowels as a Verbal derivation or an Infinitive marker (handout)

22. i- - infinitive Invinitive in Verbs

23. The only language with V- in verbs - Kordofanien

24. Conclusion : *NC had *C- stems

25. FINAL CONSONANT / VOWEL?

26. PB FUNTRA pepʊmʊdwind dandandline -C nouns:

27. Atlantic Bak group Northern group

28. Only Adamawa, a different case (handout)

29. Jaad (Badiaranke)  PB (handout) What was / were the function /-s of the final vowels in Nouns?

30. Bantu??? 96% of [ɛ] are in the Final position and only in Nouns

31. NC roots had *C- NC roots had mostly *-C Now let’s try to answer what main structures did they have. We shall do it for 12 main families of NC

32. BC family

33. *PB

34. *CVC > CVC-V (nouns) *CVCVC > CVCVC-V (nouns)

35. *PB with some unified structures 4 consonants words – CVCVCVC – zone J They are all verbs.

36. Verbs: CVCVCVC? CVCVC-VC? The final segments –VC: 4 or 5 verbal suffixes ? -ʊk 89 -ad 38 -an 35 -ʊd 81 / -ɩd 61 (complementary distribution) Plus -VC in CVCVC-VC = a preceding vowel Total: 304 / 379

37. Among 61 -ɩd : 35 ɩC-ɩd

38. Among 81 -ʊd : 55 ʊC-ʊd

39. CV structure CVV – no verbs at all! *CV > CV-V? One more argument for *Stem > Stem-V (nouns) But no difference of frequencies in Verbs and Nouns

40. *PB I can not explain these variations – it’s for bantuists to give the interpretations So let us take this average for Bantu : 95% of stems have -C (two first lines) On more observations : Verbes are longer. Verbal derivation?

41. Other BC: main structures are yellow - CVC or CVCV? Yes, de Wolf reconstructs the main structure as CVCV but there is no Verbs (see Total) in his reconstruction

42. BC In Gwari – in Nouns and Verbs CVCV is one of the main structures while CVC is absent but there is no final consonants at all : only tēbùl ’table’ which is not *NC

43. BC (yellow lines) For Upper Cross: Dimmendal – CVCV but Connel – for Lower-Cross – CVC Cross

44. BC Jibe – CVCV, but Proto-Jukunoid - CVC Jukunoid

45. BC In bantoid – mostly CVC – more than CVCV CVCV - mostly verbs, not as in Bantu In Abanyom: 42 verbs among 80 CVCV have final -ɛ̂ (or -ê after V1 of 2nd degree) – so *CVC-V ? Bantoid

46. BC In Plateau on could found CVCV (Sambe) but also CVC (Hasha) (To note that in Sambe CVCV is in Verbs and many of them seem to be derivated) Plateau

47. BC Conclusion: The main stem-structure in *BC seems to be CVC

48. Other families

49. Kwa 1/2 (yellow lines) CV V-CV No -C words 1)CV (verbes) 2) CVCV (nouns!) No -C words Basic: CV

50. Kwa 2/2 1)CV 2) CVCV No -C : *CVC > CVC-V?

51. Mel 1/2 (yellow lines) Various structures: Nouns are longer than Verbs - CMs? CVCV? CVCVC? North

52. Mel 2/2 Kisi – more than 100 structures! Thank You, Tucher! CVC, CVCV South

53. Atlantic 1/3 CVC

54. Atlantic 2/3 (yellow lines) 1)CVC 2)CVCVC

55. Atlantic

56. Adamawa (yellow lines) CVCV, CVC

57. Ubangi 1/2 CVCV

58. Ubangi 2/2 CVCVC: 1)Reduplication 2) *Classes? Derivation? CVCVC: gba- 1)Augmentative 2) *class prefix? (handout)

59. Gur Final – only -V Nouns are longer than verbs (red) Main structures: CVCV, CVCVCV; CV (verbs) Suffixed CMs

60. Mande 1/3 Manding 1) CVCV 2) CVCVCV Nouns = Verbs in Bambara but not in Mandinka. Why? (handout)

61. Mande 2/3 Words become shorter: instead of CVCV /CVCVCV > CVCV /CV

62. Mande 3/3 The shortest words:

63. Kru CVC (1 word): mīc ~ mīɔ̄ 'tongue' Main structures like in Kono and Kpelle (Mande West) or like in Mande Sud-East: CVCV /CV or CV / CVCV

64. Dogon 1)CVCV 2)CVCVCV 3) CV

65. Ijo The only word -C : dɛ́vʊ̀l ~ dɛ́vʊ̀lʊ̀ 'the Devil' CVC = CVm 1)CVCV 2) CVCVCV No -C

66. Kordofanian CVCVC

67. Niger-Congo (handout)

68. *CVC – the main prototypical structure of the Niger-Congo roots? CVCV (red) – phonotactics: no final consonants: *CVC > CVCV? CVCV (black) – Adamawa-Ubangi-Gur, Mel? If *CVC > CVC-V, is the last vowel is similar to the 1st one?

69. BUT YES

70. Thank you! This correlation could be found not only in languages with -V, but in ALL NC languages without any exception!