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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">In the Wapei branch of the Torricelli family, a change from l to n occurred in the language Au.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Matthew<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">From:
</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces@listserv.linguistlist.org> on behalf of Larry M Hyman via Lingtyp <lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org><br>
<b>Date: </b>Sunday, September 21, 2025 at 3:56</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"> </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">PM<br>
<b>To: </b>Sergey Loesov <sergeloesov@gmail.com><br>
<b>Cc: </b>LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG <lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org><br>
<b>Subject: </b>Re: [Lingtyp] L > N<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Thanks for all of the examples showing l > n. Although the contexts vary, I assume this change is a case of "strengthening", which would naturally associate it with onset position (although also with stem-
and word-initial positions). From my experience, prefixes are more likely to undergo l > n. In some Grassfields Bantu and Northwest Bantu languages the noun class 5 prefix *li- is realized ni- (~ nə-), e.g. Yemba (Bamileke-Dschang) lə-, Mbui ni-. I suspect
that the greater resistance of *l to [n] at the beginning of lexical morphemes (e.g. noun and verb roots) is because of the more significant contrastiveness of /l/ and /n/ vs. the small number of grammatical morphemes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">There also is the reverse occurrence of n > l in a "weakening" environment. Thus, in Aghem (Grassfields Bantu), /n/ becomes [l] intervocalically within stems. This not only produces alternations like b</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">ɨ</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt">́n
'dance' vs. b</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">ɨ</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt">́l-a 'dance-progressive' (Proto-Bantu *bín) but also relics of the Proto-Bantu suffix *an 'reciprocal' as -lɔ. The following is from pp.9-10
of Aghem Grammatical Structure (1979), which I see is available here: <a href="https://gsil.sc-ling.org/pubs/SCOPILS_6_7_8_9/Aghem_grammatical_structure.pdf">https://gsil.sc-ling.org/pubs/SCOPILS_6_7_8_9/Aghem_grammatical_structure.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Best, Larry<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><img border="0" width="443" height="562" style="width:4.6145in;height:5.8541in" id="_x0000_i1025" src="cid:ii_mfu0smeb0"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">On Sat, Sep 20, 2025 at 5:39</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"> </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt">AM Sergey Loesov via Lingtyp <<a href="mailto:lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org">lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org</a>>
wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="RU" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Dear colleagues,</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="RU" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> Are you aware of a shift
<i>l</i>- > <i>n</i>- affecting the onsets of grammatical morphemes</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">,
</span><span lang="RU" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">specifically in word-initial position?</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="RU" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> </span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Thank you very much!</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> </span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Sergey</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">_______________________________________________<br>
Lingtyp mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org" target="_blank">Lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org</a><br>
<a href="https://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp" target="_blank">https://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="gmailsignatureprefix"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">--
</span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Larry M. Hyman, Distinguished Professor of the Graduate School<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">& Director, France-Berkeley Fund, University of California, Berkeley<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><a href="https://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~hyman" target="_blank"><span style="color:#1155CC">https://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~hyman</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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