Mambai

[Robert Blust]

Dear All,

I'm wondering whether any of you might know the historical source of the final vowel in Mambai words such as /ausa/ (< *asu) 'dog', or /mauna/ (< manu < *manuk) 'bird'.  It occurs only on nouns, which suggests a morphological source, but no current description of the language that I have been able to consult mentions a nominal suffix -a.

Thanks!

Bob Blust
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