[An-lang] 'intrusive' nasal in independent pronouns

[David Gil]

David,

Phonologically this looks very much like the excrescent nasals that Tim 
McKinnon and I have described (in a couple of conference papers) for 
some Malayic varieties of Sumatra (see 
http://ismil.shh.mpg.de/18/abstracts/GilMcKinnon.pdf).

However, the triggering environment seems rather different: whereas in 
our Sumatra cases the nasal occurs phrase-finally, in your Sulawesi 
cases it is phrase- (or perhaps even word-) initial.

Best,

David

On 23/05/2017 06:34, David Mead wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm wondering if anyone has written about the nasal that shows up for 
> example in the independent pronouns of certain Sulawesi languages 
> (data below).
>
> The curious part, at least among the Sulawesi languages I've looked 
> at, is the nasal is present in some languages, absent in closely 
> related languages, but no language maintains n- and n-less forms as a 
> living contrast.
>
> Compare for example the independent pronouns in Wolio and its sister 
> language Kamaru. The nasal also shows up in the interrogative pronoun 
> meaning 'who?' (Note that historically ns shifted to nc in Wolio.)
>
> WOLIO        KAMARU
> 1s iaku         iaku
> 1pn i*ng* kita ikita
> 1px i*ng* kami ikami
> 2s i*ng* koo iko'o
> 2p i*ng* komiu ikomiu
> 3 i*n* cia        isia
>
> who? i*n* cema       isema
>
> Note also the independent pronouns in Tolaki and Mori Atas. (Note that 
> historically ngk shifted to ngg in Tolaki.)
>
> TOLAKI       MORI ATAS
> 1s i*n* aku        iaku
> 1pn i*ng* gito ikito
> 1px i*ng* gami ikami
> 2s i*ng* go'o iiko
> 2p i*ng* gomiu ikomiu
> 3 ie'i         iwono
> 3 ihiro        iworo
>
> who? i*n* ae         isea
>
> I'm curious as to what might be the historical source of this 
> 'intrusive' or 'facultative' nasal (call it what you will).
>
> David
>
>
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-- 
David Gil

Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany

Email: gil at shh.mpg.de
Office Phone (Germany): +49-3641686834
Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-81281162816

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