55
At the prefix-stem morpheme boundary, the consonants which can be palatalized depend on the consonants which occur in prefixes. When a front-vowel prefix occurs
before a vowel-initial stem, hiatus is resolved by glide formation, resulting in palatalization in the prefix. Examples are in 35 below, listed according to noun classes
with front-vowel prefixes. In the second column, I include the underlying form of the prefix, which occurs before consonant-initial roots.
35 Palatalization of prefixes before vowel-initial roots
RM RM
RM RM
ST 2
ST 2
ST 2
ST 2
D D
; = - ; =;
2 2 .
; D
D ; 8
8 ;
++++ D 8 D
8; 8;
D D
; ;
Also, note that palatalization and labialization do not occur with the causative - i and passive -u extensions, which happens in many Bantu languages. Instead, the final
vowel elides or is replaced in these hiatus environments, thus removing the environment for glide formation. See §2.2.3 for discussion and examples.
2.3.3 Labialized Consonants
Like palatalized consonants, labialized consonants within root morphemes most often occur root-initially. That is, the first consonant of the root is labialized. Labialization of
, t, U 8U , is attested within noun roots, as shown in 36 below.
56 36
Root-initial labialization in nouns
9 9
9 9
9 E
9 2
. - -9=
E -9=
; .8 9
9 9
9 91
91 9
: 9
9 9
9 9=
E E9=
89 89
89 89
896 E 896
2 89
89 -
9 9
9 9
1 9 E 1 9
2 19
19 19
19 8 19
́ 19
́ - -:
19 19
:2 A small number of verb roots have labialized consonants as well, such as those in 37.
37 Root-initial labialization in verbs
9 9
9 9
9 .
9 9
9 9
9 9 8 .
: 9
9 9
9 8
9 8
- 89
89 89
89 89
: 9
9 9
9 9
2 8 9
Finally, labialization is also common when back-vowel prefixes labialize before vowel-initial stems. This occurs with a number of noun class prefixes, as shown in 38.
38 Labialization before vowel-initial roots
RM RM
RM RM
ST 2
ST 2
ST 2
ST 2
D D
9 6 2 9
9 -
D D
9 9 -
- D
D 9
9 .
57
The examples above are listed according to noun class, and I also show the underlying form of the prefix for reference.
The same process occurs when the infinitive prefix ko- labializes before vowel- initial verb roots, as in 39 below, which shows examples of both voiced and voiceless
prefixes. 39
Labialization before vowel-initial verb roots 89
89 89
89 89 1
: 89
- 89
9 9
9 9
9 9
8 9
. 2 Finally, note that all three of the processes described in the preceding sections
prenasalization, palatalization, labialization result in compensatory vowel lengthening, which is common in many Bantu languages. In the case of prenasalized consonants, the
vowel preceding the sequence is lengthened by varying degrees, sometimes dependent on the speaker and the particular word. In the case of palatalization and labialization, the
following vowel is lengthened. Lengthening occurs both root-internally and as a result of synchronic processes at morpheme boundaries. Because this lengthening is not
contrastive and varies phonetically, compensatory lengthening is not written in this thesis. See §3.3 for more on vowel length, and §3.3.2 for conditioned vowel length in
particular.
2.3.4 Dahl’s Law
