Basaa
- Language Family
- Niger-Congo
- Subgroup
- Narrow Bantu
- Area
- —
Summary
h' metathesizes with a preceding consonant in the Indirective Causative forms.
Type(s) of metathesis
| Type | Status | Optionality | Position | Location | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a. CC | Synchronic | Obligatory | Adjacent | Between root and suffix |
Case types and qualities
-
- CC
-
- C1:
- Any
- C2:
- Glottal fricative
Examples
| Unsuffixed | Indirect Causative | Nominalised | |
|---|---|---|---|
| lə́l | lə́hlà | lə́lə̂k | 'cross' |
| tèŋ | tìhŋà | tèŋèk | 'tie' |
| àt | èhdà | àdàk | 'unite' |
cf.
Conditions
According to Debbie Schmidt (9/2/94).
In the speech of her consultants, VchV was impossible within a word, though VC hV could occur over a word boundary. It seems that VhCv was always the result of morphological concatenation, i.e. that VhCv never occurs within a single morpheme.
She always her the sequence as syllable-final aspiration followed by an unaspirated (or certainly not noticeably aspirated) consonant.
The Basaa dictionary doesn't record the metathesis at all. It may be dialectal variation and the dictionary spelling is the standard pronunciation.
Motivations
No motivations could be found
Symbols
V́ = high tone
V̀ = low tone
V̂ = falling tone
ŋ = velar nasal consonant
ɓ = voiced bilabial implosive
Comments
Bibliography
- Hobley, June. 1965. Bassa Verbal Formations. The Journal of West African Languages. Vol. II. No. 2. 39-50.
- Lemb, Pierre & François de Gastines (1973). Dictionnaire Basaa-Francais. Douala: Collège Libermann.
- Schmidt, Deborah. 1994. Phantom consonants in Basaa. Phonology 11. 149-178.