Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
under embargo until 2025-06-30
2025-06-30T00:00:00Z
This study investigates the development of the following lateral fricatives and affricates (obstruents) in Nguni (S40) languages, spoken in Southern Africa. These lateral obstruents (/ɬ, ⁿɬ, ɮ, ⁿɮ,...Show moreThis study investigates the development of the following lateral fricatives and affricates (obstruents) in Nguni (S40) languages, spoken in Southern Africa. These lateral obstruents (/ɬ, ⁿɬ, ɮ, ⁿɮ, k͡ʟ ̝̊/) are rare in the Bantu language family, but occur in three subbranches of Southern Bantu: Sotho Tswana, Nguni, and Tsonga. Given the rarity of these sounds, in Bantu and crosslinguistically, the question arises how Southern Bantu languages have incorporated lateral obstruents in their phonologies, as they are not reconstructed for Proto Bantu. To answer this question, I analyze secondary data from 10 Nguni languages to study which lateral obstruents are used and how, leading to the conclusion that both inheritance and contact played a role in the development of lateral obstruents in Nguni languages. The data shows that alveolar lateral obstruents can be reconstructed to Proto Nguni and derive from a regular sound change from Proto Bantu palatals /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/. The velar lateral affricate finds its origin in loan words. I evaluate existing theories that proposed several contact scenarios, which at this point are not plausible explanations for the development of Nguni lateral obstruents. The findings from this study make several contributions to the field. It is the only empirical study to date to collect and reinterpret data from a large number of secondary sources, leading to a better understanding of not only the distribution of lateral obstruents in Nguni languages, but also the hypothesized ancestor of these related languages, Proto Nguni. Further, this thesis lays the groundwork for future research into lateral obstruents in Southern Bantu. If we expand our focus from Nguni to the other subclades that feature lateral obstruents, we can combine that knowledge of lateral obstruents in Southern Bantu with other innovations and patterns to gain insight into the diversification of Southern Bantu languages and understand how the subgroups relate to each otherShow less
