Consonant mutation in Seereer-Siin

This study presents a description and analysis of stem-initial consonant mutation within the nominal system of Seereer-Siin, a West Atlantic language closely related to Fula. Two distinct mutation patterns are isolated. The first consists of a voiced stop--voiceless stop--prenasalized stop set of al...

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Main Author: Fiona McLaughlin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: LibraryPress@UF 1994-06-01
Series:Studies in African Linguistics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ojs.test.flvc.org/sal/article/view/107412
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author Fiona McLaughlin
author_facet Fiona McLaughlin
author_sort Fiona McLaughlin
collection DOAJ
description This study presents a description and analysis of stem-initial consonant mutation within the nominal system of Seereer-Siin, a West Atlantic language closely related to Fula. Two distinct mutation patterns are isolated. The first consists of a voiced stop--voiceless stop--prenasalized stop set of alternations, while the second is a Fula-like pattern consisting of continuant-stop-pre nasalized stop alternations. Consonant mutation is shown to be the result of the prefixation of a class marker that contains a floating autosegment which associates to an underspecified stem-initial consonant. Both mutation patterns occur in the same morphological environments, thereby presenting a potential problem for an auto segmental analysis: e.g., How can we account for the occurrence of continuants and voiced stops in the same environment? By positing different underlying forms for each of the mutation patterns we show how consonant mutation in Seereer is quite complex but also more regular than previously thought.
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series Studies in African Linguistics
spelling doaj-art-5a383ce5591a4ca28317fe8304612e9f2025-08-20T01:53:31ZengLibraryPress@UFStudies in African Linguistics0039-35332154-428X1994-06-01233Consonant mutation in Seereer-SiinFiona McLaughlinThis study presents a description and analysis of stem-initial consonant mutation within the nominal system of Seereer-Siin, a West Atlantic language closely related to Fula. Two distinct mutation patterns are isolated. The first consists of a voiced stop--voiceless stop--prenasalized stop set of alternations, while the second is a Fula-like pattern consisting of continuant-stop-pre nasalized stop alternations. Consonant mutation is shown to be the result of the prefixation of a class marker that contains a floating autosegment which associates to an underspecified stem-initial consonant. Both mutation patterns occur in the same morphological environments, thereby presenting a potential problem for an auto segmental analysis: e.g., How can we account for the occurrence of continuants and voiced stops in the same environment? By positing different underlying forms for each of the mutation patterns we show how consonant mutation in Seereer is quite complex but also more regular than previously thought.https://ojs.test.flvc.org/sal/article/view/107412consonant mutationSeereer-Siindnoun class
spellingShingle Fiona McLaughlin
Consonant mutation in Seereer-Siin
Studies in African Linguistics
consonant mutation
Seereer-Siind
noun class
title Consonant mutation in Seereer-Siin
title_full Consonant mutation in Seereer-Siin
title_fullStr Consonant mutation in Seereer-Siin
title_full_unstemmed Consonant mutation in Seereer-Siin
title_short Consonant mutation in Seereer-Siin
title_sort consonant mutation in seereer siin
topic consonant mutation
Seereer-Siind
noun class
url https://ojs.test.flvc.org/sal/article/view/107412
work_keys_str_mv AT fionamclaughlin consonantmutationinseereersiin