Toward a Proto-Mande reconstruction and an etymological dictionary

Abstract

This work is part of the program Investissements d'Avenir, overseen by the French National Research Agency, ANR-10-LABX-0083, (Labex EFL) and of my IUF project. I am thankful to Coleman Donaldson who has checked my English. 2 73 languages, according to the current edition of the Ethnologue, http://www. ethnologue.com/subgroups/niger-congo. However, this figure should be modified in the view of some recent findings. On the other hand, certain varieties mentioned in the Ethnologue as separate languages should in fact be regarded as dialects of some other languages.

Nominal tonology and spreading rules in Tagbana (Fròʔò dialect)

“…The minimality of many disyllabic roots is questionable as borrowing or compounding is diachronically a source of longer roots in Senufo languages (Garber, 1987), as it is in Mande or Gur/Mabia 6 languages. 7 The identification of the components is often only partially possible or not possible at all (see Vydrin, 2016, for Mande languages and the reconstruction of nominal roots).…”

“…In Gur languages, monosyllabicity of nominal roots is widespread (see Some 1982, for Dagara,Kabore 1981, for Moore, Ouoba 1982. In Mande languages, monosyllabic as well disyllabic roots are basic(Vydrin 2016). Tagbana does not have a large dictionary or diachronic studies to determine the simple roots.…”

Tonal head marking in Mande compounds: endpoint neutralization and outliers

“…4 In the remainder of this paper, our focus is on illustrating various manifestations of Mande THM and thereafter on motivating microtypological divergences from the basic pattern observed in different branches of the family. We argue that different synchronic THM patterns can be pinned to changes in languages' tonal inventories (whether by innovation or loss) from the historical High vs. Low tonal distinction reconstructed for Proto Mande (Vydrin 2016a), as well as to downstream phonological rules characteristic of particular branches of the family.…”

On latent nasals in Samogo

“…The Samogo group of Mande languages straddles the Burkina Faso/Mali border. A branch of Western Mande (Vydrin 2009a;Vydrin 2016), the Samogo group includes Jowulu (AKA Jɔ, (Carlson 1993;Djilla, Eenkhoorn & Eenkhoorn-Pilon 2004)), Dzùùngoo (AKA Dzuun, (Solomiac 2007;Solomiac 2014)), Duungoma (AKA Duun, (Hochstetler 1996;Tröbs 2008)), Kpeengo (AKA Kpeen, (Zwernemann 1996)), Bankagooma (AKA Banka), and Seenku (AKA Sambla, Sembla, or Seeku, (Prost 1971;McPherson 2020)). Many of these languages, especially Bankagooma, Kpeengo, and Duungoma, remain severely underdocumented.…”