The range and beauty of internal reconstruction: probing Hausa linguistic history

Authors

  • Paul Newman Bloomington, Indiana

Keywords:

Hausa, Klingenheben’s Law, historical linguistics, internal reconstruction, diphthongs, compounds

Abstract

Using examples from Hausa, this paper demonstrates the probative value of Internal Reconstruction (IR) as a method for unearthing linguistic history. Five developments in the history of Hausa discovered by means of IR are described. These are Klingenheben’s Law; two previously unrecognized diphthongs, *iu and *ui; the emergence of the phoneme /h/ from a phonetic feature of word onset; vowel lowering resulting in asymmetry in plural formation; and the preservation of an archaic third person singular masculine pronoun *ni in fixed compounds.

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Published

2014-12-13

How to Cite

Newman, P. (2014). The range and beauty of internal reconstruction: probing Hausa linguistic history. Studies in African Languages and Cultures, (48), 13–32. Retrieved from https://salc.uw.edu.pl/index.php/SALC/article/view/99

Issue

No. 48 (2014)

Section

Articles

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