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Bantu-Ubangi language contact and the origin of labial-velar stops in Lingombe (Bantu, C41, DRC)

Koen Bostoen (UGent) and Jean-Pierre Donzo Bunza Yugia (UGent)
(2013) DIACHRONICA. 30(4). p.435-468
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  • KONGOKING (Political centralization, economic integration and language evolution in Central Africa: An interdisciplinary approach to the early history of the Kongo kingdom)
Abstract
We examine the origin of labial-velar stops in Lingombe, a language from the northern Bantu borderland. Labial-velar stops are uncommon in Bantu. It is generally believed that they were acquired through contact with neighbouring non-Bantu speakers, in casu Ubangi languages. We show that the introduction of labial-velar stops in Lingombe is indeed a contact-induced change, but one which could not happen through superficial contact. It involved advanced bilingualism, whereby Ubangi speakers left a phonological substrate in the Bantu language to which they shifted. Once adopted, these loan phonemes underwent a further language-internal extension to native vocabulary, a process known as 'hyperadaptation'. Both conventional sound symbolism and the deliberate attempt to differentiate the speech of one's own social group were important for the further proliferation of labial-velar stops in Lingombe. This type of conscious analogical sound change is at odds with Neogrammarian principles of regular sound change.
Keywords
Bantu, Ubangi, deliberate analogical sound change, language shift, Lingombe, substratum influence, language contact, labial-velar stops

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Citation

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MLA
Bostoen, Koen, and Jean-Pierre Donzo Bunza Yugia. “Bantu-Ubangi Language Contact and the Origin of Labial-Velar Stops in Lingombe (Bantu, C41, DRC).” DIACHRONICA, vol. 30, no. 4, 2013, pp. 435–68, doi:10.1075/dia.30.4.01bos.
APA
Bostoen, K., & Donzo Bunza Yugia, J.-P. (2013). Bantu-Ubangi language contact and the origin of labial-velar stops in Lingombe (Bantu, C41, DRC). DIACHRONICA, 30(4), 435–468. https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.30.4.01bos
Chicago author-date
Bostoen, Koen, and Jean-Pierre Donzo Bunza Yugia. 2013. “Bantu-Ubangi Language Contact and the Origin of Labial-Velar Stops in Lingombe (Bantu, C41, DRC).” DIACHRONICA 30 (4): 435–68. https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.30.4.01bos.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
Bostoen, Koen, and Jean-Pierre Donzo Bunza Yugia. 2013. “Bantu-Ubangi Language Contact and the Origin of Labial-Velar Stops in Lingombe (Bantu, C41, DRC).” DIACHRONICA 30 (4): 435–468. doi:10.1075/dia.30.4.01bos.
Vancouver
1.
Bostoen K, Donzo Bunza Yugia J-P. Bantu-Ubangi language contact and the origin of labial-velar stops in Lingombe (Bantu, C41, DRC). DIACHRONICA. 2013;30(4):435–68.
IEEE
[1]
K. Bostoen and J.-P. Donzo Bunza Yugia, “Bantu-Ubangi language contact and the origin of labial-velar stops in Lingombe (Bantu, C41, DRC),” DIACHRONICA, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 435–468, 2013.
@article{4300054,
  abstract     = {{We examine the origin of labial-velar stops in Lingombe, a language from the northern Bantu borderland. Labial-velar stops are uncommon in Bantu. It is generally believed that they were acquired through contact with neighbouring non-Bantu speakers, in casu Ubangi languages. We show that the introduction of labial-velar stops in Lingombe is indeed a contact-induced change, but one which could not happen through superficial contact. It involved advanced bilingualism, whereby Ubangi speakers left a phonological substrate in the Bantu language to which they shifted. Once adopted, these loan phonemes underwent a further language-internal extension to native vocabulary, a process known as 'hyperadaptation'. Both conventional sound symbolism and the deliberate attempt to differentiate the speech of one's own social group were important for the further proliferation of labial-velar stops in Lingombe. This type of conscious analogical sound change is at odds with Neogrammarian principles of regular sound change.}},
  author       = {{Bostoen, Koen and Donzo Bunza Yugia, Jean-Pierre}},
  issn         = {{0176-4225}},
  journal      = {{DIACHRONICA}},
  keywords     = {{Bantu,Ubangi,deliberate analogical sound change,language shift,Lingombe,substratum influence,language contact,labial-velar stops}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{435--468}},
  title        = {{Bantu-Ubangi language contact and the origin of labial-velar stops in Lingombe (Bantu, C41, DRC)}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/dia.30.4.01bos}},
  volume       = {{30}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}
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