Re: Rotokas (was: California Cheeseburger)

On 20 Jun 2004 "Mark P. Line" <mark@PO...> wrote:

> > I'm jumping in here, and don't much of anything about Rotokas, but
> > how can it have a (C)V syllable structure when the name of the
> > language itself has a coda? Is there some constraint allowing word
> > final codas but not word internal ones?
>
>
> I must have been mistaken about Rotokas being (C)V.
>
> Clearly, those who don't know much of anything about Rotokas are in the
> majority here, so I'm outvoted hands-down.
  There were points where I shared your opinion. One of them is
that Rotokas is _not_ the inner ethnonym of Rotokas people. It
seems rather a place name which could have been originated from a
neighbouring ethnic group. Therefore it could have a form that is
forbidden in Rotokas. (When the name "Rotokas" is used by the
Rotokas people themselves it coud have been pronounced as
/rotokasi/.)

  I also tend to think that the Rotokas described by Firchows is
(C)V. I simply do not know which dialects were studied by Firchows.