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Re: Phonotactics of Velian I, or: Phonology of Velian II: The Wrath of John Vertical ;-)

From:Andreas Johansson <andjo@...>
Date:Friday, July 6, 2007, 20:18
Quoting R A Brown <ray@...>:

> Andreas Johansson wrote: > > Quoting Jeff Rollin <jeff.rollin@...>: > > > > > >>I always thought that Bantu languages had syllabic nasals, but Wikipedia > >>always seems to nasal + plosive as instances of prenasalisation. > > > > > > Xhosa has words like _mntu_ (meaning "human" I think), and while I don't > know > > exactly how that is pronounced, > > Actually it's _umntu_ (plural: abantu). The word is two syllables (three > syllables in the plural, of course): um-ntu. The _nt_ is prenasalized > dental plosive.
Hm. Googling for "mntu" I find Xhosa texts* containing it ... but apparently only following words ending in a vowel. Elision? * examples: http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/SouAfrVc/SouAfrVc-idx?type=HTML&rgn=DIV1&byte=83425 http://www.jesus.org.uk/cgi-bin/bible/bible.cgi?BIBLE=Xhosa&BOOK=40&CHAP=26&VERSE=&FIRST=OK&SUBMIT=Read&CASE=ON&HILITE=&R1=I Andreas

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R A Brown <ray@...>