LuGanda glide epenthesis and prosodic misalignment

Abstract

This article analyses LuGanda glide epenthesis triggered by the affxation of the prefx /N-/ to a vowel-initial stem. The epenthetic glide y appears between the prefx and the stem, surfacing either as a palatal j or a nasal/z, e.g. /N-agal-a/ -> [Ny-agal-a] -> [nj-agal-a] ‘I love’ and /N-anìk-a/ -> [Ny-anìk-a] -> [fyi-anìk-a] ‘I put out to dry’. LuGanda epenthesis is unusual in that it treats consonant-initial and vowel-initial stems differently, applying only in vowel-initial stems. We demonstrate that LuGanda glide epenthesis provides the crucial phonological evidence for the Theory of Prosodic Misalignment in Downing (1998a).

S.Afr.J.Afr.Lang.,2005, 4