XXXᵉ siècle av. J.-C. – Xᵉ siècle av. J.-C.
Bantu zone in Africa
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Proto-Bantu is the reconstructed ancestral linguistic community associated with the Bantu languages. The passage discusses competing reconstructions of its seven-vowel system and asks whether its vowel harmony was symmetric, asymmetric, or absent. Most cited scholars support reconstructing vowel harmony, while the precise configuration remains disputed.
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Proto-Bantu is generally reconstructed with seven vowels, although some scholars have proposed an inventory of nine or ten. The central disagreement concerns whether the opposition was located among high vowels, interpreted through Advanced Tongue Root or tense-lax distinctions, or among mid vowels. These competing analyses are represented by alternative phonetic and phonological transcriptions of the same seven-vowel system.
Comparative evidence from Bantu languages reveals substantial diversity. The passage surveys forty-six seven-vowel systems, including languages analyzed with high-vowel tense-lax contrasts and many others analyzed with mid-vowel contrasts. It also notes several nine-vowel systems with Advanced Tongue Root oppositions. This variation creates difficulty in determining whether modern descriptions preserve the Proto-Bantu arrangement or reflect later sound changes.
Several arguments favor reconstructing a Proto-Bantu system with tense-lax contrasts among high vowels. Degree-two vowels frequently merge with degree-one vowels, and this pattern occurs in both long and short vowels. Other arguments favor a mid-vowel analysis because degree-two and degree-three vowels often harmonize with one another. The competing interpretations therefore depend on different assessments of phonetic similarity, sound-change plausibility, and comparative distribution.
The passage considers three possibilities for Proto-Bantu: asymmetric vowel-height harmony, symmetric vowel-height harmony, or no vowel-height harmony. Most scholars cited support reconstructing some form of vowel harmony. Greenberg proposed a symmetric system in which vowels of different levels did not occur successively, whereas Meeussen, Schadeberg, Bastin, and others favored an asymmetric system in which particular suffix vowels changed after specific preceding vowels.
Asymmetric harmony is illustrated by reconstructed suffix alternations and by historical descriptions of languages such as Herero. In the cited Herero pattern, suffix vowels become more back or open after a preceding back vowel, while retaining their ordinary form after other vowels. Comparable alternations involving reconstructed extensions such as *-ud- and *-uk- are presented as evidence that asymmetric harmony may belong to Proto-Bantu or an early ancestral stage.
The possibility that Proto-Bantu possessed symmetric harmony remains important because distributions in bisyllabic stems may show restrictions against mixing vowel levels. Greenberg argued that reconstructed noun and adjective stems rarely combine degree-two and degree-three vowels, while sequences within the same level are common. The passage concludes that the historical status of symmetric and asymmetric harmony remains unresolved, with areal spread, subgroup innovation, and inheritance all considered possible explanations.
XXXᵉ siècle av. J.-C. – Xᵉ siècle av. J.-C.
Bantu zone in Africa
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
Proto-Bantu is the reconstructed ancestral linguistic community associated with the Bantu languages. The passage discusses competing reconstructions of its seven-vowel system and asks whether its vowel harmony was symmetric, asymmetric, or absent. Most cited scholars support reconstructing vowel harmony, while the precise configuration remains disputed.
Poursuivre l’exploration
Le récit
Proto-Bantu is generally reconstructed with seven vowels, although some scholars have proposed an inventory of nine or ten. The central disagreement concerns whether the opposition was located among high vowels, interpreted through Advanced Tongue Root or tense-lax distinctions, or among mid vowels. These competing analyses are represented by alternative phonetic and phonological transcriptions of the same seven-vowel system.
Comparative evidence from Bantu languages reveals substantial diversity. The passage surveys forty-six seven-vowel systems, including languages analyzed with high-vowel tense-lax contrasts and many others analyzed with mid-vowel contrasts. It also notes several nine-vowel systems with Advanced Tongue Root oppositions. This variation creates difficulty in determining whether modern descriptions preserve the Proto-Bantu arrangement or reflect later sound changes.
Several arguments favor reconstructing a Proto-Bantu system with tense-lax contrasts among high vowels. Degree-two vowels frequently merge with degree-one vowels, and this pattern occurs in both long and short vowels. Other arguments favor a mid-vowel analysis because degree-two and degree-three vowels often harmonize with one another. The competing interpretations therefore depend on different assessments of phonetic similarity, sound-change plausibility, and comparative distribution.
The passage considers three possibilities for Proto-Bantu: asymmetric vowel-height harmony, symmetric vowel-height harmony, or no vowel-height harmony. Most scholars cited support reconstructing some form of vowel harmony. Greenberg proposed a symmetric system in which vowels of different levels did not occur successively, whereas Meeussen, Schadeberg, Bastin, and others favored an asymmetric system in which particular suffix vowels changed after specific preceding vowels.
Asymmetric harmony is illustrated by reconstructed suffix alternations and by historical descriptions of languages such as Herero. In the cited Herero pattern, suffix vowels become more back or open after a preceding back vowel, while retaining their ordinary form after other vowels. Comparable alternations involving reconstructed extensions such as *-ud- and *-uk- are presented as evidence that asymmetric harmony may belong to Proto-Bantu or an early ancestral stage.
The possibility that Proto-Bantu possessed symmetric harmony remains important because distributions in bisyllabic stems may show restrictions against mixing vowel levels. Greenberg argued that reconstructed noun and adjective stems rarely combine degree-two and degree-three vowels, while sequences within the same level are common. The passage concludes that the historical status of symmetric and asymmetric harmony remains unresolved, with areal spread, subgroup innovation, and inheritance all considered possible explanations.