A diachronic analysis of Ndut vowel harmony

A diachronic analysis of Ndut vowel harmony

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Ndut is spoken in Senegal and belongs to the Cangin languages, a subgroup of the (West-) Atlantic languages (Sapir 1971).Unlike the other Cangin languages Noon, Laala and Saafi, Ndut, as well as closely related Pal or, exhibits apparently bidirectional vowel harmony.However, a ackermans lace curtains phonological analysis suggests that there are two independent phenomena that have to be kept separate: regressive vowel assimilation, which is probably a very archaic feature of the Atlantic languages, and progressive root-controlled harmony, which may be a contact-induced innovation.In Senegal, the dominant language is Wolof, a Senegambian language that is part of a different subgroup of Atlantic languages.

As Wolof is the major medium of interethnic communication, most Ndut speakers are Wolof-bilingual.Consequently, contact-induced language changes are maison alhambra libbra likely to appear in Ndut.