Noun morphophonemics and noun class ...

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Noun morphophonemics and noun class restructuring: The case of Meru gender 11/10 a

Fridah Erastus Kanana a

Department of English and Linguistics, Kenyatta University P.O. Box 43844-00100, Nairobi-Kenya. Email: Published online: 29 Oct 2014.

To cite this article: Fridah Erastus Kanana (2014) Noun morphophonemics and noun class restructuring: The case of Meru gender 11/10, South African Journal of African Languages, 34:1, 107-117, DOI: 10.1080/02572117.2014.949474 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02572117.2014.949474

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South African Journal of African Languages ISSN 0257-2117 EISSN 2305-1159 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02572117.2014.949474

Noun morphophonemics and noun class restructuring: The case of Meru gender 11/10 Fridah Erastus Kanana

Downloaded by [62.24.111.247] at 23:09 31 October 2014

Department of English and Linguistics, Kenyatta University P.O. Box 43844-00100, Nairobi-Kenya Email: [email protected] The article seeks to address the plural forms of class 11/10 nouns in Meru dialects. These are Bantu dialects spoken in the eastern province of Kenya. The dialects build the plural forms in this class in various ways. Sometimes the entire word is treated as a root and in other cases the word is considered to have two parts: a prefix and a stem. Forms that are considered to have a prefix and a stem can be further restructured. In some cases the singular forms have an underlying stem initial palatal consonant which is deleted in the surface phonetic form but surfaces in the plural, and in other cases the words are treated as having a stem initial vowel. It is interesting to note that this noun class restructuring can occur in one and the same dialect whereby a single lexical form has its plural realized in two or three different ways. The article will, therefore, not only seek to discuss different ways of forming the plural in this gender but also outline clearly the motivations behind such changes.

Introduction ‘Meru’ has for a long time been used as an umbrella term by colonial administrators to embrace the whole population found north of River Thuci to Nyambene Range, between Mt. Kenya in the west and the Upper Tana River in the east. However, Europeans who had settled in this region did not regard all the linguistic groups as Meru. For instance, Fadiman (1973) says that before the colonial era, the name Meru referred only to five of the present nine sections: Imenti, Igembe, Tigania, Miutine and Igoji. British administrators chose to include the Tharaka, who live in the adjoining Eastern Plains, and later the Mwimbi, Muthambi and Chuka who border the Meru to the south. This article seeks to address the plural forms of class 11/10 nouns in Meru dialects. These are Bantu varieties spoken in the eastern province of Kenya. The article focuses on six dialects of the so-called Meru, namely: Chuka, Tharaka, Imenti, Igoji, Muthambi and Mwimbi. The most dominant one among the six is Imenti, which has over 600,000 speakers. All six are found on a geographical continuum. Chuka is the group that borders Meru (here reference is made to Imenti, Igoji, Mwimbi and Muthambi) in the south – the Chuka dialect is spoken north of Embu between the rivers Thuci and Tungu. Tharaka speakers are found on the high plains between the slopes of Mt. Kenya in the west and the Upper Tana River in the east. Imenti speakers, on the other hand, are found in the northern part of Mt. Kenya (Möhlig, 1980). As already noted, ‘Meru’ is an umbrella term that covers many dialects; among them Imenti is the most dominant. Materials used in schools, Liturgies and Bibles are written in Imenti. This dialect extends around the town of Meru and is spoken up to about 20 kilometres south of Meru town. Igoji is spoken south of Meru – more specifically south of Imenti – near River Mutonga; Mwimbi and Muthambi are spoken north and south of the Nithi River (see the map in the appendix, adopted from Heine & Möhlig, 1980).

All these dialects are closely related and scholars have given different opinions about their relationships based on their classification as either dialects or languages. The most controversial group is Chuka, of which some scholars argue that the latter is closer to Kikuyu (Möhlig, 1980); others believe it to be closer to Tharaka (Maho, 2008), while some say it is somewhere in between Kikuyu and ‘Meru’ (Lambert, 1950, cited in Whiteley, 1974). There are still other scholars who make reference to Chuka as a dialect of ‘Meru’ (Bennett, 1967). Möhlig (1974:230) defined the dialectal position of Chuka within the context of Central Kenya Bantu as more or less independent of Embu-Mbeere, Tharaka and Wider Meru. Only at the remote 3rd level of dialect relationship, Chuka can be linked with Embu-Mbeere and at a still more remote level with Kamba and Kikuyu. These findings were based on an empirical dialectometrical approach comprising phonological, morphological, and lexical data. In addition, Chuka has been grouped as a dialect of Meru politically. As already noted the term ‘Meru’ is also controversial; however, ‘Meru’ more appropriately refers to Imenti, which has dominated all the other linguistic groups politically, linguistically and economically. We will not engage ourselves in this controversy, but we find it necessary to clarify and define the term ‘Meru’. The dialects build the plural forms in gender 11/10 in various ways. Strictly speaking, the plural forms are built in class 10 only. Hovever, there is a lot of restructuring of the plural forms depending on how the speakers perceive the words. Sometimes the entire word is treated as a root and in other cases the word is considered to have two parts: a prefix and a stem. Forms that are considered to have a prefix and a stem can be further restructured. In some cases the singular forms have an underlying stem initial palatal consonant which is deleted in the surface phonetic form but appears in the plural, and in other cases the words are treated as having a stem initial vowel. Interesting to

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108

Kanana

velar nasals. In this article, the phonetic conventions will be followed most of the time.

note is the fact that this noun class restructuring can occur in one and the same dialect whereby a single lexical form has its plural realized in two or three different ways. The article, therefore, not only seeks to discuss different ways of forming the plural in this class but also clearly outlines the motivations behind such changes.

Class 11/10 singular prefixes The class 11 prefixes in the dialects are: {ro-}, {rw-} and {ru-} in Imenti, Tharaka and Igoji, and {ro-/rw-} in Mwimbi, Muthambi and Chuka. The latter cluster does not have the {ru-} prefix in the phonetic realization of class 11. See examples in Table 2. It should be noted that in some cases the word is treated as prefixless, especially the forms with prefix {rw-/ru-}. This will be discussed in detail as we exemplify different ways of generating the plural. In addition, the singular prefix {ru-} in Imenti, Igoji and Tharaka is a result of a morpho-phonological process – height assimilation. Since the vowel of the prefix is lower than that of the stem, the former is raised to the position of the vowel of the latter (cf. the forms given for ‘wind’ in Chuka vs. Igoji, Tharaka and Imenti). Thus: [o] + [u] [uː]. In some cases where a stem initial consonant has been deleted, the lost consonant is compensated through glide formation and lengthening of the vowel of the stem.


Orthography There is no special orthography that is developed for Meru. The language is written in a slightly defective alphabet based on the Latin script. For the purpose of this article the phonetic symbols used represent the sounds in the orthography shown in Table 1. The language has a seven vowel system [i, e, ɛ, a, ɔ, o, u] which are realised as {i, e, a, o u} in the orthography. The front vowels [i, e] and back vowels [u, o] merge into {i} and {u} respectively in the writing system. However, the mid low vowels [ɛ] and [ɔ] are kept distinct, thus {e} and {o} respectively in the orthography. The phonetic symbols of the consonants do not differ significantly from the orthography except for the voiced palatal stop; bilabial, dental, palatal and velar fricatives; palatal semivowel; palatal and Table 1: Orthography Sound [i] [e] [ɛ] [a] [u] [o] [ɔ] [p] [b] [t] [d] [c] [Ɉ] [k] [g] [r] [β] [ð] [ʝ] [ɣ] [w] [j] [m] [n] [ɲ] [ŋ]

Description high front vowel mid high front vowel mid low front vowel low back vowel high back vowel mid high back vowel mid low back vowel voiceless bilabial stop voiced bilabial stop voiceless alveolar stop voiced alveolar stop voiceless palatal stop voiced palatal stop voiceless velar stop voiced velar stop alveolar trill voiced bilabial fricative voiced dental fricative voiced palatal fricative voiced velar fricative labial velar semi vowel palatal semi vowel voiced bilabial nasal voiced alveolar nasal voiced palatal nasal voiced velar nasal

Orthography i i e a u u o p b t d c j k g r b th j g w y m n ny ngˈ

Examples rweni/ru.beni1 rwimbo ruume/rweni ku.ruga mu.ntu mu.ntu rwimbo ga.puko m.buri gu.tuma n.damu ga.camba n.jara ka.ana n.gari rwano ki.bara tha.ani ka.jira rwirigo/rwaga rwano y.etu mu.kuru ka.ana ny.omba rwangˈi

Gloss lightning song tongue/lightning to cook person person song mole (dim2) goat3 to sew blood cock (dim) hand child (dim) car sign chest plate path (dim) fence sign ours man child house branch

Table 2: Class 11 Singular prefixes Imenti ro.βaru rw.eːmbɔ ruːwɔ~4 ru.uwɔ _ ruːŋɡa~ ru.uŋɡa

Tharaka ro.βaru rw.eːmbɔ ruːwɔ~ ru.uwɔ ruːɲci~ru.uɲci _

Chuka ro.βaru rw.eːmbɔ ro.βuːβɔ ro.koŋɡi _ _

Muthambi ro.βaru rw.eːmbɔ ro.koŋɡi

Mwimbi ro.βaru rw.eːmbɔ ro.koŋɡi

_ _

_ _

Igoji ro.βaru rw.eːmbɔ ruːwɔ~ ru.uwɔ _ ruːŋɡa~ ru.uŋɡa

Prefix rorwru-/ro-

Gloss rib song wind

ruru-

fence5 louse’s eggs

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South African Journal of African Languages 2014, 34(1): 107–117

The morpho-phonological process that raises the vowel of the prefix to that of the stem, as it operates in these dialects, can be formulated in a rule which states that: ‘Non low vowels become high before high vowels if they share frontness’

Class 11/10 plural forms Prefixless stems As noted above, sometimes the entire word can be treated as a stem in the intuition of the speakers. Therefore, when the entire word is treated as a stem, the class 10 plural nasal prefix {N-} is added to the stem. The alveolar trill of the singular stem is hardened to an alveolar stop in the plural. The plural nasal prefix {N-} adopts the point of articulation of the following consonant. All the dialects, without exception, have words which form the plural by adding the nasal prefix to the entire word that is treated as a stem. See examples in Table 3. Words with prefix {ro-} These are words that are considered by speakers as constituting two parts: a prefix {ro-} and a stem. Plural forms are generated by replacing the singular prefix {ro-} by the plural prefix {N-}. If the stem begins with a continuant, the continuant is hardened to a stop according to the continuant hardening rule that operates in these dialects. This rule states: ‘A continuant becomes a non-continuant in a nasal environment’ ª « « ¬

ª « « ¬


ª V « « DFront « ¬ High

ª « « « ¬

ª V « « DFront « ĺ[+ High] / « Low « ¬ High

ªVoiced ª ĺ [Continuant ]/ «C « ____ «Continuant «Nasal ¬ ¬

If the stem begins with a voiceless stop, the stop does not change; only the plural prefix of class 10 is added to such words (cf. ‘wind8’, ‘firewood’ in Table 4). The dental fricative is the only continuant that remains unchanged in the plural form; it does not harden to a stop. Sometimes the stem initial consonant does not surface in the singular phonetic form; however, the deleted stem initial consonant surfaces in the plural. One can, therefore, infer the stem initial consonant in the singular from the structure of the word in its plural form. Considering examples in Table 4, we notice forms such as: [ro.e/rw.eː, m.pe] ‘palm(s)’, [rw.aːru, m.baru] ‘rib(s)’, [rw. aːŋi, m.paːŋi] ‘branch(es)’ in Imenti; [rw.ɛːni, m.pɛni/m.bɛni] ‘lightning(s)’, [ro.e/rw.eː, m.pe] ‘palm(s)’, [rw.iːriɣɔ, m.biriɣɔ] ‘fence(s)’, [rw.aːnɔ, m.panɔ] ‘sign(s)’ and [rw.ɔːŋi, m.pɔːŋi] ‘branch(es)’ in Tharaka; [ro.e, m.pe] ‘palm(s)’ and [rw.aːru, m.baru] ‘rib(s)’ in Mwimbi, and [rw.aːŋi, m.paːŋi] ‘branch(es)’ in Igoji, where stem initial consonants are deleted in the singular phonetic forms but they surface in the plural. The phonemes that are deleted in these dialects are /p/ and /b/. These two phonemes weaken to a voiced bilabial fricative /β/, word initially or intervocalically, and sometimes they are deleted. Studying the table, one cannot fail to realize that in cases where the stem initial consonant has not gone to zero, it is always /β/ for the examples highlighted. In addition, it is the fricatives, especially bilabial and velar, that are very prone to elision in Imenti, Tharaka, Igoji, Mwimbi and Muthambi. They are retained in extremely few cases in Muthambi and Tharaka, but these are mostly retentions of older forms – in the case of Tharaka – and a result of dialect contact – in Muthambi. These continuants are always retained in Chuka. It is important to note that when stops occur stem initially in all these dialects they are preceded by a class 10 nasal prefix and when they occur in medial positions they are always prenasalised. In any other environment they weaken to continuants, or as seen above, they are deleted completely. It is only the voiceless alveolar and velar stops that remain unchanged in nasal or non-nasal environment.

Table 3: Prefixless class 11 forms and their respective plurals Imenti roːʝe, n.doːʝe roːmɛ, n.doːmɛ roːkeːre, n.doːkeːre rwɛːni, n.dwɛːni rwaːru, n.dwaːru ruːwɔ, n.duːwɔ rwɛːɣɔ, n.dwɛːɣɔ rwiːriɣɔ, n.dwiːriɣɔ _

Tharaka roːʝe, n.doːʝe _ roːkeːre, n.doːkeːre rwɛːni, n.dwɛːni _ ruːwɔ, n.duːwɔ rwɛːɣɔ, n.dwɛːɣɔ _ rwaːɣa, n.dwaːɣa

Chuka _ _ _ _ _

_ _ rwaːɣe, n.dwaːɣe rweːɣe, n.dweːɣe rweːmbɔ, n.dweːmbɔ _ rwaːŋi, n.dwaːŋi _ rwaːnɔ, n.dwaːnɔ _

ruːɲci, n.duːɲci rwiːɲci, n.dwiːɲci rwaːɣe, n.dwaːɣe rweːɣe, n.dweːɣe rweːmbɔ, n.dweːmbɔ rwaːra, n.dwaːra rwɔːŋi, n.dwɔːŋi _ rwaːnɔ, n.dwaːnɔ roːri, n.doːri

_ _ rwaːɣe, n.dwaːɣe rweːɣe, n.dweːɣe _ _ _ _ rwaːnɔ, n.dwaːnɔ roːri, n.doːri

_

_ rwiːriɣɔ, n.dwiːriɣɔ rwaːɣa, n.dwaːɣa

Muthambi roːce, n.doːce _ roːkeːre, n.doːkeːre _ _ _ rwɛːɣɔ, n.dwɛːɣɔ _ _

Mwimbi roːʝe, n.doːʝe _ roːkeːre, n.doːkeːre rwɛːni, n.dwɛːni _ _ rwɛːɣɔ, n.dwɛːɣɔ _ rwaːɣa, n.dwaːɣa

Igoji roːʝe, n.doːʝe roːmɛ, n.doːmɛ roːkeːre, n.doːkeːre rwɛːni, n.dwɛːni _ ruːwɔ, n.duːwɔ rwɛːɣɔ, n.dwɛːɣɔ _ rwaːɣa, n.dwaːɣa

Gloss water(s) tongue(s) morning(s) lightning(s) rib(s) wind(s) fence(s) fence(s) enclosure(s) for animals _ _ _ fence(s) _ _ _ fence(s) mosquito(es) rwaːɣe, n.dwaːɣe rwaːɣe, n.dwaːɣe rwaːɣe, n.dwaːɣe _ rweːɣe, n.dweːɣe rweːɣe, n.dweːɣe hawk(s) rweːmbɔ, n.dweːmbɔ rweːmbɔ, n.dweːmbɔ rweːmbɔ, n.dweːmbɔ song(s) rwaːra, n.dwaːra rwaːra, n.dwaːra _ rock(s) _ rwaːŋi, n.dwaːŋi rwaːŋi, n.dwaːŋi branch(es) _ roːwa, n.doːwa _ branch(es) _ rwaːnɔ, n.dwaːnɔ rwaːnɔ, n.dwaːnɔ sign(s) roːri, n.doːri roːri, n.doːri _ sign(s)

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Table 4: Plural forms of words with prefix {ro-} and ‘consonant’ initial stems


Tharaka rw.ɛːni, m.pɛni/m.bɛni ro.e/rw.eː, m.pe

_ rw.iːriɣɔ, m.biriɣɔ ro.βaru/ rw.aːru, m.baru ro.βaru, m.baru

_ ro.βaru, m.baru

Muthambi ro.βɛni, m.pɛni ro.βe, m.pe _ ro.βaru, m.baru

_ rw.aːnɔ, m.panɔ rw.aːŋi, m.paːŋi rw.ɔːŋi, m.pɔːŋi roːmɛ~ro.omɛ, n.doːmɛ7 ro.remɛ, n.demɛ

_ ro.βwa, m.bwa ro.remɛ, n.demɛ

_ ro.βwaː, m.pwaː ro.remi, n.demi

Mwimbi _ ro.e, m.pe _ ro.βaru/ rw.aːru, m.baru _ _ ro.remɛ, n.demɛ

_ ro.ðiŋɡɔ, n.ðiŋɡɔ ro.ko, ŋ.ko _ _ ro.riɣa, n.diɣa

ro.βuːβɔ, m.buːβɔ ro.ðiŋɡɔ, n.ðiŋɡɔ ro.ko, ŋ.ko ro.koŋɡi, ŋ.koŋɡi ro.ɣoŋko, _ _

_ ro.ðiŋɡɔ, n.ðiŋɡɔ ro.ko, ŋ.ko ro.koŋɡi, _ _ ro.riɣa, n.diɣa

_ ro.ðiŋɡɔ, n.ðiŋɡɔ ro.ko, ŋ.ko ro.koŋɡi, ŋ.koŋɡi _ ro.riɣa, n.diɣa

_ ro.ðiŋɡɔ, n.ðiŋɡɔ ro.ko, ŋ.ko _ ro.ɣoŋko, ŋ.ɡoŋko _

Chuka ro.βɛni, m.bɛni ro.βe/ke.βe, m.be

One can infer, for example, that the consonant that is deleted in the form for [roːmɛ~ro.omɛ] ‘tongue’ in Imenti is the alveolar trill /r/, which is strengthened after the plural nasal to generate [d] in [n.doːmɛ]. To compensate for the lost consonant in the singular, speakers lengthen the vowel of the stem or form a glide. This is evidenced by the forms [ro. βaru/m.baru] versus [rw.aːru/m.baru]. The Imenti form for ‘ribs’ is sometimes treated as a root as we saw in the example in Table 3. This is a very curious phenomenon, since we cannot find an adequate explanation as to why the speakers would delete the trill word initially or intervocalically when they can pronounce it word initially or in other intervocalic positions. We treat such cases as forms of re-structuring whereby speakers have more than one option to generate the plural in their intuition. Cases where the formation of plural forms in class 11/10 differs among dialects are quite common. Singular prefix {ro-} and an underlying stem initial palatal consonant In the third kind of plural forms, the speakers also treat words as having two parts: a prefix {ro-} and a stem. However, the plurals in this category have a palatal nasal prefix, which suggests the words may have stem initial palatal sounds in the singular, too, since the nasal prefix always agrees with the point of articulation of the following

Igoji _ _

Gloss lightning(s) palm(s) 6

_ ro.βaru, m.baru

fence(s) rib(s)

_ rw.aːŋi, m.paːŋi roːmɛ, n.doːmɛ/ ro.remɛ, n.demɛ _ ro.ðiŋɡɔ, n.ðiŋɡɔ ro.ko, ŋ.ko _ ro.ɣoŋko, ŋ.ɡoŋko ro.riɣa, n.diɣa

sign(s) branch(es) tongue(s) wind(s) wall(s) firewood(s) wind8 dust traditional stool

consonant, according to the homorganic nasal assimilation rule that operates in these dialects. Thus: ª C [+ Nasal ] ĺ> DPoint of art.]/___ « « DPoint of art. ¬

ª « « ¬

Imenti _ ro.e/rw.eː, m.pe

Examples are provided in Table 5. The singular forms in Table 5 illustrate that in the speakers’ intuition, the words are treated as having an underlying stem initial palatal consonant that hardens to a voiced palatal stop in the plural after the plural nasal prefix is added to the word. Therefore, the singular seemingly has a palatal fricative that has gone to zero in the singular phonetic realization. The hypothesis that pre-supposes the existence of a palatal consonant in the underlying form would explain why these forms in Table 5 can have a second plural as shown in Table 3. The changes that may have occurred in some of these dialects (Tharaka, Chuka, Mwimbi & Muthambi) can be illustrated as indicated in Example 1. From the examples given, the formation of the plural in Tables 3, 5 and Example 1 may have taken two dimensions: First, we can assume that there is an underlying palatal sound – a fricative or any continuant (as exemplified in Example 1) – which hardens after a nasal (as seen in Table

Table 5: Plural forms with palatal nasals and stem initial ‘palatal’ consonants Imenti _ _ _ _

Tharaka rw.ɛːɣɔ, ɲ.ɟɛɣɔ rw.aːɣa, ɲ.ɟaɣa rw.eːɣe, ɲ.ɟeɣe rw.aːra, ɲ.ɟara

Chuka rw.ɛːɣɔ, ɲ.ɟɛɣɔ rw.aːɣa, ɲ.ɟaɣa rw.eːɣe, ɲ.ɟeɣe _

Muthambi rw.ɛːɣɔ, ɲ.ɟɛɣɔ rw.aːɣa, ɲ.ɟaɣa rw.eːɣe, ɲ.ɟeɣe _

Mwimbi _ rw.aːɣa, ɲ.ɟaɣa rw.eːɣe, ɲ.ɟeɣe _

Igoji _ _ _ _

Gloss fence(s) enclosure(s) for animals hawk(s) rock(s)

Example 1 Phonetic form rwɛːɣɔ rweːɣe rwaːɣa rwaːra

Plural as exemplified in table 3 (prefixless stems) n.dwɛːɣɔ n.dweːɣe n.dwaːɣa n.dwaːra

Underlying singular with a palatal consonant rwɛːɣɔ→ro.ʝɛɣɔ rweːɣe→ro.ʝeɣe rwaːɣa→ro.ʝaɣa rwaːra→ro.ʝara

Plural form in table 5

Gloss

ɲ.ɟɛɣɔ ɲ.ɟeɣe ɲ.ɟaɣa ɲ.ɟara

fence(s) hawk(s) enclosure(s) rock(s)

111


5) and then the nasal assimilates to the point of articulation of the stop, thus generating forms such as: rwɛːɣɔ: ro.ʝɛɣɔ→N+ʝɛɣɔ→ɲ.ɟɛɣɔ (pl) rweːɣe: ro.ʝeɣe→N+ʝeɣe→ɲ.ɟeɣe (pl) In addition, the palatal consonant may have been deleted first and this gap filled through glide formation. However, since speakers still have this underlying palatal consonant in their minds, the plural form is realized through ‘back formation’. The plural in the output does not have a long vowel because the speakers treat these forms as having an underlying palatal consonant (compare Examples 2 and 3). Thus:


Example 2 rwɛːɣɔ: ro.ʝɛɣɔ→ro.Øɛɣɔ→rw.Øɛːɣɔ→ɲ.ɟɛɣɔ (pl) rweːɣe: ro.ʝeɣe→ro.Øeɣe→rw.Øeːɣe→ɲ.ɟeɣe (pl) rwaːɣa: ro.ʝaɣa→ro.Øaɣa→rw.Øaːɣa→ɲ.ɟaɣa (pl) The second assumption that explains the second plural of the same forms – as shown in Table 3 – is the existence of a palatal sound which is deleted in the surface singular form. The entire word is then treated as a root. The initial continuant /r/ hardens to a stop in the plural when preceded by the nasal of class 10 as already discussed. Hence: Example 3 rweːɣe: ro.ʝeɣe→ro.Øeɣe→rw.Øeːɣe→N+rweːɣe→ n.dweːɣe (pl) rwaːɣa: ro.ʝaɣa→ro.Øaɣa→rw. Øaːɣa→N+rwaːɣa→ n.dwaːɣa (pl) It should be noted that the palatal consonant that is deleted in the singular in Example 3 is not filled through ‘back formation’ in the plural as in Example 2. One notes that in Example 3 the underlying palatal sound goes to zero first, then there is glide formation and lengthening of the vowel to compensate for the lost consonant, and finally the stem initial consonant [r] hardens to a stop [d] after the nasal prefix which marks the plural form of class 10 is added. The long vowel is also retained in the plural form because of the dorso-velar glide /w/. This is due to a morpho-phonological rule that lengthens the vowel of the stem after glide formation. ‘A vocalic segment becomes long in the environment of a glide’ V → V ː/y, w ______

Singular prefix {ro-} and a palatal nasal prefix in the plural There are words which have a palatal nasal prefix in the plural but do not have stem initial palatal consonants. There are two possibilities to account for such forms: Either (a) the speakers view the word as having a prefix {ro-} and a stem initial palatal sound as discussed above, or (b) they treat such forms as having a prefix and a vowel initial stem. In the first case, the prefix {ro-} is replaced by the plural prefix {N-}. The plural prefix is a palatal nasal because the word is treated as having a palatal sound that is lost in the surface phonetic realization in both singular and plural. The main difference between the plural forms with palatal sounds discussed so far is that in one instance the stem initial palatal sounds do not surface in the phonetic realizations either in the singular or the plural and in the second instance, however, the stem initial palatal sound is deleted in the singular but surfaces in the plural in words such as [ɲ.ɟɛɣɔ, ɲ.ɟeɣe]. According to the second argument (b above), the forms are viewed as constituting a prefix and a vowel initial stem. The question one faces is: why is there a palatal nasal in the plural forms? We look at some examples in Table 6. The examples show that the stem initial vowels are high and front /i/ and mid high and front /e/ respectively. Since all the vowels are high they trigger the adjustment of the nasal to the palatal position. However, the plural in [roːɲce~ro.oɲce, ɲ.eːɲce] ‘water(s)’ is special because there is a change of the vowel quality from the mid high back vowel /o/ in the singular to the mid high front vowel /e/ in the plural. This should be treated as a case of assimilation after the plural nasal prefix is added. The form would sound quite unusual if the mid high back vowel was retained in the plural form. It can also be treated as an irregular plural like there are irregular plural forms in other languages of the world such as English. For example, the English word ‘foot’ changes to ‘feet’ in the plural. To support the hypothesis that perhaps a palatal consonant exists but this consonant does not surface in the singular or plural phonetic realizations, we look at some examples and their Common Bantu equivalents. Consider the forms in Example 4 drawn from Tharaka and Chuka: From the examples given in Table 6, we notice that when the speakers consider the word to have {ro-} as the prefix and a stem beginning with a vowel, the prefix becomes a nasal when the plural form is realized. Then the question again is, why the palatal nasal? To answer this question,

Table 6: Plural forms with palatal nasals and vowel initial stems Imenti _ _ _

Tharaka rw.iːɲci, ɲ.iːɲci _ rw.eːmbɔ, ɲ.eːmbɔ

Chuka _ roːɲce~ro.oɲce, ɲ.eːɲce rw.eːmbɔ, ɲ.eːmbɔ

Muthambi _ _ rw.eːmbɔ, _

Mwimbi _ _ rw.eːmbɔ, ɲ.eːmbɔ

Example 4 Singular roːɲce9 rweːmbɔ rwi:ɲci

Underlying Singular/Plural *ro.ʝeɲce→N+ʝeɲce *ro.yembɔ→N+yembɔ *ro.yiɲci→N+yiɲci

Plural ɲeːɲce ɲeːmbɔ ɲiːɲci

Common Bantu Form JẸ́, njɪ́ yímbò, jímbò, YẸ́MBƆ _

Gloss water(s) song(s) fence(s)

Igoji _ _ _

Gloss fence(s) water(s) song(s)

Kanana

assume that an underlying stem initial palatal sound exists in the singular form. We assume, as implied by the Common Bantu forms for ‘song’ [YẸ́MBƆ, jímbò], this palatal sound is /y/ or /ʝ/. If a palatal consonant /y/ exists, then the words would have the nasal prefix of class 10 and a stem initial palatal sound in the plural as illustrated in Example 4. Consequently, the nasal has to agree with the point of articulation of the following consonant according to the homorganic nasal assimilation rule. Naturally this would be the palatal nasal. The next question is: what happens to the palatal sound /y/ since it does not surface in the plural form? From a phonetic point of view the high front vowel /i/ and the palatal semivowel /y/ are quite similar. They are both high and the front part of the tongue is used in articulating them. Moreover, in fast speech these two phonemes may not be perceived acoustically as distinct. The palatal glide is, therefore, deleted and the nasal in the plural form is retained at the palatal region because of the following high front vowel. In addition, there are a number of independent cases in which the nasals palatalize before the high front vowel /i/. We also did not come across forms such as *ina vs. *yina that would clearly distinguish these two segments. We can also not rule out a possibility that the nasal could fuse with the palatal glide and what becomes acoustically distinct is the nasal because of voicing. The palatal glide in these dialects is a result of a morpho-phonological process when two vowels occur in a sequence. The sequence of events could be schematically presented as follows: ro.yiɲciː N+yiɲci → N+Øiɲci → ɲiːɲci In the two other examples (song(s) and water(s)), there is assimilation of the nasal after the deletion of /y/ and /ʝ/ respectively to the height of the following vowel. This process is quite plausible in Chuka because there is an active morpho-phonological process and rule involving the plural forms of class 7/8. In this dialect the consonant of the plural prefix {bi-} is palatalized, fricativized and devoiced. However, this process is preceded by glide formation. The palatal glides are often deleted in the environment of high vowels. These rules are as follows: Glide formation i, e → y / _______ V o → w / _______ V ª « « ¬

ªVoc « «Low ¬

ª ĺ «Voc «High ¬

ª « « ¬

BBBBBB>9RF@

After the gliding process above, palatalization of the segments follows. ‘A labial continuant /β/ is palatalized and devoiced in the environment of a palatal glide’ ª « « « ¬

ª C ª3RVWíDOYHRODU « /___y «+ Labial ĺ« «9RLFH « ¬ ¬ í6WRS yĺ&BBBL

ª « « ¬


112

A more simplified conception of this rule would be: β → ʃ, c/y One question that still lingers is why the stem initial /y/, /r/ and the bilabial fricative /β/ are deleted only in the singular. These may be historical accidents for which there is no obvious explanation yet. Imenti and Igoji do not have plural forms that have palatal nasals as prefixes or words with stem initial palatal sounds or vowel initial stems in class 11/10. The words that form their plural with a palatal nasal, therefore, do not exist in these two dialects and thus distinguish dialects that have plural forms with palatal nasals from those that realize the plural otherwise. The plurals with the palatal nasal are also very rare in Mwimbi and have come to the dialect as a result of influence from Tharaka, Muthambi and Chuka. Mwimbi speakers use these forms though, but they always associate them with the neighbouring dialects. It is important to note that reference is made only to plural forms with palatal nasals in class 11/10 as differentiating the dialects. Stating that Imenti and Igoji have absolutely no plural forms beginning with a palatal nasal would be incorrect. There are words in class 9/10 whose plural begins with a palatal nasal in all the dialects such as in Example 5. Overview on the formation of plural forms From the discussion on class 11/10 morphophonemics presented above, it can be argued that the singulars in Meru are derived from the plural forms and not vice versa. The plural stems can easily be reconstructed to generate singular forms. However, the singular stems cannot be reconstructed to generate all plural stems. For instance, it is from plural forms in Tables 5, 6 and Examples 1 to 4 that one can predict the underlying palatal sounds that may have been lost in some dialects, and are consequently not observable in the surface phonetic forms in the singular. If we reconstructed the singular stems, it would not be possible to predict what the plural would be like, given the different variants discussed. We could summarize the discussion above in a table that shows possible sound changes in class 11/10 nouns. The asterisk (*) shows unattested forms and the plus sign (+) the possible sound changes that are attested elsewhere, not necessarily in the examples given in the table but as occurring in the language in general. However, these sound changes (+) are attested in the examples in the table if, and only if, the starting point is the plural which has a consonant initial stem after a nasal (see examples in Table 7). In reconstructing the changes in the dialects, the consonant that appears after the nasal is taken as the point Example 5 Singular ɲɔmba ɲɔnɡo ɲ.ɟara ɲ.ɟera ɲ.ɟɔka ɲ.ɟɔɣu

Plural ɲɔmba ɲɔnɡo ɲ.ɟara ɲ.ɟera ɲ.ɟɔka ɲ.ɟɔɣu

Gloss house(s) pot(s) hand(s)/arm(s) path(s)/way(s) snake(s) elephant(s)

Class 9/10 9/10 9/10 9/10 9/10 9/10

113

of departure and not the other way round. The singulars can then be derived from the plurals. On the other hand, if the singulars are taken as the underlying forms, it becomes difficult to explain some sounds in the plural, e.g, stops [p], [b], [ɟ] etc. which do not occur in the singular phonetic forms. Continuants [ʝ], [β] are also often deleted intervocalically or across morpheme boundaries. If one assumed, for instance, that the form with [Ø] is the point of departure it would be difficult to predict the sound that is deleted (see Example 6 drawn from Table 7). If we assume that [ro.βɛni] ‘lightning’ forms the basis from which the plural is generated in the first example, it becomes difficult to predict whether the plural form would have the voiceless stop [p] or the voiced one [b], or both cases after a nasal. If, on the other hand, we argue that the second form [rwɛːni] probably had a continuant which has gone to zero in the surface realisation of the singular stem, how do we determine whether the deleted consonant is [p] or [b] so that we can predict the correct form in the plural? Practically, and without independent knowledge on attested sound changes in the dialects, it would not be possible, and this is why we argue sufficiently that singulars are derived from plurals. Since there is an active morpho-phonological process that changes stops into continuants word initially or intervocalically it would be possible to explain the changes in the examples in (6), in the singular, as follows: Weakening of stops ‘A stop becomes a continuant word initially or intervocalically’ ª « ¬

ªVoiced ĺ [&RQWLQXDQW@ « Continuant ¬

^ V

^

BBBV

If we summarize further weakening that is attested in the dialects the paradigm is as follows: p→Ø b→β b→Ø d→r ɟ→ʝ ɡ→ɣ These attested changes explain the singular forms with a vowel initial stem such as [rw.ɛːni], [rw.eː], [rw.a:ru] vs. [ro.βɛni], [ro.βɛ], [ro.βaru] in the dialects. From these examples (with vowel initial stems) we can deduce that the forms have an underlying ‘consonant’ that has gone to zero and, therefore, the consonant is not realized on the surface phonetic form in the singular. The dialect speakers, in their intuition, therefore restructure the nouns in class 11/10 differently (cf. Table 4 for details). It is important to note that Imenti and Igoji have lost most of the stem initial consonants in class 11 nouns. On the contrary, Chuka has retained all stem initial consonants and forms that have no stem initial consonant are borrowed into the language. It should also be noted that in Chuka the voiceless bilabial stop [p] is neutralized in voicing hence:

^

p b

^



ĺE1BBBBB

The neutralization process therefore explains all the plural forms of class 11 that have a prenasalized bilabial stop [mb] in Chuka. This process is also attested in some forms found in Muthambi but this can be attributed to contact between the two dialects. The paradigm shown above, therefore, explains the plausible sound changes that we have shown, with diacritic +, in Table 7. Clearly, these changes are evidence that formally plurals form the basis for singulars. However, systematically this may or may not be true as will be illustrated in the following sections. In an article that addresses noun morphophonemics of the noun class system, it would be important to find out whether the changes observed in nouns of class 11/10 would be replicated on the verbs occurring in similar environments. Data presented in the following section is drawn from the Imenti dialect which is considered the standard. It shows agreement on verbs and therefore aids in the understanding as to whether the plural or the singular forms present a more reconstructable situation. The data is arranged according to the articulatory position of the initial consonants. Looking at the data presented in Table 8, one notes that under I there is always a consonant after the nasal,11 and this consonant is followed by a vowel, hence {ba, bi, bo, bu, pa, pe, pi, po, pu} etc., but under II there is only a vowel occurring in a non nasal environment, hence {Øa, Øi, Øo, Øu, Øe} etc. This is very systematic opposition. The only Table 7: Attested sound changes in the dialects Attested sound change in the dialects

Singular Plural rwaːɣe ro.βaru rwa:ru ro.βɛni rwɛːni

rw.eː ro.βe rwaːŋi rwaːŋi roːmɛ ro.remɛ ro.ko rwaːɣa

n.dwaːɣe m.baru m.baru

r→ d /N___ β→b /N___ p/b→Ø /V__V + Ø→p/b /N___ * m.bɛni/mpɛni β→b/p /N___ n.dwɛni/m.bɛni/m.pɛni r→ d /N___ p/b→Ø /V__V + Ø→p/b /N___ * m.pe p/b→Ø /V__V + Ø→p/b /N___ * m.be/m.pe β→b/p /N___ n.dwaːŋi r→d /N___ m.paːŋi p→Ø /V___V + Ø→p /N___* n.doːmɛ r→d /N___ n.demɛ r→d /N___ ŋ.ko k→k /N____ ɲ.ɟaɣa Ø→ɟ /N___ * ɟ→ ʝ/V___V +

Gloss mosquito(es) rib(s) rib(s) lightning(s) lightning(s)

palm(s) palm(s) branch(es) branch(es) tongue(s) tongue(s) firewood(s) fence(s)

Example 6 Plural m.bɛni m.pɛni n.dwɛni m.baru m.be m.pe

Singular ro.βɛni rw.ɛːni

Gloss lightning(s)

ro.βaru rw.a:ru ro.βɛ rw.eː

rib(s) palms(s)


114

Kanana

as /gu/ when the following consonant is voiceless and as /ku/ when the following consonant is voiced (Dahl’s Law). It would not be possible to predict the correct forms if we started out with the stems {-iithia} ‘burn’ and {-iitha} ‘hide’. A more detailed discussion on Dahl’s Law to understand the changes of the morpheme in nasal and non nasal environment is apt. In Meru there is an interesting set of alternations in gender 11/10 whereby in the singular (class 11) one tends to get a fricative (or nothing) whereas in the plural (class 10), after a nasal, there tends to be a stop. See some examples in (9). The data in Example 9 raises the question of what would possibly be the underlying form. Is the form of the singular, or is the form used in the plural, the correct underlying form (or, some other form which is found neither in the singular nor in the plural form)? From the data one notices that the alternations are not at all systematic. In some cases it is obviously true, that the singular seems to provide the basis for the plural forms, as for example in the plural of ‘ribs’ [ro. βaru vs. m.baru]; ‘mosquito’ [rwaːɣe vs. n.dwaːɣe] or even ‘lightning’ [rwɛːni vs. n.dwɛni]. In these examples, there is a clear alternation between continuants [r], [β] and stops [d], [b] respectively after a nasal. This is a common and natural opposition occurring in the language. One comes to the conclusion that the singular is the underlying form. However, from these examples we cannot make a generalisation on the rest of the forms given in Example 9 and

exception is the last example where a consonant occurs in a non nasal environment {-ra}. The central question that we need to address from this data is: what form do we take as the underlying one? Let us consider the forms {kw.iitha} ‘hide’ and {kw.iithia} ‘burn’ which are near minimal pairs. We consider the variant under I in Table 8. What Example 7 reveals is that if we take the variants under I, it becomes possible to systematically predict all the surface forms. The data shows that the verbs behave like nouns in class 11/10. The form, with a consonant initial stem, which appears after the nasal is the underlying one and it forms the basis upon which we can predict the correct surface forms. If, on the other hand, we take the variants under II as the underlying forms the possible output would be as presented in Example 8. If we argue for the position that there is a consonant insertion rule whereby zero becomes labial stop, it becomes difficult to determine which stop is inserted. In other words, on the basis of the zero, we cannot predict whether the stop should be a [p] or a [b]. We then conclude that based on the vowel initial stems that occur in non nasal environments we cannot predict the correct surface forms. Further evidence for the position that {pithia} and {bitha}, the forms with the nasals {-m-} ‘I’ and not those without the nasals are the underlying forms, comes from the behaviour of {-ku-} ‘you’. From the data presented in Example 7 and Example 8, we notice that this morpheme is realized Table 8: Agreement10 I. A.ku.m.bathikira A.ku.m.bitha A.ku.m.bona A.ku.m.bukiiria

He has obeyed me He has hidden me He has seen me He has lifted me

ba ~ Øa bi ~ Øi bo ~ Øo bu ~ Øu

A.ku.m.buna A.gu.m.panda A.gu.m.penderia A.gu.m.pithia A.gu.m.pongera A.gu.m.puuga A.ku.n.daitha

He has broken me He has planted me He has sold (something) to me He has burnt me He has added me He has blown me He has looked at me

bu ~ Øu pa ~ Øa pe ~ Øe pi ~ Øi po ~ Øo pu ~ Øu da~ ra

II. A.gu.kw.aathikira A.gu.kw.iitha A.gu.kw.oona A.gu.gu.ukiiria/ A.ku.gu.ukiiria A.gu.ku.una A.gu.kw.aanda A.gu.kw.eenderia A.gu.kw.iithia A.gu.kw.oongera A.gu.ku.uga A.gu.ku.raitha

He has obeyed you He has hidden you He has seen you He has lifted you He has broken you He has planted you He has sold (something) to you He has burnt you He has added you He has blown you He has looked at you

Example 7

Homorganic nasal rule Consonant deletion: labial stops become zero Surface form

a-ku-N-bitha a-ku-m-bitha ---

a-gu-kw-bitha --a-gu-kw-Øitha

akumbitha

agukwiitha

Underlying forms a-gu-N-pithia a-gu-m-pithia ---agumpithia

a-gu-kw-pithia ---a-gu-kw-Øithia agukwiithia

Example 8

Consonant insertion: zero becomes labial stops Homorganic nasal rule Surface form desired

a-ku-N-Øitha b or p?

a-gu-kw-Øitha a-gu-kw-Øitha

???

--agukwiitha

Underlying forms a-gu-N-Øithia b or p?

???

a-gu-kw-Øithia a-gu-kw-Øithia ---agukwiithia

115


Example 912


Singular Plural rwaːɣe n.dwaːɣe ro.βaru m.baru rw.a:ru m.baru rwɛːni n.dwɛni/m.bɛni/m.pɛni rw.eː m.pe/ m.be/m.pe/n.dwe rwaːŋi n.dwaːŋi/ m.paːŋi roːmɛ n.doːmɛ Underlying forms ??? ???

Gloss mosquito(es) rib(s) rib(s) lightning(s) palm(s) branch(es) tongue(s)

the argument that the singular is the underlying form may or may not be necessarily true. Besides, it is important to remember that similar alternations involving verbs have already been noted in the language (see Table 8). We noted in Table 8 that in all cases without exception there is a form used after a homorganic nasal and a form that occurs after a vowel or a glide. The alternations are systematic, one finds three attested forms: b~Ø p~Ø d~ r Using the example, of the near minimal pair again {kw. iitha} ‘hide’ and {kw.iithia} ‘burn’ in a trial derivation, we make the following observations on data (see Example 10): The form after the nasal, {-bitha} and {-pithia} respectively, can correctly determine the desired surface forms. The putative rules, therefore, function as follows: Rule 1 predicts the point of articulation of any nasal in the environment before a consonant. This is a very general rule applying in a large number of different contexts in the language. Rule 2 deletes /b/ and /p/ in intervocalic position. It may be the case that a number of additional conditions need to be stated, but the rule seems to be very general. Rule 3 changes vocalic elements into non-vocalic elements before vocalic elements, i.e. /i/ becomes /y/ and /u/ becomes /w/. This is a very general process

operating everywhere in the language. Furthermore, this rule lengthens the vowel after the newly created glide. Glide-formation thus consists of the glide formation and of compensatory lengthening. These two processes go together and cannot be separated from each other. Rule 4 is a dissimilation rule which changes voiceless consonants into voiced consonants in the environment before voiceless consonants. This rule is generally called Dahl’s Law. If, on the other hand, we apply a parallel attempt using the forms occurring without the nasals {-iitha} ‘hide’ and {-iithia} ‘burn’, we would fail to predict the correct results as shown in Example 11. The derivation fails at the point where the bilabial consonant needs to be inserted. Without independent information the rule cannot predict the quality of the bilabial consonant, it cannot state whether it is the voiced /b/ or voiceless /p/ stop that needs to be inserted. Therefore, we come to the conclusion that we can only predict the surface forms if we reconstructed forms that occur after nasals. This is the only way to predict correct surface forms in Meru. Conclusion As much as the so-called ‘Meru dialects’ are closely related, these dialects restructure class 11/10 differently. We have noted that Imenti, which is the most dominant group, and Igoji do not have the plural forms with stem initial palatal consonants in singular or plural. This means that these two dialects do not have plural forms with palatal nasal prefixes. We have also noted that continuants, especially the bilabial fricative and the alveolar trill, are prone to deletion stem-initially, when the word is in the singular, in most dialects except in Chuka. These continuants are almost always deleted in Imenti and Igoji. We can, therefore, conclude this article by stating that the morpho-phonology has evolved differentially in these dialects and so have class 11/10 nouns. Imenti and Igoji have changed the most and lost what would be a preferred syllable structure of

Example 10

1 2 3 4

Homorganic nasal rule Consonant deletion: bilabial stops become Ø Glide formation Dahl’s Law

Underlying forms a-ku-N-bitha a-ku-m-bitha ----a-ku-m-bitha akumbitha Surface forms

a-ku-ku-bitha --a-ku-ku-Øitha a-ku-kw-iitha a-gu-kw-iitha agukwiitha

a-ku-N-pithia a-ku-m-pithia -----a-gu-m-pithia agumpithia

a-ku-ku-pithia ---a-ku-ku-Øithia a-ku-kw-iithia a-gu-kw-iithia agukwiithia

Example 11

A 1 3 4

Consonant insertion: zero becomes a bilabial stop Homorganic nasal rule glide formation Dahl’s Law Surface form desired

Underlying forms a-ku-N-Øitha a-ku-ku-Øitha b or p? a-ku-ku-Øitha --a-ku-kw-iitha a-gu-kw-iitha ??? agukwiitha Surface forms

a-ku-N-Øithia b or p?

???

a-ku-ku-Øithia a-ku-ku-Øithia ---a-ku-kw-iithia a-gu-kw-iithia agukwiithia

116

CVCV even in class 11/10. We have, therefore, noted that in Meru dialects there is variation, reanalysis and restructuring of the class 11/10 nouns. We have presented data and evidence which shows formally and systematically that indeed plurals form the basis for the singulars. It is only the form that occurs after the nasal that represents a possible reconstructable situation. The discussion based on factual data on nouns, verbs and Dahl’s Law, reinforces that plural forms are the basis from which the singulars are derived. It is from the plural forms that we can accurately predict the singulars in class 11/10 and only the forms after nasals will allow one to correctly predict the desired surface forms. Notes


1

2 3

4

5

6

7

8

9 10

11

12

A period marks a morpheme boundary. This boundary is not indicated on class 11 nouns in the table because the morphological restructuring of these words will be addressed in detail. Diminutive In Meru, all voiced stops occur only in class 10 nouns whereby they are preceded by the class 10 nasal prefix, e.g. a voiced and voiceless palatal stop would be presented as [ɲc] ncamba {cock} and [ɲɈ] njoka {snake} respectively. In any other environment stops are either prenazalised or weaken to fricatives word initially or intervocalically. On the other hand, the voiceless counterparts can occur in a nasal or non nasal environment. When stops are prenasalized the nasal segment always agrees with the point of articulation of the following consonant. The prenasalized stops would thus be presented as follows: [mp] mpampo (ants), [mb] nyomba (house), [nt] muntu (person), [nd] gekundwa (knot), [ɲc] ruunci (fence), [ɲɟ] kwinja (to dig deep), [ŋk] mwanki (fire), [ŋɡ] kiongo (head). The diacritic ~ links the phonetic realisation with its underlying form if one were to mark the morpheme boundary. The gloss ‘fence’ has more than one equivalent in Tharaka. This is one of these forms, which is realized with {ru-} as the prefix. The other equivalents with the same meaning, which are realized with {rw-} as the prefix, will be exemplified later. The basic forms for Central Kenya Bantu, except Kamba, are [ro.pe, ro.βe, ro.he]. Therefore, the stem initial [p] and [β] are preceded by bilabial nasals in class 10, hence [mp] and [mb]. Since the Kikuyu sound system does not have a prenasal *mh as a homorganic counterpart for h, the stem initial in Class 10 is simply h. This form is treated as if a prefix existed. The plural is then formed by replacing the prefix {ro-} with a class 10 plural nasal prefix, thus generating [n.doːmɛ]. This form can also be seen as a case where the whole word is treated as a stem. See Table 3. These are some examples, [ro.ko, ŋ.ko] ‘firewood(s)’ and [ro. koŋɡi, ŋ.koŋɡi] ‘wind(s)’, with a voiceless stop that is not changed in the plural form; the class 10 plural prefix replaces the singular prefix {ro-}. The equivalent of the gloss ‘water(s)’ is only used in Chuka. Data presented in this table and subsequent examples from it are given in normal orthography unless otherwise stated. Reference here is made to the nasal that appears where morpheme boundaries are marked, not the prenasals and other nasals of the stems. The data is transcribed phonetically.

Kanana

References Bennett PR. 1967. Dahl’s Law and the Thagicu. African Language Studies 8:127–159. Fadiman JA. 1973. Early history of the Meru of Mt. Kenya. Journal of African History 14:9–27. Heine B, Möhlig WJG. 1980. Language and dialect atlas of Kenya. Vol. 1. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer. Lambert HE. 1950. The system of land tenure in the Kikuyu Land Unit. Cape Town: School of African Studies, University of Cape Town. Maho J. 2008. The Bantu bibliography. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. Möhlig WJG. 1974. Die Stellung der Bergdialekte im Osten des Mt. Kenya. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer. Möhlig WJG. 1980. Bantu languages. In: Heine B, Möhlig WJG (eds), Language and dialect atlas of Kenya. Vol. 1. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer. pp 11–58. Whiteley WH (ed.) 1974. Language in Kenya. Nairobi: Oxford University Press.



Appendix: Map of central Kenya (adopted from Heine & Möhlig, 1980)

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