Document Type
Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.3765/plsa.v9i1.5751
Journal Title
Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America
Publication Date
2024
Abstract
This paper examines and accounts for the origin and presence of ejectives in Central Cushitic (CC) languages. Appleyard (2006) claimed that most occurrences of ejectives are due to borrowing from the Ethiosemitic languages. This is certainly true for all ejectives in Kemantney, and some in Blin and Xamtanga. However, examination of Appleyard’s data shows that only 37% of ejectives in Blin and 25% of ejectives in Xamtanga are found in borrowings. Most ejectives in CC in these two languages are therefore “of indubitable Agaw origin”, which suggests that ejectives are from the proto-language rather than through sound change. This paper analyzes the distribution of ejectives in Appleyard’s data and re-examines the consequences for reconstructed forms and probable sound changes.
Publisher Statement
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Fallon, Paul D. 2024. “Where Do Central Cushitic Ejectives Come From?”. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America 9 (1): 5751. https://doi.org/10.3765/plsa.v9i1.5751.
Included in
Comparative and Historical Linguistics Commons, Language Description and Documentation Commons, Phonetics and Phonology Commons
Comments
The definitive article is available on the journal's website at: https://doi.org/10.3765/plsa.v9i1.5751.