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‘Isolates’ in ‘Atlantic’

‘Isolates’ in ‘Atlantic’. Guillaume Segerer. Workshop « Language Isolates in Africa ». Lyon – Dec 2010. The ‘Atlantic’ languages and the neighbouring language families.

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‘Isolates’ in ‘Atlantic’

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  1. ‘Isolates’ in ‘Atlantic’ Guillaume Segerer Workshop « Language Isolates in Africa » Lyon – Dec 2010

  2. The ‘Atlantic’ languages and the neighbouring language families

  3. Sapir, J. David (1971). West Atlantic: an inventory of the languages, their noun class systems and consonant alternation. In Sebeok, T. A. (Ed), Current trends in linguistics, 7: linguistics in sub-Saharan Africa, The Hague & Paris : Mouton & Co., pp. 45-112. Sapir 1971 : resemblance rates

  4. Sapir 1971 : classification Northern Branch A. Sénégal Languages 1. a. Fula b. Serer 2. Wolof B. Cangin Languages (Lehar, Safen, Non; Ndut, (Falor) C. Bak Languages (Lower Casamance) 1. Diola Group: Fogny, Huluf, (other Diola dialects); Gusilay; Karon; Kwaatay; (Bayot) 2. Manjaku; Papel; (Mankanya) 3. Balanta; (Ganja) D. Eastern Sénégal-Portuguese Guinea Languages 1. a. Tenda Group: Tanda, Bassari, Bedik, [Bapeŋ] b. Konyagi 2. Biafada; Pajade 3. a. Kobiana; (Kasanga) b. Banhum E. a. Nalu b. [Mbulungish (otherwise known as Baga Fore)] c. [Baga Mboteni] II. Bijago (isolated) III. Southern Branch A. Sua B. Mel Languages 1. Temne, Baga Koba, (Banta, Landuma, Tyapi, other Baga languages (excluding ‘Fore’ and Mboteni)) 2. Sherbro, Mmani, (other Bullom dialects), Krim; Kisi 3. Gola C. Limba

  5. Wilson, W. A. A. (1989). Atlantic. In Bendor-Samuel, J. T. (Ed), The Niger-Congo languages. Lanham, New York & London : University Press of America, SIL., pp. 81-104. Sapir 1971 > Wilson 1989

  6. Sapir 1971 Wilson 1989

  7. The Swadesh list the 40 ASJP notions

  8. The data 1st inventory : 220 sources Elimination of poorly documented sources (less than 75% Swadesh) > - 128 sources - 75 « languages »

  9. The data : a sample

  10. The data : cognacy judgments Bijogo Joola Kasa bu fu-kow tête oeil nɛ ji-cil

  11. The data : cognacy judgments (2)

  12. Processing : the Splitstree program

  13. First result hard to read...

  14. Detail

  15. Simplification : reduce the number of languages by singling out homogenous branches Balanta • 42 ‘languages’

  16. Results (2)

  17. Results (2)

  18. Results (3) Unproblematic groups may be simplified in order to get a more synthetic picture

  19. Final result balante manjaku, mankanya, pepel joola central karon, mlomp kwaatay bayot bijogo nyun, buy wolof cangin tenda biafada, jaad peul sereer nalu, bagamboteni baga temne kisi sherbro, krim sua gola limba • 3 big clusters • northern 1 • northern 2 • southern • differences from Sapir : • Wolof-Nyun-Buy • Bijogo together with Bak • Sua together with Mel

  20. Further arguments for the new classification Class suffixes implosive stops consonant mutation

  21. Additional result balante manjaku, mankanya, pepel joola central karon, mlomp kwaatay bayot bijogo nyun, buy wolof cangin tenda biafada, jaad peul sereer nalu, bagamboteni baga temne kisi sherbro, krim sua gola limba • Insertion of outer languages: • Mandinka (Mande) • Kabiye (Gur) • Ngomba (Bantoid) • Godie (Kru)

  22. Warnings about the use of phylogenetic softwares ‘southern’ group (swadesh list) ‘southern’ group + outer languages (swadesh list) ‘southern’ group + outer languages (ASJP list)

  23. Alternate method Back to Sapir’s use of distance matrix

  24. Distance matrix for ‘Atlantic’ and beyond

  25. Phylogenetic tree and distance matrix balante manjaku, mankanya, pepel joola central karon, mlomp kwaatay bayot bijogo nyun, buy wolof cangin tenda biafada, jaad peul sereer nalu, bagamboteni baga temne kisi sherbro, krim sua gola limba

  26. Singletons (Gola, Limba) Comparison of personal pronouns with ‘nearest’ neighbours Gola Limba Kisi Temne

  27. Singletons (Gola, Limba) Comparison of first numerals with ‘nearest’ neighbours

  28. New map of 'Atlantic'

  29. Thank you

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