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does not draw a firm conclusion. Our results give firmer evidence that the labial flap has
its origin in Niger-Congo as well, which concurs with his general proposal.
Before concluding our discussion of the origin of the labial flap, we need to offer
a couple of caveats. First, we have been assuming the integrity of Adamawa-Ubangi, but
there is by no means consensus amongst linguists on this assumption. For example,
Bennett (1983) found no phonological innovations and only a handful of weak lexical
innovations to support the unity of Adamawa-Ubangi. Second, we have been assuming
that Adamawa-Ubangi is a sub-branch of Niger-Congo. However, Boyd (1978) and
Cloarec-Heiss (1995) identify resemblances between Adamawa-Ubangi and Nilo-
Saharan which may indicate a genetic relationship between the two. More research on
this point is needed. Whatever the results of further classificatory work, it is clear that the
languages we have identified (e.g. Mono, Ndogo, Karang, Mbum, Mangbetu) are indeed
the languages in which the labial flap is most clearly established.
D.7 Languages containing the labial flap
In this section we provide a more detailed discussion of each language which
contains the labial flap. First, we provide the language name as listed in the Ethnologue
(Grimes 1996), its Ethnologue code, and the name used by a researcher if it differs from
the Ethnologue name. Each language listed is considered a mutually unintelligible speech
variety by the Ethnologue.
Next we list the country or countries in which the language is spoken. The
references cited include the first known mention of the labial flap in the literature for the
language, as well as additional sources which provide significant data concerning the
sound.
For each entry, we discuss briefly the articulation of the sound, particularly noting
if it is bilabial or labiodental, and if there is a voiceless variant. If the precise place of
articulation is not described, we simply refer to it as “labial”.
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