A Comprehensive Comparison of Lexemes in the ... - SIL International

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Table 2.1. Consonant correspondence (after Lynch 2001:201–202).†
PSV Kwamera Lenakel N Tanna SW Tanna Vaha Whitesands
*b, *p p p p p p p
*b̃, *p̃ p̃ p̃ p̃ p̃ p̃ p̃
*c h, (s) s s s s s
*d, *nt t, j t, j t, j, (d), (k) t, j t, j t, j (r), (rh)
*dr t, r t, (j), l t, (j), l t, (j), l, r t, (j), r r, l
*t r r, l t l, r t t
*k fortis k k k k k k
*k lenis ø k, (ø) ŋ k k ŋ
*g k k k k k k
*l r l, y l, y l r l, y
*r r l, y l, y l r l, y
*s, *j s, (h) h, (t) h, (r) h h h, (r)
*m m m m m m m
*m̃ m̃ m̃ m̃ m̃ m̃ m̃
*n n, (ŋ) n, (ŋ) n, (ŋ) n, (ŋ) n, (ŋ) n, (ŋ)
*ñ i i i i i i
*ŋ ŋ ŋ ŋ ŋ ŋ ŋ
*v k, k w , v u-w-v, (ø) u-u-p, v, k w , v k w , v u, v, (ø)
(ø)
*w k w u u k w k w u
*y y y y y y y
†Following standard orthography on Tanna, represents a velarized voiceless bilabial stop [pʷ] and
represents a velarized bilabial nasal [mʷ]. Parentheses indicate that the form is used only in
certain environments. Forms separated by hyphens (for *v) refer to word-initial, word-medial, and wordfinal
position respectively.
When lexemes from any two languages are compared, they are considered
cognates if all of the phonemes in the two entries are the same, or if the only
changes they have undergone are phonological ones that can be explained by
predictable shifts from PSV. For example, the Kwamera and Lenakel lexemes in
example (2) meaning ‘be pregnant’ are cognates, since the consonants /h/ in
Kwamera and /s/ in Lenakel are both reflexes of PSV *c. Also, the final /ə/ has
been dropped in Kwamera and /ku/ in Kwamera corresponds to /uk/ in Lenakel.
(For the vowel correspondences see below.)