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

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(2) pregnant, be (early stage) V/TR
Kwamera: əp̃əh məkuə
Lenakel: ap̃əs mouk
In the case of ‘curly, be’ in example (3) PSV *w remains in the Whitesands
lexeme, but in Vaha it becomes /k w /. PSV *dr has become /r/ in Whitesands and
/j/ in Vaha.
(3) curly, be V/A
Vaha:
Whitesands:
kwujinkwujin
werinwerin
As Table 2.1 indicates, PSV *r becomes /l/, /r/, or /y/. Therefore, the
Kwamera and Lenakel lexemes for ‘grasp, feel’ in example (4) are cognates. In
Lenakel, PSV *r has become /y/ and /ə/ has been dropped.
(4) grasp; feel V/TR
Kwamera: ərap
Lenakel: yap
Consonant switching is also a consideration when determining cognates. In
the case of ‘float around’ in example (5), the position of /n/ relative to *s has
switched in N Tanna, and PSV *s has become /h/. These two words are, therefore,
treated as cognates.
(5) float around V/INTR
Kwamera: ənas
N Tanna: əhan
Likewise, in the case of ‘child’ in example (6), /n/ switches relative to *t in the
case of Kwamera, and PSV *t has become /r/ in Lenakel. Therefore, these two
words are also treated as cognates.
(6) child N
PSV *natu- 3
Kwamera:
Lenakel:
tɨni
nɨrɨ*
2.1.1.2 Vowel correspondence
Table 2.2 (next page), also based on Lynch’s study (Lynch 2001:203),
shows vowel correspondence between modern Tanna languages and PSV. The
table has been adapted to reflect modern representations of vowel values
(especially /ɨ/) and to show the data from Vaha. Again, forms separated by
3 From Lynch (2001:304).