Rara #108

Legacy number: 108

 Number  108
 Phenomenon  consonant ablaut (aka "permutation" or "polarity"):
phonological alternation of stem-initial consonants conditioned by suffix
 Found in  Fulani and some other Atlantic languages, but not all (Niger-Congo)
 Domain  phonology — alternations: conditioning
 Type  rarissimum
 Keywords  consonant alternation, suffix
 Source  Gregersen, E. A. (1977). Language in Africa: An Introductory Survey. New York: Gordon & Breach, p. 86 (better source needed)
 Violates  not yet in UA? locality constraint

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Discussion
Notes
The explanation for this pattern is likely to be diachronic: presumably, the conditioning suffixes used to come before noun stems, and their final consonants were conditioning phonological alternations of initial consonants of noun stems.
Comment
Frans Plank · 21 Sep 2006
The explanation for this pattern is likely to be diachronic: presumably, the conditioning suffixes used to come before noun stems, and their final consonants were conditioning phonological alternations of initial consonants of noun stems.