The (morpho)phonology of oral stop consonants in Proto-Tupi-Guarani: open issues, closed issues and new issuesAbstract
This paper provides an account of certain alternations that characterize all conservative Tupi-Guarani (TG) languages. Three processes are reconstructed for Proto-Tupi-Guarani (PTG): pre-vocalic oral stop lenition, pre-consonantal stop deletion, and glottal stop metathesis. Both oral stop lenition and glottal metathesis are singled out for more extensive discussion, as previous research has overlooked important issues. I argue that PTG must be reconstructed with the whole series of oral stops *p, *t and *k undergoing lenition, thus implying that languages such as Old Tupi, where *k does not lenite, are innovative. The traditional reconstruction of word-final/pre-pausal lenes or continuant consonants is also questioned, and interpreted as resulting from an overreliance on Old Tupi, and PTG is reconstructed instead with final oral stops as attested in Kamayurá, Kayabí and Xingu Asuriní. Finally, the view that glottal metathesis, as attested in Kayabí and Kagwahiva, must be reconstructed for PTG is scrutinized. Its reconstruction does in fact explain the exceptional behavior of the glottal stop in relation to the deletion rule, but a paradox arises regarding the status of this segment at PTG. Several tentative solutions are proposed, but is ultimately rejected Schleicher’s (1998) reconstruction of ‘pre-glottalized obstruents’ to Pre-PTG.
Keywords
Tupi-Guarani languages; Historical linguistics; Comparative reconstruction; (Morpho)phonology