Matuumbi

The following data from Matuumbi illustrate the different surface realizations of the noun-class prefixes (nouns are assigned lexically or syntactically to different classes, conventionally numbered between 1 and 21). You should be able to discern and formalize the rule that applies in these data, and order those rules correctly. What rule applies in the following data?

The examples in (27) illustrate three rules. First, there is an optional rule applying in both subsets of (27) which deletes u after m, hence in these words, the prefix /mu/ can be pronounced in two ways, one with u and one without u. You should formalize the optional vowel deletion rule illustrated by these data.

An independent rule assimilates a nasal to the place of articulation of the following consonant (we saw this rule in previous Matuumbi data). This rule applies in both subsets of examples, and is the only other rule besides deletion of u involved in the first subset. The third rule applies in the second subset of examples, and explains the change in the initial consonant of the stem. This rule only applies to a glide preceded by a nasal which is separated by a morpheme boundary, notated in rules as “+.”

(An alternative transcription of these second set of forms would be ŋŋwesa and so on: the point of writing this as [ŋŋwesa] is to make clear that there is a change in the nature of the initial segment, and not the addition of another segment.)

The examples in (28) illustrate the point that nouns in class 7 in the singular (marked with the prefix ki-) have their plural in class 8 (with the prefix i-). The plural locative form gives further illustration of a phonological rule of the language which we already know.

How do you explain the following examples of nouns, which also have singulars in class 7 and plurals in class 8, given that the class prefixes in these examples are underlyingly /ki-/ and /i-/?

The data in (29) demonstrate a specific conclusion about the ordering of two of the rules motivated here: what is that conclusion?