Retroflex nasals in the Mai-Ndombe (DRC): The case of nasals in North Boma B82

Abstract

Retroflex consonants represent a major class of language sounds, but our understanding of their phonetic and phonological behaviour is still relatively limited. From the standpoint of acoustics, recent contributions are largely lacking. Within retroflex consonants, liquids are particularly rare, and arguably very little descriptive and/or theoretical (and/or historical) research has been conducted on them, with a few exceptions for a number of Australian and Indian languages. Bantu languages have mostly been left out of broader surveys, a few cases notwithstanding. In this talk, we show why retroflex nasals could constitute a unique testing ground for phonetics, phonology, typology, and historical linguistics alike. Thanks to recent fieldwork in the Mai-Ndombe region (southwestern DRC), we were able to confirm the existence of nasal retroflexes in North Boma (B82), as initially attested by Stappers (1986). We present an acoustic description of the segments at hand, which represents the first detailed study of this kind for the Bantu languages of the region. We also hypothesise that the presence of retroflexion in the Mai-Ndombe might be a substrate feature originating in extinct hunter-gatherer languages once spoken by groups (known as “Batwa”) which still inhabit the area (Saïdi Hemedi et al., 2012: 3).