Vowel hiatus resolution strategies in the Lungu, Mambwe and Namwanga languages: a micro-variation analysis

Abstract

Guthrie classifies Lungu as M14, Mambwe as M15 and Namwanga as M22. Lungu, Mambwe and Namwanga (LuMaNa) have been characterised as emanating from a language called Fipa. The purpose of this article is to account for similarities and microvariations in the LuMaNa languages by examining the strategies evident in the manner that vowel hiatus is resolved. Using micro-variation linguistic theory, particularly in Bantu languages, and insights from studies on hiatus resolution in Bantu languages, the article identifies and presents the various morphophonological processes used in the three languages to resolve the VV [vowel, vowel] sequences. The article concludes that vowel elision and glide formation are the preferred hiatus resolution strategies, and that these strategies are largely applied similarly in the LuMaNa languages. In particular, Lungu and Mambwe are so similar that they might as well be regarded as the same language. Namwanga shows minor variations in some aspects of vowel hiatus resolution from the other two languages, but not wide enough to be considered mutually unintelligible.