Reflections on Sound-Laws and Statistics (Applied to the Phenomenon of Palatalisation in Hausa)

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Title:	Reflections on Sound-Laws and Statistics (Applied to the Phenomenon of Palatalisation in Hausa)
Author:	Gunther, Wilfried
Year:	1978
Periodical:	Africana Marburgensia
Volume:	11
Issue:	2
Pages:	61-69
Language:	English
Geographic term:	West Africa
Subjects:	Hausa language Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Abstract:	The postulate that sound-laws apply without exceptions has caused considerable controversy over the years and now seems to be rejected in the light of recent research. Most of the examples, given by Walther van Wartburg in his book 'Einführung in Problematik und Methodik der Sprachwissenschaft' (Tübingen, 1962), give too little information to appreciate Wartburg's claim 'that during the last decades the concept of laws with no exception - which gave rise to the term of sound-law - has become shaken'. In his example on Bergell he is more elucidating. In Hausa there is a sound-law the impact of which can best be described as palatalisation. It affects the consonants t, d, z, which become c, j. sh respectively before the vowels e and i. This phenomenon is examined with the help of statistical methods. Footnotes, sum. (German, French).