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Preverbal elements are famous for triggering several "coalescence rules" in Somali (Saeed 1999: 39). A case at hand is the set of adpositions ú (destination, manner), kú (locative, instrument), ká (source, content) and lá (comitative). The combinations of two adpositions are well documented, and it has long been noticed that some of them are phonologically opaque. Such opaque forms can in principle be analysed along two general lines: i) they are the outputs of a transparent combination of morphemes, and their surface forms is accounted for by positing allomorphy rules, or ii) they are not a combination of two morphemes, but single lexicalized units. The choice between these two options is an empirical question, which I address in this article. I examine the behaviour of opaque forms in a broader context: two-adposition clusters in combination with a pronominal clitic, and with a third adposition. Based on a new empirical basis, I conclude in favour of lexicalization. This result has consequences on the general assumption of a fixed ordering of adpositions in the preverbal domain. Since all combinations of kV́ adpositions surface as syncretic kagá , we have no evidence for assuming that the occurrence of two kV́ adpositions is ordered, and if it is ordered, in which order they appear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our aim in this article is first to contribute to the documentation of the diatopic variation in the realization of Somali geminates, and second to determine whether Djibouti Somali exhibits geminate latency, on a par with Standard Somali (Barillot 2002, Barillot & Ségéral 2005). To this effect, we present the results of two production experiments that were conducted with one Djibouti Somali speaker. Section 1 examines the realization of the contrast /b, d, ɡ/ vs /bb, dd, ɡɡ/ in nouns in Djibouti Somali (Experiment 1-NOUNS) in comparison with the previous experiment we conducted on Standard Somali (Bendjaballah & Le Gac 2021). Based on the results of this experiment, Section 2 addresses the question of geminate latency in Djibouti Somali. 'Latent' geminates are segments that are phonologically long but whose phonetic duration is short. We examine the acoustic realization of voiced singletons (/b, d, ɡ/), voiced geminates (/bb, dd, ɡɡ/) and voiceless geminates (/tt, kk/) in Djibouti Somali (Experiment 2-VERBS). Section 3 concludes the article, and argues in favour of an extension of geminate latency both in Standard Somali and in Djibouti Somali: geminate latency does not only concern the voiceless stops but also the voiced stops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to determine the acoustic correlates of gemination in Standard Somali (Afroasiatic, Cushitic), in particular whether closure duration is the primary acoustic correlate distinguishing singleton and geminate stops, with immediate consequences for the analysis of word-initial strengthening. We provide an acoustic analysis of word-initial and word-internal voiced singletons as well as of their geminate counterparts on the basis of a production experiment conducted with four native speakers. Three temporal and four non-temporal acoustic properties of /b d ɡ/ and /bb dd ɡɡ/ are examined and systematically compared (closure duration, release burst duration, vowel duration; and closure amplitude, release amplitude, presence of a release burst, (de)voicing). We argue that the opposition between singleton and geminate voiced stops is primarily realized as the manner contrast approximant [β̞ ð̞ ɣ̞] vs. stop [b d ɡ]. Word-initially, Somali exhibits various peculiarities that are reminiscent of the cross-linguistically attested phenomenon of domain-initial strengthening. This article provides the first study of this phenomenon in Somali. We establish that word-initial /b d ɡ/ and word-medial /bb dd ɡɡ/ share the same closure duration, release burst duration, and vowel duration within the Prosodic Word. They also have a similar closure amplitude, and voicing properties. Moreover, the acoustic properties of word-initial /b d ɡ/ remain constant, and do not depend on their position in the prosodic hierarchy. On the basis of these results, the article also aims at providing new insights in the phonological representation of Somali geminates and word boundaries, and thus contributes to the understanding of word-initial strengthening in Somali. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]