The detransitivizing suffix -i and the reconstruction of Pre-Proto-Mande constituent order

Abstract

The uniformity and total rigidity of the SOVX constituent order across Mande languages constitutes a typological oddity, which led several scholars to discuss the possibility of analyzing it as historically derived from a typologically more common constituent order. In this article, I show that the hypothesis of a historical link between a detransitivizing suffix -i found in some West Mande languages and a reflexive pronoun reconstructable as í has implications for the reconstruction of Pre-Proto-Mande constituent order.