DOCSLIB.ORG

Denya Phonology

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Denya Phonology DENYA PHONOLOGY by Tanyi Eyong Mbuagbaw Cameroon Bible Translation Association (CABTA) B.P 1299, Yaounde, Cameroon 1996 ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS [ ] phonetic data / / phonemicised data V vowel cons. consonant cont. continuant sg. singular pl. plural lat. lateral cor. coronal strid. strident nas. nasal ant. anterior U.F. Underlying form DS Downstep H High L Low Del. Rel. Delayed Release N. Syllabic Nasal n. cl Noun class A.M Associative Marker T Tone T Floating Tone # Morpheme boundary 2 SP Soft Palate σ Syllable node R Rhyme O Onset C Coda x Segment V. ass. Vowel Assimilation V. Ct. Vowel Contraction V. El. Vowel Elision NP Noun Phrase VP Verb Phrase DET Determiner SPE Sound Pattern of English 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The data used for the analysis was first collected during the Christmas week of December 1993. More than 2000 words were collected from pastor Ncha Gabriel Bessong and Lucas Ettamambui. The data was corrected and expanded in July 1995 by the above two persons and also by some members of the Denya language committee. They are namely: Daniel Eta Akwo, and Mr. Robinson Tambi. All of them were prepared to give any assistance to see this work completed. I am indeed very grateful to them. I am very grateful to my wife who was always patient with me during the long period devoted to this work especially working long periods at night. I am also very grateful to Dr. Steven Bird and Dr. Jim Roberts for their input in this Phonology. I am very greatful to Dr. Keith Snider whose insight in African languages has helped me to complete this work. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Purpose and Scope 1.2 Language Background 1.3 Classification 1.4 Bilingualism 1.5 Pidgin and English 1.6 Occupation 1.7 Review of Literature 1.8 Manyu Literacy and Development Programme (MALDEP) 1.9 Overview of Grammar 1.9.1 Nouns 1.9.2 Derived Nouns 1.9. 3 Pronouns 1.9.4 Adjectives 1.9. 5 Verbs 5 2. VOWEL AND CONSONANT SYSTEMS 2.1 Vowels 2.1.1 The Vowel System 2.1.2 Descriptive Statement of Vocallic Allophones 2.1.3 Distinctive Feature Matrix for Vowels 2.2 Consonants 2..2.1 Denya Phonetic Consonant Chart 2.2.2 Descriptive Statement of Consonant Phonemes 2.2.3 Distinctive feature Matrix for Sonorants 2.2.4 Distinctive Feature Matrix for Obstruents 2.3 Phonemic contrast for Vowels and Consonants 2.4 The Feature Geometry of Denya 2.4.1 Laryngeal features 2.4.2 Supralaryngeal Features 2.4.3 Underspecification 2.5 Distribution of Consonants in Onset Position 2.6 Consonants in Coda Position 2.7 Consonant Distrbution in Different Positions of the Morpheme 3. PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Assimilation and Contraction in Denya 3.3 Glide Formation 3.4 Desyllabification 3.5 Consonant weakening 3.5 Reduplication 6 4. THE SYLLABLE 4.1 Specific Syllable Types 4.2 Affricates 4.3 Semi-vowels 5. TONE 5.1 Tonal phonemes 5.2 The Distribution of Tone on Nouns 5.3 Tone in the Associative Construction 5.3.1 Tone Rules 5.3.2 Mapping Rules 5.4 Tones on Verbs 5.5 Description of Tone in the Verb Phrase 5.5.1 Tone Rules 5.5.2 Mapping Rules 5.5.3 Late Phonetic Realisation 5.6 Denya Verb Tone Paradigms 5.7 Tonal Processes 5.7.1 Downdrift and Downstep 5.8 Contour Tones 6. BIBLIOGRAPHY 7 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Purpose and scope The purpose of this work is to describe and analyse Denya Phonology, its noun class system and detail analysis on the tones and verbs.This data was collected in December 1993 at Mukonyong (Small Nyang) in the Takamanda dialect area, during which I spent a week working on the lexical items for Denya. The data was again checked in June 1995 for further correction. However, this work cannot pretend to deal with every signifant aspect of Denya Phonology. Nevertheless, it hoped that this description will be of use to linguists interested in Bantoid languages and in the Nyang family in particular, a family for which much linguistic work needs to be done. The emphasis of this work is descriptive rather theoretical although it is difficult to described any work in a theoretical vacuum, since description involves a certain amount of analysis. The study begins with both the vowel and consonant systems in section 2. Constraints on the structure of the syllables and morphemes are treated in section 3. Morphological processes are covered in section 4. Aspects of the tonal phonology are described in section 5. Phonlogical processes are discussed in section 6. 1.2 Language Background Denya is a language spoken in the Manyu Divison of the South West Province in the Republic of Cameroon. The speakers of the language are commonly referred to as Anyang and number 16,000 (1994 estimate). They occupy the forest area of Akwaya Sub-Divison and some parts of Upper Banyang Sub-Divison. The majority of the speakers are settled on the banks of the Manyu river (Cross River) in Mamfe town westward to the border with Nigeria. There are many speakers of the language living 8 in other areas of the country. Neighbouring languages include Kenyang, Ejagham, and Kendem to the south-west, Boki to the west, Asumbo, Amasi and Menka to the north. Denya has four main dialects, Takamanda, Basho, Bitieku and Bajwa. Takamanda and Basho and named after villages located in the centre of the dialect areas. The other two, Bitieku and Bajwa received their names from their clans which speak their dialect. People from the Takamanda and Bitieku dialects usually group Basho and Bajwa as one and they refer to it as Basho or Bajwa. In my analysis, I used the Takamanda dialect because it is widely recognised as the standard dialect. For more details, see Tyhurst and Tyhurst (1983b). 1.3 Classification BANTOID Southern Bantoid Tivoid Ekoid-Mbe Jawaran Mamfe (Nyang) Beboid Grassfield Denya Kendem Kenyang Johnston (1919) classified Denya as Ekoid, a sub-group of the Cross River languages. Talbot (1926) considered it to be a sub-group of Banyangi, while Westermann (1952) classified it as Ekoid Bantu. Jacquot and Richardson (1956) noted that it is very difficult to classify Denya. Consequently they adhered to Guthrie’s (1953) classification and regarded it as a Bantoid language because it has both Bantu and Non-Bantu features. 9 In 1965, Crabb, working on Ekoid languages, claimed that these languages were Bantu because they shared some Bantu features in the noun class prefixes. In Crabb’s view, Denya is a Bantu language. Williamson (1971) classified Denya as Bantu because at this time, it was proved that both the noun prefixes and concord systems are those of Bantu. She further argued that Guthrie’s classification was based on typological and not on genetic considerations. Watters (1989) and Watters and Leroy (1989) classified Denya as Southern Bantoid, one of the members of which is the large (Wide) Bantu family. 1.4 Bilingualism Denya people living in the neighbouring languages are mostly bilingual. A vast majority of the people speak their language and Kenyang. This results from the close contact between the two languages through trade and intermarriage. In some cases, multi-lingualism is the appropriate term since many people speak Kenyang and Ejagham. The growth of the Kenyang and Ejagham language among the Denya people is as a result of Akwaya Sub-Division being inaccessible by road. Instead of trekking long distances to reach Akwaya, the Anyangs prefer to come to Mamfe for business, medical services and administrative reasons, which has brought them into contact with Kenyang (the language of Mamfe) and Ejagham. 1.5 Pidgin and English Further to the previous discussion of bilingualism among the local languages, we should also consider the use of Pidgin English and English. The majority of the people know Pidgin and those who use English are those who have undergone some sort of formal education. 10 Pidgin is frequently used as a means of communication when a group gets together with more than one language represented (at the market, in church or at the bar). English is used in official circles; schools, offices etc. However, in situations where only one language group is represented the people typically use their own language (e.g neighbours talking, social gatherings in the village, village disputes etc). 1.6 Occupation The majority of the people are subsistence farmers. They grow cash crops such as coffee and cocoa. They also grow other foodstuffs such as cocoyams, yams, rice, beans, cassava, plantain, melon, and a variety of vegetables such as eru, (a type of vegetable harvested in the forest) green vegetables, pumpkin leaves, water leaf, etc. A lot of palm oil, vegetables, pineapple, garri, rice, water fufu, are exported to Nigeria through the Manyu River and other bush tracks. Some are exported to other provinces of Cameroon. 1.7 Review of Literature The first linguistic data of Anyang is Mansfield’s (1908) comparative wordlist of six languages, which include Denya (Anyang). In 1981, Abangma worked on the use of modes in Denya discourse in which he obtained a ‘Doctorat de 3e cycle’ from the University of Yaounde. In his thesis, he worked on the consonant and vowel systems, and I have borrowed some of his data. Little was done on the syllable structure or on grammatical tone and nothing was done on the morphophonology. In 1983, Tyhurst worked on the linguistic survey of the Nyang languages. In his analysis he discussed briefly the vowel and consonant phonemes of Kenyang, Denya and Kendem and tone contrast in the three languages.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Unicode Request for Cyrillic Modifier Letters Superscript Modifiers
    Unicode request for Cyrillic modifier letters L2/21-107 Kirk Miller, [email protected] 2021 June 07 This is a request for spacing superscript and subscript Cyrillic characters. It has been favorably reviewed by Sebastian Kempgen (University of Bamberg) and others at the Commission for Computer Supported Processing of Medieval Slavonic Manuscripts and Early Printed Books. Cyrillic-based phonetic transcription uses superscript modifier letters in a manner analogous to the IPA. This convention is widespread, found in both academic publication and standard dictionaries. Transcription of pronunciations into Cyrillic is the norm for monolingual dictionaries, and Cyrillic rather than IPA is often found in linguistic descriptions as well, as seen in the illustrations below for Slavic dialectology, Yugur (Yellow Uyghur) and Evenki. The Great Russian Encyclopedia states that Cyrillic notation is more common in Russian studies than is IPA (‘Transkripcija’, Bol’šaja rossijskaja ènciplopedija, Russian Ministry of Culture, 2005–2019). Unicode currently encodes only three modifier Cyrillic letters: U+A69C ⟨ꚜ⟩ and U+A69D ⟨ꚝ⟩, intended for descriptions of Baltic languages in Latin script but ubiquitous for Slavic languages in Cyrillic script, and U+1D78 ⟨ᵸ⟩, used for nasalized vowels, for example in descriptions of Chechen. The requested spacing modifier letters cannot be substituted by the encoded combining diacritics because (a) some authors contrast them, and (b) they themselves need to be able to take combining diacritics, including diacritics that go under the modifier letter, as in ⟨ᶟ̭̈⟩BA . (See next section and e.g. Figure 18. ) In addition, some linguists make a distinction between spacing superscript letters, used for phonetic detail as in the IPA tradition, and spacing subscript letters, used to denote phonological concepts such as archiphonemes.
    [Show full text]
  • Redalyc.A Summary Reconstruction of Proto-Maweti-Guarani Segmental
    Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Ciências Humanas ISSN: 1981-8122 [email protected] Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi Brasil Meira, Sérgio; Drude, Sebastian A summary reconstruction of proto-maweti-guarani segmental phonology Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Ciências Humanas, vol. 10, núm. 2, mayo- agosto, 2015, pp. 275-296 Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi Belém, Brasil Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=394051442005 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative Bol. Mus. Para. Emílio Goeldi. Cienc. Hum., Belém, v. 10, n. 2, p. 275-296, maio-ago. 2015 A summary reconstruction of proto-maweti-guarani segmental phonology Uma reconstrução resumida da fonologia segmental proto-mawetí-guaraní Sérgio MeiraI, Sebastian DrudeII IMuseu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Belém, Pará, Brasil IIMax-Planck-Institute for Psycholinguistics. Nijmegen, The Netherlands Abstract: This paper presents a succinct reconstruction of the segmental phonology of Proto-Maweti-Guarani, the hypothetical protolanguage from which modern Mawe, Aweti and the Tupi-Guarani branches of the Tupi linguistic family have evolved. Based on about 300 cognate sets from the authors’ field data (for Mawe and Aweti) and from Mello’s reconstruction (2000) for Proto-Tupi-Guarani (with additional information from other works; and with a few changes concerning certain doubtful features, such as the status of stem-final lenis consonants *r and *ß, and the distinction of *c and *č ), the consonants and vowels of Proto-Maweti-Guarani were reconstructed with the help of the traditional historical-comparative method.
    [Show full text]
  • Phonetics and Phonology in Russian Unstressed Vowel Reduction: a Study in Hyperarticulation
    Phonetics and Phonology in Russian Unstressed Vowel Reduction: A Study in Hyperarticulation Jonathan Barnes Boston University (Short title: Hyperarticulating Russian Unstressed Vowels) Jonathan Barnes Department of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures Boston University 621 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 119 Boston, MA 02215 Tel: (617) 353-6222 Fax: (617) 353-4641 [email protected] Abstract: Unstressed vowel reduction figures centrally in recent literature on the phonetics-phonology interface, in part owing to the possibility of a causal relationship between a phonetic process, duration-dependent undershoot, and the phonological neutralizations observed in systems of unstressed vocalism. Of particular interest in this light has been Russian, traditionally described as exhibiting two distinct phonological reduction patterns, differing both in degree and distribution. This study uses hyperarticulation to investigate the relationship between phonetic duration and reduction in Russian, concluding that these two reduction patterns differ not in degree, but in the level of representation at which they apply. These results are shown to have important consequences not just for theories of vowel reduction, but for other problems in the phonetics-phonology interface as well, incomplete neutralization in particular. Introduction Unstressed vowel reduction has been a subject of intense interest in recent debate concerning the nature of the phonetics-phonology interface. This is the case at least in part due to the existence of two seemingly analogous processes bearing this name, one typically called phonetic, and the other phonological. Phonological unstressed vowel reduction is a phenomenon whereby a given language's full vowel inventory can be realized only in lexically stressed syllables, while in unstressed syllables some number of neutralizations of contrast take place, with the result that only a subset of the inventory is realized on the surface.
    [Show full text]
  • 5892 Cisco Category: Standards Track August 2010 ISSN: 2070-1721
    Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) P. Faltstrom, Ed. Request for Comments: 5892 Cisco Category: Standards Track August 2010 ISSN: 2070-1721 The Unicode Code Points and Internationalized Domain Names for Applications (IDNA) Abstract This document specifies rules for deciding whether a code point, considered in isolation or in context, is a candidate for inclusion in an Internationalized Domain Name (IDN). It is part of the specification of Internationalizing Domain Names in Applications 2008 (IDNA2008). Status of This Memo This is an Internet Standards Track document. This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has received public review and has been approved for publication by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further information on Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741. Information about the current status of this document, any errata, and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5892. Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2010 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved. This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Simplified BSD License.
    [Show full text]
  • Ekoid: Bantoid Languages of the Nigeria-Cameroun Borderland
    EKOID: BANTOID LANGUAGES OF THE NIGERIA-CAMEROUN BORDERLAND Roger Blench DRAFT ONLY NOT TO BE QUOTED WITHOUT PERMISSION Roger Blench Kay Williamson Educational Foundation 8, Guest Road Cambridge CB1 2AL United Kingdom Voice/ Fax. 0044-(0)1223-560687 Mobile worldwide (00-44)-(0)7967-696804 E-mail [email protected] http://www.rogerblench.info/RBOP.htm TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. The Ekoid-Mbe languages: Overview ....................................................................................................... 1 2. Classification................................................................................................................................................ 3 2.1 External.................................................................................................................................................. 3 2.2 Internal................................................................................................................................................... 3 3. Phonology..................................................................................................................................................... 5 4. Morphology.................................................................................................................................................. 6 5. Conclusions .................................................................................................................................................. 7 References.......................................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Importance of Pronunciation
    First publication: 7/2008 Last update: 12/2019 THE IMPORTANCE OF PRONUNCIATION Ricardo Schütz – MA TESL Apresentações desta palestra: • Escola Teddy Bear, Florianópolis – 7/2008 • Programa de Formação Docente 2010 (UNISUL Tubarão-SC) – 2/2010 • XII Encontro Goiano dos Estudantes de Letras (UEG São Luís de Montes Belos-GO) – 9/2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS • Introduction • Phonological Rules • Spelling Interference • Rhythm • Phonetic Signaling • Vowel Reduction • Phonemes • Word stress • Vowels • Phonetic Symbols • Consonants INTRODUCTION LANGUAGE AND HUMANKIND Language is humankind’s distinctive feature. Whether we think of rationality or sociability, we are thinking of language. It is language that makes us different from other species. Linguagem é a principal característica que distingue o ser humano das demais espécies. Quer o consideremos um animal racional ou um animal social, estamos definindo-o como um animal que fala, pois tanto a racionalidade quanto a sociabilidade se fundamentam na linguagem. INTRODUCTION LANGUAGE: SPEECH VS. TEXT No community has ever been found to lack spoken language, but only a minority of languages have ever been written down. (David Crystal) As comunidades humanas, desde suas mais remotas origens, sempre souberam se comunicar oralmente. A fala é talvez a mais importante das características que distinguem o ser humano no reino animal e que lhe possibilitam se organizar em sociedade. Nem todas as línguas entretanto chegaram a se desenvolver em sistemas escritos. INTRODUCTION Likewise, the vast majority of human beings learn to speak, but it is only in recent years that some of these people have learned to write. (David Crystal) Não há ser humano normal que não saiba falar sem limitações, porém só recentemente na história da humanidade é que a maioria começou a desenvolver a habilidade de escrever, muitos até hoje com limitações.
    [Show full text]
  • FONETICA SPERIMENTALE «Arturo Genre» Dell’Università Di Torino
    ISSN n. 2611-5689 Bollettino del Laboratorio di FONETICA SPERIMENTALE «Arturo Genre» dell’Università di Torino N. 5 – Giugno 2020 1 Bollettino LFSAG 2020, n. 5 Bollettino del Laboratorio di Fonetica Sperimentale «Arturo Genre» dell’Università di Torino Pubblicazione semestrale Comitato sCientifiCo maria Grazia Busà – Dip. di Studi linguistici e antonio romano – Dipartimento di Lingue e letterari – Università di Padova L.S. e C.M. – Università di Torino ElisaBEtta C arpitElli – Dép. Parole et Cognition mattEo riVoira – Dipartimento di Studi GIPSA-Lab. – Université Grenoble-Alpes Umanistici – Università di Torino marCo GamBa – Dipart. di Scienze della Vita e mauro tosCo – Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici Biologia dei Sistemi – Università di Torino Università di Torino John haJEk – Research Unit for Multilingualism mauro uBErti University of Melbourne di Fonetica Sperimentale «Arturo Genre» aolo airano p m – N u a n c e – U n i v e r s i t à d i To r i n o / R o u e n FaBián santiaGo VarGas – Structures Formelles Carla marEllo – Dip. di LinGue e Lett. Straniere du Langage – Université de Paris 8 e Culture Moderne - Università di Torino stEphan sChmiD – Laboratorio di Fonetica ViCtoria marrEro – UNIED Madrid Università di Zurigo lorEnzo massoBrio – Istituto dell’Atlante mariE BErthE Vittoz – Centro LinGuistico di Linguistico Italiano – Università di Torino Ateneo – Università di Torino antonio romano Comitato eDitoriale ValEntina Colonna – Dipartimento di Lingue e mattEo riVoira – Dipartimento di Studi L.S. e C.M. – Università di Torino Umanistici – Università di Torino ValEntina DE iaCoVo – Dipartimento di Lingue e antonio romano – Dipartimento di Lingue e L.S. e C.M.
    [Show full text]
  • (PIÙ) INCLUSIVO È POSSIBILE? IL CASO DEI LIBRI DI TESTO Di Carlo Guastalla
    Bollettino Itals Anno 18, numero 85 Settembre 2020 Supplemento riv. ELLE ISSN: 2280-6792 UN ITALIANO (PIÙ) INCLUSIVO È POSSIBILE? IL CASO DEI LIBRI DI TESTO di Carlo Guastalla Il mio primo libro di italiano per stranieri è del 2003, quindi sono quasi 20 anni che mi chiedo quale sia il modo migliore per scrivere l’istruzione di un’attività didattica indirizzata agli studenti: forse la cosa più difficile per un autore. Quanto alla forma delle istruzioni, faccio coming out: fino a pochi anni fa pensavo che il maschile sovraesteso fosse una strana norma della lingua italiana ma che, in quanto norma, non fosse in alcun modo discriminatoria. Per cui col massimo della tranquillità ho scritto e pubblicato frasi come: • Lavora con un compagno; • Prendi il foglio del tuo compagno; • Chiedi al tuo insegnante. Lavorate tutti insieme; • Gli studenti A leggono la domanda 1, gli studenti B rispondono. Oltre a dover essere facile, diretta, immediata, nel corso del tempo si è ritagliato uno spazio importante un altro requisito fondamentale che deve possedere un’istruzione: l’inclusività. Non deve, cioè, dimenticare nessuno. Per la maggior parte delle differenze che intercorrono tra le persone (religione, colore di pelle, occhi o capelli, conto in banca, età, stato civile e tante altre), questo obbiettivo è facilmente perseguibile; ma quando non si vuole indicare se ci si riferisce ad uno specifico genere, o addirittura si vuole non tematizzare se si sta parlando a maschi o a femmine, a un maschio o a una femmina, con la lingua italiana si entra in un territorio minato. Questo perché la nostra lingua ha grande difficoltà a riferirsi alle moltitudini: come la metti la metti, c’è sempre qualcuno che viene discriminato, se non escluso e dimenticato (eh, sì, anche “qualcuna”, appunto).
    [Show full text]
  • A Guide to Selected Data Bases in Postsecondary Education. INSTITUTION National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, Boulder, Colo
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 272 071 HE 019 494 AUTHOR Makowski, David J.; Passmore, J. Robert TITLE A Guide to Selected Data Bases in Postsecondary Education. INSTITUTION National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, Boulder, Colo. SPONS AGENCY National Inst. of Education (ED), Washington, DC. PUB DATE 80 NOTE 204p. PUB TYPE Reference Materials - Directories/Catalogs (132) EDRS PRICE 11701/PC09 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Abstracts; *Databases; *Data Collection; Guides; Information Storage; *Information Systems; *Postsecondary Education; Research Tools; *Resource Materials; *Surveys ABSTRACT Major databases and data collection efforts related to postsecondary education are described. Database selectionwas limited to data that was national in scope, of broad interest, and timely (after 1970). Over 75 databases are covered, eachon a two-page abstract that describes subject matter and scope of the database, the data collection method, availability of the data, the time period associated with the data, the originating organization and contact person, frequency of issue, keywords, organization distributing the data, and additional references that further describe the database and data collection. Forsurveys, information is included on sampling methodology. The size ofa database, major data elements, and the unit of analysis of the databaseare also indicated. Keywords describe the data andare also used in indexing the abstracts. Each of the data base abstracts is numbered for future reference and cross - referencing. In addition toan abstract index (name and number of the database or survey), abstractsare listed by organization and by keywords. A separate section listing organizations includes addresses, contact persons, and phone numbers. (SW) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best thatcan be made * * from the original document.
    [Show full text]
  • XXXLC..QX...XNX ,Xjxm0.]X...!XX
    UNIVERSITY OF LONDON See over for Abstract of Thesis notes on completion Author (ful] names) Title of thesis ...ID.X.X ihT.X+lfe X H o K ) 0 L O Q 1 ...... XXXLC..QX....XNX ,XjXM0.]X...!XX...^...Lk.X7y^.... ....................................................................... Degree X .U l> .3X tX D U N & l This thesis investigates the forms, functions and behaviour of tone in the phonology, lexicon, morphosyntax and the phonology-grammar interfaces in Ikaan (Benue-Congo, Nigeria). The analysis is based on an annotated audio corpus of recordings from 29 speakers collected during ten months of fieldwork complemented with participant observation and informally collected data. The study demonstrates that tone operates at a wide range of levels of linguistic analysis in Ikaan. As phonemes, tones distinguish meaning in minimal pairs and are subject to phonological rules. As morphemes, tones and tonal melodies bear meaning in inflection, derivation and reduplication. In the syntax, tones mark phrase boundaries. At the phonology-semantics interface, construction-specific constraints on tonal representation distinguish between predicating and referential nominal modifiers. Combined with intonation and voicing, tones distinguish between statements and morphosyntactically identical yes/no questions. The research identifies a range of unusual tonal behaviours in Ikaan. The two tones H and L follow markedly different phonologies. In the association of lexical and grammatical tonal melodies, H must be realised whereas non-associated L are deleted. Formerly associated but de-linked L however are not deleted but remain floating. The OCP is found to apply to L but not to H. H is downstepped after floating L b.ut not after overt L.
    [Show full text]
  • East Benue-Congo
    East Benue-Congo Nouns, pronouns, and verbs Edited by John R. Watters language Niger-Congo Comparative Studies 1 science press Niger-Congo Comparative Studies Chief Editor: Valentin Vydrin (INALCO – LLACAN, CNRS, Paris) Editors: Larry Hyman (University of California, Berkeley), Konstantin Pozdniakov (INALCO – LLACAN, CNRS, Paris), Guillaume Segerer (LLACAN, CNRS, Paris), John Watters (SIL International, Dallas, Texas). In this series: 1. Watters, John R. (ed.). East Benue-Congo: Nouns, pronouns, and verbs. 2. Pozdniakov, Konstantin. The numeral system of Proto-Niger-Congo: A step-by-step reconstruction. East Benue-Congo Nouns, pronouns, and verbs Edited by John R. Watters language science press John R. Watters (ed.). 2018. East Benue-Congo: Nouns, pronouns, and verbs (Niger-Congo Comparative Studies 1). Berlin: Language Science Press. This title can be downloaded at: http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/190 © 2018, the authors Published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Licence (CC BY 4.0): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ISBN: 978-3-96110-100-9 (Digital) 978-3-96110-101-6 (Hardcover) DOI:10.5281/zenodo.1314306 Source code available from www.github.com/langsci/190 Collaborative reading: paperhive.org/documents/remote?type=langsci&id=190 Cover and concept of design: Ulrike Harbort Typesetting: Sebastian Nordhoff, John R. Watters Illustration: Sebastian Nordhoff Proofreading: Ahmet Bilal Özdemir, Andrew Spencer, Felix Hoberg, Jeroen van de Weijer, Jean Nitzke, Kate Bellamy, Martin Haspelmath, Prisca Jerono, Richard Griscom, Steven Kaye, Sune Gregersen, Fonts: Linux Libertine, Libertinus Math, Arimo, DejaVu Sans Mono Typesetting software:Ǝ X LATEX Language Science Press Unter den Linden 6 10099 Berlin, Germany langsci-press.org Storage and cataloguing done by FU Berlin Contents Preface iii 1 East Benue-Congo John R.
    [Show full text]
  • The Acoustic Correlates of Atr Harmony in Seven- and Nine
    THE ACOUSTIC CORRELATES OF ATR HARMONY IN SEVEN- AND NINE- VOWEL AFRICAN LANGUAGES: A PHONETIC INQUIRY INTO PHONOLOGICAL STRUCTURE by COLEEN GRACE ANDERSON STARWALT Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON May 2008 Copyright © by Coleen G. A. Starwalt 2008 All Rights Reserved DEDICATION To Dad who told me I could become whatever I set my mind to (May 6, 1927 – April 17, 2008) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Where does one begin to acknowledge those who have walked alongside one on a long and often lonely journey to the completion of a dissertation? My journey begins more than ten years ago while at a “paper writing” workshop in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. I was consulting with Rod Casali on a paper about Ikposo [ATR] harmony when I casually mentioned my desire to do an advanced degree in missiology. Rod in his calm and gentle way asked, “Have you ever considered a Ph.D. in linguistics?” I was stunned, but quickly recoverd with a quip: “Linguistics!? That’s for smart people!” Rod reassured me that I had what it takes to be a linguist. And so I am grateful for those, like Rod, who have seen in me things that I could not see for myself and helped to draw them out. Then the One Who Directs My Steps led me back to the University of Texas at Arlington where I found in David Silva a reflection of the adage “deep calls to deep.” For David, more than anyone else during my time at UTA, has drawn out the deep things and helped me to give them shape and meaning.
    [Show full text]