The Synchronic Phonology and Nominal Morphology of Sagala (Bantu G39, Tanzania): a Preliminary Study
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The synchronic phonology and nominal morphology of Sagala (Bantu G39, Tanzania): A preliminary study Flore Bollaert Student number: 01406829 Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Koen Bostoen A dissertation submitted to Ghent University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of African Languages and Cultures Academic year: 2016 – 2017 Acknowledgments I arrived at the department of African languages and cultures at Ghent University with no idea what it would bring me. Two years later I left for Tanzania, not only to study at Mzumbe University, but also to do research on a nearly undocumented language. The courses I followed at Ghent university played a big part in awakening my passion for African linguistics. For this I would like to thank my professors Prof. Dr. Michael Meeuwis, Prof. Dr. Koen Bostoen and Prof. Dr. Joseph Koni Muluwa. I wish to thank everyone who helped me in any way during my time in Morogoro and Kilosa. Not in the least this applies to Juma, Amina and Ndoweka, who showed themselves very willing to meet with me and help me achieve the information I wished. Fr. Sangusangu was very welcoming and helped me in connecting with the right people, along with Beatus. The sisters opened their home for me, as they do for everyone, and provided me with meals and a place to stay whenever I made the trip from Morogoro to Kilosa. Thank you. I wish to thank my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Koen Bostoen, who guided me through this research from start to finish and who was always available to offer feedback and to answer the smallest of questions. Thank you also to Sebastian Dom for reading preliminary versions of this work and giving much-welcomed feedback. Lastly, I want to thank my parents, who have always supported me. None of this would have been possible without them, so my biggest ‘thank you’ goes out to them. i Contents Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................. i Contents ................................................................................................................................................ ii List of tables ......................................................................................................................................... iv List of figures ....................................................................................................................................... iv Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................................ v 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Situating Sagala ................................................................................................................... 1 1.2. State of the art and motivation for research ..................................................................... 5 1.3. Methodology ......................................................................................................................... 7 1.4. Orthography .......................................................................................................................... 9 2. Synchronic phonology ............................................................................................................... 13 2.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 13 2.2. Vowels ................................................................................................................................. 13 2.2.1. Minimal pairs ............................................................................................................... 15 2.2.2. Vowel length ................................................................................................................ 15 2.3. Consonants ......................................................................................................................... 16 2.3.1. Minimal pairs ............................................................................................................... 18 2.3.2. Allophone [r] ................................................................................................................ 20 2.4. Glides ................................................................................................................................... 21 2.5. Syllable structure ................................................................................................................ 21 2.5.1. N+C combinations ...................................................................................................... 22 2.5.2. C+G combinations ...................................................................................................... 22 2.5.3. N+G combinations ...................................................................................................... 23 2.5.4. N+C+G combinations ................................................................................................ 23 2.6. Prosody ................................................................................................................................ 23 2.7. Morphophonological processes ....................................................................................... 24 2.7.1. Glide formation ........................................................................................................... 24 2.7.2. Vowel coalescence .................................................................................................... 25 2.7.3. Prenasalisation ........................................................................................................... 25 2.7.4. N + voiceless stop ...................................................................................................... 25 3. Nominal morphology .................................................................................................................. 27 3.1. Nominal morphology in Bantu languages ....................................................................... 27 3.2. Nominal morphology in Sagala ........................................................................................ 27 ii 3.2.1. Noun classes .............................................................................................................. 28 3.2.1.1. Class 1 ................................................................................................................. 29 3.2.1.2. Class 2 ................................................................................................................. 29 3.2.1.3. Class 3 ................................................................................................................. 30 3.2.1.4. Class 4 ................................................................................................................. 30 3.2.1.5. Class 5 ................................................................................................................. 31 3.2.1.6. Class 6 ................................................................................................................. 33 3.2.1.7. Class 7 ................................................................................................................. 34 3.2.1.8. Class 8 ................................................................................................................. 34 3.2.1.9. Class 9 ................................................................................................................. 35 3.2.1.10. Class 10 ............................................................................................................... 35 3.2.1.11. Class 11 ............................................................................................................... 36 3.2.1.12. Class 12 ............................................................................................................... 36 3.2.1.13. Class 15 ............................................................................................................... 37 3.2.1.14. Class 17 ............................................................................................................... 37 3.2.2. Singular/plural pairings .............................................................................................. 38 3.3. Derivation ........................................................................................................................ 38 3.3.1. Noun-to-noun derivation ............................................................................................ 38 3.3.1.1. Augmentatives .................................................................................................... 38 3.3.1.2. Other noun class shift ........................................................................................ 39 3.3.1.3. Locatives .............................................................................................................. 39 3.3.2. Verb-to-noun derivation ............................................................................................. 39 3.4. Compounding ...................................................................................................................... 40 4. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................