Ikoma Orthography Statement

IKOMA ORTHOGRAPHY STATEMENT

SIL International Uganda-Tanzania Branch Ikoma Orthography Statement

Approved Orthography Edition

Acknowledgements

Many individuals contributed to this document by formatting the structure, contributing the language data, organizing the data, writing the document and by giving advice for editing the document. This document was authored by Holly Robinson, and it is an updated and expanded version of the Ikoma Orthography Sketch, which was also authored by Holly (Higgins) Robinson. Additional contributors from SIL International include consultants Tim Roth and Brigitte Niederseer, who reviewed and helped to improve this document. Contributors from the Ikoma language community include: Mussa Karume Thobias and Paul Muya (Ikoma Bible translators), as well as Thobius Masanja, Daniel Mahagura, John Siringo, Thabitha Gabriel, Wilsoni Machota, Samina Mahemba, Yohana Sigori, Samwel Shanyangi, and Dominick Maguye.

P.O. Box 1235 Musoma, Tanzania

P.O. Box 60368 Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

P.O. Box 750 Entebbe, Uganda

P.O. Box 44456 00100 Nairobi, Kenya

Approved Orthography Edition: 2018

Contents

ABBREVIATIONS ...... V

1. INTRODUCTION ...... 1

1.1 CLASSIFICATION ...... 1 1.2 DATA ...... 1 1.3 DIALECTS ...... 1 1.4 FORMAT AND PURPOSE OF THIS ORTHOGRAPHY STATEMENT ...... 2

2. PHONOLOGY ...... 3

2.1 VOWELS ...... 3 2.1.1 Vowel inventory ...... 3 2.1.2 Vowel length ...... 4 2.1.3 Vowel length in conditioned environments ...... 5 2.2 CONSONANTS ...... 7 2.2.1 Consonant inventory ...... 7 2.2.2 Palatalization ...... 8 2.2.3 Labialization ...... 9 2.2.4 Prenasalization ...... 10 2.3 TONE ...... 11 2.3.1 Lexical tone...... 11 2.3.2 Grammatical tone ...... 12 2.3.2.1 Past and Anterior ...... 12 2.3.2.2 Narrative and Inceptive ...... 14

3. MORPHOPHONOLOGY ...... 15

3.1 VOWELS ...... 15 3.1.1 Vowel harmony processes ...... 15 3.1.1.1 Vowel harmony in prefixes ...... 15 3.1.1.2 Vowel harmony in suffixes ...... 17 3.1.1.3 Vowel harmony in noun stems ...... 18 3.1.2 Vowel adjacency processes ...... 20 3.1.2.1 Elision ...... 21 3.1.2.2 Desyllabification ...... 22 3.1.2.3 Assimilation ...... 23 3.1.2.4 Intervocalic semivowels ...... 24 3.1.3 Additional vowel length conventions ...... 25 3.1.3.1 Class 5 and 10 prefix vowel length ...... 25 3.1.3.2 Word-initial vowel shortening ...... 28 3.1.3.3 Long vowels in seemingly conditioned environments (verbs) ...... 28 3.1.3.4 Multiple long vowels within a verb ...... 29 3.1.3.5 Non-Past, Inceptive and Narrative verbs...... 31 3.1.3.6 1SG object prefix written as vowel length ...... 32 3.1.4 1SG subject prefix ...... 33 3.2 CONSONANTS ...... 33 3.2.1 Dahl’s Law ...... 33

iii

4. WORD BOUNDARIES ...... 35

4.1 COPULA ...... 35 4.2 LOCATIVES ...... 38 4.3 ASSOCIATIVES ...... 40 4.4 CONJUNCTION ...... 42 4.5 QUESTION WORDS ...... 43 4.6 REDUPLICATION ...... 45 4.7 COMPOUND WORDS ...... 46

5. LOAN WORDS ...... 46

6. PUNCTUATION AND CAPITALIZATION ...... 47

6.1 SENTENCE-FINAL PUNCTUATION ...... 47 6.2 COMMAS ...... 48 6.3 COLON ...... 48 6.4 QUOTATION MARKS ...... 48 6.5 CAPITALIZATION ...... 49

APPENDIX A: IKOMA NOUN CLASSES ...... 50

APPENDIX B: HISTORY OF IKOMA ORTHOGRAPHY DEVELOPMENT...... 52

REFERENCES ...... 54

Abbreviations * ungrammatical; incorrect spelling 1 first person; class 1 2 second person; class 2 3 third person; class 3 4 class 4, etc V unspecified vowel; vowel ANT anterior aspect FV final vowel H high tone INC inceptive INF infinitive L low tone NARR narrative tense PL plural PST past tense R verb root SBJ subject marker SG singular V1 the first vowel (in a stem, or in a sequence of adjacent vowels) V2 the second vowel (in a stem, or in a sequence of adjacent vowels)

1. Introduction

1.1 Classification Ikoma is a Bantu language spoken in the Mara Region of Tanzania by approximately 19,400 people (Lewis, Simons and Fennig 2018). In Swahili, the language name is Kiikoma, and in Ikoma, it is Eghiikoma. In Maho’s (2009) update of Guthrie’s classification, Ikoma is classified as E45 (J) within the E40 Ragoli-Kuria Group. The ISO 639-3 code is [ntk]. Also listed under this same code are Nata and Isenye, which are closely related language varieties; see §1.3 for more information.

1.2 Data The data in this orthography statement comes from a variety of sources, including the Ikoma people who attended SIL orthography development and orthography testing workshops in the Mara region between the years of 2007 and 2009, as well as ongoing research by SIL linguists and Ikoma Bible translators. Trial Orthography status was granted to Ikoma in 2009, and those orthography decisions are documented in Higgins (2010). The orthography continued to be tested more thoroughly after that, especially between the years of 2014 and 2017, when village-based literacy teachers were trained and began teaching in Ikoma and Nata villages. Data also comes from ongoing research and orthography discussions at the SIL office in Musoma, as well as more formal research, including Aunio (2010; 2013), Higgins (2012), Robinson (2016), and Aunio et al. (forthcoming). See Appendix B for a detailed list of the significant events and milestones of the orthography development process. The SIL team in the Mara Region is very grateful to the many Ikoma and Nata people who gave of their time to accomplish this work.

1.3 Dialects There are not any dialects within the Ikoma language, but there are two other closely related language varieties listed under the same ISO 639-3 code—Nata and Isenye. Nata and Isenye are spoken by an estimated 7,100 people and 8,200 people, respectively (Lewis, Simons and Fennig 2018). The most recent research among these language communities has led to the conclusion that the Ikoma orthography is very usable for both Ikoma and Nata speakers, but it poses difficulties for many Isenye speakers. Therefore, the orthography presented in this report is intended for use especially among Ikoma and Nata speakers, with Ikoma being the “reference dialect” which is followed when the two varieties are different. Isenye speakers who are more familiar with Ikoma are, of course, very welcome to use this orthography as well!

At the time of publication, the decision to remove Isenye speakers from the target audience of this orthography is a recent one (2017). From early on in the development of this orthography, it was hoped that all three varieties would be able to use the same written materials. A sociolinguistic survey of the Mara languages conducted in 2005 found that Ikoma, Nata, and Isenye share 85-89% cognates (Hill et al. 2007). Despite the acknowledged linguistic differences, during that survey, as well as during a follow-up survey in 2008 (Higgins et al. 2008), community representatives of these three language varieties thought that they should all be able to share one orthography quite easily. However, in more recent years, as more Isenye people have attempted to use materials written in Ikoma, the SIL project began to receive strong feedback from Isenye speakers that Ikoma was not easy for them to read and understand. A meeting among Isenye representatives took place in April 2017, at which point they made a united decision that they would prefer their own orthography development project for the sake of preserving their Isenye language and for ease of reading and writing (Robinson 2017).

1.4 Format and purpose of this orthography statement This orthography statement is designed to show the Approved Orthography of Ikoma and the reasons behind the orthographic decisions which were made. Although there is phonological and grammatical information in this paper, the primary intent of this document is to give necessary rationale for the orthographic decisions which have been made. Data is written using the orthography as much as possible. In some sections, however, data is also written phonemically and/or phonetically, especially in the discussion of vowels in sections 2.1 and 3.1. Showing both the orthographic, phonemic and/or phonetic representations together is done in order to avoid confusion between the IPA symbols for Ikoma vowels and their corresponding orthographic symbols. All phonemic or phonetic transcriptions are indicated by the use of phonemic slashes (//) or phonetic brackets ([]). Orthographic brackets (<>) are used when necessary, but any data not otherwise in brackets should be assumed to be in orthographic form. All glosses are listed first in Swahili, which is the national language of Tanzania, and then in English. The following sections focus on phonology, morphophonology, word- boundaries, loan words, punctuation and capitalization rules.

2. Phonology

2.1 Vowels 2.1.1 Vowel inventory Ikoma has a seven-vowel system, having one set of high vowels, two sets of mid vowels, and one low central vowel. See Higgins (2012) for a thorough description of the vowel system. Evidence of these seven vowel phonemes is found in the following table. These examples all have bisyllabic noun stems with identical vowels, and the noun stems are in bold for ease of reference. The example words are shown along with the corresponding IPA and chosen orthographic symbols. Table 2.1.1a: Ikoma vowel inventory

Phoneme Grapheme Example Swahili English

/i/ ahiti fisi hyena

/e/ obhorere kitanda bed

/ɛ/ eghisëbhë kiwele udder

/a/ omukama upepo wind

/ɔ/ obhuhörö kiporo leftovers

/o/ oghoghoro mguu leg

/u/ eghesusu sungura rabbit

The contrast between the mid vowel pairs and can be difficult for mother tongue speakers to distinguish, but there are clear minimal pairs, at least in verbs.1 Some verb stems with mid vowel contrasts are shown in the table below.

1 Many outside researches have also noted the difficulty of consistently hearing the difference between the two sets of mid vowels. One reason for this could be the overlapping vowel space, especially between the front vowels and , as demonstrated with vowel formant plots in Higgins (2012). 3

Table 2.1.1b: Mid vowel minimal pairs Vowel Ikoma Swahili English e mera meza swallow ë mëra mea sprout (v.) o kora kua grow ö köra fanya do o hoora pura thresh ö hööra chonga carve

Note that there is a complex vowel harmony system in Ikoma, which is described in §3.1.1 below. Also note that the [–ATR] mid-vowels only occur within roots and, in some cases, in verbal extensions (see §3.1.1.2). Therefore, all mid-vowels in prefixes are written as and . 2.1.2 Vowel length There are three types of vowel length in Ikoma: phonemic, derived and conditioned. Phonemic and derived long vowels are written, whereas conditioned vowel length is usually not. Long vowels are indicated by writing the same vowel grapheme twice. Table 2.1.2a below shows examples of bisyllabic noun stems with phonemic long vowels. Noun stems are shown in bold. Table 2.1.2a: Phonemic vowel length

Phoneme Grapheme Ikoma Swahili English

/i:/ asiisi sisimizi ant

/e:/ egheseese donda ndugu ulcer

/ɛ:/ anyëëtë mnyoo intestinal worm

/a:/ obhusaagha ugonjwa disease

/ɔ:/ akööbhö pango cave

/o:/ ankoono kisogo back of head

/u:/ orosuusu manyunyu drizzle

There are also minimal pairs distinguished only by vowel length. Vowel length is common in both nouns and verbs, but minimal pairs have only been found in verbs. See examples of minimal pairs in the following table. Table 2.1.2b: Vowel length minimal pairs Vowel Ikoma Swahili English a sama onja taste aa saama hama migrate ö höra pona heal öö hööra chonga carve o tora weza be able oo toora weka put ë këma guna grunt ëë këëma pinda twist

Derived vowel length is one possible result of vowel hiatus across morpheme boundaries, and this length is usually written. For example, the noun ‘mtumbwi/canoe’ is composed of the morphemes /ama-ato/, and the long vowel is a result of hiatus of two adjacent vowels from different morphemes. See §3.1.2 for more details concerning vowel adjacency processes and how the resulting vowels are written. Conditioned vowel length, which is not written in the orthography, is explained in §2.1.3 below. There is only one known example of a long vowel in word-final position, which is in the adverb ‘sana/very much’. Otherwise, word-final length is not at all typical. There are also restrictions on word-initial vowel length. If a word is consonant-initial, length is allowed in the first syllable, but if the word is vowel- initial, the first vowel is always short. Therefore, a long vowel should never be written word-initially. See more discussion of word-initial vowel length in §3.1.3.2. Vowel length in basic noun and verb stems is relatively straightforward, but in inflected verb forms, it can be significantly more complicated. See §3.1.3 especially for a variety of more specific rules guiding the writing of vowel length in verbs. 2.1.3 Vowel length in conditioned environments Phonetically, vowels sound longer before prenasalized consonants and after palatalized and labialized consonants. However, the length heard in these environments is not phonemic but conditioned, and there is no contrast between short

5 and long vowels in these environment. Also, note that the length of these conditioned long vowels is not quite as long as phonemic long vowels (Higgins 2012). Therefore, particularly within roots, although the vowels sound long, they are written as short. Table 2.1.3a below gives examples of each of these environments, showing the words written according to the aforementioned rule. In each example, the conditioned vowel and its conditioning environment are underlined, and the nouns stems are in bold. Table 2.1.3a: Vowel length in conditioned environments

Ikoma Swahili English

Prenasalization eghetumbe kiti chair

Labialization orochweri nywele hair

Palatalization eribhyema uwindaji hunting

See §2.2 for additional examples of words with prenasalization, labialization, and palatalization. The above orthographic decision concerns compensatory lengthening within roots, but we also must consider how it applies across morpheme boundaries, both in nouns and verbs. First, looking at nouns, Table 2.1.3b below shows some examples of nouns in which there is a conditioning environment at a morpheme boundary. Table 2.1.3b: Vowel length at morpheme boundaries in nouns

Orthography Morphemes Swahili English

ekyaro eke-aro kijiji village

a) omwëri omo-ɛri mwezi month, moon

emyongo eme-ongo daraja bridges

omongo omo-ongo daraja bridge b) amandeko ama-andeko maandiko writings

In the first three examples above, the prefix vowel desyllabifies before a vowel-initial stem, causing the initial vowel of the stem to be compensatorily lengthened. However, in each of these three words, the stem vowel is written short, since this length is conditioned. In the final two examples, the vowel at the morpheme boundary sounds long, and it is actually a derived long vowel—the result of two vowels merging to form one long vowel. Even though derived long vowels are usually written long, in 6 this case the rule against writing long vowels in conditioned environments is deemed to be more important. Therefore, in the few cases in which there is a derived long vowel in a conditioned environment in nouns, these vowels are written as short, so that there will be no exceptions to the “compensatory vowel length” rule in nouns. Ikoma writers appreciate being able to think simply in terms of conditioned length environments, without having to think through nominal morphology as well, especially since there is no ambiguity created by writing this derived vowel length with a short vowel. In inflected verbs, however, derived vowel length is always written across morpheme boundaries, even in seemingly conditioned environments. Representing derived length in verbs is significantly more important than in nouns, since the difference between long and short vowels can change the tense or aspect of a verb. See §3.1.3.3 for more examples and discussion.

2.2 Consonants 2.2.1 Consonant inventory The consonants of Ikoma are shown in Table 2.2.1 below. They are listed in the order in which they occur in the alphabet chart. The chosen grapheme is listed together with the IPA symbol and an example noun. All examples show the consonant in stem- initial position, and the noun stems are in bold for ease of reference. Table 2.2.1: Consonant inventory

Phoneme Grapheme Example Swahili English

/β/ ekibhara uwanda grassland

/tʃ/ omuchare mchele rice

/ɣ/ omughaate mkate bread

/h/ ekihamu kidevu chin

/k/ akanga kanga guinea fowl

/m/ maghema tai eagle

/n/ erinaasi nanasi pineapple

/ŋ/ ang'ana habari report

/ɲ/ nyaamu paka cat

/ɾ/ eriiraka sauti voice

/s/ ~~eghisara paa roof~~

~~/ʃ/ ashishiita mswaki toothbrush~~

~~/t/ omutamishi tarishi messenger~~

~~/w/ omowaara zizi cattle pen~~

~~/j/ amayayegha mashavu (ya gills samaki)~~

All of the consonants above can occur root-initially and root-medially. Note that and represent the bilabial and velar fricatives.2 These consonants are only pronounced as stops when prenasalized, in which case they are written as and (see §2.2.4). One exception to this is when the nasal is actually the copula or , in which case a hyphen separates the copula from the following consonant, and these sequences are written as and . See examples in §4.1 about the copula. The consonant also has an allophone , which occurs only when it is prenasalized, in which case it is written (see §2.2.4). There are three digraphs and one trigraph which were chosen because they are the Swahili graphemes for the same consonants. These include . Note that many consonants can be palatalized, labialized, and/or prenasalized, sometimes within roots, and sometimes across morpheme boundaries. This is the topic of the following sections. 2.2.2 Palatalization The current data set shows that can be palatalized within roots, and only in root-initial position. Palatalization occurs with other consonants across morpheme boundaries (see §3.1.2.2 for more about desyllabification). Table 2.2.2

2 Note that these consonants were originally written as and instead of and , since there is no contrast between /b~β/ and /g~ɣ/ in the language, and monographs are preferred for literacy reasons. However, because these consonants are pronounced as fricatives in Ikoma, Ikoma speakers felt strongly that they should be written differently than the Swahili consonants, which are pronounced as stops. After changing the graphemes to and , community feedback has been very positive. 8 below shows examples of palatalization in root-initial positions. The palatalized consonants are underlined, and the entire stem of each word is in bold. Table 2.2.2: Palatalization

~~Example Swahili English~~

~~ghotyari kunoa to sharpen Root-initial omobhyëmi mwindaji hunter palatalization omobhya mshale arrow~~

Note also that in the words above, it is evident that palatalization (as well as labialization) affects prefix vowel harmony. These semivowels, when following a consonant, are phonologically considered to be [+ATR].3 See the end of §3.1.1.1 for more explanation and examples.

2.2.3 Labialization Within nominal and verbal roots, labialization only occurs root-initially. The current data set shows that can be labialized within roots. Also, like palatalization, labialization is more common across morpheme boundaries and can occur with more consonants. Table 2.2.3 below shows examples of labialization. The labialized consonants are underlined, and the entire stem of each word is in bold. Table 2.2.3: Labialization

~~Example Swahili English~~

~~ang'wina mamba crocodile Root-initial eghekwera kiatu shoe labialization ambwe bweha jackal~~

~~3 For example, in a word such as with~~ ~~as the first root vowel, we would expect the high vowel in the prefix, but instead the palatalized root consonant has a [+ATR] quality, which causes the mid vowel in this prefix. 9~~

2.2.4 Prenasalization Most instances of prenasalization within roots involve the second or later root consonant, not the first. Particularly in verbs, the consonant-initial verb roots never have a prenasalized initial consonant. In nouns, very few initial consonants are prenasalized. Prenasalization is attested for , but the voiceless prenasalized stops are much less common than the others. Table 2.2.4 below shows examples of both root-initial and root-medial prenasalization. Prenasalized consonants are underlined, and word stems are in bold. Table 2.2.4: Prenasalization

~~Example Gloss Gloss~~

~~nd erindeke mahindi maize Root-initial nk erinkanankana kaakaa palate prenasalization nch amanche maji water~~

~~mb kobhomba kuumba to create~~

~~nd eghekundi ngumi fist~~

~~Root-medial ng akanga kanga guinea fowl prenasalization nch eghisënchö kikombe cup~~

~~nt kumanteera kunata to stick~~

~~nk omusönköma mchongoma thorn tree~~

Consonant prenasalization is also common across morpheme boundaries, especially in noun classes 9 and 10, as well as in verbs which have the 1SG object prefix . Class 9 and 10 noun prefixes often include a nasal, e.g. and , which is adjacent to the initial consonant of the root and thus forms a prenasalized consonant, e.g. ‘panya/rat.’ The 1SG object prefix can occur before many verb stems, e.g. ‘kuniombea/to ask for me,’ from ‘kuomba/to ask for’. Note, however, that when this nasal prefix occurs before verb stems that start with the consonants , the prefix actually does not cause prenasalization, but instead it causes the previous vowel to be lengthened. See §3.1.3.6 for examples.

As mentioned in 2.2.1 above, when is prenasalized, it becomes . For example, the following Ikoma word has a class 11 singular prefix and a class 10 plural prefix . These prefixes make the root apparent. ‘aina ya mti/type of tree (unknown)’ ‘aina ya miti/type of trees (unkown)’ The consonant does not occur by itself in the language, only in combination with the alveolar nasal.

2.3 Tone 2.3.1 Lexical tone Ikoma has lexical tone on nouns but not verbs. A total of five tonal minimal pairs have been found, but tone does not seem to have a high functional load. After trials of both writing and not writing tone in the early years of orthography development, all evidence and mother-tongue speaker feedback points to the fact that writing lexical tone is not necessary in Ikoma, and even the minimal pairs are left unmarked in the orthography. For reference, the five tonal minimal pairs are listed in Table 2.3.1 below. The first three have monosyllabic stems, and the final two have bisyllabic stems. The words are written phonemically with a hyphen separating the prefix from the root, and the High tone on each word is indicated with an acute accent.4 The labels L, H, H, and LH within the Table refer to the stem melodies. Table 2.3.1: Tonal minimal pairs – nouns L Swahili / English H Swahili / English /a-ka/ simba / lion /a-ká/ nyumbani / home a) /an-da/ tumbo / stomach /an-dá/ chawa / louse /omo-te/ dawa / medicine /omo-té/ mti / tree H Swahili / English LH Swahili / English b) /a-mémbe/ kengele / bell /a-membé/ ukoko / crust /omu-ɣɛ́ndi/ msafiri / traveler /omu-ɣɛndí/ mwenzi / companion

4 Surface tones can be realized somewhat differently when the word is pronounced in utterance-final position. The tone represented here is as it occurs in non-final position, e.g. when the noun is followed by a demonstrative pronoun. 11

Since tone is not marked, these words are orthographically written as , and thus far context has always been sufficient to distinguish the intended meaning. For a further description of the nominal tone system, see Aunio (2010) and Aunio et al. (forthcoming). 2.3.2 Grammatical tone There are two pairs of verbal tense/aspect forms which require grammatical tone marking in the orthography: Past versus Anterior, and Narrative versus Inceptive. See Aunio (2013) for a more thorough description of Ikoma verbal tone.

2.3.2.1 Past and Anterior The two primary differences between Past and Anterior verbs are vowel length and tone. However, the vowel length contrast is often neutralized when the verb root is vowel-initial, leaving tone as the only difference between the two forms. See Table 2.3.2.1 below, which shows examples of Past and Anterior verbs, exemplified first with a consonant-initial verb stem and then a vowel-initial verb stem, each inflected with the 3PL subject marker /βa-/. Table 2.3.2.1 Past and Anterior with consonant- and vowel-initial stems Consonant-initial stem: Vowel-initial stem:

‘chimba/dig’ ‘jenga/build’ /n-βa-tuk-iri/ /n-βa-aβɛk-iri/ Anterior ‘wamechimba’ [mbatukiri] ‘wamejenga’ [mbaaβɛkiri] /n- -iri/ ‘they have dug’ ‘they have built’ <:mbaatukiri> /n-βa-V-tuk-iri/ <:mbaabhëkiri> /n-βa-V-aβɛk-iri/ Past ‘walichimba’ [mbaatúkiri] ‘walijenga’ [mbaaβɛ́kiri] /n- V- -iri/ ‘they dug’ ‘they built’

As the table shows, the only segmental difference between the Anterior and the Past tense is the Past tense prefix /V-/, which is an unspecified vowel. Therefore, with a consonant-initial verb stem in the Past tense, it is clear that a long vowel must be written where these prefix morphemes meet, whereas a short vowel is written for the Anterior verbs. However, with a vowel-initial stem, both the Past and Anterior forms have a long vowel, causing orthographic ambiguity unless tone is marked. In the table above, a surface High tone is transcribed on the phonetic forms in the Past tense using an acute accent. Mother tongue speakers are aware of these differences in pronunciation and grammatical meaning, so these forms are

12 distinguished orthographically. The colon (:) is used to mark all Past tense forms. It is written at the very beginning of the word. For example: Anterior: ‘wamejenga/they have built’ Past: <:mbaabhëkiri> ‘walijenga/they built’

Sometimes the difference between Past and Anterior is evident without the colon, particularly with consonant-initial roots. Nonetheless, the colon is still used on all Past tense forms, with the goal that it reduces the work for the writer to constantly have to evaluate whether or not the particular form is ambiguous with the regard to tense, and therefore whether or not the colon should be written. The goal is also that the colon becomes so identified with the Past tense that it is an aid to readers to more quickly decode the verb tense, even when there is also a vowel length distinction. For example: Anterior: m-ba-mar-iri  ‘wamemaliza’ ‘they have finished’ Past: m-ba-V-mar-iri  <:mbaamariri> ‘walimaliza’ ‘they finished’ Anterior: n-tu-abhëk-iri  ‘tumejenga/we have built’ Past: n-tu-V-abhëk-iri  <:ntwaabhëkiri> ‘tulijenga/we built’

It is also important to be careful about Past tense verbs in relative clauses, especially with a 3SG subject prefix /a-/. When the verb-initial focus marker /n-/ is removed in a relative clause, the Past vs. Anterior vowel length contrast is also lost, since word-initial long vowels are prohibited in Ikoma. This is another case in which the presence of the colon becomes helpful to distinguish the verb tense. Compare the following examples: Anterior: ‘ambaye amefanya hivyo’ ‘he who has done this’ Past: ‘ambaye alifanya hivyo’ ‘he who did this’ Anterior: ‘ambaye amezaliwa’ ‘he who has been born’ Past: ‘ambaye alizaliwa’ ‘he who was born’

~~A final note concerns Past tense copular forms. Though all non-copular Past verbs are written with the colon, only one copular form is written with the colon:~~

<:bhaare> ‘walikuwa/they were’ uses the colon in order to distinguish it from the class 2 far demonstrative . These two words are both quite common in writing, and readers and writers have found it very helpful to have a way to distinguish them. Note also that <:bhaare> occurs only in relative causes; its main clause equivalent , which has the initial nasal focus marker, is written without the colon. All other Past copular verbs are also written without the colon, since they are never in danger of confusion with corresponding anterior forms, e.g. ‘nilikuwa/I was,’ ‘tulikuwa/we were,’ etc.

2.3.2.2 Narrative and Inceptive There are two verb forms which are differentiated only by tone. The Narrative prefix is the toneless /Vka-/, in which /V/ is an unspecified vowel, causing the subject prefix to be lengthened. The Inceptive prefix is /Vká-/ with a high tone, and with the same unspecified vowel. Therefore, these verbs are segmentally the same, but tonally different. See the examples in Table 2.3.2.2. Table 2.3.2.2 Narrative and Inceptive verbs

~~[βa:ɣatuka]~~

~~‘wakachimba / they dug’ /βa-Vka-tuk-a/~~

~~Narrative 3PL-NARR-chimb-a~~

~~<^bhaghatuka> [βa:ɣátuka] ‘wamechimba / they have dug’ /βa-Vká-tuk-a/~~

~~Inceptive 3PL-INC-chimb-a~~

As shown in the table above, a caret (^) is written before all Inceptive verbs in order to distinguish them from Narrative verbs. Readers and writers find this symbol helpful, since they can think of it as an upward pointing arrow, which reminds them that it goes with the Inceptive form, which has an “upward” High tone. Note that even though the unspecified vowel of these two tense prefixes causes the subject prefix to sound long, the length in that prefix is usually not written in the orthography. In fast speech, and even in slower speech in longer words, the length is often not clearly pronounced, and it creates no ambiguity to write those prefixes short. See §3.1.3.5 for more explanation of this vowel length rule.

~~3. Morphophonology~~

3.1 Vowels There are a number of vowel processes which occur across morpheme boundaries, including vowel harmony (§3.1.1) and vowel adjacency processes (§3.1.2). This section also outlines a number of specific orthographic conventions involving vowel length (§3.1.3). 3.1.1 Vowel harmony processes Ikoma has a variety of different vowel harmony processes, some of which are very unusual cross-linguistically. Ikoma vowel harmony is described at length in Higgins (2012). The following three subsections of this document explain the orthographic implications of vowel harmony in prefixes, verbal suffixes, and noun stems.

3.1.1.1 Vowel harmony in prefixes Many Ikoma prefixes (both nominal and verbal) alternate as a result of [-ATR] vowel harmony. That is, when a [-ATR] vowel such as occurs as the first vowel (V1) in a stem, it triggers a vowel height alternation in the prefix, causing underlying mid vowels in prefixes to alternate to high vowels.5 These alternations are written in the orthography. For example, Table 3.1.1.1 below shows the possible allomorphs of noun class prefixes. Only the alternating prefixes are shown, thus excluding classes 2, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, and 16, which do not have vowel alternations. See Appendix A for a full noun class chart. Table 3.1.1.1 Noun prefix vowel harmony Class Stem V1= i, e, o, u Stem V1= ë, a, ö 1 omo- omu- 3 omo- omu- 4 eme- emi- 7 eke- eki- 8 ebhe- ebhi- 11 oro- oru- 14 obho- obhu-

~~5 The pattern presented here is a very unusual vowel harmony pattern, occurring only in Ikoma, Nata, and the neighboring Ngoreme language. 15~~

~~Class Stem V1= i, e, o, u Stem V1= ë, a, ö 15 oko- oku- 19 ehe- ehi- 20 ogho- oghu-~~

Only the prefix vowel closest to the stem alternates; the augment vowels always stay mid. Ikoma readers and writers are very aware of these prefix alternations. Some writers who have struggled to differentiate the two sets of mid vowels within stems (that is, to distinguish from ) have found it very helpful to use the prefix alternations as a guide for correctly writing mid vowels in the stem. For example, if they see a high vowel in the prefix, they know that the stem vowel is usually [-ATR], and vice versa. Note that vowels of classes 5 and 18 do not alternate. The class 5 prefix is . Since it is already high, it is unaffected by harmony. The class 18 locative clitic does not alternate, even though it is underlyingly a mid vowel. This is likely because the clitic is outside of the domain of prefix harmony. This evidence supports the decision to hyphenate the locative instead of writing it conjunctively. See §4.2 for locative spelling rules. In verbs, subject and object agreement markers and tense/aspect prefixes are also susceptible to the same vowel harmony process as noun class prefixes. If the vowel in the prefix is underlyingly , it alternates to before in the stem. Recall that only the prefix closest to the stem alternates; that is, the leftward harmony does not spread through one prefix to trigger another. It is only the [–ATR] vowels in a stem (not a prefix) which are able to trigger a vowel alternation. The [-ATR] vowels do not even occur in prefixes.6 The following examples show that even an in a prefix (in this case, in the 3PL object prefix and class 6 object prefix ) does not cause the infinitive prefix to alternate: /ko-βa-mar-a/ ‘kuwamaliza/to finish them’ INF-3PL-finish-FV

6 Only two exceptions have been found, with the [-ATR] mid vowel occuring in augment vowel and prefix position: There are two known vowel-initial noun stems which begin with the [-ATR] vowel , and this [-ATR] quality spreads leftward to the class 3 noun prefix and even the augment vowel. For example: Singular/Plural ‘shimo/hole', with singular form morphemes /omo-ɔβɔ/. Also ‘bonde/valley', with singular form morphemes /omo-ɔrɔ/. 16

~~/ko-ɣa-rom-a/ ‘kuyauma/to bite them’ /INF-6-bite-FV~~

In these examples, the infinitive does not alternate to , even before the of the object prefix. Labialization and palatalization of stem-initial consonants affects vowel harmony in prefixes. See the following examples, all of which have [-ATR] vowels as the first stem vowel (stems are in bold), and each of the stem-initial consonants are either labialized or palatalized. Instead of the prefixes alternating to high vowels, the prefix vowels remain mid, thus indicating that the labialization and palatalization have a [+ATR] vowel quality: Labialization: ‘kuchumbiwa/to be engaged’ ‘kupatana/to agree’ Palatalization: ‘mshale/arrow’ ‘mji/town’

3.1.1.2 Vowel harmony in suffixes There are five verbal suffixes which alternate based on the root vowel. These alternations are written as they are pronounced. The first three are the front-vowel suffixes for the Applicative, Stative and Subjunctive, which have vowels which alternate between and . The final two suffixes are the back-vowel Inversive and Inversive-Stative extensions, which have three-way vowel alternations between , , and . See a summary of the patterns in Table 3.1.1.2a below, which lists the forms of each suffix which occur following different vowel qualities in the verb root. Table 3.1.1.2a Summary of vowel harmony in verbal suffixes

Applicative & -ër / -ëk following Stative -er / -ek following -e following Subjunctive -ë following -or / -ok following Inversive & -ur / -uk following Inversive Stative -ör / -ök following

For the Applicative, Subjunctive and Inversive suffixes, one example of each alternation is given in the following table, with the relevant suffix in bold. The Stative suffix follows the same vowel harmony pattern as the Applicative, and the Inversive Stative follows the same pattern as the Stative. Table 3.1.1.2b Examples of vowel harmony in verbal suffixes Suffix Ikoma Swahili English

Applicative -ër ghukörëra kufanyia to do to/for -er ghokorera kukulia to grow at/for -e bhakore wakue they should grow Subjunctive -ë bhakörë wafanye they should do -or ghwighora kufungua to open Inversive -ur kohunyura kufunua to uncover -ör ghuköröra kukohoa to cough

Note that there are some other types of vowel harmony previously described in Higgins (2012) which are not written in the orthography, since these types of harmony do not occur in the most careful speech, and Ikoma speakers are not usually aware of these alternations.7

3.1.1.3 Vowel harmony in noun stems There are restrictions concerning which vowels can co-occur within noun stems. The clearest restrictions concern the mid vowels. The [-ATR] mid vowels are never adjacent to the [+ATR] mid vowels . The mid vowels also do

7 Higgins (2012) describes a process of leftward [+ATR] spreading from high-vowel suffixes such as the anterior <-iri>, passive <-u>, causative <-i>, agentive <-i>, and even from the mid-vowel subjunctive suffix <-e>. These suffixes cause vowel raising in verb roots which have the vowels /ɛ ɔ/ underlyingly, thus causing an alternation in the root to [e o]. These root vowel alternations differ in their degree of raising, with the change from /ɛ/ to [e] seeming to be more categorical (i.e. full assimilation), while raising of /ɔ/ to [o] is more gradient (i.e. partial assimilation). In discussing these patterns with Ikoma speakers, we conclude that this pattern of leftward [+ATR] spreading is likely a post-lexical phenomenon associated with fast speech. The most convincing evidence of this is that vowel contrasts which would otherwise be neutralized because of this spreading can still be distinguished in careful speech. Ikoma writers therefore prefer writing the underlying vowel qualities of verb roots, not the raised forms. Thus the following verbal minimal pairs can still be distinguished orthographically: /m-ba-mɛr-iri/ 'wameota/they have sprouted' and /m-ba-mer-iri/ 'wamemeza/they have swallowed'. 18

not occur following the high and low vowels . Table 3.1.1.3 below gives examples of the vowel co-occurrence patterns in noun stems. Table 3.1.1.3: Vowel distribution in noun stems V2 i u e o ë ö a V1 i ahiti omokwiru angighe ahaghiro X X omobhisa ‘fisi/ ‘bibi harusi/ ‘nzige/ ‘mahali/ ‘adui/ hyena’ bride’ locust’ place’ enemy’ u andughi angubhu angughe atugho X X eghekubha ‘panya/ ‘kiboko/ ‘nyani/ ‘mifugo/ ‘kifua/ rat’ hippo’ baboon’ livestock’ chest’ e omoremi eriigheghu obhorere ekemero X X omokera ‘mkulima ‘gego/ ‘kitanda/ ‘umio/ ‘mkia/ / farmer’ molar’ bed’ throat’ tail’ o omosori obhoghonchu eriikore oghoghoro X X obhorobha ‘mchuzi/ ‘uchafu/ ‘mwanzi/ ‘mguu/ ‘pamba/ sauce’ dirt’ bamboo’ leg’ cotton’ ë ekirëngi eghisëku X X eghisëbhë omuhëtö eriibhëgha ‘proverb/ ‘mlango/ ‘kiwele/ ‘mtego/ ‘bega/ methali’ door’ udder’ trap’ shoulder’ ö eriighöti omubhöhu X X orughöhë obhuhörö anchöka ‘shingo/ ‘mfungwa/ ‘usi/ ‘kiporo/ ‘nyoka/ neck’ prisoner’ eyelash’ leftovers’ snake’ a eghitati ekihamu eghisare omughabho X X omukama ‘ukope/ ‘kidevu/ ‘pacha/ ‘mganga/ ‘upepo/ eyelid’ chin’ twin’ doctor’ wind’

Note that for the co-occurrence patterns CaCë and CaCö, there are actually a few examples in which the word-final mid-vowels might actually be the [-ATR] mid- vowels , but the examples are very few, and it is difficult to confidently distinguish the quality of these word-final vowels.8 Therefore, the practical decision has been made to write word-finally only when preceded by other [-ATR] mid-vowels in the stem. Therefore, following the high and low vowels , the [+ATR] mid-vowels are written by default. This is a helpful guide for wrtiers who struggle to distinguish these word-final vowels, and it creates no ambiguity of meaning.

~~8 For example: ‘damu/blood’, ‘kikapu/basket’, ‘shida/problem’. 19~~

3.1.2 Vowel adjacency processes When two vowels are adjacent across a morpheme boundary, a few different vowel hiatus resolution strategies are used. Depending on the combination and order of the vowels, sometimes the first vowel in the sequence elides, sometimes it desyllabifies (i.e. it forms a glide), and sometimes two identical vowels merge to form one long vowel. Table 3.1.2 below gives a summary of these vowel adjacency processes, showing (in orthographic form) all possible combinations of vowels and how hiatus is resolved in each case. Throughout this section, the abbreviations V1 and V2 are used to refer to the first vowel and second vowel in a sequence, in which each of the vowels are from a different morpheme. Table 3.1.2 Vowel adjacency processes V2 i u e o ë ö a V1 i ii yo u e ii ye yo yë yö ya o wi we oo wë öö wa ë ö a ii ee oo ëë öö aa Color coding: Yellow: Identical adjacent vowel assimilation, Green: Elision of V1 with Compensatory Lengthening, Blue: Glide formation

The table uses dark grey for vowel combinations which are unattested. For example, there are no examples of adjacent vowel combinations in which V1 is in V1 position are class 5 nouns, with the prefix , but in this class there are a very small number of vowel-initial stems, limited to those beginning with the vowels . There are no known examples of any type of word stem which begins with , which means that this vowel is unattested in V2 position. The following subsections give examples and orthographic conventions used when writing each type of vowel adjacency, including elision (§3.1.2.1), desyllabification (§3.1.2.2), assimilation (§3.1.2.3), as well as some cases of inserting intervocalic semivowels (§3.1.2.4). The overarching writing rule applied to these processes is simply to write these words as pronounced, while also following the 20 standard vowel length conventions, particularly avoiding writing conditioned vowel length (i.e. compensatory lengthening which results from glide formation), but writing derived vowel length (i.e. length resulting from assimilation, as well as compensatory lengthening which results from vowel elision).9 Before moving on, we should mention a few exceptions to the patterns in the table above, which occur when these adjacent vowels are word-initial. Because long vowels are unacceptable word-initially (see §3.1.3.2), all of the derived long vowels are shortened in word-initial position, e.g. /a+i/ usually results in , but word- initially it surfaces as the short vowel , as in ‘aue/he should kill’, from the morphemes /a-it-e/. There are also two vowel combinations which result in long vowels word-medially but result in glide formation word-initially. The combination /o+o/ usually results in , but word-initially the result is , e.g. ‘(ambayo) umesikia/(which) you have heard’, from /o-oɣu-iri/. Similarly, /e+i/ usually results in , but word-initially it is , e.g. ‘imeua/it (9) has killed’ from /e-it-iri/.10

3.1.2.1 Elision If V1 (i.e. the vowel to the left of the morpheme boundary) is , it elides before all other non-identical vowels, and the following vowel (V2) is compensatorily lengthened, created a derived long vowel. This vowel length is written, in order to preserve each of the underlying segments. The other vowel combinations resulting in elision of V1 are /e+i/, which results in , and /o+ɔ/, which results in . Examples of elision are in Table 3.1.2.1 below.

9 Recall the three types of vowel length mentioned in §2.1.2: phonemic, conditioned and derived. Though these terms have various uses in the linguistic literature, the definitions given in this paragraph are those used throughout this document. See use of these terms also in §2.1.3 above and §3.1.3.3 below. 10 When glide formation does not form a palatalized or labialized consonant, e.g. when the desyllabified vowel is word-initial, any phonetic compensatory lengthening is written, thus instead of . This allows for simplification of the writing rule: The rule concerning conditioned vowel length is taught in the context of labialized and palatalized consonants, so when desyllabification occurs outside of the context of another consonant, the vowel is written long if it sounds long. 21

~~Table 3.1.2.1: Elision of V1 with lengthening of V2~~

~~V1-V2 Orthography Morphology Swahili English~~

~~a-i = ii abhiiti aβa-iti wauaji killers~~

~~a-e = ee ghogheemba ko-ɣa-emb-a kuyaimba to sing them (6)~~

~~a-o = oo abhooghu aβa-oɣu wasikivu receptive people~~

~~a-ë = ëë akëënda a-ka-ɛnda akataka he wanted (NARR)~~

~~a-ö = öö aköörö aka-ɔrɔ kabonde small valley~~

~~e-i = ii ekiiriri eke-iriri kivuli shade~~

~~o-ö = öö ömöörö omo-ɔrɔ bonde valley~~

Other examples of elision in Ikoma involve word boundaries, e.g. the augment vowel of a noun elides following an associative or a locative proclitic. In other cases, the vowel of the conjunction elides before some vowel-initial word. See §4.2 (Locatives), §4.3 (Associatives), and §4.4 (Conjunction) for examples.

3.1.2.2 Desyllabification Desyllabification occurs at morpheme boundaries when V1 is and V2 is any non-identical vowel. (The exceptions to this general rule are the combinations /e-i/ and /o-ɔ/, which were dealt with in the section on elision directly above.) The vowel labializes, and both and palatalize. A few examples of desyllabification are in given in Table 3.1.2.2 below. Table 3.1.2.2: Desyllabification

~~V1-V2 Orthography Morphology Swahili English~~

~~i-o = yo eryobha eri-oβa jua sun~~

~~o-i = wi ghwita ko-ita kuua to kill~~

~~o-e = we omwembo omo-embo wimbo song~~

~~o-ë = wë omwëri omo-ɛri mwezi month/moon~~

~~o-a = wa omwame omo-ame tajiri rich person~~

~~e-e = ye emyeya eme-eja nafasi opportunity~~

~~V1-V2 Orthography Morphology Swahili English~~

~~e-ë = yë emyëri eme-ɛri miezi months/moons~~

~~e-o = yo emyongo eme-ongo daraja bridge~~

~~e-ö = yö emyörö eme-ɔrɔ mabonde valleys~~

~~e-a = ya ekyaro eke-aro nchi land, country~~

The combination /e-e/, e.g. , is the only combination of adjacent identical vowels which results in glide formation instead of simply assimilating to form a long vowel. Note that desyllabification does not occur with the causative <-i> and passive <-u> extensions, which occurs in many other surrounding Bantu languages. In Ikoma, these extensions completely replace the final vowel of the verb. For example: Basic form: ‘kulima/to farm’ Passive: ‘kulimwa/to be farmed’ Causative: ‘kulimisha/to cause to farm’

3.1.2.3 Assimilation For the vowels /i, o, a/, when identical vowels are adjacent at a morpheme boundary, they simply merge to form a long vowel. Examples are in Table 3.1.2.3a below. Table 3.1.2.3a: Assimilation of identical adjacent vowels

~~V1-V2 Orthography Morphology Swahili English~~

~~i-i = ii eriino eri-ino jino tooth~~

~~o-o = oo kooma ko-om-a kukauka to dry~~

~~a-a = aa amaato ama-ato mitumbwi canoes~~

~~Another type of assimilation involves noun stems which have an initial “unspecified vowel.” See examples in Table 3.1.2.3b below, in which “V” represents the unspecified vowel.~~

~~Table 3.1.2.3b: Assimilation of prefix vowels with unspecified vowel-initial stems~~

~~Stem Singular Plural Swahili English~~

~~-Vto omooto abhaato mtu person~~

~~-Vna omoona abhaana mtoto child~~

~~-Vnyo omoonyo emeenyo chumvi salt~~

~~-Vka omooka emeeka mwaka year~~

When comparing singular and plural forms, we see that the noun prefixes for both forms are long, and there is no other type of elision or glide formation taking place, which we would expect to find if the initial vowel had a specific underlying vowel quality. These words are simply written as pronounced, with long vowels at the prefix-stem morpheme boundary.

3.1.2.4 Intervocalic semivowels There is one environment in which semivowels are regularly inserted between two vowels: when the reflexive verbal prefix occurs as the middle vowel of a sequence of three adjacent vowels. The reflexive undergoes any normal hiatus resolution processes with the preceding vowel (namely, causing labialization or elision of the preceding vowel), but in order to prevent vowel adjacency with the third vowel in the sequence, a semivowel is inserted after the reflexive. The therefore is not underlyingly present, but Ikoma writers perceive its presence and naturally write it in this environment. See examples in Table 3.1.2.4 below. Table 3.1.2.4 Semivowel insertion following the reflexive prefix Morphemes Orthography Swahili English βa-ka-i-ahur-ɛr-a bhakiyahurëra wakajichagulia they chose for themselves n-o-i-ahur-ɛr-e nwiyahurërë ujichagulie you should choose for yourself a-ka-i-aβɛk-ɛr-a akiyabhëkëra akajijengea he built for himself ko-i-andɛk-a kwiyandëka kujiandikisha to register oneself ne-ko-i-oɣu nekwiyoghu ninajisikia I feel (myself)

~~See also §5 concerning how loan words are written in Ikoma, especially conventions guiding when semivowels are written between adjacent non-identical vowels.~~

3.1.3 Additional vowel length conventions The basic phonemic contrast between short and long vowels was described above in §2.1.2, followed by discussion of a set of environments which cause non-phonemic (i.e. conditioned) vowel lengthening in §2.1.3. And directly above, in §3.1.2, there is discussion concerning vowel hiatus resolution across morpheme boundaries, which is also very relevant to how vowel length is written in Ikoma. The current section takes things a step further, detailing a variety of other orthographic conventions which guide how vowel length is written in more specific environments. One of the complicating factors in Ikoma concerns the interaction of multiple long vowels throughout the word. For example, when two (or more) long vowels, usually from different morphemes, occur within the same word, the leftward long vowel is often shortened to some degree. As a general rule, phonemic vowel length, especially within noun and verb roots, is always preserved. And within verbs, care is taken to preserve derived length in grammatical morphemes, especially when tense or aspect distinctions depend on it. There are, however, a couple of specific writing conventions which follow mother tongue speaker perception of vowel shortening, including in some nominal prefixes, as well as with a specific set of verb forms. §3.1.3.1 below is the primary section which pertains to nouns. It addresses vowel length alternations in class 5 and 10 nominal prefixes, which shorten depending on vowel length in the noun stem. Later sub-sections each concern specific situations in inflected verb forms. The rules outlined below have been designed to balance two main criteria as carefully as possible: to write vowel length at the level of mother- tongue speaker awareness, while also aiming to preserve the most essential phonemic contrasts.

3.1.3.1 Class 5 and 10 prefix vowel length There are two noun class prefixes which have vowel length alternations, and the pattern is the same for both: the class 5 and 10 nominal prefixes, and respectively, have long vowels when they occur before noun stems which contain only short vowels. Inversely, if there is a long vowel in the noun stem, whether it is a phonemic or even a conditioned long vowel, then the prefix vowel is shortened. Testing has revealed that this rule is in line with how mother tongue speakers perceive vowel length in these words. Therefore, careful writers are able to follow this rule fairly easily. Examples of class 5 nouns and their class 6 plural forms are in Table 3.1.3.1a below, where noun stems are in bold. Examples in (a) have long prefix vowels,

25 whereas those in (b) have short prefix vowels. In the plural forms, the prefix always has a short vowel. Table 3.1.3.1a Class 5 prefix vowel length: and Singular Plural Swahili English eriito amato jani leaf eriihe amahe vita war eriiho amaho mwiba thorn eriiru amaru goti knee a) eriighuha amaghuha mfupa bone eriighano amaghano hadithi story eriiraheri amaraheri kiapo oath eriikanisa amakanisa kanisa church eriibhateri amabhateri shahidi witness erinyëërö amanyëërö pua nose erishaako amasaako ngozi skin b) erikinda amakinda kundi group erihundughu amahundughu maiti corpse eritwangero amatwangero kinu mortar (for pestle)

Note that all monosyllabic stems have a long prefix vowel, but with bisyllabic and longer stems, the prefix length is based solely on the presence of any long vowels in the stem, even compensatorily lengthened vowels. For example, in the word , the stem vowel is actually pronounced long because of lengthening before the prenasalized consonant (e.g. [erikiinda]), and even though the compensatory lengthening in the stem is not written, it still affects the way the prefix vowel is written. As mentioned above, the second occurrence of lengthening is in class 10, and examples are shown in Table 3.1.3.1b. Examples in (a) have long prefix vowels, whereas those in (b) have short prefix vowels. In the singular forms, the class 9 or class 11 prefix vowels are all short.

Table 3.1.3.1b Class 10 prefix vowel length: and Singular Plural Swahili English anyo chaanyo mtungi cooking pot asu chaasu samaki fish aka chaaka simba lion oroku chaaku kuni firewood a) oroko chaako kifo death orosiko chaasiko siku day atugho chaatugho mfugo livestock atetere chaatetere mbegu seed atikere chaatikere punda donkey aseese chaseese mbwa dog atyenyi chatyenyi mnyama animal b) ashekeeri chashekeeri shekeli shekel oronyiibhoro chanyiibhoro kizazi generation

Note that the class 10 prefix has an additional form. The class 9 and 10 nominal prefixes often occur with a nasal, e.g. and . When the nasal is present in the prefix, the prefix vowel is always written short, even if it is pronounced long. This is done so that there is no confusion about the “compensatory lengthening” rule in nouns. That is, the rule which prohibits writing long vowels in conditioned environments takes precedence over any other vowel length rules concerning the class 10 prefix. See examples in Table 3.1.3.1c below. Table 3.1.3.1c Class 10 prefix vowel length: Singular Plural Swahili English angi changi inzi fly (insect) angwe changwe chui leopard anda chanda tumbo stomach anchöta chanchöta nyota star ororeme chandeme ulimi tongue ambërëtë chambërëtë mbuzi goat ambusuru chambusuru mbegu seed

3.1.3.2 Word-initial vowel shortening As mentioned in §2.1.2 above, there are restrictions on word-initial vowel length. If a word is consonant-initial, vowel length is allowed in the first syllable, but if the word is vowel-initial, the first vowel is always short. In verbs, this rule is particularly evident with 2SG and 3SG subject prefixes /o-/ and /a-/, since these prefixes do not contain a consonant and often occur word-initally. Table 3.1.3.2 below shows some examples using the 3SG subject prefix, contrasting the vowel length when the prefix is word-initial versus when there is another (consonant) prefix word-initially. Table 3.1.3.2: Word-initial vowel shortening Orthography Morphology Swahili English :naabhughiri n-a-V-βuɣ-iri alisema s/he said a) :abhughiri a-V-βuɣ-iri alisema s/he said (relative clause) naare n-a-V-re alikuwa s/he was b) are a-V-re alikuwa s/he was (relative clause)

In these examples, the focus marker at the beginning of the verb creates a consonant-initial syllable, which allows the presence of the derived long vowel. But when the focus marker is removed (e.g. in a dependent clause), the first syllable is vowel-initial, so the initial vowel can no longer be long. Therefore, a long vowel should never be written in a vowel-initial first syllable. This rule closely follows native speaker perception of vowel length, so Ikoma writers follow it intuitively.

3.1.3.3 Long vowels in seemingly conditioned environments (verbs) In §2.1.3 above, three environments are listed which cause conditioned vowel lengthening: before prenasalized consonants, and after palatalized or labialized consonants. Within word stems, vowels are always written short in these three environments, since vowel length in these environments is never contrastive. In inflected verbs however, there are times when long vowels are written, even in seemingly conditioned environments. When a derived long vowel occurs across a morpheme boundary, the long vowel is written. This is particularly an issue with vowel-initial verb roots which have a prenasalized consonant. See examples in the table below. In (a), vowels are written short before the prenasalized consonant because the first vowel in hiatus desyllabifies, so each morpheme is still represented in the word. The stem-initial is pronounced long, but the length is simply compensatory, following glide formation of the prefix vowel, so is written

28 short. In (b), the underlined vowels are written long, since these are derived long vowels, created as a result of vowel elision, not a result of glide formation. Table 3.1.3.3: Long vowels in seemingly conditioned environments Orthography Morphology Swahili English kwanga ko-ang-a kukataa to refuse a) ntwangiri n-to-ang-iri tumekataa we have refused (ANT) akaanga a-ka-ang-a akakataa he refused (NARR) akëëndërëra a-ka-ɛndɛrɛr-a akaendelea he continued (NARR) b) bhakëënda βa-ka-ɛnd-a wakataka they wanted (NARR) :ntwaangiri n-to-V-ang-iri tulikataa we refused (PST)

In teaching this rule to Ikoma writers, the guiding principle is whether or not each underlying vowel is properly represented in writing. If the vowel desyllabifies, it is represented with the semivowel or sometimes . But if hiatus of V1 and V2 results in a long vowel without desyllabification, then the long vowel is written. These rules require writers to be familiar with verbal morphology. If a long vowel occurs anywhere in a normal (not potentially “conditioned”) environment, it is simply written as it is pronounced. But in a potentially “conditioned” environment, care must be taken to consider whether or not the perceived length is a result of glide formation (in which case a semivowel followed by a short vowel is written), or if the length is derived from two adjacent vowels without glide formation (in which case a long vowel is written, thus representing each underlying vowel).

3.1.3.4 Multiple long vowels within a verb When multiple long vowels, usually from different morphemes, occur in the same verb, the long vowel closest to the end of the word is pronounced most clearly long, whereas the other vowels are less clearly long, especially in fast speech. Nonetheless, the general rule is that all phonemic and derived long vowels should be written. The examples below include verb roots with a phonemic long vowel, as well as derived long vowels at the subject prefix morpheme boundary.

Table 3.1.3.4a: Two long-vowel syllables Orthography Morphology Swahili English :naatiiniri n-a-V-tiin-iri aliogopa he was scared (PST) :niituuriri n-a-V-ituur-iri alifikiri he thought (PST) niituuriri n-a-ituur-iri amefikiri he has thought (ANT)

Other times there can be as many as three long vowels in a single verb form, all of which should be written. In the examples below, when the Applicative extension /-ɛr/ is adjacent to the Past/Anterior suffix /-iri/, concatenation of these suffixes results in forms such as /-iire/ or /-iiru/ (the final form a having the passive /-u/ as well). Therefore, if the verb has this suffix combination, as well as a phonemic long vowel in the root and a derived long vowel in the prefix, forms such as those in the following table can occur. Table 3.1.3.4b: Three long-vowel syllables Orthography Morphology Swahili English :naasaamiire n-a-V-saam-ɛr-iri alihamia he moved to (PST) a) nasaamiire n-a-saam-ɛr-iri amehamia he has moved to (ANT) :naasamiire n-a-V-sam-ɛr-iri alionjea he tasted for (PST) :naatooriiru n-a-V-toor-ɛr-iri-u aliwekewa he was placed at (PST) b) natooriiru n-a-toor-ɛr-iri-u amewekewa he has been placed at (ANT) :naabhabhooriire n-a-V-βa-βoorer- aliwaambia he told them (PST) c) iri

In (a) and (b), writing short or long vowels in different syllables can change the tense of the verb, as well as the meaning of the root (e.g. /saam/ ‘move’ vs. /sam/ ‘taste’). The example in (c) is a common word, and even though the basic stem /βoorera/ does not clearly contain the applicative extension, it undergoes the same suffix concatenation, resulting in a long vowel. This example is written with three long vowels. Note that there are exceptions to the rule presented in this section. Some Non- Past, Inceptive and Narrative verbs are written with short prefix vowels, as described in the following section.

3.1.3.5 Non-Past, Inceptive and Narrative verbs Aside from the Past tense, there are three other tense/aspect prefixes which contain an unspecified vowel: the Non-Past /Vko-/, Inceptive /Vka-/, and Narrative /Vka-/. The unspecified vowel has no quality of its own, but it lengthens the preceding adjacent vowel, which is always the subject prefix. When any of these three prefixes occur with monosyllabic verb stems, the subject prefix is very clearly long, and writers consistently write the vowel length in these words. See examples in the table below, with examples of Non-Past verbs (a), Inceptive verbs (b), and Narrative verbs (c).11 Table 3.1.3.5a: Long prefix vowels with monosyllabic verb stems Orthography Morphology Swahili English ntookubha n-to-Vko-βa tutakuwa we will be a) ndeeghuye n-re-Vko-je linaenda it (5) is going ^bhaakabha βa-Vka-βa wamekuwa they have become b) ^cheekanyo tʃe-Vka-ɲo zimekunywa they (10) have drunk bhaakare βa-Vka-re wakala they ate c) bhaaghaku βa-Vka-ku wakafa they died

When these three prefixes occur with bisyllabic or longer verb stems, Ikoma speakers hear the prefix vowel length less consistently. The longer the verb, the less likely the length is recognized. Therefore, verbs with longer stems are all written with a short subject prefix vowel, which results in more consistent writing, shorter words, and creates no ambiguity. See examples in the table below, once again with examples of Non-Past verbs in (a), Inceptive verbs in (b), and Narrative verbs in (c). Table 3.1.3.5b: Short prefix vowels with longer verb stems Orthography Morphology Swahili English ntokorema n-to-Vko-rem-a tutalima we will farm a) mbaghoghora n-βa-Vko-ɣor-a wananunua they are buying ^gheghaghëri ke-Vka-ɣɛr-i kimesababisha it (7) has caused b) ^cheghatuka tʃe-Vka-tuk-a zimechimba they (10) have dug bhaghatuka βa-Vka-tuk-a wakachimba they dug c) bhaghasëngëra βa-Vka-sɛngɛr-a wakaabudu they worshipped

~~11 Recall that the Inceptive and Narrative are tonal minimal pairs, and the Inceptive is marked for grammatical tone. See §2.3.2.2 for more details. 31~~

3.1.3.6 1SG object prefix written as vowel length The 1SG object prefix is /n-/, as exemplified in ‘akaniomba/he requested of me.’ With most consonant-initial verb roots, this object prefix causes prenasalization of the following consonant, and it is written as , but before bilabial roots it is , e.g. ‘akaniambia/he told me.’ The difficulty comes with verb roots which begin with the following set of nasal, glottal, and semi-vowel consonants: . Instead of this nasal prefix causing prenasalization, the nasal completely elides before this set of consonants, but its presence is preserved by lengthening the preceding vowel, which is usually a vowel from either a tense/aspect or a subject prefix. Therefore, the vowel lengthening is written as it is pronounced. Table 3.1.3.5: 1SG object prefix represented with vowel length Without 1SG object With 1SG object Swahili English kohicha koohicha ku(ni)shinda to conquer (me) nahichiri naahichiri ame(ni)shinda he has conquered (me) konenda koonenda ku(ni)linda to protect (me) okamënya okaamënya uka(ni)jua you knew (me) akanyaaki akaanyaaki aka(ni)sumbua he annoyed (me) koweeri kooweeri ku(ni)pumzisha to make (me) rest koyaari kooyaari ku(ni)kimbiza to chase (me) kohiita koohiita ku(ni)kumbuka to remember (me)

Ikoma speakers are able to decode this vowel length as referring to the 1SG object, and they find this way of writing to be far superior than any other options. For example, attempts at preserving the nasal in writing are deemed unacceptable, e.g. * is not an acceptable way to represent the object prefix, since it is not pronounced as a lengthened nasal, and because this spelling could actually be misinterpreted to mean ‘ukamjua/you knew him' (correct spelling would be ). Though this vowel lengthening helps to preserve the 1SG object in the orthography in most cases, there are a few cases in which the presence of this prefix remains ambiguous. For example, in the Past tense verb <:naahichiri> ‘alishinda/he conquered', the subject prefix is already long because of the Past tense vowel, so the vowel cannot be lengthened more to account for the 1SG object. Therefore the spelling <:naahichiri> can mean both ‘alishinda’ as well as ‘alinishinda/he

32 conquered me.’ Note that the Past tense grammatical tone marker distinguishes these verbs from the Anterior ‘amenishinda/he has conquered me.’ Finally, ambiguity can also occur if word-initial vowel shortening prevents a long vowel at the beginning of a verb. For example, in the following examples of subjunctive verbs with a 3SG subject prefix, there is no way to distinguish the presence of the 1SG object prefix: ‘a(ni)shinde/he should conquer (me)’ ‘a(ni)linde/he should protect (me)’ In these cases, we rely on context to make the meaning clear. If needed, the pronoun ‘mimi/me’ can also be added to the sentence for extra clarity.