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Addis Ababa University School of Graduate Studies ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES Acquisition of Oromo Phonology by Typically Growing Children BY Tariku Negese A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN Descriptive and Theoretical Linguistics July, 2019 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Acquisition of Oromo Phonology by Typically Growing Children BY Tariku Negese A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN Descriptive and Theoretical Linguistics Supervisor: Dr Feda Negesse July, 2019 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Addis Ababa University School of Graduate Studies This is to certify that the thesis prepared by Tariku Negese entitled “Acquisition of Oromo Phonology by Typically Growing Children” and submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy complies with the regulations of the university and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality. MEMBERS OF THE EXAMINING COMMITTEE ______________________________ ______________ ______________ Department’s Chairperson or Signature Date Graduate Program Coordinator Dr Feda Negesse__________ ______________ ______________ Advisor Signature Date Dr Abebayehu Messele________ ______________ ______________ Internal Examiner Signature Date Prof. Jane Akinyi Ngala Oduor (PhD) _______________ _______________ External Examiner Signature Date ABSTRACT This study investigated the phonological acquisition of typically growing Oromo speaking children aged 3;0- 5;11 years. For the study, forty-eight children were selected from the western part of its speakers. Since Oromo lacks information about developmental norms, the study intended to describe the order and age at which Oromo sounds are acquired; patterns followed to acquire clusters, syllable shapes employed at different ages, and the types of phonological processes manifested. An experimentation technique was mainly employed for the data collection using an elicitation method. The speech samples were recorded and transcribed using the IPA symbols and conventions. An Optimality Theory was employed to analyze creative alterations at different ages. The findings imply that the acquisition of Oromo phonemes comes about relatively early. At age of 3;0 most of the consonants and all the five vowels were acquired although bilabial stop, some alveolars such as fricative, ejectives, and flap were still developing and are refined after the age of 4;0. Evaluating the children’s accuracy on the basis of sex at the same age, the study revealed no significant difference among males and females. PVC measures are entirely greater than PCC at all ages, for the participants acquired vowels very early. An unusual observation arising from this study was children acquiring the language hardly ever reduced word medial clusters at the age under investigation. They often used a strategy of systematic substitution considering the sounds’ sonority index. Indeed, they select the second member (C2) of the clusters (the consonant making an onset of the subsequent syllable) and replace with (C1) by making some adaptations. The adaptations take two levels of assimilation: complete assimilation at first resulting gemination and reducing the degree of assimilation to partial. Theoretically, this happens when the markedness constraint (CodaConD) outranks faithfulness. In the speech of these children, error patterns arising from their development were mainly sound preference substitution. i As to the syllable, children in this sample were able to produce all the language’s syllable shapes and multisyllabic words approximately at three years of age. Normally, the type of speech production patterns noted in the children considered appear to be diversified; most of the patterns are age-appropriate and cross linguistically universal though others are language-specific. For instance, acquisition of most of the phonemes before the age of three is universally accepted even if the acquisition of the language- specific sound (the implosive) occurred very early, contrary to what is anticipated. In addition, patterns of fronting, backing, devoicing, FCD, and lateralization were similarly regarded as universal patterns marked in the language. However, the pattern of making the process eminent was perceived to be language-specific. Generally, the study findings contributed some points to theories of phonological acquisition and universality hypothesis. Keywords: Oromo, acquisition, phonological processes/simplification, syllable shape, Cluster ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have obtained much support and understanding from many individuals in completing this thesis. However, there are some that ought to have special mentioning. Yet, all the responsibilities for this paper are mine. Most of all, I should thank my God, Lord, and Savior, Jesus Christ who has been so gracious in keeping me well and granting me patience and strength to complete my journey. Even supposing words cannot fully express my appreciation, I extend sincere thanks with immense pleasure and deep regards to my supervisor Dr Feda Negesse. His many insights made this thesis a much better paper than I could have ever done on my own. Therefore, I am very much indebted to his invaluable academic advice, his emotional and technical support, his generosity in giving me so much of his time, and to his great personality. My heartfelt thanks as well go to Professor Katherine Demuth and Dr Yvan Rose for all their intellectual guidance in response to my request through email. The ideas I got from them enormously improved the quality of the work. In addition, my gratitude is due to my precious wife Ameyu Zewde and our daughter, Sirkanaf, for unparalleled love, prayer, support, and patience during the course of my work. I would also like to give a special thank to my uncle Reverend Elias Dufera and my church Pastors Laikesillase Fikadu and Habtamu Nemomsa for their unreserved prayers and guidance from the inception of my career. Most imperatively, I would sincerely like to thank my best friend (better said real brother) who walked with me throughout this journey, Teferi Kumsa, for bearing with me during all the tough times I needed the most. Without Tafe’s sincere involvement and support, I could have belatedly reached the finish line. Genuinely speaking, words are powerless to express my appreciation for all your help and encouragement, Tafe, just I am so fortunate to have you in my life. May God bless you in abundance! iii I also convey my heartfelt gratitude to Dr Belaynesh Deneke for her moral and emotional support during my difficult times. Again, I am deeply indebted to my friends such as Getachew Tesgera, Tariku Dugasa, Endale Mulatu, Gebeyehu Dugasa, and Temesgen Fite for encouraging me throughout this project. I will never stop thinking about the backings, encouragements, and supports I have obtained from you. Let our relationship flourish evermore! Lastly, I feel very much indebted to several individuals who have helped me in one way or another even if your names are not mentioned here unintentionally. I also express my apologies for not listing your names. iv Dedicated to my mother Marame Wakjira whose strength has inspired me to keep on going and to my late father, Negese Oncho, whom I lost in the middle of this project. v ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS / / Phonemic transcription [ ] Phonetic transcription Ø Zero morpheme 1SG First-person singular 2 Second Person 3SF Third-person Feminine 3SM Third-person Masculine ASP Aspect CAU Causative DEF Definite EMP Emphatic marker EPN Epenthetic F Feminine, Female FCD Final Consonant Deletion IPV Imperfective M Masculine, Male NEG Negative ORD Ordinal PCC Percentage of Consonants Correct PL Plural PRV Perfective PVC Percentage of Vowels Correct SD Standard Deviation, Sonority Distance SSP Sonority Sequencing Principle T Total TT Total Token vi DECLARATION I hereby affirm that the work presented in this thesis is exclusively my own original work and has not previously been presented to any academic institution in its entirety or partially for any other award or qualification. ___________________________________ Tariku Negese July, 2019 vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ……………………………………………………………………… i Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………….…. iii Abbreviations and symbols ……………………….………………….…..…. vi Declaration ………………………………………………………………..…. vii Table of contents ……………………………………………………….…… viii List of figures …………………………………………………………….…. xi List of tables ………………………………………………………..…...….. xii CHAPTER ONE 1. INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………….…… 1 1.1. Background of the study…………………………………………….….. 1 1.2. Statement of the problem ………………………………………………. 2 1.3. Objectives of the study………………………………………………….. 3 1.4. Significance of the study ……………………………………………….. 4 1.5. Delimitation of the study ………………………………………….……. 4 1.6. Background on Oromo ………………………………………………… 6 1.6.1. The people and the language ………………………………………… 6 1.6.2. The phonological Features of Oromo in adult speakers ………….……. 7 1.6.2.1. The phoneme inventories …………………………………….…….…. 7 1.6.2.2. The distributions of Oromo sounds ………………………………. 10 1.6.2.3. Phonological processes in Oromo………….……….……….……. 12 1.6.2.4. The syllable template ………………………………...……… … 18 1.6.2.5. Clusters of Oromo consonants ……………………………………….. 21 CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE................................................ 22 2.1. Introduction ..................................................................................
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