Himalayan Journal of Education and Literature Open Access

Research Article Some Phonological Processes in Ahanta

Patience Obeng Lecturer, University of Education, Winneba, Faculty of Ghanaian Language Studies Department of Akan/Nzema Ajumako CampusGhana, West Africa *Corresponding Author Abstract: Ahanta is a Ghanaian language of the Kwa group of languages of the Patience Obeng Volt-Comoe family with a relatively minority indigenes and minority second language users. Some of its related languages are Nzema and Esahie. Due to its Article History location between Mfantse and Nzema, it is interspersed with both Mfantse and Nzema. It was unwritten and understudied, until the recent publication of the Ahanta Received: 30.06.2021 Bible, there have been pockets of studies which are gradually attracting researchers. Accepted: 09.07.2021 As part of the documentation of Ahanta in the area of phonology, this paper looks at Published: 20.07.2021 some of the its phonological processes. Data was collected through spontaneous

speeches, recordings, and notetaking. The data was transcribed and analyzed. Being a Citations: qualitative study, the discussion on the phonological processes was preceded by one Patience Obeng. (2021); Some Phonological on the Ahanta sound inventory. The findings show that Ahanta has seven orthographic Processes in Ahanta. Hmlyan Jr Edu Lte, 2(4) vowels and ten phonemic vowels. Out of these ten vowels, three can attain nasality, 36-50. independent of nasal consonants in their environments while all can be nasalized Copyright @ 2021: This is an open-access when found in the environment of nasal consonants. Ahanta was also found to have article distributed under the terms of the advanced and unadvanced vowels as Akan. Concerning consonants, only the alveola Creative Commons Attribution license which nasal could occur at word final, even that, it was found in a borrowed word from permits unrestricted use, distribution, and Mfantse when some nasals including the alveola nasal end words. The study proved reproduction in any medium for non that vowel harmony, consonant mutation, palatalization and homorganic nasal commercial use (NonCommercial, or CC-BY- assimilation occur in Ahanta. NC) provided the original author and source are credited. Keywords: Ahanta, phonology, phonological processes, homorganic, DOI: 10.47310/Hjel.2021.v02i04.003 suprasegments, palatalization, mutation .

INTRODUCTION Language documentation in all areas of linguistics has salvaged many minority and endangered languages from near extinction or glutophagy. This mostly occurred in the era of language documentation in the last three to four decades. For example, Hoffman (2009) was done on languages of the world to bring out the effect of language death on the language communities, the culture and its implications on academia.

Studies on Ghanaian languages such as Christaller (1875), Westermann (1909), Dakubu (1988), and more recently, Dovlo (2008), Bubuafor (2013), Agbetsoamedo (2014), Asante Krobea (2016) and Campbell (2017) have all contributed immensely in documenting both majority and minority Ghanaian languages. Ahanta native and linguist Ntumi (2001) and later on GILLBT (2014), advanced Ahanta development by documenting for the first time the sound system and some vocabulary of the Ahanta language and the Ahanta Bible respectively. The Ghana Bible Society published the Ahanta Bible in 2015 while a radio station was established to broadcast sorely in Ahanta, in Agona Nkwanta (an Ahanta community) in order to aid generational transmission and revitalization. In the light of all these, this study was undertaken to add to Ahanta documentation by researching on an aspect of the core area of the phonology of Ahanta.

BACKGROUND Ahanta, pronounced Ahandaa belongs to the Volta-Comoe branch under Kwa language groups with related languages being Aowin (Esahie), Nzema and Akan. An Ahanta person is known as Ahandanii, and the plural is Ahandamaa. According to a paper presented to parliament in 1821, Ahanta was a state or a country on its own, a rich coastal country now housed in the Western Region of Ghana.

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Patience Obeng; Hmlyan Jr Edu Lte; Vol-2, Iss- 4 (July-Aug, 2021): 36-50. The state of Ahanta had linguistic homogeneity 1. tↄ-to buy, to fall, tↄ-to die, with Ahanta as its language. Oral tradition indicates that Metaphorical use: like the Akan people, the Ahanta people moved from Tↄ famu -to fall down the Brong Ahafo area up north and settled in their ano tↄ- to finish talking present location down southern Ghana. It is believed nsa tↄ so -to be conversant with doing something that they first settled in Aboade before spreading out to with the hand. occupy the various Ahanta towns of today. The name akoma tↄ yamu „Ahanta‟ literally means “land of twins” while other ani tↄ nsamu sources claim the name was derived from the verb Christaller (1975:107) handa, meaning to „dry‟ Others claim that Ahanta people are descendants of people who settled where For the past hundred years, this dictionary has they found a shark drying itself on the beach. This to helped in studies related to the Akan language including them was a sign of peace because the shark did not knowledge in ethnography and anthropology. bring any bad omen on them. Almost equal proportion of Ahanta people live in urban and rural areas. Agbetsoamedo (2014) is a study on Sɛlɛɛ, a less studied Ghana Mountain-Togo (GMT) language spoken Classification of the Ahanta language in Ghana‟s Santrokofi, down across Togo. The project The Ahanta language is made up of three notable Aspects of the Grammar and Lexicon of Sɛlɛɛ, was varieties. The variety spoken in the Sekondi-Takoradi based on five main areas of the Sɛlɛɛ, language, metropolis up to areas around Apowa, Kwesimentsim namely, noun classes in Sɛlɛɛ, the morphological and Beahu where the language is highly adulterated encoding of diminution in Sɛlɛɛ, tense and aspect with Mfantse. This study categorized the Ahanta spoken system of Sɛlɛɛ, standard negation in Sɛlɛɛ, and lastly here as „urban‟ Ahanta. The second is „rural‟ Ahanta temperature terms in Sɛlɛɛ. After a thorough discussion spoken around Adwoa, Funko, Ewusie Joe, Aboade, of data collected from the Santrokofi area of the then Agona Nkwanta, Busua, Otopo etc. This is also Volta region of Ghana, where the language is spoken, considered by the Ahanta people as the unadulterated the following conclusions were made concerning the one. The third variety is Evaloe or Valoe spoken syntactic structures. The project established that Sɛlɛɛ, around Princess Town, Akatekyi and Cape Three has eight prefixes in which four mark Points. These areas are close to the border (River singular while the other four mark plural. It was noted Ankobra) that is shared between Nzema and Ahanta. that diminution is marked morphologically by the use of The variety found here is highly adulterated with five different suffixes, -bi, -bii, -mii, -e or by the Nzema, and in recent times considered a variety of exclusive use of -nyi. Sometimes -nyi is employed in Nzema. Evaloe is also spoken beyond the Ankobra river combination with noun class shift. The tense and aspect among immediate Nzema communities. The difference system shows that Sɛlɛɛ has three basic tenses being the among the three varieties resides in sound, tone and present, hodiernal (pre-hodiernal and hodiernal) and lexical items but are mutually intelligible. Data was some future tenses. Other aspects of the grammar collected in rural Ahanta in order to get a least established is negation and the grammatical adulterated Ahanta vocabulary. The study established constructions used for expressing temperature. the sound inventory of Ahanta, its distribution and Agbetsoamedo (2014) concluded that in terms of discussed some of the phonological processes in grammar, Sɛlɛɛ shares some similarities with other Ahanta. The processes encompass both segments and GTM languages. suprasegments processes that occur within words, at word boundaries and within compounds. An aspect of Logba (Ikpana), one of the fourteen GTM languages was studied by Dovlo (2008). After the ITERATURE EVIEW introduction comes a discussion on the phonological L R system of Logba which established that Logba has three There have been efforts in studies all over the world open syllable types namely, peak only, simple onset and to safeguard the near extinction and death of minority peak, and lastly, an onset only. It also has two basic languages. This has led to the documentation of aspects tones, Low and High which are found in most tone of such languages in linguistics, such as, phonetics and languages. Logba also has prefix classes, singular-plural phonology, syntax, morphology, sociolinguistics, pairings, and agreement systems as its three cultural studies and others. The monumental work of interconnected noun class systems. The project also Christaller (1975) is a lexicographical record of the discusses the basic clause structure, verbs and verbal Akan language. The study is a detailed record of almost modifiers, clause types, ideophones, particles and all lexical items in all three written dialects (Akuapem interjections. In order to firm up the language base in Twi, Asante Twi and Mfantse) of Akan. Apart from the the project, a Logba-English-Ewe and English-Logba isolated lexemes, definitions are provided together with wordlists are provided. In the same vein, Bobuafor all available expressions associated with the headword. (2013), worked on the grammar of Tafi, a minority Hyponyms, synonyms and polysemous words are also GTM language spoken in the then Volta region of provided. For example; Ghana. The study examines the phonological system

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Patience Obeng; Hmlyan Jr Edu Lte; Vol-2, Iss- 4 (July-Aug, 2021): 36-50. and established five syllable structures in Tafi as, V/N explanation, Goldsmith presents the phonetic level, that (vowel or nasal), VC, CV, CVV and a CCV. Unlike is the sound level which accounts for sounds that were Logba, Tafi has three-level tonemes, High, Mid and involved in a change and the phonological level also Low and also an ATR harmony. Adpositions were also accounting for how a change took place, turning one found in Logba. Unlike other like Akan sound into another. in which prepositions are non-existent, Tafi has both prepositions (locative and comitative) and In AP, phonological representations consist of more postpositions. But interestingly, Tafi is similar to Akan than one linear sequence of segments; each linear in declarative and interrogative sentence types. Their sequence constitutes a separate tier. The co-registration structure and segmental forms are the same except in of elements (or autosegments) on one tier with those on tone (pitch). The study concludes with the translations another and these are linked by association lines. There of riddles, proverbs and some methods of cooking is a close relationship between analysis of segments into which adds to the prevention of glutophagy. In a more distinctive features and an autosegmental analysis; each recent study, Abunya (2018) documented some aspects feature in a language appears on exactly one tier. The of the grammar of Kaakye based on the functional phonological processes discussed in this work are typological framework. This follows after studies like palatalization, nasalization and vowel harmony on the Dakubu (1988) and Adonae (2005) in the phonology of segmental tiers. The working hypothesis of Kaakye. Kaakye is a minority and less studied Kwa Autosegmental analysis is that, a large part of language of the Niger-Congo family. The study focused phonological generalizations can be interpreted as a on the noun class system, animacy distinctions, restructuring or reorganization of the autosegments in a serialization, relativization and complementation. representation. The motivation for its application in this Establishing the noun class system of Kaakye, six study is that, Goldsmith (1976, 1990) used it to analyse classes were discovered based on the semantics of the Ibo, an African and a tone language like Ahanta and nouns. Again, Kaakye was discovered to have five was able to account for the phonological changes. different complementizers which are employed in two Above all, he succeeded in using AP to account for both different strategies, the relativized and nominalized segments and suprasegments. After his study on Ibo, complementation strategies. many studies such as Akanlig-Pare (1996), Bota (2002), Obeng and Ollennu (2020) have been successful in Theoretical Framework using AP to explain phonological processes in the Autosegmental phonology (henceforth AP) is a following Ghanaian languages, Buli, Bono, Nkami, and framework of phonological analysis proposed by John Mfantse respectively. Goldsmith. As a theory of phonological representation, AP developed as a formal account of ideas that had METHODOLOGY been sketched in earlier works by several linguists, notably, Firth (1948) and Hockett (1955). Twelve years As already stated, information from the pre-data after the introduction of Generative phonology by collection period indicates that Ahantaland can be Chomsky and Halle (1968), Goldsmith (1976) divided into three such as Urban Ahanta, Rural Ahanta propounded AP. According to Goldsmith, Generative and Valoe. The indigenes consider Rural Ahanta phonology was propounded to account for the things speakers as those who speak the original and least that Chomsky and Halle left out in Generative adulterated variety. In order to elicit for the original phonology. Goldsmith stated that; language, data was collected in towns in rural Ahanta. The selected towns were Funko, Ewusie Joe, and Agona The general framework of this “Autosegmental” Nkwanta. Fifteen participants were selected in each approach town. These were towns where generational is generative phonology, and we are, therefore transmission was relatively high, so the age of concerned with participants was fixed from ten years and above. phonological rules that relate phonological and Recording and notetaking were the research instruments phonetic as much employed, therefore spontaneous speeches on many as with providing a formal characterization of topics such as food processing, storytelling sessions and these two levels. proverb duels, farming, trading activities and jokes (Goldsmith 1990:56) were recorded in homes, work places, market, public transport, and playing grounds. Notetaking also helped By the quote above, Goldsmith meant AP does not to ask follow-up questions for participants to repeat veer off completely from that of his predecessors but certain interesting utterances that would enhance the rather serves as an alternative framework for Generative studies. phonology. This alternative provides a link whereby the phonetic level is linked with the phonological level. A The data was listened to many times to take note of further statement firms up the fact that AP can account the phonological changes that are not captured in the for both phonetic and phonological levels and show the written Ahanta, then transcribed and needed portions relationship between these two levels. Per this translated into English.

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Patience Obeng; Hmlyan Jr Edu Lte; Vol-2, Iss- 4 (July-Aug, 2021): 36-50. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION that Ntumy drew inspiration from to document the sounds of Ahanta. The sound system of Ahanta Ahanta has remained an unwritten language until the 1.5.1 Vowels of Ahanta year 2001 when a Senior Language Advisor and a Kenstowicz (1994) in discussion of vowels said that linguist in conjunction with the Ghana Institute of the main difference between consonants and vowels is Linguistics and Literacy and Bible Translation the non-obstruction of airstream in the production of documented it. It was a similar work that I.K Mensah vowels. The Ahanta vowels are divided into produced years before, with the title Ahanta/English orthographic and phonemic sounds.

1. Ahanta vowel orthographic and phonemic levels: There are seven vowels in Ahanta.

Table 1

From the above, three of the vowels /a e o/ have two u/ are single, that is, it is the same at both orthographic variants, that is, each represents two sounds at the and phonetic levels. From the above, Ahanta has ten phonetic level. /a/ is divided into /a æ/, e divides into /e phonetic vowels. These vowels can be found in the ɪ/ while /o/ maps unto /o ʋ/. The rest of the sounds /ɛ i ɔ following Ahanta vowel table.

Table 3 1. /i/ bi di rat 2. /ɪ / wa nɪ sheep 3. /ɛ / dɛ kɛ feather 4. /a/ a ra rɪ child 5. /e/ b ɲa man 6. /æ/ ` b someone 7. /ɔ / ɔ hɔ rɔ crab 8. /o/ o j w snail 9. /ʋ / wʋ wa uncle 10. /u/ bu m bu n king

Distinction of Vowels they occur with nasal consonants. Vowels can also be Vowel sounds, just like consonants can be produced nasalized independent of nasal consonants. This with the velum raised to block the airstream from phenomenon is also common in related languages like flowing through the nasal cavity in order to produce Akan, Ewe and Ga. The ten vowels of Ahanta are all oral vowels. On the other hand, it is also possible for oral. the velum to be somehow raised such that the air flows through both the nasal and oral cavities to produce Nasalized Vowels in Ahanta nasalized vowels. In Ahanta, vowels are nasalized when Table contains the the nasalised vowels in Ahanta.

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Patience Obeng; Hmlyan Jr Edu Lte; Vol-2, Iss- 4 (July-Aug, 2021): 36-50. Table 4. ɛz ɪ a a housefly ɪ ɛ ɛ kɪ ɪ small a su wa monkey ʋ kʋ one ɔ ɔhɔ hʋ friend u su wa monkey

Table 5. below shows vowels which are nasalized in Ahanta. Table 5 e m me ɲ men ɛ *found no example yet o *found no example yet.

n column of table are the three vowels which Set 1: / i e o u æ/ - Advanced tongue root (+ATR) are not originally nasal but become nasalized when vowels: With this set, the root of the tongue retracts in found in the environment of nasal consonants. their production. onsequently, e which is not a nasal is but found in- between two nasal consonants in m me ɲ become Set 2: /ɪ ʋ ɛ ɔ a/: Unadvanced tongue root (-ATR) nasalized. vowels: In the production of these, the root of the tongue is pushed forward. Based on tongue-root features, either an advanced or a retracted tongue root, Ahanta vowels are classified Ahanta Consonants into two as illustrated below. Consonants are the sounds produced with obstruction in the oral cavity. As shown below in table, Ahanta has 27 consonants.

Table 6. Ahanta consonants Labial- bilabial Labio-dental Alveolar Alveo-palatal palatal Velar Glottal velar p b t d k g hy hw f v s z x ɣ /ɕ/ /ɕy/ ky gy h /ʨ/ / / ny nw Nasals m ɱ ŋ /ɲ/ /ɲy/ Trill r w j y /w/ /wy/

Ahanta consonant distribution indicates that there 1.6 Phonological Processes are no word final nasal consonants in Ahanta. The only A phonological process is a process by which one identified is /n/ as in [ɔs ʋ n elephant. This may be speech sounds undergo changes effected by adjacent due to the strict CV syllable structure in Ahanta. A sounds. These processes help one to understand the study of Ahanta words reveals a consistent CV syllable changes that occur when sounds come together in structure. This was determined when the data was speech. The processes discussed here are nasalization, screened to check the structure of the words elicited. palatalization, assimilation, consonant mutation and (Explain further) But, it must be noted that the word vowel harmony. s n is a borrowed word from Mfantse. 1.6.1 Nasalization in Ahanta – within words The process of nasalization occurs when an oral vowel acquires the nasality of an adjacent . For example;

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Patience Obeng; Hmlyan Jr Edu Lte; Vol-2, Iss- 4 (July-Aug, 2021): 36-50. Table 7. nnieni nn e n things arame `ara mɪ animal ɛzekɛnyini ɛ zɪk ɲ n he-goat pↄnkↄ pɔ n kɔ he-goat wane wa nɪ sheep hama ha ma wind kɛrɛme kɛ rɛ mɪ toad ndondone n dʋ n dʋ nɪ mosquito eni `en mother funli fu n li corpse anyɛne `ajɛ nɪ Witch dwum[ u mɔ work ewamo ɪwa mʋ uncles tunduni tu n du n black Adɛne a j ɛ nɪ brain mane m n human beings dↄmↄ dɔ mɔ day nyini ɲ n right ohune `ohu n husband ɛlɛngɛnɛ ɛ lɛ ŋ gɛ nɛ crocodile

The following exemplify the process of nasalization this can be expressed as in the following table;

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From the tables, each sound has its own tier, oral vowels in the environment of nasal consonants, therefore there are the consonant and the vowel tiers. copy the nasality of the nasal consonants and the The assimilatory process starts from the tables a) on the vowels consequently become nasalized, resulting in the left and ends at table b) or c) as the case may be. The following drawn from example 1.

1.

The nasality can spread to the left or right of the Some phonologists argue that the feature spreading is nasal consonant as can be seen in example 3. Once the always regressive and so towards the left and that the vowel becomes nasalized, the [-nasal] tier is cut off and nasalized vowel found on the right immediately after the nasalized vowel/s is/are associated to the nasal tier. the nasal consonant is an independent nasalized vowel.

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Patience Obeng; Hmlyan Jr Edu Lte; Vol-2, Iss- 4 (July-Aug, 2021): 36-50. As long as the word order is concerned, it emphasized with high and mid front vowels, /ɪ i e ɛ/. These vowels here that the spreading can occur on both sides of the occur with labial, alveolar and velar sounds such as /b d nasal. The only condition that needs to be met is that n l k/. There are two types of palatalization namely the vowels must be next to the nasal consonant as seen partial and complete palatalization. In the partial one, it in all the examples. is in the pronunciation or the spoken aspect that the palatalization is realized. In the complete one, the non- that occurs with the high is turned into a palatal sound. In Ahanta, palatalization Palatalization occurs in the following words. Palatalization is a phonological process in which a consonant acquires a palatal feature due to occurrence

2. 1. dɪ ɛ djɪ ɛ thing 2. nnieni nni je n things 3. ɛzɪkɛbɪrɪ ɛ zɪ kɛ bjɪ rɪ he-goat 4. ɛ ɪkɪɪ ɛ ɪ kjɪ ɪ small 5. a lɪ ɛ a lji ɛ food 6. n dɛ kɪ n dɛ kjɪ feather 7. ta kɪ ra ta kjɪ ra rag 8. ɛ li ɛ ɛ lji ɛ house 9. b bj e someone 10. nii nj person

The above examples are an indication of partial palatalization in Ahanta, traces of it can be found in the palatalization in Ahanta because the palatalization spellings of some words in which high and mid front occurs in the spoken aspect of the language. Even vowels follow palatal consonants. For instance; though it cannot be proved now that there is complete

3. 1. nyini ɲɪ n male/masculine/man

2. nan twi n n ʨyi cow 3. kohwinii ko ɕyi n liar 4. ɛgyekee ɛ ɪ kɪ ɪ or ɛ ʨɪ kɪ ɪ small 5. ɛyerɛ ɛ jɪ rɛ wife

Place Assimilation: homorganic nasal assimilation placeless, copies the place of articulation of the initial In place assimilation, consonants copy the place of segment such that they become the same in terms of articulation of nasals they co-occur with. The copying place of articulation. This type of copying can occur at is known as homorganic nasal assimilation, where an word initial, word medial and between phrases. This initial nasal acting as a prefix is attached to a word occurs common in Ahanta and the table below whose initial segment is a consonant. In the process of exemplifies homorganic nasal assimilation at word attaching the prefix, the nasal which is argued to be initial and medial.

Table 8. Phoneme Realized as Before Example Within words gloss A velar 1. /n/ ŋ pɔnkɔ [pɔ ŋ kɔ ] horse /k g/ ɛlɛngɛne [ɛ lɛŋ gɛ nɪ] crocodile

before alveolars 2. /n/ remains an alveolar /n/ bankye ba n tɕɪ ] cassava /t d, s z,/ i. ndondone [n dʋ n dʋ nɪ ] mosquito ii. kwanzerɛ k a zɪ rɛ ] hawk iii. ninsinii ni n si n i herbalist

3. /m/ /m/ labials atwombɛne a ʨyʋ m bɛ nɪ ] horn bɔmbɔvorɔ [bɔm bɔ vʋ rɔ] hunter kuromvia ku ro ɱv a egg

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Patience Obeng; Hmlyan Jr Edu Lte; Vol-2, Iss- 4 (July-Aug, 2021): 36-50. In column 1 of the table, the phoneme /n/ which is mutations. Stem-final consonant occurs in Dholuo, an alveolar nasal is realized as a velar nasal when it spoken in Kenya consonants. Consonant initial, medial occurs before velar sounds like /k, g/. With the first and final mutations occur in Modern Hebrew word, the alveolar nasal in pↄnkↄ ‘horse‟ is realized as a while Japanese has word medial consonant mutation velar nasal because it occurs before a velar /k/ within which co-occurs with voicing. There is evidence of the word. In column 2, when the same alveolar nasal initial consonant mutation type in Ahanta and also in occurs before alveolar consonants like /t, s, z/, it Akan, a related language, and the West African remains an alveolar because they have the same place language Sere and Wolof spoken in Senegal and the of articulation. Consequently, /n/ in the words ba-n-kye Gambia. The type in Ahanta co-occurs with voicing, cassava, n-do-n-do-ne ‘mosquito,‟ kwanzerɛ ‘hawk‟, ni- similar to Japanese. The initial consonant mutation n-si-n-ii ‘herbalist‟ remains the same. The process of occurs when the segment acting as a prefix copies the homorganic nasal assimilation continues in column place of articulation and voicing features of the initial three when the bilabial /m/ remains the same before segment or phoneme. Mutation is a morphosyntactic bilabial sounds such as /b/ in atwom-b-ɛne „horn‟. But phenomenon in that, the addition of the prefix to the changes to a labiodental nasal /ɱ/ when it precedes the word and where it occurs influence the change in the labiodental /v/ such that, kuro-m-via is realized form of the word. The plural marker in Ahanta is a as ku ro -ɱ-v a egg. placeless nasal but changes according to the initial consonant of the word it is attached to. See the Consonant Mutation in Plural Preffixation examples below in table 9 where the process from Consonant mutation is a phonological feature of homorganic assimilation to mutation is shown. several languages. There are different kinds of

Table 9. Plural marker/ Ahanta word Gloss Realized as homorganic mutation gloss prefix 1. kezire big /n/ nke z re ŋ g e z re ŋ ŋe z re Big ones 2. tondone mosquito /n/ n tʋn dʋ nɪ] n tʋn dʋ nɪ] n dʋ n dʋ nɪ ] mosquitoes 3. ɛ gyekee small /n/ n ɪk ɪɪ ] n ɪk ɪɪ ] [ɲɲɪ kɪɪ ] Small ones 4. abie someone /n/ n bi mɔ ] m bi mɔ ] [m mi mɔ ] people 5. benya man /n/ n be ɲ m be ɲ m me ɲ men stranger/ Strangers/ 6. ɛyɛvorɔ /n/ n jɛv ʋrɔ] n jɛv ʋrɔ] [ɲ ɲɛ vʋrɔ] Visitor visitors 7. kulɔ rat /n/ n k lɔ] n k lɔ] ŋ k lɔ] rats 8. akɔlɔ chicken /n/ n kɔ lɔ] n kɔ lɔ] ŋ kɔ lɔ] chickens

daughter /n/ n b b rɪ] m b b rɪ] m m m rɪ] daughters 9. mmammaar-e 10. funli corpse /a/ a fu n li fu n li vu n li corpses

The table above has seven columns. The first assimilation is known as homorganic. But the process contains the word in the autography followed by its where the velar nasal moves on again to copy the exact gloss in English. Then, the plural marker in its bare place of articulation and voicing of the initial consonant form (considered placeless) and this also is followed by so that that they up the same, is known as initial the transcribed or phonetic word. In the column named consonant mutation This description runs through all „homorganic‟ is how the word stands when it undergoes the examples. homorganic assimilation (see section 1.6.4). In the next column, the mutated word is presented with its English Note: example 10 involves a vowel as a prefix but gloss in the last column. For example, the word for qualifies as mutation when the voiceless labio-dental „big‟ in Ahanta is kezire and its plural prefix is /n/, a fricative as a prefix has been changed to voiced labio- placeless plural marker. When n is added to kezire, the dental fricative to agree in voicing with the segment /u/ n according to the initial consonant assimilation rule in voicing. Some examples are expressed in the copies the place of articulation of the phoneme /k/ following Autosegmental tables below. didn‟t mark which is a voiceless velar plosive. The alveolar nasal nasalization here. then becomes ŋ , the velar nasal. At this point, the Mutation rule:

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There are two phonological rules involved in the an example of a feeding rule. This in rule 3 is an mutation. The first is the voicing copying as seen in rule expansion of rule 2. And both rule 1 and 2 when 1. The output of this rule becomes the input for rule 2, collapsed result in rule 4.

4.

In the above example, only the part of the process, the prefix which is the plural marker agrees in the which is the voicing assimilation is achieved because feature, place [-cor] with the root.

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5.

1.5 Vowel Harmony words. Even when members from the two sets co-occur, Vowel harmony is a type of vowel assimilation some cavity tendencies change all the vowels into found across languages worldwide including African members of the same set. This cavity tendencies are and Ghanaian languages and Ahanta. In this process called vowel harmony processes. However, it must be only a class of vowels occur in a given word, across noted that there are unique cases where vowels of the morphemes and phrase boundaries. In the literature, two sets co-occur. The following words in example 10 languages tend to classify their vowels into two sets and show vowel harmony as it occurs within words. members in each set tend to occur exclusively in most

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Table 10. Words with only +ATR vowels a) tu n u n black f) o u n husband b) fu vu o white g) n right/rightwards/right-hand side c) ke e big h) u nu ten d) o o snail i) o wu medicine e) n yo m song j) u m u n king/chief

In the above examples, all the vowels in each of the ten words are +ATR vowels. But in the words in example 5 below, all the words contain -ATR vowels only. a) w egg f) k one b) ɛ ɛ father g) m day c) friend h) a y two d) a ɛ n witch i) a a a nine e) n ɛ k feather j) ɛ ɛ wife

The above examples also affirm the vowel harmony rule in Ahanta because only vowels from -ATR are in the words listed.

Vowel Harmony Across morphemes become advanced (+ATR). There is also an evidence of In the Ahanta language, the future marker is k and rounding harmony where the rounded vowel ↄ in kↄ the verb eat is ri. In the construction of mikeri „ will loses its roundness to become a -Round vowel /e/. eat‟ which is a combination of three morphemes and in Therefore, mek]ri is derived as mekↄ i. However, in other words a sentence, the pronoun, the tense marker example 5 wokeri „you will eat‟ in table 2 shows that and the verb are written together as one word. Due to the rounding harmony only affect the vowel in the the +ATR feature of the vowel i in the verb „eat‟, the future marker but not the one in the pronoun. For the unadvanced vowel /[ɛ]/ in the future aspect marker and sake of this discussion, an inventory of the underlying the unadvanced vowel in the first person pronoun me „ ‟ forms of Ahanta pronouns have been presented.

Example: Ahanta Pronouns Person Ahanta Gloss 1sg ma m ɪ I 2sg mɔ you 3sg mɛ he/she 4sg amɪ ɛ we 5sg mʋ rʋ mɔ you (pl) 6sg Bɛ z bɛ they

Table 12. 1. mi ke ri I will eat 2. S di You will eat 3. `ike ri She/he will eat 4. y k di We will eat 5. wo ke ri You all will eat 6. be ke ri They will eat

-ATR harmony across morphemes. The verb here is vowel in ba, the unadvanced central low vowel, in a ba „come‟ used with the habitual positive to make a regressive assimilation. It can also be deduced from the word in Ahanta but not in English. In all the examples examples 11, 12, and 13 that the second, fourth and in 13, the vowels assimilate the -ATR feature of the fifth pronouns change forms.

Table 13. 1. mɪ ka xa I come 2. s m ba you come 3. ɪ ba he/she come 4. yɛ ba we come 5. bɛ ba you (pl) come 6. bɛ ba they come

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Patience Obeng; Hmlyan Jr Edu Lte; Vol-2, Iss- 4 (July-Aug, 2021): 36-50. Rounding Harmony vowels in a word apart from having +/- ATR features, Concerning vowels, Dolphyne (1988), Abaka (2003) may be only back vowels. In spite of a word having confirm that there is also rounding harmony in Fante front vowels when it occurs with words that have back aside the usual ATR harmony. Obeng and Ollennu vowels, it copies the roundness of the vowels. This can (2021) have proved that the ATR harmony occurs occur in words, compounds, across word boundaries together with the rounding harmony with the former and phrases. The following are some examples in occurring before the latter. In rounding harmony, all the Ahanta.

1.5.2 Vowel Harmony within words

Table 14. 1. o y o snail 2. ɔ n lʋ ma bird 3. bu nu kʋ eleven 4. o l wo yam

The table below shows rounding harmony across vowel of the first part of the phrasal verb, tʋ to the phrases. In the examples in 23, the phrasal verb t vowel in the pronoun. This is evident in the first person ndwomi „sing‟ has been used with the habitual tense. In singular, and third persons. However, in Mfantse, Ahanta, this tense has no special marker as in some of rounding harmony occurs with the first and second the tenses in Ahanta. The tense is marked by tone. The person singular only. (Obeng 2008:51). rounding harmony spreads regressively from the back

Table 16 Examples of vowel harmony in Ahanta 1. mʋ dʋ n yo m I sing 2. ɪ tʋ n yo m You sing 3. ɪ tʋ n yo m He/she sings 4. yɛ tʋ n yo m We sing 5. bɔ tʋ n yo m You (pl) 6. bɔ tʋ n yo m They will sing

Below is the Autosegmental analysis of rounding harmony across phrases. 6.

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