University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh UNIVERSITY OF GHANA COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES ASPECTS OF GURENɛ PHONOLOGY BY HELEN ATIPOKA ADONGO (ID. NO. 10442353) A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE AWARD OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN LINGUISTICS DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS MARCH 2018 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh DECLARATION I do declare that with the exception of references to works, which have been duly acknowledged, this thesis is the result of my own research and that it has not been presented in either whole or part for another degree elsewhere. ……………………………………. ……………………………… Helen Atipoka Adongo CANDIDATE DATE ………………………………….. ……………………………… Dr. George Akanlig-Pare SUPERVISOR DATE ………………………………….. ……………………………… Dr. Seth Ofori SUPERVISOR DATE ………………………………….. ……………………………… Dr. Fusheini Hudu SUPERVISOR DATE i University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith, my mentor Professor Ephraim Nsoh Avea, my son, Emmanuel Yinebotima Adongo and to all scholars and students of Gurenε. ii University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am thankful to God for seeing me through the whole period of my Ph.D programme. I am also indebted to many people who have contributed to the successful completion of this work. I would like to thank my supervisors Dr. Akanlig-Pare, Dr. Seth Ofori, and Dr Fusheini Hudu for all the many valuable comments, ideas, criticisms and discussions that helped in shaping this work. Special thanks to Professor Ephraim Nsoh Avea for his mentorship and his foresight in my academic career. I am grateful to Dr. Samuel Awinkine Atintono for the academic advice and all the encouragement during my difficult moments of writing this thesis. Despite your busy schedules, you made time to read my proposal and draft chapters. As the HoD at the time, you facilitated my study leave. You again gave me opportunities to undertake fieldwork to enhance my research skills through the research grants that you won for language mapping. God bless you. Many thanks to my field assistants, Harrison Atoe, Joseph Adongo and Samuel Adongo Apaare for arranging meetings between me and the participants, transportation and the many support you gave me when I needed data. I am grateful to Prof Kofi K. Saah, Prof Nana Aba Amfo, and Dr. Clement Appah for their counselling and encouragement. I also acknowlwdge the financial support and study leave by the University of Education, Winneba towards my studies and the writing of this thesis. I would also like to thank my family, especially Ayimpoka Gifty, Yinebotima Emmanuel, Ayetibo Alberta and Loretta for your prayers and assistance. Finally, I am grateful to all who contributed in diverse ways to this thesis. God bless you all. iii University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ABSTRACT The thesis provides a detailed description of aspects of the phonology of Gurenε, a Gur language under the language family of Niger-Congo and a dialect of Farefari spoken in the Upper East Region of Ghana. The aspects of Gurenε phonology discussed in this thesis are the phonemic system, the syllable, tone, harmony and other phonotactic processes. The analyses were pursued within linear and non-linear phonology frameworks. Within the Linear Phonology approach, the Distinctive Features Theory was used to describe the sound system of Gurenε. While within the Non-Linear Phonology framework, the Moraic Theory was used to account for the syllable structure and the Autosegmental phonology was employed to analyse tonal and segmental processes at the different points of the Gurenε syllable and word. The findings show that Gurenε has twenty- five consonants consisting of twenty-one simple consonants, four complex consonants, which include a pre-nasal labial velar sound. Gurenε also has sixteen distinct vowels and one derived vowel, which is the schwa. These vowels comprise nine oral vowels and seven nasal vowels. All the nine oral vowels can be nasalized. Isolated vowel syllables have also been observed in Gurenε. The CV and CVC are the basic or core syllable types, while the mora is the tone-bearing unit in Gurenε. It has also been established that Gurenε has three light and three heavy syllable types. It is observed that harmony is widespread in Gurenε. Thus, the types of harmony that occur in Gurenε include vowel harmony, vowel-consonant harmony, and nasal harmony. It has also been established that there are three level tones (low, mid and high) and two contour tones (falling and rising) in Gurenε. The verb has a default low tone while the tone of the noun varies depending on the context in which it occurs (a simple word, compound or phrase). Tonal processes in Gurenε include downdrift, downstep, tone shift, tone preservation and tone spreading or assimilation. Data for this research come from two sources: primary data and secondary data. The primary data consist of recordings of utterances of native speakers of the language. The secondary source of data includes the Gurenε- iv University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh English dictionary and other Gurenε literature. In addition, the researcher’s intuition as a native speaker of the language and insights from key native speaker linguists of the language has been very useful. v University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh Table of Contents DECLARATION .............................................................................................................................. i DEDICATION ................................................................................................................................. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ..............................................................................................................iii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... iv CHAPTER ONE .............................................................................................................................. 1 1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background of study .............................................................................................................. 2 1.2 Morphophonemic processes in Gurenε .................................................................................. 6 1.2.1 Morphophonemic analysis of nouns ............................................................................... 6 1.2.2 Formation of Adjectives .................................................................................................. 7 1.2.3 Formation of compounds in Gurenε ............................................................................... 9 1.3 Statement of the Problems ................................................................................................... 11 1.3.1 Consonant phonemes .................................................................................................... 12 1.3.2 Vowel phonemes ........................................................................................................... 13 1.3.3 Vowel length in Gurenε ................................................................................................. 14 1.3.4 Nasal vowels ................................................................................................................. 14 1.3.5 The syllable structure .................................................................................................... 14 1.3.6 Vowel harmony in Gurenε ............................................................................................ 16 1.3.7 Tone in Gurenε .............................................................................................................. 19 1.4 Research Questions .............................................................................................................. 19 1.5 Objectives of the study ........................................................................................................ 20 1.5.1 Major objective(s) of the study ..................................................................................... 20 1.5.2 Specific objectives of the study .................................................................................... 20 1.6 Significance of the Study ..................................................................................................... 20 1.7 Methodology ........................................................................................................................ 21 1.7.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 21 1.7.2 Research design/Fieldwork ........................................................................................... 22 1.7.3 Consultants .................................................................................................................... 22 vi University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 1.7.4 Area of Study ................................................................................................................ 23 1.7.5 Sources of data .............................................................................................................. 23 1.8 Organization of the work ....................................................................................................