The Phonology of Verbal Derivation in Bemba Published by LOT phone: +31 30 253 6006 Trans 10 fax: +31 30 253 6000 3512 JK Utrecht e-mail: [email protected] The Netherlands http://wwwlot.let.uu.nl/ Cover illustration: Picture of Bemba initiation pots by Brian Baratt (http://www.nrzam.plus.com) used by kind permission ISBN 90-76864-26-8 NUGI 941 Copyright © 2002 by Nancy Chongo Kula. All rights reserved. The Phonology of Verbal Derivation in Bemba PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van Doctor aan de Universiteit Leiden, op gezag van de Rector Magnificus Prof. Dr. D.D. Breimer hoogleraar in de faculteit der Wiskunde en Natuurwetenschappen en die der Geneeskunde, volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties te verdedigen op 7 november 2002 te klokke 16.15 uur door Nancy Chongo Kula geboren te Ndola, Zambia in 1971 Promotiecommissie promotores: Prof. dr. J. G. Kooij Prof. dr. Th. C. Schadeberg referent: Prof. dr. J. R. Rennison (University of Vienna) overige leden: Dr. L. J. Downing (Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Berlin) Prof. dr. G. Philippson (Institut Nationale des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Paris) Dr. N. S. H. Smith (Universiteit van Amsterdam) Dr. J. M. van de Weijer for Lutz Table of contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................. xi Chapter 1 Introduction ..................................................................................... 13 1.1 Lexical Phonology ...................................................................................... 14 1.2 Prosodic Lexical Phonology ....................................................................... 16 1.3 Optimality Theory ...................................................................................... 18 1.4 Government Phonology .............................................................................. 19 1.5 No bracketing derivation ............................................................................ 20 1.6 Summary .................................................................................................... 22 Chapter 2 Government Phonology and Bemba structure ................................. 23 2.1 Government Phonology .............................................................................. 23 2.1.1 Constituent structure and government ............................................... 24 2.1.2 Melodic structure ............................................................................... 27 2.1.3 Element geometry .............................................................................. 30 2.1.3.1 Radical CV Phonology ........................................................ 30 2.2 Bemba structure .......................................................................................... 32 2.2.1 The Bemba verb ................................................................................ 33 2.2.2 Constituent structure .......................................................................... 35 2.2.2.1 The Empty Category Principle ............................................ 38 2.3 Segmental structure .................................................................................... 42 2.3.1 Licensing Constraints and Process Constraints ................................. 42 2.3.2 Bemba inventory ............................................................................... 47 2.4 Supra-segmental structure .......................................................................... 50 2.4.1 Bemba tonal patterns ......................................................................... 50 2.4.2 Tone in Government Phonology ....................................................... 52 2.5 Vocalic processes ....................................................................................... 54 2.5.1 Vowel fusion and gliding .................................................................. 54 2.6 Summary .................................................................................................... 58 Chapter 3 Prefixation ....................................................................................... 61 3.1 Derivations and interfaces in Government Phonology ............................... 61 3.2 NC clusters as sequences ............................................................................ 62 3.3 Prefixation in Bemba .................................................................................. 66 3.3.1 Homorganicity ................................................................................... 67 3.3.2 Consonant hardening ......................................................................... 68 3.3.3 Epenthetic consonants ....................................................................... 68 3.3.4 Meinhof’s Law .................................................................................. 69 viii CONTENTS 3.3.5 Other processes ................................................................................. 71 3.3.5.1 Post-nasal voicing ............................................................... 71 3.3.5.2 Stop deletion ....................................................................... 71 3.3.5.3 Nasal deletion before a fricative .......................................... 72 3.4 Representation of NC clusters .................................................................... 73 3.4.1 Inter-onset government in Government Phonology .......................... 76 3.4.1.1 C-to-C government .............................................................. 77 3.4.1.2 Infra-segmental government ............................................... 78 3.4.1.3 Strict CV ............................................................................. 80 3.4.2 NC clusters in inter-onset government .............................................. 82 3.4.3 Consonant hardening ......................................................................... 84 3.4.4 Consonant epenthesis ........................................................................ 86 3.4.5 Meinhof’s Law .................................................................................. 89 3.4.5.1 Meinhof’s Law as Licensing saturation .............................. 92 3.4.6 Meinhof’s Law in Bantu .................................................................... 95 3.5 Reduplication ........................................................................................... 100 3.6 Prefixation and phonological domains ..................................................... 103 3.7 Summary .................................................................................................. 105 Chapter 4 Derivational Suffixation ................................................................ 107 4.1 Spirantisation ............................................................................................ 108 4.2 Bemba spirantisation data ........................................................................ 109 4.2.1 Simplex roots ................................................................................... 109 4.2.2 Complex roots ................................................................................. 110 4.3 Previous analyses ..................................................................................... 113 4.3.1 Lexical Phonology approach ........................................................... 113 4.3.2 Benua’s Correspondence theory approach ...................................... 117 4.3.3 Downing’s morphological approach ............................................... 120 4.4 Spirantisation in Government Phonology ................................................ 123 4.4.1 The short causative as an H-licensor ............................................... 124 4.4.2 The short causative as a floating segment ....................................... 126 4.4.3 The short causative in a non-analytic domain ................................. 127 4.5 Predictions for Bantu spirantisation distribution ...................................... 130 4.6 Theoretical implications ........................................................................... 133 4.6.1 Elemental representations ................................................................ 133 4.6.2 Domain structure ............................................................................. 135 4.7 Nyamwezi palatalisation and depalatalisation .......................................... 136 4.7.1 Data survey ...................................................................................... 138 4.7.2 Determining the output in Government Phonology ......................... 140 4.8 Nasal consonant harmony ........................................................................ 146 4.9 Summary .................................................................................................. 149 CONTENTS ix Chapter 5 Inflectional Suffixation ................................................................. 151 5.1 Data survey ............................................................................................... 151 5.1.1 Regular suffixation .......................................................................... 152 5.1.2 Imbrication ...................................................................................... 153 5.1.3 CV- roots ......................................................................................... 155 5.2 Previous proposals for discontinuous affixation ...................................... 158 5.2.1 McCarthy’s Templatic approach: