scholarly journals Positional prominence and the ‘prosodic trough’ in Yaka

Phonology ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry M. Hyman
Keyword(s):  
General Analysis ◽  
Vowel Harmony ◽  
General Nature ◽  
Comprehensive Treatment ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
Partial Analysis ◽  
Vowel Height

The issue of vowel height harmony – relatively rare in the world's languages – is one that most serious theories of phonology have addressed at one time or another, particularly as concerns its realisation in Bantu (e.g. Clements 1991, Archangeli & Pulleyblank 1994, Beckman 1997). As is quite well known, the majority of an estimated 500 Bantu languages exhibit some variant of a progressive harmony process by which vowels lower when preceded by an appropriate (lower) trigger. (Ki)-Yaka, a Western Bantu language spoken in ex-Zaire, designated as H.31 by Guthrie (1967–71), has a height harmony system which has been analysed as having a similar left-to-right lowering process. In this paper I argue against the general analysis given for Yaka, showing that this language differs in a major way from the rest of Bantu. The goals of the paper are threefold. First, I present a comprehensive treatment of the unusual vowel harmony system in (ki-)Yaka. Second, I introduce the notion of the ‘prosodic trough’ (τ), a domain which is needed in order to state important phonological generalisations in Yaka and in Bantu in general. Finally, I show the relevance of the Yaka facts for the study of positional prominence in phonology. A (partial) analysis is offered within optimality- theoretic terms, particularly as developed by McCarthy & Prince (1995). Although superficially resembling the vowel height harmony found in most Bantu languages, the Yaka system will be shown to differ from these latter in major ways. The paper is organised as follows. In §2 I establish the general nature of the Yaka harmony system, reanalysing previous accounts in terms of ‘plateauing’. In §3 I turn to the process of ‘imbrication’, which introduces a second motivation for vowel harmony: the avoidance of the sequence [wi]. A third source of vowel harmony is presented in §4, which also introduces the notion of the ‘prosodic trough’. The study ends with a brief conclusion in §5 and an appendix that discusses outstanding problems.

Segmental Phonology: Vowels

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura J. Downing ◽  
Al Mtenje
Keyword(s):  
Vowel Harmony ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Segmental Phonology ◽  
Vowel Phoneme ◽  
Vowel Height

This chapter begins with a discussion of the Chichewa vowel phoneme inventory and its relation to the Proto-Bantu vowel inventory. The distribution of vowels in different morphological and phonological positions in the word is taken up next. The remainder of the chapter is devoted to a discussion of Bantu vowel height harmony (VHH), a process that conditions the possible vowel combinations in stems in Chichewa as in many Bantu languages. Data from a range of morphological and phonological contexts is provided to show that vowel harmony patterns in Chichewa fit Hyman’s (1999b) characterization of “canonical” Bantu VHH. Accounting for vowel harmony—and in particular Bantu VHH—has played an important role in the development of phonological theories of the representation and assimilation of vocalic properties from the 1980s to the present (Hyman 2003d). For this reason, the chapter takes up three different theoretical approaches to Bantu VHH in some detail.

Unaltered morphemes as phonological triggers and targets in Rutooro

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-22
Author(s):  
Lee S. Bickmore
Keyword(s):  
Vowel Harmony ◽  
Structural Description ◽  
Front Vowel ◽  
Phonological Process ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
Small Set ◽  
Western Uganda

Abstract Rutooro, a Bantu language spoken in western Uganda, exhibits two processes common to Bantu languages: Mid Vowel Harmony (MVH), by which a high vowel is lowered to mid if it follows a mid root vowel, and Consonant Mutation (CM), by which a high front vowel of certain morphemes trigger a change in the immediately preceding consonant. In forms where both rules could potentially apply, CM applies, but MVH does not, even though its structural description is met. Ultimately, it is shown that MVH is blocked when an alveolar fricative intervenes between the trigger and the target. The most anomalous forms are those that contain the short causative /-i/ and the Perfective suffix /-ir/. In some forms CM would be expected to apply, but does not, and in other forms MVH is expected to be blocked, but is not. The key to the analysis lies in the fact that CM is not a purely phonological process, but rather is only triggered by a small set of specific morphemes. The surface anomalies in the perfect forms can all be accounted for if one formalizes the relevant processes as only being triggered (or blocked) by unaltered [-ir].

scholarly journals Germanising Oshiwambo language

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-40
Author(s):  
Johannes Uushona ◽  
Petrus Mbenzi
Keyword(s):  
Daily Life ◽  
Higher Learning ◽  
Linguistic Study ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Languages In Contact ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Learning ◽  
Phonological Rules

Oshiwambo, a Bantu language spoken in Northern Namibia and Southern Angola, like other languages in contact, has adopted foreign words from other languages to meet the needs of its daily life vocabularies and activities. This paper identified and described the phonological changes which the loanwords from German go through to fit into Oshiwambo speech system and established the phonological rules that account for these changes. The paper is based on the hypothesis that words borrowed from other languages, especially European languages, into Oshiwambo, are phonologically modified to fit the Oshiwambo speech system because little information is available on the phonological wambonisation of German words. The data were collected from school textbooks, daily conversations and personal vocabularies of the researcher. The loanwords were transcribed for phonological analysis. The paper investigated how Oshiwambo borrowed words from German yet the two languages differ widely in terms of phonemic inventories and phonotactics. It has become evident that there are several vowel and consonant changes in the process of borrowing. The paper contributes to the linguistic study in the area of Oshiwambo in particular and Bantu languages in general. The knowledge acquired could be utilized by the institutions of higher learning too.

scholarly journals On the aspectual system of Wushi (Babessi), a Ring Grassfields Bantu language of Cameroon

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-65
Author(s):  
Liliane Hodieb
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Time ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Grassfields Bantu ◽  
Past Tenses

One of the characteristics of Bantu languages, including Grassfields Bantu languages, is their multiple time distinctions. Within the Ring Grassfields group, multiple tenses are also well attested. For example, Aghem has three past and two future tenses (Anderson 1979), Babanki has four past tenses and three future tenses (Akumbu & Fogwe 2012), as well as Lamnso’ (Yuka 2012). Oku has three past tenses and two future tenses (Nforbi 1993) and Babungo has four past and two future tenses (Schaub 1985). These tenses represent different degrees of remoteness in time such as hordienal, immediate, distant, etc. However, in spite of the indisputable lexical unity of Ring Grassfields Bantu languages (Stallcup 1980; Piron 1997), Wushi strikingly stands apart: it does not mark tense morphologically. As a matter of fact, the aspectual system of Wushi is based on five aspects: perfective, imperfective, retrospective or anterior, potential, and the distal or dissociative marker kə̀ that is analyzed in the light of Botne & Kershner (2008). This paper sets out to analyze these verb forms.

scholarly journals Questions in Bantu languages: prosodies and positions

2011 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 182
Author(s):  
Laura J. Downing
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Student ◽  
Project Leader ◽  
Research Teams ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
Formal Syntax ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Cooperative Project

The papers in this volume were originally presented at the Workshop on Bantu Wh-questions, held at the Institut des Sciences de l’Homme, Université Lyon 2, on 25-26 March 2011, which was organized by the French-German cooperative project on the Phonology/Syntax Interface in Bantu Languages (BANTU PSYN). This project, which is funded by the ANR and the DFG, comprises three research teams, based in Berlin, Paris and Lyon. The Berlin team, at the ZAS, is: Laura Downing (project leader) and Kristina Riedel (post-doc). The Paris team, at the Laboratoire de phonétique et phonologie (LPP; UMR 7018), is: Annie Rialland (project leader), Cédric Patin (Maître de Conférences, STL, Université Lille 3), Jean-Marc Beltzung (post-doc), Martial Embanga Aborobongui (doctoral student), Fatima Hamlaoui (post-doc). The Lyon team, at the Dynamique du Langage (UMR 5596) is: Gérard Philippson (project leader) and Sophie Manus (Maître de Conférences, Université Lyon 2). These three research teams bring together the range of theoretical expertise necessary to investigate the phonology-syntax interface: intonation (Patin, Rialland), tonal phonology (Aborobongui, Downing, Manus, Patin, Philippson, Rialland), phonology-syntax interface (Downing, Patin) and formal syntax (Riedel, Hamlaoui). They also bring together a range of Bantu language expertise: Western Bantu (Aboronbongui, Rialland), Eastern Bantu (Manus, Patin, Philippson, Riedel), and Southern Bantu (Downing).  

scholarly journals The grammaticalization of -kotok- into a negative marker in Manda (Bantu N.11)

Linguistics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 653-679
Author(s):  
Rasmus Bernander
Keyword(s):  
Field Data ◽  
Historical Linguistics ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
Lexical Meaning ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Ongoing Process ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
Functional Features ◽  
Negative Marker ◽  
Finite Verb

AbstractIt is common both crosslinguistically and specifically in Bantu languages for the prohibitive to be formed by a construction consisting of a cessative verb in collocation with a non-finite verb. This is also the case in Manda, an understudied Southern Tanzanian Bantu language. In Manda, a negative imperative is expressed by the auxiliary -kotok-, with the (lexical) meaning ‘leave (off), stop’, operating on an infinitive full verb. Intriguingly, there is variation in this construction, as -kotok- may be both formally reduced and may be used more broadly to denote non-factivity in other “non-main” (or non-standard) contexts. The aim of this study is to demonstrate that this functional and formal variation reflects a historical and ongoing process of grammaticalization along the verb-to-affix cline. Drawing on field data, the available historical data and (micro-)comparative data, this study argues that -kotok- is transforming into a more general non-main negation marker. These changes corroborate Güldemann’s hypothesis (Güldemann, Tom. 1999. The genesis of verbal negation in Bantu and its dependency on functional features of clause types. In Jean-Marie Hombert & Larry Hyman (eds.), Bantu historical linguistics, 545–587. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications) that the salient category of non-standard secondary negative markers in Bantu is derived from constructions with an auxiliary and a non-finite verb.

A nonlinear analysis of vowel harmony in Luganda

1984 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Katamba
Keyword(s):  
Nonlinear Analysis ◽  
Linear Theory ◽  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Vowel Harmony ◽  
Verb Phrase ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
Non Linear

In some languages, vowels occurring in some specified domain, which is usually the word, must share some phonetic property or properties. Such languages are said to have vowel harmony.Luganda, a Bantu language of Uganda, is unusual in having a vowel harmony system which is entirely morphologically conditioned. There is one subsystem which operates in the noun phrase and another irregular subsystem which operates in the verb phrase. The aim of this paper is to show how the non-linear theory of phonology developed by writers like Clements (1980, 1982) can throw some light on this apparently irregularity-ridden system.

Vowel height harmony and blocking in Buchan Scots

Phonology ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Paster
Keyword(s):  
Vowel Harmony ◽  
Sound Pattern ◽  
North East ◽  
Vowel Height

The Buchan Scots dialect of north-east Scotland exhibits a unique phonological phenomenon: vowel harmony is blocked by intervening consonants that have no secondary articulation or other obvious characteristic that should make them opaque to harmony. In this paper, I describe the harmony and blocking pattern based on new data from speakers of the modern dialect. After establishing this as a phonological rather than phonetic effect, I propose a synchronic analysis of the pattern and a phonetic explanation for the origin of this unusual sound pattern.

scholarly journals Derivational processes in Rangi

2002 ◽  
pp. 129-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Stegen
Keyword(s):  
Root Activity ◽  
Main Body ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
Related Language ◽  
Noun Class ◽  
Vowel Height

The main object of research described in this paper is Rangi, a scarcely investigated Bantu language of Northern Central Tanzania. Rangi phonology and morphonology are briefly sketched, including a classification with regard to both Vowel Height Harmony and Advanced Tongue Root activity. The main body of the paper consists of a detailed description of Rangi derivational processes, which follows the pattern established in Maganga and Schadeberg's description of Nyamwezi, a closely related language. Both verbal derivation, which exclusively uses the extensional slot of the verb structure, and nominal derivation, which employs noun class prefixes and a few suffixes, are covered.

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