The morphology and phonology of the nominal domain in Tagbana. Yranahan Traoré

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The morphology and phonology of the nominal domain in Tagbana - Yranahan Traoré Schriften zur Afrikanistik / Research in African Studies

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stops. It is illustrated in (7) that if a word starts with a specific voiced or voiceless stop, there can be no identical word starting with the inverse value for [voice].

      The [±voice] stops are mutually exclusive in the onset position. The same effect is also observed word-medially. Voiceless and voiced stops word-internally cannot create minimal pairs in the same grammatical category. This means that in a structure CV.XV where X is a voiceless stop [p, t, k…] a structure CV.XV cannot be found where X = a voiced stop [b, d, g…] and is in a minimal pair relation with the former structure. Since both voiceless and voiced stops may occur word-initially, no prediction can be made as to which appears in which word.

      In verbs, stop voicing has a grammatical role. When in citation form, verb stop onsets are always voiceless. Their substitution with their voiced counterpart ←48 | 49→triggers a change of aspect, from infinitive to past or progressive. Some examples appear in (8), one of them in a sentence.

      The dorsal stop [g]; can appear between a nasal and an oral vowel in either order; see (9)a–b. It can be found between two oral vowels as in (9)c. The voiced dorsal stop also appears word-initially before any vowel, nasal or oral; see (9)d–e. And it can also occasionally be part of a complex onset (9)f.

      The segment [ŋ] can appear word-initially followed by a liquid [l]; or [r] and also by the velar oral [g]; see (10)a–d. It only appears in a nasal environment; and when it is followed by a vowel, the vowel is always nasal (e–f), except for in cases where the vowels do not have nasal equivalents, that is, the vowels [e] and [o] as in the examples in (10)g–i.

      ←49 | 50→

      Both intervocalic distributions are summarized in Fig. 13, based on (9) and (10). Between the two mid vowels [e]; and [o], both the velar and the nasal velar are found, as shown above. The examples in (10)a–c show that nasality is subject to harmony and that it can spread across a segment.

       Fig. 13: Distribution of g/ŋ

      Tab. 13 sums up the environments of the two segments [g]; and [ŋ].

Environments [g]; [ŋ]
V[+nas] _ V[-nas] + -
V[-nas] _ V[+nas] + -
V[+nas] _ V[+nas] - +
V[-nas] _ V[-nas] + -

      A possible analysis could take the phoneme [g]; as underlying. [g] is replaced by [ŋ] between identical nasal vowels.

      This section gives a comparison of the use of [g]; and [ɣ] in some Gur languages, particularly Mending and Tafiré, as compared with Fròʔò. In Mending, which is widely spoken in Côte dʼ Ivoire, more especially in the Northern part of the country, where Fròʔò is spoken, [g] alternates with the voiced dorsal fricative [ɣ]. The segment [ɣ] is analysed as a lenized pronunciation of the dorsal velar [g] by Herault and Mlanhoro (1973).

      ←50 | 51→

(11) mɔ̀ɣɔ́ ‘human man’
sàɣá ‘sheep’
nòɣó ‘intestine’
tɔ́ɣɔ́ ‘noun, name’

      In Tafiré, another neighbouring dialect close to Fròʔò, the dorsal velar stop [g]; is used instead of the glottal stop [ʔ] as shown in (12). The glottal stop in Fròʔò raises a number of questions. In some languages and more especially in the Fròʔò dialect spoken in Katiola, there is a process of fusing and lengthening of identical vowels which are separated by a glottal stop, as in tīʔī ‘tree’ realized as tīː ‘tree’ in Katiola. In Fròʔò, the two morphemes, lexical root and class marker, are separated by a glottal stop that is the onset of the CM.

      Where Fròʔò uses [Ɂ], Tafiré prefers [g];, Katiola deletes the segment, and Mending prefers [ɣ]. This variation may be the result of free variation.

      Consider next the allophonic relation between the palatal glide [j]; and the palatal nasal [ɲ]. These two sounds are in complementary distribution. In (13), some examples with word-initial and word-medial glides are shown. The glide is realized as [j] before an oral vowel as in the examples in (13) and as [ɲ] when it appears before or after a nasal. This means that the position V[+nas] _ V[-nas] is not possible. Because if after a nasal vowel [j] becomes [ɲ], and if after [ɲ] an oral vowel is nasalized, then there is no way to find [j] or [ɲ] in the environment V[+nas] _ V[-nas] (Tab. 14

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