Nuer Phonology: the Role of Syllable Structure
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Date
1993-06
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Addis Ababa Universiy
Abstract
This paper deals with the phonology of Nuer. It attempts to give
~brief description of the phonology and examines t he r ole of the syllable
'lk~
structure in light of ",auto segmental approach.
Chapter one gives some background information about the p.-e-ople and the ~n~ge, the r eview of literature and the theoretical models
employed in the analyses.
Chapter two deals with a brief description of t he phonology, describing
and a nalyzing the consonant and vowel p h onemes in"A'"-l ight of underspecification
theory. The underspecified feature matrices a re given with the r elevant
redundancy rules for both consonants and vowels. The description gives
special attention to the vowel system, because of its interesting but difficult
...-
na ture. There are sixteen vowel phonemes against the twenty consonant
phonemes . T he vowels b elong to two types of voice qualities: plain and
breathy. It is a distinction based on the acou s tic analyses of the two
sets of vowels . Besides, the t onal system is briefly described and three
tone levelS-high, mid and low- are recorded.
Chapter three discusses the morphophonemic processes and the role
t he syllable s tructure plays. From both descriptive and theoretical point s
of view, .• syllable structure is found to be an interesting aspect of
Nuer phonology. It can control most of the morphophone mic processes
of the language and these processes are conditioned both by the principle
of licensing and the syllable t emplate of Nuer.
The fourth and the last chapter gives the summary and conclusion
of the thesis.
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Nuer Phonology: