Segmental and Non-Segmental Phonology of Kūnámá ̄
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Date
2018-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This dissertation presents the descriptions of the segmental and non-segmental phonology
of Kunama, a Nilo-Saharan dialect cluster spoken in Western Eritrea and Northern
Ethiopia. It also provides an annotated multimedia corpus of the names and description of
the Kunama cultural artifacts. The study uses primary data recorded from speakers of the
Kunama Shukre dialect, spoken by an isolated minority group living in Tahtay Addi
Yabo Woreda of Northwestern Zone of the Tigray Regional State, Ethiopia. The data was
collected in three-round fieldworks in a period of two years (2014-15). The study has
applied both impressionistic and instrumental analyses methods.
The segmental phonology part covers the description of consonant and vowel sounds,
phonotactics and syllable structure, phonological and morphophonological process and
phonological adaptation of loanwords. Kunama (Shukre) has 18 consonant phonemes,
whereas, the glottal fricative /h/ consonant, which has previously been proposed as the
19th consonant phoneme of Kunama, is found to be marginal. Two labialized velar
consonants are attested to be the allophonic variants of the basic velar phonemes. The
language has five phonemic vowels with an equal number of longer counterparts. The
schwa and the central high-close vowel have a phonetic status despite that they are
frequent. The analysis of phonotactics and syllable structure shows that the language has
a richer and moderately complex inventory of syllable shapes. The productive and the
most frequent consonant clusters (CC) follow sonorant-obstruent pattern, in which the
prenasalized sequences (Nasal-Obstruent) are the commonest of all. Clusters and
geminates occur only word-medially, so more than one consonant is severely marked,
word-initially while three consonant sequences (CCC) are disallowed. Typologically,
Kunama syllables are specified as light-open, heavy-open, light-closed and heavy-closed
structures. Syllable weight specification is based on the mora count in the rhyme
constituents of a syllable. Kunama light syllables are mono-moraic, i.e. having either a
short vowel or a short vowel with a non-sonorant coda; whereas, the heavy syllables are
bi-moraic having a long vowel, a diphthong, or a short vowel with a sonorant coda. A (C)
V (C) template that makes an obligatory nucleus and optional margins, therefore, represents the Kunama basic syllable structures. While CV syllable is the unmarked
structure, closed syllables (VC and CVC) are constrained word-finally. The
morphophonemic processes comprise of terminal vowel deletion, vowel and glide
epenthesis, glide formation, vowel rounding assimilation, gemination and degemination.
Post-lexical alterations may cause constraint violations and necessitate resyllabification
as such some constraints that operate on non-derived lexical items may not diametrically
encode onto derivations. The analysis of phonological adaptation of loanwords explores
the adjustment of word shapes and the mapping of sound segments of borrowed terms.
Accordingly, consonant final loanwords are adapted with epenthesis of the nominal
vowel suffix [a], and sound segments are adapted via substitution, deletion and retention
strategies. The vowel adaptation is asymmetrical as both phonetically and phonologically
grounded changes have been observed; nonetheless, the consonant adaptation is
phonologically grounded.
The non-segmental phonology part covers the analyses of gemination, vowel length and
tone, in the lexicon and in the grammar. Kunama is a tone language with quantity
contrast of vowel and consonant length. It has three phonemic tone levels (High, Mid and
Low) that combine in nine ways on the surface of bi-moraic syllables and on sequences
of two light syllables. These level combinations are claimed to be the basic melodies of
the language. Complex (polysyllabic) contour melodies that combine simple rises and
falls are attested on polysyllabic words. The study attempts to show the importance of
pitch scaling in Kunama tone production as such it proposes a four-point pitch height
scale in the tonal space of three distinctive level heights. The F0 scaling splits the high
tone into extra-high and high pitches though no evidence shows the prominence of the
former in underlying contrast. Tone plays a grammatical role as well, and it marks
number of the possessor, in a range of possessive constructions, and number of person
object in verbs. It also identifies inclusive vs. exclusive possessor, copula vs. genitive,
and used as an intensifier morpheme on adjectives in attributive function. The salient
tonal processes in Kunama are triggered by morpheme boundary phenomena. These
include spreading and floating of tones, re-linking of floating tones, high tone shifting
and docking, contour formation, tone assimilation and a low tone terrace.
Description
Keywords
phonology, Nilo-Saharan dialect cluster spoken, Western Eritrea, and Northern Ethiopia.