As part of a linguistic research team I recorded a Khoisan language currently spoken by three people in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. Since the variety of language spoken in this location is close to varieties of both the Khoekhoe and Tuu language families, the question of genetic affiliation and classification within the Khoisan language cluster becomes significant. Although reported to have significant lexical similarities due to intensive language contact (Güldemann 2006), extensive research provides evidence of numerous linguistic differences which distinguish between the varieties within the Khoisan families mentioned above (Beach 1938, Bleek 1930, Ladefoged & Traill 1994, Miller, Brugman, Sands, Namaseb, Exter & Collins 2007). Overall, this project attempts to answer the question: How unique is this undocumented language TumɁi in comparison to varieties of geographically neighbouring Khoisan language clusters? This comparative analysis is comprised of a detailed description of the vowel and consonant systems, as well as evidence of phonetic and phonological contrasts. The clear focus on the analysis of sound contrasts is a consequence of limited data due to speaker competence. As a result of intense incomplete acquisition and linguistic attrition, the consultants produce utterances using Khoisan content words within an Afrikaans framework (Killian 2009). Specific research questions include: What is the sound inventory of this language? Are there phonation or glottalization contrasts in vowels? Are there laryngeal contrasts in consonants? What kinds of clicks make up the inventory? This project is a direct effort toward the revitalization and documentation of indigenous languages. Determining the genetic affiliations of this language which is positioned relatively equidistant to the surrounding languages, would also contribute to gaps within the linguistic isoglosses in South Africa.
{"title":"The Phonological System of TumɁi","authors":"Kelly Kilian","doi":"10.5842/64-1-926","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5842/64-1-926","url":null,"abstract":"As part of a linguistic research team I recorded a Khoisan language currently spoken by three people in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. Since the variety of language spoken in this location is close to varieties of both the Khoekhoe and Tuu language families, the question of genetic affiliation and classification within the Khoisan language cluster becomes significant. Although reported to have significant lexical similarities due to intensive language contact (Güldemann 2006), extensive research provides evidence of numerous linguistic differences which distinguish between the varieties within the Khoisan families mentioned above (Beach 1938, Bleek 1930, Ladefoged & Traill 1994, Miller, Brugman, Sands, Namaseb, Exter & Collins 2007). Overall, this project attempts to answer the question: How unique is this undocumented language TumɁi in comparison to varieties of geographically neighbouring Khoisan language clusters? This comparative analysis is comprised of a detailed description of the vowel and consonant systems, as well as evidence of phonetic and phonological contrasts. The clear focus on the analysis of sound contrasts is a consequence of limited data due to speaker competence. As a result of intense incomplete acquisition and linguistic attrition, the consultants produce utterances using Khoisan content words within an Afrikaans framework (Killian 2009). Specific research questions include: What is the sound inventory of this language? Are there phonation or glottalization contrasts in vowels? Are there laryngeal contrasts in consonants? What kinds of clicks make up the inventory? This project is a direct effort toward the revitalization and documentation of indigenous languages. Determining the genetic affiliations of this language which is positioned relatively equidistant to the surrounding languages, would also contribute to gaps within the linguistic isoglosses in South Africa.","PeriodicalId":42187,"journal":{"name":"Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus-SPiL Plus","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70971763","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article represents follow-up work on unpublished presentations by the authors of text and corpus cleaning strategies for the African languages. In this article we provide a comparative description of cleaning of web-sourced and text-sourced material to be used for the compilation of corpora with specific attention to cleaning of text-based material, since this is particularly relevant for the indigenous South African languages. For the purposes of this study, we use the term “web-sourced material” to refer to digital data sourced from the internet, whereas “text-based material” refers to hard copy textual material. We identify the different types of errors found in such texts, looking specifically at typical scanning errors in these languages, followed by an evaluation of three commercially available Optical Character Recognition (OCR) tools. We argue that the cleanness of texts is a matter of granularity, depending on the envisaged application of the corpus comprised by the texts. Text corpora which are to be utilized for e.g. lexicographic purposes can tolerate a higher level of ‘noise’ than those used for the compilation of e.g. spelling and grammar checkers. We conclude with some suggestions for text cleaning for the indigenous languages of South Africa.
{"title":"Optical Character Recognition and text cleaning in the indigenous South African languages","authors":"D. Prinsloo, Elsabé Taljard, Michelle Goosen","doi":"10.5842/64-1-867","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5842/64-1-867","url":null,"abstract":"This article represents follow-up work on unpublished presentations by the authors of text and corpus cleaning strategies for the African languages. In this article we provide a comparative description of cleaning of web-sourced and text-sourced material to be used for the compilation of corpora with specific attention to cleaning of text-based material, since this is particularly relevant for the indigenous South African languages. For the purposes of this study, we use the term “web-sourced material” to refer to digital data sourced from the internet, whereas “text-based material” refers to hard copy textual material. We identify the different types of errors found in such texts, looking specifically at typical scanning errors in these languages, followed by an evaluation of three commercially available Optical Character Recognition (OCR) tools. We argue that the cleanness of texts is a matter of granularity, depending on the envisaged application of the corpus comprised by the texts. Text corpora which are to be utilized for e.g. lexicographic purposes can tolerate a higher level of ‘noise’ than those used for the compilation of e.g. spelling and grammar checkers. We conclude with some suggestions for text cleaning for the indigenous languages of South Africa.","PeriodicalId":42187,"journal":{"name":"Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus-SPiL Plus","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70971663","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this paper I describe the surprisingly extensive range of choices Runyankore speakers have in “devaluative-frequentative” verb stem reduplication (“to sort of do X, to do X here and there, to do X a lot”). Analyzed as stem-compounding, both single (stem1-stem2) and multiple (stem1-stem2-stem3...) reduplication are possible of a stem such as furumuka “dash out” (furumuka-furumuka(-furumuka...)), with the possibility of left-aligned truncation (furu-furumuka, furumu-furumuka), right-aligned truncation (furumuka-muka, furumuka-rumuka) and both (furu-furumuka-muka). In addition, prefinal stems can alternatively end in “replacive [a]” (fura-furumuka, furuma-furumuka). Complementing these variants is a “mixed” system where both stems are truncated (furumu-rumuka), to which additional reduplicated stems can also be added (furu-furumu-rumuka-muka). While each reduplicated stem is free to choose its shape independently of the others (e.g. furu-furuma-furumuka, furuma-furu-furumuka etc.), the same three possible H(igh) stem-tone patterns are observed in different inflections, predictable from the input tones: /H/ on the first stem, /H/ on the last stem, /H/ on the second mora of any stem (au choix). I show that these facts require each stem to be independently derived from the same (complete) morphological and phonological input with tone assigned prior to truncation, thereby directly supporting both reduplication as compounding (Downing 2003) and morphological doubling theory (MDT) (Inkelas & Zoll 2005).
{"title":"Tone in Runyankore Verb Stem Reduplication","authors":"Larry M. Hyman","doi":"10.5842/62-2-901","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5842/62-2-901","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper I describe the surprisingly extensive range of choices Runyankore speakers have in “devaluative-frequentative” verb stem reduplication (“to sort of do X, to do X here and there, to do X a lot”). Analyzed as stem-compounding, both single (stem1-stem2) and multiple (stem1-stem2-stem3...) reduplication are possible of a stem such as furumuka “dash out” (furumuka-furumuka(-furumuka...)), with the possibility of left-aligned truncation (furu-furumuka, furumu-furumuka), right-aligned truncation (furumuka-muka, furumuka-rumuka) and both (furu-furumuka-muka). In addition, prefinal stems can alternatively end in “replacive [a]” (fura-furumuka, furuma-furumuka). Complementing these variants is a “mixed” system where both stems are truncated (furumu-rumuka), to which additional reduplicated stems can also be added (furu-furumu-rumuka-muka). While each reduplicated stem is free to choose its shape independently of the others (e.g. furu-furuma-furumuka, furuma-furu-furumuka etc.), the same three possible H(igh) stem-tone patterns are observed in different inflections, predictable from the input tones: /H/ on the first stem, /H/ on the last stem, /H/ on the second mora of any stem (au choix). I show that these facts require each stem to be independently derived from the same (complete) morphological and phonological input with tone assigned prior to truncation, thereby directly supporting both reduplication as compounding (Downing 2003) and morphological doubling theory (MDT) (Inkelas & Zoll 2005).","PeriodicalId":42187,"journal":{"name":"Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus-SPiL Plus","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70971540","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This brief paper aims to draw attention to the widespread and ongoing phenomenon of lexical borrowing from Khoekhoe-branch languages into regional Afrikaans. A case study of one Afrikaans plant name loaned from Khoekhoe-branch languages, karee (Searsia lancea, Searsia spp.), is used to demonstrate how post-shift phonological attrition can lead to lexical conflation, and hence to semantic extension. This paper strongly recommends that public-facing scientific organisations take greater care when providing linguistic information to lay communities, and also motivates increased study of the behaviour of click consonants in a post-shift context in order to develop a clearer understanding of Khoekhoe-branch language history.Keywords: Language history, loanwords, phonological attrition, semantic reanalysis, Khoekhoe, Afrikaans
{"title":"Khoekhoe Lexical Borrowing in Regionalised Afrikaans","authors":"Camilla Rose Christie","doi":"10.5842/64-1-889","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5842/64-1-889","url":null,"abstract":"This brief paper aims to draw attention to the widespread and ongoing phenomenon of lexical borrowing from Khoekhoe-branch languages into regional Afrikaans. A case study of one Afrikaans plant name loaned from Khoekhoe-branch languages, karee (Searsia lancea, Searsia spp.), is used to demonstrate how post-shift phonological attrition can lead to lexical conflation, and hence to semantic extension. This paper strongly recommends that public-facing scientific organisations take greater care when providing linguistic information to lay communities, and also motivates increased study of the behaviour of click consonants in a post-shift context in order to develop a clearer understanding of Khoekhoe-branch language history.Keywords: Language history, loanwords, phonological attrition, semantic reanalysis, Khoekhoe, Afrikaans","PeriodicalId":42187,"journal":{"name":"Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus-SPiL Plus","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70971673","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article investigates how writers to The Times, formerly a daily national newspaper, used APPRAISAL strategies in letters to the editor to form the bonds that unified an imagined community of readership. The couplings of interpersonal and ideational meaning around which the community affiliated are revealed by an APPRAISAL analysis. Conclusions drawn from this information indicate the nature of the imagined community in terms of how the members viewed their agency, and the cohesion of the group. Main findings show that the community affiliated around evaluations of South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), and its leader at the time, Jacob Zuma, but did so very differently. The Times’ writers also tended to be individualistic and did not rely on other community members to solve the problems they identified.
{"title":"A sign of The Times: an APPRAISAL analysis of the imagined community’s bonding in letters to a South African newspaper","authors":"Jade Smith, Ralph Adendorff","doi":"10.5842/64-1-928","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5842/64-1-928","url":null,"abstract":"This article investigates how writers to The Times, formerly a daily national newspaper, used APPRAISAL strategies in letters to the editor to form the bonds that unified an imagined community of readership. The couplings of interpersonal and ideational meaning around which the community affiliated are revealed by an APPRAISAL analysis. Conclusions drawn from this information indicate the nature of the imagined community in terms of how the members viewed their agency, and the cohesion of the group. Main findings show that the community affiliated around evaluations of South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), and its leader at the time, Jacob Zuma, but did so very differently. The Times’ writers also tended to be individualistic and did not rely on other community members to solve the problems they identified.","PeriodicalId":42187,"journal":{"name":"Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus-SPiL Plus","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70971829","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Emihavani is a Bantu language spoken in southeastern Malawi. It is a dialect of Emakhuwa, a language whose origins lie in Nampula Province in northern Mozambique, but whose speakers have migrated into both southern Tanzania and southeastern Malawi. It is important to note that all of the regions where Emakhuwa dialectsare spoken are economically under-developed, and a consequence of this is that the language, despite being spokenby several million people, is one of the poorer documented major Bantu languages (cf. Guérois 2015, Katupha 1983,1991, Kisseberth 2003, Kisseberth & Guérois 2014, Stucky 1985, Van der Wal 2009).The present paper starts to remedy this situation for Emihavani by providing an account of the most complicated aspect of the Emihavani tonal system: the “melodic High tone” patterns that operate in the verbal system. In order to document these tone patterns, we will necessarily have to provide a brief discussion of several aspects of Emihavani phonology and morphology. We should emphasize that all of the material in this paper derives from our intensive research on Emihavani that began in 2017. All of the data reflects the speech of Alfred Lihelu, a native speaker who has been part of all the significant research on Emihavani in the past few years (e.g. the translation and recording of the New Testament in 2014 by the Bible Society of Malawi). Although our focus is definitely on Emihavani, we also seek to place Emihavani in its proper Emakhuwa context. All references to other Emakhuwa dialects derive from the first-named author’s research over more than four decades.
Emihavani是马拉维东南部使用的班图语。它是Emakhuwa的一种方言，这种语言起源于莫桑比克北部的楠普拉省，但说这种语言的人已经迁移到坦桑尼亚南部和马拉维东南部。值得注意的是，所有使用Emakhuwa方言的地区都是经济不发达的地区，其结果是，尽管有数百万人使用这种语言，但它是有记录的较差的主要班图语言之一(参见gusamuis 2015, Katupha 1983,1991, Kisseberth 2003, Kisseberth & gusamuis 2014, Stucky 1985, Van der Wal 2009)。本文通过提供Emihavani音调系统中最复杂的方面:在言语系统中运作的“旋律高音”模式，开始为Emihavani纠正这种情况。为了记录这些音调模式，我们必须对Emihavani语音和形态学的几个方面进行简短的讨论。我们应该强调，本文中的所有材料都来自于我们从2017年开始对Emihavani的深入研究。所有的数据都反映了Alfred Lihelu的演讲，他是一名母语人士，在过去的几年里，他参与了所有关于Emihavani的重要研究(例如，马拉维圣经协会在2014年翻译和记录了新约)。虽然我们的重点绝对是Emihavani，但我们也寻求将Emihavani置于适当的Emakhuwa环境中。所有关于其他埃马库瓦方言的参考资料都来自于第一位作者在四十多年里的研究。
{"title":"Melodic High Tones in Emihavani","authors":"Charles W. Kisseberth, A. Mtenje","doi":"10.5842/62-2-893","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5842/62-2-893","url":null,"abstract":"Emihavani is a Bantu language spoken in southeastern Malawi. It is a dialect of Emakhuwa, a language whose origins lie in Nampula Province in northern Mozambique, but whose speakers have migrated into both southern Tanzania and southeastern Malawi. It is important to note that all of the regions where Emakhuwa dialectsare spoken are economically under-developed, and a consequence of this is that the language, despite being spokenby several million people, is one of the poorer documented major Bantu languages (cf. Guérois 2015, Katupha 1983,1991, Kisseberth 2003, Kisseberth & Guérois 2014, Stucky 1985, Van der Wal 2009).The present paper starts to remedy this situation for Emihavani by providing an account of the most complicated aspect of the Emihavani tonal system: the “melodic High tone” patterns that operate in the verbal system. In order to document these tone patterns, we will necessarily have to provide a brief discussion of several aspects of Emihavani phonology and morphology. We should emphasize that all of the material in this paper derives from our intensive research on Emihavani that began in 2017. All of the data reflects the speech of Alfred Lihelu, a native speaker who has been part of all the significant research on Emihavani in the past few years (e.g. the translation and recording of the New Testament in 2014 by the Bible Society of Malawi). Although our focus is definitely on Emihavani, we also seek to place Emihavani in its proper Emakhuwa context. All references to other Emakhuwa dialects derive from the first-named author’s research over more than four decades.","PeriodicalId":42187,"journal":{"name":"Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus-SPiL Plus","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70971960","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The current dimensions in the typology of tone are not insightful for understanding the properties of tone in Cushitic languages. Some Cushitic languages are characterised as “pitch-accent” and these cannot be considered stress languages because the criterion of obligatoriness of every word having a stressed unit is not valid for them. In Hyman’s (2006) typology these languages are (restricted) tone languages. Pitch as prominence marker does show stress-like tendencies of culminativity and demarcation in these languages which is why a label pitch-accent has been suggested. The tone properties are better explained by another dimension, namely the fact that the distinctive function of tone hardly plays a role at the lexical level but does play a role at the grammatical level
{"title":"The Typology of Tone and Cushitic","authors":"M. Mous","doi":"10.5842/62-0-898","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5842/62-0-898","url":null,"abstract":"The current dimensions in the typology of tone are not insightful for understanding the properties of tone in Cushitic languages. Some Cushitic languages are characterised as “pitch-accent” and these cannot be considered stress languages because the criterion of obligatoriness of every word having a stressed unit is not valid for them. In Hyman’s (2006) typology these languages are (restricted) tone languages. Pitch as prominence marker does show stress-like tendencies of culminativity and demarcation in these languages which is why a label pitch-accent has been suggested. The tone properties are better explained by another dimension, namely the fact that the distinctive function of tone hardly plays a role at the lexical level but does play a role at the grammatical level","PeriodicalId":42187,"journal":{"name":"Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus-SPiL Plus","volume":"86 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76105712","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Basaa, a Narrow Bantu language, A 43, spoken in Cameroon in Central Africa holds a serious record of descriptive works in phonology, morphology, and syntax. Verb morphology has been studied in detail by Bitja’a Kody (2000), Dimmendaal (1988), Hyman (2003) among others. The present paper focusing on verb derivation raises two main issues: the paradigm of expansions that are recurrent in the language on the one hand, and extensions for which suggest the existence of additional suffixes to what is already reported on the other hand. Further extensions are the perfective, the associative, and the tentative. This paper ends up with an attempt to reconstruct Basaa extensions, mirroring the Proto-Bantu propositions from Schadeberg (2003).
Basaa是一种狭窄的班图语，公元43年，在中非喀麦隆使用，在音韵学、形态学和句法方面都有大量的描述作品。Bitja 'a Kody(2000)、Dimmendaal(1988)、Hyman(2003)等人对动词形态进行了详细的研究。本论文聚焦于动词衍生，提出了两个主要问题:一方面，语言中反复出现的扩展范式，另一方面，扩展表明存在其他已报道的后缀。进一步的扩展词是完成词、联想词和试探性词。本文最后尝试重构Basaa扩展，反映了Schadeberg(2003)的Proto-Bantu命题。
{"title":"Revisiting Basaa verbal derivation","authors":"Emmanuel-Moselly Makasso","doi":"10.5842/62-0-892","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5842/62-0-892","url":null,"abstract":"Basaa, a Narrow Bantu language, A 43, spoken in Cameroon in Central Africa holds a serious record of descriptive works in phonology, morphology, and syntax. Verb morphology has been studied in detail by Bitja’a Kody (2000), Dimmendaal (1988), Hyman (2003) among others. The present paper focusing on verb derivation raises two main issues: the paradigm of expansions that are recurrent in the language on the one hand, and extensions for which suggest the existence of additional suffixes to what is already reported on the other hand. Further extensions are the perfective, the associative, and the tentative. This paper ends up with an attempt to reconstruct Basaa extensions, mirroring the Proto-Bantu propositions from Schadeberg (2003).","PeriodicalId":42187,"journal":{"name":"Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus-SPiL Plus","volume":"81 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83879493","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this paper, we are interested in whether systematic variations in pitch, intensity and duration can be observed as a function of the focused or discourse-given status of a constituent in Kinyarwanda (Bantu JD61), and a relatively recent variety of “New English” in contact with this Bantu language. Kinyarwanda is a tone language, in which the information-structural notion of focus has been reported to be expressed through changes in word order, with focus appearing clause-finally (Kimyeni 1988, Ndayiragije 1999, Ngoboka 2016). In contrast, Standard English is well-known for the prosodic boost associated with narrowly focused words and the prosodic reduction of post-focal items. Cross-linguistically, the prosodic expression of focus and givenness is progressively becoming considered a marked feature. Zerbian (2015) predicts that it should not be found in a second language (L2), or a contact variety, if it is not already present in the first language of a speaker or a group of speakers. Our study finds no evidence that information focus, exhaustive focus or givenness systematically affect the prosody of Kinyarwanda. We also find no systematic effect of information structure in the variety of English spoken by our Rwandan participants, confirming that this is probably an area of English that is difficult to acquire.
{"title":"Are focus and givenness prosodically marked in Kinyarwanda and Rwandan English?","authors":"F. Hamlaoui, K. Szendrői, Jonas Engelmann","doi":"10.5842/62-0-896","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5842/62-0-896","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, we are interested in whether systematic variations in pitch, intensity and duration can be observed as a function of the focused or discourse-given status of a constituent in Kinyarwanda (Bantu JD61), and a relatively recent variety of “New English” in contact with this Bantu language. Kinyarwanda is a tone language, in which the information-structural notion of focus has been reported to be expressed through changes in word order, with focus appearing clause-finally (Kimyeni 1988, Ndayiragije 1999, Ngoboka 2016). In contrast, Standard English is well-known for the prosodic boost associated with narrowly focused words and the prosodic reduction of post-focal items. Cross-linguistically, the prosodic expression of focus and givenness is progressively becoming considered a marked feature. Zerbian (2015) predicts that it should not be found in a second language (L2), or a contact variety, if it is not already present in the first language of a speaker or a group of speakers. Our study finds no evidence that information focus, exhaustive focus or givenness systematically affect the prosody of Kinyarwanda. We also find no systematic effect of information structure in the variety of English spoken by our Rwandan participants, confirming that this is probably an area of English that is difficult to acquire.","PeriodicalId":42187,"journal":{"name":"Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus-SPiL Plus","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82285384","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
When the morphology of a language creates instances of successive vowels, these cases of vowel hiatus are often resolved or repaired. This paper presents a wide variety of instances where vowel hiatus is created within verbs in Rutooro, a Ugandan Bantu language. It is shown that five different strategies are employed to resolve vowel hiatus: deletion, gliding, diphthongisation, epenthesis, and lexical allomorphy. While some of these processes are largely phonological, there are a number of morphological factors which also play a role in determining which of the various strategies are employed. All of these are explored and discussed.
{"title":"Phonological and Morphological Influences on Vowel Hiatus Resolution in Rutooro","authors":"Lee S. Bickmore","doi":"10.5842/62-0-900","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5842/62-0-900","url":null,"abstract":"When the morphology of a language creates instances of successive vowels, these cases of vowel hiatus are often resolved or repaired. This paper presents a wide variety of instances where vowel hiatus is created within verbs in Rutooro, a Ugandan Bantu language. It is shown that five different strategies are employed to resolve vowel hiatus: deletion, gliding, diphthongisation, epenthesis, and lexical allomorphy. While some of these processes are largely phonological, there are a number of morphological factors which also play a role in determining which of the various strategies are employed. All of these are explored and discussed.","PeriodicalId":42187,"journal":{"name":"Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus-SPiL Plus","volume":"72 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87989738","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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