Proefschrift--Leyden. / "Stellingen": p. [100]-113.

Proefschrift--Leyden. / "Stellingen": p. [100]-113.

Thesis (PhD) - Radboud University Nijmegen, 2005. / Available in print and online.

Le présent volume propose, en quatre articles, l’analyse de quelques aspects du yowlè, langue mandé-sud parlée au centre-ouest de la Côte d’Ivoire. 'La nasalité en yowlè', 'Le quantitatif et le qualitatif dans quelques opérations de détermination nominale en yowlè', 'Le ton haut comme opérateur de rupture énonciative en yowlè', 'Quelques aspects de la diathèse passive en yowlè'

Zugl.: Frankfurt (Main), Univ., Diss.

Cette thèse fournit une description du kakabé, une langue mandée parlée en Guinée, basée sur un corpus et avec un focus sur le système phonologique. Elle contient une brève esquisse grammaticale et deux parties qui portent sur l'analyse phonologique : la phonologie segmentale et la phonologie suprasegmentale. Les processus concernant les segments phonologiques peuvent être conditionnés par des contraintes métriques, par l'interdiction du hiatus, par le découpage de l’énoncé en phrases prosodiques et par le contexte morphologique. Le kakabé applique diverses stratégies d'adaptation des emprunts (principalement, du poular et du français), telles que l'épenthèse vocalique, la simplification d’agglomérations consonantiques. Le kakabé est une langue à ton (H vs. L), avec downdrift, relèvement du ton H, un ton flottant L, et un certain nombre de processus tonals, tels que l'insertion du ton H, la propagation du ton,l'aplatissement du contour HLH. En conséquence, la distance entre les tons lexicaux sous‐jacents et leur réalisation de surface peut être assez importante. Chacun des processus tonals est appliqué dans une unité prosodique particulière.Par conséquent, les processus tonals participent au découpage du discours en unités prosodiques. Le kakabé comporte des tons de frontière qui servent à signaler la force illocutoire de l'énoncé. Les tons lexicaux et les tons de frontièrecoexistent avec des opérations intonatives sur la courbe F0. Les appendices comprennent un dictionnaire kakabé-français, composé de 3400 entrées, et le corpus de 12 heures de textes en kakabé, transcrits, glosés, traduits etaccompagnés des fichiers vidéos et audios. / This thesis provides a corpus‐based description of Kakabe, a Mande language spoken in Guinea, with a focus on phonology. It consists of a short grammatical sketch and two parts dedicated to the analysis of the segmental and the suprasegmental phonology. Segmental phonological processes can be conditioned by metrical constraints, the ban on hiatus, prosodic phrasing and morphological context. Vowel deletion and vowel assimilation which serve to resolve hiatus, apply clause‐internally, as well as across clause boundaries. I also describe various strategies of loanword adaptation used in Kakabe, such as vowel epenthesis and consonant cluster simplification. Kakabe is a terraced‐level tone language (H vs. L), featuring downdrift, downstep, H raising, floating L, and a number of tonal processes, such as OCP style H‐insertion between two L domains, tone spread and leveling of HLH contour. As a result, the distance between the underlying lexical tones and their surface realization can be rather important. Each tonal process is applied within one particular prosodic unit. Therefore, tonal processes participate in phrasing the speech into prosodic units.Kakabe uses a number of boundary tones to signal illocutionary force of the utterance. Lexical tones and boundary tones coexists with intonational operations on the F0 curve. Intonational tone raising is associated with the H% and HL%boundary tones. Apart from that, it affects polarity items, the universal quantifier, and other pragmatically prominent lexemes, such as ideophones and intensifiers. The appendices include a Kakabe‐French dictionary, comprising 3400 entries, and an oral corpus of 12 hours of various genres, transcribed, glossed and time‐aligned with audio and video.

During the independence era in West Africa (1958–1980) many nations embarked on ambitious programmes aimed at rejuvenating their traditional art forms. These programmes were realised through new cultural policies, with music the prime target of the governments’ campaigns. I contend that in the search for an appropriate voice West African governments focussed on one group of musicians, the Mande griots. It was through their musical compositions that the State communicated ideology and doctrine to the public. I assert that to focus on a specific ethnic group and promote them as cultural ambassadors was a policy that conflicted with the core principles of West Africa’s governments, who upheld a doctrine that promoted nationalism over ethnocentrism. It was a neo-colonialist strategy designed to consolidate the rule of the governing party, a contention which I support through an analysis of the role of griots in West African society and an appraisal of the careers of musicians, musical recordings, and musical styles. This thesis represents a historical account of Mande griots in West Africa with respect to their influence on local and national politics. Part of the aim of this thesis is to create a comprehensive and accurate catalogue of West African musical recordings and groups, the results of which are located in the appendices.

During the independence era in West Africa (1958–1980) many nations embarked on ambitious programmes aimed at rejuvenating their traditional art forms. These programmes were realised through new cultural policies, with music the prime target of the governments’ campaigns. I contend that in the search for an appropriate voice West African governments focussed on one group of musicians, the Mande griots. It was through their musical compositions that the State communicated ideology and doctrine to the public. I assert that to focus on a specific ethnic group and promote them as cultural ambassadors was a policy that conflicted with the core principles of West Africa’s governments, who upheld a doctrine that promoted nationalism over ethnocentrism. It was a neo-colonialist strategy designed to consolidate the rule of the governing party, a contention which I support through an analysis of the role of griots in West African society and an appraisal of the careers of musicians, musical recordings, and musical styles. This thesis represents a historical account of Mande griots in West Africa with respect to their influence on local and national politics. Part of the aim of this thesis is to create a comprehensive and accurate catalogue of West African musical recordings and groups, the results of which are located in the appendices.

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