PhD (Tshivenda) / Senthara ya M.E.R. Mathivha ya Nyambo dza Afrika kha Vhutsila na Mvelele / Tshivenḓa is one of African languages spoken in the Northern parts of South Africa and some parts of Zimbabwe. This proposal focuses on a study of selected phonological processes involving Tshivenḓa vowels. The Tshivenḓa phonological processes involving vowels under this study include vowel elision/deletion, vowel epenthesis, vowel coalescence, vowel nasalisation, vowel harmony, vowel raising and glide formation. In this regard, consonants are not part and parcel of this study. Furthermore, the study enriches the phonology of Tshivenḓa with more phonological processes thereby adding on the existing literature. The study also attempts to motivate and encourage Tshivenḓa speaking people and those who are interested in the language to have a clear understanding of phonological processes which occur in Tshivenḓa. The theoretical framework underpinning this study is the Optimality Theory (OT). The study will be carried out through phonological analysis, that is, field work and word list. Secondary sources will also be used for data collection.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-22T17:27:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 jones.pdf: 835078 bytes, checksum: bdb7befe57a0d93f9b20909b393fe570 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-03-27 / This thesis aims to investigate the perception that native speakers have of Brazilian Portuguese pretonic mid vowels /e/ and /o/ in pretonic position on words in context for harmony and vowel raising processes. In creating the identification test, the audio files stimulus were edited and normalized in the Praat software (BOERSMA; WEENINK, 2012) and presented to the informants in the form of a perception test using the TP software (RAUBER; RATO; KLUGE; SANTOS; FIGUEIREDO, 2012). In this study, 40 informants participated, being 20 females and 20 males, aged between 18 and 30 years old, born in the city of Pelotas, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, with an ongoing or completed undergraduate degree. The results were statistically analyzed in the IBM SPSS software version 20.0. The statistical analysis showed that the perception of pretonic mid vowels [e] and [o] was more accurate than the perception of pretonic high vowels [i] and [u], resulting from the harmony and vowel raising processes. Considering a possible relationship between the perception of the vowels and the use of phonological processes, this study has been based on the theory of the Model of L1 Processing (BOERSMA, 2007), which allowed to show the interaction of faith and struct constraints with cue constrains through, respectively, the Phonological Forms of Surface and Underlying and the Phonetic Form, linking Phonetics and Phonology / A presente dissertação tem como objetivo investigar a percepção que os falantes nativos têm das vogais médias pretônicas do Português Brasileiro /e/ e /o/ em posição pretônica em palavras com o contexto para os processos de harmonia e de alçamento vocálico. Na formulação do teste de identificação, os arquivos de áudio estímulos foram editados e normalizados no software Praat (BOERSMA; WEENINK, 2012) e apresentados aos informantes em forma de um teste de percepção no software TP (RAUBER; RATO; KLUGE; SANTOS; FIGUEIREDO, 2012). Participaram desta pesquisa 40 informantes, sendo 20 do sexo feminino e 20 do sexo masculino, com idade entre 18 e 30 anos e com ensino superior completo ou em andamento, nascidos no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, na cidade de Pelotas. Os resultados foram analisados estatisticamente no software IBM SPSS versão 20.0. A análise estatística revelou que a percepção das vogais médias pretônicas [e] e [o] foi mais acurada do que a percepção das vogais altas pretônicas [i] e [u], resultantes dos processos de harmonia e de alçamento vocálico. Considerando-se uma possível relação entre a percepção de vogais e o emprego dos processos fonológicos, este trabalho teve como fundamento teórico o Modelo de Processamento de L1 (BOERSMA, 2007), o qual permitiu mostrar a interação de restrições de fidelidade e de estrutura com restrições de pista por meio, respectivamente, das Formas Fonológicas de Superfície e Subjacente e da Forma Fonética, vinculando Fonética e Fonologia

Este trabalho ocupa-se da investigação do fenômeno variável da Harmonia Vocálica na fala da comunidade gaúcha de São José do Norte, baseado na metodologia quantitativa nos moldes da teoria variacionsta laboviano (1966). O fenômeno citado é o alçamento (elevação) das vogais médias /e, o/ em pauta pretônica, transformando-as em [i, u] respectivamente quando seguidas de vogal alta em sílaba subsequente. A pesquisa pretende contribuir para descrever as características desse fenômeno no português do Brasil; pois trata-se de uma amostra ainda não analisada no que se refere à Harmonia Vocálica Os dados vêm da amostra coletada por Amaral (2000) com falantes da comunidade rural e urbana daquele municipio, localizado na porção litorânea situada entre a Lagoa dos Patos e o Oceano Atlântico, a 8 km do município de Rio Grande e a 51 km de Pelotas. O isolamento a que a região ficou submetida, por razões de dificuldade de acesso, e a dedicacão a atividades tradicionais, tais como a pesca e a plantação de cebola, tornam a região interessante à pesquisa de cunho sociolinguístico e dialetológico. Os condicionadores linguísticos e extralinguísticos considerados na nossa pesquisa têm como referência os estudos de Bisol (1981) e Schwindt (1995, 2002). A amostra constitui-se de 24 informantes do corpus do referido município (Amaral, 2002) que faz atualmente parte do Projeto Variação Linguística do Sul do país (VARSUL). O estudo resultou um corpus de 1.787 dados, sendo 986 dados para /e/ e 801 para /o/. A análise pelo Programa GOLVARB (2001) mostrou que a taxa de aplicação da elevação, para /e/ foi de 41% e de 43% para /o/. A pesquisa viabilizou, no âmbito extralinguístico, constatar que no caso da vogal /o/ houve correlação entre idade do informante e elevação da vogal; contudo, como as demais variáveis sociais não se mostraram significativas, não é possível falar em uma mudança em curso. Do ponto de vista linguístico, os condicionadores principais são, entre outros, a presença de uma vogal alta em sílaba subsequente e a tonicidade da vogal. Necessita-se de uma análise mais acurada, futuramente, de aspectos que podem nos fornecer uma interpretação mais segura desta variável. / This work deals with the variable phenomenon of Vowel Harmony (Bisol, 1981) in the community of São José do Norte/RS, in Brazil, based on quantitative methodology along the lines of the the labovian variationist theory (Labov, 1966). The phenomenon is known as the raising of the mid vowels /e/ and /o/, in pretonic context, turning them into [i, u] when followed by a high vowel in subsequent syllable. The research aims to contribute to describe the characteristics of this phenomenon in Portuguese in Brazil, because it is not yet a sample analyzed with regard to vowel harmony The data comes from samples collected by Amaral (2000) with speakers of the rural and urban that district, located in the coastal portion between the Patos Lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean, 8 km from the of Rio Grande and 51 km from Pelotas. The isolation of the region was subjected, for reasons of difficulty of access, and dedication to traditional activities such as fishing and planting onions, make the region attractive for sociolinguistic research projects and dialetologic. The linguistic and extralinguistic conditioners considered in our research have had as reference the studies by Bisol (1981) and Schwindt (1995, 2002). The sample consisted of 24 informants selected from the interviews collected by Amaral (2002) which corpus is now part of the Projeto Variação Linguística do Sul (Project Language Variation in the South -VARSUL). The study resulted in a corpus of 1787 tokens, being 986 for /e/ and 801 for /o/. The analysis by GOLVARB 2001 Software showed that the rate of rising was of 41% for /e/, and of 43% for /o/. The analysis showed that, concerning extralinguistic conditions, there is correlation between rising and the age of the informant, but only for the raising of the vowel /o/; however, since other social variables where not observed to have a significant role in vowel raising, we are not able to state that there is an ongoing change. From the linguistic point of view, the main conditioners are a high vowel in subsequent syllable and stress on this high vowel.

Este trabalho ocupa-se da investigação do fenômeno variável da Harmonia Vocálica na fala da comunidade gaúcha de São José do Norte, baseado na metodologia quantitativa nos moldes da teoria variacionsta laboviano (1966). O fenômeno citado é o alçamento (elevação) das vogais médias /e, o/ em pauta pretônica, transformando-as em [i, u] respectivamente quando seguidas de vogal alta em sílaba subsequente. A pesquisa pretende contribuir para descrever as características desse fenômeno no português do Brasil; pois trata-se de uma amostra ainda não analisada no que se refere à Harmonia Vocálica Os dados vêm da amostra coletada por Amaral (2000) com falantes da comunidade rural e urbana daquele municipio, localizado na porção litorânea situada entre a Lagoa dos Patos e o Oceano Atlântico, a 8 km do município de Rio Grande e a 51 km de Pelotas. O isolamento a que a região ficou submetida, por razões de dificuldade de acesso, e a dedicacão a atividades tradicionais, tais como a pesca e a plantação de cebola, tornam a região interessante à pesquisa de cunho sociolinguístico e dialetológico. Os condicionadores linguísticos e extralinguísticos considerados na nossa pesquisa têm como referência os estudos de Bisol (1981) e Schwindt (1995, 2002). A amostra constitui-se de 24 informantes do corpus do referido município (Amaral, 2002) que faz atualmente parte do Projeto Variação Linguística do Sul do país (VARSUL). O estudo resultou um corpus de 1.787 dados, sendo 986 dados para /e/ e 801 para /o/. A análise pelo Programa GOLVARB (2001) mostrou que a taxa de aplicação da elevação, para /e/ foi de 41% e de 43% para /o/. A pesquisa viabilizou, no âmbito extralinguístico, constatar que no caso da vogal /o/ houve correlação entre idade do informante e elevação da vogal; contudo, como as demais variáveis sociais não se mostraram significativas, não é possível falar em uma mudança em curso. Do ponto de vista linguístico, os condicionadores principais são, entre outros, a presença de uma vogal alta em sílaba subsequente e a tonicidade da vogal. Necessita-se de uma análise mais acurada, futuramente, de aspectos que podem nos fornecer uma interpretação mais segura desta variável. / This work deals with the variable phenomenon of Vowel Harmony (Bisol, 1981) in the community of São José do Norte/RS, in Brazil, based on quantitative methodology along the lines of the the labovian variationist theory (Labov, 1966). The phenomenon is known as the raising of the mid vowels /e/ and /o/, in pretonic context, turning them into [i, u] when followed by a high vowel in subsequent syllable. The research aims to contribute to describe the characteristics of this phenomenon in Portuguese in Brazil, because it is not yet a sample analyzed with regard to vowel harmony The data comes from samples collected by Amaral (2000) with speakers of the rural and urban that district, located in the coastal portion between the Patos Lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean, 8 km from the of Rio Grande and 51 km from Pelotas. The isolation of the region was subjected, for reasons of difficulty of access, and dedication to traditional activities such as fishing and planting onions, make the region attractive for sociolinguistic research projects and dialetologic. The linguistic and extralinguistic conditioners considered in our research have had as reference the studies by Bisol (1981) and Schwindt (1995, 2002). The sample consisted of 24 informants selected from the interviews collected by Amaral (2002) which corpus is now part of the Projeto Variação Linguística do Sul (Project Language Variation in the South -VARSUL). The study resulted in a corpus of 1787 tokens, being 986 for /e/ and 801 for /o/. The analysis by GOLVARB 2001 Software showed that the rate of rising was of 41% for /e/, and of 43% for /o/. The analysis showed that, concerning extralinguistic conditions, there is correlation between rising and the age of the informant, but only for the raising of the vowel /o/; however, since other social variables where not observed to have a significant role in vowel raising, we are not able to state that there is an ongoing change. From the linguistic point of view, the main conditioners are a high vowel in subsequent syllable and stress on this high vowel.

ATR, advanced tongue root, is a phonological feature among vowels. As vowels assimilate to share the same value of that feature, they display ATR harmony. This is a common phenomenon among many African languages. ATR harmony is examined in this paper as manifested across morpheme boundaries wihin nouns in a Surmic language of Ethiopia called Bale. The data presented was collected at a workshop on ATR harmony held by SIL International in Mizan Teferi, Ethiopia, 2009. The vowel system in Bale displays a nine vowel inventory with a feature dominance of [+ATR] vowels which spread their feature both leftward and rightward to recessive [–ATR] vowels. The [+ATR] dominance is also present as a floating feature without any phonological material. The vowel /a/ is analysed as a neutral vowel, co-occuring with both [+ATR] and [–ATR] vowels within roots.

Este trabalho ocupa-se da investigação do fenômeno variável da Harmonia Vocálica na fala da comunidade gaúcha de São José do Norte, baseado na metodologia quantitativa nos moldes da teoria variacionsta laboviano (1966). O fenômeno citado é o alçamento (elevação) das vogais médias /e, o/ em pauta pretônica, transformando-as em [i, u] respectivamente quando seguidas de vogal alta em sílaba subsequente. A pesquisa pretende contribuir para descrever as características desse fenômeno no português do Brasil; pois trata-se de uma amostra ainda não analisada no que se refere à Harmonia Vocálica Os dados vêm da amostra coletada por Amaral (2000) com falantes da comunidade rural e urbana daquele municipio, localizado na porção litorânea situada entre a Lagoa dos Patos e o Oceano Atlântico, a 8 km do município de Rio Grande e a 51 km de Pelotas. O isolamento a que a região ficou submetida, por razões de dificuldade de acesso, e a dedicacão a atividades tradicionais, tais como a pesca e a plantação de cebola, tornam a região interessante à pesquisa de cunho sociolinguístico e dialetológico. Os condicionadores linguísticos e extralinguísticos considerados na nossa pesquisa têm como referência os estudos de Bisol (1981) e Schwindt (1995, 2002). A amostra constitui-se de 24 informantes do corpus do referido município (Amaral, 2002) que faz atualmente parte do Projeto Variação Linguística do Sul do país (VARSUL). O estudo resultou um corpus de 1.787 dados, sendo 986 dados para /e/ e 801 para /o/. A análise pelo Programa GOLVARB (2001) mostrou que a taxa de aplicação da elevação, para /e/ foi de 41% e de 43% para /o/. A pesquisa viabilizou, no âmbito extralinguístico, constatar que no caso da vogal /o/ houve correlação entre idade do informante e elevação da vogal; contudo, como as demais variáveis sociais não se mostraram significativas, não é possível falar em uma mudança em curso. Do ponto de vista linguístico, os condicionadores principais são, entre outros, a presença de uma vogal alta em sílaba subsequente e a tonicidade da vogal. Necessita-se de uma análise mais acurada, futuramente, de aspectos que podem nos fornecer uma interpretação mais segura desta variável. / This work deals with the variable phenomenon of Vowel Harmony (Bisol, 1981) in the community of São José do Norte/RS, in Brazil, based on quantitative methodology along the lines of the the labovian variationist theory (Labov, 1966). The phenomenon is known as the raising of the mid vowels /e/ and /o/, in pretonic context, turning them into [i, u] when followed by a high vowel in subsequent syllable. The research aims to contribute to describe the characteristics of this phenomenon in Portuguese in Brazil, because it is not yet a sample analyzed with regard to vowel harmony The data comes from samples collected by Amaral (2000) with speakers of the rural and urban that district, located in the coastal portion between the Patos Lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean, 8 km from the of Rio Grande and 51 km from Pelotas. The isolation of the region was subjected, for reasons of difficulty of access, and dedication to traditional activities such as fishing and planting onions, make the region attractive for sociolinguistic research projects and dialetologic. The linguistic and extralinguistic conditioners considered in our research have had as reference the studies by Bisol (1981) and Schwindt (1995, 2002). The sample consisted of 24 informants selected from the interviews collected by Amaral (2002) which corpus is now part of the Projeto Variação Linguística do Sul (Project Language Variation in the South -VARSUL). The study resulted in a corpus of 1787 tokens, being 986 for /e/ and 801 for /o/. The analysis by GOLVARB 2001 Software showed that the rate of rising was of 41% for /e/, and of 43% for /o/. The analysis showed that, concerning extralinguistic conditions, there is correlation between rising and the age of the informant, but only for the raising of the vowel /o/; however, since other social variables where not observed to have a significant role in vowel raising, we are not able to state that there is an ongoing change. From the linguistic point of view, the main conditioners are a high vowel in subsequent syllable and stress on this high vowel.

Pendant la perception de la parole, les locuteurs sont biaisés par un grand nombre de facteurs. Par exemple, il existe des limitations cognitives comme la mémoire ou l’attention, mais aussi des limitations linguistiques comme leur langue maternelle. Cette thèse se concentre sur deux de ces facteurs : les biais de traitement pendant la reconnaissance des mots, et les biais d’apprentissage pendant le processus de transmission. Ces facteurs peuvent se combiner et, au cours du temps, influencer l’évolution des langues. Dans la première partie de cette thèse, nous nous concentrons sur le processus de la reconnaissance des mots. Des recherches antérieures ont établi l’importance des traits phonologiques (p. ex. le voisement ou le lieu d’articulation) pendant le traitement de la parole. Cependant, nous en savons peu sur leur poids relatif les uns par rapport aux autres, et comment cela peut influencer la capacité des locuteurs à reconnaître les mots. Nous avons testé des locuteurs français sur leur capacité à reconnaître des mots mal prononcés et avons trouvé que les traits de mode et de lieu sont plus importants que le trait de voisement. Nous avons ensuite considéré deux sources de cette asymétrie et avons trouvé que les locuteurs sont biaisés et par la perception acoustique ascendante (les contrastes de mode sont plus facile à percevoir à cause de leur distance acoustique importante) et par la connaissance lexicale descendante (le trait de lieu est plus exploité dans le lexique français que les autres traits). Nous suggérons que ces deux sources de biais se combinent pour influencer les locuteurs lors de la reconnaissance des mots. Dans la seconde partie de cette thèse, nous nous concentrons sur la question d’un biais d’apprentissage. Il a été suggéré que les apprenants peuvent être biaisés vers l’apprentissage de certains patrons phonologiques grâce à leurs connaissances phonétiques. Cela peut alors expliquer pourquoi certains patrons sont récurrents dans la typologie, tandis que d’autres restent rares ou non-attestés. Plus spécifiquement, nous avons exploré le rôle d’un biais d’apprentissage sur l’acquisition de la règle typologiquement commune de l’harmonie vocalique comparée à celle de la règle non-attestée (mais logiquement équivalente) de la disharmonie vocalique. Nous avons trouvé des preuves d’un biais d’apprentissage aussi bien en perception qu’en production. En utilisant un modèle d’apprentissage itéré simulé, nous avons ensuite montré comment un biais, même petit, favorisant l’un des patrons, peut influencer la typologie linguistique au cours du temps et donc expliquer (en partie) la prépondérance de systèmes harmoniques. De plus, nous avons exploré le rôle du sommeil sur la consolidation mnésique. Nous avons montré que seul le patron commun bénéficie d’une consolidation et que cela est un facteur supplémentaire pouvant contribuer à l’asymétrie typologique. Dans l’ensemble, cette thèse considère certaines des sources de biais possibles chez l’individu et discute de comment ces influences peuvent, au cours du temps, faire évoluer les systèmes linguistiques. Nous avons démontré la nature dynamique et complexe du traitement de la parole, à la fois en perception et dans l’apprentissage. De futurs travaux devront explorer plus en détail comment ces différentes sources de biais sont pondérées les unes relativement aux autres. / During speech perception, listeners are biased by a great number of factors, including cognitive limitations such as memory and attention and linguistic limitations such as their native language. This thesis focuses on two of these factors: processing bias during word recognition, and learning bias during the transmission process. These factors are combinatorial and can, over time, affect the way languages evolve. In the first part of this thesis, we focus on the process of word recognition. Previous research has established the importance of phonological features (e.g., voicing or place of articulation) during speech processing, but little is known about their weight relative to one another, and how this influences listeners' ability to recognize words. We tested French participants on their ability to recognize mispronounced words and found that the manner and place features were more important than the voicing feature. We then explored two sources of this asymmetry and found that listeners were biased both by bottom-up acoustic perception (manner contrasts are easier to perceive because of their acoustic distance compared to the other features) and top-down lexical knowledge (the place feature is used more in the French lexicon than the other two features). We suggest that these two sources of bias coalesce during the word recognition process to influence listeners. In the second part of this thesis, we turn to the question of bias during the learning process. It has been suggested that language learners may be biased towards the learning of certain phonological patterns because of phonetic knowledge they have. This in turn can explain why certain patterns are recurrent in the typology while others remain rare or unattested. Specifically, we explored the role of learning bias on the acquisition of the typologically common rule of vowel harmony compared to the unattested (but logically equivalent) rule of vowel disharmony. We found that in both perception and production, there was evidence of a learning bias, and using a simulated iterated learning model, showed how even a small bias favoring one pattern over the other could influence the linguistic typology over time, thus explaining (in part) the prevalence of harmonic systems. We additionally explored the role of sleep on memory consolidation and showed evidence that the common pattern benefits from consolidation that the unattested pattern does not, a factor that may also contribute to the typological asymmetry. Overall, this thesis considers a few of the wide-ranging sources of bias in the individual and discusses how these influences can over time shape linguistic systems. We demonstrate the dynamic and complicated nature of speech processing (both in perception and learning) and open the door for future research to explore in finer detail just how these different sources of bias are weighted relative to one another.

This thesis analyzes the phonological and morphological nativisation of English loans in the Tonga language. The contact situation between English and Tonga, in Zimbabwe, facilitates transference of lexical items between the two languages. From having been one of the most widely used languages of the world, English has developed into the most influential donor of words to other languages such as Tonga. The infiltration of English words into the Tonga lexical inventory led to the adoption and subsequent nativisation of English words by the native Tonga speakers. The main deposit of English words into Tonga is the direct interaction between English and Tonga speakers. However, it is sometimes via other languages like Shona, Ndebele, Venda and Shangani. In the 21st century, English’s contribution to the vocabulary of Tonga became more widely spread, now covering a large proportion of the Tonga language’s lexical inventory. The fact that English is the medium of instruction, in Zimbabwe, language of technology, education, media, new administration, health, music, new religion and economic transactions means that it is regarded as the high variety language with coercive loaning powers. Words from English are then adopted and nativised in the Tonga language, since Tonga asserts itself an independent language that can handle loans on its own. The main focus of this study therefore, is to try and account for the phonological and morphological behavior and changes that take place in English words that enter into Tonga. Analyzing phonological processes that are employed during nativisation of loan words entails analyzing how Tonga speakers handle aspects of English language such as diphthongs, triphthongs, cluster consonants, CVC syllable structure and sounds in repairing unacceptable sequences in Tonga. The research also accounts for the handling of morphological differences between the two languages. This entails looking at how competence and ordered-rule framework are harmonized by Tonga speakers in repairing conflicting features at morphological level. Since the two languages have different morphological patterns, the research analyzes the repairing strategies to handle singular and plural noun prefixes, tenses and particles, which are morphological components of words. The researcher appreciates that the native Tonga speakers have robust intuitions on the proper way to nativise words. / African Languages / D.Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

This dissertation is an analysis of the segmental phonology of the Shangani language as spoken in the South Eastern parts of Zimbabwe. It starts by presenting the language situation in Zimbabwe and comparing the language’s status in Zimbabwe with that of its sister varieties in South Africa where it is referred to as Tsonga and in Mozambique where it is referred to as XiChangana or Changana. The dissertation is based on data collected from the speakers of Shangani using a variety of research techniques. The dissertation identifies and characterizes the language’s distinctive phonemes using the minimal pair and set tests. It presents the language’s consonants, which include aspirated, breathy-voiced, pre-nasalized, labialized and palatalized consonants. It shows that in Shangani, voiceless consonants cannot be pre-nasalized and that there is an incompatibility between that labio-velar glide /w/ and most labial consonants excpt /m/. The phonemes are analysed using Chomsky and Halle’s (1968) distinctive feature theory. The study uses Clements and Keyser’s (1983) CV phonology of the syllable structure to analyse the language’s syllable structure. The language’s canonical syllable structure is CV. It is also shown that consonant clusters are gaining their way into the language through borrowing from English, Afrikaans and other languages that have consonant clusters in their inventories. Onsetless Vs are marginally attested word-initially. In agent nouns, VV sequences are in most cases retained. These sequences are not analysed as diphthongs since they occupy different V slots on the syllable tier. The second vowel in the sequence is the onsetless syllable. Affricates, NCs, Cws and Cjs are presented as unitary segments that occupy a single C slot of the CV tier. Phonological processes that are attested in the language are also presented. Secondary articulation, vowel deletion, feature spreading, vowel coalescence and nasalization are shown to be the most common phonological process in the language. Since Shangani has the CV syllable typology, most of the phonological processes are there to resolve hiatus that would have been induced by suffixation of vowel commencing stems or suffixes to vowel final prefixes or stems. The notion of domains is shown to be a diagnostic tool for identifying a process in a hiatus situation. The study shows that vowel deletion is the least preferred strategy when secondary articulation, feature spreading, vowel coalescence have been blocked by some constraints like syllable structure processes or the language’s phonotactics / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

This dissertation is an analysis of the segmental phonology of the Shangani language as spoken in the South Eastern parts of Zimbabwe. It starts by presenting the language situation in Zimbabwe and comparing the language’s status in Zimbabwe with that of its sister varieties in South Africa where it is referred to as Tsonga and in Mozambique where it is referred to as XiChangana or Changana. The dissertation is based on data collected from the speakers of Shangani using a variety of research techniques. The dissertation identifies and characterizes the language’s distinctive phonemes using the minimal pair and set tests. It presents the language’s consonants, which include aspirated, breathy-voiced, pre-nasalized, labialized and palatalized consonants. It shows that in Shangani, voiceless consonants cannot be pre-nasalized and that there is an incompatibility between that labio-velar glide /w/ and most labial consonants excpt /m/. The phonemes are analysed using Chomsky and Halle’s (1968) distinctive feature theory. The study uses Clements and Keyser’s (1983) CV phonology of the syllable structure to analyse the language’s syllable structure. The language’s canonical syllable structure is CV. It is also shown that consonant clusters are gaining their way into the language through borrowing from English, Afrikaans and other languages that have consonant clusters in their inventories. Onsetless Vs are marginally attested word-initially. In agent nouns, VV sequences are in most cases retained. These sequences are not analysed as diphthongs since they occupy different V slots on the syllable tier. The second vowel in the sequence is the onsetless syllable. Affricates, NCs, Cws and Cjs are presented as unitary segments that occupy a single C slot of the CV tier. Phonological processes that are attested in the language are also presented. Secondary articulation, vowel deletion, feature spreading, vowel coalescence and nasalization are shown to be the most common phonological process in the language. Since Shangani has the CV syllable typology, most of the phonological processes are there to resolve hiatus that would have been induced by suffixation of vowel commencing stems or suffixes to vowel final prefixes or stems. The notion of domains is shown to be a diagnostic tool for identifying a process in a hiatus situation. The study shows that vowel deletion is the least preferred strategy when secondary articulation, feature spreading, vowel coalescence have been blocked by some constraints like syllable structure processes or the language’s phonotactics / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)