Ph.D. / Computer Science and Electrical Engineering / Nasalization refers to the process of speech production in which significant amounts of airfow and sound energy are transmitted through the nasal tract. In phonetics, nasalization is necessary for certain phonemes to be produced in normal speech; and it can also be a normal consequence of coarticulation. In disordered speech, however, inappropriate nasalization can be one of the causes that reduces the intelligibility of speech. Instrumental measurement and analysis techniques are needed for better understanding the relationship between the physiological status and the aerodynamic and acoustic effects of nasalization during speech. The main aim of the research work presented in this dissertation is to investigate the aerodynamic and acoustic effects of nasalization, and to develop objective approaches to measure, analyze, and detect the nasalized segments in speech. Based on an extensive survey of existing literature on the measurements of velopharyngeal function, the acoustic production models of speech, the analysis methods and results of normal nasalization, and the analysis methods of resonance disorders, it is understood that the final acoustic representation of nasalization is a complex outcome that is affected by the degree of velopharyngeal opening, the variation of vocal tract configurations, the mixture of multiple acoustic channels and speaker differences. It is proposed to incorporate more available information besides single channel acoustic signals during the analysis of nasalization. In our research work, a parallel study of acoustic and aerodynamic signals reveals the complimentary information within the signals. In addition, dual-channel acoustic studies help to understand the acoustic relationship between the oral and nasal cavities, and show inherent advantages over the single-channel analysis. Based on the derivation and analysis of the dual-channel acoustic properties, automatic detectors of nasalization are developed and successfully tested. The techniques developed in these explorations provide novel instrumental and analysis approaches to possible applications such as phonetic studies of the normal nasalization process, clinical assessment of disordered nasal resonance, and special feature extraction for speech recognition.

Phonological interactions among sonorant sounds, and between sonorants and obstruents, are widespread in Romance languages. In this dissertation, I examine in detail such interactions in two dialects of Sardinian (Italo-Romance), Campidanese and Nuorese, showing that sonorant relationships differentiate the synchronic grammars of these dialects. The synchronic patterning of nasals and liquids, and how these two sonorant subclasses interact with obstruents, is significantly different between the two dialects. In particular, nasals trigger phonological nasalization of vowels and of the rhotic in Campidanese but not in Nuorese. The arguments for a phonological analysis of vowel nasalization in Campidanese are reviewed, expanded, and tested against an acoustic study. The historical traces of interaction between /n/ and /r/ in this dialect are linked to the synchronic rhotic nasalization process highlighted by an acoustic study of fieldwork data. In Nuorese, on the other hand, /n/ does not initiate phonological nasalization either of vowels or of the rhotic, and it is the target of total assimilation when followed by any segments but an oral stop. Nasals in the two dialects thus pattern in two very different ways phonologically: nasals are process triggers in Campidanese and process targets in Nuorese. The rhotic also shows distinct patterns in the two dialects, interacting with /n/ in Campidanese and with /s/ in Nuorese. The two dialects, with those asymmetries, thus display complementary sonorant patterns. I argue that a model able to capture such complementarity of patterns is the theory of the contrastive hierarchy (Dresher 2008). The Campidanese and Nuorese sonorant patterns, so radically different, lead one to question whether sonorants form a homogeneous phonological class cross-linguistically. Campidanese and Nuorese show that the make-up of such a class appears to be language-specific. Since the sonorant class is a universal class of sounds, its heterogeneity, in turn, questions the notion of phonological classhood at large. The data and the analysis presented in this dissertation thus feed the debate around phonological classhood. According to the theoretical model adopted in the present dissertation, the language-specific make-up of a class of sounds is all that can be labeled a ‘phonological’ class. Classes of sounds can be described in phonetic terms, but classes phonetically defined do not necessarily amount to phonological classes.

Phonological interactions among sonorant sounds, and between sonorants and obstruents, are widespread in Romance languages. In this dissertation, I examine in detail such interactions in two dialects of Sardinian (Italo-Romance), Campidanese and Nuorese, showing that sonorant relationships differentiate the synchronic grammars of these dialects. The synchronic patterning of nasals and liquids, and how these two sonorant subclasses interact with obstruents, is significantly different between the two dialects. In particular, nasals trigger phonological nasalization of vowels and of the rhotic in Campidanese but not in Nuorese. The arguments for a phonological analysis of vowel nasalization in Campidanese are reviewed, expanded, and tested against an acoustic study. The historical traces of interaction between /n/ and /r/ in this dialect are linked to the synchronic rhotic nasalization process highlighted by an acoustic study of fieldwork data. In Nuorese, on the other hand, /n/ does not initiate phonological nasalization either of vowels or of the rhotic, and it is the target of total assimilation when followed by any segments but an oral stop. Nasals in the two dialects thus pattern in two very different ways phonologically: nasals are process triggers in Campidanese and process targets in Nuorese. The rhotic also shows distinct patterns in the two dialects, interacting with /n/ in Campidanese and with /s/ in Nuorese. The two dialects, with those asymmetries, thus display complementary sonorant patterns. I argue that a model able to capture such complementarity of patterns is the theory of the contrastive hierarchy (Dresher 2008). The Campidanese and Nuorese sonorant patterns, so radically different, lead one to question whether sonorants form a homogeneous phonological class cross-linguistically. Campidanese and Nuorese show that the make-up of such a class appears to be language-specific. Since the sonorant class is a universal class of sounds, its heterogeneity, in turn, questions the notion of phonological classhood at large. The data and the analysis presented in this dissertation thus feed the debate around phonological classhood. According to the theoretical model adopted in the present dissertation, the language-specific make-up of a class of sounds is all that can be labeled a ‘phonological’ class. Classes of sounds can be described in phonetic terms, but classes phonetically defined do not necessarily amount to phonological classes.

The vowel systems of five selected Iranian Balochi dialects are investigated in this study, which is the first work to apply empirical acoustic analysis to a large body of recorded data on the vowel inventories of different Balochi dialects spoken in Iran. The selected dialects are spoken in the five regions of Sistan (SI), Saravan (SA), Khash (KH), Iranshahr (IR), and Chabahar (CH) located in the province Sistan and Baluchestan in southeast Iran. The aim of the present fieldwork-based survey is to study how similar the vowel systems of these dialects are to the Common Balochi vowel system (i, iː, u, uː, a, aː, eː, oː), which is represented as the vowel inventory for the Balochi dialects in general, as well as how similar these dialects are to one another.  The investigation shows that length is contrastive in these dialects, although the durational dif-ferences between the long and short counterparts are quite small in some dialects. The study also reveals that there are some differences between the vowel systems of these dialects and the Com-mon Balochi sound inventory. The Common Balochi short /i/ vowel is modified to short /e/ in these dialects, and a strong tendency for the long /eː/ and /oː/ to become the diphthongs ie and ue, respec-tively, is observed in some of the investigated dialects, specifically in KH, which shows heavier diphthongization than the other dialects. It is also observed, especially in SI, SA, and CH, that the short /u/ shows strong tendencies to shift towards a lower position of an [o] vowel. In SI and SA, this shift seems to be a correlate of syllable structure, with lowering occurring mostly in closed syllables. It is possible that Persian, as the dominant language in the area, has had an influence on these dialects and caused a lowering tendency among the higher vowels.  The vowel systems in these dialects differ slightly from each other. Phonemically, the pairs e/eː, a/aː, u/uː, and the long vowels /iː/ and /oː/ are suggested for IR; the pairs a/aː, u/uː, the short /e/ and the long /iː/ as well as the diphthongs /ie/ and /ue/ substituted for the long /eː/ and /oː/, respectively, are suggested for KH; and finally the pairs e/eː, a/aː, o/oː, and the long vowels /iː/ and /uː/, which make a more symmetrical inventory, are suggested for the SI, SA, and CH dialects. In general, the vowels in these dialects show a range of phonetic variations. In addition, processes of fronting, which is most common in coronal contexts, and nasalization, which mostly occurs in nasal envi-ronments, are observed in the data researched.

Research has shown that fine-grained consonantal phonetic information can be gradiently integrated during spoken word recognition in the L1. However, the way listeners categorize vocalic phonetic information has not been investigated as thoroughly. Furthermore, second language (L2) listeners’ processing of fine-grained information is not as well known as L1 processing. L1 Canadian French (CF) listeners and L2 listeners (native English) were tested in an eye tracking paradigm with words containing partially nasalized (CVN) and fully nasal (CṼ) vowels. Stimuli were designed to have variable nasalization duration on the vowel, and sometimes include a short nasal consonant word-finally. The main goals were to determine how nasalization duration influences word recognition in an L1 and an L2, and if variations in phonetic details are gradiently or categorically integrated. Results show that L1 listeners gradiently were able to identify the stimuli when they contained mismatching phonetic cues, while L2 listeners display more categorical patterns of recognition. When stimuli do not have conflicting phonetic cues, L1 listeners mostly identify words as CṼ, except when the vowel is not nasalized. For L2 listeners, the pattern was similar, but the rate of stimuli identification as phonological nasal (CṼ) was lower due to L1 transfer. These results support the hypothesis that L1 listeners have phonological representations that include fine-grained phonetic information and that they consider it when recognizing words. On the other hand, L2 listeners who have less experience in the L2 display more categorical recognition patterns, probably because their representations include coarser phonetic information or because they cannot access fine-grained representations, given the cognitive demands of L2 processing. When words do not contain conflicting phonetic cues, patterns of recognition of both L1 and L2 listeners seem more categorical, even though L2 listeners displayed lower rates of identification than L1 listeners overall. This uncertainty can also be due to less detailed phonological representations or to their inability to access all the necessary information to recognize words. Overall, these results suggest that fine-grained phonetic information gradiently impacts word recognition, that it is part of phono-lexical representations, and that L2 processing is qualitatively and quantitatively different from L1 processing.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This research report had as its starting point the study of an interference of the speech in the writing, marked by the presence of nasalization in the text of students of the 7th of Elementary School II. Nasalization is a phonological process proper to speech, not writing. But in the students' texts the presence of words in which a nasal consonant was inserted in contexts that imply error and collaborate with the lag of writing. In addition, it was found that the 'm' rule for 'p' and 'b' was not yet consolidated and the students demonstrated that they did not develop phonological awareness on the articulation points of such contexts, which would possibly reduce the incidence of errors. The methodology used during this process was that of action research, of quantitative approach, of an interpretive nature. The conceptions of Scliar-Cabral (2003), Cristófaro-Silva (2007), Camera Jr (2008), Cagliari (2009), Bagno (2007) Bisol (2013), Abaurre (2013), Moraes (2013), Bortoni-Ricardo (2013) and Seara, Nunes and Lazzarotto-Volcão (2015) constituted the theoretical reference. After attesting the most favorable contexts for the occurrence of nasalization in students' writing, we developed the game Nasal Battle, an action game with questions on Languages, Sergipe Culture and Entertainment, developed to be used as an object of learning and be replicated by other teachers. The results indicate that, the use of the game as a didactic resource effectively collaborates with the reduction of the writing deviations observed here. / Este relatório de pesquisa teve como ponto de partida o estudo de uma interferência da fala na escrita, marcada pela presença de nasalização no texto de alunos do 7º do Ensino Fundamental II. A nasalização é um processo fonológico próprio da fala, e não da escrita. Mas, observou-se nos textos dos alunos a presença de palavras em que se inseria uma consoante nasal em contextos que implicam em erro e colaboram com a defasagem da escrita. Para além, apurou-se que a regra do ‘m’ diante de ‘p’ e ‘b’ ainda não estava consolidada e os alunos demonstraram que não desenvolveram consciência fonológica sobre os pontos de articulação de tais contextos, o que possivelmente diminuiria a incidência de erros. A metodologia usada durante esse processo foi a de pesquisa-ação, de abordagem quantitativa, de natureza interpretativa. As concepções de Scliar-Cabral (2003), Cristófaro-Silva (2007), Câmara Jr (2008), Cagliari (2009), Bagno (2007) Bisol (2013), Abaurre (2013), Moraes (2013), Bortoni-Ricardo (2013) e Seara, Nunes e Lazzarotto-Volcão (2015) constituíram o referencial teórico. Após atestar os contextos mais propícios para a ocorrência de nasalização na escrita dos alunos, desenvolvemos o jogo Batalha Nasal, um jogo de ação com perguntas sobre Linguagens, Cultura Sergipana e Entretenimento, desenvolvido para ser usado como objeto de aprendizagem e ser replicado por outros professores. Os resultados apontam que, a utilização do jogo como recurso didático colabora efetivamente com a redução dos desvios de escrita observados aqui. / São Cristóvão, SE

Esta pesquisa investigou a nasalidade de vogais na fala espontânea de moradores das comunidades quilombolas de Brejo dos Crioulos e Poções (MG). Como aporte teórico, baseou-se nos pressupostos da Fonética e Fonologia, em estudiosos renomados na investigação da nasalidade (CAGLIARI, 1977; CÂMARA JR., 1984, 2013; BISOL, 2013; ABAURRE; PAGOTTO, 1996; SILVA, 2015), com subsídios da Linguística de Corpus. Seu objetivo geral foi investigar a ocorrência da nasalidade, no dialeto dessas comunidades quilombolas, e seu comportamento linguístico, considerando os fatores linguísticos que podem no fenômeno interferir. Especificamente, objetivou-se a) detectar a ocorrência de vogais nasalizadas com auxílio dos recursos que provê a Linguística de Corpus (Praat e WorldSmith Tolls); b) discriminar os diferentes tipos de contextos de ocorrência das vogais nasalizadas; c) fazer análises quantitativa e qualitativa das vogais nasalizadas no corpus de estudo; d) descrever e analisar o comportamento das vogais nasalizadas e; e) contrastar os valores de F1 e F2 das vogais orais e nasalizadas. Hipotetizou-se que a nasalidade acontece por ser condicionada pelo segmento nasal seguinte à vogal nasalizada – processo fonológico de “assimilação” –, sua posição quanto ao acento primário e categoria gramatical. Acreditou-se que as comunidades quilombolas de Brejo dos Crioulos e Poções produzem em suas falas vogais nasalizadas e que esse fenômeno linguístico é favorecido pela presença adjacente de consoantes ou vogais nasais. Além disso, foi hipotetizado que os valores dos F1 e F2 das vogais orais e nasalizadas nessas comunidades são distintos. Elaboraram-se as seguintes perguntas de pesquisa: (i) a presença de vogais nasalizadas na fala nessas comunidades quilombolas está condicionada à presença de um segmento sonoro nasal? (ii) o segmento sonoro nasal seguinte à vogal nasalizada favorece a ocorrência do fenômeno da nasalidade? há diferença entre os valores de F1 e F2 das vogais orais e nasalizadas nas duas comunidades quilombolas consideradas? Para compor o nosso corpus, utilizaram-se gravações de 24 entrevistas (12 locutores femininos e 12 locutores masculinos), num total de 24 participantes. Verificou-se que o segmento sonoro nasal seguinte tende a condicionar a vogal nasalizada. Geralmente, assimila-se o abaixamento do véu palatino de segmento consonantal nasal imediatamente seguinte, mas há casos de segmento vocálico nasal – assimilação regressiva; a sílaba tônica tende a favorecer a nasalidade, mas ela ocorre em posição pretônica e postônica também; os valores de F1 e F2 das vogais orais e nasalizadas nas comunidades quilombolas de Poções e Brejo dos Crioulos são distintos: o Grupo de Brejo dos Crioulos tende a produzir o F1 das vogais orais e nasalizadas mais abaixado do que o Grupo de Poções e o F2, mais anteriorizado. A nasalidade tende a ocorrer em verbos e substantivos, apesar de não ser específica a uma categoria gramatical. Esta pesquisa apontou casos de nasalização espúria, confirmando pesquisas já realizadas. Por sua vez, revelou casos de itens lexicais com contexto favorável à nasalização, mas com sua não ocorrência. Este último caso, tido como de abaixamento do véu palatino uniforme no Português Brasileiro, apresentou vogais pronunciadas sem o abaixamento do véu palatino. Ou seja, detectou-se variação no fenômeno de nasalização no Português Brasileiro. Com este trabalho, promoveu-se a discussão sobre a nasalidade, com o intuito de contribuir com os estudos linguísticos sobre o funcionamento do Português Brasileiro neste contexto geográfico. / This research investigated the nasality of vowels in the spontaneous speech of inhabitants of the quilombola communities of Brejo dos Crioulos and Poções (MG). As a theoretical framework, we based on the assumptions of Phonetics and Phonology, in renowned scholars on the investigation of nasality (CAGLIARI, 1977; CÂMARA JR., 1984, 2013; BISOL, 2013; ABAURRE; PAGOTTO, 1996; SILVA, 2015), with subsidies of the Corpus Linguistics. Its general goal was to investigate the occurrence of nasality, in the dialect of these quilombola communities, and their linguistic behavior, considering the linguistic factors that can interfere in the phenomenon. Specifically it was aimed to a) detect the occurrence of nasalized vowels with the help of the resources that the Corpus Linguistics provides (Praat and WorldSmith Tolls); b) discriminate the different types of occurring contexts of nasalized vowels; c) make quantitative and qualitative analyzes of the nasalized vowels in the study corpus; d) describe and analyze the behavior of nasalized vowels and; e) contrast the values of F1 and F2 of the oral and nasalized vowels. It was hypothesized that the nasality happens because it is conditioned by the nasal segment following the nasalized vowel - phonological process of “assimilation” - its position as the primary stress and grammatical category. It was believed that the quilombolas communities of Brejo dos Crioulos and Poções produce nasalized vowels in their speech and this linguistic phenomenon is favored by the adjacent presence of consonants or nasal vowels. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that the values of F1 and F2 of oral and nasalized vowels in these communities are distinct. The following research questions were elaborated: (i) is the presence of nasalized vowels in the speech of these quilombola communities conditioned to the presence of a nasal sound segment? (ii) does the nasal sound segment following the nasalized vowel favor the occurrence of the nasality phenomenon? is there a difference between the values of F1 and F2 of the oral and nasalized vowels in both quilombola communities considered? To compose our corpus, 24 interviews recordings were used (12 female speakers and 12 male speakers), a total of 24 participants. It was found that the following nasal sound segment tends to condition the nasalized vowel. In general, it assimilates the lowering of the soft palate of nasal consonant segment immediately following, but there are cases of nasal vowel segment - regressive assimilation; the stressed syllable tends to favor the nasality, but it occurs in pretonic and postonic position as well; F1 and F2 values of oral and nasalized vowels in the quilombola communities of Poções and Brejo dos Crioulos are distinct: the group of Brejo dos Crioulos tends to produce the F1 of oral and nasalized vowels more lowered than the group of Poções and the F2, in a more anterior position. The nasality tends to occur in verbs and nouns, although it is not specific to a grammatical category. This research found cases of spurious nasalization, confirming previous studies. In turn, it revealed cases of lexical items with favorable context for nasalization, but with its non-occurrence. This last case, considered as the lowering of the uniform soft palate in PB, presented pronounced vowels without the soft palate lowering. That is, it was detected variation in the phenomenon of nasalization in PB. With this work, it was promoted the discussion about nasality, in order to contribute to the linguistic studies about the functioning of Brazilian Portuguese in this geographical context. / Dissertação (Mestrado)

Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T16:19:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 GISELIA BRITO DOS SANTOS.pdf: 1227926 bytes, checksum: a2e2667d79b93650a9379c71d706e2cf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-12-16 / This paper presents an analysis of the nasality in the speech community of Fortaleza Nogueiras-MA, is which the postulates of the structuralism and generative theory are used to present nasal phonemes in the Portuguese language in Brazil and particulary in the analyzed corpus. The informants of this research are people with low formal education, who have always lived in rural areas, and they are over 60 years old. The Field Research was used in the data collection, phonographic transcription in the record, and the analytical descriptive method to analyze them. The theoretical framework presents issues related to Phonetics, mainly the Articulatory Phonetics; the Phonology, especially the Linear Phonology; and Morphology, with issues related to the definition and formation of words, particularly in diminutive and augmentative degree. We present a historical overview of consonants and vowel phonemes, in which we have focused the nasal phonemes, and their transformations, from Latin to Portuguese. With respect to Brazilian Portuguese, we describe the nasality from the conception of nasal phonemes of Camara Jr. (1970), also the progressive and regressive spreading concepts and the nasality treatment within the syllable. The main focus for this analysis is the progressive and regressive spreading of nasal resonance, from the three nasal consonant phonemes, that belongs to the Portuguese language / m /, / n / e // in grammatical and phonological words. For this analysis, it was considered the intralingual aspects as phonetic-phonological environmental, stress, syllable structure, words boundaries, grammatical and phonological words. We have discussed the nasality in the formation of diminutives and augmentative degrees and, lastly, we have presented some progressive and regressive nasalization rules, based on the features model proposed by Chomsky and Halle (1968 apud MATZENAUER) / Este trabalho apresenta uma análise da nasalidade na comunidade de fala de Fortaleza dos Nogueiras-MA, em que são utilizados os postulados da teoria estruturalista e da teoria gerativista para a apresentação dos fonemas nasais na língua portuguesa do Brasil e, especificamente, no corpus analisado. Os informantes da pesquisa são pessoas com baixa escolaridade, que sempre viveram na zona rural e que têm a partir de 60 anos. Utilizamos a pesquisa de campo para a coleta dos dados, a transcrição fonográfica para o registro e o método descritivo analítico para analisá-los. O referencial teórico apresenta questões relacionadas à Fonética, especialmente à Fonética Articulatória; à Fonologia, com destaque para a Fonologia Linear; e à Morfologia com questões relacionadas à definição e à formação de palavras, particularmente à formação dos graus diminutivo e aumentativo. Apresentamos um apanhado histórico dos fonemas consonânticos e vocálicos, em que enfocamos os fonemas nasais e as suas transformações, desde o latim ao português. No que diz respeito ao português brasileiro, descrevemos a nasalidade a partir da concepção de fonemas nasais de Camara Jr. (1970), do conceito de espraiamento progressivo e regressivo e do tratamento da nasalidade dentro da sílaba. O foco principal de análise é o espraiamento progressivo e regressivo da ressonância nasal, a partir dos três fonemas consonânticos nasais do português /m/, /n/ e // em palavras gramaticais e em palavras fonológicas. Para essa análise, foram considerados os aspectos intralinguísticos como ambiente fonético-fonológico, tonicidade, estrutura da sílaba, fronteiras de palavras, palavra fonológica e palavra gramatical. Tratamos da nasalidade nos diminutivos e aumentativos e, por fim, apresentamos algumas regras de nasalização progressiva e regressiva com base no modelo de traços de Chomsky e Halle (1968 apud MATZENAUER, 2005)

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)