From the early stage of Optimality Theory (OT) (Prince, Alan and Paul Smolensky (1993): Optimality Theory: Constraint Interaction in Generative Grammar. [ROA: 537-0802: http://roa.rutgers.edu], McCarthy, John J. and Alan Prince (1995). Faithfulness and reduplicative identity. In Jill Beckman, Laura W. Dickey and Suzanne Urbanczyk (eds.) Papers in Optimality Theory. Amherst, MA: GLSA. 249-384), a number of analyses have been proposed to account for vowel harmony in the OT framework. However, because of the diversity of the patterns attested cross-linguistically, no consensus has been reached with regard to the OT treatment of vowel harmony. This, in turn, raises the question whether OT is a viable phonological theory to account for vowel harmony; if a theory is viable, a uniform account of the diverse patterns of vowel harmony should be possible.The main purpose of this thesis is to discuss the application of five different OT approaches to vowel harmony, and to investigate which approach offers the most comprehensive coverage of the diverse vowel harmony patterns. Three approaches are the main focus: feature linking with SPREAD (Padgett, Jaye (2002). Feature classes in phonology. Language 78. 81-110), Agreement-By-Correspondence (ABC) (Walker, Rachel (2009). Similarity-sensitive blocking and transparency in Menominee. Paper presented at the 83rd Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America. San Francisco), and the Span Theory of harmony (McCarthy, John J. (2004). Headed spans and autosegmental spreading. [ROA: 685-0904: http://roa.rutgers.edu]). The applications of these approaches in the following languages are considered: backness and roundness harmony in Turkish and in Yakut (Turkic), and ATR harmony in Pulaar (Niger-Congo). It is demonstrated that both feature linking and ABC analyses are successful in offering a uniform account of the different types of harmony processes observed in these three languages. However, Span Theory turns out to be empirically inadequate when used in the analysis of Pulaar harmony. These results lead to the conclusion that there are two approaches within OT that can offer a uniform account of the vowel harmony processes. This also suggests that OT is viable as a phonological theory.

Cette thèse s'inscrit dans le cadre de l'harmonisation des langues africaines transfrontalières à tradition écrite émergente au moyen des Technologies de l’information et de la communication. / La langue, objet principal de la linguistique, se trouve également au carrefour d’autres disciplines connexes, toute chose qui repose la problématique de l’interdisciplinarité. Dans la présente thèse, il a été question des langues africaines transfrontalières, notamment le Peul abordé sous l’angle de sa dotation pour un enseignement-apprentissage plus efficient dans un contexte africain où les TIC ne sont plus nouvelles. En effet, les sources écrites du savoir en Peul sont d’exploitation très localisées. Ainsi, un journal, un livre de lecture ou de mathématique produit au Sénégal est inutilisable par les apprenants du Burkina Faso. Il se pose alors un problème d’harmonisation du Peul, objet de la présente thèse qui porte plus exactement sur l’harmonisation du Peul par les TIC pour un enseignement-apprentissage plus efficient. L’harmonisation du Peul qui ne saurait exclure du processus aucun de ses parlers qui sont de véritables richesses (Daff, 2004) participe de son utilisation à des fins d’enseignement-apprentissage plus efficient, l’efficience étant le rapport entre le niveau d’efficacité et les ressources (Gérard, 2001). Pour que le Peul, médium linguistique, participe effectivement d’un enseignement-apprentissage plus efficient, les TIC constituent un outil précieux, elles qui donnent «l’occasion de repenser et de délocaliser, dans le temps et dans l’espace, les échanges entre les enseignants et les élèves et favorisent ainsi la création de nouvelles avenues pour des activités d’apprentissage» (Karsenti, 2004, p. 268). Aussi, les objectifs de la présente étude ont-ils été les suivants : mieux comprendre comment les TIC peuvent aider à lever les defis de l’harmonisation de la terminologie et de l’orthographe du Peul ; mieux comprendre dans quelle mesure la diffusion de ressources peules sur Internet a un impact sur « l’évolution positive » de cette langue ; mieux comprendre comment les TIC peuvent rendre plus efficient l’enseignement-apprentissage du Peul. Pour atteindre les objectifs de la recherche, nous avons eu recours à une méthodologie ayant accordé une place de choix aux TIC dans la collecte des données. La thèse étant rédigée par articles, chacun des objectifs a été mis en relation avec l’un des trois articles. Du reste, l’étude fait ressortir que les TIC contribuent efficacement à l’harmonisation du Peul pour un enseignement-apprentissage plus efficient. / Language, the principal object of linguistics, is also located at the crossroads of other disciplines, anything that lies the issue of interdisciplinarity. In this thesis, it was question of cross-border African languages, including Fulani discussed in terms of its allocation for a teaching / learning process more efficient in an African context where ICT is no longer new. Indeed, the written sources of knowledge in Fulani are very localized. Thus, a newspaper, a book reading or mathematics produced in Senegal is unusable by learners of Burkina Faso. This raises a problem of harmonization of the Fulani, subject of this thesis which focuses exactly on the harmonization of the Fulani of ICT for teaching / learning process more efficient. The harmonization of the Fulani who can not be excluded from the process any of its dialects which are true wealth, part of its use for teaching / learning process more efficient, the efficiency being the ratio between the level of efficiency and resources (Gerard, 2001). For the Fulani, linguistic medium, actually participates in a teaching / learning process more efficient, ICT is a valuable tool, giving them "an opportunity to rethink and relocate in time and space, the exchange between teachers and students and thus promote the creation of new avenues for learning activities "(Karsenti, 2004, p. 268). Therefore, the objectives of this study have they been: better understanding of how ICT can promote harmonization of terminology and spelling of the Fulani; better understand how the distribution of Fulani resources on the Internet has an impact on the "positive development" that language; better understand how ICT can make more efficient teaching / learning of the Fulani. To achieve the research objectives, we used a methodology which granted a place of ICT in data collection. The thesis being drafted by sections, each objective has been linked with one of three articles. Moreover, the study revealed that ICT effectively contribute to the harmonization of the Fulani to a teaching / learning process more efficient.