Academic Research Akunna Onyedum

ASPECTS OF THE PHONOLOGY OF GUNGANCHI LANGUAGE BABATUNDE, Oluwatobi Olayemi 07/15CB045 A RESEARCH PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS AND NIGERIAN LANGUAGES, FACULTY OF ARTS, UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN ILORIN – NIGERIA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS (B. A. Hons) IN LINGUISTICS MAY, 2011. CERTIFICATION This essay has been read and approved as meeting the requirements of Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria. _________________________________________________ DR. (MRS. ) B. E. AROKOYODATE Project Supervisor ________________________________________________ PROF. A. S. ABDUSSALAMDATE Head of Department _________________________________________________ EXTERNAL EXAMINERDATE DEDICATION This project work is dedicated to the Almighty God, the Alpha and Omega, who gives wisdom and excellence. My dear father, Engr. O. A. Falade, who has been there for me up till this tim e. You are my hero. May God reward you. ACKNOLWEDGEMENTS My profound gratitude goes to the Lord for seeing me through my studies at the University of Ilorin. He has been the Alpha and Omega, my help, inspiration and the source of knowledge and wisdom. He alone deserves my appreciation. Also, my gratitude goes to my lovely parents, ENGR. AND MRS. O. A. FALADE for their love, care, advice, guidance and for providing for all my educational needs. The Almighty God will grant you long life, and enable you to reap the fruits of your labour (Amen). You are the best parents in the world, I love you dearly. I also appreciate the great efforts of my able supervisor, Dr. (Mrs. ) B. E. Arokoyo, who guided me through in my research work, she gave me her time and motherly assistance despite the inconvenience. May the Lord be with you and reward you (Amen). I also appreciate all my lecturers. I want to also appreciate the love and prayers of my kid brother BABATUNDE JOHN TEMITOPE. And my aunts Mrs. O. Y. Philips and Miss Olushola Faniyi. I also want to appreciate the effort of Ogunbiyi Abayomi. You all have been wonderful. My sincere gratitude goes to my informant Corporal Labbo Alkali who helped me in acquiring all necessary information about Gunganchi. May the Lord reward you richly (Amen). Also, I appreciate my friends: Bakare Bimbo, Olagbenro Bola, Dikko Oluwaseun, Adebayo Funke, Saka Tokunbo, Ogunbowale Tobi, Adekoya Oluwaseun, Ajagunna Gideon, Bamidele Bukola, Oyeniran Gbolagade Adebayo Adewale. I also appreciate the effort of my pastor, Pastor Tunde and those who have in one way or the other contributed to the success of this research. Thank you all. TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Pagei Certificationii Dedicationiii Acknowledgements iv Table of Contentsvi CHAPTER ONE: 1. 0Introduction 1 1. 1General Background1 1. 2Historical Background of Gunganchi People2 1. 3Sociocultural Background or Profile of the Gunganchi People4 1. 4Genetic Classification of Gunganchi10 1. 5Scope and Organization of Study 11 1. 6Data Collection12 1. 7Data Analysis13 1. 8Review of the chosen Theoretical Framework13 CHAPTER TWO: BASIC PHONOLOGICAL CONCEPTS . 0Introduction 21 2. 1Phonology21 2. 2Sound Inventory of Gunganchi24 2. 3Phonological Description of Gunganchi Consonants and their Distribution 28 2. 4Vowels42 2. 5Distribution of Vowels45 2. 6Distribution of Nasalized Vowels51 2. 7Tonal Inventory54 2. 8Syllable Inventory 56 2. 9Distinctive Features 59 CHAPTER THREE: PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES IN GUNGANCHI 3 . 0Introduction 70 3. 1Phonological Processes70 CHAPTER FOUR: TONAL PROCESSES AND SYLLABLE PROCESSES 4. 0Introduction 78 4. 1Tone System in Gunganchi78 4. 2Functions of Tone in Gunganchi82 4. 3Tonal Processes83 4. 4Syllable Structure85 4. 5Syllable Structure Rule in Gunganchi89 CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, FINDINGS/OBSERVATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION 5. 0Summary93 5. 1Finding/Observations94 5. 2Recommendations95 5. 3Conclusion96 References97 CHAPTER ONE 1. 0INTRODUCTION This chapter is aimed at discussing the case study of the Gungawa people who speak Gunganchi language. It will note their general background, historical background, sociocultural profile, the genetic classification of Gunganchi language. This chapter will also discuss the scope and organization of study, the chosen theoretical framework, data collection, and the data analysis for this project work. 1. 1GENERAL BACKGROUND The Gunganchi people are a tribe that are also called the â€Å"Bareshe† people by their Hausa neighbours which means â€Å"Island Dwellers†, it was told they were given this name due to their closeness to lakes and rivers. Among themselves, they are commonly called â€Å"Gungawa, Tsureja, Bareshe or Yaurawa† people. Their language has different names like: Gunganchi, Tsureshe, Gunga or Tsureja and the name given to their land is either Reshe or Gungu. The present Gunganchi people are the tribe who fled to the nearby Island of Niger in the mid nineteenth century and eventually settled in a new site called Gungu or Yelwa. The Gunganchi people are said to be the original inhabitants of Yauri. During the British regime, the state of Yauri as an emirate and the state of Yelwa as the seat of the Emir of Yauri confirmed that both Yauri and Yelwa became Hausarized as a result of their contact with the Hausa people. Today, the Yauri people speak mostly Hausa language. The Gunganchi people lived in islets (very small islands) and shores of the Niger above Bussa until the creation of Kainji Lake in 1974 which disrupted their settlement and their living outside Kebbi State. 1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF GUNGANCHI PEOPLE According to oral history, the Gunganchi people has different histories that has been narrated which associated with their origin that will be discussed below. In the nineteenth century, a descendant of a warrior called ‘kasira’ who is also known as ‘Kachin’ allied with the Hausa soldiers to conquer the territory in the extreme North who later settled with his co-fighters in the present Yauri town. A native speaker of Gunganchi who is known as â€Å"Agmalafiya† believe that the Gunganchi people came from Kabbawa. He said they were hunters from Katsina State and further explained that some people said the Gunganchi people are from the other Yauri’s ethnic groups which are Shangawa, Kambari, Kabbawa or Sarkawa, Dukawa etc. Another history told us of their trace to the Songhai warriors who came from Mali to seek territorial control and they eventually settled in Yauri and parts of Lopa and Laru (Gunganchi’s neighbouring areas). From the histories narrated above, it is obvious that the Gunganchi people has no specific history concerning their origin. They are divergent in their historical roots. 1. 2. 1Population The Gunganchi people were about forty to sixty thousand in 1993. About thrity-five percent lived outside Yauri Local Government in Kebbi State, sixty percent lived in Yauri town, nine percent in Kotangora, Bussa and Borgu Local Government and one percent in Kiama Local Government Area in Kwara State. Back to 1990, the population of the speakers in Yauri were referred to as Yaurawa or Reshewa in Hausa language. According to Agmalafiya who was mentioned earlier, the Gunganchi people were called Yaurawa by Queen Amina of Zaria but generally called Gungawa among the Gunganchi in Diaspora and sometimes call themselves Bareshe, which is the plural, or Ureshe, which is the singular. 1. 3SOCIOCULTURAL BACKGROUND OR PROFILE OF THE GUNGANCHI PEOPLE According to the Oxford Advanced Leaner’s Dictionary, culture is the way of life, the customs and beliefs, art and social organization of a particular country or group. The Gunganchi people have a social and cultural profile that is similar to that of their neighbouring ethnic group, Hausa. It is said that their lifestyle is centered on the Emirate’s system. The Gunganchi people have their sociocultural beliefs which are expressed in their culture, mode of dressing, occupation, religion, festivals, marriage system, naming ceremony, burial ceremony, their education system and political administration. 1. 3. 1Culture The Bareshe (Gunganchi) people are highly cultured which reflect in their mode of dressing, greetings, occupation and body adornment like decorating the woman’s legs with tattoos and heavy tribal marks on her face during the wedding ceremony. . 3. 2Mode of Dressing The Gunganchi people’s mode of dressing in the olden days is different from their dressing in these modern days. In the olden days, they used to dress in animal skin, while in these modern days, they dress in ‘Banbariga’ which is the traditional dress for men while the women dress in loose covered clothing with a local embroidery scarf which is tied around the woma n’s body to wade off the sun. They are mostly dressed in loose robe for relaxation. 1. 3. 3 Occupation The Gunganchi people are mostly farmers and fishermen. Their major crops are guinea corn, beans, rice, and onions while the fishing equipment which is a fish cage is called ‘Suru’ and ‘Hauwuya’ in Gunganchi language. The people are also known for their canoe and mat making. 1. 3. 4 Religion The Gunganchi people are mostly Muslims and few traditional worshippers and very little Christians. 1. 3. 5Festivals The festivals done in Gunganchi are called ‘Anipo’ festival and ‘Idembe’. Festival. The blood of animals like goat or bushmeat is used as sacrifices to their gods during the festival. During the festival, a round seat is created by the people when eating. Such sittings are also formed at events like wedding, naming ceremony, sallah festival and at relaxation joints. 1. 3. 6 Marriage System of the Gunganchi People The Gunganchi has a distinct way by which marriage is done. It shows a lazy man cannot marry any Gunganchi lady because marriage is said to be a bit difficult most especially for the men. Firstly, a man must inform his parents if he is in love with a lady. Then, the man’s parents must make their son’s interest known to the lady’s parents. He will then farm for the lady’s family he intends to marry from before giving their consent. The farming duration is not specified, the man is said to stop the farming when lady’s father is satisfied and the final consent will be given to the man’s family. The lady’s family will then inform his relatives formally about their daughter’s courtship with the man before the wedding date is chosen. According to Muauzu, the marriage or engagement ceremony is based on Islamic rites whereby the bride price (Zadaki) will be paid. The bride will be decorated with tattoos on her legs and heavy tribal marks on her face. Foods eaten at the ceremony are guinea corn pap, which is served in the morning and rice with fish soup and burukutu is served at dusk. Their sitting position is related to that of the festival’s as mentioned earlier they sit round a dish of guinea corn pap on a mat, their sitting culture is the same with the Hausas. Hence, the Gunganchi people inter marry with the Hausas. 1. 3. 7Naming Ceremony The Gunganchi do their naming ceremony seven days after the child’s birth and its hair will be shaved. Rice or guinea corn pap is served at the ceremony with people sitting round the food. Therefore, the child will be circumcised after ten years. 1. 3. 8Burial Ceremony Like most tribes, the Gunganchi celebrate the death of aged person and mourn the death of a young person. They investigate sudden or unusual death by consulting the oracle called â€Å"Gigo† (true god) or â€Å"Ujigo† (a god of thunder and rain). The oracle will make the spirit of the deceased to revenge for his or her death by killing the person who is responsible for his or her death. However, this practice is peculiar to the local or extreme Gunganchi people. 1. 3. 9Education System The Gunganchi value the Western education, they give education to both their male and female children. They have schools; they also make use of their personal houses as schools. 1. 3. 10 Political Administration The Gunganchi adopted the system of their neighboring tribe (Hausa) which is the Emirate’s system because it is a multi-ethnic area that consist Yelwa, Lopa, Yauri, Laru people which co-exist with them. The Emir’s palace is situated in Yelwa, thus, the Gunganchi are the first settlers in Yauri. The appointed Emir is the ruler of all the ethnic groups under Yauri. During the British regime, recognition was given to the Yauri emirate and Gungu (Island) district of the Yauri Local Government which are now the center of Reshe (Gunganchi) population. In the political administration of the Gunganchi people, succession is not by hereditary because the Emir must be appointed, despite the fact that a Gunganchi man was the first Emir of Yauri. The Emir must have some qualities before he can be appointed, like; he must be an elderly person, famous and respected among the ethnic groups made up of Yauri. When a new Emir is appointed, turbaning will be done as a sign of leadership. The Emir rules the territory with his local chiefs called â€Å"Sariki† in areas like Gungunsariki, Banha, Rekubolo, Toro, Zamari, Jalubabu etc. Presently, the Local Government Chairman is responsible for the executive function of Yauri and other governmental activities are executed by the Kebbi State Government. However, most of the Gunganchi people are bilingual, (they speak both Gunganchi and Hausa) but the majority speaks Gunganchi at home especially the youths. Thus, the language of the emirate is Hausa with high prestige. . 4GENETIC CLASSIFICATION OF GUNGANCHI Genetic classification is the sub-grouping of all relevant languages into genetic nodes (group of languages in each of which one language is more closely related to the other in that group than to any language outside the group). The basis for genetic classification is the idea that group of languages that share certain systemic resemblan ces have inherited those similarities from a common origin. Thus, genetic classification makes two statements. First, it affirms that certain languages are infact related to each other (i. e. hare a common ancestor). Second, it specifies how the languages are interrelated in the form of a branching diagram. Gunganchi language falls under the Niger-Kordofanian language family. African Language Afro-AsiaticNiger KordofanianNilo SaharanKhoisan MandeNew Benue Congo AtlanticVolta Congo Kordofanian OkoDefoidKainjiIdomoidEdoidWolof Western KainjiEastern Kainji KamukuKainji LakeGunganchi (Gungawa)KambariBassaLopa 1. 5SCOPE AND ORGANIZATION OF STUDY This work is limited to the aspects of the phonology of Gunganchi language and it is divided into five chapters. Chapter one deals with the introductory part, which includes the general background, historical background, sociocultural profile of Gunganchi people, genetic classification of Gunganchi language, scope and organization of study, data collection, data analysis and the review of the chosen theoretical framework. Chapter two deals with the basic phonological concepts that involves the sound inventory of Gunganchi language whereby the tonal inventory and syllable inventory of the language of study shall be discussed and the sound distributions which includes distinctive features. Chapter three is based on the phonological processes found in Gunganchi language. Then, chapter four will focus on the tonal and syllable processes of Gunganchi language. Chapter five will summarize and conclude the work. 1. 6DATA COLLECTION In this research work, the method used for our data collection is the direct translation method from English language to the project language which is Gunganchi based on the Ibadan 400 wordlist. There was a direct interview with the language helper, thus, data elicitation was carried out with the wordlist recorded on audio cassette. Informant’s Data: Name:Corporal Labbo Alkali Occupation:Soldier Age: 40 years Religion:Muslim Languages spoken apart from Gunganchi: Hausa and English Number of years spent in Reshe (Gunganchi): 20 years 1. 7DATA ANALYSIS To ensure an accurate data analysis in this research work, all the data collected were carefully and correctly written, tone marked and transcribed. The data collected were used according to how the native speaker used them without imposing any extra rules or norms. 1. REVIEW OF THE CHOSEN THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK The framework adopted for this research work is Generative Phonology, which was developed by Chomsky and Halle in the early 1950s; it is a component of generative grammar. This framework assigns the correct phonetic representations to ‘utterances’ in such a way as to reflect a native speaker’s internalized grammar. According to Oyebade (2008: 9), Generative Phonology is a theory which is built on the insight of taxonomic phonemics e ven while remodeling the focus of phonological analysis. The major motivation for this theoretical framework was the clash between theoretical assumptions and linguistic data under the theory of classical (taxonomic) phonemics. Generative phonology took off at maximum speed in the 1960s, following the works of Chomsky and Halle (published in 1968 as â€Å"Sound Pattern of English (SPE)†. This theory argues that the taxonomic approach of classical phonemics was not adequate enough to address appropriately the phenomenon of human speech. The proponents of this new school of phonology suggest that an adequate theory of phonology must account for: a) The phenomenon of language acquisition b) The puzzling fact that man can still understand the speech of another even when this speech is defective; and c) The native speaker’s intuition about the physical make-up of the speech of his language. 1. 8. 1The Structure of Generative Phonology Generative phonology assumes three very crucial components: the underlying representation, the phonetic representation and the rules which link the two together that is called the phonological rules. These components will be reviewed below. 1. 8. 1. 1Underlying Representation Oyebade (2008: 12) assumes underlying representation to be an abstract representation existing in the linguistic competence of the native speaker. The underlying representation is the most basic form of a word before any phonological rules have been applied to it. Underlying representation shows what a native speaker knows about the abstract underlying phonology of the language. At this level, items with invariant meaning have identical representation. The underlying representation is also known as â€Å"the phonological representation†, thus, the ability (competence) of a native speaker to compute a sentence is referred to as the phonological representation and this competence can be scientifically investigated. There is an assumption of an underlying level where there is a one-to-one correspondence between form and meaning and which is exactly the same from one competent speaker to another which explains the puzzling reaction of children in the acquisition process. Since the child shares the same competence (and therefore the same underlying representation) as the adult, it is reasonable to assume that the child will expect the same output as the adult will expect. The child may not be able to produce such an output since his production capability is slower in the acquisition process than his competence. The assumption of an underlying representation which accounts for the rapid processing of defective input. Both interlocutors have a shared competence which is accurate and invariant; the decoder part participant thus has a prototype with which he can restructure the defective utterance of the encoder. Also, the underlying representation has the property of being encoded in â€Å"distinctive features† (these features will be discussed in the next chapter). This assumption is motivated by the fact that language seems to target these features in making its choices rather than segments. 1. 8. 1. 2 The Phonetic Representation The phonetic representation is the form of a word that is spoken and heard. It is also known as â€Å"the surface level†. Phonological structure reflects the linguistic competence of the native speaker to compute a phonetic representation for the potentially infinite number of sentences generated by the syntactic component of the grammar. We can say that there is no speaker of a language that has heard all the sentences in his language but speaker has the ability to understand any sentence heard. Phonetic representation indicates how the lexical item is to be realized in speech. It is characterized by degree of narrowness such that, at the very least, any two sounds that are distinguished in any human language are differently represented. Generative phonology seems to consider this level as being trivial and not worth too much attention except, perhaps as a source for the verification and justification of the proposed underlying representation. 1. 8. 13 Phonological Rules Phonological rules map underlying representation onto phonological representations. They delete, insert, or change segments, or change the features of segments. They are said to show the derivational sequence or path of an item in its journey from the underlying level to the phonetic level. They must be able to capture the phonological phenomenon in the simplest form. There are two types of rules in phonological rules: feature changing rules and fill-in rules. The feature changing rules change the features of the input to that of the output. However, the other kind of rules called fill-in rules are rules, as the name implies, which fill in empty slots. Phonological rules have to be precise in a scientific account of linguistic phenomena. It was therefore suggested that the rules should have their own format. For instance, a rule can say insert a high front vowel between a cluster of consonants and we can have another rule which says insert a high front vowel after a word-final consonant. These rules can be formalized thus: a. O(i/C____C b. O(i/C____# As you can observe from the formalization of the two rules, they are identical in input and output. Furthermore, they have a lot of similarities in the environment. If the rules are left like this, that is, as two separate rules, the implied claim will be that these are two separate and distinct processes. This is intuitively incorrect and it loses a linguistically significant generalization. These two rules can then be collapsed into one and to capture the linguistically significant fact that we are dealing with the same process. Thus (a) and (b) can be combined as in (c) below: C c. O(i/C—— # that is, a high front vowel is inserted either between two consonants or after a consonant at word final position. In phonological rules, notational devices are applied. They are conventions which make it possible to combine distinct but related phonological rules in a single statement; rules may be collapsed in this way only if they involve the same process. In other words, notational devices are abbreviation conventions aimed at reducing several rules into one. The purpose is to present more economically the facts of language. There are notational devices like: brace notation ({}), angled bracket notation (), variable features or alpha notation ((), multiple variable notation ((,(, ? , etc. ). The role of these devices is to make it possible for the phonologists to precisely and unambiguously state in rule form and the process that is taking place in language when a pattern is observed. Secondly, it makes linguistiscally significant generalizations and claims about the way language works. Finally, and perhaps most trivially, it provides a shorthand abbreviatory method by which a complex process can be captured as briefly as possible. CHAPTER TWO BASIC PHONOLOGICAL CONCEPTS 2. 0INTRODUCTION This chapter is based on the phonology of Gunganchi language. The sound inventory which involves the tonal inventory and the syllable inventory will be discussed. It also focuses on the sound distribution of Gunganchi language where the distinctive features will be discussed. 2. 1PHONOLOGY According to Davenport and Hannahs (2005: 2), phonology deals with how speech sounds are organized into system for each individual language: for example: how the sounds can be combined, the relations between them and how they affect each other. In phonology, the root ‘phone’ relates to ‘voice’, sound and ‘logos’ which means ‘word; speech’ originates from the Greek words. Phonology as a subfield of linguistics is the study of the rules behind the way sounds encode meaning in language. Also, it is the study of sounds and patterns in a language. It can be said that phonology seeks to discern the sounds made in all human languages. In addition, phonology studies how sounds alternate that is the minimal meaningful sounds which are ‘PHONEMES’. However, phonemes are sets of phones, which function as one unit in a language, and provide contrast between different words. It is also a sound segment of words or syllables. In human language, a phoneme is the smallest structural unit that distinguishes meaning. The phonemic inventory of a language is the set of phonemes it possesses. In the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabets), phonemes are conventionally enclosed in forward sashes (//) and speech sounds that are not phonemes are placed in brackets ([ ]). For example, the /t/ sound in the English words ‘tip’, ‘stand’, ‘cat’ and ‘water’ are conceived of as being the same sound, despite the fact that in each word they are pronounced somewhat differently; the difference may not even be audible to native speakers. One of the most important tools for examining phonemes is the ‘minimal pair’ which means different words but differ as a result of one sound, that is, a pair of words which differ only in one segment. In a minimal pair, one can be sure that the difference between words is phonemic in nature, because the segments in question are surrounded by the same environment and this cannot be allophones of each other. Examples of minimal pair in Gunganchi are: [ut(i]‘tree’ [at(i] ‘firewood’ [hina]‘cow’ [wina]‘tail’ [ureta]‘right(side)’ upeta]‘medicine’ [kwubanoh]‘open’ [kwubaloh]‘close’ [itamia]‘push’ [igamia]‘sweep’ A phoneme may encompass several recognizable different speech sounds called ‘PHONES’. In phonetics, the smallest perceptible segment is a phone. In the examples stated earlier, the /t/ in ‘tip’ is aspirated [th], whi le the /t/ in stand is unaspirated [t]. Thus, phones that belong to the same phonemes are called allophones such as [th] and [t] are allophones of the phoneme /t/ given in the examples given earlier. Allophones are often conditioned by their environment. For example, the English phoneme /t/ is realized as a tap [r] between vowels in normal speech when not preceeding a stressed vowel as in ‘butter’. In a case like this we can say that the stop [t] and tap [r] which are allophones of the phoneme /t/ are in ‘complementary distribution’, as every environment selects for either one or the other, and the allophones themselves may be referred to as ‘COMPLEMENTARY DISTRIBUTION’. 2. 2SOUND INVENTORY OF GUNGANCHI Human sounds can be grouped into two basic classes whereby they are found in Gunganchi. They are: 1. Consonants 2. Vowels 2. . 1Consonants Consonants are sounds produced with an obstruction of the air passage somewhere along the vocal tract. A consonant in terms of sound production is a sound which is obstructed in some way by the tongue or lip contact e. g. in Gunganchi, sounds like /k/, /p/ as in; /k/([ka? ina]‘reply’ /p/([puteta]‘forget’ as opposed to the unobstructed sound of a vowel. Consonant sounds require a certain degree of constriction of the vocal tract in their production, therefore, at some point, diverting, impeding or completely shutting off the airflow of air in the oral cavity. This constriction of the vocal tract may involve complete closure or partial closure. In terms of the sound system, the consonant is a sound that typically occurs at the beginning or end of the syllable rather than in the middle of it, thus contrasting with vowels. Thus, the organs of speech that obstruct at some point in the oral cavity are known as the ‘articulators’. From the glottis, past the velum, the hard palate and alveolar ridge and the tongue, to the teeth and lips. The consonant sounds are classified by; a) Voicing b) Place of articulation c) Manner of articulation 2. 2. 1. 1 Voicing Consonants may be voiced or voiceless. As the airstream comes to or from the lungs, it passes through the opening between the glottis. If the vocal cords are open, the air passes through without obstruction and the sounds that are made in this way, are described as ‘voiceless’. If the vocal cords closed, then the air passing through the glottis causes them to vibrate producing ‘voiced’ sounds. Some of the consonant sounds in Gunganchi come in pairs that differ in being voiced or voiceless e. g. /b/ and /p/ ( /b/ is voiced and /p/ is the voiceless consonant in one pair. /k/ and /g/ are found in another pair, /k/ is voiceless and the voiced sound is /g/. Also, it applied to /d/ and /t/, /d/ is voiced while /t/ is the voiceless consonant which forms another pair. 2. 2. 1. 2 Place of Articulation It is the point of articulation where both the active and passive articulators meet or contact to produce the desired consonant. Here, we have to do with the position of the tongue and lips. The places of articulation in Gunganchi are; bilabial, alveolar palato-alveolar, velar, labial-velar, palatal, glottal, palatalized velars and alveolar, labialized-alveolar and velars. 2. 2. 1. 3 Manner of Articulation Manner of articulation makes reference to the type of stricture which the articulators are making to produce the consonant sounds. The obstructions made may be total, intermittent, partial or narrow enough to cause friction. The manners of articulation in Gunganchi are stop, nasal, fricative, affricate, trill, lateral and approximant. However, it is observed that there is the presence of consonant clusters in Gunganchi language that is consonants occurring together side by side e. g. [riadda]‘matchet’ [ubalkari]‘male’ [kwa] ‘take(one thing)’ Thus, the consonants attested in Gunganchi are: /p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /tw/ /dw/ /dj/ /k/ /g/ /kw/ /gw/ kj/ /gj/ /gb/ /r/ /m/ /n/ /s/ /z/ /(/ /h/ /hj/ /ts/ /t(/ /? // /l/ /j/ /w/ /r/. 2. 2. 2. 1 Gunganchi Consonant Chart |Bilabial |Alveolar |Labialized |Palatalize |Palate-alveolar |Palatal |Velar | | | | |alveolar |alveolar | | | | |High |+ |- |- |- |- |- |+ | |Low |- |- |- |+ |- |- |- | |Round |- |- |- |- |+ |+ |+ | |ATR |+ |+ |- |- |- |+ |+ | 2. 9. 4Segment Redundancy for Gunganchi Consonants Redundancy is the principle that helps in predicting some features from the presence of other features; thus, the feature that predicts the feature of the other is said to be redundant. Gunganchi language attest to a number of features that are completely predictable at all stages of derivation. All the redundant features are expressed as fill-in rule or [if –then]. However, the output of the phonological components must specify all feature in such a way that it indicates necessary features used in derivation. i)If:[+ syll] Then:+ son – cons ii)If:[+ cons] Then:+ voice – strid iii)If:[+ ant] Then:[+ cons] iv)If:[+ nas] Then:- cont – strid + voice + son 2. 9. 5Segment Redundancy for Gunganchi Vowels | |i |e |( |a |? o |u | |High |+ |- |(-) |(-) |(-) |- |+ | |Low |(-) |- |- |+ |(-) |(-) |(-) | |Round |- |- |- |(-) |+ |+ |+ | |ATR |(+) |+ |- |(-) |- |+ |(+) | All of the predictable redundancies can be expressed as fill-in rules which are also called if â€⠀œthen segment structure constraints as done for consonants above. i)If:[+ high] Then:[- low] ii)If:[+ low] Then:[- high] iii)If:[+ high] Then:[+ ATR] iv) If:[+ round] Then:[- low] v)If:[+ low] Then:[- round] vi)If:[+ low] Then:[- ATR] vii)If:[+ ATR] Then:[- low] viii)If:[- ATR] Then:[- high] However, redundancies come from any of two sources: the first is the attempt to express the physiological possibilities (or impossibilities) of the vocal organs. For example, the constraints if [+ high] then [- low] makes the claim that the tongue cannot be raised and lowered at the same time. In other words, if the tongue is raised then it is not lowered and if it is lowered then it is not raised. Since the physiological possibilities of the human vocal tract is universal to all human beings, this type of redundancy is a universal one. The second source comes from the fact that languages do not always maximally utilize all combinatorial possibilities logically expected when features come together. CHAPTER THREE PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES IN GUNGANCHI 3. INTRODUCTION This chapter will be discussing the phonological processes found in Gunganchi language. 3. 1PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES Phonological processes are sound modifications motivated by the need to maintain euphony in a language or to rectify violations of well-formedness constraints in the production of an utterance. (Oyebade 2008: 61). Segments are either within the same morpheme or at morpheme boundary under various conditions may undergo certain changes. Therefore, these changes are known as ‘phonological processes’. Environment within which sounds occur may affect changes. The phonological processes in Gunganchi are: 3. 1. 1Assimilation According to Oyebade (2008: 63), assimilation is when two contiguous sounds which have different modes of production become identical in some or all of the features of their production. Assimilation is the modification of sounds in the direction of greater similarity to the surrounding phonological environment (Langacker 1972: 270). Assimilation may be either partial or total. Tonal assimilation is the converting of the changing segment to become identical to other segment and assimilation may be partial such that only some features of the changing consonant (or vowel) becomes identical with that of the initiating segment. Examples of assimilation in Gunganchi: ugika[ugjka]‘bag’ In the above example, the voiced velar stop bears the feature ‘high’ of the vowel [i]. It is observed that when the voiced velar stop occur before a high unrounded front vowel, it becomes palatalized which shows assimilation has taken place. – cont+ syll – ant([high]__________- back – cor- round + voice+ high unun[unu]‘mouth’ anuhin[anuhi]‘teeth’ In the examples above, vowels take on the feature of the alveolar nasal. Thus, vowel becomes nasalized before alveolar nasal. + syll- cont -cons([+ nas]__________+ ant + cor + nas 3. 1. 2Vowel Elision Vowel elision is another common phonological process. According to Oyebade (2008: 69), vowels are usually deleted when two or more vowels occur across morpheme boundary. When such an occurrence is introduced by morphological processes, the language may choose to drop the first or the second of the contiguous vowels. Examples in Gunganchi are: [itsuria][akatua]([itsuriakatua] ‘buy’ ‘shoe’‘buy (a) shoe’ [ikabia][uwapo] ( [ikabiuwapo] ‘money’ ‘house’‘house rent’ However, it is observed that low back unrounded vowels are deleted at morpheme boundary if the next morpheme begins with a vowel. + syll+ syll + low(O___________- cons + back – round 3. 1. 3Labialisation Labialisation is the super-imposition of liprounding on a segment in such a way that the feature of a vowel now attaches to the consonant articulated (Oyebade 2008: 66). Examples of labializationin Gunganchi language are: [utw? ha]‘ear’ [rotwua]‘neck’ [abakjrdwola]‘animal’ [ndwuwa]‘person’ The alveolar stops [t] and [d] that are not naturally, they labialized take on the feature of the rounded vowels. We can therefore, say that alveolar stops become labialized before back rounded vowels. – cont+ syll + ant([lab]_____________+ back + cor+ rounded Other examples of labialization are: [igbagwua] ‘pepper’ [ugwohua]‘kolanut’ [ribulukwu]‘cooking’ [alokwotwo]‘snail’ It is also observed that velar stops [k] and [g] become labialized before back rounded vowels. – cont+ syll – ant([+lab]_____________+ back – cor+ round 3. 1. 4Palatalisation According to Oyebade (2009: 65), palatalisation is the super-imposition of tongue raising on a segment. Here are examples in Gunganchi language: [ugjika:]‘bag’ [akjikwa]‘millet’ [inagji]‘pull’ [gjirana]‘descend’ In the above examples, velar stops are palatalized before high vowel. – cont+ syll – ant([+ high]_____________+ high – cor 3. 1. 5Insertion Oyebade (2008: 74) states that: â€Å"Insertion is a phonological process whereby an extraneous element not present originally is introduced into the utterance usually to break up unwanted sequence†. Examples in Gunganchi are shown below. [upowabetatsunia]([upowabetatsunia] ten +one‘eleven’ [upowabetat(zuwa]([upowabetat(zuwa] ten +six‘sixteen’ alosobetatsunia]([alosobetatsunia] twenty +one‘twenty one’ [alosobetajisoh]([alosobetajisoh] twenty +two‘twenty two’ 1. 3. 6Nasalisation Nasalisation is a process where by an oral segment acquires nasality from a neighbouring segment (Katamba 1989: 93). Nasalisation is significant in Gunganchi, for instance; [matsunih? ]‘surpass’ [iji]‘see’ [tsunia] ‘one’ [udaga] ‘stick’ Therefore, vowels become nasalised before alveolar nasal, that is; + syll- cont – cons([+ nas]_____________+ ant + cor + nas CHAPTER FOUR TONAL PROCESSES AND SYLLABLE PROCESSES 4. 0INTRODUCTION This Chapter will be discussing the tone system and the processes found in Gunganchi language. It will also focus on the syllable processes in Gunganchi language. 4. 1TONE SYSTEM IN GUNGANCHI Davenport and Hannahs (2005: 84-85) states that â€Å"In many languages, pitch variation is used to distinguish one word from another. Languages which use pitch in this way are known as ‘tone languages’, and the individual pitch patterns associated with words or syllables are known as ‘tones’†. According to Carlos and Haike (2005: 12), tone languages used pitch contrasts to keep words apart in the same way that languages use vowel and consonant for this purpose. Tone is the differentiation of two words with the same segmental presentation with the use of its pitch. And a language is said to be a tone language when the differences in word meaning are signaled by the differences in pitch. Tone is essentially a property of individual syllables or words and also it is typically used as a way of distinguishing between items at word level (such as minimal pairs, words which are identical except for one component). 4. 1. 1Tone Typologies There are two categories of tone; a. Level tones b. Contour tones 4. 1. 1. 1 Level Tones The tones whereby the pitch is maintained at the same rate for the duration of the syllable are known as ‘level tones’ (Davenport and Hannahs 2005: 85). Level tones are high, mid and low tones. These tones may occur on all syllables. The high tone is indicated by an acute accent (/), the low tone is marked with a grade accent () and the mid tone is represented as (-) or unmarked. Thus, the mid tone is not marked in Gunganchi. 4. 1. 1. 2 Contour Tones According to Davenport and Hannahs (2005: 85), contour tones are tones exhibiting pitch variation during their production. Contour tones consists of the falling tone (^) which is a tone that starts high and end low, and the rising tone (V) which starts low and end high. Contour tones only appear on monosyllables and on the final syllables of disyllabic words. 4. 1. 2Tonal Pattern in Gunganchi Gunganchi is a tone language and it is a level tone language which attests to the high, low and mid tones. Each syllable of Gunganchi language bears a tone. Examples of words that bears the high tone in Gunganchi are: [kwa]‘take(one thing)’ [? w? ]‘sun’ [riba]‘thing’ Occurrence of low tones in Gunganchi language can be shown in the following examples: [dja]‘here’ [riadda]‘matchet’ Occurrences of mid tones in Gunganchi are: [alahagw? mi]‘jaw’ [wuru]‘moon’ [ajaba]‘plantain’ However, there are two or more words in Gunganchi language which have exactly the same consonants and vowels but have different meaning because of a difference in contrastive pitch. These are referred to as tonemes that contrast minimally. For instance; [rotwua]‘neck’HHH [rotwua]‘belly(externall)HHM [kwubaloh]‘cover(in hand)’HLH [kwubaloh]‘close’HML Co-occurrence of tones in Gunganchi In Gunganchi, the low, high and mid tones co-occur. There is the co-occurrence of the low and mid tones, examples are; [ol? ha]‘nose’ [t(ib? ]‘town’ [hia(i]‘dust’ Examples of the co-occurrence of high, mid and low tones in Gunganchi are: [hirokwa]‘horse’ [ibulukw? ]‘he goat’ [alakana(a]‘four hundred’ 4. 2. 1 Functions of Tone in Gunganchi Tone performs two distinct functions, they are: a) Lexical function b) Grammatical function 4. 2. 1. 1 Lexical Function Tone can be used to differentiate lexical items that have identical segments. For example in Gunganchi; [kwubaloh]‘cover (in hand)’HLH [kwubaloh]‘close’HML [rotwua]‘belly(external)HHM [rotwua]‘neck’HHH Note that the different tonemes have resulted in the differences in the meaning of the words above. 4. 2. 1. 2 Grammatical Function Tone is also used to differentiate between different grammatical forms. But, this function is not found in Gunganchi language. 4. 3TONAL PROCESSES As with segments, tones are also modified by their environment. Thus, this gives rise to tonal processes. 4. 3. 1 Tone Elision This occurs when two tones are juxtaposed across morpheme boundary and the final vowel of the first word gets elided causing the tone on it to be elided too. Examples in Gunganchi are: [ikabia][uwapo]([ikabiuwapo]‘house rent’ ‘money’‘house’ [itsuria][akatua](itsuriakatua] ‘buy’‘shoe’‘buy(a) shoe’ 4. 3. 2 Tone Stability In relation to tone, the issue is that â€Å"†¦in tone languages, we find that when a vowel desyllabifies or is deleted by some phonological rules, the tone it was bearing does not disappear, rather, it shifts its location and shows up on some other vowel†. (Goldsmith1976:30). Example of tone stability in Gunganchi: [ubula] [alokat(i] ( [ubulalokat(i] ‘rainy season’ ‘rain’‘time’ 4. 3. 3 Tone Spreading This is a tonal process whereby there are more segments than tone, the tone will then spread to the segment as it is a must that the segments bear tone. This process is not found in Gunganchi language. 4. 3. 4 Floating Tone Oyebade (2008: 15) says that during derivation, segment is specified for tone but merges with vowel, thus, passing its tonal specification to that vowel. Gunganchi does not have floating tone. 4. 3. 4 Tone Contraction This is when tone segmentalization creates two identical tones on the same syllable, the two identical tones are contracted to give only one. Gunganchi language does not attest to this tonal process. However, it is observed that there is the case of nasal consonant that bears tone. Such nasal is referred to as a syllabic nasal because it is interpreted as a vowel that carries a tone. Examples of this in Gunganchi are: [nduwa]‘person’ [nduwakabi]‘old person’ In the words above, the nasal [n] bears the high tone which makes it to function the way other vowels functions. 4. 4SYLLABLE STRUCTURE The syllable is a supra-segmental unit. It can be easily recognized in a language. Davenport and Hannahs (2005: 73) states that: â€Å"One such articulatorily based attempt at the definition involves the notion of a ‘chest pulse; or ‘initiator burst’, that is, a muscular contraction in the chest (involving the lungs) which corresponds to the production of a syllable; each syllable, on this view, involves one burst of muscular energy†. Williamson (1984) defines the syllable as ‘the smallest unit of language which can be pronounced. It is a unit of sound made up of one or more segments during which there is a single chest pulse and a single peak of sonority. Hyman (1975: 188) states that ‘a syllable is made up of an onset, and a core. And the core is further divided into a peak and coda’. However, a syllable is divided into three parts: 1) The onset 2) The core or nucleus 3) The coda The syllable can be represented thus: Syllable OnsetCore Peak (Nucleus)Coda C V(C) This can be illustrated in the example in Gunganchi below: [joh] ‘stand (up)’ ( OnsetCore ConsonantPeakCoda (Nucleus) JVowel(Consonant) ( h The syllable coda and onset are made up of consonant segments while the peak is made up of vowel segment and syllabic consonants. The peak is an obligatory part of the syllable, thus, there must be a peak. The onset (beginning) and coda (end) which usually consist of consonant(s) are optional parts of the syllable. Each syllable carries at least one significant unit of tone in tonal languages. 4. 4. 1 Types of Syllable A syllable can be either an open syllable or closed syllable. It is language specific; some languages may exhibit either of the two syllable types while some languages make use of the two (open and closed syllables) like Gunganchi language. 4. 4. 1. 1Open Syllable This is a syllable in which words end in a vowel, it is a syllable without the coda. Examples in Gunganchi are: [ububa]‘leaf’ [akahoj‘village’ [babi]‘children’ [hilelio]‘elephant’ 4. 4. 1. 2 Closed Syllable Closed syllable is a syllable typology that has at least one consonant following the vowel or closing the nucleus. Examples are: [lakapitwoh]‘old(opp. new)’ [[kakaw]‘pour’ [rimonoh]‘work’ Gunganchi attests to both the open and closed syllable. 4. 5SYLLABLE STRUCTURE RULE IN GUNGANCHI This is the rule that states the possible sequence of sounds or segment in a syllable. Words differ with regard to the number of syllables contained in them. Some words have just one syllable, others may have two or more, hence, words are classified as being monosyllabic, disyllabic, trisyllabic and polysyllabic depending on how many syllable(s) such words have. The syllable structures in Gunganchi are: CV VCV N- Syllable Structure Cw- Syllable Structure Cj- Syllable Structure 4. 5. 1 CV-Syllable Structure The CV-syllable structure is the most common type of syllable structure in Gunganchi. It is mostly found in monosyllabic and disyllabic or trisyllabic and polysyllabic. 4. 5. 1. 1 CV-Structure in Monosyllabic Monosyllabic is a word having a single syllable. For instance, in Gunganchi: [dja]‘here’ 4. 5. 1. 2 CV-Structure in Disyllabic Disyllabic is a word consisting of two syllables. For example: [nana]‘come’ [riba]‘thing’ [riwo]‘corpse’ [hino]‘bee’ 4. 5. 1. 3 CV-Structure in Trisyllabic A word consisting of three syllables is called ‘trisyllabic’. Examples of such words in Gunganchi language are: [rihama]‘food’ [rirogwo]‘cassava’ [rigwula]‘knife’ [hi(aho]‘hawk’ 4. 5. 1. 4 CV-Structure in Polysyllabic Polysyllabic is a word consisting of more than three syllables. Examples in Gunganchi language are: [ribulukwu]‘cooking’ [hamatsaro]‘maize’ [[rit(at(? pua]‘chin’ [ri(iteitwo]‘hat/cap’ 4. 5. 2 VCV-Syllable Structure Examples of VCV-syllable structure in Gunganchi language are illustrated below: [uwi]‘die’ [ut(a]‘guest(stranger)’ [ubi]‘child’ [ut? ]‘father’ 4. 5. 3 N-Syllable Structure This type of syllable is a ‘syllabic-nasal’. It will be interpreted as a vowel because like a vowel, the syllabic nasal carries at tone. In Gunganchi, examples are: [nduwa]‘person’ [nduwakabi]‘old person’ [ndukami]‘man’ 4. 5. 4 Cw-Syllable Structure The [CwV] structure in Gunganchi includes the following: [hitsokwutso]‘guinea fowl’ [ukwulu]‘room’ [mutwo]‘ashes’ 4. 5. 5 Cj-Syllable Structure Examples in Gunganchi language are: [inagji]‘pull’ [(ikjitwo]‘learn’ [gjirana]‘descend’ CHAPTER FIVE SUMMARY, FINDINGS/OBSERVATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION 5. 0SUMMARY This research work has examined the phonological aspects of Gunganchi language. Words are said to be well-patterned and the principles of well-formedness are followed. The method used for the data collection in this research work is the direct translation method from English language to Gunganchi language based on the Ibadan 400 word-list. There was a direct interview with the informant, thus, data elicitation was carried out. The essence of using the illuminating data is to be able to make linguistically significant generalizations. This project work is divided into five chapters. Chapter one is the introductory part which dealt with the general background of Gunganchi people, their sociocultural profile, genetic classification of the language, the scope and organization of study, review of the chosen theoretical framework, data collection and data analysis. Chapter two of this work examined the basic phonological concepts. The sound inventory which involves the tonal inventory and syllable inventory of Gunganchi language was discussed, also, their sound distributions whereby the distinctive features was examined. The third chapter then discussed phonology itself, thus, examined the phonological processes in Gunganchi language. Meanwhile, the phonological processes found in Gunganchi language are: assimilation, nasalisation, labialisation, palatalisation, insertion and vowel elision. However, the phonological rules were also accounted for. Chapter four of this work discussed the tonal and syllable processes. These processes were well examined with illuminating examples from Gunganchi language. Finally, chapter five summarized the work. It also made observations, recommendations and conclusion. 5. 1FINDING/OBSERVATIONS Majority of Gunganchi speakers also speak Hausa language and it is observed that some words in Gunganchi are borrowed from Hausa language. Gunganchi language attests to both open syllable structure and closed syllable structure. Also, when some words in Gunganchi occur across morpheme boundary, the last vowel of the first word gets deleted. There is the case of consonant cluster in Gunganchi language which is another observation. It was also observed that Gunganchi attest to the level tones (high, mid, low) and these tones co-occur in words. Finally, there are some words in Gunganchi that differs as a result of tone which is tonemic contrast. 5. 2RECOMMENDATIONS Through this research, useful insight has been drawn from the phonological aspects of Gunganchi language. As a matter of fact, the language has not been exposed to thorough linguistic scrutiny. There is need for linguists to focus their attention more on the language. This project has studied the aspects of the phonology of Gunganchi language. I hereby recommend that linguists should shed more light on this aspect and other aspects of Gunganchi language. Researchers who would like to research further on Gunganchi will find this research work a reliable reference. 5. 3CONCLUSION Some aspects of the phonology of Gunganchi language have been surveyed. For want of space and time, it has not been possible to treat all aspects of the language. However, I hope this study will inspire further research in the language. REFERENCES Carlos, G. and Haike, J. (2005). â€Å"Understanding Phonology† (2nd Edition). Great Britain: Hodder Arnold. Goldsmith, J. (1976). Autosegmental Phonology. MIT DIssertion IVLC, New York: Grandland Press. Hyman, L. M. (1975). â€Å"Phonology: Theory and Analysis. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Katamba, F. (1989). â€Å"An Introduction to Phonology†. New York: Longman Inc. Langacker, R. W. (1972). â€Å"Fundamentals of Linguistic Analysis†. New York: Harcourt Brace, Javanovich Inc. Mike, D. and Hannahs, S. J. (2005). â€Å"Introducing Phonetics and Phonology† (2nd Edition). India: Replika Press Pvt. Ltd. Oyebade (2008). â€Å"A Course in Phonology† (2nd Edition). Ijebu-Ode: Shebiotimo Press. Oxford (2006). â€Å"Advanced Learners Dictionary† (7TH Edition). Oxford. Oxford University Press. Pike, K. L. (1943). Phonetic. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Pike, K. L. (1948). Tone Languages. Ann Arbor: Michigan University Press. Welmers, W. E. (1973). African Language Structures. Los Angeles: University of California Press.