A reference grammar of Mbay

11 Pages·1997·0.32 MB·English

by  Keegan, John M.

1. SEGMENTALPHONOLOGY
1.1 WritingSystem
MostoftheaccuratelinguisticwoikonMbayandotherSaraLanguageshas
beendonebylinguistsattheCentred'EtudesLinguistiquesoftheCollegeCharles
Lwanga(CCL)atSarh. OnemajorachievementofCCLhasbeenthedevelopment
ofawritingsystem. Thissystem,basedonIPAphoneticsymbols,allowsfor
accuratetranscriptionofthephonemes,tonesandcanonicalpatternsofthese
languages. Thesystemoftranscriptionfoundinthisworkfollowsverycloselythe
CCLorthography.MagriflaandFounder(1974),withitscarefultranscriptionofMbay
tonesandvowellengthcontrasts,hasbeenespeciallyuseful.
1.2SegmentInventoryandPronunciation
Atthephonemiclevel,therearesevenvowelsandseventeenconsonantsin
Mbay. Inaddition,therearefourprenasalizedstops. Abriefdescriptionofthe
pronunciationofthesephonemesfollows:
1.2.1 Consonants:
ThefollowingconsonantsoccurinMbay:
(1)
:
yabe hippopotamus y§ [pg] toleave
yoo death yge [ngg] tennite
yS hide yla [nag] thing
Hence,thephcviie/y/willbeusedtorepresentthissound. Both/y/and/r/
becomeheavihnasalizedwhenadjacenttoanasalizedvowelattheendofasyllable.
NotethatIdifferinthisrespectfromthesystemusedbyCCL,whichhaschosen
insteadtoposittwoadditionalphonemes,nasalized/y/and/£/,andtofurther
claimthatvowelsadjacenttothisphonemearealwaysnasalized. The
disadvantagestotheirapproacharenumerous:1),itfailstoexplainwhy/y/never
occursadjacenttoanasalizedvowel; 2)itfailstoexplainwhy/o/and/o/can
contrastwhenfollowinganasal(e.g./mdt&/'sick'vs./motd/'penis'),butdo
notcontrastwhenfollowing/y/;3)twoadditionalphonemes,bothunusualwithin
thelanguagesoftheworld,needtobeaddedtothephonemicinventory;4)theclaim
thatvowelsarealwaysheavilynasalizedafternasalsisnotcompletelycorrect. In
bisyllabicrootsbeginningwithnasals,nasalizationdoesnotoccur(e.g./nate/
[na-te]'antelope'vs./naf-te/'together'). Moreimportantly,theapproach
impliesthatallvowelsarenasalizedafternasals,andhencethattheyareneutralized
inthisenvironment. Butthisissimplynottrue.Thus,/nary'money'contrasts
with/Nlr/,the'theNarpeople,/mar/'crocodile'contrastswith/mjjr/'insist',
and/may/'insideout'contrastswith/mj|y/'resist[death]'.
1.2.1.1 PrenasalizedStops
TherearefourprenasalizedstopsinMbay(mb,nd,nj,ng).Whenbeginninga
word,thenasalinsuchsequencesisnotaseparatesyllable,andcontrastswith
nasalprefixesaddedtowordsbeginningwithobstruents(e.g./mba/'propose'vs.
/ffi-b5/'Ipay',/nda/'hit'vs./n-da/'heshow'). Thenasalinprenasalized
stopsispronouncedalmostsimultaneouslywiththeobstruent,andcanseem
inaudibletotheinexperiencedear.
The/n/in/nj/isnotpalatalized,butthenasalportionof/ng/isalways
pronounced[rj]. Prenasalizedstopsbehaveasobstruentsinthattheydonotoccur
infinalposition.Inwordfinalposition,/ng/ispronounced[rj]
(3)
w5ng [wSrj]
dSng [dSrj]
g$fig [girj]
When/ng/occu^betweenvowels,the/g/isnormallypronounced,althoughsome
speakersdropit,inwhichcasethevowelwhichfollowsbecomesheavilynasalized
(e.g./jingaV [jirjga,jirja]'crushedgrain').
1.2.1.2ImplosiveConsonants:
Therearetwoimplosiveconsonants:thebilabialimplosive/£/,andthealveolar
/cf/. Thecontrastbetweenthemandtheirnon-implosivecounterpartsismost
evidentininitialposition:
(4)
a) d*5o tofight
a"6r ritualspeech
da tostand
b) B6aeylo gseltavuep
61i sleep
Inintervocalicposition,manyspeakerspronounce/£>/as[w], while/&/
remainsunchangedforothers(e.g./tufi5-tuw5/'granarycover',/t§6a-tQwa/
'chase'). Notethatwhile/b/attimesalsoalternateswith/w/inthisfashion(e.g.
/kaw-Kabe/'typeofinsect'),insomecasesitdoesnot(e.g./tubo/'lion').
Hence,thereareclearcontrastsbetween/£/and/b/inintervocalicposition(e.g.
/tu65/'granarycover'vs./tubo/'lion').
Theimplosive/d*/ispronounced/r/bysomespeakers,andmostespeciallyby
youngercityortowndwellers. FormostMbayspeakers,thedistinctionbetween
/c?/and/r/islostwhennotatthebeginningofamorpheme,
relatedlanguagesisneededtorevealthesourceofnon-initial/r/:
(5)
Mbay
uy ruy supple
/w/ aiww tnigwaw shpuistband
ew ndiw tremble
ooww ntda5ww fclruatcekle
uw [rare]
Thediphthongs/ay/,/aw/,/oy/,and/oy/occurwithfefgreate?frequencythan
dotheothers. Thediphthong/oy/ispronouncedlikethe'oy'inEnglish'boy',and
contrastswith/oy/,wherethelipsarerounded.
Asnotedabove,/w/isfrequentlyadialectalalternantto/b/or/6/. Whena
schwafollows/b/or/6/,itisnormallydroppedintheformcontaining/w/:
(7)
Kabe - kaw typeofbug
sibe - sewe greyrat
labs ~ law typeofdance
nj468 - njuwS bother
1.2.1.4OtherComments:
Thephoneme/p/isrelativelyrare,occurringalmostexclusivelyinideophones
andinwordsofforeignorigin. Thephoneme/h/isfoundonlyatthebeginningof
amorpheme(e.g./hdr/'fire',/hal/'orphan').
1.2.2Vowels
ThevowelsystemofMbayisasfollows:
(8)
Thevowel/a/ispronouncedsimilartoSpanish/a/orthe/a/inEnglish
'father'. Beforethenasals(11,111,119)itispronouncedsimilartothe'u'inthe
Englishword'sun'(e.g./ngang/ [ngXrjg]'teeth',/nam/ [nAm]'friend').The
/e/ispronouncedlikethe'e'inSpanish,orlikethe'a'inEnglish'bay',butwithout
thefinalglide.The/i/and/u/arealsopronouncedlikeSpanish/i/and/u/.
However,/i/isnormallyweakenedto/I/(the'i'inEnglish'sit')whenfollowedby
's',V,'d','k'orV,while'e'isweakenedto[e](the'e'inEnglish'set')when
followedby's,t,d,b,1,r,m,'or'n'. Thesameweakeningprocessoccursinthose
rarecaseswhen/i/or/e/occurasshortvowelsinwordfinalposition. Before
/r/,both/e/and/i/areverylax:/e/almostsoundslikeschwa,while/i/is
pronouncedeitheras[I]or[U].WhenoccurringinthefirstsyllableofbisyDabic
roots,/i/and/u/areneutralizedandtheirpronunciationwillbediscussedin
section2.2.3below.
TheMbay/o/issimilartoSpanish/o/ortothefirst/o/inEnglish'coconut'.
Itcontrastswith/o/,whichispronouncedsomewhatsimilartothe'aw'inEnglish
'law',butshorterandwithoutafinalglide.Whilethedistinctionbetween/o/and
/o/isfairlyclearinopensyllables,Englishspeakersmusttakecaretodistinguish
thembefore/r/and/y/.
(9)
K5y
Thereisnocontrastbeweennasalized/g/andnasalized/s/;althoughtheyare
pronounced/g/inanopensyllable,IfollowCCLinusingthesymbol/q/to
representthissound.
Thecontrastbetweenoralandnasalizedvowelsislostwhen:
1)avowelprecedesanasalconsonant. Inthiscase,itisalwayspronounced
nasalized. Forexample,/yam/'bethin'and/nam/'friend'arepronounced[yam]
and [ngm]. Mytranscriptiondoesnotincludethenasalization. Sincethere
existsnodistinctionbetweennasalized/g/and/g/,thedistinctionbetween/o/
and/o/isalsolostbeforenasalconsonantsaswell,andeitherpronunciationis
usuallypossible. However,itismyimpressionthatcertainwordsfavoronevowel
overtheother:forexample,/ng5n/'child'seemstoonlyoccuronlywith/o/,
/kon/'nose'onlywith/o/,while/ndSm- nd5m/'todance'.6
2)avowelisinfinalpositioninamorphemeandfollowsanasalconsonant.Inthis
case,itisalsonasalized:
(11)
mgr insist
mgr invite
Inthiswork,inmostcasesIhavenormallymarkednasalizedvowelswherethey
occur,sincenasalizedvowelsoccurindependentlyofnasals.However,inDisyllabic
words,onlyonevowelisnormallymarkedasnasal(e.g./biyi/ [bXyg]'goat',
eventhoughnasalizationspreadstoallvowelswithinamorpheme. However,in
Disyllabicwordsendinginavowelprecededbyanasal,Ihavealsoacceptedthe
CCLspellingasanalternant(e.g./KenS-Kenf/'between').
Notethatwhensuffixesconsistingofnasalsareaddedtoarootendingina
vowel,thevowelisnormallypronouncedslightlynasalized. Inspiteofthisfact,
neutralizationdoesnotoccurinthisenvironment:thus,/ii-n/'dryup(pi.)'is
phonologicallyandphoneticallydistinctfrom/ii-n/'theyare(pi.)'.
1.2.2.2Schwa:
Theschwa(/a/)isanexceptionalvowelinanumberofways.1)asnoted
above,thereisnocontrastbetweenoralandnasalizedschwa;2)thereisnolength
contrastforschwa:itisalwaysshort;3)whenanothervowelfollowsschwa,schwa
normallybecomesidenticaltothisvowel:
(14) Ka a —>K£a whichwill
to ai > taai notin
K5ge-a > K5ga£ itswood
Thedistributionofschwaisalsoquitelimited. Innativemonosyllabicroots,
schwaisfoundexclusivelyingrammaticalformatives:prefixesorsuffixesindicating
thepersonofthesubjectorobject(e.g./ka/'we',/de/'them'),complementizers
(e.g./Ke/'that'),etc. Inmulti-syllabicwords,schwacanbeshowntobethe
resultoftheneutralizationofothervowels. Thiswillbediscussedindetailin
section2.
1.2.2.3 VowelLength
Mbay,unlikemostSaralanguages,hasaclearcontrastbasedonthelengthof
vowels:
(15)
td
Infeet,theoccurrenceoflongandshortvowelsinwordsiss<
predictable. ThedistributionofshortvowelsCambedescribed25follows:
a)bothvowelsinDisyllabicmorphemesarenormallyshort.
b)thevowelinamorphemeendinginasonorantconsonantisalwaysshort.
Thereareveryfewexceptions(e.g./kaar/'pond',/kSar/shell),anditismy
impressionthateventheseareoftenpronouncedshortinquickspeech.
c)thevowelsfoundingrammaticalformativesarenormallyshort. Theseinclude
allvowelsinprefixesandsuffixes,vowelsincomplementizers,vowelsinthenames
ofmorecommonlyusedpartsofbody(e.g./ta/'mouth',/j1/'hand',/do/
'head',/r8/'body',/ndi/'voice'),especiallythosewhichalsofunctionas
prepositionsandinword-formationprocesses.
d)vowelsinsomeoftheinterrogativepronounsareshort(e.g./cfi/'what',
/<fa/'where',but/n|g/'who?').
e)vowelsfoundinauxiliaryverbsareshort(e.g.theprogressivemarkers
/ndi/,/cfa/,/to/,thefuturemarker/a/,and/i/'tobe').
f)alargeclassofverbswhicharederivedhistoricallyfrombisylkbicmorphemes
beginningwithavowelhavelosttheinitialvowelandnowcontainashortvowelin
anopenmonosyllabicmorpheme:
(16)
transcriptionvillnotallowforthisdistinction. Further,thereissubstantialevidence,
bothhistoricalanaphonological(seebelow),thatformssuchas/kiy/and/bdf/
areactuallyderivedfrom/kaya/and/bdr5/,andthatthefinalvowelhasbeen
droppedandthetoneleftonthesonorant.Forthesereasons,inthisworkIfollow
insteadthesystemoftranscriptionfoundinMagrifiaandFounder(1974).
Inadditiontothelengthcontrastnoted,thereexistsatthephoneticlevelathird
vowellength,extralong,whichoccursinafairlylargeclassofideophones. These
areformedbytheadditionofavowelsuffix,identicalinqualitytothestemvowel.
Asaresult,contrastssuchas/ddo/'wound'vs./d6oo/'perfectly(white)'occur.
Occasionallyathree-waycontrastoccurs(e.g./s5/'tofall'/s56/'here',
/sooo/'completely(pierced)'). However,extralongvowelsarefoundonlyin
ideophones;thephoneticlengthisgenerallylongerthanthetranscriptionsuggests,
andvariessubstantially,dependingontheemphasisthespeakerwishestogivetoit.
1.3LoanWords
Mbaycontainsalargenumberofwordsborrowedfromotherlanguages,
especiallyFrench,Arabic,andSango. WordsfromFrenchincludemostterms
relatedtogovernment,administration,education,andmoderntoolsandtechnology.
Arabicwordsincludemanytools,weapons,garmentsandreligioustermsintroduced
bytheArabs. Almostallthewordsrelatedtohorse-ridingareofArabicorigin.
Sangowordsincludealargeofnumberoftuberspeciesandfoodsmadefromthem,
aswellasanumberofbirdandanimalspeciesofCentralAfricanorigin.
ForeignsoundswhichdonotexistinMbayarereplacedinafairlyregularfashion.
WordscontainingFrench/ch/ [S]appearinMbaywith/s/:
(17)
FRENCH GLOSS MBAY GLOSS
charpentier carpenter sarbandl board
changer change sanje change
chapeau hat sap6d hat
Foreignwordscontaining/f/appearinMbaywith/p/,whileFrenchwords
with/v/normallyappearwith/b/or/w/:
(18)
FRENCH GLOSS MBAY GLOSS
chef chief sepe chief
fleur flower paler flowertree
serviette napkin serbeta towel
civil civilian suw6i civilian
EducatedspeakersofMbaywilltendtoretaintheFrenchpronunciationofthese
)
sounds.
ManyFrenchwordswhicharenormallyusedwithadefinitearticle(1', le,or
la)appearinMbaywithaninitial/l/:
(19)
ldx6i (l'ecole) school
1loapmiptgiQi ((1l''ihomppiottal) thaoxspeistal
lamsgg (lamission) mission
laker (lacle) key
Arabicwordscontainingan/m/betweentwovowels,wherestressimmediately
precedesthe/m/,appearinMbaywith/mb/:
ARABIC