The Phonology of Chichewa

311 Pages·2016·1.738 MB·The Phonology of the World’s Languages

by  Laura J. Downing, Al Mtenje

The Phonology of Chichewa
THEPHONOLOGYOFTHEWORLD’SLANGUAGES
GeneralEditors:JacquesDurandandPatrickHoneybone
Published
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THE
PHONOLOGY
OF
CHICHEWA
Laura J. Downing and
Al Mtenje
1
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,12/5/2017,SPi
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments xiii
Interlinearmorphemeglossingconventions xv
1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 TheChichewalanguage 1
1.2 Chichewaandphonologicaltheory 5
1.3 Goalsofthiswork 7
2 GRAMMATICALSKETCH 10
2.1 Phonemeinventoryandtranscriptionsystem 10
2.2 StructureofChichewawords 14
2.2.1 Structureofnominals 14
2.2.2 Structureofverbs 18
2.2.3 Adjectivesandadverbials 23
2.3 Wordorderandagreementinnounphrasesandverbphrases 25
2.3.1 Wordorderandagreementinthenounphrase 25
2.3.2 Wordorderintheverbphrase 28
2.4 Clausestructure 29
2.4.1 Wordorderandagreementwithinthemainclause 29
2.4.2 Structureofquestions 31
2.4.3 Subordinateclausetypes 36
3 SEGMENTALPHONOLOGY:CONSONANTS 42
3.1 Consonantphonemeinventory 42
3.1.1 StandardChichewa 42
3.1.2 Dialectvariation 44
3.2 TheChichewaconsonantinventoryandProto-Bantu 46
3.3 Positionalrestrictionsonthedistributionofconsonants 48
3.4 AlternationsinNCsequences 57
3.4.1 Nasalplaceassimilation 57
3.4.2 Postnasalstopaspiration 58
3.4.3 OtherrestrictionsonNCsequences 59
3.5 Morphologicallyconditionedconsonantmutations 60
3.5.1 Root-initialpatternsinnounclass5/6 60
3.5.2 Causativespirantization 63
viii 
4 SEGMENTALPHONOLOGY:VOWELS 66
4.1 VowelinventoryofChichewaandrelationtoProto-Bantu 66
4.2 Positionalrestrictionsonthedistributionofvowels 68
4.3 Vowelheightharmony(VHH) 70
4.4 PhonologicalissuesandapproachestoVHH 75
4.4.1 UnderspecificationanalysisofVHH(Moto1989) 76
4.4.2 Markedness/faithfulnessanalysisofVHH(Beckman1997) 79
4.4.3 Element/licensingapproachtoVHH 84
4.5 Concludingremarks 88
5 SYLLABLESTRUCTURE 90
5.1 Overviewofpossiblesyllabletypes 90
5.2 Possibleconsonantsequencesandtheirsyllabification 92
5.2.1 Consonantglidesequences 92
5.2.2 Nasal-homorganicconsonant(NC)sequences 93
5.3 Epenthesisstrategiesinloanwordadaptationofconsonant
sequences 95
5.4 Syllabicnasalsderivedfromnasal-initialprefixes 99
5.4.1 Contractionofcopulandibeforeassociativeya-orwa- 99
5.4.2 ContractionoftheObjectMarkerndi 100
5.4.3 Contractionofmu- 100
5.5 Vowelsequencesandtheirsyllabification 102
5.5.1 Glideformationintheinflectionalprefixcontext 103
5.5.2 Voweldeletionintheinflectionalprefixcontext 104
5.5.3 Glideinsertionandvowelassimilationatmacrostem
andstemjunctures 104
5.5.4 Deletionofdemonstrativevowels 105
5.5.5 Nohiatusresolutionacrosswordboundaries 106
5.6 Summaryandremainingissues 107
6 TONALPHONOLOGY:LEXICALTONEPATTERNS 109
6.1 BasicsofChichewatone 109
6.2 Toneofnounsandverbstems 111
6.2.1 Toneofnouns 111
6.2.2 Verbstemtone 113
6.3 Processesaffectingtonerealization 116
6.4 Tonepatternsofprocliticsandenclitics 121
6.4.1 Tonedoublingandplateauinginproclitics 121
6.4.2 Toneshiftinenclitics 123
 ix
6.5 Thephoneticsoftone 130
6.6 AccentualpropertiesoftheChichewatonesystem 132
7 GRAMMATICALTONEPATTERNSOFAFFIRMATIVE
MAINCLAUSEVERBS 135
7.1 GrammaticaltoneinBantulanguages 136
7.2 Tonepattern1:Imperative,perfective,permissive 139
7.2.1 Imperative 139
7.2.2 Perfective 140
7.2.3 Permissive‘ableto’mood 140
7.2.4 Intensiveform 140
7.2.5 AddinganObjectMarker 142
7.3 Tonepattern2:Subjunctivemood 143
7.4 Tonepattern3:Simplepasttense 145
7.5 Tonepattern4:Infinitive,presentprogressive,recentpast,
pasthabitual(a) 147
7.5.1 Infinitive 147
7.5.2 Presentprogressive 148
7.5.3 Recentpast 148
7.5.4 Pasthabitualtense(a) 149
7.5.5 Intensiveform 149
7.5.6 AddinganObjectMarker 152
7.6 Tonepattern5:Pasthabitual(b),continuative,necessitive 153
7.6.1 Pasthabitual(b) 154
7.6.2 Continuative 154
7.6.3 Necessitive 155
7.6.4 Intensiveform 155
7.6.5 AddinganObjectMarker 157
7.7 Tonepattern6:Remotepast,presenthabitual 158
7.7.1 Remotepast 159
7.7.2 Presenthabitual 159
7.7.3 Intensiveform 160
7.7.4 AddinganObjectMarker 161
7.8 Tonepattern7:Nearfutureanddistantfuture 162
7.8.1 Nearfuturetense 162
7.8.2 Distantfuturetense 163
7.8.3 Intensiveform 163
7.8.4 AddinganObjectMarker 164