On the status of palatalization in Gbari language
Keywords:
palatalization, vowel hiatus, vowel syncope, Gbari languageAbstract
Palatalization is ascertained to be a phenomenon common in the Nupoid languages of the New Benue-Congo phylum, and to Gbari language in particular (Hyman and Magaji 1970, Rosendall 1992, Philip and Sheshi 2004, Blench 2009, Mohammed, 2012). This paper discusses the issue of palatalization in Gbari with the aim of highlighting the irregularity observed in the consistency of its formation in identical phonetic environments. Data was elicited via the 1700 SIL comparative wordlist, associative constructions and also from available literature. The Adobe Audition 1.5 software was used in the editing of audio files while the Praat software was used for data annotation and analysis. Acoustic investigations show that the plosives /k/,/b/./p/, perceptually interpreted as palatalized before front vowels are acoustically analyzed as sequences of vowels (vowel hiatus). However, in the environment of the low back vowel /a/, they are palatalized and phonemic. No palatal feature is recorded in the production of the bilabial nasal and the nasally released plosives, though the palatalized nasally released voiced bilabial plosive /bᵐʲ/ is recorded before the vowel /a/. Further findings show that words with the CGV syllable structure have the fricative /z/ derived through the process of vowel syncope and the plosives, palatalized and phonemic before the low back vowel /a/. Only the voiced velar plosive is realized as palatalized and phonemic before the font vowels /i/ and /e/. This work thus suggests palatalization is not phonetic in the Gbari language but phonemic. Vowel hiatus and vowel syncope are also seen as the phonological phenomena that accounts for some supposed palatalized sounds in the language.
References
Amfani, H. 2007. Hausa phonology. In Ore Yusuf (ed.). Basic linguistics for language teachers. Port Harcourt: M & J Grand Orbit Communications.
Basiru H.S.2015. A feature driven analysis of labialization and palatalization as phonological processes in Hausa. An unpublished B.A research project, Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto.
Bhaskararao P., Hassan, S., Naikoo,I, A., Ganai,P. A., Wani, N. H. and Ahmad,T. 2009. A phonetic study of Kashmiri palatalization. In Minegishi, M. et al (ed.). Field Research, Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Informatics (Working Papers in Corpus-based Linguistics and Language Education), No. 3: 1 – 17. Tokyo: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
Bhat, D. N. S. 1978. A general study of palatalisation. In Greenberg, J. H. (ed.). Universals of Human Language. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Blench, R. M. 1987. Nupoid. In Bendor-Samuel, J. (ed.). The Niger-Congo languages, pp. 305-322. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America.
-----------2009. Nupe dictionary. Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation
-----------2013. The Nupoid languages of West-Central Nigeria: An overview and comparative wordlist. Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
Boersma,P and Weenink,D .2015.Praat: doing phonetics by computer. Retrived from http://www.praat.org/
Clements, G.N. 1991. Place of articulation in consonants and vowels: a unified theory. In B. Laks and A. Rialland, (eds.), L’Architecture et la Géométrie des Représentations Phonologiques. Paris :CNRS,.
Ekpe, M. B. 2013. Articulatory analysis of palatalization in Anaang. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature. Vol. 2, No. 6:pgs 155-160
Egbokhare, F. 2002. Introductory phonetics. Ibadan: Quasar and Language Solutions.
Hyman, L. M. and Magaji, D. J. 1970. Essentials of Gwari grammar. Ibadan: Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan.
Hyman, L. M. 1972. Nasals and nasalization in Kwa. Studies in African Linguistics, Vol.3, No. 2: pp 167-206
Katamba, F. 1989. An Introduction to phonology. England: London Press
Ladefoged, P. 2003. Phonetic data analysis: An introduction to field work and instrumental techniques. Massachusetts: Blackwell publishers.
Ladefoged, P. and Maddieson, I. 1996. The sounds of the world’s languages. Oxford: Blackwell.
Muhammad, A B.2012.A comparative study of Hausa and Gbagyi sound systems.Unpublished thesis work submitted to the PostGraduate School, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
Nwankwo, O.C.2013. A practical guide to research writing:for students of research enterprise. Port Harcourt: University of Port Harcourt Press
Philip, A. N. and Sheshi, N. 2004. The Gbari orthography. Minna: Gbari Language Development Committee.
Rosendall, H. J. 1992. A phonological study of the Gwari lects. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
Simons, G. F. and Fening, C. D. (eds.). 2018. (21st edn.). Ethnologue: Languages of the world. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Online version available at: http://www.ethnologue.com.
Williamson, K.1989. Niger-Congo overview. In John Bendor-Samuel, J. (ed.). The Niger-Congo languages, pp. 3 – 45. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America.
Yul-Ifode, S. 2008. Basic phonetics. Port Harcourt: University of Port Harcourt Press.
