- Linguistics, Languages and Linguistics, Bantu Linguistics, Bantu languages, Bantu comparative linguistics, Phonology, and 16 moreHistorical Phonology, Phonetics and Phonology, Historical Linguistics, Diachronic Linguistics (Or Historical Linguistics), Tone systems, Prosody and Tones of Languages, Tonology, Phonetics, Phonology, Tonology, Language, Language Documentation, Descriptive Linguistics, Language Documentation, Indigenous Languages, Sociolinguistics, Field Linguistics, Fieldwork in linguistics, Field linguistics, Descriptive Linguistics, Endangered Languages, and Documentary Linguisticsedit
This article presents the results of a study of verbal tone patterns in Kabarasi [lkb], a Kenyan Bantu language of the Luhya [luy] group. Kabarasi tone has a number of features that are common to Bantu languages (Kisseberth & Odden 2003,... more
This article presents the results of a study of verbal tone patterns in Kabarasi [lkb], a Kenyan Bantu language of the Luhya [luy] group. Kabarasi tone has a number of features that are common to Bantu languages (Kisseberth & Odden 2003, Downing 2011, Marlo & Odden 2017), including a lexical contrast between /H/ and /∅/ verb roots and a rich system of tonal inflection. Long H spans that extend across several words may be created by a pair of iterative, mutually feeding rules. One of these rules only applies across word boundaries and exhibits look-ahead effects; the other motivates a novel morphophonological domain: the limitative stem.*
Research Interests: Phonology, Bantu Linguistics, Morphology, Phonology-Morphology interface, African languages, and 11 moreTone systems, African Linguistics, Prosody and Tones of Languages, Bantu languages, Tonology, Phonetics, Phonology, Tonology, Prosodic phonology, Prosodic domains, African Languages and linguistics, Phonology and Morphology, and Limiitative stem
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This paper offers an overview of verbal tone melodies within Luyia, a cluster of Bantu languages spoken in Kenya and Uganda. Luyia tone is diverse, possessing three types of verbal tonal systems: ‘conservative’, ‘predictable’, and... more
This paper offers an overview of verbal tone melodies within Luyia, a cluster of Bantu languages spoken in Kenya and Uganda. Luyia tone is diverse, possessing three types of verbal tonal systems: ‘conservative’, ‘predictable’, and ‘reversive’. We illustrate the general tonal characteristics of each type of system with an exemplar language variety, describing the complex interactions of lexical and melodic tones.
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Bantu languages commonly signal tense, aspect, mood, polarity, and clause-type distinctions with tonal as well as segmental cues. The inflectional tonal melodies on verbs may be viewed as underlyingly floating H tones (henceforth ‘melodic... more
Bantu languages commonly signal tense, aspect, mood, polarity, and clause-type distinctions with tonal as well as segmental cues. The inflectional tonal melodies on verbs may be viewed as underlyingly floating H tones (henceforth ‘melodic Hs’) contributed by the morpho-syntax that are assigned by rule to different positions within the verb. Along with a small set of construction specific tonal adjustment rules, the number and position of melodic Hs distinguish one tonal melody from another.
The present dissertation makes two contributions to the study of the special role that tone plays in Bantu verbal morpho-syntax. First, it contributes extensive novel documentation of the verbal tone system of Idakho: a variety of the Luhya cluster of Bantu languages spoken near Lake Victoria in western Kenya and eastern Uganda. Second, I show how aspects of the Idakho system and that of other Luhya varieties like it have contributed to the development of rich diversity within the verbal tone systems of Luhya.
Part I comprises the descriptive component of the dissertation and emphasizes the impact of several factors known to influence verb tone in Bantu. Because many language consultants contributed to the project, the dissertation makes note of variation within and across speakers of Idakho. In Part II, I demonstrate the role that a preference for prosodically well-cued morphological boundaries has played in two striking tonal developments within the Luhya macrolanguage: the loss of a lexical tonal contrast reconstructed to Proto-Bantu and the introduction of tonal melodies in constructions for which there is no historical precedence for tonal inflection.
The present dissertation makes two contributions to the study of the special role that tone plays in Bantu verbal morpho-syntax. First, it contributes extensive novel documentation of the verbal tone system of Idakho: a variety of the Luhya cluster of Bantu languages spoken near Lake Victoria in western Kenya and eastern Uganda. Second, I show how aspects of the Idakho system and that of other Luhya varieties like it have contributed to the development of rich diversity within the verbal tone systems of Luhya.
Part I comprises the descriptive component of the dissertation and emphasizes the impact of several factors known to influence verb tone in Bantu. Because many language consultants contributed to the project, the dissertation makes note of variation within and across speakers of Idakho. In Part II, I demonstrate the role that a preference for prosodically well-cued morphological boundaries has played in two striking tonal developments within the Luhya macrolanguage: the loss of a lexical tonal contrast reconstructed to Proto-Bantu and the introduction of tonal melodies in constructions for which there is no historical precedence for tonal inflection.
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In this poster, we compare the principles of tone assignment in Bukusu nouns and verbs.
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In this talk, we present an overview of nominal and verbal tone patterns in Bukusu, a Bantu language of western Kenya. In Bukusu, tone distinguishes lexical items and is also a major feature of teh marking of grammatical distinctions such... more
In this talk, we present an overview of nominal and verbal tone patterns in Bukusu, a Bantu language of western Kenya. In Bukusu, tone distinguishes lexical items and is also a major feature of teh marking of grammatical distinctions such as tense. We discuss data from a variety of morphological and syntactic contexts and illustrate some of the ways in which components of grammar interact to produce complex surface tonal patterns.
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This paper describes and analyzes the primary tonal patterns found in Bukusu nouns and their alternations in a phrasal context.
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This talk offers an overview of verbal tone patterns in the Kabras [lkb] variety of the Luyia [luy] macrolanguage. Kabras has a primary tonal contrast between H-toned and toneless moras, contour tones are generally avoided, phrase-final... more
This talk offers an overview of verbal tone patterns in the Kabras [lkb] variety of the Luyia [luy] macrolanguage. Kabras has a primary tonal contrast between H-toned and toneless moras, contour tones are generally avoided, phrase-final Hs are shifted to the penult, and Hs are deleted when they follow another H.
This paper also discusses how an unbounded leftward spreading process, High Tone Anticipation, provides evidence for the Limitative Stem, a morpho-prosodic domain that includes the macrostem and a limited set of aspectual prefixes. This talk also identifies the ways in which the notion of the Limitative Stem simplifies the analysis of a tonally aberrant aspectual prefix in Kinande, another J zone Bantu.
This paper also discusses how an unbounded leftward spreading process, High Tone Anticipation, provides evidence for the Limitative Stem, a morpho-prosodic domain that includes the macrostem and a limited set of aspectual prefixes. This talk also identifies the ways in which the notion of the Limitative Stem simplifies the analysis of a tonally aberrant aspectual prefix in Kinande, another J zone Bantu.