A PHGNEM-IC ANALYSIS OF ECiBEMBA: A FRESEN‘EATEON 0F BEMBA SYLLQBLE SYRUCTURE: PHONEMEC GONTP‘MTS AND THEER DISTREBUTION Thesie for the Degree of M. A. MiCl-IEGAN STATE UNi‘a’ERSiTY MUBANGA E KASHOK! 1967 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 00591 5289 L [BR A R V Michigan Stem. University 1 A PHONEMIC ANALYSIS OF ICIBEMBA: A PRESENTATION OF BEMBA SYLLABLE STRUCTURE; PHONEMIC CONTRASTS AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION By Mubanga E. Kashoki A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Linguistics and Oriental and African Languages 1967 As initiall; reinvestigaZe ex tais end, the or: logical and Gram Nan-fusion of Var-a ride a practical iciBezba in ccpin h1the cours that the study c; liming an ads:1 Ia al‘tiv‘ear that this hagdsts wno r1 :59 structure cf 1 This present this?) will attempt Hr: ' . ACLBE PREFACE As initially conceived by this investigator, it was his aim to investigate more closely vowel fusion patterns in iciBemba. To this end, the originally proposed study was entitled "Some Phono— logical and Grammatical Considerations Governing the Fusion and Non-fusion of Vowels in iciBemba" the purpose of which was to pro- vide a practical framework for both the student and the teacher of iciBemba in coping more effectively with fusion problems. In the course of the investigation, however, it became evident that the study COle not be undertaken without first of all estab- lishing an adequate phonemic analysis of the language. It would appear that this type of analysis has not been attempted by Bantu linguists who have applied more traditional methods to determine the structure of the language. This present study is therefore a pilot phonemic analysis which will attempt primarily to establish an inventory of phonemic contrasts in iciBemba. The setting up of segmental and supraseg- mental phonemes will accordingly constitute the main content of the thesis. Further considerations will be a discussion of the distribution of the phonemes and Bemba syllable structure. This Study does not purport to be either definitive or exhaustive but rather tentative and suggestive since the analysis is based on a limited corpus. Although, wherever relevant, morphological and syntactical levels will be taken into account, the study is ii primarily COZCE Since 311K crzhegrapi'ly m ’1 for a better g U) language, it i toeards that o 0‘) from its potent. gical theory, w: research on the This study E‘Jiiance, sugges '2 r. .red, and the N All fer . DTOVldlng Ire xP‘ériehcp 1 li n Dirnp‘ primarily concerned with phonological evidence. Since almost all existing debates aimed at producing a viable orthography inidciBemba are quite clearly concerned with a quest for a better grasp of the phonology, morphology and syntax of the language, it is hoped that this study will be a modest contribution towards that goal. It is further hoped that the undertaking, apart from its potential significance as a contribution to Bemba phonolo- gical theory, will later help the investigator to resume research on the fusion or non-fusion of vowels. This study would not have been possible without the advice, guidance, suggestions and criticisms of the Chairman, Dr. Ruth M. Brend, and the members of my Thesis Committee; Dr. irvine Richardson and Mr. A. Oladele Awobuluyi. I am especially grateful to them. I wish to remember also those teachers at Michigan State University whose tutoring in linguistic principles has afforded me the know- ledge I am able to bring'to bear on the present problem. I am also indebted to the African Studies Center, Michigan State University, for providing me with a graduate assistantship without which my experience in linguistics would not have been possible. To the Director, Dr. Charles C. Hughes, Ph.D., goes my sincere apprecia- tion for the use of the office equipment which very much facili- tated the production of this thesis. Special thanks go to Raphael Chileshe Mulenga who sacrificed a great deal of his valuable time to record on tape most of the data utilized in this study. iii Finally, I corrections in t to Miss N. Jamin Finally, I am grateful to my wife who has patiently made many corrections in the manuscript and typed most of the work, and also to Miss N. Jamini Vincent for being helpful in so many ways. iv INTRODUCT] 67 01112 5035.03.16 26: 22291291 W110}! II MINNSSCJSS 1111111 TION I1 012$ 1111 Sbfim 122er 0000 SECTION I SEC TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ................................................. 0.1 The Bemba Language ...... . ....................... 0.2 Nature of the Study .......... . .................. 0.3 The Corpus Used ................................. ' 0.4 Analytical Procedures Used ................. ..... SECTION I - BEMBA PHONEMIC CONTRASTS ......................... 1.0 Introduction ................. . ........ .......... 1.1 Key to Symbols. ....................... ....... 1.2 Phonemic Chart for Consonants ........ .. . ....... 1.3 Description, Occurrence and Example of Each Consonant ........... . ..... . .......... . ....... l.h Vowels .......................................... l.h.l A110phones of Vowels ............. . .............. 1.5 Tonemes ......................................... 1.5.1 Bemba Pitch Contrasts ........................ -.. 1.5.2 Allotones ........ . .............................. 1.5.3 Phonemic Status of Tone Glides ............ . ..... 1.5.h Tonal Typology of iciBemba ...................... SECTION II - PHONEMIC SYLLABLE STRUCTURE 2.0 Introduction ................................... 2.1 The Bemba Phonemic Syllable ................... . 2.2 Phonemic Status of Syllabic Nasals ............. 2.3' Phonemic Status of Long Vocoids ........... , ..... 2.h Phonemic Status of [w] and [y] ................. 2.5 Phonemic Status of a Nonvocoid Plus a Semivowel Off-glide ............................ . ...... 2.6 Phonemic Status of Three-Segment Sequences ..... 2.7 Phonemic Status of Affricates .................. SECTION III - DISTRIBUTION OF PHONEMES 3.0 ’ Introduction .................................. 3.1 Consonant Phonemes ............................ 3.1.1 Two-Consonant Phoneme C1usters................ 3.1.2 Three-Consonant Phoneme Clusters .............. 3.2 Vowel Clusters ................... . ............ H [\JNF—‘l-J O\O\\J‘I 3.2.1 Vowel Clusters with /i/ as First’Member ..... . ....... 36 3.2.2 Vowel Clusters with /e/ as First Member ............. 36 3.2.3 Vowel Clusters with /a/ as First Member ............. 37 3.2.11 Vowel Clusters with /o/ as First Member ............. 38 3.2.5 Vowel Clusters with /u/ as First Member ...... . ...... 39 NOTES ............................................................ j+0 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................... 141+ APPENDICES. ........................ w .............................. 1+6 vi To Juanita, my wife; but for her companionship, forbearance, understanding and, above all, her self-sacrifice, I would not have ventured one step more into the dark, unexplored jungle ahead. INTRODUCTION 0.1 The Bemba Language IciBemba, the language on which the present study is based, also referred to as Chibemba or RENEE: constitutes relatively speaking the largest language unit in Zambia. It is spoken by approximately half a million native speakers and by a considerable but unestimated number of non-native Speakers. It is of the Bantu family and is entirely surrounded by related languages. IciBemba is becoming increasingly widespread in use in the principal urban centers of Zambia. The chief areas where it is spoken, however, are in the Northern, Luapula and Western Provinces of Zambia and to a somewhat lesser extent in the Congo. The term iciBemba is used to cover several regional variants of the language. It is, however, difficult to establish definite geographical boundaries of these varieties by linguistic criteria. The variant examined in this study is known as "Central Bemba" This is the variety most familiar to the investigator and is Spoken in the Kasama District and contiguous areas of the Northern Province. 0.2 Nature of the Study To reiterate, this study is an attempt at establishing an inventory of phonemic contrasts in iciBemba, both segmental and suprasegmental. A closely related treatment will be the discussion of the distribution of the phonemes and Bemba syllable structure in general. 0.3 The Corpus Used The main body of the data used in this study was compiled with the kind assistance of Raphael Chileshe Mulenga, an undergraduate student in Political Science and History at Hampton Institute, Hampton, Virginia, who acted as informant. Characteristically, the data con- sisted of citation forms, i.e., words uttered in isolation, short, simple phrases, e.g., noun plus adjective, and short, simple clauses, e.g., imperative verb form plus direct object. All items were first recorded on tape and then transcribed as carefully as possible in phonetic notation. The phonetic notation adopted here (and also the phonemic notation) is by and large after Kenneth L. Pikel. Since the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet are not easily accessible on standard typewriters, Pike's phonetic notation seemed the most practical to adopt under the circumstances. The investigator was careful to choose an informant who spoke "Central Bemba". Supplementary data came from the investigator himself who is also a native Speaker of the same variety of the language. But even in this case most of the items were recorded on tape in an effort to minimize self-persuasion. O.h Analytical Procedures Used In attempting to prove and establish whether or not a particular sound unit (i.e., phone) were phonemic, the analytical procedures suggested and outlined by Kenneth L. Pike in his book‘Phonemics:E -5- served as the groundwork for most of the phonemic contrasts which have been set up in this study. The procedures consist principally in finding suspicious pairs of sounds in identical or analogous environments (in which case they are phonemic), or in mutually exclusive environments or in free fluctuation and never in contrast (in which case they are subphonemic). Regarding the question of Bemba tone, it became quite clear in the course of the investigation that an attempt to determine the number and kinds of tonemes (i.e., phonemic pitch) by simply comparing groups of words uttered in isolation (e.g., minimal pairs) might prove totally inadequate. In order to observe the various levels of pitch, it seemed desirable to set up constant frames Similar to those suggested by Kenneth L. Pike in his Tone Languages3 The Specific methodology used in setting up frames in this study will become apparent in sub-section 1.5 where Bemba tone is discussed at some length. The question of intonation phenomena was excluded from this study primarily because such a consideration would seem in iciBemba to require a detailed examination of not only contexts of situation (i.e., emotional intonation) resulting in the expression of excite- ment, anger, impatience, etc. but also syntactical arrangements (i.e., "syntactical" intonation) which, in turn, would necessitate iconsideration of large phonological units such as phonological phrases, clauses and/or sentences. These qwestions are clearly beyond the scope of this preliminary study. _h_ The majority of available works on iciBemba are primarily con- cerned with the grammar of the language. B. H. Barnes' and C. M. Doke's study entitled "The Pronunciation of the Bemba Language: being some deductions resulting from phonetic research with the aid of the kymo- graph and palatograph"u represents the best available phonological work on the language. Even this study, however, is primarily concerned with the phonetics of the language and in any case deals with a variety which is not the concern of the present investigator. Furthermore, what might seem at first glance to be phonemic statements are in many cases orthographic suggestions which only occasionally reflect an adequate phonemic notation. SECTION I - BEMBA PHONEMIC CONTRASTS 1.0 Introduction The present Section will deal with the presentation of the phonemes of the language. This phonemic analysis is based, in the main, upon contrasts arrived at in terms of citation forms and short, simple phrases and clauses. Little or no attempt has been made to arrive at phonemic contrasts in terms of longer or nmuficomplex constructions. There is reason to believe that evidence of this (latter) kind would not affect materially the ultimate inventory of segmental phonemes established primarily in terms of citation forms and simpler constructions. In presenting the list of phonemes, all possible care has been taken to provide, systematically, data that should Show clear con- trasts between suspicious pairs of sounds. 1.1 Key to Symbols Syllable division [ . ] e.g., [ka.la.ta] Morphemic Signs ( ) e.g., (iN- ) Morpheme division ( - ) e.g., (im-pao) Lengthened nonvocoid [Cz] Backing [O] Syllabic nonvocoid [C] Voiceless vocoids [A, U] Nasalized vocoids [5, fi] Long vocoids [a:, u:] High tone [ ' 1 High mid tone [ ' ] Low tone [ ] (i.e, absence of tone mark) Phonetic down glide [/\ ] I High toneme Low toneme / / (unmarked) 1.2 Phonemic Chart for Consonants BILABIAL .ALVEOLAR ALVEOPALATAL VELAR Stops and p t c k Affricates b *j *g Fricatives f s S Nasals m n h 9 Lateral 1 Semivowels w y -7- As the chart above indicates, seventeen consonant phonemes have been set up in this study. In iciBemba, all the consonants (and vowels) are pronounced with egressive lung air. The asterisks Shown above against /j g/ indicate a distributional restriction since, in the phonological system of iciBemba, the voiced counterparts of the velar stop /k/ and the alveopalatal affricate /c/ never occur as single consonants but always occur preceded by homorga- nic nasals. This being so, there ardSeS a number of possible interpre- tations of [hdz 0g]. (i) It is possible, for example, to analyze [nae gg] phonemically as single etically-complex emic units consisting of two or three etic constituents of nasal and stop, or nasal and affricate. The designa- tion for this type of etically-complex phoneme could be "nasal-onset" stop or affricate. The rationale underlying such an analysis would be based on the fact that, in iciBemba, many nominal stems, e.g., (umu-ntfi) 'person' and verb roots, e.g., -taagt- 'cut up meat in strips' possess what appears to be a "unitary phoneme." Thus, rather than limit the feature of nasal-onsetness to only [fidi 9g], this could be extended to other sound sequences such that [m] plus [p], [n] plus [t], [9] plus [k], [n] plus [3], etc... could also be included in this phonological category of nasal-onset phonemes rather than in that of ”consonant clusters. Such a hypothesis would ultimately provide nasal- onset stops, nasal-onset affricates and nasal-onset fricatives, thus: BILABIAL ALVEOLAR ALVEOPALATAL VELAR Stops and Affricates p mp t nt c he k gk b mb nd nJ US Fricatives f mf 5 ns S hS Nasals m n h 0 Lateral l Semivowels w y However, even though such a solution would clearly demonstrate a neat, symmetrical, phonological pattern in the language, it is here rejected for two main reasons. First, it would considerably proli- ferate the number of consonant phonemes in the language. Specifically, if the hypothesis that would posit nasal-onset phonemes were tO'be up— held, the inventory of consonant phonemes would swell from seventeen to twenty-six. Secondly, the hypothesis would require a great deal of qualification. It would be necessary, for example, to state that .I nasaleonsetness is true only for certain positions in the nominal Stem or verb root. Moreover, to account for the other contexts where nasal- onsetness is not applicable, it would again be necessary to bring in morphological evidence (which falls outside the scope of this paper and, therefore, is relegated to an appendix (Cf. Appendix 1, p.4fl). (ii) The alternate hypothesis of regarding [9g hdi] as the only nasal-onset phonemes has also proved somewhat unworkable. For, if such a point of view is maintained for purposes of proving;phonenNc£mdnmfig then the phonetic sequences [gg hdi] consisting of two and three etic constituents each respectively, could not easily be contrasted with -9- their somewhat suspiciously Similar counterparts [k tS] which, on the other hand, consist of only one and two constituents each respectively. (iii) .A further possible hypothesis has been considered, namely, that of analyzing [9g hdi] as clusters of nasal plus stop or affricate. The solution of regarding [gg ndi] as clusters of nasal plus another non-nasal consonant is the one preferred in this study. It is the least complicated in its formulation and application (in that it allows, for example, all clusters of nasal and non-nasal consonant to be treated uniformly) and it keeps the number of con- sonant phonemes in the language to a minimum of seventeen. On this basis, similar suspicious phonetic phenomena such as lengthened nasals should also be analyzed as a sequence of two nasal consonants, e.g., [nzoka] /nnoko/ 'your (sg.) mother', [h:ina] /Hhina/ 'his mother'. Further evidence that the sequences [mp mb nt nd, etc.] each consist of a sequence of phonemes is that the nasal occurs not only with stops but also with fricatives and nasals thus making it less likely that such a sequence forms a Single phonetically complex phoneme. 1.3 Description, Occurrence and Example of Each Consonant Phoneme Allophone /p/ [p] Voiceless bilabial stop: /pano/ [pane] 'at this spot (i.e., near speaker)‘ l/ukUpUUta/ [ukfipfizta] 'to blow With mouth‘ /ukusaampa/ [ukusazmpa] 'to scramble' Phoneme /b/ /t/ /:J/ /k/ Allophone [b] [b] [t] [té] [d2] [k] -10- Voiced bilabial stop. Occurs following a bilabial nasal: /mboola/ [mb3:la] ’hit me!’ /imbwa/ [mbwa] or [imbwa] 'dog' /ukfisaamba/ [ukfisa:mbé] 'to wash' Voiced bilabial fricative. Occurs elsewhere: /ban6/ [bane] 'these (e.g.,people near speaker)’ /ukfibfifita/ , [ukfibfizta] 'to become white' Voiceless alveolar stop: /talala/ [talala] 'be quiet’: ' /taaté/ [ta:té] 'my father' /ukfitaata/ [ukfita:ta] 'to hum (as flies)‘ Voiceless alveopalatal affricate: /ceembe/ [t§e:mbe] 'Sea-eagle' /fimuca/ [fimutSa] 'toothache' /ukficiificilé/ [ukfit§i:fitéi16] 'to be active' Voiced alveopalatal affricate: /fijita/ [ndzité] 'call me!‘ /cééfijela/ [tSézfidZela] 'be wary!’ Voiceless velar stop: /kapaéso/ [kapa:so] 'chief's messenger' /ukfisfika/ [ukfisfiké] 'to go bad (e.g., egg)‘ /ukfisfifigka/ [ukfisfizgka] 'to push' -11- Phoneme Allophone /8/ [8] Voiced velar stop: /Ugupé/ [ggupa] 'marry me!'(said by ' a woman)? /ukfisfifigga/ [ukfisfi:ggé] 'to keep in custody' /f/5 [f] Voicelesa slightly rounded31abiodental fricative. Occurs preceding [ e o 9]: /féneegke§é/ [fénézgkeéa] 'shut tight (door)!' /fona/ [fona] 'roll up clothing!‘ /fimuf6610/ [fimuf6:lo] 'furrow' .. [f] Voiceless,unrounded,labiodental fricative. Occurs preceding [i y]: /fino/ [find] 'these (e.g., doors, near speaker)‘ /ifiibi/ [ifi:bi] 'doors' /ifyfifini/ [ifyfizni] 'birds' [f] Voiceless,highly rounded,labiodental fricative. ' Occurs preceding [u w]: /fuufu/ [fuzfu] 'wood-boring beetle' /ukfiffifita/ [ukfiffizta] 'to erase' /8/ [s] Voiceless alveolar grooved fricative: /saana/ [S3:né] 'very much‘ /umfisa/ [umfisa] 'draught of liquid' (e.g., beer) /fikusaama/ [fikusazma] 'to get suspended' -12- Phoneme Allophone !/ [E] Voiceless alveopalatal grooved fricative: / /§aani/ [38:ni] 'how' 1 /umn§a/ [umfifié] ~'slave' /uku§aeme/ [fiku§a:ma1 'to become unlucky' [m/ [m] Voiced.bilabial nasal: /mwaa/ .[mwfihli 'is that so' /ukmeme/ A [ukfimézma] . 'to smoothen mush with stirring‘paddle! /n/ [n] ‘ _Voiced alveolar nasal: /nwé/ [nwé] 'drink!’ /ukunaana/ [ukfinézna] 'to scramble for' /fl/ [fl] Voiced alveopalatal nasal /flé/ [fiE] .‘defecate!’ humans/ [ukesémé] r'to spoliate' /0/ [n] Voiced velar nasal: /gaaga/ [n.zna] -'a kind of green grass- hopper (living on leaves)' /ukfig£éga/ , [ukfigézga] 'to growl (as a dog)’ In addition, all nasals occur as syllabic nasals utterance-ini- tially if they are the first member of a consonant cluster of a nasal plus another consonant other than /w/ or /y/. This aspect of the prdblem, however, is discussed in more detail in a subsequent section, viz., Section II, 2.2 , p. 2h, to which reference should.be-made. -15- Phoneme Allophone /l/ [l] Voiced alveolar lateral. Occurs preceding [e a o] and never following [n]: /leelo/ [18:16] 'today' /ubulalo/ tubulalé] 'bridge' [1] Voiced alveolar flapped lateral. Occurs preceding [1] or [y] and never following [n]: /lfno/ [ifh61. 'this one (e.g., egg, near speaker)‘ /fcilyé/ [ftSiné] 'council' [1] Voiced alveolar backed lateral. Occurs preceding [u] or [w] and never following [n]: /lfino/ [IUné] 'this one (e.g., hoe, near Speaker)' /filukasu/ [ulukasu] 'hoe' /kolwé/ [k31Wé] 'monkey' [d] Voiced alveolar stop. Occurs following an alveolar nasal: /nleka/ [Qdeké] 'let go (of me)!‘ /fnlimi/ [édimi] or [fndimi] 'tongues' /ibéénlé/ [ibé:ndé] 'mortar' /w/ [w] Voiced grooved bilabial fricative: /wa/ [W5] 'fall down!‘ /fwé/ [fwé] 'second person sing. disjunctive pronoun' /ukfiwaama/ [ukfiwaimé] 'to become good' /y/ [y] Voiced alveopalatal semivowel: /ya/ [yé] 'go' /yaama/ [yézma] 'my uncle' /uyfi/ [uyfi] 'this one (e.g., person)‘ -1h- The question of whether to analyze [w] and [y] in this language either as consonants or as vowels is considered at some length in a subsequent section. (Cf. Section II, 21; , p.26). l.h Vowels Front Unrounded Central Unrounded Back Rounded High i u Mid e o ~Low a Vowels will be presented somewhat differently from the manner in which consonant phonemes have been presented. The allophones of vowels appear below in the form of summary statements and are not listed under their respective vowel phonemes as was the case for the allophones of consonants. There are five vowels in iciBemba: /i/, high front, /e/, mid front, /a/, low central, /o/, mid back and /u/, high back vowel. The front and central vowels are unrounded and the back vowels are rounded. The mid vowels /e/ and /0/ each appear to have two allophones, viz., [e e] or [o a], which are in free fluctuation. ~With regard to [o] and [13], however, there are certain phonological environments where [.9] generally seems to occur more frequently than [0], namely, following velar stops and wherever /o/ occurs as a sequence of two identical vowels (i.e., as a long vocoid). Even so, no definite en- vironments can be determined to Show that [o] and [O] are mutually exclusive in their occurrence. -15— The occurrence of [e] and [e] is even less predictable. [e] seems to occur wherever [8] occurs and vice versa. For this reason, only one phonetic symbol, viz., [e], has been employed throughout this study. The following are examples of vowel contrasts: Phoneme /i/ /£be/ [iba] 'Steal!' /lila/ [iiié] 'cry!’ /=/ /-sa/ [ebé] ‘tell /lela/ [lela] 'nurse (baby)i' (someone)!’l /a/ /aba/ [aha] ’these (e g., /lala/ [lala] ‘break (it)i' people)’ /0/ /oba/ [oba] 'paddle!‘ /lola/ [lola] ‘remain awake!’ /u/ /uba/ [uba] ’peel!’ /lulé/ [lulé] ’be bitteri' l.h.l Allqphones of Vowelg (i) Utterance-initially, vowels are generally rapidly slurred over with the result that they are often somewhat devoiced.6 The only exception to this rule is that utterance—initial sequences of vowels, whether identical or dissimilar, are always voiced: /ifikaansa/ [Ifika:nsa] 'argument' /ukfiwéama/ [Ukfiwa:ma] 'to become good' /Umuunsfifinlu/ [Umu:nsu:ndu] 'leech' but /eenla/ [eznda] 'come on (i.e., walk)! ' /éémbe/ [é:mbe] 'mango' /aagka/ [a:gka] 'catchi' /afiti/ [afiti] '(what did) you say?’ -16- Similarly, vowels in utterance-final position are somewhat devoiced, particularly following voiceless consonants: /umfiSipi/ [umfiSipI] 'belt' /pyeeta/ [pyeztA] 'scream' /popsa/ [pazsA] 'throw (it)!' (ii) Vowels tend to be devoiced7 following‘voiceless velar stop, particularly if the vowel is immediately followed by another voiceless consonant: /ukUsapé/ [UkUsapA] 'to become dense' /umfikfikfi/ [UmUkUkU] '(water) current' /filukasu/ [filukAsU] 'hoe' (iii) Furthermore, vowels are somewhat nasalized if they occur between two nasals. Nasalized vocoids, therefore, are in complemen- tary distribution with non-nasalized vocoids: /ména/ [ména] 'see!‘ /ukfigaaga/ [ukugézga] 'to growl (as a dog)’ /umfinagfi/ [umfinSgd] 'black ant' (iv) Long vocoids can best be analyzed in terms of the (Bemba) phonemic syllable. Their analysis is therefore deferred until a later section. (Cf. Section II, 2.3 p.25) 1.5 Tonemes Departing somewhat from the standard practice of describing Bemba tone primarily from a morphotonological standpoint,8 this study seeks only to focus attention on the relationship between phonetic and phon- emic levels of pitch. The present aim, accordingly, is simply to establish the number and kinds of levels of phonemic pitch, i.e., tonemes. -17- Due to the limited nature of the data and consequently the type of frames used in this study, the following statements relating to the pitch contrasts in iciBemba are only tentative pending a more detailed investigation of this aspect of the phonology of the language. This is particularly true of those statements which refer to the number of phonetic pitch levels in the language. Notwithstanding, it is noteworthy that in iciBemba words uttered in isolation can be assorted into phonological tone patterns or classes. Some nouns, for example, will be found to exhibit a low-high- high sequence pattern, e.g., /umde/ [umdSi] ‘village', others a low— low-low sequence pattern, e.g., /baakafi/ [bazkafi] '(spitting) cobras' and so on. Such tone classes in the case of nouns often cut across the grammatical system of classification. The immediate advantage of such a grouping is that, in itself, it is already a kind of rudimentary setting for the comparison of levels of pitch. In other words, it provides a Simple phonetic envi- ronment for the initial identification of two different levels of rela- tive pitch. In this way, an item such as /laamba/ [lazmba] 'go around (i.e., avoid)1', evincing a high—high tonal pattern, can be contrasted with /laamba/ [lajmba] 'spleen', «which displays a high-low tonal pattern. Secondly, this kind of classification furnishes one with categories Iamenable to testing in a rigidly controlled frame. In this connection, the actual employment of a frame in this study consisted in selecting an item of a particular tone class and retaining it as a control while the words to be examined were substituted in turn in the appropriate slot, thus: la. 2a. 3a. ha. Frame Substitution -18- list Utterance [ati] [use] [uba] [mfizba] [mfifiba] [kéfya] [kafi] [kfizpala] [Iiipéla] 1.5.1 Bemba Pitch Contrasts [atifibé] 'he said, "take shelter!" [atiuba] 'he said, "peel!" [atimfi:ba] ’he said, ”it is (a pair of) bellows"' [atimuzba] 'he said, "it is a coffin"' [atikafya] 'he said, "make a noise!”' a l a l e sai co ra [ t.k f.] 'h ed, M b N] [atikfizpala] 'he said "it is to scratch (ground)"' [atilfzpala] 'he said, "it is a bald patch"' IciBemba can be said to have a two-way tonal contrast of high, / ’/,and low;/ /, (unmarked). This contrast has a fairly high functional load in the language since it constitutes very frequently the (may difference between otherwise identical citation forms: la. lb. 2a.. 2b. 3a. ha. hb. 5a. /1aamba/ /1aamba/ /iruumbé/ /ibuumba/ /iffim6/ /ifumo/ /mfifiba/ /muuba/ /fiibi/ [1a:mba] 'go around (i.e. avoid)!‘ [lazmba] 'spleen' [ibuzmbé] 'crowd' [ibu:mba] 'clay (for pottery)’ [ifumo] 'abdomen' [ifumo] 'spear' [mfizba] 'it is (a pair of) bellows' [mfizba] 'it is a coffin' [fizbi] 'they are doors' -19- 5b. /ffibi/ [ffzbi] 'they are bad things' 6a. /nffnsa1a/ [nfznsala] 'it is hunger' 6b. /nifnsala/ [niznsala] 'I have (already) chosen' 1.5.2 Allotones The evidence set out in the frame in sub-section 1.5 provides an example of the occurrence of phonetic relative pitches in a controlled context. It is quite certain from this and other evi- dence considered in this study that the two-way tonal contrast of high and low tonemes noted in minimal pairs of citation forms is maintained in utterances, (i.e., constructions other than words uttered in isolation, e.g., a phrase or clause). It seems at the same time, however, that the high toneme has phonetic variants which are predictably conditioned by the following (tentatively identified) tonal context, viz., the manner in which one pitch phoneme affects the phonetic realization of another pitch; phoneme. In certain contexts, as exemplified in No. ha, sub-section 3 low fame/me. l.5, in the substitution listycauses a preceding high toneme to be realized phonetically at a slightly lower pitch level. The lowered tone is represented in this study as a high mid tone, [hm], and analyzed as an allotone of the high pitch phoneme. 1.5.3 Phonemic Status of Tone Glides On the phonetic level, it appears that iciBemba has both level and contour or glide tones. Long vocoids and also contiguous but dissimilar vocoids occur both with level pitch and with dissimilar juxtaposed pitches e.g., [hl] or [1h]. Some of the [hl] occurrences are regularly heard as a high to normal short down-glide while others -20.. seem to be phonetically a slower sequence of high plus low pitches. Phonetic short down-glides are indicated by means of circumflex accent . Short. over the symbols involved. Where there 18 no perceptibleAglide the appropriate high and low tone marks are used. No cases have been noted of a short glide of 1 to h. There appears to be no predictable pattern for the occurrence of short perceptible down-glides as opposed to the slower manifestation of juxtaposed high and low pitches: [éb] 'it is he' [iota] 'bawll' [anti] '(what did) you say?' [udsuma] 'a good one (e.g., village)‘ In iciBemba, level tones seem to act as the minimum structural contrastive feature of the composition of syllables in that the nucleus of a nonsuspect phonetic syllable is always a short vocoid bearing only one level tOHE- Despite the fact that it has not been possible to demonstrate in this study that the two manifestations of [hl] sequences of pitches when occurring on contiguous vocoids are either mutually exclusive or in free variation in their occurrence, this investigator has found that the most economical and simplest solution at this juncture (since evidence of contrast cannot be established) is to analyze them, together with [1h], as sequences of two juxtaposed tonemes, i.e., as a high followed by a low or as a low followed by a high toneme: 421- [661 /éo/ 'it is he' [data] /oota/ 'bawl!‘ [anti] /auti/ '(what did) you say?' [uusuma] /uusuma/ 'a good one (e.g., village)‘ Apart from being at this time the simplest and most economical interpretation, this analysis has the advantage of being consistent with statements made elsewhere in this study on the phonemic syllable (cf. 2.1, p.22) and vowel cluster (cf. 5.2, p.2fin. Furthermore, it can be accommodated within the system of the two-way tonal contrast of high and low. It also receives considerable support from an ana- lysis of the morphological structure of the language. 1.5.h Tonal Typology of iciBemba Typologically, iciBemba may be quite conveniently classified as 9 a yregister-tone" or "discrete level"lo type of language since it evinces on the phonemic level a two-way tonal contrast of high and low tonemes. Three relative phonetic levels of pitch, all ultimately analy- zable into two tonemes, have been identified.in this study: high [h], high mid [hm] and low [1], marked as [’], ['], and [ ], i.e., unmarked, respectively. .[h] and [hm] are assignable to one phoneme, namely high, /H/. Intermediate levels appear to be the result of aucombination/of "ll 12 phonological features variously labelled as "tone-slip , "downstep" or'"downdrift"13. ’ SECTION II - PHONEMIC SYLLABLE STRUCTURE 2.0 Introduction The purpose of this Section is to present and describe the phonemic syllable structure of iciBemba. To do this adequately it has seemed necessary to take into consideration two important aspects: (i) the establishment of the basic structural unit to serve as the most convenient point of departure for describing the phonemic syllable in the language; (ii) the interpretation of suspicious sound segments or sequences of sound segments either as single phonemes or as sequences of phonemes. The interpretation of suspicious segments or suspicious sequences of segments as.single phonemes or sequences of phonemes is based chiefly on Pike's premise that "characteristic sequences of sounds exert struc- tural pressure on the phonemic interpretation of suspicious segments or suspicious sequences of segments."lh In other words, the predominant pattern in the language should be the most compelling criterion for struc- tural analogy, for which phonetic and distributional evidence is extremely important. 2.1 The Bemba Phonemic Syllable The most convenient basic structural unit serving as the starting point fer the description of the phonemic syllable in iciBemba is a tone- bearing unit, i.e., a unit of tone-placement, consisting of a single vowel with or without (a) preceding consonant(s). Thus, every phonemic syllable in this language must have One (level) toneme. «22- -23- It should be pointed out immediately that the Bemba phonemic syllable does not always coincide with the phonetic syllable since the latter is sometimes manifested by a syllabic nasal which consti- tutes a nucleus by virtue of its being a tone-bearing unit. The nucleus, however, of a non-suspect phonetic syllable is always a single vocoid, with or without (a) preceding nonvocoid(s). Therefore, the shape of the phonemic syllables of the following phonetic examples: [kalata] 'letter', [mailo] 'tomorrow' or 'yester- day' and filutao] 'garden fence' would be /ka.lata/, /ma.i.1o/, /u.lu.ba.6/, thereby manifesting the following forms CV.CV.CV, CV.V.CV and V.CV.CV.V. The phonemic syllable in igiBgmba can, accordingly, be adequately represented by the two formulas -+V'and tNtCiC+V (where V stands for a single short vowel bearing either of the two tonemes, C for conso- nant,+-for obligatory,i for optional and N for any nasal). Each pho- nemic syllable is by this formula Shown to comprise a tone-bearing nucleus with or without nonsyllabic, presyllabic consonants. In other words, there are no marginal post-syllabic consonants in iciBemba since all phonemic syllables are characteristically open. 2.2 Phonemic Status of Syllabic Nasals With regard to the question of phonemic status of syllabic nasals, it is useful to postulate two types of such nasals: (l) syllabic nasals manifested by two alternate phonetic forms, i.e., free variant pronunciations; (ii) syllabic nasals in complementary distribution with nonsyllabic nasals. (i) The first type of syllabic nasal may be illustrated by the class prefix (iN- ), whose phonetic shape is either [C] or [VC]. This -2h- syllabic nasal also bears an isolatable toneme: [ypéé] or [impaé] ‘provisions' [pkalamo] or [fhkalamo] 'lion' This type of syllabic nasal has been interpreted phonemically as containing both a vowel and a consonant, viz., /im-, in-, ih-, ig/. This interpretation is confirmed by morphophonemic evidence. Utterance- medially, for example, the final vowel of a preceding morpheme fuses with the /i/ of /im-, in-, etc./ according to any forthe vowel-fusion patterns outlined in Appendix 2, p.48, thereby demonstrating the exis- tence or presence of a phonemic vocalic nucleus: /lééta[f’bringf’4— /impa6/'jprovi3ion5' --%>’ "*t‘t "' [léztezmpao] /lééteempao] 'bring provisionsl' In this type of syllabic nasal, the phonemic shape /im-, in-, etc./, coinciding exactly with the morphemic break, by no means constitutes a phonemic syllable break. Such a break, if posited, would be singu- larly asymmetrical in iciBemba. For, all nonsuspect syllable patterns are characteristically open in the language. It is best then to con- sider the final nasal of the /VN/ sequence as always forming part of . l.’ the next phonemic syllable 5.- Thus [mpao] or [impao] 'provisions' evinces a v.ccv.v pattern phonemically, i.e., /i.mpa.<5/ and not /im.pa.é/. (ii) The second type of syllabic nasal represents the first person singular pronoun, (N- ), whose phonetic shape is either [0] or [C]. The syllabic nasal [C] and the nonsyllabic nasal [C] are mutually exclu- sive in their occurrence, with [C] occurring utterance-initially only and [C] elsewhere. The two nasals are phonetically distinct in that utterance-medial nonsyllabic nasal does not appear to bear any perceptible -25- tone while utterance-initial syllabic nasal fairly clearly does. This syllabic nasal, in distinction to the one described in the previous paragraph, does not carry its own distinctive tone and does not have a variant [VC]: [nteko] ‘may I join in the game?‘ [mpa] ‘give (it to) me!‘ but [bané:nteko] ‘friends, may I join in the game?‘ [aka:mpa] ‘he will give (it to) me‘ Such phonetic nasals are therefore analyzed as allophones of the same nonsyllabic phonemic nasal, viz., /m-, n-, h-, 9/. This interpretation is supported by further phonological evidence, namely that there is no example of phonemic contrast between syllabic nasals and nonsyllabic nasals anywhere in the language. It must be remembered here, also, that all phonemic nasals, i.e., /m-, n-, etc./ occur in the same syllables as the following phonemic nucleus. [ntoba]'h1txme1‘, therefore, has two phonemic syllables: /nto/ and /ba/. 2.3 Phonemic Status of Long Vocoids Long vocoids, along with syllabic nasals, [w] and [y], present problems of analysis iciBemba. Should a long vocoid, for example, be analyzed as a long vowel or as a sequence of identical vowels? Long vocoids are best analyzed in this language as a sequence of two identical vowels, i.e., as two phonemic syllables, each bearing a separate toneme: -26- /ukfiSiika/ [ukUSIzka] ‘to bury‘ /Siika/ [Sizka] ‘buryl‘ /ukfisééla/ [ukUSézla] ‘to dangle‘ /seela/ [sezla] ‘danglel' /ukupaama/ [ukUpazma] ‘to hide /paama/ [pazma] ‘hidel‘ oneself‘ /ukfisooma/ [ukUsozma] ‘to leap‘ /sooma/ [sozma] ‘leapl‘ /ukusuu1a/ [ukUSuzla] ‘to dis- /Suula/ [suxla] ‘disinterl‘ inter' The advantages of such an analysis can be enumerated as follows: (1) it conforms to the basic premise of the phonemic syl- lable; and thus helps maintain economy of statement; (2) it is consistent with statements made elsewhere concern- ing the phonemic status of down.glides, (cf. 1.5.3, p419); (3) it accords well with the perceptual, phonetic duration of other sequences of vocoids, i.e., dissimilar vocoids: /d1ubao/ [fi1ubao] ‘garden fence' /icioma/ [itSfoma] ‘enormous drum‘ /mailo/ [mailo] ‘tomorrow‘ or jyesterday' (A) it receives considerable support from the morphological structure of the language, e.g., /amaano/ [ama:no] 4- (ama- + -an<5) ‘intelligence‘ . 2.h Phonemic Status of [w] and [y] There is considerable doubt whether to analyze [w] and [y] as consonants or as vowels. In this study, [w] and [y] have been analyzed as consonants by analogy to predominant, nonsuspect sound sequences. Since [w] and [y] occur in syllable slots manifested by consonants in all nonsuspect sound sequences, structural pressure would indicate that it is best to regard them as consonants rather than as vowels. Moreover, in terms of tone-placement, [w y] are, in every instance, shown to be non-nuclear and, T'therefore, COnsonantal by virtue of their status as non—tone-bearing.elements: -27- Nonsuspect Sound Sequences Suspicious Sequences [on] ‘be (like that)!‘ [we] ‘fall (down)!‘ [ss] ‘leave (it)!‘ [ya] ‘go!’ [some] 'readl‘ [sowa] ‘hunt game with netsl‘ [sala] ‘choosel‘ [saya] ‘catCh fish with basketsl‘ [tina] ‘squeezel' [yaba] ‘exclamation of annoyance' [ilini] ‘egg' [isiwi]'voice‘ [isabi] 'fish‘ [isaya]‘cheek‘ 2.5 Phonemic Status of a Nonvocoid Plus a Semivowel Off-g1ide It is possible to analyze a sequence of a nonvocoid plus a semivowel off-glide, e.g., [pw py tw ty] in three different ways: (1) as an instance of labialization or palatalization, i.e., as a single etically-complex phoneme; (2) as a sequence of a consonant and a nonsyllabic vowel, e.g., / pua pia/; (3) as a sequence of a consonant phoneme and a semivowel consonant, i.e., /pw py etc./. (1) A phonemic solution that would yield labialized or palatalized stops, fricatives and nasals is here discarded chiefly on the grounds that by introducing the feature of labialization or palatalization in iciBemba, the number of phonemes would be considerably increased, altogether to about a hundred. Such a solution, therefore, would have the disadvantage of postulating additional phonemes, thereby unnecessarily encumbering the phonemic inventory. (2) The second solution of postulating nonsyllabic vowels would be acceptable if it were not for the disadvantage of introducing a somewhat asymmetrical category in the phonological System. Nonsyllabic vowel marginals are not paralleled anywhere else in the language. The only -28- example of phonemic syllable marginals is that of consonants, that is, if vocalic nuclei preceded by single consonants are taken to be the predomi- nant, nonsuspect sound sequences. (3) The third solution is therefore adopted in this study as being well in keeping with the characteristics of Bemba phonemic syllable struc- ture. The Bemba phonemic syllable characteristically consists of conso- nantal marginals and toneme-bearing nuclei. Structural pressure, there- fore, would tend to force phonetic sequences of a consonant and a semi- vowel off—glide to be interpreted as sequences of a consonant phoneme and a semivowel phoneme. Moreover, such a solution keeps the phonemic status of semivowels both in single consonant slots and in consonant sequence slots constant, thereby obviating the addition of new phonemes to the inventory. 2.6 Phonemic Status of Three-Segment Sequences Examples of sequences of three phonetic segments characteristically consist of a nasal plus another consonant plus a semivowel off-glide, e.g., [mpw mpy ndw ndy]. Such sequences, therefore, are already covered by the interpretation of sequences of nasals plus other consonants and sequences of consonants plus semivowel off-glides. This means that phonetic [mpw mpy ndw ndy] are to be interpreted as sequences of three phonemes: /mpw mpy nlw nly/. 2.7 ‘Phonemic Status of Affricates The voiceless and voiced affricates [ts dz] have each been analyzed as a single phonetically complex phoneme rather than as a sequence of two phonemes. They seem to occur in syllable Slots where the nonsuspicious, predominant structural pattern consists of a single consonant followed by -29- a vocalic nucleus. That is, wherever these segments occur in a given syllable, there seems to be only one segment in that slot for nonsus- pect segments: Nonsuspicious Sequence Suspicious Sequence [pita] ‘passl' [tSita] ‘do (it)1' [sozma] ‘leapl‘ [tSozna] 'cat' [nseka] ‘ridicule mel‘ [ndzeba] ‘tell mel' [iliha] ‘crack (in foot)‘ [itwaa] 'spirit‘ Further evidence for analyzing these sound segments as a single phonetically complex phoneme is that this type of sequence is extremely restricted in occurrence, being confined to only these EH2 examples in the whole language. That is to say, apart from the widespread and sym- metrical sequences of a nasal plus another consonant, and a consonant plus a semivowel, there are nO' other consonant sequences. SECTION III - DISTRIBUTION OF PHONEMES 3.0 Introduction The aim of this Section is to present generally and specifically the characteristic distribution of phonemes in iciBemba. Sub-sections, 3.1 and 3.2 below will deal with the distribution of consonant phonemes and vowel phonemes respectively. The statements which follow are based on evidence gleaned from many charts which were used to map out the occurrence or non-occurrence (i.e., restriction) of phonemes. (Cf. Appendix 3, pgn50473gfor sample charts). 3.1 Consonant Phonemes Each of the consonant phonemes may occur singly between vowels except /j g/ which always occur as the second member of a cluster, viz., ./hj gg/. Single consonants may be found in utterance-initial or medial position} Consonant Utterance-initially Utterance-medially /p/ /pila/ ‘bail water!‘ /fi1upf/ ‘hand‘ /t/ /tina/ ‘squeezel' /fimuti/ ‘tree' /c/ /cita/ ‘do (it)!‘ /fibuuci/ 'honey‘ /b/ /bila/ 'sewl‘ /umwaabf/ ‘albino‘ /S/ /§ita/ 'buyl‘ /umfi§f/ 'village' etc.... etc.... etc.... -30- -31- The following are restrictions to the general rule as stated above: /k/ and /y/ are never followed by /i/ utterance-initially. In terms of specific vowels, /f/ is never followed by /a/; /s/ or /h/ by /i/; /g/ by /i e u/ nor /w/ by /u/ in all utterance posi- l7 tions 3.1.1 Two-Consonant Phoneme Clusters There are two main types of consonant clusters in iciBemba, viz., 99 and 999, the first of which will now be considered in this sub- section. Thc CC cluster-type itself can be subdivided into two sub- ordinate types: (1) consonant plus semivowel and (2) homorganic nasal plus consonant subtypes. (1) Consonant plus semivowel This subordinate cluster-type may be further subdivided into (a) and (b) depending on whether the second member is /w/ or /y/. (a) /w/ as second member If, in a CC cluster, /w/ is the second member, all the consonants except alveopalatal consonants, viz., /c S E y/, and /w/, may be the first member. Cluster Utterance—initially Utterance-medially /pw/ /pwéélé/ ‘yellow-vented /kapwéékapwé/ ‘sorcerer‘ bulbul‘ /fw/ /fweena/ ‘scratch‘ /ffwé/ 'we‘ (dis- junctive pronoun) /1w/ /lwéénlé/ ‘it is a journey‘ /fulwe/ ‘tortoise‘ /mw/ /mwééle/ 'it is a knife‘ /fmwé/ 'you (pl.)‘ (disjunctive pronoun) etc.... etc.... etc.... _52- With regard to utterance position, sequences /kw bw mw/ are never followed by /o/ utterance-initially; /Uw/ is never followed by /o/ in any position in the utterance. (b) /y/ as a second member If, in a CC cluster, /y/ is the second member, only the following consonants /p b t k f m 1/ may be the first member. may be followed by any vowel except /i/. utterance-medially: Cluster /py/ /fy/ /ly/ /my/ etc. Utterance-initially /pyeeté/ /fyééla/ /lyééSf/ /myééffi/ etc.... ‘screami‘ ‘they are iron items‘ /ukfifyéégga/ ‘it is a flood‘ ‘it is a beard‘ All such clusters Of these /ty ky/ occur only Utterance—medially /akapyéélélé/ /icilyé/ /imyééfu/ etc.... (2) Homorganic nasal plus consonant ‘(reed) whistle‘ 'to accuse falsely‘ ‘council‘ ‘beard (s)‘ Bilabial nasal /m/ is followed by /p b f m w/, alveolar nasal /n/ by /t s n l/, alveopalatal /h/ by /j S h/ and velar nasal /g/ by /k g 9/: Cluster /mp/ /mm/ /nt/ /nn/ ~/nk/ /UD/ etc.... Utterance-initially /mpoké/ /mmoomfya/ /ntoba/ /nnoko/ /gkoonka/s /Ugoombela/ etc. Utterance-medially ‘deprive me (of it)l‘ /fmpoomb6/ ‘drench mel‘ 'hit mel‘ /akaammona/ /intoont6ka/ ‘your (sing.) mother‘ /fnnooggé/ ‘follow mel‘ ‘applaud mei‘ /umusoogko/ /iggoombé/ etc.... ‘duiker‘ I ‘he will see me ‘whehlbarrow‘ 'clay pot‘ ‘levy‘ I I COW -53- /*hy/ is the only such sequence which does not occurl8. With reference to vowels, /hj/ is never followed by /0 u/ utterance-ini- tially. 3.1.2 Three-Consonant Phoneme Clusters The second main type of consonant cluster in iciBemba is the 999_ cluster-type, the first member always being a homorganic nasal conso- nant, the seqqnd member a consonant (nasal or non-nasal), and the third member a semivowel, /w/ or /y/. For purposes of presentation, this type will be divided into two sub~types, (a) and (b), depending on whether the third member is /w/ or /y/. It should be pointed out that the second and third members of the CCC cluster-type, sub-type (a), are identical with the first and second members of the CC cluSterttype, sub-type (a) on p.31. Similarly, the second and third members of the CCC cluster-type, sub-type (b), are identical with the first and second members of the CC cluster-type, sub-type (b) on p.32. This accounts for the similarities of occurrence and'restriction outlined below. (a) /w/ as third member: Consonant Cluster Utterance-initially Utterance-medially /mpw/ /mpweemilimo/ ‘should I finish /iciimpwééna/ ‘curio- the work‘ sity' /mbw/ /mbwééle/ ‘should I come /impéémbwé/ Itrench‘ " back‘ /mfw/ /mfweenako/ ‘scratch mel‘ '/icimfwéémfwé/ ‘back- wards‘ /nlw/ /nlweeko/ ‘should I join '/kaluunlwe/ ‘cassava‘ . in the fight‘ /g gw/ /g gwe/ ‘should I fall * /amaiir_] gwé/ 'door- down‘ posts‘ The rules of occurrence or restriction for the 999 cluster-type, sub- type (a), correspond exactly with those stated for 99, sub-type (i)a, (cf. p.33), except that /mmw/ is never followed by /0/ in any position in the utterance. In addition, the voiced counterpart of /k/, i.e., /g/, occurs as a second member. It is of interest also to note that whereas /gkw/ is never followed by /0/ utterance-initially, its counterpart /ggw/ is. (b) /y/ as third member: Cluster Utterance-initially Utterance-medially /mpy/ /mpyaane/ ishould I succeed‘ /impyaani/ ‘successor(s)‘ /mby/ /mbyaale/ ‘should I sow‘ /ubwéémbya/ ‘whip‘ /mfy/ /mfyaantiké/ ‘Should I wedge /fikuciimfya/ ‘to vanquish‘ (it) between‘ /mmy/ /mmyaagge/ ‘Should I liCk‘ /iléémmyaagga/ ‘it is lick- ing me‘ /nly/ /nlyaafiSi/ 'what do I eat‘ /inlyaabuluba/ ‘giraffe‘ -55. The rules of occurrence or restriction for the 999 cluster-type, sub-type (b), correspond exactly with those stated for the 99 cluster- type, sub-type (i)b, (cf. p.33), except that /mmy/ occurs only when followed by /a/. 3.2 Vowel Clusters Although it is felt at this stage that the available data lend themselves to little more than a tentative statement about vowel clusters, it is at the same time the investigator‘s opinion that a preliminary statement should be made about this phonological phenomenon in the hope that further research will be stimulated in this area. By definition, a vowel cluster in this study will constitute a group of two (or more) contiguous or adjacent vowels, whether utterance- initially, -medially or -finally, each of which is toneme-bearing unit, i.e., each is a separate phonemic syllable. Vowel clusters may be subdivided into two types: (a) toneme- different and (b) toneme-same vowel clusters. The latter are mani- fested by a sequence of vowels bearing similar tonemes, e.g., /snys/ ‘he has (jUst) gone‘, while the former are manifested by a sequence of vowels bearing dissimilar tonemes, e.g., /afiti/ ‘(what did) you say?‘ wael clusters are generally composed of two (identical or dissimi- lar) vowels. Clusters of three or more vowels, however, are by no means rare. An attempt to determine the exact number of vowels that may occur in sequence at any givenxtime does not seem to be particularly germane to the issue at this juncture. It suffices to state that, utterance- finally, vowel clusters are relatively infrequent and, when they do occur, are restricted to a sequence of only two vowels. -36- The following are examples of clusters of three or more vowels; /eeéo/ 'yes, it is he' /ééuila§ilé/ , 'he is the one who shot it (e.g., animal)‘ /teeiiiiné/ ’this (e.g., animal) is the one, is it not?‘ 3.2.1 Vowel Clusters with [i/ as First Member Any of the vowels except /a/ may be the second member of vowel clusters in which /i/ is the first member. Examples are available for all such clusters utterance-initially and -medially but not -finally: Cluster Utterance—initially Utterance-medially /ii/ /iiiggwé/ 'door-post’ /iciiigga/ 'postherd‘ /ie/ /iéla/ or /iyéla}9'dance-bell' /iciéégga/ or ’stone of the /iciyééggé/ fruit of the umuyéégné tree' /io/ /iofe§i/ 'office' /icioma/ 'an enormous drum‘ /iu/ /iuunlé/ 'pumpkin leaf' /iciuunla/ ‘echo' (of loud noise)‘ 3.2.2 Vowel Clusters withA/e/ as First Mgmpgr Available data indicate the following sequence patterns for vowel clusters in which /e/ is the first member: (i) /e/ and /o/ only as second members utterance-initially; (ii) /e/ and /u/ only as second members utterance-medially; (iii) /i a/ as third members only utterance-initially or -medially: -57- Cluster Utterance-initially Utterance-medially /eei/ /eeinéwiiné/ 'that's me /alééisa/ ‘he will come (all right)‘ (today)' /ee/ /éése/ 'should he /mwééle/ ’it is a knife' come?‘ /ea/ /eeéisa/ 'yes, he has /tééaana/ ’it is not Anna' (just) come‘ /eo/ /éo/ 'it is he” /alééoca/ ihe is burning (something)' /eu/ /eeuyu/ ’this is the /léuka/ 'dodge (missile)‘ one (e.g., man)‘ Three examples only have been noted regarding utterance-final position for this cluster sub-type: Cluster Utterance-finally /ee/ /munée/ 'say, (my) friend!‘ /eeo/ /umwééo/ 'breath (life)' /eeu/ /aképeeu/ 'very light, small article' 3.2.3 Vowel Clusters with /a/ as First Member In this sub-type of vowel cluster, any of the vowels may be second members in all utterance positions except utterance—initially where /e/' and /o/ occur only as third members: Utterance- Cluster initially -Medially -Finally /ai/ /aiti/ 'he (e.g., /mailo/ 'tomorrowfl /icilai/ 'imprecation' chief)said' or'yester- day' Utterance— Cluster initially —Medially -Finally /ae/ /aééénla/ or ‘he has /amaéémbé/ or /umusée/ ‘the umusée ‘ I /aayéénla/ walked‘ /améyéémbé/ ‘mangoes‘ tree /aa/ /aalikuno/ ‘he was /saani/ ‘how‘ /mwéa/ ‘interjection: here(before is that so!‘ yesterday)‘ /ao/ /aaowa/ ‘he has /akaoma/ ‘small /impao/ ‘provisions‘ (just) drum‘ bathed‘ /au/ /auti/ , , , , . , , (what /ukuciléuka/ to /ic1pau/ powerful man did) you leap about' say?‘ 5.2.h Vowel Clusters wicho/ as First Member Only /i e o u/ may be the second member of vowel clusters in which /o/ is the first member. available from the present data such clusters are limited to utterance-medial position. examples of occurrence for this Cluster Utterance—medially /oi/ /kanoiné/ /oe/ /kanoéése/ /oo/ /loobé/ /ou/ /ékouli/ One example only for utterance-initial position is /oo/, e.g., /oota/ ‘bawll‘. Otherwise all There are only two type of cluster utterance-finally: -Finally ‘except me‘ /kaboi/ ‘(professional) servant‘ ‘only if he comes‘ ‘it is yours (e.g., /imboo/ ‘buffalo‘ hoe)‘ !it (e'g') salt) is there .39- 5.2.5 Vowel Clusters with /u[as First Member Vowel clusters in which /u/ is the first member are not clear—cut in their patterning. Available data indicate that a cluster of /ui/ occurs utterance—initially and -medially, a cluster of /uo/ utterance-medially and —finally and a cluster of /uu/ in all positions: Utterance— Cluster medially fMedially -Finally /ui/ /uiméné/ ‘should you /ulujmbwé/ ‘kind of see it (e.g., shrub‘ bicycle)?‘ /ou/ /umuoogga/ ‘a kind /abéénéluo/ ‘people of tree‘ belonging to the Luo (frog) totem‘ /uu/ /uusumé/ ‘a good one /luuunda/ ‘Luunda /insuu/ ‘ground peas‘ (e.g., village)‘ person‘ NOTES ‘ ;Pike, Kenneth'L., PHONEMICS: .A Technique for Reducing Eggguages to writing; Ann Arbor, Michigan, UniverSity of Michigan ess, l9 3. 2 . op. c1t. 5Pike, Kenneth L., TONE LANGUAGES: A Technique for Determining the Number and Type of Pitch Contrasts in a Language, with Studies in Tonemic Substitution and Fusion, Ann Arbor, Michigan, University of Michigan Press, 196%. Barnes, B. H., and Doke, C. M., "The Pronunciation of the Bemba Language," BANTU STUDIESi Vol. 3, 1927, pp. h23-h56. 5The articulation of /f/ varies with degree of lip rounding that accompanies it. The position of the lipy: is determined by the phoneme athat follows /f/. In addition, the more rounded the lips the lower is the point of contact made by the upper teeth on the inside of the lower lip. Thus, /f/ followed by /i/ or /y/ is pronounced on the top edge of the lower lip while /f/ followed by /u/ or /w/ is articulated low within the bottom lip. Intermediate points of articulation are for /e/ and /o/. It should be noted, at the same time, that all utterance-initial or -final voiceless vocoids are in free Variation with their voiced counterparts. 7Like utterance-initial or -final voiceless vocoids, voiceless vocoids after velar stops;are in free variation with their voiced counterparts. Representative of this viewpoint is J, C. Sharman‘s and A? E. Meeussen‘s joint endeavor, "The Representation of Structural Tones, with Special Reference to the Tonal Behaviour of the verb, in Bemba, Northern Rhodesia," AFRICA: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. XXV, No. A, 1955, pp. 393-h0h. The ultimate goal of such studies as this has been to facilitate the inference of the actual :pitches heard in speech by the application of a set of "rules of tonal 'behaviour" to what has been described by various investigators as the "basic," "essential," "inherent" or "morphological" tones. -ho- -hl- 9Kenneth L. Pike (Tone Languagg, Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, l96h, p. 5) labels languages with "a small, restricted number of pitch contrasts between level tonemes" as register-tone types. loW.-E. Welmers ("Tonemics, Morphophonemics and Tonal Morphemes," GENERAL I‘NGUISTICS t, 1959, pp. 1-9) uses the term "dlS(I~+e level" instead of "register—tone" although for all practical purposes the two terms are mutually substituiable. 1 1PM. Guthrie (The Banti Languages of Western Equatorial Africa, Oxford University Press, 1953, p. IO) defines "tone-slip" as a feature referring "to the behaviour of adjacent ‘high-tones‘ in those cases in which the Second of two high-tones is pronounced at a level distinctly lower than the first, in accordance with fixed rules." As defined here, tone-slip is certainly inadequate to atcount completely for the hehavior of high tones in iciBemba. Tone—slip in iciBemba is not confined to “—1 .. mu- nuns”; just adjacent high tones. An adequate definition would require a combie nation of Guthrie‘s "tone—slip" and Stewart's "downstep" (see definition below). ng. M. Stewart defines "downstep" as "the [automatic] difference in pitch between two high tones separated by one or more low tones" (see "The Typology of the Twi Tone System," Reprint from the BULLETIN OF THE INSTITUTE OF AFRICAN STUDIES 1, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, no date, p. 5). Downstep includes also the non- automatic "drop in pitch between adjacent high tones." (p. 6) lBSchachter considers "downdrift" an intonational phenomenon. (see "Some Comments on J. M..Stewart‘s ‘The Typology of the Twi Tone System‘", Reprint from the BULLETIN OF THE INSTITUTE OF AFRICAN STUDIES 1, Institute of African Studies“ University of Ghana, no date, p. 29). It should be added at once that "dwondrift" as adopted in the present study is a syntactical rather than a "situational" (e.g., emotional, interrogational, etc....) feature; "downdrift" shouldgbe'associated here with sentence-ending or length of sentence. lu Pike, Kenneth L., PHONEMICS: A technique for Reducing Languages to Writing, Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1963, p. 60. 15For a relevant discussion of the assertion that morphemic and syllabic boundaries do not always coincide, see Pike, PHONEMICS, Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, p. 146 and Robins, R. H., GENERAL LINGUISTICS: An Introductory Survey, Longmans‘ Linguistics Library, 196A, p. 202. -hg- Single consonants or clusters of consonants cannot be found in utterance—final position since all emic syllables are characteristically open in iciBemba. 17The general statements that /f/ is never followed by /a/, /s/ by /i/, /g by /i e/, /w/ by /u/ nor /k/ or /y/ by /i /( utterance- initially only) will also be true for consonant clusters in which these phonemes are the final members and should therefore be borne in mind throughout the discussion of this section. 8 . 1 What sounds like an alveopalatal nasal is of falrly frequent occurrence in utterance-initial and -medial position in the language. It is diIIilglit, howewer, in) know [new,i3e1y v.'h Itnfl" to uretxii»: this sound as a sequence of two phog~m:;. 211., {57/ or as a single p on»me /n/ since it would be extremely dlfIIgMJI, fiAPt'1m8n aliv, To tr; to demonstrate contexts where a cluster of /nf plus ,v/ co: trasts with /h/. Such a contrast is nowhere evident in the ldWFUd--o F'urthermore, it seems futile to attempt to resolve this problem irom morphophonemic evidence since the final /n/ of a preceding morpheme plus the initial /y/ of a following morpheme is actualized either (i), as /hj/, e.g., /hjé/ ‘that I should go' or (ii) as an, e.g., /hhaagalé/ ‘that I should play‘ thus: . l) /hjé/ (N- ) ‘lst pers. sing. verbal pron.‘ +-(-yf) ‘verb root' +.(-§) dependent suffix tense (ii) /hhaag gale/ (N~ ) lst pers. sing. verbal pron.‘ +-(-yaaggal-) 'verb root'.+'(—g) dependent tense suffix, where in (ii) /y/ is a latent phoneme and is followed noncontiguously by a cluster of nasal plus a consonant other than a semivowel or another nasal. Ultimately, therefore, some doubt will persist as to whether the phonemic realization of the following. morphological example (niuyu) is /fiyuuyu/ or /nuuyu/ where we know (from morphophophemic rules, cf. Appendix 2) that the /i/ of the morpheme (ni- ) fuses with the initial /u/ of the morpheme (uyu) to result in «yuu/ and that n— is then phono- logically conditioned into /fi/. In the absence of contrast, however, between /hy/ and /h/ anywhere in the language, the status of the sound resulting from the fusion remains largely undetermined. Similarly, the difference between /s/ and /sy/ cannot be conclu— sively demonstrated in iciBemba from an example such as (nsiumfwa), /hsufimfwa/ or /hsyuumfwa7 'I am intractable‘ (i.e., I never listen‘). In all these cases, therefore, where doubt of this kind persists, what seems to be a sequence of /h/ plus /y/, /s/ plus /y/ or /c/ plus /y/ will consistently be regarded as a single consonant, (viz., h, s or c), throughout the rest of this section for lack of evidence to the contrary. -hs- 19It must be pointed out hereuthat this and subsequent examples showing a double phonemic entry should not be read as indicating (file) variant forms but rather idiolectal forms, although sometimes the two forms may be found in the speech of one speaker. In this connection, clusters /io ea aa/ alSo manifest two idio- *lectal forms for certain utterances, e.7, ,/ioéugolé/‘ a kind of ééa snake‘, /alééaapgala/ ‘he is playing‘, suka/ or /ayasuka/ ‘he has (just) answered'. BIBLIOGRAPHY "rt-v ‘ .L Barnes, B. H. and Doke, C. M. 'he Pronunciation of the Bemba Language,‘ Bantu Studies, Vol. 3, 1927, pp. u23—u56. Cowan, William. "A Note on the Phonemes of Mbré," Journal of African Languages, Vol. A, Part 2, 1965, pp. llA-IIY. Gleason, H. A. An Introduction to Descriptive Linguistics, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1965. Guthrie, Malcolm. The Bantu Languages of Western Equatorial Africa, London: Oxford University Press, 1953. Hoch, E. (W. F.), Bemba Grammar Notes for Beginners (in mimeograph form only), 1959. Lammond, William. Lessons in Bemba, The Publications Bureau, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, I953. Nida, Eugene A. Morphology: The Descriptive Analysis of Words, Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1963. Pike, Kenneth L. Phonemics: A Technique for Reducing Languages to Writing, Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1963. -------- , Tone Languages, Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 196A. Sadler, Wesley, Untangled CiBemba, General Offset Co., Inc., New York, 196A. Sambeek, J. van: A Bemba Grammar, Longmans, Green and Co., London, 19559 -hh- -h5_ Schachter, Paul. "Phonetic Similarity in Tonemic Analysis: with Notes “on' the System of Akwapim Twi,'_' Lan ua e, Vol. 37, No. 2, 1961, pp. 231-238. Schoeffer, Rev. Father, A Grammar of the Bemba Language, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1907. Sharman, J. C. and Meeussen, A. E. "The Representation of Structural Tones, with Special Reference to the Tonal behaviour of the Verb in Bemba, Northern Rhodesia," Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. XXV, No. A, 1955. Sims, G. W. An Elementary Grammar of CiBemba, Morija Printing works, Morija, Basutoland, 1959. -------- , Supplement to Lessons in Bemba (Lammond), The Publications Bureau, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Lusaka, 1955. Stevick, Earl W. "Pitch and Duration in two Yoruba Idiolects," Journal of African Languages, Vol. A, Part 2, 1965, pp. 85-101. Stewart, J. M. "The Typology of the Twi Tone System," Reprint from ' the'Bulletin of the Institute of African Studies 1, Legon,Unav.o{ sh. welmers, William E. "Tonemics, Morphophonemics and Tonal Morphemes," General Linguistics, A, 1959, pp. 1-9. The White Fathers‘. Bemba-English Dictionary, (Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland Joint Publications Bureau) London: Longmans, Green and Company, 195%. APPENDICES l. Morphological Evidence Militating against Analyzing a Nasal Plus a Non-nasal Consonant as a Nasal—onset Phoneme in Certain Contexts. It is necessary to state that there are certain contexts where it can be hemonstrated on morphological evidence that /mp mb nt nc gk mf ns hs/ should be analyzed as consonant clusters and not as nasal-onset phonemes. These are the contexts in which the (final) nasal consonant of a morpheme, e.g., the class prefix (iN- ) or the first person pro— noun (N- ) is contiguous to the initial consonant of a noun or verb stem respectively. The nasal consonant of the morpheme is always phonologically conditioned by the following noun stem-initial or verb stem-initial consonant, e.g., /insofu/ [nsofu] or [insofu] ‘elephant‘ [impoffi/ [mpofu] or [impofu] ‘blind person‘ /nsuma/ [hsuma] ‘bite mel‘ /mboola/ [mbozla] ‘hit mel‘ -h7_ 2. Morphophonemics In those contexts in which vowels fuse as a result of contact across morpheme boundaries, whether within the same word or across word-boundaries, their phonemic realizations are according to the patterns shown below: Initial Vowel of Basic Form of a Following Morpheme E 8 i e a o u &* - _ ill a) v .3 5 1 ii yee l yaa yoo yuu ms: (GD-1 ‘n B e ee ee I yaa yoo yoo c’6z . H E‘ a ee ee aa 00 oo ®°H 3rd :2 8 o wee wee waa oo 00 H2: g‘h u wii wee waa L 00 uu w1% a 0 Examples Contiguous Vowels Phonemic Morphemes i t i /ifiibi/ ‘doors‘ <(ifi- ) cl. p,*+ (-ibi) ‘door‘ i e e /ifyééla/ ‘iron items‘ <(ifi- ) " " + (-éla) ‘iron‘ 1 + a /ifyaa16/ ‘countrins‘ <(ifi- ) " " + (—a16) ‘country‘ i + o /ifyoos6/ ‘wild ducks‘ <(ifi- ) " " + (-osé) ‘wild duck‘ i + u /ifyfiuni/ ‘birds‘ _ <(ifi- ) " " + (-fini) ‘bird‘ u + i /ubwiipi/ ‘state of <(ubu- ) " " + (—ipi) ‘short‘ .1 . being short‘ u + e /ubwéénl6/ ‘hole‘ <(ubu- ) " " + (-énlo) ‘hole‘ u + a /ubwééli/ ‘mush‘ <(ubu- ) " " + (éli) ‘mush‘ u + o /ub66wa/ ‘mushroom‘ <(ubu- ) " " + (-owa) ‘mushroom‘ u + u /ubuugga/ ‘flour‘ <(ubu— ) " " + (-ugga) ‘flour‘ *cl. p. stands for Class Prefix -48. :h9r“ However, there are other contexts where even though fusion between contiguous vowels might be expected, no fusion takes place. It would appear that in these contexts non-fusion patterns are based on phono- logical, morphological and syntactical rules. Phonologically, for example, fusion is not possible between the final vowel of one word and the initial vowel of the next if tentative or final pause intervenes. A detailed discussion of the aspect of vowel fusion, however, is beyond the scope of this study. Therefore, it has not been pursued beyond supplying a few examples to illustrate the phonemic actualization of fused vowels. 3. Distribution of Phonemes (Sample Charts) Chart I (a) Single Consonants 10. ll. 12. 15. 1h. 15. pila tina cité bilé fiké sita m mina niwé lila wiilé Utterance-initially B e pelé téma céma kéése béyé féneegkesa sela seeté méta nééka fieela * lela wééla yéké C a pale tasa céémpoémpo kalata bané * sala ea masa naya nééna lala wa yaagga D o poka toola COOna kolwé boombé fona some sooka mona noobé fioégga goOnté lolé wéobufi yéobé II yuume *indicates non-occurrence -50- -51- CHART I Meanings (a) Single Consonants A B C l. bail (water)!‘ grind! scratch .accept! r 'ccsqueeze (ground)! through! 2. squeeze f€11 (tree)! be grateful!1pick((it)“ppfi puncture (it)E 3. do (it)! herd (e-g-, cuckoo acat frog cattle)! A. * let him letter monkey here come 5. sew! cut (hair)! (my) friends!1work! evoke (spirits)! 6. approach shut tight * tuck (clothes) tortoise (arrive)! (door)! up! 7- * move! Choose! read! push! 8. buy! chew! leave (it)! go around! disinter! 9. swallow! smoothen plaster look (see)! beat him! (mush)! (wall)! 10. it is you I alone make (mush)! you too uproot (it)I ll. * thrash defecate! wring! stretch (it)! (person)! 12. * * (hikind of) groan! * gFasshopper l3. cry! nurse break! keep awake! weave! (baby)! it. fall in (e.g., boo fall pretend to beat it (e-g-, hole)! (person)! (down)! fall! dog)! 15- * draw in rejoice! it (e.g., stomach dog) is yours (b) 10. ll. l2. 13. 1h. 15. Single Consonants filupi umuti fibuuci sakila fibubi fibufi umusi ululimi ilini ibéli isiwi iyi Utterance-medially -52- B e icipé icitéékwa iceeswa umuséké ibéli ukufénéégkésé uluselé busé imimé muné baafieefie * kalé icipoowé iyé C a ipala kélata icaalo amaka iluba * umusa umfisa maama coona akafia iliga ukulala iciwé béya D o ukfipoka icilééto ico ifiko abo umufoélo ukusésa ukusooma umoona pano ukufiéogga fimugé ubfilélo iciwoobucé uyo E u icipuna umfituutu ukucuula umukuba cibfilu inséffi akasuba ukusuaka umfilalé ukfinfifigka ukfiflfififia I * akélfibi * (b) 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. Single Consonants A hand tree honey fish (with net)! badness lie(s) village tongue 988 first-born voice this (e.g., animal) B luggage (domestic) animal broom (load) basket first-born to jam (e'g°)ifl door) insult Question marker dew (my) friend! cicadas long ago famine interjec- tion of impatience -53- CHART I Meanings C bald patch letter country strength flower draught (of liquid) slave (my) grand- mother cat baby crack (in foot) to break ogre I cut.(hair)! D to receive dream that (near YOU) dirt those (near you) furrow to say to sizzle nose (on) here to wring thief bridge what a small ogre that (e.g., person) E stool rustic to suffer copper deaf-mute elephant sun to be lucky crack to smell to strew statue * this (e.g., person) (a) CC Cluster: 10. 11. 13. 1h. 15. pw tw cw kw bw fw sw sw mw HW gw 1w A i pwiilé twiité * kwiinli bwiino fwiisa swiilooyu * mwiimbi nwiintuké * gwiinta lwiisé -)(- -Su- CHART II Consonant Phoneme Plusg/w/ Utterance-initially B C e a pweele pwaapwa twéébe twé * * kweempe kwaapila bweelé bwaali fweené fwééla swéépula swa * * mwééle mwéa nwééna nwé * * * gwaanagwaana lwéénlé lwaala * * * * D o pwookusoma twéébuubé * -X- fwéobufi swoobuubé *- nwéobwaalwé *- * lwoolubuli * -55- CHART II Meanings (a) Consonant Phoneme Plus /w/ A B C l. sip! (yellow-vented) lung bulbul 2. call us! tell us! pound! 5. * * * h. rat by a hairbreadth tuck (under arm)! 5. well (adv) come back! is is mush 6. spit! scratch! dress! 7. pluck for ' lift (with ease)! pluck (e.g. [this (one)! fruit) 8. * * * 9. (long) drum it is a knife is that so? 10. fly high! drown! drink! 11. * * * l2. -grumble! * be baffled! 15. tackle (e.g., it is a journey get sick! in game)! 1h. * * * * * * 15. D finish reading! pound the (fish- poison) plant! * -)(- * * pretend to be dead!* pluck (leaves of fish-poison) plant * * * drink beer! * * fight (a fight) 1 *- * (b) 10. ll. 12. 13. in. 15. -56- CC Cluster: Consonant Phoneme Plus /w/ Utterance—medially A B C i e a pw ukupwiila ukupwénéfika ulupwa tw ukutwi umutwé ukupatwa cw * * * kw ukukwiika bukwé icikwaakwé bw ubwiiggé ilibwé akabwa fw umufwi ifwé ukufwa sw ukuswiimé iciswéébéébé iceeswé §w * * * mw umwiina 1mwé ukutémwa nw ukunwiintuka umunwé akénwa fiw * * * gw mugwiigwi akagwééna ukugwéanégwaana 1w ubulwi fulwe ukfilwé ww * * * * .* * D o ulupwéélu umutwéoyfi * umukwééyfi cibwééyu ukufwéobufi fibuswoobu * témwébyu umfinwééyfi (b) 10. 11. 13. 1h. -57- CHART II Meaning§ Consonant Phoneme Plus /w/ A to sip ear * to fix (in handle) wedding arrow to be cowed heap to soar * mosquito war * B to be listless head * brother- (or sister) in-law stone (rock) we desert you (pl.) finger small crocodile tortoise * family to choke * sickle small dog to die broom * to like mouth * here here here D is the family is the head * is the slab of bark here salt is the (cibwahf to pretend to be dead here clay love here to be perplexed to fight * here is the (edible) * this (one)! is the finger * * is the tortoise * -58- (c) CC Cluster: Consonant Phoneme Plus/y/ Utterance-initially B C D E e a o u l. py pyeeta pya pyookéana pyfi 2. ty * * * * 5. cy * * * * 1+ . ky -x- * -X- -x- 5. by bYQCDY颧a byaéla byoolé byuutula 6. fy fyéela fyééla fyéOnta fyfifika 7. sy * * * * 8. gy * * * * 9. my myééfu myéégga myéono myufiggu lO. ny * * * * 11 . fiy * * -)(- -x- 12. By * * * * l3. ly lyéés1 lyaéla lyoénsé lyufime 1h. wy * * * * 15 . W * * * -x- -59- CHART II Meanings (c) Consonant Phoneme Plus /y/ 10. 11. 12. 13. 1A. 15. scream! flash (it)! they are iron items *- * it is a beard it is a flood C get burnt! sow! they are claws lick! -)(- .x. it is a (big) claw! D zigzag! belch! suck! * -X- they are (fish)'weirs *- * all (e.g., fish) E ideophone expressing purity dislocate (it)! escape! "X- *- they are (edible) gourds * * * hit it (e.g., fish) (d) 10. ll. 12. 13. 1h. 15. CC Cluster: _6o- Consonant Phoneme Plus[y/ py ty Cy ky by fy sy Er my ny Dy 1y wy yy Utterance-medially B C e a akapyéélélé umupya akatyééte ciimfutvaanuma * * kaléélikyéése muleekyéabe iciibyééco ukubyaélé ukufyééfyéétuka umufyééla * * * * imyééfu ukukumya * * * * * * icilyé- ukulya * h * * igkopyo pakutyoémfwe * muleekyiemwiiné ukubyoélé ulufyé kolyoOkolyo * *- E u icipyu umutyufiyu * umuswéékyuuyu kubyuuku imfyufifyu * * umfilimyufiyu * * * ubwaalyfifibu * * (d) 10. ll. 12. 13. 1h. 15. B reed (whistle) wag-tail should the clerk come? the door? yes, (that‘s it) to slip away beard council -6l- CHART II Meanings Consonant Phoneme Plus /y/ C fire-cleared area backwards let him be to sow cousin to touch to eat D eyelashes so that he (she) hears it leave him alone to belch kidney touch this (one) *- *- blue-headed lizard * *- E anger here is the medicine *- here is the toothbrush this (direction) is bad (femoral) condyle * * here is the farmer * * here is the mush * -62- CHART III (a) CC Cluster: Nasal Consonant plus Another Consonant Utterance-initially A B C D i e a o 1. mp mpimé mpeelé mpaanta mpoka 2. mb mbiike mbeya mbala mboéswa 3. mf mfiinla mfeneegkesa * mfonéko A. mm mmina mmeeggé mmaniké mmoomfyé 5. mw mwiimbi mwééle mwééna * 6. nt ntiina nteeta ntasa ntobé 7. ns * nseka nsaamba nsosé 8. nn nniinla nneeggé nnaaggé nnoko 9. nl nliilako nleka nlaya nlolesa 10. he ficiinlika ficena ficaayé ficokomona ll. fij fijita fijeba fijasuka * l2. fi§ fisina fisééle nsa fisooka l3. fin fifiina fifiéénle fifiaaggalé fifioogge 1h. * * * * 15. gk * gkéésé gkaya gkoogka 16. gg * ggeefi ggaansi ggocé 17. gg * * ggaafisa ggoombela E u mpumé mbuusa mfuunla mmuumbé * ntuké nsuma nnuumbé nlufyé ficuusa gkumyé Usumé gguumfwe (a) 10. 11. 12. 13. 1h. 15. 16. 17. -63- CHART III Meanings Nasal Consonant plus Another Consonant A measure me! should I put down? ignore me: swallow me! (long) drum fear me! wait for me! eat for me! respect me! call me! pinch me! his mother B give me! cut my hair! jam me (e.g., in door)! cut me (with grass blade)! it is a knife cut me (with blade)! laugh at me! draw (a picture of) me! let go of me! wound me! tell me! by and by * C D kick me! get (it) from me! provoke me! guardian spirit * tuck (clothes) up for me! pinch me drench me! (e.g., with pincers)! it is a child * praise me! hit me! wash me! talk to me! show me! your (sing,9 mother promise me! beat me! answer me! should I slide leave me! (along on my bottom)? should I thrash should I (person)? play? * * I shall come I shall go very much resist me! look at me! get rid of me! 9(- go round me! should I wring? * follow me! burn me! applaud me! E hit me! raise me up! teach.me! create me! -X- insult me! bite me! cheer me! lose me! torture me! * I do not hear should I strew? * touch me! beat me! should I taste? (b) CC Cluster: Nasal Consonant plus Another Consonant Utterance-medially A B C D E i e a o u 1. mp ukupiimpila kwéémpé ciimpaampa impoombo ukupéémpula 2. mb ikfifimbi iséembé ibuumba umwaambo icufimbfi 3. mf imfiifi ékaamfénéégkesa * iciimfokoonsi. fimwaamfuli A. mm akéamminé akamméméégga immaaggo akaammoné sikaammufimbé 5. mw umwiiné imwé ukutémwa témwoéyu * 6. nt icipoonti teenté itaanta intoontoka umuuntu 7. ns * inselé insalu umwéénsé umuunsuunlu 8 nn akaanniinla akaannéémbélé innama innooggo innumé 9. nl umunaanli ibéénlé ulutaanlé icipéénlé iuunlu lO. fic ciificila kaaficeense ukucaaficéma akaaficokomoné akaaficfiusé ll. fij innaanyi cééfijela ukuciifija ciifijéélupiya ififijuka 12. ns lfisila ciifiseelé saafisa iciifiEoko akaafisfikilé 13. fifi ififiiimbo ififiéénld innaambi akaafifioéggé akééfifiéélé 1A. * * * * * 15. gk tuugkila ukusoogkéla koogka umusoogko umukuugku 16. gg ubwiiggi intééggélé itaagga umusaéggo umusfiuggu 17. gg‘ * * iggaanla iggoémbé igguumbé 10. 11. 12. 13. 1h. 15. 16. 17. be active! rail(way) path songs *- eflp(flfl great number * kind of (fish- poison) plant be wary! loafer trips to pay tax for (something) hump (of cow) * -65- CHART III Meanings (b) Nasal Consonant plus Another Consonant A B C to pester by a hairbreadth kind of tree cloud axe crowd darkness (stinging) insect * he will he will cut me withies swallow me heap you (pl.) to like calf kind of mushroom thigh * insults cloth(e)s he will wait he will write me animal for me (my) friend mortar star to run away fast to change mix! pouch(es) * follow! stable house(s) D E duiker to visit worm potato pothole umbrella he will they (e.g., see me ants) will swarm over me love this * (one) wheelbarrow person fear leech (clay) pot back felon jigger he will chase me away change money! detour he will twist me * tax kind (sort) cow(s) he will torture me (playing) cards I shall be a boon to him he will thrash me * wooden anvil white man barren woman (a) 10. ll. 12. 13. 1h. 15. 16. 17. -66- CHART IV CC Cluster: Homorganic Nasal plus Consonant plus /w/, Utterance-initially A B C D i e a o mpw mpwiise mpweemilimé mpwaantaile mpwoomulimo' mbw mbwiinliké mbwééle mbwasaulé * mfw mfwiika mfweenako mfwéaye mfwéobufi mmw mmwiibilé mmweebé mmwaafwé * ntw ntwiika ntweekd' ntwééle ntwéobuuba nsw nswiilako nsweepula nswaéggaané nswéolupwé nnw nnwiintulé nnweenéko nnwékétaata’ nnwoobwalwé nlw nlwiisé nlweekd' nlwaale nlwoolubfili ficw * * * * fijw * * * * fisw * * * * fi"w * * * * fiyw * * * * ‘fiyy * * * * gkw gkwiike gkweetako gkwéépilg' * ggw ggwiilé ggweela ggwaémye ggwoomufimbo ggw ggwiinta * ggwaénagwaané * (a) Homorganic Nasal plus Consonant plus /w/ 10. ll. 13. 1h. 15. 16. 17. A should I finish up? should I dip (it into water)? dress me! should I steal (his things)? put load on (my) head! pluck for me! should I hurl high? tackle me! * *- should I fix (in handle)? should I plunge in (water)? grumble at me! -67- CHART IV Meanings B should I finish work? should I return? scratch me! should I tell him? should I also pound? lift me! drirx for me; nuu_ I join in the ‘lght? *- -)(- * * scratch me! boo me! C should I (talk) drivel? should I break (it into pieces) should I search? should I help hbn should I carry (t0) should I hurry? I drink kétéété (what) if I become sick? 9(- *- -X- 9(- should I tuck (under arm)? should I put in order? should I be perplexed? D E should I * finish the job? * * should I * pretend to be dead. * * should I * pound.the (fish-poison) should I * pluck the egg-plant? I drink beer* I fight * (fights) -X- * * p * -)(- 9(- * -)(- ~X- -x- -)(- -)(- * * should I * fall deliberately? * 9(- -68- (b) CCC Cluster: Homorganic Nasalgplus Cogsonantgplusg/w/ Utterance-medially A B C D i e a o l. mpw tuumpwiiea iciimpwééna impwa impwéobwiiggi 2. mbw ciimbwi impéémbwé imbwa imbwoobwiiggi 3. mfw imfwi iciimfwéémfwé fikuumfwa ufimfwoomulaanld h. mmw kaammwiité kaammwéébe kaammwaafwé * 5. ntw intwiilo kaéntweeko akééntwééké kaantwoolupwa 6. nsw akaanswiilaké kaanswéépulé kaanswaéggaané kéénswéélupwé 7. nnw niinnwiintula kaénnweeké niinnwa niinnwoobwaalwa 8. nlw kaanlwiise kaluunlwé impeenlwé impeenlwéobukulu 9. ncw * * * * lO . .fi'jw * * * * 11. new * * * * 12. fi~w * * * * 13. fiyw * * * * 1h. fiyy * * * * 15. gkw * * * * l6. ggw iciigkwiiggili amaiiggwé icimééggwa icimééggwéékutwa' 17. ggw alééggwiinté iggwééna kaaggwaanagwaané * * * * * * * -69- (b) Homorganic Nasal plus Consonant plus /w/ A l. raise completely (out of water)!‘ 2. hyena 3. grey hair(s) A. let me call him 5. pounded peanut sauce 6. he will pluck for me 7. I have (already) hurled (it) high 8. let me tackle 9- * '10. * ll. * 12. * 13. * , 1h. * .15. * 16. (metal) bracelet 17. she is grumbling at_me CHART IV Meanings B C curiosity egg-plants ditch dog backward (adv.) to hear let me tell him let me also pound let me lift let me also drink cassava door-posts crocodile let me help him once upon a time let me hurry I have (already) drunk number grass blade let me be baffled D what a lot of egg-plants what a lot of dogs hear the case! *- let me pound the egg-plant let me pluck the egg-plant I have(already) drunk beer what a big number * *- -)(- * what a sharp grass blade! * * (c) C\\J‘l K] 10. ll. 12. 13. 1h. 15. 16. 17. CCC Cluster: mmy nty nsy nny fiyy Dky nsy BUY -70- Homorganic Nasal plus.Consonant plus/y/ Utterance-initially B C D e 1 a o mpyééte mpyaéne mpyéékaané mbyéébyeeeé mbyaale mbyéole mfyeegga mfyaantiké mfyéénte * mmyaégge * * * *- * I * * * * * nlyeensi~ ‘ nlyéénsi' nlyéobwaali * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * E u mpyuululé mbyuutulé mfyfiukulé * (c) Homorganic Nasal plus Consonant-plus /y/ 10. ll. 13. 1h. 15. 16. l7._ A * * should I scream? 'should I flash (it)? accuse me falsely! *- , *- what should I eat? -7)- CHART IV Meanings C Should I become su-tessor? 1’2.TU.ld I 30W? - should I wedge (it) in between? should I lick? *- * * what do I eat? D E should I zigzag? should I sharpen? should I belch? should I disloéate? should I suck? should I dislodge (pot)? * * * * * V * * ' * I eat mush I am in (t)here) * * * * * * * * * * * * * x *. * * * (d) CCC Cluster: 10. ll. l2. 13. 1h. 15... 16. 17. mwy nty nsy nny BUY -72- Utterance:m§dially Homorganic Nasal plus Consonant plus /y/ B C D E e a o u kaampyééte impyéani kaampyooyu kaampyuululé kaambyéébyeeEé ubwéémbya kaambyookfi kaambyuutulé akaamfyéémpa ukuciimfya imfyo imfyuufyu * iléémmyaagga * * * * * * icipoontyééco kéantyaapa ciipoontyééma icipoontyfifimfi * * * * * * * * kaanlye inlyaabuluba akaanlyooyu fimunaanlyuuyfi * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * umukuunkyééo kaagkoonkyaabé -kaagkoogkyooyu umukuunkyuuyu umutuuggyééo kaannéaggyaabd wmuléoggyééyu umutnggyuuyu * * * * -73- CHART IV Meanings (d) Homorganic Nasal plus Consonant plus /y/ 10. 11. 12. 13. 1h. 15. l6. 17. A B let me scream let me flash (it) he will whip me * * the calf? that‘s it. yes) * * let me eat * * * * *- the bark-vessel? yes, that‘s it the barrel? yes,_ that‘s it -)(- C successor(s) whip to vanquish it is licking me * let me play over here * * giraffe * * let me follow let me follow this these (people) let me show these (people) ~X- D let me give (it) to this (one) let me be on this side kidneys * *- it is a calf he (always) , beats *- * this one will be the death of me * *- *- *- * (one) here is the umulooggé fish *- let me sharpen let me dislocate (it) (femoral) condyle *- a calf, in t(here)? * * here is my friend * * * * *- here is the bark-vessel here is the barrel * "Ill11111111111115S