27.1046, Diss: Samue, Gur, Phonetics, Phonology: Virpi Ouattara: 'A phonological and tonal analysis of Samue using Optimality Theory'

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LINGUIST List: Vol-27-1046. Mon Feb 29 2016. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 27.1046, Diss: Samue, Gur, Phonetics, Phonology: Virpi Ouattara: 'A phonological and tonal analysis of Samue using Optimality Theory'

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Date: Mon, 29 Feb 2016 11:44:59
From: Virpi Ouattara [virpi_ouattara at kastanet.org]
Subject: A phonological and tonal analysis of Samue using Optimality Theory

 
Institution: University of Turku 
Program: Department of Phonetics 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2015 

Author: Virpi Ouattara

Dissertation Title: A phonological and tonal analysis of Samue using Optimality 
Theory 

Dissertation URL:  http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-29-6125-2

Linguistic Field(s): Phonetics
                     Phonology

Subject Language(s): Wara (wbf)

Language Family(ies): Unclassified Gur


Dissertation Director(s):
Maija S Peltola

Dissertation Abstract:

The topic of the present doctoral dissertation is the analysis of the
phonological and tonal structures of a previously largely undescribed
language, namely Samue. It is a Gur language belonging to the Niger-Congo
language phulym, which is spoken in Burkina Faso. The data were collected
during the fieldwork period in a Sama village; the data include 1800 lexical
items, thousands of elicited sentences and 30 oral texts. The data were first
transcribed phonetically and then the phonological and tonal analyses were
conducted. 

The results show that the phonological system of Samue with the phoneme
inventory and phonological processes has the same characteristics as other
related Gur languages, although some particularities were found, such as the
voicing and lenition of stop consonants in medial positions. Tonal analysis
revealed three level tones, which have both lexical and grammatical functions.
A particularity of the tonal system is the regressive Mid tone spreading in
the verb phrase. 

The theoretical framework used in the study is Optimality theory. Optimality
theory is rarely used in the analysis of an entire language system, and thus
an objective was to see whether the theory was applicable to this type of
work. Within the tonal analysis especially, some language specific constraints
had to be created, although the basic Optimality Theory principle is the
universal nature of the constraints. These constraints define the
well-formedness of the language structures and they are differently ranked in
different languages. 

This study gives new insights about typological phenomena in Gur languages. It
is also a fundamental starting point for the Samue language in relation to the
establishment of an orthography. From the theoretical point of view, the study
proves that Optimality theory is largely applicable in the analysis of an
entire sound system.




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