Abstract
Rutooro, a Bantu language spoken in western Uganda, exhibits two processes common to Bantu languages: Mid Vowel Harmony (MVH), by which a high vowel is lowered to mid if it follows a mid root vowel, and Consonant Mutation (CM), by which a high front vowel of certain morphemes trigger a change in the immediately preceding consonant. In forms where both rules could potentially apply, CM applies, but MVH does not, even though its structural description is met. Ultimately, it is shown that MVH is blocked when an alveolar fricative intervenes between the trigger and the target. The most anomalous forms are those that contain the short causative /-i/ and the Perfective suffix /-ir/. In some forms CM would be expected to apply, but does not, and in other forms MVH is expected to be blocked, but is not. The key to the analysis lies in the fact that CM is not a purely phonological process, but rather is only triggered by a small set of specific morphemes. The surface anomalies in the perfect forms can all be accounted for if one formalizes the relevant processes as only being triggered (or blocked) by unaltered [-ir].
Abbreviations
- AP
Applied
- AUG
Augment
- C#
Class Number
- CM
Consonant Mutation
- CAUS
Causative
- FV
Final Vowel
- INF
Infinitive
- MVH
Mid Vowel Harmony
- NOM
Nominalizer
- PERF
Perfective
- SM
Subject Marker
- ST
Stative
- UR
Underlying Representation
Acknowledgements
Thanks to my Rutooro language consultant, Barbara Balinda, for her time, expertise and patience. This paper benefitted from fruitful discussions with Erik Bakovic, Charles Kisseberth, Laura Downing, Laura McPherson, and the audience at ACAL 48 at Indiana University. Any errors or omissions are completely my own.
References
Bastin, Yves. 1983. La finale verbale –IDE et l’imbrication en bantou. No. 114 in Annales. Terveren: Musée Royal de L’Afrique Centrale.Search in Google Scholar
Bickmore, Lee. 2007. Cilungu phonology. Stanford: Center for the Study of Language and Communication.Search in Google Scholar
Bickmore, Lee. Forthcoming. Liquid realization in Rutooro. In Emily Clem, Peter Jenks & Hannah Sande (eds.), Theory and description in African linguistics: Selected papers from the 47th annual conference on African linguistics. Berlin: Language Science Press.Search in Google Scholar
Bickmore, Lee & Lauren Clemens. 2016. Phonological phrasing in Rutooro. Paper presented at the 47th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, University of Carlifornia-Berkeley, March 2016.Search in Google Scholar
Downing, Laura. 2005. Jita causative doubling provides optimal paradigms. In Laura Downing, Alan Hall & Renate Raffelsiefen (eds.), Paradigms in Phonological Theory, 122–144. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199267712.003.0006Search in Google Scholar
Downing, Laura. 2007. Explaining the role of the morphological continuum in Bantu Spirantization. Africana Linguistica 13. 53–78.10.3406/aflin.2007.971Search in Google Scholar
Guthrie, Malcolm. 1967–1971. Comparative Bantu, vol. 4. Farnborough: Gregg.Search in Google Scholar
Hyman, Larry. 1994. Cyclic phonology and morphology in Cibemba. In Jennifer Cole & Charles Kisseberth (eds.), Perspectives in phonology, 81–112. Stanford: Center for the Study of Language and Communication.Search in Google Scholar
Kaji, Shigeki. 2007. A Rutooro vocabulary. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa.Search in Google Scholar
Kaji, Shigeki. 2009. Tone and syntax in Rutooro, a toneless Bantu language of Western Uganda. Language Sciences 31. 239–247.10.1016/j.langsci.2008.12.006Search in Google Scholar
Kiparsky, Paul. 1973. Abstractness, opacity and global rules (Part 2 of ‘Phonological representations’). In Osamu Fujimura (ed.), Three dimensions of linguistic theory, 57–86. Tokyo: Institute for Advanced Studies of Language.Search in Google Scholar
Kisseberth, Charles & M. Abasheikh. 1975. The perfect stem in Chi-mwi: Niand global rules. Studies in African Linguistics 6. 249–266.Search in Google Scholar
Rubongoya, Lazaro. 1999. Modern Runyooro-Rutooro grammar. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.Search in Google Scholar
Zoll, Cheryl. 1995. Consonant mutation in Bantu. Linguistic Inquiry 26. 536–545.Search in Google Scholar
© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston