Nasal Vowel Patterns in West Africa

Abstract

UC Berkeley Phonology Lab Annual Report (2013) Nicholas Rolle UC Berkeley “Nasal vowel patterns in West Africa” 1 n.rolle@berkeley.edu 1. I NTRODUCTION Nasal vowels are a common feature of West African phonologies, and have received a significant amount of attention concerning their (suprasegmental) representation, their interaction with nasal consonants, and their phonetic realization. Numerous authors have presented surveys of varying degrees of (targeted) depth which address the distribution of contrastive nasal vowels in (West) Africa, including Hyman (1972), Williamson (1973), Ruhlen (1978), Maddieson (1984, 2007), Clements (2000), Clements & Rialland (2006), and Hajek (2011). Building on this literature, this present study provides a more extensive survey on contrastive nasal vowels in West Africa, and specifically studies the types of systematic gaps found. For example, the language Togo-Remnant language Bowili has a 7 oral vowel inventory canonical of West Africa /i e ɛ a ɔ o u/, as well as a full set of nasal counterparts /ĩ ẽ ɛ a ɔ o ũ/ (Williamson 1973). In contrast, the Gur language Bariba has the same 7 oral vowel inventory, though a more limited nasal set /ĩ ɛ a ɔ ũ/, missing mid-high vowels */ẽ o/ (Hyman 1972:201). Using this as a starting point, this paper addresses the following questions: What are the recurring patterns one finds in West African nasal vowel systems and inventories? o What restrictions are there on mid vowels in the nasal inventory? In which families/areal zones do we find these patterns? To which factors can we attribute these patterns? o Genetic – Vertical inheritance o Areal – Horizontal spread o Universal Phonetic – Parallel Developments How do these patterns manifest in the phonologies of these languages o E.g. Restrictions of (co-)occurrences Are these patterns anomalous or expected when viewed in a cross-linguistic perspective? This paper presents a survey of 168 languages and language clusters, incorporating previous studies on nasal vowels cross-linguistically, and nasal vowels in (West) Africa. This study finds that nasality is pervasive across the region, and does not align well with genetic classification. Both the presence and absence of contrastive nasal vowels is shown in Atlantic groups, Gur groups, Mande, Kru, Kwa/Gbe groups, and Benue-Congo groups, including Igboid, Defoid, Edoid, Plateau/Kainji, Nupoid, Cross River, etc. This strongly suggests [1] areal spread introducing/initiating contrastive nasal vowels or nasal loss, [2] independent innovation/loss of contrastive nasal vowels, or [3] both. In addition, this present survey is unique in coding for the presence/absence of high-mid nasal vowels /ẽ o/, which have been described by many authors as rare in West Africa. This This paper is a working draft stemming from a large-scale project on nasal vowels cross-linguistically. Initial thanks to Larry Hyman, Matt Faytak, Florian Lionnet, Lev Michael, Zachary O'Hagan, Roger Blench, Stuart McGill, and Otelemate Harry. All comments very much welcome!