Prosodic data and phonological analyses in Zulu and Xhosa

Abstract

In this article the status of primary data in phonetic descriptions and phonological analyses is assessed. The nature of tonal data found in descriptions in Nguni and Sotho languages is discussed and it is indicated that this data more than often lack authenticity and reliability and are subject to questionable methods of acquistion. Inconsistencies in various data sets are described and an acoustic analysis of Xhosa data illustrate that tone may not be the only disambiguating factor in lexical items. The relationship between phonetic data and phonological analyses is demonstrated with reference to an autosegmental analysis of Zulu nouns. An integrated methodological approach is proposed for the study of speech phenomena.