The Interface between Morphology, Phonology and Semantics in Standard Swahili Compound Nouns

Abstract

This article serves two purposes: firstly, it demonstrates the use of a constraints approach in dealing with certain aspects of Swahili. Secondly it is shown that this approach gives a clearer picture than is usually afforded of the interface of grammatical modules in forming Swahili compound nouns. Specifically this analysis will focus on the interaction between morphology, phonology and semantics in forming compounds, showing how stress, vowel length, and intonation (phonology) interact with morphology (in compounding operation) and with the meaning constraints in forming optimal compound nouns. It is argued here that optimality theory (OT) serves best in accounting for the interaction phenomena between more than two modules. Further, these considerations heuristically suggest that the constraints approach, based upon OT, might be productively employed by researchers for investigation in other fields of study across the humanities such as sociolinguistics and cultural studies involving complex communication and preservation of meaning content.