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1. SEGMENTALPHONOLOGY 1.1 WritingSystem MostoftheaccuratelinguisticwoikonMbayandotherSaraLanguageshas beendonebylinguistsattheCentred'EtudesLinguistiquesoftheCollegeCharles Lwanga(CCL)atSarh. OnemajorachievementofCCLhasbeenthedevelopment ofawritingsystem. Thissystem,basedonIPAphoneticsymbols,allowsfor accuratetranscriptionofthephonemes,tonesandcanonicalpatternsofthese languages. Thesystemoftranscriptionfoundinthisworkfollowsverycloselythe CCLorthography.MagriflaandFounder(1974),withitscarefultranscriptionofMbay tonesandvowellengthcontrasts,hasbeenespeciallyuseful. 1.2SegmentInventoryandPronunciation Atthephonemiclevel,therearesevenvowelsandseventeenconsonantsin Mbay. Inaddition,therearefourprenasalizedstops. Abriefdescriptionofthe pronunciationofthesephonemesfollows: 1.2.1 Consonants: ThefollowingconsonantsoccurinMbay: (1) : yabe hippopotamus y§ [pg] toleave yoo death yge [ngg] tennite yS hide yla [nag] thing Hence,thephcviie/y/willbeusedtorepresentthissound. Both/y/and/r/ becomeheavihnasalizedwhenadjacenttoanasalizedvowelattheendofasyllable. NotethatIdifferinthisrespectfromthesystemusedbyCCL,whichhaschosen insteadtoposittwoadditionalphonemes,nasalized/y/and/£/,andtofurther claimthatvowelsadjacenttothisphonemearealwaysnasalized. The disadvantagestotheirapproacharenumerous:1),itfailstoexplainwhy/y/never occursadjacenttoanasalizedvowel; 2)itfailstoexplainwhy/o/and/o/can contrastwhenfollowinganasal(e.g./mdt&/'sick'vs./motd/'penis'),butdo notcontrastwhenfollowing/y/;3)twoadditionalphonemes,bothunusualwithin thelanguagesoftheworld,needtobeaddedtothephonemicinventory;4)theclaim thatvowelsarealwaysheavilynasalizedafternasalsisnotcompletelycorrect. In bisyllabicrootsbeginningwithnasals,nasalizationdoesnotoccur(e.g./nate/ [na-te]'antelope'vs./naf-te/'together'). Moreimportantly,theapproach impliesthatallvowelsarenasalizedafternasals,andhencethattheyareneutralized inthisenvironment. Butthisissimplynottrue.Thus,/nary'money'contrasts with/Nlr/,the'theNarpeople,/mar/'crocodile'contrastswith/mjjr/'insist', and/may/'insideout'contrastswith/mj|y/'resist[death]'. 1.2.1.1 PrenasalizedStops TherearefourprenasalizedstopsinMbay(mb,nd,nj,ng).Whenbeginninga word,thenasalinsuchsequencesisnotaseparatesyllable,andcontrastswith nasalprefixesaddedtowordsbeginningwithobstruents(e.g./mba/'propose'vs. /ffi-b5/'Ipay',/nda/'hit'vs./n-da/'heshow'). Thenasalinprenasalized stopsispronouncedalmostsimultaneouslywiththeobstruent,andcanseem inaudibletotheinexperiencedear. The/n/in/nj/isnotpalatalized,butthenasalportionof/ng/isalways pronounced[rj]. Prenasalizedstopsbehaveasobstruentsinthattheydonotoccur infinalposition.Inwordfinalposition,/ng/ispronounced[rj] (3) w5ng [wSrj] dSng [dSrj] g$fig [girj] When/ng/occu^betweenvowels,the/g/isnormallypronounced,althoughsome speakersdropit,inwhichcasethevowelwhichfollowsbecomesheavilynasalized (e.g./jingaV [jirjga,jirja]'crushedgrain'). 1.2.1.2ImplosiveConsonants: Therearetwoimplosiveconsonants:thebilabialimplosive/£/,andthealveolar /cf/. Thecontrastbetweenthemandtheirnon-implosivecounterpartsismost evidentininitialposition: (4) a) d*5o tofight a"6r ritualspeech da tostand b) B6aeylo gseltavuep 61i sleep Inintervocalicposition,manyspeakerspronounce/£>/as[w], while/&/ remainsunchangedforothers(e.g./tufi5-tuw5/'granarycover',/t§6a-tQwa/ 'chase'). Notethatwhile/b/attimesalsoalternateswith/w/inthisfashion(e.g. /kaw-Kabe/'typeofinsect'),insomecasesitdoesnot(e.g./tubo/'lion'). Hence,thereareclearcontrastsbetween/£/and/b/inintervocalicposition(e.g. /tu65/'granarycover'vs./tubo/'lion'). Theimplosive/d*/ispronounced/r/bysomespeakers,andmostespeciallyby youngercityortowndwellers. FormostMbayspeakers,thedistinctionbetween /c?/and/r/islostwhennotatthebeginningofamorpheme, relatedlanguagesisneededtorevealthesourceofnon-initial/r/: (5) Mbay uy ruy supple /w/ aiww tnigwaw shpuistband ew ndiw tremble ooww ntda5ww fclruatcekle uw [rare] Thediphthongs/ay/,/aw/,/oy/,and/oy/occurwithfefgreate?frequencythan dotheothers. Thediphthong/oy/ispronouncedlikethe'oy'inEnglish'boy',and contrastswith/oy/,wherethelipsarerounded. Asnotedabove,/w/isfrequentlyadialectalalternantto/b/or/6/. Whena schwafollows/b/or/6/,itisnormallydroppedintheformcontaining/w/: (7) Kabe - kaw typeofbug sibe - sewe greyrat labs ~ law typeofdance nj468 - njuwS bother 1.2.1.4OtherComments: Thephoneme/p/isrelativelyrare,occurringalmostexclusivelyinideophones andinwordsofforeignorigin. Thephoneme/h/isfoundonlyatthebeginningof amorpheme(e.g./hdr/'fire',/hal/'orphan'). 1.2.2Vowels ThevowelsystemofMbayisasfollows: (8) Thevowel/a/ispronouncedsimilartoSpanish/a/orthe/a/inEnglish 'father'. Beforethenasals(11,111,119)itispronouncedsimilartothe'u'inthe Englishword'sun'(e.g./ngang/ [ngXrjg]'teeth',/nam/ [nAm]'friend').The /e/ispronouncedlikethe'e'inSpanish,orlikethe'a'inEnglish'bay',butwithout thefinalglide.The/i/and/u/arealsopronouncedlikeSpanish/i/and/u/. However,/i/isnormallyweakenedto/I/(the'i'inEnglish'sit')whenfollowedby 's',V,'d','k'orV,while'e'isweakenedto[e](the'e'inEnglish'set')when followedby's,t,d,b,1,r,m,'or'n'. Thesameweakeningprocessoccursinthose rarecaseswhen/i/or/e/occurasshortvowelsinwordfinalposition. Before /r/,both/e/and/i/areverylax:/e/almostsoundslikeschwa,while/i/is pronouncedeitheras[I]or[U].WhenoccurringinthefirstsyllableofbisyDabic roots,/i/and/u/areneutralizedandtheirpronunciationwillbediscussedin section2.2.3below. TheMbay/o/issimilartoSpanish/o/ortothefirst/o/inEnglish'coconut'. Itcontrastswith/o/,whichispronouncedsomewhatsimilartothe'aw'inEnglish 'law',butshorterandwithoutafinalglide.Whilethedistinctionbetween/o/and /o/isfairlyclearinopensyllables,Englishspeakersmusttakecaretodistinguish thembefore/r/and/y/. (9) K5y Thereisnocontrastbeweennasalized/g/andnasalized/s/;althoughtheyare pronounced/g/inanopensyllable,IfollowCCLinusingthesymbol/q/to representthissound. Thecontrastbetweenoralandnasalizedvowelsislostwhen: 1)avowelprecedesanasalconsonant. Inthiscase,itisalwayspronounced nasalized. Forexample,/yam/'bethin'and/nam/'friend'arepronounced[yam] and [ngm]. Mytranscriptiondoesnotincludethenasalization. Sincethere existsnodistinctionbetweennasalized/g/and/g/,thedistinctionbetween/o/ and/o/isalsolostbeforenasalconsonantsaswell,andeitherpronunciationis usuallypossible. However,itismyimpressionthatcertainwordsfavoronevowel overtheother:forexample,/ng5n/'child'seemstoonlyoccuronlywith/o/, /kon/'nose'onlywith/o/,while/ndSm- nd5m/'todance'.6 2)avowelisinfinalpositioninamorphemeandfollowsanasalconsonant.Inthis case,itisalsonasalized: (11) mgr insist mgr invite Inthiswork,inmostcasesIhavenormallymarkednasalizedvowelswherethey occur,sincenasalizedvowelsoccurindependentlyofnasals.However,inDisyllabic words,onlyonevowelisnormallymarkedasnasal(e.g./biyi/ [bXyg]'goat', eventhoughnasalizationspreadstoallvowelswithinamorpheme. However,in Disyllabicwordsendinginavowelprecededbyanasal,Ihavealsoacceptedthe CCLspellingasanalternant(e.g./KenS-Kenf/'between'). Notethatwhensuffixesconsistingofnasalsareaddedtoarootendingina vowel,thevowelisnormallypronouncedslightlynasalized. Inspiteofthisfact, neutralizationdoesnotoccurinthisenvironment:thus,/ii-n/'dryup(pi.)'is phonologicallyandphoneticallydistinctfrom/ii-n/'theyare(pi.)'. 1.2.2.2Schwa: Theschwa(/a/)isanexceptionalvowelinanumberofways.1)asnoted above,thereisnocontrastbetweenoralandnasalizedschwa;2)thereisnolength contrastforschwa:itisalwaysshort;3)whenanothervowelfollowsschwa,schwa normallybecomesidenticaltothisvowel: (14) Ka a —>K£a whichwill to ai > taai notin K5ge-a > K5ga£ itswood Thedistributionofschwaisalsoquitelimited. Innativemonosyllabicroots, schwaisfoundexclusivelyingrammaticalformatives:prefixesorsuffixesindicating thepersonofthesubjectorobject(e.g./ka/'we',/de/'them'),complementizers (e.g./Ke/'that'),etc. Inmulti-syllabicwords,schwacanbeshowntobethe resultoftheneutralizationofothervowels. Thiswillbediscussedindetailin section2. 1.2.2.3 VowelLength Mbay,unlikemostSaralanguages,hasaclearcontrastbasedonthelengthof vowels: (15) td Infeet,theoccurrenceoflongandshortvowelsinwordsiss< predictable. ThedistributionofshortvowelsCambedescribed25follows: a)bothvowelsinDisyllabicmorphemesarenormallyshort. b)thevowelinamorphemeendinginasonorantconsonantisalwaysshort. Thereareveryfewexceptions(e.g./kaar/'pond',/kSar/shell),anditismy impressionthateventheseareoftenpronouncedshortinquickspeech. c)thevowelsfoundingrammaticalformativesarenormallyshort. Theseinclude allvowelsinprefixesandsuffixes,vowelsincomplementizers,vowelsinthenames ofmorecommonlyusedpartsofbody(e.g./ta/'mouth',/j1/'hand',/do/ 'head',/r8/'body',/ndi/'voice'),especiallythosewhichalsofunctionas prepositionsandinword-formationprocesses. d)vowelsinsomeoftheinterrogativepronounsareshort(e.g./cfi/'what', /<fa/'where',but/n|g/'who?'). e)vowelsfoundinauxiliaryverbsareshort(e.g.theprogressivemarkers /ndi/,/cfa/,/to/,thefuturemarker/a/,and/i/'tobe'). f)alargeclassofverbswhicharederivedhistoricallyfrombisylkbicmorphemes beginningwithavowelhavelosttheinitialvowelandnowcontainashortvowelin anopenmonosyllabicmorpheme: (16) transcriptionvillnotallowforthisdistinction. Further,thereissubstantialevidence, bothhistoricalanaphonological(seebelow),thatformssuchas/kiy/and/bdf/ areactuallyderivedfrom/kaya/and/bdr5/,andthatthefinalvowelhasbeen droppedandthetoneleftonthesonorant.Forthesereasons,inthisworkIfollow insteadthesystemoftranscriptionfoundinMagrifiaandFounder(1974). Inadditiontothelengthcontrastnoted,thereexistsatthephoneticlevelathird vowellength,extralong,whichoccursinafairlylargeclassofideophones. These areformedbytheadditionofavowelsuffix,identicalinqualitytothestemvowel. Asaresult,contrastssuchas/ddo/'wound'vs./d6oo/'perfectly(white)'occur. Occasionallyathree-waycontrastoccurs(e.g./s5/'tofall'/s56/'here', /sooo/'completely(pierced)'). However,extralongvowelsarefoundonlyin ideophones;thephoneticlengthisgenerallylongerthanthetranscriptionsuggests, andvariessubstantially,dependingontheemphasisthespeakerwishestogivetoit. 1.3LoanWords Mbaycontainsalargenumberofwordsborrowedfromotherlanguages, especiallyFrench,Arabic,andSango. WordsfromFrenchincludemostterms relatedtogovernment,administration,education,andmoderntoolsandtechnology. Arabicwordsincludemanytools,weapons,garmentsandreligioustermsintroduced bytheArabs. Almostallthewordsrelatedtohorse-ridingareofArabicorigin. Sangowordsincludealargeofnumberoftuberspeciesandfoodsmadefromthem, aswellasanumberofbirdandanimalspeciesofCentralAfricanorigin. ForeignsoundswhichdonotexistinMbayarereplacedinafairlyregularfashion. WordscontainingFrench/ch/ [S]appearinMbaywith/s/: (17) FRENCH GLOSS MBAY GLOSS charpentier carpenter sarbandl board changer change sanje change chapeau hat sap6d hat Foreignwordscontaining/f/appearinMbaywith/p/,whileFrenchwords with/v/normallyappearwith/b/or/w/: (18) FRENCH GLOSS MBAY GLOSS chef chief sepe chief fleur flower paler flowertree serviette napkin serbeta towel civil civilian suw6i civilian EducatedspeakersofMbaywilltendtoretaintheFrenchpronunciationofthese ) sounds. ManyFrenchwordswhicharenormallyusedwithadefinitearticle(1', le,or la)appearinMbaywithaninitial/l/: (19) ldx6i (l'ecole) school 1loapmiptgiQi ((1l''ihomppiottal) thaoxspeistal lamsgg (lamission) mission laker (lacle) key Arabicwordscontainingan/m/betweentwovowels,wherestressimmediately precedesthe/m/,appearinMbaywith/mb/: ARABIC