Initial/Final Tone Agreement in Ekegusii (Bantu; Kenya)

• Larry M. Hyman ^[1]
  1. [1] University of California System

     University of California System

     Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca Julio de Urquijo: International journal of basque linguistics and philology, ISSN 0582-6152, Vol. 57, Nº. 1-2, 2023 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Jose Ignazio Hualderen Omenez: Ikerketak Fonologiaz eta Diakroniaz), págs. 441-456
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
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• Resumen

  • In this paper I present an unusual Bantu tonal phenomenon where certain “cells” in the verb paradigm require a tonal agreement between the first syllable (the subject prefix) and the last syllable (an inflectional ending). Such a long-distance dependency raises the question of whether it is tone alone that can do this. I first provide an overview of the phenomenon in Eke-gusii (Kenya), and then show that a related construction in geographically and genetically dis-tant Grassfields Bantu languages of Cameroon can help us understand both the nature and his-tory of the more evolved situation seen in Ekegusii. I conclude that although initially surprising, initial/final tone agreement has a natural diachronic source and is not so crazy—even from a synchronic point of view.