rthographies of nigerian languages

RTHOGRAPHIES OF NIGERIAN LANGUAGES MANUALX

Ozo·mekuri Ndimele (Ed.)

Co-ordinated by

Dr. Tony Enyia

PUBLISHED BY:

NIGERIAN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL j

20~~

NERDC Orthography Manual X 2011

The Eleme Orthography Isaac Eyi Ngulube (PhD) English Studies University of Port Harcourt · Email: [email protected] Mobile: 08075220804 1.0 INTRODUCTION Eleme has two mega administrative blocks, Nchia and Odido, each with its own dialect. The Nchia dialect is spoken in six clans Agbonchia, Aleto, Alesa, Alode, Ogale and Akpajo. The Odido dialect is spoken in four clans Ebubu, Onne, Eteo and Ekporo. Each clan has a number of villages. Nchia and Odido speakers can easily understand one another, with most differences restricted to the lexicon. Nchia is the socially dominant dialect and is the variety described in all previous studies. For the purposes of this orthography, speakers of both dialects were consulted. The differences between the two varieties are not thought to be significant enough to undermine the present work. Linguistically, the Eleme-speaking area is surrounded by both closely related languages and more distantly related languages that belong to a large number of language families. These include Ijoid languages to the west, Igboid languages to the north, and Cross River languages to the south and east. Eleme clans (and villages within those clans) are presided over by a number of chiefs with varying levels of authority, and boundaries between such areas are drawn on this basis. Geographically, many of the villages are contiguous with the next, and in such circumstances it is often unclear to Eleme residents where village boundaries occur. Within each community, Eleme people typically live in compounds consisting of one or more buildings occupied by a family group and sometimes, additional tenants. Housing ranges from structures made from cinder blocks (breeze blocks) with corrugated metal roofing to traditional palm-thatched huts made from dried mud and wattle. Larger compounds often consist of a mixture of these buildings, and house a number of different generations of the same family. The Eleme are traditionally an agricultural society, with family units engaging in small-scale subsistence farming on cultivated land situated in the bush surrounding their village. Major cash crops for local fanners include yams, cassava and palm fruit oil, while a wider variety of agricultural produce is grown for consumption within the home, particularly bananas, plantain and com. Since the discovery of oil in the Niger Delta in 1958, the Eleme territory has become home to both oil refineries and other multi-national industries, increasing the role of a more industrial economy. Growing numbers of Eleme and non-Eleme workers are employed in the industries based on Eleme land. The ecological damage that accompanies the petrochemical industry may certainly be found in the Eleme region. In addition to oil spills, air and water pollution, and a reported

Eleme Orthography

37 decrease in soil fertility are all likely to contribute to a shift in the economic stability of the area. Oil exploration_ is estimated to account for around 65% of Nigerian Government budgetary revenue and 95% of all foreign exchange earnings (CIA 2006). Consequently high levels of migration into Eleme territory by other ethnic groups in Nigeria have made a sizeable impact on Eleme society. The presence of non-Elemes hoping to find work within the chemical industries has affected the social importance of Eleme cultural identity, raising concerns over the retention of Eleme cultural practices and language use. These factors are likely to contribute to the long-term instability of the language. The Eleme language is the medium of instruction in the first years of schooling in Eleme, with English used in later education. However, very limited opportunities are provided to incorporate the study of the Eleme language into the studies of school children. While literacy in English is achieved by those who stay in education long enough, few people can read and write in Eleme adequately, with significantly less than 1% of the total population able to write in the. language. Even those who are highly literate in English express difficulties in reading and writing Eleme. Two of the main reasons that literacy levels are so low are that teachers and would-be teachers have been given no formal literacy training in Eleme, and very few pedagogical materials have been produced in the language. Therefore, literacy levels remain very low. Christianity is the dominant major-religion in Eleme. While the introduction of Christianity has undoubtedly led to a greater number of monogamous marriages in the region, polygamy and Christianity do not appear to be regarded as mutually exclusive in some families. The majority of the population, including those who identify themselves as Christians, upholds traditional animist beliefs. Marriages are traditionally polygamous and commonly exogamous with both other Ogoni and non-Ogoni groups across the Niger Delta. In Eleme intermarriage with other ethnic ap.d linguistic groups is common, children born into Eleme-speaking families acquire the language as their mother tongue. The Eleme people also hold their language and culture in high esteem, which leads to a positive attitude towards maintenance of their language within the community. However, the dominance of Nigerian Pidgin and Nigerian English as lingua francas across the whole of Nigeria clearly influences language choices made by Eleme speakers. Church services in Eleme communities are carried out mainly in English to accommodate the large number of inhabitants who do not speak Eleme. A dramatic increase in use of Nigerian Pidgin and Nigerian English being witness in the adolescent and young adults in Eleme indicates that the longtenn prospects for Eleme are far from secure.

O fl g!~

m1gr:. Th e.~

Eleme Ortlzograplzy

38 1.1 ELEME POPULATION Conservative estimates of the Elcrnc population based on data from the l 953 and 1963 censuses place the total number of speakers at around 50,000 (Farnclas 1989:385). However, more recent estimates place the population slightly higher at 58, 000 (dordon 2005), while according to the Nigerian Government, the total population of Eleme Local Government Area is 51, 228 (Nigerian Congress Online). However, it is unclear from government sources what proportion of those included in this number can actually speak Eleme. Due to the large number of migrant workers living in the area, the Eleme-speaking population is likely to be significantly less than the total population, with perhaps as little as 80% of inhabitants exhibiting fluency in the language.

- e

1.2 GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION Eleme is spoken in 10 clans situated in Eleme Local Government Area, Rivers The Eleme-speaking area, which covers State, in south-eastern Nigeria. approximately 140,000 square kilometres, lies between 4.5° and 5° N, and 7° and 7 .5° E. The Eleme area is situated around 20 kilometres east of Port Harcourt. The Eleme territory neighbours several different LGAs whose boundaries often reflect ethnic and/or linguistic groupings within the region. Eleme LGA is bordered by Obio/Akpor LGA and Oyigbo LGA to the north, Tai LGA to the east, Ogu-Bolo LGA to the south, and Okrika LGA to the southwest. Port Harcourt LGA is situated due west of Eleme. 1.3 ETHNOGRAPHIC BACKGROUND It is a Herculean task providing any sort of usefol ethnographic information on the origin of many African societies due to the dearth of proper documentation on migrations and settlements. The Eleme society is bedevilled with this problem. There is no accurate historical account of the origin of Eleme or of the original homeland. The subject of source of Eleme has been the concern of the Eleme people. A number of speculative accounts on the origin of Eleme based on oral tradition and linguistic evidence exist. From the linguistic perspective Williamson (1989) posits that the Ogoni and Eleme people probably dwelt together in a thickly populated area about 2000 years ago. The people probably sojourned together and spoke a common language with the speakers of the present day Efik, Ibibio and Obolo languages in the vicinity of the Benue-Congo confluence, that is the probable primordial homeland . of the present-day Benue-Congo speakers, before their movement to the region, which they presently inhabit. Williamson further evinces that the languages (Baan, Eleme, Kana, Gokana, Tai and Yeghe) display high degree of similarities with these other languages (Efik, lbibio and Obolo), which suggests that the probability of a common origin is high. These languages are all grouped as 'Cross River'.

\

Eleme Orthography

39 Based on oral tradition, the primordial homeland of the Eleme people is traceable to a place around the Nigerian-Cameroun border called Nama (nama). However, the desire to acquire fa1mland and other sources of livelihood brought about a gradual but total movement of the people from this original homeland. The initial migrants from this place settled near the Benue-Plateau region. Due to the hostile Hausa-Fulani warriors constantly raiding their settlements, the need to move again became acute. This occasioned the second wave of movement. The second place of settlement is near the Efik/Ibibio region. It is from this temporary place the people launched the final assault to cross the Imo River into a place called Jian. Eleme the mythical progenitor of the Eleme people led this last movement. With a gradual expansion from Jian over time, the other villages sprang up and today the Eleme Kingdom has 10 clans. Contrary to Bond (2006: 21), Isaac (2003: 6) and Ikoro (1996: 1) who posit that Eleme has a shared ethnography and linguistic history with Baan, Gokana, Kana, Tai and Yeghe, Eleme does not form part of Ogoni-land, the socio-political home of the Ogoni people. The Eleme people have never considered themselves as having the same historical origin or belonging to the political entity called Ogoni. More so, there is no such cultural affinity, which might lead people to believe the argument that Eleme originated from Gokana. The Elemes see the Kana and Gokana as people as distinct people and refer to them as oku f1kara and oku ok6k6ra respectively. In the same vein, both the Gokana and Kana identify the Eleme people as different and refer to them as pa neme, which means people from Nama. Although few basic words are similar they could be as a result of prolonged interaction/ neighbourliness. This may be why Eleme chiefs refused to sign the Ogoni Bill of Rights. Its neighbours and all colonial records refer to the Eleme area as Mbolli from mba oli dichi meaning 'one country that is different', not Ogoni. For evidence see Talbot (1959: 96) who says: The only other tribes in the division are Abua and Mbolli. The Mbolli, or Eleme, or Nchia as they are known among themselves, some 20,000 strong, dwell to the extreme east near Okrika. But this situation has since changed over the years. This is because in 1940, Eleme people resolved at a meeting of the self Denial Society (S.D.S) to change all official references to them from Mbolli to Eleme after their mythical progenitor.

1.4 GENETIC AFFILIATION Baan, Eleme, Tee (Tai), Gokana, Kana and Yeghe (Ngulube 2008) make up the Ogoni group. Of recent Eleme is classified as: Niger-Congo; Benue-Congo; Cross River; Delta Cross; Ogonoid; Eleme.

sha:-·-

Eleme Orthography

40 The issue of appropriate label for the language group has given some linguists working on these languages needless concerns. Westemmann and Bryan (1952) propose Ogoni. The political connotations of this term have prompted linguists working on these languages to reconsider the use of Ogoni as a language family name. This issue is particularly pertinent in relation to the classification of Eleme, since the majority of Eleme speakers do not associate themselves culturally or politically with the other Ogoni ethnic groups. To avoid the political issues associated with the term, Ikoro ( l 994a: 8) proposes the term Kegboid, an acronym for Kana, Eleme, Gokana and Baan, to dub Ogoni. V :)bnu (2001) decries the label Kegboid and states that it denies the people their political and ethnic identity. He for that reason propounds Ogonoid for the family as a more suitable replacement term, following the nomenclature conventions given in Williamson ( 1989: 18-20). Specifically, Williamson ( 1989: 18) proposes that political names should be avoided as fo r as possible in language classification. Following such conventions, it is clear that the name Ogoni should not be used in this context. Bond (2006: 28) affirms that Eleme speakers repudiate the Ogoni nomenclature, accordingly, he supports Ogonoid label for the group. His argument is that Kegboid does not sufficiently satisfy the issue it attempts to address. It minimizes the prestige of Tai since it is not reflected in the acronym. Secondly, it obscures the fact that there are possible other languages yet to be discovered and described. Further reasons for choosing Ogonoid over Kegboid are to avoid ambiguity and preserve familiarity. For instance, the term Ogonoid optimally recognises an ethnic connection between the Ogoni peoples, whilst maintaining a sufficient degree of political rieutrality. It likewise constitutes a less dramatic orthographic change in the name than kegboid does, allowing easier reference to previous work. Ostensibly, the major difference between the terms Ogoni and Ogonoid is the use of the -oid suffix, which, Williamson (1989: 18-19) asserts, should only be used where the languages concerned share 40% or more cognates on a standard lexicostatistic list. Regardless of the merits and pitfalls of lexicostatistic, this appears to be the case for Ogonoid languages; Ngulube (2008: 39) asserts that Eleme and Kana share around 64% of items on such a list, while Kana and Gokana share around 78% of items. Williamson and Blench (2000) suggest the classification in Figure 1, in which the Ogonoid family is further divided into East and west Ogonoid sub-groups. In this classification, Eleme and Baan form the West branch of the Ogonoid family , while Kana, Gokana, Tai and Y eghe form the East branch.

Eleme Orthography

41 Fig: J. Linguistic

class~fication

of Eleme lan.=

West Ogonoid

/\

Baan Eleme Gokana Tai Kana · Y eghe Classification of Ogonoidfamily based on Ngulube (2008: 32) 1.4 HISTORY OF THE ORTHOGRAPHY The question is since Eleme has already been written down, why make proposals for orthography. First, the fact that there are some writings in Eleme does not imply that there is a standard orthography in place. The search for a standard orthography for Eleme began with the choirmasters and the primary school teachers in the early nineteen-thirties. One would have expected that by now a standard orthography should be in place but that is not the case. NwoluObele (1998: 33) reports that the Eleme orthography has been subjected to frequent changes yet the inconsistencies and in-accuracies remain. Wolff, in 1953, produced orthography for Eleme. The orthography contained redundant segments, therefore, was not practically useful. For instance, he introduced cw, jw, and sw and remove gh, n, v and z. Well, his efforts marked the beginning of the

development of a standard orthography for Eleme.

Next, the Elerne Bible

Translation Committee began a series of reviews. A workshop was held in January 1987, another in December 1988. Even after their concerted effort the inconsistencies did not go away. Kay Williamson and Obele EtE Nwaji met and improved on Wolffs proposed orthography. For instance, Wolffs c and cw were replaced with ch and chw respectively. This improved version of Wolffs orthography was used in writing the Nsa ika Eleme I (The Eleme Reader). The Eleme Social Club setup a language and cultural committee. This committee reexamined the orthography used in writing the Eleme reader and dropped E and ::> proposed by Williamson and Nwaji and adopted e' and o' instead. In 1985, this same committee further dropped chw, jw, sw, nw and ny from the orthography. In 1987, the Eleme Bible Translation Committee re-introduced chw, jw, sw, nw, ny, v and z. These inconsistencies, chopping and dropping, inclusion and exclusion continue till today. This is why; there is the need for a standard and a generally accepted orthography for Eleme. Second, the existence of an orthography does not immediately resolve all the problems associated with committing a language to writing. Temne is a case study. According to Dalby (1966: 55): 'A deficiency in orthography can bring about a slow growth in literacy among the speakers of a language.' He used Temne, the major language of northern Sierra Leone to

Eleme Orthography

42 illustrate the point. Speakers of Temne according to him are not literate in their language because of bad orthography based on an inadequate phonemic analysis. Third, the present orthography is plagued with a number of problems: (i) conjunctive versus disjunctive writing. For instance, Nwolu-Obele (1998 : 228, 235) favours conjunctive writing. Examine this data from him (a) and compare this with Bond's (2006: 69, 74) who favours disjunctive writing (b). (a) jujulasemi mbori rhjuju

Drag this goat for me. I will come.

(b) n-ga d3U d3U i::bai 11£ fo a d3a

I am coming. We farm food.

(ii) Word division, tone marking and tone rule, the use of diacritic marks, spelling and spelling rules and phonemic representation are clearly difficult issues in the present orthography. For instance, Willimson (1985), Nwolu-Obele (1998) and Bond (2006) advocate and practice leaving the mid tone unmarked, whereas Nwaji Obele ( 1972) and Ngulube ( 1987) mark all instances of tonal occurrence. In the same vein, Nwaji Obele (1972) and N»'olu-Obele (1998) prefer the use of diacritic marks while Bond (2006) and Ngulube ( 1987, 2002 and 2008) favour non-use of diacritic marks. (iii) Finally, there is no spelling rule in place; phonemes are variously represented depending on the inclination or persuasion of the writer. It is therefore essential if literacy is to thrive in Eleme to develop a standard orthography. This is the hallmark of this section.

2.0 CURRENT ORTHOGRAPHY 2.1 Current alphabet 2.1.1 Vowels Eleme exhibits a vowel system comprising seven oral vowels [i u e o E ::>a] and five nasal vowels [1 u € 5 a]. Vowels following nasal consonants are automatically nasalized and are marked with a tilde just as the nasalized vowels that are not preceded by a nasal consonant. Table 1 indicates that Eleme has a . symmetrical set of front and back vowels and a low central vowel /a/. The asymmetry between the four mid height vowels /e £ o ::i/ in the oral vowel inventory and a reduced distinction between two mid height vowel sounds /£ 5/ in the nasal vowel inventory is not atypical of west African languages (Williamson 1973 b). The different phonemes are exemplified in Table 1 below.

Eleme Orthography

43

44

Table 1: Eleme vowel inventory ORAL FRONT BACK ao~i

NASAL FRONT BACK

u

e

0

£

:)

1

u

£

5 a

a

OPEN

Orthographic

Phonetic [i]

l

[1]

e c £ a a

[e] [r] [£] [a] [aJ [:)] [3] [o] [u] [u]

:)

5 0

u u

Eleme obi chi ete i:bf[i: i:mi:ri: a't: , kpara i:p,:)r:) 2>t5 0°6 j~ ku

English [obi] [tJI] [ete] [i:bf[i:] [i:mi:ri:] [a?~J,

[kpara] [i:p,:)d] [:)t5] [o?oJ [d~u]

[ku]

faeces refuse tree bag chief death look for evil ear leg come pound

Eleme or.al vowels occur in word-initial, medial and final positions, in contrast, nasalized vowels are restricted to occurring only in word-medial and final positions. The contrast between oral and nasal vowels is neutralized word-initially.

2.1.2 Consonants An inventory of Eleme consonants is given in Table 2 below. All of these sounds are attested in Eleme speech. There are no codas, nor are there consonant clusters. There are also no long, or geminate consonants in Eleme.

Ele:::.

Eleme Orthography

44 Table 2: Eleme consonant inventory LABIAL ALVEOLAR PALATAL VELAR GLOTTAL ? PLOSIVE p b d k g NASAL m n J1 IJ FRJCATE f s AFFRICATE tf d3 LATERAL I :r RHOTIC w GLIDE y LABIALVELAR kp gb w kw gw LABIALIZED n

Eleme has 25 phonetic consonants; ,some of these consonants have allophones that exhibit diverse and very complex phonological relationships and distributions (cf. Ngulube (2008: 93-160) for detailed discussion). International phonetic Alphabetic symbols (IPA) are used here including certain non-Roman characters such as J1 for the voiced palatal nasal, IJ for the voiced velar nasal. Affricates are represented with digraph tf and d3. The palatal approximant j is represented with the graph y following the convention prevalent in African language descriptions although this somewhat deviates from the IP A accepted practice. Accordingly r is preferred to 1. The voiceless glottal fricative h occurs only in word-initial position while the glottal stop ? is never written word initially.

Orthographic b ch d

Phonetic [b] [tJ1 [d]

Eleme b:) cl;li du

[du]

English tie pm bite

f

[f1

fi:

[fi:]

kill

g gb gw h y k kp kw I m

[g] [gb] [gw) [h]

eg66 egbe gw5 halahaia y:m ekere kpari £1kukw~ 161 m:J n:J nw£ 11jfra

[ego:J [egbeJ [gw 5) [hatahala] U3riJ [ekere] (kpari], [ilkukwa] [16i] [m3] [n3] [n wi:] [t1d3fra]

namesake box till (soil) whisper creep gong sweep hawk wash see learn to mark fish

11

nw

J

[j] [k] [kp] [kw] [l] [m] [n] [nw] [d3]

[b:)]

[tJ1]

Eleme Orthography

45 ny

p r s t w

[J1] [p] [r] [s] [t] [w] [7]

nyara

[r~r~]

p£

[p£]

Ep::>r::> sibI toi wa a'o

[i::p2>d] [sibI] [toi] [wa] [a7o]

46

change fly bad hold carve drink ten

This new orthography eliminates v and z (Nwolu-Obele's orthography) on the grounds that they do not occur in any Eleme word. Secondly, it eradicates jw sw and chw (Williamson's orthography) on the grounds of gross redundancy and rarity. Besides, they do not play any role in the productive phonology of Eleme.

3.0 SPECIAL FEATURE 3.1 Vowel length In addition to a contrast between oral and nasal vowels, Eleme also makes limited use of contrastive vowel length. Long vowels are indicated by doubling of the relevant symbol here, for example a vs . aa. This is the convention advocated for writing long vowels in the current orthography. Tone is to be marked on both vowel symbols

Long vowel Short vowel maa laugh ma lie (down) ta~ choose ta speak n££ give n£ defecate klili crawl kt pound d:) . 5d55 nver fall IT,_ fetch I marry go (pl) SI sTI go p££ blow p£ fly et66 etc .cocoyam load · large maggot t3 i::t55 pour out kuu wrapper ku cut rnbuu mortar bu scatter

3.2 Vowel harmony Nwolu-Obele (1998: 135) claims that Eleme is ' highly euphonic' and that vowel harmony has momentous weight over phonetic realization of individual morphemes. He contends that Eleme vowels divide into two harmonic sets: 'e and related sounds' and '£ and related sounds ' . He calls the close-mid set 'wide throat' and the open-mid set 'narrow throat' sounds. This is compatible with an [±ATR] analysis. Bond (2006: 63 ) asserts that ' Eleme is characterised by a

(Ex -

Eleme Orthography

46 system of vowel harmony in which the vowel quality of verbal affixes is . conditioned by the qualities of adjacent vowels in the stem'. First, my data indicates that in Eleme vowel harmony is an active synchronic process. Secondly, the domain of vowel harmony is no longer than the word; very often it is between the affixes and the adjacent vowels in the stem. This suggests that vowel harmony applies across morpheme boundaries, as the quality of nominal or verbal affix is conditioned by the quality of the adjacent vowel in the stem. Bu t, vowel harmony does not spread across word boundaries, as (.tx. I) below indicates. Consequently, harmony may be used as criteria both for boundedness and delimiting prosodic words in Eleme. The vowel harmony sets in Eleme are summarized on Table 3 below.

Table 3: Vowel harmony sets in Eleme SET A SETB FRONT BACK FRONT BACK DOMINANT e 0 f r ::> 3 NEUTRAL iT u L'1 aa

Each set comprises of a group of dominant vowels and a group of neutral vowels. In each set, the dominant vowels are all mid vowels: close-mid /e o/ in Set A and open-mid I££ ::i 5/ in Set B . ..

(Ex.I) eb6

obe

e?o

(Ex.4) et~i

oku

kcs~

head (Ex.2) Eb~ a name 6gi: bush ES~ market (£x.5)d3T~ 6taa basket ktir£ wake up

(Ex.3) ffa bundle urii knife a?\'.1 song extinguish three gather together

coconut creel death

In examples (Ex. I) - (Ex.5) above, (Ex. I) show the [+ATR] vowels co-occu1Ting, (Ex.2) show [-A TR] vowels co-occurring, (Ex.3) show the neutral set cooccurting while (Ex.4) and (Ex.5) show the neutral set co-occtming with the [±ART] sets. The example below shows how it operates at the sentential level. Ex.6

a.::\11£ b6-e 3SG treat: PT 03SG He treated it.

b.a76 15-r 2SG remove: PT-e3SG You (SG) removed it.

In Ex.6a, It is obvious that the third person singular object suffix -c harmonizes with verb root bo '_treat'. Similarly, in Ex.6b where the verb root changes to b 'remove', the third pe'.son singular object suffix changes to -f to harmonize with the verb root. Note

Eleme Orthography

47 here that the third person singular subject prefix api:: and the second person singular subject prefix a76 are not drawn into harmonizing with their respective verb roots. This shows clearly that vowel harmony does not operate across word boundary. Verb roots with CV syllables may have any of the set or neutral vowel as their nucleus . . Certain verb roots with CVCV structures do not permit vowels pertaining to both close and open-mid sets co-occurring in the same word. ' Note that, a verb such as b£r£ 'lean' follow the rule, a conjectural item like *brre is not allowed given that the vowels are not harmonic. The same limitation is not observed with neutral vowels. Other verb roots with CVCV structure.s may permit a vowel pertaining to one set and a neutral vowel pertaining to the opposite set, as in bela 'like'. Furthermore, some nouns with V-CV-V structures may also allow two neutral vowels as in urii 'creel'.

48

3.2.1 Participant and non-participant morphemes The purpose of Table 4 is to show at a glance which morpheme participates in Eleme vowel harmony and which do not.

Table 4: Participant and non-participant

morphemes in Eleme vowel harmony Subject prefix Singular Plural Participant Non-participant Participant Nonparticipant 1'1 mawardnr 2nd o-/0wao-/il3'd e£-/a-/a£ c-

Th the

Ex.

Subject suffix Singular Non-participant I st 2nd

3rd

Plural Non-participant

0 0

-1

-ri

Singular Participant

Object suffix Plural Participant

1'1 2nd

-E

3rd

-e/-E

Ee

/-'J

-e

While the first person singular and plural subject prefixes ma- and warespectively harmonize with the vowel of the verb root ?a 'leave' as in (Ex. 7a) below, the first person plural subject prefixes n:- and ni: do not participate in harmony as in (Ex. 7b) below. Ex.7

Eleme Ortltograplty

48 n~wa-?a 1PL PL-leave We left.

a.ma-ta lSGPT-leave

I left.

n£-f6-a d3a 1PL-farm HAB . food

b.ri'i-?era IPL-stop We stopped.

We farm food.

The second person singular and plura·I subject prefix o- harmonizes with the vowel of the verb root as in (Ex.Ba and b) below. The second person singular subject prefix ;) also participates in vowel harmony as in (Ex.Be) but the third person singular and/or plural subj ect prefix £-does not as in (Ex.8d).

Ex.8

a. o-?era-0

b. o-?era-i

2- stop- SO You (sg) stopped.

2-stop-2PL You (pl) stopped. d. ckpoo-jr 3 SG drive-him

c.6Mfti:-jc 2 SG kill-him

You (sg) killed him. We drove him (away). The third person singular and plural subject prefix e- also harmonizes with the vowel of the verb root as in (Ex.9) below.

Ex.9

a.e-?era-0

b.

3- stop- SG He stopped.

e-n~ra-ri

3-stop-3PL They stopped.

In certain CV verb roots, third person subject prefix harmonizes with the vowel of the root. This is exemplified in (Ex. 10) below where the third person singular subject prefix takes the fom1 e- with monosyllabic verb roots containing a closemid set vowel as in (Ex. I Oa), while it takes the fonn £- with roots containing an open-mid set vowel as in (Ex. I Ob). This is an evidence of systematic synchronic alternations.

Ex. IO a.e-de

e-c13u e-si e-pT e-?u

He He He He He

ate. b. survived. went. bit. died.

E-rn:: i:-di: i:-?~

£-t5 £-ta

He passed (faeces). He moulded. He roasted. He poured. He shot.

It is observed that Eleme verbs realized with neutral vowels Iii or /a/ as nucleus do not har,monize with the dominant set (close-mid or open-mid) vowels. What

Eleme Orthography

49 happens is that while the neutral vowels do not harmonize with both dominant sets (close-mid or open-mid) of vowels, the dominant sets (close-mid or openmid) of vowels harmonize with stems having neutral vowels pertaining to the same set. I shall therefore discuss only affixes possessing dominant set (close-mid or open-mid) of vowels here. Occasionally a neutral vowel prefix occurs between a subject prefix and a verb root, the subject prefix harmonises with the vowel of the prefix. This harmony system is exemplified with close-mid set vowels in (Ex.lla) whereas (Ex.llb) illustrates the open-mid set equivalent. In (Ex.lla), fharmonizes with the intervening ka not the verb root bo 'treat'. Similarly, in (Ex.11 b), harmonizes with ki not the verb root r3 'roast'. What is expected is · for i- and e- to h.a rmonize with their respective verb roots but that is not. the case here. This suggests that the subject prefix harmonises with the vowel of the prefix.

e-

Ex.Ji a.e-ki b6-e 3-PROX treat 03SG He is about to treat it. b.e-ki ?6-e

£-ka b6-e 3-CONT. treat 03SG He is treating it.

f:-ka 76-£

3-PROX roast 03SG 3-CONT. roast 03SG He is about to roast it. He is roasting it. In contrast to the examples in (Ex. II b), when a suffix containing a neutral vowel occurs closer to the root than the object suffix, the object suffix harmonizes with the vowel of the intervening suffix. This is illustrated with a verb root with a close-mid set vowel in (Ex.12a) and with a verb root with an open-mid set vowel in (Ex.12b). In (Ex.12b), it is expected that the third person singular object suffix -e will ham10nize with the verb root ?:-i 'roast' but what happens is -c harmonizes instead with the intervening suffix -ri-. This is evidence that the object suffix harmonizes with the vowel of the intervening suffix.

(Ex.12)

a.

e-b6-rI-e 3-tie-3PL-OSG They tied it.

b.

£-?6-rI-e 3-tie-3PL 03SG They roasted it.

With regards to the subject suffixes, tli.e second and third person singular subject suffixes -0 and the second and third person plural subject suffixes -i and -ri do · not participate in vowel harmony as in (Ex. I 3 and Ex. I 4) below.

(Ex.13) (Ex.14) a. o-?era-0 b. o-?era-i a. o-?era-0 2-stop-2PL 2- stop- SG 3- stop- SG You (sg) stopped. You (pl) stopped. He stopped.

b. o-?era-ri 3-stop-3PL They stopped.

E/eme Orthography

50 The examples in ( Ex.15) below are provided to illustrate that harmony also occurs between root and object suffix. In (Ex.15), the third person singular object suffix has the form -e with CV verb roots containing close-mid set vowels, while in (Ex.16), the form -£ occurs with comparable roots containing open-mid set vowels. Note that the third person object suffixes in these examples are harmonic with the vowels of the verb roots.

Ex. I 5

a.

aJ1cbe-e 3SG fight: PT e3SG He fought it.

b.

aJ1cb6-e 3SG treat: PT e3SG He treated it.

aJ1E n£-£ 3SG give 03SG He gave it.

b.

aJ1E ?6-£ 3SG roast 03SG He roasted it.

Ex.16 a.

In Eleme verbs take pronominal prefixes from vowels of the same set as the verb root, compare o-d6 'you shared' versus ~- d6 'you fell'. Within nouns, there is a kind of vowel harmony whereby both noun stem and prefix vowel are drawn from the same set, compare o-be 'fight' and c-?6 'bush' versus ~-?E 'moon' and i:-s3 'song'. The above data and discussion indicate that in Eleme vowel harmony is an active synchronic process.

3.3 Elision Eleme is replete with the phonological process of vowel elision. Aphaeresis, apocope and syncope are all well attested in Eleme. The syllabic nasal can also be elided if there is structural pressure in that direction. In Eleme a vowel gets elided but the tone on that vowel is preserved and realised on the contiguous vowel. Tone stability during elision is characteristics of tone languages. This process can trigger tonal spread, coalescence or shortening depending on the context, tonal class and rule. Examine the examples below. Ex.17 (a) ami m-b3-rQ e- be ete 1SG 1SG tie: PTM-APPL top tree [ tied you on top of a tree.

(b) ami rn-b3-r-e- be ete lSG ISG tie: PTM-APPL top tree I tied you on top of a tree.

In (Ex.17b) the ii of ri1-b5=rfi is elided, the consequence is the resyllabification of r as the onset of the syllable with e- as the nucleus. When the u gets elided its high tone is preserved and realised on -C-. This example suggests that Eleme permits vowel hiatus . Hiatus is the opposite of elision. Elision is the dropping or blurring of the second vowel; it is distinct from 'diphthongization', in which the vowels blend to form one sound. Note that in Eleme, it is the V 1 (in V 1V 2) that is elided, as evince in (Ex. I 7b), a case of apocope in hiatus resolution. Apocope is

Eleme Orthography

51

the loss or omission of one or more syllables from the end of a word as in aprmii ~ apr 'drinking cup'. Eleme also allows elision between a verb and the NP object as indicated in example (Ex.18) below.

Ex.18

(a) a?o ku-ma rnbo 2SG herd-HAB goat You herd goat.

(b)

a?o ku-ma mbo 2SG herd-HAB goat You herd goat.

In (Ex.18a) the verb ku-ma and the NP object mbo do not constitute a prosodic unit, this is not the case in (Ex.18b). Them of mbo is elided but its tone is preserved and realised together with the nasality on the ultimate vowel of the verb (ku-mbo), a case of aphaeresis (the loss of a syllable from the beginning of a word). This indicates that consonant elision is also permitted in Eleme.

3.4 Homorganicity Homorganicity is a process whereby the nasal is modified to agree in place of articulation with the following consonant. In Eleme the nasal is always homorganic with the following consonant i.e. the nasal shares the same place of articulation with the next consonant. The homorganic nasal assimilation rule is

poJ.

m

E: -

automatic. It applies wherever a nasal is followed by another consonant in the same word and the direction of the influence is regressive as in (Ex.19) . This is to facilitate articulatory gestures.

Ex.19 IJilflfe/

A)k3 / lli1bt3; 1i;tgiga1 10tito1

#]fife/ ,fjk3(' 1tilb13 I

mosquito wine palm nose

19giga1

JaW

1~tito1

work (n)

Closely associated with homorganicity is nasal epenthesis. In Eleme, nasal epenthesis occurs. A homorganic nasal develops between an underlying nasal vowel and the following consonant as a means of reinforcing and retaining the nasal quality of the original word; this is a case of nasal strengthening. This has been observed to be common when the following consonant is an obstruent. This data might give credence to a phonetic CVC syllable structure in Eleme.

. Ex.20

/s3bi/ /s~p6/ /s~gi/

[s3mbi] fart [s~mp6] sponge [S~l)gi] massage

po- . lo ....

tor.~ I

(Er J

the _ un.

Eleme Orthography

52

3.5 SYLLABIC NASAL

ase of that

Syllabic nasals are common in Eleme. There are two types of nasals in Eleme. These are the syllabic nasals and the onset nasals. The syllabic nasals bear definite tones but the onset nasals do not. Secondly, the syllabic nasals function as nucleus (peak) of the syllable whereas the onset nasals function as onset of the syllable. Thirdly, the syllabic nasals occur only before consonants, which means they are restricted to the morpheme initial positions. On the other hand, the onset nasals occur before vowels and are not restricted in their distribution. In other words, the syllabic nasals and onset nasals are in complementary distribution. Although, the syllabic nasals can positionally precede onset nasals the reverse is illicit. Finally, the fact that the syllabic nasals are inherently tone bearing does not imply that all nasals in all positions are inherently tone bearing. It is the position in the syllable that determines whether a particular nasal is syllabic or onset. In Eleme, sonorant consonants do not necessarily bear tone that is why there are no syllabic laterals or approximants in the language. Examine the data in (Ex.21) below to help clarify the argument. Ex.21 (a)

o-nT J-m£ J-n£ 6-mu a-d30

root (b) neck person age group palm fruit

(c) r1-d3u life r11-mu water ;:; 11-111 elephant ri.1-gbe sun 11.j~df: stone

ma na n3

IDE nwfru

lie down do learn swallow add

There are three sets of data in (Ex.21) labelled (Ex.21a), (Ex.21b) and (Ex.21c) for comparative purposes. The data in (Ex.21 a), mostly nouns, show low tone oral vowels in prefixal position before onset nasals and other onset consonants. The data in (Ex.2 1b), also nouns, show low tone syllabic nasals in prefixal positions before onset nasals and other onset consonants, which indicate that the low tone oral vowels in (Ex.21 a) have similar distribution and function as the low tone syllabic nasals in (Ex.21b). If (Ex.21a) and (Ex.21b) are compared with (Ex.21c), it becomes apparent that the syllabic nasals occur in nouns while the onset nasals are found in verbs. Whereas the onset nasals in (Ex. 21 c) occur as Ci, the syllabic nasals occur as I)., which implies that the nasal stops in (Ex.21 c) like other C 1 consonants, do not bear tone. Secondly, the onset nasals do not occur before consonants because it will trigger CCV syllable structures that are unattested in Eleme that is why, they occur only before vowels as onsets. These distributional restrictions clearly indicate that there are two types of nasals in . Eleme, the syllabic nasals and the onset nasals. In sum, a syllabic nasal (1)) is a nasal consonant, which acts as the peak of the syllable just as the vowel. In Eleme where the syllable is the tone bearing unit, the syllabic nasal always has a definite tone attached to it. The syllabic 0

Eleme Orthography

53 nasal, as already observed, is highly restricted in its distribution. It occurs only in word-initial position, never occurs before vowels, word-medially or finally (see example Ex.22). It may not be preceded by a vowel or a consonant. Ex.22 1pmu tj1gbe 1i1kpTupee

riJfifo rrbuu tj1gba6 tj1b6

water sun sweetness mosquito mortar dog goat

' ' ' Q.SlSa = Q.SlSa 'I

mercy sand work wine palm mangrove horn hawk

,

1~tit6

?I)'k?' gala 9tf6o

l)kukw~

3.6 NASALITY Eleme has m n IJ J1 as nasal consonants and i £ 5 a ii as distinctive nasalized vowels. With reference to the nasalized vowels, examine the data in (Ex.23). In example (Ex.23) below different lexical items, twenty in all and in pairs of ten sets are presented. These words are similar in form but differ in meaning. The tone on each pair of words is the same, low in (i, ii, iv, viii and x), mid-mid in (ix), low-high in (iii) and low-mid in (vi). Therefore, the difference in meaning cannot be attributed to tones, since there are no tonal contrasts on the pair of words. The only observed difference between each pair of words is the presence of nasality. Nasalization is therefore phonemic in Eleme as the data in (Ex.23) indicates. Ex.23

(i) (iii) (v) (vii) (ix)

kpa kp~ obi obt tf~ tju

£b55

~b33 aa

aa)

nng listen faeces you squeeze take mcrease bundle market day fry mother

(ii) (iv) (vi)

da d~ gba gb~ £ka £ka

(viii)

d3~

(x)

ku ku

d~ii

lick crow pluck twist body language come survuve pound rule (a line)

With regard to the nasal consonants m n IJ Jl , the bilabial nasal m and the alveolar n may operate either as prefixal syllabic nasals or as onset nasals, the labialized alveolar nasal nw, the palatal nasal p and the velar nasal IJ can only function as onset nasals never as prefixal syllabic nasals. For better understanding of how nasality operates in Eleme, there is need to first of all discuss the morphological

Eleme Orthography

54 distribution of consonants. There are two morphological distributions for consonants, either as C 1 or C 2. Examine examples (Ex.24) for clarity. C 2 segments are further divided into onset (intervocalic) and coda (word final) segments. Of course, Eleme fills in blank for coda. (ii) Ex.24 a. b., (i) (ii) c. (i)

fu

da

ma

C1v cut d (i)

C1v hear (ii)

a?3

£sa

vC2v war

vC 2v mirror

C1v lie dowm (iii) b~r~ C 1vC 2v and

ima

vC 2v fetch with . *e (i) dag C1vC2#

dala C1vC2v carry (ii)

dam C1vC2#

As the data in (Ex.24) show, there are two types of C 1 consonants, those that occur before oral vowels (C 1v) as in (a) and those that occur before nasalized vowels (C 1v) as in (b). Secondly, C 1 consonants can either be oral consonants (1 w r j) or nasal (lized) consonants (m n f D· If C 1 consonant is oral, it permits both oral and nasalized vowels (C 1v or v) as in examples (a) and (bi), in contrast, if C 1 consonant is nasal it permits only nasalized vowels (C 1v) as in (bii). Like C 1 consonants, there are also two types of C 2 consonants, those that occur before oral vowels (vC 2v) as in (cii) and those that occur before nasalized vowels (vC 2v) as . in (di), there are also others, which occur between nasalized vowels (vC 2v) as in (dii) and those that occur between nasalized vowels and are nasalized as in (diii). Unlike the C 1 consonants, if C 2 consonants are oral, there are two possibilities depending on the type of consonant, if the consonant is either 1 as in (di) or s as in (dii) it pennits nasalized vowels but will itself not accept nasalization. But if the consonant is r as in (di ii) it permits and accepts nasalization. If the consonant On the contrary, if the C 2 is I it prohibits nasalized vowels *(vC 2v, vC 2vj. consonant is a nasal consonant, it allows oral vowels before it (vC 2v) as in (ci) but never after it *(vC 2v) as in *ima. C 2 nasal consonants also allow nasalized vowels to occur before and after it (vC 2 v") as in bini 'ask'. In Eleme instances of nasalized vowels before either C 2 oral or nasal consonants (vC 2v) are very rare. Finally, C 2 as coda is highly prohibited as example *e indicates.

w

3.7 PALATALIZATION Eleme has few instances of palatalization as the example below illustrates. E-pi5 3SG kiss-RECP 3PL mouth They kissed each other.

nan emu

Eleme Orthography

55

Ele

56

4.0 TONE SYSTEM OF ELEME Contrary to Kana where four contrastive level tones were proposed (cf N. Williamson 1990), Eleme has three contrastive level tones ; a high tone (H) marked as ', a low tone marked as' and a mid tone marked as -: The three tones are present in the word ekere 'different', which has three identical vowels e that are successively low, ~nid anq high tones. Tone is a vital feature of Eleme with a high functional load in the grammar.· Elerne exhibits a discrete tone system that is there is no automatic o(hon-automatiC downstep. Eleme also exhibits lexical and grammatical . tape contrast. Lex jcal tone differentiates between . two phonologically ·lcfentical words, whiCh differ only in pitch as in the nouns below. .

\

'

·• ;:;

nsa. nsa

book/leaf fire

nt3

nt5

time ashes

Verbal constrnctions also display distinctive lexical tone as

a11i: ba a11i: ba

in:

she ate (flesh) she married (a husband)

Very often in Eleme the grammatical meaning of a constrnction is differentiateq by its tonal pattern. That is tonal contrast is responsible for a good number of grammatical distinctions in the language. Consider the following pairs of examples (Ex.26 - Ex.J7): :· ; · · >,: