Dholuo tonal notations A study of tone levels and their representation

Abstract

This work is a study of tone levels in Dholuo and their representation. Tone in Dholuo plays an important role in the lexicon and the grammar of the language. This study therefore attempts to provide the tonal notations and how they can be graphically represented for the non-speakers of the language. The data used are the common Dholuo words grouped according to the number of syllables and the tone pattern, ranging from monosyllabic, disyllabic, trisyllabic to other polysyllabic words. The words are recorded from the speech of the speakers of the KSN variety. The study is done in the framework of Autosegmental and CV phonology. Autosegmental phonology is used to represent the tones in the tonal tier and in cases where further analysis of the syllable is necessary, CV phonoldgy is used to show the syllable peak and weight in the CV-tier. In the second chapter, we deal with the whole issue of tonal notation and graphic representations of tones in Africa and other parts of the world where tone languages are found. The various tone patterns in Dholuo words are given in this chapter with their level noted numerically. The levels given in this section are basically phonetic, since the following chapter attempts to establish the phonological tone levels in Dholuo. The various words are studied in groups based on their tonal patterns. Words with the same pattern but with a Vll llirkrCI1CC onl , In svllablc w ciuht are consigned to one group. To a larger extent. tonal notation and representation hav e not been subject to any universal COIl\ ent ion alld have been Il'I't \U \ arious linguists to set their own. Chapter three handles selected properties or Dholuo phonology that have bearinu on tlllle~ S\)Il1C or ih.: properties of tone dealt \\ ith include stability, one-to-man- and manv-to-one associations l lere other features of Dholuo phonolog , such as compensator, lengthening and vowel deletion have been mClllillned \\ it h regards to their influence on tonal configurations. It i~ concluded III chapter Iour that representation of tones by use the Chao t()ne kttc.'I~ I~ IH)t 0111\ p(\ssihle in the treatment of Dholuo tonal system but al-.o highli~hh <orne of the phonologica] processes that influence the tonal cllilliguldtiun ill the language