TONAL ANALYSIS OF SENUFO:
SUCITE DIALECT
Anne Elizabeth Garber, PhD.
Department of Linguistics
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1987
Charles Kisseberth, Advisor
SUCITE DIALECT
Anne Elizabeth Garber, PhD.
Department of Linguistics
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1987
Charles Kisseberth, Advisor
ABSTRACT
Sucite, a Senufo language of the Gur language group, is spoken in southwestern Burkina Faso. Its tonal system of three level tones and several contour tones exhibits a considerable number of complex alternations.
This dissertation provides a descriptive analysis of the tonal alternations in Sucite. With the help of the autosegmental approach and Clements (1981) system of tone features, we propose a double tiered approach to tonal analysis in the attempt to analyse the behaviour of the various types of Mid tone found in the language.
The dissertation consists of an introduction and six chapters. In Chapter 1, we provide a brief description of the sound system, the morphology, and syntax of Sucite. Chapter 2 describes the tone and morphology of the verb and introduces the concept of two tiers for tonal analysis. The discussion of noun tone and morphology in Chapter 3 brings to light the need to re-examine the accepted universal of associating tones to segments from left to right. Chapter 4 is a description and analysis of the tonal behaviour of verbs and verbal particles when preceded by nominal and verbal elements of various tones. In Chapter 5, we examine how the nominal elements affect each other tonally within a noun phrase. Both tonal behaviour across word boundaries and tonal alternations within complex nouns are examined and analysed with the use of the double-tiered approach. In particular, this chapter highlights the need for several different types of underlying representations for Mid tone. Chapter 6 discusses the tonal behaviour of the adverb phrase, question formation, and the noun class clitic, the latter of which poses special analytical problems. Finally, the ordering of the tonal rules presented in the thesis is discussed.
DEDICATION
Dedicated to
my friends in Kotoura
and to
the One who is always with us
my friends in Kotoura
and to
the One who is always with us
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study would not have been possible without the cooperative support of numerous people.
My first expression of gratitude must be directed to my language consultants who gladly provided the data used in this thesis. Primary consultants have been Ouattara Nama (farmer), Traoré Mamadou de Katien (student), Traoré Mamadou de Katile (student), Traoré Issiaka de Katile (young farmer), and Traoré Gnodjoutien (school teacher).
I wish also to thank my friend and co-worker, Gail Wiebe Toevs, for her companionship and for sharing with me her insights on Sucite during our years together in Burkina Faso.
The Commission on Overseas Missions of the General Conference Mennonite Church and the Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission are also to be acknowledged for kindly permitting me to pursue the research required for this dissertation, as their employee, and for providing a measure of financial assistance.
Thanks also go to the members of my committee for their comments and suggestions, in particular, to my advisor, Charles Kisseberth for patiently guiding me through the numerous revisions required for the thesis.
Finally, I wish to thank all of my friends for the support they provided during this long ordeal, as well as my sister, Carolyn, who typed much of the appendix and helped to prepare the maps in this thesis. Thank-you!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 1
Classification of Senufo within the GUR language
group 1
Sucite as a SENUFO language (dialect?) 4
Senufo language Research 8
Purpose, Approach and Presentation 9
NOTES 11
Sucite as a SENUFO language (dialect?) 4
Senufo language Research 8
Purpose, Approach and Presentation 9
NOTES 11
CHAPTER 1 - BASIC FACTS ABOUT SUCITE 12
I. INTRODUCTION 12
II. THE SOUND SYSTEM 12
III. MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX 25
IV. SUMMARY 37
NOTES 38
II. THE SOUND SYSTEM 12
A. Consonants 12
C. Tone 23
1. Pre-nasalized Consonants and Consonant Clusters
14
2. Stress and Consonants 15
B. Vowels 182. Stress and Consonants 15
C. Tone 23
III. MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX 25
A. Nouns 25
B. Pronouns 26
D. Verbs 31
E. The Verb Phrase 32
F. The Adverbial Phrase 33
G. The Sentence 34
H. Negative Formation 36
I. Question Formation 36
B. Pronouns 26
Personal pronouns 28
C. The Noun Phrase 28D. Verbs 31
E. The Verb Phrase 32
F. The Adverbial Phrase 33
G. The Sentence 34
H. Negative Formation 36
I. Question Formation 36
IV. SUMMARY 37
NOTES 38
CHAPTER 2 - THE SUCITE VERB 40
I. INTRODUCTION 40
II. THE COMPLETIVE VERB 40
III. THE INCOMPLETIVE VERB 42
IV. HISTORICAL SPECULATIONS AND TONAL FEATURES 61
V. CONCLUSION 68
NOTES 70
II. THE COMPLETIVE VERB 40
A. Structural Description 40
B. Tonal Description 42
B. Tonal Description 42
III. THE INCOMPLETIVE VERB 42
A. Structural Description 42
B. Tonal Behaviour of the Incompletive Verb 51
B. Tonal Behaviour of the Incompletive Verb 51
1.The Underlying Tone of the incompletive suffix 51
2. Root Tone Mutations in the Incompletive Verb 55
2. Root Tone Mutations in the Incompletive Verb 55
IV. HISTORICAL SPECULATIONS AND TONAL FEATURES 61
V. CONCLUSION 68
NOTES 70
CHAPTER 3 - THE NOUN 71
I. INTRODUCTION 71
II. THE INDEFINITE SUFFIX - TYPE I 75
III. THE INDEFINITE SUFFIX - TYPE II (Classes 2 and 6) 91
IV. THE DEFINITE SUFFIX 128
V. CONCLUSION 141
NOTES 142
A. Noun Structure 72
B. Noun Classes and Suffixing 72
C. Noun Tone 73
B. Noun Classes and Suffixing 72
C. Noun Tone 73
II. THE INDEFINITE SUFFIX - TYPE I 75
A. Structure 75
B. The Tonal Nature of Indefinite Nouns - Type I 80
B. The Tonal Nature of Indefinite Nouns - Type I 80
1. The tone of the Indefinite Suffix - Type I 82
2. Association conventions and the Indefinite Noun 84
3. Tone and Pre-nasalized Consonants 87
4. High final nouns 89
2. Association conventions and the Indefinite Noun 84
3. Tone and Pre-nasalized Consonants 87
4. High final nouns 89
III. THE INDEFINITE SUFFIX - TYPE II (Classes 2 and 6) 91
A. Structure 91
1. Class 6 Indefinite Suffix. 91
2. Class 2 Indefinite Suffix 94
3. Summary 96
B. Tone of Type II Indefinite Suffixes 972. Class 2 Indefinite Suffix 94
3. Summary 96
1. Tonal Behaviour of the Suffix 97
2. Segmental Deletion and Tonal Behaviour 99
3. Root tone lowering (High Deletion) 116
2. Segmental Deletion and Tonal Behaviour 99
3. Root tone lowering (High Deletion) 116
a. High Deletion with Suffix Reduction (122);
b. High Deletion with Full Suffix (124);
c. Partial Suffix Deletion and Resistance to High Deletion (125)
b. High Deletion with Full Suffix (124);
c. Partial Suffix Deletion and Resistance to High Deletion (125)
IV. THE DEFINITE SUFFIX 128
A. Structure - Type I 129
B. Structure - Type II nouns 132
C. Definite Suffix Tone 134
B. Structure - Type II nouns 132
C. Definite Suffix Tone 134
V. CONCLUSION 141
NOTES 142
CHAPTER 4 - TONE IN THE SUCITE VERB PHRASE 145
I. INTRODUCTION 145
II. NOUN OBJECT TONE AND THE VERB: DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS 146
III. THE VERBAL PARTICLES 173
IV. CONCLUSION 198
NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Domain of Verb Tone Behaviour 145
II. NOUN OBJECT TONE AND THE VERB: DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS 146
A. Description 146
B. Analysis 149
B. Analysis 149
1. Low Spreading Rule 149
2. High Tone Spreading 157
3. Mid Tone Lowering 169
2. High Tone Spreading 157
3. Mid Tone Lowering 169
III. THE VERBAL PARTICLES 173
A. Order Within the Verb Phrase 173
B. Aspect in the Verb Phrase 175
B. Aspect in the Verb Phrase 175
1. The Incompletive Aspect 176
2. The Completive Aspect Marker 178
C. Tense, Modal, and Other Particles 1832. The Completive Aspect Marker 178
1. The NA Particle 183
2. The NII Particle 185
3. The Future Tense 186
4. The Incompletive na× a× 188
5. The CA Particle 188
6. The Habitual mŕ a 189
7. The Modal SA 191
8. The BA Modal 193
9. The Pre-Tense Particles 194
10. The Negative Particle 196
2. The NII Particle 185
3. The Future Tense 186
4. The Incompletive na× a× 188
5. The CA Particle 188
6. The Habitual mŕ a 189
7. The Modal SA 191
8. The BA Modal 193
9. The Pre-Tense Particles 194
10. The Negative Particle 196
IV. CONCLUSION 198
NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
CHAPTER 5 - TONE IN THE SUCITE NOUN PHRASE 201
I. INTRODUCTION 201
II. TONAL BEHAVIOUR WITHIN THE NOUN PHRASE 205
III. THE DEFINITE SUFFIX REVISITED 248
IV. TONAL BEHAVIOUR OF THE COMPLEX NOUN 252
V. CONCLUSION 289
NOTES 295
A. The Effect of Noun Phrase Structure on Tonal Behaviour 202
B. Nominal Tone 204
B. Nominal Tone 204
II. TONAL BEHAVIOUR WITHIN THE NOUN PHRASE 205
A. High Tone Nouns 205
B. Low Tone Nouns 206
C. Mid Tone Nouns 207
D. Mid and Mid-Low Tone Nouns 210
E. Weak Mid and Mid-Low tone Nouns 212
G. Conclusion of Mid tone behaviour on Nouns 247
B. Low Tone Nouns 206
C. Mid Tone Nouns 207
D. Mid and Mid-Low Tone Nouns 210
E. Weak Mid and Mid-Low tone Nouns 212
1. Description 213
F. Low-High Nouns and RS Delinking 243
(i) Raising (213);
(ii) Low tone spreading (216)
2. Analysis 218(ii) Low tone spreading (216)
a. Mw and ML as Underlyingly High Tone 218
b. Mw and ML as Underlyingly Hl 227
b. Mw and ML as Underlyingly Hl 227
(i) Low tone Spreading (229);
(ii) High Tone Spreading(231);
(iii) Distinguishing Weak Mid and Mid-Low Nouns(235);
(iv) Mid-Low Tone and Independent Low Tone Linking (235);
(v) Weak Mid Tone and Feature Switch (239);
(vi) Rule Ordering (241)
(ii) High Tone Spreading(231);
(iii) Distinguishing Weak Mid and Mid-Low Nouns(235);
(iv) Mid-Low Tone and Independent Low Tone Linking (235);
(v) Weak Mid Tone and Feature Switch (239);
(vi) Rule Ordering (241)
G. Conclusion of Mid tone behaviour on Nouns 247
III. THE DEFINITE SUFFIX REVISITED 248
IV. TONAL BEHAVIOUR OF THE COMPLEX NOUN 252
A. Complex Nouns (Hl + Hl) and the Obligatory Contour
Principle 252
C. Lexical Changes 269
1. The OCP Solution 255
2. Rule Ordering for the OCP 256
3. High Spreading and OCP 257
4. Low Spreading and the OCP 258
5. OCP and the Association Conventions 259
B. High Delinking 2632. Rule Ordering for the OCP 256
3. High Spreading and OCP 257
4. Low Spreading and the OCP 258
5. OCP and the Association Conventions 259
C. Lexical Changes 269
1. High Deletion 269
3. Other Lexical Changes 282
4. Tone on Nominalized Verbs 283
D. Conclusion of Study of Complex Nouns 288
a. High Deletion I (269);
b. High Deletion II (275)
2. Low Deletion 278b. High Deletion II (275)
3. Other Lexical Changes 282
4. Tone on Nominalized Verbs 283
V. CONCLUSION 289
A. The Double tiered Approach to Tonal Analysis 289
B. Summary 293
B. Summary 293
NOTES 295
CHAPTER 6 - THE SUCITE SENTENCE 297
A. Introduction 297
B. The Adverbial Phrase 297
C. The Noun Class Clitic 301
D. Yes-No Questions 313
E. Wh Question Formation and Frontshifting 314
F. Rule Ordering 316
G. Concluding Notes 326
B. The Adverbial Phrase 297
C. The Noun Class Clitic 301
D. Yes-No Questions 313
E. Wh Question Formation and Frontshifting 314
F. Rule Ordering 316
G. Concluding Notes 326
BIBLIOGRAPHY 328
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SENUFO LANGUAGES 330