1. LINGUISTICS ASSOCIATION OF GHANA 2015 Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana. 27th - 29th JULY, 2015 ASPECTS OF PREFIXATION IN YORÙBÁ: HARMONIC INTERACTION Bísóyè Ẹlẹ́shin DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS, AFRICAN AND ASIAN STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS, NIGERIA. aeleshin@unilag.edu.ng

2. INTRODUCTION Yorùbá vowels as prefixes Exclusion of high tone vowels and /u/ Vowel harmony: vowels of such a language will be divided into two or more perfect harmonic sets. Yorùbá language does not exhibit perfect vowel harmony features. Perfect harmony exists only within the four mid vowels Mid-high (e, o) Mid-low (ọ, ẹ).

3. LITERATURE REVIEW Owólabí (1995): Two classes of prefixes Class I: Can be attached verbs, verb phrases Class II: Can be attached to nouns and nouns phrases Awobuluyi (2008): Two Groups All Yorùbá oral vowels excluding the vowel u and those with high tones All Yorùbá consonants

4. Model Root Outward Harmony (Bakovic 2003) Root-outward harmony is a pattern that explains that stem needs not be phonologically altered under affixation, i.e. the vowel harmony is root controlled. Initial Root Vowels are not altered Harmony Directionality Right to left for prefixation Left to Right for suffixation Bidirectional for circumfixation

5. Model ATR VS RTR in Yorùbá vowel system (Akinkugbe 1978, Capo 1985, Folarin 1987, etc.) Ajiboye & Pulleyblank (Forthcoming) Proposes five vowel system: a, ẹ, ọ, i, u Default mid-vowels: (+RTR) vowels ẹ, ọ

6. PROPOSAL Following the Root Outward Harmony (Bakovic 2003) and Ajiboye & Pulleyblank’s argument, it is assumed that Yorùbá mid-vowels can be reduced to two, i.e. the mid-low vowels (ẹ and ọ).

7. ANALYSIS Mid-vowels prefixes and possible adjacent root vowels Two sets: Set 1 [+RTR]Set II [-RTR] ẹ, ẹ̀ --------- ẹ, ọ, i, a, u.e, è ------ e, o, i, u ọ, ọ̀ --------- ẹ, ọ, i, a, u.o, ò ------ e, o, i, u. The prefixes in the first set can harmonise with other vowels in the root words except vowels /e/ and /o/

8. ANALYSIS It is the initial vowel of the root word that determines whether the prefix vowel will be [+RTR] or [-RTR] If a root word is fẹ́ (want), the prefix that can be attached to it must be a [+RTR] prefix vowel (ẹ or ọ) – ọ̀fẹ́ If the root word is lé (to increase), the prefix that can be attached to it must be [-RTR] prefix vowel (e or o) - èlé

9. ANALYSIS Introduction of the front/back features Front mid-vowel prefixes: [ẹ, e], [ẹ̀, è] ẹ ẹ̀ Back mid-vowel prefixes: [ọ, o], [ọ̀, ò] ọ ọ̀

10. ANALYSIS Feature Spreading in Prefixation (1)[+RTR] (2) [-RTR] Pre(V) CV Pre(V) CV The feature of the initial V of the root word spreads leftward in prefixation

11. ANALYSIS Feature Spreading in Prefixation (3) Pre + gbè [-RTR]front + gbè è + gbè - ègbè (Chorus) (4) Pre + fọ̀ [+RTR]round + fọ̀ ọ + fọ̀ - ọfọ̀ (incantation) The prefix acquires the harmonic feature of the initial root vowel in order to produce the vowel capable of nominalising the verb.

12. ANALYSIS Feature Spreading in Prefixation (5) Pre + tẹ́ [+RTR]front + tẹ́ ẹ̀ + tẹ́ - ẹ̀tẹ́ (Humiliation) (6) Pre + gbó [-RTR]round + gbó o + gbó - ogbó (old age) The prefix acquires the harmonic feature of the root vowel in order to get an appropriate prefix vowel that will nominalise the verb.

13. ANALYSIS This vowel harmony phenomenon is not just peculiar to derived nominals only, this process also holds for words that are underived. Consider the following: (7) eré (play) edé (crayfish) ẹmọ́ (bush mouse) ẹsẹ̀ (leg) ọmọ (child), ọrẹ́ (cane)

14. CONCLUSION It is possible to reduce the eight mid-vowel prefixes to four through the use of the Vowel Harmony phenomenon and the root outward harmony: e-, ẹ-, o-, ọ-, è-, ẹ̀-, ò-, ọ̀- The initial root vowel is the decider of the prefix vowel in a word derived by prefixation. Also, these processes will also be applicable to the underived words if we agree with Awobuluyi (2008) assertion that all Yoruba nominals may have been derived.

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