Vowel harmony: The case of Anee and Iguae and Boka dialects in Ghana
Keywords:
correspondence, dialect, harmony, nominal, prefixes, substitution, unrounded, vowelAbstract
This paper examined a dialect of the Akan language which is traditionally labeled Fante in the literature. The study highlights the Anee sub-dialect of (Mfantse) Fante nominal prefixes in the context of vowel harmony. Data was generated from fishermen, Religious members during church services, and learners from Komenda College practicing schools. Analysis of data was based on Iguae and Boka sub-dialects of Mfantse against Anee sub-dialect. It was realized after thorough analysis that the Anee dialect has a unique feature that accepts substitution of unrounded vowels with rounded vowels. The theory that influenced this investigation was Vowel harmony and Correspondence theory. This theory covers the major issues in the generative analysis of vowel harmony and vowel typology. Most speakers of the Anee sub-dialect of Mfantse precisely Komenda through to Shama areas follow the rules of vowel harmony to some extent. Vowel harmony being discussed here can be seen as the restriction on the distribution of vowels which makes it necessary for the vowels of only one set to occur in a given word.
References
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