The speech sounds, syllable structure and tone system of a less-studied West African language, Lɛtɛ
Keywords:
Lɛtɛ; phonology; vowels; consonants, syllable; toneAbstract
Aim and Focus: The paper describes the speech sounds, syllable structure and tone system of a less-studied, West African language, Lɛtɛ. Lɛtɛ is a South-Guan language of Ghana, West Africa, and genetically affiliated to the Niger-Congo family of languages. Eberhard, Simons and Fennig (2019) sub-classifies Guan (Niger-Congo, Kwa) into two language clusters: North Guan and South Guan, to which Lɛtɛ belongs.
Findings: Lɛtɛ has a symmetrical set of nine vowels, 4 front vowels produced with an advanced tongue root position and four back vowels produced with a retracted tongue root position. The ninth vowel is a low central vowel, /ǝ /, which is produced with an advanced tongue root position, but unpaired. Its vowel and consonant systems are akin to those of related African languages.
Designs and Methods: The study was purely field-based. Data were collected through elicitation from language speakers who resided in the speech community. Speech sounds and tone patterns were audio recorded and later transcribed and analysed.
Implications/Conclusion: Tongue root vowel harmony controls vowel distribution to a large measure. A single syllable may be constituted by a vowel, a consonant followed by a vowel (CV), or a nasal consonant. The lexical tone helps to distinguish meaning, whereas the grammatical tone functions to mark tense and aspectual distinctions. It was observed that in many respects, aspects of Lɛtɛ phonology described are akin to other Kwa languages in the Niger-Congo family.
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