V2 elision in root-suffix hiatus contexts in Malawian CiTonga (Bantu N.15). Issue 3 (3rd July 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mkochi, Winfred
• Is Part Of: Southern African linguistics and applied language studies. Volume 39:Issue 3(2021)
• Page Start: 259
• Page End: 268
• Publication Date: 2021-07-03
• Subjects: Linguistics -- Periodicals; Linguistics -- Africa, Southern -- Periodicals; African languages -- Periodicals; Afrikaans language -- Periodicals; South Africa -- Languages -- Periodicals; Linguistique -- Périodiques; Linguistique -- Afrique australe -- Périodiques; Langues africaines -- Périodiques; Afrikaans (Langue) -- Périodiques; Afrique du Sud -- Langues -- Périodiques; African languages; Afrikaans language; Language and languages; Linguistics; Africa, Southern; South Africa; Periodicals; 410.968
• DOI: 10.2989/16073614.2021.1939077
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1607-3614

Abstract

Abstract: The elision of V2 in root-suffix hiatus contexts has previously been alluded to as the need to preserve V1 when it belongs to a prominent position (a phenomenon known as positional faithfulness) such as a root or a content word. This article suggests a new factor: certain prosodic domains impose their own pattern of vowel elision in hiatus contexts. The prosodic stem in CiTonga, a southern Bantu language spoken in Malawi, for instance, requires that hiatus within it be resolved through elision of V2, and not V1 . V2 elision in clitic-clitic contexts also suggests that clitics in this language are most likely parsed by the prosodic stem, thereby creating a right-edge misalignment between a morphological stem and a prosodic stem. The parsing of clitics by the prosodic stem in CiTonga is unlike other languages (e.g. Zezuru, a dialect or variant of the Shona language) where clitics are parsed by the prosodic word.