Morphophonological interactions in Shilluk: an investigation into the tone system and suffixation patterns in the Gar dialect
dc.contributor.advisor
Truswell, Robert
dc.contributor.advisor
Remijsen, Bert
dc.contributor.author
Lam, Man Yan Priscilla
dc.date.accessioned
2022-02-16T10:04:05Z
dc.date.available
2022-02-16T10:04:05Z
dc.date.issued
2021-07-31
dc.description.abstract
West Nilotic languages are known to have rich suprasegmental systems, and Shilluk offers a
case in point. Previous studies on the Lwak dialect postulate nine tonemes in the tone
inventory of Shilluk, which are High, Mid, Low, High Fall, Low Fall, High Fall to Mid, Late
Fall, High Rise, and Low Rise (Remijsen & Ayoker 2019; Remijsen et al. 2019). In contrast
to the southern dialect of Lwak, the northern dialect of Gar is relatively understudied. This
gap in the literature motivated an investigation into the tone system of Gar. Based on the data
collected from a native Gar speaker, this study postulates that the Gar tonal inventory has the
same nine tonemes as that of Lwak. However, there is dialectal variation in the distribution of
tone specifications. These differences can be explained by the loss of suffix hypothesis
(Remijsen & Ayoker 2019), which motivated the subsequent investigation into the patterns of
suffixation in Gar. This study shows that Gar has lost the suffixes -ɪ/-ɔ in areas of the
grammar where Lwak shows -ɪ/-ɔ suffixation. Based on this between-dialect comparison and
following Andersen’s (1990) diachronic analysis of ternary vowel length contrast and suffix
loss in West Nilotic languages, this study postulates that Lwak reflects an earlier,
conservative stage of the diachronic development of Shilluk, whereas Gar reflects a later,
advanced stage. The suffix investigation further shows that in Gar, suffix loss only involves
the loss of the segmental material. The tonal material of the suffix is preserved and interacts
compositionally with the tonal specification of the stem syllable. This compositional
interaction analysis provides an explanation for the dialectal variation between Lwak and Gar
with respect to the distribution of certain tone specifications. It also offers insight into why
Shilluk has a more complex tone system than its neighbouring West Nilotic languages.
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dc.identifier.uri
https://hdl.handle.net/1842/38581
dc.language.iso
en
en
dc.publisher
The University of Edinburgh
en
dc.title
Morphophonological interactions in Shilluk: an investigation into the tone system and suffixation patterns in the Gar dialect
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dc.type
Thesis or Dissertation
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dc.type.qualificationlevel
Masters
en
dc.type.qualificationname
MA Master of Arts
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