@phdthesis{26511,
  address               = {Ann Arbor},
  author                = {Mphande, Lupenga},
  note                  = {Includes bibliographical references (p 286-289)},
  pages                 = {vi+289},
  publisher             = {UMI},
  school                = {Austin: University of Texas at Austin},
  title                 = {A Phonological Analysis of the Ideophone in Chitumbuka},
  year                  = {1989},
  abstract              = {Linguists report that the ideophone in Bantu languages functions within a phonological system different from the system in which other words function, both segmentally and suprasegmentally. Although providing invaluable data for further work, previous research has focused on semantic, pragmatic, syntactic, and morpho-statistical approaches in their investigations which have so far failed to provide sufficiently reliable principles for identifying and analyzing ideophones. In this study we shall examine the reasons why these approaches do not work for ChiTumbuka, a Bantu language spokes in Malawi and Zambia. A methodical cross-linguistic study of the ideophone should provide us with greater insights into the general language. We argue that, although they may indeed prove to be unique, the most insightful analysis of ideophones is based on their phonological characteristics. We will present the results of our investigation illustrating differences between ideophonic and non-ideophonic systems in both applicability of regular phonological processes as well as in maintaining separate tone, phonotactic, and phonemic inventories. We will demonstrate that the proposed phonological characterization is the most appropriate and insightful one for defining and analyzing the ideophone in this language, framing the discussion in the current theories of lexical phonology and autosegmental phonology. In ChiTumbuka, ideophones are the only lexical subsystem with an intact tonal system; the rest of the language is said to have lost its tonal contrast, giving rise to speculations that the ideophone is a remnant of the Proto-Bantu language. If the assumption that Proto-Bantu was a tone language is correct, then ideophones may be used as a window to an earlier stage of ChiTumbuka. Consequently, this study describes tonal, nasal and vowel-length contrast in ideophones under the assumption that these features may be preserved from earlier stages of the language. In this thesis we will argue that the absence of tonal behavior phenomena, such as tone spread, which have been extensively documented in other languages, is due to the important role which ideophones play at the level of phrasal phonology in ChiTumbuka. In particular, a sentence-medial ideophone disrupts the regular intonational phrase patterning. We will also examine the various implications inherent in the presence of two productive sub-system in a single language: the regular and the ideophonic, particularly as regards the impact on the theories of maximal auditory distancing and perception, as well as language acquisition. Specifically, we will ask whether one system is viewed by the language learner as being simpler than the other system: overall inventories, statistical generalizations, templates, and syllable structure constraints will be examined toward a phonological characterization of the ideophone in ChiTumbuka.},
  adviser               = {Polome, Edgar},
  bestfn                = {africa\mphande_chitumbuka1990_o.pdf},
  besttxt               = {ptxt2\africa\mphande_chitumbuka1989_o.txt},
  cfn                   = {africa\mphande_chitumbuka1990_o.pdf},
  class_loc             = {PL8749},
  degree                = {PhD},
  delivered             = {africa\mphande_chitumbuka1990_o.pdf},
  digital_formats       = {PDF 7.68Mb image-only PDF},
  document_type         = {B},
  fn                    = {africa\mphande_chitumbuka1989_o.pdf, africa\mphande_chitumbuka1990_o.pdf, africa\mphande_chitumbuka1989.pdf, africa/mphande_chitumbuka1990_o.pdf},
  hhtype                = {specific_feature},
  inlg                  = {English [eng]},
  keywords              = {;caf;eaf;mlw;lng;phn;lxl;bnt;n.21;ths;},
  lgcode                = {Tumbuka [tum]},
  macro_area            = {Africa},
  mpi_eva_library_shelf = {PL 8749 MPH 2007},
  mpifn                 = {chitumbuka_mphande1990_o.pdf},
  oclc                  = {22614159},
  source                = {DAI-A 50/09, p. 2880, Mar 1990},
  src                   = {eballiso2009, hh, mpieva, weball},
  subject               = {LANGUAGE, LINGUISTICS (0290); ANTHROPOLOGY, CULTURAL (0326); EDUCATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE (0279)},
  subject_headings      = {Tumbuka language –Phonology, Tumbuka language –Ideophone, Tumbuka language –Phonology – Tumbuka language –Ideophone},
  umi_id                = {9005631}
}