ABSTRACT
This research was motivated by my curiosity to explore some aspects of the phonology of Khohumono, a language spoken by the Bhahomono people in Abi Local Government area of Cross River State, Nigeria and to contribute to the development and standardization of the language which is still in the minority. The work therefore seeks to establish accurately the number of consonants and vowels in the phonetic and phonemic inventory of the language and also examine their distribution in their environment of occurrence, with the view to propose orthography for the language. It also evaluates their tonal operation, syllable structure, as well as the phonemic contrast of tone in the language. Simple random sampling method was used and the data for the research was collected from twenty-one native speakers from the seven villages. They elicited the data from the reduced SIL 1700 word list after several days of field work. The computer software Pratt was used in the analysis, for the authentication of phonemic sounds and appropriate placement of tones. The work which is descriptive and expository was based on the framework of phonemic theory, auto segmental theory and distinctive feature theory. Finally, the research established twenty six phonemic consonants and six phonemic vowels for the language, and revealed the operations and functions of tone in the language, the distinctiveness of their vowel harmony and syllable structure and proposed thirty two distinct alphabets for the Khohumono orthography, hoping that this will be a stepping stone for further research and scholarship in the language. It is recommended that the Government and national language planners should encourage this effort by making sure that the enshrinement of the National Policy on Education is put to use. If this is ensured therefore, it would make it possible for the language to be used as a medium of instruction in the first three years of schooling in Abi Local Government Area. If deliberate effort is made to improve and standardize a language, and this just ends up as a document without being used, the effort turns out to be wasted, so it goes beyond proposing an orthography as the Government and the native speakers have a role to play. (Word count : 365)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE i CERTIFICATION ii
DECLARATION iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv
ABSTRACT v
TABLE OF CONTENTS vi
LIST OF TABLES x
LIST OF FIGURES xi
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS/SYMBOLS xii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1 Background to the Study 1
1.1.1 The History of the Bhahumono People 2
1.1.2 Language classification 5
1.2 Statement of problem 7
1.3 Objectives of study 7
1.4 Research questions 7
1.5 Delimitation of study 8
1.6 Significance of study 8
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Review of previous works on Khohumono 9
2.1.1 Phonological structures 10
2.1.2 Morphological/syntactic structures 11
2.2 Phonemic analysis 12
2.3 Phonological theories relevant to the study 15
2.3.1 The phonemic theory 15
2.3.2 Distinctive feature theory 24
2 .3.3 Autosegmental theory 29
2.4 The segment 32
2.5 Tone 34
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND THEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK
3.1 Theoretical framework 36
3.1.1 Phonemic theory 36
3.1.2 Distinctive feature theory 37
3.1.3 Autosegmental theory 37
3.2 Research design 38
3.3 Area of study 38
3.4 Population of the study 38
3.5 Sample technique 39
3.6 Instrumentation 39 3.7 Data collection procedure 39
3.8 Procedure for data analysis 40
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
4.1 The Khohumono consonant inventory 41
4.1.1 The Khohumono phonetic consonant inventory 41
4.1.2 Phonetic description of Khohumono consonants 42
4.1.3 Distribution of Khohumono consonants 44
4.2 The Khohumono vowel inventory 56
4.2.1 The Khohumono phonetic vowel chart 57
4.2.2 Phonetic description of Khohumono vowels 58
4.2.3 Distribution of Khohumono vowels 58
4.2.4 Vowel harmony in Khohumono 71
4.2.5 Vowel lengthening 74
4.3 Application of phonemic theory to the consonants and vowels 75
of Khohumono
4.3.1 The minimal pair test 75
4.3.2 Complementary distribution test 81
4.3.3 Free variation test 82
4.4 Application of the distinctive feature theory to the Consonants and 84
vowels of Khohumono
4.5 The tonal system of Khohumono 87
4.5.1 Establishing the existence of tones in Khohumono using PRATT 90
4.5.2 Application of the autosegmental theory to the tonal system 93 of Khohumono 4.5.3 Lexical functions of tones in Khohumono 94
4.5.4 Grammatical functions of tones in Khohumono 95
4.5.5 Tonal homophones in Khohumono 95
4.6 The syllable structure of Khohumono 96
4.6.1 Phonotactical constraints on Khohumono syllable structure 100
4.6.2 Application of the autosegmental theory to the syllable structure 101
of Khohumono 4.7 Proposed orthography 102
4.7.1 Unusual consonant symbols 103
4.7.2 Unusual vowel symbols 104
4.7.3 Rationale for choice of symbols 104
4.7.4 Digraphs 106
4.7.5 Diacritics 107
4.8 Discussion of findings 107
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Summary of findings 111
5.2 Conclusion 113
5.3 Recommendations 113
REFERENCES 116 APPENDIX 120
Ukaegbu, E. (2018). Aspects of Khohumono Phonology. Afribary. Retrieved from https://track.afribary.com/works/aspects-of-khohumono-phonology
Ukaegbu, Eunice "Aspects of Khohumono Phonology" Afribary. Afribary, 05 Sep. 2018, https://track.afribary.com/works/aspects-of-khohumono-phonology. Accessed 06 Nov. 2024.
Ukaegbu, Eunice . "Aspects of Khohumono Phonology". Afribary, Afribary, 05 Sep. 2018. Web. 06 Nov. 2024. < https://track.afribary.com/works/aspects-of-khohumono-phonology >.
Ukaegbu, Eunice . "Aspects of Khohumono Phonology" Afribary (2018). Accessed November 06, 2024. https://track.afribary.com/works/aspects-of-khohumono-phonology