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A LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF THE YALUNKA LANGUAGE Greg and Rebecca Pruett April 2006

Table of Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction............................................................................................................................... 2 Yalunka Phonology: A Generative Approach.......................................................................... 2 Consonant Chart ................................................................................................................... 3 Vowel Chart .......................................................................................................................... 3 Distribution of Phonemes ..................................................................................................... 3 Contrast of Phonemes ........................................................................................................... 5 Contrasting syllable final nasals with no nasal .................................................................... 6 Vowel Length ....................................................................................................................... 6 Tone ...................................................................................................................................... 7 Syllable Structure.................................................................................................................. 8 Syllable Structure evidence: ................................................................................................. 8 Phonological Rules ............................................................................................................... 8 Final Vowel Deletion: ....................................................................................................... 8 Vowel Lengthening:.......................................................................................................... 9 Nasal Palatalization:.......................................................................................................... 9 Back Vowel Place Assimilation: .................................................................................... 10 Back Vowel Deletion: ..................................................................................................... 10 Nominalization: ............................................................................................................... 10 Vowel Harmonization: .................................................................................................... 11 Back Consonant Deletion: .............................................................................................. 11 Nasal Place Assimilation: ............................................................................................... 11 Flap Nasalization: ........................................................................................................... 12 Vowel Nasalization: ........................................................................................................ 12 Vowel Nasalization: ........................................................................................................ 13 Vowel Deletion: .............................................................................................................. 13 Nasal Liquid Assimilation: ............................................................................................. 13 Liquid Nasal Assimilation: ............................................................................................. 14 Vowel deletion Revisited: ............................................................................................... 14 Softening of stops: .......................................................................................................... 14 Example of Phonological Rule Application ....................................................................... 14 Discussion of Tone and Intonation ..................................................................................... 15 Tonal Categories ............................................................................................................. 17 One Syllable Roots with High Tone: H ......................................................................... 17 Two (or more) Syllable Roots with High Tone on Both Syllables: HH ....................... 17 One Syllable Roots with Low Tone: L .......................................................................... 17 Two (or more) Syllable Roots with Low Tone: LL ....................................................... 18 Roots that Start with High Tone and End on a Low Tone: HL ..................................... 18 Roots that Start with a Low Tone and end on a High Tone: LH .................................. 18 Roots that Start with Low Tone, Shift up, Then End on a Low Tone: LHL ................ 19 Function of Length and Tone Together .......................................................................... 19 Tonal Compacity (Compounding) Rules:....................................................................... 19 HH: .................................................................................................................................. 19 LL: ................................................................................................................................... 19 LH: .................................................................................................................................. 20

HL: .................................................................................................................................. 20 LHL: ................................................................................................................................ 20 Lexico-Semantic Conditioning of Tone: ........................................................................ 20 Yalunka Morphophonemic Anomalies................................................................................... 21 Bara, Bata, and Banta ......................................................................................................... 21 The Alienable Possession Marker ...................................................................................... 23 The /na/ Noun Determiner or Nominal Marker ................................................................. 24 When does /na/ appear and when does it not? ............................................................... 25 The /na/ when it seems to disappear in a sentence ........................................................ 25 Isolation or Utterance Final ............................................................................................ 26 Before a Vowel ............................................................................................................... 26 After a long vowel or vowel cluster ............................................................................... 26 Before a syllabic nasal .................................................................................................... 27 After a nasalized vowel .................................................................................................. 27 The /na/ when it comes after a noun that ends in /li/ or /ri/ or /lo/ or /lu/ .................... 28 When /r/ Becomes /n/ ..................................................................................................... 30 Summary of the phonology of the /na/ determiner ........................................................ 32 Examples ......................................................................................................................... 33 Optional application of contraction to the morpheme /-ma/ .......................................... 34 Grammar ................................................................................................................................. 35 Clause Structure .................................................................................................................. 35 Clause Elements .................................................................................................................. 35 Aspect Markers, Verb Suffixes, and Verbs........................................................................ 36 Aspect Markers ................................................................................................................... 37 /bata/ ................................................................................................................................ 37 /xa/ ................................................................................................................................... 38 /nama/ .............................................................................................................................. 38 /yi/ ................................................................................................................................... 39 /yi/ narrative simple past................................................................................................. 39 /yi/ prior states of being .................................................................................................. 39 /yi/ marker of subsequent clause in a series ................................................................... 40 /banta yi/.......................................................................................................................... 41 The subordinating aspect markers /na/, /to/, /nma/, and /na yi/ ................................... 41 /na/ ................................................................................................................................... 41 /to/ ................................................................................................................................... 41 /nma/ .............................................................................................................................. 41 /na yi/ whenever .............................................................................................................. 42 Verb Suffixes .................................................................................................................. 42 /-xi/ .................................................................................................................................. 42 /-ma/ ................................................................................................................................ 43 /-/ or /-y/ or /-/ Irrealis ............................................................................................ 43 Verbs ................................................................................................................................... 44 Stative Verbs ................................................................................................................... 44 Intransitive Verbs ............................................................................................................ 45 Linking or Equative Verb /na/ ........................................................................................ 45 Preverbes: derived transitive verbs ................................................................................. 46 /ma/ - optionally transitive verbs with meaning of repetitive action or causation ........ 46

/ra/ -derives transitive verbs with generally causitive meaning ..................................... 46 /i/ or /yi/ -derives transitive verbs with abstract causitive meaning where the focus is on an internal or inherent quality of the noun in the subject position ........................... 46 Obligatorily Transitive Verbs ......................................................................................... 47 Internal Adverbs ................................................................................................................. 47 /mu/, /mi/ ......................................................................................................................... 47 /mn/ ................................................................................................................................ 48 /munma/........................................................................................................................... 48 Obliques: Arguments of the Verb ...................................................................................... 48 /a ra/ Indirect Object, Equative, and Accompaniment ................................................... 49 /a ma/ or /a xa/ Indirect Object...................................................................................... 51 /a yii/ ............................................................................................................................... 51 /ai/ .................................................................................................................................... 52 /a xn ma/ ........................................................................................................................ 52 Obliques of location or time ............................................................................................... 52 Postpositions telling location .......................................................................................... 52 Postpositions telling time ................................................................................................ 53 Final Adverbs...................................................................................................................... 53 State Marker........................................................................................................................ 54 Past Irrealis /nun/ ................................................................................................................ 56 Emphatic particles............................................................................................................... 57 /de/ ................................................................................................................................... 57 /han/ ................................................................................................................................. 57 /fn/ ................................................................................................................................ 57 /soti/ ................................................................................................................................. 57 /fu fa fu/ (for nothing)..................................................................................................... 58 /fati fati/ ........................................................................................................................... 58 /tin/................................................................................................................................. 58 /yen/ ................................................................................................................................. 58 /kati/................................................................................................................................. 58 /nt/ Exactly .................................................................................................................... 58 /por/ .............................................................................................................................. 58 /han kedenna/ .................................................................................................................. 58 /ken ken/ .......................................................................................................................... 58 /gben gben/ ...................................................................................................................... 59 /pti/................................................................................................................................. 59 /bui/ ................................................................................................................................. 59 /kudu/............................................................................................................................... 59 /dn dn/ .......................................................................................................................... 59 /pon/ Far .......................................................................................................................... 59 /habadan/ Eternally ......................................................................................................... 59 /mum/............................................................................................................................. 59 /feu/ ................................................................................................................................. 59 /fe fe/ ............................................................................................................................... 60 /niin/ ................................................................................................................................ 60 /fot fot/ ......................................................................................................................... 60 /kti/................................................................................................................................. 60

/go?/ Question Expletive ................................................................................................. 60 Conjunctions and Initial Adverbs ....................................................................................... 60 Coordinating Conjunctions ............................................................................................. 60 Coordination of Noun Phrases ........................................................................................ 61 /PN + nun/ ..................................................................................................................... 61 /yo/................................................................................................................................... 62 /ba/ (or)............................................................................................................................ 62 /hanma/ (or) ..................................................................................................................... 62 Coordination of Clauses.................................................................................................. 62 /a/ (indirect quote marker) or (purpose) ....................................................................... 62 Subordination of Clauses ................................................................................................ 63 /hali/ (even if) ................................................................................................................ 63 /benun/ (before) ............................................................................................................... 63 /xa/ (if) ........................................................................................................................... 63 /fannin/ (as long as) ........................................................................................................ 63 Initial Adverbs ................................................................................................................ 63 /To/ and /to mi/ (recently) and (not recently)................................................................. 63 /hali/ (not at all) .............................................................................................................. 63 Complex sentences: more than one verb in a clause ......................................................... 64 /deni/ ................................................................................................................................ 64 /feni/ ................................................................................................................................ 64 Two verbs second marked by /-/................................................................................... 64 /sa/ a contracted form of /siga/ ....................................................................................... 65 /fa/ a contracted form of /faa/ ......................................................................................... 65 The Noun Phrase ................................................................................................................ 67 Demonstrative Adjective /na/ and the Possessor Phrase ................................................ 68 /gbe/ own ......................................................................................................................... 68 Alienable Possession /a/.................................................................................................. 68 Inalienable Possession .................................................................................................... 69 Layers of Embedded Possessors ..................................................................................... 69 Complex Modifier (Noun or Noun-Verb Combination) ................................................ 69 Noun Telling What Kind ................................................................................................ 69 Noun-Verb Combination Telling What Kind ................................................................. 70 The Head Noun ............................................................................................................... 70 Adjective ......................................................................................................................... 70 The Determiner /na/ or a Quantifier ............................................................................... 72 Limiting Adjectives ........................................................................................................ 73 /ito/ .................................................................................................................................. 73 /nde/ ................................................................................................................................. 73 /birin/ ............................................................................................................................... 73 The Plural Marker /-e/ .................................................................................................... 73 Extension on the Noun Phrase Nucleus ......................................................................... 74 /nan/ focus ....................................................................................................................... 74 /fan/ also .......................................................................................................................... 75 Pronouns.......................................................................................................................... 75 Personal Pronouns........................................................................................................... 75 Relative Pronouns ........................................................................................................... 76

Negative Pronouns .......................................................................................................... 76 Demonstrative Pronouns ................................................................................................. 76 Interrogative Pronouns .................................................................................................... 77 Post Positional Phrases ................................................................................................... 77 Examples of Analysis of Yalunka Clauses in Grammatical Slots ................................. 78 Examples of Analysis of Yalunka Noun Phrases ........................................................... 80 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 81

Abstract This linguistic analysis of the Yalunka language includes three major sections, one analyzing its phonological structure, another analyzing the morphophonemics, and another its grammatical structure. The analysis covers the most common features from the phoneme level to the clause level of the language. The scope of this analysis is not to attempt to explain all the possible grammatical utterances in the language but rather to handle the most prevalent or difficult to analyze so that a language learner can gain a quick grasp of the language. Even so, the document is precise enough to explain most of the language structures and provide a starting point to analyze the rest of the details of the language. Even though we have tried to keep this analysis as simple as possible, it has become difficult for most people to understand because describing language is inherently complicated. In spite of the complexity of the writing, the average language learner may get some helpful information from this description of the most prevalent parts of the Yalunka phonology and grammar. Discourse grammar is not described. Rebecca and I first wrote this study as the result of just under 2 years of continuous field research. Rebecca handled forming most of the generative phonology rules while I specialized in the morphophonemics and the grammar. In 2006 I updated all sections of the paper to reflect a total of twelve years of research and language learning.

Introduction This paper is the result of around twelve years of language study and describes the Solima dialect of the Yalunka language of West Africa spanning the Guinea-Sierra Leone border as opposed to the Firiya dialect or the Musaya dialect (Sierra Leone).1 The analysis of the Yalunka language begins with the sound system using a generative approach to phonology. Then the paper covers some morphophonemic phenomenon. After the study of the phonology of the Yalunka language, we also analyze the grammar in two parts. First an analysis of the clause structure in the sentence and its elements, and then an analysis of the structure of the noun phrase and its elements. In this paper items enclosed between slashes are orthographic representations (the way words are commonly written) while items between brackets are phonetic representations. Items in parenthesis are the English meaning and the part of speech of a word. In sections where tone is not in focus, it is not written in the paper. However, in the sections focusing on the phonetic qualities of tone, we write tone on all syllables. Where high tone or high falling tone only are written, the other syllables should be assumed to bear low tone.

Yalunka Phonology: A Generative Approach The Generative model of phonology is used as a tool to explain the sound system of the Yalunka language. This approach assumes that a basic form underlies each utterance in Yalunka. This "Underlying Form" then undergoes an ordered series of rules or transformations until it becomes consistent with the phonetic reality the listener encounters. The underlying form is deduced from the phonetic data in an attempt to elegantly describe the sound system of the language. Such studies are helpful to language learners in that they help the learner realize the sound patterns that are natural to the speakers of the language he or she is studying and thereby can improve their pronunciation of the language. Such studies are useful to translation projects in that they aid the translators in establishing an orthography (a writing system) for that language. They offer evidence that the proposed orthography is sufficient to describe the language. Unfortunately, in an effort to be precise, this kind of study can be cumbersome to communicate.

A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Yalunka Dialects in Sierra Leone. The Institute for Sierra Leonean Languages. Dec 1988. 2

Consonant Chart Bilabial Stops Fricative Nasals approximant Flap m w r p* b f Labiodental alveolar t S n l y h* d palatal velar k x g labiovelar Gb Glottal

occur primarily in loan words

Vowel Chart Front un-rounded i central un-rounded Back un-rounded

round

high tense (close) high lax (open) mid tense mid lax low tense low lax

round U

*All vowels may occur nasalized phonetically. These are most elegantly analyzed as being nasalized by the action of a nasal consonant after the vowel.

Distribution of Phonemes /p/ voiceless bilabial stop /b/ voiced bilabial stop word initial word initial /pe/ (emphatic. only) /banxina/ (n. house)

/f/ voiceless labiodental fricative /t/ voiceless alveolar stop /d/ voiced alveolar stop /s/ voiceless alveolar fricative /k/ voiceless velar stop /g/ voiced velar stop /gb/ voiced labio-velar stop /x/ [q] voiceless uvular stop [] voiceless uvular fric. [x] voiceless velar fricative

word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word

medial initial medial initial medial initial medial initial medial initial medial initial medial initial medial initial medial medial

/baba/ (n. father) /faxa/ (v. to die) /firifiri/ (v. to turn) /taana/ (n. town) /kata/ (v. to try) /da/ (v. create) /tada/ (n. older sibling) /sena/ (n. thing) /wasa/ (v. to be full) /keli/ (v. to stand up) /mak/ (v. to sweep) /gaxu/ (v. to fear) /siga/ (v. to go) /gbo/ (v. to be big) /xungbo/ (v. to be big) /xa/ (conj. if) /maxa/ (v. to wash) /waxi/ (v. to want acc.)

The underlying form of this phoneme is a voiceless uvular stop [q] which is realized when the phoneme fails to appear intervocalically i.e. utterance initially or directly following a nasal. Utterance initially this phoneme is aspirated2 but not under any other conditions. Examples: /banxi/ [banqi] (n. house) /lanxi/ [lanqi] (v. well done) /xa/ [qha] (conj. if) {always occurs utterance initially} Once this voiceless uvular stop [q] has been softened to a fricative by the phonological rule "Softening" (see below) it can also undergo "Place Assimilation" toward the following vowel. Example: /xa i waxi a xn/ [qi i waxi a n] (if you want) Nevertheless, the orthography traditionally chosen for this phoneme in Guinea and Sierra Leone is /x/. On the other hand, in Yalunka of the north (Senegal and Mali), people3 have chosen to use /q/ which appears more linguistically correct as it is the IPA symbol for the voiceless uvular stop. /w/ voiced bilabial approximate word initial /wali/ (v. to work) word medial /awa/ (o.k.) /y/ voiced palatal approximate word initial /yiina/ (n. hand) word medial /bayo/ (conj. because) Utterance initially this phoneme is realized as a palatalized voiced alveolar stop or a Harrigan, W.N. Form Function and Distribution of the Definite Nominal Suffix in Yalunka. 1963. 3 2

Boniface Keita a linguist in Mali and New Tribes Mission of Senegal.

voiced alveopalatal affricate. /l/ voiced alveolar approximate /r/ voiceless alveolar flap /m/ voiced bilabial nasal /n/ voiced alveolar nasal word initial word medial word initial word medial word initial word medial word initial word medial word final word initial word medial before back vowel word initial /lu/ (v. to stay) /alo/ (conj. like) /raba/ (v. to do) /fura/ (v. to be ill) /maxa/ (v. to wash) /mami/ (n. grandmother) /naxa/ (v. to say) /tanana/ (n. evil) /knn/ (v. to please) /arina/ (n. cat) // (v. to be living) /uruna/ (n. wasp) /na/ (n. nose) habadan (n. forever)

// voiced alveo-palatal nasal [] voiced velar nasal /h/ voiceless pharyngeal fricative

The phoneme /h/ is rare, occurring primarily in religious words that may be borrowed from Arabic, Pular, or Malinke. /p/ also seems to be primarily in borrowed words or sentence final emphatic particles that may be borrowed from Pular.

Contrast of Phonemes Word Initial Contrast /p/ and /b/ : pe (only) be (here) ba (v. to take away) fa (v. to come) te (v. to ascend) de (n. place) km (q. hundred) gm (n. rock) gbe (n. big one) be (adv. here) gbo (v. to be big) go (interrogative marker) km (hundred) gbt (n. other) gbd (n. chair) Word Medial /p/ does not occur medially

Contrast /b/ and /f/ :

Contrast /t/ and /d/ :

Contrast /k/ and /g/:

Contrast /gb/ and /b/ :

Contrast /gb/ and /g/ :

Contrast /k/ and /x/ :

xm (n. man) Contrast /t/ and /r/ : taa (n. town) ra (postp. with) da (v. to create) ra (postp. with) la (v. to believe) ra (postp. with) ma (postp. on) na (dem. pro. that) xadan (v. to be tired) xaran (v. to read) fula (v. to miss something) fura (v. to be sick)

Contrast /d/ and /r/ :

Contrast /l/ and /r/ :

Contrast /m/ and /n/ :

Contrast /n/ and // :

nan (focus particle) an (v. to be over) (interrogative marker) y (n. eye) yi (n. hand) di (yes contradicting)

nn (v. to be new) (v. to be living)

Contrast // and /y/ :

Contrast /y/ and /d/ :

Contrasting syllable final nasals with no nasal xara (v. to dry) [xara] xaran (v. to read) [xar ] xuru (v. to educate) xurun (v. to be small) buruna (n. bread) burunna (n. the bush)

Vowel Length Vowel length is important because a syllable that is underlyingly long cannot be nasalized. All single syllable nominal roots appear to be underlyingly long, because they do not nasalize like other syllables do when the vowel deletion rule occurs. This plays an important role in the surface forms of noun morphology and is covered under the morphophonemic section about the nominal marker /na/. Vowel length can be heard but it is often accompanied by a difference in tone as well. This makes it difficult to demonstrate an actual contrast in vowel length. However,

phonetically there are syllables that are longer than others. The speakers apply free variation to most occurrences of length and so the phenomenon may not be that significant in carrying the meaning load of the language. Vowel length is written in the orthography to provide a visible differentiation between short verb roots that end in a nasal and short nouns with the suffix /na/ on them that have undergone vowel deletion but will not nasalize the syllable. e.g. /fen/ [f ] (v. to look for) /feen/ [feen] (n. matter if in definite and followed by consonant that is not a syllabic nasal) Jalunga of Senegal, Yalunka of Mali, Yalunka South of Guinea and Sierra Leone and Susu of Guinea and Sierra Leone do not write tone in their orthography. It is important to write the vowel length for the sake of the orthography in order to distinguish between words that would otherwise be written the same e.g. tonal contrast minimal pairs. See the rule Vowel Lengthening below.

Tone Contrast /t li-na/ [t nla] (n. scorpion) /t li-na/ [t nla] (n. footbridge)

The two words can only be distinguished by hearing a low tone on the one that means "scorpion" and a high falling tone on the one that means "footbridge." There do not appear to be any length distinctions on these two words. While these contrasts of tone alone are rare in the language, they are indeed present. Often, apparent tonal contrasts are both tonal and nasal or both tonal and length contrasts. This forms a kind of redundant marking of syllables to distinguish words. e.g. /b runna/ [b runna] (n. the bush) /buruna/ [buruna] (n. bread) /bur na/ [bur na] (n. wood bore)

The tone and intonation structures of compound words or noun phrases can themselves result in subtle contrasts. The following are discussed in detail in the tone and intonation section of this paper. Here we want to make evident that compound words of different meanings can be composed of the same lexical elements. They are merely distinguished by whether they are constructed by the rules of underlying tone structures or whether they are constructed by means of a lexico-semantically conditioned intonation pattern. e.g. sg t go stand s g t go stand n (one who walks) def n (trip or voyage) def

Syllable Structure Maximal Syllable Template: [C V V V N] CVVVN Kn (n. night - definite) CVVN taan (n. town - definite) CVV baa (n. river) taa (n. town) CV ba (v. to take away) CVN fan (v. to be good) V a (3rd sg. pronoun) alogo (so that) VN en (1st pl. inclusive pro.)

Kuiin (n. stomach-definite) n (n. nose-definite) s (v. to be gotten) k (n. indefinite) so (v. to enter) lan (v. to be well done) i (2nd sg. Pronoun) igena n (yes)

The maximal syllable template is CVVVN or CVVN dependent upon how the long vowels are interpreted. The only examples found thus far of CVVVN or CVVV all involve a long vowel.

Syllable Structure evidence: /kuina/ (n. stomach) cannot by interpreted as a consonant cluster, i.e. /kwina/, because the compound word [kuxl senna] (stomach hurting medicine) shows the root word to be [ku]. Thus /kuina/ may be the result of the following morphemes: ku + i + na inside locative definite

Phonological Rules Final Vowel Deletion: A word final vowel preceded by a nasal and followed by a word beginning with a consonant is deleted. Except 1) if the previous syllable is nasalized or includes a long vowel 2) if the following consonant is a syllabic nasal.

e.g.

Underlying Vowel Deletion Vowel Nasalization Underlying Vowel Deletion Vowel Nasalization

/a dx banxina fari/ a dx b xin fari [a dx b x fari] (He sits on the house) /n sigama x ma/ n sigam x ma [n sig xma]

e.g.

(I am going to the fields)

e.g.

Underlying Vowel Deletion /a mu maxdx/ [a m'maxdx]

/balo mu be?/ balo m be? (he is not strong)

(Is there no food here)

e.g.

Examples of the types of Exceptions: 1) /xunna kelina/ (n. honor) [x na kella] /xliina/ [xliina/ 2) (n. small birds definite)

/mangana nga/ [m gana nga]

(the chief's mother)

Vowel Lengthening: Noun roots of the tonal category Low-High will lengthen the syllable with high tone and be pronounced as a high falling tone in order to carry the low tone of the following syllable when vowel deletion occurs. e.g. Underlying /y x n na a ra/ Vowel Deletion y x n na a ra Vowel Lengthening [y x n na a ra] (It is a sheep) This helps provide contrasting surface forms to distinguish between roots of different tonal pattern. For example fish and sheep are easiest to contrast this way. e.g. yxn [y x n] (n. fish definite before consonant) yxn [y x n] (n. sheep definite before consonant)

Penny Warner working among the Yalunka of Senegal has reported in correspondence that all tonal distinctions are gone and that they distinguish these two words by modifying sheep with the word /taa/ for town.

Nasal Palatalization: A syllable final [n] directly followed by a (front vowel) [i] and [] will become palatalized. Underlying /naxan i/ [naxanyi] /a mu a xaran -/ [a ma xaran] /a mu tin / (rel. pro. in which)

Underlying

(He will not study)

Underlying

[a m tin]

(He will not agree)

Underlying

/a mu ti / [a m tiy]

(He won't stand)

Note: This rule is blocked if a back vowel must be deleted first; i.e. this rule comes before back vowel deletion in the application of the rules.

Back Vowel Place Assimilation: When /i/ is followed by /a/, a palatal approximant [y] is inserted before the /a/ and the /a/ becomes []. e.g. /i a diina/ [i y diina] (Your child)

Back Vowel Deletion: A back vowel directly followed by a front vowel is deleted, even across word boundries. The two words are then fused together phonetically and pronounced without pause obligatorily. This uniting of the two words is such that it is difficult for a native speaker to realize that there are two words underlying the contraction. e.g. Underlying /fa en siga/ [f siga] /fa i dx/ [fi dx] /muxu e/ [muxe] /a konna i/ [a konni] (come on, let's go)

Underlying

(come, sit down)

Underlying

(n. indefinite person pl.)

Underlying

(at his place)

EXCEPTIONS: [nai] (there) [bei] (here) It has been posited above that all one syllable words have long vowels in their underlying forms. This would explain these "exceptions" since the deletion is blocked by length on the vowels.

Nominalization: When stative verbs (see discussion in grammatical section below) are used as a 10

noun, a suffix attaches to the verb which fronts the final vowel: u --> o --> a --> a --> --> e.g. i e e fixa (v. to be white) gbo (v. to be big) fr (v. to be black) xdx (v. to be hard) fura (v. to be hot) kuya (v. to be long) --> --> --> --> --> --> fati fixna gbena fati frena xdxna furena kuyena (n. (n. (n. (n. (n. (n. white person) a large one) a black person) a hard one) sickness) length)

Vowel Harmonization: If the final vowel in a word is changed by a vowel it comes into contact with, the vowel in the previous syllable will undergo the same change if: 1) they are identical back vowels and 2) both syllables are open. e.g. Underlying Back Vowel Deletion Vowel Harmonization Underlying Back Vowel Deletion Vowel Harmonization Underlying Back Vowel Deletion Vowel Harmonization /fala / fal [fl] /faxa / fax [fx] /xdx / xdx [xdx] (v. to say + irrealis suffix)

(v. to kill + irrealis suffix)

(n. a hard one)

Back Consonant Deletion: A uvular stop /x/ between two back vowels [a], [u], [] or [o] deletes if the next syllable begins with a uvular stop. The first vowel is then lengthened and the second deleted. The rule applies only of roots with High-Low tone. e.g. /dxxi/ [dxi] /axuxi/ [aaxi] /faxaxi/ [faaxi] (v. to sit + accomplished suffix) (v. to be evil + accomplished suffix) (v. to kill + accomplished suffix)

Nasal Place Assimilation: A syllable-final nasal will assimilate to the place of articulation of a stop immediately following it.

e.g.

/denbaya/ [dembaya] /manga/ [maga]

(n. family)

(n. chief)

/bande/ [bande]

(n. rice)

This is also applied across word boundaries for syllabic nasals only. e.g. Underlying Nasal Assimilation Vowel Deletion /n konna i/ konna i [ konni] (at my place)

This may go one step further with the deletion of the non-nasal consonant. Underlying Nasal Assimilation Deletion /n bata siga/ (I just left) m bata siga [mata siga]

This final deletion should not be considered a phonological rule, but rather the understood, optional application of a contraction. This phenomenon is limited to the pronouns and the aspect marker /bata/. At this point there is no evident pattern to its application; however, there may be discourse level influences upon its use. Further detailed discussion can be found in the morphophonemic section below.

Flap Nasalization: An /r/ directly following an /n/ becomes an [n]. e.g. Underlying Vowel Deletion Flap Nasalization Vowel Nasalization /a xuina raminima/ a xuin raminima a xuin naminima [a xu naminima]

Vowel Nasalization: A syllable-final nasal will nasalize the directly preceding vowel and delete in the presence of a fricative. e.g. /xinla/ [x la] /banxi/ [b xi] (n. name) (n. house)

/donse/ [d se] /nanse/ [n se] e.g.

(n. food) (interr. what?)

Underlying Final vowel deletion Nasal Place assimilation Vowel Nasalization

/a dx banxina fari/ a dx banxin fari (does not apply because fricatives follow) [a dx banx fari]

Vowel Nasalization: A word-final nasal will nasalize the preceding vowel and delete if followed by a consonant in the next word or the end of the utterance. {If followed by a nasal stop, the previous vowel is lengthened and the nasal deletes instead} e.g. lengthened vowels /n sigama xna ma/ [n sig x ma] (I am going to the fields.) /a lima nn/ [a lii n ] (It will arrive.) /n fama nn/ [n faa n ] (I am coming.) /n faxi taan nan xn [n faxi taa n x ] (It is in town that I came to walk.) /n faxi taan xn/ [n faxi t x ] (I came to walk in town.) /dina mu wugama to/ [dii mu wug to] (The child is not crying today.)

Vowel Deletion: A high front vowel /i/ preceded by a liquid and followed by a nasal is deleted. e.g. Underlying Vowel Deletion Underlying Vowel Deletion /forina/ (n. old person) forna /walina/ (n. work) walna

e.g.

Except if the vowel is long. Long vowels are not deleted. e.g. xliina [xliina] (n. little bird)

Nasal Liquid Assimilation: A nasal after a voiced liquid becomes that liquid and is pronounced with retroflexing. Or, if the reader prefer, "n" after "l" becomes an "l." e.g. Underlying Vowel Deletion Nasal Liquid Assimilation walina walna walla (n. work)

Alternative pronunciation can be /wanla/ [w la]. This phenomenon is further examined in the morphophonemics section below. 13

Exception: This rule can be influenced by the presence of a long vowel: e.g. xliina (n. little bird)

Liquid Nasal Assimilation: A voiceless liquid assimilates to a nasal. In other words, "r" before "n" becomes n. Note: The nasals written are realized as long consonants. The vowel is not nasalized as would be expected if this were written according to the orthography. e.g. Underlying /s rn / (n. medicine) Vowel Deletion s rn Liquid Nasal Assimilation [s nn ] e.g. Underlying /forina/ (n. old person) Vowel Deletion forna Liquid Nasal Assimilation [fonna]

Vowel deletion Revisited: A vowel between two m's deletes optionally. e.g. /a munma fa/ [a mma fa] /a mu maxdx/ [a m'maxdx] (He she or it has not yet come.)

e.g.

(He is not strong.)

Softening of stops: A voiceless uvular stop is softened to a fricative intervocalically. e.g. /maqa/ [maxa] (v. to wash)

Example of Phonological Rule Application Example 1 Texts vol .1 line 85.4 Orthography with glosses: hali i na i yin ite a mi even if you when your hand-the raise he not xntnna greeting nan focus ratin respond-irrealis

sa go

i your

ya possessive

Translation: Not even when you raise your hand will he go to respond to your greeting.

Underlying: Rule: Nasal Palatalization Rule: Back Vowel Assimil Rule: Back Vowel Deletion Rule: Flap Nasalization Rule: Vowel Nasalization

hali i na i yi na ite a mi sa i a xntnna nan ratin - hali i na i yi na ite a mi sa i a xntnna nan rati hali i na i yi na ite a mi sa i y xntnna nan rati hali i ni yi nite, a mi si y xntnna nan rati hali i ni yi nite, a mi si y xntnna nan nati hali i ni yi nite, a mi si y x t na n nati [hali i ni yi nite a mi si y x t na n na ti]

From this example, we see that our rules work best if /na/ (definite article) is considered a separate word. Further evidence that /na/ is a word and not a suffix is in the way it occurs near the end of the noun phrase and not actually suffixed onto the noun itself. In this sense, you could call it a "clitic" (an affix that attaches to the end of whole phrases and not just a certain word). Perhaps if /i/ were a separate word (considered a postposition), then it would be pronounced ni te. In other words, the places where pauses are possible are significant to the way the phonological rules apply.

Discussion of Tone and Intonation Few papers have been written on tone that have helped anyone but the one writing them. Language is an infinitely complex thing as it expresses the hidden thoughts of the mind. Unfortunately, a paper describing perfectly the Yalunka language would itself be infinitely complex. Nevertheless, the basics of Yalunka tone will not be too convoluted to express in written form. It seems that a great deal of free variation is sprinkled throughout the tonal system provoking inordinate difficulty in thoroughly comprehending it. I have been told that tone does not exist in Yalunka of Senegal.2 It may be that the Yalunka tonal system is in a process of breaking down. That would explain the free variation that I have observed. The most prominent features of tone should probably be written in order to facilitate reading Yalunka. We should be writing a high tone on pronouns with alienable possession i.e. things not inherently owned like close relatives and body parts. That tone is the way the Yalunka language differentiates between possession and some other structures. banxina (his house) banxina (their house) banxina (Your (pl) house) We should be writing high tone on words that are only differentiated by tone like fish and

sheep or /n/ (there) and /na/ (that) e.g. /na muxune/ (those people) e.g. /n muxune/ (people of a place) We should write high tone on the conjunction // (that). e.g. e gbetin ba, e xa a saren fi They gave money in order to pay for it. 2

Correspondence with Penny Warner of New Tribes Mission. 15

We should be writing a high tone on the second syllable of confusing pairs like /yamanana/ (region) and /yamna/ (the crowd). Not being gifted for hearing tone, I would like to ignore it all together, but there are certain "minimal pairs" that are based on tone alone. This means that the language learner can occasionally make amusing speech mistakes by ignoring tone. These are not common, but they can be troublesome when they occur. The following table shows examples of common words that follow the basic tonal patterns of Yalunka which we further discuss in the Tonal Categories section below. H Tna "fire" L Tna "nest" HH LH HL LHL

faxana "death" yxna "fish"

kuli "worm" faxana "uphill" yxna "sheep" Frena "rubber"

kuli "bullet"

kuuli "a grass"

frena "black"

Dna "mouth"

Dna "leaf" Lxna "filth" Fxna "salt" lxna "market" fxna "footsteps"

Siina "goat"

Siina "age" Xali "birth"

Xali "take with" maxa "play an instrument" gelena "totem"

maxa "wash" gelena "laughter"

One example where tone is the only way to differentiate between occurred when one speaker said: "When you are in a financial bind, you do things that are not right." Then he said: e.g. Ala a gelen na a ra. God his totem it is. This is God's totem. i.e. God cannot abide this.

Without paying attention to tone one could think he meant, "God laughs about this." The two meanings are different enough to cause severe communication problems. There is no way to know how many tone pairs there may be in Yalunka. The tone can also function to clarify the sentence overall after many vowels have been deleted or lengthened. Take for example the following sentences: /a fa nn/ [a f nn] He came. Note: The word /nn/ used without any aspect markers or verb suffixes indicates a past action. /a fama nn/ [a f nn] He is going to come. Note: The word /nn/ used with -ma indicates a future action. In this case, the /-ma/ suffix optionally deletes using all the same rules as the /na/ nominal marker discussed in the morphophonemics section below. Written: pronunciation: e.g. Written: pronunciation:

Tonal Categories All the nouns in Yalunka fit into 7 tonal categories based on the overall contour of the tones in the word. Words that fall into the same tonal contour category interact in the same way when combined with other words. This fact is what groups them together in categories. The fact that nouns cannot be elicited by themselves but rather obligatorily occur with the /-na/ (determiner) on them makes it difficult to determine the underlying tone on a word since the affixing process could change the tone. The 7 possible tonal categories:

One Syllable Roots with High Tone: H e.g. /yiina/ hand /yna/ eye /xna/ field /siina/ goat /tna/ fire

Two (or more) Syllable Roots with High Tone on Both Syllables: HH e.g. /kitina/ judgment /igena/ water /kondena/ cottonwood tree /yxna/ fish

One Syllable Roots with Low Tone: L e.g. /siina/ age /taana/ village

/tna/ nest /seena/ thing /feena/ affair

Two (or more) Syllable Roots with Low Tone: LL e.g. /barena/ dog /banxina/ house /knna/ insect (shift on first vowel) /xuuna/ toad (shift on first vowel) /tulna/ rain

Roots that Start with High Tone and End on a Low Tone: HL e.g. /tandena/ courtyard /filna/ knife /ylna/ mouse /kidina/ skin /gbtina/ money /yagina/ shame /saraxana/ sacrifice (shift to low on third syllable)

Roots that Start with a Low Tone and end on a High Tone: LH e.g. /yxna/ (n. sheep) /tuyna/ (n. bat) /kirana/ (n. road) /kana/ (n. character) /xmana/ (n. gold) /fufana/ (n. flood) /xaxana/ (n. crow) /kundana/ (n. cloud) /yamana/ (n. community) /sabana/ (n. play) /sagbana/ (n. small sack) /domana/ (n. clothes) /nmana/ (n. grace or providence or food) /xtana/ (n. trumpet) /darana/ (n. pool) /bosana/ (n. whip) /gubana/ (n. outer garment) /ytna/ (n. self) /gilna/ (n. female) /mumna/ (n. entirety) /kasona/ (n. prison) /makona/ (n. need) /sagona/ (n. will) 18

/subaxana/ (n. dawn) /kankirana/ (n. trunk) /kabanakona/ (n. wonder) /sangansona/ (n. tower) This is the most distinct category of tonal pattern because when vowel deletion is applied, the final vowel of the word undergoes a process of lengthening that carries a high falling tone. This makes the category sound completely dissimilar to all the others. See the rule Vowel Lengthening above as well as the morphophonemics discussion of the /na/ determiner below.

Roots that Start with Low Tone, Shift up, Then End on a Low Tone: LHL e.g. /yulubina/ (n. sin against God) /finkarena/ (n. rifle) /yabibina/ (n. pineapple)

Function of Length and Tone Together Another kind of problem in communication can be caused by tone and length working together. Sometimes one can say all the right segments in a word and even the right tone yet the word still remain completely unclear to a Yalunka if the length is not right. For example, /knna/ (n. insect) cannot be understood unless one says the word with length /knna/.

Tonal Compacity (Compounding) Rules: We have observed tonal compacity rules for five of the basic types of tonal patterns possible in Yalunka. Each pattern interacts differently when combined to make complex words or Noun phrases. It is true that each word has its own underlying set of tones; however, those tones rarely remain unchanged due to the interactions with surrounding words. These five patterns have been observed to make a difference when making compound nouns. The "Tonal Compacity" of Yalunka is such that the tone pattern on the first two syllables of a compound dictate the tonal pattern on the remaining formants no matter what the underlying tone of the remaining formants. For this section I draw heavily on the work of Boniface Keita of Mali.

HH: The word is formed by one or more high syllables. When the first formant in a compound is a word of this pattern, the remaining formants follow the pattern "HL." This is true regardless of the underlying tones of the subsequent formants. e.g. First Formant (definite) k t n (n. judgement) m ng nn (n. mango) Compound word k t s n (n. a judge) m ng nw x t n (n. mango season)

LL:

The word is formed by one or more low syllables. When the first formant in a compound is a word of this pattern, the remaining formants follow the pattern "HL." e.g. d x n (n. sitting) d x b d n (n. neighbor)

LH: The word is formed by one or more low syllables followed by one or more high syllables. When a word of this tonal pattern is the first formant of a compound, the rest of the compound takes on the pattern "LL", that is to say, all low syllables. e.g. ng n (n. cow) s b n (n. sauce) d nk n y n (n. faith) ng sb n (n. beef) s b xnxn (n. good sauce) d nk n y mxn (n. a christian)

HL: Words formed with one or more high syllables followed by one or more low syllables fit into this category. When a word of this tonal pattern is the first formant of a compound, the rest of the root is LL. e.g. k dn (n. skin) k dk l xn (n. ruined skin) t nd n (n. courtyard) t nd k nn (n. the owner of a courtyard) f l n (n. knife) f l nd n (n. knife blade) f l d x nx nn (n. sharp knife)

LHL: Words formed by one low syllable followed by a high syllable or vowel followed by a low syllable. When a word of this tonal pattern is the first formant of a compound, the rest of the root follows the pattern LL (all low syllables.) e.g. fnk r n (n. rifle) fnk r k l xn (n. ruined rifle)

Lexico-Semantic Conditioning of Tone: Semantic Conditioning of Tone in compounds and noun phrases takes place in Yalunka. Though the above section gives the impression of a well-developed tonal pattern in compound words and noun phrases, the majority of compound forms and noun phrases fit into another kind of intonation pattern that is for the most part the same without regard for the underlying pattern of tone. The one exception is the LHL type of word. The first formant is always low in all syllables; the first syllable of the second formant is always high while everything thereafter is low. This has been called Lexico Semantic conditioning of the tone because it appears especially prevalent for certain grammatical types of constructions. For further discussion of these grammatical constructions in the noun phrase, see the discussion of the noun phrase structure in the grammar section of the paper below. For example, the following examples are all of three types: Head Noun + Nominal-Adjective form of a verb modifying the noun + na

or Modifying Noun telling type + Head noun+ na or Noun functioning as Direct Object + Verb + na Embedding of phrases is also possible to achieve combinations of the above. f t f r n (n. black person) wr l t n (n. wire or metal string) s n k d n (n. shoe or foot skin) ng k n n (n. cow owner) b nx t n (n. house builder) b nx t s n (n. house building thing) s r x b n (n. sacrifice pull) yr n nd (n. somewhere) s n nd (n. something) (HN + Adj +na) (N + HN +na) (N + HN + na) (N + HN + na) (N [D.O.] + V + na) ({N[D.O.] + V} + HN + na) (N[D.O.] + V + na)

While we have shown the grammatical complexity of the above constructions that is not what makes them follow this type of compounding. The words that follow the tonal compacity rules in the previous section are also bound together in the same grammatical way. For example, /mangowaxatina/ (mango season) is a case of (N +HN +na) in the same way as the words above, but unlike the words above, it follows the rules of tonal compacity. There seems to be little pattern dictating whether compound forms will follow one pattern or the other. This may indicate a process of breakdown in the original tonal pattern.

Yalunka Morphophonemic Anomalies Yalunka seems an inordinately phonologically active language. There are many systematic changes that transform one sound into another based on the environment surrounding that sound. This means that sounds (phonemes) can be lengthened or contracted or transformed for obscure reasons. That may be the reason that people studying Yalunka have sometimes remarked that they find it easier to understand Susu, a related language that has fewer mysterious changes. In this section I am referring to morphophonemic anomalies as those phonological changes that only occur in the case of certain morphemes and are not universally applied phonological rules.

Bara, Bata, and Banta There is a word in Yalunka, Susu, and Maninka that functions as a grammatical tense or more accurately an aspect marker. This word causes the action of the verb to mean that it is "accomplished" and influencing the "immediate context." In Susu and Maninka, the word is /bara/ but Yalunka is rather divided on the issue. It would appear that, historically, the word was said /banta/ in Yalunka because to this day Senegal Yalunka people use /banta/. In Yalunka of the south, on the other hand, /bata/ is what surfaces in the

uncontracted form, but its contracted forms are based on the underlying form /banta/.3 However, men and people who deal with Susu speakers and Maninka speakers frequently tend to say /bata/ or /bara/. But even this form is not immune to some degree of transformation or contracting in certain contexts as the table below demonstrates. Yalunka speakers With Susu influence Environment Nasal plus bara Vowel plus bara Men more than women: Nasal plus bata Vowel plus bata Yalunka completely Contracted Form: Nasal plus banta Vowel plus banta Resulting Contraction mara V bara mata V bata manta Vnta

The following describes the contraction that /bata/ optionally undergoes. The reader should bear in mind that /banta/ is never said in Yalunka of the south even though all of the contracted forms are based on it. In the uncontracted form, /bata/ is what the people say. Nasal plus banta: Underlying Contracted n banta n manta en banta en manta Also: i gbe hrin manta a li. Vowel plus banta: Underlying i banta a banta nxu banta banta e banta

(I just...) (we just...) (your own peace has just been found)

Contracted inta anta nxunta nta enta

(you just...) (he just...) (we just...) (you just...) (they just...)

It would appear that both men and women can utilize either the contracted form or one of the uncontracted ones. However, women more often use the contracted form. I have noticed that the contracted form indicates that the action of the verb is in the most immediate context whereas using /bata/ can give the action of the verb a little more distance

Penny Warner's writing from Senegal does not seem to indicate that they have any contractions only /banta/.

into the past4. e.g. A saxi. He laid down.

A person might use this if they mean: Since last night he went to bed and we haven't seen him yet this morning. e.g. A bata a sa. He laid down.

A person might use this if: He just laid down a few minutes ago and they think he is still there. e.g. Anta a sa. He laid down.

A person might use this if: Much to everyone's surprise someone just up and laid down before our very eyes.

The Alienable Possession Marker There are two types of possession in Yalunka as well as other Mande languages. The first is possession of body parts and close relatives that are inherently possessed --in other words not transferable to the possession of another. This type of possession is marked simply by the placement of the two nouns side by side with nothing between. e.g. /a baba/ (his father) or /a sanna/ (his foot). This poses no phonological problems. The other kind of possession is usually referred to as "alienable" or "transferable" possession. The fact that "older brother" and "father" are inalienable possession while "wife" and "children" are transferable in nature can be a little disconcerting from our western perspective. However, a Yalunka way of looking at the difference between the two types of possession with regard to children may be "exclusive rights" versus "group owned." Yalunka people often say, "one person doesn't get a child" or "children belong to a lot of people." It is in this sense that children are possessed; no one person can claim inalienable possession of them. On the other hand, wives are "alienable" possession because they are contractually possessed and not inherently possessed. They are, in that sense transferable. For alienable possession, there is a marker that occurs between the two nouns. This leads to a phonological process peculiar to this possessive morpheme. So peculiar is the process that the underlying form is not apparent. There is in Susu, Jalunga of Senegal, and Solima Yalunka in the South a dialectal difference of opinion on what ought to be said for this alienable possession marker. The marker in Susu, Jalunga of Senegal, and Solima Yalunka is remarkably diverse and one might hypothesize that it both historically and phonologically conditioned. Susu uses /ma/ 4

Brad Willits Susu dictionary says that /bara/ indicates an accomplished action whose effects are still being felt.

after nasals and /xa/ everywhere else. Jalunga of Senegal uses /ma/ after nasals and /a/ everywhere else. Why Solima Yalunka in the South must be so complicated as to deviate from the simplicity of the above systems cannot be explained. The Yalunka south system of this alienable possessive marker is detailed in the table below. Yalunka South Environment provided by the Alienable Possession Marker Example surrounding words Preceded by a Nasal /ma/ n ma axanla Preceded by /i/ Preceded by Low Vowel Preceded by a Nasal Preceded by /u/ Preceded by Low Vowel Preceded by Low Vowel Preceded by a singular noun Preceded by a plural noun Preceded by proper noun ending in /i/ /y/ Length and/or falling tone /ma/ /u/ -> // Length and/or falling tone Length and/or falling tone Length Length /a/ i y axanla axanla en ma axanla nx axanla axanla axanla muxunaa axanla muxunee axanle Sori a axanla

An example of these generalizations outside of the pronoun system: e.g. /E e suxuma e t lutiratixine they they catch-inc they own possr traps They will catch themselves with their own traps. nan na./ focus with

Notice the length on //: /e t luti.../ In Susu, the phonological rules hold true only for the basic pronouns. However in Yalunka, the phonological environment dictates the same way whether or not the preceding word is one of the basic pronouns. Since all nouns are shielded from this process by the phonology of the /na/ determiner, an example cannot be found to show that. e.g. naxan ma axanla sigaxi... whose POSS wife went The one whose wife went.

The /na/ Noun Determiner or Nominal Marker Here we begin a long effort to understand the /na/ noun determiner. The effort to

understand the /na/ marker may never completely end, but has been aided by the various people who have worked on it. I owe a debt of gratitude to Boniface Keita, Penny Warner, and W.N. Harrigan. I do not find that the Yalunka I am now studying exactly reflects any one of these opinions due to dialect differences or phonetic/phonological precisions.

When does /na/ appear and when does it not? The /na/ noun determiner occurs almost always in every noun phrase. This would seem to say that this is not really a "determiner" in the same sense as our English "the" is one. Rather you could think of it as a word that marks a certain position in the noun phrase in positive constructions. Often it is difficult to get at the root of the word one is trying to understand because of the various changes the /na/ undergoes that can obscure the noun. To get at the root of a noun without the /na/, one must find it in a negative expression. e.g. seri yo mi medicine at all (neg) There is no medicine is here. senna be. medicine is here. be. here.

e.g.

Also, if the noun is not the final component of the noun phrase or compound construction, you can see its root: e.g. i faxi seri fe ni? you came medicine-matter-the-in Did you come for medicine?

Also, if the noun is quantified by a number, the number takes the place of the /na/ so you might say they happen in the same "grammatical slot." e.g. Dii keden faxi. child one one child came.

came

The /na/ when it seems to disappear in a sentence One of the features of the /na/ morpheme is that it usually seems to disappear in a sentence. However, when it does this, it leaves a trace so that the listener can still hear that it is there. Now we will take a comprehensive look at the various forms the /na/ can take when introduced into sentences. It all depends on the sounds around it, or the environment in which the /na/ appears. Normally, when the /na/ comes into contact with a consonant in the following word, the /a/ deletes. After that, the remaining /n/ must do something to announce its presence. It is not usually pronounced as a normal nasal consonant /n/. Rather, the /n/ normally results in the nasalization of the previous vowel.

e.g.

Underlying /xabuna wurena bama/ Phonological rules applied: /xabun wuren bama/ Phonetically pronounced: [xab wur bama] The blacksmith pulled out the metal.

However, beyond what the /na/ does commonly, there are many and frequent exceptions to the rule. These are listed in the following sections:

Isolation or Utterance Final A Yalunka will always say /na/ on the end of a noun in isolation or even at the end of a sentence or before a pause.

Before a Vowel When the /na/ appears before a vowel, the /a/ does not delete. The /na/ is pronounced unchanged except for before front vowels, /i/, /e/, and // where it becomes /ni/, /ne/ or /n/ accordingly. Because of a universally applied phonological rule, when /a/ is followed by a front vowel, it assimilates to that front vowel and is pronounced as length of the following vowel. e.g. Barena a xinxi. dog-the 3S bite-accomp The dog bit him. Bare ni i dog the you The dog bit you. xinxi. bite-accomp.

e.g.

Xabu ne e tan malima. blacksmith the they help-inc The blacksmith is helping them.

Which is not the same as the following example. e.g. Xabune blacksmith-the-plural banxi ni ito fan house the this good This house is good. e tan malima. they help-inc Phonetically : [b xi nito f ]

e.g.

After a long vowel or vowel cluster The case of long vowels and vowel clusters is special because the Yalunka do not nasalize them. Thus, when introduced into a sentence, a word with a long vowel or vowel cluster acts differently than words with short vowels. For phonological reasons, the /a/ in /na/ deletes before most any consonant. This leaves a nasal /n/ dangling at the end of the 26

word. Normally, such a nasal /n/ would nasalize the previous syllable and delete. However, the long vowels cannot be nasalized. Thus, the nasal assimilates to the place of the following consonant and is pronounced. That means that if it is followed by a /t/, it becomes /n/. If it is followed by an /x/ it becomes a nasal in the velar position //. If the first letter of the following word is another nasal, the /n/ is harder to hear but results in a longer nasal on the front of the following word. e.g. /a sigama taan xn/ 3S go-prog village-the on He is going around in the village. phonetically [a sig t x ]

e.g.

/a xliin maxuruma/ sounds like: [a xl m maxuruma] 3S bird-the tame-prog He is taming the bird.

Note that long vowels and vowel clusters behave identically: e.g. /a xuin maxaranma/ sounds like [a xu m maxar ma] 3S language study-prog He is studying language.

This is why the commonly elicited utterance, /n sigan x ma/ (I am going to the fields) does not sound like the is nasalized as a person might expect.

Before a syllabic nasal A syllabic nasal is a nasal that behaves as a syllable of its own. Yalunka has the following examples of syllabic nasals /nga/ mother, /n tan/ first person singular pronoun, /nde/ some, and /ngaana/ the whole. When /na/ occurs before any of these, the /a/ does not delete and so nothing happens and the /na/ appears whole in the sentence. e.g. /muxuna nde faxi/ person-the some come-accomp. Someone came. /mangana nga faxi/ chief-the mother come-accomp. The chief's mother came. /barena n tan xinxi./ dog-the 1P contrast bite-accomp. The dog bit me.

e.g.

After a nasalized vowel Some syllables in Yalunka are inherently closed by a nasal and this distinguishes them from other similar words.

e.g.

/taxuna/ the act of entrusting something to someone /taxunna/ pronounced [tax na] the act of dividing something

These words that end in a nasal do not permit the /a/ in /na/ to delete thereby preventing ambiguities that might otherwise result between roots that end in nasals and those that do not but are otherwise identical like /taxuna/ and /taxunna/. In other words, nothing happens and the /na/ is pronounced whole. e.g. /a a sanna nan maxlxi/ 3S 3S foot focus hurt-acomp. It is his foot that he hurt. /woto kanna faxi/ car owner-the come-accomp. The owner of the car came. /a xunna mi 3S head not He is not mentally stable. dxi/ sit-accomp.

e.g.

The /na/ when it comes after a noun that ends in /li/ or /ri/ or /lo/ or /lu/ There exists a phonologically oriented contraction of nouns that has been a source of confusion. In Susu, nothing like this occurs. In Yalunka of Senegal, this contraction only occurs with nouns ending in /li/ and not /ri/. When it occurs in Yalunka of the Solima5, it occurs in all nouns ending in /li/ and most nouns ending in /ri/ and one noun ending in /lo/. Nouns ending in /li/ When a noun ending in /li/ comes into contact with the /na/, it undergoes a contraction. Let's take the example of /wali/ (n. work). Harrigan writes the definite of this as /wanla./ However, the /n/ can sometimes be pronounced more like a retroflexed /l/ [walla]. This may be a case of free variation. I believe that it is possible that the vowel before the /li/ can also influence whether or not the vowel gets nasalized. For example, the length on the preceding vowel may influence the way it is said by some speakers, because a long vowel cannot take the nasalization and thus encourages the speaker to say the /la/ variation instead of the /nla/. This phonological process has already been discussed in the phonological rules above.

The Yalunka kingdom spanning the Guinea-Sierra Leone border.

e.g. Step 1 Step 2 Step 3

Underlying The /i/ between the /l/ and /a/ deletes The /n/ assimilates to /l/ The first /l/ becomes an /n/6

wali na walna walla /wanla/

Another possible interpretation is: Underlying Step 1 The /i/ deletes Step 2 The /n/ and /l/ switch for syllable structure The Free variation would then be: Underlying Step 1 The /i/ deletes Step 2 The /n/ becomes /l/ and retroflexes wali na walna walla wali na walna wanla

Harrigan chose to write all of these words with /nla/ like /wanla/ above. However, Penny Warner of Senegal writes them as separate words /wal la/. The pronunciation seems to vacillate between the two forms. There is validity to both methods, but I lean towards the way Harrigan wrote it because it upholds the fundamental syllable tendencies in Yalunka of not allowing a consonant to close a syllable except a nasal. At any rate, the nasalization is barely audible at all times and sometimes the /l/ does seem long and is retroflexed. Nouns ending in /ri/ There is a similar process for nouns ending in /ri/. This process has already been described under the phonological section above. Underlying Step 1 The /i/ deletes Step 2 The /r/ becomes a retroflexed nasal for syllable structure reasons seri na serna /senna/

Another such word that follows this pattern is /bodene/ (n. others). This too, is sometimes contracted to /bonne/. The following noun roots end in /ri/ but do not follow the normal contraction: All three syllable roots ending in /ri/ e.g. /yamarina/ (n. command); /layirina/ (n. covenant); /fitirina/ (n. dusk); /dabarina/ (n. poison); /sabarina/ (n. to remain calm); /xafarina/ (n. purging). These two syllable roots also do not contract: /hrina/ (n. prosperity); /xirina/ (n. smell); /barina/ (n. birth); /xurina/ (n. a small one); /gaarina/ (n. 6

The Yalunka syllable structure always has syllables either open CV or closed by a nasal, CVN. /walla/ would have been the only example of consonant - vowel - consonant syllables. Thus that would not be an elegant analysis.

thread); /arina/ (n. cat); /narina/ (n. laziness). The exceptions: /lo/ and /lan/ and /lu/ There is at least one word that ends in /lo/ that does the same thing. The word for rice /malo/ (indefinite form) is /maanla/ in the definite. The current orthography is /maala/ representing that the long vowel will not nasalize in Yalunka phonology (see phonology section above). This contraction is an exception to the normal practice of Yalunka. Take any other word ending in /lo/ like /balona/ (n. food), and one can see that it does not transform in this way. Perhaps in ancient proto Susu-Yalunka /maali/ was the indefinite from. In Maninka, /malo/ is the root while in Susu /maale/ is the surface form. Similarly, the word for woman undergoes an unusual transformation. The definite form is /axanla/ (n. woman) which would lead one to posit an indefinite root /axali/. This is not so. The actual indefinite is /axalan/ (n. woman). Also the word for riches /nafunla/ in the definite form would lead one to posit an indefinite root /nafuli/. The indefinite is actually /nafulu/ (n. riches). Process blocked by vowel length The above processes are blocked by length on the vowel of the second syllable because Yalunka phonology will not nasalize or delete a long vowel. e.g. /xliina/ [xliina] small bird

The small bird /xliina/ is probably formed by the diminutive suffix /-di/ i.e. /xlidina/ and then the /d/ has probably dropped out and left the vowel obligatorily long. Compare to the example below that undergoes the usual transformation. e.g. /xnla/ large bird

When /r/ Becomes /n/ The most obvious universal phonological rule in Yalunka is the one that changes /r/ to /n/ after a nasal. (See generative phonological rules above) It is unfortunate for the language learner that this results in a great many more /na/ occurrences that the language learner must then differentiate from the linking verb /na/ (see the verb section under Grammar below) and the noun determiner /na/. Often they are differentiated by intonation and place in the sentence. e.g. i xa you should Open the door. Underlying: dn door nabi. open.

i xa dna rabi

The a deletes: The r transforms The first /n/ is not pronounced e.g. fa ingen na. come cow with Bring the cow. fa ingena ra fa ingen ra fa ingen na [fa inge na]

i xa dn rabi i xa dn nabi [i xa d nabi]

Underlying: The /a/ deletes The /r/ transforms First /n/ not said

The language learner must realize that this is not /fa ingena/ but /fa ingen na/. This unrelated phonological phenomenon leads to a great deal of confusion in understanding the rules that govern the /na/ determiner.

Summary of the phonology of the /na/ determiner Environment 1) Utterance Final 2) Before /u/, /o/, //, or /a/ 3) Before an /i/, /e/, or // 4) After long vowel or vowel cluster 5) Before syllabic7 Nasal 6) After Nasalized Vowel 7) After /-li/ 8) After /-ri/ 9) Before /r/ 10) Before other consonant Underlying Vna + #. Vna +Vback Vna +Vfront VVna + C Vna +Nsyllabic VNna + C -lina -rina Vna + rV Vna + C Final Form Vna. Vna Vback VnVfront Vfront VVNassimilatedC Vna Nsyllabic VNna C -nla or -lla -nna V nV Vnasalized C Explanation Nothing happens. Nothing happens. The /a/ becomes a front vowel. /a/ deletes, nasal assimilates in place to consonant. Nothing happens. Nothing happens. /i/ deletes, /l/ and /n/ swap /i/ deletes, /r/ becomes /n/ /a/ deletes, /r/ becomes /n/, first /n/ deletes /a/ deletes, vowel nasalizes, /n/ deletes

syllabic nasal as in nga, nde, and n tan.

Examples Environment 1) Utterance Final 2) Before /u/, /o/, //, or /a/ 3) Before an /i/, /e/, or // 4) After long vowel or vowel cluster 5) Before syllabic8 Nasal 6) After Nasalized Vowel 7) After /-li/ 8) After /-ri/ 9) Before /r/ 10) Before other consonant Underlying Banxi na. Banxi na a yi. Final Form Banxina. House. Orthographic Represent. Banxina. Banxina a yii. Banxini ito fan. A xliin maxuruma. Banxina nde be. Dontonna gbo. Wanla be. Senna be. Fa baren na. Banxin tixi.

Banxina a yii. He has a house. Banxi na ito fan. Banxi ni ito fan. This house is good. A xlii na maxuruma. A xlii mmaxuruma He is taming the bird. Banxina nde be. Banxina nde be. Some house is here. Dontonna gbo. Dontonna gbo. The rooster is big. Wali na be. Wanla be. Work is here. Seri na be. Senna be. Medicine is here. Fa bare na ra. Fa bare na. Bring the dog. Banxina tixi. Banxin tixi. The house was built.

syllabic nasal as in nga, nde, and n tan.

Optional application of contraction to the morpheme /-ma/ In addition to the above description of the /na/ morpheme morphophonemic irregularities, the /-ma/ suffix (Verb suffix marking inaccomplished actions) can optionally obey all of the above rules and in normal informal speech, it does. Thus, any progressive sentence with the /-ma/ on it can become more difficult to understand for the language learner. e.g. /n sigama xna ma/ Is pronounced: [n sig x I am going to the field ma]

Note: There is a tone drop on /x/ to maintain the tone of the deleted /na/ and mark its presence. e.g. /diina mu wugama to/ is pronounced: [dii mu wug to] The child is not crying today.

Commonly, this same thing can be observed with the following words: The /nama/ aspect marker marking negative commands. The /nma/ aspect marker marking simultaneous action in dependent clauses. e.g. /i nama na liga/ pronounced: [i n na liga] Don't do that.

The next example represents many of the kinds of things we have talked about so far: e.g. /i nma fa, keli Conakry, igena gbe gbe banta sa en ma basin kui./ [i n mfa, keli Conakry, ige gbe gbe enta sa en ma basin kui.] By the time you come from Conakry a lot of water will be in our reservoir.

Grammar While the first part of this paper dealt with sounds and words in the Yalunka language, this section deals with how those sounds come together to form phrases and clauses. The grammatical analysis will describe the overall clause structure and the order of all of its different positions in the clause. Then each slot or grammatical position in the clause will be described individually. Then the analysis will address the noun phrase structure and the various positions possible in it. After that, the individual elements of the noun phrase will be described.

Clause Structure The Yalunka language is more order sensitive than many other languages. There is very little affixing that marks grammatical function of a word or requirements of agreement between words in the sentence. There is comparatively little morphology and only minor inflectional affixing. There are not long conjugations of verb tenses. Instead, the language relies on clause order to define the grammatical function of each word. For this reason, the linguistic concept of slots in the clause and phrase structure is effective in the description of the Yalunka language. The clause structure of the Yalunka language is basically as shown below: Cnj Adv Subject Noun Phrase Internal Adverb Aspect Marker Direct Object Noun Phrase Verb -suffix Obliques arguments of the verb nn Obliques of Location of time Adverbs nun or emph. partic.

There is the possibility of a Conjunction and Adverb of time at the beginning of the clause. There is necessarily a subject noun phrase except in the case of imperative constructions. There is then the possibility of an internal adverb thereafter followed by an optionally appearing aspect marker. For transitive verbs, a direct object may appear after the aspect marker which is followed by the verb. The verb, it may be noted is the minimal utterance of the Yalunka language. e.g. /siga/ Go. The verb may optionally be accompanied by a suffix which does not usually co-occur with the aspect marker (except with /yi/). After the verb there are two different kinds of obliques9, one occuring before and one after the /nn/ which is a particle shrouded in a respectable degree of mystery. Those obliques occurring before the /nn/ tend to relate closely to the meaning of the verb and modify it, while those obliques to the right of /nn/ are post positions of location, post positions of time, and adverbs. They come in that order. After the obliques there is another rather limber particle /nun/ and finally a whole class of colorful emphatic markers that bear a much higher tone than the previous words in the sentence. All categories except the verb are optional.

Clause Elements The beauty of the above table is that, once we have reviewed each category, we should 9

An oblique is the part of the clause that provides secondary information, i.e. not the Subject, Direct Object, or Verb usually in the form of postpositional phrases and adverbs.

have the basics of Yalunka pretty well down. In this way we intend that the structure of this section in the paper take a holistic approach based on the overall clause structure. Now that we have seen the whole clause structure summarized, let us break down each of the parts, but in order of importance as we see it and not in the order they occur in the clause. We will not take into account the full extent of the discourse level interactions of the language, and thus this should be considered a sentence grammar.

Aspect Markers, Verb Suffixes, and Verbs There are many aspect markers and verb suffixes that play the primary role in modifying and qualifying the meaning of the verb. We have come to think of these markers and suffixes as switches that are either on or off (present or absent) each of which, when present, have a different effect on the meaning of the verb. Some of these markers cannot occur at the same time because they go in the same place in the sentence and have mutually exclusive meanings. These will be referred to in this paper as "in the same slot." For example, the suffix -xi cannot co-occur with the suffix -ma because they have contrary meanings and apparently only one suffix at a time is permitted on the verb in Yalunka. Thus, these two suffixes are said to be "in the same slot." This grammar tries to group together words that appear in the same slot and tries to give some interpretation as to each words effect on the meaning of the clause. This paper is not organized according to any structure imposed from the outside, but rather an attempt is made to allow the distribution of the words in Yalunka to define the structure of the paper. As stated above an aspect marker or one verb suffix can be associated with the verb, and both of these serve to provide the verb with a particular "aspect" or turn on the meaning. That is to say, each aspect marker or verb suffix gives a different twist on the verb's circumstantial meaning. The "aspect marker" appears before the direct object and after the subject in the sentence. This is a feature common to northwest Mande languages. In Yalunka, as in other northwestern Mande languages, one does not talk about timeoriented "tenses" as much as "aspects" of the verb like whether the action is "accomplished" or "not accomplished." These are features of meaning associated with the aspect markers and verb suffixes alike which can be written in a convenient shorthand of [acc] for "complete" or "accomplished" actions or [inc] for "incomplete" or "not accomplished." Other features associated with aspect markers and verb suffixes are whether or not the action is in the immediate context and whether or not the action is real (if the aspect of the clause speaks of actions not happening in reality, that feature is described as "irrealis"). Hopefully, as this paper progresses, these meanings will become more clear. Those who find the term "aspect" less familiar than "tense" we encourage to be patient and try to develop the idea. The fundamental difference between "tense" and "aspect" is that "tense" attempts to describe the verb system from a perspective of time e.g. future, past, past perfect, etc. On the other hand, "aspect" uses features of meaning like completed action, immediate, irrealis, etc. which are more suited to the typical organization of the verb morphology of Mande languages. Any attempts to explain northwestern Mande languages in terms of time and tense fail to get at the heart of the meaning of the various markers in the verb morphology and therefore breakdown when it comes time to draw generalizations about each element of the verb morphology. It is far better to begin with a model that provides a more solid foundation of understanding on which to build a comprehension of the more

complicated structures. Nevertheless, we will still refer to "future" and "past" in this paper in cases where it is convenient.

Aspect Markers /bata/ One of the most common words in Yalunka is the aspect marker /bata/. This word is the same word that appears in Maninka and Susu as /bara/. The features of meaning associated with this word are those of "accomplished" and "immediate." By that we mean that when the word /bata/ appears in the aspect marker slot in the sentence, the action of the verb takes on the meaning of having been accomplished in the immediate context. e.g. N bata I just (already) go I am going now. siga.

This structure could be compared to colloquial American English when someone might say, "I'm gone" to mean "I am going now." e.g. N bata I just (already) see I just saw (understood). to

e.g.

N bata kolon I just (already) know Now I know.

The use of /bata/ always implies an accomplished action that is in some sense (literal or figurative) immediate. One way to think about it is actions that are started and, from the perspective of the speaker, as good as done or considered for all practical purposes completed. This is in contrast to the /-xi/ suffix which refers to an action that is accomplished [acc] but not in the immediate context. Another way of looking at the meaning of "bata" taken from Brad Willits Susu dictionary10 is that the action is accomplished but continuing to have an impact on the present context. We find this particularly helpful for the figurative uses of /bata/. Thus we can see from the first aspect marker that you would be at a loss to meaningfully describe /bata/ in terms of time oriented tenses. It should be noted that this aspect marker optionally undergoes a phonological interaction with the subject pronoun to form a contraction as follows: First Person Singular 10

N bata

/Manta/ or /mata/

Brad Willits, Dictionnaire Susu avec des appendices en Francais, Anglais, et Italien, Traducteur Pionniers de la Bible, 1996.

Second Person Singular Third Person Singular First Person Plural (inclusive) First Person Plural (exclusive) Second Person Plural Third Person Plural

I bata A bata En bata Nxu bata bata E bata

/Inta/ /Anta/ /en manta/ /Nxunta/ /nta/ /Enta/

/xa/ This aspect marker indicates that the action of the verb is desired or permitted. It can be used in the sense of a blessing: e.g. Ala xa kndyaan fi God should health give May God give you health. i to ma. you

It can be used in terms of permission or commands. e.g. i xa you should You should eat it. a it don eat

e.g.

A naxa, i xa he said you should He said that you should go.

siga. go

e.g.

N xa siga iki? I should go now Should I go now? or May I go now?

In subordinated clauses it can have the meaning of a hypothetical propositions or a contingency: e.g. Benun i xa fa, i ya a ragodo before you should come you it make-descend Before you come, soak it in hot water. ige water wolonni hot-the-in

This subordinated form is triggered specifically by the conjunction /benun/.

/nama/ This aspect marker serves to form a negative imperative. This is distinct from the negative /mu/ in that one cannot grammatically negate a command with /mu./ It should be noted that the phonology of Yalunka makes this one hard to hear as it usually is said [n ] with the /a/ dropping off the end and the /m/ turning to nasalization on the previous syllable just as the verb suffix /-ma/ does and also the definite suffix /-na/ in the environment of a consonant. For more information on these phenomena, refer to the

morphophonemic section of the paper. e.g. i nama na you don't that Don't do that. liga do

This can be demonstrated to be an aspect marker and not an internal adverb by the following example: e.g. I mn nama na liga. you again asp.neg that do Don't do that again.

/yi/ The aspect marker /yi/ seems to refer to things that are not in the current time frame or context. This is the only thing we can find uniting the various usages. The /yi/ marks clauses that are about events occurring in the past in a narrative, or about states of being prior to the current time frame, or about subsequent events described in the second or third clause in a series of clauses. The three cases are covered in that order:

/yi/ narrative simple past It can first of all be used in

A Linguistic Analysis of the Yalunka Language

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