2- MORPHOPHONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
This part will take into account all the thirty words
composing our corpus. The analysis will be carried out following the order in
which the words occur in the presentation of the corpus. For the sentences in
Eegimaa, they will be translated both in French and English before being
analyzed in order to ease comprehension. As to those in French, they will only
be translated in English as it is the language in which the analysis will be
done. After each analysis, a rule is formulated if necessary.
1. «Woli ni ji v?~ sewul maa»
a. French: Nous avancâmes de ce
côté-ci.
b. English: We advanced this side.
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Þ
[av?
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sE] in standard French becomes [v?Þ
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sE] in Eegimaa. The phonological process
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used here is truncation. As its name suggests, it
consists in truncating or shortening the
word. Here the initial [a] was
taken away so as [av?Þ sE] becomes [v?Þ sE].
We also have
another process called lexical hybridization
consisting in using the features of different
languages in the same
word. The word, as it is used in the spontaneous speech gives
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Þ
[v?
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sewul] which, decomposed, will give [v?Þ
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se+wul]. The suffix «wul» comes from the
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contraction of «woli» meaning «we/us» in
Eegimaa.
The rule for truncation: Aff. + Rad. + Suff. x + Rad.+Suff
The rule for lexical hybridization: feature of L2 + feature of
L1
2. «Ici, on fait le Buhut pour emmener les garcons dans
la bourous»
a. English: [Here, we organize the
Buhut21 in order to bring the boys into the forest].
Two processes are noticed in this sentence. The first is
related to cluster simplification by vowel copying or simply called
vowel intrusion/insertion and the second is an
alveolarization. [bKus] becomes [burus]. Not only another [u] is
21 Buhut is the Eegimaa word for the big ceremony of
Circumcision which is a central event in Djola societies.
copied/inserted between the two first consonants of the word but
the uvular [K] is replaced by the alveolar [r] this process is commonly known
as alveolarization.
The rule for alveolarization: [K] [r]
The rule for vowel intrusion/insertion: CCV CVCV
3. «Etre éduqué c'est être
sympathique saadir ne pas être n'importe comment».
English: [To be well-mannered is to be nice meaning not to behave
any old how] [sEtadiK] becomes [sa:dir] by three processes. The first one is
known as omission or
deletion, the second as alveolarization as
seen in sentence 2 and the third as
lexicalization. Concerning
deletion, it consists in omitting or deleting a sequence in
the
word. The gap left here by the deletion of the sequence [Et] occasioned
by the liaison is
filled by the immediate following vowel [a] which is
lengthened. As for lexicalization, it is materialized here by the fact
that the French wor d «c'est -à-dire» is composed of three
syllables whereas in Eegimaa we have only two.
The rule for deletion: [sEtadiK]
[sa:dir]
The rule for lexicalization: sE-ta-diK sa-dir
4. ' Achila a choizisee gajow gagu
gaa Affiledio È
French: [C'est lui qui a choisi le nom
Affilédio]
English: [He has chosen the name Affilédio]
The phonological process noticed in this sentence is
lexicalization simply because
[fwazi] becomes [fwazise:]. [se] is added to the radical of the
verb, the sound [e] being the marker of the past participle in Eegimaa.
5. ' Ils veulent faire leurs propres soz
È
English: [They want to do their own things]
In this sentence, [foz] became [soz]. The change noticed here is
that the palato-
alveolar sound [f] is substituted by the alveolar [s]. This
phenomenon is known as alveolarization as already seen in some
previous examples.
6. «Woli ?i kumasime tale a-b-c-d ni
lekkol yauye»
French: [C'est nous qui avons commencé ici le
a-b-c-d dans cette école] English: [We are the one who began
a-b-c-d here in this school]
[k?m?Þ se] becomes [kum?sime], we notice in
this word phonological phenomena
such as closing, denasalization and cluster
simplification by consonant copying.
Concerning the closing,
we know that both [?] and [u] are back rounded vowels but the
first one which is mid-opened is substituted for a totally
closed one. This process is called closing. As to denasalization,
it is materialized by the substitution of a nasal sound for an oral one
[?Þ] becomes [a]. In addition to this, the [m] of [kumasi] is
reduplicated and added to the radical of the verb only for the sake of
simplification and conjugation.
7. «Mbu kan nu ?uh kopportema
yola»
French: [Essaie de voir son comportement]
English: [Try to see his/her behaviour]
[k?Þ p??t?m?Þ] becomes
[k?p:?rt?m?]. In this word, we have a denasalization of both [?Þ
]
and [?Þ] which become respectively [?] and [?].The sound
[p] is lengthened. We also have an alveolarization the uvular [?] is
replaced by the alveolar [r].
The rule for denasalization: [nasal sound] [oral
sound]
Examples: [?Þ ] [?]
Þ
[?] [a]
8. Ç ?ama ni ?i ba? si sabbu, Omoi babu matu
comprene È
French: [Maintenant vous avez plusieurs types de savons,
de détergents à la fin on ne comprend plus]
English: [Now you have different types of soaps,
detergents that at last no one understands]
In this word, the French nasal vowel [?Þ ] broke up to be
[?m]. The process
described here is known as nasal unpacking. As a
nasal vowel is the contraction of an oral vowel plus a nasal consonant, the
nasal unpacking, as its name suggest is its break into two distinct sounds
because nasal vowels do not exist in Eegimaa but nasalized ones only. Another
important aspect to be studied is the break or deletion of the cluster [nd?]
replaced by [ne] so as the [CCC] cluster becomes a [CV] one much
more frequent in Eegimaa than the previous.
The rule for nasal unpacking: [nasal sound] [oral vowel +
nasal
consonant]
The rule for cluster simplification by vowel copying: [CCV]
[CVCV]
9. Ç Il y a daabor papa et maman au
sein de la famille È
English: [There are first dad and mum in the bosom of the
family]
In the pronunciation of the word «d'abord»
the first phenomenon to be studied is that of the lengthening of
the sound [a] which became [a:] this, is certainly due to the deletion of the
liaison. We also have the alveolarization of the final
[K].
10. «Do pan depande ni burong
babu»
French: [Ceci dépendra de la vie]
English: [This will depend on life]
[dep?ÞdK] in standard French becomes
[dep?nde] in Eegimaa. The observation of this
word shows that we have two processes. In the first, we have a
nasal unpacking with [?Þ]
becoming [an] and in the second, a cluster simplification
by consonant deletion and
vowel addition. The [dK] at the end of the
word is replaced by [de]. The consonant was
deleted because it would be difficult for an Eegimaa speaker to
pronounce [dep?ÞdKe:].
The rule for cluster simplification by consonant deletion and
vowel addition:
[dK] [de]
11. «Bugo gu chilo
dárper»
French: [Ils sont venus en dernier]
English: [They came in last]
In the pronunciation of this word, the [E] is replaced by [??].
This can be considered as
centralization because the front vowel sound [E] is
substituted by the central one.
Another important phenomenon is that of
alveolarization of the Parisian [K] but most
important and very surprising is the pronunciation of the
final [r] due to the orthographic influence of French. This final [r]
is written but not read in French this could have misled Eegimaa native
speakers.
12. «Inje ni joge buoh na halekalen
lekkol kattin an aam iniversite»
French: [Pour moi il a abandonné les études
alors qu'il est à l'université] English: [For me he has
left school while he is at the university]
This word presents features of a phonological process known as
lexicalization as we have seen in many examples above. [ek?l] becomes
[lek:?l] by fusion of the article and
the noun linked by the liaison. We also have the lengthening of
the sound [k].
13. ' U ma?me u etu ?e
listorik yaa Mofçvi
È
French: [Si tu veux étudier l'historique du Mof
çvi]
English: [If you want to study the history of Mof
çvi]
[listo?ik] becomes [list?rik]. The [o] is replaced by [?] which
is lower and more
opened. The lexicalization process in this word
consists in its spelling in one word whereas in standard French it is written
in two words. We also have an alveolarization [?] becomes [r].
14. ' U eskrive a?il ahu È
French: [Inscris l'enfant]
English: [Enrol the children]
[?
sk?i] becomes [ ?skrive] thanks to three phonological processes
namely
denasalization, alveolarization and
lexicalization. In the first one, the nasal vowel [?Þ ] lost its
nasality replaced by [?]. Concerning the phenomenon of alveolarization,
the velar sound [?] is replaced by the alveolar sound [r]. As for
lexicalization, we noticed that the word has changed to become
[?skrive] thanks to the deletion/substitution process. The final [?]
of the infinitive in French was deleted and substituted by the [ve] for matters
of simplification and conjugation.
15. ' Nu li?ene si leso?i? È
French: [As-tu appris tes lecons?]
English: [Have you learnt your lessons?]
This word presents features of either lexicalization
[l?s?Þ ] became [l?s??i] here
the [i] represents the second person possessive pronoun in
Eegimaa it is placed behind the possessed object contrarily to French, and
nasal unpacking [?Þ ] became [??].
16. ' Il y a d'abord papa et mamma au sein
de la famille È
English: [There are first dad and mum in the bosom of the
family]
[mam] becomes [mam:a] by two processes. The first is the
lengthening of the nasal consonant [m] which is an allophone of [m] in
Eegimaa and the denasalization of the final nasal vowel [].
17. ' A muse ahu na oblige-oblige È
French: [Le monsieur été obligé] English: [The mister
was obliged]
[m?sjø] [mus?]. In this word, we first have a backing
of the central vowel
[??] which is substituted for a back [u] and then the
depalatalization of the sound [j]. At last, we have the [] which is
replaced by [?]. The phenomenon is known as opening.
18. ' D'abord il y a pappa et maman au sein
de la famille È
English: [There are first dad and mum in the bosom of the
family]
No special process is to be noticed here apart from the
lengthening of the second [p]. So, the French word for dad
«papa» as pronounced by the Eegimaa people, is a little bit heavier
than as if it was done by French simply because of the lengthening of the [p].
One of the reasons that can account for this is that in Eegimaa, the original
word for dad is `appa' with a slight insistence on the [p].
19. ' Paske c'est à cause des
guerres tribales que ces gens-là ont quittées È
English: [It's because of the tribal wars that those people
left]
[pa?sk?] becomes [pask?] by means of cluster simplification
by consonant deletion of
the [?]. The reason of the deletion is justified by the
simplification of the clusters in Eegimaa.
The rule for cluster simplification by consonant deletion:
[CVCCCV] [CVCCV]
20. «?i hat polotihay yo?i
kaneme»
French: [Arrêtez cette politique que vous faites]
English: [Stop this kind of politics you are involved in]
The word «politique» as it is pronounced in this
spontaneous speech is no longer [p?litik] but [polotih]. The closing of the
initial [?] give [o]. The first [i] which is a front vowel is replaced by a
back [o] by the process known as backing. The final velar consonant
[k] is replaced by the glottal sound [h] which is not «muet» (mute)
in Eegimaa. The process here is known as glottalization. Words ending
in [ik] in French such as «boutique» and «politique», are
realized [bitih] and [polotih].
21. ' Au village, on est tous paratikma de
la meme famille È
English: [At the village, we are practically all from the same
family]
In the pronunciation of this word, we have a cluster
simplification by vowel copying the [a] is copied and inserted between two
consonants [p] and [r]. The velar sound [?] is
replaced by the alveolar [r] causing then an
alveolarization. The last thing to be reported is that the nasal sound
at the end of the word is denasalized because nasal vowel sounds are
not allowed, in word final position, in Eegimaa.
22. ' Woli ?i comasime tale a-b-c-d ni lek:ol yauye, woli
preme È
French: [C'est nous qui avons commencé ici le a-b-c-d
dans cette école, nous les premiers]
English: [We are the one who began a-b-c-d here in this school,
we the firs t]
The only two things to be noticed in the pronunciation of this
word are the alveolarization of the French velar [?] and the
deletion of the [j] so as the word in
Eegimaa becomes [pr??me:] and not [p???mje].
23. ' No Sállagi gu ba?me e porobul?m
yauye È
French: [Au temps oü les villageois de Séléki
ont eu ce problème]
English: [At that time when people of Séléki got
that problem]
The analysis of this word presents features of a cluster
simplification by vowel copying. The [?] is inserted between the [p] and
the [r] alveolarized and copied so as the
word is read simply and more easily. Another vowel to be inserted
is the [u]
incorporated between [b] and [l]. The lexicalization is
at the origin of the shift from [p??bl?m] to [p?r?bul?m].
24. Ç To nu ?uge ana saltee
È
French: [C'est à ce moment là que tu vois une
personne sale]
English: [It's at that time when you see a dirty person]
[sal?t?] becomes [salt?:] by the process of deletion
of the central vowel [?]. But we
also have a lengthening of the short vowel [?] which
becomes [?:].
25. «U siiveutme»
French: [Si tu ne suis pas]
English: [If you do not follow]
The most obvious phenomena to be noticed in this word are the
depalatalization of the sound [?] replaced by [i:] and the
deletion of the final uvular [?]. The gap left by the
deletion of [?] is filled by the lengthening of [i]. To this,
we can add the lexical ization of the verb [s?iv?] which becomes
[siive] plus [ut] which, put behind a verb, stands for the negation in Eegimaa
and plus the [me] which accounts for the condition in this case.
26. ' Nu ?uge ni ta? yauyu È
French: [Tu vois en ce temps]
English: [You see at that time]
[tã] in French becomes [ta?] in Eegimaa by process of
nasal unpacking. The single
nasal vowel is divided into two sounds: an oral vowel and a
nasal consonant simply because not only we don't have nasal vowels in Eegimaa
but it is not allowed in word final position.
27. ' In personne mal éduquée
est un marginal È
English: [An ill-mannered person is a fringe of society]
[yn] becomes ['n]. The French back vowel [y] is replaced by the
front vowel sound ['] simply because we do not have [y] in Eegimaa.
28. ' In?e ni ?oge buoh na halekalen lek:ol kattin an aam ni
iniversite È
French: [Pour moi il a abandonné les études alors
qu'il est à l'université] English: [For me he has left school
while he is at the university]
The French word «université» is pronounced
[iniv?rsite] in Eegimaa. The [y] sound is substituted for [i]. As we have said
in the previous example, the [y] does not exist in Eegimaa.
29. ' Waala ! Wolof hum nu munde uun
È
French: [Voilà! c'est le Wolof que tu as appris en
premier]
English: [Well! It's Wolof that you learnt first]
[vwala] becomes [wa:la] by means of cluster
simplification by consonant deletion. The simplification consists in the
fact that the labio-dental consonant followed by a bilabial is omitted and the
first [a] is lengthened.
30. ' Demon point de v' personnel.
È
English: [To my personal standpoint]
The pronunciation of the French oral sound [y] is realized so
as people hear the Eegimaa vowel sound [1]. The rounded vowel sound [y] in
standard French is substituted for the unrounded vow el [1] of Eegimaa. This
can be justified by the fact that in Eegimaa, the sound [y] does not exist.
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