Vowel Raising in Akan Reduplication
Date
2012
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Legon Journal of the Humanities, University of Ghana
Abstract
This paper examines vowel raising in reduplication in Akan, a Niger-
Congo (Kwa) language, focusing on the Asante-Twi dialect. It has been
generally observed in Akan that in reduplicating CV stems, the stem
[+low] vowels are pre-specified with [+high] the reduplicant (RED).
However, it has been claimed that raising to the mid vowel in disyllabic
REDs is idiosyncratic to the Fante dialect. I show that the phenomenon
is attested in Asante and that stem CV1V2, where V2 is [+low], raises to a
corresponding [-high, -low] vowel in the RED, and not [+high]. I account
for this within the Optimality Theory framework.