An Autosegmental Analysis of Phonological Processes in Dagara

Abstract

The stored information about the grammar in the mental lexicon of the interlocutors does not only include the morphological, syntactic and semantic components of grammar, but also its phonological component. Phonology is a component of the grammar of language which involves the production, perception as well as the interpretation of sounds. This thesis discusses the phonology and phonological processes that are specific to Dagara, a dialect of Dagaare in the Upper West Region, within Autosegmental phonology framework, espoused in Goldsmith in 1976. Assimilatory processes including Vowel Harmony, Consonant Nasalization, Homorganic Nasal Assimilation, Glide Formation, Labialization and Rhotacism, as well as some syllable structure processes are highlighted. Data for the analyses are drawn from both primary and secondary sources and my native speaker s intuition. T e primary data are gathered through elicitation using Summer Institute of Linguistics, West African Area Wordlist 1, as well as recordings of recitals using an audio sound recorder. Secondary data are drawn from existing literature on the dialect.