Open AccessClass 5 allomorphy in Ciyao
Author(s) -
Armindo Ngunga
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
studies in african linguistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.178
H-Index - 4
eISSN - 2154-428X
pISSN - 0039-3533
DOI - 10.32473/sal.v26i2.107392
Subject(s) - prefix , allomorph , bantu languages , alternation (linguistics) , noun , linguistics , realization (probability) , class (philosophy) , mathematics , history , computer science , artificial intelligence , philosophy , morpheme , statistics
Studies of Ciyao, a Bantu language classified as P.21 by Guthrie [1967-71], agree that there are 18 noun classes, each of which determines a primary prefix on the noun, and concord prefixes on elements that agree with head nouns. Most of the primary prefixes have the shape CV- or N- both in Proto-Bantu and in Ciyao. In contemporary Ciyao, class 5 nouns take a prefix which has two allomorphs, the expected CV- di- alternating with the isolated CVV- dii-, posing the problem of how to explain their source and distribution. The purpose of this paper is to document the realization of Ciyao class 5 in detail, and to demonstrate that the di/dii- alternation is prosodically conditioned.