Políticas educativas: Carta Magna, Plan Nacional de Desarrollo,

143

E. Regressive assimilation involving elision of consonant: Regressive assimilation can involve elision of consonant of the perfective morpheme first. We witnessed this in lines

130. 1 & 68 of Ìfìte Ọ̄gwarị̀ man’s speech; apā natagọ [a^↓pánatͻͻ], 26 of Ụmụ̀m̀boō woman’s speech; àkagọ [àkͻͻ].

We notice here that the consonant of the final syllable is elided and its vowel goes back to assimilate the preceding vowel. This can informally and formally be represented with two linearly-ordered P-rule as follows:

Rule 39: P-rule analysis of regressive assimilation involving elision a. A consonant of word final syllable becomes deleted.

[C] Ø / ___ [V]# e.g. àkagọ àkaọ

b. A vowel takes the features of the following vowel at word final position.

Rule 40: P-rule analysis of regressive assimilation involving elision using variable [V] [α Vowel] ___ [α Vowel] # e.g. àkaọ àkọọ [àkͻͻ]

This kind of regressive assimilation have been analysed using the autosegmental phonology and government phonology in figures 5.13 and 5.14.

Finally, from the foregoing, it is evident that most regressive assimilation are also complete assimilation as the vowel involved completely drops its features and takes the features of the vowel that influences it.

144

After eliding the consonant of a syllable at medial position, its vowel is influenced by the preceding vowel to take-up its features as found in lines 8 of Awkuzu woman’s speech e.g. ètinye [ètii], 29 of Anàkụ̀ woman’s speech e.g. àkpọbagwọlụ [àkpͻͻg^wͻlʊ], 34 of Anàkụ̀ man’s speech e.g. tinye [tii], 12 and 42 of Ụmụ̀m̀boō woman’s speech e.g. gòtèlụ̀ [gòtèè] and m̀madụ̀ [m̀ma͂ à] respectively. All of these are within a word and are also examples of complete assimilation.

Similarly, consonant of the second syllable may be elided, while its vowel is influenced by the preceeding vowel and it takes up its features. This is found in line 59 of Ànam̀ (Ụmụ̀di ọ̀rà) and Àna m̀ (Ụmụ̀ziàm̀) men’s speech e.g. ebūnātago → [e^↓bú^↓ótago]“they have brought”. This is a kind of partial progressive assimilation . This kind of assimilation involving the second syllable can also be complete as noticed in line 59 of Ànam̀ men’s speech e.g. ozu nwenwà [ozu ŋ^wẽè], 23 and 62 of Ànam̀ (Ụmụ̀ziàm̀) man’s speech e.g. osisi [oosi] “tree”.

These instances of progressive assimilation can informally be represented with a P-rule as follows:

A vowel preceded by either another vowel or boundary takes the features of the vowel preceding it. The rule can formally be stated as follows:

Rule 41: P-rule analysis of progressive assimilation

[V] +syll C # - Consonantal [α Vowel] [α Vowel] ___ #

Progressive assimilation also occurs after the elision of consonant of the pronoun ‘ya’ and the left over vowel is influenced by the vowel of the first word. Instances of this occurrence are in lines 132. 14 of Ǹtèjè girl’s speech e.g. ụmụ̀nnē dī ya [ʊmʊ͂̀n^↓ne͂ ́ ^↓dí e]; duru yā [duru ^↓é]

69 of Ogbunikē man’s speech e.g. imi yā [imi͂ ^↓é]

39 of Ìfìte Ọ̄gwarị̀ man’s speech e.g. akwụkwọ yā [akwͻ ^↓ͻ́] 32 of Ǹsugbè man’s speech e.g. nà di yā [na͂ ̀ di ^↓é].

This can informally and formally be explained with two linearly-ordered P-rule, namely:

i. Elision rule

ii. Feature changing rule

The first rule says:

a. An initial consonant becomes deleted when preceded by a vowel followed by word boundary.

b. A vowel becomes the same as the preceding vowel at word boundary.

These rules can respectively be represented formally as below:

145

Rule 42: P-rule analysis of progressive assimilation involving elision + sonorant +syll +syll

- Consonantal Ø –Consonantal # ___ - Consonantal #

133. imi yā imi ā

Rule 43: P-rule analysis of progressive assimilation involving elision using brace and variables

α syll α syll

+syll +Consonantal - Consonantal - Consonantal +syll + syll # ___ #

- back + high Half open - back

134. akwọ ā [akwͻ ^↓ͻ́] imi ā [imi͂ ^↓é]

This kind of assimilation is mostly partial as we can see from the examples . It is only in Ìfìte Ọ̄gwarị̀ that we perceive it as complete assimilation . It is also discovered that progressive assimilation can occur after coalescent assimilation had taken place and the coalesced segment influences the vowel adjacent to it to take up its features either partially or completely. This kind of assimilation occurs both across word boundary and within a word. Instances of where it occurs across word boundary are found in lines

135. 59 of Awkuzu woman’s speech; èvè ya [èvi e]

13 of Ǹtèjè girl’s speech; sì ème yā [s^jè èmi͂ ^↓é]

70 of Ogbunikē man’s speech e.g. nne yā [nni͂ ^↓é]

57 of Anàkụ̀ man’s speech e.g. bụ̀ ǹgị ṅè ya [bʊ̀ ŋ̀gɪ ŋi͂̀ e] 35 of Anàkụ̀ woman’s speech e.g. wète yā [wèti ^↓é]

43 of Ìfìte Ọ̄gwarị̀ man’s speech; wète yā [weti ^↓é ]

11, 14, 20, 32 & 36 of Ìkem man 1’s speech e.g. èle yā [èli ^↓é]

48 of Ǹsugbè man 2’s speech e.g. àvè ya [àvì e].

Instances of where this kind of assimilation occurs within a word are found in lines 136. 58 of Awkuzu woman’s speech e.g. gbànye [gbɪ̀ɪ]

49 of Ụmụ̀m̀boō woman’s speech e.g. mụ̀ny e [mɪ̀ɪ].

146

It is noticed that within a word, this kind of assimilation occurs as complete assimilation, but across word boundaries, it is partial assimilation.

Progressive assimilation also involves the third person pronoun influencing the SI verb bụ̀ ‘be’

such that after the elision of the consonant, its vowel drops its features to take up features of the pronoun as can be seen in lines 4 of Ǹtèjè man’s speech; ọ bụ̀ ubùbò [ͻ ͻ̀ ubùbò], 68 of Ogbunikē man’s speech e.g. ọ bụ̀ nziokwū [ͻ ͻ̀ nz^joo^↓kwú], 7 of Ìfìte Ọ̄gwarị̀ man’s speech e.g. ọ̀ bụ̀ gịnị̄? [ͻ̀

ͻ̀ gɪ^↓nɪ͂́], 8 of Ụmụ̀m̀boō woman’s speech e.g. ọ̀ bụ̀ gịnị̄? [ͻ̀ͻ̀ gɪ^↓nɪ͂́?], 1 of Ìkem man 1’s speech e.g.

na ọ̀ bụ ̀ [nͻ͂ ͻ̀ ͻ̀], and 23 of Ǹsugbè man 1’s speech e.g. ọ bụ̀ [ͻ ͻ̀].

Instance of where progressive assimilation involves final vowel of the first word influencing the impersonal pronoun following it is found in line 7 of Ǹtèjè girl’s speech ; ǹkè a [ŋ̀kè e]. We noticed few cases of progressive assimilation across word boundary where the last vowel of the first word completely influences the first vowel of the second word so that it drops its features to take the features of the sound that influences it . This is observed in line 32 of the speech of Ìkem man 1 e.g. nli ị̀gbàgwụ̀ [nli ìgbàgwʊ̀], 25 of Ogbunike man’s speech e.g. nnekwu ụ̄ba → [nne͂ k^wu

↓úba].

We can also analyse our data on progressive assimilation using the autosegmental phonology model as presented below:

Fig. 5.22 Autosegmental phonology analysis of progressive assimilation

Skel tier: N C V C V V C V N C V C V V C V N C V C V V C V

Segm tier: n n e kw u ụ b a n n e kw u ụ b a n n e k^w u u b a

Assim tier: σ σ σ σ σ σ σ σ σ σ σ σ σ σ σ σ σ

nnekwu ụ̄ba → [nne͂ k^wu ^↓úba]

In the analysis in figure 5.22, there are skeletal tier, segmental tier and assimilation tiers, which are linked to one another by association line. The dotted line represents the new link between the two vowels ‘u’ and ‘ụ’. We see in the last column that because of the new link to the second vowel which has been indicated with dotted line, progressive assimilation occurs making the two vowels to be the same. The direction of the dotted line is very necessary in knowing whether assimilation is progressive or regressive.

A government phonology account of progressive assimilation can also be given; an indication that the process obeys government phonology rule e.g.

147

Fig. 5.23 Government phonology account of progressive assimilation N O N N O N O N

X X X X X►X X X

n n e kw u ụ̄ b a

nnekwu ụ̄ba → [nne͂ k^wu ^↓úba]

The vowel ‘u’ is the governor in the above analysis, while ‘ụ’ is the governee. They maintain strict locality condition because they are at adjacency position without any intervening segment.

Finally, it is evident from our data that progressive assimilation can occur within a word and at word boundadry. All instances of progressive assimilation observed from the data are also examples of complete assimilation except progressive assimilation involving elision and coalescent assimilation which are instances of partial assimilation.