Phonotactics and phonological processes

“Phonotactics is a term used in phonology to refer to the sequential arrangements (or tactic behaviour) of phonological units which occur in a language – what counts as a phonologically well-formed word” (Crystal 2008: 366).

IsiXhosa, like similar Nguni languages, has a conjunctive orthographic system. This stems from the role that missionaries played during the 1800s in documenting these languages. In 1859 the Reverend John Appleyard printed the first translation of the Bible in isiXhosa implementing a conjunctive orthography which is still current practice (Oosthuysen, 2016: 1). This means that, whereas words are typically separated by a blank space, isiXhosa orthography groups a sequence of words or morphemes together as in the following example:

English: ‘I have not seen him/her.’ Five words.

isiXhosa: Andimbonanga. One ‘word’ – even one ‘sentence’.

• /A + ndi + m + bona + nga/
• A .... nga = negative markers ‘not…..not’
• ndi = first person singular subjectival concord ‘I’
• m = third person singular objectival concord ‘him/her’
• bona = verb stem ‘see’

IsiXhosa is a sonorous language due to the fact that syllables are open (i.e., ending in a vowel) as indicated below, where / V / indicates a vowel, / C / a consonant, and / N / a nasal:

• / V / as in i-mi-ni / V-CV-CV / ‘day’ [imi:ni]
• / CV / as in u-ma-ma ‘mother’ / V-CV-CV / [uma:ma]
• / NCV / as in i-nto ‘thing’ / V-NCV / [i:nt’ɔ]
• / CwV / as in u-m-ntwa-na ‘child’ / V-NCw-CV / [umnt’wa:na]
• / N / as in u-m-fa-na ‘boy’ / V-N-CV-CV-CV / [umfa:na] (nasal /m/ is syllabic).

As an agglutinative language isiXhosa forms words by linking different morphemes whilst changing the meaning of the stem (word). In the case of adding morphemes the typical syllable structure may be violated in which case a specific phonological process (also referred to as a morpho-phonological process) takes place to restore the preferred syllable structure of the language.

Processes involving vowels

• Vowel coalescence

  Should two vowels appear next to one another due to a morphological process the two vowels merge to restore the optimal syllable structure. This appears with the associative morpheme /na-/ ‘and’ and the instrumental morpheme /nga-/ (cf. Oosthuysen, 2016: 87).

  • /a + i/ > [ɛ]: umfana na intombi > umfana nentombi ‘the boy and the girl’
  • /a + i/ > [ɛ]: ukusika nga imela > ukusika ngemela ‘to cut with a knife’
  • /a + u/ > [ɔ]: intombi na umfana > intombi nomfana ‘the girl and the boy’
  • /a + u/ > [ɔ]: ubhala nga umnwe > ubhala ngomnwe ‘he/she writes with a finger’

  In the case above the first and second vowel are replaced by a new vowel to maintain the preferred syllable structure: /CV1 + V2/ > [CV3]

• Vowel deletion

  Apart from vowel coalescence there are cases where the first vowel is deleted when followed by another vowel to maintain the preferred syllable structure. This may occur in the formation of diminutives with the -ana suffix or where subjectival concords are used with vowel initial verbs:

  / Ci + ana / > [Ca]	imbuzi ‘goat’ > imbuzana ‘kid’
  / Cɛ + ana / > [Ca]	ilitye ‘stone’ > ilityana ‘small stone’
  / Ca + ana / > [Ca]	indlela ‘path’ > indlelana ‘small path’
  / Cɔ + ana / > [Ca]	umfo ‘man’ > umfana ‘young man’
  / Ci + ɔC / > [Cɔ]	si- + -osa > Sosa inyama ‘We roast meat’
  / Ci + ɛC / > [Cɛ]	ndi + enza > Ndenza ‘I do’
  / Ci + aC / > [Ca]	si + akha > Sakha ‘We build’

  In the examples above the first vowel has been deleted to maintain the preferred syllable structure: /CV1 + V2/ > [CV2] (cf. Oosthuysen, 2016: 53).

• Semivocalisation

  Should a back vowel precede a low vowel as in the diminutive suffix /-ana/, the first vowel becomes semivocalised in the following manner (cf. Oosthuysen, 2016: 53):

  / Cu + a / > [Cwa]	umntu + ana > umntwana ‘small person / child’
  / Cɔ + a / > [Cwa]	into + ana > intwana ‘small thing’

Processes involving consonants

• De-aspiration

  Aspirated consonants in isiXhosa are changed to ejectives when following a nasal. This typically takes place in the event of creating deverbatives in class 9 (N-) (cf. Oosthuysen, 2016: 36-37).

  [pʰ] > [p’]	-phila [pʰi:la] ‘to live’	impilo [imp’i:lɔ] ‘health’
  [tʰ] > [t’]	-thetha [tʰɛ:tʰa] ‘to speak’	intetho [int’ɛ:tʰɔ] ‘speech’
  [cʰ] > [c’]	-tyhafa [cha:fa] ‘become exhausted’	intyafo [iɲc’a:fɔ] ‘exhaustion’
  [kʰ] > [k’]	-khululeka [kʰululɛ:k’a] ‘get set free’	inkululeko [iŋk’ululɛ:k’ɔ] ‘freedom’

  This process of de-aspiration also applies to aspirated clicks. “When the nasal is followed by an aspirated click, the click loses its aspiration. No further fusion takes place and the fact that the nasal and the click are chronologically distinct is orthographically indicated by the insertion of a <k>” (Oosthuysen, 2016: 37).

  [ǀʰ] > [k]	-chitha [ǀʰi:tʰa] ‘spend’	inkcitho [iŋkǀi:tʰɔ] ‘expenditure’
  [ǃʰ] > [kǃ]	-qhuba [ǃʰu:ɓa] ‘proceed’	inqubo [iŋkǃu:ɓɔ] ‘conduct’
  [ǀǀʰ] > [kǀǀ]	-xhasa [ǀǀʰa:sa] ‘to support’	inkxaso [iŋkǀǀa:sɔ] ‘support’

• Homorganic nasal assimilation

  Class 9 nouns are formed by the prefixation of the nasal morpheme /N-/ to verb stems in the formation of deverbatives. In this event the nasal assimilates to the place of articulation of the consonant, i.e., the nasal and the following consonant shares the same place of articulation (Jokweni, 1999: 149).

  • -baleka ‘run’ /in + ɓalɛk’a/ > [imbale:k’i] imbaleki ‘sprinter’
  • -shumayela ‘preach’ in + ʃumajɛla > [iɲtʃ’umajɛ:lɔ] intshumayelo ‘sermon’
  • -velisa ‘produce’ /in + velisa/ > [iɱȹveli:sɔ] imveliso ‘production’
  • -gula ‘fall ill’ /in + gula/ > [iŋɡu:lɔ] ingulo ‘ailment’
• Palatalisation

  Palatalisation in isiXhosa is a process changing the features of labial consonants to palatals in morphological formations such as passivisation, locative and diminutive. Bennett & Braver (2015: 3) correctly point out that “…the Xhosa labial palatalization pattern seems phonetically unnatural” and continues “… the passive suffix -w- causes palatalization when it shouldn’t do so and fails to cause palatalization when it should.” (Bennett & Braver, 2015: 10). This is an excellent paper to be recommended for further reading.

• Passives /-wa/ (Oosthuysen, 2016: 269)
  • <m> [m] > <ny> [ɲ]:
    • -luma ‘bite’ /-lum + wa/ > [lu:ɲwa] -lunywa ‘be bitten’
  • <b> [ɓ] > <ty> [c’]:
    • -hlaba ‘stab’ /ɬaɓ + wa/ > [ɬa:c’wa] -hlatywa ‘be stabbed’
  • <mb> [mb] > <nj> [ɲʤ]:
    • -hlamba ‘wash’ /ɬamb +wa/ > [ɬa:ɲʤwa] -hlanjwa ‘be washed’
  • <bh> [b̥] > <j> [ʤ]:
    • -gxibha ‘criticise’ /ǀǀɡib̥ + wa/ > [ǀǀɡi;ʤwa] -gxijwa ‘be criticised’
  • <ph> [pʰ] > <tsh> [tʃʰ]:
    • -bopha ‘tie’ /ɓɔpʰ + wa/ > [ɓɔ:tʃʰwa] -botshwa ‘be tied’
  • <mp> [mp’] > <ntsh> [ɲtʃ’]:
    • -mpompa ‘pump’ /mp’ɔmp + wa/ > [mp’ɔ:ɲtʃ’wa] mpontshwa ‘be pumped’
• Diminutives /-ana/ (Oosthuysen, 2016: 54)
  • <m> [m] > <ny> [ɲ]:
    • inkomo ‘cow’ /iŋk’ɔmɔ + ana/ > [iŋk’ɔɲa:na] inkonyana ‘calf’
  • <b> [ɓ] > <ty> [c’]:
    • igubu ‘drum’ /iɡuɓu + ana/ > [iŋɡuc’a:na] ingutyana ‘small drum’
  • <bh> [b̥] > <j> [ʤ]:
    • umbhobho ‘pipe’ /umb̥ɔb̥ɔ + ana/ > [umb̥ɔʤa:na] umbhojana ‘small pipe’
  • <mb> [mb] > <nj> [ɲʤ]:
    • umlambo ‘river’ /umlambɔ + ana/ > [umlaɲʤa:na] umlanjana ‘rivulet’
• Locatives /e- (+) -ini/ (Oosthuysen, 2016: 75)
  • <mb> [mb] > <nj> [ɲʤ]:
    • umlambo ‘river’ /ɛ+mlambɔ +ini/ > [ɛmlaɲʤe:ni] emlanjeni ‘at the river’
  • <m> [m] > <ny> [ɲ]:
    • umlomo ‘mouth’ /ɛ+mlɔmɔ +ini/ > [ɛmlɔɲe:ni] emlonyeni ‘in the mouth’
  • <b> [ɓ] > <ty> [c’]:
    • ihlobo ‘summer’ /ɛ + ɬɔɓɔ + ini/ > [ɛɬɔc’e:ni] ehlotyeni ‘in the summer’
  • <bh> [b̥] > <j> [ʤ]:
    • umbhobho ‘pipe’ /ɛ + mb̥ɔb̥ɔ + ini/ > [ɛmb̥ɔʤe:ni] embhojeni ‘in the pipe’
  • <ph> [pʰ] > <tsh> [tʃh]:
    • incopho ‘summit’ /ɛ + ŋǀɔ pʰɔ + ini/ > [ɛŋǀɔtʃʰe:ni] encotsheni ‘ ‘at the summit’’

Bennett, W. G. & Braver, A. (2015) ‘The productivity of ‘unnatural’ labial palatalization in Xhosa’. Nordlyd. 42: 33-44.

Crystal, D. (2008) A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.

Jokweni, M. W. (1999) ‘Deviating from identity: syntagmatic constraints in Xhosa nasal assimilation and palatalisation’. South African Journal of African Languages. 19(3): 149-154.

Oosthuysen, J. C. (2016) The grammar of isiXhosa. Stellenbosch: SUN Media.