Initial onsetless syllables in Karanga and Zezuru: A comparative analysis

Abstract

This article compares the distribution of initial onsetless syllables in Karanga and Zezuru, two dialects of Shona–a Southern Bantu language. Karanga displays intra-dialectal variation, that is, it bans initial onsetless syllables in lexical words but allows them in function words and in grammatical morphemes. In contrast, Zezuru exhibits no such internal variation, that is, it allows initial onsetless syllables in lexical words, function words and in grammatical morphemes. Using Optimality Theory (OT), I account for the inter-dialectal variation as a difference in the ranking of constraints between the two dialects. The intra-dialectal variation displayed by Karanga requires a parametrised Onset constraint: Onset-lex. Finally, other than lacking onsets and being confined to initial position, initial onsetless syllables in Karanga and Zezuru do not display any other exceptional properties: they bear tone; they count for syllables in processes that count syllables; and they are not extraprosodic. Consequently, they do not require any special representation.

Keywords:

• cliticisation
• extraprosodic
• initial syllables
• onsetless syllables
• minimality
• tone bearing