| Summary: | M.A. (African Languages) === The phonological system of Zulu does not tolerate consecutive vowels in one word while, with specific conditions, only certain consonant combinations and consonant-vowel combinations are permissible. Morphonological adjustments such as glide insertion, vowel coalescence and semi vocalization are therefore utilized to avoid the accumulation of vowels. Where consonants are brought together by morpheme combinations, morphonological adjustments such as nasalization occur to avoid the impermissible consonant groups. Adjustments such as palatalization are the result of the impermissible combinations of certain consonants and (one or more) vowels and/or semivowels. This study aims at analysing some known morphonological phenomena in Zulu from a generative-phonological point of view. It involves mainly the construction and formulation of a number of morphonological rules for Zulu within the framework of the transformational generative (T.G.) phonology. The study is purely introductory and does not claim that all relevant material has been fully analysed and exhausted. The point of departure is that of Chomsky and Halle in their Sound Patterns in English (SPE). Chapter one defines the concept of phonological processes, states the conditions for acceptable phonological rules and supplies definitions of features employed to describe the segments of Zulu. Chapter two identifies the underlying segments of Zulu, i. e. vowels, consonants, "impure" consonants (so-called liquids) and semi-vowels. Characteristics of the underlying segments are presented in a table. Through the formulation of redundancy rules those features of segments which systematically correspond with other features are eliminated and lexical versions of the underlying segments are determined. In chapter three the processes of glide vowel coalescence which relate to insertion, semi vocalization an impermissible series of vowels are discussed and summarized in rules.
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