Sisaala Phonology

Page Index

• Introduction
• Consonants
• Vowels
• Follow the path of the Sisaala Data

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Introduction

There are twenty-three consonant and nine vowel phonemes in Western Sisaala. Tone is either high or low, and is both lexical and grammtical in the language. Syllables carry tone and have the structure: V, CV(V), CV(V)C. Western Sisaala also has syllabic nasals, and though nasal assimilation has been identified as an allophonic rules in the language, other productive phonological rules are still under investigation.

Consonants

There are 23 consonant phonemes in Western Sisaala: /p, b, gb, t, d, k, g, f, v, s, z, h, tʃ, dʒ, m, ŋm, n, ɲ, ŋ, l, r, w, j /. All consonants occur word initially and medially, and nasals may also occur word finally. Consonant clusters are limited to consonant stops or the fricative /s/, combined with a voiced alveolar flap or a voiced bilabial approximant. There are eight geminate consonants including: /kk, ss, zz, mm, nn, ŋŋ, ll, rr/ as well as the voiced and nasal labial-velars /gb, ŋm/.

Sisaala consonant chart
	Bilabial	Labial-velar	Labiodental	Alveolar-dental	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stops	p b	g b		t d		k g
Fricatives			f v	s z			h
Affricates				tʃ dʒ
Nasals	m	ŋm		n	ɲ	ŋ
Liquids - lateral				l
Liquids - flap				r
Semi-vowels	w				j

Vowels

Five, seven, and nine vowel systems are widely found in Africa. Western Sisaala has a nine vowel system in which all vowel phonemes are voiced: /i, ɩ, e, ɛ, a, u, ʊ, o, ɔ/. Vowel length is phonemic in at least seven vowels: /ii, ee, ɛɛ, aa, uu, oo, ɔɔ/, and there are also numerous vowel diphthongs, as well as two nasalized vowels: õ, ẽ. Western Sisaala seems to have drifted away from a strict +/- ATR vowel harmony that is found in many languages in this area of Ghana. More investigation is needed.

Sisaala vowel chart
	Front	Central	Back
High	i ii		u uu     ʊ
	I		o oo
Mid	e ee		ɔ ɔɔ
	ɛ ɛɛ
Low		a aa

Follow the path of the Sisaala Data

1. Get started: Summary of the Sisaala conversion
2. Digitize Text: Text section (Classroom)
3. Create a Database: XML section (Classroom)
4. Digitize Audio: Audio section (Classroom)
5. Digitize Video: Video section (Classroom)
6. Register Metadata: Metadata section (Classroom)