PHONOLOGICAL STRUCTURE IN KIHAYA

Mhilu (2008) defines phonology as the study of sounds that constitutes a certain language.

           

According to Masamba (2010), Phonology is a branch of linguistics that deals with the study of sound system of (natural) languages. This implies that each natural language has its own sounds upon which the words of that language are built.

Therefore, phonology is the study of speech sounds and their function within a sound system of a given language.

Kihaa has its own structure compared with other languages. Kihaya sound system includes: consonants, vowels, minimal pairs and prosodic features.

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a)    Consonants sounds

These are the sounds made by a closer or narrowing in the vocal tracts so that the air flow is either completely blocked or restricted such that the audible friction is produced.

Kihaya is different from Kiswahili and English language because it has20 consonants as shown in the table below:

No.	Consonants	Examples of words in Kihaya	English gloss
1	/p/	Mpolampola	Slowly
2	/b/	Binga, bona	Chase, see
3	/t/	Tuma, toma	Send, guess
4	/d/	Mwenda, ,luganda	Nine, clan
5	/k/	Kami, kingula	Rabbit, open
6	/g/	Genda, guruka	Go, jump
7	/f/	Furura, fumora	Transfer, talk
8	/s/	Singa, sindika	Scrub, push
9	/z/	Zinduka, zoka	Travel, appear
10	/S/	Shweka, shura	Cover, greet
11	/tS/	Chumba, cholera	Cook, cool
12	/I/	Leba, lekera	Look at, stop
13	/r/	Rola	Live
14	/ŋ/	Nyegera, nyenkya	Welcome, tomorrow
15	/n/	Nagira, naga	Sleep, throw
16	/m/	Mubwi, mata	Mosquito, milk
17	/h/	Huririza, hanu	Listen, here
18	/dƷ/	Juna, juba	Help, fish
19	/j/	Yombeka, yega	Build, learn
20	/w/	Waitu, wanyu	Ours, yours

In Kihaya, the sound (h) is used ethnographically (for some dialects, but not pronounced). For example the word “hurila” (hear) in Ziba dialect is pronounced as /umula/. Also there is a tendency of confusing /r/ with /l/ in many Kihaya users. They normally use /l/ instead of /r/ and others /r/ instead of /l/. for example, Nyegela instead of nyegera.

(b)   Vowel sounds

These are sounds produced without any obstruction on the air stream. Kihaya has five vowels:

Na.	Vowel	Kihaya	Gloss
1	/i/	Imuka	Wake up
2	/ɛ/	Ente	Cow
3	/a/	Gamba	Say
4	/ᴐ/	Oburola	Life
5	/Ʋ/	Nju	House

Also in Kihaya, we find three diphthongs as follows;-

/el/ - eibala – name

Minimal pairs

Also in Kihaya, we find minial pair which means a set of words that sound the same but one their sounds is different hence we mean that two items that contrast only in s single unit whereby the form of words is equal but only one segment that differs makes the difference. For example;

1.      (a) Endulu – Cry

(b) Enfulu - Fish

       2. (a) Singa – Win

          (b) Sinda – Roar

       3. (a) Omwana – Child

           (b) Omwata – Weed

       4. (a) Enjara – Hunger

           (b) Enjura – Rain

       5. (a) Ediiba – Sparrow

           (b) Ekiibo – Basket

Syllables

A syllable is a unit of organization for sequence of speech sounds. Kihaya syllables are said to be open because they end in vowel sound.

For example;-

i.                    Embeba – rat

ii.                  Ente – cow

iii.                Emburi – goal

iv.                Enkoko – hen

v.                  Empunu – pig

Due to this, kihaya speakers find it difficult to pronounce a syllable which ends in a consonant sound. For example in English, the word “going”, they add a vowel sound /i/ so as to pronounce it as “going”.

In Haya language there are the following syllable patterns.

(a)    One – syllable stem word

Example; Omu – zi – root

                Omu – ti – root

(b)   Two – syllable stem word

Example; Omu – nofu- fresh

                 Eki – zila – prohibition

                 Eki – tabe – fruit

(c)    Three syllable

Example; Eki – nyumanyumi – shadow

                Olu – jululuzi – species of tree

(d)   Four syllable stem words

Examples; Eki – gendelelo – objective

                  Aka – sheikogogoto – objective

Also Kihaya has a structure or CV, CCV and CCCV – as follows.

i.                    CV

-          Shoma – read

Cvcv

-          Guza – sell

Cvcv

-          Leta – bring

Cvcv

ii.                  CCV

-          Mwegesa – Teacher

Ccv

-          Bwoki – honey

Ccv

-          Kyala – Vist

Cv

iii.                CCCV

-          Njweli – The other house

Cccvc

-          Mbwenu – Today

Cccvcv

Nchweke – the spirit of ancestors cccv.

Supra – segmental features, apart from syllables, Kihaya has patterns of sounds that are above the level of segmental sounds. They are also known as prosodic features because they characterize units that are larger than the consonants and vowels at smaller than words the common prosodic features in Kihaya are strees, tone an intonation.

(a)    Stress. It is relative emphasis that may be given to a certain syllable in a word or in Kihaya, stress is always on the second last syllable of each word adjectives, adverbs and intensifiers are placed after their nouns.

for example

Muno – very

(b)   Tone

It is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning that is to distinguish or to inflect words. Kihaya tone is characterized by the following.

If a word has high tone, it appears only syllable underlying (s,s,s,s,s,s)

When the possessive adjective “ange” – my, qualifies the noun.

(c)    Intonation. Is the variation of spoken pith that is not used to distinguish words, instead it is used for range of functions such as indicating the attitude and emotion of the speaker. In  Kihaya also it is used to express person’s emotion whether he/she is happy or angry.