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- Language Family: Kwa
- Topic #1: Phonology
- Topic #2: Vowels
![[+ATR] dominance in](https://journalofwestafricanlanguages.org/images/jdownloads/fileimages/flat_1/pdf.png){kind=small}
[+ATR] dominance in Akan
Several descriptions of Akan ATR harmony, including Stewart (1967), Schachter & Fromkin (1968), and Dolphyne (1988), have claimed that harmony involves asymmetric assimilation of [-ATR] to [+ATR] vowels. Other scholars, e.g., Clements (1981), Bakovic (2001), have analyzed Akan ATR harmony as involving featurally symmetric assimilation of all affixes to both [+ATR] and [-ATR] roots (i.e., “root-control”). In these analyses, the two [ATR] values pattern symmetrically in the phonology, and dominance of [+ATR] plays no essential role.
This paper argues that root-control analyses of Akan have failed to address all of the evidence of [+ATR] spreading found in Akan. Instrumental evidence is also presented to show that certain forms of [+ATR] spreading that have sometimes been dismissed as gradient phonetic processes are in fact categorical and phonological. In all, there is considerable evidence that Akan ATR harmony is based on assimilation to [+ATR] vowels, as claimed by Stewart and others.
Selon plusieurs descriptions, (Stewart 1967, Dolphyne 1988, Schachter et Fromkin 1968), l’harmonie vocalique [ATR] en akan est basée sur le principe que les voyelles [-ATR] s’assimilent aux voyelles [+ATR]. D’autres chercheurs tels que Clements (1981) et Bakovic (2001) ont maintenu que l’assimilation [ATR] est contrôlée par le radical. Les voyelles des affixes s’assimilent à celles des radicaux sans qu’il faille respecter une valeur particulière du trait [ATR]. De ce point de vue, la domination de [+ ATR] ne joue aucun rôle essentiel.
Cet article soutient que les analyses basées sur le principe ‘root-control’ (radical comme élément clé de contrôle), n’ont pas tenu compte des données qui indiquent la propagation du trait [+ATR] en akan. En outre, les résultats d’une investigation acoustique démontrent que certaines formes de propagation [+ ATR] qui ont parfois été écartées comme processus purement phonétiques revêtent, en fait, un statut catégorique et phonologique. En définitive, il existe des preuves importantes selon lesquelles l’harmonie vocalique en akan est basée sur l’assimilation au trait [+ATR], tel que proposé par Stewart et d'autres chercheurs.