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- Language Family: Gur
- Topic #1: Phonology
- Topic #2: Morphology
Segment deletion as a morpho-phonological process in Dagbani compound word formation
Abstract
This article discusses segment deletion as a morphophonological process in Dagbani compound word formation from a quantitative linguistics perspective. Three independent variables: the nature of constituent contact margin (C#V, V#C, N#C, V#V), compound type (NN, NA, NV, VN) and word length were considered to determine which of them is more likely to predict segment deletion (C, CV, V, Ø) in compound formation. Classification and regression trees (CART) and Random forest analysis were performed on 265 sampled compound words. The analysis revealed that the nature of constituent contact margin was more likely to predict segment deletion in Dagbani compound formation than compound type and word length. Furthermore, the commonly deleted segments in compound formation were found to be vowels and CVs. The study concludes that these processes are due to the combined interaction of Dagbani phonology and morphology to ensure that the new words formed adhere to the phonotactics and morpheme structure constraints of the language.