Diachronic Change and Morphophonological Levels in Karimojong: Evidence from ATR Harmony Patterns*

Diane Lesley-Neuman

Abstract for paper presented at
10th Nilo-Saharan Conference
Paris, August 22-24 2007

Based on internal reconstruction and new analysis of the data from Novelli (1985), it is shown that ATR harmony processes have a reciprocal relationship with diachronic change in Karimojong, and that three morphophonological levels are necessary to account for surface forms. On the one hand, vowel mergers and reinterpretations by the speech community have generated greater variety in the affix types and harmony processes in the language. On the other hand, affix behavior under harmony processes brings to light transitional phases of affix incorporation.
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*Due to special formatting needs, the full abstract may be accessed in PDF format here.

Diane Lesley-Neuman graduated with a Master's degree in Linguistics from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She can be reached at:Diane.Lesley-Neuman@Colorado.edu.