SEGMENTAL AND AUTOSEGMENTAL ANALYSIS OF SELECTED PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES IN OWERRI DIALECT

ABSTRACT

This study examined selected phonological processes (nasalization, vowel elison, vowel harmony, and Homorganic nasal assimilation) in Owerri dialect. This major aim is to illustrate how the selected phonological processes are present in the dialect. This study is designed to motivate further research work, thus promoting the dialect of the Owerri people and also serve as relevant information as well as a reference material to upcoming researchers. The statement of problem in this research is the inadequate attention that has been paid on the phonological aspect of the dialect and this has caused young speakers of the dialect to omit some of the sound when they speak. In order to provide answers to the objectives of study, relevant literature related to the work were reviewed and the segmental and autosegmental model of analysis was used. I engaged two selected indigenous speakers of the dialect in a one on one interview. And the instruments used is voice recorder.I chose this method because, it enabled me get accurate pronunciation of the words used in my research. From this research, I found out that vowel elision occurs mostly before the word boundary. I also discovered that, most words in the dialect have two phonological processes. In addition inherent nasal can spread multiple nasality to vowels (a word can have both progressive and regressive nasal assimilation).vowel sounds are affected by the feature nasality when they come before or after a nasal segment. In conclusion the selected phonological processes are present in the dialect and therefore adequate research is required in the phonological aspect of the dialect.