Aspects of morpho-phonological interaction in Endo - Marakwet of Kenya

Abstract

In agglutinative languages, affixes combine and create new environments that must be overtly modified by processes of phonology like deletion, coalescence, insertion, and reduction, among others. This study assumed that processes of phonology naturally yield articulable and semantically well-formed words that conform to the patterns of the language. However, this study proposes to show that in Endo, an endangered and understudied sub-dialect of Marakwet, some of the processes of phonology trigger prosodies that affect natural morphological assembly, thus creating lexico-semantic interpretive complexities. In particular, it aimed to show that phonological processes do not yield well-formed words in all circumstances. To achieve this aim, the study was guided by four objectives: to describe the nature of inflectional and derivational affixation properties in Endo, to examine processes of phonology triggered when inflectional and derivational affixes attach, to analyze lexico-semantic interpretive complexities and deviant morphological order arising from affixation and finally to assess the extent to which Lexical Phonology (LP) theory explains well-formedness in Endo. The theory states that words are derived and inflected first at the lexical level, where principles of strict cyclicity, rule ordering, and structure preservation apply, and secondly at post post-lexical level, where lexically well-formed words are scanned for phrasal conditions. The study employed a qualitative descriptive design, and primary data were collected through elicitation and informal sessions with native speakers in Sambalat, Liter, and Kaben in Marakwet East Sub-County, where 90% of Endo speakers live. Informants were engaged at various times in churches, marketplaces, or homes within the population found in the three regions. The study used clustering to accommodate informants from each of the three regions, and random sampling was later used to select four informants from each of the three regions. Stratification was useful for sorting informants according to age, sex, and geographical location. Four elderly participants were purposively selected for verification of the consistency of data collected from interviews. Secondary data was acquired through analyzing words in monographs, the Bible translated into Endo, and other literacy manuals developed by the Bible Translation Literacy Centre in Tot. Data was then analyzed qualitatively into specific lexical categories and their different grammatical classes in order to observe morphological patterns. The finding of the study is that as affixes attach, processes of phonology like deletion, insertion, or coalescence trigger prosodies like tone, length, and tongue that eventually rearrange morphological order, culminating in extended semantic and lexical interpretive levels. The study also observes that though strict cyclicity, rule ordering, and structure preservation principles in Lexical Phonology Theory (LP) seek to check against word formation anomalies at lexical and post-lexical levels, they may not fully explain some words in Endo which appear well-formed but exhibit lexico-semantic interpretive complexities. The study concludes that in Endo, while phonology helps in the attachment of morphological properties, it may lead to triggering of prosodic features, which in turn result in extended lexico-semantic complexities and novel morphological patterns. In view of this, the study recommends that more data from other Kalenjin languages be studied to further observe how phonological processes like deletion, epenthesis, or coalescence generate vowel length, tonal, and tongue root changes, which impact morphological patterns and lexico-semantic complexities.