Bantu Phonology*

Abstract: This chapter surveys the main phonological phenomena found in Bantu lan-guages. One such phenomenon is vowel harmony, where suffixes typically alternate in height depending on the preceding vowel. Combinations of nasal plus consonant are also frequently subject to various modifications, and such clusters also play an important role in the debates over syllable structure, since Bantu language seem to exhibit the peculiarity that the only onset clusters of consonantals is composed of na-sal followed by obstruent, reversing the more general tendency for sonority to rise in the syllable onset. The tone systems of Bantu languages are especially well-known for their complex systems of alternations in the form of spreading, dissimilation and grammatically-conditioned melodic alternation. A key feature of interest in the study of Bantu phonology is the considerable variability in the exact details of operation in a highly similar set of rules