The verbal tonology of Lunyala and Lumarachi: Two dialects of Luluyia (Bantu, J.30, Kenya).

This dissertation is a study of the verbal tone patterns Lumarachi and Lunyala---two previously undescribed dialects of Luluyia, a Bantu language of western Kenya and eastern Uganda. On the basis of data collected by the author primarily during field research, it describes and analyzes the many tonal alternations that are triggered in each dialect by tense-aspect distinctions, as well as the tonal alternations that are triggered by one or two object prefixes, by the lexical distinction between /H/ and /O/ roots (in Lumarachi), by the presence of the causative and passive suffixes, and by the presence of a word following the verb. It therefore documents the rich interaction at the phonology-morphology interface between principles governing the realization of tone in these two dialects, while providing fundamental linguistic description of two undescribed dialects of a underdescribed language and contributing generally to the study of Bantu tonology and phonology.Ph.D.Language, Literature and LinguisticsLinguisticsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/126772/2/3276241.pd