Urhobo Tone System

The primary aim of this study is to describe aspects of the phonology of Urhobo with particular reference to its tone system. This is the first indepth linguistic description of this language within a theoretical framework of phonological representation. The Urhobo language is widely spoken in Delta State, Nigeria.

en of the twenty dialects of the language have been extensively studied and data include the lbadan 400-Wordlist, 300 randomly selected additional words from the language, 200 varied syntactic patterns and five short stories. Twelve of the thirteen informants engaged in the data collection reside in villages in which the language is in active use. Instrumental investigation was conducted using a tone box and a Computerised Speech Laboratory which gave instrumental tracings of selected tokens.

The theoretical framework used for analysing the data is the autosegmental model of generative phonology which is one of the recent models of phonology designed to cater for non-segmental phenomena such as tone.

The results from this work provide further evidence for the claim by autosegmental phonologists that phenomena such as vowel harmony, nasality and tone belong to separate tiers which are independent of the segments that bear them in the phonetic realisation. More importantly, the work shows that both downstep and downdrift exist  in Urhobo and the position that non-automatic dowlstep is derivable from lost or floating low tones cannot be sustained in all languages. Rather, a case is made for the recognition, in underlying representation, of a phonemic downstep level, along with the more basic high and low tones.

The study would help the teaching and learning of the language in formal institutions of learning as well as streamline the writing system so as to help future writers in the language.