A Preliminary Bana Phonology (a Chadic Language)

Publication date: 1990
Number of pages: 288This paper presents a preliminary phonology of Bana, a Chadic language of northern Cameroon. A study of previous research reveals that neighbouring and related languages share certain features which present a challenge to phonological analysis. These features are reflected in the Bana data set. Many Chadic languages are subject to prosodies of labialization, palatalization, and sometimes even nasalization, but in Bana, labialization and nazalization are shown to be segmental features, of which nasalization is more limited in scope. In some Chadic languages, (e.g. Podoko/Parskwa,) prosodies operate at a word level, but palatalization in Bana, like the prosodies of the neighbouring language Kapsiki/Psikye, is a syllable-level feature.
Palatalization can occur on any syllable, affecting the onset, if it is from the set of palatalizable consonants, and/or the vowel, if it is high and not rounded. (Low vowels are impervious to palatalization.) If neither of these conditions exists in a syllable, palatalization may appear as a palatal offglide on an otherwise nonpalatalizable onset.
Seen through the lense of palatalization and labialization, the Bana vowel chart is reduced to a very unusual three-way contrast, /э, e, a/, of which /е/ is rare. There are 38 consonants, including a back labialized series, which causes further aliophonic variation in contiguous high vowels. This ratio of vowels to consonants is low, but not surprising for a Chadic language.