Vowel harmony in kúsá’ál: myth or reality? Analysis of the speech of Zoaaga.

Abstract

The current study, vowel harmony in Kúsá’ál (as spoken in Zoaaga): alethic conception, is a contribution to explain this phonological phenomenon found in the major part of black-african languages and particularly in those of the Gur family, more precisely from Kúsá’ál spoken in Burkina Faso. The analysis aims to establish the existence of this phonological reality in the language by describing its diverse manifestations. In order to get the needed evidence, a pre-established questionnaire allowed to harvest the corpus with the informants’ speakers, natives of the study zone. This is the principle of the largest phonetic transcription which has served to harvest data. We use here the standard structural-functionalist, analysis of BONVINI (1974) for the theorization.