The core of the present project is a focused, in-depth comparative study of tone and associated prosodic phenomena in a number of Kwa languages of Ivory Coast, with Baule at the center of the investigation. In joint work on Baule over the past year, the investigators have uncovered new evidence for two prosodic constituents that have already received much attention in the literature, the prosodic word and the phonological phrase. Several tonal puzzles were solved by positing prosodic domains that were independently justified on the basis of a variety of other facts in the language. The resulting framework provides a much better motivated analysis than other devices that are commonly used. The project directors expect that the effects of the project will extend to the following areas: Prosodic Phonology The comprehensive coverage of eight related languages promises to provide clear, empirically motivated definitions of the prosodic domains. Comparative Kwa The data, because they will be gathered in a well coordinated fashion from several dozen dialects of the eight languages to be studied, promise to be of great use to comparativists. Methodology The project is expected to demonstrate the benefits of cross-dialect and cross-language study for synchronic analysis. Typology of tonal systems The languages to be studied are full tone languages, with between two and four phonological tones and complex tonal rules. They are likely to shed further light on a variety of questions in the theory of tone that previous investigations in West African languages have asked. Training of graduate students A key component of the project is the training of linguists to carry out research in their native language and related dialects and languages. Documentation of Ivoirian languages The project will help to assure the continued survival of the languages to be studied by creating a body of material that can be drawn on in literacy-related and literary-related work.
