Shekgalagari stops and theories of phonological representation

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present some aspects of stop consonants, e.g. voice onset time (VOT) and F0 perturbation, and also to present phonological theories of stop representation in order to examine matters of Shekgalagari stop production and phonological representation. Of the phonological representation theories discussed, VOT, the Element theory and Keating's theories of two and three levels of phonological representation as well as the principle of polarization adequately capture phonological contrasts in Shekgalagari. The SPE and the Halle and Stevens (H&S) models are plagued with the problem of generation of more and more features to, if possible, code adequately, the contrasts that exist in Shekgalaga

Lwati: A Journal of Contemporary Research Vol. 2 2005: 24-42