SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis presents the phonological features of verbal forms in colloquial Malayalam, for the first time from the stand point of prosodic analysis. The Introduction gives the necessary geolinguistic data and outlines the general principles of prosodic phonology. A general phonetic basis for the phonological statements in chapters 3 - 7 is set up in chapter 1, by discussing in general terms the phonetic values applicable to the transcriptional units representing the vowel and consonant articulations in the language. In order to achieve the maximum possible congruence between the phonological and grammatical levels of analysis and description, the results of the phonological analysis undertaken are presented within a grammatical framework provided in chapter 2. Prior to the discussion of various prosodic features of word, different types of syllable to be distinguished from phonetic and phonological points of view are set up in the third chapter. This chapter presents the analysis of the phonetic data in terms of prosodic systems first and this is followed by a discussion of phonematic systems. The generalized structures of stem, suffix and junction are the subject matter of chapters 4, 5 and 6 respectively. The usefulness of handling native systems of phonological and grammatical units separately from systems of borrowed elements - qualified as marginal in this thesis - is pointed out at every stage of the investigation. The seventh chapter is devoted to a full discussion of the phonological exponents of those grammatical categories that are set up chapter 2. The problem is approached polysystemically, the contrasts being studied in terms several small systems defined both grammatically and phonologically. Attention is focused on inter relations of stems and suffixes which are qualitative or quantitative or both. This has led to the statement of different types of junction structure. The last chapter summarizes some interesting findings arrived at with the aid of techniques of Direct Palatography, Kymography, Mingography and Spectrography. Many perceptionally based statements included in earlier chapters have been found to be supported by instrumental evidence. Of the two appendices the first tabulates phonological formulae for the formal scatter of the verb /uut-/ 'to blow'; the second comprises a short text of colloquial Malayalam given in reading transcription together with "free translation" into English.