The Phonology of Chichewa

This book provides thorough descriptive and theory-neutral coverage of the full range of phonological phenomena of Chichewa, a Malawian Bantu language. Bantu languages have played and continue to play an important role as a source of data illustrating core phonological processes such as vowel harmony, nasal place assimilation, postnasal laryngeal alternations, tonal phenomena such as High tone spread and the OCP, prosodic morphology, and the phonology-syntax interface. Chichewa, in particular, has been a key language in the development of theoretical approaches to these phenomena. In this volume, Laura Downing and Al Mtenje examine not only these well-known features of Chichewa but also less well-studied phonological topics such as positional asymmetries in the distribution of segments, the phonetics of tone, and intonation. They survey important recent theoretical approaches to phonological problems such as focus prosody, reduplication, and vowel harmony, where Chichewa data is routinely referred to in the literature. The book will serve as a resource for all phonologists interested in these processes, regardless of their theoretical background, as well as Bantu scholars and linguists working on interface issues.

Laura J. Downing, Professor of African Languages, University of Gothenburg,Al Mtenje, Pro Vice Chancellor, University of Malawi

Laura J. Downing is Professor of African Languages at Gothenburg University, Sweden. Her research interests are in the phonology, prosodic morphology, and phonology-syntax-focus interface in Bantu languages, and she travels regularly to Malawi for fieldwork on two Malawian Bantu languages, Chichewa and CiTumbuka. Her work has been published in journals such as Phonology, Lingua, and the Journal of African Languages and Linguistics, and in multiple edited volumes. She is also the author of the 2006 OUP volume Canonical Forms in Prosodic Morphology.


Al Mtenje is Professor of African Languages and Pro Vice Chancellor at the University of Malawi. His research focuses on prosodic aspects of Malawian languages, particularly tone and its relationship with morphology. His work on Malawian languages such as Ciyawo, Cisena, Cinamwanga, and CiTonga has provided useful comparative data for the study of lesser-known African languages. He has published numerous articles in journals including Lingua, Linguistic Analysis, Journal of African Languages and Linguistics, and Studies in African Linguistics.