Aspects of Hrusso Aka phonology and morphology

Thesis

This thesis is part of a collective effort to support the Hrusso Aka language in its struggle for survival and revival. At a critical juncture in the history of this endangered language, this thesis addresses the pressing need for a systematic study of its phonology and morphology, necessary to lay the sound, scientific foundation, required by the newly emerging culture of written literature. It is also part of a larger scientific endeavour, paving the way for a future reference grammar and providing primary data and coherent phonological analysis for a diachronic study. As the title suggests, this work has two distinct parts. The first (Chapters 2-7) focusing on phonology, analyses the segmental structure of Hrusso Aka and, using the Featurally Underspecified Lexicon (FUL) model (Lahiri & Reetz 2010; Lahiri 2018), offers a detailed analysis of Hrusso Aka's sound system, explaining its "bewildering" complexity. In a chapter dedicated to tone, this thesis gives an account of the underlying tonal system and tone-stress interaction of the language. The second part (Chapters 8-9) deals with morphology, describing the word classes and word-building strategies of Hrusso Aka.

Authors: D'Souza, VA

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-zgd4z5ayn
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English, Hruso
• Keywords: Hruso; Sentence-final particles; Complex consonants; Aka (Hruso); Underspecification; Featurally Underspecified Lexicon (FUL); Tibeto-Burman languages
• Subjects: Morphology; Phonology; Language revival; Endangered languages