Phonological Channels in Chala The t-Converb in Western Gurage

Chala (Cala) is a Gur language of Ghana. This is an attempt to formulate rules for the use of consonants in Chala.

In Chaha the impersonal and Sg. 3m. object suffixes labialize the nearest preceding plain noncoronal consonant. Furthermore a consonant will become identical to the next following consonant if it can do so by becoming labialized or palatalized. An attempt to formulate these rules in an economical way that reflects universal constraints on action at a distance leads to the proposal that the notation Xo be abolished from generative phonology and that in its stead there be used structural descriptions of the more restricted for [X [Y] [Z] ], having the meaning of [X, Y][-X]0 [X, Z] .

• By (author) C. D. Johnson