THE STATUS OF THE SUPRASEGMENTAL UNITS ON EDO AND ESAN LEXICAL ITEMS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

ABSTRACT

          This research effort examines the suprasegmental units of Edo and Esan lexical items. Edo and Esan are two distinct languages spoken in Edo State, Nigeria. Suprasegments are those features that cannot be analyzed at the segmental level. Thus, they are autonomous phonetic units of speech. In carrying out this work, data was collected from seven (7) competent native speakers of Esan and Edo and the data was analysed using the standard and Autosegmental phonological models. These models are employed to examine the behavior of Tone and nasality on the langugages under study The work is aimed at revealing the differences and similarities between Edo and Esan with regards to their suprasegmental units, revealing the status and behavior of tone and nasality in the languages under study. It is therefore a comparative study. To further buttress our point, we shall employ the use of the PRAT system, sound spectrogram to show the status of tone on Edo and Esan Lexical items. The findings of our study reveal the absence of the downstep phenomenon in Esan as evident in Edo. Also our finding reveals the different realization of tone and nasality using the same lexical item.