Bata phonology: a reappraisal

This study deals with the phonology of a Nigerian (Adamawa State) Central Chadic language, Bata, of which another dialect is known as "Bachama". In recent years, studies of Central and Eastern Chadic languages have revealed that, in many cases, the vowel system may be conceived as founded on phonological contrasts of height and length alone. Phonetic frontness and backness are attributable to the influence of separate, neighboring palatal and labial features. Other languages in the same branches seem, however, to have vowel systems which have incorporated front/back contrasts. The case of Bata is interesting because, although it apparently belongs to the latter group, it might also be analyzed as belonging to the former. Raymond Boyd is a Chargé de Recherche with the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Unité mixte 7594, Langage, Langues et Cultures d'Afrique Noire (LLACAN), and has worked for the past fifteen years on Chamba Daka and its neighbors.