Vowel Height Agreement in Ewe

Abstract

This paper seeks to give a descriptive account of a vowel height feature agreement process in Ewe. The paper establishes that the height agreement process is neither height harmony nor metaphony. The paper further demonstrates the systematic difference between the coastal dialects and the inland dialects of Ewe in relation to the vowel height agreement process. The height agreement occurs in the cliticization of diminutive marker to nouns and adjectives as well as the cliticization of the 3^rd person singular object pronominal to verbs. While the agreement process is host controlled in the inland (Ʋedome) dialects of Ewe, it is enclitic controlled in the coastal (Aŋlɔ) dialects of Ewe. A synchronic analysis indicates that while [i] is the underlying form of the enclitic for the 3^rd person singular object pronominal as well as the diminutive marker in the coastal dialects of Ewe, [e] is the underlying representation of the 3rd person singular object pronominal as well as the diminutive marker in the inland dialects of Ewe.