DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF ÀLAGO PHONOLOGY

Over the years, there has been a steadily growing interest in linguistic science. As a result, more and more languages of the world have come within the range of linguistic scrutiny. This research work entitled „A Descriptive Analysis of Alago Phonology‟ is a response to this linguistic development. This study investigates the segmental and the supra-segmental features in Alago phonology with respect to the southern dialect. Data gathering for the study commenced with the collection of handful of folktales in Alago in addition to other relevant data collected using the Ibadan wordlist of 400 basic items translated into Alago with respective words transcribed phonetically. The analysis shows that Alago has 32 segmental sounds consisting of 7 vowels and 25 consonants. At the supra-segmental levels, the syllable structures permissible in the language are v, cv, and Ṇ. Alago operates three tonal system which are high, mid and low. This research is a valid contribution to the study of Alago linguistics in general and phonology in particular. It is believed that the findings made especially on the phonemics of the language will be useful to policy makers and curriculum developers for the production of primers as well as texts that will be useful in the teaching of basic sounds of the language in primary and post primary schools as stipulated in the National Policy on Education (NPE).