As is typical of African languages, there is little published material on Kimatuumbi, a Bantu language spoken in Tanzania. Apart from Professor Odden's own theoretically-oriented papers the only existing primary description of the language is Krumm's Grundriss einer Grammatik des Kimatubi (1912) which lacks any discussion of two of the most interesting and complex phonological properties of the language - vowel length and tone. The descriptive account of these properties and of rule interaction in Kimatuumbi phonology bears on a number of important theoretical issues including theories of interaction between phonology and syntax, lexical phonology, the geometric representation of vowel features, and the theory of prosodic representations. This study both broadens our understanding of the structure of African languages and provides data which are crucial for resolving certain questions in contemporary phonology theory.
Industry Reviews
`The book is written from the theoretical perspective of lexical phonology and clearly reflects years of care, in depth and accurate elicitation ... the book succeeds in its goals of presenting a wealth of data and a consistent analysis of that data ... The book is valuable in numerous ways. It illustrates the need for accurate and exhaustive elicitation. It demonstrates the need for in depth analysis as a basis for orthography development. It is an
excellent example of a full phonological write-up in a current theory. It is a source of insights into Bantu linguistics. It challenges some of the claims of lexical phonology.'
Ron Moe, Notes on Liguistics No. 77
`The book is very well written and presents an excellent example of a thorough description of a Bantu language, aspects of which are discussed in fascinating detail and with obvious competence. No less impressive is the manner in which the author blends description with theory by showing how details of the language provide insight into current theoretical issues. The Phonology and Morphology of Kimatuumbi offers a thorough and welcome description of
Kimatuumbi phonology and should serve as a good model for the description of other Bantu languages.'
Al D. Mtenje, University of Malawi, Anthropological Linguistics, 39 No.1, 1997
`To Odden's credit, he is scrupulously conscientious in mentioning exceptional patterns in the data as well as regular patterns that remain exceptions to his analysis. He certainly fulfils his own goal of providing sufficient data, clearly enough presented, 'to allow interesting new questions arising from changes in theoretical perspective to be answered empirically' ... this book is, from beginning to end, filled with data and analyses that phonologists
working in many areas and with a variety of background are bound to find stimulating and useful ... an admirable achievement and makes an important contribution to our knowledge of phonological systems.'
Laura J. Downing, University of British Columbia, Phonology, Vol 13 - 1996
`it makes an important contribution by presenting a wealth of mostly new data in a modern linguistic framework on a member of an underdescribed language family ... it contains a satisfyingly abundant amount of data illustrating the phonological processes discussed ... he is scrupulously conscientious in mentioning exceptional patterns in the data as well as regular patterns that remain exceptions to his analysis ... this book is, from beginning to end,
filled with data and analyses that phonologists working in many areas and with a variety of backgrounds are bound to find stimulating and useful ... the book is an admirable achievement and makes an important
contribution to our knowledge of phonological systems'
Laura J. Downing, University of British Columbia, Phonology 13 (1996)
`a landmark in Bantu studies ... I enthusiastically recommend this work to any serious Bantu linguist and to anyone interested in the complex questions of tonology and tonal morphology.'
Gerard Philippson, Journal of Linguistics
