The Prosodic Domains in Kilega(Bantu)

This paper deals with the prosodic domains in Kilega, a language spoken in Eastern Zaire. It first presents domains of the Kilega phonological words with the reference to a previous analysis on a Bantu language. The claim on the domains of phonological words is supported by the vowel assimilation and vowel elision found in the Kilega language. The domains of Kilega phonological phrases, on the other hand, are explored with an assumption that penultimate vowel lengthening, phrasal high-tone insertion, and pitch downtrends. In addition to Selkirk’s end-based theory, the parameter of branchingness is also adopted to describe Kilega phonological domains in the most efficient way.