Abstract:
The present study describes the Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP) in Changana, a principle
of Autosegmental Phonology that prohibits the adjacency of identical elements (LEBEN
1973, 2006; GOLDSMITH 1976, 1979; ODDEN 1986, 1995). This work tests the
effectiveness of the OCP and discusses its universality based on data on the resolution of
hiatus resulting from the affixation of diminutive and locative morphemes to nouns. The
present work follows the observation of disparity in the compliance with the OCP in some
varieties of Changana (Xihlanganu, Bila and Hlengwe) in a previous study (COSSA, 2015).
Compliance with the OCP was expected to be obligatory, as its name suggests. However,
what we find is that in words with a sequence of elements with identical features as in
xinguvuana (xi-nguvu-ana) ' small cloth’ (M ozambican printed cloth traditionally used by
women to outline the body), there is a full compliance with the OCP in Bila, resulting in
xingubzana, but its compliance is partial in Hlengwe where the same word is realized as
xinguwana. In Xihlanganu, the OCP is regular in some contexts, which calls into question the
effectiveness of the principle. In the present study, we applied an interview and a linguistic
questionnaire to three speakers of three varieties Changana (Hlengwe, Bila, Khambani)
randomly selected by the non-probabilistic sampling technique for accessibility and
convenience in Mandlakazi District of Mozambican province of Gaza. Indeed, the analysis of
these data showed us that in fact, all varieties observe the OCP. However, in certain contexts,
its compliance is partial, which leads us to suggest the existence of micro-parametric and
macro-parametric variations of this principle.
