Evidence for Foot Structure in Hausa

Abstract

McCarthy and Prince (1986, 1990) have put forward the Prosodic Morphology Hypothesis to account for morphological processes (such as reduplication and truncation) that typically require that their output conform to a particular shape of template. This hypothesis claims that morphological templates are analyzable in terms of prosodic units. In this paper I will show that Hausa nominal reduplication and nickname formation are best analyzed as involving the specification of a foot template. Thus, these two processes provide supporting evidence for McCarthy and Prince's Prosodic Morphology Hypothesis.