Abstract:
ABSTRACT
Discourse on the E3e phonology has provided several studies on the E3e
phonemes, some of them include Abadzivor and Dzamesi (2008); Agbedoxor
(2014); Amegashie (2011); Ansre (1961); Anyidoho (1990); Atakpa (1997);
Duthie (1996); Kpodo (2014) and Nyomi (2017). However, the main issues are
that most of them have professed varying number of E3e phonemes and
conflicting description of some of the sound segments. Therefore, using the
classical phonemic analysis in a phenomenological approach, this study
establishes the number of E3e phonemes in the three main E3e dialects through
interacting with 20 A`l4, E3eme and T4`u native speakers respectively. The
results from the phonemic and articulatory analysis of the data show that all the
three main dialects of E3e have 28 consonant phonemes (/b, p, ß, ɸ, m, w, v, f,
d, t, z, s, ʤ, ʧ, n, r, l, 2, ɲ, j, g, k, h, x, `, ɰ, gb, kp/) but varied number of vowel
phonemes. A`l4 has 14 vowel phonemes (/i, e, ǝ, a, u, o, 4, ĩ́́́́́́́́́́́́́́́́́, 8, ǝ͂, 7, [, 9, -/);
E3eme has 12 vowel phonemes (/i, 1, a, u, o, 4, ĩ́́́́́́́́́́́́́́́́́, 0, 7, [, 9, -/) while T4`u has
15 vowel phonemes (/i, e, 1, ǝ, a, u, o, 4, ĩ́́́́́́́́́́́́́́́́́, 8, 0, ǝ͂, 7, [, -/); totalling 42, 40 and
43 phonemes for A`l4, E3eme and T4`u respectively. The study also ascertains
the description of [w], [d], [t], [dz], [ts], [r], [l], [2], [ɰ], [kw
], [a] and [7] sound
segments and asseverates the plausible reasons for the variations in the earlier
studies’ findings. The findings in this research have some implications for
scholarship, pedagogy and theory. In that, imparting phonemic awareness and
phonic skills, especially in a cosmopolitan E3e class, demands good knowledge
of the findings of this study.
