Progressive Vowel Harmony in Akan

Previous studies on Akan ATR vowel harmony have centered on the concepts of regressive (anticipatory) directionality, very little empirical evidence has been provided for the existence and robustness of progressive ATR vowel harmony in Akan. This paper, therefore, discusses progressive ATR vowel harmony (VH) in Gomoa, a sub-dialect of Fante, one of the major dialects of Akan (Kwa, Niger-Congo). The paper attempts to argue that Gomoa unlike the other Akan dialects has progressive ATR vowel harmony. In this study, we show that the +ATR vowel in the root/stem word triggers rightward to harmonize with the -ATR vowel in the suffix or a following vowel in the same domain. Data gathered, show that Gomoa extensively displays progressive vowel harmony in stem words, verbal suffixes, and nominal suffixes, and also shows +ATR dominance vowel harmony. We discuss this occurrence within the framework of Autosegmental phonology (following Goldsmith, 1976) to show the directionality and spreading ATR harmony. This paper, therefore, contributes to the study of the directionalities of vowel harmony in Akan.