Optimality Theoretical Approach in Resolving Vocalic Hiatus in Tiv Language

This paper investigates vocalic hiatus resolution strategies in Tiv language. Hiatus is a phonological phenomenon whereby two vowel sounds occur in adjacent syllables with no intervening consonant. It is a dispreferred configuration in many languages but when it inevitably occurs, it is resolved through some of these strategies: epenthesis, vowel assimilation, vowel elision, secondary articulation, vowel coalescence, glide formation and diphthongization. Though there are other hiatus resolution strategies in Tiv, for want of time and space, this paper examines the most common ones: vowel assimilation and vowel elision, as hiatus resolution/repair strategies in Tiv, through the lenses of the Optimality Theory. It adopts a descriptive and analytical research design. The intuitive phonological ability of the researcher and oral interview through purposive sampling were used for eliciting data. Data were presented and analysed in tables. The study establishes the occurrence of vowel hiatus in Tiv. It demonstrates that vocalic hiatus is dispreferred in Tiv as it is in many other languages of the world. The study has shown that Tiv utilises inter-alia vowel assimilation and vowel elision to resolve vowel hiatus. The resolution is meant to ease articulation of Tiv words. Well-formedness of vowel configurations in Tiv was found to be constraint based in which case optimality of a candidate that undergoes repairs through either vowel assimilation or elision is determined by the ranking of the universal constraints that interact in the selection of candidates.