Articulatory Harmony in Plural Formations in Dholuo Phonology

This study deals with Dholuo plural formations and attempts to move from the voicing polarity as the way of dealing with these plurals but instead looks at places of articulation as the major driving factor. The introductory component deals with the failure of the voicing polarity to adequately explain the behavior of these plural formations. A among the arguments dismissed in this paper include Alderete’s position of voiceless segments becoming voiced in their plural forms ,Okoth Okombo’s switch alpha rule which would not capture other forms such as Ong’er-Ong’eche(monkey-monkeys).This study therefore develops areas of articulations as the key in this harmony. The data available does not explain other plural changes such as bul –bunde (drum- drums). This clearly show that plural changes in Dholuo phonology in terms of segmental changes have not been fully explained, my approach to the plural formations is based on articulators as a prominent factor in the plural formations and whether voiced or devoiced is a factor determined by the welformedness constraints of the language in the sense that if the language does not allow a particular structure it will not be formed and if in so forming the plural there is a similar word then the language will get an alternative route either by using vowel lengthening or using the suffix –ni which would also still maintain the last segment of the noun especially in terms of place of articulation.