Un fenomeno di correptio vocalica in una varieta' di kikongo

In this paper we analyse the duration dynamics of the stressed vowels in a series of words of Kikongo, kimanyanga variety (a Bantu language of the western group). Our task is to point out a phenomenon that seems particularly noteworthy: the shortening of lexically long stressed vowels in verb paradigms, when the basically bisyllabic form becomes trisyllabic turning to the past tense form. The research has been conducted on a limited, but coherent corpus produced by a native speaker of Kimanyanga (a Kikongo variety), a language showing clear tonal phonemic contrasts. According to our metrical analysis, Kikongo shows a trochaic structure. If we apply the non-linear phonology parameters, the trochee of this language turns out to be characterized as left-headed, bounded to two moras and quantity sensitive. We can also claim that extrametricality is morphologically constrained, since it is in fact limited to syllables preceded by a morphological boundary.