{"title":"Newman, Paul & Roxana Ma Newman: Hausa Dictionary: Hausa-English English-Hausa, Ƙamusun Hausa: Hausa-Ingilishi/Ingilishi-Hausa","authors":"W. Leben","doi":"10.1515/jall-2021-2023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jall-2021-2023","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43215,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Languages and Linguistics","volume":"42 1","pages":"287 - 290"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44406092","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract In CiTonga, a Bantu language spoken in northern Malawi, a number of different morphemes within the verbal complex can sponsor a High tone. While the High tone of a morpheme which precedes the stem is shown to be underlyingly pre-linked, those found after the beginning of the stem are argued to be underlyingly floating. This latter group of High tone autosegments can be shown to exclusively dock onto the first and last tone bearing units (TBUs) of the prosodic stem. This domain is not isomorphic with the morphological stem in that it must include the entire morphological stem as well as any of 3 different categories of enclitics which follow. The docking of the underlyingly floating Hs is shown to follow an edge-in process whereby a single H docks onto the initial TBU of the prosodic stem, a second H docks onto the final TBU of the prosodic stem, and any additional High tones remain floating, being phonologically inert. The paper provides an extensive range of newly presented data on this understudied Bantu language and constitutes a rare case of the prosodic stem being motivated by tonological factors.
{"title":"Tone and the prosodic stem in Malawian CiTonga","authors":"W. Mkochi, Lee S. Bickmore","doi":"10.1515/jall-2021-2021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jall-2021-2021","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In CiTonga, a Bantu language spoken in northern Malawi, a number of different morphemes within the verbal complex can sponsor a High tone. While the High tone of a morpheme which precedes the stem is shown to be underlyingly pre-linked, those found after the beginning of the stem are argued to be underlyingly floating. This latter group of High tone autosegments can be shown to exclusively dock onto the first and last tone bearing units (TBUs) of the prosodic stem. This domain is not isomorphic with the morphological stem in that it must include the entire morphological stem as well as any of 3 different categories of enclitics which follow. The docking of the underlyingly floating Hs is shown to follow an edge-in process whereby a single H docks onto the initial TBU of the prosodic stem, a second H docks onto the final TBU of the prosodic stem, and any additional High tones remain floating, being phonologically inert. The paper provides an extensive range of newly presented data on this understudied Bantu language and constitutes a rare case of the prosodic stem being motivated by tonological factors.","PeriodicalId":43215,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Languages and Linguistics","volume":"42 1","pages":"253 - 277"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48536404","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This paper describes the constructions and strategies available in Tafi, a KA-Ghana-Togo-Mountain language, for indicating relations of similarity, equality or superiority among two or more entities or events with respect to a property. Drawing on typological studies of comparison, I demonstrate that Tafi’s dedicated comparative constructions, that is, equivalents of English sentences like The pig is more dirty than the duck involve serial verb construction (SVC) subtypes. For superiority, the parameter (or property, ‘dirty’) of the comparison is expressed by the V1 in the SVC while V2 is the ‘exceed’ verb. For equality, the parameter is the V1 and the V2 is the ‘be.equal’ verb. The V2s in these SVCs co-lexicalise both the mark (e.g. ‘than’) and index (e.g. ‘more’) of the comparison. The paper discusses the contact-driven influences from areal grammar and from Ewe, the dominant lingua franca for Tafi speakers, on the linguistic expression of comparison. The ‘exceed’ comparative structure found in African languages has been attributed to areal grammaticalisation. I further argue that the operator verb sɔ/sɔ̃ ‘be.equal’ in the Tafi equality SVC is borrowed from Ewe. Similarity constructions involve the semblative nâsí. Similarity is also signalled through the verb yi ‘resemble’. I also explore the ordinal verb bhusó ‘do.first’ as a lexical comparative. Furthermore, I argue that Tafi, like many other Kwa languages, does not formally code a superlative. Superlative readings are inferred from the context and from non-dedicated linguistic indicators such as intensifiers.
{"title":"Comparative constructions in Tafi","authors":"M. Bobuafor","doi":"10.1515/jall-2022-2025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jall-2022-2025","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper describes the constructions and strategies available in Tafi, a KA-Ghana-Togo-Mountain language, for indicating relations of similarity, equality or superiority among two or more entities or events with respect to a property. Drawing on typological studies of comparison, I demonstrate that Tafi’s dedicated comparative constructions, that is, equivalents of English sentences like The pig is more dirty than the duck involve serial verb construction (SVC) subtypes. For superiority, the parameter (or property, ‘dirty’) of the comparison is expressed by the V1 in the SVC while V2 is the ‘exceed’ verb. For equality, the parameter is the V1 and the V2 is the ‘be.equal’ verb. The V2s in these SVCs co-lexicalise both the mark (e.g. ‘than’) and index (e.g. ‘more’) of the comparison. The paper discusses the contact-driven influences from areal grammar and from Ewe, the dominant lingua franca for Tafi speakers, on the linguistic expression of comparison. The ‘exceed’ comparative structure found in African languages has been attributed to areal grammaticalisation. I further argue that the operator verb sɔ/sɔ̃ ‘be.equal’ in the Tafi equality SVC is borrowed from Ewe. Similarity constructions involve the semblative nâsí. Similarity is also signalled through the verb yi ‘resemble’. I also explore the ordinal verb bhusó ‘do.first’ as a lexical comparative. Furthermore, I argue that Tafi, like many other Kwa languages, does not formally code a superlative. Superlative readings are inferred from the context and from non-dedicated linguistic indicators such as intensifiers.","PeriodicalId":43215,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Languages and Linguistics","volume":"42 1","pages":"163 - 190"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45635728","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract We present an analysis of noun number marking in Dinka, based on Andersen’s system of vowel grades and a new system of tone classes. Assuming that the ‘unmarked’ grade 1 form can be either singular or plural, we show that the morphology is more systematic than has been previously suggested. Roughly half of our dataset can be treated as synchronically regular, and in more than half the remainder the only exceptional features are simple alternations of lexical quantity or voice quality. Less than a quarter exhibit more unpredictable irregularities. With regard to tone, we posit nine classes that describe the patterns of tonal alternation between the grade 1 form and the more marked form of the noun; 60% of our dataset fall into just three of these classes. The tone classes show considerable cross-dialect validity even between a four-tone dialect (Luanyjang, Rek cluster) and a three-tone dialect (Agar).
{"title":"On the systematic nature of Dinka noun number morphology","authors":"D. Ladd, Mirella L. Blum","doi":"10.1515/jall-2021-2020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jall-2021-2020","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract We present an analysis of noun number marking in Dinka, based on Andersen’s system of vowel grades and a new system of tone classes. Assuming that the ‘unmarked’ grade 1 form can be either singular or plural, we show that the morphology is more systematic than has been previously suggested. Roughly half of our dataset can be treated as synchronically regular, and in more than half the remainder the only exceptional features are simple alternations of lexical quantity or voice quality. Less than a quarter exhibit more unpredictable irregularities. With regard to tone, we posit nine classes that describe the patterns of tonal alternation between the grade 1 form and the more marked form of the noun; 60% of our dataset fall into just three of these classes. The tone classes show considerable cross-dialect validity even between a four-tone dialect (Luanyjang, Rek cluster) and a three-tone dialect (Agar).","PeriodicalId":43215,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Languages and Linguistics","volume":"42 1","pages":"223 - 252"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43287978","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Allison, Sean: A grammar of Makary Kotoko","authors":"M. Abdoulaye","doi":"10.1515/jall-2021-2022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jall-2021-2022","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43215,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Languages and Linguistics","volume":"42 1","pages":"279 - 285"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41489958","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-05-01DOI: 10.1515/jall.1987.9.1.91
Nina van der Vlugt
{"title":"Recent publications in African linguistics","authors":"Nina van der Vlugt","doi":"10.1515/jall.1987.9.1.91","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jall.1987.9.1.91","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43215,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Languages and Linguistics","volume":"42 1","pages":"159 - 162"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/jall.1987.9.1.91","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48932561","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This paper describes the semantics of static locative expressions in Amharic, particularly the variety spoken in Godʒdʒam. The analysis shows that the semantic category of a site subsumed under Path is exclusively expressed by an adposition. The adpositions can be specific and general locatives. The specific locatives show a specific type of topological relation (for instance, verticality as in tatʃtʃ ‘below, under,’ horizontality as in fit ‘front,’ containment as in wɨst’ ‘in’) between figure and ground entities, but not the general locatives. Besides, static positional verbs encode the conflation of the fact of locatedness with a manner of the positioning of a figure. Based on Talmy’s Motion event typology, the present study has identified that Amharic uses a satellite-framed pattern in static locative constructions exclusively. Moreover, based on Ameka & Levinson’s typology of locative predication, Amharic can be classified under type Ia where a language uses a dummy verb in basic locative construction.
{"title":"Static locative expressions in Amharic","authors":"Gashaw Arutie Asaye","doi":"10.1515/jall-2021-2017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jall-2021-2017","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper describes the semantics of static locative expressions in Amharic, particularly the variety spoken in Godʒdʒam. The analysis shows that the semantic category of a site subsumed under Path is exclusively expressed by an adposition. The adpositions can be specific and general locatives. The specific locatives show a specific type of topological relation (for instance, verticality as in tatʃtʃ ‘below, under,’ horizontality as in fit ‘front,’ containment as in wɨst’ ‘in’) between figure and ground entities, but not the general locatives. Besides, static positional verbs encode the conflation of the fact of locatedness with a manner of the positioning of a figure. Based on Talmy’s Motion event typology, the present study has identified that Amharic uses a satellite-framed pattern in static locative constructions exclusively. Moreover, based on Ameka & Levinson’s typology of locative predication, Amharic can be classified under type Ia where a language uses a dummy verb in basic locative construction.","PeriodicalId":43215,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Languages and Linguistics","volume":"42 1","pages":"1 - 26"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42216776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Eʋegbe nyakpemenyi ŋuti nunya ŋu nusɔsrɔ̃ na gɔmedzelawo A study of Ewe phonology for beginners","authors":"Mercy Adzo Klugah, P. D. Kpoglu","doi":"10.1515/jall-2021-2014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jall-2021-2014","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43215,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Languages and Linguistics","volume":"42 1","pages":"147 - 154"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48572679","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The paper provides a comprehensive account of the derivation of action nominals in Esahie, a Ghanaian language of the Tano subgroup (Kwa, Niger-Congo) which has been undocumented thus far, especially as far as morphosyntactic phenomena are concerned. The aim of the research is threefold: to contribute to language documentation, to provide a systematic description and analysis of the morphosyntactic properties of Esahie action nominals, and to offer a typological assessment of these constructions. We argue that action nominalization in Esahie primarily involves a composite strategy: a morpho-syntactic operation, invariably involving affixation, and a concomitant prosodic operation in the form of a change in tonal melody. As far as the derivation of action nominals is concerned, it appears that in Esahie, tone raising is not simply a phonologically-conditioned prosodic effect, but plays a morphemic role. Further, depending on the arity of the base verb, nominalization may or may not be coupled with incorporation of the internal argument, which derives a form of synthetic compounding, as in the English truck-driving type. Based on the seminal works by Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria. 1993. Nominalizations. London: Routledge; Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria. 2006. Nominalizations. In Encyclopedia of language and linguistics, vol. 8, 652–659. Boston: Elsevier, the current work argues that Esahie belongs to the possessive-incorporating subtype of the incorporating languages.
{"title":"Action nominalization: a view from Esahie (Kwa)","authors":"O. N. Broohm, C. Melloni","doi":"10.1515/jall-2021-2013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jall-2021-2013","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The paper provides a comprehensive account of the derivation of action nominals in Esahie, a Ghanaian language of the Tano subgroup (Kwa, Niger-Congo) which has been undocumented thus far, especially as far as morphosyntactic phenomena are concerned. The aim of the research is threefold: to contribute to language documentation, to provide a systematic description and analysis of the morphosyntactic properties of Esahie action nominals, and to offer a typological assessment of these constructions. We argue that action nominalization in Esahie primarily involves a composite strategy: a morpho-syntactic operation, invariably involving affixation, and a concomitant prosodic operation in the form of a change in tonal melody. As far as the derivation of action nominals is concerned, it appears that in Esahie, tone raising is not simply a phonologically-conditioned prosodic effect, but plays a morphemic role. Further, depending on the arity of the base verb, nominalization may or may not be coupled with incorporation of the internal argument, which derives a form of synthetic compounding, as in the English truck-driving type. Based on the seminal works by Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria. 1993. Nominalizations. London: Routledge; Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria. 2006. Nominalizations. In Encyclopedia of language and linguistics, vol. 8, 652–659. Boston: Elsevier, the current work argues that Esahie belongs to the possessive-incorporating subtype of the incorporating languages.","PeriodicalId":43215,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Languages and Linguistics","volume":"42 1","pages":"27 - 62"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48122934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jason Kandybowicz, Bertille Baron Obi, P. T. Duncan, Hironori Katsuda
Abstract This article provides a comprehensive treatment of the interrogative system of Ikpana (ISO 639-3: lgq), an endangered language spoken in the southeastern part of Ghana’s Volta region. The article features a description and analysis of both the morphosyntax and intonation of questions in the language. Polar questions in Ikpana are associated with dedicated prosodic patterns and may be segmentally marked. As for wh- interrogatives, Ikpana allows for optional wh- movement. Interrogative expressions may appear clause-internally in their base-generated positions or in the left periphery followed by one of two optionally droppable particles with distinct syntactic properties. In this way, wh- movement structures are either focus-marked constructions or cleft structures depending on the accompanying particle. We identify an interesting wh- movement asymmetry – unlike all other wh- movement structures, ‘how’ questions may not be formed via the focus-marked or cleft strategy. We document a number of other attested wh- structures in the language, including long-distance wh- movement, partial wh- movement, long-distance wh- in-situ, and multiple wh- questions. We argue that by allowing our documentation efforts to be shaped and guided by theoretically driven research questions, we reach deeper levels of description than would have been possible if approached from a purely descriptive-documentary perspective.
{"title":"Documenting the Ikpana interrogative system","authors":"Jason Kandybowicz, Bertille Baron Obi, P. T. Duncan, Hironori Katsuda","doi":"10.1515/jall-2021-2016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jall-2021-2016","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article provides a comprehensive treatment of the interrogative system of Ikpana (ISO 639-3: lgq), an endangered language spoken in the southeastern part of Ghana’s Volta region. The article features a description and analysis of both the morphosyntax and intonation of questions in the language. Polar questions in Ikpana are associated with dedicated prosodic patterns and may be segmentally marked. As for wh- interrogatives, Ikpana allows for optional wh- movement. Interrogative expressions may appear clause-internally in their base-generated positions or in the left periphery followed by one of two optionally droppable particles with distinct syntactic properties. In this way, wh- movement structures are either focus-marked constructions or cleft structures depending on the accompanying particle. We identify an interesting wh- movement asymmetry – unlike all other wh- movement structures, ‘how’ questions may not be formed via the focus-marked or cleft strategy. We document a number of other attested wh- structures in the language, including long-distance wh- movement, partial wh- movement, long-distance wh- in-situ, and multiple wh- questions. We argue that by allowing our documentation efforts to be shaped and guided by theoretically driven research questions, we reach deeper levels of description than would have been possible if approached from a purely descriptive-documentary perspective.","PeriodicalId":43215,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Languages and Linguistics","volume":"42 1","pages":"63 - 100"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2021-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46159922","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}