Current Approaches to African Linguistics: Vol 3 9783110883350, 9783110133691

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Current Approaches to African Linguistics (vol.3)

Publications in African Languages and Linguistics The aim of this series is to offer, at regular intervals, carefully worked out studies or collections of papers in African linguistics. In this way, it is hoped that important work can be brought to the attention of a wider linguistic audience including scholars who are not primarily concerned with African linguistics but who wish to keep abreast of recent advances in the fields of historical linguistics, theoretical phonology and linguistic typology, all of which, incidentally, tend to rely rather heavily on African language data. At the same time, the editors intend to include occasional volumes which offer general accounts of major language groups, hoping that such surveys will be of assistance not only to linguists working on African languages but also to those who specialize in other areas. Throughout the series an attempt will be made to strike a healthy balance between theory oriented and data oriented research. Editors:

Advisory

George N. Clements Didier L. Goyvaerts

John Goldsmith (Bloomington, Indiana) Claire Grégoire (Tervuren) Frank Heny (Middlebury, Vermont) Larry M. Hyman (Los Angeles, California) William R. Leben (Stanford, California) Thilo C. Schadeberg (Leiden)

Other

books

in this

board:

series:

1. Ivan R. Dihoff (ed.) Current

Approaches

to African

Linguistics

(vol. 1)

2. Gerrit J. Dimmendaal The Turkana

Language

3. G.N. Clements and J. Goldsmith (eds.) Autosegmental

Studies

in Bantu

Tone

4. Koen Bogers, Harry van der Hülst and Maarten Mous (eds.) The Phonological

Representation

of

Suprasegmentals

5. Jonathan Kaye, Hilda Koopman, Dominique Sportiche and André Dugas (eds.) Current

Approaches

to African

Linguistics

(vol. 2)

Gerrit J. Dimmendaal (ed.)

Ci^rent Approaches to Afncan Linguistics (vol. 3)

V

1986 FORIS PUBLICATIONS Dordrecht - Holland/Cinnaminson - U.S.A.

Published by: Foris Publications Holland P.O. Box 509 3300 AM Dordrecht, The Netherlands Sole distributor for the U.S.A. and Canada: Foris Publications U.S.A. P.O. Box C-50 Cinnaminson N.J. 08077 U.S.A. CIP-data

ISBN 90 6765 137 0 (Bound) ISBN 90 6765 138 9 (Paper) © 1985 Foris Publications - Dordrecht. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the copyright owner. Printed in the Netherlands by ICG Printing, Dordrecht.

Preface T h e p r e s e n t v o l u m e c o n t a i n s a r t i c l e s b a s e d o n p a p e r s p r e s e n t e d at t h e Conference on African Linguistics, Madison,

o n A p r i l 7 - 10, 1 9 8 3 .

the conference,

h e l d at t h e U n i v e r s i t y of

Wisconsin,

I w o u l d l i k e to t h a n k the o r g a n i z e r s

and Linda Hunter

in p a r t i c u l a r ,

for hosting the

(Bennett, Dwyer, Poulos),

comparative

and synchronic linguistics

of

conference.

T h e a r t i c l e s c o v e r a w i d e v a r i e t y of l a n g u a g e s f r o m d i f f e r e n t a n d a r e a s . T h e y p r e s e n t a d v a n c e s in h i s t o r i c a l

14th

families

linguistics

(the r e m a i n i n g

articles).

S e v e r a l a u t h o r s c o m b i n e t h e p r e s e n t a t i o n of n e w d a t a w i t h c l a i m s a b o u t s t r u c t u r e of p h o n o l o g i c a l

representations

(Childs, Churma, Creider,

Odden). Bamgbose, Bergvall, Gjerlow-Johnson and Ayom,

and Harford

Keegan,

Perez

e v a l u a t e c l a i m s a b o u t t h e s t r u c t u r e of s y n t a c t i c r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s o n b a s i s of n e w d a t a , w h i l e A w o y a l e , D i m m e n d a a l , s y n t a c t i c t y p o l o g i e s of p a r t i c u l a r

Hutchison,

and Noss

languages and their possible

structure and pragmatics

and one on creolization processes

in r e l a t i o n to g r a m m a r

the

give

historical

implications. The book contains one article on the often n e g l e c t e d of discourse

the

issue

(Marchese),

(Bureng Vincent), while two other

articles

(by B a d e c k e r a n d by C o n t e h et al.) d e a l w i t h t h e i n t e r a c t i o n b e t w e e n

phono-

logy and syntax. The volume demonstrates both the pioneering role that c a n l i n g u i s t i c s p l a y s as a t e s t i n g g r o u n d f o r n e w t h e o r e t i c a l t h e w e a l t h of d e s c r i p t i v e m a t e r i a l Thanks

s t i l l to b e

claims,

Afriand

gathered.

for t h e i r a d v i c e a n d c o m m e n t s go to t h e a n o n y m o u s r e f e r e e s ,

Kay Williamson,

a n d to ir.y c o l l e a g u e s

U n i v e r s i t y of L e i d e n , C. Schadehere.

in p a r t i c u l a r

I gratefully

f r o m the D e p a r t m e n t of A f r i c a n to T o m C o o k , J u l i a n n a K u p e r u s ,

acknowledge financial

support from the

Linguistics, and Thilo Faculty

of A r t s o f t h e U n i v e r s i t y of L e i d e n . M o s t of all, t h a n k s go to F r a n c i n e w h o t y p e d m o s t of t h e a r t i c l e s .

I d e d i c a t e t h i s b o o k to h e r .

G e r r i t J.

to

Dimmendaal

Swets,

Table of Contents PREFACE Yiwola Awoyale Reflexivization

in K w a L a n g u a g e s

William Badeaker Object Clitics and Tone Mutation

1

in I g b o

.15

Ayo Bamgbose N e g a t i o n a n d S e r i a l V e r b a l C o n s t r u c t i o n T y p e s in Y o r u b a Patrick R. Bennett Nuclear Vocabulary:

Some Applications

.31

in H i s t o r i c a l L i n g u i s t i c s

41

Victoria L. Bergvall A Typology of Empty C a t e g o r i e s for K i k u y u and Swahili

55

George Bureng Vincent Juba Arabic from a Bari Perspective

71

Tucker Childs An Autosegmental

79

T r e a t m e n t of K i s i N o u n C l a s s M o r p h o p h o n e m i c s

Donald G. Churma T h e N a t u r e of T o n o l o g i c a l R e p r e s e n t a t i o n :

Evidence

from Loko

93

Patrick Conteh, Elizabeth Cowper and Keren Rice T h e E n v i r o n m e n t f o r C o n s o n a n t M u t a t i o n in M e n d e

107

Chet Creider Nandi Nominal Tonology:

117

T w o T y p e s of T o n a l P r o c e s s

Gerrit J. Dimmendaal Prominence Hierarchies and Turkana Syntax

127

David J. Dwyer Evolutionary Morphology of Definite Articles C. Gjerlow-Johnson Kristine T h e P a s s i v e in B o r D i n k a

and

Edward

B.G.

in S o u t h w e s t e r n

Mande....l49

Ayom 171

Carolyn Harford Perez The Shona Passive and Government-Binding

Theory

John P. Hutchison Major Constituent Case-marking

in K a n u r i

John M. Keegan T h e R o l e of S y l l a b i c S t r u c t u r e

in t h e P h o n o l o g y of M o r o c c a n

179

191

Arabic....209

Lynell Marahese P r o n o m i n a l i z a t i o n a n d t h e A p p e a r a n c e of F u l l N o u n R e f e r e n t s Discourse

in G o d i 6 227

Philip A. Noss T h e I d e o p h o n e in G b a y a S y n t a x

241

David Odden T h r e e D i a l e c t s of K i p a r e

257

G. Poulos I n s t a n c e s of S e m a n t i c B l e a c h i n g LIST OF

CONTRIBUTORS

in S o u t h - E a s t e r n B a n t u

281

Chapter 1

Reflexivization in Kwa Languages Yiwola Awoyale

1.

INTRODUCTION

Reflexivization

is k n o w n in s e v e r a l

a n a p h o r i c r e l a t i o n b e t w e e n an a n t e c e d e n t N P a n d an a n a p h o r i c N P w i t h i n simplex sentence

(cf. K l i m a a n d L e e s 1 9 6 3 ) . H o w e v e r ,

s e n s u s a b o u t t h e n a t u r e of its d e r i v a t i o n . Lees 1963; K u r o d a 1965; M c C a w l e y while some others interpretation

(cf. J a c k e n d o f f

Several

1972;

a

t h e r e is h a r d l y a n y

analyses

(cf. K l i m a

1976 etc) depend heavily on

con-

and

transformations,

Inoue 1976; W a s o w 1979) use

semantic

rules.

This paper, drawn essentially

f r o m an o n - g o i n g r e s e a r c h o n

z a t i o n in K w a l a n g u a g e s , w i l l d i s c u s s reflexivization guages

an

l a n g u a g e s to b e b a s e d e s s e n t i a l l y o n

in selected

a n d u s e t h e c o m p a r a t i v e d a t a to s h o w w h y w e c a n n o t u s e

a l o n e to a c c o u n t

for t h e c o r e f e r e n t i a l

its antecedent or, m o r e importantly,

Kwa

lan-

transformations

relations between the reflexive

for t h e s e m a n t i c d i f f e r e n c e s

s e n t e n c e s w i t h a n d w i t h o u t the r e f l e x i v e argue that some semantic

reflexivi-

forms. Furthermore, we

and

between

intend

to

f a c t o r s o t h e r t h a n m e r e c o r e f e r e n c e a r e at w o r k

t h e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of r e f l e x i v e c o n s t r u c t i o n s ,

a n d t h a t s o m e t r a c e of

in

the

r e f l e x i v e s t r u c t u r e m u s t b e p r e s e n t a l r e a d y in t h e u n d e r l y i n g

structure.

It s e e m s t h a t K w a r e f l e x i v e s

antecedents,

but rather

a r e n o t m e r e r e f l e x i v e s of t h e i r

can carry their own semantic

values.

T h e p a p e r is d i v i d e d i n t o f o u r s e c t i o n s .

Section 2 will examine

briefly some general conditions on reflexivization; the d i f f e r e n t

t y p e s of r e f l e x i v i z a t i o n

Igbo, Urhobo, Ebira,

section 3 will

very

tabulate

i n the s e l e c t e d l a n g u a g e s - Y o r u b a ,

and Bassa-Nge - and attempt

to b r i n g o u t t h e i r

t i e s . S e c t i o n 4 w i l l d i s c u s s the d e r i v a t i o n of t h e d i v e r s e r e f l e x i v e

similariforms

'myself' 'ourselves' 'himself' 'itself' 'herself' ' themselves' 'yourself' 'yourselves'

Emphatic Reflexive re

ara ara wn ara re ara yin

fun fun fun fun

onwe onwe onwe

ha gi unu

110 u 3 VI > 1(0 1QJ JnJ £ id) c, u 3 vj > c, 0 3 O g i f l , O

nä nä na

ya

VJ

mu anyi

^

onwe

'for' na onwe na onwe

mi wa

'for' fun ara fun ara

j n j

na

onwe onwe onwe

nke nke nke

ti ara wtpn ti ara re ti ara yin

ha gi unu

ya

onwe

nke

re

ti

ara

mu any!

'of' nke onwe nke onwe

'of' ti ara mi ti ara wa

wa w C J C , 3 > C J > C = u to ,0 (0 O (0 ,(0 (0 '(0 VI ¡ c^ M >, Ei0,o,r *t3 ,(0 y(0 ,t0 ,(0 ,(0 ,(0 ,

another'

ha gi unu

onwe onwe onwe

ara wipn-*ara re ara yin1 Iro u

'one

ya

onwe

ara

r£

'body' onwe mu onwe anyi

'body' ara mi ar a wa

Urhobo

u

'each other'

'myself' 'ourselves' 'himself' 'itself' 'herself' 'themselves1 'yourself' 'yourselves'

Igbo

0) >

Genitival Reflexive

1

Yoruba

U in!

Reciprocals

Absolute Reflexive

English

2 Yiwola Awoyale

•H -H -H -H CO W [0 l/l 3 3 3 3 rH iH rH iH O O O O X •H a> *H o>

0) 0J > 0) > >

C X ß

u 110

u

¡0)110 Cj 3 ,10 > U W 3 3 3 O

v u v u n q v u VJ >H ^

Reflexivization in K w a .Languages

3

a; > a>> >4) > o> •H *H *H -H CO CO 03 to 3 3 3 3 H H H H O O o u C X B X •H 0) -H CD

sE

W3

31313! 333 33 G C? G ü) U Iii

/H /H •H B B & M M VH G G G G VQJ VQJ VQJ V^J .a ja ja ja £

M

^ "H G cd cd -M-P vovo > > vjj V31

cd cd cd cd 4J +J-P-P vo vovovo > > > > vjj V3J vjj

'myself' 'ourselves' 'himself' 'itself' 'herself' 'themselves' 'yourself' 'yourselves'

31 3 G> CO

,ns , 0 ' G> G G G> C u (J u (J

vflj >>

Genitival Reflexive

w cd cd

Reciprocals

3! 3 C U

'myself' ourselves' 'himself' 'itself' 1 herself' 'themselves 1 'yourself' 'yourselves'

_ >,33! >033 0 c? C U U

VH C -H /H C C H J S

•H •H E & . M ^H /IP ,cd /O /Ol G G +> VQJ vflj S^ vq) -H5 VQJ VQ) >> >> >> >> _ xt a

cd cd vo +J > cd cd cd vo cd - +) +J +J > 4-> G VO vO NO V3J vO -H 3 > > > > C VH VH _ vj v3J v3J VH vüj -H C C G G -H -H IH /H J J -H -H /H >> G >> G e > 5 c, C 3 3 cd u cd w eded cd weded

Absolute Reflexive

Ebira

sQl /H ^cd •H ^cd

>1

Object Clitics and Tone Mutation in Igbo

(b)

(c)

29

Cliticization < j, V NP 5 ] , J" > => V a [ +PRO] < k, [ - [ V [+PRO]] ? ], J > a Adverb Placement < r, [ - V 5 ], & > < s

[ - V fu

c ], fu ("$)>

(where a is [+tense])

REFERENCES Emonds, Joseph. 1976. A Transformational Approach to English Syntax. New York: Academic Press. Gazdar, Gerald. 1982. Phrase structure grammars. In The nature of syntactic representation, eds. Jacobson, Pauline and Geoffrey K. Pullum, pp. 131-186. Dordrecht: D. Reidel. Goldsmith, John. 1976. Autosegmental Phonology. Bloomington: IULC. . 1981. The complementizer condition. Linguistic Inquiry 12:541-574. Williams, Edwin. 1976. Underlying tone in Margi and Igbo. Linguistic Inquiry 7:463-484.

Chapter 3

Negation and Serial Verbal Construction Types in Yoruba Ayo Bamgbose Studies on serial verbal constructions

(SVC's) have generally concentrated on

positive sentences. As pointed out in Bamgbose (1974, 1982), the semantic

inter-

pretation of negative SVC's may throw some light on the structure and derivation of SVC's in general. We go further in this paper to show that a correlation seems to exist between negation and type of SVC, and that, depending on the possibilities of negation, a hierarchy of SVC types may be drawn up, ranging from the most closely-knit to the least As is well-known

closely-knit.

(Klima 1964:316, Banjo 1974:35), there are two types of negation negation of the entire sentence and negation of a constituent

in a sentence:

a sentence. Consider the following

(1) a.

b.

Olu Olu

Olu ko Olu

c.

ra aso buy dress

Olu

ra

neg. ko

ni in

aso

buy dress ra

in

sentences:

Ibadan Ibadan

'Olu bought a dress at Ibadan.'

ni

'olu did not buy a dress at

in

aso

Ibadan Ibadan

Ibadan. 1 'Olu did not buy a dress.'

(l)a is a positive sentence which has (l)b as its negative counterpart. The negation in (l)b could be of the entire sentence, in which case the meaning of the sentence is that the event asserted did not take place at all (it is even possible that the subject, Olu, was not anywhere near Ibadan) or it could be of the adverbial constituent

ni

ibadan

'at Ibadan', in which case, the meaning of the

sentence is that the event did take place, but it was not in the place

asserted.

Constituent negation is variable in scope (Bamgbose 1972:511-1512). A comparison of (l)b and (l)c shows that, whereas what is negated

in the former is the

32

Ayo Bamgbose

adverbial, the constituent

that is negated in the latter is the object i.e. the

meaning of (l)c is that the subject did buy something but what he bought was not a dress. As has been pointed out in Bamgbose (1974:25), both full sentence negation and constituent negation occur in Yoruba SVC's. Three types of SVC's are identified in Bamgbose (1982). They are:

Coordinate, Modifying, and Complex Verb

SVC's. Although these three types were originally identified on the basis of their mode of derivation, the evidence from negation appears to support the tripartite division. Since full sentence negation is possible with every SVC, only

constituent

negation can be used to demonstrate the difference in the types. For this purpose, it is useful to employ a paraphrase in which the negation of the constituent

is

lexicalized. Such lexicalization takes the form of the addition of a negative nominalizing prefix ai

'not'

to a verb or verb phrase. For example, while

is an instance of constituent negation in a sentence,

(2)a

(2)b is a lexicalization

of this negation.

(2) a.

won they

o jo neg. assemble

b.

won they

jeun eat

'They did not eat together. 1

jeun eat

lal-jo-jeun prt.-not assemble-eat

In both (2)a and (2)b , the constituent

'They ate without eating together.'

that is negated is the modifying verb jo

'assemble' which, in the serial verbal combination, has the modifying meaning 2 'together'.

What is negated in the two sentences is not the fact of eating but

of doing so together. Applying this lexicalized constituent negation to the different types of SVC's, we can demonstrate the differences between them in terms of three factors: the number of possible negations, the verb that is negated, and the constraint on the repetition

of the other verb in the SVC.

The Coordinate SVC consists of three sub-types: Consequential.

Sequential, Durational, and

Negation and Serial Verbal Construction Types

33 3

In the Sequential SVC, the action of the first verb precedes that of the second , and there are two possibilities of negation, one for each of the verbs (including objects, if any). For example, (3) which has (4)a as its negative counterpart: aga chair

lo go

'Olu carried a chair home. 1

(3)

Olu Olu

gbe carry

(4) a.

Olu Olu

o gbe neg. carry

b.

olu Olu

lo go

ile house

c.

Olu

lo

ile

lai-gbe-aga-lo-ile

'Olu went home without carrying a chair. '

d.

Olu

gbe

aga

lal-gbe-e-lo-ile

'Olu carried a chair without going home (carrying it).'

aga chair

ile house lo go

ile house

lai-gbe-aga prt.-not carry chair

'Olu did not carry a chair home.

'Olu went home without carrying a chair.'

(4)a has the paraphrases (4)b, (4)c, (4)d. Of these three, the first two are variants which are identical in meaning. There are, therefore, two possibilities of constituent negation:

a negation of the first verb

gbe

'carry' as in (4)b and 4

(4)c, and a negation of the second verb

lo

'go' as in (4)d.

In the lexi-

calized negation, there is a repetition of one of the two verbs in the SVC. Such a repetition is optional in the case of the negation of the first verb as in (4)b and (4)c, but it is obligatory in the case of the negation of the second verb as in (4)d. In the Durational SVC, the action or state of the first verb continues until the action or state of the second verb is attained. There are two possibilities of negation, one for the first verb and the other for the combination of the two verbs in the SVC. Consider, for example, (5) which has (6)a as its negative counterpart. (5)

Olu Olu

sunkun weep

(6)a.

olu Olu

o neg.

de reach

sunkun weep

ile house de reach

'Olu wept until he reached home.

ile house

'Olu did not arrive home weeping.'

34

Ayo Bamgbose

(6) b.

Olu

de

ile

lal-sunkun

'Olu arrived home without weeping. 1

c.

Olu

de

ile

1a1-sunkun-de-i1e

'Olu arrived home without weeping up to the place. 1

d.

Olu

sunkun

la1-sunkun-de-i1e

'Olu wept without arriving home weeping.'

The two possibilities of negation for the Durational SVC are illustrated by , / sunkun

(6)b and (6)c, on the one hand, where the first verb

'weep'

5

is negated

6 and the repetition of the other verb is optional

, and

(6)d, on the other, where

what is negated is the combination of the two verbs, and the repetition of the other verb is obligatory. The Durational SVC contrasts with the Sequential in this respect, since either verb in the latter can be independently negated. The nature of this contrast can be illustrated by (7) and

(8)

(7)

Olu gbe aga sugbon Olu o lo Olu carry chair but Olu neg. go 'Olu carried a chair but did not go home.'

(8)

Olu sunkun sugbon Olu o de Olu weep but Olu neg. reach 'Olu wept but did not arrive home.'

ile house

ile house

(7) asserts that Olu carried a chair but did not go home. This is a near paraphrase of (4)d which negates the going home. In contrast to this, (8) asserts that Olu wept and that h e did not arrive home. This is a contradiction of (6)d which asserts that Olu wept and that he arrived home, but that he did not

arrive

home weeping. In fact, in any Durational SVC, the second verb cannot be independently negated. Witness all the meanings of (6) which do not deny that Olu arrived home. In the Consequential SVC, the state of the second verb is a consequence of the action of the first verb. There is only one possibility of negation, that of the second verb. For example, (9)

Olu Olu

mu drink

oti wine

(9) which has (10)a as its negative yo be-drunk

'Olu drank

counterpart.

and got drunk.'

Negation and Serial Verbal Construction Types mu drink

oti wine

yo be-drunk

35

(10) a.

Olu Olu

o neg.

'Olu drank but did not get drunk. 1

b.

Olu

mu

oti

lai-yo

'Olu drank without getting drunk. !

c.

Olu

mu

oti

lai-mu-u-yo

'Olu drank without getting drunk - 1

d.

*01u

yo

lai-mu-oti

'Olu got drunk without drinking-.'

(10)b and (10)c are the paraphrases of (10)a, and the repetition of the first verb is optional in the lexicalized negation. Notice that

(10)d which purports

to negate the first verb is illogical and unacceptable in the language. In the Modifying SVC, one verb modifies another verb in much the same way as an adverb modifies a verb. It is not meaningful to talk of the first or the second verb in the combination being negated, since whichever verb has a modifying function gets negated, irrespective of its position in the verbal string. Hence, there is only one possibility of negation, that of the modifying verb. Consider, for example, the following (11)

e so seed

naa the

sare run

hu grow

(12) a.

eso seed

naa the

o neg.

sare run

sentences: 'The seed germinated

hu grow

fast. 1

'The seed did not germinate fast.'

b.

eso

hù

laì-saré-hù

'The seed germinated without germinating fast. 1

c.

e so

hù

lái-sáré

'The seed germinated without running.'

(13)

Ade Ade

sun sleep

(14) a.

Ade Ade

o neg.

Ade

sùn

pe be-late sun sleep

pe be-late

laì-sùn-pé

'Ade slept for a long time.'

'Ade did not sleep long. '

'Ade slept without long.'

sleeping

36

Ayo Bamgbose

(14) c. *Ade

sun

'Ade slept without being long. 1

lai-pe

In (11), the modifying verb

s a r e 'run' occurs before the verb it modifies, while

in (13), the corresponding modifying verb

pe 'be late' occurs after the verb it

modifies. In either case, it is the modifying verb that is negated in (12)a and (14)a respectively. The verb that is modified must be repeated in the lexicalized negation as shown in (12)b and (14)b as well as the unacceptability of their putative paraphrases (12)c and (14)c respectively. The Complex Verb SVC is a fixed collocation of verbs with an idiomatic meaning. Since both verbs in this SVC must be present for the combination to be meaningful, no constituent negation is possible with them. Consider, for example, (15)

Olu Olu

re cut

(16) a.

Olu Olu

o neg.

mi me

'Olu cheated me. 1

je eat

re cut

mi me

je eat

'Olu did not cheat me. '

b. *01u

re

mi

lai-re-mi-je

'Olu cut me without cheating me. '

c. *01u

je

mi

lai-re-mi-je

'Olu ate me without cheating me. '

The only possible negation of (15) is (16)a which is a sentence negation meaning 7 that the event of cheating asserted did not take place . That the constituent negation of either verb is impossible can be shown by the non-occurrence and meaninglessness of (16)b and (16)c. A special type of Complex Verb SVC is the one where one of the two verbs in the combination is semantically empty,g since the meaning of the combination is the same as that of only one of the verbs: gbe...mi

' carry... swallow'

gbe...pon

'carry...put on back'

=

pon

'put on back'

ja bo

'snap drop'

=

bo

'drop'

fa...ya

1

=

ya

'tear'

pull... tear'

=

mi

'swallow'

Negation and Serial Verbal Construction Types t a n ... j e

' deceive.. . eat '

=

37

t an

'deceive'

In sentences containing such SVC' s, the question of ir.dependent negation of a verb cannot even arise, since negation of the SVC, which is a sentence negation, is identical to the negation of a single verb:

(17) a.

Dupe Dupe

fa pull

aso mi dress my

b.

Dupe Dupe

ya tear

aso dress

(18) a.

Dupe

o

fa

aso

mi

b.

Dupé

o

ya

aso

mi

Sentences

'Dupe tore my dress.'

ya tear

'Dupe tore my dress.'

mi my

'Dupe did not tear my dress.'

ya

'Dupe did not tear my dress.'

(17)a and (17)b are identical in meaning. Hence, their negative counter-

parts, (18)a and (18)b, are also identical in meaning. A summary of the behaviour of the different types of SVC's in terms of stituent

negation,

con-

particularly as demonstrated by the lexicalized variants of

the negated verbs, is as follows:

1st Negation

SVC Type

2nd Negation

Negated

Repetition

Negated

Repetition

Verb

of other

Verb

of other

Verb

Verb

Sequential

1st Verb

Optional

2nd Verb

Obligatory

Durational

1st Verb

Optional

Both Verbs

Obligatory

Consequential

2nd Verb

Optional

Nil

Nil

Modifying

Mod. Verb

Obligatory

Nil

Nil

Complex Verb

Nil

Nil

Nil

Nil

On the basis of the above table, it is possible to conclude that SVC's form a hierarchy ranging from the most closely-knit to the least closely-knit. The

38

Ayo

Bamgbose

most closely-knit

is t h e C o m p l e x V e r b S V C w h i c h d o e s n o t a d m i t of

constituent

n e g a t i o n of t h e v e r b . T h i s is f o l l o w e d b y t h e M o d i f y i n g S V C w h i c h a d m i t s o n l y t h e c o n s t i t u e n t n e g a t i o n of t h e m o d i f y i n g v e r b ,

a n d f o r w h i c h the r e p e t i t i o n

t h e o t h e r v e r b is o b l i g a t o r y .

S V C a d m i t s of o n l y o n e

The Consequential

b u t t h e f a c t t h a t it is h i g h e r o n the h i e r a r c h y by the possibility

shown

optional

r e p e t i t i o n of t h e o t h e r v e r b in t h e c o m b i n a t i o n . T h i s t e n d s to s u g g e s t t h a t is l e s s c l o s e l y - k n i t The Durational

than the M o d i f y i n g

optional

and o b l i g a t o r y

r e p e t i t i o n of t h e o t h e r v e r b S V C is l e s s c l o s e l y - k n i t

s i n c e it h a s t h e p o s s i b i l i t y

of i n d e p e n d e n t

in the c o m b i n a t i o n , w h i l e

b e of b o t h v e r b s t o g e t h e r . T h e h i e r a r c h y

Least closely-knit

A

scale,

in the c o m b i n a t i o n .

of S V C ' s

t h a n the D u r a t i o n a l

SVC,

the second n e g a t i o n can is t h e r e f o r e as

of

However,

c o n s t i t u e n t n e g a t i o n of e i t h e r of

in the l a t t e r ,

SVC

o n the

of n e g a t i o n a n d t h e same p o s s i b i l i t i e s

it s e e m s t h a t the S e q u e n t i a l

two verbs

it

SVC.

and the Sequential SVC's rank almost equally

since they both have two p o s s i b i l i t i e s

of

negation,

t h a n t h e M o d i f y i n g S V C is

of the n e g a t i o n of t h e s e c o n d v e r b as w e l l as t h e

of

the

only

follows:

Types

Sequential Durational Consequential Modifying

Most

closely-knit

Complex

Verb

D o e s the b e h a v i o u r of S V C ' s u n d e r c o n s t i t u e n t partite division Complex

into Coordinate,

SVC differs

Modifying,

f r o m all the o t h e r s

negation also support the and Complex? Quite clearly,

in t h a t it is t h e o n l y o n e t h a t

c o n s t i t u e n t n e g a t i o n of the v e r b . O f t h e o t h e r s , also easily

go t o g e t h e r b e c a u s e

T h i s leaves the Consequential

the Sequential

t h e y b o t h h a v e two p o s s i b i l i t i e s

a n d the of

trithe lacks Durational

negation.

a n d the M o d i f y i n g S V C ' s . C a n they f o r m o n e

group

39

Negation and Serial Verbal Construction Types

together? This is not feasible, since they differ in the type of verb negated as well as the optional or obligatory repetition of the other verb. On the other hand, the Consequential SVC shares with the higher two SVC's optional

repetition

of the other verb in a given position in the verbal string. If this SVC is not to be put into a separate class of its own, its nearest relatives are the Sequential and Durational SVC's with which it can form the group of Coordinate SVC. The above correlation between negation and SVC types in Yoruba points once again to the need to avoid limiting the study of verb serialization to positive sentences.

It is not unlikely that a study of negative SVC's in other

serializing

languages will reveal similar or other facts that cannot be revealed by studying positive SVC's alone.

NOTES 1.

The gloss "prt" stands for "particle". This is.a reference to the particle which occurs before ai. The consonant 'n' is realized as '1' before an oral vowel, hence the contraction n i a i ->- l a i .

2.

For a full discussion of modifying verbs, see Bamgbose

3.

All the SVC's in this paper are limited to a combination of two verbs.

4.

The constituent negation of the object is ignored in this and subsequent examples. For example, although one talks of the verb g b e 'carry' being negated in (4)b, a possible interpretation of the sentence is that the scope of negation is on the object i.e. that the subject did carry something, but what he carried was not a chair.

5.

(1974:36-41).

In actual fact, 'weep' is a combination of verb plus cognate object: ekun 'weep weeping'.

sun

5.

There is a vagueness in the meaning of (6)c. It might mean that no weeping took place (i.e. same meaning as in (6)a) or that some weeping did take place which, however, had ceased before the subject arrived home.

7.

As we are only concerned with the constituent negation of the verb, we ignore here the possible constituent negation of the noun object (i.e. that someone was cheated but that that person was not me).

3.

Hitherto, attention has not been drawn to such verbs in Yoruba, but verbs have been identified in other languages. For example, in Anyi Leynseele 1975:201, 205).

similar (Van

40

Ayo

Bamgbose

REFERENCES B a m g b o s e , A. 1 9 7 2 . O n the d e r i v a t i o n of a d v e r b s f r o m h i g h e r s e n t e n c e s . In Proceedings of the Eleventh International Congress of Linguists , ed. L u i g i Heilman, pp. 507-519. Bologna: S o c i e t à e d i t r i c e il M u l i n o B o l o g n a . . 1 9 7 4 . O n S e r i a l V e r b s a n d V e r b a l S t a t u s . Journal of Vest African Languages 9:17-48. . 1 9 8 2 . I s s u e s in the A n a l y s i s of S e r i a l V e r b a l C o n s t r u c t i o n s . Journal of Languages 12:3-21. West African B a n j o , A . 1 9 7 4 . S e n t e n c e N e g a t i o n in Y o r u b a . Studies in African Linguistics Supplement 5:35-47. K l i m a , E . S . 1 9 6 4 . N e g a t i o n in E n g l i s h . In The Structure of Language, eds. Fodor and Katz, pp. 246-323. E n g l e w o o d Cliffs, New Jersey: P r e n t i c e H a l l , Inc. V a n L e y n s e e l e , H e l e n e . 1 9 7 5 . R e s t r i c t i o n s o n S e r i a l V e r b s in A n y i . Journal of West African Languages 10:189-218.

Chapter 4

Nuclear Vocabulary: Some Applications in Historical Linguistics Patrick R. Bennett

1.

INTRODUCTION

T h e c o n c e p t of n u c l e a r v o c a b u l a r y ( 1 9 7 9 ) ; at l e a s t , quivalent

term,

s e e m s to h a v e b e e n i n t r o d u c e d i n

I h a v e so far b e e n u n a b l e to t r a c e a n y e a r l i e r u s e of a n e -

and Rossler cites no source. Unfortunately,

t h e c o n c e p t o t h e r t h a n to d e f i n e it, r o u g h l y , l a r y w h i c h is m a x i m a l l y placement

resistant

as t h a t c o m p o n e n t of b a s i c

innovation. Rossler

l i s t of i t e m s a s s u m e d to b e l o n g to t h e n u c l e a r v o c a b u l a r y T h i s w a s i n t e n d e d to d e m o n s t r a t e

he did little

listings

vocabure-

indeed presented

of B e r b e r a n d

I do n o t d i s p u t e t h e a f f i n i t y , t h o u g h it is n o t c l e a r t h a t

a n d the u s e s of n u c l e a r v o c a b u l a r y w a s m a d e , a n d t h e

a

Chadic.

t h e r e l a t i v e a f f i n i t y of t h e t w o g r o u p s

d a t a p r e s e n t e d c a n b e t a k e n as s e r i o u s e v i d e n c e . B u t no e x a m i n a t i o n of properties

with

( w i t h i n a g i v e n l i n g u i s t i c g r o u p i n g ) to

through borrowing or internal

Afro-Asiatic.

Rossler

within the

the

Berber-Chadic

t h e m s e l v e s g i v e l i t t l e c l u e as to h o w R o s s l e r d e r i v e d o r u s e d

nuclear

vocabulary. T h e p u r p o s e of t h e p r e s e n t p a p e r is to e x a m i n e s o m e of the i m p l i c a t i o n s t h e c o n c e p t of n u c l e a r v o c a b u l a r y is i m p o r t a n t

for t h e m e t h o d o l o g y

of l i n g u i s t i c h i s t o r y .

to d e t e r m i n e w h e t h e r t h e u s e of n u c l e a r v o c a b u l a r y

the i n v e n t o r y of t e c h n i q u e s

can be added

in c o m m o n u s e , e i t h e r as y i e l d i n g v a l i d r e s u l t s

its o w n r i g h t , or as h e l p i n g to i n t e r p r e t the r e s u l t s of s u c h o t h e r as c o n v e n t i o n a l Therefore,

lexicostatistics,

traditional

reconstruction,

a n u m b e r of t e s t s w e r e m a d e u s i n g c a r e f u l l y

a w i d e r a n g e of l i n g u i s t i c

relationships.

It to in

techniques

or l o a n

selected data

of

analysis. documenting

42

Patrick R. Bennett

2.

BASIS FOR

To examine primary bic,

TESTING

a r a n g e of

test.

The

Ethiopian

linguistic

living

Semitic,

subgroups and

ships within

each

of

compiled

four

languages

each

for

subgroup.

constructions amined were

carefully To

lary, ly,

Here

were

agreed.

Where

test h o w

two

the n e a r l y

reason,

to p r o v i d e

Hebrew,

Classical The

Modern

Semitic

documentation, though lary test.

the

word

were based

four

on

reconstruction

the

were the

Ara-

relation-

lists

this paper

languages

Neo-Aramaic

them were to test time

as w a s

Arabic, oldest

relationship

depth Four

were

made

for

subgroup is b a s e d ,

or groups

was made,

as o n e of

temporal

dialects

Kurdistan

re-

ex-

but

these

The each

such

so as to a p p r o x i m a t e

in t h e O l d

Semitic

which

Old

prevents

data of

Arabian was

construction

alone would have

synchronic

families

applicable,

South

differ,

though with

of

and

diachronic

and

a historical

different

the

separate-

Neo-Aramaic

and

remaining

due

linguistic

lower

of

level

list.

of n u c l e a r I wished

technique und

were of

Ugaritic,

parallel

to r e l a t e d

same

subgroups

synchrony

to the

testing

the

languages

and

the

lists

included for

of t h e m a j o r

data

vo-

Parallel word

relationships,

results,

studied

Aramaic were

a completely

allowed

vocabu-

of n u c l e a r

as A k k a d i a n

excluded

nuclear

four

Neo-Aramaic,

languages,

lists.

the

used.

of O l d

to r e p r e s e n t

and

implications

of r e l a t i o n s h i p .

and G e e z ,

affect

included

of S e m i t i c w a s

done with

level

were

treated

the

might

documented

in a v a r i e t y

equally

of

constructed.

another

the Semitic

Language

from

unique

as a u n i t ,

excluded

of

to c h e c k

groups,

on w h i c h

for

Colloquial

reconstructions

Semitic

a partial

levels

In o r d e r

for O l d S e m i t i c w e r e

were

agreed,

and

studies

t h r e e out

of K u r d i s t a n

cabulary,

Semitic.

for M o d e r n other

In o r d e r

as b e t w e e n

group,

chosen

are N e o - A r a m a i c ,

Arabian.

as w e l l each

in t h e

different

examined.

Old

and

reconstructions

treated

from

Semitic was

distinguished.

languages

and

groups

made where

four d i a l e c t s

and

these

of S e m i t i c

Modern South

Reconstructions

reconstructions.

relationships,

the of

Al-

vocabua wider

should

unrelated

be

Nuclear Vocabulary

43

languages. A technique which groups dialects should differentiate language lies. Besides, a major premise in this case was that nuclear vocabulary characteristic of a language grouping, so different

fami-

is

families ought to show dis-

tinct inventories. With this in mind, similar lists were collected for Berber, two subgroups of Chadic,

and carefully selected Niger-Congo and

Indo-European

languages. Berber and Chadic were included not only to extend the study to the full width of Afro-Asiatic but also with an eye to testing the hypothesis

of a

closer Berber-Chadic grouping within Afro-Asiatic. The other two families were included for breadth,

and selected because of their internal differentiation

levels of documentation which approximate those of

3.

and

Afro-Asiatic.

PROBLEMS OF THE COUNT

In the compilation and counting of these word lists a number of practical problems appeared. Many of these are shared with other techniques of historical linguistics. Primary, as usual, is the question of what to include and

exclude.

Rossler's specification of a 'subset of basic vocabulary' immediately raises question of what is basic that has been much fought over in conventional costatistics. Here the restriction to any hypothetical universal seems unreasonable

in any case. Some of the most likely

the

lexi-

'basic' list

'nuclear' items,

found

in nearly all members of a family, like South Central Niger-Congo

*kon

'firewood 1 ,

Indo-European

'wear 1 , would

be unlikely

to be included in a general

*mus-

'mouse 1 , or Afro-Asiatic 'base' vocabulary.

*lbs

In most cases, the

documentation of various members of a family seriously restricts the range of glosses that can be included even without the basic

further narrowing possibilities with

requirement.

Once the list of glosses is established,

the question of which

equivalents

from a given language to include remains. This also is a standard problem. For a gloss such as

'cut 1 , for example, it is possible to find in a well-documented

44

P a t r i c k R.

Bennett

l a n g u a g e a d o z e n or m o r e e q u i v a l e n t s ,

all w i t h slightly d i f f e r i n g m e a n i n g s ,

t h e l i s t s f r o m a n y t w o l a n g u a g e s a r e u n l i k e l y to o v e r l a p c o m p l e t e l y e i t h e r f o r m o r r a n g e of m e a n i n g s . A p o o r l y d o c u m e n t e d

solution.

limited multiple entries, while restricting defined semantically;

'cut' a n d

T h e p r o b l e m of o v e r l a p p i n g g l o s s e s

liver'

f a m i l i e s s u c h p a i r s as

raise problems

and identification example,

1

one, or by

'hit', a n d a r e b e t t e r

a g a i n , as u s u a l , r e m a i n s .

'bee/honey',

'hand/finger'

or

o m i t t h e s e r e s t r i c t s the l i s t a n d m a y r e s u l t clude them may bias the results

'buy/sell1,

or'

in s o m e m e m b e r s of the

' f i n g e r ' o p p o s e d to

force,

language

and though this reduces

groupings

to

the

in m i n d ;

To inHere

compara-

Two

similarities

can be

I operate w h e r e v e r possible w i t h a set

for a s m a l l

a m o u n t of p r e l i m i n a r y

can add immensely

in-

different

is p a r t i c u l a r l y h a r d to

are so w e l l k n o w n t h a t b o r r o w i n g s

In m y w o r k

e x a m i n a t i o n of the r e g u l a r i t i e s

by

groups.

R o s s l e r ' s o m i s s i o n of b o r r o w i n g s

regular correspondences

items,

duplication,

as o n e s e e s r e s e m b l a n c e s m i s s e d b y t h e o t h e r , or r e j e c t s

nized without exception.

for

in t h e l o s s of i n f o r m a t i o n ;

the s a m e p a i r of l i s t s m a y c o m e u p w i t h v e r y

as few l a n g u a g e

as,

group

'hand/arm'.

In c o u n t i n g , o n e ' s s t a n d a r d s m a y m a k e a c o n s i d e r a b l e d i f f e r e n c e .

as c o i n c i d e n t a l .

heart/

through counting some items more than once.

though not all s u c h cases can be avoided,

results,

proba-

In m a n y

'hand/arm'

t h e b e s t a v a i l a b l e s o l u t i o n is to a d j u s t t h e l i s t to a v o i d s u c h

vestigators examining

well-

inclusions.

In s o m e c a s e s it b e c o m e s m o r e c o m p l e x ,

b i l i t y of s t u d i e s of d i f f e r e n t

allow

fairly

hand/arm/finger', w h i c h may be reflected by three distinct 'arm' o p p o s e d to

precise

I m y s e l f p r e f e r to

the l i s t to g l o s s e s

through their differentiation

in o t h e r s .

in f o r m o r

per-

'buy' w i l l n o r m a l l y h a v e no m o r e t h a n t w o

'eat' a n d

ble entries per language, unlike

language

to

language will yield

h a p s o n e e q u i v a l e n t , w h i c h m a y n o t m a t c h a n y of the o t h e r s meaning. Here there seems no satisfactory

as

and

effort

to t h e r e l i a b i l i t y of

a s s e s s m e n t s of c o g n a c y . T r y i n g to e l i m i n a t e a n y b u t t h e m o s t b l a t a n t

enrecogof an

one's

borrowings

Nuclear Vocabulary is m o r e be

trouble

to a l a r g e

not

distort

45

than

it

degree

such

is w o r t h ;

a measure

a picture.

u s e of a w e i g h t e d

count

propriate,

that w a s

thoueh

Unique

to t h i s

retained within

a family,

the

particular

as t h e n u m b e r The number, insistence of

the

It w o u l d

seem

group.

To

groups

and

lously

large

items

that

take

were

the s a m e

of R o m a n c e

ap-

to e s t a b l i s h is t h a t

most

criterion

likely

to

use

a particular

item.

In

in g r o u p s

four,

I took

examined an item the

of

of

on the

size

of the

languages nuclear

should

sample. would

ten C h a d i c

to b o t h w o u l d

the

languages

either

three

Certainly

eliminate by

from

of

diverse a

the

Rossler.

coherence

recognize

or e l i m i n a t e

pro-

'nuclear'.

vocabulary

vary with

be

this

could be considered

the

as n u c l e a r

in p a r t

a

that

and

items

may be

decision

demanded

criterion

similarity

the

as B e r b e r - C h a d i c

languages

lexicostatistics,

base

vary with

the p e r c e n t a g e

number

vocabulary

in t h r e e - q u a r t e r s

recognized

should

case.

is the n e e d

before

surely

of

must

and b o r r o w i n g s

standard

orders

this

the

sub-

ridicu-

virtually

all

Cha-

candidates.

cy of t h e four

pitfall

sample.

languages

pair,

or of a g r o u p two c a s e s ,

related

This

as and

vocabulary

four

equal

languages,

languages,

it b e c o m e s will

very

is t h e d e g r e e

relationship.

of t h r e e w i t h

for n u c l e a r i t y

group

of

of r o u g h l y

of c l o s e l y

terion

.for n u c l e a r

A group

pairs

the

family

required

ten R o m a n c e

apply

Another

last

then we must

would

on retention

however,

languages

as w i t h

in t h i s

techniques,

interaction,

different

done

in t h e

of e n t r i e s

however,

majority

dic

where

cases,

if the n u c l e a r

languages

study,

not

statistical

linguistic

In s o m e

technique,

Clearly,

of

of

to r e f l e c t

for n u c l e a r i t y .

portion

like most

each

only

one more

probable

in fact

be

for

internal

example, may be

It m a y

also be

distantly

distantly

that m a n y

'nuclear'

of

related

items

only

constructed

composed

related

consisten-

of

to the

outsider.

satisfying

the

to a s u b d i v i s i o n ,

of

two

other In

the

crinot

to

a whole. the p r e c e d i n g

problem

may be

conveniently

avoided

by

preliminary

46

Patrick R. Bennett

study of group-internal

relationships,

coupled with a geographic or

criterion like Guthrie's use of his zones.

In this study the layering and

gation of subgroups within Semitic eliminated Clearly not all problems can be eliminated, have not surfaced in this preliminary minimized and figured

4.

into one's

subgrouping segre-

the majority of such problems.

and there are potentially many that

investigation, but with care they can be

calculations.

RESULTS OF THE FIRST TEST

The results of the experimental

application to Semitic seemed to confirm

that

this could be a reliable technique for subgrouping. The count made gave a figure for

'coherence'

for each subgroup. This was arrived at by assigning each of 100

glosses a figure based on the number of members of the subgroup sharing

cognates

glosses a figure based on the largest number of members of the subgroup

sharing

cognates for that item. Thus where all four dialects of Ethiopian Semitic for example, four points would be awarded; entered. The sum was converted

if all disagreed, one point

agreed,

was

to a percentage by subtracting 100 (the score

expected if no cognates were found) from the total and dividing by 300,

the

score which would remain if all entries were cognate, given four dialects in each subgroup. T h e results were consistent with known subgrouping. The most

close-knit

group, Kurdistan Neo-Aramaic,

showed over 90% agreement. The major

subdivisions

of Modern Semitic each showed

indices in the 75%-85% range, except

for Ethiopian

Semitic, which was about ten points lower. Modern Semitic as a whole had an index of about 45%. These figures are quoted as approximations because

choice

of different glosses for inclusion in the set of 100 change the absolute The comparison with Old Semitic showed

that the technique might have some

use in measuring the rate of linguistic change. Old Aramaic had an index 90%, equivalent

to the degree of relationship of Kurdistan Neo-Aramaic;

Aramaic as a whole yielded

figures.

above Neo-

about 75%. Old Semitic as a group had an index of

Nuclear Vocabulary

47

about 65%, compared to 45% for Modern Semitic. The approximately

(on the

a g e ) 2000 years separating the Old Semitic languages represented

from

aver-

their

modern counterparts would aeem to be responsible for the loss of about

15

points on the cohesion index. Further research may indicate whether this is no more reliable than standard glottochronologic

techniques.

In this study,

recog-

nizing that the Old and Modern Semitic groups were not strictly comparable, a second count was made. This eliminated

the subgroups of Old and Modern

Semitic

which were not found in both. Hebrew from Old Semitic, since no living member of the Canaanite branch exists which has had an unbroken history of

development;

and Modern South Arabian from the Modern group, because Old South Arabian is not well enough documented to allow its inclusion. The results were

essentially

unchanged. The Modern figure remained about 45%, while the Old Semitic dropped to between 55% and 60%. The drop probably reflects the close

index

contacts

between Hebrew and Aramaic, which would have inflated the original index. The approximately

15 point difference between the ancient and modern

still stands,

however.

5.

SECONDARY

languages

TESTING

Yet another count was made to test the hypothesis that representing Modern

Se-

mitic with four languages per subgroup and Old Semitic with but one might be distorting the results. Counting only one language per subgroup for Modern mitic still gave an index between 4 5 % and 50%, however, so this does not an important

Se-

seem

factor.

After the Semitic portion of the study, the scope was expanded to an investigation of Afro-Asiatic, based on Central Berber, Semitic

(the

Neo-Aramaic

and Colloquial Arabic subgroups) and the Angas and Bura-Higi clusters of Chadic. Each of the individual subgroups had a cohesion index between 75% and 80%, except for Bura-Higi which had about 60%. The overall index of cohesion based on

48

Patrick R. Bennett

the portions of Afro-Asiatic examined was quite low, at about 20%. This was not surprising in view of the known diversity of Afro-Asiatic. The number of cognates between Berber and Chadic was 18; between Berber and Semitic 12 (excluding some very obvious recent Arabic borrowings in Berber) cognates; and between Semitic and Chadic only 7. This, though the figures are hardly statistically impressive, seems to confirm the hypothesis of a closer Berber-Chadic relationship. They are the more significant when it is remembered that the two Chadic subgroups showed only a 24% sharing with one another, as contrasted with the 54% figure for the two Semitic groups.

6.

RESULTS OF THE SECONDARY TESTING

Though application of these techniques to the test data seemed to indicate some validity and potential use in the area of linguistic subgrouping and the measurement of relationship, the most basic claim made for nuclear vocabulary remained to be investigated. To what extent could a lexical nucleus peculiar to the linguistic grouping be identified? Rossler lists 24 sets of comparisons which he considers may be counted as 'nuclear'. For eight of these, the glosses are not included in the list examined ('brother', 'soft', 'cold', 'beat', 'go out', 'divide', and 'boil'). Of the remainder, twelve appear among the BerberChadic cognates. This is an excellent score, since Rossler's Chadic data are mostly drawn from other subgroups, and since certain of Rossler's identifications, like 'give', I would not count as Berber-Chadic agreements. All of the glosses which showed cognates in all three groups (except for the rather dubious 'woman') were included in Rossler's list. Most of the entries on his list (where the groups here examined showed cognates) also showed a high level of retention within the subgroups. That is, in most cases, all four of the languages in each subgroup would agree with one another, though the different subgroups might disagree .

Nuclear Vocabulary

49

This w o u l d argue that

'nuclear' vocabulary

t a i n e d i n the l a n g u a g e word pertaining replacement

the

*vid

re-

longer than other items. And that, e v e n after

t e n d to s h o w b e t t e r r e t e n t i o n in t h e d e s c e n d a n t s of

although the Semitic * l a y l y - a t -

a the

that

'night' c a n n o t b e r e l a t e d

to

w h i c h B e r b e r a n d C h a d i c s h a r e f o r t h e s a m e g l o s s , it s h o w s a h i g h

r a t e of r e t e n t i o n just as t h e B e r b e r - C h a d i c sidered

it is

to the n u c l e a r v o c a b u l a r y h a s b e e n r e p l a c e d in a s u b g r o u p ,

too will

branch. Thus,

family

is i n d e e d n u c l e a r . T h a t

item does and may equally be

con-

'nuclear'.

B u t t h e r e a r e p r o b l e m s w i t h s u c h an a r g u m e n t . candidates

In t h e f i r s t p l a c e , n o t

for nuclear status h a v e s u c h good r e t e n t i o n scores. The gloss

w h i c h is o n d o s s i e r ' s

'blood'

l i s t a n d is a l s o o n e of t h e i t e m s s h a r e d b y B e r b e r ,

a n d S e m i t i c a l l t h r e e , s h o w s a n a v e r a g e of t h r e e o u t of f o u r l a n g u a g e s subgroup agreeing. Other potentially nuclear

items,

C h a d i c a n d S e m i t i c t h o u g h n o t l i s t e d by R o s s l e r ,

like

all

Chadic,

per

'tooth', shared by

show similarly

lower

scores.

It is t r u e t h a t the i t e m s w i t h t h e l o w e s t s u b g r o u p r e t e n t i o n s c o r e s a l s o

show

n o i n t e r - s u b g r o u p c o g n a c y as a r u l e ; t h e r e a r e n o n e a v e r a g i n g t w o o u t of

four,

f o r e x a m p l e . B u t the c o n v e r s e perfect subgroup-internal Asiatic. Further,

is n o t t r u e . T h e g l o s s e s

'sun' a n d

'ear'

s c o r e s , b u t n o l i n k s b e t w e e n any t w o b r a n c h e s of

t h e r e a r e a few c a s e s w h e r e o n l y o n e m e m b e r of a

retains what

f r o m the o v e r a l l e v i d e n c e m u s t b e t h e o r i g i n a l

for e x a m p l e ,

of C e n t r a l B e r b e r , w h e r e o n l y S h i l h a of the l a n g u a g e s

retains the Proto-Berber numerals above We conclude may identify

show

s a f e p r e d i c t o r of its n u c l e a r i t y

is

true,

examined

'two'.

a h u n t i n g g r o u n d w i t h i n w h i c h to s e e k for t h e

c l u d e t h a t t h e s t a t u s of a g l o s s as

subgroup

item. T h i s

that t h e s e m e a s u r e s of c o h e s i o n of g r o u p - i n t e r n a l

b u t that o t h e r c r i t e r i a a r e n e c e s s a r y

Afro-

consistency

'nuclear'

vocabulary,

to i d e n t i f y s u c h i t e m s . W e m u s t a l s o

'nuclear'

con-

i n the f a m i l y as a w h o l e is n o t

in a n y i n d i v i d u a l

subgroup.

In o t h e r w o r d s ,

m u s t r e a l i z e t h a t t h o u g h o n e m a y l e a d the n u c l e u s to w a t e r , o n e c a n n o t m a k e

a we

it

50

P a t r i c k R.

Bennett

drink.

7.

TESTING THE CHARACTERISTIC STATUS OF NUCLEAR

Given these mixed results, to c h e c k family,

to w h a t e x t e n t

VOCABULARY

I d i d n o t e x p e c t m u c h of t h e f i n a l t e s t , w h i c h w a s

'nuclear' vocabulary

is c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of a

a n d to w h a t e x t e n t u n r e l a t e d g r o u p s d i f f e r i n t h i s r e s p e c t . T h e

families examined were Afro-Asiatic,

represented by Central Berber

two branches of Modern Semitic, Neo-Aramaic and Colloquial Arabic; pean,

language

represented by

Iranian, Germanic,

Congo, represented by Northern Cross,

and Romance;

and the

Niger-

f o u r l a n g u a g e s of G u t h r i e ' s Z o n e

C,

cohesion,

a n d it w a s h o p e d t h a t the r e p r e s e n t a t i o n of the t h r e e f a m i l i e s w o u l d

give

similar overall cohesion scores. W i t h i n each family, the subgroups were to g i v e t w o r e l a t i v e l y Subgroup-internal N o r t h e r n Cross)

close g r o u p s and one m o r e distant cohesion,

to a b o u t 8 0 %

chosen

relative.

as it t u r n e d o u t , r a n g e d f r o m a b o u t 6 0 %

(for C e n t r a l B e r b e r a n d G e r m a n i c ) , w i t h a n

(for average

s c o r e of 75%. F a m i l y c o h e s i o n w a s a b o u t 3 5 % f o r r e p r e s e n t e d A f r o - A s i a t i c , for

Indo-European,

and 32.5 for South-Central

Niger-Congo.

f e l t to b e c l o s e e n o u g h to a l l o w v a l i d c o n c l u s i o n s

These figures

about differences

a r i t y . O n l y o n e g l o s s s h o w e d u n i f o r m r e t e n t i o n in a l l t h r e e f a m i l i e s , being

'two'. T h e g l o s s

disagreement 'nuclear'

'blood', w i t h f u l l a g r e e m e n t

in the other two families;

for I n d o - E u r o p e a n o n l y ; w h i l e

in Afro-Asiatic,

'star' s i m i l a r l y

could be

Again, however, the l i s t s e x a m i n e d ,

in

one must note certain reservations.

b r a n c h e s of A f r o - A s i a t i c

were nucle-

that showed

counted

that

the

of a g i v e n g r o u p is i n d e e d a c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of t h e

this showed

24%

'child' w a s f u l l y r e t a i n e d o n l y in N i -

g e r - C o n g o . T h e r e w a s e n o u g h d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n to let o n e c o n c l u d e 'nuclear' vocabulary

same

Indo-Euro-

and South-Central

a n d S o u t h e r n B a n t u . T h e s u b g r o u p s w e r e of a b o u t the s a m e l e v e l of

major

Consider

group.

'drink'.

' n u c l e a r ' r e t e n t i o n o n l y in N i g e r - C o n g o ;

In

the

and Indo-European considered showed disagreement.

Yet

Nuclear Vocabulary

51

w e k n o w t h a t if t h e t o t a l i t y of t h e l a n g u a g e g r o u p s is c o n s i d e r e d b e f o u n d to b e

'nuclear'

nuclear Berber-Chadic

in a l l t h r e e g r o u p s ,

items. The gloss

'drink'

a n d it i n f a c t is o n e of

'hear' is

'nuclear'

i n n o n e of

will

Rossler's the

g r o u p s e x a m i n e d , y e t o v e r t h e f a m i l i e s as w h o l e s m u s t b e i n c l u d e d in all

three

cases.

items,

I do n o t b e l i e v e

t h a t is, w h o s e

t h e r e are a n y i l l u s o r y

'nuclear' items included;

'nuclear' status w o u l d b e d e n i e d given wider

information.

But

c e r t a i n l y n o t a l l t h a t is n u c l e a r r e v e a l e d i t s e l f . W h e n o n e c o n s i d e r s t h e w i d e r f a m i l y , o v e r a l l c o h e s i o n s c o r e s go d o w n . B u t the i n v e n t o r y of w h a t

is

'nuclear'

g o e s u p , a n d t h e l i s t for t h e t h r e e f a m i l i e s b e c o m e m u c h m o r e s i m i l a r . N o t dentical;

'star' is c l e a r l y n o t a n u c l e a r g l o s s f o r a n y p o r t i o n of

or A f r o - A s i a t i c ,

nor will

'steal' w o r k

e n c e s b e t w e e n a n y two f a m i l i e s

in the

'nuclear'

it a p p e a r s t h a t t h e

from

'universal'

base

differ-

is

this

signifi-

vocabulary.

It is, f i n a l l y , n o t g o i n g to b e p o s s i b l e the b a s i s of w h i c h g l o s s e s p a t t e r n as

South-

l i s t s w i l l b e m i n i m a l . At

l e v e l it is h a r d to s e e h o w t h e g r o u p - s p e c i f i c n u c l e a r v o c a b u l a r y cantly different

Niger-Congo

f o r I n d o - E u r o p e a n as it d o e s for

C e n t r a l N i g e r - C o n g o . Y e t w h e n all is s a i d a n d d o n e ,

i-

to c l a s s i f y l a n g u a g e g r o u p s

' n u c l e a r ' . T h e b r a n c h e s of

on

Afro-Asiatic

a n d e v e n S e m i t i c c o n s i d e r e d i n t h e e a r l i e r p o r t i o n s of the s t u d y s i m p l y d o n o t agree. The gloss

'know' s h o w s g o o d s t a b i l i t y

t h e i t e m s l i n k i n g the t w o g r o u p s ; The numeral variable

8.

in Semitic,

in B e r b e r a n d C h a d i c a n d is o n e o f 'know' s e e m s r e l a t i v e l y

unstable.

'one' is a m o n g t h e m o s t s t a b l e i t e m s in S e m i t i c , b u t is h i g h l y

in the o t h e r

groups.

CONCLUSION

O n e m u s t , of c o u r s e , b e a r

i n m i n d t h a t t h i s is a p r e l i m i n a r y

study employing

r a t h e r s m a l l s a m p l e . T h e l a r g e l y n e g a t i v e r e s u l t s c o u l d b e e x p l a i n e d in t h i s way.

But, g i v e n the n a t u r e of t h e d a t a , t e c h n i q u e s

serve for short wordlists

in l i n g u i s t i c h i s t o r y

and small language families. A technique which

must re-

a

52

Patrick R. Bennett

quired 10,000 word dictionaries and a minimum of twenty languages could

rarely

be applied - and would probably cost more in processing the data than it was worth. Exactly

the same lists used in this study allow one to establish

lar patterns of correspondence,

construct

sets of reliable

'proto-forms',

form several types of statistical manipulation and some mapping of and, not least, draw some conclusions therefore, expect

Instead, we must conclude that what

That the

isoglosses,

is

'nuclear'

vocabulary.

'nuclear' to a group can only be

(and very close examination of borrowing).

'nuclear' vocabulary once obtained

is not of real use in

subgrouping,

and indeed that its recognition demands close attention to an established grouping. That it is only accidentally different versal

'base' vocabulary,

from a hypothetically

uni-

'nuclear' word list as differentiated

from an inventory of reliable reconstructions

is of very little use to anyone.

On the positive side, the cluster approach which was used in seeking

potential

potential

and the measures of group cohesion arrived at, seem to have

as an addition to the historical

linguist's arsenal of

techniques.

For example, if a language from the standpoint of shared innovation seemed equally related

sub-

and reveals little about the ancestral language or

the assumed culture of its speakers. A

nuclear vocabulary,

per-

from patterns of borrowing. We would,

rather more of an investigation of

determined after full reconstruction

regu-

to each of two clusters,

it might be possible

to arrive at an

acceptable grouping by testing it in both groups and seeing how its affected group cohesion. Conventional

lexicostatistics

about

inclusion

as a subgrouping

tool

leaves a residue of cases where an arbitrary decision must be made as to what level of cognacy to treat as indicating group boundaries. Some of there be resolved with this more group-oriented Clearly

could

technique.

further investigation is needed,

to refine the technique, to de-

termine more precisely how group size, internal subgrouping,

and types of count

affect the results. 'Yhile certainly not what Rossler intended, it can, I feel

Nuclear Vocabulary contribute significantly

53 to the investigation of linguistic

history.

REFERENCE Rossler, Otto. 1979. Berberisch-Tschadisches Kernvokabular. Afrioana 12(1/2):20-32.

Marburgensia

Chapter

5

A Typology of Empty Categories for Kikuyu and Swahili Victoria L . Bergvall 1.

INTRODUCTION

H o w w e l l d o e s t h e t y p o l o g y of e m p t y c a t e g o r i e s (GB) t h e o r i s t s agreement

Romance

and

in o t h e r l a n g u a g e s ? O f p a r t i c u l a r

interest

w o r k i n g of p a r a m e t e r s

governing

that gives us insight

t h e r a n g e of e m p t y c a t e g o r i e s

in

subjects and objects

in two l a n g u a g e s , K i k u y u a n d S w a h i l i ;

in t h e s e l a n g u a g e s s i g n a l e i t h e r c o n c o r d i a l

four empty categories

2.

process

the prefixes agreement

for

or

morpholo-

f o r m u l a t i o n s of

(PRO, p r o , W H - t r a c e a n d N P - t r a c e ) ^ do n o t y e t

t h e f u l l r a n g e of t h e B a n t u

the

closely-related

c l i t i c a g r e e m e n t w i t h e x t e r n a l N P - p o s i t i o n s . A n a n a l y s i s of t h i s v e r b a l gy in t h e f r a m e w o r k of t h e G B t h e o r y s h o w s t h a t t h e p r e s e n t

in the

into

languages. The Romance cliticization processes parallel the agglutinative of the B a n t u v e r b a l s y s t e m

for to

is t h e c o n c e n t r a t e d w o r k by G B p r o p o n e n t s o n c l i t i c i z a t i o n

languages, work which has produced a model

describe

Binding

(e.g. C h o m s k y 1 9 8 1 , 1 9 8 2 ) c a p t u r e t h e r a n g e of p o s s i b i l i t i e s

and p r o n o m i n a l i z a t i o n

Bantu theorists

d e v e l o p e d b y Government

the

adequately

data.

DATA

T h e p r i m a r y d a t a for t h i s d i s c u s s i o n c o m e f r o m c e r t a i n c o - o c c u r r e n c e

restrictions

b e t w e e n t h e u s e of f u l l N P ' s a n d t h e s u b j e c t a n d o b j e c t p r e f i x e s o n t h e v e r b s two SVO l a n g u a g e s , S w a h i l i ment NP's may be dropped,

and Kikuyu.

In t h e s e l a n g u a g e s ,

leaving a grammatical

the full external

sentence expressed only with

v e r b a l m o r p h o l o g y , w i t h t h e o r d e r of t h e e l e m e n t s n o w

SOV.

2

of arguthe

56

Victoria L. Bergvall Kikuyu

(1) a.

Kamau

b.

Swahili ne-a

Ne-a FP

-ku:-ire

mwana.

b.

- m o - k u : - i'r tf.

SP

OP VS

'Kamau carried

Kamau

c.

a A

T

SP

(the) child.'

-li-m

-beba

-li-m T

OP

'Kamau carried

mtoto

-beba. VS

(the) child.'

(where FP = Focus Particle, SP = Subject Prefix, OP = Object Prefix, T = Tense/Aspect and VS = Verb Stem.) In Bergvall and Whitman (1982b), the distribution of the empty categories and concord markers for the animate (human) classes

(1 and 2 in the traditional

classi-

3 fication) was determined as follows.

In subject position, both languages

require

a subject prefix, regardless of the presence or absence of the full subject NP. In object position, Swahili speakers preferred to have object prefixes

co-occurring

with full NP human objects, while Kikuyu speakers preferred to have either the object prefix alone, or the full NP object, but not both together. The possible options are set forth in the following Kikuyu (2) a.

chart.

subjects

1. K a m a u t

ne-a -ku:-ire »

mwana.

NP+SP

2.

Ne-a -ku:-ire *

mwana.

0

3.*Kamau t

ne-

-kui-ire

mwana.

NP+0

4.*

Ne-

-ku:-ire

mwana.

0

4

I

FP

} J SP

'Kamau carried

VS

+SP

+0

T

(the) child.'

Kikuyu objects 1.*Kamau

ne-a

-mo-ku:-ire t

2. K a m a u

ne-a

-mo-ku:-ire"''. t

3. K a m a u

ne-a

. -ku:-ire t

4.*Kamau

ne-a FP

'Kamau carried

-

SP

t

-ku:-ire.

OP VS

T

(the) child.'

mwana. f • mwana. i

OP+NP OP+0 0 +NP 0

+0

A Typology of Empty Categories Swahili

57

subjects

1. K a m a u t

a -1 i -m - b e b a t

mtoto.

NP+SP

2

A+ - 1 i - m - b e b a

mtoto.

0 +SP

'

t

li-m

-beba

mtoto .

NP+0

Li - m

-beba

mtoto.

0 +0

3 .* K a m a u t t 4

'*

1

t

T

SP 'Kamau carried

OP

VS

(the) child

i

Swahili objects 1. K a m a u a

-li-m -beba t

2. K a m a u a

-li-m -beba . 1 t

3 .* K a m a u a

-li-

4 .* K a m a u a

-li-

SP 'Kamau carried

T

t t OP

-beba -beba.

mtoto . t

mtoto. t t

OP+NP OP+0 0 +NP 0 +0

VS

(the) child

»

Note how (2)a, c, and d fall together in ruling out options 3 and 4:

deletion of

the subject or object prefix in these cases results in unacceptability, while (2)b, the Kikuyu object case, shows an either/or situation to be acceptable: either the object prefix, or the full NP but not both, nor neither. From this evidence, and other evidence from extraction environments,

Bergvall

and Whitman (1982b) concluded that the subject markers in Kikuyu and the subject and object markers in Swahili could be considered only agreement Kikuyu object markers had the full status of pronouns

markers, while

cliticized onto the verb.

It was suggested, furthermore, that the agreement markers bound a small pro (empty category) in the respective external NP gap, while the Kikuyu cliticized bound an NP-trace in the post-verbal

pronoun

position.

In the course of working out the typology of empty categories for these languages, those claims will be reevaluated. On the basis of a reanalysis of some of the data, and on some theory-internal arguments, it will be argued that while the subject data for Kikuyu and Swahili and the Swahili object data fall into

58

Victoria L. Bergvall

line with those previous claims, the object position in Kikuyu presents difficulties for any analysis as an empty category in GB theory. Suggestions for the modifications of the theory to incorporate the Kikuyu object data will be evaluated .

3.

PROPERTIES OF EMPTY CATEGORIES

Before we begin these arguments, we will review the essential properties of the empty categories in the GB framework. There are four types of empty categories, basically determined by the theories of government and the binding of anaphora. An NP-traae must be properly governed by a lexical category, N, V, P, or A. The trace occupies an A-position (Argument position), and is bound by an antecedent in another A-position. NP-traces are seen in passive and seem-type sentences, as in (3). (3)

Kikuyu:

raising

4

Mwan a |

ne-a FP SP

1

i 11 „ . '•j NP

-ku:-ir-wo VS

T

PASS .1

(The) child was carried [t]

t

I

WH-traces are also properly governed, and are bound by an antecedent or an operator in an A-position (non-Argument position), such as COMP. (4)

Kikuyu: '

Noo j

Kamau

a -ku: -ir f ftlJ ? j WH SP VS

T

'Who (did) Kamau carry

t

[t]

?'

I™

PRO appears in the subject position of untensed clauses, and is thus ungoverned, according to principles A and B of the Binding theory in GB. It is either free (with arbitrary reference), or bound locally by a control verb in its matrix clause. (5)

Kikuyu:

(PRO) y o - t e q e r a PRO

to

ne

kwtya.

is

good

run

'Running is good.'

A Typology of Empty Categories

59

Small pro is governed, in subject position by the [+Tense] inflectional element; in object position, by part of the verbal matrix. It has all the features of a regular pronominal, except that it is phonologically null. It may either have specific or definite independent reference, or it may be pleonastic, bound by elements such as the English dummy subjects referential

'there' and 'it', or the French non-

'il'. There appear to be connections with "rich inflectional markings"

in languages such as Italian or Spanish and the appearance of pro (Taraldsen 1978, 5 Chomsky 1981, 1982). How well do these categories describe the Bantu data, such as (2) above, and in extraction environments? What must be changed to make the proposed typology of empty categories work? We will begin to answer this by examining the subject position in Kikuyu and Swahili. 4.

SUBJECT POSITION

As we saw in (2)a, b, Kikuyu and Swahili must always have a subject prefix on the verb, while the NP is optional. The gap that results from the omission of the full NP in subject position has been called

'pro-drop'. There is no expressed NP an-

tecedent to bind this gap in the sentence; hence it cannot be the trace of NPmovement. Nor is there an antecedent in COMP; hence it is not the trace of WHmovement. This leaves us the two pronominal categories, PRO and pro. Recall that PRO may only appear in an ungoverned position, such as the subject position in infinitival clauses, as shown in example (5), and in (6) below: (6)

Kikuyu:

(PRO) k w - a r i a

t

ne

kwsT-ya.

J INF VS

PRO Swahili:

to

speak

(PRO) k u - s e m a

t

f

is

good

ni

kuzuri.

is

good

INF VS PRO

to

speak

'Speaking is good.'

60

Victoria L. Bergvall

But in (7) (examples (2)a.2 and (2)c.2 repeated here for ease of reference),

the

verb is tensed, so PRO cannot appear. Thus, the subject position here, as in Italian, must be filled by the only remaining empty category: (7)

Kikuyu:

Swahili :

(pro)

t

ne-a

r

-ku:-ir£

FP SP

VS

carried

(pro)

a -li-m

T

-beba

mtoto.

I SP T

pro

mwana.

child

pro

t

pro.

OP VS

carried

child

'(He/she) carried (the) child.' PRO and pro fit all the conditions described on the previous page. Thus, in subject position, the mechanisms and categories previously established do work for the range of Bantu

5.

for Romance

languages

subjects.

OBJECT POSITION

However, the object position is more problematic. Most Kikuyu speakers regard cooccurrence of the object prefix and a full NP to be unnecessary and ungrammatical, while Swahili speakers prefer it, in the examples shown in (2)b, d. It is even possible for some speakers to get the object prefixes co-occurring with question words in Swahili, as in (8). For Kikuyu speakers, this is impossible.

(8) a.

Swahili:

Kamau

a -li-m

-penda

t SP T Kamau b.

Kikuyu:

loved

whom type)

a - mtw - e : d - i r e SP OP

Kamau

_J

OP VS

(in situ question

*Kamau

loved

nani?

oo? I

VS whom

A Typology of Empty Categories c.

Kikuyu:

61

(fronted question *Noo t

Kamau

a

-mw-£:d-ir£? t

SP whom

Kamau

type)

OP

vs

loved

'Who did Kamau love?' The Swahili object position,

illustrated

in (8) and in (2)d, thus parallels

subject position data from both Kikuyu and Swahili, with the object prefix agreement. But a problem arises:

Principle)

(9)

marking

remember that the subject position in Kikuyu

and Swahili is governed by the tensed domain of proper government,

the

INFL element, which puts it outside

according to the Generalized ECP

the

(Empty Category

(Chomsky 1981:275), which states, in short:

An empty category is trace if and only if it is -properly governed by a lexical category N, V, P, or A, and PRO if and only if it is ungoverned.

The postverbal positions of these object gaps are properly governed by the verb, and are thus disqualified

form the status of PRO. But as we will see in a moment

in connection with Kikuyu objects, the Swahili object cannot be an NP-trace, its antecedent,

since

the object prefix, occupies an A-position within the verb. It is

also not a WH-trace, since there is no operator or antecedent

in COMP. But if we

relax the biconditional in (9) to allow pro to be properly governed, we can assign it to object position in Swahili. This leaves us with the new ECP statement

in

(10) .

(10)

6.

Traces must be properly governed by a lexical category, N, V, P, or A; pro is governed, and PRO must be ungoverned.

KIKUYU OBJECTS:

NP- VS. WH-TRACE

Turning now to the most problematic position, we look at Kikuyu objects. Bergvall and Whitman

In

(1982b), it v.as assumed that the empty position was an NP-

trace, with the object prefix marker acting as a cliticized pronoun. This

follows

the classical position taken for French by Kayne (1975), which predates Trace

62

Victoria L. Bergvall

theory. This analysis captures the strong intuitive sense that the object marker in Kikuyu shows some of the crucial features of a full argument,

prefix

appearing

in pronominal rather than full NP form. This is bolstered by the lack of

free-

standing pronouns in this position when there is an object prefix, except of emphasis, such as contrastive stress. However,

in GB theory, NP-movement

confined to A-positions, which adequately describes the passive and subject

facts. But the object prefix position is an A-position;

redefine it as an A-position

in cases is

raising-to-

if we wish to

in some way, we would need to introduce some mecha-

nism for insuring that both it and the full NP A-position do not appear at once, which would violate subcategorization restrictions. Thus, there are problems with calling this object prefix the binder of an NP-trace, as Kayne and Bergvall and Whitman In our movement

(1975), Borer

(1981)

(1982a, b) would have us do.

rules, we presently have a neat division between A and A-

positions, with NP movement

to the former, and WH-movement

to the latter. As now

defined, the object prefix is an A position. Do we conclude that the Kikuyu prefix binds a variable in postverbal position? This would necessitate

object

positing

a word-internal operator in the object prefix position to bind the gap - a different binding process from that of movement But this object gap is not determined nite pronominal in previous

to COMP in the periphery of the

sentence.

as a variable in discourse, but as a defi-

(with no phonological content),

tied to an R-expression or a name

discourse.

Thus it appears that the Kikuyu object position is not well-described either of the traces, NP or WH. This leaves us the pronominal

7.

KIKUYU OBJECTS:

by

forms, PRO and pro.

PRO VS. pro

In a previous version of this paper, a large PRO solution was adopted on the basis of a symmetry of co-occurrence restrictions.

It was argued

(following

Jaeggli

1980) that the relationship between a clitic and its corresponding gap in object position in Kikuyu was similar to the relationship between PRO in a control

po-

A Typology of Empty Categories sition and the

63

k o - infinitival prefix marker on the verb stem. As shown in ex-

ample (11), having an infinitive marker has the same effect as having an object marker, in that neither can cooccur with an external argument. Note the contrast in the a and b examples in (11), where a control verb - £ : d a , 'want', licences the PRO structure. (11) a.

Kikuyu:

Nemar£:da

b.

Kikuyu:

*Nemar£:da

(PRO)

ko-mo-r£:hii

(PRO).

Kamau

ko-mo-r£:h£

mwana.

INF OP \

t

P R 0

'

|

V

PRO+INF: OP+PRO *NP+INF; *OP+NP

VS •

V,'

i

( P R 0 )

*

) •

'They want < > to bring him J > 1 I *Kamau \ J the child.I

Note that the English translation of b does not render the Kikuyu precisely. The b version would be more grammatical if the subjunctive form of the lower verb were used, but this requires the use of the subject prefix a - (3rd per. sg.), not the infinitival (12)

k o - . Compare:

Kikuyu:

Nemar£:da

Kamau

a

-mo-r£:h'e.

SP OP

VS

'They want Kamau to bring him. ' This PRO solution cannot, however, be implemented without modifications to the theory. The previous condition on PRO was that it be ungoverned, i.e., in the subject position of a [-Tense] clause. The post-verbal object position is, however, properly governed by the verb. Jaeggli (1980) suggested that the object clitic absorbs the government of the verb; adopting his suggestion would allow us to call the external gap in object position PRO. But recent research (Chomsky, Rizzi, personal communication) suggests that government is a relationship that holds between heads and their arguments; the clitic-object gap relationship thus differs fundamentally from the [-Tense] INFL and the PRO. The head of the verb phrase, the verb, governs the external object argument position. The clitic is not an argument; it must be chained to an argument position to get its meaning, but is not itself a candidate for absorption of government.

64

Victoria L. Bergvall

However, Jaeggli

(1980) himself suggests that the critical property

is not

absorption of all of the effects of government, but one of the properties signed under government, that is, abstract Case assignment. Aoun

the as-

(1981) points

out that Case absorption by the clitic would have some of the same effects of full government

absorption.

If the clitic absorbs the objective Case

assignment

of the verb, there can be no external object unless there is an independent

Case

assigner

(Kayne's generalization), which Kikuyu lacks, otherwise this

NP would

fall afoul of the Case Filter, and not be visible for 6 - r o l e marking.

T h e inability a clitic, would

to have a WH-extraction

also be accounted

unable to get the Case-marking it (cf. examples (8)b and

external

from this external gap, when there is

for under this analysis; the WH-trace would be

it needs, because the clitic had already

absorbed

(8)c).

Thus, while it is untenable that the clitic absorbs the broad range of ment properties

that

sorption properties

it would need to under a large PRO solution, the Case-abare supportable under an analysis of the empty category

Kikuyu object position as a small

in

pro.

However, remember that small pro was our choice for the subject gaps of Kikuyu and Swahili and the object position in Swahili, where

position co-occurrence

was allowed, compared to the prohibition of co-occurrence in

the Kikuyu

position.

another

If we are to use pro for Kikuyu objects, obviously

must operate to differentiate this position from the other

8.

govern-

obiect

parameter

three.

THE CASE PARAMETER

This is where the Case absorption properties discussed above come into play. It was suggested in Chomsky

(1982 and personal communication) that the critical

dis-

tinction is, first, whether a clitic absorbs Case or not; and secondly, whether it manifests the absorbed Case. T h e first type

(-absorption, and hence

automatic-

ally, -manifestation) describes the situation where the clitic is merely greement marker on the verb corresponding to the features of the external

an aargu-

A Typology of Empty Categories

65

ment. Clitic-doubled Swahili and Kikuyu subjects and Swahili objects fall into this category. When the parameter is set (+absorption, +manifestation), cases like the Kikuyu object clitic with no full-NP doubling result. The third possibility of (+absorption, -manifestation) shows up in languages such as River Plate Spanish (spoken in South America), where there is a clitic AND an external argument; but here Kayne's generalization comes in. There must be an independent Case assigner, such as the a in the Spanish example, Lo the clitic

lo

vi

a el,

'I saw him. 1

(where

doubles the pronoun el ).

Now, this process of setting parameters for (+absorption) and

(+manifestation)

may appear to be straightforward and independent of other considerations, but it requires the stipulation of which clitics may or may not absorb Case - a rather circular process that tells us little of the mechanisms behind why a language would choose what is a clitic and what is an agreement marker. Recall Taraldsen's (1978) idea that there might be a connection between the pro-drop process and the verbal morphology remaining in a sentence, along the lines of the principle of recoverability of deletion. However, this suggestion is unhelpful in the case of the Bantu languages under discussion. There is no difference in the form of the affixes in Swahili, whether or not there is an external argument expressed. Yet there do appear to be factors other than form that influence the choice of a morpheme as a clitic or an agreement marker, thereby affecting the setting of the parameters of Case-absorption. The subject/object asymmetry of Kikuyu may have its roots, in part, in the asymmetry of government, due to the subject's o governor, INFL, not being an X

category, and hence not a proper governor.

But the asymmetry of government may be only part of the cause. The Bantu languages make crucial use of another distinction that, as yet, does not fall neatly into any formulation of the components of GB. Animacy, or more accurately, humanness, is a factor in determining whether a clitic doubles an NP in Swahili (cf. fn. 1), and in Kikuyu, the inanimate clitic (in a non-doubled case) may even

66

Victoria L.

be omitted itself

Bergvall

( s e e B e r g v a l l 1 9 8 3 f o r m o r e d i s c u s s i o n of t h e s e a n d

related

issues). I n t e r a c t i n g w i t h t h i s a n i m a c y d i s t i n c t i o n is a n o t h e r of d e f i n i t e n e s s o r ficity;

clitic doubling in Swahili

e m p l o y e d to s i g n a l d e f i n i t e n e s s . of variable,

( o u t s i d e of the h u m a n c l a s s e s 1 a n d 2) m a y

If i n d e f i n i t e o b j e c t s c a n b e a n a l y z e d as a

t h e n t h e s e e f f e c t s m i g h t b e d i s c u s s e d in t e r m s of t h e L F

On the other hand,

t h e r e a p p e a r to b e s o m e f a c t o r s u s u a l l y

component

s u c h as t h e o r d e r i n g of e l e m e n t s in t h e s e n t e n c e

at w o r k ,

new information, n e - initial-focus

or t h e r e o r d e r i n g of e l e m e n t s

form

component.

a s s i g n e d to a

that results

be

discourse

from

old-to-

f r o m t h e u s e of

the

construction.

These elements subject

speci-

interact

(in K i k u y u ,

for example)

to m a k e it l i k e l y t h a t

(more o f t e n h u m a n , d e f i n i t e , o l d i n f o r m a t i o n ) w i l l c o o c c u r w i t h , or

b e represented by, an agreement marker, w h i l e the object will

(more often)

r e p r e s e n t e d by a cliticized p r o n o u n OR a full NP, but not an agreement

the merely

be

marker

AND a full NP. Thus, specifying which morphemes trivial cannot

and m e c h a n i c a l

are eligible

task. Merely stating that,

absorb Case, while object morphemes

for C a s e - a b s o r p t i o n "for K i k u y u :

is n o t

subject

prefixes

can" does not give us either a

complete

d e s c r i p t i o n of t h e f a c t s , n o r a s u i t a b l e e x p l a n a t i o n o f t h e d i s t r i b u t i o n of and agreement

9.

clitics

markers.

CONCLUSION

Does GB theory account

for t h e B a n t u d a t a ? C l e a r l y , w h i l e t h e r e s e a r c h o n

c l i t i c s h a s g i v e n u s the v o c a b u l a r y to d i s c u s s certain useful parallels, zation, empty

a

categories

cannot

the p r o b l e m s at h a n d , p o i n t e d

and even yielded insights

there remain certain questions

Romance

i n t o t h e w o r k i n g s of

that the existing

answer. The first problem was the

clitici-

f o r m u l a t i o n of t h e (relatively

out

four

trivial)

o n e of f i t t i n g s m a l l p r o i n t o t h e G e n e r a l i z e d E C P . T h i s n e c e s s i t a t e d r e l a x i n g 'if a n d o n l y i f ' p a r t of t h e b i c o n d i t i o n a l

referring

to t h e g o v e r n m e n t

of

the

traces,

A Typology of Empty Categories to a l l o w

pro

to b e

Secondly,

governed.

the version

presented

in C h o m s k y

small pro

can b e m a d e

yet

clearly

absorption

something

animacy

(1982) needed to

(1980:29

passim)

and fact

troublesome to b e

is n e e d e d

on

of p a r t i c u l a r

the

as w e l l

prefixes,

issues

raised

as e f f e c t i n g

the

about

the mechanism

by w h i c h

Case-

in w h i c h

parameters

the parameters

of v i t a l

importance

(if t h e o b s e r v a t i o n s

in f o r m

Spanish

and

affect

as

of K i k u y u yet u s e d

to t h o s e w o r k i n g

clarification

Kikuyu,

GB.

languages

here will

parameter, in

in

the Romance

the Case position

of R i v e r P l a t e

interest

between

By m a n i p u l a t i n g

pro,

of t h e o b j e c t

d a t a and

similar

to the u s e of s m a l l

data

operate,

the B a n t u

related

the component

the c l o s e l y - r e l a t e d

similarities of

of

said

are determined

are c o r r e c t ) ,

object

questions

resolution groups,

that and

subject

zation. The

refinement.

definiteness/specificity description

raises

the

more needs

the accurate

both

fit

clarification

and

The

of C a s e - a b s o r p t i o n ,

and m a n i f e s t a t i o n

Third,

67

and

Jaeggli

Swahili

employ

in d i f f e r e n t

data

theory

ways, of

suggest

the understanding

of G o v e r n m e n t

to

well.

o n any

the Bantu

of

of

clitici-

that

of b o t h

and B i n d i n g

the

language

Theory.

* I w i s h to t h a n k J o h n W h i t m a n , A n n i e Z a e n e n , J a k l i n K o r n f i l t , and E l a n a h K u t i k f o r t h e i r c o m m e n t s on e a r l i e r v e r s i o n s of t h i s p a p e r ; N o a m C h o m s k y and L u i g i B u r z i o for t h e i r d i s c u s s i o n s w i t h m e on p r o a n d C a s e ; P a t r i c k B e n n e t and M a g d a l e n a H a u n e r for t h e i r u s e f u l c o m m e n t s at the M a d i s o n C o n f e r e n c e ; a n d m o s t e s p e c i a l l y , m y K i k u y u i n f o r m a n t s (all f r o m C e n t r a l P r o v i n c e in K e n y a ) N g o t h o w a S i m o n ( K i k u y u D i v i s i o n , K i a m b u D i s t r i c t ) , M u t h o n i M w a n g i ( N a i r o b i ) , D r . K a r e g a M u t a h i of t h e D e p t . of L i n g u i s t i c s and A f r i c a n L a n g u a g e s at t h e U n i v e r s i t y of N a i r o b i ( K a n g e m a D i v i s i o n , M u r a n g ' a D i s t r i c t ) , and R i c h a r d K a r i u k i ( S o u t h T e t u D i v i s i o n , N y e r i D i s t r i c t ) ; and to m y S w a h i l i i n f o r m a n t , S a l i m S a l i m of Mombasa. A n y e r r o r s in the i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of t h e i r d a t a and s u g g e s t i o n s a r e m i n e . T h e v e r s i o n of t h i s p a p e r p r e s e n t e d at t h e 1 4 t h C o n f e r e n c e on A f r i c a n L i n g u i s t i c s in M a y 1 9 8 3 w a s e n t i t l e d , " P r o - d r o p , s m a l l p r o , and 'rich a g r e e m e n t ' in K i k u y u and Swahili."

NOTES 1.

A n a p p e n d i x of G o v e r n m e n t p a p e r is i n c l u d e d .

and B i n d i n g

terms

and

definitions

used

in

this

2.

T h e t o n e s in K i k u y u a r e m a r k e d h e r e ( ) for low, (') for h i g h , w i t h (") s i g n a l l i n g a c o m p l e x h i g h f a l l i n g t o n e and ( - 0 a c o m p l e x low r i s i n g t o n e . B e c a u s e the u n d e r l y i n g t o n a l p a t t e r n s of K i k u y u a r e a f f e c t e d by s y n t a c t i c p h e n o m e n a , s u c h as the p r e s e n c e of g a p s , d i s c u s s e d h e r e i n , no a t t e m p t is m a d e to a s s i g n t o n e s to u n g r a m m a t i c a l s e n t e n c e s .

68

V i c t o r i a L.

Bergvall

T h e m o r p h e m e g l o s s e d as a F o c u s P a r t i c l e , n e , is m a n d a t o r y o n m o s t a f f i r m a t i v e s e n t e n c e t y p e s in K i k u y u . Its i n t e r e s t i n g p r o p e r t i e s are o u t s i d e of the scope of this p a p e r . See B a r l o w (1960) or C l e m e n t s (1979) for m o r e discussion. All K i k u y u d a t a are t r a n s c r i b e d in IPA. T h e K i k u y u e x a m p l e s e m p l o y the I m m e d i a t e P a s t T e n s e for t h e m o s t p a r t , u s i n g an - i r £ suffix m o r p h e m e that is, s t r i c t l y s p e a k i n g , an a s p e c t m a r k e r of c o m p l e t e d (perfect) a c t i o n . T h e a c t u a l " T e n s e " m a r k e r w o u l d a p p e a r b e t w e e n t h e SP and O P as in S w a h i l i in o t h e r tenses. F o r the p u r p o s e s of this p a p e r , T e n s e and A s p e c t are m e r g e d to T . 3.

D i s c u s s i o n h e r e h a s b e e n r e s t r i c t e d to t h e h u m a n c l a s s e s 1/2, in p a r t b e c a u s e of the o p e r a t i o n of a n o t h e r r u l e of d e l e t i o n that allows for the p r e f i x of i n a n i m a t e ( n o n - h u m a n ) N P ' s to b e d e l e t e d in c e r t a i n c i r c u m s t a n c e s . F o r m o r e d e t a i l s a n d d i s c u s s i o n , see B e r g v a l l (1983). A d m i t t e d l y , c o n s i d e r i n g o n l y the h u m a n class is to limit the d a t a g r e a t l y . Y e t the a r g u m e n t s in B e r g v a l l and W h i t m a n (1982b) show c l e a r l y that S w a h i l i is m o v i n g t o w a r d s a s y n t a c t i c i z e d r e q u i r e m e n t of o b j e c t a g r e e m e n t for h u m a n s (cf. W a l d 1975, 1979), d i a c h r o n i c a l l y a s e m a n t i c / d i s c o u r s e a g r e e m e n t p r o c e s s m a r k i n g d e f i n i t e or s p e c i f i c o b j e c t s w i t h a p r e f i x d o u b l i n g the e x t e r n a l N P , w h i l e K i k u y u (as s p o k e n by my i n f o r m a n t s ) is h e a d i n g in t h e o p p o s i t e d i r e c t i o n . T h e d a t a h e r e r e p r e s e n t an " i d e a l i z e d " view of t h o s e d i r e c t i o n s , w h i l e r e m a i n i n g f a i t h f u l to the n a t u r a l s p e e c h of m y i n f o r m a n t s . (However, s e e also s e c t i o n 8 of this p a p e r for f u r t h e r

discussion.)

4.

T h e s y m b o l s for t h e e m p t y c a t e g o r i e s , PRO, pro, and t (trace), are m e r e l y for e x p o s i t i o n . T h e y are, of c o u r s e , not p r o n o u n c e d .

5.

T h i s p o i n t w a s d i s c u s s e d in B e r g v a l l and W h i t m a n (1982a) in m o r e d e t a i l , w h e r e it w a s a r g u e d that " m o r p h o l o g y is not d e s t i n y " ; h a v i n g a v a i l a b l e m o r p h o l o g y d o e s n o t insure p r o - d r o p c a p a b i l i t y , and p r o - d r o p m a y o c c u r w i t h o u t r i c h m o r p h o l o g y (cf. J a p a n e s e ) .

6.

T h e " m o v e m e n t to C O M P " m a y o n l y b e a p p a r e n t in t h e L F c o m p o n e n t w h e n are in situ q u e s t i o n s .

APPENDIX OF GOVERNMENT AND BINDING A typology

of empty

categories

TERMINOLOGY

(Chomsky

1982:78)

overt a. [ + a n a p h o r ,

NP

-pronominal]

b. [ - a n a p h o r , + p r o n o m i n a l ]

pro

c. [ + a n a p h o r ,

PRO

+pronominal]

of

the

Theory

a. A n a n a p h o r is b o u n d b. A p r o n o m i n a l

of Binding

(Chomsky

in its g o v e r n i n g

is free in its g o v e r n i n g

c. A n R - e x p r e s s i o n is free.

trace

categories

overt anaphora (each pronouns

variable

d. [ - a n a p h o r , - p r o n o m i n a l ] Principles

there

1982:20)

category. category.

R-expressions,

names

other)

A Typology of Empty Categories Extended

69

ECP (Empty Category Principle) (Chomsky 1982:21)

An EC is trace if and only if it is properly governed, and PRO if and only if it is ungoverned. Government

(Chomsky 1982:19) (see Sportiche and Aoun (1981) for more details)

a governs B if a = X° (in the sense of X-bar theory), a c-commands B, and B is not protected by a maximal projection. (We say that 3 is protected by a maximal projection if the latter includes B but not a. Assume VP to be the maximal projection of V and S' the maximal projection of INFL.) Case Theory

(Chomsky 1982:6):

concerned with the assignment of (abstract) Case

to elements that are in Case-marking positions (e.g. obj. of prepositions and transitive verbs, subj. of tensed S's)...The presence of Case makes elements "visible" to the application of certain rules (both in PR and LF components). Definitions bound:

(adapted form Radford 1981:367)

coindexed with a c-commanding argument.

argument-.

an NP position within an S or NP (subject, object: direct or indirect)

c-command:

X c-commands Y if the first branching node (or any maximal projection

of that node) dominating X dominates Y, and X does not dominate Y, nor Y, X. governing

category.

the minimal NP or S which contains the constituent which

governs X. governs:

X governs Y if X is the minimal potential governor (=V, A, N, P, or

TENSE (AGR)) c-commanding Y, and there is no intervening S-bar or NP-barrier between X and Y. proper governor-.

governed by an X° level category:

N, V, A, or P.

REFERENCES Aoun, Y. 1981. The Formal Nature of Anaphoric Relations. Ph.D. diss., MIT. Barlow, A.R. 1960. Studies in Kikuyu Grammar and Idiom. Edinburgh: Blackwood and Sons. Bergvall, V.I,. 1983. WH-questions and island constraints in Kikuyu: a reanalysis. In Current Approaches to African Linguistics Volume 2, eds. Jonathan Kaye, Hilda Koopman, Dominique Sportiche and André Dugas, pp. 245-260. Dordrecht, Holland: Foris Publications.

70

Victoria L. Bergvall

Bergvall, V.L. and J.B. Whitman. 1982a. Expanding the pro-drop parameter. Paper presented at the North Eastern Linguistic Society Meeting in Montreal, Nov., 1982. . 1982b. Noun class concord as a pronominal relation: Kikuyu clitics. Paper presented at the Winter Linguistic Society of America Meeting in San Diego, Dec, 1982. . In preparation. Pro-drop phenomena.

Borer, H. 1981. Parametric Variation in Clitic Constructions. Ph.D. diss., MIT. Chomsky, N. 1981a. Lectures on Government and Binding. Dordrecht: Foris Publications . — . 1981b. A note on non-control PRO. Journal of Linguistic Research 4:1-11.

. 1982. Some Concepts and Consequences of the Theory of Government and Binding. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Clements, G.N. 1979. An unbounded deletion analysis of WH-questions in Kikuyu. Paper presented at the 10th Conference on African Linguistics, University of Illinois, Urbana. Giv6n, T. 1971. Historical syntax and synchronic morphology: an archaeologist's

field trip. Chicago Linguistic Society 7:394-415. Jaeggli, O.A. 1980. On Some Phonologically-Null Elements in Syntax. Ph.D. diss., MIT. Kayne, R. 1975. French

Syntax.

Cambridge, MA:

MIT Press.

Keach, C.N.B. 1980. The Syntax and Interpretation of the Relative Clause Construction in Swahili. Ph.D. diss., University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Montalbetti, M. 1982. Clitics and empty categories. Paper presented at the West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics. Radford, A. 1981. Transformational Syntax. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Rizzi, L. 1982. Issues in Italian Syntax. Dordrecht: Foris Publications. Sportiche, D. and Y. Aoun. 1981. On the formal theory of government. Ms. of paper presented at the 1981 GLOW conference. Taraldsen, T. 1978. On the NIC, vacuous application and the that -trace filter, Ms., MIT, Cambridge. Distributed by the Indiana University Linguistics Club, Bloomington, Indiana. Wald, B. 1975. Animacy concord in North East Coastal Bantu: its lexical and social implications as a case of grammatical convergence. Studies in African

Linguistics

6:267-314.

. 1979. The development of the Swahili object marker:

a study in the in-

teraction of syntax and discourse. In Syntax and Semantics 12: and Syntax,

ed. T. Givon, pp. 505-524. New York:

Discourse

Academic Press.

Chapter

6

Juba Arabic from a Bari Perspective George Bureng Vincent 1.

INTRODUCTION

Bickerton

(1981) has r a i s e d important questions

a b o u t t h e s e q u e n c e of

w h i c h occur w h e n a pidgin language comes into existence, is m a d e f r o m a p i d g i n s t a g e to a C r e o l e o n e . some facts about Juba Arabic,

processes

and w h e n the

transition

In t h e f o l l o w i n g a r t i c l e

I offer

a language on w h i c h B i c k e r t o n d i d not have any

w h i c h m a y o f f e r n e w p o i n t s for c o n s i d e r a t i o n in t h i s o n g o i n g a n d o f t e n

data,

perplexed

debate. For a little more than a hundred years there has been a foreign presence the GONDOKORO-Rejaj-Mongolla-Juba

a r e a , t h e s u c c e s s i v e c a p i t a l s of

Equatoria

P r o v i n c e a n d of the S o u t h e r n R e g i o n o f w h a t is n o w the D e m o c r a t i c R e p u b l i c t h e S u d a n . H e r e , o u t of t h e c o n t a c t v e h i c l e s of t h e f o r e i g n e r s and government peoples,

administrators)

and the local p o p u l a t i o n ,

there has grown up and become

Juba Arabic

institutionalized

(soldiers,

chiefly the

representatives

merchants,

pidgin,

population,

of m o s t o f t h e l i n g u i s t i c g r o u p s of the S o u t h e r n S u d a n h a v e

b e e n d r a w n to J u b a by the m a g n e t of Although

of

Bari-speaking

a full fledged

(JA). A l t h o u g h B a r i s h a v e p r e d o m i n a t e d a m o n g the l o c a l

also

urbanization.

t h e r e h a v e b e e n p e o p l e f r o m m a n y p a r t s of the S u d a n i n t h e

a r e a for t h e last o n e h u n d r e d y e a r s ,

it is s i g n i f i c a n t ,

I believe,

that

Juba Juba

A r a b i c h a s d e v e l o p e d a l m o s t e x c l u s i v e l y w i t h i n B a r i s p e e c h t e r r i t o r y . O n e of points which

I shall endeavor

to d e m o n s t r a t e

n i f i c a n t r e s p e c t s , JA r e p r e s e n t s t h o u g h l a r g e l y w i t h an A r a b i c

in t h i s p a p e r is that in m a n y

a c o n t i n u a t i o n of B a r i g r a m m a t i c a l

living primarily

home language

the

sig-

structure

lexicon.

S i n c e at least t h e 1 9 2 0 s t h e r e h a s b e e n a S o u t h e r n S u d a n e s e M u s l i m in J u b a ,

in

Community

in t h e M a l a k i a n e i g h b o u r h o o d , w h o h a v e h a d JA as

their

a n d w h o s e c h i l d r e n h a v e h a d it as t h e i r f i r s t l a n g u a g e . T o d a y ,

most

72

George Bureng Vincent

children born in Juba, whatever their parents' language, and whether they are moslems or Christians or followers of their traditional religions, seem to be more comfortable in JA than they are in their parents' language or languages. Thus we can say that from being a pidgin JA has today become a fully fledged Creole. As well as being used informally for the normal purposes of social interaction it is now also used over the radio, in big gatherings such as political meetings, and by public officials who wish to communicate with the population. JA, which has also been known as 'Mongolia-Arabic' and 'Bimbashi-Arabic', is clearly closely related to but not the same as the 'Kinubi Arabic' spoken in Kenya and Uganda which has been recently described in Bernd Heine's monograph The Nubi. Language

Of Kibera - An Arabic Creole

varieties of Arabic are mutually

2.

(1982). My experience shows that these two

intelligible.

PHONOLOGY

The consonant system of JA is as shown below. (1)

Juba Arabic Consonants bilabial

labialdental

dentalalveolar

palatalalveolar

palatal

velar

uvular

Stop -voice

P

t

+voice

b

d

+voice impíos.

6

cf

Fricative Nasal

(f) m

Central Approx.

k j

9{xh)

g

s n

•P

q

r

y

w

(£>, cf, ji and q are marginal phonemes.) The consonant system can be divided into the core system and the supplementary system. The supplementary system consists of the segments b, cf, ji, r], and the core system contains the remaining fifteen segments. The core system is used by

Juba Arabic from a Bari Perspective

73

all native speakers and almost all non-native speakers of JA. In initial position, all of these groups say / f / in those words of Arabic origin that have an / f / a n d use either / h / or / k / for words which have / x /

or

/ h / in Arabic. In word-final

position, there is a tendency on the part of many speakers to replace /p/

and

/ x / or

/h/

with

/ f / with

/k/.

Some speakers who are in the process of acquiring JA will use only / p / and /k/

in these positions.

The consonants of the supplementary system are used

exclusively in loan words from Bari or other Southern Sudanese languages. Most speakers of JA though they are not ethnically Bari have many Bari loans in their lexicon and as a result these sounds are a part of their phonological inventory. Educated speakers of JA who also know Standard Sudanese Spoken Arabic (SSSA) may on occasion use the Arabic emphatic coronals,

/t/,

/d/,

/s/, and / s /

and / z /

but it is much more usual for them not to do so. The following is a list of SSSA words with the usual consonant substitutions in JA. Consonant correspondences between SSSA and JA SSSA

JA

Gloss

a.

dhà1am

duluma

1

b.

dhàràbà

durubù

'to hit'

c.

shaj ara

sedére

'tree'

d.

hàrbà

1akarba

' spear'

e.

zìi

dulu

'shadow/shade'

f.

zànàbà

dànabà

'tail'

, V . /

s

In its basic system, JA has five vowels:

darkness'

i, e, o, a, u. Some Bari speakers may,

as I do, carry over the Bari five by five ten vowel system with a distinction between plus and minus ATR vowels. Most non-Bari speakers ignore this distinction. It is perhaps a mark of JA still being a pidgin that its speakers tolerate a great deal of variation in pronunciation. In any case, if the phonetic target is approximated, communication is by and large achieved.

74

George Bureng Vincent

The consonantal system and vocalic system of Bari are as follows: Consonants (3)

Vowels

p

t

k

b

d

j

£>

cf

•y

m

n

ji

g

1

y

w

+ATR

g

-ATR

i

u

i

The core consonantal system and vocalic system can be seen as an intersection of the systems of Bari and of SSSA with JA not having any sound which is not found in both systems with the exception of / f /

and the velar or pharyngeal fricatives.

Although tone does not have a high functional yield in JA, there are clear tonal contrasts which will be discussed below.

3.

MORPHOLOGY

In JA, the most productive plural morpheme is

/at/, the usual plural of feminine

nouns in SSSA. However, there is a great deal of variation in plural formation in JA. In (4) below, I have given a list of some singulars with their plurals. The plurals listed in column I are those more common among older, less educated speakers. Those in column II are those that tend to be used by younger speakers who have studied Arabic in school and are nearer those found in SSSA, though not always identical to them. I

II

Gloss

sin

si n u n

as n a n

'tooth'

b.

bint

banat

banat

'girl'

c.

mâryà

màryât

nuswàn

'woman'

d.

rijil

rijilàt

ârjàl

'foot'

e.

târigà

tàrigàt

turuk

'way '

Singular (4) a.

Juba Arabic form a Bari Perspective

75

f.

seder

sederat

ashjar

'tree'

g.

b e let

beledat

bilad

'country'

h.

isim

isimat

asami7

'name'

i.

rajul

rujalat

rujal

'man'

In JA there is no gender marking of adjectives either within the noun phrase or across the predicate, as is shown in (5). f

2

(5) a.

rajil

kobir

'the big man'

b.

marya

kobir

'the big woman'

c.

rajil

de

d.

marya7

e.

rijal

f.

maryat

kan

de de

kobir

kan kan

de

kobir kubar

kan

kubarin

'the man was big' 'the woman was big' 'the men were big' 'the women were big'

As can be seen from examples e - f, there is a requirement that adjectives agree with their antecedents in number across the copula, and there are alternate ways of forming the plural of adjectives. Even naive speakers who have acquired JA as adults seem to learn plural forms of adjectives, even rather irregular ones, and to have little trouble in applying the rule of plural formation. Note that in Nilotic languages such as Bari, there is also number agreement across the copula, as shown in (6). Bari (6) a.

titinti

duma

b.

kodisityo

c.

teton

d.

kodisi

e.

teton

f.

kodisi

'the big young man'

duma

dumalakan dumalakan koju koju

a temcjik a temejik

'the big young lady' 'the big young men' 'the big young ladies' 'the young men were big' 'the young ladies were big'

76 4.

George Bureng Vincent SYNTAX

JA verbs show no alternation in their segmental morphemic shape. Tense, aspect and modality are expressed by auxiliaries which occur between the subject and the verb. The past tense is indicated by the absence of any auxiliary. Examples are: (7) a.

Wanì

gè

kàtibù

b.

Wanì

katibù

c.

Wanì

kàn

d.

Wanì

bi

e.

Wanì

kàn

f.

Wanì

bikùn

g.

Wanì

kàn

h.

wànì làzìm j ùwàb

juwàb

'Wani was writing a letter-'

juwàb

kàtibù kàtibù bi

'Wani wrote a letter/had written a letter.'

juwàb juwàb

kàtibù kàtibù

bikùn

'Wani had written a letter.'

juwàb juwàb

kàtibù

bikùn

'Wani will write a letter.' 'Wani should have written a letter.' 'Wani should have written a letter.'

j u w à b 'Wani should have written a letter.1

kàtibù

'Wani must have written the letter.'

There are additional possibilities of auxiliaries and auxiliary combinations which I do not have space to go into here. Although Bari also has a rich and complex system of auxiliaries, cf. Spagnolo (1933), there does not seem to be a neat oneto-one match between the Bari system and the JA system. There is one point however of surprising structural similarity between Bari and JA and that is in the passive. Bari has a morphological passive which functions much like the passive of English or of Classical Arabic. Noun phrases which were objects become passive subjects and are moved from a position after the verb to sentence initial position and the deep structure subject is moved to a position after the verb where it is marked by the preposition

k o . The verb occurs in its passive stem which is usual-

ly the active stem followed by the vowel

/a/

or / u / . There are morphophonemic

complexities here which we need not go into. Suffice it to say that in Bari as in English, almost every sentence containing a transitive verb can be made into a passive one, for example: (8) a. b.

Wanì

a m£t

k i t eg

Kitcì] a m e t à

ki

'Wani saw the cow. ' Wani

'The cow was seen by Wani.'

Juba Arabic from a Bari Perspective

77

In JA, there is the same freedom of passivization which we find in Bari. Active: (9) a.

wáni

áyínu7

bagara9

'Wani saw the cow.'

Passive: b.

bagara7

áyínu7

má

'The cow was seen by Wani. 1

Wani

In both Bari and JA, dative or indirect objects can also become passive subjects.' The phrase 'Wani gave the cow to Modi' can be passivized to yield: (10) a.

'The cow was given to Modi by Wani.' 'Modi was given the cow by Wani. 1

Compare these to their JA and Bari equivalents: JA (11) a.

Wani

wódi

b.

Bagara7 Wani

c.

Modi

lé M o d i

wódi

wódi

bagara7

lé M o d i

bagara7

má

'Wani gave the cow to Modi.'

má

'The cow was given to Modi by Wani.'

Wani

'Modi was given the cow by Wani. '

Bari (12) a.

Wani K i t eg Modi

a tikin

Modi

k i t eg

'Wani gave the cow to Modi.'

a tiki

Modi

ks Wani

'The cow was given to Modi by Wani.'

a tiki7

kítei] k ó

wáni

'Modi was given the cow by Wani.'

Note that in JA the marker for the passive is tonal. Active verbs regularly have the pattern high, high, low e.g.

wáni

áyínu

of the passive is invariably LLH e.g. b a g a r á 7

b á g á r a 7 . But the tonal pattern áyinú

má

Wani .

In Sudanese Colloquial Arabic morphological passives of the

fu'ila

type

are quite rare and completely non-productive; when a passive-like idea must be expressed, the fifth or sixth forms of the verb ( t a f a 7 7 a l a

or

tafaa7ala )

are used impersonally. Since these passive substitutes are impersonals they can never be constructed with overt agents.

78

George Bureng Vincent

In conclusion, a very strong case can be made, I believe, for a Bari syntactosemantic source via remorphologization of the JA passive. * I would like to thank my wife Mary Dwoki Bureng for her contribution to some of the data discussed here and for her patience and understanding during the preparation of this paper. My thanks are also due to Edward Ayom, Prof. Bendix and Prof. R.M.R. Hall for discussing with me the questions raised here. My work on this paper was in part supported by a PSC/BHE grant to Professor Hall. NOTES 1.

Although Standard Bari orthography writes only /p/, in rapid speech for many speakers of Bari proper [p] and [ f ] seem to be in free variation in all environments. In POjulu dialects, the realization [f] is the norm, as witness the frequent spelling Fajulu.

2.

A form such as r a j i l k o b i r reflects the typical Bari imposition of vowel harmony on JA. Non-Bari speakers would tend to say r a j i l k a b i r .

3.

In their paper The Passive in Bor Dinka also presented at the Madison Conference, Kristine C. Johnson and Edward B.G. Ayom pointed out that in Dinka Bor not only indirect objects but also benefactives can become passive subjects e.g. 1. Active: y e n t e m t i i m a w a ' I am cutting wood for my father.' Passive: * A w a a t | m t i i m *'My father is being cut wood for me-' Deng acol meth 'Deng is calling the child for the chief.' beny Passive: * B e n y a c o l e * 'The chief is being called for a child Deng meth by Deng.' In both JA and Bari such sentences are as bizarre and ungrammatical as they are in English. 2. Active:

REFERENCES Bickerton, Derek. 1981.Roots of Language. Ann Arbor: Karoma Publishers, Tn.o. Bureng Vincent, George. 1978. Language in Education in the Southern Sudan - A Study of Attitudes. B.A. thesis, University of Khartoum. (Unpublished.) Bernd Heine. 1982. The Nubi of Kibera - An Arabia Creole. (Language and Dialects of Kenya vol. 3.) Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag. Spagnolo, Fr. L.M. 1933. Bari Grammar. Verona: Missioni Africane.

Chapter

7

An Autosegmental Treatment of Kisi Noun Class Morphophonemics Tucker Childs

This paper provides

an a c c o u n t of t h e c o m p l e x m o r p h o p h o n e m i c s

of the K i s i

n o u n class system. T h e interactions w h i c h occur are first described a theory-neutral

a p p r o a c h . T o s u c c i n c t l y d e s c r i b e t h e p r o c e s s e s at w o r k ,

notion of the syllable

is n e e d e d , o n e w h i c h is n o t f o u n d in the

g e n e r a t i v e a p p r o a c h of C h o m s k y a n d H a l l e theory enriched by autosegmental reduces considerably

is t h e n p r o p o s e d ;

this

generative

treatment

f o u n d in the n o u n c l a s s s y s t e m .

and autosegmental

o f f e r a s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d w a y of c h a r a c t e r i z i n g

r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s of

assimilation

r u l e s . D u r a t i o n a l m e a s u r e m e n t s of K i s i r i m e s s u p p o r t

and

a

standard

(1968). A treatment b a s e d on

formalisms

the complexities

m o r e , p r i n c i p l e s of a s s o c i a t i o n

1.

in

Furthergeminates

dissimilation

the p r o p o s e d

analysis.

INTRODUCTION

T h e K i s i l a n g u a g e b e l o n g s to the S o u t h e r n B r a n c h of W e s t A t l a n t i c 1966) and has received little scholarly

attention. The language

a p p r o x i m a t e l y 2 5 0 , 0 0 0 p e o p l e in G u i n e a , L i b e r i a , relatively

(Greenberg

is s p o k e n

and Sierra Leone,

an

area

i s o l a t e d f r o m i t s c l o s e s t c o n g e n e r s , S h e r b r o , Bullora, a n d K r i m .

As with most

languages within Niger-Kordofanian,

Kisi has a noun class

system,

w h i c h f a c t d e t e r m i n e s m o s t of its p r o d u c t i v e m o r p h o l o g y . T h e p a r t i c u l a r of the n o u n c l a s s s y s t e m o n w h i c h I w i l l

plexity"

part

f o c u s is t h e a f f i x a t i o n of n o u n

class

is a t t r a c t i v e a b o u t t h i s p a r t of t h e n o u n c l a s s s y s t e m is t h e

"com-

m a r k e r s to n o u n What

by

stems.

(Sapir 1971) and its intractability

to a n a l y s i s . T h e p r o l i f i c

alio-

80

Tucker Childs

o O 3 M O 3 p 3

Z (0 C

•o > M 3 C H1 B P p M r+ O

< o O h-1 4 to (D W M tfl O 1

CO J?

(Us

>0

c n>i BJ o o a 3

O 3 3

(i) rt l Pi 3

S

m tu

fD (D I 3

H O 0 -

I—1 0 O S

I O Oj O O S

I o Oj 0 O -

a o 3

OJ

m 3 OJ

(U 3 • (C) V

(c) jv|

For Kisi we need only a language-specific coda-building rule, as in (10)b, which attaches an unattached C or V to a preceding syllable node whenever possible. (c) Syllables are maximally CV(^>in Kisi, except word finally. Furthermore, only a few words begin with a vowel:

five of eleven subject pronouns, one question

word, and a few conjunctions and adpositions. Borrowings which begin with a vowel are supplied a word-initial h, e.g., Eng 'hour' is [hala]

f h a u w a ] ; Arabic 'Allah' is

(Heydorn 1971). These facts suggest why we get epenthesis only syllable

initially. Surface sequences of word-initial CC appear only rarely in the language, [pie]

'one' has the alternant [ p a l e ] , where

duration. Similarly,

[cwa]

[a] is a vowel of extremely short

'take' is underlyingly

/ c u a / . Word-medial clusters

are always heterosyllabic; there are no sequences of more than two consonants here; and the first of these two consonants is always a nasal or 1, the only consonants allowed to end words. Thus, we see how word-structure conditions parallel those at the level of the syllable. Another fact about Kisi is that we must have cyclic application of the syllable-building rules. It is shown below that a sequence of CVC + V is not syllabified *CV.CV, but rather CVC.C (eventually CVC.CV). The stem-final consonant must be allowed to attach before the universal first rule (10)a is allowed to re-apply. Similarly, an 1 of a suffix is not allowed to attach to the last syllable of the stem, even if the coda is empty:

CV + IV

-+

CV.1V (*CV1.V). That syllable-

building rules are cyclic is not surprising. Harris (1983) found the need for cyclicity in describing Spanish, Kiparsky (1979) for stress assignment, and Steriade (1982) for Attic and Sanskrit. Once again, syllabification occurs as follows after the stem has been parsed.

An Autosegmental Treatment of Kisi

87

If there is an empty coda, that slot can be filled by a vowel, but not by a consonant for the consonant has already been parsed by the universal first rule. The language first

looks to see if there is a parsable CV sequence in the suffix.

Failing to find such a sequence,

it will

look to see if the V of the suffix can 5

be inserted into the coda of the preceding syllable.

If the coda is already

filled, the suffix is forced to build its own syllable dil

a

a

v

A, c v v

o

s u u

a

a

I cA\ v v v

structure. a

a

a

I .-'X v v c + v

II I I I I I I I I I I I Mil

c v

+

s o 'horse'

'fish'

+

o

m e e

+

c v c

c

l e i ]

m i a l

'breast'

o

'stranger'

We see, then, how an onset-less syllable can arise during the processes of ation and syllable parsing, as in the second example above,

affix-

'fish'.

We must now explain how the epenthetic segments are to be accounted for. We have already specified the environment where epenthesis takes place, just where an onset-less syllable occurs in the middle of a word.

/

V

There are two ways to account for this epenthetic segment:

allow for epenthesis,

or posit an empty C slot in underlying form. The former seems more motivated that strengthening

is a process common to onsets

in

(Bell and Hooper 1978). Kisi

word structure conditions seem to militate against vowel-initial sequences as mentioned

above. Thus, we would have an epenthesis rule as follows.

(13)

a

0

C /

A

V

T h i s rule operates on the CV tier, providing an autosegment

(archisegment)

speci-

fied only as [-syllabic]. I have discussed elsewhere experimental data which shows no strong

evidence

88 for

Tucker Childs an u n d e r l y i n g

C

slot

t h e r e w a s no r e a s o n a vowel-initial account

for

segments leftwards

to s u s p e c t

suffix

the C's

(see

between

the underlined

is n o t

Dwyer

that

Usually

there

the

In b r i e f ,

of t h e

expect

source

of

1981:45f)

and F i n n i s h

(Keyser

the

same process

The

nature

segment

as t h e e m p t y

these C's

has occurred

of t h e

following

C

slots

epenthetic

segment

C associates

are

C

to t h e

the C

from

a glide

CVV

a r e not

segmental

tier.

in-

in

duration

and C V + V . to

show.

needed

in

other

morpheme

one

is t h e n d e t e r m i n e d

we

associating

step

by

the

It s h o u l d

In This

(see

(Clements

It m a y b e

advanced

rescue

can

C

is an e r o d e d

1982:47).

to

syllable

difference

t h o s e of T u r k i s h

and h a s

needed

that

extrametrical

of t h e u n d e r l y i n g

and K i p a r s k y

in K i s i

allow

to f o r m

showed

ad h o c w a y

sequences:

this unrealized

need

does

an

to p r e v e n t

it d o e s

underlying

is n o t

In o n l y

language

trace

duration

it

no s i g n i f i c a n t

some

facts which

of r i m e

a C when

is n o t h i n g

same way

unassociated the

the

there was

sections

of

an o n s e t .

for

1983). The

Keyser that

and

sequence we would

to d e n y

languages.

8),

in just

(see b e l o w ) .

latter

stranded without

footnote

to a v o w e l

Measurements

the presence

disappearance,

itially

the

(Childs MS).

the

and case

further. preceding

be

remembered 7

that

the

segmental

That

the suffix-initial

new C possesses. elsewhere. leftwards (1981)

There

Kenstowicz association

finds

The

tier consists

leftwards

C

a list

associates

are p a r a l l e l (1982) needs is p r o b a b l y

respect

leftwards

it

for t h e

to

s

to g l i d e s

Surface:

association

takes

suuwo

place

is e v i d e n t of

such

C

case.

He

is q u i t e

leftwards

and

also reports i.e.,

the

association

is m o r e

remarks that

that

Clements

common.

a

V

above;

features

a

/K A I I L'"' A

A

'fish'

by t h e

[syllabic].

clear.

u

as s h o w n

except

f a c t s of T i g r i n y a

a

V

u

features

take precedence,

a

V

all

situations

/ TK

C

of

the unmarked

association

association with

(14)

The

of

the

surface

C

V

V

s

i

e

sieyei

+

C

V

e i 'beard'

realization

of

a

seg-

An A u t o s e g m e n t a l T r e a t m e n t o f K i s i mental-tier no

vowel dominated

longer need

to s p e c i f y

we would

in a l i n e a r

vowelled

stems.

reference

by

89

a C node

this

as o p e r a t i n g

rule

treatment;

there will

Note also how we have

to s y l l a b l e

is i t s c o r r e s p o n d i n g

structure

on o n l y

glide.

two-vowelled

b e no u n a s s o c i a t e d

explained

C

and

language

that

stems

slots with

the onset-building

(both u n i v e r s a l

Note

as single-

process

specific)

we

by

and

the

8 natural

process

The get

assimilation.

situation with

a geminate

d5)

of

1 as s h o w n

a

a.

respect in

/ V NC + CAV I I U'"' A

final

this

ble building CV why

This

rules,

but

V

C

f

a

a

A

+

C V

I I U-" l

b.

I

is u n a s s o c i a t e d

on the second

is no g e m i n a t i o n w i t h formulation

do not

also

removes

V

V

C

i

i

l

+

V

I

o

'grass'

the

two-vowelled first

pass

suffix)

suffix. Thus,

such

rule we need

(in m o s t

We

a

I I I I

b

on t h e

(with

A\

C

o

gemination with

the v o w e l - i n i t i a l

to t h e d i s s i m i l a t i o n geminates

a

A\

disallows

such cases

syllable with there

straightforward.

' o l d man, s i r 1

framework

1 in

C

i

'head'

The

a

C

e

1 is e q u a l l y

(15)a.

o

b o l

Note how

to s t e m - f i n a l

we

stems,

( s t e m ) of

is a l l o w e d

are given

as

in

the

(23)b.

sylla-

to f o r m

a

an e x p l a n a t i o n

for

stems.

the n e c e s s i t y in a l i n e a r

cases) undergo

for

rule-ordering

treatment.

structural

with

respect

It h a s b e e n n o t e d

that

changes unless both parts

of

have only

of

9 the geminate features. tier,

i.e., with

The

and

when

respect the

is not

they

because

consist

to s e g m e n t a l

1 is

situation with

nasals

there

presumably

In o t h e r w o r d s ,

dissimilate

final

change,

of o n l y

segment

rules. For Kisi

to t h e p r e n a s a l i z e d

so s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d .

to s i m p l e p r e n a s a l i z e d

one

a single matrix

on the

this means

melody-bearing that

1

cannot

geminate.

respect

is a r u l e w h i c h

geminates

simplifies

stops when

Geminate

sequences

they

agree

stop's

nasals

of n a s a l s

in p l a c e

of

appearance

are rare and

after

in t h e

language,

pre-nasalized

articulation.

stem-

stops

It m a y

be

90

Tucker Childs

the case that pre-nasalized stops are the surface realization of a geminate nasal. What is more difficult to account

for, however, is the place of articulation

of the epenthetic segment. We need a readjusting rule which will assure that the specification of the epenthetic nasal is [+alveolar].

4.

CONCLUSION

The advantages of an autosegmental treatment are clear. We have achieved

consider-

able generality and simplicity of form. The three epenthesis rules needed in a linear treatment have been replaced by a single C-insertion rule with concomitant universal association rules. Moreover, we have dispensed with the ordering of the dissimilation rule with the aid of an autosegmental representation of geminates. What has been said about Kisi is that the language makes a concerted

effort

to establish most-desired CV syllable structure after it has been disrupted by the morphology. It does not do so at the expense of previously parsed that is, there is no resyllabification

segments;

involving dissociation of segments previ-

ously attached to a syllable node. Rather, a new C slot arises at the beginning of an onset-less syllable, borrowing its segmental specification from the preceding

segment.

* Work on this paper was supported by a Foreign Languages and Area Studies (FLAS) grant. Consultation work with a native speaker of Kisi was supported by the African Studies Center, Berkeley and Stanford. My special thanks to Maricella Amador, Maurice Keifa, and Donca Steriade. NOTES 1.

I have suggested elsewhere (Childs 1983) that this quantitative difference is due to the relatively "recent" changeover in Kisi, from a prefixing system to a fully suffixing one. Kisi is unique among the languages in this group in only suffixing its noun class markers. The recentness of the changeover, however, does not entirely explain the number of alternations in Kisi, for partially suffixing languages in Southern Branch do not show comparable allomorphy. For example, both Krim and Bullom have mixed systems of affixation, but none of the "newer" suffixes has more than one alternant.

2.

I do not wish to suggest that the rules and formalisms represent anything more than an efficient means with which to describe the workings of a language's phonology. Such a claim must be based on further empirical work.

A n A u t o s e g m e n t a l T r e a t m e n t of K i s i

91

A n u m b e r of e x p e r i m e n t s have b e e n d e s i g n e d to test the p s y c h o l o g i c a l r e a l i t y of l i n g u i s t s ' c o n s t r u c t s . See, for e x a m p l e , G r e e n b e r g and J e n k i n g s (1964), Z i m m e r (1969), O h a l a and O h a l a (1975), and J a e g e r (1980). 3.

I w i l l u s e the w o r d "class" to r e f e r to the formally d i s t i n g u i s h e d set of n o u n s w h o s e m e m b e r s h i p in a c l a s s d e t e r m i n e s a p e r v a s i v e s y s t e m of c o n c o r d e x t e n d i n g to a d j e c t i v e s , p r o n o u n s , and the like. See G r e e n b e r g (1977 and 1978) for a full d i s c u s s i o n of w h a t it m e a n s for a l a n g u a g e to have a n o u n c l a s s system.

4.

T h e r e h a s b e e n some r e g u l a r i z a t i o n of s u r f a c e forms t h r o u g h o u t this essay, p a r t i c u l a r l y w i t h r e g a r d to l o w - l e v e l rules. F o r e x a m p l e , t h e r e are r u l e s of n a s a l c l u s t e r s i m p l i f i c a t i o n . In the i n t e r e s t s of c l a r i t y , I h a v e g i v e n i n t e r m e d i a t e forms in several cases. I h a v e also o m i t t e d tone m a r k i n g s . T h e s e a d j u s t m e n t s in no way a f f e c t the a n a l y s i s .

5.

S e q u e n c e s of V V C are a l l o w e d w o r d

finally.

C b

baai]

V a

V a

C q

ba

+

uq

'bitterball'

N o t e that the final c o n s o n a n t is u n a t t a c h e d . U n f o r t u n a t e l y there is no way to c o n f i r m the e x t r a m e t r i c a l i t y of the final segment. See K i p a r s k y (1981) and S t e r i a d e (1982) for d i s c u s s i o n s of e x t r a m e t r i c a l i t y . 6.

M e a s u r e m e n t s of d u r a t i o n show this rime and that of 'breast' ( n e e ) to b e of the same length as s e q u e n c e s of rimes c o n s i s t i n g of VI and VN, and t w i c e as long as V - o n l y rimes.

7.

But see H y m a n (1983) and L e v i n (1982) for e x c l u s i o n of e v e n this f e a t u r e from the tier. B o t h see the r e p l a c e m e n t u n i t s s i m p l y as t i m i n g u n i t s r a t h e r t h a n as u n i t s w h i c h n e e d to b e s p e c i f i e d as C's or V's. My o w n m e a s u r e m e n t s of VV and V C rimes in Kisi show t h e r e to b e no d i f f e r e n c e b e t w e e n the two t y p e s of r i m e s (Childs M S ) .

8.

N o t e how this e x p l a n a t i o n s u g g e s t s why the initial s e g m e n t of b o r r o w e d w o r d s w h i c h o r i g i n a l l y b e g a n w i t h a vowel is only h, a segment w h o s e only s i g n i f i cant d i f f e r e n c e from a f o l l o w i n g vowel is a lack of v o i c i n g and c o n c o m i t a n t heavy air flow.

9.

G u e r s e l l (1978) w a s one a t t e m p t to deal w i t h this fact, t h o u g h he d i d not have a v a i l a b l e the r e s o u r c e s of a u t o s e g m e n t a l f o r m a l i s m s . L e b e n (1980) d i s cusses g e m i n a t e s in B i b l i c a l H e b r e w w i t h i n a m e t r i c a l f r a m e w o r k ; the fullest t r e a t m e n t is in K e n s t o w i c z (1982).

REFERENCES B e l l , A. and J.B. Hooper. 1978. Syllables and Segments. New Y o r k : North Holland Publishing Company. B e r r y , J. 1959. The s t r u c t u r e of the n o u n in K i s i . Sierra Leone Studies. New Series 12:308-15. C h i l d s , T u c k e r . 1983. N o u n c l a s s affix r e n e w a l in S o u t h e r n W e s t A t l a n t i c . In Current Approaches to African Linguistics V o l u m e 2, eds. J o n a t h a n K a y e , H i l d a K o o p m a n , D o m i n i q u e S p o r t i c h e and A n d r é D u f a s , pp. 17-29. D o r d r e c h t , Holland: Foris Publications. . MS. R i m e m e a s u r e m e n t s in K i s i . U C B e r k e l e y . C h o m s k y , N o a m and M o r r i s H a l l e . 1968. Sount Patterns of English. New York: Harper and Row.

92

Tucker Chi Ids

Clements, George N. and Samuel J. Keyser. 1981. A three-tiered theory of the syllable. Occasional paper No. 19. Cambridge, MA: The Center for Cognitive Science. Dalby, David. 1966. Mel languages in the Polyglotta Africana, Part 2. Sierra Leone Language Revieu 5:139-51. Dwyer, David. 1983. Evolutionary morphology of definite articles in Southwestern Mande. Paper delivered at African Linguistics Conference, Madison, WI. Greenberg, Joseph H. 1966. The languages of Africa. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. . 1977. Niger-Congo noun class markers: prefixes, suffixes, both or neither. Studies in African Linguistics Supplement 7:97-104. . 1978. How does a language acquire gender markers? In Universals Of Human Language, ed. Greenberg et al., pp. 47-82. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Greenberg, Joseph H. and James J. Jenkins. 1964. Studies in the psychological correlates of the sound system of English. Word 20:157-77. Guerssel, Mohamed. 1978. A condition on assimilation rules. Linguistic Analysis 4:225:54. Halle, Morris and Jean-Roger Vergnaud. 1981. The syllable. MIT MS. Harris, J. 1983. Syllable Structure and Stress in Spanish: A Nonlinear analysis. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Heydorn, Richard C. 1971. The Kisi noun and pronoun with a note on the interrogative clause. Afrika und Ubersee 53:162-216. Hyman, Larry M. 1983. Towards a theory of phonological weight. Talk delivered at UC Berkeley, April 11, 1983. Jaeger, Jeri J. 1980. The psychological reality of phonemes revisited. Report of the Phonology Lab, No. 5:6-50. (UC Berkeley). Johnson, Larry. 1981. The Kisi noun. MS. Kenstowicz, Michael. 1982. Gemination and spirantization in Tigrinya. Studies in the Linguistic Sciences 1 2 (1) : 103-22. Keyser. Samuel J. and Paul Kiparsky. 1982. Syllable structure in Finnish phonology. MIT MS. Kiparsky, Paul. 1979. Metrical structure assignment is cyclic. Linguistic Inquiry 10:421-441. . 1981. Remarks on the metrical structure of the syllable. Phonologica 1980. pp. 245-56. Innsbruck. Leben, William R, 1980. A metrical analysis of length. Linguistic Inquiry 11, 3:497-509. Levin, Juliette. 1982. Reduplication and prosodic structure. MIT MS. McCarty, John J. 1981. A prosodic theory of nonconcatenative morphology. Linguistic Inquiry 12:373:418. Mukarovsky, Hans J. 1948. Die Sprache des kisi in Liberia. Ph.D. diss., University of Vienna. Ohala, John J. and Manjari Ohala. 1975. Testing hypotheses regarding the psychological manifestation of morpheme structure conditions. Paper presented at the LSA meeting. Samarin, William J. 1951. A tentative analysis of the pluralization of Kisi nouns. Kroeber Anthropological Society Papers 3:48-85. Sapir, J. David. 1971. West Atlantic. In Current Trends in Linguistics 7, ed. Sebeok, Thomas A., pp. 45-112. The Hague: Mouton. Stanley, Richard. 1967. Redundancy rules in phonology. Language 43:393-436. Steriade, Donca. 1982. Greek prosodies and the nature of syllabification. Ph.D. diss., MIT. Venneman, Theo. 1972. On the theory of syllabic phonology. Linguistische Berichte 18:1-18. Zimmer, Karl E. 1969. Psychological correlates of some Turkish morpheme structure conditions. Language 45:309-21.

Chapter 8

The Nature of Tonological Representation: Evidence from Loko Donald G. Churma

1.

INTRODUCTION

Within the general

t h e o r y of a u t o s e g m e n t a l p h o n o l o g y

currently considerable controversy concerning

(Goldsmith 1976), there

t h e n a t u r e of t h e r e p r e s e n t a t i o n

t o n e . T h i s p a p e r w i l l f o c u s o n t w o a s p e c t s of the t h e o r y t h a t a r e in namely

may

(or m u s t )

"Obligatory

segments,

and

(ii) w h e t h e r u n d e r l y i n g

c o n t a i n s e q u e n c e s of l i k e t o n e s

Contour

Principle"

representations

that

lexical

OCP must not.

associations

should be disallowed,

be

Sierra

a n d t h a t v i o l a t i o n s of

It w i l l b e a r g u e d f u r t h e r t h a t L o k o p r o v i d e s g o o d e v i d e n c e

s t r o n g c l a i m m a d e in C h u r m a

1978

It w i l l

a r g u e d o n t h e b a s i s of d a t a f r o m L o k o , a S o u t h w e s t e r n M a n d e l a n g u a g e of Leone,

already

(i.e., whether Leben's 1973,

- henceforth OOP - may be violated).

for

BACKGROUND:

the necesunit.

MENDE

B e f o r e b e g i n n i n g m y d i s c u s s i o n of t h e L o k o f a c t s , l o o k at M e n d e ,

the

(1983) t h a t v i o l a t i o n s of the O C P a r e u n i v e r s a l l y

s a r y - i.e, t h a t t o n e s m a y n o t b e a s s o c i a t e d w i t h m o r e t h a n o n e t o n e - b e a r i n g

2.

of

dispute,

(i) w h e t h e r u n d e r l y i n g r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s m a y c o n t a i n t o n e s that a r e

associated with tone-bearing

is

I w o u l d l i k e to t a k e a b r i e f

a c l o s e l y r e l a t e d l a n g u a g e w h i c h h a s b e e n t h e f o c u s of

a t t e n t i o n w i t h r e s p e c t to t h e i s s u e s u n d e r d i s c u s s i o n . C o n s i d e r t h e data, taken from Dwyer

(1973):

considerable

following

94

Donald G. Churma

(1) a.

bile

'trousers'

bele-wove-i

'the old trousers'

hale

'medicine'

hale-wove-i

'the old medicine'

pele

'road'

pele-wove-i

'the old road 1

fande

'thread'

fande-wove-i

'the old thread'

The tone pattern for

w o v e , together with the tonal alternation in the case of the

form for 'road', requires an explanation. Most investigators treat the latter as having an underlying rising tone (or its autosegmental equivalent) on the final syllable (cf. Dwyer 1971, 1973, Singler 1980, Szamosi et al. 1982). Adopting such a representation, together with the following rules, yields a correct description of the surface facts: (2) a.

T

->• L / when in the second element of a "compound"

b.

L

->- HL / H -

c.

LH

d.

i LH j

-f

(hl) *

L /

H

H

That is, the tones of the second element of a "compound" are always low (2)a, unless the final tone of the first element is H, in which case the first vowel bears high tone, due to the operation of (2)b and (2)d. The final rising tone of

pele

is simplified by (2)c in the compound form, and by (2)d in the isolation form. Leben (1978) has criticized this kind of analysis on the grounds that the rising tone required is excessively abstract

(it never appears on the suface),

and that it necessitates violation of the OCP in order to insure appropriate mapping of tones onto vowels in the case of forms like (l)c. He proposes instead that (2)a, b be replaced by the single "compound rule" given below, and that (2)c, d be eliminated completely (the remaining facts would be accounted for by a set of tone mapping principles that hold generally for the language): (3)

[X] N * [CVY] T

o

* T

o

N|A

-»•

[X] N

*[CVY]

T

* L

o

NfA

The Nature of Tonological Representation

95

That is, the second element of a compound receives a L (which will be mapped onto one or more vowels by the mapping principles), and, if the first element has a final H, this H is moved to the other side of the word boundary and associated with the first vowel of the second element. In order to characterize the different behavior of forms like those in (l)c and ones like those in (l)d, Leben suggests that in the case of the latter there is a lexically associated H, while for the former there is an unassociated H. Derivations involving these two different types would be roughly as follows (see Leben 1978 for the details):^ (4)

a.

b.

pele

4

L

4

H

fande L

H

WOVE

4 i

H

4 H

4

wove

4

4

H

4 H

(3)

pele L

i

(3) ->•

fande L

4 wove

4 i

pele

4 wove

4 i

I 1 /4 HI LI 4 IH 4 H L 4 H - . - L 4 wove

\4 y H

L

4

i

4 H

fande

/ L

4 wove 4

H

4

i

/ / L 4 H

This proposal has also been criticized for a number of reasons, including the fact that it entails that there must be the possibility of having

language-specific

principles of tone mapping, unlike in most other versions of autosegmental ry (cf. Singler 1980, Szamosi, et al. 1932, and Churma 1983 for detailed

theo-

criti-

cisms). In addition, it is not clear that is is desirable to try to combine (2)a and (2)b into a single rule, since Dwyer (1973) notes that in Bandi, a closely related Southwestern Mande language, the corresponding lowering rule applies when the first element is a recent borrowing, but the rule(s) corresponding to (2)b do not; this at least suggests that the same is true of Mende and Loko. Thus, there is no clear basis for choosing between the two types of analyses in the case of Mende. I will argue that the Loko data provide the basis for a conclusive argument against the OCP, and at least suggest strongly that tones should not be lexically associated and that the OCP must always be violated. Given the close genetic relationship between Loko and Mende, moreover, they also provide considerable indirect evidence against

Leben's analysis of Mende.

96 3.

D o n a l d G.

Churma

LOKO

Let us now examine

the L o k o d a t a ,

taken again from Dwyer

(1973). N o u n s in

the

language can be d i v i d e d into two classes, depending on their effect on the s e g m e n t of t h e f o l l o w i n g w o r d ; tone,

they also have differing behavior w i t h respect

and will thus be examined separately

by Dwyer, 'short1,

along w i t h the underlying pert

in t h e f o l l o w i n g d i s c u s s i o n .

as

'house1,

and

forms he posits

nyaha

as

'woman'

( wutu/kutu

is g l o s s e d

- Dwyer does not give

as

examples case

3w):

Class

Definite

lw

he.e-i

Is

nd a m b a n g - i

2w

nika-i

2s

mahang-i

3w

pùpu-

1

i

Underlying

Gloss

p ErE-wutu-'na

he . e

'elephant'

ndamba-kutu'-na

1 ambai]

'crocodile'

nika-wutu-'na

ni

'cow'

maha-kutu-'na

m à h a i]

'chief'

nyaha-wutu-na

pùpû

'ant'

Compound

3s

ofong-'i

ngofo-kutu-na

o f ôq

' spirit'

4w

n "i i . a - ' i

n i i.a-wutu-na

y i • â

'dog'

4s

tebeng-'i

tebe-kutu-na

t e b e 13

'boundary'

5w

belc-i

bele-wu tù-n a

b E1 E

' trousers'

D w y e r ' s a c c o u n t of t h e s e d a t a is i n t e n t i o n a l l y b i a s e d in f a v o r of a n a n a l y s i s is m e a n t to m i r r o r t h e i r d i a c h r o n i c d e v e l o p m e n t . L o k o s p e a k e r s h a v e f a i l e d to c o m b i n e changes which,

in

set u p

w h e r e t h e n o u n is t h e s a m e in t h e d e f i n i t e f o r m a n d the c o m p o u n d f o r m in the of c l a s s e s lw a n d

to

I give

f o r m a n d t h e c o m p o u n d f o r m f o r e a c h of t h e t o n a l c l a s s e s

(5) t h e d e f i n i t e

initial

(i.e.,

"telescope")

I would agree, must have occurred.

s t a t e d in p u r e l y s e g m e n t a l

terms

I see n o r e a s o n to b e l i e v e the numerous

that

diachronic

In a d d i t i o n , h i s a c c o u n t

(as it m u s t b e , g i v e n i t s d i a c h r o n i c

which

is

f l a v o r - cf.

2 C h u r m a 1983);

I t h e r e f o r e s e e n o n e e d to a r g u e a g a i n s t

it.

(I n o t e in

however,

that Dwyer's

simplify

f a l l i n g t o n e s to s i m p l e h i g h , o n e b e f o r e a f o l l o w i n g

applies cyclically cyclically;

a c c o u n t r e q u i r e s t h a t t h e r e b e two d i f f e r e n t

passing,

rules

which

low t o n e - w h i c h

- a n d a n o t h e r t h a t is c o n t e x t - f r e e , w h i c h a p p l i e s o n l y

m y o w n a c c o u n t w i l l r e q u i r e o n l y o n e r u l e of f a l l i n g t o n e

post-

simplifi-

The Nature of Tonological Representation cation.) I will follow Dwyer, however,

97

in separating synchronically

the effects

of the diachronic change that converted all tones in the second element of a compound to L (cf. the tlende cognate rule

(2)a above), although there is really no

Loko-internal evidence for doing so (but cf. the Bandi facts mentioned Nothing

in my argument hinges on making such a separation, however.

the tones of Dwyer's tone-bearing nasals somewhat tive tones never appear on the surface

above).

I also find

suspicious, since their puta-

(although the nasals themselves

sometimes

do - cf. the definite forms), and since the "tone" of the nasal is predictable

from

the tone of the preceding vowel. I will therefore not make use of them in my own account,

although this decision entails a fairly significant

increase in complexi-

ty; I am quite willing in this case to trade a bit of formal simplicity for psychological

plausibility.

Let us assume, then, that rule

(2)a is part of the phonology of Loko

(and,

I would maintain, of Mende as well - see above). This entails that the underlying tones of second elements of compounds in Loko irrelevant

(and other Mande languages) are

as fas as their surface forms are concerned;

they all bear exclusively

for all practical

purposes,

low tones. The tones of the first element, on the other

hand, are in dipute, as noted above. Even here, there can be little question

that

Dwyer is quite correct with respect to most of his underlying forms. Class lw seems clearly

to have a final H (the tone on the first syllable appears to be

unproblematic

in any of the forms in question),

and the downstepped H in the defi-

nite forms suggests strongly a final L, either as part of a falling tone

(as in

Dwyer's account) or as a "floating" tone, in Class 3 and 4 forms. Thus, aside the tonelessness of my final nasals, those of Dwyer, except

from

the underlying forms posited here agree with

for those of Class 2w forms. These forms behave very much

like the Mende forms in (l)c above the most part, cognate),

(which is not surprising, since they are, for

and the same kind of reasoning as that employed in dealing

with the Mende forms led Dwyer to posit his underlying rising tone. However,

Leben's

Donald G. Churma

98

abstractness worries are also relevant here, and I will assume tatively,

(somewhat

ten-

since this "abstract" analysis is one of the better-motivated ones I

have seen) that such forms have an underlying final H. With the nature of the underlying rules required

to account

forms established,

for the alternations.

it can be seen that for the compound forms

let us now turn to the

If we look only at the weak

(after rule

forms,

(l)a has applied), in the

case of first elements whose final syllable contains a high tone - either as part of a falling tone or as a simple high - the next two low tones are converted high

to

(again, regardless of whether or not the "low tone" is part of a contour

tone).

(If Dwyer's low-toned nasals are allowed, the same is true of the

strong

forms - the necessity to provide a separate rule for the strong forms is the additional bit of complexity alluded to above.) For example, in the case of Classes 1 and 2, we see that the two low tones in question are found on the two of the second element,

and thus that both bear high tone on the surface.

syllables In Classes

3 and 4, on the other hand, only the first syllable of the second element has a surface high, since one of the relevant tone of the first element.

low tones is part of the underlying

falling

(I assume that a universal priciple will simplify a

vowel associated with more than one like tone to one associated with a single tone.) This generalization

can be formalized, as a first approximation,

as follows:

(6) H L (L) 12 That

3

H (H) L 12

3

is, if a word-final vowel

in the first element of a compound has a H associ-

ated with it, the next L, and the one following that one, if present the second element

is not monosyllabic),

are converted

(i.e., if

to high, and a L is in-

serted at the end of the string of Hs. The purpose of introducing

the L is mainly

to trigger downstep when a H follows, but we will see additional motivation

for

The Nature of Tonological Representation

99

it below. Note that in order for this rule

(and rule 7) to work properly, rule

(2)a

must produce one L per vowel, rather than a single multiply-associated L. This follows directly from the rules as formulated if the inputs to them contain no multiply-associated

tones. This state of affairs is obviously counter to the OCP,

and it also seems to go against

the spirit, if not the letter, of Goldsmith's

(1976) theory, since a rule that causes a morpheme to be composed exclusively

of

low-toned vowels would be most simply stated as replacing all tones by a single L (which would become multiply-associated contrast,

by the Well-Formedness Condition).

In

in a theory that prohibits multiple association of tones on universal

grounds, of course, such behavior is a matter of course. This aspect of the latter theory is thus given considerable support by the Loko

facts.

The strong forms behave somewhat differently. Here, only the first low

tone

after a falling tone (namely, the one that is its second component) is converted to high, whereas the following two Ls are raised when the first element ends in a simple high. Thus, we have the

(7)

[X]

H L 1

2

following:

N,A

3

->•

H L 1 2

3

That is, the second low (if present) is raised only if the triggering H is immediately followed by a boundary the word by a low tone). Rules

(in other words, if it is not followed within

(6) and

(7) are strikingly similar in form, and

it is perhaps desirable to collapse them. I will postpone discussion of this question until the final form of the rules has been presented.

I will also put off dis-

cussion of the precise fate of the unassociated Ls that result until

from these

rules

then. One further rule is required,

in order to account for the final low tone of

100

Donald G. Churma

the first element in Class 2w compound forms. What must be involved here, given the preceding account, is a rule that lowers the final H in these forms. But the environment for this rule is somewhat problematic. It presumably cannot be strictly phonological in nature, since the relevant phonological environment

in compound

forms and definite forms appears to be precisely the same, and this rule applies only in the former cases. As Dwyer points out with respect to the corresponding rule in his account, what seems to be the generalization is that it applies if, and only if, rule (6) does. This becomes quite clear, Dwyer argues, when one examines the possessive pronoun constructions, where related same) alternations occur. In corporal possessives

(but not precisely the

(and in most familial, but not

alienable, possessives), rule (2)a is inapplicable, and a rule that raises only the first of a potential series of Ls when preceded by H is optionally Interestingly,

applicable.

the lowering rule, which does not apply if the pronouns that Dwyer

analyzes as having underlying rising tones (presumably with simple high in a less abstract account) are followed by an underlying high tone, applies if the raising rule does, thereby causing it to be followed by a high tone. If the raising rule does not apply, another rule (which is not needed if there is an underlying

simple

H) simplifies the rising tone to H. Because of the strange nature of the condition on the application of the rule under discussion, Dwyer collapses it with the raising rule, with the collapsed rule now being optional in the relevant kinds of possessive 3 constructions, but obligatory in compounds.

This kind of solution is not open to

us, given the analysis sketched thus far (at least not without making use of a very complicated rule schema), and I will argue briefly that it would not be desirable even if it were. The reason is essentially this:

a rule that converts a

H L sequence to L H is not a "natural process" (in the sense of Stampe 1973) - i.e. , roughly, it is not a "natural diachronic tone rule" in Hyman and Schuh's terms - and therefore cannot, on universal grounds, be optional

(1974)

(I know of no

other rule that is not also a natural process that is optional). If this is the

The Nature of Tonological Representation

101

case, then we seem to be pretty much stuck with Dwyer's initial Despite its apparent strangeness,

generalization.

I believe that it is essentially correct;

speakers

of Loko have learned as the environment for the (unnatural) lowering rule something like "when there is a tonal mutation of the following element." Thus, it is not quite correct to say that this rule applies if (6) does, because it will also apply to the output of the rule that does the raising in the possessives

(which cannot

readily be collapsed with the compound rule in the present treatment, although it is no problem in Dwyer's historically based account). A quasi-formalization

is

given below: (8)

H

-+

L / L

& tonal mutation of the following element

4

That speakers have resorted to such a strange-sounding condition on the application of this rule suggests that it is a highly marked one. This in turn makes it somewhat less than desirable to make the similar behavior of cognate forms in Mende seem natural, as Leben has attempted to do. It is these forms that are marked, and not the ones that require lexically associated tones in Leben's

treatment,

despite the strikingly greater number of the former in most idiolects 1978). The numbers have a different, historical, explanation: descendants of less marked forms, presumably low-high

(cf. Leben

these forms are the

(contra Dwyer

1973:ch.ll),

which via a diachronic change of rightward "spreading" of low tone (Hyman and Schuh) became low-rising, and then underwent changes analogous to the rules of Dwyer's synchronic account. The more conservative speakers (of Mende) retain the synchronically bizarre effects of the diachronic changes, while more innovative speakers either reanalyze the situation, as in the case of most forms in Loko, or simply level out the alternation

(as in the case of the Class 2s forms in Loko,

and as may be happening for the Mende speakers reported on as having more forms by Voorhoeve

(l)d-type

1975).

There is one remaining question that should be addressed here. The present account is inadequate with respect to a class of certain kinds of what Dwyer refers

102

Donald G. Churma

to as "multiple compounds". As stated, rule (6) will incorrectly fail to apply to forms with a high tone on a non-final syllable in a second element. Accordingly, this rule must apparently be revised as follows: (6 ' )

VXl | N H

- [YL „ N, A

L (L)

1 2

•+

3

H (H) L 12

Class 6 forms, such as

kopa

3

'money' (all of which are recent borrowings) would

have to be marked as exceptions to this revised version, as they would with respect to the corresponding rule in Dwyer's account

(although he does not point out this

fact). Multiple compounds also allow us to settle the issue of what happens to the L in the output of (6') and (7) when the Kell-Formedness

Condition

does not un-

ambiguously require that it be associated with a particular vowel (i.e., when it is "sandwiched" between a H and a L that are each associated with a vowel, and there is no unassociated vowel). The WFC would require association to one of these 5 vowels, but does not predict which one. first elements provide the answer:

Multiple compounds with Class 3w and 4w

this L must be associated leftward, thus cre-

ating an intermediate falling tone (in a way similar to the way in which Dwyer's rule works). These falling tones, like all falling tones, will be simplified by a rule that simply reduces falling tones to high. Again as in Dwyer's account, this rule will have to apply post-cyclically

(i.e., post-lexically, in the sense of

Kiparsky 1982, Pulleyblank 1983), whereas the other rules discussed here all apply on the cycle (in the lexical phonology). The operation of these rules is illustrated (9)

below with Class 3w nyaha

- pere

IK L H L

(6') -»

L

II L

nyaha

II

L H

nyaha:

- oha

- PETE

- na

I H

- oha

N K II

H H H L L L

(6')

nyaha

- na

I

H

- pert

IK L H H

nyaha ->

II

L H

H

- oha

-na

K \ II L L L L

- pere

II

H

H

- oha L

II L

IH

-

na

I

H

The Nature of Tonological Representation

103

Notice that, if the L in the output of the first application of (6') were to be assigned rightward, the second application of this rule would

inappropriately

assign the first syllable of the third element high tone. Whether this mode of association of unassociated tones is universal is a question that 1 cannot pursue here (I strongly suspect that it is not, however). Let us now turn to the promised consideration of the desirability of collapsing rules (6') and (7). While it is indeed possible to collapse these rules, whether or not doing so is desirable is less than clear, since the result

is far

from simple; probably the simplest is the following: (10)

[vxa H 1

b

]N)A

[Y]NjA

L e 2

Condition:

3

H 12

d

L

3

If c and (b or not a), then d

That is, the second H appears only if there are two Ls present, and either the input H is the last tone in the word or the word is not nasal-final. Even if these rules are not collapsed, they will be appropriately disjunctively ordered before (6')) by the Elsewhere Condition

4.

((7)

(Kiparsky 1973a, 1982).

CONCLUSION

I would now like to briefly summarize the theoretical relevance of various aspects of the preceding discussion. The import of the form of rules (6') and (7) should be clear:

since they both require sequences of like tones in order to work proper-

ly, they violate the OCP. I can conceive of no reasonable alternative account that would not also violate this principle. The differential behavior of Class 2w forms before the high-toned definite suffix and before other (derived) high tones is also of interest. The failure of these forms to become L L in the former case cannot be treated by having the final H lexically associated with a vowel, unlike

104

Donald G. Churma

in the case of Mende forms that fail to do so, since (unless ad hoc rules deleting lexical association lines are allowed) here sometimes the forms undergo the rule and sometimes they don't. That is, in Loko the different behavior that corresponds to the different behavior of (l)c and (l)d type forms in Mende is found in the same lexical item; therefore, since we must characterize a given lexical item as either having lexical association lines (in which case, forms should retain the H in all environments) or not having them (in which case, they should have L in all environments), a Mende-type treatment using lexical association lines will 6 not work for Loko.

The OCP cannot be maintained, and lexically associated tones

do not always do the work one might like them to do. Given the kind of theory argued for in Churma (1983), these constructs would be either impossible (in the case of the OCP) or unnecessary (lexically associated tones). Since the Loko data indicate that more than just these is required, and are thoroughly compatible with the principle that tones may not be multiply associated, this principle is strongly supported. * I would like to thank David Dwyer for helpful comments that he made on the oral version of this paper, and David Stampe for helpful discussion of various relevant issues. The work of the former on Southwestern Mande has had a profound influence on my understanding of the data in question, especially from a diachronic perspective; my rather cavalier rejection (ten years later) of his synchronic analysis of Loko should be interpreted in this light. NOTES 1.

Leben (1978) discusses a f a n d e (which he glosses as 'cotton', rather than 'thread', which is said to behave like (l)c forms. This is perhaps indicative of a dialect/idiolect difference, but such a difference is not relevant to the present discussion; the crucial question is whether there is a difference in the behavior of (l)c-type forms and (l)d type-forms, and such a difference appears to be unquestionable in all varieties of Mende. (There are at least three different varieties attested in the literature, as represented by Dwyer 1973, Leben 1978, and Szamosi, et al., 1982; Voorhoeve 1975 may represent yet another, given the radical difference between his frequency count and that of Dwyer and the impressionistic interpretation of relative frequency of Innes 1967 discussed by Leben 1978 with respect to the occurrence of (l)c and (l)d types.)

2.

De Zeeuw (1979) has given an explicitly autosegmental restatement of Dwyer's account. It too mirrors overly faithfully, in my view, the diachrony, and, more importantly, does not treat at all the "strong forris" (see below for a

The Nature of Tonological Representation

105

discussion of my and Dwyer's treatments). I will therefore not discuss it further here. 3.

This in itself might seem somewhat strange, but it is apparently not unique to Dwyer's account of Loko; cf. Goldsmith (1976) and Churma (1983) for discussions of similar phenomena in Igbo and E t s a k 9 , respectively.

4.

An alternative way of stating the environment would be as follows: (i) L

H*, where H* refers to "derived (non-underlying) high tone"

This is strikingly reminiscent of the requirement of the Revised Alternation Condition of Kiparsky (1973b, 1982) that non-automatic neutralization rules apply only in "derived environments". However, since such environments include those in which rules apply across morpheme boundaries, the environments will be "derived" for all of the Loko cases regardless of whether or not the following H is itself derived by rule. Thus, having a H that is not marked as being derived in the environment of this rule will not be sufficient to characterize the applicability of this rule, even if an appeal is made to this condition. Note also that, since the cognate rule in Mende applies whether or not the following H is derived, it is clear that a universal principle such as this cannot be involved. 5.

It is also possible that this L is simply never associated, if one rejects the Well-Formedness Condition (cf. CLements and Ford 1979). As long as the rule deleting this "floating" L (for arguments that it could not remain after all phonological rules have applied, cf. Churma 1982) applies only post-lexically, then associating this tone leftward and not associating it at all are empirically indistinguishable.

6.

In a talk delivered recently at UCLA, Leben has suggested treating the (l)c forms by marking their H as extratonal (cf. Pulleyblank 1983). This kind of treatment, if extended to Loko, would encounter problems precisely analogous to the lexical association line treatment in that it would require an ad hoc rule deleting or inserting the mark of extratonality in the relevant environments.

REFERENCES Churma, D. 1982. Cross-linguistic evidence for universal principles of rule interaction: downstep. Paper presented at the Winter LSA Meeting. To appear in Ohio State University Working Papers in Linguistics. . 1983. Diachronic and synchronic tone rules in the Etsako verbal system: some theoretical implications. Ohio State University Working Papers in Linguistics 27:16-49. Clements, G.N., and K. Ford. 1979. Kikuyu tone shift and its synchronic consequences. Linguistic Inquiry 10:179-210. De Zeeuw, P. 1979. Western Mande compound tone rules. Unpublished Michigan State University M.A. thesis. Dwyer, D. 1971. Mende tone. Studies in African Linguistics 2:117-30. . 1973. The comparative tonology of Southwestern Mande nominals. Ph.D. diss., Michigan State University. Goldsmith, J. 1976. Autosegmental phonology. Indiana University Linguistics Club. Hyman, L. and R. Schuh. 1974. Universals of tone rules: evidence from West Africa. Linguistic Inquiry 5:81-115. Innes, G. 1967. A practical introduction to Mende. London: School of Oriental and African Studies.

106

Donald G. Churma

Kiparsky, P. 1973a. Elsewhere in phonology. In A Festschrift for Morris Halle, eds. S.R. Anderson and P. Kiparsky, pp. 93-106. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. . 1973b. Phonological representations. In Three dimensions of linguistic theory, ed. 0. Fujimura, pp. 1-136. Tokyo: TEC Company, Ltd. . 1982. Lexical morphology and phonology. Linguistics in the morning calm, The Linguistic Society of Korea, pp. 3-91. Seoul: Hanshin Publishing co. Leben, W. 1973. Suprasegmental phonology. Ph.D. diss., MIT. . 1978. The representation of tone. In Tone: a linguistic survey, ed. V. Fromkin, pp. 177-219. New York: Academic Press. Pulleyblank, D. 1983. Tone in lexical phonology. Ph.D. diss., MIT. Singler, J. 1980. The status of lexical associations and the obligatory contour principle. BLS 6:442-56. Stampe, D. 1973. A dissertation on natural phonology. Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago. Szamosi, M., et al. 1982. A reanalysis of Mende tone. Paper presented at the Thirteenth Conference on African Linguistics, Université du Québec à Montréal. Voorhoeve, J. 1975. Suprasegmental phonology. York Papers in Linguistics 5:21-32.

Chapter

9

The Environment for Consonant Mutation in Mende Patrick Conteh, Elizabeth Cowper, Keren Rice

1.

INTRODUCTION

Mende,

a M a n d a n l a n g u a g e s p o k e n In S i e r r a L e o n e , h a s a r u l e of c o n s o n a n t

(CM) w h i c h c h a n g e s t h e i n i t i a l c o n s o n a n t of v e r b s , n o u n s , sitions

in c e r t a i n c o n t e x t s .

2.

THE

2.1.

from syntactic

postpo-

environment

for C M can be predicted

straight-

structure.

DATA

EXAMPLES OF

MUTATION

T h e r u l e of C M a f f e c t s v o i c e l e s s a n d p r e n a s a l i z e d voiced non-nasal

-¥

s

consonants,

changing them

c o n s o n a n t s . E x a m p l e s of s e g m e n t s w h i c h u n d e r g o C M a r e g i v e n

(1), a n d of s e g m e n t s w h i c h n e v e r u n d e r g o C M in f

and

In t h i s p a p e r , w e w i l l f o c u s o n l y o n t h e

of t h e r u l e . ^ W e w i l l s h o w t h a t t h e e n v i r o n m e n t forwardly

adjectives

mutation

fa

•for

gb é

va

j

S£1 £ i

' t h e banana'

ny a

j

/\ ndò p o i

w

poma

'behind'

t

1

tèi

'the

k

g

kù 1 5

' i n :F r o n t

chicken1 of'

ny à bi

E

'what 1 e1

/V woma

Ili

,g u l 6

for'

'my banana' 'behind the

child'

'my c h i c k e n ' 'in front

o f you sg

kp

-y

gb

kpèk e l

'the razor'

ny a g b è k è i

'my r a z o r '

mb

->

b

mb£ t e i

' the p l a t f o r m '

nya

betel

'my p l a t f o r m '

nd

1

nd e nd e 1

' the boat'

ny à

1 end e1

'my b o a t '

n j

y

nj

' the goat'

nya

yè 1

'my g o a t '

n

g -»• 1

fwi

éi

n g 11 e i ngó111

' t h e dog' 'the ear,

\ TV /

tail'

in

(2).

V

p

to

n y à y 11 e i n y a WO i l l

'my dog 1 'my e a r ,

tail'

108 (2)

Patrick Conteh

et al

v

vovoi

'the lungs'

j

jowei

'the chain, necklace'

belei

'the trousers'

b

b

nya

vovoi

'my lungs' 'my chain, necklace'

v T tv i' nya 1 bel

JV

'my trousers'

N /

d

d

ddoowwiiii

'the duck'

nya

down

g

g

gglil i l in

'the kidney'

nya

gxln

'my kidney'

gb

gb

gbatoi

'the whip'

nya

gbatoi

'my whip'

'the mirror'

nya

'my mirror'

'the pineapple'

nya

'my pineapple'

nyahei

'the woman'

nya

gijbnii bnii

'the bird'

nya

ny i]

ny ->-1]

'my duck'

\ , / i

'my woman'

nyahei \

\ r

'my bird'

t] on 1 1 lomboi

'the patch'

'my patch'

nya lomboi

'the calf of leg'

nya

'my calf'

walei

'the slate'

hakaa \ V / n y a w a nl e i

'my slate'

yii

'thing, stuff'

nya

hakaa

2.2.

\

t

'my stuff'

yix

STATEMENT OF ENVIRONMENTS

T h e various environments

in which CM occurs are listed in (3).

2 (3) a.

[NP + V] obj .

The initial consonant of the verb mutates, nya woko£l6 1 he me imitate cf. p o k o b

b.

[NP + N]

[N + Adj]

me.1

'imitate'

T h e inital consonant of the noun mutates. ndopoi bowei child knife cf. m b o w i i

c.

'He imitated

'the child's knife' 'the knife'

The inital consonant of the adjective mutates. ngila jembei dog big cf. s i m b i

na that

'that big dog' 'big'

T h e E n v i r o n m e n t for C o n s o n a n t M u t a t i o n i n M e n d e (3) d .

[NP + P ]

T h e i n i t i a l c o n s o n a n t of t h e p o s t p o s i t i o n nd£ndei shade cf. m b u

e.

[NP + V] subj.

bu under

'in t h e

[N + N ]

In s o m e i n t r a n s i t i v e the verb mutates.

sentences,

In c o m p o u n d s , mutates.

"The b a b y

[e + P]

t h e i n i t i a l c o n s o n a n t of t h e s e c o n d

[t + V]

mbu ndendei

'boat'

cf. [NP + V...] subj.

environments:

fembenga 'The c h i l d s w u n g i t . ' swing m b f e m c i v e m b e n g a . 'The c h i l d s w u n g t h e hammock.'

it a p p e a r s

nd£>po\ k p a n d i a mia ndcrpoi_kpandia

ndopoi

ngulel

gbandia

In s o m e i n t r a n s i t i v e s e n t e n c e s , t h e v e r b f a i l s to m u t a t e .

'What has the child heated 'It's t h e o i l t h a t t h e child heated.' 'The c h i l d h e a t e d t h e o i l . the initial consonant

t h a t m u t a t i o n s i m p l y a p p l i e s to the r i g h t m o s t of two

an e x a m i n a t i o n of

of

'They s u r r o u n d e d h i m . 1

w i t h i n a p h r a s e , w h e r e e l e m e n t is t a k e n to m e a n a l e x i c a l However,

null,

'under it' 'under t h e b o a t '

bu

ti kakpanga ngi ma they surrounded him *ti gakpanga ngi ma Initially,

null,

If t h e o b j e c t of a t r a n s i t i v e v e r b is e x t r a c t e d a n d o c c u r s at t h e b e g i n n i n g of t h e s e n t e n c e , C M f a i l s to o c c u r . gbemia ngulei

d.

noun

'sailboat'

If t h e o b j e c t of a p o s t p o s i t i o n is p h o n o l o g i c a l l y C M f a i l s to o c c u r .

cf. c.

turned1

If t h e o b j e c t of a t r a n s i t i v e v e r b is p h o n o l o g i c a l l y C M f a i l s to o c c u r . ndopoi child cf. n d o p o i

b.

of

'turn'

M u t a t i o n f a i l s to a p p l y in t h e f o l l o w i n g [e + V]

shade'

the i n i t i a l c o n s o n a n t

ffcffc 1 £ n d £ i wind boat cf. n d e n d e i

(4) a.

mutates.

'under'

ndolaa wotea baby turn cf. p o t e f.

109

i t e m of a m a j o r

element category

(3)e a n d (4)d r e v e a l s t h a t t h e f a c t s a r e n o t

as

110

Patrick Conteh

e t al

s i m p l e as t h e y i n i t i a l l y tation applies

appear. Both cases involve intransitive

in o n e c a s e ,

sentences.

(3)e, b u t f a i l s to a p p l y in t h e o t h e r ,

Mu-

(4)d.

In t h e n e x t s e c t i o n , w e w i l l l o o k at t h e p h r a s e s t r u c t u r e of M e n d e to t e r m i n e w h e t h e r t h e r e is s o m e p r i n c i p l e d w a y of p r e d i c t i n g w h e r e m u t a t i o n

dewill

occur.

3.

MENDE PHRASE

STRUCTURE

M e n d e w o r d o r d e r is

s u b j - o b j - V - X , w h e r e X is a d v e r b i a l , p o s t p o s i t i o n a l ,

T h e f o c u s of t h e f o l l o w i n g s e c t i o n is t h e p o s t - v e r b a l Since Mende lacks morphological

c a s e m a r k i n g a n d s h o w s n o e v i d e n c e of

a r e a s s u m i n g t h a t it is a c o n f i g u r a t i o n a l

language,

free

languages,

and hence has a verb

we

phrase.

forms a constituent w i t h the verb. The question now

where the post-verbal material occurs. A reasonable approach, dopt,

adjunct.

material.

word order, properties usually associated with non-configurational

It f o l l o w s t h a t t h e o b j e c t

or

is to p l a c e o n l y t h o s e e l e m e n t s

and the one we

f o r w h i c h t h e v e r b is s t r i c t l y

inside the verb phrase. Other material

is

a-

subcategorized

occurs outside the verb phrase,

directly

d o m i n a t e d by S.

For example, subcategorized of

for a postpositional

(5)c a n d (6)c.

(5) a.

ti

*ti

c.

*ti

(6) a.

mu

b.

*mu

c.

*mu

examples

ngi

ungrammaticality

(6)b s h o w t h a t m u t a t i o n c a n n o t o c c u r in t h e s e

surrounded

gakpanga

p h r a s e . T h i s is s h o w n b y t h e

ngi

ma

him

on

'They surrounded

strictly

sentences.

him.1

ma

gakpanga/kakpanga

we

With most

(5)b a n d

kakpanga

they b.

in (4)d, r e p e a t e d h e r e as (5), a n d in (6), the v e r b is

sekanga

ngi

mistrusted jekanga

ngi

hu

him

'We m i s t r u s t e d

him.'

in

hu

sekanga/jekanga

intransitive verbs however, post-verbal constituents are g i v e n in

(7) - (10)

below.

are o p t i o n a l .

Some

The Environment for Consonant Mutation in Mende (7)

a.

nyaa I

wama come

b.

nyaa I

wama come

cf. (8)

kolei book

'1 am coming with the book

' I am coming '

pa

'a coming'

a.

mu v e m b e l l o we swung

ngulii the tree

b.

mbom^l the hammock

v^mbiilo swung

cf. (9)

a

hu on

ffcmbii

'we swung on the tree 1

'the hammock swung1

' the swing'

a.

l 2^.en9a he left

. b.

/ , \/ , \ i]gi g b e i l o I stopped cf.

111 1

nya me

'he left me alone'

ma

'I stopped'

kpei

'the leaving, letting alone'

(10) a.

tâà he

gbùàmâ coming

b.

tâà

gbùàmâ

'he is coming out'

kpùâ

'take out, extract, remove'

cf.

pi i bù the house out

'he is coming out of the house'

We thus propose the following as a partial phrase structure grammar for Mende. (11)

S

( WH ) |TOP! S VP

(X)

VP ->- (NP)

V

(X)

PP •+• NP

P

NP

N

S

NP

(NP)

(Adj)

Det

(X = adverbial, postpositional, adjunct material) X occurs in VP if the verb is strictly subcategorized for it and in S otherwise.

4.

THE ENVIRONMENT FOR MUTATION

From these phrase structure rules, the following generalization about the environment for CM in Mende can be made. A verb, noun, adjective or postposition

112

Patrick Conteh

e t al

m u t a t e s if it c - c o m m a n d s

a n d is i m m e d i a t e l y

to t h e r i g h t of any

phonological

4 material. For instance, a n d is i m m e d i a t e l y (12)

( 3 ) a a b o v e h a s the s t r u c t u r e g i v e n in (12). T h e v e r b to t h e r i g h t of the o b j e c t

^

c-commands

nya .

^

NP

VP NP V I

I, nya

w o k 6 £ 16 'He i m i t a t e d

me.'

(3)b, c, d a n d (3)f h a v e t h e s t r u c t u r e s g o u s to

(3)a.

(13)

NP NP

N

I

I

n d o p ol

bo wsi

'the c h i l d ' s

knife'

(14)

(15)

(16)

'the

sailboat'

g i v e n in (13) - (16) b e l o w , a n d a r e

analo-

The Environment for Consonant Mutation in Mende In (3)e, whose structure is given in (17), the verb phrase does not branch, therefore does not qualify

as a domain for c-command. Since S is the first

ing node above V, the verb does in fact c-command the subject, and mutation

113 and branchap-

plies . (17)

In (4)a,b and

(4)c, whose structures are given in (18) - (21), the role of the

empty categories e and t is

illustrated.

(18) NP

VP NP

ndopoi the child

it

f emb Éngk swung

'The child swung it.' (19)

'He is standing under it.'

114 (20)

what

kpandia is h e a t i n g

the c h i l d

'What i s

the

child

heating?'

(21) TOP

n g u l e i mia the o i l 'It's

the oil

ndopoi the c h i l d that

the

kpandia has heated child

has

heated.'

A l t h o u g h these c a t e g o r i e s do n o t t r i g g e r m u t a t i o n ,

as l e x i c a l items d o ,

n o n e t h e l e s s a f f e c t the a p p l i c a b i l i t y of the rule. C o n s i d e r this sentence,

they

(18), for e x a m p l e .

the p r e s e n c e of the empty c a t e g o r y c a u s e s t h e verb p h r a s e to b r a n c h .

T h e d o m a i n for c - c o m m a n d is thus VP. S i n c e the verb d o e s not c - c o m m a n d the

subject

and s i n c e t h e r e is no lexical o b j e c t , m u t a t i o n c a n n o t apply. T h e same c a n b e in (19),

In

(20) and

seen

(21).

(4)d, w h o s e s t r u c t u r e is g i v e n in (22), i l l u s t r a t e s that w h e n an

intransitive

verb has strictly s u b c a t e g o r i z e d a r g u m e n t s , m u t a t i o n of t h e verb d o e s not (22)

t i they

1c a k p a n g a surrounded

ngi him

'They

surrounded

him. '

apply.

The Environment for Consonant Mutation in Mende This is predicted, since the subcategorized

115

post-verbal material causes the verb

phrase to branch, preventing the verb from c-commanding the subject. There is thus no environment

for mutation. Contrast

post-verbal material

is present,

this with

it is not strictly

(19). In this case, subcategorized

for and is not

part of the verb phrase. Thus the verb in (19) c-commands the subject, (16), and, as predicted, mutation

5.

although

just as in

applies.

SUMMARY

By taking into account phrase structure, empty categories, and the

independently

justified notion of c-command, it can be seen that the environment

for consonant

mutation is accounted vide support

for in a natural way. In addition, the facts of Mende pro-

for the notion of c-commmand and for the existence of empty cate-

gories.

The authors' names are listed in alphabetical order, not in any order of pri* ority . NOTES 1.

There are other questions that are of include the natural class problem and should be formulated. Bird (1971) has (1982) is concerned with developing a mechanism of consonant mutation.

interest concerning mutations. These the question of exactly how the rule addressed the first question. Lieber universal framework to account for the

2.

The following abbreviations are used in this paper, obj. object subj. subject NP noun phrase V verb N noun Adj. adjective P postpostion e empty category t^ trace of a moved element S category containing a sentence and introductory material such as a complementizer, topic, or question word WH question word TOP topic S sentence verb phrase VP PP postpositional phrase Det determiner

116

Patrick Conteh et al

3.

C-commands is defined as follows: a node A c-commands a node B if the first branching node which dominates A also dominates B.

4.

Two points should be made here; one concerning the trigger for mutation and the other concerning the mutating element. First, while most lexical items can serve as triggers, there is a small number which do not. Notable amongst these are the particles a, identified by Innes (1967) as a preposition with the basic meaning 'with', and ye 'how1. Second, there are major category lexical items which never mutate under any circumstances. These include loan words, personal and geographic names, the numerals, and a few words denoting close relatives and friends (Innes (1967) p. 45).. These are accounted for by marking them as exceptions in the lexicon. There are a few idioms in which mutation applies where it is not expected, as in meht me a loko 'eat with the fingers' (cf. toko 'hand'). These idioms are most likely lexicalized expressions with the mutated form in the lexicon.

5.

Although as far as we know, the syntactic analysis we will propose accounts for the mutation in compounds such as (17), we are not making the claim here that compounds are formed syntactically and thus that CM in compounds is syntactic. There is evidence from tones that compounds should perhaps be dealt with lexically. Depending on the other assumptions, this may require that there also be a CM rule in the lexicon.

REFERENCES Bird, C. S. 1971. Observations on Initial Consonant Change in Southwestern Mande. In Papers in African Linguistics., eds. Chin-Wu Kim and Herbert Stahlke, pp. 153-74. Edmonton: Linguistic Research Inc. Innes, G. 1967. A Practical Introduction to Yjende. London: SOAS. Lieber, R. 1982. Mutations in Fula. Paper presented at the 8th Conference on African Linguistics, Montreal.

Chapter

10

Nandi Nominal Tonology: Two Types of Tonal Process Chet Creider

1.

INTRODUCTION

T h e t y p o l o g y of t o n a l p r o c e s s e s languages

Is an e n d u r i n g c o n c e r n for s t u d e n t s of

(Hyman and Schuh 1973).

t h a t t h e r e are t w o v e r y d i s t i n c t

African

In t h i s p a p e r I e x p l o r e s o m e d a t a w h i c h

suggest

t o n a l r u l e t y p e s . T h e c o n s i d e r a t i o n of t h e

c a t i o n of t h e s e two s e t s of r u l e s in a f o r m a l p h o n o l o g i c a l

lo-

description will

consti-

t u t e an e n r i c h m e n t of the v o c a b u l a r y of a u t o s e g m e n t a l p h o n o l o g y . A t t h e s a m e b y f a c t o r i n g o u t the t w o r u l e t y p e s ,

it w i l l b e p o s s i b l e

k i n d s of t o n a l p r o c e s s p e r m i t t e d w i t h i n t h e a u t o s e g m e n t a l

to s e t l i m i t a t i o n s o n framework

in

then,

t e m p t s to d e v e l o p g r a m m a t i c a l d e s c r i p t i o n s

in w h i c h t h e r e are a n u m b e r of

modules with different properties

1982).

T h e t e r r a i n for m y d i s c u s s i o n

is a c o n t r i b u t i o n to r e c e n t

is N a n d i , a N i l o - S a h a r a n

language

the

different

p a r t s of an o v e r a l l g r a m m a r . T h i s a r t i c l e ,

(Chomsky

time,

at-

distinct

belonging

to t h e S o u t h e r n b r a n c h of t h e N i l o t i c l a n g u a g e s . N a n d i is a l a n g u a g e w i t h a r i c h v a r i e t y of t o n a l p r o c e s s e s ,

a n d I b e l i e v e it w i l l p r o v i d e a u s e f u l

f o r the a r g u m e n t s

developing.

2.

NANDI NOMINAL

2.1.

Preliminaries

I will be

springboard

TONOLOGY

Nandi has three underlying

t o n e m e s a n d f o u r t o n e s w h i c h c o n t r a s t o n the

in the s e n s e of t a x o n o m i c p h o n e m e s . T h e d i f f e r e n c e falling/low-falling

in i n v e n t o r y c o m e s f r o m a h i g h -

c o n t r a s t w h i c h is n o t u n d e r l y i n g l y present."^ H i g h t o n e

m a r k e d w i t h an a c u t e a c c e n t , h i g h - f a l l i n g w i t h a c i r c u m f l e x with a grave accent,

surface

accent,

a n d low t o n e is u n m a r k e d . W e w i l l b e d e a l i n g

is

low-falling

almost

entirely

118

Chet Creider

with nominal words. In simplest form these consist of a stem plus, in the case of most but not all words, a number suffix or suffixes. Such forms are called primary forms.

The suffixes

- i t (sg.) and - f k

(pi.) may be added to create a second-

ary form. The resulting four forms are illustrated in (1) below for the word 'child'. (1)

2.2

la-k+wa la-k+wa+it la'k+o'y la-k + o - y + f k

(la-kwe-t) (ln-ko-y) (1 n • k6 . k )

(primary singular) (secondary singular) (primary plural) (secondary plural)

TWO CLASSES OF RULE: THE FIRST TYPE ("LOCAL RULES")

Viewed from a purely formal perspective the tonal rules which operate in derivations of nominal forms are of two types. The following are some examples of the first type. The rule of Final Fall converts most final high tones to falling tones (exceptions are, however, produced by some of the rules which follow this rule), e.g., met

'head'

-»

met

(lowered to

met

by

(4)) .

Final Fall (FF) (2)

T H

?L) 4

*

H

*HL /

£ 4

An unattached H tone is associated with a tone-bearing unit by the rule of Floating Tone Attachment:

lo'i] ' 'shield'

Floating Tone Attachment (3)

->•

1 o* ij

(FTA)

T L

HFL lowers a High Falling Tone to a Low Falling Tone after a low tone or wordinitially. Although typologically unusual it is in fact a nice example of a rule which is well-motivated both phonetically and phonologically. Phonetically it is

Nandi Nominal Tonology

119

simply a process of assimilation to a low tone. Phonologically the falling tone is preserved and with it the three-way contrast (H, L, HF) which is fundamental to the nominal lexicon. E.g. 3 - r 'road/clan'

-*• o'r .

When a single tone-bearing unit is associated with two high tones (this happens as a result of processes of vowel coalescence), a high-falling tone results: ma + it

ma't

'fire (secondary form)1

High Fall Creation (HFC) (5) H

L i L

The four preceding rules are ordered as in (6). Their application and interaction is illustrated in (7). (6)

(7)

FF FT A* L< HFL HFC* po-• 1+fk

(FF)

p o - l + tk

->•

lo- ij + a+ i t Id- q + a

(HFL) (HFC)

(PSD)

o

Id-13+'

->-

(FTA)

pd• 1+ik 1 clouds (sec.) ' t lo- xi + t'shield (sec.) ' 1o• 5 'shield (pri.) '

We may summarize the characterization of these rules (and give them a by noting that they are local in their operation. They work within a single tonebearing unit or across adjacent tone-bearing units. The processes are phonetically or phonologically motivated ones of assimilation, dissimilation, etc.

120 2.3

Chet Creider 3 Rules of the second type ("replacive rules" )

The second set of rules is exemplified by the following: The rule of High Spreading assigns high tones to all syllables of a form regardless of the sequence of underlying tones. High Spreading

(HS)

(8)

(ii

(0,

is a sequence of tone bearing

units T of length n with associated tones

(H>_

(9)

k i • rwci • k + u • t

(HS) k i - r w a - k u - t

•*

(FF) k i - r w a - k Q ' t

The rule of wa-Plural assigns a disyllabic stem associated with a - w a

'advice (pri.)'

plural

formative an invariant tonal contour of H - L - L. w a - Plural (10)

(11)

T

T

+wa

I

I

i L

TI2

T2 1

H

L

kara's+wa

•*

(wn-P)

kara-s+wa

'ribs (pri.)'

The rule of High-Plural adds a high tone to a plural form which does not have a plural formative. (There is no

recoverable trace of the segment which historical-

ly bequeathed such a tone; the operation of a rule of length dissimilation frequently does allow for such recovery, but not here.) H-Plural (12)

/T\

T

(D

T in

'(A/The)

< sheep }

1a•1a•tinwe•kJ

(oblique case forms:

la-kwe-t,

are here'

I bags

1a•1a•tinw§•k,

ke-ci-ryet)

The second set of rules may be characterized formally in four respects. First they produce invariant tonal shapes or melodies. Second, they typically apply over more than one or two tone-bearing units. Third, they apply without regard to lexical tones, and fourth, they appear to be without phonetic or phonological motivation. 3

I will term these rules replacive rules.

122 3.

Chet Creider THE TWO RULE TYPES COMPARED

Thus far we have tried to consider the morphotonological rules of Nandi in a purely formal way, without regard to the way(s) in which they function. When the two sets of rules - local and non-local - are examined in terms of the work they do in the grammar of Nandi, it turns out that there are some major differences between the two sets. The local rules are ordered among the other phonological rules of the grammar. For example, Falling Tone Creation follows a vowel fusion rule, and Floating Tone Attachment follows a rule deleting a primary form suffix. In addition these rules operate across the language in general and are massively attested to in the raorphotonology of verbal and adjectival forms as well as nominal ones. The replacive rules, however, are quite distinct. They are themselves subdivided into two sub-groups - (a) those which apply to or are associated with particular morphological elements, and (b) those which are dependent on syntactic function. I will discuss the (a) rules first. These rules are first of all unordered as far as I can determine except that as a group they must apply before all of the local tonal rules. Second, the detailed specification of the conditions of application

of these rules must make reference to specific formative elements

and even further to specific lexical items. For example, the High Spreading rule is associated with three particular plural formatives, - V n , There are no exceptions to its application with - V the possible - V n

- V t , and - a y .

t nouns, only about half of

nouns evidence its application, and only a small fraction of 5

possible

- a y forms show it.

The (b) rules, consisting only of the two rules for nominative case tonal shapes, require of course reference to the syntactic function of the nominal word, and beyond that require some reference to the position of the nominal word in the clause as well as in the noun phrase. Specifically, nominative case is not found with topicalized

(in pre-verbal position) subject noun phrases, but is confined

Nandi Nominal Tonology

123

to post-verbal positions. Further, only the first noun in a conjoined noun phrase which functions as subject shows nominative case-marking, other nouns are in the oblique case. Sub-group (b) rules apply after those local rules which they can interact with. For example, the rule of Final Fall must apply before the rules of (14) and (16). In addition, these two rules apply after some external sandhi rules. (18) gives a formulation and illustration of a rule of dissimilation whereby a high tone is lowered to a low tone before a following high tone across a word boundary. High Lowering (18)

(HL) H , ->- L /

T

H i L

* #

# # H

H

ke-r+ey

# 4

3-r

(HL)

ke-r+ey

# 4

3-r

'(he) sees the road'

This rule does not apply when the conditioning element is in the nominative case, 6 as shown in (19) •

(19)

4.

ke-rey

kipe-t

sote-t

'Kibet sees (the/a) gourd'

THEORETICAL CONSEQUENCES

I will suggest two possible ways of formally incorporating the distinction drawn in the preceding section between local and replacive rules. First, if it be decided to treat the replacive rules as phonological rules, we can set up a requirement that all such rules apply in a block before the Well-formedness Condition comes into effect. The Well-formedness Condition (WFC) is the major set of constraints on rules built into autosegmental phonology. In its most recent formulation (Clements and Ford 1979), there are a number of kinds of tonal process which are permitted but which may not be attested once replacive rules are factored out. For example, a rule which changes every lexically-specified tone present and

124

Chet Creider

substitutes new tones across a form is permissable. The grouping of all replacive rules in a sub-component would allow a strengthened WFC to be formulated,

one

7 which would permit only local rules . Another alternative, possible in an enriched theory of morphology,

would

be to treat these rules as part of the morphology rather than the phonology.

Such

a treatment would appear to be very natural and a number of the properties of non-local rules would Specifically

then simply be consequences of their location in the grammar.

the facts that these rules as a set are internally unordered,

that

they all operate before any local rules, and that they are associated with

spe-

cific morphological

items, would follow immediately from the adoption of

alternative. Similarly, it should be possible

(although

this

I have no proposal

for

how this may be accomplished) to set aside the rules which are sensitive to de8 rived syntactic structure and exempt them from a strengthened WFC. I am grateful to John Goldsmith for some thought-provoking * earlier draft of this paper.

comments on an

NOTES 1.

See Creider 1982 for

2.

Primary Suffix Deletion

3.

Term suggested by J. Goldsmith

4.

Simpler formulations of these rules are both possible and (14-)

T

1

details.

... T

n-l

L (16-)

(PSD) is motivated and described

in Creider

(1982).

(p.c.). preferable.

T in !

H

T 1 ... T n 1 l I I L

H

L

The WFC will result in the attachment and spreading of the unattached L in (14') and the unattached H in (16') to the remaining tone bearing units. These tones simply fail to surface if there are no TBU's for them to attach to. 5.

The particular plural formative (or singular formative if one is found) which is associated with a noun is not predictable on either semantic or phonological grounds (except in the case of deverbal nominals) and must be specified

Nandi Nominal Tonology

125

in the lexicon. 6.

The nominative case form here is special. Nouns with masculine and feminine gender prefixes, k i p - and c e - p - are formed by a different rule which attaches a high tone to these prefixes for the nominative case, but otherwise leaves a noun's underlying tonal contour untouched.

7.

G.N. Clements (p.c.) has pointed out the necessity for recognizing a similar "tone composition" component in Kikuyu.

8.

It is possible that the theory of lexical phonology as developed by Kiparsky (1982) will provide a natural framework for this approach (J. Golasmith, p.c.).

REFERENCES Chomsky, N. 1982. Some Concepts and Consequences of the Theory of Government and Binding. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press. Clements, G.N. and K.C. Ford. 1979. Kikuyu tone shift and its synchronic consequences. Linguistic Inquiry 10:179-210. Creider, C.A. 1982. Studies in Kalenjin Nominal Tonology. Berlin: Dietrich Reiner Verlag. Goldsmith, J. 1976. Autosegmental Phonology. Ph.D. diss., MIT. Haraguchi, S. 1977. The Tone Pattern of Japanese: An Autosegmental Theory of Tone. Tokyo: Kaitakusha. Hyman, L. and R.G. Schuh. 1973. Universals of tone rules: evidence from West Africa. Linguistic Inquiry 5:81-115. Kiparsky, P. 1982. From cyclic phonology to lexical phonology. In The Structure of Phonological Representations, eds. H. van der Hulst and N. Smith, pp. 131-176. Dordrecht: Foris Publications.

Chapter

11

Prominence Hierarchies and Turkana Syntax Gerrit J. Dimmendaal 1.

INTRODUCTION

In o n e t r a d i t i o n of r e c e n t

syntactic research special

attention has been

given

to f e a t u r e s of o r d e r c o r r e l a t i n g w i t h t h e p o s i t i o n of the v e r b r e l a t i v e to

other

major constituents

s u c h as s u b j e c t a n d o b j e c t ,

these

lines in Greenberg

( 1 9 6 6 ) . In a m o r e t h e o r e t i c a l l y o r i e n t e d a p p r o a c h t h e

following suggestions

along

g a t i o n h a s c o n c e n t r a t e d o n m o d u l e s of g r a m m a r d e t e r m i n i n g t h e d e g r e e of figurationality

and constraints on movement

w i t h p r i n c i p l e s of U n i v e r s a l G r a m m a r

rules for constituents,

stipulated

in C h o m s k y

in

investicon-

accordance

(1981).

This p a p e r gives a short survey of constraints on linear order for m a j o r constituents

and properties

associated with these constraints

in T u r k a n a ,

E a s t e r n N i l o t i c l a n g u a g e s p o k e n in the a r i d a n d s e m i - a r i d p l a i n s of western Kenya. Turkana

is a v e r b - i n i t i a l

to w h i c h it is h i s t o r i c a l l y

language,

related. Throughout

t h e c o m p a r a t i v e s t a t u s of the v a r i o u s m o r p h o - s y n t a c t i c , properties

t h a t are i l l u s t r a t e d .

of t h e v a r i o u s p h e n o m e n a f a c t s of t h i s l a n g u a g e ,

relevance

languages belonging

operand-operator

descriptive

to the s a m e

level

family.

PHENOMENA (head-modifier)

adjectives,

language. Nominal

demonstratives,

numerals and

all f o l l o w t h e h e a d n o u n in c o n s t r u c t i o n s n o t m a r k e d for a

context. The following examples

to

In t h e s e c o n d p a r t of t h e p a p e r t h e

as w e l l as f o r t h e v a r i a t i o n at the s y n t a c t i c

f i e r s s u c h as r e l a t i v e c l a u s e s , quantifiers

is m a d e

pragmatic

RIGIDITY O F WORD ORDER AND RELATED

T u r k a n a is a c o n s i s t e n t

languages

semantic and

is e v a l u a t e d i n o r d e r to a c c o u n t f o r t h e

b e t w e e n T u r k a n a and o t h e r

2.

north-

as a r e m a n y of t h e

the paper reference

an

illustrate

this

point:

modi-

other

specific

128

Gerrit

J.

Dimmendaal ija-kaalak AGF-many

'many

cows'

a - b eru" woman

Ulna' that

'that

(referential)

c.

a-bEro* woman

a ~ c £v AGR-other

'another/some

d.

a-beru* woman

na-a-los-i who-3-go-A

(1) a.

qa-atuk cows

b.

other

' t h e woman who

'

woman'

woman 1

went'

T h e p r e f i x e s in these and o t h e r n o u n s are g e n d e r m a r k e r s , w h o s e f o r m

further

d e p e n d s u p o n s u c h f e a t u r e s as n u m b e r and case; n o m i n a l m o d i f i e r s

like

clauses,

agreement

a d j e c t i v e s and q u a n t i f i e r s also take ( g e n d e r - s e n s i t i v e )

relative

markers. Genitives

( b o t h n o m i n a l and p r o n o m i n a l )

neutral

contexts:

(2) a.

qa-atuk cows

k e 13 ^ his/her

b.

i]a-atuk cows

a of

Alternatively,

follow the h e a d n o u n they m o d i f y

'his/her

1

e-kile' man

(the)

cows'

cows of

the/a

man'

some of these m o d i f i e r s c a n p r e c e d e the n o u n stem. T h i s

option

o c c u r s w h e n these m o d i f y i n g c a t e g o r i e s are p r e s e n t e d as g i v e n i n f o r m a t i o n w h i c h s o m e t h i n g is asserted. T h e n u m e r a l

'one'

and the s p e c i f i e r

and the stem in s u c h cases. T h e g e n d e r p r e f i x can be r e p l a c e d by the

(3) a.

e-pey-kile one-man

b.

a-c e-b eru other-woman

.

^

v

\

'any'. 'one

(specific)

'some/another

c.

e-koni-kile' your-man/husband

'your

d.

t]ina-bEru^ any w o m a n

'any

man'

woman'

man/husband'

woman'

about

'other/some'

w e l l as the p r o n o m i n a l p o s s e s s i v e are i n s e r t e d b e t w e e n the n o m i n a l g e n d e r

d e m o n s t r a t i v e in o r d e r to i n d i c a t e

in

as

prefix

referential

Prominence Hierarchies and Turkana Syntax

129

The only deviation from the more rigid head-modifier pattern within noun occurs with adjectives

and stative relative clauses.

Such constructions

of a h e a d n o u n , a n a d j e c t i v e o r s t a t i v e r e l a t i v e c l a u s e agreement

features determined by the preceding noun and a genitive

semantically,

the adjective or stative relative clause modifies the

genitive noun, not the preceding head (4) a.

b.

qi-tyaq i animals e-kile* man

The modifier

lu-jiajia-ik AGR-yellow-PL lo-kaal-ani AGJl-many-SG

'many' o c c u r s

a of

a of

preceding noun;

the preceding plural noun.

ceding (5)

qa-kesi heads

following

'yellow-headed

ija-atuk cows

is d e t e r m i n e d b y t h e

'yellow' the plural

Interestingly,

animals'

'a m a n w i t h m a n y

suffix

cows'

being

immediately

- i k is t r i g g e r e d

the form such constructions take

t h e s a m e as in c a s e s w h e r e t h e a d j e c t i v e m o d i f i e s

the immediately

by is

pre-

noun: iji-tyarji animals

Constructions

lu-jiajia-ik AGR-yellow-PL

a of

of t h e t y p e i l l u s t r a t e d

e-kile' man

'(the) y e l l o w a n i m a l s the/a man'

in (4), w h e n p r e s e n t e d

w a y of a h e a d - m o d i f i e r c o n s t r u c t i o n , h a v e t h e f o r m h e a d p l u s tive

the

construction;

in its s i n g u l a r f o r m ( t h e p l u r a l s t e m f o r m

in t h e c a s e of

consist

noun:

- k a a l - a k ) , w h i c h s h o w s that n u m b e r a g r e e m e n t

exactly

which carries

phrases

alternatively (modifying)

of

by

rela-

clause:

(6) a.

b.

qi-tyaqi animals e-kilev man

lu" which

a qa-kesi of h e a d s

lo v a w h o of

ija-atuk cows

Turkana furthermore has prepositions (7) a.

toomav inside

a-kayi* house

b.

a-buv I-come

ato-lotv I-go

(The auxiliary verb

a n a-ji aji a - i k which-yellow-PL

ana-kaal-ak which-many-PL

'animals with heads'

yellow

'a m a n w i t h m a n y

cows'

and auxiliaries w h i c h precede the m a i n

'come' m a r k s p r o s p e c t i v e

'inside t h e

house'

'Then I w e n t . '

action.)

verb:

130

Gerrit J. Dimmendaal

Subjects of transitive and intransitive clauses as well as objects follow verb in neutral contexts in Turkana and all the other languages of the

the

sub-group

within Eastern Nilotic to which it belongs. This sub-group, referred to as the non-Bari group by Vossen

(1982), forms a co-ordinate branch with the Bari

and together they constitute the Eastern Nilotic branch of Nilotic. The belonging to the Bari-group all have SVO as their basic order;

group,

languages

verb-initial

languages are furthermore found in the Southern Nilotic branch of Nilotic. Given the strict head-modifier relation of constituents other verb-initial Nilotic languages, gorical harmony

in Turkana and roost of the

it can be said that there is cross-cate-

in these languages between the various major

As observed by Greenberg sentences with nominal subject

(1966:110), the dominant

constituents.

order in declarative

and object is almost always one in which

subject precedes the object, probably because of features of topicality ted with subjects, an observation which also holds for Turkana. subjects in Turkana are distinguished

the associa-

Post-verbal

from, for example, post-verbal objects,

not

necessarily by position relative to the verb, but by way of tonal inflection of the noun or pronoun marking

and some of the modifiers. This kind of nominative

for subjects is an areal feature which Turkana and other Nilotic

share w i t h neighbouring Cushitic

languages, possibly due to long-term

case languages

contacts

between their speakers. The tonal inflection in Nilotic clearly goes back to an earlier

(tone-bearing) morpheme. Evidence for this can be found in the Surma

languages

(which are closely related to Nilotic) , more specifically

Didinga-Murle cluster, where post-verbal

in the

subjects are marked with a nominative

suffix. T h e absolute case form is used not only with objects, when they follow or precede the verb, but also with subjects preceding the verb and with nouns noun phrases) and pronouns in

(or

isolation.

There are various restrictions on linear ordering of post-verbal

constitu-

ents in Turkana. VSO order can be changed into VOS under particular

conditions,

whereas in other types of sentences VOS is obligatory,

constituents

inversion of

Prominence Hierarchies and Turkana Syntax

131

(to VSO) resulting in ungrammatical sequences. This dimension of word order is conditioned by properties inherent in nouns and pronouns functioning as subjects or objects. When the subject slot is occupied by a noun and the object slot by a pronoun, VSO order can always be changed into VOS in Turkana: (8) a.

b.

t-sak-iv a-beru' 3-look for-A woman E-sak-i' rjesi' 3-look for-A 3SG

qesiv 3SG

'The woman is looking for him/her.'

a-bero woman

'The woman is looking for him/her. 1

When the subject slot is occupied by a pronoun and the object position by either a noun or a pronoun, the order is fixed, i.e. it is always VSO. The same rule is found in languages closely related to Turkana like Karimojong, Toposa and Teso. A parallel may be observed with German and neighbouring dialects of Dutch where the unmarked order is SO (with the verb occurring before, between or after the two constituents depending on the position in the sentence), but pronominal objects can occur between the (auxiliary) verb and the subject in, for example, interrogative sentences: (9)

hat

dich

der

Hund

g e b i s sen ? ' Did the dog bite you?'

In the more remotely related language Maasai (which also belongs to the non-Bari group of Eastern Nilotic) pronominal subjects can occur before or after nominal or pronominal objects; the VOS order occurs when the subject is focussed upon: (10) a.

E-dol 3-see

ninyc 3SG

b.

e-dol 3-see

en-tito girl

en-tito girl ninye 3SG

'(S)he sees the girl.'

' (S)he sees the girl.'

Although both Maasai and Turkana have gender distinctions in nouns, between masculine, feminine and place (Maasai) or neuter (Turkana), neither of them has such as distinction for the pronouns, a notable counterexample to the claim that "if a language has gender categories the vronoun"

in the noun, it has aender oateqories

in

(Greenberg 1966:113). The full pronouns are not clitics or affixes

132

G e r r i t J.

Dimmendaal

w h e n t h e y f u n c t i o n as s u b j e c t s or o b j e c t s . B e c a u s e of o v e r t v e r b , as i l l u s t r a t e d

in examples

m i t t e d . W i t h r e g a r d to a g r e e m e n t 'person'

and

the subject,

(8)a a n d b , a n d

agreement on

(10)a and b, they can be

in T u r k a n a a d i s t i n c t i o n is to b e d r a w n

obetween

'number' m a r k i n g o n t h e v e r b . T h e l a t t e r is a l w a y s c o - i n d e x e d a n d is i n d i c a t e d b y m e a n s of v e r b a l s u f f i x e s , m a i n l y i n t h e

W i t h r e g a r d to a g r e e m e n t

for t h e p a r a m e t e r of

'person'

a n u m b e r of

o c c u r . W h e n t h e s u b j e c t r e f e r s to a t h i r d p e r s o n p r o n o u n o r a n o u n , object

the

to a f i r s t or s e c o n d p e r s o n

(i.e. a

'participant'),

the

with

plural.

complications and

the

person-marking

p r e f i x o n t h e v e r b is c o - i n d e x e d w i t h t h e o b j e c t , n o t w i t h t h e s u b j e c t , w h e n

the

object refers

to a t h i r d p e r s o n or a n o u n t h e a g r e e m e n t g o e s w i t h t h e

subject.

All predicate

structures

involved

in w h i c h a f i r s t o r s e c o n d p e r s o n p r o n o u n is

as an o b j e c t r e q u i r e a p r e f i x k - o n t h e v e r b f o r m . C o m p a r e

the following

ex-

amples : iyoqs you

(11) a.

k-a-ram-i' P-me-beat-A

ayoi] I

b.

k-a-ram-i' P-me-beat-A

qe s l ' ayoq* 3SG me

c.

a-ram-i' I-beat-A

d.

k-a-ram-e-te' P-me-beat-A-PL

ayoq I

'I w i l l b e a t

' (S) h e w i l l b e a t m e . '

Qesiv 3SG keci' they

you.'

'I w i l l b e a t

ayoi] v me

T h e s a m e p h e n o m e n o n of o b j e c t a g r e e m e n t

him/her.'

'They w i l l b e a t m e . '

is f o u n d in f o r e x a m p l e M a a s a i .

E a s t e r n N i l o t i c t h i s r a r e f e a t u r e h a s b e e n f o u n d in a f e w like Tangut,

an extinct Tibeto-Burman

m a r k i n g on the verb,

language

(unrelated)

(Kepping 1979). The

together w i t h the nominative case inflections

v e r b a l s u b j e c t s , p r o v i d e i m p o r t a n t c l u e s to t h e s e m a n t i c

illustrated by

agreement for

postthe

t h e y c a n b e u s e d as a

in c a s e s w h e r e r e l a t i o n s w o u l d o t h e r w i s e b e o p a q u e ,

w h e n certain contrasts on the verb

languages

i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of

c l a u s e . A l t h o u g h p r o n o u n s a r e n o r m a l l y o m i t t e d in T u r k a n a , remedial strategy

Outside

are n e u t r a l i z e d d u e to o b j e c t

and

also

agreement,

(11)a and b. Some further examples w h e r e agreement m a r k i n g

is

as

Prominence Hierarchies and Turkana Syntax

133

ambiguous when taken out of a context, or when the free pronoun is left out: (12) a.

b.

k-i-sak-i' i-tuani P—you—look for-A person ki-sak-i' us-want-A

suav us

daaqi whole

i-tuani person

iyoqv you

daaqi whole

'Everybody is looking for you. 1 'Everybody is looking for us.'

The same option with regard to the position of pronominal objects in Turkana occurs with predicates involving datives. These forms consist of a verbal form expanded with a dative extension and two or three arguments. With two-place constructions there is a subject and a dative object (performing the role of experiencer, benefeciary or recipient), whereas with three-place verbs there is a second (oblique) object in addition, which always follows the dative object. Alternatively, there may be an adverb of place, a prepositional phrase or a locative noun phrase instead of a dative object. These latter types always follow the second (oblique) object. Examples illustrating this: kì-ìn-akì us-give-DAT

i-too' mother

b.

à-en-ikì I-tie-DAT

ayaij' a - t u b w k ' I boat

c.

a-iijol-iki I-look-DAT

(13) a.

ay I

qwoni^ us

qa-kilev milk

'Mother has given us (some) milk.'

inaa1 over there

'I have tied the boat (somewhere) over there.

a-tubwa boat

' I have looked at the boat.'

Given the fact that these dative objects and not the second (oblique) object can affect the agreement on the verb (with first and second person), the former are to be considered the 'real' objects in constructions of the type illustrated in (13)a. As with the two-place argument structures above (without dative extensions) , (dative) pronominal objects can occur before nominal (but not pronominal)

subjects:'''

(14) a.

ki-in-ak\ us-give-DAT

b.

c

*à-èn-iki I-tie-DAT

• *a-i!]3l-iki I-look-DAT

Uwòniv us

i-tòò' mother

a-tubwa boat

ayoi] I

a-tubwa boat

ay og I

a-k-ìmuj food

'Mother has given us (some) food.'

inaa there

'I have tied the boat (somewhere) over there.' ' I have boat. 1

looked at the

134

Gerrit J.

Dimmendaal

T h e dative object obligatorily precedes the second Alternatively

nominal or pronominal. phrase,

(oblique) object

it m a y b e e x p r e s s e d b y w a y of a

in w h i c h c a s e it f o l l o w s the s e c o n d o b j e c t ,

of p l a c e ,

whether locative

as is t h e c a s e w i t h

adverbs

and prepositional phrases. Note however that the dative extension

on

the verb

remains.

(15) a.

a-in-aki 3-give-DAT

i-too ' mother

a-k-imuj food

ni-kosi' LOC-us

'Mother h a s g i v e n food to us.1

b.

à-in-aki 3-give-DAT

i-too ' mother

a-k-imuj food

lo-kilex LOC-man

'Mother h a s g i v e n t h e food to the m a n / husband.'

c.

à-in-aki i-too' 3-give-DAT mother

a-k-imuj food

ni' à è-kilè' p l a c e of m a n

the

'Mother h a s g i v e n t h e f o o d to t h e m a n / h u s b a n d ('s p l a c e ) . '

T h e d a t i v e e x t e n s i o n i n T u r k a n a is t h e o n l y m a r k e r b y m e a n s of w h i c h t h e

number

o f a r g u m e n t s of t h e v e r b m a y b e i n c r e a s e d ,

verbs

i.e. w h i c h c a n t u r n o n e - p l a c e

into two-place verbs, and two-place structures

into three-place ones.

However,

t h e r e a r e n u m e r o u s v e r b s in T u r k a n a w h i c h o c c u r o n l y i n c o m b i n a t i o n w i t h d a t i v e e x t e n s i o n . N e x t to t h e s e l e x i c a l i z e d d a t i v e v e r b f o r m s t h e r e a r e where the dative extension only performs a derivational

role without

t h e e x t e r n a l s y n t a x of t h e v e r b r o o t to w h i c h it is a t t a c h e d ; is a l s o u s e d to i n d i c a t e (16) a.

b.

£-rei]v 3-red

' - i s h ' , as in t h e f o l l o w i n g

e-worù' cloth

E-rei]-ikin-itN 3-red-DAT-A

T h e s u f f i x is t h e r e f o r e

forms

affecting

thus, the

dative

example: 'The c l o t h is r e d . '

e-wbrù' cloth

'The c l o t h is

in t h e p r o c e s s of l o s i n g i t s e x t e r n a l

t i e s . A s s h o w n in t h e n e x t s e c t i o n ,

this has serious consequences

As the preceding discussion has shown,

reddish.'

syntactic

proper-

for the w o r d

o r d e r issue, and for v a r i a t i o n b e t w e e n T u r k a n a and many other N i l o t i c

VSO/VOS permutations

a

languages.

there are various restrictions

involving pronominal and nominal

forms. Alternatively,

a r e c o n s t r u c t i o n s w h e r e the o b j e c t o b l i g a t o r i l y p r e c e d e s t h e s u b j e c t

on there

in T u r k a n a .

Prominence Hierarchies and Turkana Syntax

135

The order VOS in Turkana is obligatory when the subject refers to an inanimate entity and the object to some animate noun k-a-jiam-i tx P-me-eat-A

(17) a.

ayoq"' me

b.

k-a-irum-it-ov P-me-hold-A-PL

c.

k - a - i m u r i-ak i n - 1 1 P-me-forget-DAT-A

(or a pronoun). Examples:

a-koro' hunger

ayoi] v me

'I am hungry.'

qi-leci shame

ayoqv me

'I feel

e-kiro' name

ashamed.'

'I forgot the name.'

These examples show that subjects are not always natural topics

(which

therefore

precede other arguments of the verbs). Most typically, constructions of the type illustrated

in (17) indicate part-whole relations holding between the subject

and the object, or some mental process experienced by the (syntactic) object. The object

agreement on the verb in all three examples with regard to

and the plural marker in example

(17)b show the

'objecthood' of the pronoun

which may be left out. The order is not dictated by the verb; the verb used in a metaphoric

'person' 'me',

'eat' is

sense here. The interpretation of the verb also depends

upon the semantic properties of the subject,

i.e. thematic role assignment

by

the verb to the subject, either as an agent, or as a non-agent, is also sensitive to intrinsic properties of the subject noun. Compare the use of the same verb with a typical agent, in which case a different

aspect marker is also re-

quired : (18) a.

k-a-jiam-i'

ayo^

P-me-eat-A b.

k-a-jiam-i P-me-eat-A

c.

* k - a-ji a m - 1 1 P-me-eat-A

v

a-koro' hunger

ayoi] K me

ayoqv me

'The crocodile will eat/ is eating me.' 'The crocodile will eat/ is eating me.' 'I am hungry (hunger is eating me).'

'animacy' the contextual property of

'definite-

for word order in Turkana. The latter notion is not marked

explicitly on the noun, but tive verb

crocodile

a-kijiaij crocodile

Next to the inherent property of ness' is important

a-kijiag

me

is instead determined by the context. The

intransi-

'to be somewhere' is used in combination with a noun or pronoun oc-

136

Gerrit J. Dimmendaal

curring in the absolute case in order to express 'to own 1 a specific (but 'indefinite') entity. If the possessed entity has a definite meaning, an alternative construction with the verb 'to be somebody/something 1

is used instead. With

the former type the possessor obligatorily precedes the possessed, which is syntactically expressed as a subject. (19) a.

e-yaka-si' 3-be-PL

ayoijv me

b.

E-raka-si' 3-be-PL

qa-atuk cows

qa-atuk cows

'I own cowstcows are with me).'

ija-ka^ AGR-mine

In constructions of the type illustrated in (19)

'I own the cows/the cows are mine.' pronouns are again obligatory

for a proper interpretation. Without the pronoun the phrase would mean

'there

are cows' or 'the cows are there 1 , i.e. both a definite and an existential interpretation are possible when taken out of context. As observed by Greenberg (1966:110), all VSO languages have SVO as an alternative, or as the only alternative basic order, whereas the inverse is not necessarily true. SVO order in Turkana occurs when subjects are topicalized, as a consequence of which the subject noun phrase occurs in the absolute, not the nominative, form. The absence of nominative case marking with subjects preceding the verb is common to all verb-initial languages belonging to Nilotic, or to the closely-related Surma group. Objects preceding the verb of which they are an argument assume the same case form as in post-verbal position, i.e. the absolute form. Examples with preposed core noun phrases: (20) a.

a-beruv woman

qesiK 3SG

e-sak-i 3-look for-A

b.

gesi* 3SG

E-sak-i ' 3-look for-A

c.

qwbnis us

ki-m-aki us-give-DAT

a-beruv woman i-too' mother

a-k-imuj food

'The woman is looking for him/her.' 'He/she is looking for the woman.' 'Mother has given some food to us.'

Similarly, when locative complements of verbs are fronted, they lose their locative case marking, and, instead, they occur in the absolute case form. The nomi-

Prominence Hierarchies and Turkana Syntax nal prefix

lo-

137

in example (21)a below is the locative form of the masculine

singular gender marker indicating direction towards, in, or into, depending upon the verb of which the corresponding locative phrase is a complement: (21) a.

b.

e-jo-ikin-it i-tur-akin-i ' lo-tuwo' 3-good-DAT-A 3-put-DAT-A LOC-calabash 'It is better to put it in a new calabash.'

lo-kitsteti AGR-new

e-tuwo1 l o - k i t e t E t i (oesi') E - j o - i k i n - i t calabash AGR-new 3SG 3-good-DAT-A 'A new calabash is better for putting it into.'

i-tur-akin-i' 3-put-DAT-A

A special suffix is added to the verb with topicalized instrumental phrases. The preposition a (introducing instrumental phrases in post-verbal position) cannot be stranded, but is instead deleted when the prhase is preposed. Pre-verbal instrumental phrases occur in the absolute case form, whereas noun phrases following the instrumental marker a (in post-verbal position) have a special instrument case form, marked by way of tonal inflection, as with the nominative. (22) a.

b.

a-gum-r I-shoot-A a-tbme gun

c. * a - t b m £ gun

a with

a--tome gun

'I was shooting with a gun.'

(it)

(t]esiv ) a - g u m - i - a ' 3SG I-shoot-A-SUBJ

' (It was) a gun I was shooting (it) with.'

(ijesi^ ) a - g u m - i 3SG I-shoot-A

' (It was) a gun I was shooting it with.'

a with

The common pattern is therefore for preposed phrases to occur in the absolute (unmarked) case, i.e. they do not take their case marking along to the pre-verbal position, and only one phrase may be fronted at a time. Given this pattern where the verb occurs in second position when some constituent is fronted, it may be said that the Turkana word order is a variant of the verb-second type. The basic position of the noun or other complements to the verb, however, is in post-verbal position, alternative orders being conditioned by specific contexts or discourse structures in which they are considered appropriate. With regard to the Greenbergian typological classification Turkana thus falls well within the range of strict head-modifier types of verb-initial languages. The marking of post-verbal subjects,

138

Gerrit J.

Dimmendaal

rather than objects,

in t h e s e l a n g u a g e s d o e s n o t f o l l o w f r o m a n y

p r i n c i p l e and can only be explained It h a s

synchronic

historically.

b e e n k n o w n for a l o n g t i m e t h a t t h e r e is a r e l a t i o n b e t w e e n

ty of w o r d o r d e r a n d m o r p h o l o g i c a l m e a n s of d i s t i n g u i s h i n g

syntactic

rigidi-

relations.

H o w e v e r , d e s p i t e the f a c t t h a t t h e r e is o v e r t a g r e e m e n t a n d e x p l i c i t m a r k i n g p o s t - v e r b a l s u b j e c t s T u r k a n a w o r d o r d e r is f a i r l y s t r i c t , p o s i t i o n , c o m p a r e d to l a n g u a g e s b e l o n g i n g Nilotic,

to t h e K a l e n j i n c l u s t e r o f

post-verbal Southern

f o r e x a m p l e . O n e p o t e n t i a l h i s t o r i c a l r e a s o n f o r t h i s is i n d i c a t e d

the following

3.

at l e a s t in

IN T U R K A N A

IN A H I S T O R I C A L

PERSPECTIVE

M a n y E a s t e r n a n d S o u t h e r n N i l o t i c l a n g u a g e s b e l o n g to t h e v e r b - i n i t i a l R e m n a n t s of a v e r b - i n i t i a l

s y n t a x are s t i l l f o u n d in W e s t e r n N i l o t i c

(see, f o r e x a m p l e , G j e r l o w - J o h n s o n

and A y o m elsewhere

In a c c o r d a n c e w i t h a m o r e g e n e r a l p r o p e r t y of v e r b - i n i t i a l h a v e S V O as a n a l t e r n a t i v e , w h e r e a s SVO o r S A U X O V

l a n g u a g e s are i n f l e c t e d , these common features was a verb-initial

type.

languages

in t h i s

languages,

languages

n e c e s s a r i l y h a v e V S O as an a l t e r n a t i v e . P o s t - v e r b a l

SAUXOV)

in

section.

WORD ORDER

like Dinka

of

they

language,

s u b j e c t s in t h e s e

it s e e m s l i k e l y t h a t

and that other w o r d order types

in N i l o t i c r e s u l t e d f r o m s u b s e q u e n t

shifts

all

in N i l o t i c do n o t VSO

in a h i g h l y i d i o s y n c r a t i c w a y , by w a y of t o n e .

(as w e l l as o t h e r s ) ,

volume).

Given

Proto-Nilotic

( s u c h as S V O

and

in b a s i c o r d e r . H o w e v e r ,

among

those languages where

the verb remained initial, notable variation occurs

with

r e g a r d to p o s t - v e r b a l

r e s t r i c t i o n s o n o r d e r of c o n s t i t u e n t s ,

needs

to b e a c c o u n t e d for. N e x t to s i m i l a r c a s e m a r k i n g s y s t e m s

a fact which

for a r g u m e n t s of

t h e r e is a c o m m o n s e t of v e r b a l a g r e e m e n t m a r k e r s . B e c a u s e of o v e r t already

illustrated for Turkana,

constructions,

or in o r d e r to f o c u s

the pronominal referent. Predicates expressing meteorological (indicating

'must1,

agreement,

a b o v e , p r o n o u n s in t h e s e l a n g u a g e s h a v e a m a r k e d

s t a t u s . T h e y are u s e d to d i s a m b i g u a t e

verbs

verbs,

'should')

are obligatorily

upon

c o n d i t i o n s or

subjectless,

i.e. no

modal

dummy

Prominence Hierarchies and Turkana Syntax

139

pronoun can be used, although there is a third person agreement marker on the 2 verb in Eastern Nilotic verb-initial

languages.

(In Southern Nilotic the third

person is indicated by way of a zero marker.) Some examples from Turkana: (23) a.

b.

i-los-i-ov you-go-A-SUBJ

fc-jb-ikin-a' 3-good-DAT-V

e-lilirrT

'You'd better

'It is cold (outside).1

(n i ka lapat an r )

3-cold

go.'

outside

Turkana shares this 'avoid pronoun

strategy'

and the property of

'missing

subjects '

with most other verb-initial Nilotic languages. Accordingly, they may be said belong to the 'pro-drop

type'

However, with regard to one of the other

teristics of such language types mentioned by Chomsky

to

charac-

(1981:240), namely

free

inversion in simple sentences, notable distinctions occur between Turkana and Nandi, a Southern Nilotic

language belonging to the Kalenjin cluster.

word order in Nandi does not seem to be constrained by any syntactic

Post-verbal principle.

However, the various sequences of constituents can only be used in specific contexts. Compare the following two examples from Creider

(24) a.

ki:ri:p watched

la:kw£:t child

b.

ki:ri:p watched

a:rt£:t lamb

Example

(24)a is considered

the lamb?' or

a:rt£:t lamb

'The child watched lamb.'

the

la:kw£:t child

'The child watched lamb.'

the

appropriate as an answer to the question

'Who did w h a t to the lamb?', whereas

'What did the child watch?

1

or

to Turkana,

'Who watched

(24)b could be an answer to

'What did the child do?'. Detailed

of the various pragmatic considerations Contrary

(1983):

are given in Creider

descriptions

(1977,

1983).

languages belonging to the Southern Nilotic

Kalenjin

cluster have an extensive series of verbal affixes marking the incorporation of prepositional phrases,

and other non-core arguments, into the predicate

of the verb. As a result of the incorporation,

structure

these noun phrases occur without

a preceding prepositional marker, whereas their post-verbal position is also entirely

free,

i.e. not bound by any syntactic principle. The post-verbal

po-

140

Gerrit

J.

Dimmendaal

s i t i o n is u s e d p r o d u c t i v e l y

in o r d e r to focus u p o n p a r t i c u l a r

constituents

f o l l o w i n g the v e r b . S o m e e x a m p l e s from N a n d i as g i v e n in C r e i d e r

(1977:337):

Instrument: (25) a.

kya:pati I cultivated

impar£:t field

e:Q moko:mpe:t with hoe

'I cultivated the with a hoe.1

b .

kya:pa te: I cultivated

impare:t field

moko:mpe:t hoe

(same

field

meaning)

Dative: (26) a.

b.

kyn:pir 1 hit

ce:ro:no Cherono

kya:pirci I hit

okopa for

ce:ro:no Cherono

ce:pe:t Chebet

' I h i t Cherono Chebet.'

ce:pe:t Chebet

(same

for

meaning)

Comvtative: (27)

a.

a : me I eat

b.

a:mtae I eat

kimjie:t bread

ok iijkwe:k with vegetables

kinyie:t bread

'I eat 'bread' vegetables. '

iqkwe:k vegetables

(same

with

meaning)

(Because of m o r p h e m e - j u n c t u r e p r o c e s s e s , n o m o r p h e m e b o u n d a r i e s are

indicated.)

B e c a u s e of t h e s e v a l e n c y - c h a n g i n g s u f f i x e s as well as a g r e e m e n t m a r k i n g and n o m i n a t i v e case i n f l e c t i o n as c a r r i e r s of i n f o r m a t i o n o n g r a m m a t i c a l r e l a t i o n s , is h a r d l y any c o n s t r a i n t o n w o r d o r d e r p o s t - v e r b a l l y

in Nandi and o t h e r

Kalenjin

l a n g u a g e s w i t h r e g a r d to e i t h e r core n o u n p h r a s e s or a d j u n c t s . In T u r k a n a , the o t h e r h a n d , o n l y s i m p l e a d v e r b s of p l a c e and time as n o n - c o r e c a n o c c u r b e t w e e n the verb a n d the s u b j e c t Otherwise,

(or o b j e c t )

afterthought

on

constituents

for p u r p o s e s of

the c o n s t i t u e n t w h i c h o c c u r s a f t e r the a d v e r b i a l

there

emphasis.

is i n t e r p r e t e d as an

(which o c c u r s in the a b s o l u t e c a s e w h e n it is a n o u n or p r o n o u n ) .

Instead, the p o s i t i o n s b e f o r e the v e r b

(as a g a i n s t some p o s t - v e r b a l

is u s e d , as i l l u s t r a t e d a b o v e in e x a m p l e be used iteratively

in K a l e n j i n

positions)

(22). T h e t e r m - c h a n g i n g f o r m a t i v e s

can

(but n o t in the E a s t e r n N i l o t i c l a n g u a g e s ) ,

and

s u c h f o r m a t i v e s c a n also b e c o m b i n e d w i t h e a c h other; d o u b l i n g and s e e m s to b e c o n s t r a i n e d by s e m a n t i c c o m p a t i b i l i t y , n o t by s y n t a c t i c

combining principles.

Prominence Hierarchies and Turkana Syntax

141

Incorporated noun phrases occur in the absolute case, and their post-verbal order is free. Compare the following example from Nandi: (28)

ki:ka-cin-ci kipe:t la:kw£:t sote:t ka:m£:t gave-DAT-DAT Kibeet child gourd mother 'Kibeet gave the mother a gourd for the child/Kibeet gave the child a gourd for the mother.1

Alternative orders, for example with a post-verbal order 'child, mother, gourd, Kibeet', or 'mother, Kibeet, child, gourd1 are also perfectly grammatical. The interpretation of thematic roles is determined by the context, or by knowledge of the real world, as in the following example: (29)

ki:ka-ci gave-DAT

kipe:t Kibeet

la:kw£:t child

ce:ka milk

'Kibeet gave the child milk.'

Rottland (1982:244-5) has reconstructed various of these term-changing suffixes for Proto-Southern Nilotic. Cognate dative and instrumental markers are found in Eastern Nilotic languages such as Maasai (Dimmendaal 1981), where they have the same effect on the external syntax of the verb to which they are added, i.e. the affixes absorb the case marking preposition. The dative in Maasai expresses 'action for somebody else' (Tucker and Mpaayei 1955:130): (30)

a-bol-oki I-open-DAT

papa father

olbÉné basket

'I open the basket for father.'

However the semantic range covered, for example by the instrumental

(applicative)

marker, is wider than in thé Southern Nilotic languages because next to instrumental notions location and comitative may be expressed, as the following examples illustrate: (31) a.

a-dol-ie I-saw-INST

taarubini binoculars

'I saw it with binoculars.'

b.

a-ton-ie I-sit-INST

Embata next

'I will sit next to the door.'

c.

ki-qar-ie we-share-INST

£

kutuk-aji to door

letuya Letuya

Endaa food

'We share our food with Letuya.'

142

Gerrit J. Dimmendaal

As noted by Tucker and Mpaayei (1955:142) "this form of the verb directs attention to the instrument with which the person acts, or the person with whom, or the place at which or the reason for which, he acts."

Post-verbal order in

the Maa-cluster (to which Maasai belongs) is far less strict than in Turkana. Heine (1980:104-5) notes that in the Camus dialect the order subject/object, or indirect object/direct object can be inverted. The instrumental suffix has only been retained in a few lexicalized forms in Teso, which is closely related to Turkana, as with the verb 'to stay at': (32)

ebo-ie I stay-INST

eoq I

o-re LOC-village

'I am staying in the village.1

There is, however, a productive system of instrument incorporation in Teso, by way of a different set of suffixes: (33) a.

b.

e- v nam-i 3-eat-A

Petero Peter

e-jiam-i-a 3-eat-A-INST

ka e-kijiko with spoon

Petero Peter

e-kijiko spoon

'Peter eats with a spoon.' (same meaning)

The verb 'to stay' in Turkana has an irregular tonal conjugation, due to the loss of the vowel *e , as a result of which lexicalized verbs with incorporated instrumental locative markers have disappeared as such. Although there is a suffix in Turkana which is cognate with the marker used for Teso in example (33)b above, this suffix can only be used when the instrument precedes the verb: (34) a.

a-kaloboci spoon

e-jiam-1-a v 3-eat-A-SUBJ

b. *£-jiam-i-a v 3-eat-A-SUBJ c.

£-jiam-i v 3-eat-A

d.

a-iboy-iv I-stay-A

a-kalobocl spoon a with

a-kalobfeci spoon

aybq I

alo-rev LOC-village

'He eats with a spoon.1

(ungrammatical)

'He eats with a spoon.'

'I am staying in the village.'

In Turkana the semantic notion of 'comitative' has been absorbed by the dative verb affix, as far as human referents are concerned:

Prominence Hierarchies and Turkana Syntax (35)

ayoi] e - k i l e v I man

a-tyak-aki I-share-DAT

143

a-kirii] v meat

'I have shared the meat with the man. 1

One thus notices that, where Nandi or Kipsikiis use three distinct affixes to express three different semantic notions (beneficiary, comitative, instrumental) and where Maasai uses two, Turkana uses one and the same suffix. Due to this partial incorporation of other semantic notions, the semantic range of the dative marker in Turkana has widened considerably. Given the variety of lexicalized forms with dative extensions in Turkana, and the use of the same marker for other than valency-changing effects, as illustrated in secion 2 above, it is clear that the use of the dative in Turkana is far from transparent semantically and syntactically.

In Turkana the post-verbal

order is related to underlying 3

or inherent semantic properties of referents (nouns, proper names and pronouns). Thus, pronominal objects can precede nominal subjects, whereas inanimate entities as subjects follow animate objects. Pronouns referring to first or second person determine person marking on the verb whenever a third person is referred to in subject position. These and other properties, such as pronominalization rules exemplified in Dimmendaal (1983), suggest that there is a hierarchy operating which indicates relative salience or prominence. Such hierarchies have also been observed for other languages and language families (see Comrie 1981:178-93, for 4 a general discussion) ; they are sometimes referred to as animacy hierarchies, salience hierarchies or agency hierarchies. PARTICIPANTS lsg/pl 2sg/pl animate definite

+

NON-PARTICIPANTS

3sg/pl proper names

animate nouns

inanimate nouns

+

+

-

+

+/-

+/-

+

In order to distinguish between first and second person, as against third person, the feature [+human] might be added, since except in folk tales the participants refer to humans, whereas third person agreement markers do not necessarily do so.

144

Gerrit J. Dimmendaal

The prominence hierarchy expresses inherent properties of the various

referents

with their distinctive features, which have their impact upon linear ordering and verb agreement. The relevance of such a hierarchy can also be argued for with regard to Southern Nilotic languages. In, for example, Kipsikiis a ventive extension

(otherwise indicating movement towards the speaker) is added to the verb

with first and second person objects in order to mark an action performed

for

the benefit of the object, whereas with third person objects a dative extension is used, as the following examples (from Toweett 1979:391) illustrate: (36) a.

b.

a:-i:t-u-un I-count-VEN-you o :-i : t - c i - n i I-count-DAT-3SG/PL

tu:ka cattle

'I am counting cattle for you.'

tu:ka cattle

'I am counting cattle for him/her/them- 1

Furthermore, no special verbal agreement marker is used with third person pronouns or nouns occurring as subjects. As in Turkana, speaker and addressee as speech act participants occupy a distinct, and more prominent, position on the scale marking relative salience. The hierarchy also has historical relevance. As obversed in section 2 of this paper, dative objects in Turkana precede other objects in three-place verb constructions. Most typically, dative objects refer to animate and definite recipients. The proto-typical dative object occurs higher on the prominence hierarchy than the object expressing the goal of the action; because the former is a more natural topic in discourse structure, it precedes the latter in a clause. In Turkana this position has become grammaticalized. The semantic range covered by the dative extension is considerably wider for Turkana than for Nandi, or even Maasai. To a large extent, this seems

due to incorporation of semantic

roles expressed by way of different suffixes at stages pre-dating Turkana.

Inter-

estingly, transmission of function onto the dative (from the comitative and instrumental marker) occurred when the incorporated referent was animate (as a consequence of the meaning of the verb, as with the verb

'to share' in example

Prominence Hierarchies and Turkana Syntax

145

(35) above). Incorporation of (inanimate) instruments has been abandoned altogether in Turkana, except when the instrument precedes the verb, as illustrated in section 2 above.

3.

SOME FINAL REMARKS

This paper has illustrated some of the more obvious morphosyntactic properties shared by Turkana and a few other Nilotic languages, as well as some apparent points of divergence. Futher points of historical differentiation between Turkana and, for example, Kipsikiis (Southern Nilotic) are briefly mentioned below. Question-words like 'who' or 'what' occur sentence-initially in Eastern Nilotic languages like Turkana and Maasai. Examples form Turkana: (37) a.

b.

ijai who

e-te-o' 3PA-see-V

jiov what

a-bsru' woman

'Who saw the woman?'

i-sak-i' you-want-A

'What do you want?'

But in Southern Nilotic languages like Kipsikiis or Nandi the normal position for the same question word is in situ, as in the following examples from Nandi. (38) a.

ka-ke:r 3PA-see

qa: who

c e : p y o : se : t woman

b.

ka-ke:r 3PA-see

ct:pyo:SE:t woman

qa : who

'Who saw the woman?'

'Whom did the woman see?'

Note also that these data are at variance with the claim that interrogative words in phrases are always put first in VSO languages (Greenberg 1966:111). The question words 'who' and 'what' can occur clause-initially (preceding the verb) but in that case a special marker occurs between the interrogative and the verb, which suggests that these are pseudo-cleft constructions. (39)

qa who

ne ID

ka-ke:r 3PA-see

c£:py3:sE : t woman

'Who saw the woman?'

Similarly, when subjects or objects in Kipsikiis and other Southern Nilotic languages are preposed into the position preceding the verb,>a special marker

146

Gerrit J.

Diimnendaal

occurs b e t w e e n the initial constituent (40)

1a :kw e:t child

As observed above,

ko ID

ki:-ri:p 3PA-watch

and the

verb: 'The c h i l d w a t c h e d lamb.'

a : rt e: t lamb

these Southern Nilotic languages basically use

w o r d o r d e r in o r d e r to d i s t i n g u i s h b e t w e e n t h e m e - r h e m e

relations.

v e r b a l o r d e r c a n h a r d l y b e p l a y e d a r o u n d w i t h in T u r k a n a w h i c h are transparent

syntactically

and semantically),

post-verbal Because

(for l a c k of

it h a s b e c o m e

post-

markers grammatic-

a l i z e d a l o n g a p a t t e r n r e f l e c t i n g t h e r e l a t i v e p r o m i n e n c e of c o n s t i t u e n t s volved. The post-verbal has been abandoned,

strategy

for t h e l i n e a r i z a t i o n of i n f o r m a t i o n

i n f a v o u r of o n e w h e r e b y

t h e v e r b is u s e d in o r d e r to c o n t r a s t

the p o s i t i o n

themes with

a t t r a c t i v e to r e l a t e t h e s t r u c t u r a l d i f f e r e n c e s b e t w e e n , and the K a l e n j i n and

languages,

immediately

(post-verbal)

the

structure preceding

rhemes.

for example,

to t h e p l a c e m e n t of i n t e r r o g a t i v e w o r d s

in-

It

seems

Turkana

like

'who'

'what'. P o s s i b l y d u e to the i n c r e a s e d u s e of t h e p r e - v e r b a l p o s i t i o n f o r

noun phrases,

the subordinating particles w h i c h follow

or q u e s t i o n - w o r d

in t h e K a l e n j i n

these tentative suggestions

phenomena,

c a n b e r e l a t e d to

in s u b - c o m p o n e n t s

s h o w s t h a t the b e h a v i o u r of v a l e n c y - c h a n g i n g m o r p h e m e s ,

other

o r p a r a m e t e r s of

r e s p e c t i v e g r a m m a r s . T h e s t u d y o f T u r k a n a s y n t a x in a w i d e r N i l o t i c

their

perspective

and especially

s y n t a x of t h e v e r b to w h i c h t h e y a r e s u f f i x e d ,

to a p r o p e r u n d e r s t a n d i n g

in the

It r e m a i n s to b e i n v e s t i g a t e d to w h a t

about innovations

by a s s u m i n g c e r t a i n s h i f t s

e f f e c t o n the e x t e r n a l

constituent

languages have disappeared altogether

verb-initial Eastern Nilotic languages. extent

the f r o n t e d

their is

central

of p r o b l e m s o f p o s t - v e r b a l w o r d o r d e r . S e v e r a l of

verbal suffixes can be reconstructed

core

for P r o t o - N i l o t i c

(Dimmendaal

the

1981:69).

In T u r k a n a t h e a f f i x a t i o n h a s b e c o m e a n i d i o s y n c r a t i c l e x i c a l p r o c e s s w i t h

little

o r no effect on the external

pro-

ductive and semantically Nilotic languages,

s y n t a x of t h e v e r b , c o n t r a s t i n g w i t h a h i g h l y

transparent

and corresponding

s y s t e m of t e r m - c h a n g i n g to t h i s ,

r u l e s in

Southern

a f a i r l y r i g i d , as a g a i n s t a f r e e ,

p o s t - v e r b a l w o r d o r d e r . A s a r e s u l t of t h e l o s s of m o r p h o l o g i c a l m e a n s of

en-

Prominence Hierarchies coding

and Turkana

modified syntactic relations,

t h e o r d e r of c o n s t i t u e n t s h a s b e c o m e

a l o n g a h i e r a r c h y of r e l a t i v e p r o m i n e n c e , a n d d e f i n i t e n e s s of

147

Syntax

b a s e d o n i n h e r e n t p r o p e r t i e s of

basic w o r d order types;

cant) preference

case marking occur in

all

the w o r d o r d e r t y p o l o g y t h e r e f o r e c u t s r i g h t a c r o s s

typology,

a l t h o u g h t h e r e s e e m s to b e a ( s t a t i s t i c a l l y

in S V O l a n g u a g e s

f o r a m o r e o r l e s s s t r i c t o r d e r of

The distinction between configurational binary, but rather sliding. Any theory

and non-configurational

this diversification

the

signifi-

constituents.

languages

is n o t

a i m i n g at t h e e x p l a n a t i o n of v a r i a t i o n

s y n t a c t i c s t r u c t u r e as d e s c r i b e d h e r e f o r s o m e N i l o t i c l a n g u a g e s , s h o u l d into account

animacy

referents.

F e a t u r e s of a g r e e m e n t m a r k i n g a n d m o r p h o l o g i c a l

configurationality

fixed

in t h e i r v e r b a l

in

take

structures.

* T h e t r a n s c r i p t i o n of t h e T u r k a n a e x a m p l e s is b a s i c a l l y m o r p h o p h o n e m i c ; a f f i x e s a r e s o m e t i m e s s u b j e c t to f u s i o n r u l e s , w h e r e a s w o r d - f i n a l v o w e l s in p r e - p a u s a l p o s i t i o n a r e d e - v o i c e d in T u r k a n a w h e n t h e y a r e n o t f o l l o w e d b y a f l o a t i n g t o n e . following abbreviations have been used : A AGR DAT ID INST LOC 3

= = = = = = =

aspect agreement dative identifier instrumental locative gender prefix third person

3PA 3SG P PL SG SUB VEN

= third person past tense = third person singular = participant = plural = singular = subjunctive (instrumental) = ventive

NOTES 1.

At an e a r l i e r s t a g e it w a s t h o u g h t t h a t p r o n o m i n a l o b j e c t s c o u l d o n l y p r e c e d e n o m i n a l s u b j e c t s w h e n s o m e a d j u n c t f o l l o w e d the v e r b a n d i t s c o r e arguments (Dimmendaal 1983:22); subsequent r e s e a r c h has shown, however, that no s u c h r e s t r i c t i o n o c c u r s f o r p r o n o m i n a l o b j e c t s .

2.

There are syntactic constraints on the use of free pronouns and the b o u n d a g r e e m e n t m a r k e r , f o r e x a m p l e in c o m p l e x p r e d i c a t e s t r u c t u r e s w i t h a u x i l i a ry v e r b s , w h e r e r e p e t i t i o n of the s u b j e c t p r o n o u n ( w h e n u s e d ) is e x c l u d e d : a-bo' aybq I-come I

ato-lot I-go

(*ayoi]) I

'Then I w e n t . '

Discourse structure and semantic roles assigned by the verb can also be d e t e r m i n i n g f a c t o r s . A c c o r d i n g l y , t h e u s e of f r e e p r o n o u n s c a n n o t o n l y b e considered a pragmatic 'variable'. 3.

S t u d i e s of f i r s t l a n g u a g e a c q u i s i t i o n a m o n g c h i l d r e n h a v e a l s o s h o w n t h a t t h e o r d e r of e l e m e n t s is o f t e n r e l a t e d to u n d e r l y i n g s e m a n t i c n o t i o n s . A r e c e n t d e s c r i p t i o n of s u c h a p a t t e r n i n g in a v e r b - i n i t i a l A u s t r o n e s i a n l a n g u a g e , S a m o a n , is g i v e n b y O c h s ( 1 9 8 2 ) , w h o r e p o r t s t h a t w o r d o r d e r is

148

Gerrit J. Dimmendaal used by Samoan children as an initial strategy for expressing semantic relations .

4.

See also the description of word order and verb agreement in Mixe, a Mexican language, as summarized in Foley and Van Valin (1985:287-91).

REFERENCES Chomsky, Noam. 1981. Lectures on Government and Binding. Dordrecht: Foris Publications . Comrie, Bernard. 1981. Language Universals and Linguistic Typology. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Creider, Chet A. 1977. Functional sentence perspective in a verb-initial language. In Language and Linguistic Problems in Africa, eds. Paul F.A. Kotey and Haig Der-Houssikian, pp. 330-43. Columbia (S.C.): Hornbeam Press. . and Jane T. Creider. 1983. Topic - comment relations in a verb-initial language. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 5:1-15. Dimmendaal, Gerrit J. 1981. On verbal derivation in Nilotic: the case of Turkana. In Nilo-Saharan, eds. Thilo C. Schadeberg and 11. Lionel Bender, pp. 59-73. Dordrecht: Foris Publications. . 1983. Turkana as a verb-initial language. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 5:17-44. Foley, William A. and Robert D. van Valin, Jr. 1985. Information packaging in the clause. In Language Typology and Syntactic Description, ed. Timothy Shopen, pp. 282-364. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Greenberg, Joseph H. 1966. Some universals of grammar with particular reference to the order of meaningful elements. In Universals of Language, ed. Joseph H. Greenberg, pp. 73-113. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press. Heine, Bernd. 1980. The Non-Bantu languages of Kenya. Language and Dialect Atlas of Kenya Volume 2. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag. Kepping, K.B. 1979. Elements of ergativity and nominativity in Tangut. In Ergativity. Towards a Theory of Grammatical Relations , e d. Franz Plank, pp. 263-77. New Hork: Academic Press. Ochs, Elinor. 1982. Ergativity and word order in Samoan child language. Language 58:646-71. Rottland, Franz. 1982. Die südnilotischen Sprachen. Eine Vergleichende Untersuchung. Kölner Beiträge zur Afrikanistik 7. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag. Toweett, Taaitta. 1979. A study of Kalenjin Linguistics. Nairobi: Kenya Literature Bureau. Tucker, A.N. and J. Tompo Ole Mpaayei. 1955. A Maasai Grammar. London: Longmans, Green and Co. Vossen, Rainer. 1982. The Eastern Nilotes. Linguistic and Historical Reconstructions. Kölner Beiträge zur Afrikanistik 9. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag.

Chapter

12

Evolutionary Morphology of Definite Articles in Southwestern Mande David J. Dwyer

1.

BACKGROUND

Although Greenberg's 1977 article on Niger-Congo noun class markers focused on the heretofore paradoxical appearance of Niger-Congo class markers as prefixes in some languages and suffixes in others, the article also provides an hypothesis concerning the life cycle of the definite article. In reference to languages without noun class systems, C-reenberg provides the following statement: "It should be further noted that the same process involving the stages: demonstrative, Stage I article, Stage II article, and class marker, can take -place whether the original demonstrative gender classification or not. If it does not, it will end up as of mere nominality...." (Greenberg 1977:103)

four finally •involves a mark

Greenberg provides illustrations from most of the Major branches of Niger-Congo including the Southwestern Mande languages (SWM). This paper, using Greenberg's (1977) paper as a point of departure, examines the development of the Southwestern Mande definite articles and related phenomena. More specifically, it will focus on the following: 1.

2.

3.

Although Greenberg cites the progression of one definite article, / - i / in SWM, there is evidence of another, historically antecedent definite article, / — q/, and several incipient successor articles. Associated with the semantic reduction of the definite article described, there are in SWM a series of phonological reductions which suggest a 'principle of semantic-phonological parity' (see section 2.4). The 1977 Greenberg paper also points out a relationship between the definite article series and third person singular pronouns that helps to explain the reason for the variety of such pronouns in SWM.

150 2.

David J. Dwyer THE PROGRESSION

This section amplifies the evolutionary progression of definite articles.

2.1.

THE STAGES

According to Greenberg, definite articles evolve through a series of four stages: (1) Demonstrative; (2) Stage I article; (3) Stage II article; (4) nominalizing suffix. This progression can be seen to involve three types of changes, semantic, morpho-syntactic and phonological. Semantically, the progression involves loss of deictic specificity. As a demonstrative, a morpheme has the potential to specify location (near the speaker, near the listener, etc.). As a Stage I ("ordinary") definite article, the morpheme is reduced contrasting with the indefinite without the specificity of location. As a stage II article, the morpheme both

a definite

and an indefinite

"combines,

article."

roughly speaking,

the functions

of

(Greenberg 1977:98). For sake of clar-

ity, in this paper I shall refer to a stage I definite article as having a "true definite" meaning and to the stage II article as having a "specific" meaning. When the morpheme reaches the fourth stage, it looses all of its specifity and by virtue of it's appearing exclusively with (certain types of) nouns, it serves to identify nominal constructions. Morphosyntactically, a definite article begins as a demonstrative, generally appearing as a distinct word. As the morpheme looses its specificity it tends to act more as an affix. Thus, definite articles, especially Stage II definite articles tend to be affixes. Furthermore, one generally expects an affix to appear as a phonologically reduced version of its free word form. This tendency, which has been noted elsewhere (Dwyer 1978, Eulenberg 1974 and Zipf 1965), reflects what I call 'the principle of semantic-phonological parity'. This principle states, that once a morpheme is defined morphosyntactically as an affix, the morpheme will come under pressure

Evolutionary Morphology of Definite Articles

151

to reduce itself to affix size (generally three or less segments in length). These reductions are carried out through segment deletions (most typically morpheme truncations) and through assimilations with the stems with which they are associated resulting in a tendency for the affix to 'harmonize' with the stem. Thus, I further claim that one of the major sources for reductive phonological rules is the syntactic/morphological process which converts free forms to affixes. Then as a consequence of the reduction of semantic content in the affix, and according to the principle of semantic-phonological parity, reductive phonological processes become appropriate. The principle of semantic-phonological parity, then, claims that one important source for phonological rules can be found in the morphosyntactic process that converts morphemes from free to bound forms. Furthermore, although individual phonological rules may arise in an affix reducing context, these rules which effect this reduction being assigned a phonological context will apply more broadly.

2.2.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

Having appropriated the existing demonstrative for definite service, new demonstratives arise to restore the demonstrative specificity. Greenberg notes that in Italian,

quello

the place of

1

'that' (


Loko Mende Bandi Lorma Kpelle

Soninke

MANDE DEMONSTRATIVES, ARTICLES AND NOMINALIZERS

Figure (2) shows the phonological shape of the diectic morphemes of the Southwestern and selected Northern Mande languages of Manya, Bambara, Soninke, Vai and Susu. Of special interest in (2) are the articles / N - / and of Greenberg's (1977) progression,

/-i/.

On the basis

/ N - / is the earlier of the two.

Evolutionary Morphology of Definite Articles (2)

153

The Definite Article in Selected North-Western llande Languages Demonstrative

Language

Def. Art. I Def. Art.II

Class. M. Pronoun

SW Mande

2. Lorma (Dwyer)

t ni tí nii naa

3. Bandi (Heydorn)

ná

1. Kpelle (Welmers)

/

S 1

ndi

4. Loko (Innes)

'this' 'that'

N-

'this' 'that'

-i/ -gii/-ve

N-

N-/è-

'this' 'that'

-i/ -qgi

N-

N-/i-/i]gï

-Í/ -ijgi

N-

N-/1-/ngïè1a-

N-

N-/ì-/ngx-

'this' • that'

-ná

'this' 'that'

5. Mende (Spears)

N-/à-

Northern Mande à-

1. Bambara (Bird)

nin min

'this' 'that'

2. Manya (Welmers)

min wo

'this' 'that•

-i

3. Soninke (Kendall)

k£ ku

'this' 'that'

-ÍJ

4. Susu (Houis)

V i

'this' 'that'

-i

à-

na

5. Vai (Welmers)

mee me e nu

'this' 'that'

-e

à-

4. 4.1

à

à

THE ARTICLE / N / THE SITUATION IN KPELLE

In Kpelle, on the basis of data provided by Welmers (1969), /il — / functions most nearly like a stage II definite article (1). In the other SWM languages, however, this morpheme has lost all of its specifity and functions simply as a noun marker. In fact, as a noun marker, it can be used to derive nouns from verbs, as is shown from the following Mende data. Mende Nominalizations (3)

wa ll

from from

pa ndi

'to come' 'to go'

pa from n - p a n d i from n - l i

'the coming' 'the going'

154

David J.

Dwyer

In a c c o r d w i t h t h e p r i n c i p l e of s e m a n t i c - p h o n o l o g i c a l

p a r i t y , w e s e e i n (3)

the affix has interacted phonologically w i t h the stem. This the

is t r u e , n o t o n l y

/ N - / in M e n d e , b u t of a l l t h e o t h e r S W M l a n g u a g e s as w e l l .

contexts,

this nasal has assimilated with the stem-initial

w h e r e t h e p r e f i x is in i t s e l f n o l o n g e r c l e a r l y v i s i b l e t h e e f f e c t of t h e s u f f i x b e c o m e s

SWM Alternations (4)

involving the /N-/

Language

w i t h the

Proto-SWM Kpelle Lorma Bandi Loko Mende

np£r£i bbirii p £1 £i p£l£i pilii P^ei

In f a c t ,

in

as a d i s t i n c t

is

/ N - / prefix

without the

/N-/

prefix

iperci ipcrci efielei ipeleii bibelei bipelei

alternations

t h e r e are t w o s t r o n g f o r m s

first person singular possessive pronoun t h e f e a t u r e s of t h e p r e f i x

w h i l e in t h e o t h e r S W M l a n g u a g e s , or preventing

'strong'

and a

'weak' f o r m .

The rules which characterize

most

The

f o r the S W M l a n g u a g e s is g i v e n in

/N-/and

/ N - / respectively.

Second,

( n a s a l i t y a n d v o i c i n g ) s p r e a d o n to t h e t h e n a s a l p r e f i x h a s t h e e f f e c t of

a in

stem

strengthening

consonant.

t h e s e d e v e l o p m e n t s h a v e b e e n p u t f o r t h by

this development

(5).

in

(St-1 a n d S T - 2 ) c o r r e s p o n d i n g w i t h

t h e w e a k e n i n g of the s t e m - i n i t i a l

1978. A schematic summarizing

juxta-

(4).

T h e K p e l l e a l t e r n a t i o n s c o n t r a s t w i t h t h o s e of t h e o t h e r S W M l a n g u a g e s

Kpelle,

Yet

prefix.

n o u n s a p p e a r to a l t e r n a t e or m u t a t e b e t w e e n a

two ways. First,

point

form.

B e c a u s e o f t h e o b f u s c a t i o n of t h e p r e f i x e d n a s a l , t h e i n i t i a l c o n s o n a n t s of

f u l l t a b l e of i n i t i a l c o n s o n a n t

of

some

consonant to the

apparent when a noun bearing this prefix

p o s e d to a n o u n b e a r i n g a n o t h e r p r e f i x as s h o w n in

that

is p r o v i d e d in

(6).

Dwyer,

Evolutionary

Morphology of

Definite Articles

155

Southwestern Mande initial consonant (5)

alternation

The Light Series Loko

Mende

Bandi

Lorma

Kpelle

St Wk

St Wk

St Wk

St Wk

St

P

B/wb

f

V h

P

f

V

t

1

t

h

s

h

1 z

g

k kp

P

t

h

h

h

k kp

y/w

k kp

*s

j

b

B/wb

P

b h 1

f

f

V

t

1

gb

a

y / /w

b

s k kp

q/y/w

d

l

bb vv dd zz gg

St

mb mv nd nz ng

ggb n g b

b

Wk

2

P

f

t

s k kp

The Heavy Series Loko

Mende

Bandi

St Wk

St Wk

St Wk

mb nd n j ng ng

b 1 y 0 0

mb nd nj ng ng

b 1 y y w

mb nd nj ng ng

Lorma

Kpelle

St Wk

y/w 1 y y w

c

s^ b

bb dd zz gg

S/w 1 y d i]/y/wd

gg

13/y/w

m

st2

m m n n ny ny

6 1 y

10 i]w

y w

q qw

The Nasal Series Loko St Wk m n ny

8 /w n ny

•3

Q

b

Mende

Bandi

Lorma

Kpelle

St Wk

St Wk

St Wk

St

m n ny

m n ny

m n ny

10

g

13

(a)

w/_

V [+rd]

y/

(b)

w/

V [+bk]

B/

V [+bk]

y/

(c)

w/

V t-rd] V

y/wC n y >0 (d)

(e)

l

St

2

W k

m n ny

m n ny

m n ny

m n ny

m n ny

•0

0

Ç)

>0

a

13/

V

w/

V [+rd]

y/

V [-rd]

vowels following underlying nasals nasalized on the surface

are

V [-bk]

* The s - j alternation in Mende represents a recent development. The Mende reflex of Proto-SWM * 3 is h (Proto SWM: 'sua 'animal' Mende: hua ' animal ' )

156

David J. Dwyer Sample Derivations of Consonant Alternations in SWM Kpelle

Base

Light Series: ddolo

•*•

Mende/Bandi/Loko

Lorma

p, t, k, kp, f, s

ndolo

3 N-tolo +ttolo

5

Tolo

tolo
-

tolo

6

N-lolo

> \

Mende/Bandi/Loko

Pre-Lorma

komiijgi

*komiggi

>

Lorma >

komigii

'bee'

It should also be noted that with the transition of the / - i / suffix to a stage II definite article, noun bases no longer appear utterance finally:

that is, when

they are not followed by the suffix / - i / the noun base will be followed by an adjective, numeral or compounding element. Furthermore, when a noun stem with an historic final nasal is followed by an adjective or compounding element, the final nasal combines with the following consonant, according to the rules given in (6) so that the second element of compounds begins with a strong initial consonant. This contrasts with the situation in which the first element of a compound ends in an oral vowel as is shown in (18).

166

David J. Dwyer Compounds in Band!

(18)

kal i+pol o-i i

=

hoe+old-the

>•

n d a m b a + p ol o - i i

=

crocodile+old-the

kalivi>l6ii ndambap616ii

The above developments mean that the transparency of the stem-final nasal has been obliterated. With the loss of the phonological basis for both the / - i /

-

/ - n g i / distinction and the strong - weak determination of following consonants this distinction became morphologized creating what are generally termed / - i / class nouns and

/-ngi/

( / - g i i / in Lorma) class nouns.

One important consequence of this morphologization was the reassignment of the

/ng/

( /gg/

in Lorma) to the suffix shown in (19).

The Reassignment of / Q / in Central SWM (19)

pele-i

(no change)

ksmiqg-i

pelei

'the road'

komi-i]gi

'the bee'

Another consequence of the morphologization of the

/-i/

- / n g i / distinction is

the potential to assign words arbitrarily to either class or to both classes. Purves et al (1966) offers the following evidence (20) in which Bandi nouns appear with both suffixes and with slightly different meanings. Bandi Forms taking both (20)

/ - i / and

/-ngi/

koloi

'paper'

kologgi

'skin - at times'

qgehei

'mountain'

qgeherjgi

'hill'

salel

'medicine'

saleqgi

'treatment'

Words borrowed from English are assigned to either class with no discernable pattern as the following data (21) indicate. Furthermore, between the languages of Lorma, Bandi and Loko, we find discrepancies between cognates as to whether they a r e / - i / class or not as shown in (22) .

E v o l u t i o n a r y M o r p h o l o g y of D e f i n i t e A r t i c l e s Lorma, Bandi and Loko / - i/

words

/-i/

and

167

/-ngi/

/-ngi/

gloss

words

gloss

dalag i i

'dollar1

'lamp'

s ap i g i i

' shop'

masi i

'matches1

s ed ig i i

' S u n d a y1

ben zi i

'gasoline'

pong i i

'pound'

wundai

1

laboi

window'

(22) BANDI

LOKO

sokegi

soke i

hokengi

1

nyaazagi

nyahai

ny e e i

'sand'

kiboi

k imbong i

kimbongi

'grasshopper1

z oko

sokungi

cokui

'corner'

kava

kaangi

kaa

'chaff'

kpoei

kpooi

kpoong i

'dung'

piingi

'throwing

ndengi

'clan'

LORMA

p i1ii ndei Mende,

l i k e K p e l l e , d o e s n o t h a v e an / - i /

a p p e a r s to h a v e h a d t h e d i s t i n c t i o n , and subsequently

lost it.

-

gloss guinea

fowl'

stick'

/ - n g i / distinction, but unlike

as p a r t of t h e L o k o , B a n d i , L o r m a

(In K p e l l e ,

the definite

suffix

Kpelle,

development

is l o s t f o l l o w i n g a s t e m -

f i n a l n a s a l w i t h the t o n e of the s u f f i x b e i n g t r a n s f e r r e d b a c k o n t o the s t e m . ) m a i n r e a s o n for c l a i m i n g t h a t M e n d e a p p e a r s to h a v e lost t h e / - i /

-

/ - n g i / mor-

p h o l o g i c a l c l a s s d i s t i n c t i o n is b a s e d o n the f a c t t h a t in a d d i t i o n to of the / - i / a parallel the

/-nga/

l o s t the

-

/ - n g i / distinction the historic

set of a l l o m o r p h s

/-a/

-

*/-a/

'plural-1

1

development

evolved

-

/-ngi/

distinction,

as w e l l . T h e s e l e c t i o n of the

/-nga/

into

/ - n g a / in B a n d i a n d L o k o . M e n d e s h o w s

form. This development can be e x p l a i n e d by the fact that w h e n

/-i/

it l o s t t h e

/-a/

-

/-nga/

The

only

Mende

distinction

s u f f i x m a y w e l l b e f a v o r e d b e c a u s e of

the

168

D a v i d J.

Dwyer

e x i s t e n c e of a d e f i n i t e lar/plural distinction

5.5.

PRONOUN

Returning

allomorph in t h i s

/-a/

DEVELOPMENTS

to t h e p a r a d i g m of S W M t h i r d p e r s o n s i n g u l a r p r o n o u n s /-i/-type

e v e r , no c o r r e s p o n d i n g

/-gii/

w e l l b e d u e to the p o t e n t i a l

ment

(13) t h e d e s i r e to m a i n t a i n a s i n g u -

situation.

a p p e a r a n c e of b o t h t h e

pronoun

(see

(9), w e n o t e

and the / - n g i / - type pronouns. T h e r e

the

is,

how-

t h i r d p e r s o n s i n g u l a r p r o n o u n in L o r m a . T h i s

confusion with / g e - /

(the v o w e l / e / i n s t e a d o f

/i/

represents

a first person plural a regular phonological

may

exclusive develop-

in L o r m a ) . A l t h o u g h t h e s e p r o n o u n s d o h a v e a l o w o r p o l a r i z e d t o n e as o p p o s e d to

h i g h t o n e of t h e d e f i n i t e

article,

the a p p e a r a n c e of t h e s e f o r m s as p r o n o u n s

d i r e c t l y f r o m G r e e n b e r g ' s p r o g r e s s i o n d e s c r i b e d in s e c t i o n In b o t h M e n d e a n d L o k o , did not replace

see

the follows

4.4.

(9) a b o v e , the a p p r o p r i a t i o n of t h e

/ - n g i / form

an e x i s t i n g p r o n o u n b u t j o i n e d t h e p a r a d i g m r e s u l t i n g

in a d i s -

tinction b e t w e e n h u m a n and n o n h u m a n pronouns. The d i f f e r e n c e s b e t w e e n Loko and M e n d e suggest

6.0.

independent

development.

CONCLUSION

In t h i s p a p e r , Greenberg

I h a v e , u s i n g t h e p r o g r e s s i o n of d e f i n i t e

articles proposed

( 1 9 7 7 ) , e x a m i n e d t h e d e v e l o p m e n t of d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e s in t h e S W M

a n d the c o n s e q u e n c e s of t h i s d e v e l o p m e n t

in t h e a r e a s of p h o n o l o g y

t a k e n to b e i n d e p e n d e n t

a s s o c i a t e d w i t h t h e p r o g r e s s i o n of the d e f i n i t e cifically 1. 2.

this progression

accounts for the

languages

and noun

p r o n o u n m o r p h o l o g y . A s a r e s u l t of t h i s e x a m i n a t i o n of S W M d e f i n i t e b e g i n to s e e s e v e r a l d e v e l o p m e n t s p r e v i o u s l y

by

and

articles,

we

innovations

a r t i c l e s in t h e s e l a n g u a g e s .

Spe-

following:

T h e a p p e a r a n c e of n e w d e i c t i c f o r m s , as a r e s u l t of the l o s s of s p e c i f i c i t y in t h e o l d d e i c t i c f o r m s . T h e a p p e a r a n c e of a f f i x r e d u c t i o n r u l e s a s s o c i a t e d w i t h t h e s e m a n t i c n a r r o w i n g of t h e s e f o r m s . T h e r e d u c t i o n of the p r e f i x / N - / l e a d to the

Evolutionary Morphology of Definite Articles

3.

4.

169

consonant mutation rules in SWM and the reduction of the suffix /- i/ resulted in the word final assimilation rules. The article progression also, following Greenberg (1977) helps to account for the appearance SWM of the new third person singular pronouns : /N-/, / 1 - / and / n g i - /. The consonant alternation rules had several other consequences: a. These rules raised the possibility of merging the first person / N - / and third person / N / pronouns and may have lead to the development of the tone spreading rules found in Bandi, Lorma and Loko. b. These rules lead to the interesting medial consonant correlations between the SWM languages. c. These rules along with the increasingly obligatory nature of the definite suffix / - i / led to the morphologizing of the distinction between stems with a final nasal and those without and then to the emergence of / - n g i / as a definite article distinct from /-i/.

Such developments, when seen in the perspective of an evolutionary morphology, show the potential that this approach has for deciphering and appreciation of what otherwise would appear as unsystematic and unrelated developments. * The data from which this paper draws is the following: Dwyer (1973, 1978 and 1981), Heydorn (1940-1), Innes (1964, 1967 and 1969), Prost (1953), Spears (1967) and Welmers (1969, 1976 and n.d.). NOTES 1.

Welmers, 1969:77 states the following: "The morphemic low tone prefix is very rarely the only affix appearing with a free noun base, but it does occur in this way and can be separately identified and defined. For example in an account of a leopard having been frequently seen in the area, the stem / k p o n o / 'trap' is recorded in the following: ti ' k p o n o e k p e t 'They made a trap for it' Similarly, in reference to a young goat which had recently been purchased, a headman is recorded as saying to labourers: ka ' p e r e t o o 'Build a house for it.' The glosses 'a trap for it' and 'a house for it' are the key to the significance of the morpheme of prefixed low tone. It indicates 'previous reference'." Such a meaning is barely 'specific' but certainly more than being a nominal marker. For this reason it is classified here as a stage II definite article.

2.

"It was noted earlier that the article which renewed the class marker in the languages like Gurma is generally synchronically considered either identical with, or obviously related to, the pronominal subject markers of the verb. In the Romance languages, the article is similar to, or identical with, verb subject or object pronouns, but not with the present demonstratives, e.g. French "Je la vois, la table". But historically both the article and the pronoun have a common origin in the Latin demonstrative." (Greenberg 1977:102).

3.

The form may well have evolved from the combinint of the pronoun / N - / with some sort of emphatic particle / y a / though such a combination has yet to be confirmed.

170

David J. Dwyer

4.

The rule that accomplishes this shift does not seem to be a simple reassignment of the prefix tone on to the stem, but rather one that shifts all low given other tonal phenomena in Bandi (in particular) the rule (see Dwyer, 1973).

5.

Although my own field research with these languages did not focus on the pinpointing of these deictic functions, it is my impression that the strong definite meaning was being expressed by the 'that' demonstrative.

6.

"This specific suffix is very rarely used as the only affix with a noun. It indicates specificity without implying previous reference or possession. The form /psrei/ is recorded with the meaning 'a house of that kind'. Otherwise, the specific suffix is used only if the noun is preceded by a poslow tone as outlined in the sessive pronoun as above (....), or by prefixed following section." (Welmers 1969:79).

REFERENCES Bird, C. 1966. Aspects of Bambara syntax. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms. Dwyer, D. 1973. The comparative tonology of Southwestern Mande Nominals. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms. African . 1978. Idiosyncratic, suprasegmental processes in Mende. Studies in Linguistics 9:333-343. A reference handbook. East Lansing: Michigan State Universi. 1981. Lorma: ty. Eulenberg, J. 1974. How morphological alternations in Hausa conspire to make it a more efficient channel of communication. In Third Annual Conference on African Linguistics, ed. E. Voeltz, pp. 197-201. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Gillieron, J. 1919. La faillite de I'etymologie phonetique. Neuville. Greenberg, J. 1977. Niger-Congo noun class markers: prefixes, suffixes, both or neither. Journal of African Linguistics 7:97-104. Heydorn, R. 1940-1. Die Sprache der Bandi in nordwestlichen Liberia. Zeitschrift fur Eingeborenen Sprachen 31:81-114, 188-217. Innes, G. 1964. An outline of Loko with texts. African Language Studies 5:115-73. introduction to Mende. London: SOAS. . 1967. A practical . 1969. A Mende-English dictionary. London: Cambridge University Press. Kendall, M., M. Somare, S. Soumare and C. Bird. 1980. Soninke. Brattleboro: The Experiment in International Living. Prost, Ref. Pere A. 1953. Les langues Mande-sud du group Mana-Busa. Dakar: Institut Francais d'Afrique Noire. Purves, D., B. Ndebe and R. Bombo. 1966. Bandi (lessons and dictionary). MS. Spears, R. 1967. Basic course in Mende. Evanston: Northwestern University. Welmers, W. 1969. T h e morphology of Kpelle nominals. Journal of African Languages 8:73-101. . 1976. A grammar of Vai. Berkeley: University of California Press. . n.d. Manya. MS. 120 pages. Zipf, G. 1965. The Psycho-Biology of Language; an Introduction to Dynamic Philology. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press.

Chapter 13

The Passive in Bor Dinka Kristine C.Gjerlow-Johnson,

1.

Edward B.G.

Ayom

INTRODUCTION

In this paper, we will examine what has been called the "passive" in Dinka (cf. Nebel 1947). Specifically, we will be looking at the Bor dialect where the agreement facts for both actives and "passives" are a bit different from other dialects. We will attempt to develop a model compatible with the Extended Standard Theory of Syntax roughly as developed by Chomsky in his 1981 Lectures ment and

on

Govern-

Binding.

Dinka "passives" are noteworthy in that they show agreement with both the underlying subject and the surface subject. The sentences under (1) to (8) below illustrate the crucial points for active/passive pairs in the present tense.^ The sentences are given in standard Dinka orthography, except that V is used to Indicate breathy voice and underlining is used to indicate consonants which are lenited in Bor but preserved in the other dialects. Tones are those of rapid speech. The absence of tone marking on vowels below is meant to indicate a long vowel with one tone. A full explanation of all of the surface tones indicated must await a further investigation of the tone system of Dinka as a whole. (1) a.

yen

col

meth.

b.

Meth

a-caal.

c.

Meth

a-col

(2) a.

'I'm calling the child' 'The child is being called by me'

e

yen.

yen

col m i t h .

b.

Mith

aa-caal

c.

Mith

aa-col

'The child is being called by me.' 'I am calling the children.'

ke (ek) . k e (ek)

e yen.

'The children are being called by me.' 'The children are being called by me.'

172 (3)

K r i s t i n e C.

Gjerlow-Johnson

a.

Deng

a-col

b.

Meth

a-cool

c.

Meth

a-col

e

(4) a.

Deng

a-cbl

mith.

b.

Mith

aa-cool

c.

Mith

a-col

a.

We(ek)

b.

Meth

a-calke.

c.

Meth

a-col

(5)

(6) a.

We ( e k ) ith

col

col

meth.

'Deng i s

Deng. Deng.

Deng

ke(ek)

i s b e i n g c a l l e d by

Deng.'

calling

'You

(pi.)

'The c h i l d

aa-col

ke(elc)

e

(7) a.

Deng

ku

aa-col

meth.

b.

Meth

a-cool

c.

Meth

a-col

a.

Deng

ku

b.

Mith a a - c o o l k e ( ek_) .

c.

Mith a a - c o l ku Mac .

ku

Deng aa-col Deng

ke(ek)

children.'

week.

Mac.

ku

Mac.

mith. ku

e

a r e b e i n g c a l l e d by

are c a l l i n g

the

child.'

i s b e i n g c a l l e d by you

(pi.).'

' T h e c h i l d i s b e i n g c a l l e d b y you

(pi.).'

'You

ke(ek) .

Deng

the

Deng.'

Mith

2.

'The c h i l d

'The c h i l d r e n

Deng.

c.

Mac

Deng.'

e

M

e

i s b e i n g c a l l e d by

Deng.'

mith.

Mac

child.'

' T h e c h i l d r e n a r e b e i n g c a l l e d by

week.

aa-calke

the

ke(ek) .

meth.

e

calling

'The c h i l d

'Deng i s

b.

(8)

a n d Edward B . G. Ayom

(pi.)

are c a l l i n g

the

children.'

'The c h i l d r e n

are being

c a l l e d by you

(pi.).'

'The c h i l d r e n

a r e b e i n g c a l l e d by you

(pi.).'

'Deng and Mac a r e c a l l i n g 'The c h i l d

the

child.'

i s b e i n g c a l l e d b y Deng and M a c . '

' T n e c h i l d i s b e i n g c a l l e d by Deng and 'Deng and Mac a r e c a l l i n g

the

Mac.'

child.'

Mac

'The c h i l d r e n Mac. 1

a r e b e i n g c a l l e d by Deng and

Deng

'The c h i l d r e n Mac. '

a r e b e i n g c a l l e d by Deng and

THE S T R U C T U R E O F T H E S I M P L E S E N T E N C E IN D I N K A

A t f i r s t glance,

it m i g h t s e e m that the b a s i c w o r d o r d e r in D i n k a is SVO,

however,

t h e r e are g o o d r e a s o n s to a s s u m e that it is in fact u n d e r l y i n g l y VSO. For

example,

in i n t e r r o g a t i v e s ,

the n o r m a l w o r d o r d e r is V ( o r A u x ) S O . O u r "b" s e n t e n c e s

a p a r a l l e l to this. T h e f o r m s g i v e n in (l)b,

(2)b,

p r o n o u n i n c o r p o r a t e d into the verb. H i s t o r i c a l l y ,

(5)b, a n d (6)b show the

provide subject

this p r o b a b l y d e r i v e d from a

The Passive in Bor Dinka

173

pronominal suffix attached to the verb, thus the order, after object

fronting,

is actually OVS. This suggests that at the very least, VSO word order is a reasonable first hypothesis. Given the EST projection principle which states that resentations

at all three syntactic levels are projections of lexical

rep-

properties

and given the common assumption that the expansion of S is universally NP INFL VP, or its mirror image

(Chomsky 1981:41),

the only possible structure for the Dinka

actives in examples

(1) to (8) is the one shown below:

S

(9) NP

INFL

VP

Tense AG V NP NP Although this structure seems unusual in having agents generated phrase, such an analysis has already been demonstrated languages

inside the verb

to De necessary

for other

(for example, Burzio's 1981 dissertation uses similar constructions

for

Italian). And indeed, there does seem to be support for such an analysis in Dinka. In the past tense and other compound tenses, the surface word order is NP Tense NP V NP. The NP which comes between Tense and the verb at surface structure be any argument of the verb, including the argument which is assigned

can

agentive

theta role. In fact it seems that in general, for Dinka, the arguments of a verb are treated equally. Some verbs can assign the theta roles agent, benefactive

or

agent, goal and all of these may be fronted, yielding such constructions as "My father was cut sticks for by me." or "Home was gone to by the child.".

3.

CONSEQUENCES

Assuming the structure shown in (9) has a number of consequences. Since the theory of movement dictates that an NP move from a caseless position to a cased

position

and from a 6 position to a non-9 position, in order to generate simple actives with SVO word order, Dinka verbs must assign one case and either one or two theta roles.

174

Kristine C. Gjerlow-Johnson

and Edward B. G. Ayom

Thus the deep structure for sentence (l)a 'I am calling the child. 1 must be as shown below:

(10)

C o l assigns the theta roles agent, theme (we simplify for the moment by just stipulating that it assigns them in that order). C o l

also assigns oblique case.

We take first the situation where it assigns oblique case to the theme. The agent is then without case and, in order not to violate the surface filter requiring all phonologically realized NPs to have case, it must move into subject position and receive nominative case from inside INFL. This then explains the major features of the surface forms found in sentences (1) to (8).

3.1.

OBJECT FRONTING

Turning to the "b" sentences (and ignoring for the moment pronoun incorporation) it can immediately be seen that in order to generate these so-called passive surface structures, given our proposed deep structure, all we need do is allow oblique case to be assigned to either argument of the verb. Just in case oblique case is assigned to the agent, the theme will have to front in order to receive case. Remember however that as we pointed out, the agreement facts here are unusual for a passive. The only agreement shown with surface subjects is the third person singular and plural agreement marker

a / a : . We return to this point below.

The verb form itself agrees with the agent as it does in other non-passive constructions such as the interrogative. And in fact, closer inspection shows that this construction does not meet the EST definition of passives. Chomsky (1981) explains that passive morphology brings with it two kinds of absorption. The ab-

The Passive in Bor Dinka

175

sorption of oblique case and of agentive theta role. If we assume that oblique case and agentive theta role have been absorbed, then, since the agent here does not move, it is left without either (compare this with the English situation where the agent also does not undergo movement - it is given case and theta role by the preposition "by".). Thus we conclude that this type of object fronting, although it is a device for focusing objects, is not a true passive.

3.2.

AGREEMENT MARKERS

Of course, whatever theoretical device is used to explain the surface word order, the "double agreement" on the verb remains an interesting problem. If we simply stipulate that in Dinka AG picks up its features from whichever NP is assigned agentive theta role, this gives us the verbal inflection for all of the passive forms considered as well as for interrogatives. However, it does not explain why the indicative actives do not show overt agreement on the verb (of course, there is the third person marker a/a: which, in conjunction with the optional dummy subject, seems to be in complimentary distribution with obligatory free-standing pronoun and no agreement marker.). It is possible that a/a: is simply a clitic agreement marker. In her paper 'The Independence of Syntax and Phonology in Cliticization', Judith Klavens develops a three parameter system for classifying clitics. In her system, the

a/a:

would be considered to be initial in that it occurs in sentential second position (as opposed to final or occuring at the end of some constituent - usually VP). In terms of precedence, it occurs after its host, however, it is a proclitic. This tension between the second and third parameters means, in Klavens' terms, that the

a/a:

has some third person NP in subject position as its syntactic host but

that tense is its phonological host. Which is to say that it gets spelled out on the tense bearing part of the verb (yen ce roeth cool /

\

f

vs. e meth cool 'He has called the child.' where a + ce =• e )- It may also

176

Kristine

b e the case that

C.

Gjerlow-Johnson

a/a:

a n d E d w a r d B. G.

m a r k s m a i n c l a u s e s or it c o u l d b e s o m e k i n d of

m a r k e r " . C l e a r l y , all the facts are not yet

3.3.

Ayom "indicative

in.

TRUE PASSIVES

T u r n i n g finally to the "c" p a s s i v e s , w e w i l l a t t e m p t to d e m o n s t r a t e t h a t

these

are true p a s s i v e s . W e p r o p o s e a d e e p s t r u c t u r e for these as s h o w n b e l o w : (11)

meth The p a s s i v e m o r p h o l o g y has a b s o r b e d a g e n t i v e t h e t a role and o b l i q u e case. m u s t m o v e into subject p o s i t i o n to r e c e i v e case. T h e agent NP, a t e d as part of a PP can r e c e i v e its case and t h e t a role from the p r e p o s i t i o n e .

H o w e v e r , since

Deng

Deng,

Meth

being

(perhaps " f o c u s e d

generagent")

is g e n e r a t e d in the P P and is n o t

an a r g u m e n t of the verb, a g r e e m e n t o n the verb is b l o c k e d ,

as is s h o w n in the

"c"

sentences.

4.

SOME F U R T H E R

DETAILS

W e have thus far p r o v i d e d a very g e n e r a l a c c o u n t of the s i m p l e D i n k a a c t i v e b o t h the "b" and "c" c o n s t r u c t i o n s . One d e t a i l w h i c h w e h a v e not yet is the s u r f a c e s t r u c t u r e p r o n o m i n a l copy p e r s o n p l u r a l o b j e c t is f r o n t e d

ke(elO

and

considered

w h i c h is left w h e n e v e r a t h i r d

(whether as a p a r t of the p a s s i v e f o r m a t i o n or as

p a r t of the o b j e c t f o c u s i n g ) . S e n t e n c e s

(2)b&c,

(4)b&c,

(6)b&c, and (8)bfcc i l l u s -

t r a t e t h i s p h e n o m e n o n . We c a n o n l y assume that it is a s p e l l - o u t of a trace w h i c h is a m e m b e r of a f u n c t i o n c h a i n , one m e m b e r of w h i c h has theme as its t h e t a role. P r e s u m a b l y , n o n - t h i r d p e r s o n p l u r a l s e i t h e r simply do n o t spell out, or h a v e

zero

The Passive in Bor Dinka forms. Some evidence for this

177 ke(e)c) being a spell-out of a trace is that it

does not have an independent theta role and it also has no case.

5.

CONCLUSIONS

Although our analysis accounts for most of the data we presented under (1) to (8), we have no doubt that we will eventually want to revise it. In fact, some changes suggest themselves immediately. For example, it should not be necessary to stipulate that theta roles are assigned in some specific order. For verbs which take only two arguments and assign the theta roles agent and theme, to take one example, no matter which order the theta roles are given in, if the NP with agentive theta role is assigned oblique case, the theme fronts and an "b" type sentence results. Otherwise, an active results. Case theory prevents movement by the cased NP since this would result in a doubly cased NP and a cased trace which would not be a variable. However, this manner of theta role assignment makes predictions about the behavior of verbs with three arguments which we have not yet been able to investigate thoroughly. Although this question and many others remain unanswered, we hope that we have at least begun to provide some answers to the problems posed by the "passive" in Bor Dinka, and that we have suggested an interesting perspective for comparative Nilotic syntax. If Dinka is in fact still a verb—initial language at some level, this would bring it in line with Kalenjin (Southern Nilotic, and Eastern Nilotic with the exception of Bari), certainly a possibility worth exploring. * We would like to thank Gerrit Dimmendaal as well as Kike Hall, Tom Maxfield and other friends from the Graduate Center for discussing the paper with us. Our research into this question has in part been supported by NEH and PSC/BHE grants to Professor R.M.R. Hall for the preparation of a Dinka dictionary and the investigation of Dinka morphophonemics. NOTES 1.

The complexities of the Dinka auxiliary system have been examined by Hall, Ayom and Hall, The Verb in Bor Dinka (in preparation). The system of regularities underlying the changes of vowel quality and voice

178

Kristine c. Gjerlow-Johnson and Edward B. G. Ayom

quality found in the Dinka inflectional system is discussed in Hall, Ayom and Hall (1982). Basically, to account for other tenses, we would have to give •more structure to our INFL, in order to accommodate up to three auxiliaries and in order to allow for an NP coming after the tense. Perhaps we would need to introduce an "INFL". However, since these complexities are the same for actives and passives, they have no immediate bearing on our analysis. REFERENCES Burzio, L. 1981. Intransitive Verbs and. Italian Auxiliaries. Ph.D. diss., MIT. Chomsky, N.A. 1981. Lectures on Government and Binding. Dordrecht: Foris Publications . Hall, B.L., E.B.G. Ayom and R.M.R. Hall. The verb in Bor Dinka. (In preparation). . 1982. Accounting for the Vowels and Voice Qualities of Bor Dinka. Paper read at the Stonybrook Conference on Phonological/Distinctive Features. Klavans, Judith L. 1985. The Independence of Syntax and Phonology in Cliticization. Language 61:95-120. "ebel, Tr. Arthur. 194"7. A Dinka Grammar. Verona: Museum Combonianum No. 2.

Chapter 14

The Shona Passive and Government-Binding Theory Carolyn Harford Perez

1.

INTRODUCTION

This paper will discuss examples of the passive construction in Shona, a Bantu language and the major language of Zimbabwe, which appear to be counterexamples to the Government-Binding

Theory presented in Chomsky (1981, 1982). Government-

Binding Theory (henceforth GB) incorporates the observation, also made by Perlmutter (1971) and Bresnan (1977), that languages such as English do not permit NP subjects of tensed clauses to be extracted from these clauses, and permit wh-question words to be extracted only when they do not follow an overt complementizer. The term "extraction" is used here to refer to the obligatory relationship which holds between NP and wh-antecedents in main clauses, and their gaps in embedded clauses, as in examples (1) - (3) below: (1) a. b. (2) a.

People «The

believe

thief t

People

that

the

is b e l i e v e d

believe

the

has

hidden

in t h e

that [ ]has ZT

in the

cave.

thief

thief

cave.

to h a v e

hidden

in the

cave.

is b e l i e v e d [ ] to h a v e ZJ~

hidden

in the

cave.

b.

The

thief 1

(3) c.

Who

do y o u

think

left?

b.

* Who

do y o u

think

that [ _ ] left?

I will show that Shona has equivalents of sentences (l)a, (l)b, and (3)b, but not (2)a, (2)b, or (3)a. Chomsky (1982, 1982) also discusses the distinctions between languages, such as Italian, which may optionally omit the subject of a sentence, and languages,

180

Carolyn Harford Perez

such as English, which may not. The former type, referred to as Pro-Drop languages, are associated with a number of properties not found in non-Pro-Drop languages (Chomsky 1981:240). I will not discuss the properties in detail, but will note that Shona appears to be a Pro-Drop language. In particular, Shona shows the characteristic property of permitting wh-question words to be extracted from tensed clauses with overt complementizers: (4)

Ndi-ani it is who

1

wa-u-no-fungir-a kuti whom 2s pres. suspect in. that

'Who do you suspect of having left town?' left town?) Notice that the complementizer k u t i (5)

*Ndi-ani it is who

/ 2 / 0-aka-bv-a ku-dhoropa? 1 past leave in. 17 at town

(Lit. Who do you suspect that

'that' may not be omitted from this sentence:

wa-u-no-fungir-a whom 2s pres. suspect in.

0-aka-bv-a 1 past leave in.

ku-dhoropa? 17 at town

However, contrary to expectation, Shona permits NP subjects of tensed clauses to be extracted by the process of passivization, as seen in examples (6)-(9): (6)

/

r

t

r

Baba va-no-zikan-w-a la Father 2a pres. know pass. in.

f

kuti that

'Father is known to have killed Mother.' killed Mother.) (7)

Ku-tamba 15 inf. play

[

r

/

(Lit. Father is known that he

ku-no-fung-w-a ne-v-ana kuti 15 pres. think pass. in. by 2 children that

va-varaidz-a 2 obj. amuse in.

3

] v-a-uray-a Amai. 2a past kill in. la Mother

[

]

ku-no15 pres.

chose. very much

'Playing is thought of by children as amusing them very much.' (Lit. Playing is thought of by children that it amuses them very much.) (8)

Mbavha 1-no-fungir-w-a kuti [ 9 thief 9 pres. suspect pass. in. that

] y-aka-vand-a mu-bako. 9 past hide in. 18 in cave

'The thief is suspected to have hidden in the cave.' suspected that he had hidden in the cave.)

(Lit. The thief is

The Shona Passive and Government-Binding Theory (9)

Madzi-tateguru 6 ancestors

a-ko 6 your

akare long

t-a-mbo-fungir-w-a lp past ever suspect pass. in. 0-aka-vig-w-a 6 past bury pass. in.

181

kare ago

kuti that

mu-bako 18 in cave

kwazvo very [

isu we

ti-sa-ti lp neg. say

] ti-cha-zvar-w-a, lp fut. bear pass. in. mu-no 18 here

2 u-mu. this 18

(Chakaipa 1961:56) 'Your ancestors long long ago, when we had not ever been thought of that we would be born, were buried in this cave. 1 Whether or not GB can handle these examples depends on whether the gap in the subject position of the embedded clause can be identified with any of the four empty categories allowed by the theory:

NP-trace, wh-trace, PRO with capital

letters, and "little" Pro with small case letters. I will demonstrate shortly why none of these possibilities will work, and this demonstration will constitute the argument that Shona poses a counterexample to GB. Beforehand, however, a few points need to be made about examples (6)-(9). First of all, examples (6)-(9) show the morphology characteristic of passive sentences in Shona, including the

- w - extension on the verb and the oblique phrase 4

marked with the preposition

na- .

Compare example (10), which is a passive with-

out an embedded clause: (10)

Zvi-rongo 8 pots

zv-aka-b-iw-a 8 past steal pass. in.

ne-mbavha. by 9 thief

'The pots were stolen by the thief' The complementizer k u t i

'that' is homophonous with the infinitive 'to say'.

However, it is not functioning as an infinitive in these examples because, as will be shown below, the verbs in question may not be followed by infinitives. Notice also that

kuti

may not be dropped in any of the passive examples, as

shown by the ungrammaticality of examples (11)-(14), which are examples (6)-(9) without the complementizer:

182

Carolyn Harford Perez

(11)

*Baba

(12)

*Kutamba

(13)

*Mbavha

(14)

* M a d z i t a t e g u r u ako akare kare tichazvarwa, akavigwa mubako

vanozikanwa

vauraya

kunofungwa inofungirwa

nevana

Amai. kunovavaraidza

yakavanda

chose.

mubako. k w a z v o isu muno umu.

tisatl

tambofungirwa

Furthermore, the matrix subject and the gap in the embedded subject position must have identical referents. As seen in examples (15)-(17), an NP with independent reference may not appear in the subject position of clauses embedded under these verbs: (15)

*Babd Vci-no-zikan-w-a kuti la Father 2a pres. know pass. in. that

Sekuru la Uncle

v-a-uray-a 2a past kill in.

Ana i . la Mother 'Father is known that Uncle killed Mother.' (16)

*Ku-t£mbci 15 inf. play

ku-no-fung-w-a ne-v-ana kuti 15 pres. think pass. in. by 2 children that

k u - n o - v c i - v a r a idz - a 15 pres. 2 obj. amuse in.

ku-verenga 15 inf. read

chose. very much

'Playing Is thought of by children that reading amuses them very much.' (17)

*Mu-ti 3 tree

u-no-fungir-w-a 3 pres. suspect pass. in.

temer-w-a cut pass. in.

kuti davi that 5 branch

ra-wo 5 3 its

r-a5 past

pasi. down

'The tree is suspected that its branch has been cut down.' Also, the gap must be in the embedded subject position, and cannot be in any nonsubject position, as illustrated in examples (18)-(20) below. The three alternatives given in each of (18)-(20) are intended to show that the sentences are ungrammatical with resumptive pronouns, either independent pronouns or verbal object markers.

The Shona Passive and Government-Binding (18)

*Huku 9 chicken

Theory

i-no-zikan-w-a 9 pres. know pass. in.

v-aka-b-a 2 past steal in.

kuti that

v-ana 2 children

iyo. 9 it

v-aka-i-b-a. 2 past 9 obj. steal in. v-aka-b-a. 2 past steal in. 'The chicken is known that the children /stole it. 1

(19)

*Ku-tamba 15 inf. play

stole

it.'

stole

(it).'I

ku-no-fung-w-a kuti 15 pres. think pass. in. that

va-no-d-a 2 pres. like in.

v-ana 2 children

iko. 15 it

va-no-ku-d-a. 2 pres. 15 obj. like in. va-no-d-a. 2 pres. like in. 'Playing

is

thought

of that

children/

like

it.'

like it.' like (20)

*Baba la Father

(it).';

va-no-fungir-w-a kuti Amai 2a pres. suspect pass. in. that la Mother

v-a-uray-a 2a past kill in.

iye. 1 him

v-a-mu-uray-a. 2a past 1 obj. kill in. v-a-uray-a. 2a past kill in. 'Father is suspected that Mother / killed him.' killed him.' killed

(him).1

184

Carolyn Harford

Perez

A n o t h e r i m p o r t a n t p o i n t is that the e m b e d d e d s e n t e n c e m u s t b e tensed.

It c a n n o t

c o n t a i n a s u b j u n c t i v e verb, or an i n f i n i t i v e , b o t h of w h i c h lack t e n s e m a r k e r s . Compare examples (21)

(21)-(23):

*Baba la F a t h e r

va-no-zikan-w-a / kuti 2 a pres. k n o w p a s s . in.I that

va-uray-e Amai. 2 a kill subj. la M o t h e r .

Iku-uraya [ 15 inf. kill 'Father

i s known ( t h a t

he m i g h t h a v e k i l l e d

( t o have k i l l e d (22)

*Ku-tamba 15 inf. play

Amai. la M o t h e r .

Mother.1

Mother.'

ku-no-fung-w-a /kuti 15 pres. think pass. in.I that

ku-varaidz-e v-ana. 15 amuse subj. 2 c h i l d r e n .

fku-varaidza ^ 15 inf. amuse 'Playing

is

thought I of

that

I t o amuse (23)

*Mbavha 9 thief

it

m i g h t amuse

children.'

children.'

i-no-fungir-w-a 9 pres. s u s p e c t pass. in.

/ kuti I that

ya-vcind-e 9 h i d e subj.

I ku-vanda \ 15 inf. h i d e 'The t h i e f

is

suspected ( t h a t

v-ana. 2 children.

he m i g h t b e h i d i n g

i t o have hidden in t h e

in the

mu-bako. 18 in. cave.

mu-bako. 18 in. cave. cave.'

cave.'

I turn n o w to the i s s u e of w h e t h e r any of the empty c a t e g o r i e s a l l o w e d by w i l l w o r k as the empty category

GB

in the e m b e d d e d s u b j e c t p o s i t i o n in the S h o n a

p a s s i v e examples. W i t h i n GB, there are two w a y s of l o o k i n g

at the

relationship

b e t w e e n the subject of the m a t r i x c l a u s e and this empty c a t e g o r y . T h e m a t r i x s u b j e c t m a y h a v e b e e n m o v e d from this p o s i t i o n ,

leaving a gap, or the

position

may have b e e n b a s e - g e n e r a t e d empty. W i t h i n e a c h of these p o s s i b i l i t i e s , are two a l t e r n a t i v e s ,

there

and h e n c e the four empty c a t e g o r i e s m e n t i o n e d above.

of the empty c a t e g o r i e s is r u l e d out by the v a r i o u s s u b t h e o r i e s of GB w h i c h t e r m i n e w h e r e e a c h of the four m a y

appear.

Each de-

The Shona Passive and Government-Binding Theory 2.

185

PRO

I will consider first the empty categories PRO and Pro. If the empty categories in examples (6)-(9) are assumed to be PRO, then both the matrix subject and the empty category must be base-generated, since PRO cannot be the result of movement in GB. PRO is considered to be both a pronominal and an anaphor, and hence has no governing category. Because of this assumption, the Theory of Binding predicts that PRO only appears in ungoverned positions, such as the position of the subject of an infinitive. The reader should refer to Chomsky (1981, 1982), as well as to such sources as Bennis and Groos (1981) and Radford (1981) for definitions of government and governing category. I will confine myself there to the statement that the subject of a tensed verb is a governed position. PRO is thus ruled out as the empty category in the passive examples.

3.

Pro

Pro, with small-case letters, is the designation given by Chomsky to the empty category which corresponds to overt pronouns; i.e., a non-anaphoric pronominal. According to Chomsky (1982:Sec. 5), Pro is the empty category which holds the empty subject position in a Pro-Drop language. Pro differs from PRO in being governed; it may therefore appear in the embedded subject position of the Shona passive examples without any problem. However, one of the defining properties of PRO and Pro is that their antecedents have 9-roles (thematic roles, roughly) (Chomsky, 1982, Sec. 3). If the subjects of the passive verbs in (6)-(9) have 0-roles, then these positions cannot be filled by non-referential pleonastic elements (such as "it" or "there" in English). There is some evidence that the passive verbs in (6)-(9) do allow pleonastic elements in subject position. In Shona, there are at least two candidates for pleonastic elementhood:

locative

verbal concord and Class 8 verbal concord. Both of these may appear with the passives in question:

186

Carolyn Harford Perez

(24) a.

Ku-no-zikan-w-a kuti 17 at pres. know pass. in. that

mu-rume 1 man

0-a-uray-a 1 past kill in.

mu-komana. 1 boy.

'It is known that the man killed the boy.' b.

Zvi-no-zikan-w-a 8 pres. know pass. in.

kuti that

nzou 10 elephants

dzi-no-uray-a 10 pres. kill in.

va-nhu. 2 people. 'It is known that elephants kill people.' (25)

Ku-no-fung-w-a na-va-nhu 17 at pres. think pass. in. by 2 people va-ngu 2a my

va-zhinji 2 many

kuti that

Sekuru la uncle

ibenzi. fool.

'It is thought by many people that my uncle is a fool.1 (26) a.

Ku-no-fungir-w-a 17 at pres. suspect pass. in. gar-a chi-puka live in. 7 animal

kuti mu-dhamu that 18 in lake

u-mu rau-nothat 18 18 pres.

chi-no-tyis-a. 7 rel. pres. frighten in.

'It is suspected that in that lake there lives an animal which is terrifying.' b.

Zvi-no-fungir-w-a kuti mu-rume 8 pres. suspect pass. in. that 1 man

0-a-uray-a mu-komana. 1 past kill in. 1 boy.

'It is suspected that the man killed the boy.' If locative and Class 8 verbal concords may function as pleonastic elements, then the subjects of the passive verbs in (6)-(9) do not have 8-roles. The empty category then could not be Pro (or PRO, either).

4.

NP-TRACE

Notice that examples (24)-(26), taken in conjunction with (6)-(9), show that the NP-antecedents may appear in either the embedded subject or matrix subject positions. This fact suggests that (6)-(9) are derived by movement of the embedded subject to the matrix subject position. In this case, the empty category must be an NP-trace. NP-traces may not have antecedents in positions which have 9-roles,

The Shona Passive and Government-Binding Theory

187

and I have suggested that the subject positions of these passive verbs do not. However, the category NP-trace presents its own problems. NP-traces are subject to the Theory of Binding, which states that anaphors, including NP-traces, must be bound in their governing categories. Without going into the details of the theory here, note that what the Theory of Binding requires in this case is that the NP-trace be coindexed with (refer obligatorily to) something in S, the embedded sentence which is its governing category: (27)

Mbavha

inofungirwa

[

kuti

[[t] y a k a v a n d a

m u b a k o . ]]

'The thief is thought to have hidden in the cave.1 [t] is coindexed with

mbavha

in the matrix clause, but is free in the embedded

clause, a violation of the Theory of Binding. Since the sentence is grammatical, the empty category cannot be NP-trace within GB.

5.

OBSERVATIONS

There is another empty category which arises through movement, wh-trace, which is not subject to the Theory of Binding in the manner that NP-traces are. Whtraces occur when there is movement to a complementizer from a complementizer, or from a position of an argument of the verb. If this kind of movement were taking place in the passive examples, the embedded subject would first move into the complementizer position of the embedded clause, then to the matrix complementizer position, so that the matrix subjects would not actually be in subject position. (GB forbids movement from a complementizer position into an argument position, such as the subject position of the matrix clause.) The trace would be coindexed with the moved subject of the embedded clause, and would not violate the Theory of Binding, since wh-traces, unlike NP-traces, are free in their governing categories. However, if the embedded subject were moved to the matrix complementizer position, the matrix subject position, would then be left open, and could be filled by another NP, as in example (28), which is so bad that it

188

Carolyn Harford Perez

is unglossable: (28)

*Mbavha, 9 thief

va-nhu 2 people

va-no-zikan-w-a 2 pres. know pass. in.

kuti that

y-aka-vand-a 9 past hide in.

mu-bako. 18 in cave In this sentence,

vanhu

cannot receive a 6-role from the passive verb in the

matrix clause, nor can it receive one from the embedded verb, which agrees with m b a v h a . The sentence therefore violates the ©-criterion, which requires every argument of a verb have a 6-role, whether it occupies its original or has been moved to another

(Chomsky,

that position,

1981:36).

All of the empty categories have been ruled out as the empty category passive examples, as GB is currently the most

in the

formulated. Nevertheless, NP-trace is still

likely candidate, since its antecedent occupies a position which in all 5

likelihood does not have a 9 - r o l e . semantically equivalent

Note that the verbs in examples (6)-(9) are

to verbs in English whose passives have been analyzed

as

involving movement. It is an issue for further research whether GB can be modified to accommodate the data from Shona. If it is assumed that the empty categories I have discussed are NP-traces, then NP-traces in Shona must be permitted to be Case-marked, unlike their counterparts in English

(see the sources

already

cited for accounts of the Theory of Case), since tensed verbs must assign Case to their subjects in both embedded clauses and main clauses. This

observation

has implications for the rest of the system, and I am exploring these in ongoing research. Other possible modifications include revising the definition of ing category', or the principle which requires NP-traces to be bound governing categories, greement.

and investigating

'govern-

in their

the role played by factors such as a-

The Shona Passive and Government-Binding Theory 6.

189

CONCLUSION

What I have said here about Shona passives can be summed up briefly. GB draws distinctions between constructions which are derived by movement and those which are base-generated. The Shona passive examples which I have looked at cut across these distinctions. For example, the Shona data is parallel to data from English and other languages which GB analyzes as involving movement. In particular, the governed empty categories and the possibility of pleonastic elements in subject position are most characteristic of movement passives. However, the fact that the empty category must cross an overt complementizer to find its antecedent indicates base-generation under the assumptions of this theory. Consequently, none of the empty categories work here, because each is designed to fit into a certain marked-off domain, and is assumed to be in complementary distribution with the others. * This paper is a revised version of a paper presented at the Fourteenth Annual Conference on African Linguistics in Madison, Wisconsin, on April 7, 1983. I would like to thank the following people for their comments: Patrick Bennett, Hazel Carter, Robin Cooper, Elisabet Engdahl, Catherine Rudin, and Laurie Stowe. I would also like to thank Hazel Carter for helping me mark the tones, and Golden Chekenyere, my Shona consultant, a speaker of the Karanga dialect of Shona. Thanks are also due to Gerrit J. Dimmendaal and the anonymous referee for many useful and educational suggestions. NOTES 1.

Abbreviations are as follows: fut.: future; in.: indicative; inf.: infinitive; neg.: negative; obj.: object; pass.: passive; pres.: present; subj. subjunctive; Is, lp: 1st person singular, plural, etc. Other numbers indicate that the morpheme is an agreement marker for the noun-class of that number. If a number occurs attached to no particular morpheme, that morpheme cannot be separated from the rest of the word. I have not segmented the words into all the morphemes possible, but I have tried to include all of the relevant ones. Acute accent indicates high tone; no accent indicates low tone. Unattributed examples are from my own data.

2.

Class 1, the singular human noun-class, and Class 6, have no separate verbal subject prefix with the -a- and - a k a - past tense markers (Carter & Kahari, 1979:Part 2:20).

3.

B a b a , A m a i , and S e k u r u belong to Class la. They lack the Class 1 m u prefix and control Class 2a concords as an indication of respect. My consultant prefers - z i k a n w a as the passive form of - z i v a . Fortune (1955:207) gives - z i v i k w a , and Hannan (1959:750) gives z i v i k a n w a .

190

Carolyn Harford

Perez

4.

The preposition n a - 'by, and, with' appears as n a - - / n e - / n o - , depending the class of the following noun (Carter & Kahari, 1979:Part 2:36).

on

5.

If the empty categories are NP-traces, then it is also of interest to investigate Shona reflexives and reciprocals, since these anaphors in English show the same behavior as NP-traces. Shona reflexives are expressed as object markers on the verb, and reciprocals as verbal extensions which eliminate an argument of the verb. Neither of them occupy NP-positions, and it is unclear to me at this point what their binding properties are.

REFERENCES Bennis, Hans, and Anneke Groos. 1980. The Government-Binding Theory: An Overview. Lingua e Stile 15(4):565-592. Bresnan, Joan. 1977. Variables in the Theory of Transformations. In Formal Syntax, eds. P. Culicover, T. Wasow, A. Akmajian, pp. 157-97. New York: Academic Press. Carter, Hazel and G.P. Kahari. 1979. Kuverenga ChiShona: An Introductory Shona Reader with grammatical sketch. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Chakaipa, Patrick. 1961. Pfumo Reropa. Harare: Longmans of Rhodesia. Chomsky, Noam. 1981. Lectures on Government and Binding. Dordrecht: Foris Publications . . 1982. Some Concepts and Consequences of the Theory of Government and Binding. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Fortune, George, S.J. 1955. An Analytical Grammar of Shona. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., Ltd. Hannan, M , S.J. 1959. Standard Shona Dictionary. Harare: Rhodesia Literature Bureau. Perlmutter, David M. 1971. Deep and Surface Constraints in Syntax. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, Inc. Radford, Andrew. 1981. Transformational Syntax: A Student's Guide to Chomsky's Extended Standard Theory. Cambridge, M A : Cambridge University Press.

Chapter 15

Major Constituent Case Marking in Kanuri John P. Hutchison

1.

INTRODUCTION

Kanuri is a Western Saharan language, of the Saharan branch of Greenberg's NiloSaharan family. With regard to syntactic typology, Kanuri quite strictly maintains its basic and canonical subject-object-verb

(SOV) arrangement throughout the grammar,

with the only productive variant being OSV. In the examples presented, -a is the object marker, and - y e , where it occurs, marks the subject or agent. (1)

Ali

shi-a

(2)

Shi-a

Ali

suruna.

'Ali saw him/her. 1

suruna.

'Ali saw him/her.'

In most environments, all major noun phrase (NP) constituents as well as oblique or adverbial constituents, precede the sentence-final verb form. Leakage to the right of the verb occurs regularly in the environment of the imperative. (3)

Lefane

shi-a.

(4)

Waltsne

'Greet him/her.'

fatoro.

'Return to the house.'

In declarative sentences, some leakage of oblique constituents to the right of the verb may occur, as shown below. rukona.

' I saw them at the market

kasuwulan.

'I saw them at the market

(5)

Sandi-a

kasuwalan

(6)

Sandi-a

ruksna

(7)

Shiro

(8)

Yikona

yikana.

' I gave (it) to him/her.'

shiro.

' I gave (it) to him/her.'

As is apparent from the above examples, Kanuri has an elaborate system of postpositional marking, which Lukas and others have referred to as a case system. Postpositional marking is used to indicate the function of the wide range of NP arguments which precede the finite verb form. Regardless of the structure of the NP,

192

John P. Hutchison

this postpositional case marking is applied only in NP-final position. The constituent

is thus marked only once, with none of the modifier or determiner

ments of the NP bearing any form of case marking. Lukas

(1937:17) presented

Kanuri "case-suffixes" as shown, here divided into major vs. oblique NP ent

entire ele-

the

constitu-

markers. Table 1 Major NP Constituent Nominative Accusative

Markers:

Oblique NP Constituent Genitive Dative Ablative Locative

-ye -ga/-a

Markers:

-be -ro -n/-lan -mben

All of the above are adpositional morphological markers, which assimilate natively to the preceding NP argument, (CMs) throughout

aggluti-

and which I will refer to as case markers

the present work - in complete agreement with Lukas's work. To

Lukas's CMs must be added the associative postposition/CH, which is homophonous with his accusative case marker

(see Hutchison

1980). 1

The oblique CMs, including the associative, each perform a wide range of semantic functions, belied by the classical terms conferred upon them by Lukas. No further analysis of them will be presented here. It is sufficient they

always occur obligatorily,

in contrast

to the major constituent CMs which

are not always required to mark NPs in the nominative and accusative Major constituent

to note that

case marking in Kanuri is principally

cases.

a function of

syn-

tactic and semantic NP roles, but may also be conditioned by other pragmatic contextual

and

factors. The determinants of the usage of these CMs have yet to be

adequately described. Most prior explanations have been rooted in syntactic NP roles, with some reference to semantic factors, but usually based in the examination of sentences in isolation. Lukas's explanation for their use is shown here:

"The nominative and accusative suffixes ( - y e , - g a ) are often omitted; they must he used, however, if the word-order would otherwise cause am-

Major Constituent Case marking in Kanuri

193

biguity, i.e. if it is not clear which noun is subject and which object; e.g. Maiye shiga^ bogozo Shiga sugori. the king called the malam and asked h i m . " (Lukas 1937:17). In his example the potential ambiguity resulting from a third person singular finite verb form, and two independent position,

3S NPs

(3S)

(both being human nouns) in preverbal

is avoided through the application of the CKs to both major NPs. This

type of example represents perhaps the only situation in which previous correctly predict

treatments

that one or more of the major NPs will be marked, and thus pro-

vides an explanation for this type of case marking. Such examples however sent an insignificant

repre-

portion of the many uses of the major NP markers. In the

present work, the use of the CMs will be explained

in relation to the spectrum

of possible forms of major NPs in Kanuri, both in isolated sentences as well as in narrative contexts. The use of the CMs in relation to the elaborate

person/

pronoun system of the language will also be explained. In the narrative syntactic, semantic,

context,

and pragmatic factors will be shown to explain the choice

made among full NPs with or without CMs, full pronouns with or without CMs, affixed agreement markers,

and/or zero anaphora. Here Lukas's terms

and "accusative" will be replaced by

'agent' and

verb-

"nominative"

'object', respectively,

the latter

terms reflecting more accurately the functions of the CMs in question. The rejection of the term "nominative" is based in the fact that the subject of an intransitive sentence is almost never marked. Examples of agent case marking of an intransitive subject are presented

and explained in section 4.2. The

conditions

for this rare form of case marking are described there. The object marker will be transcribed

as

- a , in keeping with its pronunciation

SUBJECT

-0/-ye

OBJECT

(-ye)

OBJECT

(-a)

rather than as - g a . Thus:

VERB

(intransitive)

VERB

(transitive)

The paper will present a detailed description of the factors conditioning

major

constituent case marking

following

previously unexplained

in Kanuri, and will propose explanations for the

observations:

194 1. 2.

3. 4. 5.

2.

John P. Hutchison Independent pronoun direct objects are always obligatorily marked with the accusative - a Agent NPs, regardless of their form, may be case marked not only when they co-occur with an independent direct object NP, but also when they are alone as the subject of a transitive sentence in both main and relative clauses. The subjects of intransitive sentences infrequently occur in discourse contexts with the agent CM applied to them. Semantic factors such as degrees of agency, unlikely lexical agents, and others play a role in determining case marking of a^ent and subject NPs. Kanuri major constituent CMs are used not only to indicate grammatical relations, but also to mark NPs for their semantic and pragmatic roles.

CASE MARKING SYSTEMS AND SOV LANGUAGES

Language typologists provide a ready explanation for the evolution of case marking systems in languages in which both major NP constituents may occur on the same side of the verb. For SOV languages like Kanuri, Greenberg's (1963) universal 41 applies directly, i.e. "if in a language the verb follows the nominal subject and nominal object as the dominant order, the language almost always has a case system." Comrie eleborates this observation in relation to SOV languages, as follows: "Since many SOV languages actually have relatively free word, order in relation to the order of nominal arguments of the verb, i.e. OSV is a frequent alternative word order for purposes of topicalizing the object or focusing the subject, the existence of a case marking system distinguishing subject from object clearly has a function, since word order is not itself sufficient. In addition to changes in word order due to pragmatic factors, it may also be possible to omit noun phrases that are recoverable from context, so that in the absence of a case marking system NP V would be ambiguous between subject or object before the verb." (Comrie 1981:207). Kanuri case marking is clearly a subject-object, or agent-patient system of the type being explained by Comrie, in which the word order of subject and object is relatively free. Like Lukas, he explains the function of case to distinguish an object from a subject NP in the environment of a 3S verb form, and further in indicating the case function of a single NP in the same environment. In the neutral form, where other semantic factors do not come into play, Kanuri marks only the object with the object case marker, leaving the subject unmarked in the former

Major Constituent Case marking in Kanuri environment,

195

as shown here.

(9)

Mai (-ye)

shi-a

bowozs.

'The king called

(10)

Nj i n g s w u r o l a m b i t o n z o d o koska gadeso-a kozona.

him/her.'

'Its need for lots of water that of other trees.'

surpasses

In the latter environment with only one NP, an object NP is marked by - a ,

whereas

a subject NP is left unmarked in the neutral form, as shown here. (11)

Ali

(12)

Ali-a

In general,

suruna.

'Ali saw

suruna.

(it).'

'He/She saw Ali.'

the fact that the alternative OSV order is more marked

than the ca-

nonical SOV order is corroborated by the case marking system in the form of more frequent major constituent

case marking. It is precisely the OSV order which most

often produces the environment CM

- y e , as apparent

(13)

Kona(-ye)

(14)

Wu-a

in which the subject NP is marked by the agent

(AG)

in the following pair of examples. wu-a

kona-ye

cita.

'Hunger seized me.'

cita.

'Hunger seized me ' / ' I was seized by hunger. '

The OSV form of the above example may have a passive interpretation, and this structure with agent marked by

as

indicated,

- y e is the Kanuri equivalent of a passive

2 construction with expressed agent. pursued

3.

in section

This and other uses of the agent marker

are

4.1.1.

CASE MARKING AND THE PERSON/PRONOUN

Crucial to an understanding

SYSTEM

of case marking in Kanuri is the relationship of the

case system to the inventory of possible pronominal forms in the person

system.

Kanuri has no grammatical gender, no noun classes, and thus independent

pronouns

and agreement markers are used to represent NP arguments from human, animate, inanimate semantic

classes.

and

196

John P. Hutchison

The Kanuri system is tripartite in that it makes use of the full pronouns, and object person agreement markers, and zero anaphora or null elements.

subject

It is

basically a six-person system. The full pronouns are free morphemes which in usage may or may not be marked by the agent CM when they occur overtly as subject

pronouns.

They are however obligatorily marked by the object case marker when they occur overtly

as object pronouns. They are shown here in their independent,

and object-marked

agent-marked,

forms.

Table 2 person

independent

agent-marked

IS 2S 3S IP 2P 3P

wu ny l sh i andi nandi sandi

wu-ye nyi-ye sh i-ye andi-ye nandi-ye sandi-ye

object-marked

wu - a ny i - a sh i - a andi-a nandi-a sandi-a

The person agreement markers may be divided paradigmatically, both according

to

the order in which they occur in relation to the verb root of the finite verb form, and also in relation to their syntactic role. There are both subject object person agreement markers.

In both the subject and object paradigms

first and second person markers, representing

the "speech-act

la Delancey 1981:627), are in some way distinct

and the

participants"

from their third person

(à

counter-

parts . Subject NP person agreement markers always follow the verb root for the speechact participants. Thus they are distinct

from the third person markers, which

cede the verb root, as is shown here for the verb perfect

(15)

'eat'

(root

bu-)

pre-

in the im-

aspect. Here the person morphemes are underlined.

IS 2S 3S IP 2P 3F

b u - k - i n -bu-m-in — s-buin -bu-ye -n — bu-w-i — sa-bu -in —

bukin bumin zawin buyen buwi zawin

Object NP person agreement markers are used to represent both direct

and

indirect

Major Constituent Case marking in Kanuri object NPs.

3

197

Apparently incomplete, the paradigm for these non-subject

(object)

agreement markers is characterized by overt forms for the speech-act participants, and by null elements in the 3S and 3P forms.

These dependent morphemes are pre-

fixed to the verb root of the finite verb form, and are shown here in isolation, and applied to the perfect aspect forms of the verb 'see'

Here the object a-

greement markers are underlined. (16)

IS 2S 3S IP 2P 3P

s - r u m i n -- s u r u m i n nz-rukin — nzurukin (shi-a) rukin s a - r u m in — sarumin nza-rukin — nzarukin (sandi-a) rukin

'you see me 1 'I see you' 'I see him' 'you see us' 'I see you' 'I see them'

In the above paradigm, the overt plural forms of the object agreement markers are clearly morphological plurals of the singular forms, being derived through the affixation of the plural morpheme

-a-, which also occurs as a plural marker in

other paradigms of the language. The Kanuri version of the dichotomy between speech-act participants and third person forms is apparent in both of the person agreement marker paradigms. Languages like Kanuri led Moravcsik to make the following statement. "There is some indication that, of the three personsthe first and second constitute a natural class, as opposed to the third; of the two classes, the one including first and second person is more marked than the one including the third; and that of the first and second person, the second is more marked than the first." (Moravcsik 1978:353) .

4.

UNDERSTANDING CASE MARKING IN KANURI

Comrie refers to the single argument of the intransitive construction as its 'subject' (S), and to the subject and direct object NP of the transitive construction as its 'agent' (A) and 'patient' (P) , respectively. He points out that "since it is never necessary,

... to distinguish morphologically between S and A

or S and P, ... the case used for S can be used for one of the two arguments of the transitive construction." (Comrie

1981:119) A la Comrie, the Kanuri case

198

John P. Hutchison

marking system is clearly a discriminatory nominative-accusative system, which aligns subject NPs of intransitive sentences and agent NPs ol transitive sentences together under the nominative function, in opposition to direct object NPs of transitive sentences under the accusative function. This is clearly distinct from the ergative-absolutive system which aligns subject and patient with the same case marker, in opposition to agent which has its own CM. Moravcsik (1974), Givon (1976), Duranti and Ochs (1979), among others, have proposed various noun phrase hierarchies in order to explain a variety of discourse phenomena. Givon claims that his implicational hierarchy is governed by the universal hierarchy of 'topicality', i.e. "the likelihood of various NP arguments being the 'topic' of sentences, and more particularly the topic in topic-shift constructions." (Givon

1976:152) He points out that the linear hierarchy is

based on the following

binary hierarchic relations:

a b c d

HUMAN DEFINITE MORE INVOLVED PARTICIPANT 1ST PERSON 2ND PERSON

NON-HUMAN INDEFINITE LESS INVOLVED PARTICIPANT 3RD PERSON

He points out that c above would predict the following case hierarchy with respect to topicality:

AGENT> DATIVE> ACCUSATIVE. It is this kind of hierarchy which

perhaps inspired Comrie to propose his own in order to provide a functional explanation for case marking. Comrie proposes a semantic hierarchy for NP arguments which captures the most natural flow of information in the transitive construction. His hierarchy classifies NPs on a continuum. He describes the discourse tendency for the information flow from agent to patient to correlate with an information flow from more "to less animate and from more to less definite. In other words, the most natural kind of transitive construction is one where the A is high in animaay and definiteness, and the P is lower in animacy and definiteness; and any deviation form this pattern leads to a more marked construction. This has implications for a functional approach to case marking: the construction which is more marked in terms of the direction of information flow should also be more marked formally, i.e. we would expect languages to have some special device to indicate thai the A is low in

Major C o n s t i t u e n t

Case marking

animacy

in Kanuri

or definitenese

(Comrie

199

or that the P is high in animacy

or

definiteness."

1981:121).

H i s c o n t i n u u m has at the top 1st and 2nd p e r s o n p r o n o u n s ,

f o l l o w e d by o t h e r

NPs, a n i m a t e NPs, and finally i n a n i m a t e NPs. It is i m p o r t a n t to apply h i s archy in r e l a t i o n to the K a n u r i

4.1.

CASE MARKING

human

hier-

facts.

IN T H E T R A N S I T I V E

SENTENCE

K a n u r i c a s e m a r k i n g in the t r a n s i t i v e s e n t e n c e is b e s t u n d e r s t o o d as a f u n c t i o n of v a r i o u s c o m b i n a t i o n s of s y n t a c t i c relations,

etc.), s e m a n t i c

(e.g. m a j o r c o n s t i t u e n t o r d e r ,

grammatical

(e.g. s e m a n t i c c l a s s of m a j o r c o n s t i t u e n t NPs,

degree

of agency implied, etc.), and p r a g m a t i c factors, o n e or m o r e of w h i c h may b e in e f f e c t in a g i v e n u t t e r a n c e context. L u k a s and o t h e r s h a v e a l r e a d y p r o v i d e d us w i t h e x p l a n a t i o n s of the s y n t a c t i c f a c t o r s i n v o l v e d in Kanuri case m a r k i n g .

Comrie's

h i e r a r c h y is t h e r e f o r e e s p e c i a l l y v a l u a b l e in p r o v i d i n g an e x p l a n a t i o n for the s e m a n t i c f a c t o r s i n v o l v e d in K a n u r i case m a r k i n g . In the t r a n s i t i v e s e n t e n c e C o m r i e ' s h i e r a r c h y e x p l a i n s a v a r i e t y of case m a r k i n g p h e n o m e n a , and is c o r r o b o r a t e d by the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of the p r o n o m i n a l a n a p h o r a s y s t e m in the d i s c o u r s e c o n t e x t , as d i s c u s s e d in this section. w i t h his h i e r a r c h y ,

it is w o r t h n o t i n g as this p o i n t that w h e n a full h u m a n

NP and a full n o n - h u m a n o b j e c t NP o c c u r in SOV o r d e r in the t r a n s i t i v e t h e n n e i t h e r the subject n o r the o b j e c t are n o r m a l l y c a s e - m a r k e d , ing e x a m p l e s

In k e e p i n g subject

sentence,

as in the

follow-

(-0 indicates the a b s e n c e of case m a r k i n g ) .

(17)

Sandi

indiso-0

(18)

Sunuri-0

dado-0

lomannza-0

janalan

jezana.

kamgono.

'Both of animals

them l e d off.'

'The b u t c h e r c u t with a knife. '

C - M for s e m a n t i c reasons is t h e r e f o r e r e q u i r e d w h e n the s e m a n t i c c l a s s of

their

the

subject

and o b j e c t NP somehow v a r i e s from the u n m a r k e d n o r m r e p r e s e n t e d in the above amples. T h e r e f o r e ,

i n a n i m a t e s u b j e c t s or a g e n t s are

meat

ex-

'unlikely' in this c o n t e x t ,

as

200

John P. Hutchison

are human objects.

4.1.1.

THE FORM AND CASE MARKING OF THE DIRECT OBJECT

Direct objects that are unmarked according to Comrie's hierarchy of information flow (i.e. non-human, indefinite, etc.) are not normally case-marked in their first full NP occurrence in conversation or narration. In subsequent occurrences in the discourse context, such objects are normally dropped, being represented by zero anaphora. In fact a case-marked pronoun object is unacceptable in the response to the following question. (19) a. Bori b u m m a wa? b. * B o r i - a b u m m a w a ?

'Have you eaten food? 1

(20) a. Aa, b. * A a ,

'Yes, I have eaten.1

bukona. shi-a bukona.

On the other hand, a human object NP (which thus violates Comrie's natural information flow) will normally be case-marked in its first full NP occurrence when 4 in canonical SOV order.

It is then replaced by an obligatorily case-marked full

pronoun in its subsequent occurrences in the context, and infrequently reduced to zero anaphora as is the case with its inanimate/indefinite counterpart. (21)

Musa-a

(22)

Aa,

rumma

shi-a

wa?

ruksna.

'Have you seen Musa?' 'Yes, I have seen him.'

If in the discourse context the occurrence of a given third person human object NP (whether initial or subsequent) is in a pronominal, and therefore obligatorily case-marked form, then in subsequent occurrences the full pronoun may be deleted and zero anaphora used. This is especially true in response to a direct question where the 3S pronoun is involved. (23)

Shi-a

(24)

Aa,

nonsmma

(shi-a)

wa?

nongana.

'Do you know him/her?' 'Yes, I know

If the human object NP is a speech-act participant

(him/her).1

(first or second person), then

Major Constituent Case marking in Kanuri

201

it commonly occurs in a full pronoun case-marked form in its first

occurrence,

with or without a matching object agreement marker on the verb. In subsequent occurrences it is then anaphorically represented only by the agreement marker on the verb. (25)

Wu-a

(26)

Aa,

4.1.2.

kasuwulan

(su)rumma

wa?

'Did you see me in the market?'

nzu-rukona.

'Yes, I saw you.'

THE ROLE OF THE AGENT CASE MARKER

-YE.

The only role of the agent CM which is universal to all of the dialects of Kanuri is its role in marking the source or agent of direct and indirect quotations. In this role, the obligatorily case-marked source is relatively free with regard to word order, and may even leak to the right of the verb and all other NP arguments. (27) Koko-ye Jilwaro, "Lenginba. " wono. '"I am not going." said the frog to the rat.' (28)

Jilwaro,

"Lenginba."

wono

Koko-ye.

same

This CM is restricted to its quotational use in the following Kanuri dialects of Niger:

Bilma, Dagera, Fashi, Kuburi, Manga, Sugurti, and Tumari.

In the Yerwa or Maiduguri dialect of Nigeria, and the Mober dialect of Niger and Nigeria, this function is extended to the role of agent C"< in transitive contexts. In Yerwa Kanuri, the agent CM is used principally to denote transitive NP subjects as semantic agents. Assuming that this is its basic function, then one would not expect it to readily apply to 'subject', of NP of S in an intransitive

sentence.

This is indeed supported by the data from both conversational and narrative where the 'agent marker' - y e

discourse,

marks subject NPs of intransitive sentences only

in the rarest of discourse contexts, as described in 4.2, below. This CM may emphasize an agent NP and its degree of agency semantically.

In

the following example the agent CM is not required for syntactic reasons, and is

202

John P. Hutchison

only used to increase the degree of agency of the subject NP. (29)

Musa-ye

ssdo.

'Musa did it./It was done by Musa.'

When OSV order is involved and the Kanuri equivalent of the passive is implied (as observed in footnote 2), the medial agent may be case-marked, making the casemarking of the initial object NP optional, regardless of its semantic class, unless of course it is an independent pronoun which is obligatorily marked. In the case of the passive example observed in section 2, the noun 'hunger' represents an unlikely agent which violates Comrie's natural information flow, and it thus may be case-marked with

-ye

whether it occurs in SOV or OSV order. As an object

NP, the noun 'hunger' follows the hierarchy and in Kanuri cannot be case-marked. (30) a. b.

Wu *Wu

ksna-0 ksna-a

'I feel hunger.1

fangin. fangin.

In OSV examples like the following we observe word order factors interacting with semantic factors such as degree of agency, semantic NP class. The latter encompasses the unlikely subject. (31)

Shi

kamuds(-a)

(32)

Fannzods(-a)

nji-ye

(33)

Shi-a

bowotanzoda

mai-ye

nduso-ye

nozona.

wurzsna.

'She the woman is known by everybody.' 'His house was destroyed by the rain . 1

ajabba.

'His being called by the king is amazing.1

Agent marking of the subject may also occur within relative clauses with an antecedent that is object NP of the clause, and in which OSV order is therefore reproduced in the relative clause construction. (34)

awo

amso-ye

gulzaids

(35)

awo a b a n o m - y e

nyiro

. ..

sodanado

'what is said by the people/ what people say ...' ...

'what your father did to you ... '

Agent case marking may also be conditioned by what I will refer to as

'subject

Major Constituent Case marking in Kanuri

203

switching'. This may be related to the 'unlikely' subject factor and may also be used to explain the obligatory case marking of all sources of quotations as aeents. Case marking of a 'switched' subject may occur as a result of a difference of subject NP between the two clauses of the same construction (as in the following examples) or from the sudden switching of subjects across sentence boundaries in. narration. (36)

A m m a k o r i s h i - a a s u z o n y i d u w o B u l t u - y e 'But without the dog having but dog he-OB de did not notice hyena-AG noticed him, shi k o r i b e g u w a t k o n o . the hyena stepped on the foot dog of he stepped on dog's foot.'

(37)

Yim wajiya ngoaa sadindo bune day tomorrow wrestling they do DET night gangamaso-ye ganga zata badizai. drummers-AG drums beating they begin

(38)

Mboltai mboltai duwo kamnza fal-ye 'They wrestle and wrestle they wrestle until person their one-ACuntil when one kamanzo-a dunon kojiya falds-a them surpasses his partner partner his-OB strength in when he passes one in strength wopssgin. DET-AG and then throws him (that he overwhelms one) over.'

'At night on the eve of the day they are to wrestle, the drummers start drumming.'

The constant change of speakers in a dialogue of quotations can also be seen as an instance of subject switching, requiring agent case marking.

4.2.

CASE MARKING IN THE INTRANSITIVE SENTENCE

Of the two major constituent CMs, only the agent CM may occur in the intransitive sentence. Examples in which the subject NP of an intransitive sentence is marked by the agent CM are uncommon, and limited largely to narrative discourse. In isolated elicitation, it might be difficult to produce examples of this. Even in conversational discourse such examples are rare. The agent CM may mark the intransitive subject in the intransitive counterpart of the 'unlikely' transitive agent. In this case the subject is not unlikely or marked in the sense of Comrie's hierarchy, but rather is unlikely and case-marked apparently because it is new to the context, and represents a subject switch from

204

John P. Hutchison

either the subject of the previous sentence of the narrative, or the subject of the previous clause in the same complex construction. The only attested examples therefore involve marking of new or switched, full NP subject and not of full PRO subjects. Thus k a m

l a a - y e in the following example is a new subject and

therefore represents a switch from the pronominal subject of the previous sentence, and thus is case-marked even though the subject of an intransitive verb. (39)

. . . a m m a shi k a l a n z a d a n g e w u r o t u r i n b a . 1 . . . but she herself is Kam l a a - y e d a w u b u n e b e l a n f a n n z s n not often seen. When some suluwu dawu bolabedan fofomjiya person goes out of his l a b u d d a s h i a M e r a m K u r u w u a k s l a f o k s a i . house in the middle of the night and goes walking in town, he is sure to meet up with Meram Kuruwu. 1

The agent CM may further mark the intransitive subject in sentences where the semantics of the verb is such that a degree of transitive agency on the part of the subject is implied, even though an object NP marked by the object CM

- a may not

occur in the verb phrase. In the following example, the subject NP of an intransitive motion verb is case-marked when it occurs after a purpose phrase, here marked by the dative CM

- r o . X would thus argue that a degree of agency on the part of

the subject, in achieving her purpose, is implied here by the use of the CM (40)

A d e g a i d a yim fal y a n z a s o a w a n z a s o kururo Cellu-ye ciza lewono.

-ye .

'it was like that then one day Cellu got up and went to see her mother and father.'

In the following series of examples, both conditions (subject switching and also the use of certain semantically transitive verbs that do not allow a syntactic direct object) combine to result in agent case marking of certain of the intransitive subjects. (41)

... s o l u w u ba 1 a ya s k a r o d a r i y a d a s o , bultu-ye kariro nazaga satanyi duwo assadin ngawure karibe tamza kuzokkono. Daji kari gadero kasonza sargai. Daji bultu-ye shiro natagaro tiyeri. Adegai duwo bultu balaa dinro sukkoro.

'... they went out and though they circled the town 3 times, the hyena did not catch up to and grab the dog, but barely caught the dog's tail and

205

Major Constituent Case marking in Kanuri Daji suro b a l a a b e n w a w o n o . Daji a m s o - y e kozai duwo b u l t u suro b a l a a b e n y i l j i n fanza isa shi-a dongurua kaalan ceseno.

5.

suwa

pulled it out. Then the dog ran even faster. Then the hyena failed to catch him. Thus the hyena fell into an old well. He spent the night in the well. Then in the morning people passed by and hearing the hyena screaming in the hole, came and threw rocks and sticks at him.1

APPLYING COMRIE'S HIERARCHY TO NARRATIVE DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

The principles that have emerged from the present paper, have been applied to a text which appeared in Lukas's grammar (1937:171). The form and function of the major NP constituents have been examined throughout the text, and the three characters, Lion, Hyena, and Jackal, have been traced with regard to NP form throughout. Based in the 54 main and subordinate verbal clauses of the narrative, the following statistics represent a revealing corroboration of Comrie's information flow hierarchy . In the text there are 39 transitive sentences. With regard to the form and case marking of the object NPs of these sentences, 14 have inanimate full NP objects, none of which is marked by the object CM -a. Most of the 7 animate NP objects are full pronouns, 6 of which are marked by the object CM - a . The one full NP object which is not marked is the object of an imperative construction, where no overt subject NP is possible. Of the 39, 18 have zero anaphors referring back to indefinite inanimate NP objects. Only one of the animate object NPs may be optionally dropped. With regard to the form and case marking of the subject NPs, only 2 of the subjects of the 54 sentences of the text are inanimate, and subjects of intransitive verbs. They thus occur without CMs. One of the 2 is in a question, and the other in its answer. 7 subjects of intransitive sentences are full animate NPs with no agent CM. 34 subject NPs are carried only by person agreement markers.

206

John P. Hutchison

11 full NP subjects are marked with the agent CM. Of these, 2 are in relative clauses where the antecedent NP is the object of the relative clause, 1 is an intransitive subject with a dative object, 2 are the result of subject switching, and 6 are the sources of direct quotations.

6.

CONCLUSIONS

Corarie's hierarchy of information flow can be used to explain Kanuri's obligatory case marking of full pronoun objects, i.e. full pronoun objects represent a violation of normal information flow and are normally higher on the animacy/definiteness hierarchy than their subjects. Thus they are more marked as attested by the obligatory occurrence of the object CM. Full pronoun objects often occur as resumptive pronouns representing left-dislocated full object NP arguments. It is valid to compare case-marked full pronoun object NPs to the clitic pronouns of other languages, especially in the third person where there is no overt 3S/P object agreement marker. The case-marked pronoun may be shifting, as may its first and second person counterparts, from full pronoun to case-marked full pronoun to clitic to agreement marker. In most of their uses, these 'clitics' are relatively fixed in position, rarely if ever marked by focus markers, determiners etc., and other prosodic manifestations of pragmatic features such as pause, etc. The

'clitics'

or case-marked full pronouns require previous mention whereas agreement markers do not. Interesting observations with regard to diachronic syntax can be made in this area. Because the CMs

- y e and - a function discriminatorily in Kanuri, they are

most often manifested in transitive sentences involving OSV order, regardless of the form of the subject and object NP. The OSV order and the consequent case marking are clearly a function of semantic and pragmatic factors. The presence of both major NP arguments in OS and SO order is neither sufficient nor necessary cause for their case marking. Objects and subjects that

207

Major Constituent Case marking in Kanuri

violate Comrie's information flow principle are marked, when they occur alone. Full pronoun or full NP subjects can be marked with

- y e to emphasize degree of

agency, and when this occurs under OSV order, the passive interpretation is possible. Even the subjects of intransitive sentences can be case-marked by - y e

when -

in the body of a narrative - subject-switching occurs and/or when expression of agency by the subject of an intransitive verb is semantically expressed in relation to e.g. a purpose clause, or a dative/benefactive NP argument (all of which are marked by the indirect/dative case marker

-ro

in Kanuri). Agent case marking

of intransitive subjects is restricted to animate subjects, where the agency connotation is possible. The obligatory agent case marking of the agents or sources of direct quotations can be explained in terms of subject-switching in narrative discourse, and also as a function of constituent order since such quotea sources are free to leak to the right of the quotation and the main verb. In short, case marking of major NP arguments in Kanuri is a discriminatory system, not only in the grammatical sense, but also in the semantic and pragmatic senses. * Research leading to the development of this paper was made possible by a Boston University Seed Grant to carry out dialect research in Nigeria during the summer of 1982. I am also indebted to the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend Program, which enabled me to do follow-up research on the observations made here in relation to the diverse dialects of Kanuri spoken in the Republic of Niger. All of the examples presented in the paper are from the Yerwa or Maiduguri dialect of Nigeria. NOTES 1.

Lukas (1937:25) analyzed the associative postposition/CM as an "adjectival suffix" because when it is applied to a NP like m u s k o c i b b u hard hand, it yields m u s k o c i b b u a miserly, tight fisted, which can be used to modify a head noun as in k a m m u s k o c i b b u a a tight fisted person. A unified explanation of this and the many other roles of the associative is presented in Hutchison (1980).

2.

Intransitive passives in which a semantic objects occurs as the subject of the verb are derived from transitive verbs through the passive-reflexive derivation of the verb (Lukas 1937:93ff). Such derived verbs then have a valence of only one NP argument and thus no agent may be expressed. The OSV form of the transitive construction with agent-marked medial subject therefore rep-

208

John P. Hutchison resents the Kanuri equivalent o:C a passive construction with expressed agent.

3.

Whether or not an object agreement marker is interpreted as a direct or an indirect object is usually determined by whether or not a given transitive verb is used in its basic transitive form, or has been extended to its applied form with valence increased by one to allow for the indirect object NP. When applied to the applied form of the verb, object agreement markers are interpreted as indirect objects, and may or may not be matched by an overt independent pronoun marked by Lukas's "dative" case suffix - r o . Indirect objects are not within the scope of the present analysis.

4.

Whether or not such a full NP is case-marked in its first occurrence may depend on syntactic factors such as the person/number of the verb form, whether or not the subject NP is overt, and if overt whether it precedes or follows the object NP.

REFERENCES Comrie, Bernard. 1981. Language Universals and Linguistic Typology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Delancey, Scott. 1981. An Interpretation of Split Ergativity and Related Patterns. Language 57:626-57. Duranti, Alessandro and Elinor Ochs. 1979. Left-Dislocation in Italian Conversation. Syntax and Semantics: Discourse and Syntax Volume 12, ed. Talmy Givon, pp. 377-416. N.Y.: Academic Press. Givon, Talmy. 1976. Topic, Pronoun, and Grammatical Agreement. Subject and Topic, ed. Charles N. Li, pp. 149-88. N.Y.: Academic Press. Greenberg, Joseph. 1963. Some Universals of Language with Particular Reference to the Order of Meaningful Elements. In Universals of Language , ed. Joseph Greenberg, pp. 73-113. Cambridge: The MIT Press. Hutchison, John P. 1980. The Associative Postposition in Kanuri: A Case for Subordination. Studies in African Linguistics 11:321-51. Lukas, Johannes. 1937. A Study of the Kanuri Language. London: Oxford University Press. Moravcsik, Edith. 1974. Object-Verb Agreement. Working Papers in Language Universals 15:25-140. Stanford: Stanford University. . 1978. Agreement. Universals of Human Language Volume 4: Syntax, ed. Joseph Greenberg, pp. 331-74. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Chapter 16

The Role of Syllabic Structure in the Phonology of Moroccan Arabic John M. Keegan

1.

INTRODUCTION

T h i s p a p e r is c o n c e r n e d w i t h the i n t e r r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n two p r o c e s s e s in M o r o c c a n A r a b i c —

phonological

the short vowel i n s e r t i o n and d e l e t i o n

process

w h i c h o p e r a t e s s y s t e m a t i c a l l y t h r o u g h o u t the i n f l e c t i o n a l m o r p h o l o g y , and the g l i d e to long vowel p r o c e s s , w h i c h has the e f f e c t of c r e a t i n g the long v o w e l s a n d [u] from the g l i d e s / y / and /w/. T h e role w h i c h s y l l a b i c s t r u c t u r e p l a y s these p r o c e s s e s w i l l b e e x a m i n e d , and it w i l l b e d e m o n s t r a t e d that a w e a k

[T] in

version

of m e t r i c a l theory s u f f i c e s to m a k e the c o r r e c t p r e d i c t i o n s r e g a r d i n g their

re-

lationship.

2.

UNDERLYING

FORMS

B e f o r e p r o c e e d i n g to e x a m i n e these p r o c e s s e s , it it i m p o r t a n t to m a k e

explicit

c e r t a i n a s s u m p t i o n s about t h e u n d e r l y i n g forms for i n f l e c t i o n a l p r o c e s s e s . As is t h e case w i t h m o s t A r a b i c d i a l e c t s , the m a j o r i t y of m o r p h e m e s are c o m p o s e d of three " r a d i c a l s " , w h e r e a r a d i c a l c a n be a c o n s o n a n t ,

a glide, or a long v o w e l ,

b u t not a short vowel. H o w e v e r , there are r e a s o n s for w a n t i n g to a s s u m e that it is not

the m o r p h e m e w h i c h m a k e s u p the u n d e r l y i n g form for i n f l e c t i o n a l

processes.

F o r a g i v e n m o r p h e m e c a n b e f o r m e d into a v a r i e t y of d i f f e r e n t w o r d s ; and if the m o r p h e m e is c o m p o s e d of t h r e e c o n s o n a n t s , a short v o w e l is i n s e r t e d to

support

the syllable. T h e p o s i t i o n of the short vowel is p a r t i a l l y d e p e n d e n t o n the c a t e gory of the w o r d w h i c h is b e i n g

formed:

Verbs (1)

sine?

'to h e a r '

xser

'to f a i l / l o s e '

210

(2)

J o h n M. K e e g a n qde r

'to b e a b l e 1

ir e b

'to d r i n k '

iter

'to find'

Steh

'to d a n c e '

hr eb

'to flee'

1 ?eb

'to p l a y '

dunn

'to t h i n k 1

kubb

'to p o u r '

deqq

'to k n o c k '

iedd

'to c l o s e 1

Tedd

'to b i t e '

'to d e c e i v e '

Nouns (3)

(4) a.

byel

'mule'

riel

'leg'

ider

'root'

?qe 1

'mind'

q s em

'division 1

bSel

'onion'

zbel

'garbage'

¿her

'month'

smen

'type of b u t t e r '

nme r

'tiger'

tme r

'date'

kr em

'fig tree'

qme 1

'louse'

ime 1

'camel'

y lem

' ewe 1

Vsel

'honey'

fiel

'radish'

teqs

'climate'

rexs

'becoming

xobz

'bread'

nef s

'breath'

hebs

'prison'

wust

'middle'

left

'turnip'

he f d

'protection'

zef t

1

f e sx

'annulment'

best

'joke'

sebt

'Saturday'

weqt

1

qo th

'pole'

qebd

'seizing'

Tetf

'benevolence'

we Id

'boy'

lerd

'ground'

serf

'change 1

Serq

'east 1

berd

'cold'

qe lb

'heart'

¿ems

' sun'

teli

'snow 1

W i t h v e r b s , i n s e r t i o n of the s h o r t v o w e l third radicals

cheap'

asphalt'

time'

n o r m a l l y o c c u r s b e t w e e n the s e c o n d

and

(1), u n l e s s the s e c o n d and t h i r d c o n s o n a n t s c o n s t i t u t e a g e m i n a t e

c l u s t e r , in w h i c h c a s e i n s e r t i o n o c c u r s b e t w e e n the first and s e c o n d

consonants

(2). T h e p o s i t i o n of the s h o r t v o w e l in n o u n s , on the o t h e r hand, v a r i e s and d e -

The Role of Syllabic Structure

211

p e n d s o n t h e p h o n o l o g i c a l m a k e - u p of t h e r o o t . is a s o n o r a n t ,

the v o w e l

the final consonant consonant

If the f i n a l s e g m e n t of t h e

root

is i n s e r t e d b e t w e e n the s e c o n d a n d t h i r d r a d i c a l s

(3).

is an o b s t r u e n t ,

(4). C a s e s w h e r e e i t h e r

o r w h e r e t h e s e c o n d is a s o n o r a n t

insertion occurs between the first and

the s e c o n d o r t h i r d r a d i c a l

second

is a f r i c a t i v e

(4)c a r e q u i t e c o m m o n . C a s e s w h e r e b o t h

If

(4)a

the

2 second and third radicals are obstruent

stops

(4)b a r e q u i t e r a r e .

It's

inter-

e s t i n g to n o t e t h a t t h e v o i c e d p h a r i n g e a l / ? / b e h a v e s as a s o n o r a n t i n t h i s

re-

gard : (5)

qre?

'bottle'

¿me?

'wax'

drei

'forearm'

sbe?

'lion'

In t h e few e x a m p l e s

I h a v e of / h /

between the first and second

(e.g./ferh/

'joy'), h o w e v e r ,

(6)

consonants,

insertion

occurs

radicals:

fumm

'mouth'

xell

yedd

'hand'

beqq

'bug'

deww

'light'

?emm

'paternal

While the phonological

occurs

consonants.

If t h e s e c o n d a n d t h i r d r a d i c a l s are i d e n t i c a l b e t w e e n the first and second

insertion

'vinegar'

uncle'

e n v i r o n m e n t p l a y s an i m p o r t a n t r o l e in d e t e r m i n i n g

the po-

3 s i t i o n of t h e s h o r t v o w e l portant

in s u c h c a s e s

, it is n o t t h e o n l y f a c t o r . E q u a l l y

is t h e c a t e g o r y of the w o r d w h i c h is b e i n g f o r m e d . H e n c e ,

best considered a word formation process, more general vowel

a n d n e e d s to b e k e p t

im-

this process

distinct from

i n s e r t i o n a n d d e l e t i o n p r o c e s s w h i c h o c c u r s in t h e

is

the

inflectional

morphology .4

3.

SHORT VOWEL INSERTION AND

DELETION

There

are m a n y a l t e r n a t i o n s

in M o r o c c a n A r a b i c b e t w e e n a f o r m c o n t a i n i n g a

vowel

a n d o n e in w h i c h t h e s h o r t v o w e l d o e s n o t

occur:

short

212

John M.

Keegan

Imperfect (7)

neiber

' I find'

niebru

'we

find'

nedxul

' I< enter'

ndexlu

'we

enter1

neqri

'1 s t u d y '

nqerri

'I t e a c h '

2nd Person (8)

Sing. Object

ïaqeb

(9) a.

b.

c.

Thus,

Suffix.

'he p u n i s h e d '

/ +ek / Taqbek

'he p u n i s h e d

ìawen

'he h e l p e d '

Tawnek

'he h e l p e d

feyyeq

'he w o k e '

feyyqek

'he w o k e

Broken

Plurals:

Infix

/ + a + / after second

'mule/mules'5

¿mei/¿ma1

'camel/camels'

mhed/mhad

'cradle/cradles'

bent/bnat

'girl/girls'

kelb/k1ab

'dog/dogs1

fendeq/fnadeq

'hotel/hotels'

ser±em/sra±em

'window/windows'

blas/blaye s

'place/places'

fliïk/fläyek

1

bzim/bzayem

'belt

in (7) a s h o r t v o w e l

is a p p a r e n t l y

n a n t w h i c h is in t u r n i m m e d i a t e l y

you'

you'

boat/boats' buckle/buckles'

i n s e r t e d w h e n a p r e f i x c o n s i s t i n g of

is a t t a c h e d to a s t e m b e g i n n i n g w i t h two c o n s o n a n t s :

(9)b w e s e e t h a t t h e s h o r t v o w e l

you

radical

byel/byal

consonant and

Prefix

/C

+CC/.

In

(8)

is d e l e t e d w h e n it is f o l l o w e d b y a c o n s o -

followed by an inserted short vowel:

/C

In (9)a, it is a p p a r e n t l y d e l e t e d w h e n a l o n g v o w e l is i n s e r t e d a d j a c e n t to /

a

+ V / . A n d in (9)c, w e f i n d t h a t w h e n t h e b r o k e n p l u r a l

m e d i a t e l y before a long vowel, that vowel becomes

i n f i x is i n s e r t e d

C + V/. it: im-

/y/:

v

(10) y

/

+ long Further, when this occurs,

- long a short vowel

is i n s e r t e d a f t e r the

/y/.

T h e s e i n s e r t i o n a n d d e l e t i o n p r o c e s s e s c a n c o m b i n e to c r e a t e w h a t

appears

The Role of Syllabic to b e

Structure

metathesis:

3rd Person Feminine

/-at-/ found1

'he f o u n d '

iebrat

'she

dr eb

'he h i t '

derbat

'she h i t '

èten

'he b o t h e r e d '

Setnat

'she

"Nisba" Suffix: b.

- Perfect:

Singular

¿ber

(11) a.

Thus,

213

bothered'

/I/

tben

'straw'

tebni

'straw-colored'

Tsel

1

iesll

'honey-colored1

riel

'foot'

rei 1i

'foot

honey'

soldier'

s t e m s of the f o r m / C C V C / b e c o m e / C V C C / w h e n i m m e d i a t e l y

followed by a suffix

beginning with a vowel. These

insertion and deletion processes

exception throughout formalizations

as

automatic and without

the i n f l e c t i o n a l m o r p h o l o g y . T h e y c a n b e s t a t e d as

linear

follows:

6 Insertion:

Vowel (12)

C

Vowel

-

e /

+

e /

C C

V C

C

(e.g. (7)) (e.g. (9)c)

Deletion: C V

(13) V -long

P /

V -long

0 /

R u l e s of t h i s type, h o w e v e r , the first place,

(e.g. (8),

(9)b)

V' +long

are undesirable

(e.g. (9)a)

f r o m a t h e o r e t i c a l p o i n t of v i e w .

the e n v i r o n m e n t s of t h e s e r u l e s c a n n o t b e c o l l a p s e d ,

that a generalization by K i s s e b e r t h

are completely

(1970)

is b e i n g m i s s e d .

In a d d i t i o n ,

in h i s t r e a t m e n t of Y a w e l m a n i :

frequently

that languages contain processes which have a clear functional which are nonetheless

suggesting

there exists a problem it is

In

the

similarity,

f o r m a l l y d i s t i n c t . T h i s is c e r t a i n l y t h e c a s e w i t h

noted case but

(12)

and

214

John M.

(13):

Keegan

t h e y h a v e t h e o b v i o u s r o l e of r e g u l a r i z i n g t h e s y l l a b i c s t r u c t u r e ,

they have formally dissimilar

structural

quire extrinsic rule ordering: deletion

descriptions.

(13) m u s t p r e c e d e

d e s i r e d r e s u l t s to b e o b t a i n e d f o r c a s e s of m e t a t h e s i s It is p o s s i b l e

to a c c o u n t

Finally,

these rules

insertion

in m e t r i c a l

(12) f o r

theory

(Liberman and

s e n t e d as (14)

into syllables. The M o r o c c a n A r a b i c Syllable T e m p l a t e can be follows:

Prince

present

it n e e d o n l y b e a s s u m e d t h a t s t r i n g s of s e g m e n t s a r e o r g a n i z e d

archically

the

straightforward

1977, Selkirk 1980, Kiparsky 1979, and Cairns and Feinstein 1982). For purposes,

re-

(11).

for s u c h c a s e s in a m o r e e l e g a n t a n d

manner using certain mechanisms developed

but

hierrepre-

7

b.

a. Onset

Rhyme

V

(C)

-long

( 1 4 ) a w i l l p e r m i t s y l l a b l e s of t h e t y p e s e x e m p l i f i e d mit those exemplified

in

(15) a.

1

men

b. 1

we Id

'boy/son

¿ber

1

¿ber t

'I f o u n d '

found'

T h e e x a m p l e s in (15) r e p r e s e n t Kisseberth

(14)b w i l l

saw 1

èaf

'he

bläd

1

mia

'he w e n t '

ma

'not'

country/town1

all syllable types p e r m i t t e d

( 1 9 7 0 ) , as a w a y of f o r m a l i z i n g

in the

the f u n c t i o n a l

language. 8

similarity

s u c h r u l e s , s u g g e s t e d t h a t the n o t i o n of " d e r i v a t i o n a l c o n s t r a i n t " b e r a t e d i n t o the t h e o r y of p h o n o l o g y , al r u l e s . M c C a r t h y

per-

(15)b:

from '

he

in (15)a, a n d

(1979:13)

incorpo-

s e r v i n g as an o u t p u t c o n s t r a i n t o n

improved on this notion by proposing

of

that,

phonologicinstead

The Role of Syllabic Structure

215

of establishing a separate formal entity for this purpose, the syllabic

structure

itself constitute this constraint. This might be formalized as follows: (16)

Structureless

Constituent

Constraint

(SSC)

Any form which contains a segment which labic structure is ungrammatical.

cannot

be assigned

to a

syl-

This is a very weak claim, one that merely reflects the fact that languages have a certain specifiable syllabic structure. Using it, vowel insertion and deletion rules can be simplified: g free unordered (17) a.

in fact they can be limited to the following context

rules:

V -long

Rules (17) permit the free insertion and deletion of short vowels anywhere in the inflectional derivation. Clearly, rules of this type will overgenerate.

In fact,

the derivations will form a set of possibilities which might be viewed as a date Set along the lines of

Cairns and Feinstein

Candi-

(1982). The following exempli-

fies: (18)

Gloss

U.R.

'we found 1

¿ber

+

na

(Rules 17)

Candidate Set

•+

a) i b r n a

*

ibrena

*

b)ieberna

*

¿eberena c)eibrna

* *

eiberna

*

d)ieebrna

*

ieeebrna

*

¿eeeebrna

*

etc.

Candidates

e) i e b r n a

*

iberna

G

(18)a will be ruled out by the Structureless Constituent Constraint

(17)

216

John M. Keegan

b e c a u s e they c o n t a i n i m p e r m i s s i b l e c o n s o n a n t c l u s t e r s , w h i c h c a n n o t b e to any o n s e t

assigned

(14). C a s e s s u c h as (18)b w i l l b e r u l e d out b e c a u s e they c o n t a i n a

s h o r t v o w e l in an o p e n s y l l a b l e ,

and h e n c e c a n n o t be a s s i g n e d to a s y l l a b i c

s t r u c t u r e in a c c o r d a n c e w i t h (14). C a s e s s u c h as (18)c w i l l be e l i m i n a t e d c a u s e they c o n t a i n an initial s h o r t v o w e l , n o t p e r m i t t e d in ( 1 4 ) . T h e

be-

possi-

b i l i t i e s i l l u s t r a t e d in (18)d are all r u l e d out b e c a u s e t h e r e is no w a y for a s e q u e n c e of s h o r t v o w e l s to b e a s s i g n e d to a s y l l a b i c s t r u c t u r e . T h i s l e a v e s o n l y the c a n d i d a t e s

(13)e.

Here, however,

it is not d e s i r a b l e that g e n e r a l s y l l a b i c p r i n c i p l e s

b e t w e e n the c a n d i d a t e s ,

since b o t h are s y l l a b i c a l l y w e l l - f o r m e d .

Instead,

the p r i n c i p l e of the cycle w h i c h c h o o s e s among a n u m b e r of w e l l - f o r m e d

choose it is

candidates:

The ay ale:

(19)

Choose the derivation which preserves the structure of the cycle unless this results in an ungrammatioal form. In (18)e,

/ ¿ b e r n a / p r e s e r v e s the s t r u c t u r e of the p r e c e d i n g c y c l e

the U . R . ) , w h i l e

preceding

(in this

/ ¿ e b r n a / does not:

U.R.

[[¿ber J +

na]

[[¿ber ] +

[iberna ] G

na]

[¿ebrna ] *

T h e i n t e r a c t i o n b e t w e e n the c y c l e and the S S C (15) c a n b e s e e n in the examples:

(20) a.

b.

c.

d.

Gloss

U.R.

'I found'

[[¿ber]

'I find'

case

[n

+

(Rules 17) +

t]

[¿ber ]]

'she found' [ [ ¿ b e r ] +

'daughters' [ b e n t ]

+

[+a+] after

at

Candidate a)

¿ebret

b)

ibert

G

*

*

a)

niebr

b)

neiber

G

a)

¿berat

*

b)

¿ebrat

G

Infix

a)

benat

2nd

b)

bnat

radical

Set

* G

following

The Role of Syllabic Structure

217

Thus, in (20)a, and (2Q)b, the cycle ensures the choice of (b) in each case, since it is this form which preserves the structure of the preceding cycle. But in (20)c and (20)d, the cycle is overruled by the SSC, since if the derivation which preserves the structure of the preceding cycle is chosen, the form cannot be assigned to a syllabic structure. Hence, (b) is the only possible derivation. There remains, however, one problem that suggests that these general principles require an additional constraint. This can be seen in contrasts such as /¿ber/

'he found' vs. / ¿ e b r e k / 'he found you 1 . Note that if the general deletion

rule is permitted to apply to the outermost morpheme / e k / 'you(s.)', the correct derivation would be / ¿ b e r k * / , since it best preserves the structure of the preceding cycle. Hence, it is necessary to add the following constraint: 1 1 (21)

4.

Outermost

Morpheme

Automatic morpheme.

vowel deletion

Constraint: does not affect

the vowels of the

outermost

GLIDE TO LONG VOWEL PROCESS

The glides /y/ and /w/ frequently show an alternation with /i/ and /u/ respectively in a variety of environments: (22) a.

b.

(23)

uqef t

'I stood up'

w e q f a t - u q f at

'she stood up'

uzen

'he weighed'

we z n a t - u z n a t

'she weighed'

ulad

'sons'

we Id

' son'

ibes

'he dried'

yebsat~ibsat

'she dried'

idida

'little hand'

y edd

'hand'

iyam

'days'

yum

'day'

nzebr-u

'we find'

ne ¿r i - w

'we buy (imp. pi.)'

iebr-u

'they found'

£ra-w

' they found'

xt-i

'my sister'

xa-y

'my brother'

Measure (24) a.

II Trans.

Verb

Associated

Word

dewwer

'to turn'

dur

'to turn (intr.)'

sewweq

'to market'

suq

'market'

sewwer

'to photograph 1

sura

'photograph'

218

John M. Keegan b

(25) a

b

feyyeq

'to wake (tr.)'

fiq

'to awake (intr.)'

xeyyet

'to sew'

xlt

'thread'

keyyef

'to smoke'

klf

'marijuana1

Sing.

Plur.

Gloss

luh

lwah

'board'

lun

lwan

'color'

suq

swaq

'market'

Sing.

Plur.

Gloss

dlb

dyuba

'wolf'

bit

byut

' room1

¿lb

t yub

'pocket'

In all these cases, it is clear that the glides only occur adjacent to a vowel, while the long vowel alternants are found only when no adjacent vowels are present While this is, I believe, the correct generalization , it begs the question in that, in the case of the short vowels, it has already been demonstrated that they are not present at the underlying level. Contrasts such as /ulad/

'sons' makes this clear:

in the case of

/weld/

'son' vs.

/weld/, the short vowel is

inserted and the glide remains a glide, while in the case of

/ulad/, the short

vowel is not inserted, and the glide becomes a long vowel. Instead,

the en-

vironment for this change can be stated as follows: (26)

-syllabic •rconsonantal

[+syllabic]// ^ 1

C V X

(e.g. (22))

X C

C

(e.g. (24), (25))J

X C

#

(e.g. (23))

Rule (26) can be abbreviated further, but I will not do so here. It can be reformulated as a syllabic rule as follows:

The Role of Syllabic Structure

219

a (Onset)

(Onset)

Rhyme

Nuc . 0

Coda -con ahigh ßback

Rhyme Nuc.

X

+syll ahigh ßback

Coda X

There are, however, two problems which still require explanation. place, given the fact that there is no vowel present of rule

In the first

in the structural

description

(27), there appears to be no way of knowing whether a given glide

should

be assigned to the onset position or to the coda position. And secondly, rule ignores the fact that the short vowel insertion rule

(27)

(17)b can always apply in

such cases. The first of these problems can be easily resolved:

the assignment of syl-

labic structure to strings of segments is, in the case of Moroccan Arabic,

com-

pletely predictable. One algorithm which will have the desired effect is the following :

(28)

Structure Assignment: Assign syllabic structure from right to left maximally.

The term "maximally" here will be interpreted of the Phrase Structure rules needed template

to derive the Ptoroccan Arabic

(14), unless an ungrammatical

will result. In addition,

as meaning the maximal

(i.e. syllabically

*

structure

it is also necessary to incorporate two phonotactic

Onset

[-cons]

syllable

ill-formed)

constraints on the structure of onsets and codas into the syllabic (29)

expansion

*

template:

Coda

[+consJ

These restrictions state that the first member of a bi-consonantal onset be a glide, and that the second member of a bi-consonantal It is possible

(Cairns and Feinstein

cannot

coda cannot be a glide.

1982) that the constraints contained

in

220

J o h n M.

(29)

Keegan

are universal,

syllabic

structure,

syllable

template

in w h i c h

case

and need not be

vowel (30)

left-most process

position

can

incorporated

a universal

separately

into

theory

the

of

Moroccan

of

Assignment

the coda

Rule

(28),

in the three

the glide will

cases where

be

assigned

the glide

to

long

occur:

C

a.

be part of

(14).

O n the b a s i s of S t r u c t u r e to t h e

they will

(e.g.

(24),

b.

(25))

C

a

C V

(e.g.

(22))

0

Ons< oda

Thus,

in

leaving to

(30)a, /l/

rule.

In

if t h e / t / w e r e

phonotactic

two

in the onset,

long vowel

since

the first

constraint

segments

and setting

(30)b, also

only

And

in

position,

the / w / cannot

precede

violation

of p h o n o t a c t i c

constraint

sition of

the

once

again.

preceding syllable,

up

the

the /y/

included,

(29)b.

on the right

structural

can be

it w o u l d (30)c,

after

(29)a. Hence,

assigned

since

is a s s i g n e d

a p p l i c a t i o n of

glide

position,

in v i o l a t i o n

is a s s i g n e d

position,

coda,

for the

to the C o d a

the glide

the /q/

it

to the

description

assigned

leave

it i n t h e o n s e t

setting up

are

of

to the

onset

it w o u l d b e

in

to

po-

the coda

the vocalization

rule

T h e R o l e of S y l l a b i c S t r u c t u r e

221

The second problem noted earlier

is t h a t t h e r e s e e m s to b e no w a y of

w h e t h e r t h e v o c a l i z a t i o n p r o c e s s or t h e s h o r t v o w e l precedence.

In f a c t ,

predicting

insertion process will

take

t h e r e is a f a i r a m o u n t of d i a l e c t v a r i a t i o n c o n c e r n i n g

this

question: C

C

Standard (31) a.

b.

huma

Gloss

hewma

'neighborhood'

sut

sewt

'voice'

duw

deww

'light'

xil

xeyl

'horse'

yi s

yeys

'mud'

hit

heyt

'since'

tub

tewb

'cloth'

mu£a

mew£a

'wave'

¿eyi

' army'

'she d r i e d '

4i 4 c.

Some Northern Dialects

—

fe C C

ibsat

yebsat

ibza

yebsa

'pepper'

uqfat

weqfat

'she

In n o r t h e r n d i a l e c t s ,

it is c o m m o n to h a v e s h o r t v o w e l

stopped'

insertion take

in t h e e n v i r o n m e n t of p h a r y n g e a l , u v u l a r a n d e m p a h t i c c o n s o n a n t s however,

this also can occur w h e n no such consonant

further,

in s o m e c a s e s w h e r e t h e y are p r e s e n t ,

process which takes precedence: /sxun/

'hot', etc.

/yir/

is p r e s e n t

(as in [ 3 l ] a ) ;

(e.g. [ 3 l j b ) ,

it is the g l i d e to l o n g

'only', / x i z z u /

'carrots',

In w o r d i n i t i a l p o s i t i o n w h e n f o l l o w e d b y t w o

t h e r e a g a i n o c c u r s a f a i r a m o u n t of d i a l e c t a l

precedence

and

vowel

/fuq/

'up',

consonants,

v a r i a t i o n r e g a r d i n g w h i c h of

these

12 processes

takes precedence.

In g e n e r a l ,

the c h o i c e s e e m s to b e an

idiosyncratic

fact which can be b a s e d on either the particular dialect or the particular cal item. H e n c e ,

it d o e s n o t s e e m to b e d e s i r a b l e

a n y p r e d i c t i o n s h e r e at

all.

that general principles

leximake

222

John M. Keegan

There are two places, however, where no dialectal variation occurs: (32) a.

^

CV

uqeft

G

ibes b.

C

^

G

(weqeft*)

'I stopped'

(yebes*)

'he dried 'to buy'

èri

G

( irey* )

hbu

G

(hbew*)

(intr.)'

'to crawl'

In cases such as (32)a, the fact that the glide to long vowel process takes precedence is predicted by the framework developed in section 2. Thus:

(33)

Gloss

U.R.

Rules 18 & 27

'I stopped'

[[wqef] + t]

-»-

Candidate Set weqeft

* (SCC)

weqfet

* (Cycle)

wqeft uqeft

* (29) G

Thus, the derivation in which the glide to long vowel process applies is the only possible grammatical form that preserves the structure of the preceding cycle. In the case of (32)b,

on the other hand, there is no reason for the vocalization

process to take precedence. A more complete theory would also account for this fact, which must be viewed as an idiosyncracy of Moroccan Arabic within the 13 framework outlined here. One important advantage of the syllabic formulation of the glide to long vowel process (27) over the linear version (26) is that in cases where two glides occur in succession, the linear rule will often be able to apply ambipuously, whereas the syllabic formulation will not: Linear Rule (34) a.

C

C or C

luy* or lwi

/ 1 w y / 'to turn (intr.)1

Syllabic Rule

The Role of Syllabic

Linear (34) b.

C

Structure

223

Rule C or

y u i n G or

C

iwem*

Onset y

/ywm/ Thus,

in (34)

should apply.

'day'

Rhyme Nuc.

Coda

iu

Im

t h e r e is n o p r i n c i p l e d w a y of k n o w i n g w h i c h p a r t of t h e l i n e a r B u t in the s y l l a b i c f o r m u l a t i o n ,

the correct glide will be

rule

assigned

14 to the f i r s t p o s i t i o n o f t h e c o d a in all Certain morphologically counterexamples in

/neiriw/

as

/lwi/

cases.

c o m p l e x c a s e s m i g h t at f i r s t s e e m to

constitute

to the s y l l a b i c f o r m u l a t i o n of t h e v o c a l i z a t i o n p r o c e s s .

'we b u y ' ,

Thus,

t h e r e s u l t s a r e the e x a c t o p p o s i t e as t h o s e in c a s e s

'to t u r n ' . H e r e , h o w e v e r , w e c a n a p p e a l a g a i n to t h e p r i n c i p l e of

such the

cycle: (35)

While

[ n

+

[ [ àry ] +

èri

CYCLE

II

èriw

CYCLE

III

neèriw

t h i s w i l l h a v e t h e d e s i r e d e f f e c t w i t h all p r o d u c t i v e

flectional morphology, ceptions,

as e x e m p l i f i e d b y the

din

dyun

'religion'

bit

byut

'room'

bir

byur

'well'

UR

[d yn .

if the r u l e s w e r e a p p l y i n g c y c l i c a l l y t h e r e s u l t s

+ infix

[ + w + ] after second

CYCLE I

din

CYCLE

diwen*

II

ex-

Gloss

different:

(37)

in-

following:

Plur.

N o t e t h a t in t h e s e c a s e s , be

f o r m s of t h e

t h e r e s t i l l r e m a i n a s u b s t a n t i a l n u m b e r of a p p a r e n t

Sing. (36)

w] ]

CYCLE I

radical:

would

224

John M. Keegan

There are a number of possible explanations for such cases. One might note that even when the middle radical is long /a/, it becomes a glide when a glide or vowel is infixed after it: Sing. (38)

Plur. ur

dar

4y

ras

ryus

Gloss 'house' 'head'

In might be claimed, then, that a special morphologically conditioned rule is applying in such cases. A second possible explanation would be to note the fact that all such cases involve unproductive classes of affixes. Hence, it might be claimed that such derivational processes do not apply cyclically. Under such a view, the cycle might be considered another criterion for determining whether a given process is derivational or inflectional. In conclusion, then, it appears that the metrical framework briefly developed here constitutes a promising approach for the description of these phonological processes in Moroccan Arabic, as well as for similar processes in other languages. * This paper is essentially that presented at the African Linguistics Conference at Madison, Wisconsin, in April, 1983. The forms used are those collected in Chaouen, Morocco, during 1981-1982, collaborated and supplemented by Harrell (1962) and (1966). Many of the ideas in this paper evolved from discussion with C.E. Cairns. I am also grateful to D.T. Langendoen and Ellen Broselow for reading previous versions of this paper and for many useful comments, and to R.M.H. Hall for his help and encouragement. I also wish to thank Fouad Shokri, Lahsen Haddaa, Mohommad Radi, and all my friends in Dar lWad for their help and hospitality. NOTES 1.

The quality of the short vowel /e/ varies widely, appearing as [i] in nonemphatic, non-pharyngeal, non-uvular environments, as [a] when in the environment of pharyngeal consonants, as a [a ] in the environment of pharyngeal consonants, etc. Inserted short vowel /u/, however, cannot be predicted merely on the basis of its phonological environment, and hence must be considered an idiosyncratic fact of the lexical item involved. (See also footnote

The Role of Syllabic

225

Structure

6.) 2.

P a r t of t h i s s c a r c i t y of two a d j a c e n t o b s t r u e n t s c a n b e e x p l a i n e d h y r e s t r i c t i o n s o n m o r p h e m e s t r u c t u r e in M o r o c c a n . T h u s , t h e r e is a p r o h i b i t i o n a g a i n s t two a d j a c e n t c o n s o n a n t s w h i c h h a v e t h e s a m e p l a c e of a r t i c u l a t i o n f e a t u r e s a n d t h e s a m e f e a t u r e s f o r t h e f e a t u r e [ + c o n t i n u o u s ], b u t w h i c h h a v e t h e o p p o s i t e s p e c i f i c a t i o n for the f e a t u r e T + v o i c e d ] (e.g. t - d , k - g , etc.) A s a l w a y s , t h e r e a r e a f e w e x c e p t i o n s to t h e s e g e n e r a l i z a t i o n s ' b r o a d - n o s e d 1 , / d h e b / 'gold', / n z e q / ' s h u t t l e i n w e a v i n g ' .

:

/frei/

3.

It s h o u l d b e n o t e d t h a t t h i s n o u n s t e m f o r m a t i o n p r o c e s s is o n e of a l a r g e n u m b e r of s u c h p r o c e s s e s , w h i c h a p p l y to a n u n p r e d i c t a b l e c l a s s of r o o t s . It is a r e v e a l i n g o n e , h o w e v e r , i n t h a t it m a k e s c l e a r t h e n e c e s s i t y f o r t h e distinction between verb stems and noun stems.

4.

It s h o u l d b e a d d e d in t h i s r e g a r d t h a t o n l y b y a s s u m i n g t h a t t h e u n d e r l y i n g f o r m s for i n f l e c t i o n a l p r o c e s s e s c o n t a i n s h o r t v o w e l s in s u c h c a s e s c a n any p r e d i c t i o n s be m a d e concerning the inflectional derivations.

5.

F o r c o n s i s t e n c y , I h a v e u s e d the f o r m s f r o m H a r r e l l (1962) h e r e . Morocco, the plural are /bvula/, / i n u l a / and /mhuda/.

6.

F o l l o w i n g H a r r e l l , I w i l l u s e t h e s y m b o l / e / to r e p r e s e n t all i n s e r t e d s h o r t v o w e l s , a l t h o u g h t h i s d o e s n o t p e r m i t u s to d i s t i n g u i s h it f r o m / e / i n s e r t e d in w o r d f o r m a t i o n p r o c e s s e s (see f o o t n o t e 3). T h e q u a l i t y of t h i s i n f l e c t i o n a l l y i n s e r t e d / e / d i f f e r s in n o n - p h a r y n g e a l , n o n - u v u l a r , n o n - e m p h a t i c e n v i r o n m e n t s in t h a t it a p p e a r s as a s c h w a i n s t e a d of as / I / .

7.

I am f o l l o w i n g t h e C a i r n s a n d F e i n s t e i n (1982) s y l l a b i c f r a m e w o r k , a c c e p t i n g t h e i r a r g u m e n t s t h a t l a b e l e d n o d e s d o m i n a t i n g t h e i n t e r n a l c o n s t i t u e n t s of s y l l a b l e s a r e n e c e s s a r y f o r t h e a d e q u a t e t r e a t m e n t of m a r k e d n e s s as w e l l as for the f o r m a l i z a t i o n of a n u m b e r of p h o n o l o g i c a l p r o c e s s e s .

8.

N o t e t h a t t h e s y l l a b l e s / V / a n d / V C / a l s o o c c u r at t h e p h o n o l o g i c a l l e v e l , b u t at t h e p h o n e t i c l e v e l t h e y a r e p r e c e d e d b y a g l o t t a l s t o p . E l l e n B r o s e low (personal communication) has suggested that such O n s e t - l e s s syllables n o t b e p e r m i t t e d at the u n d e r l y i n g l e v e l , a n d t h a t a g l o t t a l s t o p i n s e r t i o n r u l e a p p l y w h e n e v e r t h e O n s e t is e m p t y .

9.

T h e i d e a of u s i n g r u l e s of t h i s t y p e t o g e t h e r w i t h " c a n d i d a t e s e t s " w a s g e s t e d to m e b y C . E . C a i r n s as a w a y of d e a l i n g w i t h s i m i l a r p h e n o m e n a Yawelmani.

10.

O n e m i g h t o b j e c t to r u l i n g o u t all s y l l a b l e i n i t i a l s h o r t v o w e l s , s i n c e t h e y do a p p e a r in a f e w c a s e s , m o s t n o t a b l y in t h e d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e / a l - / . I b e l i e v e t h a t in the n o r t h e r n d i a l e c t s , t h e g e n u i n e l y M o r o c c a n f o r m f o r t h i s m o r p h e m e is ^ 1 - / , and that ' a l - / is a c l a s s i c i c i z e d a l t e r n a n t . In t h e s o u t h e r n d i a l e c t s , a s h o r t v o w e l is i n s e r t e d p r i o r to a w o r d i n i t i a l g e m i n a t e c l u s t e r w h e n it is i m m e d i a t e l y f o l l o w e d b y a c o n s o n a n t : Northern dibb ddyuba lkura lkwari

Southern

Gloss

ddlb eddyuba lkura lekwari

'the w o l f ' 'the w o l v e s ' 'the b a l l ' 'the b a l l s '

In n o r t h e r n d i a l e c t s ,

then,

/ ! - / behaves exactly

In

Northern

as t h e f i r s t m e m b e r of

sugin

a

226

John M. Keegan geminate cluster. In southern dialects, a short vowel is inserted to support the syllable when it precedes a stem beginning with 2 consonants.

11.

I believe a similar analysis can be used in the description of Maltese Arabic, but again it necessary to assume that the general vowel deletion rule docs not effect the short vowels of the outermost morpheme. (See Keegan (1983) for discussion).

12.

It is worth noting in this regard that dialectal variation occurs most frequently in words which are morphologically complex (e.g. 31b), but seldom in cases where the word is morphologically simple. Thus, I believe that there is no dialect where / w e l d / 'son' appears as /uld/. If this is correct, an explanation for this fact is needed.

13.

It is possible that a broader study looking at how such vocalization processes work in different languages will provide some theoretical explanation of this fact in terms of markedness.

14.

it is worth noting here that while forms of the shape / C w y l / are found in commonly in Moroccan Arabic, forms of the shape / C y w # / are not found at all in Harrell (1966). Our rules, of course, would predict / C y u 4 / for such cases, but clearly some redundancy rule is operating here preventing morphemes of this shape from occurring. In general,/morpheme final /w/ is rather uncommon: some examples / h b u / 'to crawl 1 , / h l u / 'sweet', / d l u / 'leather bucket for drawing water'. Stem final /w/ in verb stems behaves irregularly when suffixes are added to it: thus / h b u / 'kneel (imp. sing.)', but / h b i / 'kneel (imp. pi.)'.

REFERENCES Cairns, Charles and Mark Feinstein. 1982. Markedness and the Theory of Syllable Structure. Linguistic Inquiry 13:193-225. Chomsky, Noam and Morris Halle. 1968. The Sound Pattern of English. New York: Harper and Row. Harrell, Richard S. 1962. A Short Reference Grammar of Moroccan Arabic. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. . (ed.). 1966. A Dictionary of Moroccan Arabic: Arabic-English (Compiled by Thomas Fox and Mohammed Abdu-Talib). Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. Kiparsky, Paul. 1979. Metrical Structure is Cyclic. Linguistic Inquiry 10:421-441. Kisseberth, Charles. 1970. On the Functional Unity of Phonological Rules. Linguistic Inquiry 1:291-306. Liberman, Mark and Alan Prince. 1977. On Stress and Linguistic Rhythm. Linguistic Inquiry 8:249-336. McCarthy, John. 1979. Formal Problems in Semitic Phonology and Morphology. (Ph.D. diss., MIT) reproduced by Indiana University Linguistics Club, 1982. Selkirk, Elisabeth. 1980. The Role of Prosodic Categories in English Word Stress. Linguistic Inquiry 11:563-605.

Chapter 17

Pronominalization and the Appearance of Full Noun Referents in Godie Discourse Lynell Marchese

1.

INTRODUCTION

In a generative context, the study of pronominalization has been limited to simple or complex sentences, dealing with such issues as backwards pronominalization

and

coreference. While this is a fruitful area of research, a whole new set of questions can be asked about pronominalization when it is viewed

from a discourse

perspective.

This paper on Godi6, a Kru language spoken in Ivory Coast, looks at factors

governing

pronominalization and its inverse, the appearance of full noun referents within

discourse

2.

PRONOMINAL FORMS

As in many other African languages in the Niger-Congo

family, Godie has several

third person pronouns based on a noun class system. The first distinction can be made in the third person category is between human and non-human. referents take the singular human pronoun o and the plural ents are divided

into three classes,

which Human

w a . Non-human

refer-

taking either a, £, or u pronouns. There are

indications that these classes used to be semantically determined. Most large animals such as panthers, elephants,

and whales take the E pronoun, while most

and liquid-like masses take the u pronoun. However, presently, phonological

it is primarily

criteria which determine the pronoun in the third person

(Marchese 1975, 1982a, 1982b). Non-human nouns ending in front vowels

singular regularly

take e; those ending in central vowels take a, and those ending in back take u. Plural forms of all non-human nouns take the pronoun referent There are some exceptions to this system. K o k w e

liquids

'chicken',

vowels

i.

kwalie

'spider',

228 and

Lynell g«yi

Marchese

'dog' a r e t y p i c a l l y r e f e r r e d to b y h u m a n r e f e r e n t s

Some characters 'woodpecker',

a r e r e f e r r e d to b y a g e n e r a l p r o n o u n . F o r e x a m p l e

which normally

s h o u l d t a k e an u p r o n o u n ,

a, o b v i o u s l y c o m i n g f r o m the w o r d

nimlo

C e r t a i n s p i r i t u a l e n t i t i e s s u c h as G o d varying pronominal o r as s p i r i t

cligogo

is d e s i g n a t e d b y t h e

(a f r e q u e n t c h a r a c t e r

pronoun

vowel.

in f o l k t a l e s )

have

t h e y a r e v i e w e d as h u m a n

(o)

(u). slippery system,

w h e n m a k i n g r e f e r e n c e to a p a r t i c i p a n t . a n i m a l s a r e l i k e l y to i n t e r a c t , In a f o l k t a l e

brief

in f o l k t a l e s .

'bird' w h i c h e n d s in a c e n t r a l

reference, depending on whether

Despite this somewhat

pronominal

o/wa

the speaker can b e fairly

Especially

forms:

o, r e f e r r i n g

in f o l k t a l e s w h e r e

r e f e r e n c e is u s u a l l y n o t d i f f i c u l t

involving God and Woodpecker,

for example,

to G o d a n d a, r e f e r r i n g

i n t r o d u c t i o n of c h a r a c t e r s ,

explicit

t h e r e is a l e n g t h y

several

to

establish.

t h e r e are t w o m a i n

to W o o d p e c k e r .

After

interchange between

a

these

t w o w h e r e W o o d p e c k e r e x p r e s s e s h i s d e s i r e to m a r r y G o d ' s d a u g h t e r . T h r o u g h o u t dialogue,

neither character

by their

(1)

is n a m e d b y a f u l l n o u n r e f e r e n t . B o t h a r e

represented

pronouns:

3

"Ba? "

1

'Father?' a

1A :

3 1a:

1 a : '' 'He s a i d

" . .

He said " . .

" . .

'He s a i d " . .

3 1A :

a

1a :

"

a

1a :

"

o 1A :

a

1a :

"

o 1A :

a

1a :

a

1a :

a

1a :

3 1A : "

3 lA : 3 lA :

In s u c h a s y s t e m , o n e is s t r u c k b y t h e f a c t t h a t o n c e a c h a r a c t e r is t h e r e w o u l d b e n o n e e d to r e - e s t a b l i s h curiously p e a r is

the

enough,

in G o d i 6 t e x t s ,

substantial

introduced,

identity throughout the story. And

yet,

the n u m b e r of f u l l n o u n r e f e r e n t s w h i c h do

ap-

Pronominalization 3.

229

USE OF FULL NOUN REFERENTS

In many languages, full nouns or noun phrases are re-introduced in a discourse when there is any potential ambiguity. Too much time may have lapsed since the character was overtly identified or there may be competing noun phrases in the immediate context which threaten proper identification of the referent (Givôn 1983; Jaggar 1983). This certainly is a factor in the appearance of full noun forms in Godié discourse. However, this is only the most obvious of several factors. What I have tried to do in this study is concentrate on those texts (folktales,

narratives, and procédurals) where ambiguity is least a problem. The

complexity of the pronoun system of Godié makes this a fairly easy exercise. The question being raised then is the following:

what factors, other than

ambiguity,

precipitate the appearance of the full noun referent? In fact, there are a variety of motivating factors which may at times overlap. In the following discussion, I have made a distinction between those factors which are structurallyrelated and those which are not.

3.1.

STRUCTURE-RELATED FUNCTIONS OF FULL NOUN REFERENTS

The appearance of full noun referents plays a significant role in the structure of a story. As would be expected in any language, full noun referents first appear to introduce main characters in the story. In this case, they are usually found in two environments:

either in topic position, where they occur sentence-

initially and are pronominalized in the following clause by a recapitulative pronoun (Marchese 1978a) or in object position, where they are first introduced and then may reappear in pronominalized form, usually in subject position. The first method is used primarily in folktales: where characters are already known to the audience, the second, in person-oriented narratives or folktales where less is known about the character:

230

Lynell

Marchese

main characters introduced as full nouns in topic position (2)

£>UUWA he-goat 'He-goat

yA

IUE

so

wam/i

p/pA

and

elephant

two

they

throw

and

they

Elephant,

started

to

full noun main character in object (3)

Nyukpo man

bla one

6

...

yf

his

son

gbx certain Ma

yioloo

scene. Full noun referents

ter on c e n t e r

c h a n g e is over,

krrr.

make

a

wa

laa

Yewu .

him

they

call

Yswu.

introduction,

yi

Suuu

a son.

is m a r k i n g

Now,

the

a change

in will

is used to p l a c e a c h a r a c -

full n o u n r e f e r e n t s w i t h

nunu

ysku.

A

this

side

' P o o r Woodpecker, He w e n t t o t h i s

in the f o l k t a l e

a

and

this

cited

in

inter-

a f t e r the text

in

suuu

yaku.

&1A h e beat

lA.

A

there

he

the a p p e a r a n c e of the n o u n m a r k s

tree:D mu went

side

na,

a

NF

he

kokoko.

make

kokoko

Cligogo

the

'woodpecker'

of a full n o u n , w h i c h

a significant

mu he went

the m a i n topic of d i s c u s s i o n .

the i n t r o d u c t i o n

reference, marks

a

he c a m e b a c k a n d w e n t t o o n e . He t a p p e d " k o k o k o " . '

of the full n o u n

W o o d p e c k e r has now b e c o m e

F nu

he

nu

now

in

tree:D

The introduction

to

a l o n e . Just

yi

h e came

krrr

went

establish

omo

birth

to ask for h i s d a u g h t e r ' s h a n d . O n c e the

Woodpecker

nu

picture. Thus,

nA, NF

as t o p i c s . For e x a m p l e ,

Cligogo

poor-way

mu

gA give

occurs:

ijazusi,

he

omo he

in on one or m o r e c h a r a c t e r s w h o

the focus goes now to W o o d p e c k e r

the f o l l o w i n g

A

Naa, now

gA

to focus

the story

(1), W o o d p e c k e r had g o n e to God

(4)

ID. there

use of full n o u n r e f e r e n t s

f u n c t i o n o f t e n act s y n t a c t i c a l l y

(1),

position

in a given p a r a g r a p h . A full n o u n referent s t a g e . As w i t h

up

boast.'

he gave-birth

are u s e d

ku

boast

t h e r e w a s a m a n . He g a v e b i r t h t o , t h e y c a l l e d him Y s w u . '

structure-related

be highlighted

o

son-D1

now

'Once upon a t i m e , son he gave b i r t h

T h e second

ku is

DUO him

b l i

break

the b e g i n n i n g

tree.

in God

He

tapped

(4) s i g n a l s

"krrr".

that

is no l o n g e r

in

is c l e a r l y not n e e d e d

in the n a r r a t i v e . W e could of a new

paragraph.

2

the to

say

that

Pronominalization

231

The introduction of a full noun referent is also often accompanied by a change in time or a special sentence-initial marker ma (Gratrix, 1978), another clear signal that a new paragraph or scene has begun: (5)

Ma, o ma now he went

j lAma SA commandments down

ku nu o yi up and she SEQ

mu n u o go and she

QWU put

yi SEQ

6 her

na , NF

qwloo wife:D

I n things

ku CR

o she

gaglA arrange

'/Is he started praying, t h e woman, s h e g o t u p a n d s h e w e n t a n d s h e ranged her t h i n g s . . . ' Again, the full noun

qwloo

£jla got

ar-

'woman:D' is introduced as a topic in sentence-initial

position, and it is recapitulated by a pronoun o 'she'. This is a case when there are at least two factors influencing the presence of the full noun. First, the full noun shows that the scene is shifting entirely to the woman and all her actions. Second, it eliminates ambiguity which could arise since both characters are human (using the same pronoun D). The introduction of full NPs also plays a crucial role in signalling the end of a narrative. Though there is some freedom as to how explicit individuals wish to be, there is a definite tendency for the speaker to bring all the main characters out to the stage to "take a bow" in their full noun form. This most often occurs in the last sentence of the story or in conjunction with a moral or summary statement right at the end of the story. It's as if the speaker wants the hearer to bear in mind who the main characters have been. The following are just a few examples taken from different (6)

nu and

kwali e Spider

yi SEQ

WA PAST

61A kill kwalie Spider

folktales.

WA PAST £>1A kill

mlaaa animals'

labs totality

na kpokponAmu and Hare

a CONC

'And Spider killed all the animals and Hare killed Spider. '

232

Lynell Marchese

(7)

n ni you see

sa how

wa' they:NEG

yuaa children:D ijau respond

kokwio Hen

nA , NF

C I C E

Eagle

jiyakpo ka yi man if child Naa, now

C I C E

Eagle

si told

WA PAST

WA PAST fA bring

gA. , give birth

nu-wa11-kala-a , hear-word-piece-D

6 yua her children

1A there

daa' mother's

WA

ID

PAST

there

na and amA it

na and

6 her

sausuawali say-say-word

51«. one

ku up

Naa , i ze, now its reason

o ka saa na o nuu . he if speak and he listen n I

ki speak

'You see how Hen told her children and her children did not listen to the words of their mother and Eagle grabbed one. Now that's why, if a man has a child and he speaks (to him), he (the child) listens. Now Eagle's story, that's what I'm telling.' In both (G) and (7), the main characters are expressed in their full noun forms. In contrast to the other structure-related appearances of full nouns, the nouns here do not occur in topic constructions; in this context, they function directly as subjects or objects in the clause. It is interesting to note the curious repetition of

kwalie

'Spider' in the second clause of (6) and of

5 yuo

'her

children' In the second clause of (7). This repetition will be discussed in a later section. A parallel to the appearance of full nouns at the end of stories is the appearance of the remote past tense marker

WA . Like full nouns, past tense markers

may occur initially in the story introduction. However, from that time on, through the bulk of the story, they are usually never expressed. In the last lines, however, when all the characters come out to "take a bow" in their full noun forms, the

WA past marker surfaces once more (Marchese 1978b). This parallel in discourse

strategy is striking. It is as if the speaker reminds the hearer that the story is over and tries to implant in the hearer's mind just who the main characters are and perhaps, more importantly, the outcome of the story. Thus, it has been seen that the introduction of full noun referents is far from arbitrary and is significantly linked to the structure of the story. Now some non-structural functions of full noun referents will be examined.

Pronominalization 3.2. 3.2.1.

233

NON-STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONS OF FULL NOUN REFERENTS MOCKERY AND IRONY

Along with the goal of teaching basic moral values and "ways of the world", folktales and narratives are meant to entertain. And nothing entertains more than when someone is caught in the middle of his crime, be it boasting, cowardice, or stealing another man's food or wife. Though it is hard to do a formal study, there is no doubt that the repeated presence of a full noun can be used in Godié to mock the character in question, to make fun of him, and to build up suspense concerning his inevitable

downfall. One story illustrates this principle quite well. In the story 3

of Viper and Eagle , Eagle "steals" Viper's wife. Following the introduction in which both characters are named, focus shifts to Eagle alone: (8) Ma, Gopla amA bible bomlE q w l o nu a yÉlÀ now Eagle him court Viper wife and he take a yelA he take

yi now

qwloo wife:D

BE nunugbi and behavior:NEG yi now bomlE Viper

ku. up

jabe galantry

y E 1À g o p l a ask Eagle

nA , NF

tuà leave a he

yi now

nu. do

ijwlo ZE , wife reason 1À there

Gopls Eagle

mo there

Gopla Eagle nA, NF

a dlcsi he dress-up

qwlo, wife bibi walk

Ma, now yi ku . now up

Gopla Eagle

ka a bibi CR he walk

yi. Na, now now

lo there

mà . . . . that....

'Now, Eagle courted Viper's wife and he took her. Having taken her, because of a woman, Eagle walks around (boasting). And his (bad) behavior doesn't stop there. Eagle walks around (boasting). He's so galant. Eagle, he's all dressed up. Then Viper asks Eagle...' T h e n Viper asks Eagle. . . ' In this example, the first instance of the full noun is linked to the fact that a new paragraph is beginning and Eagle is to be the main character. However, three times more throughout the paragraph, G o p l a

'Eagle' is again mentioned in his full

form. This repetition adds to the humor of the story by emphasizing the ridiculousness of Eagle's behavior. In fact, the listeners are just waiting for Viper to step in and get his revenge. The subsequent reintroduction of Viper and Eagle in the last line of this extract signals the beginning of a new paragraph where

234

Lynell Marchese

both Viper and Eagle are on stage. This passage again underlines how little pronorainalization is used in some cases when it would be completely unambiguous to do so. In this story, fcomle

Goplo

'Eagle' is represented by an a pronoun, while

'Viper' is designated by e, so there is no confusion of identity. Never-

theless, structural and stylistic factors dictate that full noun referents appear. Similarly, in true personal narratives, when a character does something particularly funny, a full noun referent

(usually the name of the person) may be used.

Again this adds to the humor of the situation. One narrative tells the true story of a man who bravely goes outside the village to subdue a panther who is caught in a trap. When he approaches the trap, the panther screeches: (9)

Baloo Baloo

1a:

nn

says

I:NEG

la

wu

ku.

Ku

here

NEG

be

CR

o

pipi

he run

mu inside

'Baloo says, "I'm not here;" He takes off! 1 The hearers already know the identity of the character in (9), but the direct reference to him by name somehow intensifies the link between him and his ridiculous action. This ironic or mocking use of full noun referents may help explain the curious repetition of full noun NPs in examples (6) and (7) discussed in the preceding section. Taking (6), for example, we note that Spider occurs twice in his full form: (6)

na kwalie and Spider WA PAST

kwalie Spider

61A kill

WA PAST

ralaaa animals'

labs totality

nu kpokponAmu and Hare

yi SEQ

61A a kill CONC

'And Spider killed all the animals and Hare killed Spider.' In English, a pronominal form would easily replace the second occurrence of Spider: 'And Spider killed all the animals and Hare killed him'.' but it would be a stressed pronominal form. It seems that here the full noun in Godi6 is serving the same function as the stressed pronoun in English. In a mocking and ironic way, Spider has got "his just desserts". Similarly in (7) ('Hen told her children

and her

235

Pronominalization children

didn't listen to their mother's words'), repetition emphasizes the foolish-

ness of the children's behavior. Surprise can also motivate the appearance of a full noun referent. In one story, the wife of God falls in love with another man. We hear her speaking to her lover: (10)

Mo na. you handsome

n kAA I want:you

nuali. Laagotepe! marry:N0K God

yi nua now marry

wain word:D

IMF it

o he

n y £ 1A I want

yio NEG

nuu... hear

H A . .. NF

Laagot^pi God

'"You are handsome. I want to marry you. I don't want to marry God any more." God! It's this word he heard...'

Here is another case where factors motivating the appearance of full nouns overlap. The second occurrence of

Laagotepe

'God' in this text definitely marks

the beginning of a new paragraph. Focus is turning away from God's wife to God's reaction to the situation. However, this full noun also has another function. Combined with a special intonation (stress and high pitch), this word conveys surprise, awe, and Inevitably humor - how could anyone dare to make fun of God! This use of full nouns to express humor, mockery, irony and surprise has been observed in one Benue-Congo language, Mambila (Perrin 1978:112) and in at least one other Kru language, Nyabwa (Bentinck, personal communication).

3.2.2.

SECONDARY CHARACTERS AND PROPS

Another factor which seems to play a role in the appearance of full NPs is the significance of the character in the story and/or society. Secondary or background characters are more likely to appear in their full noun forms than main characters. In the folktale

of Viper and Eagle, these two main characters account for the

majority of pronominalizations. Returning to example (8), however, we note another character, feomle q w l o (8) that

13w 1 o

'Wife of Viper'. Notice in the first two lines in

'wife' is referred to four times and is not once pronominalized.

236

Lynell

'Wife'

Marchese

is at best a secondary character, and this status appears to be linked to

the full noun form. Like secondary characters, props can be treated in the same way. For example, in the following text from a personal narrative, note that the noun k o s u is repeated over and over, while the main character, M i c h e l my f a t h e r ' ) (11)

' t he f a t h e r of Sassi Michel',

n na, I say

ama me

nyi river

k 1u face

Sassi Sassi ...Ma and

Ma, L a a g o o But God:NEG Bus turn na, NF

KA N0I.1 o he

pla pass

NA , NF

NA, NF

n my

kosuu gun:D mi5. able

nA , NF

ta father

no and

o he

o he

kosu. gun

ka o CR he

ku m o . is there

Michel

n

ta

('Sassi

is continually pronominalized:

o £ e- a he carry-PAST

yi qua now agree

naa FUT:NEG

1A there

Michel Michel

Sassi

'gun'

Ma, But kA FUT

o kA 1A nylagbi he FUT there stand

ma went

ylu day

Kosuuka gun:D has

£>ao." turn over o he

glu is

1n there

Ma, but

f>la one boli. cartridges o ma he went

yi 1A kogwlenyo now there old:man

dfja a dn place;D its place

o kA kosuu he FUT gun:D

vuu plunge.

'One d a y , me S a s s i M i c h e l , my f a t h e r went o u t on t h e r i v e r . . . He was c a r r y i n g a gun. The gun was c h a r g e d . But God d i d n ' t a g r e e - he o v e r t u r n e d . B u t a s he t u r n e d o v e r , the gun was t h e r e . And he was an o l d man. He c o u l d n ' t p a s s t h r o u g h t h a t p l a c e and s t a n d t h e r e and p l u n g e down t h e r e f o r the gun.'

One might be tempted to say that it is the inanimacy of the gun which gives it "low" full noun status. However, inanimate objects can assume the function of main character, at which time they are pronominalized. This can be seen in the following from a procedural text on how frequently pronominalized item: (12)

La there nA, NF

tenyie time:D

...

mAAluu one

to make palm wine where

no

'wine'

is the most

4

nu u lXkA wine REL FUT ku mo l u u if other

ku on

1a mo there there kuli fall

nA, NF

nyidaa pot:D:LOC lo there

yi come

tenyie, time:D:LOC

Pronominalization

237

15 there

U it

1AkA FUT

poo, put

nu and

n you

u REL

f I strength

lAkXyi FUT come

nu . wine

u it:NEG

kAA k have

ma but

ku n y i d a a if pot:D

a i-ts

lee kind

na, NF

belib. sticky

wu NEG

ku u CR it

n you

nu if:NEG

sosaa dry

m6 there

tla put down

Ka u 1ia. CR it stick

nA , n u NF wine

u it:NEG

NEG

naa good

'At that time, the wine w h i c h will come into the pot, if falls on top of the other (wine), at that time, it will But if you don't put wine there, and if you put it in a wine which will come, it is sticky. It sticks. It's not It's no good.' The generalization

nu wine

one (wine) be strong. dry pot, the (really) wine.

to be made here is that while main characters are pronominal-

ized, secondary characters and props are usually not. Pronominalization,

then,

is crucially tied up to importance in the story as a whole, while continued ence to full noun forms relegates these referents to lower status. This between pronominalization

and main characters has been noted in other

correlation

African

languages. Perrin

(1978) notes that with some exceptions, Mambila speakers

identify

the main

participant

at every

opportunity...

to by anything are reported

4.

other

Once

as

little

introducedt

than pronominal

in Fali, an Adamawan

as possible the main

forms"

language

and all other

participant

"...

participants

is rarely

(1978:105, 110). Similar (Ennulat 1978:145,

refer-

referred findings

146).

CONCLUSIONS

In Godife, the form an NP takes is crucial to the structure and style of a text. Pronominalization designates main characters, cant in the story. Lack of pronominalization

indicating who or what is signifi(i.e. appearance of the full noun

referent) may signal any number of things. Along with aiding in proper cation of a referent,

identifi-

full nouns help to signal crucial structural divisions

the story. They occur story-initially the scene to take a final

in

and finally, when main characters come onto

'bow'. Perhaps more importantly, they break the story

flow (Giv6n 1983) and indicate that a new character or set of characters will

238

Lynell Marchese

be on scene, confirming the existence of paragraph

(or episode) boundaries.

other function of full nouns is to provide humor and irony. Thus, full nouns associated with characters who cause their own downfall, pants of lesser status:

as well as with

Anare

partici-

secondary characters and props.

The correlation between the grammatical form of referents and

specific

discourse functions found in Godié exists in other African languages as well

and,

more than likely, extends beyond this language area. The main conclusion to be drawn is that syntactic processes like pronominalization can never be properly analyzed without

a good, hard look at their role in discourse.

* Data for this paper comes from a set of oral texts collected by Carol GratrixBrinneman and myself in Dakpadou, Ivory Coast over a period of three years, 1972-75. The speakers included Natche Jean, Lugbo Aye, and Sassi Michel, all speakers of the ftlukD dialect. NOTES 1.

Abbreviations used in this study include: NEG CONC concluding particle CR current relevance NF D definite NOM F REL focus FUT future SEQ LOC locative

negative non-final marker nominalizer relative pronoun sequential

2.

This unit could also be called an episode or event span. However, ditional term 'paragraph' seems to fit the data quite well.

3.

In the Hen story, C I C E is translated as 'Eagle' and in the following text, g o p l a is translated the same way. These are obviously two different types of birds though speakers identify them both in French as a i g l e 'eagle'. According to Jacques Kokora (personal communication), g o p l a is a white bird with an eagle-like beak which lives near the water.

4.

It is interesting to note here that the full form n u 'wine' occurs in subordinate clauses, while all pronouns (with the exception of relative pros) occur in independent clauses. This may indeed be another factor in the appearance of full nouns. Clearly, this is an area for further study.

5.

This particle has some negative content, but it may be related to the sentenceinitial marker ku 'current relevance' which often marks climatic points in the story and here signals un unfortunate outcome.

the tra-

Pronominalization

239

REFERENCES E n n u l a t , J . H . 1978. P a r t i c i p a n t c a t e g o r i e s i n F a l i s t o r i e s . In Papers on Discourse, ed. J . E . G r i m e s , pp. 1 4 3 - 1 4 8 . G i v ô n , T a l m y . 1 9 8 3 . T o p i c c o n t i n u i t y in d i s c o u r s e : the functional domain of s w i t c h r e f e r e n c e . In Switch Reference and Universal Grammar, ed. J. H a i m a n , pp. 5 1 - 8 2 . A m s t e r d a m : John Benjamins. G r a t r i x , C a r o l . 1978. G o d i é n a r r a t i v e . In Papers on Discourse, ed. J . E . G r i m e s , pp. 311-323. G r i m e s , J . E . 1 9 7 8 . Papers on Discourse. Dallas: S u m m e r I n s t i t u t e of L i n g u i s t i c s . J a g g a r , P . J . 1 9 8 3 . S o m e d i m e n s i o n s of t o p i c - N P c o n t i n u i t y in H a u s a n a r r a t i v e d i s c o u r s e . In Topic Continuity in Discourse: Quantitative Cross-Language Studies, ed. T. G i v ô n , p p . 3 6 5 - 4 2 4 . A m s t e r d a m : John Benjamins. M a r c h e s e , L y n e l l . 1 9 7 5 . M o r p h o n o l o g i e d u v e r b e g o d i é , Annales de l'Université d'Abidjan, S é r i e H, F a s c i c u l e 1 : 2 1 5 - 2 3 9 . . 1 9 7 8 a . Subordination en godié. Abidjan: Publications Conjointes, Institut de L i n g u i s t i q u e Appliquée, Société Internationale de L i n g u i s t i q u e . . 1 9 7 8 b . T i m e r e f e r e n c e in G o d i é . In Papers on Dis course, ed. J . E . G r i m e s , pp. 6 3 - 7 5 . . 1 9 8 2 a . P r o n o m i n a l i z a t i o n in G o d i é . (To a p p e a r in a v o l u m e e d i t e d b y U l l a Weisseman.) . 1 9 8 2 b . A p e r ç u s s u r u n c o n t e f o l k l o r i q u e g o d i é . (To a p p e a r in Traditions Orales, ed. S i m o n e E h i v e t . A b i d j a n : Institut de L i n g u i s t i q u e Appliquée.) P e r r i n , M o n a . 1978. W h o ' s w h o i n M a m b i l a folk s t o r i e s . In Papers on Discourse, ed. J . E . G r i m e s , pp. 1 0 5 - 1 1 8 .

Chapter

18

The Ideophone in Gbaya Syntax Philip A. Noss

1.

THE IDEOPHONE

No group of words is as visible and yet as elusive as the ideophone, none is subject to as much misunderstanding and discrimination. Although sporadically written about since Clement Doke attempted to define it in 1935, the ideophone tends to receive relatively casual treatment in grammars. As a feature that is commonly associated with oral expression, it is normally avoided in translations and in written literary texts. While the ideophone is often easy to identify, assigning it an acceptable formal definition may be more difficult. In his early defintion, Doke (1935:118) described it as "a vivid

representation

in a later statement he called it an "interjectional

of an idea in

sound";

descriptive''' (1954:86).

Evans-Pritchard (1962:143) characterized the ideophone as "poetry

in

ordinary

language". Many writers have followed Doke's early semantic approach, but it may be more useful to begin with Paul Newman's definition of the ideophone as "a phonologically

peculiar

set of descriptive

or qualificative

words"

(1968:

107). From this general definition, language-specific descriptions may be formulated, specifying the peculiar phonological and semantic features that characterize it in a given language. However, the statement cannot be complete without a grammatical description of the ideophone in syntax. Further analysis must also include stylistic uses in oral art forms where it often plays a significant descriptive role (cf. Noss 1972).

2.

THE GBAYA

IDEOPHONE 1

According to Samarin, the ideophone is a very prominent member of the lexicon

242

Philip A. Noss

of any African language (1967b:79). In a recently completed Gbaya-French dictionary (Blanchard and Noss 1982), of a total of 8544 entries, 2097 or 24.6% are ideophones. While accounting for a high percentage of the items comprising the Gbaya lexicon, in extended discourse the ideophone rarely comprises more than 2% of the complete text.

2.1.

PHONOLOGY

The Gbaya ideophone may be defined phonologically on the basis of marginal phonemes which do not occur in other lexical classes, and on the basis of consonant clusters and consonant distribution (Noss 1975) . The phonological definition of the Gbaya ideophone may be refined by making reference to its tonal behavior. No other class of lexical item may be modified tonally to effect a change in meaning. When occurring in high tone, the ideophone refers to a small object; in low tone, it refers to a large object . (1) a. zai] m a a

b. m a t u a

' 2 tol

baa

toyo

'His stomach (Toad's) burst with a little pop. 1 to 1

'A car squashed the dog with a big splat.'

The process of lengthening occurs with ideophones that have a final vowel, nasal, trill, or lateral. Through segmental lengthening, the ideophone indicates duration of action by suggesting the passage of time. (2) a. fee b.

feet

(3) a. cfirr b. cfirrr

'a breath of air' 'a long breath of air' 'a rumble like thunder' 'a long rolling rumble like thunder or like an earthquake'

Lengthening may also occur internally with an accompanying high-low tone glide as a feature of stress.

The Ideophone in Gbaya Syntax (4) a. b.

243

rut

'to enter a hole like a flash'

ruut

'to enter a hole like a flash'

The process of reduplication may occur to indicate reated action or intensity. In the case of repeated action, the tone of the reduplicated items may remain constant or it may be modified to a sequence of high-low-high that may be repeated several times to depict the cadence of the continuing action. (5) a.

kpuk

b.

kpuk

(6) a. b.

'a rap on the door' kpuk

kpuk

'insistent rapping on the door'

bit

'to miss once'

bit-bit-bit

'to miss repeatedly, everyone missing'

In expressing intensity, reduplication is restricted to gemination. In some cases, an ideophone that occurs singly may be geminated; in other cases, the ideophone exists only in geminate form. (7) a. b. (8)

hotoQ

'scraped clean, as a cooking utensil'

ho to i] - ho to 13

'scraped clea as a whistle'

tal-tal

'pure white'

It must be added, of course, that although the processes described above occur with ideophones, not all ideophones may accommodate them. Furthermore, these processes do not occur exclusively with ideophones.

2.2.

SEMANTICS

Gbaya ideophones are sensual. They denote what is felt or what is observed through the senses, through sight, hearing, feeling, smell and taste. The same ideophone may combine the impressions of two senses. For example, a single ideophone may be both visual and aural. (9) a.

zii nyoqa

mo k p - ^

nyaruk-nyaruk

'Listen to the way he eats munchingly.'

244

Philip A. Noss

(9) b.

zok

nyorça

ma

kç-ç

nyaruk-nyaruk

'Look at the way he eats in a munching manner. 1

The ideophone frequently combines denotative and connotative aspects. It denotes the sense the speaker wishes

to express while simultaneously

his judgment of the item or situation to which he is referring. The

connoting connotation

may be positive or negative.

(10) a. hititi b.

'smooth and black and beautiful' 'black like soot and ugly 1

bicfikii

To achieve a comic effect or to give the impression of something ludicrous, the tone of the ideophone may be reversed. The high tone that is normally

associ-

ated with a small object may be used derisively of something large. Likewise, the low tone normally associated with a large or weighty object may be used of something small to lend the comic effect of assumed importance or of inv appropriate grandeur. For example, if

tol

(la) were used of a cow, it would

be to reduce the cow to absurdly small proportions;

to use

tol

(lb) in refer-

ence to a toad would be to attribute immense size to a creature that was in fact very small.

3.

THE IDEOPHONE AND GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY

The Gbaya ideophone is a qualificative that occurs most commonly as an adjectival modifier or as an adverbial modifier

(Noss 1981:105). It may modify

either a nominal or a verbal. Through normal patterns of affixation, an adjectival ideophone may occur as a substantive, and through derivation,

ideophones

may give rise to nouns and verbs. When occurring adjectivally, ideophones function according to the grammatical and syntactic patterns common to adjectival modifiers. That is, they precede the noun with which they are in construction and they obey the normal rules of tone dissimilation

(Noss 1981:14ff).

The Ideophone in Gbaya Syntax (11) a.

yala-yulu

b.

fcakare

laa

245 'a full/ample garment'

nin-me

'your disgusting teeth'

Like other adjectives, they may occur following a copular as a predicate modifier of the sentence subject, or with the intransitive verb

de

'to be-

come, to be accomplished; to be good'. (12)

nu-paa

D p ecf eg-p ecfei]

'The knife blade is razor sharp. '

(13)

mo

b e 1 i ee

'Day dawned (lit. things became light).'

dee

The ideophone may co-occur with a regular adjective to lend precision and detail.

3

In the following sentence the ideophone answers the question 'How

are they big?'. (14)

zer-foro

o gasa

gowaq

'An elephant's ears are big — dulous . '

pen-

When functioning adverbially, the ideophone describes or qualifies the action expressed by the verb. It occupies the adverbial slot following the verb, following a regular adverb, or following the object of the verb. (15) a. b.

te-a qma

naka

tututu

b l i gom

ne

'His body shook tututu.'

te k p o y o o - k p o y o o

sen

'Someone is chopping a tree kpoyoo-kpoyoo

me'i

over there.'

Although the above examples provide evidence of adjectival and adverbial relationships, Gbaya ideophones cannot easily be classified according to these two separate functions. Many ideophones may function either adjectivally or adverbially according to the context in which they are employed. In the following pairs, a common semantic notion is expressed by the ideophone, albeit in the first example in each case adjectivally, and in the second adverbially : (17) a.

dap

go

o lafbo- labo

'A leopard's spots are splotchy.'

246

Philip A. Noss

(17) b.

koro

(18) a.

zu-me

b.

mi

p£

labo-lafco

duk

zok

mo

'Lightning flashes splotchily.'

n d u y e e ne m b u i

'Your head is fuzzy with grey hair.'

nduy e e

'I see indistinctly

Just as an ordinary adjective may accommodate the suffix

-a

(fuzzily).' to function as

a substantive (Noss 1981:34), an ideophone functioning as an adjectival modifier may be substantivized. (19)

me

ba

(20)

me

kai

ne ne

kirkiti-a kpoqgoi-a

'Take the round one.' kpoqgoi-a

'Take the chubby chubby ones.'

Through derivation, ideophones may give rise to both common nouns and proper nouns. When this occurs, the descriptive aspect of the ideophone is associated with the item being described to the point that the object is named according to the quality

denoted by the ideophone. The Gbaya lexicon includes

numerous nouns of ideophone derivation. In same cases the separate ideophone continues in use, in other cases it is only the phonological structure of the noun that provides evidence of its derivation. (21) a.

kutu-kutu-kutu

'the rumble of a car motor'

b.

kutu-katu

'automobile'

(22) a.

ndegkelgq

'to continue on and on'

b.

ndeqkElEij

'set hooks (in fishing)'

kokegge-koo

'cock-a-doodle-doo'

kokeqge

'rooster'

kput-kput

'the bubbling of a spring of water'

kpu-kput

'spring of water'

yuqgu-yuqgu

'beautiful reddish brown color'

yuqgu

'complimentary name of endearment given to a person who has beautiful brown skin'

(23) a. b. (24) a. b. (25) a. b.

(archaic)

(literary)

The Ideophone in Gbaya Syntax In (24) above, the full nominal form is

247 kpu-kput-yi

'bubbling water' ,

which is a noun head plus ideophone modifier, a pattern that is commonly used in the formation of nominal compounds. In this example the noun head is omitted leaving the ideophone as a noun in its own right. That verbs and ideophones are sometimes derived one from the other is clear, but the direction of derivation is not always apparent. However, in the following examples it seems likely that the verb may have been derived from the ideophone. (26) a. b. (27) a. b. (28) a. b.

4.

hafafa

'with a fluttering motion 1

hafi

'to fly in a fluttering manner'

s o r - s o r - s or

'shuffle-shuffle-shuffle'

sor

'to walk with a shuffle'

z EkEcTs-z EkscfE

'the sound of happy laughter'

z E k E cf i

'to laugh at someone'

THE IDEOPHONE IN SYNTAX

In the preceding section the ideophone was presented as a qualificative within restricted grammatical environments. However, the ideophone frequently occurs in syntactic constructions as part of extended text and at this level its description may be quite problematic. In the following paragraphs an attempt is made to demonstrate the complexity

of the syntactic relation-

ships of the Gbaya ideophone. The tree diagram is used as a convenient visual device. Two preliminary statements may be made. Firstly, the ideophone may be viewed as an optional syntactic item. When speaking of it in its modifying capacity and not as a derived noun or verb, it is not an obligatory element of structure. It may occur as an adjective or as an adverb and may thus figure as part of the grammatical structure that is a clause, but when occurring with

248

P h i l i p A.

Noss

a c l a u s e , it is o p t i o n a l . S e c o n d l y , the i d e o p h o n e is a f o c u s item. n a t u r e , b o t h in its p h o n o l o g i c a l a w o r d that b e a r s inherent

shape a n d its s e m a n t i c c o n t e n t , m a k e s

it

focus.

P e r h a p s b e c a u s e of t h e s e two c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s , syntactically

Its very

the I d e o p h o n e

functions

in w a y s that are n o t c o m m o n to o t h e r l e x i c a l classes. At

the

s a m e time, it f u n c t i o n s w i t h i n g r a m m a r and as p a r t of g r a m m a r and c a n n o t r e l e g a t e d to m e r e s t y l i s t i c Syntactically, position.

be

anomaly.

the i d e o p h o n e may o c c u r in c l a u s e m e d i a l and c l a u s e

It may also o c c u r in p o s t - c l a u s a l

it m a y o c c u r e l l i p t i c a l l y

and in

and p r e - c l a u s a l p o s i t i o n .

final

Finally,

suppletion.

In c l a u s e m e d i a l and final p o s i t i o n , the i d e o p h o n e f u n c t i o n s

adjectival-

ly or a d v e r b i a l l y and may be d e s c r i b e d as any o t h e r a d j e c t i v e or adverb.

Al-

t h o u g h not an o b l i g a t o r y e l e m e n t of s t r u c t u r e , it is an integral p a r t of the s e n t e n c e o c c u r r i n g in the n o r m a l a d j e c t i v e or adverb slot. In the c a s e of the p r e d i c a t e a d j e c t i v e , w h e n it r e p l a c e s a r e g u l a r a d j e c t i v e , it a s s u m e s

obliga-

tory s t a t u s in c o m p l e t i n g the s e n t e n c e s t r u c t u r e . W h e n o c c u r r i n g m e d i a l l y finally as an adverb,

it d e s c r i b e s and q u a l i f i e s the a c t i o n of the verb,

the s e n t e n c e w o u l d n o r m a l l y b e c o m p l e t e w i t h o u t (29)

(Adj)

(fag

pey£m

(30)

(Adj)

waya

(31)

(Adv)

a

(32)

(Adv)

wa

maa

zu-me

dukusi yi

nyuna

o r££>£t£

kilaq-kilaq-kilai]

sadi

bit-bit-bit

yak

that any s y n t a c t i c a l l y j e c t i v a l or a d v e r b i a l

but

it. 'your f a t ugly

head'

'Pawpaw f r u i t s

a r e b i g and

'He r a n b o u n d i n g a n d zagging away.'

zig-

'They missed animals r i g h t and l e f t . '

W h e n the i d e o p h o n e s t a n d s in final s y n t a c t i c p o s i t i o n , its r e l a t i o n s h i p the m a i n c l a u s e may n o t be r e a d i l y apparent.

or

It c o u l d b e argued, for

instance,

final i d e o p h o n e w a s m e r e l y a q u a l i f i e r of e i t h e r status as d e s c r i b e d above. H o w e v e r , w h e n the

d o e s n o t d i r e c t l y m o d i f y items w i t h i n the m a i n c l a u s e , a l t e r n a t i v e

to

ad-

ideophone structural

fat.'

The I d e o p h o n e

i n Gbaya S y n t a x

249

analyses must be proposed. In the paragraphs which follow, it will be suggested that a final ideophone may be a post-clausal reflex of an embedded clause occurring in syntactic relationship with the main clause. In (33) below, although the ideophone is adjectival, it does not stand in the normal adjective slot before the noun with which it is in construction. The ideophone

b i t i t i

collocates with the noun b u a

'mushrooms'

describing

the great quantity of little mushrooms that were found, but it does not directly modify the noun. It may therefore be postulated that there is an embedded sentence which describes the mushrooms and that this embedded sentence has been reduced leaving the ideophone as its lone reflex. (33)

mi

kpaa

iua

b i t i t i

NP

'I

f o u n d mushrooms i n g r e a t

quantity

VP NP N kpaa

S bititi

bua (bua

yaa

bititi)

('Mushrooms were plentiful.') I

found

mushrooms

plentiful

In the following sentence, the final ideophone is again adjectival. In both (33) and (34) the Ideophone stands appositionally

in descriptive

relationship

to the noun object of the main clause. (34)

Ene zok y i s a r k a k a 'Look a t h i s u n c o o r d i n a t e d you(pl) look eyes uncoordinated

eyes.1

A slight variation on this analysis would be to postulate that the final ideophone was the lone reflex of a non-restrictive relative clause. In (35) below, the ideophone collocates directly with no other word in the sentence. It expresses the result of the action of the verb

yak

'depart.

250 leave'

P h i l i p A.

Noss

w h i c h is a b s e n c e a n d v a c a n c y . T h e i d e o p h o n e

an unexpressed

l o c a t i o n or p l a c e w h i c h is o n l y b r o u g h t

b y the i d e o p h o n e wa

(35)

collocates

with

to the l i s t e n e r ' s

mind

keqgeqge

itself.

yaka

torn

keqgeqge

' T h e y went t o work l e a v i n g empty.'

the

place

Adjt

keqgeqge

yaka

(mo

duka

('Place they

went/left

It m a y b e p o s t u l a t e d expressing

work

for

keqgeqge)

was

empty.')

empty

in t h e a b o v e s e n t e n c e t h a t t h e r e is a n e m b e d d e d

a- r e s u l t of the m a i n a c t i o n . T h i s e m b e d d e d s e n t e n c e h a s

r e d u c t i o n l e a v i n g t h e i d e o p h o n e as its l o n e r e f l e x t o the m a i n

in a d j u n c t

sentence

undergone

relationship

clause.

A similar pattern may be observed

in t h e f o l l o w i n g

m a i n c l a u s e is n e g a t i v e w h i l e t h e i d e o p h o n e

sentence where

is the r e f l e x of a n e m b e d d e d

t e n c e w h i c h is p o s i t i v e . T h e i d e o p h o n e , w h i c h c o l l o c a t e s w i t h t h e o b j e c t of t h e m a i n v e r b , o c c u r s

the

expressed

f o l l o w i n g t h e n e g a t i v e m a r k e r w h i c h is

ly a c l a u s e a n d s e n t e n c e f i n a l i t e m . T h e n e g a t i v e m a r k e r t h e r e f o r e

normal-

delimits

t h e u n i t y and e n d of the m a i n c l a u s e , w h i l e t h e a b s e n c e of p a u s e b e t w e e n n e g a t i v e m a r k e r a n d t h e i d e o p h o n e s i g n a l s t h e i n t e g r i t y of the s e n t e n c e comprises

a m a i n c l a u s e and a p o s t - c l a u s a l

expresses

t h e r e s u l t of t h e a c t i o n of t h e m a i n c l a u s e a n d t h e r e f o r e

to t h e e n t i r e c l a u s e ,

(36)

me

for

tasi

ideophone. Because the

qgalo-qgalo

the that

ideophone relates

it m a y b e c o n s i d e r e d to b e a d j u n c t i v e to the m a i n

s 4 na

sen-

clause.

'You d i d n ' t wash t h e d i s h e s clean (they are s t i l l d i r t y ) . '

The Ideophone in Gbaya Syntax

251

(36) NP

VP

Adjt NP

Neg

N'

I,

I

na

fór

not

wash

Qgalo-qgalo

tasi

you

clean

dirty

dishes

Because the ideophone expresses the result of the action of the main and therefore relates to the entire clause, it may be considered junctive to the main

clause

to be ad-

clause.

When occurring in pre-clausal position, the ideophone is apparently quite optional.

It can easily be omitted without

affecting the grammaticality

of the main clause. However, once it has been pronounced,

a clause

follows it in apposition to it. The clause expands or explains the

normally ideophone.

In (37)a below the ideophone occurs adverbially, modifying the verb. (37)b could be considered

to be a simple example of frontshifting;

however,

because the ideophone is followed by pause and because it introduces the entire clause rather than modifying the verb alone, it is here considered

to

stand in adjunct relationship with the main clause. Although inherently a focus item, in pre-clausal position the ideophone assumes heightened (37) a. b.

a yee ko

rut

rut. a yee k 9

Adjt

flash

it

entered

focus.

'It entered a hole like a flash.1 'Flash, it entered a hole.'

252

P h i l i p A.

Noss

N o t all p r e - c l a u s a l adverbial

i d e o p h o n e s , h o w e v e r , may b e a s s o c i a t e d w i t h c l a u s e

ideophones.

In (38) b e l o w

yaa

final

o c c u r s in p r e - c l a u s a l p o s i t i o n

in

adjunct r e l a t i o n s h i p to the m a i n clause. A l t h o u g h the c o n s t r u c t i o n is p a r a l lel to that d i a g r a m m e d for (37)b,

d o e s not o c c u r a d v e r b i a l l y

yaa

following

a verb. (38)

y aa,

mo b o

'Yaa

na

(emptiness),

t h e r e was n o t h i n g . '

In (39)a l i k e w i s e , the i d e o p h o n e s t a n d s in p r e - c l a u s a l p o s i t i o n and

cannot

o c c u r in final p o s i t i o n as an adverb. T h e i d e o p h o n e h e r e is the r e f l e x

of

a d e p e n d e n t c l a u s e w h i c h h a s b e e n r e d u c e d to the s i n g l e i d e o p h o n e . T h e

full

form of the c o m p l e x s e n t e n c e is g i v e n in (39)

a.

qgelek ,

b.

oi-aa

mi

tee

(bona)

(39)b.

fe

'A t r i f l e

qgele'k,

mi

tee

fe

and I had

died.'

' ( I t remained) b u t a and I had d i e d . '

T w o a d d i t i o n a l p a t t e r n s are o b s e r v a b l e w i t h i d e o p h o n e s , one in w h i c h

trifle

ellipsis

o c c u r s , the o t h e r in w h i c h s u p p l e t i o n takes p l a c e . In the f o l l o w i n g two e x a m p l e s the i d e o p h o n e s t a n d s in c o n s t r u c t i o n a s u b j e c t n o u n as t h o u g h in a c o p u l a t i v e c o n s t r u c t i o n . T h e c o p u l a r h a s , ever, b e e n o m i t t e d a n d the r e s u l t a n t c o n s t r u c t r e s e m b l e s the zero of the s t a t i v e c o p u l a r c o n s t r u c t i o n (40)

gii

bii

(cf. N o s s

pampum

with how-

copulative

1981:71-75).

'The crowd

(was) m u l t i t u d i n o u s . '

S NP N Mod

VP N

Cop

Adj P Id

bii crowd (41)

nu-paa

pampum

people be'cfeq-be'cfei]

multitudinous The k n i f e - b l a d e (cf.

(12))

(is)

razor

sharp.'

The Ideophone in Gbaya Syntax

253

The ideophone in (42) appears formally to be a substantive. It is preceded by the determinative

?

££

'this' and it takes the postclitic

'e

'here'.

However, although the determinative + ideophone + postclitic construct stitutes

con-

the sentence Noun Phrase, the ideophone is in fact the reflex of

an embedded relativized sentence whose subject is unexpressed. (42)

?

E£

k o r o k - k o r o k ' e si

dee

nde?

'Where are you going with with this rattling noise?'

Det

(7 £ E m o

nt

-de k o r o k - k o r o k

1

£)

( 'this thing which does korok-korok this

korok-korok here

to

here')

where Question

The following sentence offers another example of relative (43)

k o - m e p a o - p a o in a m ' £ n£ g e ? yours (that you are doing) pao-pao to me is what?

ellipsis. 'Why do you provoke me?'

Suppletion occurs when an ideophone supplants a verb. The following

sentence

which consists of noun and ideophone is a complete sentence both semantically and grammatically. (44)

wanto

zacTacfa

'Wanto was adamant.'

NP

VP

I N

I Id I

I wanto

' (* ' o '

z aaaaa

Wanto adamant It might be postulated that a verb 'refused' or 'objected' is understood

254

Philip A. Noss

in this sentence, but the sentence is complete without it. The only item constituting the Verb Phrase is the ideophone which takes none of the grammatical markings of a verb, thereby retaining its lexical identity as an ideophone. In (45) below it may be postulated without uncertainty that the verb 'flew* has been supplanted. However, the sentence as it stands is a complete syntactic unit. (45)

bgm

ko

Koro

f aooo

'The son of Rain (flew) faooo. '

Both (44) and (45) were recorded in oral performances of tales. Suppletion may therefore be said to be a stylistic device by which the ideophone assumes increased focus. The height of suppletion - and of focus - occurs in the 4 following syntactic unit taken from another oral performance . Apart from the Initial conjunction

de

kpaa

'then' and the repeated oath

Eirawandu

'son of a dog', the entire text is comprised of ideophones. (46)

de k p a a ,

birawandu.

1 o k u p '. l o t o t o

loboto

yen yen loboto

yen,

yen

loboto

yen

yen,

birawandu.

loboto

Because this sequence of ideophones occurs as part of the plot line in the telling of a tale, the actors are known to the listeners from previous reference and the action portrayed by the ideophones is so explicit that the plot moves forward through the sentences that underlie the three sets of ideophones. There is no need for prosaic explanation. A translation of the text would be the following: 'Then, son of a dog, the storm approached with great billowing clouds, son of a dog, there was a sudden downpour followed by the sound of great animals scattering in all directions splashing through the water and mud . '

5.

CONCLUSION

The ideophone is a unique phonological and semantic member of the Gbaya

The Ideophone in Gbaya Syntax

255

lexicon. However, it is not an unpredictable class of words whose use is determined by artistic whim. It is instead a very specific linguistic form that functions within the constraints of Gbaya grammar and whose complexity, both grammatical and semantic, can be most easily observed in its syntactic occurrence. NOTES 1.

Gbaya here refers to the Yaayuwee dialect of the Gbaya-Mandja-Ngbaka language complex classified by Greenberg (1966) in the Eastern branch of the AdamawaEastern subfamily of Niger-Congo.

2.

Tone is marked by accents over the vowels. High tone is marked by an acute accent, low tone is unmarked, a high-low glide is indicated by a circumflex and a low-high glide by an inverted circumflex. Nasalization is marked by a cedilla. In sentences the ideophone is identified by underlining.

3.

This is Newman's adjectival intensifier (1968:109). For other discussions of ideophones see Samarin (1965:117-21 and 1967a:35-41) and Welmers (1973: 459-74).

4.

The complete tale as told by Rev. Yadji André of Meiganga, Cameroon, is transcribed and translated in Noss 1973:203-8, 237-42.

REFERENCES Blanchard, Y. and P.A. Noss. 1982. Dictionnaire gbaya-franqais . Meiganga: Centre de Traduction Gbaya. Doke, C.M. 1935. Bantu Linguistic Terminology. London: Longmans Green. . 1954. The Southern Bantu Languages. London: Oxford University Press. Evans-Pritchard, E.E. 1962. Ideophones in Zande. Sudan Notes and Records 43:143-46. Greenberg, J.H. 1966. The languages of Africa. The Hague: Mouton & Co. Newman, Paul. 1968. Ideophones from a syntactic point of view. Journal of West African Languages 5:107-17. Noss, P.A. 1972. Description in Gbaya literary art. In African Folklore, ed. R. Dorson, pp. 73-101. Garden City: Anchor. . 1973. Introduction to Gbaya. Meiganga: Centre de Traduction Gbaya. Duplicated . . 1975. The Ideophone: a linguistic and literary device in Gbaya and Sango with reference to Zande. In Directions in Sudanese Linguistics and Folklore, Sudanese Studies 4, eds. S. Hurreiz and H. Bell, pp. 142-52. Khartoum: Khartoum University Press. . 1981. Grarmaire gbaya. Meiganga: Centre de Traduction Gbaya. Samarin, W.J. 1965. Perspectives on African ideophones. African Studies 24:117-21. . 1967a. Determining the meanings of ideophones. Journal of West African Languages

4:35-41.

. 1967b. A grammar of Sango. The Hague: Mouton. Welmers, W. 1973. African Language Structures. Berkeley: Press.

University of California

Chapter 19

Three Dialects of Kipare David Odden

1.

INTRODUCTION

Published accounts of the Bantu language Kipare indicate the existence of a northern and a southern dialect

(NK and SK). Kotz (1909) indicates that SK s and z corre-

spond to NX 6, 3 respectively; otherwise, no differences are noted between NK and SK. This study addresses the dialect status of three at the tonal grammars of three speakers.

'dialects' of Kipare by

I compare the systems of NK and SK based

on work with native speakers, and compare both of these with the dialect sented

in Kahler-Meyer

(hereafter referred

(1962), the only published

repre-

tone-marked data for Kipare

to as KM). There are almost no similarities between the tonal

systems of NK and SK ancestor);

looking

(apart from those which must be assumed

the dialect represented

in Kahler-Meyer

NK. The description of Kipare is theoretically

for a more distant

is shown to be most

similar to

interesting too, and in describing

the tonal system of NK, I argue that the Obligatory

Contour

Principle

(OCP)

(Leben

1978) is a rule of NK. I begin with SK, procede to NK, and end with an analysis of the dialect of Kahler-Meyer

2.

(1962).

SOUTHERN KIPARE

The tonal grammar of SK can be described with two general rules, Meeussen's and Rightward

Spreading.

In addition,

Law

there are two tonal melodies which are im-

posed on the verb root in specific verbal tenses associate these melodies with the verbal

(as well as mapping rules which

stem).

As in most Bantu languages, verb stems fall into H and L toned classes. A L verb has L tone on all of its vowels; and on all subsequent

a H verb has H tone on the first stem

vowels of the stem which are not in word-final

vowel,

position.

258

David Odden

(1)

ku + l a

'to eat'

k u + gwa

ku+vona

' t o see'

ku+seka

'to

ku+anika

'to dry'

ku + shukuma

' t o push'

ku + f i n i k i r a

' t o cover'

ku + r a t e r i j a

'to

ene+vina

'he w i l l dance'

ene+dika

ene + f i n i k i r a

'he w i l l

ene + r a t e r i j a

cover'

'to

fall' laugh'

copy'

'he w i l l 'he w i l l

cook' copy'

I assume that the lexical tone is associated with the first vowel of the stem, and a H tone is spread to the nonfinal vowels of the stem by Rightward Rightward

Spread

Spread (RS)'.

(RS)

(2) \

V

RS is triggered only by root vowels, and does not apply to a L root after a H toned object prefix. (3)

ku+va+dikiya

(/*ku+va+dikiya/)

' t o cook f o r

ku+zhi+zora

(/*ku+zhi+zora/)

' t o buy them'

them'

Two tonal melodies in SK are specifically associated with the selection of verb tense. First is the tonal melody associated with the perfective tense. In this tense, the stem has a sequence of H tones which begins from the second stem syllable and reaches to the penultimate vowel. (4)

neki +voniye

' I was s e e i n g '

neki +dikiye

' I was c o o k i n g '

ni +o j i j e

' I bathed'

ni +zorire

'I

eki +banikiye

'he was d r y i n g for'

eki + saguriye

'he was c h o o s i n g

bought'

The same melody is seen in the imperative. (5)

vina

'dance!'

dika

'cook!'

di.ndi.ka

'run!'

shukuma

'push!'

'cover!'

raterija

'copy!'

for'

Three Dialects of Kipare

259

T h e s e t e n s e s h a v e a f l o a t i n g H w h i c h is m a p p e d o n t o t h e s e c o n d v o w e l b y s p r e a d s to t h e n o n f i n a l v o w e l s by

Mapping (6)

T

(2).

I

V

(H) t o n e m e l o d y o c c u r s

past, many negative tenses, (7)

na +vina

1

in a w i d e r r a n g e of v e r b t e n s e s ,

a n d in i m p e r a t i v e s w i t h o b j e c t

'I l a u g h e d '

na+fin£kira

'I c o v e r e d '

na+shukumiya

'I p u s h e d

ni + o j a

'wash m e ! '

ni + jenja

'help m e ! '

ni + r e r e h a

'look a t m e ! '

ni+shukuma

'push m e ! '

si + v i n i y e

'I d i d n ' t d a n c e ' s i + s e k i y e

in

(7) d i f f e r s

'I d i d n ' t Shift

the

prefixes.

na+seka

the latter melody

with'

laugh'

a n d Mapping

f r o m t h e p e r f e c t i v e / i m p e r a t i v e m e l o d y in

(4) a n d

(6). T h e (5) in t h a t

is s i m p l y a H t o n e a s s i g n e d to t h e s e c o n d s t e m v o w e l , s p r e a d

t h e n o n f i n a l v o w e l s by R S . well.

including

'I d a n c e d '

T h i s m e l o d y r e q u i r e s a m a p p i n g r u l e b e y o n d Rightward melody

and

H

V A second

(6)

In (7) w e h a v e a H t o n e o n t h e f i n a l s t e m v o w e l

I suggest that this tonal melody

a n d is s p r e a d b a c k w a r d s t h r o u g h o u t

as

is a s s i g n e d to t h e f i n a l v o w e l of t h e

the stem by

(8) u n t i l

it e n c o u n t e r s t h e

to

stem,

root

tone.

Mapping (8)

II

H V '

O n e c o u l d a l s o a s s u m e t h a t t h e f o r m s in (7) h a v e t h e s a m e m e l o d y as t h e b u t d i f f e r f r o m the p e r f e c t i v e

perfective,

in u n d e r g o i n g a m i n o r r u l e w h i c h s p r e a d s t h e H

tone

to t h e f i n a l v o w e l . T h e r e a r e no d a t a in K i p a r e w h i c h p r o v e t h i s s o l u t i o n to b e r i g h t or

wrong.

260

David Odden

A n o t h e r r u l e l o w e r s a H w h i c h is p r e c e d e d by a H tone because Meeussen

(.Meeussen's

Law,

so-called

(1963) finds a s i m i l a r rule in T o n g a ) . O b j e c t p r e f i x e s in K i p a r e

b e a r d i s t i n c t i v e t o n e s - s i n g u l a r h u m a n p r e f i x e s h a v e L tone, a n d all o t h e r

prefixes

b e a r a H tone. (8)

ku + ni + v o n a

'to see me'

ku + v a + v o n a

'to see t h e m '

ku+m+vona

'to see h i m '

ku+zhi+vona

'to see t h e m

(cl.

10)'

In (10), the u n d e r l y i n g H t o n e of the o b j e c t p r e f i x a p p e a r s L t o n e d a f t e r a H t o n e d subject (10)

prefix.

a+va+imbiya

( / a +va + i m b i y a / )

'he

sang

for

a+va+dikiya

(/a+va+dikiya/)

'he

cooked

ni +zhi +z o n y e

C/ni +zhi +z o r i y e / )

'I

e+zhi+zoriye

(/e+zhi+zoriye/)

'he bought

bought

them'

for

them'

them' them'

T h e H of a root also c h a n g e s to L w h e n p r e c e d e d by a H t o n e d p r e f i x of the H t o n e d negative prefix (11)

sa.

e+ojije

(/e+ojije/)

'he b a t h e d '

ni+ojije

(/ni+ojije/)

'I b a t h e d '

kusa +vona

(/kusa+vona/)

'to n o t see'

kusa+dika

(/kusa+dika/)

'to n o t c o o k '

kusa+banika

(/kusa+banika/)

'to n o t b u r n '

kusa+sagura

(/kusa+sagura/)

'to n o t c h o o s e '

na+vona

(/na+vona/)

'I saw'

na+seka

(/na+seka/)

'I l a u g h e d '

T h u s , Meeussen's

Law

Meeussen (12)

H

=»

(ML)

's Law

L / H +

(12) is (ML)

assumed.

Three Dialects of Kipare

261

ML explains tonal alternations in certain adjective stems. Kipare assigns H to demonstrative type prefixes in all nominal classes except classes 1, 4 and 9; this alternation is seen in the shape of the demonstratives in (13). (13)

ula

'that (far) cl. 3'

ula

'that (far) (cl. 1)'

zhila

'that (far) cl 10'

ila

'that (far) (cl. 4, 9)'

The adjective

-edi

'good 1 , which selects demonstrative agreement, has a final L

when the stem has a H prefix, and a final H when the prefix has a L tone. Thus, we have alternations such as

vaosi

vedi

'good men (cl. 2) ' and

mosi

wedi

'good man (cl. 1)'. This alternation is explained on the assumption that the stem has a H tone and that ML has applied to

/ v ^ - d i / to yield

ML also applies to the superlative suffix

[v4di].

- s h a . In (14),

-sha

has a H

just in case the preceding tone is L, and a L just in case the preceding tone is H. If the preceding stem is

/ - e d i / , its tone depends on ML, so

-sha

has H

just in case the prefix had a H tone; the first H lowers the second H, which bleeds reapplication of ML to the third H. This result is guaranteed by applying ML iteratively, left-to-right. (14)

shuke

nyewa+sha

(/shuke

nyewa + shd/)

'whitest cloth'

shuke

safi+sha

(/shuke

safi+sha/)

'cleanest cloth'

vanthu mnthu

ve+di+sha we+di+sha

(/vanthu (/mnthu

ve+di+sha/) we+di+sha/)

'best people' 'best person'

ML does not apply within a morpheme; it does not apply to the second H of nouns like

ipanga

'machete'. As shown by examples such as

ni + zhi + o j i j e

'I bathed

them', the object prefix does not lower the root H tone. The first restriction is handled by requiring a morpheme boundary between the tones. The latter restriction can be handled by making the object prefix an exception to ML, or by assuming a weak boundary between the stem and the object prefix, one which cannot trigger

262

David Odden

the rule; object prefixes are often absorbed phonologically into the stem in Bantu

and

morphologically

languages.

Consider now the interaction of ML and RS. As presently stated, RS draws association lines between the single root H tone and free vowels in the stem; ML changes a H tone to a L (without reference to position and number of vowels sociated with the H ) . Both ML and RS apply in

kusa+banika,

Under the present view of these rules, RS associates the H of yielding only one H (associated with b a to L, giving

and

from ba

as-

kusa+binika. with

ni,

still

n i ) . ML then should change that H

' k u s a + b a n i k a . Three solutions to this problem suggest

themselves.

RS could be reformulated, not as an association spreading rule, but as a H tone insertion rule. Or, we could assume a segmentalisation rule which changes a H associated with multiple vowels into a number of H tones, each associated one vowel. Or, ML could be reformulated

(12')

H

as

with

(12').

H

V Along with this version of ML, I assume a rule assigning L tone to free vowels. This way, H will appear to be deleted if it is associated with a single but will be phonetically retained

if it is associated with multiple

vowels.

There are ways, in principle, to choose between these approaches unfortunately, Kipare does not seem to provide any of the relevant Theoretical considerations

vowel,

empirically;

types of data.

such as elegance and simplicity fail to make the choice

(perhaps the first solution, H tone insertion, could be ruled out as

'inelegant').

The tone segmentalisation approach would seem to run counter to the general proach advocated motivated

in autosegmental phonology, but such processes are

(Odden 1981). The disassociation

independently

solution needs to explain why

free vowel is assigned a L tone, rather than an association by the Well Conditions Condition

the Formedness

with the preceding H. This precedence relation follows from the - as shown in Odden

ap-

Elsewhere

(1983), a rule referring to free vowels or tones

Three Dialects of Kipare

263

has precedence over more general rules (such as the WFC's) which eliminate free elements. A conservative conclusion is that the problem posed by k u s a + b a n i k a is soluable, but which solution is best is not presently clear.

3.

NORTHERN KIPARE

NK exhibits a number of complex and interesting alternations of some theoretical interest. Interestingly from a historical

viewpoint, there seems to be virtually

no similarity between the tone rules of NK and those of SK. There are a few phonetic differences between NK and SK. In SK, the voiced labial fricative is the labio-dental v, whereas in NK it is a bilabial p. The voiced velar (not preceded by a nasal) in SK is generally the stop g (alternating rarely with y), whereas in NK the voiced velar is always a fricative (not preceded by a nasal). SK s and z appear in NK as 9 and 5. Finally, in SK, there is downdrift (a H after a L is lower in pitch than a preceding H) while in NK there is no downdrift. There are also differences in lexicon and morphology which will not be discussed here. The first rule of NK is a 'low-level' rule, Final Flattening which lowers a H tone to a downstepped H tone when it stands at the end of an utterance. (15)

ipáíngá

'machete'

nkhílrú

'thirst'

nkhúlkú

'chicken'

kéngé!lé

'bell'

! mbú

'mosquito'

9a

'watch'

This is interesting in its own right; NK is one of the few languages with downstep but no downdrift (along with Kikuyu and Dschang Bamileke). When a final H tone is in utterance-medial position, the final H tone appears sans downstep. (16)

ipángá

lédi

'good machete'

nkhúkú

ndó'rí

'small chicken'

mbú

jédi

kéngélé

'good mosquitoes' yáfwa

'the bell died'

264

David Odden

This then suggests a rule such as (17). 2 Final Flattening (17)

0

=> L'

/

H

(17) also applies when H stands after L; most often when a H is flattened and is preceded by L tones, the final H tone spreads leftward as far as it can. The only circumstance under which a final H may be preceded by a H (and not a downstep) is if the preceding H derives from a L via this spreading rule. (18)

! gayoei

'men'

Bayoiei

'id. (/opt; rare/)'

!kula

'to eat'

kula

mimanga

'to eat cassava'

!mae2ia mae&a

'long' alngu

'my long things'

mayembe ¡mayembe

'hoes' maeSa

'long hoes'

nefinikire nefilnikire

'I covered' mayembe

mae&a

'I covered long hoes'

We thus need an optional Leftward Spreading rule. Relating to the optionality of this rule, either the rule applies to each one of a string of L tones preceding the flattened H, or the rule does not apply at all. An input with 8 L toned vowels and a flattened H tone ( n e f i n i k i r e

mayembe

LLLLLLLLIH or IHHHHHHHHH ( n e f i ! n i k i r e mayembe

mae!5'.a) gives two outputs, either

mayembe

maeSa). A form like * ne f i n i k i r e :

m a e S a is impossible.

It is not enough for the rule to be optional and hope that the 'all or nothing' effect comes automatically. As has been shown elsewhere in the literature, when application of a rule creates an input for reapplication of the rule (i.e. vowel harmony, where harmonizing one vowel creates a potential determinant) and the rule

T h r e e D i a l e c t s of K i p a r e

265

is o p t i o n a l , t h e n for a n input s t r i n g w i t h N p o s s i b l e foci, N + l s u r f a c e forms sult; but this is not the c a s e for Leftward

Spreading.

re-

A t o n a l e x a m p l e is a rule

in

S h o n a ( O d d e n 1983) w h i c h o p t i o n a l l y a s s o c i a t e s the final L tone w i t h a p r e c e d i n g free tone. A H at the left s p r e a d s r i g h t w a r d to any r e m a i n i n g free vowel. t h e input s t r i n g

(where t o n e l e s s v o w e l s are u n m a r k e d )

'I d i d n ' t m a k e fly

(intensive)

Thus,

handizàkâbhùrurukisisirà

for' has 3 v o w e l s w h i c h m a y m e e t the s t r u c t u r a l

s c r i p t i o n of this rule. S i n c e the rule is o p t i o n a l , there are in fact four

de-

possible

forms for this verb - a form w h e r e the r u l e h a s n o t a p p l i e d at all, and f o r m s w h e r e the rule h a s a p p l i e d to 1, 2 and 3 (all)

(19)

vowels.

h à n d i z àk â b h ù r u r uk i s i s i r à

h a n d i z à k â b h ù r ilrtiki s i s i r à

hàndizàkâbhùrurukisisïrà

hàndizàkâbhùruriikisisxrà

R e t u r n i n g to the p r o b l e m of NK, the s o l u t i o n to this p a r a d o x is n o t to a l l o w to d e c i d e a r b i t r a r i l y w h e t h e r the d o m a i n of rule o p t i o n a l i t y

is the e n t i r e

or the s u b s t r i n g . T h e p r o b l e m lies in l o o k i n g at t h e d a t a in a p u r e l y fashion.

rules

rule

linear

If w e a s s u m e that e a c h p h o n e t i c L tone w h i c h is r a i s e d is i n d e e d a s e p a -

rate L tone, there is no e x p l a n a t i o n for the facts. But if all of t h e s e t o n e s are o n e L t o n e a s s o c i a t e d w i t h m u l t i p l e v o w e l s , the p a r a d o x e v a p o r a t e s . V i e w e d s e g m e n t a l l y , Leftward

Spreading

is p e r f e c t l y w e l l - b e h a v e d . T h e r e is a s i n g l e L

t o n e w h i c h p r e c e d e s the f l a t t e n e d H tone, so t h e r e are two p o s s i b l e o n e w h e r e the L tone is r e t a i n e d ,

and o n e w h e r e it is d e l e t e d

H tone t h e r e f o r e a s s o c i a t e s w i t h the p r e c e d i n g free (20)

L

H

kufinixira

L mayeniDe

auto-

outcomes:

(and the

following

vowels).

L'H maeaa

T h i s s o l u t i o n a s s u m e s that a d j a c e n t i d e n t i c a l t o n a l a u t o s e g m e n t s are r e p l a c e d w i t h a s i n g l e tone, a s s o c i a t e d w i t h the v o w e l s w h i c h the o r i g i n a l t o n e s w e r e w i t h . T h a t is, I a s s u m e t h a t NK o b e y s the Obligatory

Contour

Principle

associated (Leben 1978).

O d d e n (1981) has shown that in S h o n a , t h e O C P m u s t b e a s s u m e d as a p r i n c i p l e of

266

David

Odden

the lexicon. The OOP must be a rule

(rather than a lexical constraint)

s i n c e it a p p l i e s to L t o n e s w h i c h s t a n d in s e p a r a t e m o r p h e m e s

and words.

s h o w t h a t i n v o k i n g t h e O C P in K i p a r e s o l v e s a n o t h e r p a r a d o x of r u l e below. W e may thus assume the following

in K i p a r e ,

f o r m u l a t i o n f o r Leftward

I will

application

Spreading,

ordered

after the OCP. Spreading

Leftward (21)

L

=>

0 /

(optional)

L'#H

A d o w n s t e p in N K c a n a r i s e sequence HL

f r o m a n o t h e r s o u r c e b e s i d e s Final

H is e n c o u n t e r e d b e t w e e n w o r d s

c h a n g e d to H.'HH b y t h e r u l e Leftward (22)

Shift

Flattening.

(i.e. H L H o r H L H ) , it is

¡6ukari

'it is

ni

Sukari

'id.

nSoke

sugar1

(/opt;

'to s e e

nSoke

ni!

optionally

rare/)'

'to s e e 1

kuBona

nSoIke

the

(LS).

ni

kuBoIna

When

honey'

'honey' ni

yedi

mayurol

'the h o n e y is g o o d '

maBoya

(/ni

mayuro

maBoya/)

'they a r e

cowardly

dogs ' waka!ti

ekiruya

mbwiye ; wangu

atonga

(/wakati/)

'while h e w a s

(/wangu/)

'my f r i e n d

L S a p p l i e s o n l y to a s i n g l e L , i.e. to H L H a n d n o t to (23)

bakuli

yangu

kufinikira kuBona

sha

bakuli

mboru

mbaha

'my n e w

word.

came'

HLL...H.

bowl'

'to c o v e r a b o w l ' 'to see a l a r g e r i p e

banana'

T h e d a t a in (24) s h o w t h a t L S d o e s n o t a p p l y w h e n t h e s e q u e n c e H L H is contained within one

cooking'

completely

267

Three Dialects of Kipare (24)

BeQ i k a é ! n d e

1

kunwa

they won't need to drink

1

n é k i ruy a

'I was

BeOeki paruyiya

'they were not cooking for them'

The following rule is thus assumed

cooking'

(ignoring the word boundary

problem).

Leftward Shift (LS) (optional) (23)

L

=>

L' / H

H

This rule is ordered before the OCP combines LLL...into one L associated multiple vowels, (26)

L

since LS does not apply in

H

II

L

kufinikira

H

kufinikira

bakuli,

i.e.

with (26).

L

I I

bakuli

'to cover a bowl'

A third rule of NK lowers a string of H's at the end of an utterance

if they

are

preceded by a downstep. One source of this downstep is LS - notice in (27) that if the underlying sequence HLH happens to be followed by a string of H tones, expected output H!HH... appears as HL...

(A generalisation true of all

forms in NK is that the tone sequence H!H*

surface

always derives from HL*!H

by appli-

3

cation of Leftward Spreading) . (27)

ma-yembe

1

madólri

small hoes 1

3ayo6i

3 ado r i

'small men'

nkhuku

ndó!r i

'small chicken*

mayuró

madori

'small dogs'

nkhuku

nkhu!ndu

'red chicken'

mayuró

makundu

1

red dogs'

mayuró!

madóri

manyewa

(/manyéwa/)

'little white dogs'

mayuro!

madóri

makundu

(/makundu/)

'little red dogs'

ma-yuro!

makundu

(/madóri/)

'id.'

madori

the

268

David Odden

This lowering rule applies not just within one word which happens to have the (derived) tonal string H!HHH (28)

, but also between words.

ni m a y u r o a n g u bakuli

(/ni

nkhukundu

iji

nkhuku

ndori

iji

nkhuku

ndori

Bana

pekijila

Salna 0ano

pekijila

ndori

nkhundu

nkhuku

¿ngti/)

'they are my dogs'

( / b a k d l i nkhtfndtf nd6ri/)

'little red bowl'

( / i j i nkhtikri ndori/)

'those little chickens'

jangu

ndori

nkhuku

mayuri

ndori

'those little red chickens of mine'

nkhundu jangu

nkhundu

jangu

'while the children eat those little red chicken of mine' 'while the children eat those 5 little red chickens of mine'

A rule is needed to lower a string of H tones at the end of an utterance after a downstep. But how is this rule to be formulated? Assuming a one-to-one relationship between tones and vowels, no rule can be formulated with the desired effect. A likely candidate would be (29).

Final Lowering (29)

H

=> L / L'

But (29) will not provide the desired effect. Consider the string i ! j i ndori

(from iji

nkhuku

ndori

nkhuku

via LS). None of the H tones can undergo (29).

The final H cannot since it is not preceded by a downstep. The medial tones cannot, since it is neither final nor preceded by a downstep. And the first cannot since it is not in utterance-final position. So no tone meets the conditions of this rule, although all of the conditions are needed. The paradox arises only from assuming a one-to-one correlation between tones and vowels. If we assume that the OCP has applied, and that we therefore have only one final H tone in i! ji

nkhuku

n d o r i , (29) will apply correctly to (30).

T h r e e D i a l e c t s of K i p a r e (30)

H

L'

iji

269

H nkhuku

ndori

W e a l r e a d y k n o w from Leftward

Spreading

(21) that the g r a m m a r c o n t a i n s the O C P .

T h e fact t h a t the O C P is n e c e s s a r y to e x p l a i n the a p p l i c a t i o n of Final i n d e p e n d e n t l y c o n f i r m s the

Lowering

hypothesis.

F i n a l L o w e r i n g h e l p s to e x p l a i n o t h e r w i s e a n o m a l o u s t o n a l a l t e r n a t i o n s in the i s o l a t i o n f o r m of c e r t a i n v e r b s . T h e p a s t tense

(formed w i t h the p r e f i x - a - ) of

a H t o n e d v e r b stem h a s ho H t o n e s in the stem, a n d e v e n s e e m s to lose t h e H of the v e r b root. A L v e r b s t e m in this t e n s e r e t a i n s its l e x c i a l L tone, b y a s t r i n g of H tones

(the last of w h i c h is f l a t t e n e d by Final

if final, s p r e a d by Leftward

Spreading).

Flattening,

A s i m i l a r p a t t e r n is f o u n d in the

lexical followed and sub-

junctive . kuru-ya

1

to cook'

ku9eka

' to

kufinikira

1

to c o v e r '

kuQambura

'to u n t i e '

naruya

1

1

uruy e

'you

na ! Séka

'I l a u g h e d '

uieéké

'you s h o u l d laugh'

nàfinikira

'I c o v e r e d '

ufinikire

'you s h o u l d c o v e r '

n à G a m b u '. r à

'I u n t i e d '

u S a m b u .' r é

'you s h o u l d u n t i e '

cooked'

laugh'

s h o u l d cook '

O n e m i g h t i n v o k e some t o n e - e r a s u r e r u l e to d e l e t e the lexical H in (31). But no s u c h rule is n e c e s s a r y . W e n o t e in (32) that w h e n a H tone in o n e of these s t a n d s b e f o r e a string of H tones, all of the f o l l o w i n g H t o n e s are all (32)

naruya

nkhuku

naBona

nkhuku

T h i s s u g g e s t s that n a r u y a

(/nkhuku ndori

ndori/)

tenses

lowered.

'I c o o k e d a c h i c k e n 1 'I saw little

d e r i v e s from i n t e r m e d i a t e n a l r u y a

chickens'

v i a Final

Lowering.

T h a t p r o p o s a l c o r r e c t l y p r e d i c t s that w h e n any L tone f o l l o w s in the u t t e r a n c e a f t e r t h e s e v e r b s , the stem should have the tone p a t t e r n H ! H H H . . .

270

David

(33)

Odden

nalriya

nSoke

'I've c o o k e d

Pa! B o n a

6a

'they've seen a watch'

ulfinikire Final

Lowering

nyungu

'you s h o u l d c o v e r t h e

'polarity principle' preceding

t o n e is L .

(34)

pedi

In (34), t h e a d j e c t i v e

in NK as w e l l as i n S K :

¡wedi

(/wedi/)

But his superficial

similarity

g o v e r n e d t o n e f o u n d in SK

(and v o w e l d e l e t i o n )

/-edi/

Law

a p p e a r s to o b e y a

'good

(cl. 2) '

'good

(cl.

/-edi/.

(H e x c e p t in c l a s s e s 1, 4 a n d 9).

in

yields / B e ! d i / . [ B^di].

Application Final

T h u s , M L is

PayoSi

s t a n d s utterance-iiiedially,

myoOi

Bedi

'good m e n '

!wedi

'good m a n '

|3e ! d i wedi

Babaha

mbaha

Patonga

atonga

'good big m e n 'a g o o d b i g m a n

T h i s a n a l y s i s a l s o e x p l a i n s w h y L S f a i l s to a p p l y to the L of w e w e d i . . . , s i n c e it d e r i v e s H

from

unneces-

analysis

f i n a l H t o n e of t h e s t e m w i l l r e a p p e a r if t h e l o w e r i n g of t h e f i n a l H is

myo©i

Lowering

/-edi/ .

p r e d i c t s that w h e n the H - p r e f i x e d form of - e d i

BayoSi

ML

morpho-

F u r t h e r e v i d e n c e s h o w s t h a t t h e p r o p o s e d a n a l y s i s is c o r r e c t . T h i s

(35)

the

1)'

The prefix takes the

in t h e c a s e of / B a - e d i /

s a r y in e x p l a i n i n g t h e a l t e r n a t i o n s

Lowering.

tonal

it h a s a f i n a l H if a n d o n l y if

t h e n a p p l i e s to t h i s f o r m , g i v i n g t h e p h o n e t i c f o r m

by Final

(found

is just t h a t ; a d e e p e r i n v e s t i g a t i o n s h o w s t h a t

is i r r e l e v a n t . T h e s t e m is u n d e r l y i n g l y

of L S

pot'

a l s o e x p l a i n s w h a t l o o k s l i k e a n i n s t a n c e of Meeussen's

i n S K ) a p p l y i n g in N K .

logically

honey'

/myoOi

in

the

really

came' came'

myoSi

u - e d i / , w i t h two L tones b e t w e e n

the

tone. A n o t h e r t o n a l m y s t e r y of N K w h i c h is e x p l a i n e d b y Final

Lowering

is the

be-

Three Dialects of Kipare havior of the stem sha

271 'new'. In (36) it appears that this stem obeys a tonal

polarity principle - it has a H (downstepped in final position by Final

Flattening)

when the preceding tone is L, and a L when the preceding tone is H. (36)

ni

sha

nSilyi mbeu

'it is new' sha

edi,

sha/)

'new ropes'

sha

nkhinda Like

(/nSiyi

'new seed' ¡sha

'new banana plant'

this alternation is explicable on the assumption that Final

has applied. For that rule to apply to

Lowering

sha we must assume that the stem has an

underlying H tone, and that there is also a downstep (floating L) before that H tone (Final Lowering The stem

only applies to final H tones, and only after a downstep).

sha differs from

e d i in that there is segmental support (the vowel)

for the L tone, whereas there is no such segmental support for the floating L of sha . The assumption that sha

has a preceding floating L tone entails a number of

predictions, which must (and will) be verified in order for the floating L tone analysis of this stem to be accepted (rather than assuming an arbitrary tone polarity rule). One prediction is that if a sequence of H tones follows

sha and

s h a is preceded by a H tone, the following H tones will all be lowered by Final Lowering lying

(since they are fused by the OCP with the H of s h a ) . As predicted, under-

ni

(L)

sha

ndori

becomes ni

sha

ndori

'it is a little new

(thing)'.

We also predict that, regardless of the preceding tone, if s h a is followed anywhere by a L tone, Final Lowering

cannot apply, so

s h a will retain its H tone.

If it is preceded by a H tone, a downstep should separate the two H tones. These predictions are verified by forms such as ni cow' (from and

ni

ni m b e u ! If s h a

n'ombe sha

(L)

mbaha

sha

yangu

n'ombe

sha

¡yangu

by Final Flattening

'it is my new

and Leftward

Spread)

'it is a big new seed'.

is preceded by a word with the tone pattern HL, LS cannot apply, since

272

David Odden

the tone pattern of the string would actually be HL(L)H. So we correctly predict the failure of LS in

n^iyi

sha

jalngu

'my new ropes', from

n^i-yi (L)

sha

j a n g u . Thus, the hypothesis that the adjective sha is preceded by a floating L tone is well supported. The tonal phenomena exhibited by

sha are not isolated

facts; other words in the language have a similar tonal behavior, including 1

'monkey ,

- r i 'three' and

nkho

nda 'louse' (notably, all such examples are monosyl-

labic stems). Turning to tonal alternations within the verb stem, there are two processes of SK for which we seek cognates in NK. We would want to know if there is a rule cognate with Rightward Spreading in NK, and we would want to know of cognates of ML. Neither, in fact, are found. In NK, there is no process which spreads a lexical tone through the stem - thus, contrast the examples in (37) with the parallel examples in (1). (37)

ku+0ona

'to see'

ku+yuha

'to take'

ku + t i t i k a

'to put on head'

ku+6ambura

'to untie1

ku+fxnikira

'to cover1

ku + 9 a m b u r i y a

'to untie for'

nine + finikira

'I will cover'

nine + 9amburiya

'I will untie for'

Thus, one difference between NK and SK is that NK lacks the Rightward

Spreading

rule of SK. Another difference between the dialects is that, while in SK the perfective was characterised by a special tonal melody (a H tone associated with the second vowel of the stem, spread by Rightward Spreading),

the perfective in NK

has no special tonal characteristic. (38)

neBoniye

'I saw'

neyuhiye

'I took'

netltike

'I loaded'

ne©ambure

'I untied'

Three Dialects of Kipare

273

Both NK and SK impose a string of H tones on verb stems in the past and the subjunctive (i.e. in forms like NK / n a l r u y a / or SK navona ). Thus, the dialects share one tone melody, but not both. The second rule found in SK which we might find in NK is Meeussen's Law, the rule lowering a H tone after a H tone. No such rule is found in NK - the only rule lowering a H in NK is Final Lowering. Interestingly, however, within a verb, where SK exhibits ML between H tones of different morphemes, NK inserts a downstep (presumably a floating L). Thus, consider the following examples of H toned prefix followed by H toned stem or object prefix. na!3 on a . . .

'I saw'

naltfinikira...

1

e I + 3on iye

1

e + 6 ek iye

'he laughed'

na!+ 3 a + 8ona. . .

'I saw them1

na!+3a + 8eka. . .

'I laughed at them'

na+6a!+ruya. . .

'I didn't cook'

na + 0 a + 6 eka. . .

'I didn't laugh'

ne+8iI+ruya

'I'm not cooking'

tu!truya

'Aren't you cooking?

1 covered' he saw'

Instead of a rule lowering a H tone after a H, NK has a rule inserting a floating L (which acts to lower the tone register). Drop Insertion (40)

0

=• L' / H +

H

Just as ML is constrained not to apply between the H of the root and the H of the object prefix, Drop Insertion in NK does not apply in this same environment. Drop Insertion does apply between the subject prefix and the object prefix.

274

David

(41)

ku+ia+iona

'to see

them1

ku+ku+ 6 óna

'to see

yourself'

e + 3 à+ 3 ón iye

' he saw

e !+6a+6ekiye

'he l a u g h e d a t

A connection ilarity

Odden

is q u i t e l i k e l y b e t w e e n M L in S K a n d Drop

is f o r m a l l y v i s i b l e if Drop

g e s t i o n s m a d e in C l e m e n t s p o s e d . Drop

Insertion

(42)

Insertion

Insertion

is r e f o r m u l a t e d

(1980), where a m e t r i c a l

c o u l d b e e x p r e s s e d as

them

Compare

=•

this w i t h M L

t h e o r y of t o n e r e g i s t e r

sugis

pro-

(42).

(12). B o t h r u l e s a r e q u i t e s i m i l a r

must be assumed for the historical

two d i a l e c t s of K i p a r e . L e x i c a l

to t h e r u l e

(Odden 1982). Thus,

a n c e s t o r of K i p a r e a n d

We have seen that there are surprisingly

few tonal

tones are generally

s o m e v e r s i o n of

similarities between

a n d a r e f o u n d in o t h e r l a n g u a g e s s u c h as

A THIRD

Insertion

since Kipare

(thus m b e u

d e n t i c a l w i t h c o g n a t e w o r d s in h u n d r e d s of r a t h e r d i s t a n t l y S i m i l a r i t i e s s u c h as Drop

(42)

Kishambaa.

'seed' in b o t h d i a l e c t s ) , b u t t h i s is n o t s u r p r i s i n g ,

including Shona).

assigning

t h e s a m e in t h e d i a l e c t s

a l l y r e t a i n s t h e t o n e p a t t e r n of the P r o t o - B a n t u f o r m

or ML extend beyond

(i.e.

gener-

is t o n a l l y

related Bantu

the

i-

languages, Kipare,

Kishambaa.

DIALECT

T o n a l d a t a is a v a i l a b l e o n K i p a r e f e r to t h i s d i a l e c t SK

in l i n e w i t h

sim-

H / H +

d o w n s t e p in c l o s e l y r e l a t e d K i s h a m b a a

4.

in N K . T h i s

1 H

mbeu

them1

form KShler-Heyer

(1962);

I will henceforth

as M K . M K s e e m s to b e a v e r s i o n of N K , w i t h s i m i l a r i t i e s

(but u s u a l l y b y w a y of l a c k i n g r u l e s f o u n d in N K ) . T h i s d i a l e c t h a s

characteristics

of SK

d a t a also indicates

( h a v i n g s, z a n d v i n s t e a d of 0 , 5

that y

a n d 3), b u t

is f o u n d i n s t e a d of g , as it is in N K ;

reto

phonetic

Kahler-Meyer's

Three Dialects of Kipare

275

MK has a rising tone, which appears in two positions. In some words where a H tone would be expected after z, we find a rising tone, as in i z l n a 'name', cf. NK i d i n a . A second environment where rising tones are found is when a H toned verb stem is vowel initial and stands after a vowel, as in MK NK, this appears as k w o o t a ,

k u o t a 'to dream'. In

suggesting that the rising tone in MK is a low level

phenomenon. Kahler-Meyer Indicates that words with the tone pattern LL are to be grouped into two tonal classes - a class with 'accent' and 'length' on the penultimate syllable ( m u h a n d i

'planter'), and a class with 'accent' on the final syllable,

and 'length' on the penultimate syllable (muhandi 'machete'). In other tonal classes, 'length' and 'accent' are both on the penultimate syllable. The finalaccented class of words corresponds to NK and SK words with the tone pattern LH (recall that in NK, the final H is downstepped). Moreover, final-accented words such as m b o Y o

have the tone pattern LH when nonfinal, as in m b o y o

n y i n g i 'many

buffalo'. The most likely interpretation of these facts is that MK also has the rule Final Flattening,

and that Kahler-Meyer interprets a final downstepped H after

L as an 'accented' L. Support for this hypothesis is found in the fact that MK changes a H tone to a mid tone (in words of the pattern /HH/ in utterance final position, as in

ipanga

'machete1, i p a n g a

ledi

'good machete'.

A clearer similarity (albeit a negative one) between MK and NK is that neither have the Bightuard Spreading rule found in SK; thus, the H toned infinitives in (43) have a H only on the root initial syllable, as is the case in NK. (43)

kuvona

'to see'

ku s e k a

'to laugh'

kukundana

'to like each other'

k u p i tuka

' to turn around'

kufinikira

'to cover'

kuringanana

'to resemble each other'

276

David

Odden

MK has two tonal forms of the perfective (to the best of my knowledge, not the case in SK and NK), correlated with completive versus noncompletive aspect. The latter is like the perfective in NK - it has no tonal melody. (44)

wemanyije

ku-java

' y o u know (how)

vyeringanane

'they

netumie

'I

sent a

'it

(cl.

mwana

weomie

(cl.

8)

to

divide1

resemble each

other'

child' 3)

is

dry'

But the completive perfective has the tonal melody found in the perfective of SK - a H tone associated with the second stem vowel and all subsequent

(nonfinal)

stem vowels. (45)

neimie

' I had

netumie

mwana

cultivated'

' I had s e n t a

child'

Note also that the subject prefixes for first and second person are L in the simple perfective, and are H in the completive perfective. The tone pattern in (45) is precisely the tone pattern found in SK - thus, MK resembles both dialects in the tone pattern found in the perfective. There is almost nothing that suggests that MK has either Final Lowering

or

LS. In all of the examples in Kahler-Meyer, the tone pattern HLH is never converted to H!HH (KShler-Meyer does not recognise any phonetic

'downsteps'; however,

she has mid tones whose distribution is unclear, and are probably downsteps). We note in the following MK examples, contrasted with NK examples, that the tone pattern HLH remains unchanged. (46)

muti

muvivi

mapanga nzata vana

mavivi

ndeza vedi

(mti

¡mvivi

(mapanga

= NK)

!mavivi

(nOaCa

!nde5a

(van! a

vedi

= NK)

= NK)

= NK)

'bad

tree'

'bad

knives'

'long

stick'

'good

children'

Three Dialects of Kipare

277

There is an alternation in Kahler-Meyer's data which resembles LS in some ways; note in (47) that nouns with the isolation pattern HL have the tone pattern HH before verbs (whether the first tone of the verb is H or L). (47)

mvua mvua

'rain' igwa

'rain is falling'

moto moto nyama

'fire' ufwa

'the fire is dead'

yasha

'the meat is done'

simba simba

'lion' akambifa

'and the lion killed him'

mphunda mphunda

'donkey' akayava

'and the donkey divided'

Compare these data with forms like

vana

v e d i , which do not spread H rightward;

Kahler-Meyer states that this rule applies when the noun stands before the verb. Note also that the rule applies before verbs which have no H tone, showing that the similarity to LS is superficial. There are no data available which would show how a noun with the pattern HLL surfaces before a verb, so we cannot know how general this rule is. Nevertheless, it seems fair to conclude that the phenomenon exhibited in (47) is not a variety of LS. Since LS is one of the major sources for downstep in NK (thus the major conditioning factor in Final Lowering), determine if Final Lowering

it will be considerably more difficult to

exists in MK.

Apart from downsteps created by LS, there are downsteps created by Drop sertion.

In-

We would thus want to look at verb forms with a H toned prefix which

condition Drop Insertion

and which also have a tone melody which imposes a string

of H tones on the stem vowels. Two such verb tenses were found in NK, the subjunctive and the past. The subjunctive in MK does not appear to have this pattern. In all forms of the verb (in all positions in the utterance), the subjunctive has

278

David Odden

L tone on every stem vowel (replacing the lexically H toned vowel of H verb stems). (48)

'we should bow to each other1

tuinamiane NK)

'I should go'

nitonge

(nitonge

= /niltongé/

âyuhe

(/a-yuhé/

'he should take' N K ) 'he wants to take (it)'

yê

tutonge

tur e s h e n j i-y a

'let's go play'

nitonge

mché . . .

'I should go to my wife*

But the past tense participates in an alternation which resembles that caused by Final Lowering. Past tense verbs, which in MK have the tone pattern L* for all verbs in isolation, have a series of H tones when the verb is nonfinal. (49)

nâla

'I ate'

nâgwa

'I fell'

nâtonga

'I came'

nâima

'I cultivated'

nâmchwâ nâtumâ

mtwi . . . mwâna

'I cut off his head 1 'I sent a child'

It is quite likely that the alternation seen in (49) is to be accounted for by a rule historically related to FL i n NK, and that the differences between NK and MK derive from restructuring the tone melody for the past and restructuring FL• Many of the similarities between NK and MK are negative (neither has F.S) or illusory (the melody of the past and possible application of FL in MK). There are substantial similarities between the two dialects, which cannot be explained any way other than assuming a period of common development. For one, both dialects share a peculiar rule which changes a root H tone in vowel initial verbs to a L tone in the imperative. (50)

NK inf.

4

MK inf.

imper.

Gloss

kwaâka

-âka

¡âkâ

'burn'

kweéte

-été

¡été

'bring'

kwaânika

-ânika

anika

'dry in sun'

Three Dialects of Kipare 5.

279

SUMMARY

The synchronic grammar of tone in three dialects of the language Kipare has been surveyed here, and it has been shown that the northern dialect and the dialect of Kahler-Meyer (1962) are the most closely related. Thus, this study holds interest for the research on the interrelations of Bantu languages. From a theoretical viewpoint, Northern Kipare has proven interesting, since the (controversial) Obligatory Contour Principle has been shown to be an indispensible element in describing tonal alternations of the language. More generally, the description of tone in Kipare has proven interesting in that the complex alternations in the language can only be accounted for in an enlightening fashion within an autosegmental view of tone. NOTES 1.

The stem v i n a and f i n i k i r a changes their initial H to L.

are H toned, but undergo Meeussen's Law, which

2.

This formulation of the rule follows the suggestion of Clements and Ford (1979) that downstep should be formally represented as a floating tone. Independently, it will be shown that a floating L is realised as a downstep in another context.

3.

The final downstep in m a d o ! ri derives by Final Flattening, final forms like ma-yenibe m a d o r i a ! n g u 'my little hoe'.

4.

As far as I can determine, the imperative forms are identical in all respects in the two dialects - as noted earlier, Kahler-Meyer's system of transcription employs LL tone with final accent where I employ !HH. The information in Kahler-Meyer suggests that the rule applies to all H toned vowel initial verbs, whereas in NK the rule is optional, so that alongside the forms in (50) we find the regular variants ete and aka .

as shown by non-

REFERENCES Clements, G.N. 1980. The hierarchical representation of tone features. In Harvard Studies in Phonology Volume 2, ed. O.N. Clements, pp. 50-107. IULC. Clements, G.N. and K.C. Ford. 1979. Kikuyu tone shift and its synchronic consequences. Linguistic Inquiry 10:179-210. Kahler-Meyer, E. 1962. Studien zur tonalen Struktur der Bantusprachen. Part 11, Chasu. Afrika und Ubersee 46:250-295. Kotz, K. 1909. Grarmatik des Chasu• Berlin: Georg Reimer. Leben, W. 1978. The representation of tone. In Tone: A Linguistic Survey, ed. V. Fromkin, pp. 177-219. New York: Academic Press. Meeussen, A.E. 1963. Morphotonology of the Tonga verb. Journal of African Languages 2:72-32.

280

David

Odden

Odden, D. 1981. Associative tone in Shona. Journal of Linguistic Research. 1 (2):37+51. . 1982. Tonal phenomena in Kishambaa. Studies in African Linguistics 13:177-208. . 1984. Stem tone assignment in Shona. In Autosegmental Studies in Bantu Tone, ed. G.N. Clements and J. Goldsmith, pp. 255+280. Dordrecht: Foris.

Chapter 20

Instances of Semantic Bleaching in South-Eastern Bantu G. Poulos

1.

INTRODUCTION

In his discussion of the semantic features whereby the noun universe

is

classified, Givon (1979:316) makes the following observation, which according to him applies to any portion of a system that involves a hierarchical structure in terms of the degree of generality of features: "It is the most generic semantic features that survive longest, and in fact the morphemes carrying them become grammatical-inflectional morphemes." The phenomenon of diachronic change from the more concrete or restricted features to the less concrete or general features is commonly referred to as semantic bleaching,

and in this paper selected instances of semantic bleach-

ing in the South-Eastern Bantu languages (Doke's Zone 60) are outlined. Semantic bleaching represents but only one of the dynamic forces or processes which operate in languages;

forces which account for internal

changes in the superficial structure of languages over a period of time. Language is not a static system;

it is continuously in a flux of change

which m»y not be perceptible in a synchronic dissection. What I wish to show in this paper is how selected morphological elements in the South-Eastern Bantu languages have undergone restructuring, by virtue of the process of semantic

bleaching. By adopting this approach, certain seemingly problematic

phenomena which are manifest in the data of these languages, are accounted for. A venture of the type envisaged here includes by definition the manipulation

282

G. Poulos

of very diverse data. Four language groups form the data basis of this study, namely Nguni (comprising Zulu, Xhosa, Swati and Ndebele), Sotho (comprising Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho and Tswana),

Tsonga and Venda. Where dialects

of a language group are involved, it would suffice to single out only one when discussing each instance of semantic bleaching, except in those cases where dialects of a group differ significantly in their data. The paper is conceived of within a typological framework and thus attention is paid to apparent typological trends in the respective areas of research. This entails passing references to certain Bantu languages which are spoken outside the South-Eastern Zone. The main goals of this paper are twofold: 1.

to highlight the value of the concept of semantic bleaching in clarifying problematic phenomena in languages which belong to a particular group, and to show that research into these phenomena is most revealing if one adopts a typological framework, i.e. if one views these phenomena within a larger genetic context.

2.

2.

THE RELATIVE SUFFIX

I shall begin this investigation by considering the following examples. The so-called 'relative suffix' is underlined in each case. (The word(s) within brackets represent the relative clause.) Zulu (1) a.

b.

/-yo/

umfana

[ohlekayo]

isitshu'deni

ngumfowethu

'The boy who is laughing is my brother.'

[ e s i h 1 etay o ] n g u m f o w e t h u

'The student who is laughing is my brother.'

Swati (2) a.

b.

umfati

bonke

/-ko/ [lomelekelelako

bafati

umfana]

[labahlakulako]

ulungile

bakhutsele

'The woman who helps the boy is good. ' 'All the women who are weeding are diligent . '

I n s t a n c e s of Semantic Bleaching Northern Sotho

283

/-go/

(3) a.

mosemane

[yo a kitimacro]

b.

basemane

[ b a ba k i t i m a c t o j

Southern Sotho

(4) a.

leqheku

[le

b.

maqheku

[a

Venda

(5) a. b.

k e morwa wa k a

'The boy who i s r u n ning i s my s o n . '

k e b a r w a b a k a 'The boys who a r e running a r e my s o n s . '

/-ng/

o bitsan_cj_] k e m o h a h i o bitsancjJ

'The old person who i s c a l l i n g you i s a b u i l d e r . '

ke b a h a h i

'The old people who a r e c a l l i n g you a r e b u i l d e r s . '

/-ho/

musidzana

[a

vhasidzana

lwalaho]

[vha

ndi

lwalaho]

khaladzi ndi

anga

khaladzi

'The g i r l who i s i s my s i s t e r . '

ill

'The g i r l s who a r e a r e my s i s t e r s . '

ill

dzanga

(6) a. b.

Tsonga

/-ka/

vanhu

[lava

xidyondzeki . . . . mudyond z l s l

v a v u l a v u l a k _ a ] i v a d y o n d z i s i 'The t a l k ipeople n g a r e who t e a cahr ee r s . ' [ l e x i xi v u l a v u l a k a ] i 'The l e a r n e d person who is talking i s a teacher.'

N o w c o m p a r e t h e a b o v e e x a m p l e s w i t h the f o l l o w i n g e x a m p l e s f r o m

(7) a. b.

Swahili:

mtu [ a s o m a y e ]

'A man who r e a d s . . . '

kengele

'A b e l l which r i n g s . . . '

[ i 1i ayo ]

As m a y b e n o t e d the f o r m of t h e s u f f i x in t h e e x a m p l e s o n t h e Bantu languages

is i n v a r i a b l e ,

t h a t is, its m o r p h o l o g i c a l

South-Eastern

form remains

s a m e i r r e s p e c t i v e of t h e c l a s s to w h i c h the a n t e c e d e n t b e l o n g s . the Swahili examples, on the other hand,

In e a c h of

co-variance exists b e t w e e n the

l i n e d f o r m w h i c h o c c u r s h e r e as a s u f f i x , a n d the a n t e c e d e n t . T h e f o r m in e a c h c a s e is in f a c t an a b s o l u t e p r o n o u n ^ pronoun). A question that would obviously observations

is as

follows:

the

(also k n o w n as a

under-

suffixal resumptive

a r i s e f r o m the a b o v e e x a m p l e s

and

284

G. Poulos Why does the suffix in sentences (1) to (6) not co-vary with the class of the antecedent, as is the case with the Swahili examples in (7)? In other words, why does the so-called relative suffix have basically only one morphological shape in each of the South-Eastern Bantu languages?

In order to answer this question I shall firstly, for the purpose of convenience, consider the situation in one language only, namely Zulu, and in the light of my conclusions on this language, will attempt to clarify the situation which exists in the other languages cited. It is true to say that Bantuists have generally assumed

that the Zulu relative suffix

- y o has etymologically evolved from,

or is related to absolute pronouns. The explanation offered in this regard in the literature relates to the commonly held assumption that some type of 'level2 ing process' or reduction has taken place.

This has resulted in the emergence

of only one form, namely the absolute pronoun of class 9 as relative suffix, irrespective of which class the antecedent belongs to. However, assuming the validity of the assumption concerning the levelling process in Zulu, no explanation has been offered in the literature regarding the principles

which

underlie such a process. The complexities associated with the origins of - y o may, I believe, be clarified and brought into perspective in the light of information from certain other constructions. I wish to refer here to aspects of the nature of interrogative constructions. Consider the question forms below where the status of the referent is not presupposed by the speaker. In these cases the speaker may choose from the formatives of two classes only, namely classes 9 and 17. (In (8)a the occurrence of the antecedent, namely into meaning 'thing' is optional. The formatives indicative of classes 9 and 17 are underlined in each case.) (8) a.

into

[ oy i t h a n d a y o ] y i n i ?

'What is it that you like?' (cl. 9)

b.

[ okuthandayo ] yini?

'What is it that you like?' (cl. 17)

Instances of Semantic Bleaching It would be incorrect in such a context to use the formatives of other classes. say for example class 7. (8) c. * [ e s i t h a n d a y o ] y i n i ?

'What is it that you like (cl.

7)

Note now that the following answers may be offered to the questions set out in (8)a and (8)b. In (9)a and (9)b, non-human be expected, while in (9)c and (9)d human

referents are used, as might

referents are offered as possible

answers. (9) a.

into

[ e n n iy i t h a n d a y o ] n g u b h i y a

b.

[engikuthandayo]

c.

into

'What I like is beer.'

ngubhiya

'What I like is beer.'

[ engiy ithandayo ] ngabantu

'What I like are kind people.

abanomu s a d.

[engikuthandayo]

ngabantu

'What I like are kind people.'

abanomusa The above four 'who'

were

answers are of interest si"ce if the word

ubani

meaning

used in the question, then only human referents would be allowed

in the answer. Compare the following: (10)

a.

ngubani

[omthandayo ] ?

b.

nguJohn

[ engimthandayo ]

c. * n g u b h i y a

'Who i s

it

that

you

'It is John that I like.

[engiwuthandayo]

'It is beer that I like.

The observations made above could suggest that some type of hierarchy with respect to the class

system

like?

exists

in Zulu. In other words, there appears to

be, with respect to the interrogative sentences

(8), (9) and ( 1 0 )

reduction or levelling of the classes towards classes

9 and

above, a

17.

Converting these observations into an interpretation involving hierarchical relations, where the top of the hierarchy represents the position which covers the widest

domain

of reference,

the following

representation

would pertain. In this representation, classes 9 and 17 occupy a higher

286

G. Poulos

position than other classes, since the domain of reference covered by the former two, is greater than that covered by the other classes: 3 Classes ,9 and 17 Other classes I believe that a hierarchical relation of the above type has certain important implications. Let us recall here Giv6n's observation regarding hierarchical structures as given on page 281 above. With this in mind I should like to propose the following working hypothesis in order to explain the reason why the relative suffix in Zulu has basically the form

-yo :

If a form/element occupies a high position in a semantic hierarchy then the tendency for it to become an invariable form in the language is greater than that of any other form/element that occurs below it in the hierarchy. In other words, I maintain, in terms of this hypothesis, that with regard to the problem at hand, there is a significant relation between the position of forms in a hierarchy and the derivation of invariable inflectional forms in a language. Considering the hierarchy given above then, it is predicted that in the construction under discussion, forms representative of classes 9 and 17 will occur as invariable forms. In the light of these observations, it is not surprising that the anaphoric pronoun of class 9 has become an inflectionally invariable form in the Zulu language. It is also not surprising that a dialectal variant of the Zulu relative suffix - y o , has the form - k h o

(representing class 17). Thus sen-

tences (l)a and (l)b have dialectal variants as follows: (11) a.

b.

umfana

[ ohlekakho ] ngumfowethu

isitshudeni

[esihlekakho]

ngumfowethu

'The boy who is laughing is my brother.' 'The student who is laughing is my brother.'

The anaphoric/resumptive pronoun is underlined in each case. Note the dis-

Instances of Semantic Bleaching

287

agreement in gender and number between the subjectival inflection and the anaphoric pronoun: Subjectival Inflection

Anaphoric Pronoun

o-

>

-kho

esi-

>

-kho

The form of the relative suffix in Venda, Swati, Northern Sotho and Tsonga is further evidence of the use of class 17. The form corresponding to class 9 does not occur in these languages which could indicate that class 17 represents the most general or 'bleached' form in terms

of its features, and in a strin-

gent analysis would occupy a position higher than class 9 in the hierarchy. Note the occurrence of the Northern Sotho

- g o as well as the Venda

sentences 3 and 5 respectively; these forms correspond

-ho

in

to the absolute pro-

nouns of class 17 in these languages. Tsonga provides a rather interesting situation and could represent, what I believe to be a possible further

de-

velopment of the relative suffix. In this language the consonant characterizing the relative suffix is - k - . By analogy to the discussion presented above this consonant is the same as that which occurs in the absolute pronoun of class 17 in this language, namely

-kona.

A very interesting phenomenon

is manifest, however, with respect to the form of the vowel in the suffix. Compare the following examples: (12) a.

b.

vanhu

[ l a v a va . . . vadyon d zlsl

vulavulakaj

vanhu [lava va . . . . l vadyondzisi

nga

i

vulavulik_i]

As is evident in the above two examples, the vowel

'The people who are talking are teachers.' 'The people who are not talking are teachers. 1

o-

of the relative

suffix and hence, I believe, all its functions have disappeared. It has, however, been replaced by a vowel which is phonologically identical to the vowel of the preceding syllable. Thus an assimilation process, namely vowel harmony

288

G. Poulos

has taken place, whereby the relative suffix in this language has taken on the final vowel of the verb stem. The occurrence of this phenomenon in Tsonga could in my mind represent a later stage in the phonological development of the relative suffix, which cannot be overlooked as a possible future development of the suffix in languages such as Zulu, Northern Sotho and Venda. It may be mentioned here that this suffix already manifests unstable qualities in the Nguni languages - since it may, for example, be omitted in certain syntactic environments. The form of the relative suffix in Southern Sotho is problematic; its origin is not quite clear. Consider once again sentence (4)a here repeated as (13): (13)

leqheku

[ le

o bitsang]

ke

mohahi

'The old person who is calling you is a builder . '

However, assuming the existence of the process of semantic bleaching, it could be possible that in this language, the suffix - n g

might have its

origins not in the absolute pronoun of class 9, but rather in the noun prefix of this class, viz.

3.

*ni-.

THE FORMATION OF DIMINUTIVES

Diminutives in Bantu are generally formed by affixing certain prefixes to nouns, in some cases, noun stems. The prefixes involved generally belong to 4 the following classes: 7/8, 12/13, 19 and 20-

Consider, for example the

following diminutive formations: Swahili (14)

kilima

Cl. 7

'hill'

vi 1 ima

cl. 8

'hills

m 1 ima

cl. 3

'mountain

mudzi

cl. 3

'village

Chewa (15)

kamudzi

cl. 12

'small village'

timidzi

cl. 13

'small villages'

289

Instances of Semantic Bleaching Shona (16) a.

b.

muti

cl. 3 'tree'

'infant'

mwana

cl. 1 'child'

'small piece of firewood'

huni

cl. 9 'piece of firewood'

kamuti

cl. 12

'small tree'

tumiti

cl. 13

'small trees'

gana

cl. 19

cl. 20

Kalanga (17)

kukuni

Now consider some examples of diminutives in the South-Eastern Bantu languages: Venda (18)

thavha

cl. 9 'mountain'

muti

cl

'small matter'

taba

cl. 9 'matter'

'small mountain'

intaba

cl. 9 'mountain'

thavhana

cl. 9

'small mountain'

kutavha

cl. 20

'small mountain'

kutavhana

cl. 20

'very small mountain'

ximutana

cl. 7

'small village'

swimutana

cl. 8

'small villages'

Tsonga (19)

3 'village'

Northern Sotho (20)

tabana

cl. 9

Zulu (21)

intatshana

cl. 9

The pattern which emerges in some of these languages is indeed of significance, since unlike the general pattern found in Bantu, a suffixal

system is employed

in the formation of diminutives in these languages. Three different ways of forming diminutives are noted: 1.

Prefix only (e.g. Venda)

2.

Prefix together with Suffix (Venda and Tsonga)

3.

Suffix only (Venda, Sotho and Nguni)

Assuming that the suffixal system represents a later stage of development in the formation of diminutives - and there is sufficient reason to believe this -

290

G.

Poulos

o n e m a y h e r e ask t h e f o l l o w i n g q u e s t i o n s : is t h e o r i g i n of t h e s u f f i x nature,

-ana?

How did this system evolve?

In an a t t e m p t to a n s w e r q u e s t i o n s of

I s h o u l d l i k e to p r o p o s e t h e f o l l o w i n g

The diminutive

Consider

'child'., via

the following

this

hypothesis:

suffix - a n a has evolved from the Bantu noun

* - y a n a ® meaning

What

stem

bleaching.

examples:

Chewa (22)

mwana

cl. 1

'child'

ana

cl. 2

'children'

ñwana

cl. 1

'child'

vhana

cl. 2

1

ngwana

cl. 1

'child'

bana

cl. 2

'children'

Vende (23)

(24)

Southern

children'

Sotho

N o w if w e h a d to s u m m a r i z e t h e s e m a n t i c c o n n o t a t i o n s stem, two important

features would be identified,

this

namely:

1.

It r e f e r s to a h u m a n

being.

2.

It i n d i c a t e s 'the y o u n g o f ' , i.e. it i n d i c a t e s d i m i n u t i o n in t h e s e n s e of m a t u r i t y . B y i m p l i c a t i o n t h i s i n d i c a t e s d i m i n u t i o n in s i z e as w e l l .

D u e to w h a t m i g h t w e l l r e p r e s e n t

a w e a k e n i n g of t h e attributive

s y s t e m of t h e n o u n c l a s s e s in S o u t h - E a s t e r n B a n t u cate some sense of attribution), g r o u p s s u c h as N g u n i

as

associated with

the typological

prefixal

(i.e. p r e f i x e s t h a t trend evolving

in

a n d S o t h o a p p e a r s to b e o n e w h i c h reinterprets

indi-

language stems

suffixes. In i t s e v o l v e m e n t

c a n c e of human c a n c e of sexual

as a s u f f i x ,

has been eliminated; immaturity

t h e m o s t s p e c i f i c f e a t u r e or then the next-to-most-specific

signifisignifi-

h a s , to a l a r g e e x t e n t , b e e n l o s t . H o w e v e r ,

the

Instances of Semantic Bleaching

291

most general significance of smaltness -ana

in size has been retained. Thus

as a suffix generally indicates diminution in size of both animate

and inanimate nouns. In some cases with animate nouns however, it conveys the additional significance of 'young of'. Compare, for example, the following in Zulu: (25) a.

umntwana

cl. 1

'child'

umuntu

cl. 1

t

person'

In certain instances separate words already exist to express 'the young of'. The possible use of

-ana

in such cases sometimes conveys a pejorative signi-

ficance. Compare the following examples in Zulu: (25) b.

umdlwane

cl. 3

'puppy'

inja

cl. 9

'dog'

injana

cl. 9

'little dog' (pejorative)

Thus the suffix

-ana

represents an instance of semantic bleaching, where

constrained features have been eliminated and general ones have been retained.

4.

THE REDUCED FORM OF THE DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN

The object of my investigation here is a morphological element which occurs at the beginning of relative predicates in the Nguni languages of South Africa. The traditionally called 'relative concord' in these languages, is a composite morpheme consisting of two parts: 1 2.

An initial part which in languages such as Swati and Zulu is laand arespectively, and a second part which is a concordial element (Poulos 1982:69ff).

Consider the sentences below. The morpheme under consideration here is underlined in each case: Swati (26) a.

indlu

[ 1 a b a y a k h i le ] se

iyangenela

'The hut which they built is leaking already.'

292

G.

(26) b.

Poulos

kudla

[ lj^s i k u d 1 i 1 e ]

bekumnandi

' T h e f o o d we a t e

was

nice.'

Zulu (27)

isitshudeni

[ebesifunda

kakhulu]

' T h e s t u d e n t who w a s studying hard will pass.1

sizophume1e1a B a n t u i s t s have t r a d i t i o n a l l y

a s s o c i a t e d the u n d e r l i n e d e l e m e n t in t h e s e

ex-

7 amples with demonstrative pronouns.

A s s u m i n g the v a l i d i t y of t h i s

viewpoint,

no formal e x p l a n a t i o n h a s to my m i n d b e e n o f f e r e d w h i c h c o u l d account for the fact that it is only the initial p a r t of the d e m o n s t r a t i v e p r o n o u n forms o c c u r s in this c o n s t r u c t i o n . sponding demonstrative (27) w i t h the f o r m s

Compare,

for e x a m p l e , l a

forms of this c l a s s , g

in (26) w i t h the

1 a b a / 1 a b o / 1 a : b a , and

that correin

e

1 e s i / 1 e so / 1 e s iy a .

C l a r i f i c a t i o n of the issue at h a n d can, I b e l i e v e , b e f o u n d in a l a n g u a g e as T s o n g a w h e r e a full d e m o n s t r a t i v e p r o n o u n o c c u r s in the initial of r e l a t i v e clauses. C o n s i d e r o n c e a g a i n e x a m p l e s as (28)a and (28)b (28) a.

vanhu

va

vulavulaka]

i

' T h e p e o p l e who a r e talking are teachers.1

[ lexi

xi

vulavulaka]

' T h e l e a r n e d p e r s o n who is talking is a teacher.'

mudyondzisl

Now, d e m o n s t r a t i v e p r o n o u n s w h e n they o c c u r in r e l a t i v e c l a u s e s lose

their

d e i c t i c s i g n i f i c a n c e s . T h u s it w o u l d not b e s u r p r i s i n g if the e l e m e n t s carry t h e s e s i g n i f i c a n c e s are e l i m i n a t e d in the c o u r s e of W i t h this in m i n d , let us n o w turn to Z u l u .

9

It h a s b e e n p r o p o s e d

(The c l a s s 7 form is t a k e n h e r e as the

1st p o s i t i o n (29)

l e / s i / 0

2nd p o s i t i o n le/s/o

3rd

which

time.

the l i t e r a t u r e that the d e m o n s t r a t i v e p r o n o u n in this l a n g u a g e may b e m e n t e d as f o l l o w s .

here

respectively.

f lava

xidyondzeki i

position

(6)a and (6)b r e p e a t e d

vadyondzisi b.

such

in seg-

example.)

position

l e / s i / y a

T h e first segment in e a c h case is the p r o n o m i n a l or s p e c i f i e r m a r k e r ;

the

Instances of Semantic Bleaching

293

second element, the agreement marker; and the third, the marker of deixis. What appears to have happened then in the Nguni languages is a reduction process whereby the restrictive features of deixis as well as number

(agree-

ment) have been completely eliminated and the more general features of noun

and specifier

have been retained. The

la-

form therefore

pro-

represents

the most neutral form and it is this form that occurs in the relative constructions in sentences

(26) and (27). The loss of the consonant

1

in Zulu

Thus semantic bleaching

appears

10 can be explained on phonological grounds .

to have taken place in these forms, with a lexical item, in this case a demonstrative pronoun being reinterpreted as a grammatical morpheme. Incidentally, the occurrence of the full demonstrative pronoun is still evident

in Nguni relative clauses but in one particular class only, namely

in class 16. Consider the following Zulu (30)

indawo

[(lapho ) abafana , l a 4p h a \ J

sentence:

behlala

khona]

ikude

'The the far

place where boys live is , -

In this example the deictic load of the demonstrative pronouns appears to be low, without any clear-cut semantic distinction between the use of 1st position and neutral form and (31)

lapho

la

lapha

2nd position. Interestingly though, the reduced

is perfectly acceptable in this example in place of

lapha

lapho: indawo

Note that

la

[

abafana

behlala

khona]

ikude

'The place where the boys live is far • '

here is still considered a separate word, and could

represent

the transition stage between a full lexical item and a purely grammatical morpheme.

5.

CONCLUSION

In this paper I have tried to demonstrate the importance of considering the

294

G. Poulos

non-formal process of semantic bleaching in clarifying problematic data. The change from a specific domain to a more general one has tremendous versatility in language and represents a dynamic course that a language may follow over a period of time. I have tried to show in this paper how a lexical item with specific features is delexicalised and becomes a grammatical morpheme with general features. The inflectional status of these morphemes is not quite clear. All three instances dealt with in this paper concern morphemes which show no agreement in number or gender with any other element in a sentence. The relative suffix has also lost all semantic significance though it appears to have certain syntactic significances, since its occurrence/omission in a few languages depends entirely on its syntactic environment (Poulos 1982:137ff). The diminutive suffix, on the other hand, conveys the semantic significance of 'smallness* and appears to be purely derivational. Finally the reduced form of the demonstrative pronoun appears to have both semantic and syntactic significances since it functions as a pro-form as well as a specifier. Such a resystematization of elements changes the synchronic character of a language considerably, revealing certain important typological trends, and a consideration of such a process can only enrich our knowledge of the complexities of language in general.

NOTES 1.

It should be noted that this pronominal form does not always occur as a suffix in the relative predicate in Swahili. When certain tense prefixes are employed, notably - n a - indicating a present continuous action; - l i - , a past action; and - t a k a - a future action, the pronoun occurs immediately after the tense prefix and not at the end of the predicate. In this regard, consider the following example: Mtu

2.

[a

na li taka

Consider, for example,.the following statement by Wilkes (1964:132 - translated from the Afrikaans), in which no attempt is made to substantiate the views expressed: According to Van Eden this morpheme is etymologically related to the absolute pronoun of class 9 / j o n a / a n d was apparently only used originally in the final position of relative constructions when the antecedent belonged to class 9. The same occurred in the other classes

Instances of Semantic

Bleaching

295

where the absolute pronoun of the relevant class (to which the antecedent belonged) was used. Later a levelling process apparently took place whereby / - j o / was used for all classes. Originally this morpheme served to emphasize the antecedent; whether this is still the case doubtful. todayj is 3.

A hierarchy such as the one set out here in which all the classes are organized relative to one another, would be far more significant than the arbitrary classification of nouns based on the numbering system currently used.

4.

In some cases these prefixes are substituted for the original prefixes; in other cases they are superimposed. It should also be mentioned that Cole (unpublished notes, p. 104) notes that in some East-African languages, e.g. Swahili and Pokomo, "... what appears to be the Cl. 21 prefix occurs also in the formation of diminutives, but it is then inserted between some other prefix, e.g. cl. 7, 8, 12, and the stem", e.g. Swahili kijitu

(cl. 7 - cl. 21)

pi. v i j i t u

(cl. 8 - cl. 21)

'dwarf'

cf. m t u

'person'

5.

A morphophonological change has taken place here. Details of these changes are not concern us. It would suffice to note the influence of a palatal sound in this instance.

6.

In his postulation of Proto-Bantu forms, Guthrie stem as Item no 1922.

7.

See, for example, Ziervogel

8.

Note here that the vowel e has resulted from an assimilation process; a has assimilated to the vowel of the following syllable i. The omission of the consonant 1 in Zulu relative constructions may be phonologically explained .

9.

This is discussed extensively

10.

See Poulos op.cit.

(1961:91), Ungerer

in Poulos op.cit.

(1971) has listed

(1975:102) and Doke

this

(1965:92).

90ff.

84ff in this regard.

REFERENCES Ashton, E.O. 1949. Swahili grammar. London: Longmans, Green. Bokamba, E.G. 1976. Question formation in some Bantu languages. Ph.D. diss., Indiana University. Cole, D.T. 1955. An introduction to Tswana grammar. London: Longmans, Green. . 1957. Bantu Linguistic Studies in South Africa (Inaugural Lecture). Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press. . 1969. Doke's classification of Bantu languages. In Contributions to the history of Bantu linguistics, eds. Doke C.M. and D.T. Cole, pp. 80-96. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press. . Unpublished notes on Comparative Bantu Linguistic Structures. Colenso, J.W. 1903. First steps in Zulu: Being an elementary grammar of the Zulu language. Pietermaritzburg: Vause, Slatter. Collins, S.J. 1962. Tsonga grammar. London: Longmans, Green.

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D o k e , C . M . 1 9 6 5 . Textbook of Zulu grammar. Johannesburg: Longmans. D o k e , C . M . and B . W . V i l a k a z i . 1 9 5 3 . Zulu-English Dictionary. Johannnesburg: Witwatersrand University Press. Feesbundel (Vir Prof. Dr. Jan Antonie Engelbrecht). 1961. Johannesburg: Afrikaanse Pers. F o r t u n e , G. 1955. An analytical grammar of Shona. London: Longmans, Green. G i v o n , T . 1 9 7 6 . T o p i c , p r o n o u n a n d g r a m m a t i c a l A g r e e m e n t . In L i , p p . 1 5 1 - 1 8 8 . . 1 9 7 8 . D e f i n i t e n e s s a n d r e f e r e n t i a l i t y . In G r e e n b e r g , p p . 2 9 3 - 3 3 0 . . 1 9 7 9 . On understanding grammar. New York: Academic Press. G r e e n b e r g , J . H . (ed.). 1 9 7 8 . Vniversals of human language. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. G u t h r i e , M. 1 9 7 1 . Comparative Bantu V o l u m e 2. F a r n b o r o u g h : Gregg International. H e n d r i k s e , A . P . 1 9 7 5 . Topics in Xhosa relativizaticn. ( C o m m u n i c a t i o n n o . 4, D e p a r t m e n t of A f r i c a n L a n g u a g e s ) . G r a h a m s t o w n : Rhodes University. H e n d r i k s e , A . P . a n d G. P o u l o s . 1 9 8 0 . N o u n p h r a s e p r o p e r t i e s i n X h o s a - A p r e t h e o r e t i c a l a n a l y s i s of t h e n a t u r e of c e r t a i n p r o p e r t i e s and t h e i r e f f e c t s o n t r a n s f o r m a t i o n s . In W e n t z e l , pp. 7 7 - 1 0 0 . L i , C . N . (ed.). 1 9 7 6 . Subject and topic. N e w Y o r k : Academic Press. L o o g m a n , A. 1 9 6 5 . Swahili grammar and syntax. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press. P o u l o s , G. 1 9 8 2 . Issues in Zulu Relativization. ( C o m m u n i c a t i o n n o . 11, D e p a r t m e n t of A f r i c a n L a n g u a g e s ) . G r a h a m s t o w n : Rhodes University. U n g e r e r , H . J . 1 9 7 5 . Die Kwalifikatiewe Van Zoeloe. M.A. thesis. Potchefstroom University for C h r i s t i a n H i g h e r Education. W a n g e r , P . W . 1 9 1 7 . Konversations-grammatik der Zulu Sprache. M a r i a n n h i l l : St. Thomas Aquins Druckerei. . 1 9 2 7 . Scientific Zulu grammar. Stuttgart: W. K o h l h a m m e r . W e n t z e l , P . J . ( e d . ) . 1 9 8 0 . Third Africa Languages Congress of Unisa. Pretoria: U n i v e r s i t y of S o u t h A f r i c a . W e s t p h a l , E. 1 9 4 6 . A Scientific analysis of the phonetics} morphology and syntax of the Venda language. M.A. thesis. Johannesburg: U n i v e r s i t y of t h e W i t watersrand . W i l k e s , A. 1964. Die paradigmatiese morfologie van die werkuoord in Zoeloe. M.A. t h e s i s . U n i v e r s i t y of P r e t o r i a . W i l s o n , P . M . 1 9 7 2 . Simplified Swahili. Nairobi: East African Literature Bureau. Z i e r v o g e l , D. 1 9 5 2 . A Grammar of Swazi. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press. . 1961. ' n Vergelykende b e n a d e r i n g van die omskrywingskonstruksie in die S u i d - A f r i k a a n s e B a n t o e t a l e . In Feesbundel, pp. 8 6 - 9 3 .

List of Contributors Yiwola

Awoyale, D e p a r t m e n t of L i n g u i s t i c s a n d N i g e r i a n L a n g u a g e s , of I l o r i n , P . M . B . 1515, I l o r i n , N i g e r i a .

William Ayo

Badeoker, D e p a r t m e n t of P s y c h o l o g y , T h e J o h n s H o p k i n s Baltimore, MD 21218, U.S.A.

Bamgbose, D e p a r t m e n t of L i n g u i s t i c s of I b a d a n , I b a d a n , N i g e r i a .

University

University,

and Nigerian Languages,

University

Patrick

R. Bennett, D e p a r t m e n t of A f r i c a n L a n g u a g e s a n d L i t e r a t u r e , of W i s c o n s i n , 8 6 6 V a n H i s e H a l l , M a d i s o n , W I 5 3 7 0 6 , U . S . A .

Victoria

L. Bergvall, D e p a r t m e n t of L i n g u i s t i c s , U n i v e r s i t y , C a m b r i d g e , MA 0 2 1 3 8 , U . S . A .

George

Bureng

Tucker

Childs,

Donald

G. Churma, D e p a r t m e n t of L i n g u i s t i c s , CA 9 4 3 0 5 , U . S . A .

Patrick Chet

Vincent,

Science Center 223,

500 R i v e r s i d e D r i v e , 2 J N e w Y o r k , N Y 1 0 0 2 7 ,

323 Lenox Avenue, Oakland, CA 94610-4626,

Stanford University,

David

J.

Carolyn

Harford Perez, D e p a r t m e n t of L i n g u i s t i c s , U n i v e r s i t y of 1168 Van Hise Hall, Madison, WI 53706, U.S.A.

John

P.

John

!!. Keegcm,

David

Ontario, Leiden,

Dwyer, D e p a r t m e n t of A n t h r o p o l o g y , M i c h i g a n S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y , Lansing, MI 48824-1118, U.S.A. C. Gjerlow-Johnson, Edward B.G. 4 2 S t r e e t , N e w Y o r k , NY 1 0 0 3 6 .

Philip

Stanford,

U n i v e r s i t y of

Kristine

Lynell

U.S.A.

Linguistics,

Creider, D e p a r t m e n t of A n t h r o p o l o g y , U n i v e r s i t y of W e s t e r n L o n d o n , C a n a d a N 6 A 5C2. J. Dimmendaal, D e p a r t m e n t of A f r i c a n L i n g u i s t i c s , P . O . B o x 9 5 1 5 , 2 3 0 0 RA L e i d e n , T h e N e t h e r l a n d s .

Harvard

U.S.A.

Conteh, Elizabeth Couper, Keren Rice. D e p a r t m e n t of U n i v e r s i t y of T o r o n t o , T o r o n t o , C a n a d a M 5 S 1A1.

Gerrit

University

Ayom,

CUNY Graduate Center, 33 West

Hutchison, African Studies Center, Boston University, Road, Boston, MA 02215, U.S.A.

Marchese, A.

Noss,

CUNY Graduate Center, BP 3014, Lomé, B.P.

East

Wisconsin,

270 Bay

State

33 W e s t 4 2 S t r e e t , N e w Y o r k ; NY 1 0 0 3 6 ;

Togo.

1133, Y a o u n d é ,

Cameroon.

Odden, D e p a r t m e n t of L i n g u i s t i c s , 204 C u n z H a l l of L a n g u a g e s , T h e State University, Columbus, OH 43210-1229, U.S.A.

Ohio

G. Poulos, D e p a r t m e n t of A f r i c a n L a n g u a g e s , U n i v e r s i t y of S o u t h A f r i c a , Box 392, Pretoria, South Africa.

P.O.

U.S.A.