Handbook of the Mabia Languages of West Africa 9783962031176, 9783962031183

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HANDBOOK OF THE MABIA LANGUAGES OF WEST AFRICA

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© 2020 Galda Verlag, Glienicke Neither this book nor any part may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, micro-filming, and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Direct all inquiries to Galda Verlag, Franz-Schubert-Str. 61, 16548 Glienicke, Germany

ISBN 978-3-96203-117-6 (Print) ISBN 978-3-96203-118-3 (E-Book)

HANDBOOK OF THE MABIA LANGUAGES OF WEST AFRICA

Edited by:

ADAMS BODOMO HASIYATU ABUBAKARI SAMUEL ALHASSAN ISSAH

GALDA VERLAG 2020

TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S Acknowledgement ....................................................................................... iii Dedication .................................................................................................... v Contributors .................................................................................................. vii Introduction ................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: M  abia: Its Etymological Genesis, Geographical Spread, and some Salient Genetic Features .............................................................. 5 Adams Bodomo Chapter 2: F  ocus Marking in Serial Verb Constructions in Kusaal ............................................................ 35 Hasiyatu Abubakari Chapter 3: A Survey of the Pronominal Systems of Three Mabia Languages: Kusaal, Dagbani and Gurenε .................................................................. 75 Agoswin A. Musah, Samuel Alhassan Issah, Samuel Awinkene Atintono Chapter 4: The Syntactic Properties of Coordination in Safaliba ......................................................... 105 Kenneth Bodua Mango Chapter 5: The Definite Morpheme in Bùlì .............................................. 135 Abdul-Razak Sulemana Chapter 6: D  iphthongs and Diphthongization in the Gurenε Dialect of Farefari ............................................. 169 Avea E. Nsoh and Atipoka Helen Adongo Chapter 7: A Morphological Analysis of Personal Proverbial Names in Mampruli ............................................... 203 Amidu, Fatawu Chapter 8: Assessment of Supernatural Characters as Aesthetic Elements in Dagaaba Folktales .................................................................................. 221 Martin Kyiileyang

Chapter 9: A Literary Linguistic Analysis of the Kasena Dirge: Its Nature and Form ......................................... 255 Reginal Talua Chapter 10: The Nature and Performance of Farefari Anaanuurε Women’s Songs ..................................................................................... 291 Avea Nosh and Habiba Alhassan Chapter 11: C  ultural and Poetic Analysis of the Dagaare and Sɩsaalɩ Dirges .................................................... 345 Moses Luri Chapter 12: D  ocumenting Endangered Gurenε Oral Genres in Northern Ghana: Lessons from the Field ........................................................................ 369 Samuel Awinkene Atintono

iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The handbook could not have been a reality without support from various organizations and individuals. The second and third editors are grateful to the first editor, Adams Bodomo, for conceptualising the idea of this Handbook and working diligently to make it possible. Through his vast experience in the field of African Linguistics, he was able to attract good and experienced reviewers to review all submitted manuscripts. We are grateful to the Global African Diaspora Studies (GADS) Research Platform at the University of Vienna for sponsoring the Mabia II workshop that was held in Vienna, Austria. Also, worth acknowledging is the West African Languages Conference (WALC) oragisers in 2017 that was held at the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana.

v

D E D I C AT I O N

Dedicated to all linguists who have committed themselves to the advancement of the Mabia Languages.

vii

CONTRIBUTORS

Martin Kyiiliyang is a Lecturer in the Department of English Education, University of Education, Winneba. His research interests cover mainly Dagara Oral Literature, Narratology on Dagara Verbal Art and Research Methodology. He has publications on Dagara dirges, xylophone musical texts, literary aesthetics on Dagara folktales, Dagara nomenclature, Dagara proverbial expressions and a textbook on Dagara proverbs. He pursued a Ph.D programme at the University of Cape Coast on the aesthetics of Dagara folktales. Abdul-Razak Sulemana is a Ph.D candidate at MIT linguistics. He received his BA degree in Linguistics and Political Science in 2008 and an M.Phil degree in Linguistics in 2012 from the University of Ghana. Moses Dramani Luri is currently a Ph.D candidate of Applied Linguistics at the University of Education, Winneba. He holds an M.Phil degree in Ghanaian Language Studies from the same University and an MA degree in Linguistics from the University of Ghana, Legon. He has been engaged in the teaching of Indigenous Languages and Linguistics in the Department of Gur-Gonja Education, University of Education, Winneba. His research focus is on the Sisaali language, Sociolinguistics, Cultural Studies, and Literacy. Bodua-Mango Kenneth holds a B.A. degree and an M.Phil degree in Linguistics awarded by the University of Ghana, Legon and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Trondheim, Norway, respectively. He worked as an Assistant Lecturer at the Department of GurGonja Education, University of Education Winneba, from September 2015 to October 2018. In the University of Education, Winneba, Bodua-Mango Kenneth was engaged in the teaching of General Linguistics and Gonja Linguistics. He is currently a part-time Tutor in Language and Linguistics at the Accra College of Education.

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

Agoswin A. Musah is a native speaker of Kusaal and a Lecturer in the GurGonja Department, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana. He holds Bachelor and Master’s degrees from the University of Ghana and a Ph.D in African Studies (Linguistics) from the Goethe Universität of Frankfurt. His research interests include language documentation, description, and the interaction of various academic disciplinary strands. Asangba Reginald Taluah is a poet and Lecturer at the University of Education, Winneba. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D in Literary and Linguistic Studies at the Institute of African Studies and Egyptology, University of Cologne, Germany. His research interests include African orature, comparative Literature, English Education, Linguistics, and African Studies in general. Samuel Awinkene Atintono holds a Ph.D in Linguistics from the University of Manchester, UK, and an MPhil in Linguistics from the University of Ghana, Legon. He is currently the Principal of Accra College of Education, Ghana. Prior to this, he was the Head of Department and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Gur-Gonja at the University of Education, Winneba. Avea E. Nsoh is Associate Professor and the Principal of the College of Languages Education of the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana. His research interests include Morphology, Syntax, Oral Literature, and Culture. He is also interested in Literacy, and Language Policy and Planning. He is a co-author of the Gurenε-Farefari Dictionary, and the Oral Literature of Africa. Atipoka Helen Adongo is a Lecturer at the University of Education, Winneba. She teaches Phonetics and Phonology, Written Literature and Morpho-Syntax of Gurenε, a Mabia language of Northern Ghana. Her area of interest and specialization is Phonetics and Phonology, and Research Methods. She has a Bachelor of Education (B-ED) in Ghanaian Language Education and an M.Phil in Applied Linguistic, both at the University of Education, Winneba. She holds a Ph.D in Linguistics from the University of Ghana, Legon.

CONTRIBUTORS

ix

Amidu Fatawu holds an MA in Teaching English as a Second Language and an M.Phil in Applied Linguistics awarded by the University of Education, Winneba. He has taught both English Language and Dagbani for eight years at Dambai College of Education and is currently a Ghanaian Language and Linguistics Tutor at the Gambaga College of Education. Currently, Amidu Fatawu is a PhD candidate in Linguistics at the University of Ghana, Legon. Habiba Alhassan has an M.Phil in Ghanaian Language Studies from the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana. She is a Tutor at the Distance Education Unit of the University of Cape Coast, Bolga Centre. She is interested in Literature, Phonology, Morphology and Syntax. Hasiyatu Abubakari is a lecturer at the University of Professional Studies, Accra. She holds a PhD in African Studies (Languages and Literatures) from the University of Vienna, Austria, and an M.Phil in Theoretical Linguistics from the University of Tromsø in Norway. Her research interests cover both descriptive and theoretical linguistics in areas including Syntax, Semantics, Pragmatics, and Information Structure. Her research focuses on less studied languages with special emphasis on Kusaal. She also does comparative research on related Mabia (Gur) languages, specifically, and West African Languages, in general. Samuel Alhassan Issah is a senior lecturer in Linguistics and Indigenous languages at the Department of Gur-Gonja Education at the University of Education, Winneba. He holds an M.Phil in Theoretical Linguistics and PhD in Linguistics (Syntax) awarded by the University of Tromsø in Norway, and Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany respectively. His research focuses on the syntax of Dagbani and related languages, information structure (focus realizations) of Dagbani and related Mabia Languages, the syntax of anaphoric elements, the expression of negation, the syntax of elliptical phenomena and minority language revitalization. Adams Bodomo is a Professor of Linguistics and the Chair of African Languages and Literatures at the University of Vienna. He specialises in theoretical linguistics with a focus on Mabia languages of West Africa. He has researched extensively in cross-cultural communication, digital humanities, and studies on Africa and Asia.

1

INTRODUCTION

The Handbook of Mabia languages is a collection of evaluated papers from two workshops held in 2017. The first section of the workshop was part of the 30th West African Linguistics Conference (WALC 2017) from July 31 to August 5, in the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana. At this workshop, papers covering varied aspects of the Mabia languages previously known as Gur languages were presented. This was then followed up with the second section, which was held at the University of Vienna, Austria, in October 2017. These workshops offered scholars in various research domains of the Mabia languages opportunities to critically examine the term ‘Gur’ in comparison with a rather more appropriate and authentic name, MABIA. Thus, this Handbook is partly necessitated by the need to actualize the calls to get an alternative name for these languages that had hitherto been known as Gur or Voltaic languages. The term MABIA which etymologically derives from the words ma "mother" and bie/bia/biiga "child" in most of these sister languages is considered in favour of the old term because the former depicts the cultural affinities that are shared by these languages. More elaboration about the term is given in a later section of the book. The papers published in this Handbook are selected based on their scientific and scholarly quality. The MABIA languages, numbering about 80, are spoken as first languages by more than 30 million people who live mostly in the Savanna grasslands of West Africa, the Middle Belt between the forest to the South and the Sahara Desert to the North in present-day northern Ghana, northern Cote d’Ivoire, northern Togo, northern Benin, northwest Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Mali. The major Mabia languages include (the top-20 in order of number of speakers): Moore (nine million), Dagaare (two million), Senari (1.2 million), Gurene (one million), Gurma (one million), Dagbane (900 000), Kabye (900 000), Baatonun (800 000), Mamara (800 000), Lobi (600 000), Konkomba

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

(600 000), Kusaal (500 000), Kasem (400 000), Supyire (400 000), Mampruli (300 000), Moba (300 000), Sisaala (300 000), Koromfe (250 000, Buamu (200 000), and Buli (200 000). Out of this number, this current handbook comprises of works in about 10 of these languages, including Dagaare, Gurene, Dagbani, Kasem, Kusaal, Buli, Sisaala, Safaliba, Mampruli. Care has, however, been taken to include data from other languages in the chapters on these these main languages. The selected works cover varied aspects of the linguistics of Mabia languages, including the phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, literary appreciation and sociolinguistics of Mabia. The studies featured in this book do not have specific linguistic theoretical orientations as preferences, but selection was made based on their scientific and scholarly quality. There are 12 chapters covering various aspects of 10-odd Mabia languages. In Chapter 1, Adams Bodomo does an encyclopaedic survey of the languages referred to as Mabia, a term he first proposed in his 1993 Master’s thesis. The chapter discusses the etymological genesis, geographical spread and some salient genetic characterizations of the languages within this language group. Chapter 2, written by Hasiyatu Abubakari, provides a Lexical-Functional Grammar account of focus marking in serial verb constructions in Kusaal. Chapter 3, co-authored by Agoswin Musah, Samuel Issah, and Samuel Atintono, is a descriptive survey of the pronoun systems of three Mabia languages. Chapter 4, whose author is Kenneth Bodua Mango, discusses the structural properties of coordination in Safaliba. In Chapter 5, Abdul-Razak Suleman provides an Optimality Theory analysis of the definite morpheme in Bùlì. Chapter 6, co-authored by Avea Nsoh and Atipoka Helen Adongo, discusses diphthongs and diphthongization in Farefari. Amidu Fatawu in Chapter 7 offers a morphological analysis of some personal proverbial names in Mampruli. Martin Kyiiliyang, in Chapter 8, provides an assessment of supernatural characters as aesthetic elements in Dagaaba folktales. In Chapter 9, Reginal Talua looks at the nature and form of the Kasem dirge considering both the literary and linguistics characteristics. Chapter 10, co-authored by

INTRODUCTION

3

Habiba Alhassan and Avea Nsoh, offers an account of the performance, as well as nature of the Farefari Anaanuurε women’s songs. Chapter 11, written by Moses Luri, gives an account of the cultural and poetic analysis of Dagaare and Sɩsaalɩ dirges. Finally, Chapter 12, written by Samuel Atintono, discusses language revitalisation centring on the documentation of rare Gurenε oral genres in Northern Ghana using materials from fieldwork. As can be seen above, there are diversified contributors to this handbook ranging from seasoned Mabia professors to young and upcoming Mabia scholars, both male and female.

5

CHAPTER ONE MABIA: IT S GENESIS, GEO GRAPHICAL SPREAD, AND SOME SALIENT GENETIC F E AT U R E S Adams Bodomo University of Vienna

Abstract: The MABIA languages, numbering about 80, are spoken as first languages by more than 30 million people who live mostly in the Savanna grasslands of West Africa, the middle belt between the forest to the South and the Sahara Desert to the North in present-day northern Ghana, northern Cote d’Ivoire, northern Togo, northern Benin, northwest Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Mali. Some of the salient genetic linguistic features exhibited in many of these languages such as advanced tongue root, vowel harmony, syllabic nasality, tonal polarity, suffixal noun classes, time-depth particles, and SVOV serializing syntax are outlined in this chapter, along with an etymological account of the term "Mabia". It is then argued that, while these features are not unique to the Mabia languages as many other non-Mabia language groups also exhibit some of them, the totality of their regular occurrences in the Mabia languages makes Mabia a unique branch within the Niger-Congo language family. By totality of occurrence, I mean that more of these features occur in most Mabia languages than in languages of other groups. For instance, though many Kwa languages also have affixal noun classes there are more suffixal ones in Mabia than in Kwa. For example, the singular-plural pairs for ‘house’ in Dagaare are yí-rì ‘house’ and yí-è ‘houses’ (with suffixes marking number in Dagaare).

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

In Akan it is è-fíé ‘house’and m̀ -fíé ‘houses’ (with prefixes marking number in Akan). In this chapter, these Mabia features are discussed mostly from a comparative perspective with occasional references to language groups like Kwa and other Niger-Congo language groups. The main criterion for the choice of languages for this study is that of the availability of data, though attempts are made to cover as many sub-varieties of the Mabia language group as possible. Keywords: Mabia Languages, Mabia etymology, Mabia geographical spread, Mabia genetic linguistic features

1.0 INTRODUCTION1 The MABIA languages, numbering about 80, are spoken as first languages by more than 30 million people who live mostly in the Savanna grasslands of West Africa, the middle belt between the forest to the South and the Sahara Desert to the North in present-day northern Ghana, northern Côte d’Ivoire, northern Togo, northern Benin, northwest Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Mali. The major Mabia languages include (top 20 in order of number of speakers): Mòoré (nine million), Dagaare (two million), Senari (1.2 million), Gurenε (one million), Gurma (one million), Dagbane (900 000), Kabye (900 000), Baatonun (800 000), Mamara (800 000), Lobi (600 000), Konkomba (600 000), Kusaal (500 000), Kasem (400 000), Supyire (400 000), Mampruli (300 000), Moba (300 000), Sisaala (300 000), Koromfe (250 000), Buamu (200 000), and Buli (200 000) (Gutman and Avanzati 2013). Figure 2 below provides more comprehensive information about these languages, particularly their geographical location within the West African sub-region.

This chapter has developed from Bodomo 2005 and Bodomo and Abubakari 2017. The latter study added more languages to the inventory of Mabia languages used in Bodomo 2005. In this chapter I have kept the same number of languages and comparison parameters as in Bodomo and Abubakari 2017 but have refined these comparisons and also the background data on the Mabia languages. 1

Mabia: Its Genesis, Geographical Spread, And Some Salient Genetic Features

7

Figure 1. Location of the Mabia languages in West Africa

(Map from https://www.freeworldmaps.net/pdf/africa.html, accessed 13th August 2019)

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

Table 1: The top 20 Mabia languages, the countries they are spoken in, and their approximate number of speakers Name

Countries

Mòoré

Burkina Faso, Benin, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mali, Togo Ghana, Burkina Faso Ivory Coast, Mali, Burkina Faso Ghana, Burkina Faso Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Niger, Ghana Ghana Togo, Benin, Ghana northwest of Nigeria Mali Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana Ghana, Togo Ghana Ghana, Burkina Faso Mali, Ivory Coast Ghana Togo, Ghana Ghana, Burkina Faso Burkina Faso, Mali Burkina Faso Ghana

Dagaare Senari Gurenε Gurma Dagbane Kabye Baatonun Mamara Lobi Konkomba Kusaal Kasem Supyire Mampruli Moba Sisaala Koromfe Buamu Buli

Number of first-language speakers 9 million 2 million 1.2 million 1 million 1 million 900 000 900 000 800 000 800 000 600 000 600 000 500 000 400 000 400 000 300 000 300 000 300 000 250 000 200 000 200 000

While these languages have rightly been identified and classified as a linguistic group because of their genetic linguistic similarities (vowel harmony, syllabic nasality, tonal polarity, suffixal noun classes, time-depth particles, SVOV serializing syntax, etc), some early European missionary

Mabia: Its Genesis, Geographical Spread, And Some Salient Genetic Features

9

and neo-colonial African linguists decided to give this group of languages two highly inappropriate names - "Gur languages" (for English-speaking linguists) and "Langues Voltaiques" (for French-speaking linguists). On 4th August 1984, the government of the revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso (where the largest Mabia language, Mòoré, is spoken) changed the then name “Upper Volta” which was based on the Portuguese name for the river that flows through it, Rio Volta meaning “twist”). With this great help from Sankara, the term "Langues Voltaiques" appears to have died a natural death. But the term "Gur" has recalcitrantly endured to this day, licensed by the fallacy that most of these languages have names and syllables beginning with "gur." The Mabia languages (Bodomo 1993, 1994, 2005), as mentioned above, have also been referred to as the Gur languages or langues Voltaiques. Previously Mabia was used to refer to only a subgroup of Gur, namely the Western OtiVolta group of languages (Westermann & Bryan 1952, Greenberg 1963, Bendor-Samuel 2006). These languages are spoken across the West African sub-region, covering countries such as Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso, and Cote d’Ivoire, as shown in figure 2. Previous research has established that all the languages of the Niger-Congo group are closely related in one way or another, and Gur and Adamawa-Ubangi are suggested to have originated as dialect continuum (Kleinewillinghoefer and Ulrich (1996), Bendor-Samuel 2006:632, Bodomo and Abubakari 2017). Bodomo (2005) also reiterates the close relatedness of the Mabia languages in areas such as phonology, morphology, and syntax. This chapter builds on the work of Bodomo (2005) and Bodomo and Abubakari (2017) with the aim of providing a comparative descriptive analysis of five Mabia languages. Bodomo (1993, 2005) and Bodomo and Abubakari (2017) outline identical typological characteristics among the Mabia languages spanning the areas of tone, vowel harmony, nasality, noun classes, and serial verb constructions. I take close look at these characteristics with data from

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

Kusaal, Dagaare, Dagbane, Buli, and Gurunε (Frafra/Farefare). This is to reveal the close relationships between these languages and to show that they originate from a common ancestral language. The choice of these languages is based on the availability of data at the time of this research. The five languages come from five different groups out of the seven groups of Mabia languages outlined in Bodomo (2005). It is believed that these five languages will provide us with a fair idea of the basic typology of the Mabia languages. The African language classification figure below is taken from Bodomo (1993, 2005) which narrows its focus to Gur languages, in general, and Mabia languages, in particular, where the latter form the core of our discussion. Figure (2) shows the Bodomo (1997, 2005) rendition of the term Mabia while the latter part of the figure following the arrow, shows the Bodomo (2017) rendition of the classification, where the term Mabia is now used for all the “Gur” or “Voltaique” languages. Figure 2

Mabia languages (Bodomo 1993, 2005)

Mabia: Its Genesis, Geographical Spread, And Some Salient Genetic Features

11

Mabia languages (Bodomo 2017) The term Mabia [ma-‘mother’, bia ‘child’] means ‘mother’s child’/‘sibling’ and it renders credence to the fact that these languages are metaphorically believed to have been born from a single parent (Bodomo and Abubakari 2017). Many of these languages are quite mutually intelligible and as Bodomo (2005:710) puts it: ‘The attempt to classify these languages does not mean there are clear boundaries. Most of these languages form a continuum and the variation between them is rather gradual.’ The main question underlying the research for writing this chapter is: what are the underlying genetic and typological relationships between the Mabia languages? In addressing these issues, section two of the chapter discusses common typological characteristics of five of the Mabia languages. This is followed by a short summary and conclusion to the chapter.

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

2.0

Typological Characteristics of Mabia Languages

Bodomo and Abubakari (2017) outline identical typological characteristics among the Mabia languages spanning the areas of tone, vowel harmony, nasality, noun classes, and serial verb constructions. This section explores the common features that make it possible for these languages to be grouped under a common category. The commonality leads us to see these languages as constituting a linguistic group. What should be of note here is the fact that these languages have too many similarities to be considered as separate languages. They show evidence of having originated as a language continuum, for which reason one might propose that they be seen as dialects of a common language rather than disparate, individual languages of their own. Many a time, diversity has been used as an excuse to overly fragment the languages of Africa, and if one were to closely look at all the languages in Africa in the way that is attempted here, we might get a much smaller inventory of African languages. This section compares and contrasts features such as the sound systems (vowels and consonants), tone, enumeration, noun class systems, postpositions, and serial verb constructions in the five listed languages.

2.1 Consonantal and Vowel Systems of Mabia languages One area of close similarity among the Mabia languages is the segmental (consonantal and vocalic) sound system of these languages. We provide below in tables 1 and 2 the consonant and vowel inventories of five of these languages. Table 2: Sets of consonant correspondences Language

Stops

Affricates

Fricatives

Dagaare

p, b, t, d, k, g, k͡ p, g͡ b, Ɂ

ky, gy

f, v, s, z, h, ɦ, ɣ

LateralFlap/ Nasals Liquids Trill l,‘l

m, n, ŋ, ŋ͡m, ɲ,

r

SemiVowels w, y

Mabia: Its Genesis, Geographical Spread, And Some Salient Genetic Features

Kusaal

p, b, t, d, k, g, k͡ p, g͡ b, Ɂ

Dagbane2

p, b, t, d, k, g, k͡ p, g͡ b, Ɂ

Buli Gurunε

f, v, s, z, ʝ, h

l

m,n, ŋ, ŋm, ɲ,

r

w,y

r

w,j

13

m,n,

tʃ (ʨ) dʒ

f, v, s, z, ʃ,

(ʥ)

ʒ, h, ɣ

p, b, t, d, k, g, k͡ p, g͡ b

tʃ (ʨ) dʒ (ʥ)

f, v, s, z, ɣ

l

m,n, ŋ, ŋ͡m, ɲ,

r

w,j

p, b, t, d, k, g, Ɂ

tʃ dʒ

f, v, s, z, ɣ

l

m,n, ŋ, ɲ,

R

w,y

l

ŋ, ŋ͡m, ɲ,

Commenting on the stops as captured in Table 1 above, all the languages have what is common in Gurunε with the latter lacking the double articulation / k͡ p, g͡ b/. Buli also lacks the glottal stop /Ɂ/. The affricates /tʃ, dʒ/ are lacking in Kusaal whilst all the other languages have them. The fricatives/f, v, s, z/ are common to all. In addition, Kusaal, Dagaare and Dagbane have /h/. The allophone / ɣ/ is present in all but Kusaal. Whilst /ɦ/ is found in Dagaare alone, /ʝ/ is also found in Kusaal but only in a limited number of words (Musah et al 2013). All five languages have the lateral /l/, with Dagaare showing an additional implosive /’l/. The nasals /m, ɱ, ŋ, ɲ/ are common to all, with Gurunε lacking the double articulation / ŋ͡m/. The sounds [ɾ] and [ɣ] are surface allophones to /d/ and /g/ respectively in Dagaare and Dagbane. The trill /r/as well as the semivowels /w, y/ are common to all the languages. Table 3: Sets of vowel Correspondences Language Kusaal Dagaare Buli Dagbane Gurunε

+ATR i, e, o, u i, e, o, u i, e, o, u, ø, ə i, e, o, u, ə, i, e, o, u

-ATR ɩ, ɛ, ɔ, ʊ, a ɩ, ɛ, ɔ, ʊ, a ɩ, ɛ, ɔ, ʊ, a ɨ, ɛ, ɔ, ʊ, a, ɩ, ɛ, ɔ,a,

Nasalized a͂ , ɛ͂, ɩ,̃ ᴐ͂, ʊ̃, ĩ õ, ũ, ĩ õ, ũ, a͂, ɛ͂, ɩ,̃ ᴐ͂, ʊ̃ ã, ĩ, ẽ ĩ, a͂, ɛ͂, ɨ,̃ ᴐ͂, ʊ̃ ĩ, ũ, a͂, ɛ͂, ɩ,̃ ᴐ͂,

Hudu (2010) argues that the most prominent consonantal phonemes in Dagbane are /s, z, k, g,ŋ, k͡p, gb ,ŋ͡m/ with the following surface variants: /d/-[ɾ], /s/-[ʃ,x,h], /z/- [ʒ], /k/- [tʃ], /g/-[ dʒ, ɣ, Ɂ], and / ŋ/-[ɲ]. 2

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

Data: Dagaare (Bodomo1997), Kusaal (Musah et al 2013, Bodomo and Abubakari 2017, Abubakari forthcoming), Dagbane (Hudu 2010), and Gurunε Atintono (2004), Buli (Kröger 1992, Akanglig-Pare 1994) The languages show between 9 and 10 oral vowels, as indicated in Table 2. There are both [±ATR], which is a reflection of the role of vowel harmony in these languages, as Advanced Tongue Root (ATR) is a prominent distinctive feature in many languages of West Africa. Nasal vowels are also prominent in all the languages. In principle, nasalization is triggered in an environment where a vowel is followed by a nasal but in practice not all oral vowels can be followed by a nasal. Whereas all [-ATR] vowels can be nasalized, there are restrictions in the distributions of some [+ATR] vowels in the environment of a nasal. The vowel /e/ for instance does not occur before a nasal in all the languages except Buli. In Dagbane, the only [+ATR] vowel that can be contrastive is [i] (see Hudu 2010). Buli exhibits fewer instances of vowel nasalization. The identified vowels: /ã, ĩ, ẽ/ (Kröger 1992) are argued to be instances of assimilation from neighbouring nasal sounds.3 More research is required to ascertain the actual situation in this language.

2.2 Tone All the languages under consideration are tonal languages, with either a twolevel tone system with a downstepped high tone or a three-level tone system, with or without a downstepped high tone. Tone is phonemic as it brings about meaning differences in all these languages. Tone performs both lexical and grammatical functions in the languages. I discuss tone in individual languages with data to substantiate the claims.

I.

Tone in Kusaal

Kusaal has three level tones and a downstepped high tone. Tone is phonemic This is based on information gathered by us from a native speaker (Sulemana Abdul-Razak, PhD candidate in Linguistics at MIT) in a skype interview on 30 Nov. 2015. 3

Mabia: Its Genesis, Geographical Spread, And Some Salient Genetic Features

15

and has both lexical and grammatical functions (Abubakari 2018, Bodomo and Abubakari 2017, Musah 2010).

(1) Functions of tone in Kusaal a.

Lexical function i. bá’ ‘father’ bà 3PL ii. nᴐ́ŋ ‘poverty’ nᴐ̀ŋ ‘like’ iii. būk ‘to devine, soothsay’ búk subside e.g. from anger’

b.

Grammatical function: iv. Perf: [ ḿ! pú kúà] v. Fut.: [ ḿ! pù kùà] vi. go’Perf.: [ń! kú kiń]



vii.

Fut.: [ń! kù kìn]

‘to be weak’ bùk

‘I did not farm’ ‘I will not farm’ ‘I did not go, not go’ ‘I will not

I

‘to

could

II. The perfective and future negations in Kusaal are expressed by the use of tone marking on the preverbal particles as observed in (1b). The particles pʋ/ku are both negative future morphemes. The use of a low tone on these morphemes as in pʋ̀/kù translates into ‘will not’ and a high tone as in pʋ́/kú will mean ‘did not’ (Musah 2010). Tone in Dagaare

Dagaare is a tone language, as attested by several studies, including Kennedy (1966), Bodomo (1997), and Anttila & Bodomo (2000), the language has two level tones and a downstepped high tone. The Dagaare tone, like that of most Mabia, Kwa and other Niger-Congo languages, has two basic functions in this language: lexical and grammatical. On its lexical functions, Dagaare words may have the same segmental composition and yet differ in tone qualities which in turn will bring about differences in lexical semantics:

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

(2)

Functions of tone in Dagaare

a.

Lexical function i. bá ‘to go very fast’ bà ii. nɔ́ŋ ‘to massage’ nɔ̀ŋ

b.

Grammatical function

‘to fix to the ground’ ‘to love, like’

Bodomo (1997) shows that the difference in meaning of the sentences below are a result of their difference in the tonal markings of the segments:

iii. Ò

kὺŋ

gáá.

s/he neg+fut come-perf ‘S/he will not go’ (negative declarative sentence)

iv.

Ò kύŋ gáá. s/he neg+hort come-perf ‘S/he should not have gone’ (negative hortative sentence) (Bodomo 1997:18)

III.

Tone in Gurunε

Atintono (2013:90) shows that Gurunε marks two level tones: high and low. Tone in Gurunε has both lexical and grammatical impact on meaning differentiation:

(3)

Functions of tone in Gurunε

a.

Lexical Function i. vàlèŋà ‘waist bead’ ii. sìrà ‘truth’

4

váléŋá sírá

‘spider’ ‘husband’4

This is more or less the same word, tone, and interpretation in Dagaare and Kusaal.

Mabia: Its Genesis, Geographical Spread, And Some Salient Genetic Features

17

b.

Grammatical Function iii. Ábáa wá óbé Ásᴐ́’ᴐŋá kᴐ́má báyì. Leopard INGR.PST chew Rabbit children two ‘Mr Leopard did eat two of Mr Rabit’s two children.’



iv. Ábáa wà òbè Ásᴐ́’ᴐŋá kᴐ́má báyì. Leopard INGR.FUT chew Rabbit children two ‘Mr Leopard will eat two of Mr Rabit’s two children.’ (Atintono 2013:90)

IV.

Tone in Dagbane

Olawsky (1999:186) shows that Dagbane is a tonal language with two levels of tones: High (H) and Low (L). He further shows that tone in Dagbane is phonemic and that it causes meaning changes in minimal pairs as shown below:

(4)

Functions of tone in Dagbane

a. Lexical i. g͡ balli ii. g͡ balli

[g͡ ballI] [g͡ ballI]

(grave) H-H (zana mat) L-H



[pallI] [pallI]

(road) (new)

iii. iv.

palli palli

H-H H-L

b. Grammatical On the grammatical function of tone, Olawsky admits that grammatical tone is not absent in Dagbane and appeals for further research into that. Hudu Fuseini (personal communication) seems to suggest that there is indeed a hortative construction in Dagbane which indicates a grammatical function for tone with the following data and description:

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

“The tonal pattern in Dagbani is same as in Dagaare [which has a hortative high tone for “he eats TZ” and “he should eat TZ”], except that there is an added inflection to distinguish between the two sentences. The difference is not due solely to the tonal change. i. ò dí-rí 3SG eat- IMPERF ‘S/he eats TZ.’



sáɣìm. TZ

ii. ò dísáɣìm. 3SG eatTZ ‘S/he ate TZ.’

In both, the tone on the 3rd person is low. In the hortative form, the tone on the 3rd person is high, and the verb has an imperative suffix: iii. ó dí-m 3SG eat-HORTA ‘S/he should eat TZ.’

sáɣìm. TZ

You can only use tone changes when the subject is 3rd person (singular or plural). It doesn't work with 2nd person, where the pronoun is simply omitted. The only other case of grammatical tone I know of is one that is used to mark a subject that the speaker doesn't want to name. It's usually used in gossips or innuendos e.g. iv. á bé yómà. 2SG be near ‘You are close by.’

Mabia: Its Genesis, Geographical Spread, And Some Salient Genetic Features

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Here the 2nd person has a high tone. In fact, every TBU in the statement except the last has a high tone.

v. á

bé

yómà

2SG be near ‘One who is close by.’ Here, the subject and verb bear low tones, the remaining TBUs have high tones.” (Hudu Fuseini, personal email communication on June 5, 2018)

V.

Tone in Buli

Kröger (1992) indicates that there are three tonal levels in Buli: high, mid, and low. He is quick to add that the tone phenomena in the said language are very complex. According to Kröger, words deviate from their basic tonal patterns when they occur in a syntactic scheme. Kroeger (1992) outlines the data in (4) as examples of lexical and grammatical functions of tone.

(4)

Functions of tone in Buli

a.

Lexical distinctive function i. bang (M) ‘bangle’



bang ii. ka



ka (M) iii. posuk (HH)

(L) (H)

posuk (LM) b.

‘lizard’ ‘emphatic particle’ ‘not to have’ –ka(L) ‘it’ ‘sheep’ ‘room of a compound’

Grammatical distinctive functions iv. Ateng a cheng (M) yabanga. ‘Ateng is going to the market’ v. Ateng a cheng (L) yabanga. ‘Ateng was going to the market.’

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

2.3 Noun Class System The system of noun classes is widely acknowledged in the Niger-Congo language family. This is one basic feature that runs through the Mabia languages, with mostly a suffixal marking system while the neighbour language group, Kwa, has mostly a prefixal noun class system (Bodomo and Marfo 2006). An example is the noun class marking involving the lexical item HOUSE. The singular-plural pairs for ‘house’ in Dagaare, a Mabia language, are yí-rì ‘house’ and yí-è ‘houses’ (suffixes mark number for Dagaare). For Akan, a Kwa langage, it is è-fíé ‘house’and m̀ -fíé ‘houses’ (prefixes mark number for Akan). The number of classes usually depends on the approach of the researcher. Whereas some languages record five to six subclasses, others record eleven classes. Olawsky (1997, 1999) in the case of Dagbane, and Bodomo (1997) for Dagaare put the plural and singular forms into a common group. Abubakari (2011, 2014, 2018) for Kusaal and Nsoh (2002) for Gurunε put the singular and plural in different classes. The classification of nouns is based on both semantics and morphology. Nouns are mostly grouped using affixes that mark or co-mark number. Nouns that share identical singular affixes are grouped into a class and those that share identical plural affixes are likewise grouped together. All affixes used in the noun classification are suffixes. No instances of prefixes are identified, so we generalize that Mabia languages exhibit a suffixal noun class system. Semantically, the noun classes in Kusaal and Gurunε show an instance where human or personal nouns attract the use of similar class suffixes, whereas nouns relating to trees, animals, body parts, food crops, liquids and abstract entities attract similar class suffixes for their singular and plural forms respectively. The noun class system in Buli is complicated and no extensive research has been made on that as at the time of this research. There are four singular classes and five plural classes. The singular class identifiers are however not markers of number whereas the plural markers mark number. An interview conducted with a native speaker reveals that the classification is based on

Mabia: Its Genesis, Geographical Spread, And Some Salient Genetic Features

21

semantics rather than morphology. Items in class one are [+human] and the suffixes do not mark number. They mostly function as determiners. Items in the other classes are [–human]. The plural suffixes are however used to mark number. Further research needs to be conducted to establish the actual form of noun classification in Buli. Data on the various noun class systems in the languages under study are shown below from Table 4 to Table 8: Table 4: Gurunε noun classification (Nsoh 2002): Gender i

Classes 1/2

Suffixes a/-ba

Examples pᴐɤa/pᴐɤəba

Gloss “wife/wives” “woman/

ii

3/4

-ka/-sɩ

pᴐka/pᴐɤəsɩ

iii iv v vi vii v/iv vi/iv iv/v

5/6 7/8 9/10 3/2 7/4 9/8 11/8 7/10

-di/-a -kυ/-tυ -bυ/-i -ka/-ba -kυ/-si -bυ/-tυ -la/-tυ -kυ/i

yire/yɛa dυkᴐ/dυɤərᴐ laɤahᴐ/liɤəri nayiga/nayigəba nu͂ ʔo/nu͂ʔu͂si kaam/katᴐ pugula/pugəto kυʔυŋᴐ/ki͂ ?i͂ ni͂

women” “house(s)” “pot(s)” “money” "thieves" “hand(s)” “oil(s)” “girl(s)” “gu

Table 5: Noun class system in Kúsáàl: (Abubakari 2011, 2014, 2018) CLASSES a. ½ b. ½

SUFFIXES -a/-ba, -t,-d/-b Ø/nam(a) -b(a)/-nam(a)

¾

-g/-s -ŋ/-mis

EXAMPLES púà/púàbà níd/nídíb mà/mànàm(à) yààb(à)/yàànàm/ yàànàmà bííg/bíís gʋ́ŋ/gʋ́mɩ́s

GLOSS person/persons person/persons mother/mothers ancestor/ancestors child/children kapok tree/kapok trees

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

5/6 a. 7/8 b. 7/8 9/10 11

-g/-d -r(i)/-a -Ø/-a -f(o)/-gi,- di -m

mɔ́ɔ́g/mɔ́ɔ́d yír,yírí/yá sɛ́ɛ́m/sɛ́ɛ́má wááf(ò)/wíígì kú’òm

grass/grasses house/houses porcupine/porcupines snake/snakes Water

Table 6: Noun class system in Dagaare (Bodomo 1997): NOUN CLASS

SINGULAR FORM

Class I:V/ba

Singular:+V

NOUN STEM

PLURAL FORM Plural: -ba

(+human cl.) pᴐ́ɣᴐ́ ‘woman’

pᴐ́g-

pᴐ́ɣɪ́bᴐ́ ‘women’

Class II:+V/rI

Singular:+V

Plural:rI

Cl IIa: E/rI

Singular:-E

Plural:rI bɪ̀-

Cl IIb: O/rI

bɪ̀é ‘child’ Singular:O

bɪ́ɪ́rɪ́ ‘children’ Plural:rI

dùó ‘pig’

dòsɪ́g-

Class III:I/+V

sɪ́ɣɪ́ ‚hut‘ Singular:I

dòrɪ́ ‘pigs’ sɪ́ɣrɪ́ ‚huts‘

Cl.IIIa:I/E

Singular:I gyɪ̀l-

Cl. IIIb: I/O

gyɪ̀lɪ́ ‘xylophone’ Singular:I

gyɪ̀lé ‘xylophone’ Plural:O

pᴐ̀lɪ́ ‘path(for rats)’

pᴐ̀

pᴐ̀lᴐ́ ‘paths (rats)

Cl.IIc: I/rI

Plural:+V Plural:E

Cl.IIIc:I/a

Singular:I

Plural:a váál-

Class IV:rU/rI

váálɪ́ ‘rubbish’ Singular:rU

pɪ́-

Class V:ø/rI

pɪ́rʊ́ʊ́ ‘sheep’ Singular: ø

pɪ́ɪ́rɪ̀ ‘sheep’ Plural: rI

túú ‘forest’

tùù-

váálá ‘rubbish’ Plural:rI

Class VI: rI/+V

Singular: rI

túúrɪ́ ‘forest’ Plural:+V

Cl. VIa:rI/E

Singular:rI

Plural:+V

Cl. VIb:rI/O

bɪ́rɪ̀ ‘seed’ Singular: rI

bɪ́-

bɪ́è ‘seeds’ Plural: O

Mabia: Its Genesis, Geographical Spread, And Some Salient Genetic Features

Cl. VIc: rI/a Cl.VII:-nv/nv Cl. VIIa:nI/ma

tóórɪ́ ‘ear’ Singular: rI

tóó-

nyágrɪ́ ‘root’ Sg: nasal(lised) syllable

nyàg-

Cl.VIIb:mu͂ /ma

nyáɣá ‘roots’ Pl: nasal(lised) syllable Plural:ma

gán-

Singular: mu͂ táamʊ͂ ‘bow’

tòbó ‘ears’ Plural: a

Singular: nI gánɪ̀ ‘hide/book’

23

gámà ‘hides/ books’ Plural: ma

tàn-

támá ‘bows’

Cl. VIIc: ŋE/nI

Singular: ŋE bɪ̀ŋ-

Cl. VIId:ŋO/nI

bɪ̀ŋé ‘pen’ Singular: ŋO

bɪ̀nnɪ́ ‘pens’ Plural:nI

bòŋó ‘donkey’

bòŋ-

bònnɪ́ Pl.:nɛ͂ɛ͂ (types of)

da͂ a͂ ̀ -

da͂ a͂ ̀ nɛ͂ɛ͂ ‘pito’

Cl. VIIe: -/nɛ͂ɛ͂

Singular: ø

-count plurals

da͂ a͂ ̀ ‘pito’

Class VIII: aa/I

Singular:aa gbíŋgbɪ́láá ‘drying spot’

Class IX: U/-

Singular:U

(derived n.)

Dúóù ‘climbing’

Cl. X:-/Uŋ

(no singular)

(-count class)

Plural:nI

Plural:I gbɪ́gbɪ́l-

gbɪ́ŋgbɪ́llɪ́ ‘drying spots’ (no plural)

dó Plural: Uŋ bùùl-

búúlúŋ ‘porridge’

Table 7: Noun Class system in Dagbane (Olaswky 1997,1999) Noun Class 1 2 3 4 5 6

Example(sg)

Example (pl)

Sing. suffix

tIb-li paG-a gab-ga wab-gu kur-gu ko-m/kom-

tIb-a paG-ba gab-si wab-ri kur-a ko-ma/kom-a

-li -a -ga -gu -gu -m/

Plural suffix -a -ba -si -ri -a -ma/-a

Gloss Ear woman Rope elephant Old water

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

Table 8: Buli Class Correspondence (Sulemana 2012: pg 7, Kröger 1992) Class

Singular

Plural

Example

I

wà

bà

núr ‘man’

II

dì

ŋà

yérí ‘house’

III

kà

sì

bàŋ ‘lizard’

IV

kù

tì

síuk ‘path’

V

bù

-

While we still need further research to even begin to tabulate a common noun class system for Mabia, the inventory of noun classes provided here in one study, which has not been done before, informs us that these linguistic varieties exhibit a rich feature of noun class that lead us to consider Mabia as a single, though complex, linguistic group.

2.4 PRONOUNS Below is a comparison of the nominative and accusative forms of personal pronouns in the five languages. Apart from the first-person singular which shows differences between the nominative and the accusative forms, all other pronouns have the same forms for their respective nominal and accusative forms. This provides an indication that these languages do not have overt case marking, except for the first-person singular nominative and accusatives in Dagaare, Kusaal, and Dagbane. The languages further share identical lexical items for pronouns, mostly in the plural forms, as indicated in Table 9. Differences are recorded in either voicing or vowel segments.

Mabia: Its Genesis, Geographical Spread, And Some Salient Genetic Features

25

Table 9: Pronoun correspondences Kusaal Gurunε Dagaare Dagbane Buli Person Nom. Acc. Nom. Acc. Nom. Acc. Nom. Acc. Nom. Acc. 1st. m, m, n ma ma ma n Ma ma mi, n mu SG n, ŋ 2nd. fu fu Hu hu fo Fo a a fi fu SG. 3rd o o A a o O o o wa/o o SG 1st ti ti tu tu te Te ti ti di di PL 2nd ya ya ya ya yɛ yɛ yi ya ka ka PL 3rd ba ba ba ba ba Ba bɛ bɛ bu bu PL

Dagaare (Bodomo 1997), Dagbane (Issah 2013), Gurunε (Atintono 2013), Buli (Kröger 1992, Sulemana 2012) Kusaal (Bodomo and Abubakari 2017)

2.5 ADPOSITIONS The languages under consideration have an extensive use of body parts as postpositions in expressing locations or directions. Unlike Indo-European languages that have mainly prepositions, these languages have mainly postpositions and the way to express them is by the use of body parts. According to Atintono (2013), twenty of the twenty-three postpositions in Gurunε come from body part terms mainly related to parts of human beings and animals. There is further indication in the root form of the lexical items that all these languages have similar words for body parts also used as postpositions, as shown in Table 9.

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

Table 10: Body parts postposition correspondences Language

Postposition

Body part

Location

Kusaal

zug

Head

on, on top

Dagaare

zu

“

“

Dagbane

zuɤu

“

“

Buli

zuk

“

“

Gurunε

zuo

“

“

Language

Postposition

Body part

Location

Kusaal

sia

Waist

lower back below

Dagaare

sɪɛ

“

“

Dagbane

shee

“

“

Buli

chiak

“

“

Gurunε

sia

“

“

Language

Postposition

Body part

Location

Kusaal

nᴐᴐr

Mouth

at, on, near

Dagaare

nʊɔrɪ

“

“

Dagbane

nͻli

“

“

Buli

noai

“

“

Gurunε

nuurɛ

“

“

Language

Postposition

Body part

Location

Kusaal

pʊʊg

stomach, belly

in, inside, interior

Dagaare

pʊᴐ

“

“

Dagbane

puli

“

“

Buli

po

“

“

Gurunε

puurɛ/puuren

“

“

Mabia: Its Genesis, Geographical Spread, And Some Salient Genetic Features

Language

Postposition

Body part

Location

Kusaal

nya’aŋ

Back

behind

Dagaare

puori

“

“

Dagbane

yaaŋa

“

“

Buli

nyaang

“

“

Gurunε

poore(n)/dapooren “

“

27

Dagaare (Bodomo 1997), Kusaal (Bodomo and Abubakari 2017), Dagbane (personal interview with native speaker, Gurunε (Atintono 2013), Buli (Kröger 1992)

2.6 NUMERATION AND COUNTING I now compare the numeration and counting system used in these languages. I compare counting from the numerals, one to ten. The five Mabia languages in this work have identical lexical forms in the root of all the numerals which provide evidence of a strong relationship between them, as indicated in Table 11. Table 11: Counting and Numerals Numeral

Kusaal

Dagaare

Dagbane

Buli

Gurunε

ONE

ayinne

-yeni

ndaam

yenni

yénnó

TWO

ayi

-yi

nyi

n-ya

yì

THREE

atan’

-ta

nta

n-tᴐ

tá ̃

FOUR

anaasi

-naare

nnahi

n-na:nsi

n náásí

FIVE

anu

-nuu

nnu

n-nuisi

n núú

SIX

ayuobu

-yoᴐo

nyᴐbu

n-yuebi

n yòòbí

SEVEN

ayᴐpᴐi

-yᴐpoi

nyᴐpᴐi

n-poᴐ

EIGHT

anii

-nii

nnii

n-na:niŋ

n yòpɔ́í

NINE

awai

-wae

nwoi

n-nok

TEN

piiga

pie

pia

n-pi

n níí

n wɛ́í píá

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

Data: Buli (Sulemana 2012), Gurunε (Sound of Farefare numeral system, n.d.), Kusaal and Dagbane (Bodomo and Abubakari (2017), Dagaare (Bodomo 1997).

2.7 Serial Verb Constructions: All the Mabia languages under consideration here are Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) languages as well as verb serializing languages (though Senufu as a SOV language, is an exception). Below we provide Serial Verb Constructions (SVCs) in each language to show the syntactic structure of this group of languages.

(5) Gurunε  dulego la A Anᴐdᴐᴐ ka le doose taaba kule. Hornbill LINK Mr Cock NEG again follow each.other go.home ‘Mr Hornbill and Mr Cock did not follow each other home again.’ (Atintono 2013)

(6) Kusaal  tiliiuŋ ne A Hornbill CONJ

Anᴐraʊg bo lɛŋ dᴐl taaba kuli. Cock NEG again follow each.other go.home

‘Mr Hornbill and Mr Cock did not follow each other home again.’

(7) Dagaare  àkóráá né D Dɛ́ré bá là tù táá Dakoraa CONJ Dery NEG REP follow RECIPR ‘Dakoraa and Dery did not follow each other home again.’

kúlí go-home

Mabia: Its Genesis, Geographical Spread, And Some Salient Genetic Features

29

(8) Dagbane  amata mini Abu S bi lan doli taba Samata CONJ Abu NEG again follow each.other ‘Samata and Abu did not follow each other home again.’

kuli. go-home

(9) Buli  soum ali Awaab an A pilim va chaab kuli ya. rabbit and snake neg again follow each-other go.home PART ‘Mr rabbit and Mr Snake did not follow each home again.’ In all the data above, the sentences have the canonical SVO structure as well as all evidence marking them as serializing languages. These constructions often exhibition object sharing as in the Dagaare construction below:

(10) Dakoraa

de

la

koɔ

nyu.

Dakoraa take FOC water drink ‘Dakoraa took water and drank it.’

where the object koɔ ‘water’ is shared by the verbs de ‘take’ and nyu ‘drink’. In such instances I refer to the construction as an SVOV structure. Mabia languages exhibit regular occurrences of SVOV structures in everyday language use. These series of verbs are used in what can be termed a single clause without any form of subordination, coordination or adjunction. The languages also use preverbal particles in marking polarity, tense, and mood.

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

2.8 Typological Generalization of Mabia Languages The languages discussed exhibit similar phonological, morphological, and syntactic features to a very large extent. Phonologically, the languages have more consonants than vowels (as is the case with most languages of the world), with instances of double articulations such as /k͡ p/, /gb/, and /ŋ͡m/. There are instances of regular allophones such as /d/-/r/ and /g/-/ɣ/. Vowel harmony is very prevalent in all and front rounded vowels and back unrounded vowels are so far not attested in any of the languages. All the languages also mark grammatical and lexical tones which are phonemic. Morphologically, all five languages show evidence of noun class systems where affixes – and specifically in the case of Mabia languages, suffixes - are used in marking number. Aspectual marking is carried out by the use of suffixes in most of these languages (Bodomo 2005:710). On syntax, the languages are SVO as well as SVOV serializing languages, as mentioned earlier, with the exception of a few like Senufo.

3.0 Conclusion Having ascertained the close relations between these languages, enabling us to suggest that they can in most cases be regarded as dialects or closely related varieties of the same mega-language, thus reducing the unnecessary fragmentation of African languages (Prah and Miti 2017), subsequent works by this author and other linguists may now try to show how we can further unearth and harmonize more related linguistic features of these languages under their new name, Mabia.

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31

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Bodomo, A. 1993. Complex Predicates and Event Structure: An

Integrated Analysis of Serial Verb Constructions in the Mabia Languages of West Africa. M.Phil Thesis/Working Papers in Linguistics 20. Department of Linguistics, University of Trondheim, Norway.

Diringer, D. (1996). The Alphabet: A Key to the History of Mankind.

New Delhi: Munshram Manoharlal Publishers.

Hudu, F. (2010). Dagbane tongue-root harmony. A formal account

with ultrasound investigation. Ph.D. thesis, University of British Columbia

Greenberg, J. H. (1963). The Languages of Africa. The Hague:

Mouton.

Gutman, Alejandro and Beatriz Avanzati. (2013). Gur. http://www.

languagesgulper.com/eng/Gur.html (last accessed: July 17, 2017)

Hyman, L. M. (1993). Structure preservation and postlexical

tonology in Dagbani. Phonetics Phonology 4.235-54.

Issah, S. A. (2013). The structure of the Dagbani simple noun

phrase. South African Journal of African Languages, 33:2, 203-212, DOI: 10.1080/02572117.2013.871462

Mabia: Its Genesis, Geographical Spread, And Some Salient Genetic Features

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Kennedy, J. (1966). Collected Field Reports on the Phonology of Dagaari. In Collected Language Notes 6. Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Accra.

Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich (1996) Relationship between Adamawa

and Gur languages: The case of Waja and Tula, Cahiers Voltaïques / Gur Papers I, 25-45. Koelle, S. W. (1854). Polyglotta Africana. London: Church Missionary House.

Kröger, F. (1992). Buli-English Dictionary. Hamburg: LIT.

Musah, A., Naden, A. & Awimbilla, M. (2013). Handbook of Kusaal Orthography: A Reading and Writing Guide. Tamale, GILLBT-press. Musah, A. (2010). Aspects of Kusaal Phonology. M.Phil. Thesis. University of Ghana. Nsoh, A.E. (2002). Classifying the noun in Gurenɛ dialect of Farefare of Northern Ghana. Journal of Dagaare Studies:83-95. Olawsky, K. J. (2002). What is a word in Dagbani? In R.M.W. Dixon & Alexandra Aikhenvald (eds.), Word: a cross-linguistic typology, 205-226. Cambridge University Press. Olawsky, K.J. (1999). Aspects of Dagbani grammar, with special emphasis on Phonology and Morphology. PhD dissertation. Munich:LINCOM Academic Publishers.

Olawsky, K. J. (1997). Interaction of tone and morphology in

Dagbani. DGfs-Tagung in Düsseldorf. Retrieved from: https://user.phil-fak. uni-duesseldorf.de/~olawsky/hp-dgfs.htm on 12/30/2015 at 9:00am. Sound of Farefare numeral system. (n.d.). Retrieved from: http:// www.eugeneslchan.com/Frafra.htm on 11/30/2015 at 6:26am. Sulemana, A. R. (2012).The Structure of the DP in Buli. M.Phil Thesis. Department of Linguistics. University of Ghana. Westermann, D. & Bryan M. A. (1952). Languages of West Africa: Handbook of African Languages, Vol 2. London: Oxford University Press.

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Williamson, Bryan. 2013. From Upper Volta to Burkina Faso: A Study of the Politics of Reaction and Reform in a Post-Colonial African Nation-state, 1960 – 1987. MA thesis, University of South Florida: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5809&context=etd (retrieved June 2, 2018).

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CHAPTER T WO FO CUS MARKING IN SERIAL VERB CONSTRUCTIONS IN KUSAAL Hasiyatu Abubakari University of Professional Studies, Accra

Abstract: This chapter explores a less addressed phenomenon in the literature where constituents are focused in-situ in serial verb constructions (SVCs). Unlike Predicate Cleft Constructions in SVCs, little is known in the literature regarding in-situ focus strategies in SVCs specifically in Mabia languages and possibly cross-linguistically. This chapter reveals a trend where Kusaal can be argued to have a double focus construction strategy in SVCs such that constituents thus both NP arguments and predicates can be internally (in-situ) or externally (ex-situ) focused. The discussion in this chapter shows that the shared subject, the shared-object as well as the complex IP of an SVC can be exhaustively focused in-situ using the particles ń (for subject focus) and nɛ́ (for non-subject focus) in Kusaal. The chapter also discusses constraints that govern in-situ focus in SVCs in the language and a generalization that explains the concept. The Lexical Functional Grammar Framework is used in formalizing focus markings in SVCs in Kusaal. Keywords: Kusaal, Serial Ver Constructions, Lexical-Functional Grammar, Focus marking, In-situ focus, Ex-situ focus

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1.0 Introduction Recent contributions from African languages, in studies of information structure, have revealed various overt morphological elements that have actualized some ideas, notions, and concepts that once remained abstract. The use of overt morphological particles in marking discourse notions such as focus, and topic are attested in several West African languages with Mabia languages being no exceptions (Abubakari 2019a; Hiraiwa and Bodomo 2008; Issah 2013; Fiedler et al 2010; Fiedler and Schwarz 2005; Bodomo 1997; among others). Abubakari (2019a) identifies the particles kà, ń, and nɛ́ as exhaustive/contrastive focus particles in Kusaal, a language spoken in Ghana, Burkina Faso and Togo. Unlike kà which is used for ex-situ focus constructions, ń and nɛ́ are used for in-situ focus constituents. The contexts below are used to generate natural situations that necessitate the use of these particles for contrastive as well as exhaustive focus associated interpretations.5 Context 1. There are two items on display at the market: millet and groundnut and you want to find out which one the woman bought. (1)

a. Púˈá lá sà dāˈ nɛ́ súmá woman DEF PAST buy FOC groundnut ‘The woman bought the GROUNDNUT.’ ‘It is the groundnut that the woman bought.’



b. Súmá lá kà púˈa lá groundnut DEF FOC woman DEF ‘The woman bought the GROUNDNUT.’ ‘It is the groundnut that the woman bought.’

sà PAST

lá. DEF

dāˈ. buy

Context 2a. There are two people, a woman and a man, which one of them bought the groundnut? The notion of ‘contrastive focus’ is here used to mean (A but not B) whilst ‘exhaustive focus’ mean (A but not B and nothing else). 5

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Context 2b. You expect the man to buy the groundnut (correction, unexpectedly).

c. Púˈá

lá

ń

sà

dāˈ

súmá

woman DEF FOC PAST buy groundnut ‘THE WOMAN bought the groundnut.’ ‘It is the woman that bought the groundnut.’ 6

lá6. DEF

A likely question to be asked is why subject focus is considered as a kind of in-situ and whether it does not involve any form of movement in Kʋ́sáàl. The situation is not immediately clear for the following reasons:

(1) Assuming subject focus has the structure: [FP n [TP Subj [VP OBJ]]]. The hypothesis is that the subject moves from Spec TP to Spec FocP triggered by both Agree and EPP features on FocP. (2) The problem arises when the subject is substituted by other elements such as the whphrase ànᴐ́ᴐ́n ‘who’. It is ungrammatical to focus the wh-phrase with the subject focus particle ń (ii) though the constituent that corresponds to the wh-phrase in the answer to the question can be focused with ń as in (iii) or it can be left bare as in (iv).

(i) Anᴐᴐn di diib la? who eat food DEF ‘Who ate the food? (ii) *Anᴐᴐn n di diib who FOC eat food

la? DEF

(iii) Ans: P  ua la n di diib la. woman DEF FOC eat food DEF ‘It is the woman who ate the food.’ (iv) Pua la di diib la woman DEF eat food DEF ‘The woman who ate the food.’

However, it is grammatical to focus the wh-phrase, ànᴐ́ᴐ́n ‘who’, using the non-subject focus particle nɛ́ if it happens to be the object of the sentence.

(v) Aduk buˈ nɛ́ ànᴐ́ᴐ́n? Aduk beat FOC who ‘Who (specifically) did Aduk beat?

Two things make the situation quite unclear: (a) The fact that the wh-phrase, ànᴐ́ᴐ́n ‘who’, cannot co-occur with the focus particle ń at subject position though it is grammatical to have the non-subject focus particle nɛ́ cooccurring with the same wh-phrase at object position. (b) The possibility of focusing the subject constituent that corresponds to the wh-phrase in the question in the answer. I therefore assume the vacuous movement hypothesis and argue that subject focus in Kʋ́sáàl is an instance of in-situ focus until further evidence is found to counter this assumption (Abubakari 2019a).

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These examples are naturally used by speakers under the proposed contexts and the particles are obligatory therein. All the sentences are associated with contrastive and exhaustive focus interpretations. It will be infelicitous to respond to these questions under the supposed contexts without the use of the particles. Ex-situ focus in SVCs has also engendered a lot of debates (Abubakari 2011; 2019b; Hiraiwa and Bodomo 2008; Hiraiwa 2005; Lefebvre 1992) as against in-situ focus in SVCs which has received little attention if any at all in the literature although it is equally relevant in any discussion that seeks to offer a holistic account of focus constructions, serial verb constructions and the interaction between the two. This importance cannot be underestimated in an attempt to uncover the relevance of focus in day to day discourse interpretations in human interactions. The main aim of this chapter, therefore, is to explore a less addressed phenomenon where constituents are focused insitu in serial verb constructions in Kusaal. Unlike predicate cleft constructions in SVCs, little is known in the literature regarding in-situ focus strategies in SVCs specifically in Mabia languages and possibly cross-linguistically. In this chapter, I show that the shared subject, the shared object as well as both VPs and IP can be exhaustively focused in SVCs in Kusaal using the particles ń and nɛ́. Previous research (Abubakari 2011, 2019b) has demonstrated the possibility of clefting various constituents in SVCs in Kusaal to the left periphery for contrastive and exhaustive interpretation. It is possible to cleft the object, V1, V2 as well as V1 and V2 in SVCs in Kusaal (Abubakari 2011, 2019b)7. (2)

7

a. B  úpɔ́ŋ lá dà kūˈāā dáám lady DEF PAST brew alcohol ‘The lady brewed alcohol and sold it.’

kūōs. sell

This chapter adopts the LFG framework and as such the use of the terms ‘constituent clefting’ and ‘movement’ etc are for heuristic purposes as shown in the analysis in section 5. Abubakari (2011, 2019b) uses the minimalist approach. These terminologies are used for the sake of consistency with the source reference.

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b. Dáám kà búpúŋ là dà kūˈāā kūōs. alcohol FOC lady DEF PAST brew sell ‘It is alcohol that the lady brewed and sold.’



c. Kúósúk kà búpúŋ là dà kūˈāā dáám kūōs. sell.Nml FOC lady DEF PAST brew alcohol sell ‘It was selling that the lady brewed alcohol and sold.’



d. Kúàˈàp kà búpúŋ lá dà kūāā dáám kūōs. brewNml FOC lady DEF PAST brew alcohol sell ‘It was brewing and selling alcohol that the lady did.’



e. Kúàˈàp nɛ kúósúk kà búpúŋ lá dá kūˈāā brewNml CONJ sell.Nml FOC lady DEF PAST brew dáám kūōs. alcohol sell ‘It was brewing and selling alcohol that the lady did.’

The clefted constituents in the sentences in (2b-e) receive contrastive focus interpretations by virtue of their displacements. This is further reinforced by the contrastive focus particle kà. This observation is not unique to Kusaal as an earlier research has established same in a close sister language Dagaare where the particle lá functions as a factive marker and a default focus marker (Bodomo 1997; 2000). The examples below are taken from Hiraiwa and Bodomo (2008) for illustration. (3)



lá a. Ò dà sɛ́ 3SG PAST roast FOC ‘He roasted meat and ate it.’

nɛ́nè meat

ɔ̀ɔ̀. eat

b. Nɛ́nè lá ká ò dà meat FOC COMP 3SG PAST ‘It is meat that he roasted and ate.’

sɛ́ roast

ɔ̀ɔ̀.

eat

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c. S  éɛ́ólá ká ò dà sɛ́ roast.Nml COMP 3SG PAST roast ‘It is roasting that he did and ate meat.’

nɛ́nè meat

ɔ̀ɔ̀. eat



d. ɔ̀ɔ̀ó lá ká ò dà sɛ́ nɛ́nè ɔ̀ɔ̀ eat.Nml FOC COMP 3SG PAST roast meat eat ‘It is eating that he roasted and did to meat.’



e. S  ɛ́-ɔ́ɔ́ó lá ká ó dà roast-eat.Nml FOC COMP 3SG PAST nɛ́nè ɔ̀ɔ̀. meat eat ‘It is roasting and eating that he did to meat.’

sɛ́ roast

However, unlike Kusaal, as will be demonstrated later in this study, it is impossible to focus constituents contrastively or exhaustively using the focus marker lá in-situ in Dagaare. The particle functions as a default focus marker in-situ and it is constrained to occur post verbally and never after an NP complement (Bodomo 1997). (4)

a. *Ò 3SG



b. *Ò 3SG

dà

sɛ́ PAST roast

nɛ́ nè meat

FOC

ɔ̀ɔ̀. eat

dà

nɛ́ nè meat

ɔ̀ɔ̀ eat

lá. FOC

sɛ́ PAST roast

lá

From the examples in (2, 3) and with reference to Abubakari (2011, 2019b) and Hiraiwa and Bodomo (2008), Kusaal and Dagaare have demonstrated close semblance in predicate cleft constructions in SVCs. What remains unmentioned is the possibility of equally exhaustively focusing the various constituents in SVCs in-situ in Kusaal which is not the same in Dagaare. The presence of the in-situ focus particles ń and nɛ́ makes it possible to focus constituents in SVCs internally. The questions that inform the discussion in this chapter include: (1) How are constituents focused in-situ in SVCs in Kusaal? (2) Are there constraints

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governing how a constituent is focused in-situ in SVCs in the language? (3) What line(s) of asymmetry(ies) can be drawn between focused constituents in SVCs and focused constituents in non-SVC? (4) What generalization (s) can be made from the various observations? And (5) How can we make sense of the concept using the Lexical-Functional Grammar Framework? This chapter is divided into six sections. After this section, the second section briefly explores how constituents are focused ex-situ and in-situ in Kusaal. It further discusses the use of the particles kà, ń and nɛ́ in focusing various grammatical constituents in non-SVC. In section three, I give a brief background of SVCs in Kusaal whilst section four elaborates on focus marking on the various elements in SVCs in Kusaal. It further discusses some observed restrictions in in-situ focus in SVC in the language as well as a descriptive generalization of the concept as it occurs in Kusaal. In section five, I explore previous analyses of SVCs and Information Structure within the LFG Framework and demonstrate how focus marking in SVCs in Kusaal can be captured within this framework. Section six gives a short summary and conclusion of all discussions.

2.0

Ex-situ and In-situ focus marking strategies in Kusaal

This section focuses on discussing the various morpho-syntactic means of expressing the notion of focus in Kusaal. It basically centres on the way various grammatical elements: subject, non-subject, VP and IP are syntactically and morphologically marked for contrast and exhaustivity in the language. Focus is here understood as the information structural constituent of a given proposition that is most important or salient relative to a given discourse situation. Relative importance or salience is achievable in several ways: (i) by introducing new information into the discourse (information focus), or (ii) by setting contrast to a set of comparable alternatives (contrastive focus) (cf Fiedler et al 2010, Dik 1998, Jackendorf 1972, Rochemont 1986; Rooth 1985) and (iii) by expressing exhaustivity under which the focused constituent is identificationally exhaustive (É. Kiss 1998, É. Kiss 2010).

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Languages employ several grammatical techniques in packaging discourse related information. Focus marking in Kusaal, as is also the case in several Mabia languages, is mostly carried out by the use of particles. Kusaal employs both in-situ and ex-situ focus strategies in focus marking. DPs, VPs IPs can be both internally and externally focused. Unlike information focus which maintains the canonical SVO order and with focus marked by means of prosody (marked in bold), contrastive focus employs the use of focus markers in addition to prominence. (5)

Q. Dáu lá sá dāˈ man DEF PAST buy ‘What did the man buy?’

bᴐ́? what



Ans. a. Ò  sà dāˈ bʋ́ʋ́g. 3SG PAST buy goat ‘The man bought a goat.’

Correction: b. À  yéí, núá kà dáú lá sá dāˈ. no fowl FOC man DEF PAST buy ‘It is a fowl the man bought’ (rather than a goat or sheep)

Ans. c. D  áú

lá

sá

dāˈ

nɛ́ núá. man DEF PAST buy FOC fowl ‘It is a fowl the man bought.’ (rather than something else, nothing more)

Additionally, it is important to add that it is ungrammatical to have multiple foci within a single sentence. The particle kà cannot be used with in-situ focus neither can the particle nɛ́ be used for ex-situ focus. (6)

a. *núá nɛ́ dáú lá sá dāˈ. fowl FOC man DEF PAST buy ‘It is FOWL the man bought.’ (rather than sheep or goat)

F o c u s M a r k i n g i n S e r i a l Ve r b C o n s t r u c t i o n s i n K u s a a l



b. *Dáú lá sá dāˈ kà núá. man DEF PAST buy FOC fowl ‘It is FOWL the man bought.’ (rather than something else, nothing more)



c. *Núá fowl

kà FOC

dáú man

lá DEF

ń FOC

dāˈ buy

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nɛ́. FOC

With this background, the following subsections illustrate the use of the particles kà ń and nɛ́ in focusing various grammatical constituents.

2.1 Subject Focus Subject focus in Kusaal is expressed both morphologically and prosodically. Contrast and exhaustivity can be marked using the particle ń as illustrated (7a-c). Assuming a context where the identity of the person who ate the food is questioned, the answer in (7b) would be used to refute the claim made in (7a) and to correct the wrongly created impression. (7)

a. Ànᴐ́ˈᴐ́n who

dī eat

dííb láá? food DEF

‘Who ate the food?

b. Bíís children

lá dī dííb lá. DEF eat food DEF

‘The children ate the food.'

c. Àyéí, púˈáb lá ń dī dííb no women DEF FOC eat food 'It is the women [not the children] who ate the food'

lá. DEF

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

2.2 Object Focus Both direct and indirect objects can be focused in-situ and ex-situ in Kusaal where the particle nɛ́ is used in-situ before the focused constituent whilst kà is used ex-situ after the focused constituent. (8)

S: The woman bought beans.



Correction:  a. Ò sà dāˈ nɛ́ mùì. 3SG PAST buy FOC rice ‘She bought RICE/It is RICE she bought.’ b. Ò sà dāˈ mùì. 3SG PAST buy rice ‘She bought rice’ c. M  ùì kà ò sà dāˈ. rice FOC 3SG PAST buy ‘She bought RICE/It is RICE she bought.’

The omission of nɛ́ from (8b) does not change the truth value of the sentence; however, it erases the exhaustive interpretation. Similarly, both direct and indirect objects can be focused both in-situ and ex-situ in double object constructions as illustrated in (9) and (10) respectively. (9)

Q: Ànᴐᴐˈᴐ́n kà pʋ́ˈá lá who FOC woman DEF ‘Who did the woman give what?

sà tīsí PAST give

bᴐ́? what



Ans. a. P  ʋ́ˈá lá woman DEF

nɛ́ FOC

lá DEF

sà tīsí PAST give

bííg child

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lígídí lá. money DEF ‘The woman gave THE CHILD money.’ ‘It is the child that the woman bought groundnut for.’

b. Bííg lá kà pʋ́ˈá lá sà tīsī child DEF FOC woman DEF PAST give lígídí lá. money DEF ‘It is the child the woman bought the peanut for.’

(10)

Q: Bᴐ́ kà pʋ́ˈá lá sà tīsí what FOC woman DEF PAST give ‘What did the woman give to the child?

bííg child

láa? DEF



Ans. P  ʋ́ˈá lá sà tīsí bííg lá woman DEF PAST give child DEF lígídí lá. money DEF ‘The woman gave the child THE MONEY.’ ‘It is the money that the woman gave to the child.’

nɛ́ FOC

2.3 Predicate focus In focusing the VP or the IP, the particle nɛ́ occurs at the end of the clause. (11)

Q: Bɔ́

kà

Àdúk sà

māālɛ́? what FOC Aduk PAST do ‘What did Aduk do?’



Ans.: Àdúk [VP sà Aduk PAST ‘Aduk RAN-AWAY.’

zᴐ̅ run-away

nɛ́] FOC

45

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

(12)

Q. Bᴐ́ māālɛ́? what happen/do ‘What happened?’



Ans: [IP Àdúk da̅ˈ núá nɛ́.] Aduk buy fowl FOC ‘ADUK BOUGHT A FOWL.’(an unexpected occurrence)

Comparatively, predicates can be fronted for contrastive and exhaustive interpretations in Kusaal. Focus predicates are moved to the left periphery of the entire construction and they receive contrastive focus interpretations. Clefted predicates are obligatorily nominalised and they receive double pronunciations (Abubakari 2011, 2019b). (13)

Q: ‘What did he do?’



Ans : a. Ò  sà sēnˈ nɛ́ níˈím lá. 3SG PAST roast FOC meat DEF ‘He ROASTED THE MEAT/It is roasting the meat he did.’



b. Sénb

kà

ò

sà

sēnˈ

níˈím

lá.

roast.NML FOC 3SG PAST roast meat DEF ‘He ROASTED THE MEAT/It is roasting the meat he did.’ To account for the word order variation on how nɛ́ focuses something that follows it as on object focus and something that precedes as in VP and IP focus, it is assumed that nɛ́ behaves as an adnominal selected by the NP/DP it modifies. It behaves as an adverbial when it modifies VPs and IPs, in which case it merges with the entire IP or VP (Abubakari 2019a; Renans 2016:§3). This is illustrated below. (14)

a. nɛ́ [NP/DP]……….... Adnominal nɛ́ b. [VP ] nɛ́ ……..….….. Adverbial nɛ́ c. [IP ] nɛ́ …………....... Adverbial nɛ́

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In sum, Kusaal employs different strategies in packaging different focus notions for different interpretations. Information focus is morphologically null whilst contrastive focus is marked using particles.

3.0

Brief description of SVCs in Kusaal

Serial verb constructions in Kusaal are characterized by features such as: multiple predications, argument sharing, TAMP (Tense, Aspect, Mood and Polarity) sharing and the absence of connectors. They are used in coding activities that are conceptualized as expressing single events. Series of verbs are also used in coding series of activities that are conceptualized as taking place within the same scope of time (Abubakari 2011, 2019b). Below are examples of SVCs in Kusaal: (15) Ò sà dūg dííb tōr. 3SG PAST cook food share ‘She cooked for sharing.’ (16) Ò dᴐ̄ yī kūl. 3SG get-up go-out go-home ‘S/he got up and went home.’ (17) Ò

sà

dūg

dííb

tōr.

3SG PAST cook food share ‘She cooked for sharing’ (18) Ò

dūg

dííb

tīsī

bííg

lá.

3SG cook food give child DEF ‘She cooked food and gave to the child.’ The above characteristics of SVCs in the language can be summarized in the following constraints (Abubakari 2011; 2019b; Hiraiwa and Bodomo 2008; Haspelmath 2015).

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(19)

a. The subject sameness constraint: the series of verbs in SVCs must share the same structural or functional subject. b.  TAMP: all the verbs share identical tense, aspect, mood and polarity particle. c. The connector constraint: there is no connector joining the series of verbs in SVCs in this language.

Having outlined basic features of SVCs in Kusaal in addition to the previous discussion of both ex-situ and in-situ focus marking strategies in the language, the next section looks at focus marking on various constituents in SVCs: Objects, subject, VPs and IPs.

4.0

Focus marking in SVCs

The common practice in languages is to have focused constituents in SVCs fronted to the left of the clause and mostly followed by a focus particle where applicable. Languages with parallel constructions where both fronting, and in-situ focus are possible have not been widely attested leading to the claim that either the phenomenon is rare in languages or an equally interesting concept has received little attention in the literature. Below, I demonstrate in-situ focus realizations in SVCs in Kusaal.

4.1 Object focus in SVCs It is possible to exhaustively focus a shared object in-situ in SVCs in Kusaal. By so doing, the focus particle nɛ́ precedes the focused constituent just as is the case in non-SVCs. (20)

Q.: What did the man buy and eat?



Ans. a. D  áú sà dā' mùì dī. man PAST buy rice eat ‘A man bought rice and ate it.’

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49



Correction: b. À  yéí dáú sà dā' nɛ́ bɛ́ŋír dī. no, man PAST buy FOC beans eat ‘No, it is beans that a man bought and ate (rather than rice).’

(21)

a. S: The woman bought rice for the child.



b. Ayei, pʋ́ˈá lá sà dāˈ nɛ́ súmá tīsī no, woman DEF PAST buy FOC groundnut give bííg lá. child DEF ‘No, it is GROUNDNUT the woman bought for the child.’

In all these examples the exhaustive focus interpretation directly falls on the succeeding constituent.

4.2 Subject focus in SVCs The particle ń as shown earlier is used in marking in-situ subject focus in the language. The shared subject in SVCs in Kusaal can equally be focused using this particle. Similar to non-SVCs, the particle strictly follows the subject as in (21). (21)

S: The woman bought beans and ate.

Àyéí, dáú

lá

ń

sà

dā'

no, man DEF FOC PAST buy ‘It is THE MAN who that bought beans and ate.’

bɛ́ŋír dī. beans eat

4.3 Predicate focus in SVCs Predicate focus in-situ in SVCs in Kusaal has three possibilities: (i) individual verbs can be focused independently but not simultaneously (ii) the series of

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verbs in SVCs can be focused collectively with a single particle referred to as ‘VP foci’ (iii) the entire IP can also be focused with a single particle referred to as ‘complex IP foci’. Answers to the questions in the examples below demonstrate various instances where predicate constituents are focused in SVCs. (22)

Q: How did the man get the food?



Ans: Dáú la [VP sà dā' dííb lá nɛ́]. man DEF PAST buy food DEF FOC ‘The man BOUGHT THE FOOD.’ (rather than ‘stole’ the food)

The particle occurs at the end of the clause. It will be infelicitous to answer the question in (22) with the sentence in (23) where the particle follows the verb because the interpretation will then exhaustively focus the object dííb ‘food’. (23) Dáú lá sà dā' nɛ̄ dííb man DEF PAST buy FOC food The man bought THE FOOD.’ (not the fruits)

lá. DEF

Similarly, should the particle be sandwiched by the object and second verb (V2), the focus interpretation then shifts to V2 as in (24) which will then answer a different question as in (24) below. (24)

Q: What did the man buy the food for?



Ans: Dáú lá sà dā' [VP dííb lá nɛ́ dī]. man DEF PAST buy food DEF FOC eat ‘The man bought the food and ATE it’ (rather than ‘stored’ it)

The answer to the question in (25a), thus (25b), is a further illustration of how an entire VP in the SVC is focused. The focused particle is at the right periphery of the entire clause.

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(25)

Q: a. What did the man do?



Ans: b. Dáú lá [VP sà dā' dííb dī nɛ́]. man DEF PAST buy food eat FOC ‘The man BOUGHT FOOD AND AND ATE IT (rather than any other activities).’

To further show that the individual verbs in SVCs can be exhaustively focused in-situ; SVCs without internal arguments are used as illustrations. In (26b) the entire VP is focused, in (27b) the exhaustive interpretation falls on V1, whilst it falls on V3 in (28b) and in (29b) focus falls on V4. (26)

Q: a. What did he do?



Ans: b. Ò sà dī dᴐ̄ zᴐ̄ kūl nɛ́. 3SG PAST eat get-up run go.home FOC ‘He ATE GOT UP AND RAN AND WENT HOME.’

(27)

Q: a. What did he do before running home?



Ans: b. Ò sà dī nɛ́ zᴐ̄ kūl. 3SG PAST eat get-up FOC run ‘He ATE, got-up and ran and went home.’

(28)

Q: a. What did he do to get home?



Ans: b. Ò sà dī dᴐ̄ zᴐ̄ 3SG PAST eat get-up run ‘He ate got-up RAN and went home.’

(29)

Q: a. Where did he get up and run to?



Ans: b. Ò sà dᴐ̀ zᴐ̄ kūl 3SG PAST get-up run go.home ‘He got-up, ran and WENT HOME.’

nɛ́ FOC

go.home

k ū l . go.home

nɛ́. FOC

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Finally, the entire IP of an SVC in Kusaal can also be focused in which instance the particle, nɛ́, occurs IP internal periphery and has its scope spreading leftwards across the entire construction as in the answer to the question in (30b). This type of sentence is usually used in unexpected circumstances to express surprise (Abubakari 2019a, Zimmermann 2008). The example in (30) can be used in the hypothetic context in (3) whilst (31) is used in context (4). Context 3: A detained patient at the hospital unexpectedly got up and ran home. (30)

Q: a. What happened?



Ans: b. Ò sà dᴐ̄ zᴐ̄ kūl 3SG PAST get-up run go.home ‘HE GOT UP AND RAN AND WENT HOME.’

nɛ́. FOC

Context 4: Everyone is supposed to abstain from food; the man surprisingly bought food and ate it. (31) [Dáú man

lá DEF

dāˈ buy

dííb food

dī eat

nɛ́.] FOC

‘THE MAN BOUGHT FOOD AND ATE IT.’ In general, in-situ focus in SVCs using the particles ń and nɛ́ patterns in similar ways with in-situ focus in non-SVCs particularly in the distribution of the focus particles. Parallel to the observation in Abubakari (2011, 2019b) that the V1, V2, V3 in SVCs in Kusaal can be clefted to the left followed by the particle kà for contrastive, exhaustive interpretation, so can these constituents remain in-situ and also be exhaustively focused using the particle nɛ́ in Kusaal.

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4.4 Common Restrictions in the use of nɛ́ As a post-verbal non-subject focus particle, it is ungrammatical to have nɛ́ occurring before a preverbal temporal particle as in (32) or before a verb either in SVCs or in non-SVC constructions. (32)

a. Dáú lá sà dāˈ dííb lá. man DEF PAST buy food DEF ‘The man bought the food yesterday.



b. *Dáú man

lá DEF

sà nɛ́ PAST FOC

dāˈ buy

dííb food



c.* Dáú lá man DEF

nɛ́ FOC

sà dāˈ PAST buy

dííb food

lá. DEF



d.* Ò 3SG

sà nɛ́ PAST FOC

dᴐ̄ zᴐ̄ get.up run

lá. DEF

kūl go.home

Equally ungrammatical is the co-occurrence of more than one focus particle in a single construction, be it an SVC or not, in Kusaal. (33)

a. *Ò sà dᴐ nɛ́ zᴐ̄ 3SG PAST get.up FOC run



b. * Dáu man



c. * Dáu lá man DEF

lá DEF

sà PAST

dāˈ buy

sà dāˈ PAST buy

dííb food

nɛ́ kūl FOC go.home nɛ́ FOC

di eat

nɛ́. FOC nɛ́. FOC

nɛ́ dííb nɛ dī nɛ́. FOC food FOC eat FOC

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It is also infelicitous to have different focus particles on different constituents in the same construction. (34)

a. * D  áú man



b. * Dáú man

lá

ń

sà

dāˈ

dííb

DEF

FOC

PAST

buy

sà PAST

dāˈ buy

lá DEF

ń FOC

dī.

food

nɛ́ FOC

dííb food

dí eat

nɛ́. FOC

eat

In brief, in-situ focus marked with the particles ń and nɛ́ are governed by constraints that determine well-formed constructions in Kusaal. In general, it is ungrammatical to focus more than a single constituent at the same time. Different particles cannot be used in the same sentence. Whilst ń is restricted to subject focus, nɛ́ is used for objects, PP, VPs and IPs foci.

4.5 General Hypotheses It is possible, therefore, to suggest that, in addition to the clefting of various constituents to the left periphery for contrastive and exhaustive focus interpretations in Kusaal, speakers have the additional option of packaging similar information IP internally. The particles ń and nɛ́ are used to focus the shared subject and non-subject arguments respectively in SVCs in Kusaal. Nɛ́ can further be used for VP and IP foci in SVCs. It is also observed that the

constraints that govern in-situ focus in SVCs are not entirely distinct from the ones that govern non-SVCs in Kusaal. The evidence gathered from this study lead to the following generalizations on in-situ focus in SVCs in Kusaal. i. Kusaal has parallel focus constructions in SVCs such that constituents thus both NP arguments and predicates can be internally (in-situ) or externally (ex-situ) focused. ii. Whilst the particle kà focuses all elements, with the exception of subject arguments, that are moved to the left periphery, ń focuses only subject

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NPs and nɛ́ on the other hand focuses all but non-subject NPs, VPs and IPs clause internal. iii. Multiple foci with either the same particle or different particles on either the same constituent or different constituents in a single construction are ungrammatical. iv. With regards to predicate focus in SVCs, it is possible to focus individual verbs independently but not simultaneously.

5.0

Theoretical Framework: Brief Background to LFG8

In recent years, LFG has emerged as one of the most important theoretical frameworks in grammar and is highly regarded in formal linguistics in general and computational linguistics in particular. It is observed that among the extensive research conducted on LFG; most of it has been focused on the exploration of Optimal Syntax (OT-LFG) framework from the point of view of Optimality Theory (OT) and LFG respectively, or even both (Bresnan 1998). As far as the syntax is concerned, the analysis of the syntactic structure within LFG is represented at three main levels: the argument structure (a-structure), the functional structure (f-structure) and the constituent or phrase structure (c-structure), which has two kinds of equations-annotated functional equations and constraint equations. These structures are subject to different kinds of requirements. Within LFG, the three levels of representation are in a relation of correspondence with each other (Falk 2001). A-structure is mapped to f-structure through the Endocentric Mapping Principles (Bresnan 2001). Bodomo (1997) indicates that the grammatical architecture of LFG is based on parallel structures of five levels: P-(prosodic) structure, σ-(semantic) 8

The summary of the theory of LFG provided here does not include detailed exposition of the framework and as such readers are encouraged to gain access to primary sources of the theory from: Bresnan et al (2016) and Falk (2001) among others.

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structure, a-(argument) structure, f-(functional) structure and c- (constituent) structure. He further argues that the syntactic components of these levels, that is: the c-structure, the f-structure and the a-structure are by far the most developed. Linguists including: King (1997); Choi (1996); Butt 2014; Mycock (2013, 2006); Dalrymple and Nikolaeva (2011); Abubakari (2018), among others, advocate the need to have an additional i-(information) structure to cater for issues related to Discourse Structure. This proposal will be explored extensively in the analysis of focus in Kusaal. The three grammatical components mentioned above represent different grammatical structures: role, function and category respectively. Roles, modelled by a-structure, correspond to the grammatically expressible participants, which may have roles such as agents and theme. Function, which belongs to the f-structure, represents grammatical relations such as subject, object and predicate. Finally, the c- structure models grammatical categories such as NP, VP, etc. According to Bresnan (2001) each level of representation has its own unique prominence relations featuring the logical subject, the functional subject and the structural subject. The levels are associated by principles of functional correspondence. Bodomo (1997:27) represents the syntactic components of LFG as follows: (35)

a. a-structure: R



[f1]-----[fn]



b. f-structure:

P  RED [---] SUBJ [---] OBJ [---]



c. c-structure :

VP



V’ V

PP NP

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5.1 Previous Analysis of SVCs within the LFG framework Bodomo (1997) with data from both Akan and Dagaare argues for the representation of SVCs as a kind of complex predicate into the parallel but related levels of grammatical representations. He proposes the representation of grammatical roles at Argument Structure, Grammatical Categories at Categorial Structure and Functional Information at Functional Structure. He argues that the representation of complex predicates and complex argument structure may link up to a complex or simple categorical structure and to a flat functional structure. This, according to him provides a simple way of indicating the syntax semantic mismatch of SVCs. Consider the example below taken from (Bodomo 1997:11-13). (36) Bayuo da ngmeɛ-ø la Bayuo Pst knock-perf FOC. ‘Bayuo knocked the book down’

a-structure

a gan DEF book

lᴐᴐ-ø caus+fall-perf

NgmE – Loo  [-r]

S c-structure

f-structure

IP NP

N

Bayuo

I’

PREDCHAIN

‘ngmɛ-lᴐᴐ’

TENSE

PAST PERF

I

VP

ASPECT

PAST

V’

SUBJ

da ↑=H↓ V

NP

f1

V’

N’ ↑=H́↓ N

ngmɛ la

O

V

gan lᴐᴐ

OBJ

f2

PRED

‘Bayuo’

NUM

SG

GEND

MASC

PRED

‘gan’

NUM

SG

GEND

NEUT

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Bodomo et al (2003) also analyse SVCs in Cantonese as complex predicates in LFG after indicating the possibility of analysing SVCs in the said language as complementation constructions, as coordinating constructions or as complex predicate constructions. The analysis as complex predicates supersedes the others because the series of verbs in SVCs behave as a single unit. Evidence of this according to them is via negation tests. This test ranges from negation for single predicate benefactive constructions and patterns of negation for complex benefactive constructions. In a later development, Appah (2009) argues that the analysis of SVCs as complex predicates amounts to overgeneralization of the argument sharing relation. His claim is motivated by the fact that there are instances when all verbs do not share all arguments in SVCs. Appah (2009) proposes an analysis where shared arguments are put into the functional structure of the parent VP so that its properties can be inherited by any verb that shares that argument. Any unshared argument occurs with the verb with which it is associated solely in the functional structure of that verb. The sentence in (37a) and its c-structure and f-structure in (37b, c) respectively are taken from (Appah 2009: 112) as illustrations. (37)

a. M  ansah yɛ-ɛ aduane ma-a Mansah do-PAST food give-PAST ‘Mansah prepared food for Mensah.’ b.

Sf1

f1 SUBJ=f2

f1=f3

NPf2

[(f3OBJ)=f8]

f2=f4

VP1f3

Nf4

f5=f7

f5ϵf3

f6ϵf3

VPf5

VPf6 NPf8

Vf7

Mansah

Mensah Mensah

yɛ-ɛ

f6=f9

f6OBJ=f10

Vf9

NPf10

f8=f11

f10=f1

Nf11

Nf12

aduane

ma-a

Mensah

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c. SUBJ



f2,f4:



TENSE

PAST



OBJ

f8,f11:

{



ϵ:

PRED

f5,f7: SUBJ

‘yε’

PRED ‘Mansah’ NUM SG PRED ‘aduane’ NUM ‘SG’



[‘

’]

OBJ

f8,f11:

[‘

’]

f1,f3:

PRED

‘ma’



SUBJ



[‘

f10,f12:

PRED ‘Mensah’





ϵ:

f6,f9: OBJ1



OBJ2

f8,f11:

’]

NUM ‘SG’ [‘

’]

{



Comparing Bodomo (1997) and Appah (2009), it can be argued that both proposals complement each other instead of one superseding the other. Looking critically at the proposal for complex predicates, it is resourceful in the analysis of causative SVCs in languages like Akan, Dagaare and Kusaal, benefactive SVCs in languages like Cantonese, as well as SVCs where the series of verbs are transitive verbs. In both causative and benefactive SVCs, the series of verbs function as a single unit and as such separating them results in different semantic interpretations. Modelling them as complex predicates solves the issue of syntax-semantic mismatch in SVCs as argued by Bodomo (1997). (38) Ama bɔ-ɔ abɔfra no Ama hit-PAST child DEF ‘Ama hit the child down.’

whe-e cause.hit/fall-PAST

fɔm ground

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This is a type of ‘action-causation SVC’ where Ama is the causative agent and the child is the patient. There is a causative verb whe ‘cause to fall/hit’, which is expressed subsequent to the action verb. The act of hitting ‘caused’ the act of falling/ hitting on the ground. ‘Bɔɔ+whee’ is therefore seen as a complex predicate which results in a single semantic interpretation ‘hit down’. The single but complex unit ‘bɔɔ+whee’ selects the object ‘abofra’. These verbs often have different semantic interpretations in other environments when used individually. Separating the two verbs gives us different semantic interpretations: (39)

a. Amaa

bɔ-ɔ

Ama

abofra

no

hit-PAST child

DEF

b. Ama

whe-e

abofra no

Ama

lash-PAST

child

DEF

#Ama

cause.hit/fall-past

child

DEF

Putting (39a) and (39b) together does not automatically result in the interpretation in SVC. Speakers have options of choosing how to combine the verbs to generate the desired interpretation. More so, unlike Akan, languages like Dagaare and Kusaal need not have a locative item accompanying the causative verb (see 36). Appah’s proposal fills a gap which is not mentioned in Bodomo (1997) concerning SVCs that do not share, most especially internal, arguments. The overgeneralization arises when we have intransitive and ditransitive verbs where the direct object and the indirect object, respectively, are not shared. (40) Ò s/he

dᴐ̄

yī

kīŋ

dāˈ

dííb

tīs

bííg

lá.

get up

go-out

leave

buy

food

give

child

DEF

‘S/he got up and went out and bought food for the child.’

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In this example, the verbs ‘dɔ yi kiŋ’ are intransitive and do not take an internal object. ‘da’a’ selects only ‘diib’ as a transitive verb and ‘tis’ selects both ‘biig’ and ‘diib’ as a two-place predicative verb. In this instance, Appah’s proposal serves a good purpose of curbing the problem of overgeneralization in instances where SVCs do not share internal arguments.

5.2 Previous Analysis of Focus and Topic in LFG The analysis of topic and focus in LFG has also undergone several transformations ranging from phrase structural approach (Kaplan and Bresnan 1982; Zaenen 1980, 1983) to functional approach (Kaplan and Maxwell 1988; Kaplan and Bresnan 1982, Bresnan and Mchombo 1987) and subsequently information discourse approach (Abubakari 2018; King 1997; Mycock and Lowe 2013; Choi 1996). This work combines these approaches in its attempt to analyse focus constructions in SVCs in Kusaal. Bresnan et. al. (2016) argue that syntactic elements can perform both grammatical and discourse functions simultaneously. This motivates the representation of both grammatical and (grammaticalized) discourse functions in the f-structure. The example below is taken from Bresnan et. al. (2016: 6769) where the object of the sentence also functions as the topic constituent. (5.1)

S: Ann, I think he likes her. b.

Sf NP Ann

S NP I

VP V think

Sg NP he

VP V

NPh

likes

e ((x↑)TOP) =↑

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c.

TOP

h:[“Ann”]





SUBJ

[“I”]

f: PRED

‘think’



COMP

SUBJ g:



[“he”]

PRED ‘like’ OBJ

Considering the interaction between syntax, morphology and prosody in modelling discourse related information in both configurational and nonconfigurational languages, King (1993/1995) argues that the separation of constituent structure from functional structure in addition to the possibility of introducing an information (discourse function) structure puts LFG in a better position to account for these interactions. King (1997) argues that the encoding of discourse function in the f-structure via annotations in the c-structure results in the incorrect scoping of the discourse function because more materials end up being focused than originally intended. However, the encoding of discourse function via annotations on the c-structure tree works well for simple arguments and adjuncts, assigning them both a grammatical function and a discourse function in the f-structure (King 1997:3). Consider the Kusaal data below for illustration: (41) a. C  P → XP ↓= (↑Q-FOC)

C’ ↑=↓

(↑XCOMP* GF)=↓

b. Gbān kà fù kārīm bɛ́? book FOC 2sg. read Q ‘Was it a book you read?’

c. PRED ‘karim ’ Q-FOC [ ] SUBJ [PRED ‘fu’] OBJ [PRED ‘gban’]

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King points out that the problem arises when the f-structure heads receive discourse function. This is because everything under the head automatically receives the discourse function interpretation as well as in (43) where the subject is indirectly focused alongside the PRED head karim ‘read’ (see Abubakari 2018). Consider the yes/no question below: (42) Ò kārīm gbān lá bɛ́? 3SG read book DEF Q ‘Has s/ he read the book?’ (43)

PRED ‘karim’ Q-FOC [ ] SUBJ [PRED ‘O’] OBJ [PRED ‘gban’]

a. S: Did she buy the book or she read the book? Contrastive Focus ‘Karim’ b. Ò kārīm nɛ́ PRED ‘karim‘ 3SG read FOC Q-FOC {[ ]} ‘It is reading that she did.’ SUBJ [PRED ‘O’]

In solving the above situation, King (1997) proposes the introduction of i-information structure such that information is projected from the c-structure into a distinct i(nformation)-structure which will be accessible by the s(emantic)-structure. (44) Phonetic String C-structure f-structure

i-structure s-structure Semantics

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Using the figure above, King (1997) explains that the mapping between i-structure and c-structure serves dual roles. It permits the semantic access to discourse function information as needed. It also allows all lexical items with PRED values to be assigned discourse function role (PRED FN: Focus, Topic, Background (BGD)) (Kaplan and Zaenen 1988, 1989; Huang 1992:112). This means any item with a semantic predicate receives a corresponding i-structure role which ensures the independence and the completeness of the i-structure. Additionally, Abubakari (2018); Butt (2014) among others argue for the introduction of finer grained details in the i-structure to achieve maximum discourse correspondence between the c-structure and the i-structure. This also ensures that subtypes of discourse notions: contrastive focus, information focus, etc are fully captured in the i-structure projection. Example (45) is an illustration of an in-situ object focus (see Abubakari 2018 for similar analysis). (45)

a. D  áú lá sà dāˈ nɛ́ mùì. man DEF PAST buy FOC rice ‘The man bought RICE/It is RICE she bought.’



b. Annotated c-structure IP DP

I’

(↓PRED FN) Є(↑BGD)

I

VP V (↓PRED FN) Є(↑BGD)

FocP Foc

NP (↓PRED FN) Є(↑FOC)

Dau

la

sa

daˈ

nɛ

mui

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65

c. F-structure

PRED ‘daˈ ’ TENSE PAST

SUB

[PRED



OBJ

[PRED



d. i-structure



FOCUS

{

‘dau’] ‘mui’]

REF

diib

DTYPE contrastive

BACKGROUND



{

DFORM

nɛ

[REF

di]

[REF

biis]

{

{

5.3 Analysis of Focus in SVCs in Kusaal Following previous research on information structure in LFG including: Abubakari (2018); King (1997); Butt (2014) among others, I use an independent i-structure to capture discourse related information in the analysis of focus expressions in serial verb constructions in Kusaal. I introduce two predicate values termed Discourse Type (DTYPE), to capture the subtypes of discourse notions: contrastive focus, information focus etc, and Discourse Form (DFORM) to represent any discourse particle e.g. kà, ń, and nɛ́ for Kusaal, or discourse features such as [+Prominent, + New] for contrastive focus in a language like German (Abubakari 2018; Choi 1996). All focus constituents are annotated with (↓PRED FN)ϵ(↑iFOC) (Kaplan and Zaenen 1988,1989) in the c-structure. The c-structure for SVCs is also modelled along the proposal of Bodomo (1997). Due to space, the illustration is limited to examples involving SVC with shared internal argument and SVC with VP focus.

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(46)

a. D  áú la sà dā' nɛ́ bɛ́ ŋír dī. man DEF PAST buy FOC beans eat ‘No, it is beans that the man bought and ate (rather than rice).’



b. c-structure IP (↓PRED FN)ϵ(↑BGD)

I’

I

VP V’ VP V

Foc Foc

(↓PREDN) ϵ(↑BGD) Dau



sa

daˈ

VP NP

V

(↓PRED FN) (↓PRED FN) ϵ(↑FOC) ϵ(↑BGD) nɛ

bɛŋir

c. F-structure

PREDCHAIN ‘ daˈ, di ’ TENSE PAST

SUBJ f1

[ PRED ‘dau’]



OBJ f2

[PRED

‘bɛŋir’]

di

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d. I-structure



FOCUS

{

REF

bɛŋir

DTYPE contrastive

DFORM

BACKGROUND



{

nɛ

[REF

dau

[REF

daˈ]

[REF

di]

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{ {

(47)

a. Dáú lá [VP sà dā' dííb dī nɛ́]. man DEF PAST buy food eat FOC ‘The man BOUGHT FOOD AND AND ATE IT (rather than any other activities).’



b. c-structure IP (↓PRED FN)

I’

ϵ(↑BDG) DP

I

FocP VP

Foc

V’ (↓PRED (↓PRED (↓PRED FN)ϵ(↑FOC) FN)ϵ(↑FOC) FN)ϵ(↑FOC)

Dau la

sa

VP

NP

VP

daˈ

diib

di

nɛ

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

c. F-structure

PREDCHAIN ‘ daˈ, di ’ TENSE PAST

SUBJ f1

[ PRED ‘dau’]



OBJ f2

[PRED



d. I-structure

{

‘diib’]

FOCUS REF daˈ REF diib DTYPE contrastive DFORM nɛ BACKGROUND

{

[REF [REF

dau] di]

{

{

6.0 Conclusion This study set out to address a less discussed phenomenon where constituents are focused IP internally in SVCs in Kusaal. Using various empirical examples, the possibility of contrastively and exhaustively focusing constituents in SVCs in Kusaal has been demonstrated using the particles ń and nɛ́. Whilst

the particle ń is used for in-situ subject focus, nɛ́ is used for in-situ nonsubject focus in both SVCs and non-SVCs in the language. As a post verbal particle, various constraints that characterize the use of nɛ́ in in-situ focus have also been discussed. In general, the findings in this study show that Kusaal combines both clefting and in-situ focus strategies for focus marking in SVCs. Though I have mentioned the impossibility of focusing SVC constituents in-situ in the Mabia language, Dagaare, this study raises the possibility of having Mabia

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Languages that could potentially use either clefting as the sole focus strategy in SVCs, or languages that could use only in-situ focus strategy for SVCs or others that could combine both strategies for similar effects as is the case in Kusaal. It will, therefore, be interesting to extend this discussion to cover other Mabia languages to ascertain the level of divergence or similarity in focus strategies in SVCs. The chapter has further discussed issues relating to previous formal analyses of SVCs in LFG and observed that the proposals of Bodomo (1997); Bodomo et al (2003) and Appah (2009) are complementary since they both are not exhaustive in solving issues relating to all types of SVCs. Each approach should be adopted for the type of SVC it addresses in the absence of a unilateral approach for all types of SVCs. Building on a combined approach of the work of Abubakari (2018), Butt (2014); King (1997); Choi (1996) and Bodomo (1997), focus constructions in SVCs in Kusaal are analysed within the LFG framework. The c-structure is annotated for various discourse functions, and an independent i-structure is also used to project discourse related information. Predicate attributes referred to as DTYPE and DFORM are introduced in the i-structure to distinguish subtypes of focus and to capture discourse particles and features on individual language basis.

List of Abbreviations BGD Background Nml Nominalised COMP Complement NUM Number CONJ DEF DTYPE FOC GEND

Conjunction Definite Article Discourse Subtype Focus Gender

OBJ PL PRED SG SUBJ

Object Plural Predicate Singular Subject

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REFERENCES Abubakari, Hasiyatu. Contrastive focus particles in Kusaal. (2019a). In: Emily Clem, Peter Jenks & Hannah Sande (eds.) Theory and description in African Linguistics: Selected papers from the 47th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, 325-347. Berlin: Language Science Press. DOI:10.5281/ zenodo.3367154 Abubakari, Hasiyatu. (2019b). Predicate cleft constructions in Kusaal. In James Essegbey, Dalina Kallulli and Adams Bodomo (eds.), The grammar of verbs and their arguments: a cross-linguistic perspective. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. Abubakari, Hasiyatu. (2018). Aspects of Kusaal Grammar: The Syntax-Information Structure Interface. PhD Dissertation, African Studies Department: University of Vienna.

Abubakari, Hasiyatu. (2011). Object-sharing as symmetric sharing:

predicate clefting and serial verb constructions in Kʋ́sáàl. MPhil Thesis, Tromsø: University of Tromsø. Appah, K. I. Clement. (2009). The representation of ISVC in C and F structures of LFG: A proposal. In SKASE Journal of Theoretical Linguistics [online], Vol. 6,no. 1. Bodomo, Adams. B., Lam, S.C. O.,& Yu. S.S. N. (2003). Double object and serial verb benefactive constructions in Cantonese. In Miriam Butt &Tracy Holloway King (eds.), Proceedings of the LFG03 Conference. Standford: CSLI Publications.

Bodomo, Adams B. (2000). Dagááre. München: Lincom Europa.

Bodomo, Adams. B. (1997). Exploring the syntax and semantics of complex verbal predicates in Dagaare and other languages. Doctoral dissertation Path and Pathfinders, NTNU, Trondheim.

Bodomo, Adams. (1997). The structure of Dagaare. Stanford:CSLI.

Bresnan, Joan, Asudeh Ash, Toivonen Ida, & Wechsler Stephen. (2016). Lexical-Functional Syntax (2nd Edition). West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.

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Bresnan, Joan. (2001). Lexical-Functional Syntax. Malden, Mass.:

Blackwell Publishers.

Bresnan, Joan & Mchombo Sam A. (1987). Topic, Pronoun, and

Agreement in Chicheŵa.Language, Vol.63, 4:741-782.

Bresnan, Joan. (1998). Optimal Syntax. In Joost Dekkers, Frank

VAN DER Leeuw, & Jeron van de Weijer (eds.), Optimal Theory: Phonology, Syntax and Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Butt, Miriam. (2014). Questions and Information Structure in Urdu/

Hindi. Miriam Butt and Tracy Hollyway King (eds.), Proceedings of LFG14 Conference. CSLI Publications.

Choi, Hye-Won. (1996). Optimizing Structure in Context: Scrambling

and Information Structure. Ph.D. thesis, Stanford University.

Dalrymple, Mary & Nikolaeva, Irina. (2011). Objects and Information

Structure. Cambridge: University Press.

Dik, Simon C. (1978). Functional grammar. Amsterdam: Noth-

Holland.

É. Kiss, Katalin. (2010). Structural focus and exhaustivity. In Malte

Zimmermann &Caroline Féry (eds.), Information Structure: Theoretical, Typological, and Experimental Perspective, (64-88). New York: Oxford University Press. É.Kiss, Katalin. (1998). Identificational Focus versus Information Focus. Language 74:245-273.

Falk, N. Yehuda. (2001). Lexical-functional grammar: an

introduction to parallel constraint based syntax. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.

Fiedler, Ines., Hartmann, Katharina., Reineke Brigitte., Schwarz,

Anne & Malte Zmmermann. (2010). Subject Focus in West African Languages. In Malte Zimmermann &Caroline Féry (eds.), Information Structure: Theoretical, Typological, and Experimental Perspective, (234257). New York: Oxford University Press.

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Fiedler, Ines. and Schwarz, Anne. (2005). Out-of-focus Encoding in

Gur and Kwa. In Ishihara, S., M. Schmitz, and A. Scharz (eds.), Interdisciplinary Studies on Information Structure 3, 111-142. Postdam:Potsdam University.

Haspelmath, M. (2015). The serial verb constructions: Comparative

concept and cross-linguistic generalizations(draft). Retrieved from: www.academia.edu/10652772/The_serial_verb_construction_Comparative_ concept_and_cross-linguistic_generalizations

Hiraiwa, K., and Bodomo, A. (2008). Object-sharing as Symmetric

Sharing: predicate clefting and serial verbs in Dàgáárè. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory. Springer. 26(4): 795-832.

Hiraiwa, K. (2005). Predicate clefts in Bùlì: Phase and category. In

R. Letsholo and N. C. Kula.(eds.), Linguistic Analysis: a special volume: African linguistics in the new millennium 32(3/4): 544-583.

Huang, Chu-Ren. (1992). Certainty in Functional Uncertainty.

Journal of Chinese Linguistics.

Issah, S. Alhassan. (2013). The function of the postverbal la in

Dagbani. Studies in African Linguistics, Vol. 42: 2

Jackendorff, Ray. (1972). Semantic Interpretation in Generative

Grammar. Cambridge, MA:MIT Press.

Kaplan, Ronald M. & Zaenen, Annie. (1989). Long-distance

dependencies, constituent structure, and functional uncertainty. In Mark R. Baltin and Anthony S. Kroch (eds). Alternative Conceptions of Phrase Structure. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Kaplan, Ronald M. & Zaenen, Annie. (1988). Functional uncertainty

and functional precedence in Continental West Germanic. Presented at WWWS, Vienna.

Kaplan, R. M. & Maxwell, J. T. (1988). An algorithm for functional

uncertainty. Proceedings of the 12th Conference on Computational Linguistics Volume 1. New York: Association for Computational Linguistics.

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Kaplan, Ronald & Bresnan Joan. (1982). Lexical-Functional Grammar: A Formal System for Grammatical Representation. In Joan Bresnan (ed.), The Mental Representation of Grammatical Relations (pp.173281). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. King, Tracey Holloway. (1997). Focus domains and informationstructure. In Miriam Butt and Tracy Holloway King (eds). Proceedings of the LFG97 Conference. Stanford: CSLI Publications. King, Tracey Holloway. (1995). Focus domain and information – structure. In Miriam Butt and Tracy Holloway King (eds.) Proceedings of the LFG97 Conference. Standford: CSLI Publications. King, Tracey Holloway. (1993). Configuring Topic and Focus in Russian. Doctoral dissertation, Stanford University. Published by CSLI Publication, 1995 Lefebvre, C. (1992). Towards a typology of predicate cleft languages. In Travaux de recherché sur le créole haїtien: Numéro 8-Avril 1992, 69-80. Montréal: Départment de linguistique, Université du Québec à Montréal: Groupe de recherché sur le créole haїtien. Mycock, L. & Lowe, J. J. (2013). The Prosodic Marking of Discourse Functions. In Miriam Butt and Tracy Holloway King (eds.), Proceedings of the LFG13 Conference. Standford: CSLI Publications. Mycock, L. & John, L. L. (2013). The Prosodic Marking of Discourse Functions. In Miriam Butt & Tracy Holloway King (eds.), Proceedings of the LFG13 Conference. Standford, CA: CSLI Publications.

Mycock, Louise. (2006). The Typology of Constituent Questions:

A Lexical-Functional Grammar Analysis of wh-questions. PhD. Thesis, University of Manchester. Renans, Agata M. (2016). Exhaustivity. On exclusive particles, clefts, and progressive aspect in Ga (Kwa). Postdam: Universität Postdam. (PhD Dissertation) Rochemont, Michael. (1986). Focus in Generative Grammar. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

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Rooth, Mats. (1985). Association with Focus. Amherst (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Massachusetts. Zaenen, Annie. (1983). On syntactic binding. Linguistic Inquiry, 14: 469-504. Zaenen, Annie. (1980). Extraction rules in Icelandic. Harvard University dissertation. Zimmermann, Malte. (2008). Contrastive Focus and emphasis. Acta Linguistica Hungarica 55(3):347-360. DOI: 10.1556/ALing.55.2008.3-4.9.

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CHAPTER THREE A SU RV EY OF T H E PRONOMINAL SYSTEMS OF T H R E E M A B I A L A N G UA G E S : KUSAAL, DAGBANI AND GURENԐ A. Agoswin Musah, Samuel Alhassan Issah, Samuel Awinkene Atintono University of Education, Winneba and Accra College of Education, Accra

Abstract: This chapter presents a descriptive study of the pronominal systems of Kusaal, Dagbani and Gurenɛ pursued from a comparative linguistic perspective. We consider the personal, demonstrative, reflexive, reciprocal, relative, indefinite, and emphatic pronouns. Emphasis is placed on their morphosyntatic characteristics highlighting the differences and similarities with a view to teasing out possible typological conclusions about the identified pronominal systems. Pronouns in the three languages are free in most cases and are therefore, not bound to other grammatical elements that may precede or follow them. Further, while the similarities across languages highlight the closeness of the language cluster, their apparent differences underlie the fossilized idiosyncratic systems that have emerged over the period that they have diverged from each other. This chapter is important because it makes a significant contribution towards a typological knowledge of a language family that has not yet received vigorousl linguistics attention. The data is based on fieldwork research and native speaker introspection of the respective authors together with text-based secondary sources.

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Keywords: Kusaal, Dagbani, Gurenɛ, comparative, pronominal system, Mabia, typology.

1.0 Introduction This chapter presents a systematic analysis of the pronominal systems of three Mabia (hitherto Gur) languages: Kusaal, Dagbani and Gurenɛ. There are interesting aspects of the pronominal system of the Mabia cluster, which have not been investigated at a comparative level. All three languages are classified as Western Oti-Volta Mabia languages; while Kusaal and Dagbani are further classified under the southwestern cluster, Gurenɛ is classified as north western (Bendor-Samuel 1971, 1989; Naden 1988). Major towns where these languages are spoken are Bawku for Kusaal, Bolga for Gurenɛ while Dagbani is spoken in Tamale and Yendi. Both Kusaal and Gurenɛ have speakers in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Togo. The three languages have dialects, which are mutually intelligible: Kusaal has the Agole and Toende dialects while the main Dabgani dialects are Tomosili, Nayahali and Nanuni. Gurenɛ is one of the five dialects of the Farefari language; the other four being Taln, Nabt, Boone and Nankani. The main dialectal variations observable in all the dialects of the three languages manifest at the phonological, lexical and morphosyntactic levels. For the purpose of this chapter, however, the Kusaal data is based on the Agole dialect while the Dagbani data is drawn from the western dialect (Tomosili) with Gurenɛ as the dialect of Farefari employed for the analysis. In terms of typological features, the three languages are generally SVO in nature; they exhibit, largely, a two-tone system of high and low; while particles of varying kinds, which perform various grammatical functions in the clause, predominate, such as tense and modal markers.

2.0

Pronouns as a grammatical category

Pronouns are lexical categories that are used in place of nouns within a pragmatic discourse situation where all the participants are, to some extent,

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identified and delineated. Pronouns are established as one of the lexical categories in natural languages that are somewhat related to nouns in terms of their grammatical functions. One major motivation for this assumption might be the observation that pronouns are able to substitute for full noun phrases (NPs) in sentences and once the grammatical features of number and gender are obeyed, as prescribed by the language concerned, the resulting structure would be grammatical. Although we ascribe to the general definition of pronouns as a group of lexical items, which can substitute for nominal items, the exact characterization of a pronoun is rather imprecise and difficult to pin down. This fact is attested, for instance, in Bhat’s (2004) extensive treatise of the phenomenon where he alludes to and makes an important distinction between personal pronouns on one hand and ‘the rest of pronouns – proforms’ on the other. He asserts that The most important difference between personal pronouns and proforms concerns their primary function. Personal pronouns are used primarily for denoting speech roles like 'being the speaker' and 'being the addressee' of the sentence in which they occur. Proforms, on the other hand, are used for employing a set of general concepts in different functions like locating an entity, denoting one's lack of knowledge about it, obtaining information about it from the addressee, or relating it with some other entity (Bhat 2004: 272). For these three languages, therefore, we consider pronouns (both personal pronouns and proforms) as lexical items that can be used to substitute for a noun in a clause or may function independently as noun phrases. Morphologically, these are independent elements and are not bound to any element. The rest of the chapter is organized as follows: §3.0 discusses the personal pronoun systems of the three languages, while §4.0 considers demonstrative pronouns. In §5.0, and §6.0 we consider the emphatic and reflexive pronoun systems respectively. We follow up with a discussion of reciprocal pronouns in §7.0, while relative pronouns take up §8.0. Interrogative pronouns are taken up in §9.0 and the chapter is concluded in §10.0.

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3.0

Personal pronouns

In this section, we present the personal pronouns of the three languages in terms of their form and function. We make three distinctions for the category person: the traditional 1st, 2nd Person and 3rd Persons as highlighted in Tables 1, 2 and 3 below. All three languages have personal pronouns for the subjective and objective forms. We begin with the Kusaal personal pronominal system in Table 1. The subjective and objective forms are very similar except in the second person pronominal system where the object pronoun diverges from the rest. The emphatic form is what is referred to as the ‘strong form’ in Bodomo (1994: 71) and as the ‘independent’ pronoun in Dorvlo (2007: 57). The range of pronouns within this category is highlighted as follows: Table 1: Kusaal personal pronoun system Person

3rd

Subject/ Possessor

Object

Emphatic

SG

Pl

SG

Pl

SG

PL

1st

m

ti

-m

ti

man/mam

tinam

2nd

fʋ

ya

-if

ya

fʋn

yanam

Human

o

ba

o

ba

on

banam

Non-human

di/li

ba

li

ba

din

ban

The Gurenɛ personal pronouns are similar to Kusaal and Dagbani with the distinction for the subjective and objective. Similar to Kusaal, Gurenɛ has the emphatic pronoun; it however differs from Kusaal and Dagbani which both make a distinction in animacy with regard to the third person pronominal form. The same pronoun forms are used for the subjective and the objective with the exception of the third person singular pronoun.

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Table 2: Gurenɛ pronoun system Person

Subjec /Possessor

Object

Emphatic

SG

PL

SG

PL

SG

PL

1st

ma/n

tu

ma

tu

mam

tumam

2nd

fu

ya

fu

ya

fum

yamam

3rd

a

ba

e

ba

eŋa

bamam

Dagbani, similar to Kusaal and Gurenɛ, is regulated by such parameters as subject and non-subject. The pronominal forms of the three languages are thus also categorized within the traditional notion of person - yielding a differentiation based on first, second and third persons. Comparable to Kusaal, Dagbani makes a distinction in animacy in the third person pronoun between human and non-human personal pronouns as shown in Table 3 below. This distinction is also a common feature of Safaliba as observed by Schaefer (2004). Table 3: The pronoun system of Dagbani Person

Subject/Possessor

Object

Singular

Plural

Singular

Plural

1st

m/n/ŋ

ti

ma

ti

2nd

a

yi

a

ya

(Human)

o

bɛ

o

ba

(NonHuman)

di

di

li

ŋa

3rd

The subject pronouns, in terms of their distributional properties, generally precede the verb except in conjoined NPs where we could also have the accusative form of the pronominal occurring pre-verbally as demonstrated in the examples below:

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(1). M waa-nɛ tɛŋ 1SG.SBJ go-PROG town.SG ‘I am going (in) to town.’

pʋʋg-in stomach-LOC

KSL

(2).  N wan kule beere GUR 1SG FUT go.home tomorrow ‘I will go home tomorrow.’ (3). N yen 1SG.SBJ FUT ‘I will go to market.’

chaŋ go

la FOC

daa DGB market

A critical observation of the pronoun system of the three languages shows that not all the pronouns make a morphological distinction between the subjective versus objective forms. For instance, in Dagbani, there is no overt morphological distinction between the first-person plural and the third person singular pronominals. The third person plural pronominal and the second person singular and plural pronominals, however, do make a morphological distinction between the subjective and objective plural forms. There is also a morphological distinction between the subjective and objective in the third person non-human pronoun in the case of Dagbani and Kusaal but Gurenɛ does not make any animacy distinction. In a situation where there is no morphological distinction between the two forms, it is the syntax of the construction in which the pronoun occurs (whether conjoined NP or not) that would tell which form of the pronoun is intended for both singular and plural forms, except the third person nonhuman pronoun in the case of Dagbani and Kusaal. The use of the subject/ object pronoun is demonstrated in (4- 6). (4)

a. O  ti ma 3SG.SUBJ give 1SG.OBJ ‘S/he has given me a book.’

buku book

DGB

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b. Bɛ 3PLU.OBJ

ku

ba

bua

kill

3SG.OBJ

goat

81

‘They have killed them a goat.’ (5) a.  A bo ma ligeri la GUR 3SG.SUBJ

give

1SG.OBJ

money DEF

‘He gave me the money.’ b. * Ma bo a ligeri la ISG.SUBJ give (6)

a. O 3SG.SUBJ

3SG.OBJ

tis-im

ligidi

money

DEF



KSL

give-1SG.OBJ money

la DEF

‘He gave me the money.’

b. M 1SG.SUBJ

tis

o

ligidi

la

give

3SG.OBJ

money

DET

‘I gave him the money.’ We note that in the case of the Kusaal, there is no occasion of ungrammaticality. This is accounted for by the fact that the preceding vocalic element -i in example (6a) is simply epenthetic and allows for a simplification of the consonant cluster that would have otherwise arisen. This differs from the both Dagbani and Gurenɛ. In addition, we note that Purvis (2007) in his discussion of Dagbani pronouns uses the term pre-verbal for the subject forms of the personal pronouns. We avoid this rather rigid syntactic classification because it is possible for the forms of the personal pronouns he calls the post-verbal pronouns (that is the object form) to occur in pre-verbal positions in conjoined NPs. The occurrence of the object forms of pronouns at subject position in conjoined NP constructions is exemplified below in Dagbani. Readers should note however, that if the order of the first and the second conjuncts is switched,

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that is the object form appears in the first conjunct, the resulting structure is illicit as in (7c) (8c) and (9c). (7)

a. M

mini

1SG.SUBJ

ba

CONJ 2PL.OBJ

ni

chaŋ

daa

DGB

FUT

go

market

‘I would go to the market with them.’

b. *M

mini

bɛ

1SG.SUBJ CONJ 2PL.SUBJ

c. *Ba 2PL.OBJ

mini

m

CONJ 1SG.SUBJ

ni

chaŋ

daa

FUT

go

market

ni

chaŋ

daa

FUT

go

market

(8) a.  Adam mini ya ka Naa bora NAME

CONJ 2PL.OBJ

FOC

chief

wants

ka

Naa

bora

CONJ PL.SUBJ

FOC

chief

wants

mini

Adam

ka

Naa

bora

CONJ

NAME

FOC

chief

wants

‘It is Adam and you (people) that chief wants.’

b. *Adam Adam



c. * Ya 2PL.OBJ

(9)

a. B  ihi children

mini

yi

maa

mini

li

ku

gbe

duu

DEF

CONJ

3SG.OBJ

NEG

stay

room

‘The children will not stay in a room with it.’

b. *Bihi children



c. *Li 3SG.OBJ

maa

mini

di

ku

gbe

duu

DEF

CONJ

3SG.OBJ

NEG

stay

room

mini

bihi

maa

ku

gbe

duu

CONJ

children

DEF

NEG

stay

room

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It becomes obvious from the data in (7- 9) that the strict categorization of pronouns as either pre- or post-verbal elements is not optimal for Dagbani considering the fact that there are instances in which what is described as post-verbal could occur in the pre-verbal position. We further observe that in the conjoined NP constructions, the second NP, if it is a pronoun, must obligatorily be the object form and not the subject form. A further observation is that in all the three languages, the personal pronoun data presented make an important distinction in terms of number (i.e. singular verses plural entities) while gender distinctions are of no importance whatsoever. This appears to be the case for most Mabia languages as is, for instance, attested for in the Dagaare pronominal system by Bodomo (1997) as well as in some Kwa languages such as Akan (Boadi 2017). In respect of subjective verses objective uses (similar to a nominative / accusative dichotomy), however, there is no marked difference except in the 1st and 2nd objective forms in Kusaal and Dagbani while Gurenɛ shows a difference in the 3rd singular objective form and 3rd singular in the emphatic form. In these instances, the pronominal items are not free or independent in Kusaal but must necessarily be suffixed to the preceding verb form while they are free in Gurenɛ and Dagbani. All other pronouns in all other environments are free. The emphatic forms are also attested for Kusaal and Gurenɛ but not Dagbani and are used at both subjective and objective positions without a change in form in either case. In the examples below, we show how the system maps out at subjective position: (9)

a. M waa b. Ma we’eseri la c. N chani 1SG go.PROG ‘I am going to town.’

nɛ tiŋa la FOC

tɛŋ puan tiŋa land

pʋʋgin GUR puuni inside

KSL DGB

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

(10) a. Fu

kuos

bʋʋg

la?

KSL



b. Fu

koose

bua

la?

GUR



c. A

kohi

bua

maa?

DGB

sell

goat

DET

2SG.SUBJ

‘Did you sell the goat?’ (11)

a. O

dʋg-nɛ

diib

KSL



b. A

dug-ɛ

dia

GUR



c. O 

dug-ila

bindirigu

DGB

cook-PFV

food

3SG.SBJ

‘S/he cooked food.’ (12)

a. Ti

ã

nɛ

sakur

biis

KSL



b. Tu

de

la

sukuu

kɔma

GUR



c. Ti

nye

la

shikuru

bihi

DGB

COP

FOC

school

children

1PL.SUBJ

‘We are school children (students/pupils).’ (13)

a. Ya

zɔnɛ



b. Ya

zoi

kpɛ ̃ mɔɔg-in kɛl̃ a mue-n

KSL GUR

c.  Yi zomi kpe mogi-ni DGB 2PL.SUBJ

run.PFV

enter grass-LOC

‘You run into the bush (wilderness).’ As regards the distribution of personal pronouns, they occur in positions reserved for bona fide nominal items because their main function is to replace nouns. This is indicated by the occurrence of the pronominal forms in subject positions in the preceding examples. Personal pronouns also occur in object position and are exemplified in (14) through (16) where the pronouns o/e/o ‘him/her’ (14), m/ma/ma ‘me’ (15) and ba/ ba/ba ‘them’ (16) are used to replace full DPs in the object positions as below:

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(14)

a. Agbaŋ b. Atia c. Abu NAME

daa nɛ da’ la da buy FOC

fʋʋg fuo liika shirt

tis bo ti give

85

o KSL e GUR o DGB 3SG.OBJ

‘Agbang/Atia/Abu bought a shirt for him/her.’ (15) KSL

a. Duata

la

(16)

a. Nɔkim laa la tisi ba KSL b. Dikɛ laa la tisɛ ba GUR c. zaη kuriga maa ti ba DGB take bowl DET give 3PL.OBJ ‘Give the bowl to them (lit.: take the bowl and give to them).’

b. Dɔgeta la wan c. Dɔgita maa ni doctor DET FUT ‘The doctor will inject me.’

na

kʋs

m

lu ma chibi ma inject 1SG.OBJ

GUR DGB

We note that except the third personal singular forms where a distinction is made between pronouns that refer to humans and those that refer to other non-human entities in the case of Kusaal and Dagbani, none of the languages makes a marked differentiation between Human and Non-Human personal pronouns at subjective and objective positions for all other pronoun forms. This is an attested fact cross-linguistically as is for instance exemplified in languages like English, where only third person singular pronouns make animacy distinction. For instance, in the examples in 17 below, no pronoun is available to distinguish human and non-human entities when they occur in the plural (except perhaps the deviation in the Dagbani form). As a result, when the animate forms tɔɔsnam/kaareba/tɔhnima ‘hunters’ and inanimate forms kpana/su’usi/kpana ‘spears’ in example (17) are replaced with pronominal forms in (18), the same pronoun is used even though the second ba refers to the non-human entities expressed in (17) for Kusaal and Gurenɛ.

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(17)

a. Tɔɔsnam

la

saasɛ

kpan-a la

KSL



b. Kaareba

la

saasɛ

su’u-si la

GUR



c. Tɔhnima

maa

sahi

kpan-a maa

DGB

hunters

DET

sharpened

spear-PL

DET

‘The hunters sharpened the spears.’(18)

a.Ba

saasɛ

ba

KSL



b. Ba

saasɛ

ba

GUR



c. B  ɛ

sahi

ŋa

DGB

sharpened

3PL.OBJ

3PL.SUBJ

‘They sharpened them.’

4.0

Demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns are used for deictic purposes to point to an entity or occurrence within a certain spatial-temporal domain in the languages and conform to cross-linguistic findings such as is cited in Dixon (2003:6162) and Dryer (2007). Typologically, demonstratives in natural languages are contrasted based on how close (the so-called proximal demonstratives) or far (distal demonstratives) away they are from the typical deictic center respectively. The range of demonstratives in the three languages vary. Kusaal and Dagbani (23 and 24 respectively) tend to have three or four demonstrative pronouns while Gurenɛ has a more extended system because of the productive noun class system of the language which requires a particular type of noun class to have a prefix which corresponds to the same demonstrative form as shown in (25). The demonstrative pronouns make a distinction between singular and plural demonstrative pronouns and distances. This creates a distinction between proximal and distal demonstrative pronouns. Notice that in the languages, the demonstratives can make both singular and plural references.

A Survey of The Pronominal Systems of Three Mabia Languages: Kusaal, Dagbani And Gurenԑ

(23)

nwa ‘that/this KSL



nɛ’ɛŋa/nɛ

‘this/that’



bamma

‘these/those’



banna

‘these/those’

(24).

ŋo

this (proximal)



ŋonima

these (proximal)



ŋo ha

that (distal marker)



ŋonima ha

those (distal marker))

(25)

a. Singular forms of the demonstratives



ina

that/this (singular and near to speaker)



kana (CL4)

that/this (singular and near to speaker)



dina (CL5)

that/this (singular and near to speaker)



kuna (CL7)

that/this (singular and near to speaker)



b. Plural forms of the demonstratives



bana (CL2)

these/those (away from speaker)



sina (CL4)

these/those (away from speaker)



tuna (CL8)

these/those (away from speaker)



buna (CL9)

these/those (reference to mass nouns)

87

DGB

GUR

It is worthy to mention that these demonstrative pronouns are not sensitive to the animate feature of the referent NP/DP. However, it is apparent that the Gurenɛ system presents a more fine-grained system given the fact that the demonstrative pronouns reflect the noun class system as discussed in (Atintono 2011, 2013). The use of these demonstrative pronouns is often accompanied by gestures such as; pointing with the finger or stick, in order to avoid ambiguous interpretations. Therefore, when presented with two items from which a choice of one has to be made, simply using any of these demonstratives

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without an accompanying indexicalisation would yield very mixed or confused results. Sample usages of the demonstrative pronouns are illustrated below for Dagbani. (26)

a. ŋ o mali daa gari ŋoha. this has market pass that ‘This (is more expensive than that (one over there).



b. ŋo ha ka bi-hi that DM FOC child-PL ‘It is that one that the children want.’



c. ŋ o-nima ha ku kpe loori maa that-PLDM NEG enter.PFV lorry DEF ‘Those (ones over there) would not enter the lorry’

maa DEF

bo-ra. want-IMP

ni. LOC

We observe that these examples have the demonstrative pronouns as NPs and not as modifiers of NPs as is the case of demonstrative determiners. A more systematic study of Dagbani demonstratives is provided in (Issah 2018).

5.0

Emphatic Pronouns

The emphatic forms appear to have some special distribution in that they are allowed in focus positions unlike their weak counterparts where a relative particle or the exhaustive focus marker realized as ka/n in Kusaal, ti/n in Gurenɛ and -ka/n in Dagbani are introduced after the emphatic pronoun. In object positions, the emphatic form is realised more often as the benefactive of (di)transitive constructions. We provide the examples below to illustrate this phenomenon: (27)

a. M  an ka o 1SG.EMPH FOC 1SG.SBJ ‘It is me he gave it to.’

noki take

tis give

KSL

A Survey of The Pronominal Systems of Three Mabia Languages: Kusaal, Dagbani And Gurenԑ



b. Mam ti a 1SG.EMPH FOC 1SG.SBJ ‘It is me that he gave it to.’

dikɛ take

bo give

89

GUR

c.  Mani bo-r-i loori palli DGB 1SG.EMPH want-IMP-CJ lorry new ‘I want a new car’ (not any other person) (28)

a. Yannam n saam lɔɔr la 2PL.EMPH FOC destroy lorry DET ‘It is you guys (not us) who destroyed the lorry.’

KSL



b. Yamam n sagum loore la 2PL.EMPH FOC destroy lorry DEF ‘It is you guys (not us) who destroyed the lorry.’

GUR



c. Yinima daa bi da bindirigu DGB 2PL.EMPH TRM NEG buy.PFV food ‘You (people) did not buy that food some time ago.’ (others bought)

Pragmatically, the emphatic pronouns have a sense of ‘exclusiveness’ in discourse that is they are used to indicate that only one thing holds and not the other. This is evident from the preceding examples.

6.0

Reflexive pronouns

Reflexive pronouns generally lack inherent meaning and depend on an already existing structural element (generally a subject NP) for their interpretation. Cross linguistically, reflexives are grouped into two main categories based on their distributional properties (Faltz 1977). These are the long distance anaphors like the Dutch zich, Norwegian seg, and the Italian se and local

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

anaphors such as the English himself, and the Dutch zichzelf. Faltz (1977). Faltz contends that morphologically complex reflexives such as the English himself, are universally labeled as being local, while morphologically simplex reflexives such as the Dutch zich are generally long distance reflexives. The reflexive pronouns in Kusaal, Dagbani and Gurenɛ are a combination of a personal pronoun and a reflexive morpheme realized as mɛŋ, -maŋa or -miŋa ‘self’ respectively which is attached to the personal pronoun. The resulting meaning of the two new conjoined items is to show a relationship between the reflexive particle and its immediate antecedent, i.e. the preceding pronoun. Below is an exhaustive list of reflexive pronouns in Kusaal, Gurenɛ and Dagbani in (29), (30) and (31) respectively. Note that the reflexive marker remains the same and does not inflect for number in the case of Kusaal, although they are sensitive to number marking in Gurenɛ. (29)

3rd

(29)

3rd

a. Table 4: Reflexive Pronouns in Kusaal Reflexiver Reflexive Reflexive Plural - mɛŋ pronoun pronoun

Person

Singular

1st

M

- mɛŋ

m mɛŋ

ti

ti mɛŋ

2nd

fu

- mɛŋ

fu mɛŋ

ya

ya mɛŋ

Human

o

- mɛŋ

o mɛŋ

ba

ba mɛŋ

Non-human

di

- mɛŋ

di mɛŋ

di

di mɛŋ

b. Table 5: Reflexive Pronouns in Gurenɛ Reflexiver Reflexive Reflexive Plural - miŋa pronoun pronoun

Person

Singular

1st

N

- miŋa

n miŋa

tu

tumisi

2nd

fu

- miŋa

fumiŋa

ya

yamisi

a

- miŋa

amiŋa

ba

bamisi

Human

A Survey of The Pronominal Systems of Three Mabia Languages: Kusaal, Dagbani And Gurenԑ

(30)

3rd

91

Table 6: Reflexive Pronouns in Dagbani Reflexiver Reflexive Reflexive Plural -maŋa pronoun pronoun

Person

Singular

1st

n/m/ŋ

-maŋa

m maŋa

ti

ti maŋa

2nd

a

-maŋa

a maŋa

yi

yi maŋa

Human

o

-maŋa

o maŋa

bɛ

bɛ maŋa

Non-human

di

-maŋa

di maŋa

di

di maŋa

Much like the case of Kusaal and Gurenɛ, Dagbani reflexive pronouns fall under the class of reflexives that are referred to as complex anaphors. Plural features are marked on the genitive/possessor pronouns and never on the reflexive as in English, which makes the distinction between self and selves. In other words, the genitive pronoun may vary in form based on the number features of the antecedent, but the reflexiver -maŋa remains the same. Other Ghanaian languages such as Akan (Saah 2014; 1989; Osam 2002), Ewe (Agbedor 2014), Dagaare (Bodomo 1997) and Likpakpaanl (Acheampong 2014) are also suggested to have complex reflexive pronouns. As regards the occurrence of these reflexives, they generally occur within syntactic frames where they can be co-referenced on preceding nominal items in broader syntactic constructions. This is because antecedent is generally in subject position. The co-indexed NPs in the example sentences below serve to highlight this claim. (31)

a. Amaa mi da gbã’ɛ m mɛŋi KSL but 1SG PST hold.PST REFL ‘But I restrained myself (lit.: but I held myself)’ (KB 1895: 22)



b. Amaa mami daa guri n mɛŋai but 1SG PST hold.PST REFL ‘But I restrained myself (lit.: but I held myself).’

GUR

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

(32)

a. Abaŋiri A.

yis

o mɛŋi

paalʋ-naj

remove

REFL

open-LOC

KSL

‘Abangir revealed himself (lit.:Abangir showed himself in the open).’

b. Ataŋai

pa’alɛ

amɛŋai

Ataŋa

show

REFL

GUR

‘Ataŋa revealed himself (lit.:Ataŋa showed himself )’ (33)

a. B  ai kʋ

lɛn

dĩã’a ba mɛŋai

KSL

3PL NEG again dirty REFL ‘They will not dirty themselves again (they will not sin again)’ (KB 1946: 23)

b. Ba

ka

le

ŋmɛ

bamɛŋa

GUR

3PL NEG again beat REFL ‘They will not beat themselves again.’ (34)

a. Tinami

na

2PL.EMPH FUT

kpɛn

pɛsigi

ti

mɛŋi

KSL

continue

dedicate

2PL

REFL

‘We will continue to dedicate ourselves.’ (KB 2486: 4)

b. Tumami

wan

kelum

pɛgera

tumɛŋai

2PL.EMPH FUT

continue

dedicate

2PL REFL

‘We will continue to dedicate ourselves.’ (35)

a. B  ihii children

maa

dim

bɛ-maŋai/*j

DEF bite 2PL-self

‘The children have bitten themselves’

b. *Bɛ-maŋai

dim

bihii/*j

maa

2PL-self bite children DEF

DGB

A Survey of The Pronominal Systems of Three Mabia Languages: Kusaal, Dagbani And Gurenԑ

(36)

a. Oi

yeli

3SG say

mi

[ni

Chentiwunij tu

o-maŋaj/*i]

FOC

that

NAME

3SG-self

insult

93

‘S/he has said that Chentiwuni should insult himself.’

b. *Oi

yeli mi

3SG say

c. *Bihii

[ni

Chentiwunij

tu

o maŋai/*j.]

FOC

that

NAME

insult

3SG. N-self

maa

tu

o-maŋai/*j

children DEF insult 3SG-self The distribution of these reflexive pronouns is controlled by the syntactic phenomena of binding and c-command. According to the Principle A of the Government and Binding Theory (Chomsky 1981: 190), Anaphor is a cover/generic term used to refer to reflexives and reciprocals which are syntactically dependent elements given that they pick up their interpretations from previous DPs in the clause structure, called antecedents. ‘From example (35a), bihi ‘children’ is the binder and the antecedent while the reflexive pronoun bɛmaŋa ‘themselves’ is the ‘bindee’. The binding relationship between the two constituents is indicated by the co-indexation. (35b) is ungrammatical because an inherently dependent element occurs in clause initial position, while in (36b) the requirement that the antecedent and its reflexive be found in one clause (locality constraint) is defied and runs counter to Principle A of binding theory. The lack of number agreement between the binder and the bindee also accounts for the ungrammatical sentence in (36c)

7.0

Reciprocal pronouns

Reciprocal pronouns also fall under the class of pronouns that Chomsky (1981) calls anaphors and so their distribution is also regulated by principle A of the binding theory. The marker of reciprocity in Kusaal and Gurenɛ is the lexical item taaba meaning ‘each other/one another’ and taba ‘each

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

other/one another’ in Dagbani. This item is not affixed to any pronoun but is used after clausal constructions to indicate that the sentence entails a reciprocal relationship between the participants found in the construction. The participants could be two separate/different nominal categories, or they could be the plural form of only one lexical category. The following examples serve to highlight this claim. Being an anaphor, the reciprocal pronoun is inherently dependent and for that matter does not occur at subject positions. (37). Kpɛɛmnam la pa tuud elders DET TRM insult.IMPERF ‘The elders were insulting each other.’

nɛ FOC

taaba KSL RECP

(38). Budaa la pɔka la nɔŋɛ taaba mɛ GUR man DEF woman DEF love RECP FACT The man and the woman love each other.’ (39). Ninkura maa di turi la taba DGB Elderly ones DEF TRM insult.IMPFV FOC RECP ‘The elderly people were insulting each other/one another (earlier today)’

8.0

Relative pronouns

Relative pronouns provide more information about one or more nominal items within a syntactic frame. Typically, relative pronouns introduce the relative clause which is a ‘special kind of subordinate clause whose primary function is as modifier to a noun or nominal’ (Huddleston and Pullum 2005:183). Thus, relativisers introduce additional information into a construction by fusing together two or more separate constructions that have a close-knit bearing on each other. Relative clauses in Kusaal, Dagbani and Gurenɛ can be both externally/ internally headed as demonstrated in (Hiraiwa 2017) which implies that

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95

the head (or nominal item being modified) can be found outside/inside the relative clause (Dryer 2013). In Kusaal, the generic relativiser kane ‘that/which’ could refer either to human or non-human heads and has a plural form bane ‘those ones/which ones’. A second relative pronoun onɛ ‘who’ is used exclusively for heads that are human entities and regularly when the antecedent is a personal name. In the following (40), we provide a few examples to illustrate. The underlined group of words, which are introduced by the relative pronouns, provide further information on the nominal antecedents: (40).

KSL



a. Pu'a

kanɛ da

ã

kʋndu'ar la

woman REL PST COP baren

du'a

biis

ayɔpɔ

DET give.birth children eight

‘The woman who was barren has given birth to eight children’ (KB 579:5)

b. Bipuŋ la, girl

onɛ

DET REL

ziid

laa

carry.IPFV bowl

la

li

nɛ

DEF

fall Foc

‘The girl, the one carrying the bowl, has fallen’ Dagbani relative pronouns are categorized based on the grammatical properties of number, and animacy (Issah 2018). These are so and sheli ‘for animate and inanimate NPs respectively. The examples in (41) illustrate the distribution of these relative operators in relative constructions. (41).

a. Bi

so

child REL

ti

ni

bu

2PL

COMP beat

maa

kana

DEF

come

DGB

‘The child lying in the room is strong’.

b. Cheche

sheli

a

ni

bicycle

REL

2SG COMP

da buy.PFV

‘The bicycle that is in the room is spoilt.’

maa

vela.

DEF

nice

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

In Gurenɛ, there are two relative pronouns, which are ti ‘that/which’ and the particle n ‘who’. Atintono (2002) refer to them as relativizers for the fact that they occur in relative clauses. The Gurenɛ, relative pronouns, unlike Dagbani, do not make a distinction between singular or plural non-animacy distinctions. While the pronoun n relativizes subject elements, ti is used to relativize objects in Gurenɛ. Consider the following examples. (42)

a. Budaa la Man

n

wa’am kalam de

DEF REL come

here

la

ma

sɔ. GUR

COP FOC 1SG father

‘The man who came here is my father.’

b. Budaa la Man

ti

fu

nyɛ la

de

la

ma sɔ. GUR

DEF REL 2SG see FOC COP FOC 1SG father

‘The man that you saw is my father.’

9.0

Interrogative pronouns

Interrogative pronouns are used in interrogative constructions for content questions. These questions, generally, are related to the so-called whquestions in English. Interrogatives occur in structures representing some syntactic categories such as subjects, objects, and adjuncts. They, therefore, generally introduce new entities into the discourse whose identity is unknown and is being questioned, or entities whose identity is being kept hidden or merely left unspecified. In these latter types of usages, it would be difficult to think of them as 'standing for' some other expression’ (Bhat 2003: 3). The interrogative pronouns in the three languages are used to elicit responses. They can be used to ask questions about person, reason, place, thing, human, time and quantity. Below are examples to illustrate in the three languages. These interrogative pronouns occur in two main syntactic slots: the sentence initial position and in-situ positions.

A Survey of The Pronominal Systems of Three Mabia Languages: Kusaal, Dagbani And Gurenԑ

(43).

a. Dau man.SG

kaŋa

ãã

anɔ'ɔnɛ?

INDEF

COP

who?

KSL

‘That man, who is he?’

b. Bɔzug why

ka

ba

FOC 3PL

kis

man

wala?

hate

me.EMPH

like that

KSL

‘Why do they hate me so?’ c.  Bo ka o manna? KSL what FO

3SG

doing

‘What is s/he doing?’

d. Ala how much

ka

fʋ

FOC 2SG

bɔɔda?

KSL

want

‘How much do you want?’

e. Yɛl-kaŋa matter-INDEF

da

maal yaane?

PST

make

KSL

where

‘Where did this problem happen?’

f. Ti

da’am

dini/lini

saannɛ?

2PL buy.IMP

which

one/type’

KSL

‘Which one/type should we buy?’ (44).

a. ŋuni ka Who FOC

Abu

bo-ri

kpe?

NAME

want-IMP

here

DGB

‘Whom does Abu want here?’

b. Buhi maa

guu

chaŋ

ya?

goats DEF

run

go.PFV

where

‘Where have the goats ran to?’

DGB

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Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

c. S  ana NAME

sa

da

nyuli

maa

ala?

TRM

buy

yam

DEF

how much

‘How much did Sana buy the yam yesterday?’

d. Bondali n nyɛ Tamale When FOC COP Tamale ‘When is Tamale market day?’

daa? market

(45). a.  Ani n di dia la? GUR who FOC eat.PFV food DEF ‘Who ate the food?’

b. Sukuu kɔma la school children DEF ‘Where did the students go?’



c. B  eni dia ti ba kɔɔsa da’a? what food that 3PL sell market ‘What food are they selling at the market?’

GUR



d. Naafu cow

GUR

la DEF

de COP

siŋɛ go

la FOC

la FOC

bɛ? GUR where

alɛ? how much

‘How much is the price of the cow?’

10.0 Conclusion In this chapter, we have discussed the pronominal systems of Kusaal, Dagbani and Gurenɛ drawing parallels and divergences in all three languages. The pronouns discussed include personal pronouns, emphatic pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, genitive pronouns, relative and interrogative pronouns. All three languages have three personal pronouns, which do not make a distinction for gender (feminine and masculine). While Kusaal and Dagbani characterize the 3rd person pronouns for human and non-human

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entities differently, Gurenɛ does not make any such distinction. We realize that even between Kusaal and Dagbani, there are differences between the forms that the respective languages choose. The chapter also underscores the nature of pronominals that are used to express emphasis with regard to focus marking and topicalisation. This, we consider to be a feature of all these Mabia languages. While all three languages have a system of demonstrative pronouns for expressing both proximal and distal factors, the numbers and types vary with both Kusaal and Dagbani having a rather closed set of four forms while Gurenɛ has about six; a reflex of the potent noun class system of that language. The discussions on the other forms of the pronominal system viz, on the emphatic and reflexive, the reciprocal and relative as well as the interrogative throw up interesting facts about the linguistic patterning of the languages and underscores similarities and differences that, in one breath, mark the languages as distinct from each other as they are alike.

100 Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

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ABBREVIATIONS USED 1 2 3 COP DM PM DEM DET DGB EMPH EXST FOC FUT GUR IMP IPFV KSL NAME NC NEG NP OBJ PL PFV SUBJ SG TRM PRT

1st person 2nd person 3rd person Copula Distal marker Proximal marker Demonstrative Determiner Dagbani Emphatic Existential Focus Future Gurenɛ Imperative Imperfective Kusaal Personal Name Noun Class Negative Noun Phrase Object Plural Perfective Subject Singular Temporal marker Particle

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CHAPTER FOUR T H E S Y N TA C T I C P R O P E R T I E S O F C O O R D I NAT I O N I N S A FA L I B A Kenneth Bodua Mango University of Education, Winneba

Abstract This chapter gives a descriptive analysis of the syntactic properties of the coordinator nɩ́/ànɩ́ ‘and’, á ‘and’, chɛ́ ‘and’/ ‘but’, and bíí ‘or’ in Safaliba; a Mabia language spoken in the northern region of Ghana. The work establishes that coordination in Safaliba is monosyndetic and is of the form [A] [co B]. With respect to the categories that these coordinators can coordinate, the work establishes that the coordinator á ‘and’ & chɛ́ ‘and’/ ‘but’ are used to coordinate verbal constructions (Ss/VP). The coordinators nɩ́/ ànɩ́ are used to connect NP, AP, and ADVP. With respect to the coordinator bɩ́ɩ́ ‘or’ the work shows that, bɩ́ɩ́ ‘or’ is able to coordinate all categories. On the status of the connector ka, this work has, contrary to Bodua-Mango (2012), classified ka conjunction as subordinator. Regarding the context in which chɛ́ is either translated as ‘and’ or ‘but’, the work has also proposed; (i) no overt subject in the second clause constraint ‘and’, (ii) two overt subjects constraint ‘but’, (iii) expression of contrast in the light of the first clause constraint ‘but’ and (iv) negation of either clause constraint ‘but’as constraints for determining this distinction. Regarding Payne’s (1985) implicational sequence, this paper has shown that Payne’s predictions hold for the categories in Safaliba. The data used for this study is largely taken from a corpus of data collected in 2011, during a field trip to the language community and my intuitions as a native speaker.

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Keywords: Safaliba, coordinators, syntactic properties, implicational sequence

1.0 Introduction This chapter gives a descriptive analysis of the various coordinators in Safaliba, a Mabia9 language spoken by some 5000 people mainly in the Northern Region of Ghana. Like most Mabia languages, Safaliba has a rich inventory of coordinators which have varied functions, some of which overlap. According to Bodua-Mango (2012), these coordinators include nɩ́/ ànɩ́ ‘and’, á ‘and’, ka ‘and’, bɩ́ɩ́ ‘or’ and chɛ́ which is interpreted as ‘but’ or ‘and’ depending on the context. The chapter attempts to establish the various categories10 that each of these coordinators can coordinate. This chapter is divided into four sections. The first part is the introductory section and a review of the literature. Section 2 deals with the Syntactic properties of Safaliba coordinators while section 3 discusses how the Safaliba coordinators fit in Payne (1985)’s implicational sequence that is assumed to constrain the syntactic properties of coordinators cross-linguistically. The last section is the summary and conclusion.

1.1 The Language and People Safaliba is a Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, North, Mabia, Central, Northern, Oti-Volta, Western, Northwest language (Naden 1988; Bodomo 1993). The language is spoken by about 5,000 people mainly in the Northern Region of Ghana in villages and towns including, Mandari, Tanyire, Manfuli, Gbenfu, Sawla, and Kalba. There have also been reports of speakers of Safaliba in Vonkoro and Bouna, in Côte d’Ivoire (Ethnologue:  abia refers to the group of Niger-Congo languages that are traditionally referred to by the term Gur. M The earliest usage of this term can be traced to Bodomo (1993). 10 The grammatical categories used in this chapter are based on categories that are well known in generative grammar and are consistent with those mentioned in Andrew Radford (1997). These include Noun Phrase (NP), Verb Phrase (VP), Prepositional Phrase (PP), Adjectival Phrase (AP), Adverbial Phrase (ADVP) and Sentence (S). 9

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Languages of Ghana, 2016). The language has about 79% lexical similarity with Southern Dagaare. Safaliba is not known to have any dialects and is used in all domains and by people of all ages.

1.2 Literature Review

1.2.1 Coordination

According to Haspelmath (2007), the term coordination refers to a syntactic construction in which two or more units of the same type despite their amalgamation into a larger unit retain the same semantic relations with other surrounding elements. The units may be in the form of words, phrases, subordinate clauses and/or full sentences. Dik (1969: 25) defines coordination as “a construction consisting of two or more members which are equivalent in grammatical function and are bound together at the same level of structural hierarchy by means of a linking device.” Coordinating constructions usually consist of two or more coordinands and may be achieved by the use of coordinators such as ‘and’, ‘or’ and ‘but’, (syndetic coordination) or by simply juxtaposing the coordinands (asyndetic). Semantically, three different types of coordination are usually distinguished: conjunctive coordination, disjunctive coordination, and adversative coordination. (Haspelmath, 2007). Haspelmath, (2007: 6) observes that “sometimes an additional type ‘causal coordination’ is distinguished (e.g. English constructions involving ‘for’, or German constructions involving ‘den’ ‘for, because’)”. Haspelmath, however, notes that causal constructions often make use of subordinate clauses and that “in non-european Languages, causal constructions are rarely described as involving coordination” (2007: 6). Languages also tend to differ with respect to the number and the position of the coordinators they allow in coordinate constructions. Some languages allow the asyndetic type (no overt coordinator), others use the mono-syndetic

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(one overt coordinator) whereas others use the bi-syndetic type (two overt coordinators). With regards to the position of the coordinator in monosyndetic coordination, Haspelmath (2007) posits that there are four logically possible types:

a. b. c. d.

[A] [CO B] [A co] [B] [A] [B CO] [co A] [B]

e.g. Hausa e.g. Lai e.g. Latin



Adopted from Haspelmath (2007:6)

Haspelmath (2007: 6), opines that “distinguishing between the first and the second type is often not straightforward and there is the additional logical possibility of a symmetrical tripartite structure [A] [co] [B]”. Haspelmath further posits that there is a broad consensus that English and other European languages have the bracketing [A] [and B], and it seems to be generally assumed that all languages have an asymmetry one way or the other. In order to determine the constituency of coordinating constructions, Haspelmath (2007) puts forth three criteria. (i) Clisis, (ii) Intonational phrasing and (iii) Extraposition. By the clisis criterion, Haspelmath argues that the coordinator is clearly phonologically attached to one of the coordinands, either as a proclitic or as an enclitic. With respect to the intonational phrasing criterion, Haspelmath contends that “when the coordinators are short, a coordinating construction A co B is pronounced as a single intonational phrase, but when they are longer (e.g. two full clauses), there is usually an intonation break between them, […] and the coordinator is then either attached at the beginning of the second phrase […] or at the end of the first phrase” […] (Haspelmath 2007: 7). For instance,

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Abdoulaye (2004) observes that in Hausa, constructions with multiple coordinands can have separate intonational phrases for each coordinand. In such constructions, there is usually an intonation break between each coordinand with the coordinator attached at the beginning of the second phrase. This intonation break is indicated by a comma and also indicate the position of the coordinator as [A] [CO B]. Consider the following example from Abdoulaye (2004) 1.

Abdù, dà Bàlki, dà Muusa dà Mo ̃rù Abdu CONJ Balki CONJ Musa CONJ Moru’ ‘Abdu and Balki and Musa and Moru’.



Adopted from Abdoulaye (2004)

In this example, the coordinator is pronounced in the same pronunciation sequence as the coordinands they precede, thus indicating that each coordinands is attached to the constituent it precedes. Hence: [A] [CO B]. By the extraposition criterion, Haspelmath maintains that many languages allow extraposition of coordinands to the end of the clause, so that the construction is no longer continuous. He further notes that in English, such extrapositions seem to occur mostly in afterthought constructions, However, in German, they are perfectly natural even in carefully planned utterances because of the rigid object-verb order in certain constructions (cf. Haspelmath 2007) With regards to category-sensitivity of coordinating constructions, some languages may require different coordinators depending on the syntactic environment while others may not. For instance, “in English and other European languages, the coordinators ‘and’ and ‘or’ can link a diverse range of categories: noun phrases, verb phrases, clauses, adjective phrases, prepositional phrases, and others. The coordinator ‘but’ is mostly confined to clauses, but this seems to be for semantic reasons.” (Haspelmath, 2007:10). On the other hand, nearly half of the world’s languages show category-

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sensitivity with respect to coordinating constructions. For example, “in Upper Kuskokwim Athabaskan, noun phrases are conjoined by means of bisyndetic postpositive ‘ił (cf. 3), while clauses are conjoined by means of the particle ts’e’. (cf. 20)” (Haspelmath, 2007:11). Also, languages such as Somali show three different conjunction strategies for NPS, VPS and clauses.



1.2.2

Implicational scale

The analysis of the category-sensitivity of coordinating constructions can result in an “implicational sequence” that constrains the possible range of coordinators to some specific order or range of possibility. According to Haspelmath (2007), such an analysis of the category-sensitivity of coordinating constructions can result in the “implicational sequence” “NP – VP – clause”, such that each conjunction strategy covers a contiguous segment”. As shown in figure 1 below, Haspelmath (2007), identifies four different language-particular distributions. Figure 1 NP NP

VP VP

clause clause

English Upper

NP

VP

clause

Xârâcùù


NP

VP

clause

Somali

Kuskokwim Athabaskan

Adopted from Haspelmath (2007:11) Haspelmath (2007) argues that the implicational sequence can be enlarged by bringing adjective phrases (APS) into the picture. He argues that in languages like Mandarin Chinese, these are conjoined like NPS. In other languages like

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Japanese, they are conjoined like VPS. Still on APS, languages like Hausa, have some adjectives that are conjoined like NPs, while others are conjoined like VPS. This analysis thus, situates adjective phrases as intermediates between NPS and VPS, resulting in the implicational sequence NP – AP – VP depicted in figure 2. Figure 2 NP AP NP AP NP AP NP AP1 AP2

VP VP VP VP

English, Sgaw Karen Japanese
 Chinese, Chechen Hausa

Adopted from Haspelmath (2007:12) Payne (1985) also proposes an implicational scale that constrains the possible range of coordinators to be; S – VP – AP – PP – and NP. The prediction this makes is that individual coordinators are restricted to cover contiguous categories, e.g. S and VP, or AP, PP and NP. There can be no coordinators according to this hypothesis that only link sentences and APS, but not VPS or link VPS and NPS, but not APS and PPS. etc. In the discussion of coordination in Safaliba, I will attempt to discuss how the various coordinators in Safaliba could be situated within such an implicational scale, while being cognizant of the dynamics of what pertains in Safaliba.

2.0

Coordination in Safaliba

Coordination in Safaliba has received a relatively fair amount of scholarly attention (cf. Schaefer 2009; Bodua-Mango 2012)11. Like all other languages, 11

The approach used in this section is not to review these works in totality but refer to sections of these works that are relevant to this work where the need arises.

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coordination in Safaliba involves the combination of two or more syntactic constructions of the same type into larger units. Coordination in Safaliba also involves the use of one overt coordinator (monosyndetic). See example 1 below. 2. Samua,

nɩ́ Koji, CONJ Koji

nɩ́ Ajaah, CONJ Ajaah



Samua



anɩ́ Samadu CONJ Samadu



‘Samua and Koji and Ajaah and Samadu came here....’

ŋ FOC

wà come

zɛ́ . here

As depicted in example (2), there is only one coordinator after each conjunct which indicates a monosyndetic type of coordination. In the corpus of data collected, there was no case of coordination that deviated from this form. Also, as a native speaker, I am unable to construct any case of coordination that deviated from this form. Available data suggests that coordination in Safaliba falls in the [A] [co B] category. For instance, if the ‘intonational phrasing’ criterion is applied to the data, it is observed that in cases of multiple coordinands, there are usually intonation breaks between the coordinands, with the coordinator usually attached at the beginning of the second phrase and pronounced in the same sequence with the coordinands it precedes. This is similar to what has been observed in Hausa (Abdoulaye, 2004). See example (2) above. In the example, the intonation breaks are indicated by a comma and thus indicates the position of the coordinator in Safaliba as [A], [CO B].

2.1 Syntactic properties of Safaliba coordinators As indicated in the introduction, Safaliba has several coordinators which have varied functions, some of which overlap. This section aims to establish clearly the uses of these coordinators by testing their ability to coordinate various categories including Noun Phrase (NP), Verb Phrase (VP), Prepositional Phrase (PP), Adjectival Phrase (AP), Adverbial Phrase (ADVP) and Sentence (S).

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2.1.1

Syntactic properties of nɩ́ and ànɩ́

These coordinators can basically be described as group forming coordinators and are always translated as ‘and’. In this section, I show the grammatical categories that nɩ́ /ànɩ́ can coordinate. First, consider examples (3) and (4). 3.

bʋ́à nɩ́ pɩ́sɩ́gʋ́ goat CONJ sheep ‘goat and a sheep’.

4.

á



báá

nɩ́ á DET dog CONJ DET ‘The dog and the cat’.

dɔ́ gɩ̀tέέ cat

In these examples, nɩ́ coordinates noun phrases. In example (3), the phrases consist of nouns only; bʋ́à ‘goat’ and pɩ́sɩ́gʋ́ ‘sheep’. In example (4), the noun phrases include the definite determiner á ‘the’ as well. In both cases, nɩ́ could be replaced with ànɩ́ and still remain grammatical. Next, consider example (5). 5.

ɩ́ná nɩ́ɩ́ háŋ nyɛ́ nɩ́ 2SG FOC REL see CONJ ɩ́na nɩ́ɩ́ háŋ bá nyɛ́ .... 2SG FOC REL NEG see ‘You who have seen and you who have not seen.’

In this example, nɩ́ is again seen connecting two noun phrases. However, these noun phrases are a bit more complex. This is a case of nɩ́ combining two NPS that have relative clauses [nɩ́ɩ́ háŋ nyɛ́] in the first part of the construction, and [nɩ́ɩ́ háŋ bá nyɛ́] in the second part of the construction modifying the pronouns in them. These relative clauses give more information about the referent of the pronouns ɩ́na ‘2SG’ by restricting the referent of the pronoun ɩ́na ‘2SG’ to a particular person.

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Next, consider example (6), a case where, nɩ́ coordinates two locatives. 6.

á DET

gádò bed

zû head

nɩ́ á CONJ DET



‘on top of the bed and in the room’.

dìí póó …. house stomach

In this example, it is important to note the use of the words zû ‘head’ and póó ‘stomach’. These words, though nouns, act as locatives12 and are translated as ‘top’ and ‘inside’ respectively. This raises the question as to whether such constructions should be regarded as NPS or a different category. The next example is indicative of the answer. In this example, nɩ́ is seen combining the locative construction dìí póó ‘in the room’ and the noun phrase á zákà záá ‘the whole house’. As stated earlier, coordination involves syntactic constructions in which two or more units of the same type or category are combined. Thus, if the locative construction dìí póó ‘in the room’ and a noun phrase á zákà záá ‘the whole house’ can be combined, then, they must belong to the same category. It is, therefore, reasonable to argue that locative constructions are nominal. 7.

tɩ́ máálɩ̀ á dìí póó nɩ́ á go make DET room inside CONJ DET ‘go and clean the room and the whole house’.

zákà house

záá. all

The analysis of locative constructions as nominal even though they correlate to PP in English and other languages implies there is no need to test for PPS as they are not sanctioned in Safaliba.

12

I n the words of Radford (1997:515), “a locative expression is one which denotes place”. Locative constructions in Safaliba usually consist of two adjacent nouns. The first can be any noun, whereas the second usually belongs to a special group of nouns described in Dakubu, (2005:51) as “locative” nouns. Almost all of the nouns that belong to this group have two meanings. When they occur in nonlocative NPs they refer to human body parts. However, when they occur in locative constructions, they indicate direction or location. These locative constructions have a function similar to English prepositions. Examples of these locative nouns in Safaliba include poo – stomach /in, zu’ – head / on top, pɩ́ráá – bottom /under, logírí – side/ besides amongst others.

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Following this conclusion, I will not include PP/ LOC in the table of summary where I outline the possible range of categories that every coordinator can coordinate with. Next, consider example (8). This example is a list of names. It can be seen from this example that nɩ́ can string several nouns together. 8.

Samua nɩ́ Bakari nɩ́ Andama Samua CONJ Bakari CONJ Andama



‘Samua and Bakari and Andama and Adia’.

ànɩ́ Adia. CONJ Adia

This list could theoretically go on and on. This example is also a case where nɩ́ and ànɩ́ occur together. The occurrence of ànɩ́ before the final conjunct has the pragmatic effect of signaling the coming of the last conjunct. Alternatively, the order of the coordinators in example (8) can be reversed as in example (9). 9.

Samua

ànɩ́ Bakari CONJ Bakari

ànɩ́ CONJ



Samua



‘Samua and Bakari and Andama and Adia’.

Andama Andama

nɩ́ Adia. CONJ Adia

In example (9), the occurrence of nɩ́ before the final conjunct also has the pragmatic effect of signaling the coming of the last conjunct. Even though examples (8) and (9) show that both nɩ́ and ànɩ́ can be used pragmatically to signal the coming of the last conjunct, the data suggest that there is a preference for nɩ́ with ànɩ́ usually used before the last conjunct. Discussing the possible reason for the apparent preference for nɩ́, BoduaMango (2012) attributes this to the tendency of speakers to want to use simpler forms and thus exerting less processing efforts. This analysis suggests that the common ability of these coordinators to signal the coming of the last conjunct is not part of the meaning of the coordinators but results from

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the extra processing efforts exerted in processing the ‘new’ coordinator13 (accessing of a new lexical item). Nɩ́ is also used in the counting system of Safaliba; thus, for coordinating numerals as shown in example (10) below. It is also important to note clearly here that numerals are also nominal. 10.

tókó nɩ́ áyíí. twenty CONJ two. ‘twenty-two’

Whereas the examples so far have illustrated that nɩ́ can coordinate nominal categories, examples (11) and (12) show that nɩ́ can also coordinate adjectives and adverbs. Example (11) is a translated example from Dagaare in (Ali, 2006) describing the colours of a shirt as sáálɩ́gá ‘black’ and pέέlɩ́gá ‘white’, while example (12) is a case of nɩ́ connecting the adverbs zɛ́ ‘here’ and zὲbéè ‘there’. 11.

á tágɩ̀tá ɛ́ náŋ DET shirt be FOC ‘The shirt is black and white’.

12.

zɛ́ here



‘he tore here and there’.

13

sáálɩ́gá black

nɩ́ zὲbéè ʋ́ -ŋ CONJ there 3SG-FOC

nɩ́ pέέlɩ́gá. CONJ white

píílí. tear

 odua-Mango (2012:55) using the relevance theoretic approach, (Sperber and Wilson, 1986; B Carston 2002) argues for Safaliba that “when a listener processes say nɩ́ the interpretation is stored in his short-term memory thus is readily available. So, when nɩ́ is used again, (in the same environment) the listener just goes for the already processed interpretation in his memory without having to process it again. However, when a new coordinator is introduced, say ànɩ́, a new lexical entry has to be accessed which leads to more processing efforts. It is this extra processing effort that raises the expectations of extra or different cognitive effects given the expectation that the utterance is optimally relevant”. This expectation is satisfied by the extra cognitive effect of signaling the coming of the last conjunct. This approach is different from Blass 1990’s approach for Sissali ‘ri’ and ‘ari’, where she attributes the extra/ different cognitive effect (e.g. signaling of last conjunct) to the expectations raised as a result of the extra processing effort exerted in the processing of phonologically more complex forms.

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All examples so far show possible environments where nɩ́ and ànɩ́ can occur. However, there are limitations. First, consider example (13), a case where the original coordinator á in verbal coordination is replaced by nɩ́. This construction is however ill-formed thus indicating that nɩ́ is not used to connect verbal categories. 13.* í

ná

dέέnɩ́ á dry DET



2SG

FUT



‘You will dry the shea-nuts and pound them’.

chóóné shea-nut

nɩ́ CONJ

tɔ́ -à. pound-3PL

Next, consider (14) where nɩ́ is alternatively used to coordinate the clauses ‘baba ná wà’ ‘baba will come’ and ‘tɩ̀ tɩ́ po’ ‘we go to the farm’. This is however unacceptable in the language. 14.

*Baba ná

wà



Baba

come



‘Baba will come and we will go to the farm’.

FUT

nɩ́ tɩ̀ tɩ́ po’. CONJ 1PL go farm

The next example shows that even though nɩ́ does not connect clauses in normal speech, it is possible to use nɩ́ to coordinate clauses in figurative or idiomatic language and proverbs. Consider example (15) below. 15.

dúŋ

má

nɩ́ fɩ́nnɩ́ má. CONJ pinch 1SG



bite

1SG



‘Pinch me and bite me.’

The construction in (15) is a rhetorical question and is used as a proverb to mean that ‘tit for tat is not a sin.’ The ability of nɩ́ to connect such constructions

could possibly be due to the fact that proverbs and idiomatic expressions have a static form which does not change even if the non-idiomatic language does. It is also important to note that the ability of nɩ́ to connect such constructions

is NOT indicative that the syntactic scope of nɩ́ extends to cover clauses but rather gives more credence to the fact that figurative and idiomatic language

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often stretch or violate grammatical norms, and therefore are more typically seen as “the exception that proves the rule”. To sum up, this section has shown that nɩ́ can coordinate; NP, AP, and ADVP. However, it can not connect VPS and clauses. Table 1: The syntactic properties of nɩ́/ànɩ́ nɩ́/ànɩ́



S

VP

AP

ADV

NP

X

X

√

√

√

2.1.2

The syntactic properties of the coordinator á

The coordinator á is also translated into English as ‘and’ and has the function of stringing verbal categories together. In the examples below, I show the various uses of the coordinator á. First, consider example (16), which is taken from a descriptive narrative of how shea butter is made. 16. í ná dέέnɩ́ á chóóné 2SG FUT dry DET shea-nut á dùgí- à… CONJ cook-3PL

á tɔ́-à CONJ pound-3PL

‘You will dry the shea nuts and pound them and cook them’.

In this example, á is used to coordinate clauses in which the first clause has an overt subject and the subsequent clauses have implied subjects.14 (All the verbs share the same subject í 2SG). Another case of á coordinating clauses with an implied subject is seen in example (17) taken from Schaefer, (2009:136). In this example, á is seen connecting two clause bà kʋ́ nɔ́ɔ́sɩ̀ ‘they should slaughter fowls’ and sɔ́sí Nááŋmíní ‘beg God’. As can be seen the subject of the second clause is coreferential with that of the first clause. 14

According to Hartmann and Stork, (1972:137), a clause is a “grammatical unit that includes at minimum, a predicate and an explicit or implied subject, and expresses a proposition”.

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17.

kà bàj kʋ́ nɔ́ɔ́sì á Øj sɔ́sɩ́ Nááŋmíní. COMP 3PL slaughter fowls CONJ beg God ‘That they should kill fowls and pray to God’.



Adopted from Schaefer (2009:136)

Next, consider Examples (18) and (19) below. This is a case of á stringing a series of verbs together. In (18), we have a case of the coordinator á stringing the same verb dì ‘eat’ repeatedly to indicate degree. This is a case of multiple verb coordination and this string could theoretically go on and on. Example (19) is similar to example (18). However, example (19) involves a stringing of different verbs. It is also important to note that in both cases, the subjects of all the verbs are co-referential. 18. Samua wà zɛ́ á wà Samua come here CONJ come á dì á dì. CONJ eat CONJ eat ‘Samua came here and ate and ate and ate. 19.

Samua wà Samua come

zɛ́ á wà here CONJ come

dì eat

dì eat

á nyu á gbisi. CONJ drink CONJ sleep

‘Samua came here and ate and drunk and slept’.

All the examples up to this point show possible environments that á can occur but examples (20) – (23) below are cases where á cannot occur. First consider example (20), a case of á coordinating noun phrases. This is however ungrammatical. 20

*Samua á Naa Samua CONJ Naa ‘Samua and Naa are fighting’

ŋ FOC

zábɩ̀rá. fighting

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The coordinator á is also seen connecting adverbs in example (21) below. Again, this is ungrammatical. 21. *zɛ́ á zὲbéè here CONJ there ‘Here and there’ Next, consider example (22) 22.

*á báá ɛ́ náŋ DET dog be FOC ‘the dog is black and white’

sáálɩ́gá á pέέlɩ́gá black CONJ white

In example (22) á is used to coordinate two adjectives sáálɩ́gá ‘black’ and pέέlɩ́gá ‘white’. This is however not acceptable. This example indicates that á cannot combine adjectives. However, the next example which is a response by an informant when asked to describe Goliath, a giant in a Bible story may confuse the argument if not analyzed properly. 23.

ʋ́ bé wákʋ̀ á pɔ́ lì 3SG be tall CONJ fat ‘he/she is tall and fat and strong’

chɛ́ bé CONJ be

kpέέnɩ́. strong

A literal glossing of the example can be misleading as it would suggest that this is a case of á connecting adjectives. However, a closer look reveals that it is in fact a case of clause coordination. First note that the first conjunct [ ʋ́ bé wákʋ̀] is a clause composing of a subject ʋ́ ‘3SG’ and a predicate bé wákʋ̀ ‘be tall’. The presence of the copular verb bé ‘be’ is an indication that the predicate includes a VP that has a modifying adjective wákʋ̀ ‘tall’. It is also important to note that the second conjunct though translated as ‘fat’ is actually a verb, thus also making the second conjunct a VP. Like the first conjunct, the presence of the copular verb bé ‘be’ in the last conjunct is indicative of a VP. Based on the foregoing, it is clear that example (23) is NOT a case of á connecting adjectives but clearly a case of coordination of verbal categories.

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From the above, it can be concluded that coordinator á can only coordinate verbal categories: clauses and VP. Thus, it cannot coordinate APS, ADVPS, and NPS. See the table below for a summary. Table 2: The syntactic properties of á

á



S

VP

AP

ADV

NP

√

√

Ӿ

Ӿ

Ӿ

2.1.3

The coordinator ka

According to Schaefer (2009), there is a need to distinguish the ka conjunction from two other segmentally identical words ká complementizer and kà hypotheticality marker. He states that conjunction ka ‘and’ is written without a tone diacritic in the orthography. This spelling distinguishes it from two other words which are otherwise segmentally identical”.

2.1.3.1 Ká Complementizer Ká complementizer can occur in a clause to introduce a complement clause. It can be roughly translated with the complementizer ‘that’ in English. Coordination involving ká complementizer, are usually regarded as a case of subordination where the subordinate clause is inserted in the structure of the main clause. For instance, in example (24) below, ká complementizer is used to connect the compliment or subordinate clause ŋ wà máláŋ ‘I should come early’ to the main clause ú yé ‘he/she said’. 24.

Ʋ́

yé

ká

ŋ

wà

máláŋ.



3SG

say

COMP 1SG

come

early



‘He/she said that I should come early.’



2.1.3.2 Kà Hypotheticality Marker

Kà hypotheticality marker occurs in clause-initial position and roughly correlates to the English forms ‘if’ or ‘when’. As exemplified in example (25)

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below, ká hypotheticality marker is seen in clause-initial position and signals that the event described is hypothetical. 25.

Kà Baba wá wà tɩ̀ ná COMP baba FUT come 1PL FUT ‘If/when Baba comes, we will go to the farm.’

tí go

po’. farm

Similar to the case of ká complementizer, constructions involving kà hypotheticality marker are regarded as cases of subordination. For instance, in example (25) the second clause ‘tɩ̀ ná tí po’’ ‘we will go to the farm’ is subordinate to the first clause (main clause) Baba wá wà ‘Baba comes’. In this example, the second part ‘tɩ̀ ná tí po’’ ‘we will go to the farm’ is contingent on the first part Baba wá wà ‘Baba comes’ happening. Thus, making it a case of subordination. Regarding the status of ka conjunction, Bodua-Mango (2012) has previously classified it as a coordinator contrary to Schaefer’s (2009) argument. However, a re-evaluation of the data shows it is actually a subordinator15. Consider the following example. 26.

Bà ná wà ka tɩ̀ dí á kábílá. 3PL FUT come CONJ 1PL eat DET pounded yam ‘They will come, and we will eat the pounded-yam.’

In this example, ka is seen conjoining two clauses; bà ná wà ‘they will come’ and tɩ̀ dí á kábɩ́lá ‘we eat the pounded-yam’. In this example it is evident that the two constituent clauses are NOT necessarily structurally parallel or independent of each other. For instance, clause (2) tɩ̀ dí á kábɩ́lá ‘we eat the pounded-yam’ is clearly contingent on the first; bà ná wà ‘they will come’ as its (clause 2) occurrence is only possible if clause (1) occurs. 15

According to Lobeck (2000:350), a subordinate clause is a “clause that is dependent or dominated by a phrase that is self-dependent (and thus cannot stand alone).” Subordinate clauses function as subjects, compliments or adjuncts of other clauses. They are usually introduced by subordinating conjunctions. In English subordinating conjunctions include ‘that’ and ‘who’.

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Based on the above, I will, as Schaefer (2009) does, classify ka conjunction as a subordinator. This analysis therefore takes ka conjunction out of the scope of this work.



2.1.4. The syntactic properties of bɩ́ɩ́

In this section, I discuss the grammatical categories that the bɩ́ɩ́ coordinator can combine. While all the coordinators discussed so far are conjunctive coordinators; bɩ́ɩ́ is a disjunctive connector. Examples (27) – (33) below illustrate the uses of the bɩ́ɩ́ coordinator. First, consider example (27). In

this example, bɩ́ɩ́ grammatically connectS the nouns sáá ‘TZ’ and kábɩ́lá ‘pounded-yam’. 27.

Sáá

bɩ́ɩ́ kábɩ́lá CONJ pounded-yam



TZ



‘TZ or pounded-yam’

In this example, bɩ́ɩ́ is used to present sáá ‘TZ’ and kábɩ́lá ‘pounded-yam’ as alternative foods available. Example (28) below is also a case of NP coordination with bɩ́ɩ́. The NP in this example is however made up of a definite article and a noun. 28. á pɔ́gɔ̀ DET woman

bɩ́ɩ́ á béé or DET child

‘the woman or the child?’

Since bɩ́ɩ́ can coordinate noun phrases, it follows that it will also be able to coordinate locative constructions which are nominal. Next, consider examples (29) and (30). In example (29) bɩ́ɩ́ is seen connecting the spatial adverbials zɛ́ ‘here’ and zὲbéè ‘there’ while in (30) bɩ́ɩ́ connects the temporal adverbials záánɩ́í ‘yesterday’ and dìnáá ‘today’. Both of these examples are grammatical.

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29.

zɛ́ bɩ́ɩ́ zὲbéè here or there ‘here or there?’

30.

Záánɩ́í bɩ́ɩ́ dìnáá ka á zákà lé Yesterday or today that DET house fall ‘Was it yesterday or today that the house fell?’

In (31) below, we have bɩ́ɩ́ connecting two clauses. Clause (1) á pɔ́gɔ̀ íŋ dì kù ‘you give it to the woman’ before bɩ́ɩ́ and clause (2) á béé íŋ dì kù ‘you give it to the child’ after bɩ́ɩ́. This is also grammatical. 31. á pɔ́gɔ̀ í-ŋ dì kù bɩ́ɩ́ DET woman 2SG-FOC take give or á béé í-ŋ dì kù DET child 2SG-FOC take give ‘Did you give it to the woman or did you give it to the child’ Next, consider example (32) and (33). Example (32) is a case of clausal coordination in which the second clause has an implied subject which is coreferential with the subject of the first clause. In example (33) provides an instance where bɩ́ɩ́ strings together the verbs dì ‘eat’ nyu ‘drink’ and gbisi ‘sleep’. These Examples show that bɩ́ɩ́ is also capable of connecting verbal categories. 32. í

yé

ká

dúŋ

2SG say that bite ‘Did you say bite or pinch?’

bɩ́ɩ́ or

fínnɩ́ pinch

33. í yé ká dì bɩ́ɩ́ nyu 2SG say that eat CONJ drink ‘did you say eat or drink or sleep’

bɩ́ɩ́g bisi CONJ sleep

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Finally, on bɩ́ɩ́, example (34) shows that bɩ́ɩ́ can grammatically coordinate ADJS. In this example, bɩ́ɩ́ coordinates two independent adjectives wákʋ̀ ‘tall’ and kpìríí ‘short’. 34.

wákʋ̀ bɩ́ɩ́ tall or ‘tall or short’

kpìríí short

The above examples on the uses of bɩ́ɩ́ has shown that bɩ́ɩ́ can combine all categories: Clauses, VPS, APS, ADVPS and NPS. This is summarized in the table below. Table 4: The syntactic properties of bɩ́ɩ́ bɩ́ɩ́



S

VP

AP

ADV

NP

√

√

√

√

√

2.1.5

The syntactic properties of chɛ́

In this section, I discuss the grammatical categories that the coordinator chɛ́ can combine. The coordinator chɛ́ can have either an adversative or a conjunctive interpretation depending on the context. Thus, it can be translated into English as ‘but’ or ‘and’, depending on the context. In the following examples on chɛ́, I show its various uses. First, consider examples (35) and (36). 35.

Tɩ̀ ná dí sáá chɛ́ dí kábɩ́lá pɔ̀ɔ̀. we will eat TZ and eat pounded-yam ‘We will eat TZ and also eat pounded-yam.’

36.

Tɩ̀ ná dí sáá chɛ́ nyú we FUT eat TZ CONJ drink ‘We will eat TZ and drink alcohol.’

dãŋ. alcohol

add

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In example (35) above, chɛ́ combines two verbal constituents that have the same verb but different objects while in example (36) chɛ́ combines two verbal constituents that have two different verbs but same subject referent. In the next example, chɛ́ grammatically combines two clauses; Andama tí po’ ‘Andama has gone to the farm’ Samua bé zákà ‘Samua is at home’. This is also grammatical. These examples on chɛ́ show that chɛ́ can coordinate VPs and clauses, thus verbal projections. 37.

Andama tí po’ chɛ́ Samua bé zákà. Andama go farm but Samua be home ‘Andama has gone to the farm but Samua is at home’

Next, I consider categories which chɛ́ cannot coordinate. First, consider Example (38) below. This is a case of chɛ́ connecting NPs. Here chɛ́ is used to combine the noun phrases á pɔ́gɔ̀ and á béé. This is however ungrammatical as indicated by the (*) before the example. 38.

*á pɔ́gɔ̀ chɛ́ á DET woman CONJ DET ‘The woman and the child’

béé child

Since chɛ́ cannot combine noun phrases, it follows that it will also not be able to combine locative constructions which are a nominal category. Next, consider example (39) where chɛ́ is used to connect ADVS. These examples show that chɛ́ cannot connect ADVS be they spatial (39) or temporal (40). 39.

*zɛ́ chɛ́ zὲbéè here CONJ there ‘Here and there’

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40.

*Záánɩ́í chɛ́ dìnáá Yesterday CONJ today ‘Yesterday and today’

Next, consider example (41) below. 41.

*sáálɩ́gá chɛ́ black CONJ ‘Black and white’

pέέlɩ́gá white

In this example, chɛ́ is used to connect the adjectives sáálɩ́gá ‘black’ and pέέlɩ́gá ‘white’. However, this is ungrammatical. The foregoing examples on chɛ́ show that chɛ́ can only combine verbal categories i.e. VPS and clauses. This also implies that chɛ́ cannot combine NPS, APS and ADVPS. See summary below. Table 5: The syntactic properties of chɛ́ chɛ́



S

VP

AP

ADV

NP

√

√

Ӿ

Ӿ

Ӿ

2.1.5.1 Chɛ́ conjunction vs Chɛ́ adversative

As indicated in section 2.1.5, the coordinator chɛ́ can have either an adversative or a conjunctive interpretation depending on the context. According to Schaefer (2009), the conjunction chɛ́ marks a degree of contrast between clauses, sometimes as strong as English ‘but’, but often less so. According to Ali, (2006:14), the Dagaare chɛ́ functions as ‘and’ when it connects clauses in which the second clause does not have a subject, but behaves like ‘but’ when: • • •

There is a subject in the second clause; or An expression of contrast is expressed in the light of the first clause Either of the clauses is in the negative.”

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These conditions can be re-phased in the the following constraints (A) No overt subject in the second clause constraint ‘and’ (B) Two overt subjects constraint ‘but’ (C) Expression of contrast in the light of the first clause constraint ‘but’ (D) Negation of either clause constraint ‘but’ In the examples that follow, I show that the case of chɛ́ in Safaliba is not different.

No overt subject in the second clause constraint ‘and’ This constraint implies that chɛ́ is translated as ‘and’ when there is no overt subject in the second clause. Consider example (42) below. 42.

Tɩ̀ ná dí sáá chɛ́ dí kábɩ́lá 1PL FUT eat TZ CONJ eat pounded-yam ‘We will eat TZ and also eat pounded-yam.’

pɔ̀ɔ̀. add

In this example, chɛ́ is translated as ‘and’. It is important to note in this example that, the subject of the first clause is tɩ̀ ‘1PL’ but the second clause has no overt subject thus confirming the no overt subject in the second clause constraint for interpretation as ‘and’.

Two overt subjects constraint ‘but’ This constraint suggests that chɛ́ is translated as ‘but’ when both clauses have overt subjects. Consider example (43) below. 43.

Andama tí po’ chɛ Samua bé Andama go farm CONJ Samua be ‘Andama has gone to the farm but Samua is at home.’

zákà. home

This example has Andama as the subject of the first clause while Samua is the subject of the second clause. Because both clauses have an overt subject,

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chɛ́ functions as ‘but’. This example confirms the two overt subjects for interpretation as ‘but’.

Expression of contrast in the light of the first clause This constraint ensures that chɛ́ be translated as ‘and’ when there is some contrast in the light of the first clause. Consider example (44). This is a translated example from Dagaare in Ali, (2006:8). This example is a case where there is a contrast in the second proposition with respect to the first proposition. 44.

Ŋ

díyé

chɛ́ nàŋ kɔ́ ŋ CONJ hunger still



1SG

eat



‘I have eaten but am still hungry.’

kʋ́ʋ́rɩ́ má. killing 1SG

Here the expectation raised by the first proposition is contradicted by the second proposition. (It is generally expected that if one eats, he will be satisfied. It is therefore contrasting for one to eat and still be hungry.)

Negation of either clauses This constraint implies that chɛ́ is translated as ‘but’ when there is a negation of either of the clauses. Consider examples (45) and (46). In (45), the first

conjunct i.e. before chɛ́ is negated while in (46) the second conjunct i.e. after chɛ́ is negated. In both cases chɛ́ functions as ‘but’. These provide evidence that when either of the clauses is in the negative, chɛ́ functions as ‘but’. 45.

Ʋ́

bá



3SG

NEG be



‘He is not tall but he is fat’

46.

Ʋ́

bé



3SG

be



‘He is tall but he is not fat’

bé

wákʋ̀ tall

wákʋ̀ tall

chɛ́ pɔ́ lì. CONJ fat

chɛ́ bá CONJ NEG

pɔ́ lì. fat

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It is clear from the above that Ali’s generalization for Dagaare can be applied to Safaliba.

3.0

Implicational scale in Safaliba

As indicated earlier, the analysis of the category-sensitivity of coordinating constructions can result in an “implicational sequence”. Proposals about such an “implicational sequence” include that proposed by Haspelmath (2007) and Payne (1985). However, for this work, I will attempt discussing how the Safaliba coordinators fit in Payne, (1985) implicational sequence. An attempt to test this hypothesis on Safaliba coordinators will require a small modification to cover what exists in Safaliba. In his scale, Payne has the category PP which Safaliba does not have. Any attempt to apply this scale to Safaliba will thus require that PP category be removed. The modified scale for Safaliba will thus be as follows: S – VP – AP – and NP. The result of the test of the scale on Safaliba categories is shown in the table below: Table 8: Safaliba coordinators in the implicational scale S

VP

AP

NP

nɩ́/ ànɩ́

Ӿ

Ӿ

√

√

á

√

√

Ӿ

Ӿ

chɛ́

√

√

Ӿ

Ӿ

bɩ́ɩ́

√

√

√

√

4.0.

Summary & Conclusions

This chapter has given a descriptive analysis of the syntactic properties of the Safaliba coordinators which according to Bodua-Mango (2012), include the conjunctions nɩ́/ànɩ́ ‘and’, á ‘and’, ka ‘and’, the disjunction bɩ́ɩ́ ‘or’ and the conjunction chɛ́ which has both a conjunctive and disjunctive interpretation.

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Regarding the nature of coordination in Safaliba, the work has, on the basis that there are no examples to prove otherwise determined that coordination in Safaliba is monosyndetic. The work has also determined (using the intonational phrasing criterion) that coordination in Safaliba is of the form [A] [co B]. With regard to the syntactic properties of the coordinators, the chapter has established that the coordinators have the following distribution: á → SS/ VP, chɛ́ → SS/ VP & nɩ́/ ànɩ́ → elsewhere. It has also shown that the disjunction bɩ́ɩ́ can coordinate all categories. Regarding the status of the conjuction ka, the study has argued as Schaefer (2009), that ka conjunction is a subordinator. This analysis thus takes ka conjunction out of the scope of this work. With respect to the distinction between chɛ́ conjunction and chɛ́ adversative, the work has proposed four (4) constraints (i) no overt subject in the second clause constraint ‘and’, (ii) two overt subjects constraint ‘but’, (iii) expression of contrast in the light of the first clause constraint ‘but’ and (iv) negation of either clause constraint ‘but’ Finally, this chapter has shown that Payne’s prediction of an “implicational sequence” that constrains the possible range of coordinators: S – VP – AP – PP – and NP also holds for Safaliba. In totality, this chapter has in addition to adding information on the syntactic properties of coordinators in Safaliba, contributed to coordination more generally by testing new data on already existing perspectives on coordination.

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REFERENCES Abdoulaye, M. L. (2004). Comitative, coordinating, and inclusory constructions in Hausa. TYPOLOGICAL STUDIES IN LANGUAGE, 58, 165-196. Ali, K. K. (2006). Coordination in Dagaare. Journal of Dagaare Studies , 6. Bodomo, Adams B. (1993). Complex predicates and event structure: An integrated analysis of serial verb constructions in the Mabia languages of West Africa. Working papers in Linguistics, Vol. 20.1-132. Bodua-Mango, K. (2012). Coordinators in Safaliba (Master's thesis, Norges teknisk- naturvitenskapelige universitet, Det humanistiske fakultet, Institutt for språk-og kommunikasjonsstudier). Blass, R., & Regina, B. (1990). Relevance relations in discourse: A study with special reference to Sissala (Vol. 55). Cambridge University Press. Carston, R. (2002). Thoughts and Utterances: The pragmatics of Explicit communication Blackwell publishing Dakubu, M. E. (2005). Collected Language Notes on Dagaare Grammar. Institute of African Studies . Accra: Institute of African Studies. Dik, S. C. (1969). Coordination: Its implication for the theory of general linguistics. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company Haspelmath, M. (2007). Coordination. In S. Timothy (Ed.), Language Typology and Syntactic Description: Complex Constructions (Vol. II). Cambridge: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hartmann, R. R. K., & Stork, F. C. Dictionary of language and linguistics. London: Applied Science Publishers Lewis, M. P. (2016). Ethnologue: Languages of Ghana (19 ed.). (G. F. M. Paul Lewis, Ed.) Dallas, Texas: SIL International.

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Lobeck, A. (2000). Discovering grammar: an introduction to English sentence structure . Oxford: Oxford University Press. Payne, J. R. (1985). Complex phrases and complex sentences. In T. Shopen (Ed.), Language Typology and Syntactic Description: (Vol. II, pp. 3-41). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Radford, A. (1997). Syntactic Theory and the Structure of English: a minimalist approach . Cambridge: Cambridge university press. Schaefer, A. P. (2009). Narrative storyline marking in Safaliba. Doctorial thesis, The University of Texas. Sperber, D., & Wilson, D. (2004). Relevance theory. Handbook of Pragmatics. Oxford: Blackwell, 607-632.

135

CHAPTER FIVE THE DEFINITE MORPHEME IN 16 BÙLÌ Abdul-Razak Sulemana Department of Linguistics and Philosophy MIT

Abstract In this chapter, I analyze a phenomenon that looks like suffixation but argue that it is strictly a root internal means of licensing a definite morpheme. Bùlì has traditionally been described as having five definite singular suffixes {-wá, -ní, -ká, -kú, -mú} which correspond to a five singular noun class system in the language (Kröger 1992). I propose that a high tone is the definite morpheme in the language. Since tones must be associated with TBUs, the language epenthesizes a vowel in order to license this tone. Secondly, the quality of the final vowel reflects the constriction of the final root consonant. Finally, gemination is triggered by the need to satisfy an alignment constraint.

1.0 Introduction Bùlì, like many African languages, has been classified as a noun class language (Kröger 1992). Under this classification, there are five singular definite pronouns {wa, di, ka, ku, bu} which correspond to the five singular noun class system. In this chapter, I discuss the relationship between the pronoun (noun class marker) and the definite article. I argue that the pronoun is a 16

 or helpful comments and discussion I would like to thank George Akanlig-Pare, Isa Kerem Bayirli, F Kenyon Branan, Claire Halpert, Sabine Iatridou, Michael Jacques, Michael Kenstowicz, Carolyn Spadine, Donca Steriade, Benjamin Storme, Samuel Zukoff.

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truncated version of the definite article, which is itself predictable from the phonological makeup of the indefinite noun. Thus, the derivation proceeds as follows: First, generate the definite form from the indefinite, and then truncate to create the pronoun (noun class). I will first provide a formal account of the singular definite. I argue that the definite morpheme is a high tone. Since every tone must be associated with a Tone Bearing Unit (TBU), epenthesis is motivated to license this morpheme. The quality of the epenthetic vowel is not random; it is determined by the features of the adjacent consonant. And finally, when gemination is recorded, it is motivated by an alignment constraint: ALIGN-R (RT, Syll). I will then proceed to generate the pronoun from the definite noun in the second part of the chapter. Based on the analysis presented here, no fewer than two morpheme classes are created out of a high tone. All the analyses are modelled within a Constraint-based framework such as Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993, 2004). The rest of the chapter is organized as follows: In the remaining paragraphs of this section, I will present a brief language background and the phonetic inventory of the language. In sections 2, 3 and 4, I discuss the phonological make-up of the definite noun and argue that the definite morpheme is a high tone. Section 5 presents the derivation of the pronoun. Section 6 concludes the chapter.

1.1 A Brief Language Background Bùlì is a Gur-language spoken in Sandema in the Upper East Region of Ghana. It has three dialects: Central, Northern and Southern dialect. This chapter concentrates mostly on the Central dialect (and Southern dialect). It is a tone language with three contrastive tones: Low, Mid and High.

Phonetic Inventory It has nine vowels divided into +ATR and –ATR

Vowel inventory: +  ATR i u e o a

-ATR ɪ ɛ

ʊ ɔ

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Consonant Inventory: Bilabial labiodental Alveolar Palatal Stop

p b

Nasal

m

t

n

Trill

ɲ

LabioVelar

k g

kp gb

ŋ

ŋm

r

Fricative

f v

s

Affricates Approximant

d

Velar

z tʃ dʒ

w

j

All consonants except the alveolar trill /r/ can begin a word in the language. A limited class of consonants can, however, occur as root final consonants: /b, m, l, r, k, n ŋ/. The liquids are followed by an epenthetic vowel in the indefinite form. (1) Noun Noun tì:b ‘tree’ sírí ná:b ‘cow’ bírí lām ‘meat’ múŋ

‘bee’ ‘seed’ ‘thorn’

tì:m bēlī

‘medicine’ ‘river’

kpíŋ mí:k

‘orphan’ ‘rope’

vílí péin

‘well’ ‘nail’

kɔ̄k ‘feather’ gbáin ‘hide’

Labialized consonants are also attested. They can occur in initial as well as in final positions. The contrast between /k-kw/ is perceptible in environments preceding or following a vowel as shown in (2). (2) pāk kātī líŋ

‘to grow’ ‘to drain’ ‘ahead’

pākw ‘shell’ kwātī ‘to lift’ líŋw ‘depth’

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2.0

The Definite Noun

This section discusses the phonological make-up of the definite noun. It is observed that definiteness on nouns is not uniformly expressed with a single definite determiner. Nouns in the definite form vary based on the phonological make-up of the word and especially the final consonant of the root. In the next few paragraphs we will consider the different nouns and their shape once the definite morpheme is expressed on them. In the following paragraphs I present a preview of the patterns to be analyzed. The data in 3 shows examples of nouns that end in the labial consonants /b, m/. (3) Noun

Noun+DEF

Noun

Noun+DEF

tʃì:b

tʃì:mǔ

‘the chick'

bì:sìm

bì:sìmmǔ

‘the milk'

gá:b

gá:mú

‘the ebony tree' núm

númmú

‘the eye’

já:b

já:mú

‘the thing'

dá:m

dá:mú

‘the beer'

wá:b

wá:mú

‘the snake'

lām

lāmmú

‘the meat'

vūrūb

vūrūmmú

‘the needle'

ʤúm

ʤúmmú

‘the fish'

kàb

kàmmǔ

‘the antelope'

tōm

tōmmú

‘the bow'

While these nouns are composed of different syllable structures, the final consonants in the indefinites are either preceded by long or short vowels. Nouns that end in /b/ in indefinite form have a /m/ in their definite form. Nouns with short vowels preceding their final consonants in the indefinite form have the geminate /mm/ in the definite form, while those preceded by long vowels have the singleton /m/. In all the above cases, the final vowel in the definite noun is the back high vowel /u/. Nouns with high and mid tones have high tones on the final vowel of the definite noun. Low tone nouns surface with rising tone on the final vowel of the definite

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(see Akanlig-Pare and Kenstowicz 2002; 2003; Akanlig-Pare 2005; and Sulemana 2017 for a discussion and analyses of tonal processes in the language). The data in (4) shows nouns that end in the velar consonants /k or ŋ/. (4) Noun

Noun+DEF

Noun

Noun+DEF

bí:k

bí:ká

‘the child’

wí:k

wí:ká

'the flute'

Múŋ

múŋká

‘the thorn’

wū:kw

wū:kú

‘the grass'

Biāk

biāká

‘the dog’

tíak

tíaká

‘the mat'

bū:kw bū:kú

‘the goat’

wá:ŋw

wá:ŋkú

‘the monkey’

tʃí:k

tʃí:ká

‘the moon’

zúkw

zúkkú

‘the head'

pū:ká

pū:ká

‘the pregnancy túkw

túkkú

‘the nest'

pú:k

pú:ká

‘the stomach’

wálík

wálíkká

‘the antelope'

pìŋw

pìŋkǔ

‘the rock’

kpɔ́ŋw

kpɔ́ŋkú

‘the guinea fowl’

kpíŋ

kpíŋká

‘the orphan’

ŋà:rùŋw ŋà:rùŋkǔ

‘the canoe’

tēŋ

tēŋká

‘the land’

náŋ

‘the leg’

náŋká

As with nouns ending in labials, the final consonants in nouns whose indefinite ends in the velar can be preceded by short vowels, long vowels or diphthongs. Nouns with short vowels preceding final consonant /k/ in the indefinite form have a geminate /kk/ in the definite form, while those preceded by long vowels and diphthongs have a singleton /k/ in the definite form. The nouns that end in /ŋ/ in the indefinite surface in the definite followed by /ŋk/. The final vowel in the definite form of these nouns is either /u/ or /a/. Same tone observation is made as in table (3) above: the tone on the final vowel is high except when the tone of the root is low in which case it is realized as a rising tone. The final consonant of the nouns in the following table is either the liquids /l, r/ or the alveolar nasal /n/.

140 Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

(5) Noun

Noun+DEF

Noun

Noun+DEF

dʒíen

dʒénní

'the egg'

ɲʷērī

ɲʷēnní

'the nose'

gbáin

gbánní

'the hide'

ɲúrí

ɲúnní

'the yam'

ɲíen

ɲínní

‘the tooth'

túrí

túnní

'the bean'

Sírí

Sínní

'the broom stick' tūrī

tūnní

'the ear'

Bírí

Bínní

'the seed'

tá:sírí

tá:sínní

'the bowl'

Dírí

Dínní

'the forehead'

tʃíkpérí tʃíkpénní

'the chick'

Bēlī

Bēnní

'the river'

vílí

'the well'

bū:rī

bū:ní

‘the race’

vínní

The definite forms where indefinite ends in /n, l, r/ with /i/ contain the geminate /nn/. When the preceding vowel is long /nn/ surfaces as the singleton /n/. The final vowel of these nouns is uniformly /i/. The tone on the final vowel in the definite noun is high. The next table completes the paradigm. This class has a number of interesting properties that set it apart from the cases discussed so far. Most of the nouns in this table end in a vowel and they mainly consist of kinship terms and borrowed words. In the corresponding definite form, the suffix –wa is added. The tone is high or rising when the preceding tone is low. (6) Noun

Noun+DEF

nà:b

nà:wǎ

‘the chief’

dʷá

dʷáwá

‘the friend’

kò

Kòwǎ

‘the father’

mà

Màwǎ

‘the mother’

kò:dù

kò:dùwǎ

‘the banana’

lé:

lé:wá

‘the daughter’

T h e D e f i n i t e M o r p h e m e i n B ù l ì 141

In the following sections, I will give a formal account of the observations made about the definite noun.

2.1 The Definite Morpheme The final vowel of the definite noun surfaces with a high tone except in cases where the preceding tone is low. I propose that the high Tone is the definite morpheme in the language. The rising tone that is observed on some definite nouns results from a general process of low tone spread (AkanligPare and Kenstowicz 2002). In this process, a high tone becomes rising when it follows a low tone (c-d). Examples (a-b) show that the Mid tone does not spread. a.

wū:kú ‘the grass’

b.

tēŋká

c.

kò:mǔ ‘the plot’

d.

màwǎ ‘the mother’

‘the land’

Tone has a variety of functions in the language. It has lexical functions as well as grammatical functions. Akanlig-Pare and Kenstowicz (2002:16) note that ‘verbs display a considerable variety of tonal patterns depending on tense, aspect as well as the person of the subject’ They also proposed a [H L] tonal sequence as an agreement morpheme in the language. This provides a counterpart to my proposal that the H tone functions as the definite morpheme in the language (see Hiraiwa et al 2017 for a similar proposal).

2.2 The Analysis of the Definite Morpheme If we accept the high tone as the definite morpheme, then epenthesis is motivated in order to provide a TBU for the H. One immediate question is Why the TBU is suffixed?

142 Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

To answer this question, the following correspondence constraints are invoked: 1. ANCHOR-L(BD): Assign * for any derivative in which the left edge does not correspond to the left segment of the Base. 2. ANCHOR-R(BD): Assign * for any derivative in which the right edge does not correspond to the right edge of the Base. When ANCHOR-L(BD) ranks above ANCHOR-R(BD), the left edge is protected from any activity. Thus candidate (1a) performs better than candidate (1c) in tableau (1). Tableau 1. /bí:k ́/ a.

☞ bí:ká

b.

bí:k ́

c.

ábí:k

NoFloat

ANCHOR-L(BD) ANCHOR-R(BD) *

*! *!

In addition to the above correspondence constraints, the following tone constraints are invoked:

o M  ax(T): A tone in the input must have a corresponding tone in the output.



o N  oFloat: A tone must be associated with a TBU. o Uniformity (T): Assign a * for any pair T1 T2 in the UR that



corresponds to a single T1,2 in the SR. o IDENT-T(RT): The tone of the root in the output is the same as the tone of the root in the input. o DEP-V: Assign * for any vowel in the SR that lacks a correspondent in the UR.

We can derive [bí:ká] ‘the child’ from the input /bí:k ´/ ‘child’ from these constraints in tableau (2) as follows.

T h e D e f i n i t e M o r p h e m e i n B ù l ì 143

Tableau 2. H1 H2 /bi:k/

Max(T)

NoFloat

Uniformity (T)

DEP-V

a. H1 H2 ☞bi:k a

*

b. H1 bi:k

*!

c. H1

H2 bi:k

*!

d. H1,2 bi:k

*!

The definite morpheme surfaces with its own TBU (a). Candidate (b) is penalized by Max(T) because the input H2 does not have a corresponding tone in the output. We can conclude from this that DEP-V is ranked below Max(T). NoFloat penalizes candidate (2c) and Uniformity penalizes (2d). These rankings are summarized below in a Hasse diagram. Hasse Diagram (1) : Tone ANCHOR-L(BD)

Max-T

ANCHOR-R(BD)

3.0

NoFloat

Uniformity(T)

DEP-V

The Final Vowel

Another thing to consider in the account is the quality of the final vowel in the definite for. I proposed that a vowel is inserted to license the definite

144 Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

morpheme. However, three different vowels /a, i, u/ are observed in the surface. If it is epenthesis, why don’t we find the same epenthetic vowel in all the cases? I propose that the quality of the epenthetic vowel in the definite noun is determined by the place of articulation of the final consonant of the root. When the root ends in a labial, the vowel in the definite is [u], when it ends in a coronal, the vowel is [i], when it ends a plain velar stop, [a] is inserted. One might suggest looking at (7) that the final vowel in the definite is predictable from the last root vowel: roots with round vowels have /u/ word finally in the definite form and roots with unrounded vowels have /a/ in the definite form. (7) zúkwkú

zúkkú

the head'

wálíkká

the antelope'

túkwkú

túkkú

the nest'

tʃà:sīkká

the comb

pū:kwú

pū:kú

the foam'

wí:ká

'the flute'

mū:mú

mū:mú

the straw'

fíŋká

the cane

kò:mǔ

kò:mǔ

the plot

kpíŋká

the orphan

lálúkwkú

lálúkkú

the bull

tēŋká

the land

There is reason to think that this is not the right generalizations: it is possible to have roots with rounded vowels followed by /a/ in word final position in the definite and roots with unrounded vowels followed by /u/ as shown in (8). (8) nandʒuŋka

the fly'

líŋwkú

the depth'

pú:ká

the stomach

pìŋwkú

the rock'

pū:ká

the pregnancy

gāŋwkú

the side of a person'

múŋká

the thorn'

wá:ŋwkú

the monkey'

má:kú

the catapult

gā:ŋwkú

the Deaf

T h e D e f i n i t e M o r p h e m e i n B ù l ì 145

'The question then is how do we explain the data in table (7-8) where velars are followed either by [u] or [a]? The difference between –u and –a final definite in the forms in (7) and (8) results from the presence of the contrast between /k-kw/ in the language. Consider table (9). The words on the left column end in labialized velars while those on the right column end in plain velars. Thus, all the forms that end in a consonant with a labial constriction, regardless of the quality of the last root vowel will have [u], and all those without a labial constriction regardless of the last root vowel will have [a] (8-9). (9) líŋw

'depth'

Líŋ

ahead'

wà:ŋw

‘monkey'

wā:ŋ

to spill

gā:ŋw

‘a deaf person'

gā:ŋ

food without soup

pū:kw

‘foam'

pū:k

pregnancy

pākw

‘shell’

pāk

‘to grow’

Table (10) shows that when the root ends in a coronal, the vowel is [i]. (10) Vílí

Vínní

'the well'

Bírí

Bínní

'the seed'

gbáin

Gbánní

'the hide'

Since the place of articulation of the final consonant determines the quality of the final vowel in the definite, we can understand the absence of definite forms such as *[benna, bunnu, lamma, lammi, pū:kwa, pū:kwi, bi:ki].

3.1 Analysis of the Definite vowel The variation between /u, i, a/ suggests that the definite vowel is not underlyingly present. It is inserted to license the tone of the definite morpheme. In all these

146 Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

cases, and in the cases of epenthesis in the language, mid vowels are not observed. This suggests the presence of a constraint against the insertion of mid-vowels in the language in general. For our purpose the following constraint is sufficient:

o *MIDV: assign * for the insertion of a mid-vowel.



Additional constraints include:



o LabialAttraction [LabAtt]: assign * for every [-round] vowel that follows a labial consonant.



o CoronalAttraction [CorAtt]: assign * for every [+back] vowel that follows a coronal.

We now consider a derivation of the different patterns we observed below. In tableau (3), I show how epenthesis of [u] after labials is generated. I will illustrate with [lāmmú] ‘the meat’ from the input [lām ´] bearing in mind the analysis applies to all the [u] ending definite forms. Tableau (3) /lām ´/

Max-T

[LabAtt]

*MIDV

*

a. ☞lāmmú b. lām

DEP-V

*!

c. lāmmá

*!

*

d. lāmmí

*!

*

e. lāmmo

*!

*

Candidate (3b) violates Max-T which is highly ranked. Candidates (3c) and (3d) are ruled out by the constraint LabAtt. Candidate (3e) violates *MIDV. This account straightforwardly extends to the roots that end in the labialized velar consonants as shown in tableau (4) and (5).

T h e D e f i n i t e M o r p h e m e i n B ù l ì 147

Tableau (4) / pākw ´/

Max-T

[LabAtt]

*MIDV

*

a. ☞ pākwú b. pākw

DEP-V

*!

c. pākwá

*!

*

d. pākwí

*!

*

e. pākwó

*!

*

*MIDV

DEP-V

Tableau (5) / líŋw ´/

Max-T

[LabAtt]

*

a. ☞ líŋwkwú b. líŋw

*!

c. líŋwkwá

*!

*

d. líŋwkwí

*!

*

e. líŋwkwó

*!

*

We can also account for the realization of [i] after coronals by adding to [LabAtt] a related constraint which conditions the quality of the inserted vowel on the point of articulation of the preceding consonant. I illustrate with [túnní] ‘the bean’ from [túr ´] ‘bean’ in tableau (6). These rankings will return candidate (6a), the expected candidate, as the winner. Tableau (6). /túr ´/

Max-T

[CorAtt]

*MIDV

*

a. ☞túnní b. túr

DEP-V

*!

c. túnnú

*!

*

d. túnná

*!

*

e. túnné

*!

*

148 Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

Both LabAtt and CorAtt will have to be outranked by an input-output faithfulness constraint which protects input vowels such as [i] in [bír] and [u] in [túr] from changing into *[bur] and *[tir] by [LabAtt] and [CorAtt] respectively. Next, we consider how to account for the forms that end in /ŋ/ in the indefinite and /ŋká/ in the definite. I will illustrate with [náŋká] ‘the leg’ from /náŋ´/ ‘leg’. The current constraints are incapable of determining the winning candidate for the input form of these forms since the final consonant does not have a vowel constriction. Tableau 7. /náŋ ´/

Max-T

[CorAtt]

[LabAtt]

*MIDV

a. náŋká b. náŋ

DEP-V *

*!

c. náŋkú

*

d. náŋkí

*

e. náŋke

*!

*

Candidate (b) violates the constraint Max-T. Candidate (e) violates *MIDV. There is no violation of [CorAtt] or [LabAtt] by any of the candidates, since the final consonant is a plain velar consonant. In instances where the quality of the vowel is not determined by the final consonant, simply because there are no vowel features on the consonant, the low vowel is inserted. To ensure that the low vowel and not any other vowel is inserted in these cases, we invoke the constraint DEP-VF defined as follows:

o • • • •

DEP-VF: assign * to the insertion of vowel features. DEP[B]: assign * to an insertion of a back feature. DEP[R]: assign * to an insertion of a round feature. DEP[H]: assign * to an insertion of a high feature. DEP[L]: assign * to an insertion of a low feature.

T h e D e f i n i t e M o r p h e m e i n B ù l ì 149

With the constraints and the following rankings, we get candidate (a) to emerge as the optimal candidate as shown in tableau (8). Tableau (8) /náŋ ´/

Max-T [CorAtt] [LabAtt] *MIDV DEP[H] DEP[R] DEP[B] DEP[L]

a. ☞náŋká b. náŋ

*

*

*!

c. náŋkú

*!

d. náŋkí

*!

e. náŋke

*!

*

*!

When we apply these constraints and their rankings to the [u] and [i] ending definite forms, we arrive at the same results. Consider an illustration with [lām ´] ‘meat’ in tableau (9) with an [u] final ending in the definite. The expected candidate (a) emerges as the optimal candidate compare with tableau (3). Tableau (9) /lām ´/

Max-T [CorAtt] [LabAtt] *MIDV DEP[H] DEP[R] DEP[B] DEP[L]

a. ☞lāmmú b. lām

*

*

*

*

*

*

*!

c. lāmmá

*!

d. lāmmí

*!

e. lāmmo

*

* *!

Similarly, when we apply these constraint rankings to the [i] ending forms, we arrive at a similar conclusion in tableau (10), compare with (6).

150 Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

Tableau (10) /túr ´/

Max-T [CorAtt] [LabAtt] *MIDV DEP[H] DEP[R] DEP[B] DEP[L]

a. ☞túnní b. túr

* *!

c. túnnú

*!

d. túnná

*!

e. túnné

*

*

* *

*

*!

Hasse Diagram 2: The definite vowel LabAtt *MIDV CorAtt



DEP[H]; DEP[R]



DEP[B]; DEP[L]

4.0

At the Right Edge of the Root

We saw that the definite morpheme is licensed at the right edge of the noun by epenthesis. Another phenomenon observed at the right edge is gemination. The claim in this section is that gemination is motivated in order to satisfy an alignment constraint. We will observe in the following subsections that the final consonant of the root plays an important role in this regard.

4.1

Geminate Consonants in Bùlì

A limited class of geminate consonants is attested in the language. And the only place where we find these geminates is in the right edge of the definite noun.

T h e D e f i n i t e M o r p h e m e i n B ù l ì 151

Table 1: Inventory of geminate consonants Labial

Alveolar

Velar

C

M

n

k

CC

mm

nn

kk

Following this, what happens to a final root consonant that cannot geminate? e.g /b, l, r, ŋ/? In this situation, I assume that a process of geminate repair is triggered. The repair of each ill-formed geminate, however, varies from segment to segment. Table 2: Geminate repair Labial

Alveolar

Velar

C

B

l

r

ŋ

CC

*bb

*ll

*rr

*ŋŋ

Repair

Mm

nn

ŋk

/bb/ changes to /mm/, both /ll/ and /rr/ change to /nn/, and /ŋŋ/ changes to /ŋk/.

4.2 Analyzing the Right Edge In this subsection, I will account for the clusters or lack of clusters at the right edge of the definite noun. The first paradigm involves roots ending in the voiceless velar stop preceded by a short vowel as already mentioned in (4) above with a repetition of some in (11).

152 Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

(11)

Noun Noun+DEF



zúkw

zúkkú

‘the head



túkw

túkkú

‘the nest’



kɔ́k

kɔ́kká

‘the mahogany’

In the definite, we see that there is gemination of the final consonant. I take this to be the result of the constraint:

o A  LIGN R(RT, Syll): A consonant that is coda in the Base(the indefinite) must be a coda in the derivative (the definite).

Another constraint includes:

o I dent[±Long]: Assign a * for a change in length of any root segment.

Assuming the established rankings for the tone and vowel quality, when ALIGN R(RT, Syll) ranks above Ident[±Long], it is better to geminate than to violate the alignment constraint. Tableau (11) /zúkw ´/

Max-T

NoFloat

ALIGN R (RT, Syll)

a. ☞zúkkú b. zúkw c. zúkw ´ d. zú.kú

Ident [±Long] *

*! *! *!

In the next data set, we observe that gemination is impossible in Buli after long vowels. I consider diphthongs to be in the class of long vowels.

T h e D e f i n i t e M o r p h e m e i n B ù l ì 153

(12) Noun Noun+DEF

Noun Noun+DEF

bí:k

bí:ká

‘the child’

wí:k

wí:ká

‘the flute’

biāk

Biāká

‘the dog’

tíak

Tíaká

‘the mat’

In these cases, we posit the following constraint: o *V:G: Assign * for any geminate occurring after a long vowel. This constraint *V:G will rank above ALIGN R(RT, Syll) to eliminate candidate (b) in tableau (12). Shortening the vowel is not an option because the faithfulness constraint Ident-Long(V) is ranked high thus ruling out candidate (12c). Candidate (12a) violates ALIGN RT(R, Syll). Tableau (12). / bí:k ´/

Ident-Long(V)

*V:G

a. ☞bí:.ká

*

b. bí:kká c. bíkká

ALIGN RT(R, Syll)

*! *!

Next, we consider a paradigm which is different from the cases we have seen so far. In this paradigm, the final root consonant is the velar nasal /ŋ/. (13) Noun Noun+DEF

Noun

Noun+DEF

náŋ

Náŋká

gbáŋ

gbáŋká

‘the book’

bā:ŋ

bā:ŋká

‘the junior’ ŋà:rùŋ ŋà:rùŋkǔ

‘the leg’ ‘the canoe’

The vowels preceding the final consonant are either short or long. In all these cases, we observe an /ŋk/ sequence in the definite form of the noun. We

154 Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

noted that /ŋŋ/ is not an attested geminate in the language. This suggests the markedness constraint below: o *ŋŋ: Assign * for any sequence of /ŋŋ/.



Other relevant constraints include: o DEP-C: Assign * for the insertion of a consonant. o Max[Nas]: Assign * for the deletion of a nasal consonant.



Tableau (13) /kpíŋ ´ /

ALIGN R(RT, Syll)

*ŋŋ

Max[Nas]

a. ☞kpíŋká

DEP-C *

b. kpíŋŋá

*!

c. kpíkká

*!

d. kpí.ŋá

*!

When *ŋŋ and Max[Nas] are invoked, the best way to satisfy ALIGN R(RT, Syll) is to incur a violation of DEP-C. A candidate which performs as well as the winning candidate in relation to all the constraints thus far is candidate (b) in tableau (14). To decide between them, the constraint *ND is invoked. stop.

o

*ND: Assign a * for a sequence of nasal followed by a voiced

Tableau (14) /kpíŋ ´ /

ALIGN R(RT, Syll)

*ND

a.☞kpíŋká b.kpíŋgá

DEP-C *

*!

*

T h e D e f i n i t e M o r p h e m e i n B ù l ì 155

A quick note on the distribution of nasals followed by stops. Even though ND sequence are acceptable in the language, they are observed in major word boundaries like compounding. Table 3: Oral stops

p

Nasal stops

b

t d

m

n

k g ɲ

ŋ

labials Alveolar Velar mb mp nt nd ŋk ŋg For the roots with long vowels, ranking ALIGN R(RT, Syll) over DEP-C in tableau (15) will return candidate (a) as the optimal candidate. Tableau (15) /bā:ŋ ´/

ALIGN R(RT, Syll)

a. ☞bā:ŋká b. bā:.ŋá

DEP-C *

*!

Another observed paradigm in the definite system repeated from above is given in table (14) below. In this set, the final consonant is the bilabial nasal /m/. The vowel preceding the final consonant is either short or long. (14) Noun Noun+DEF

lām ʤúm kpá:m

lāmmú ʤúmmú ‘ kpá:mú

‘the meat' the fish' ‘the oil'

In the definite, we observe a geminate /mm/ in the nouns with short vowels. On the other hand, when the preceding vowel is long, we observe a singleton /m/ as noted earlier.

156 Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

This paradigm readily follows from the current rankings as shown in tableau (16) and (17). Tableau (16) / núm ´/

ALIGN R(RT, Syll)

a. ☞númmú

Ident [±Long] *

b. nú.mú

*!

Candidate (16a) violates the low ranked constraint Ident [±Long]. (16b) on the other hand violates the constraint ALIGN R(RT, Syll). Tableau (17) /tì:m ´/

Ident-Long (V)

*V:G

a. ☞tì:.mǔ

*

b. tì:mmǔ c. tìmmǔ

ALIGN R(RT, Syll)

*! *!

In tableau (17), candidate (b) violates *V:G because the long vowel is followed by a geminate consonant. Candidate (c) on the other hand violates Ident-Long (V) because the long vowel in the input is shortened in the output form. The optimal candidate (17a) violates ALIGN R(RT, Syll) because the coda in the base is not a coda in the derivative. In the following paradigm, the final consonant is the voiced bilabial stop /b/. The vowel before the final consonant is either short or long as noted previously. In the definite, roots having short vowels before the final consonant are realized with the geminate /mm/ while those with long vowels are realized with the singleton /m/.

T h e D e f i n i t e M o r p h e m e i n B ù l ì 157

(15) Noun Noun+DEF tʃì:b tʃì:mǔ dʒá:b dʒá:mú

‘the chick' ‘the thing'



‘the antelope'

kàb

Kàmmǔ

A more general constraint operating in the language which is invoked here is the following markedness constraint: o * […Vb[+round]]# : Assign * for the occurrence of a rounded vowel in word final position when preceded by […Vb].



4.3 The distribution of /b/ The consonant /b/ can appear in word initial, medial and final positions in Buli. In word initial position, it can be followed by any vowel: short or long. (16) Noun Noun báŋ bracelet bū:k goat bā:ŋ junior Bēlī river

bí:k bū

child mix

bo:suk grave bɔbi tire

In medial position, it can be followed by [i], [a] or [ɔ]. (17) Noun Noun bɔbi tire za:(bi) to look-down gebi cut ya:(bi) like tabi step kabɔŋ adultery nubi female Lobi lay egg yaba market

158 Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

Note that the vowel in word final position when [b] is preceded by a vowel, is either [i] or [a]. There is no record of a rounded vowel [o], [u] or [ɔ] following [b] in this position. Generally, a sequence such as […V]# [bu ]#, when the preceding vowel belongs to a different word is possible as in ze ‘don’t know’ bu-3SG [ze][bu] ‘don’t know it’. From this, we derive the markedness constraint: *[…Vb[+round]]# above. Other constraints include:

o *bb: Assign * for the geminate /bb/. o I dent[±Nas]:Assign * for a change in the ± nasal feature of a consonant.

When *[…Vb[+round]]# along with ALIGN R(RT, Syll) and *bb rank above DEP-C and Ident[±Nas], candidate (a) emerges as the optimal candidate as shown in tableau (18). Note that DEP-C critically ranks above Ident[±Nas]. Tableau (18) /kàb ´/

*[…Vb[+round]]#

ALIGN R *bb DEP-C Ident[±Nas] (RT, Syll)

a. ☞kàmmǔ

*

b. kàbbu c. kà.bǔ d. kà.mǔ

*! *!

*! *!

*

e. kam.pu

*!

f. kab.pu

*!

*

Next, we consider an input with a long vowel preceding the final consonant from the paradigm. With these constraint rankings, candidate (a) emerges as the optimal candidate in tableau (19).

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Tableau (19) /tʃì:b ´/

*[…Vb[+round]]#

Ident[±Nas]

a. ☞tʃì:mǔ b. tʃì:bǔ

* *!

Finally, consider the paradigm of the definite in 18. (18) Noun Noun+DEF

Noun

Noun+DEF tá:sínní

bírí

bínní

'the seed'

tá:sírí

dírí

dínní

'the forehead'

tʃíkpérí tʃíkpénní

'the chick'

bēlī

bēnní

'the river'

vílí

'the well'

vínní

the bowl'

The final consonants of these roots are either the liquids /l, r/ or the alveolar nasal /n/. In the definite form of these nouns, we observe the geminate /nn/ except when the preceding vowel is long then it is realized as the singleton /n/. The new constraint we need to account for this paradigm is: o *G[LIQUID]: Assign * for any liquid geminate.



Consider an illustration in tableau (20). Tableau (20) /dír ´/

ALIGN R(RT, Syll)

*G[LIQUID]

a. ☞ dínní

Ident[±Nas] *

b. dírrí

*!

c. dírí

*!

d. díní

*!

*

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4.4 Summary The preceding sections present a formal analysis of the definite morpheme. I have argued that the high tone is the definite morpheme. Epenthesis is motivated by the need to license this morpheme since tones must be associated with TBUs. The quality of the epenthetic vowel is determined by the constriction of the final root consonant. In cases where a consonant lacks a vowel constriction, the low vowel /a/ is inserted as a default epenthetic vowel. Gemination of the final consonant of the root is triggered in order to satisfy ALIGN R (RT, Syll). Having generated the definite noun, the next section is devoted to deriving the pronoun.

5.0

Deriving the Pronoun/Noun Class

5.1 Pronoun-Definite Correspondence In a study of over 400 nouns from the available corpus, 99% of the nouns show a systematic correspondence (or match) between the pronoun and the last syllable of the definite form. The following data illustrate the systematic relation between the last syllable of the definite noun and the pronominal form of the noun. The definite form of these nouns end in –ka and the pronoun for these nouns is ka. (19) Noun

Definite

Pro

Gloss

baŋ

baŋka

ka

Lizard

chiak

chiaka

ka

Waist

fiŋ

fiŋka

ka

Cane

gbaŋ

gbaŋka

ka

book

kpiak

kpiaka

ka

Fowl

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The definite form of these nouns end in –ku and the pronoun for these nouns is ku. (20) Noun

Definite

Pro

Gloss

baruk

barukku

ku

Trap

bogluk

boglukku

ku

Shrine

choŋ

choŋku

ku

Poison

dok

dokku

ku

Room

zuk

zukku

ku

Head

The definite form of these nouns end in –ni and the pronoun for these nouns is di. (21) Noun

Definite

Pro

Gloss

beli

benni

di

River

chin

chinni

di

Calabash

diri

dinni

di

Forehead

gbain

gbanni

di

Skin

yeri

yenni

di

House

The definite form of these nouns ends in –mu and the pronoun for these nouns is bu. (22) Noun

Definite

Pro

Gloss

Cham

chammu

bu

Shea tree

dʒum

dʒummu

bu

Fish

da:m

da:mu

bu

Beer

Lam

lammu

bu

Meat

mu:b

mu:mu

bu

Straw

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The definite form of these nouns ends in –wa and the pronoun for these nouns is wa. The 0.67% of nouns that show a mismatch between the pronoun and the definite is found in this group. (23) Noun

Definite

Pro

Gloss

kɔ

kɔwa

Wa

Father

le:

le:wa

Wa

Daughter

ma

mawa

Wa

Mother

na:b

na:wa

Wa

Chief

nipok

nipo:wa

Wa

Woman

Instances of the mismatch are shown below. All these nouns fall under the semantic category of [+human]. (24) Noun

Definite

Pro

Gloss

gami

gamini

Wa

Leper

nong

nongku

Wa

Partner

suok

suoku

Wa

Sibling

The empirical generalization emerging from this is that nouns show a systematic correspondence (or match) between the pronoun and the last syllable of the definite form. And as shown in the previous sections, the last syllable of the definite is itself predictable from the phonological makeup of the indefinite noun. Based on this, I propose that the pronouns are generated by right truncation from the definite form. Thus, the derivation proceeds as follows: First generate the definite form and then truncate to create the pronoun. For the semantically defined class of [+human] however, the pronoun wa is used but at the same time, you can generate the pronoun by truncation.

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Pronoun-Definite Correspondence Table Noun

Definite

Pro

Gloss

tʃam

tʃammu

bu

Shea tree

baruk

barukku

ku

Trap

baŋ

baŋka

ka

Lizard

yeri

yenni

di

House

kɔ

kɔwa

wa

Father

nong

nongku

wa

Partner

suok

suoku

wa

Sibling

ba:ŋ

ba:ŋka

ka/wa

Junior

gaaung

gaauŋku

ku/wa

Deaf

5.2 Analyzing the Pronoun The pronoun is always one syllable thus suggesting the presence of a constraint requiring pronoun to be monosyllabic. It must satisfy anchor right to the definite form giving us the last syllable. Forms such as *mu and *ni derived through right truncation from [chammu] and [yenni] are bad because of phonotactic requirements that the onset of the syllable has to be a plosive. *pu and *tu incur more faithfulness violations. Based on these observations, the following constraints are proposed to derive the pronoun:

o N-PROCorrs: The pronoun that refers to a noun N stands in correspondence with the definite form of N.



o AnchorRightPRO: The pronoun coincides with the right edge of the definite noun.



o PRO=σ: The pronoun is monosyllabic.



o Onset: Syllable must have an onset.



o Onsetstop: The onset of the syllable must be a plosive.

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When these constraints are ranked as in tableaux (21-22), ka is truncated as the pronoun for the nouns ending with ka such as [wiika](21), and ku is truncated as the pronoun for nouns ending with ku such as [choŋku] (22). In tableau (21), both candidate (b) and (f) violate PRO=σ because the pronoun is more than one syllable. Candidates (d) and (e) violate AnchorRightPRO because they do not coincide with the right edge of the definite noun. Candidate (c) violates Onset because the definite form lacks an onset. The winning candidate (a) violates the low ranked constraint Max[segment] which prevents the deletion of a segments from the input form. Tableau (21) /wiika/

N-PROCorrs AnchorRightPRO

PRO=σ

Onset

a. ☞ka

Max[segment] ***

b. wiika

*!

c. a

*!

****

d. wi

*!

***

e. i

*!

****

f. ika

*!

*!

**

The winning candidate (a) in (22) also violates Max[segment] for the same reason as above. Candidates (b) and (c) violate PRO=σ and Onset respectively. Finally, candidate (d) violates AnchorRightPRO because the pronoun does not coincide with the right edge of the definite noun. Tableau (22) /choŋku/

N-PROCorrs AnchorRightPRO

PRO=σ

Onset

a. ☞ku

***

b. tʃoŋku

*

c. u d. choŋ

Max[segment]

* *!

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As for definite forms of nouns ending in /mu/ and /ni/, we observe that the pronoun forms of these nouns are /bu/ and /di/ respectively. We introduce the following additional constraint:

o Identvoice: Assign one * for a change in the voicing feature of an input segment.

When these constraints are introduced, candidates (a) in (23) and (24) emerge as the optimal candidates. Candiate (a) in (23) violates the constraint Ident[±Nas] for the change in the nasal feature of the onset consonant. Candidate on the other hands violates the requirement that the onset consonant has to be a plosive. Candidate (c) violates Onset while (d) violates Identvoice. Candidate (e) violates AnchorRightPRO while candidate (f) is ruled out by PRO=σ. A similar explanation can be extended to the candidates in (24). Tableau (23) /da:mu/ AnchorRightPRO PRO=σ Onset Onsetplosive Identvoice Ident[±Nas] a. ☞bu

*

b. mu

*!

c. u

*!

d. pu e. da f. da:mu

*! *! *!

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Tableau (24) /túnní / AnchorRightPRO PRO=σ Onset Onsetstop Identvoice Ident[±Nas] a. ☞di

*

b. ti

*

c. ni

*

d. i

*

e. tu

*!

f. tunni

*

Finally, for the \wa\ class, the constraint Ident[±Cons], dominates Onsetstop thus candidate (a) wins.

o I dent[±Cons]: Assign * for a change in the ± consonantal feature of a segment.

Tableau (25) /kɔwa/

Ident[±Cons]

Onset

a. ☞wa

Identvoice

*

b. ba

*!

c. pa

*!

d. a

Onsetstop

* *!

For the other cases like /ba:ŋka/ ‘junior’ which could either belong to the ka or wa class, the derivation of ka from /ba:ŋka/ is straightforward as exemplified tableau (21) and (22) above. The question is how to drive wa from the input /ba:ŋka/. Wa as shown is required for kinship terms and other human nouns. This requirement, I argue, overrides the requirements of Ident[±Cons], and Onsetstop.

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6.0 Conclusion This chapter discussed the relationship between the pronoun (noun class marker) and the definite article. I argue that the pronoun is a truncated version of the definite article, which is itself generated by expansion of the indefinite noun. By this chain of reasoning no fewer than two morpheme classes: the definite and the pronoun are created out of a high tone.

Reference: Akanlig-Pare, George. 1994. Aspects of Buli Phonology. Legon, University of Ghana, M. Phil. Dissertation. 1997. Tonal structure of Buli phonological noun. GurPapers 2: 63-67. 1999. Nominal derivation in Buli. Gur Papers 4, 99-109. 2005. Buli Tonology: a non-linear approach. PhD dissertation, University of Ghana, Legon. Akanlig-Pare, George & Michael Kenstowicz. 2003. Tone in Buli. In M. Kenstowicz and G. Akanlig-Pare (eds.) Studies in Buli Grammar: Working Papers on Endangered and Less Familiar Languages 4:1-34. Kenstowicz, Michael. 1994. Phonology in Generative Grammar. Oxford: Blackwell.

Kröger, Franz. 1992. Buli-English Dictionary. Münster: Lit Verlag.

Prince, A. & Smolensky, P. 2004. Optimality Theory: Constraint Interaction in Generative Grammar, Malden: Blackwell. Sulemana, Abdul-Razak. 2017. Tonal Processes and Opacity in Bùlì. Ms.MIT

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CHAPTER SIX DIPHTHONGS AND D I P H T H O N G I Z AT I O N I N THE GURENΕ DIALECT OF FA R E FA R I Avea Nsoh and Atipoka Helen Adongo University of Education

Abstract The chapter describes diphthongs in Gurenε, one of the five major dialects of Farefari spoken in the Upper East Region of Ghana. It is argued that though diphthongs are a relatively rare phenomenon cross linguistically, studies have shown that languages like English, Dagaare and Konni have them. The findings, in this chapter, reveal that Gurenε has vowel sequences as well as diphthongs, which may be characterized as canonical and non-canonical. The canonical diphthongs (also referred to as diachronic) are the result of phonological processes such as vowel reduction and consonant deletion over time whereas, the synchronic diphthongs are those considered as non-canonical. These types of diphthongs can be distinguished from monophthongs and other vowel sequences. We claim that these vowel sequences are diphthongs because they belong to one phonological syllable, their articulation involves a systematic movement from one quality to another and the gliding is unidirectional. Diphthongs are defined here from a phonological perspective or criteria. This forms the central argument in the determination of what is and what is not a diphthong. Keywords: Farefari, diphthongs, monophthongs, Mabia, vowel sequence

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1.0 Introduction The chapter describes diphthongs in the Gurenε dialect of Farefari17. Diphthongs are tautosyllabic vowel sequences whose articulation involves a systematic unidirectional movement from one vowel quality to another. The movement from one vowel quality to the other is unidirectional. Even though a review of the literature revealed that diphthongs are a relatively rare phenomenon in human language (Bendor-Samuel 1971; Nicole 1980; Naden 1989; Jenner 1995; Elders 2008), studies show that some Mabia (Gur) languages have diphthongs (Bodomo (1997) and Rhodes (2010): Dagaare (Ghana); Cahill (1993): Kɔnni (Ghana); Elders 2008: Kulango (Cote d’Ivoire). For instance, Naden (1989:154) explained that diphthongization in Mabia is a regular process and he provided various morphophonological processes under which diphthongs become part of the vowel inventory of these languages. Our main claim is that speakers of the language recognize and employ diphthongs. We therefore argue that diphthongs are part of the inventory of the Gurenε dialect. We further argue like Naden (1989) that in many cases the diphthongs are a much recent development. Many diphthongs resulted from various morphophonological processes leading to diphthongization. In that vein, we admit that the language has vowel sequences and that some of the diphthongs derive from such contiguous vowel arrangements. In accounting for diphthongization in the language, we postulate that there are what we refer to as canonical/default and non-canonical diphthongs, which can be distinguished from monophthongs and other vowel sequences that are very common in the language. We further group Gurenε diphthongs into synchronic and diachronic ones. The evolution of diachronic diphthongs in Gurenε is due to phonological processes such as vowel reduction and consonant deletion (see Nsoh 2000; Atipoka 2018). Our claim that diphthongs exist in Gurenε stems 17

I n this work as has been before, Farefari refers to the people and the language comprising Boone, Gurenɛ, Nabt, Nankani and Talen dialects/speakers. Naden and Schaefer (1973) took a similar view; however, in Naden (1988, 1989) preferred to treat Nabt and Talen as distinct languages.

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from the fact that the sequences of vowels resulting from the phonological processes belong to one phonological syllable, with their articulation having a systematic unidirectional movement from one quality to another as stated above. As a result, the definition or determination of what is and what is not a diphthong is based more on phonological criteria (see Laver 1994:112). Data for the research were collected from recordings of utterances of twelve native speakers from six Gurenε speaking communities. Six females and six males were consulted to maintain gender balance. Secondary data were taken from the Gurenε-English dictionary, the Gurenε-English Glossary, and from our knowledge of the language as native speakers. Section 1 introduces the chapter while section 2 reviews literature and gives an overview of the phonology of Gurenε. Section 3 provides a brief overview of diphthongs, while 3.1 reviews literature on diphthongs in Mabia languages. Further, section 4 discusses diphthongs and diphthongization in Gurenε. We proceed to sections 4.2 and 4.3 to explain diachronic and synchronic perspectives respectively of Gurenε diphthongs and draw our conclusions in section 5.

2.0

Reviewing related work

Rapp (1966) is the first known linguist to have discussed diphthongs in the Gurenε dialect. He, however, briefly explained that the language had no diphthongs but what appeared to be diphthongs in connected speech. According to Rapp (1966:17) “there are no diphthongs in the Gurenne language but the vowel groups “ӕ”, “ei”, “oe”, and “ui” may be pronounced like diphthongs in rapid speech such as “awai” instead of “awa-e” (translation from German). Schaefer (1975) established vowel and consonant inventories of Gurenε with example words from the Zuwɔrenε sub-dialect of Gurenε. He also had explanatory notes in which he provided interpretations for vowel occurrences.

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For instance, in note (4.1d), he explained that, “There are no non-suspect CVV patterns, therefore a high vocoid following a vowel is interpreted as a consonant” (p.7). He gave the following examples to illustrate his point: (1)

High vocoid following a vowel



lay [làὶ] ‘bury’ yay [yàὶ] ‘hate’ pay [pàὶ] ‘reach’ vay [vàὶ] ‘collect’ Schaefer (1975:7)

These words are usually pronounced as [làὲ] ‘bury’ [yàὲ] ‘hate’, [pàὲ] ‘reach’ and [vàὲ] ‘collect’. Other words with [+ATR] vowels include [lòè] ‘choose’, [sòè] ‘takeover’, [bòè] ‘dissolve’ and [dòè] ‘climb over.’ This is the second instance in which we find a work referring to a phenomenon we suspect are diphthongs even though the author himself interpreted them otherwise. In addition to the above direct references to the diphthong, there are some previous linguistic studies on Gurenε, which discussed the Gurenε vowel in general. These studies did not refer to the phenomenon, but it is important to briefly discuss them as they deal with the vowel. A consideration of these studies will help situate our work and clearly establish the fact that until now no reference has been made to diphthongs as part of the vowel inventory in the language, a situation we contest in this chapter. Atipoka (2008) gave an acoustic description of short oral vowels of five dialects of the Farefari language, namely Boone, Gurenε, Nabt, Nankani and Talen. She compared vowels (vowel space or distribution) of the five dialects of male and female speakers. She also performed ANOVA test on the data and compared the results for levels of significance. To check similarities and differences in the vowel quality, a paired-sampled Test was performed on seven

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pairs of vowels for all the dialects. The data were recordings of utterances of sixty speakers and the adaptive dispersion theory was used to account for the vowels of the specific dialects and the language as a whole. Atipoka’s findings showed that, vowels of four out of the five dialects appear to occupy eight areas in the vowel space because [ʊ] and [o] were close to each other in the vowel chart. However, she concluded that vowels of the Gurenε and Talen dialects in general occupy nine areas with [ʊ] and [o] close to each other. She explained that the front vowels follow a similar pattern in all the dialects while the back vowels show some inconsistencies. Even though Atipoka (2008) discussed Gurenε vowels, there was no mention of diphthongs or vowel sequences. Dakubu (1997) studied Gurenε grammar and dwelt substantially on the Gurenε vowel inventory. In her study, Dakubu described short oral and nasal vowels as well as long oral and nasal ones. There was also no attempt to admit diphthongs as part of the vowel inventory. Previous studies indicate that Gurenε has sixteen distinct vowels, which comprise nine oral vowels; /i, ɩ, e, ɛ, a, u, ʊ, o, ɔ/ and seven nasal vowels; / ĩ, ῖ, , ã, , ʊ̃, ũ / (Dakubu 1996; Nsoh 1997; Atintono 2004; Atipoka 2008, 2018). However, vowel length is phonemic, and all the nine oral vowels may be nasalized. Four of the vowels /ɩ,̃ a, e, ɛ/ can occur as isolated vowel syllables in monosyllabic words (e.g., ɩ ̃ ‘1SG’, a ‘3SG’ and e or ɛ ‘to search’). There is only one derived vowel in Gurenε, which is a schwa (ə) and an allophone of any vowel that occurs in word medial position. Table 1: Gurenε Vowel phonemes Front High Mid Low

Central

Back

i

ĩ

u

ũ

ɩ

ῖ

ʊ

ʊ̃

e

-

o

-

ɛ



ɔ



a

ã

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2.1 Vowel harmony Vowels in Gurenε words are strictly governed by vowel harmony rules. Therefore, only vowels of the same qualities or features [±ATR] can co-occur in words (cf Azagsiba 1977; Dakubu 1996; Nsoh 1997; Atintono 2004, 2011; Atipoka 2018). However, there are instances where harmony does not operate across word boundaries particularly in compounds. The schwa /ə/ and the low, back vowel /a/ are considered neutral to harmony process. This is because they are transparent, co-occur with vowels of both harmonic sets and do not seem to either trigger or undergo the harmony process. The harmony sets are [+ATR]: /i e o u/ and [-ATR]: /ɩ ε ɔ ʊ a/. /a/ is a [–ATR] vowel but occurs with the [+ATR] vowels in words.

2.2 The syllable structure of Gurenε The basic syllable type in Gurenε is the CV. However, other syllable structure types include the V, C, VN and CVC. All vowels and syllabic nasals occupy nucleus position while all consonants occupy the onset position. However, only the nasal consonants [m], [n] and [ŋ], and the glottal stop can fill the coda position (see Schaefer 1975; Dakubu 1997). We also note that the CVC structures usually derive from a CVCV syllable structure. In such instances, the nucleus of the second syllable deletes. The following is an example of a Gurenε closed syllable; Closed syllable σ Onset (O)

k

Rhyme (R) Nucleus (N)

Coda (Co)

u

m

Figure 1: Gurenε syllable structure

‘death’

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3.0

A brief overview of diphthongs

Various definitions of diphthong have been given from both phonetic and phonological perspectives. Acoustically and perceptually, diphthongs can be characterized as movements from one vowel quality to another. For instance, the production of the diphthong [aʊ] in English involves a combination of a relatively steady short [a] in onset position and a relatively steady short [ʊ] in offset position joined by an upgliding movement of the tongue (see Ladefoged 1975; Veer 2006). According to Laver (1994:143) “a diphthong is a linear unit typically anchored in a short stretch of speech by a set of phonetic feature-values, which are relatively unchanging”. Laver added that “the segment is a construct of phonetic theory, which relies on a related concept of three different phases of articulation of any segment (the medial phase, an offset phase and an onset phase). The medial phase is the period where the maximum degree of vocal tract constriction is achieved, and this is preceded by an onset phase and followed by an offset phase. The latter shows the movement of the organs towards the medial phase of the next segment. Hence, it constitutes an overlapping phase with the onset phase of that next segment” (Laver, 1994:112). Jenner (1995:150) explained that elsewhere, Laver (1994) applied this 3-phase analysis to monophthongs and diphthongs and suggested that monophthongs showed "a relatively unchanging quality through the medial phase", whereas diphthongs are characterized by a "unidirectional change" in this phase of articulation (see Underhill 1994; McGregor 2009). From the phonological perspective, diphthongs are described as sequences of two vocalic segments. With reference to the syllable structure, only tautosyllabic vowel sequences are considered as diphthongs, whereas heterosyllabic sequences are considered as two separate monophthongs as is found in the Italian word [pja.no] ‘plain, flat’ with a diphthong vs [pi.a.no] ‘of pope Pius’ with hiatus (Veer 2006). In addition, Jenner refers to a diphthong as "a double articulation vowel, which belongs to a single phonological syllable" (Jenner 1995:151).

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3.1 Diphthongs in Mabia languages Naden (1989:154) acknowledged that diphthongs exist in Mabia languages but believed that they might have been a later development. He attributed diphthongization to the following processes in these languages. a. “Allophonic diphthongization and variant realizations of long vowels b. Metathesis of -CV suffixes c. Spread of back vowel quality of suffix d. Loss of medial consonants of CVCV forms, or weakening of /b, g/ to back vowels e. CV roots followed by -V suffixes” (p153-4) Talking about diphthongs in Mabia languages, Welmers (1973:30) observed that it is sometimes difficult making a contrast between long pure vowels and diphthongs. Similarly, Bendor-Samuel (1971:154) admitted that diphthongs are rare in Mabia but noted that diphthongization occurs in some languages in lengthened vowels. He mentioned Dagaare as one such example in which /e, ɛ, o, ɔ/ could become /ie, ɩɛ, uo, ʊɔ/ respectively. Again, Bodomo (1997:10) and Rhodes (2010:12) observed similar diphthongal features in Dagaare. Rhodes indicated that in Dagaare, the high portion of the diphthong agrees with surrounding vowels for [ATR] as in the examples below; (2) (a) nimie ‘eyes’ (b) pɩɛlʊŋ ‘whiteness’ (Rhodes 2010: 12). In (2a) the /i/ in the second syllable, -mie, harmonises in the [+ATR] feature with the one in the root syllable while the vowels /ɩ/ and /ʊ/ harmonise in [-ATR] features in (2b) (Rhodes 2010). Studies also show the existence of diphthongs in Kɔnni, another Mabia language spoken in Northern Ghana. Cahill (1993) in his ‘Dipthongization and underspecification in Kɔnni’ explained that /a/ is unspecified for [low] in the underlying representation, which accounts for the alternation of /a/ with

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/e/ and /o/ in short vowels of suffixes and for the same variation in V2 of the diphthongs [ie] and [ɩa], [uo] and [ua]. Cahill (1993) pointed out three possibilities of interpreting phonetic vowel sequences phonologically as (1) phonemic vowel sequences, (2) vowel-glide-vowel sequences and (3) diphthongs. For the first possibility, Cahill said the distribution of Kɔnni vowels within the "sequence" argues against phonemic vowel sequences. That is because only 7 out of 32 possibilities for heterogeneous vowel sequences were attested and that, while V2 does not occur as a high vowel, V1 usually does. Then, his argument in favour of vowel-glide-vowel sequences and diphthongs revealed that the presence of a glide centres around two factors: the suspect nature of the sequences, and CV patterns of related languages. The first argument is that V1 of the apparent sequence is more or less always high, and this pattern compels speakers to consider the possibility of a glide between the two vowels. In addition, Cahill said as a general principle, given examples such as [lí!áŋ] and [lɩ́ !yáŋ], and [dʊ̀áŋ] and [dʊ̀wáŋ), it is difficult to hear the difference between [ɩa] and [ɩya] and between [ua] and [uwa]. Hence, if a glide were present, then [lí!áŋ] should be [pronounced as [lɩ́ !yáŋ], and [dʊ̀áŋ] as [dʊ̀wáŋ), and interpreted as disyllabic, with the glide as the consonant of the second syllable. However, in his argument against glide in Kɔnni, he asserted that even though there are definitely sequences such as [ɩya] in Kɔnni as /ya/ is a perfective suffix on verbs, as in [gà-yá] 'has gone' and [kpatɩ-ya] 'has finished', there is a slight phonetic difference between [ɩya] (the perfective suffix) and the sequences under consideration. This is because most of these sequences are monomorphemic, hence, [ɩa] has more of a unitary nature than [ɩya] as [ɩ] (in [ɩa]) is more transitory and almost an on-glide. A similar example in Gurenε is illustrated in (3b) compared with (3a). (3a)

a

di

ya [iya]



he

eat PERF food

(3b)

dia [ia]

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Like Kɔnni, in Gurenε, the production of [ia] in (3b) involves more gliding than [ɩya] in (3a). Cahill argued further that tonal evidence impedes the possibility of the glide solution. This is because, (1) Kɔnni allows rising and falling tones only on the last syllable of a word; (2) the "second vowel" never has a rising or falling tone as in *[bɩ̀ ān]; and (3) when the definite article is added to a monosyllabic noun, the second tone associates with the article rather than the root. Therefore, tonally, words like [lɩ'aŋ] 'ax' behave like explicit long vowels in Kɔnni and the phonetic vowel sequences behave like single syllables. Hence, the glide /y, w/ cannot be present in such sequences, since that would make them two syllables. In other words, both long vowels and the phonetic vowel sequences are single syllables. However, all phonetic vowel sequences come from underlying long mid vowels. He also claimed that these long vowels can be diphthongized as shown in example (4): (4)

/ee/

→

[ie]

/ɛɛ/

→

[ɩa, ɛa, ɩɛ]



/oo/

→

[uo]



/ɔɔ/

→

[ʊa, ʊɔ]

This last argument and examples corroborate point (a) of Naden (1989) listed above where he proposed that long vowels could develop into diphthongs. Cahill concluded that vowel sequences, which constitute long mid vowels in Kɔnni are apparently diphthongs. Other studies in some Mabia languages of Ghana on the other hand show that languages such as Dagbani do not have diphthongs. For instance, M-minibo (2014) argued against diphthongs in Dagbani. He claimed that what exist in Dagbani are of the structure ‘CV + VV, which are diphthong-like and are

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found in only verbs as in (5) but not nouns or the other word classes as shown in (6). He also indicated that words of these ‘CV + Diphthong Type’ have the same meaning as words of CVV type and for that matter, those that are verbs are allophones and not diphthongs as shown in (6): (5) VERBS daa = daai [da:i] ‘to push’ vaa = vaai [va:i] ‘to gather and collect from the floor’ duu = duui [du:i] ‘to light fire’ ʃee [ʃe:] = ʃeei [ʃe:i] ‘to get down from a hieght’ (M-minibo 2014: 234) (6)

NOUNS noo [no:] ‘hen’ ʃee [ʃee] ‘a waste’

*nooi *ʃeei [ʃe:i]

(M-minibo 2014:234)

His argument against diphthongs in Dagbani is based on the claim that when these ‘diphthong-like’ sounds occur before a pronoun or a focus marker, they change to long vowels. Also, when they occur before nouns in an NP or AdjP, the second vowel is deleted as in the examples below: (7)

bua [bua] ‘a goat’

buu la ‘the goat’

*bua la

tia [tia] ‘a tree’

tii la ‘the tree’

*tia la

tua [tua] ‘a baobab tree’

tuu maa ‘this baobab tree’

*tua maa

bua [bua] ‘goat’

buu ʒee

*buu ʒee (M-minibo, 2014:234)

In summary, we have showed that research in Mabia languages support the presence of diphthongs as part of these languages. In the sections that follow, we provide evidence to show for instance that examples in (5 & 7) are produced as diphthongs in identical positions. Many of the languages like Farefari are undergoing the stage of diphthongization resulting in the emergence of

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diphthongs. In the rest of the chapter that follow, we demonstrate with examples from the language that diphthongs are part of the sound system of Farefari.

4.0

Diphthongs and Diphthongization in Gurenε

4.1 Defining the Diphthong in Gurenε Our definition of the diphthong is guided mostly by phonetic or phonological criteria or evidence (see Underhill 1994:3-4). However, we do not completely discount non-phonological or non-phonetic evidence. Counterevidence from morphosyntax will be identified and explained to show how they contradict or do not contradict phonetic evidence. By diphthongs, we mean dissimilar vowel cluster occurring in the same syllable. As stated in the introduction, in their production, there is a movement from one vowel quality to another within the vocoid space. As observed by Laver (1994), the production of a diphthong involves three phases namely the onset, medial and offset. It is this complex phonological process of movement from vowel one (V1) to vowel two (V2) that we intend to illustrate in this chapter. This is what is referred to as the diphthongization process. Underhill (1994:4) made the following critical distinction in the production of monophthongs and diphthongs; Table 2: Distinguishing monophthongs and diphthongs Where The distinguishing quality of each vowel is produced by the shape and size of the resonant Monophthongs space in the mouth. This is controlled by the position and shape of the tongue, lips and jaw.

How There is no obstruction to the escape of air through the mouth, and they are all voiced, i. e., the vocal cords vibrate in the air flow.

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As for diphthongs, the distinguishing quality is produced by the tongue, lips and jaw. The difference is that there is one mouth posture at Diphthongs

the beginning of the vowel sound, and another at the end. The resulting glide between these two tongue and lip

As with monophthongs, there is no obstruction to the escape of air through the mouth, and they are all voiced, i.e. the vocal cords vibrate in the air flow.

positions gives the diphthong its characteristic ‘two-sound’ quality. According to Underhill (1998:4), the distinguishing feature of a diphthong is that, in the production of a monophthong, the mouth is relatively stable while movement is noticeable in the production of a diphthong. There are some phonological features associated with diphthongs in the language. First, they occur in monosyllabic words. They also manifest in word final positions. In addition, many of them derive from a diachronic change resulting from some phonological processes. Again, diphthongs may evolve from a CV.V structure. In such instances, a voiced velar stop might have been elided bringing the two vowels closer to each other (see section 4). In the analysis of diphthongs, we categorise them into canonical and noncanonical types. The former is further divided into non-ideophonic and ideophonic diphthongs. We also refer to the canonical ones as synchronic diphthongs. Non-canonical diphthongs, on the other hand, are described as diachronic diphthongs (see 4.2 & 4.3 for discussion). We make a number of claims about diphthongs and diphthongization in the Gurenε dialect. Most importantly, we argue that the language has a vowel inventory that includes diphthongs. Again, we make the claim that diphthongs

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can only be analysed from a phonological perspective and not through morphosyntactic evidence. Based on this premise, we argue that CV.V forms have diphthongized while others are progressing to diphthongs. We argue against counter-morphosyntactic and phonological criteria for disqualifying some sounds as diphthongs. The analysis admits CV.V syllable structures in the language and insists that these are not diphthongs. We however explain that such structures are potential candidates for diphthongized sounds.

4.2 Canonical Diphthongs First, we consider canonical diphthongs. By canonical diphthongs, we refer to those that have been part of the vowel system from the onset. Historically, they have emerged from proto-Farefari as part of the sounds of the language. We claim that most of them are not a product of any phonological or morphological process. They include those found in ideophones but may also appear in non-ideophonic words. This type of diphthongs may include [aɩ, eu, ui, oi, ɔɩ]. They may manifest in the following words, which are ideophones: (8)

Diphthongs in Ideophonic words



/aɩ/

[fáɩ́] [táɩ́]

‘in small quantity’



‘expression of pain, dissatisfaction’



/ãɩ/̃



[wáɩ́] [sãɩ]̃

‘unperturbed’

‘scattered’ ‘expression of disagreement’



[láɩ́] [káɩ́]



[gãɩ]̃

‘strong’



[kúí]

‘shallow’



[wúí]

‘a cry’



[béú]

‘open suddenly with force’



[yéú/

‘in a confused state’



[géú]

‘in broad shape’



[téú]

‘huge and protruding’

/ui/ /eu/

‘get off’

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Ideophones are a very important part of the lexicon of the world’s languages particularly those of Africa (see Welmers 1973; Bendor-Samuel 1971; Payne 1997; Bodomo 2000, 2005, 2006; Kanu 2008; Blench 2009). They have specific phonological, morphological, syntactic and discourse properties, which distinguish them from other words in languages (Bodomo 2006; Kanu 2008). Even though the phenomenon in Farefari has not been previously recorded in linguistics literature, we identified it as an important word class in the language. Most ideophones perform adverbial function. Thus, they are mostly categorised as a sub-group of the adverb class. If we accept, as we do, that ideophones are in the language, then the vowel sounds, including diphthongs, which occur in them, must be part of the vowel system. We claim as a result that diphthongs in ideophones are thus part of the inventory of the vowel system of Farefari and probably historically, the word class in which diphthongs first manifested in the language. Indeed, we consider them the most productive domain for these complex vowels. There is no evidence suggesting that they are a later development from any phonological processes as suggested by Naden (1989) for Mabia languages, and Rapp (1966) for Gurenε. Even though our data revealed that they occur in word final position, they are not the result of diphthongization process, which is the case with some non-ideophonic diphthongs and other non-canonical diphthong types. For instance, while non-canonical or diachronic diphthongs may have monophthongal variations in clause medial positions, ideophonic diphthongs do not show such variations in those positions. Examples include the following. (9)

a. Bíà là child the

yétì

láί

túmàn zí’àn

say

no

us

side

‘The child said ‘No’ in our presence.’

b. Bà kɔ́’ɔ́m páέ́ they just

reach

kálàm kúí here

wà

short distance this

‘They just made this short distance.’

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c. à he

gā̀

là

fàὶ

ká kúlà.

lie down

vrt

prt unperturbed

not go home

‘He is lying down unperturbed without wanting to go home.’ In all the three examples involving the words láί, fàὶ and kúí, in (9) above, the diphthongs [aɩ, ui] cannot be reduced to the monophthongs [a, u] or long variants. Indeed, if they are reduced to monophthongs, the constructions in which they occur will become ungrammatical. We however, admit that when these types of ideophones occur in clause final position, they could be mistaken for the non-ideophonic diphthongs, which may reduce in form. Ideophonic diphthongs never reduce to monophthongs in final position. In addition to this ideophone-type of canonical diphthongs, there are diphthongs that appear in other traditional word classes such as nouns and adpositions. Again, these are believed to have originated with the language. As may be observed from the examples in (10) below, many of such words are monosyllabic and locative words such as púán ‘inside’, zúón ‘up’ or ‘on top of’ and mʊ́ɔ́n ‘in the bush/forest.’ Locatives are formed by the addition of the suffix {-n} or its variant to a noun. In the process, a diphthong is produced if there is a vowel sequence as in zúó ‘head’ and mʊ́ɔ́ ‘grass/bush.’ (10a)

/ui/

[mùì] ‘rice’



[zúín] ‘up’



[púín] ‘inside the flower’

(10b)

/ʊa/

[pʊ́án] ‘inside’

(10c)

/ʊɩ́/

[mʊ́ίn] ‘in the bush/forest’

The diphthong that results depends on the root vowel. Since the language has root harmony, the [ATR] feature of the root vowel (V1) will determine vowel quality of following vowel (V2). For instance, in example (10a), múí ‘rice’, the root vowel is [+ATR]; consequently, the V2 in the resulting diphthong is

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the [+ATR] vowel /i/. In mʊ́ίn ‘in the bush/forest’ on the other hand, V1 is [-ATR]; so, the V2 in the resulting diphthong is /ɩ/, a [-ATR] vowel as shown in (10c). The argument is further strengthened by the parallel existence of ideophones with identical diphthongs as in the following examples: (11)

/ui/

púí

‘sound from hitting a hard object that results in cracks’

súí

‘full to the brim’



kúí

‘very close to’



búí

‘sound from hitting a lose object’



wúí

‘a deep cry’

Non-ideophonic diphthongs like their ideophonic counterparts, occur in most cases, in monosyllabic words. These are not ideophones but with structural similarities between them. Non-ideophonic diphthongs include /aɩ, ui, oi, ɔɩ/ as manifested in the following data. (12) a. /ai/

[káɩ́] [jáɩ́]

‘not present’ ‘open’

b. /ui/ [tù ̃ ǹtù ̃ ì]̃ [lúí]

‘baobab seed’ ‘fall’

c. /ɔɩ/

[bɔ́ɩ́] [yɔ́ɩ́] [tɔ́ɩ́] [jòpɔ́ɩ́]

‘get lost’ ‘unprotected’ ‘to be difficult’ ‘seven’

d. /oi/

[bóí] [zóí] [sóí] [jòpóí]

‘to be’ ‘to run’ ‘to be responsible for’ ‘seven (Nabt dialect)’

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Again, words in which non-ideophonic diphthongs occur are monosyllabic in form. In /jòpɔ́ɩ́ / ‘seven’ which is disyllabic, the diphthong can be found in the second syllable. This type of diphthongs may manifest monophthongal variants when they occur between words in sentences. This feature differentiates them from ideophonic diphthongs, which do not vary in similar contexts. The diphthongs appear to conform to the claims by Rapp (1966), Schaefer (1975) and Naden (1989) that vowels in final position may result in gliding. The occurrence of these diphthongs in Farefari may be suspect for a number of reasons. Firstly, words such as [bὶ] ‘be misplaced’ and [tὶ] ‘be difficult’ which have the allophonic variants [b] and [t] seem to support Naden (1989) that they might have been the result of allomorphic diphthongization. It then supports his argument that “Diphthongs or dissimilar vowels occur in a number of languages, but their origins are diverse; the phenomenon does not suggest that such sequences were inherited from the ancestral language”. There are also dialectal variants such as [lùì] and [lù]. As observed above the sounds in most of these words are either allophones or dialectal variants. Their occurrence is mainly as a result of the fact that they are in open syllables making it possible for them to be prolonged in pronunciation, leading to diphthongization. These are the type of diphthongs, which were mentioned by Schaefer (1975:7). Our position with respect to this kind of diphthongs is that they are allophonic variations of vowel sounds in syllable final positions. In order for such diphthongization conditions to be licensed, the word must occur either in isolation or in sentence final position. Thus, final position in both word and sentence are necessary conditions to realise the diphthong variant. Their realization in these positions is a manifestation that these sounds are recognized by speakers of the language. One further argument in favour of the occurrence of diphthongs in the language could be found in minimal pairs as illustrated in the examples below:

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(13)

Minimal Pairs Diphthongs Monophthongs [káɩ́] ‘absent’ [ká] ‘not’ or ‘give’ [yéú] ‘in a confused state’ [yè] ‘going’



[fɔ́ʊ́] [yɔ́ɩ́]

‘far’ ‘unprotected’

[f] [y]

‘blind’ ‘pay’

The words in (13) above show clear phonemic contrasts between diphthongs and monophthongs. Again, we identified another group of non-ideophonic diphthongs mostly associated with one of the several noun classes in the language. Some of the plural forms of the de-a Class (Dakubu 1996; Nsoh 1997, 2002, 2011), manifest the diphthongs /ɛa, ɔa/. The singular stems of this class may select the following suffix variants {-rE, -tE, -lE, -nE]. However, diphthongs only derive from plurals of those –rE suffixed stems. (14)

De-A class SG PL yírè yέá

‘house’



tírè sέrὲ

tέá sέá

‘bean’ ‘big open earthenware container’



nɩ́ɩ́rὲ sórè

nέá sá

‘grinding stone’ ‘path’



kʊ́ʊ́rὲ ká lóórè lá

‘funeral’ ‘lorry’

When the root vowel is a close or mid-front vowel, the /ɛa/ diphthong appears, while close mid-back vowels lead to the diphthong /ɔa/. We noticed that the Zuwɔrenɛ dialect inserts the glide /y/ between the two vowels, which are V1 and V2 of the diphthong. The dialect manifests variants such as syá ‘path’, sέyá ‘big open earthenware container’, kʊ́yá ‘funerals.’ These examples appear to

188 Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

contradict our claim of the diphthongs /ɛa, ɔa/. Our data however suggest that with the exception of the Zuwɔrenɛ subdialect, no other subdialect or dialect inserts a glide. In addition, we did not find any data to support the deletion of any consonant of the final syllable in these words. In Farefari, as we shall see shortly, it is the voiced velar stop /g/, which deletes in words (Nsoh 2000). The data did not show any instance of the loss of this consonant in the plural class of the de-a class. Indeed, the suffix vowel does not show the /g/ as part of its margin. In Farefari and in the Gurenε dialect in particular, where /g/ is lost, it may sometimes be observed in certain dialects or in some speech situations. What we observed was that stems with the variants {-lE, -tE, -nE] have the affixes [-la, -ra, -ma] respectively. However, we did not find instances where the consonants /l, t, m/ were deleted in final position or /y/ inserted. If we accept a diphthongization process in the development of the diphthongs /ɛa, ɔa/, it is still an admission that these diphthongs are recognizable by speakers. In the case of the [-yá] suffix, it also appears as a plural marker in some nouns in the A-Ba class. These include tã́ yã́ ‘sisters’ and gòwέyá ‘hunters.’ It was therefore concluded that [-yá] in sέyá “container” syá ‘paths’ is another plural affix. /y/ insertion will be shown in the next section. Tone is another evidence in support of the analysis of these complex vowels as diphthongs and not as monophthongs or sequences. In all the examples referred to above and those that will be illustrated, the complex vowel bears a single tone and not two separate tones, an indication that they belong to one syllable.

Figure 2: Spectrogram showing pitch traces of tɔ̀ ‘to pound’ vs. kî tʊ̀à ‘millet pounding’

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The spectrogram shows that the monophthong as in /tɔ̀/ and the diphthong as in /tʊ̀à/ both have a low tone each. Also, the spectrogram shows no pause in the pitch track between the two vowels in [tʊ̀à] ‘the act of pounding’ even though, they are phonetically different. This implies there is a gliding from the first vowel to the second, and for that matter, we have two segments associated with one tone (a low tone). Therefore, the absence of a pause between the vowels in the sprectogram is indicative that indeed diphthongs exist in Gurenε.

4.3 Non-canonical/diachronic Diphthongs Non-canonical diphthongs, also referred to in this work as diachronic ones are widespread in the language. By diachronic or non-canonical diphthongs, we refer to those diphthongs, which emerged through some historical phonological processes such as vowel reduction and consonant deletion. They also include those diphthongs that allow the insertion of /y/ or /w/. One major claim we also make here is that the language is undergoing a diphthongization process through some phonological processes such as consonant deletion.



4.3.1

Vowel sequences

Before proceeding to discuss diachronic diphthongs, we note that vowel sequences occur in the language. It is expected that such a definition would clarify any confusion between vowel sequences and what is described in this chapter as diphthongs. Two types of vowel sequences may manifest in the language. The first, vowel sequences in many of the cases are the result of consonant deletion especially of the voiced velar consonant /g/ and followed by vowel reduction (Nsoh 2000). In general, we consider complex vowels resulting from these phonological processes as vowel sequences. We also assume that such structures are pronounced very slowly, which results in two syllables. From this dimension, we have two contiguous syllables in which the second is a suffix, which also mark tense-aspect in verbs and gender, class or number in nouns as shown in (15) and (16).

190 Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

(15)

Vowel sequences in verbs

doe (dòò.gè)

→

[dò+è]

‘climb out of’



yaɛ (yàà.gὲ)

→

[yà+ὲ]

‘remove out of liquid’



sɔɛ (s.gὲ)

→

[s+ὲ]

‘takeover’



bʊɛ (bʊ̀ʊ̀.gὲ)

→

‘smear’

tɩɛ (tὶὶ.gὲ)

→

[bʊ̀+ὲ] [tὶ+ὲ]

tue (tùù.gè)

→

[tù+è]

‘miss one’s way’



‘prop up’

The verbs above are derived from disyllabic verb stems in which the root vowel is long (see verb in brackets in 15). The onset of the suffix is the voiced velar stop /g/. When the /g/ deletes, the root vowel reduces. The results are the vowel sequences in which the V2 lacks a margin as illustrated in (15) above. Similar analysis could be derived from the noun class. The phonological processes explained in this section are further explained under section 4.4 below with rules. However, while unreduced verb forms may be heard in some dialects or in certain speech situations, some of their noun counterparts are in many cases out of use as indicated by asterisk in (16); (16)

Nouns



a. bia *(bíígá)

[bí+á] ‘child’

dɩa *(dίίgá)

[dί+á] ‘food’

lɩa *(lίίgá)

[lί+á] ‘axe’

dʊa *(dʊ́ʊ́gá)

[dʊ́+á] ‘name of a village’



b. vʊɔ̃ (vʊ́ ̃ ʊ́g) fuo (fúúgó)

[vʊ́ ̃ +ɔ́ ]̃ ‘leaf’ [fú+ó] ‘cloth’

sɩɔ̃ ̃ (sίίg)

[sɩ́+̃ ɔ́ ]̃ ‘rainy season’

The examples in (16a) no longer have variants but in (16b). The variants are the conservative forms in which the roots vowels are long. Our argument is that, the ones in (16a) are diphthongs while those in (16b) could be confused with vowel sequences. The (16b) examples could be interpreted as still undergoing the processes of diphthongization.

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4.3.2

Prototypical Vowel Sequences

The second group of vowel sequences is what may be understood as prototypical vowel sequences. They occur in various contexts. These vowels are in two different syllables but are close to each other. These do not derive from morphophonological processes such as vowel reduction or consonant elision in some word class. One common example is associated with the [a-] prefix in personal names (Nsoh and Atintono 2010; Nsoh: in press). Most personal names in the Farefari language are preceded by the [a-]. As a result, when the name stem begins with another vowel, then you could have a vowel sequence as in (17) below; (17)

[a-] related vowel sequences that are personal names

à-íó

‘personal name’

à- élèm

‘personal name’

à-ããyá

‘personal name’

à-ίtébá

‘personal name’

à-úgèbɔ́bá

‘personal name’

The contiguous vowels carry different tones. The prefix [à-] bears a low tone while the vowel immediately following it is high tone indicating that they are in different syllables. These are in sequences and not tautosyllabic. There are also instances of phrasal constructions in which the first element ends in a vowel whereas the following element starts with a vowel. These kinds of sequence are mostly associated with noun-modifier constructions. In these constructions, the noun stem usually loses its suffix. (18) has very good examples of such constructions. (18)

Vowel sequences in phrases



a. à mí ɛ́ɛ́rébà ‘he knows travelers’ he know travelers

192 Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa



b.tɛ́ beans

àná these



c.à-dá



d. pʊ́ úká ‘protruded stomach’ stomach protruded

ɩ́tà pref-not do

‘these beans’

‘personal name’

As may be observed from the examples in (18), the constructions mí ɛ́ ɛ́ rébà ‘knows travelers’, tɛ́ àná ‘these beans’, à-dá ɩ́ tà ‘personal name’ and pʊ́ úká ‘protruded stomach’ have vowel sequences. They however, occur at word boundaries. The vowels once again occur in different syllables.

4.4 Diachronic diphthongization processes In the rest of the chapter, we argue that historically two phonological processes occur in the verb and noun stems, which created the necessary conditions for the development of diphthongs. All four major word classes in Farefari take suffixes (Dakubu 1996; Nsoh 1997, 2011). The underlying forms are said to have gone through a process of vowel reduction and consonant deletion, which have resulted in diphthongs. The processes that trigger the evolution of diphthongs in Gurenε include vowel reduction in the root and elision of the voiced velar stop /g/. As already indicated in 4.3.1, when the margin of a suffix preceding long root of a disyllabic noun or verb is the voiced velar stop /g/, it may be elided. In syllable structure terms, a CVCV now becomes a CVV stem. In order for an acceptable vowel sequence to be established, the quality of the stem vowel must be different but within the same vowel harmony set. For instance, in the noun fúúgó ‘cloth’, the long stem is [fúú-] and the suffix with /g/ is [-go]. The long vowel [u:] has a different quality from the suffix vowel [o]. [u: o] are both however [+ATR] (see Nsoh 1997, 2000, 2011). When both the stem

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vowel and suffix vowels are identical in quality, the resulting form is a long monosyllabic stem. For instance, báágá ‘dog’ becomes báá ‘dog’ as shown in the following phonological rules in (19). (19)

Vowel sequencing formation rule



a. g



b. +long vowel

Ø

+long vowel



-long vowel

-long vowel

vowel

In rule (9a) the voiced velar consonant /g/ deletes when it follows a long vowel while in rule (9b) the long vowel reduces to a short vowel when it precedes another vowel. c.

verb



UR

lóógè

PR1

[g] weakening

looɣe

PR2

[ɣ] elision

loo-e

PR3

vowel reduction

lo-e

PR4

vowel sequence

lo.e

PR5

diphthongization

loe

PF loe d. Noun

UR

fúúgó

PR1

[g] weakening

fuuɣo

PR2

[ɣ] elision

fuu-o

PR3

vowel reduction

fu-o

PR4

vowel sequence

fu.o

PR5

diphthongization

fuo

PF

fuo

194 Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

Words derived by the above rules in (19) could result in a vowel sequence in which case there are two distinct syllables in which the second is constituted by a vowel as was illustrated in (15) and (16) above. These rules could also result in a complex tautosyllable in which there is a movement from the vowel in first syllable (V1) to that of the second (V2). We refer to this process as diphthongization in the language. The examples in (20) and (21) show the resulting diphthongs from the consonant deletion and vowel reduction processes. (20)

Verbs /tùùgè/

→

[tùè]

‘miss a way’

/vùùgè/ →

[vùè]

‘pull’



/sòògè/

→

[sòè]

‘take over’



/bòògè/ →

[bòè]

‘dissolve’



/wòògè/ →

[wòè]

‘wrap a cloth round the waist’



/nὶὶgɛ/

→

[nὶὲ]

‘brightern’



/tὶὶgɛ/

→

[tὶὲ]

‘support s’thing to stand upright’



/sὶὶgɛ/

→

[sὶὲ]

‘remove skin of s’thing’

/ygɛ/ →

[yὲ]

‘hold loosely with a twine’

/zgɛ/

→

[zὲ]

‘to skip something’



/yʊ̀ʊ̀gɛ/ →

[yʊ̀ὲ]

‘pour out liquid from a bottle”



/pààgɛ/

→

[pàὲ]

‘to reach a destination’



/yààgɛ/

→

[yàὲ]

‘to remove from liquid’



/wààgɛ/ →

[wàὲ]

‘to steam’

The ka-si and ku-tu noun classes inflect the following diphthongs respectively /ia, ɩa, ua, ʊa/ and /io, ɩɔ, uo, ʊɔ/. These diphthongs are believed to have evolved from the consonant elision and vowel reduction processes referred to in (19) above. Examples of both classes are illustrated in (21) below.

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(21) a. ka-si noun class

fʊ́à

*(fʊʊga)

‘blind person’



bʊ́à

*(bʊʊga)

‘goat’



díà

*(diiga)

‘food’



lὶà

*(lɩɩga)

‘axe’

b. ku-tu class

fúó

(fúúgó)

‘cloth’



vʊ̀ ̃ ɔ̀ ̃

(vʊ̀ ̃ ʊ̀ ̃ gɔ̀)

‘leaf’



déó

(déégó)

‘room’



pàyéó (pàyéégó)

‘nonresident’



sί̃̃

‘rainy season’



zàngbéó (zangbéégó)

(sί̃ί̃g)

‘Huasa person’

In both classes in (21), the final vowels /a, o, ɔ/ are usually analysed morphologically as affixes marking gender, class and number (Nsoh 1997). The morphology therefore interprets them as a sequence comprising the stem vowel and a suffix. Phonologically, however, the two adjacent vowels are produced as complex sounds with one gliding to the other. We interpret these sounds phonologically as diphthongs with the possibility of being analysed morphologically as a sequence as discussed earlier. Also, nouns normally lose their affixes when they are followed by modifiers such as adjectives and determiners. For example, mʊ́ ‘grass’ + wókó ‘tall’ becomes

mʊ́-wókó ‘tall grass.’ The mʊ́ ‘grass’ loses its final vowel to become [mʊ-]. Notice, however, that [mʊ-] in its truncated state is meaningless and cannot be taken as counter-evidence to /ʊɔ/ as a diphthong in mʊ́ “grass”. Again,

this is a reading of the morphology and not the phonology and cannot therefore contradict the claim that a complex sound is a diphthongized phone. These diphthongized sounds are in the process of becoming frozen diphthongs.

196 Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

In syllable structure analysis, these words are sometimes analysed with glide insertion in the margin of the second syllable as shown in (22); (22)

Glide insertion in V1V2 words

a. y-insertion /ia/ /píá/ /bíá/ /tíá/ /vίá/ /yίá/ /sίá/ /lίá/

→ → → → → → →

b. w-insertion /ʊa/ /mʊ́á/ /nàmbʊ́á/ /gʊ́á/ /bʊ́nvʊ́á/ /fʊ̀à/ /dàjʊ́á/ /vʊ́á/ /ua/ /ʊɔ/

/ʊa/

→ → → → → → →

[píjá] ‘ten’ [bíjá] ‘child’ [tíjá] ‘tree’ [vίjá] ‘name of a town’ [yίjá] ‘first’ [síjá] ‘waist’ [lίjá] ‘axe’

[mʊ́ ̃ wã́ ] ‘native of Moshi land’ [nàmbʊ́wá] ‘moom’ [gʊ́wá] ‘a type of tree’ [bʊ́nvʊ́wá] ‘a living thing’ [fʊ̀wà] ‘blind person’ [dàjʊ́wá] ‘son’ [vʊ́wá] ‘living’

/lúá/ [lúwá] ‘falling’ /mʊ́ɔ́/ → [mʊ́ ̃ wɔ́ ]̃ ‘grass’ /sʊ́á/ → [sʊ́wá] ‘bathing’

It is sometimes argued that the restoration of the CVCV from the CV.V structure through the glide insertion as illustrated in (22) above (AkanligPare pc)18 is evidence that what we call a diphthong is nothing but disyllable. In a similar vein, it is also argued that since the CV.V may be recovered from a CVCV so the diphthong that derives from such a structure cannot be a complex sound but a vowel sequence. These two arguments indicate that the structure can only be two syllables and not a diphthong. However, we claim 18

 r. Akanlig-Pare is a phonetician/phonologist at the Department of Linguistics of the University D of Ghana, Legon.

D i p h t h o n g s A n d D i p h t h o n g i z a t i o n i n T h e G u r e n ε D i a l e c t o f F a r e f a r i 197

contrary to the arguments that the complex sound derived from the CVCV or CV.V are realized as diphthongs both in connected speech and in citation form. Hence, one would require a lot of effort in slow pronunciation to realise the glide in the second syllable. Again, when such words occur in a sentence, the sound is still realized as a diphthong. Tone is another important evidence to support our claim that the vowels we are referring to are diphthongs. Gurenε is a two-tone structured language made up of high and low tones; downstep tone has also been observed (Schaefer 1775; Dakubu 1996). The syllables in which the diphthongs occur have one tone each. If they were vowel sequences, then we would have expected the two syllables would each bear a separate tone. Table 3: Gurenε vowels and diphthongs Vowels

Diphthongs

i

ĩ

ia,

io

ɩ

ῖ

ɩa,

ɩɔ

e

-

eo

eu

ɛ



ɛa

a

ã

aɩ

ãɩ ̃

u

ũ

ui

ua

uo

ue

ʊ

ʊ̃

ʊa

ʊɛ

ʊɩ

ʊɔ

o

-

oi

oe

ɔ



ɔɩ

ɔɛ

ɩɛ

aɛ

ɔʊ

In all, the language could be said to have twenty-three diphthongs as illustrated in table 3 above. All the vowels in the language are involved in the production of diphthongs.

198 Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

5.0 Conclusions Until now, the claim had been that Farefari, particularly, the Boone-GurenεNikãrɛ dialect cluster manifests only monophthongs. Contrary to this claim, we have demonstrated that Gurenε has simplex vowels as well as complex ones, diphthongs. In order to support this major claim, we showed the distinction between vowel sequences which are of two types and real diphthongs and demonstrated that there are vowel sequences in Gurenε as well as diphthongs. In discounting the claim by Rapp (1966), Schaefer (1975) and Naden (1989) that the language only manifests a semblance of diphthongs in connected speech, we explained that if they are allophones of some existing phonemes, then it implies that speakers recognize them as diphthongs in those contexts. It was further explained that vowel sequences occur in the language, but they differ from what we refer to as diphthongs. Again, we sustained our argument for diphthongs by proposing a phonological analysis of diphthongs and not a morphological one. Thus, our definition is based on pronunciation by speakers of the said sounds both in citation and in connected speech, and vowel reduction and consonant elision processes, which are also phonological. Again, distinction was made between canonical or synchronic diphthongs as opposed to non-canonical or diachronic diphthongs. Based on this distinction, we argued against the claim that diphthongs are a recent development in the language (Naden 1989). Evidence was adduced from ideophones in particular, a major lexical class in the language to support our claim that diphthongs were part of Proto-Farefari. Non-canonical or diachronic diphthongs on the other hand fit into the claims of Naden (1989). Diachronic diphthongs are the result of consonant elision and vowel reduction in some words in mostly disyllabic words in which the stem has a long vowel and the margin of the suffix is /g/. The /g/ weakens to the velar fricative /ɣ/ and then deletes. Our argument in favour of diphthongs in Gurenε is based on a number of reasons (1) the sounds under consideration belong to one phonological syllable (2) the production of these vowel sequences involves a systematic movement from one quality to another and (3) their articulation shows only a "unidirectional change (Laver, 1995). We therefore conclude that Gurenε does not only have true or default diphthongs, but it is a diphthong-rich language.

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REFERENCES

Atintono, A. S. (2013). The semantics and grammar of Gurenɛ

positional verbs: a typological perspective. Ph.D thesis, University of Manchester.

Atintono, A. S. (2011). Verb morphology: phrase structure in a Gur

language (Gurenε). LAP LAMBERT Academic publishing.

Atintono, A. S. (2004). A Morpho-Syntactic-Study of the Gurenε

Verb. Unpublished M. Phil thesis. Legon: University of Ghana.

Atipoka, H. A. (2008). Spectrographic Analysis of Gurenɛ

Short Oral Vowels. Unpublished M.Phil thesis. Winneba: University of Education.

Atipoka, H. A. (2018 forthcoming). Aspects of Gurenε phonology.

Ph.D. thesis. Legon: University of Ghana.

Azagsiba, A. J. (1977). Frafra and Nankani: A comparative study.

Legon: University of Ghana.

Bendor-Samuel, J.T. (1971). Niger-Congo, Gur. In Current Trends in

Linguistics, vol.7, p.141-178.

Blench, R.M. (2009). Ideophones and the sensory world.

Unpublished copy

Bodomo, A. (2006). The structure of ideophones in African and

Asian Languages: A case study of Dagaare and Cantonese ideophones. Selected Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, ed. John Mugane et al., 203-213. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.

Bodomo, A. (2000 – 2005). A Corpus of Cantonese Ideophones. Ms.

University of Hong Kong. Bodomo, A. (1997). The structure of Dagaare. Stanford: CSLI publications.

Cahill, M. (1993). Diphthongization and Underspecification in

Kɔnni. Retrieved 02/02/2018 from https://scholar.google.com

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Dakubu, M. E. K., Atintono A. S., and Nsoh A. E. (2007). Gurenɛ English Dictionary. Vol.1, Department of Linguistics, University of Ghana, Legon.

Dakubu, M. E. K., Atintono A. S., and Nsoh A. E. (2007). English-

Gurenɛ Glossary. Vol.1, Department of Linguistics, University of Ghana, Legon. Dakubu, M. E. K. (2006). Prosodic features of the Gurene verb. Gur Papers/Cahiers Voltaïques, 7, 16-27. Dakubu, Kropp M.E. (1997). Oti-Volta vowel harmony and Dagbani. Gur Papers/Cahiers Voltaiques 2:81-88. Dakubu, M. E. K. (1996). A Grammar of Gurenε. Legon: University of Ghana. Hayes, B. (1990). Diphthongisation and coindexing. Phonology, 7(1), 31-71. Retrieved 02/02/2018 from https://scholar.google.com. Jenner, B. (1995). Diphthongs in English. Retrieved 02/02/2018 from https://scholar.google.com. Kanu, S. M. (2008). Idiophones in Temne. Kansas Working Paper in Linguistic, Vol. 30 (2008), p. 120-134) Ladefoged, P. (1975). A course in phonetics. (1st edition). New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Press.

Laver, J. (1994). Principles of phonetics. Cambridge University

M-minibo, I. J. G. (2014). The Reality of Consonant Clusters in Dagbanli Syllables. International Journal of Linguistics, 6(3), 231. Retrieved 24/11/2016 from https://scholar.google.com. McGregor, W. (2009). Linguistics: An introduction. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group. Naden, T. and Schaefer, R. (1973). “The Meaning of ‘Frafra”. Research Review. 9: 2,512.

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Naden, T. (1988). The Gur languages. In The languages of Ghana.

Kropp, M. E. Dakubu (ed.). London: Kegan Paul International. 12-49.

Naden, T. (1989). Gur. In Bendor-Samuel (ed.). The Niger-Congo

Languages.

Nicole, J. (1980). Morphologie et Morphophonologie du Nawdm.

Lomé: Departement de Linguistique.

Nsoh, A. E. (2011). A lexical-functional syntax of the adjective in the

Farefari Language, PhD thesis, University of Ghana, Legon.

Nsoh, A. E. (2010). Adjective types in Farefari. Studies in the

languages of the Volta Basin VI: 113-131.

Nsoh, A. E. & Atintono, A. S. (2010). Personal names among Farefari

speakers of Northern

Ghana. Journal of African cultures and languages,

Volume 1,issue 1, 77-85.

Nsoh, A. E. (2002). Classifying the nominal in the Gurenɛ dialect of

Farefare of Northern Ghana. Journal Dagaare Studies 2:1-15.

Nsoh, A. E. (2000). Final syllable attrition in the Gurenɛ and Talen

dialects of Farefari and the noun class and concord system. Ms. Faculty Languages Seminar presentations. University of Education, Winneba.

Nsoh, A. E. (1997). Some aspects of Gurune (Frafra) nominal

structure, MA thesis, University of Ghana, Legon.

Payne, T. (1997). Describing morphosyntax: A guide for field

linguists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Rapp, E. L. (1966). Die Gurenne-Sprachein NordGhana. Leipzig:

VEB Verlag Enzyklopaedie.

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Schaefer, R. (1975). Collected field notes on the Phonology of Farefari. Collected Field Notes No. 15. Legon, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana.

Underhill, A. (1998). Sound Foundations. Oxford: Macmillan

Publishers Limited. Veer, B. V. D. (2006). The Italian “mobile diphthongs": a test case for experimental phonetics and phonological theory. Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics, LOT Utrecht. Welmers, E. W. (1973). African language structures. Los Angeles: University of California Press.

203

CHAPTER SEVEN A M O R P H O L O G I C A L A NA LYS I S OF PERSONAL PROVERBIAL NAMES IN MAMPRULI Amidu, Fatawu Gambaga College of Education, Dambai

Abstract This chapter discusses the morphological processes that take place in the formation of personal proverbial names in Mamprauli; a Mabia language spoken in the northern and some parts of the Upper East Region of Ghana. In this chapter, I demonstrate that personal proverbial names in Mampruli exhibit certain linguistic features, contrary to the socio-cultural features observed of Farifari personal names (Nsoh and Atintono 2010). The study employs the theory of lexical morphology by Katamba (1993) as an analytical tool. Four native speakers of Mampruli, one each from Sakogu, Nalerigu, Gambaga and Walewale and two Japanese native speakers under JICA have been purposefully selected for this study. I argue that personal proverbial names in Mampruli are formed through compounding, affixation and clipping as morphological processes. Some other phonological processes involved in the formation of these names include assimilation and elision. The chapter also categorized personal proverbial names into N, N, N, N, V (with or without affix), N, V, N, N, V, Adv and N, NEG.V, N and many others. Some other names include NPs and VPs morphosyntactically. I propose that proverbial names in Mampruli be treated as simple sentences regardless of the various morphological, phonological and syntactic processes they may have undergone.

204 Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

Keywords:  Mampruli, Mabia, morphosyntax.

personal

names,

linguistic

features,

1.0 Introduction This work focuses on the morphological processes that take place in the formation of personal proverbial names in Mampruli using Katamba (1993)’s Lexical morphological theory. Mampruli is one of the Mabia languages spoken by the Mamprusi in the North-East Region of Ghana. The geographical area that is occupied by the Mamprusi is termed as Mamprugu, whereas the language spoken by the Mamprusi is known as Mampruli. Buah (1974) argues that the Mamprusi, Dagbamba, Moosi and Nanumba were led from the Zamfara state in Nigeria to the Gurma land in Togo and finally to the Northern part of Ghana by Gbewa, the son of Tohazee (the red hunter). Linguistically, Mampruli shares similar sound system with Dagbani, Nanuni, Kusaal and Dagaare. The vowel inventory of Mampruli is almost the same as the other Mabia languages in the North. Difference in the vowel inventory of Mampruli and other Mabia languages is somewhat realized at the level of phonology (Amidu, 2017). This observation is in line with Ladefoged (2006), who contends that “difference in sound system in languages is due to difference in tone patterns.” Mampruli is a tonal language like that of Dagbani with an S.V.O sentence structure (Amidu, 2017). Mampruli has four major dialects (Amidu, 2017). They include nyaaŋa (Eastern), Sunsukini (Central), Tooni (Western) and ŋŋaŋŋa (Yagibakubori) dialects. The identification of these dialects depends on the four geographical locations such as Sakogu and its environs, Gambaga and Nalerigu, Walewale and its environs as well as the Yagibakubori and its environs. The geographical land map occupied by the Mamprusi is Mamprugu. The paramount seat is at Nalerigu whereas the administrative capital is in Gambaga. The data in this article is analysed using the sunsukini (central) dialect. Tone is marked to provide a clear phonological distinction in the data that are collected from the respondents.

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2.0

Background to the study

Personal proverbial names are used by many ethnic groups in Ghana. These names are given to children for socio-cultural and political reasons. According to Crystal (1995) names usually depict cosmological and sociolinguistic information enclosed in surface linguistic structure for the purpose of identifying individuals in a given culture. People give names to children to show their feelings about the society. Others give proverbial names to advocate for peaceful co-existence among people. (Jindayu, 2014, Dominic, 2014 and Amidu, 2017). Depending on the culture and the surface structure, proverbial names may vary. In Farefari, atarebuno ‘the possessor of a lot of property’ refers to the riches of the parent. The structure of this name is a-nominalizer, tari ‘verb-have/posses’ and buno ‘something/property.’ In Mampruli, mánchόόsìbá ‘I goodbyed them.’ This has the structure mání ‘I’ chόόsì ‘goodbye’ and ba ‘them.’ This study therefore focuses on the morphological structure of the personal proverbial names in Mampruli. The study employs the Lexical Morphology framework by Katamba (1993) as an analytical tool. In this theory, all the morphological components of a linguistic form are identified. Morphemes under this theory are classified as roots/base, derivational and the word and paradigm morphology. In this study, all morphemes are morphosyntactically identified in any given personal proverbial name in the language. The data demonstrate that personal proverbial names in Mampruli exhibit some unique morphological properties that need to be investigated critically. In the case of many other languages, names are usually compounds consisting of two or more morphemes. Some personal proverbial names in Mampruli are single free morphemes. A critical look at names such as títábì ‘weed with thorns’ which literally means the giver/bearer can get hold of you tightly’ nápɔŋŋù ‘a foot/leg’ which literally means ‘the giver/bearer devotes some time for his relatives.’ The farefari and many other Mabia languages use these forms as proverbial names. Similar observation is made on the study on the sociocultural analysis of Akans names (Yankah 1989).

206 Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

In this work, I define proverbial names as short statements whose interpretations depend on the experiences and socio-political lifestyle of the giver (Agyekum, 2002).

3.0

Data collection procedure

In this section, I outline the sources of the data used for the analysis that is provided in this chapter. The data used in this work were gathered through primary and secondary sources. The primary sources included the discussions I had with some selected elderly native speakers who had competence of the language (Mampruli) at their homes and at social gatherings such as funerals, marriage and naming ceremonies. As an adult native speaker, I listed some of these names on pieces of paper. I started this since (2017). The secondary sources of data were obtained from books, articles, thesis, etc. in some related languages such as Dagbani, Gurune, Dagaare and Kusaal. I also interacted with some group of Japanese who organized a workshop “Managing the Class room” (2017) at the Dambai College of Education through JAICA by writing their names and their meanings.

4.0

Data Analysis

This section presents some personal proverbial names in Mampruli considering the various morphological processes that take place in their formation.

4.1 Nouns (N) as single free morphemes. In this section, some personal proverbial names that are not compounds and consist of two or more morphemes are discussed. Though some languages consider such names as titles, the Mamprusi consider them as proverbial names. Consider the data (1) below;

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Name

morpheme

Gloss



a. títábì

titabi (N)

a weed with thorns



b. nápɔŋŋù

napɔŋŋu (N)

a foot/leg



c. bɔhìgù

bɔhigu (N)

a short poisonous snake

From the data in 4.1, each name is morphologically realized as a single free morpheme that cannot be split. In 4.1a, the bearer/giver of the name is proverbially telling his enemies that he is very hard to be beaten. My interview with a respondent at Sakogu revealed that the name is given to show a kind of circumstance surrounding the bearer/giver. The respondent also showed that some people can name themselves títábì as a title or a proverbial name. titibi ‘a weed with thorns’ is used metaphorically to show how strong the bearer or the giver is. In 4.1b, the same morphological structure is found in bɔhígù ‘a short poisonous snake’ which literally means a person with much patience but can be dangerous when you inflict a pain on him. My interaction with an elder in Nalerigu revealed that bɔhígù may also be used as a tittle to depict a kind of regal powers possessed by the person. In terms of the morphological structure, bɔhígù ‘a short poisonous snake’ is a single free morpheme that functions as the root or the base according to the Lexical Morphology rule where morphemes are classified as roots, base and affixes of different kinds. Also, in 4.1c, nápɔŋŋù ‘a leg/foot’ is a single free morpheme without an affix of any kind attached to it. The name according to the respondent is used proverbially to show that the bearer/giver has much concerns about his relatives near and afar. According to a respondent in Sakogu-Dindani people give this name to their children to signal to their relatives the importance of being closer to one another.

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4.2 Personal proverbial names formed by combining two different nouns (N, N) This section dicusses personal proverbial names which are derived via the use of two different nouns in apposition. These nouns are put together to form a compound name (Otoo, 2015). Morphologically, each of these nouns is a free morpheme which does not take any affix of any kind. According to the respondents, such names are used to show the circumstances surrounding the giver/bearer. There are certain names based on the circumstances surrounding the birth of a child, these names may relate to the places of birth, period of time, festivals or sacred day, and manner of birth, (cf. Agyekum, 2006: 219). Example (2) is some of these names used in Mampruli:

Name

morpheme Gloss

(2)

a. wùmbùnì

wuni (N),

buni (N)

God’s property



b. wùmpíínì

wuni (N),

piini (N)

God’s gift



c. mámbáná

mani (N)

bama (N)

I and them

From the data above, each name consists of two different nouns (free morphemes) combined together. In (a) wùmbùnì ‘God’s property’, two major phonological processes do occur before the compound is formed. First, vowel elision in the final syllable of the first compound member and second, the insertion of the homogarnic nasal m for assimilation process to occur are found in the name. This is because there should be assimilation between the homogarmic nasal |n| and the bilabial plosive |b| in bùnì ‘property.’ Therefore, |n| charges to |m| after elision to form the compound. In (2)b, wùnì ‘God’ combines with píínì ‘gift’ to form a compound name wùmpíínì ‘God’s gift.’ The same phonological processes of elision and assimilation do occur in the formation of this personal proverbial name. In terms of morphemes identification under the Lexical morphology, both wùnì and píínì are free morphemes in Mampruli.

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On the other hand, mámbáná ‘I and them’ consist of the personal pronoun mánì ‘I/me’ and another personal pronoun báná “they/them” to form the compound mambana. The formation of this name is caused by vowel elision and homogarnic nasal assimilation as well as compounding. It can be seen in the data that the final syllable of the first personal pronoun drops the vowel |i| and the alveolar nasal |n| is changed to a bilabial nasal |m| before the compound is formed. The process of vowel elision in compounds formation is also realised in Abaka (2004:182) where a vowel, a consonant or a syllable which is an intrinsic property of a morpheme in an isolated style is dropped in a combinative style. This morphological structure of names exists in Japanese as well where two nouns or a noun and its modifier are put side by side to form a compound noun (N, N). Consider the following Japanese names in (3) below:

Name morphemes gloss

(3)

a. machida

machi (N) da(N)



town

field/park



hiro (A)

ki(N)



big

tree

c. kenichiz

keni (N)

chi (N)



health

first

b. hiroki

town field/park big tree health first

Source of Japanese data: collected from participants (two native speakers of Japanese)

4.3 Personal proverbial names with a morphological structure Noun-Noun (Without or with affix) (N, V) Names with this morphological structure (N, V) consist of personal pronouns that are combined with the verb either with or without an affix. Names

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generally in many languages are compounds and are syntactically realized as simple sentences (Amidu, 2017). See examples (4) below: Name morphemes identification

Gloss

(4)

It has caught

a. dígbááyá

di

gbaai

-ya

it catch PERF

b. máncháyá

mani

cha

-ya

I have stopped

1SG stop PERF

c. mámbόόrá

mani

bo

-ra

I had wanted

1SG want IMPERF

d. báwùmìyá

ba

wuni

-ya

they have heard

3PL hear PERF

e. tίnίnyá

ti

nί

nyá

-

we will see

1PL will see From the data above, each personal proverbial name consists of a personal pronoun that combines with a verb with or without an affix that marks perfection. The most common verbal affixes in Mampruli include the bound morphemes (inflectional) that mark perfective/imperfective aspect. Issah (2011) argues that “Dagbani has a morphological alternation marking of aspect with its verbal paradigm. This morphological alternation is valid for both the perfective and imperfective forms in Dagbani.” What this means is that the morphology of a verb in Dagbani determines which aspect markers the verb can take. Aspect marking in Mampruli exhibits the same morphosyntactic features as that of Dagbani as argued by Issah (2011). In 4 (a) and (b), the final syllable drops the final vowel when the affix is suffixed to the verb. Therefore, dí + gbááì + the perfective aspectual marker -ya → dígbááya but in (b) it is the personal pronoun that drops the final vowel before the verb and its affix are combined, thus; mánì + chá + -ya → máncháya ‘I have stopped.’ This is

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the main reason why Abdul-Rahman (2013) argues that the most common phonological process in the formation of compounds in Dagbani is elision. This, he argues deals with the loss of a segment a vowel, a consonant and sometimes a syllable. In 4(c), the morphemes include mání ‘I/me’ bό ‘want’ or had wanted. Also, the vowel |o| in the verb bo is lengthened when the affix |-ra| is suffixed to it. This shows that vowel lengthening is one of the morphological processes in the formation of personal proverbial names in Mampruli. In 4(d), the third personal pronoun plural bá “they/them” combines with the verb wùmí “hear” and the aspect morpheme –ya to form báwùmíyá “they have heard”. Lexically, all the morphemes are combined and therefore obey the principle of Lexical Morphology.

4.4 Personal proverbial names with the structure (N, V, N) The data in this section discuss personal proverbial names consisting of a noun usually a personal pronoun, a verb and a noun as an object. This category of names in Mampruli obeys the SVO sentence structure of the Mabia languages in the northern of Ghana. Consider the following in (5)

(5)

Name

morphemes identification

meaning

a. dibeeriba

dí

it is paining them

be-ri

1SG V (paining) b. dígyarima dí

gyàrì

1SG V (surprise) c. tiboomiyem ti d. bamboma

bo-mi

bá

N (them) ma

it surprised me

N (me) yém

Search for wisdom

1PL V (search for)

N (wisdom)

ba

má

bo

3PL V (search/look) N(me)

they will search for me

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In 5(a), the non- personal dí ‘it’ combines with the verb be “pain’’ with its affix (-ri) and the third personal pronoun plural bá “them /they.’’ In the data, the addition of the affix (-ri) which marks aspect progression has caused the lengthening of the vowel (e) in the verb be ‘pain’, as in béérí ‘is paining.’ In 5(b), the non-personal pronoun singular dí ‘it’ combines with the verb gyàrì ‘surprise’ and the personal pronoun singular má ‘me’ to form dígyàrìmá ‘it surprised me.’ Morphologically, the (-ri) suffix in gyari is not found to be an affix unlike the -ri suffix in díbéérìbá “it is paining them.’’ In 5(c), the 1st person pronoun plural ti ‘’we’’ is combined with the verb bo “look/search for’’ with its suffix -mi ‘’shall/should’’ and another noun yém “wisdom” all are morphemes. Technically, the addition of the suffix -mi “shall/should’’ causes the lengthening of the vowel /o/ in the verb bo “search for’’ as in bόόmì “should/ shall look for’’ it can be found in the data that -mi as a suffix marks future morphosyntactically in Mampruli. In 5(d), the 3rd person pronoun ba ‘they/them’ combines with the verb prefix ni- ‘will/shall’ and the bo ‘look/search for’ and the 1st person pronoun singular má ‘I /me.’ The data show that a homorganic nasal assimilation takes place between the affix ni- ‘shall/will’ and the bilabial plosive /b/ in the verb bo ‘look/search for.’ The alveolar nasal /n/ in ni ‘will/shall’ change to a bilabial nasal /m/ before the compound is formed. Therefore, bánìbόmá ‘they will search for me’ becomes bámbόmá ‘they will search for me.’

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4.5. N, A personal proverbial names Morphosyntactically, this category of names is formed when either a personal or non-personal pronoun combines with an adjective as a post-modifier of the noun. Consider the data in (6) below:

Name

morphemes identification

meaning

(6) a.yálìpáálá yala(N) paala(A) problems new

new problems

b. yálìkùrá yala(N) kura(A) problems old/past

past/old problems

From the data above, each name is formed with a noun and the adjective as a post-modifier of the noun to express the feelings of the giver /bearer via a given circumstance. The vowels in the final syllables of the nouns in 6(a) and (b) mark plurality in the formation of such personal proverbial names in Mampruli. The addition of the adjectives páálá (new) and kùrá (past/old) causes a change in vowel quality from /a/ high to /i/ low. Assimilation, elision and tonal change are caused by rapid speech in most natural languages (cf. Roach 2009:8).

4.6. N, V. Adv personal proverbial names in Mampruli The noun, verb and the adverb sentential names in Mampruli consist of the personal pronoun as the subject, the verb and an adverb. The verb maybe used in its bare form or with its suffix to mark an aspect / tense. Lexically, each of these units maybe free or bound morphemes. See the illustrations in data (7) below:

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Name (7)

morphemes identification

a. báŋgbááshéém bana gbaai 3PL b. tìmálìlálá

c. mánzáánìbùlà

Gloss

sheem

how they decide

decide (v) how/which way

ti(N) mali(V)

lala(Adv)

1PL

like that

take/hold

we should take it like that

mani zaani

bula

ISG

any how/confuse

stand

I stood anyhow

In 7 (a), the vowel (i) in gbaai “to decide’’ is elided before the compound is formed. In (a) also, the vowel (a) in the 3rd person pronoun bana ‘’ they/ them’’ is elided. In 7 (b) the vowel in the verb mali “take/hold’’ is reduced in quality, that is from high to low. In 7 (c) vowel elision occurs in the 1st persona pronoun mani ‘I/me’ before the formation of the compound. The data show also that the syntactic position of the adverbials is unique and fixed as far as the formation of the personal proverbial names in Mampruli is concerned.

4.7 N, NEG.V personal proverbial names. These are names whose verbs are negated by some pre-verbal negative morphemes. The giver/bearer of such a name shows a dissatisfaction or otherwise about a situation. Consider data (8) below:

(8)

Name

morphemes identification

Gloss

a. mánkùtám

mani

ku

tam

I won’t forget

1SG

not

forget

ba

ku

tooi

ma

3PL

not

reach

me

b. bákùtόόmá

they cannot get to me

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c. mánkùbèlìm

d. mánzí

e. mánkábáŋnì

mani

ku

belim

1SG

not

beg

mani

zi

1SG

know.NEG

mani

ka

baŋni

1SG

not

know

I won’t beg

I know not’

I cannot be known

The data show that the preverbal negative morpheme ku ‘not’ has different variants. Ku can be ka ‘not’ or zero. Each of these represents a morpheme in Mampruli personal proverbial names. It is found from the data that each preverbal negative morpheme occurs before the main verb for negation. The phenomenon is also found in Adam (2012) preverbal negative markers in Dagbani. In 8(a), (b), (c) ku ‘not’’ occurs before each verb in the formation of each compound name in Mampruli. Vowel elision occurs in the personal pronoun mani “I/me’’ in 8(a) (c) (d) and (e). In 8(b), the elision of the vowel occurs in the verb tooi ‘can’ as in kutooma ‘cannot me’’ However, the third personal pronoun ba ‘they/them’ can syntactically be used as either the nominative or the accusative form in the formation of these names in Mampruli. Also, in 8(d), the negation is embedded in the verb zi ‘know not.’ In 8(e), the preverbal negative morpheme is ka ‘’not’’ which occurs before the main verb báŋnì ‘be known’’ for negation. Also, ka ‘not’’ can syntactically occur in the verb position and function as a verb and sometimes marks possession.

4.8 Interrogative proverbial names These are personal proverbial name which ask questions in Mampruli. These names contain interrogative morphemes which are mostly pronominal and

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can occupy the subject or the object position. “All languages whether spoken or written have a set of interrogative words, although the inventory varies across language” (see, Dryer, 2005a). Issah (2015) makes a similar argument by indicating that Dagbani content questions are marked by the ‘Wh’ words which can either occupy the sentence initial or final position. Mampruli personal names which ask questions exhibit the same linguistic features. Consider example (9): Name morphemes identification (9) a. ntùùmbɔ n tuumi bɔ 1SG miss (PST) what

Gloss I missed what?

b. nságìmbɔ n sagim bɔ 1SG spoil what

I spoilt what?

c. nnìŋkánì n niŋ kani I do which?’ 1SG do which d. bɔkántùùmí bɔ what

ka FOC

n 1SG

tuumi what have I missed miss

In each of the names above, the personal pronoun and the verb are combined with an interrogative morpheme bɔ ‘what’’ or kani ‘which.’’ Socio-culturally, the giver/bearer expresses his feeling about a situation in the society.

4.9 The clipped forms used as personal proverbial names Morphologically, majority of personal proverbial names in Mammpruli can be reduced from their original form to a clipped form without a complete change in meaning. The process of shortening a linguistic form by removing one or more syllables is what (Aronoff and Fuderman, 2005) described as clipping. This process

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is common as far as the formation of some personal proverbial names in Mampruli is concerned Consider the following names in Mampruli in (10):

(10)

Original form

Gloss

clipped form Gloss

a. mámbόόrá

I had wanted

boora

had wanted

b. sùmìnikùùra good friend kills

kuura

kills

c. báwùmìyá

wumiya

have heard

they have heard

d. mánkùlùgìbá I won’t deny them kulugiba

won’t deny them

e. mánkùtùùmì I won’t forget

won’t forget

kutuum

5.0 Conclusion The formation of personal proverbial names in Mampruli involves morphological and phonological processes as well as syntactic relations. The commonest morphological and phonological processes discussed in this chapter include compounding, affixation, clipping, elision and assimilation. The data also revealed that majority of personal proverbial names can be reduced by removing a syllable or two without a complete change in meaning. In the data, various forms of personal proverbial names such as nouns as a single unit, N.N, N.V, (with or without a Suffix), N.V.N, N.A and N, V, Adv have been analyzed. Some other compound names include N, NEG, V and the interrogative sentential names have also been discussed. The data showed that tense/aspect morphemes in Mampruli are suffixed to the verb to form a compound. In the data, morphemes such as /-ri/, /-rila/, /-ya/, /-mi/ in the formation of personal proverbial names can mark either a tense or aspectual form of the verb to express a meaning based on the circumstances surrounding the giver/bearer. In the formation of some names, the verb is negated by some preverbal negative morphemes such as ku ‘not’ and ka ‘not.’ Some other names are Interrogated by some interrogative morphemes such as bɔ ‘what’, kani

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“which”, ŋɔni ‘who’ and many others regardless of their syntactic position to show the circumstances surrounding the bearer or giver. All morphemes in each name have been analysed using the theory of lexical morphology byKatamba (1993). The data also showed that meaning of personal proverbial names in Mampruli depends largely on the morphological structure as well as the circumstances surrounding the bearer. The study concludes that both the morphosyntactic structure and sociocultural background of the giver of a proverbial name determine its meaning.

Abbreviations and their meanings A adjective Adv

adverb

IMPERF

imperfective aspect

N noun NEG

negative morpheme

PL

plural

SG

singular

PERF

perfective aspect

V verb

REFERENCES

Abaka, E.N. (2004). Elision in Fante, Africa &Aisa, 4, 181-213.

Abdul-Rahaman, F. (2013). Elision in Dagbani. International Journal of Linguistics, 5(1) Adam, P.Z. (2012). Preverbal negative markers in Dagbani. Papers in English and Linguistics (PP). V. 11(2010), 44-62. Agyekum, K. (2002). The imperative marker s in Akan. In America, F. K and Osam, E. K. (ed), New directions in Ghanaian Linguistics (PP 127145). Accra Black Mask Ltd.

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Agyekum, K. (2006). The sociolinguistic of Akan personal names. Nordic Journal of African studies 15 (2), 206-235.

Amidu, F. (2017). A Morphosyntactic study of personal proverbial

names in Mampruli.M.Phil Thesis. University of Education, Winneba. (Unpublished)

Aronoff, M &Fuderman, K. (2005). What is Morphology? Oxford:

Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Buah, F.K. (1974). History notes. West Africa. A.D. 1000. London:

Macmillan Educational Limited

Crystal, D. (1995) The Cambridge encyclopedia of language.

Cambridge: Cup

Dakubu, Kropp. M.E. (2002). Personal names of the Dagbamba.

Research review. New series, 16.2, 53 – 65.

Dominic, C.S. (2014). The sociocultural study of Dagaare proverbial

names. M. Phil Thesis. University of Education, Winneba (unpublished)

Dryer, M.S. (2005a).Noun Phrase structures. In. Shopen Timothy

Complex Constructions (2nded.). Cambridge: Cambrideg University Press. PP 151- 205

Issah, A.S. (2011). The correlation between aspect and Transitivity

Alternation in Dgbani: The Buckingham journal of Languages and Linguistics, 4, 53-69

Issah, A.S. (2015). Analysis of Interrogative constructions in

Dagbani. Journal of West Languages, X.L.I.I.I.

Jindayu, D.M. (2014). Amorphological analysis of Gonja names. M.

Phil Thesis. University of Education, Winneba(unpublished)

Katamba, F. (1993). Morphology. London: MacMillan Press.



Nsoh, A.E. &Atintono, S.A (2010).Personal names among the

Farefari people of Northern Ghana. Journal of African cultural and Languages pp: 25-48

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Otoo, R. (2005). Morphological analysis in Ga and Dagme names with reference to place and survival names. M.Phil Thesis. University of Education, Winneba (Unpublised).

Roach, P. (2009). English Phonetics and phonology. A practical

curse (4 ed) Cambridge: Cambridge university press. th

Sowah,C. (2003). An analysis of Ewe naming system. The WEB. Vols.3 (26- 39) Yankah, K. (1989). The proverbs in the context of Akan rhetoric. New York: Perterlang Publications Inc.

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CHAPTER EIGHT ASSESSMENT OF S U P E R NAT U R A L C HA R A C T E R S AS AESTHETIC ELEMENTS IN D A G A A B A F O L K TA L E S Martin Kyiileyang University of Education, Winneba

Abstract African folktales abound in characters. Ordinary characters in Dagaaba folktales include humans, animals, birds, mythical and spiritual characters. However, some are weird and anthropomorphic in nature. Most of these characters are depicted as clever and cunning, strange and droll-like creatures which are worrisome and perturb people. In novels and drama, characters play different but significant roles. Similarly, characters in Dagaaba narratives play diverse roles and contribute significantly to a better understanding of the tales being narrated. It is the manifestation of various character traits which add captivating value to the projection of aesthetics in the narration of folktales in the Dagaaba cultural environment. This chapter examines supernatural characters in Dagaaba folktales gathered between 1977 and 2011 by several Dagaaba scholars. The theoretical frame is Okpewho’s (1992) exposition of characters in African folktales as aesthetic elements. The study reveals that supernatural characters are captivating and arouse the interest of the audience. Such weird characters are symbolic and reinforce major themes and moral lessons. Supernatural characters in particular are great aesthetic elements in the cultural environment of their performance.

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Keywords:  dagaaba, folktale, supernatural character, literary aesthetics, anthropomorphism

1.0 INTRODUCTION Let us begin this chapter by stating that many scholars of African narratives have paid close attention to the way characters are portrayed. Some of these intriguing characters which delineate the subject of folktales are tricksters ranging from human beings to animals. Suffice it to say that tales of trickery transcend various cultural frontiers. Trickster-characters are wily, cunning, clever and experienced pilferers. Many tales about tricksters rely on animal figures such as Coyote in Native American cultures, Brer Rabbit in AfroAmerican stories or Ananse in West African folktales. Ananse became a popular figure along the Atlantic shores from Nova Scotia to Brazil. Ananse features in several tales playing a role similar to Spiderman. He often adapts himself to the situation to suit himself and changes shape and character in order to fool or seduce his victims. Additionally, Ananse manipulates language to trick his prey or enemy and in this way disrupts social practices (De Souza, 2011, pp.102-103). Among the Dagaaba, Ananse is either called Badεre or Dɛrpɛrlhɛrɛ; a description which is similar to the cunning and wily attitude most West African societies normally associate the character with. Stories in the Venda speaking region of Limpopo Province in South Africa depict interaction of animal and human characters. For instance, in the animal world, Hare is traditionally referred to as Sankambe in Venda. Stories of the trickster-hare Sankambe have been narrated in different variations in Southern Africa (Dederen, 2008, pp. 212-213). Such narratives are typically satirical as they often criticize people in authority who wield great influence on society. Those who fall under the social categories of rulers and their subjects, rich and destitute, young and old are indirectly targeted as the focus of social criticism. The tricksters are often small animals who often use their cunning ways to outwit the bigger ones. An earlier researcher on South African folktales, Junod (1927 cited in Dederen, 2008, p. 214) reiterates that social discord

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was a common feature in the narratives he studied based on South African indigenous lore. Junod exposes the triumph of wisdom over brute force. Specific tricksters depicted in animal tales included Hare, Tortoise and Small Toad who outwitted huge beasts such as Elephant, Lion and Hippopotamus. In fact, physically weak creatures defeated cruel and horrible monsters which terrified others. Moreover, in the human society of Ronga folktale performance, tricksters also include miserable people, weak-minded, the down-trodden and the despised one who equally exhibited great wisdom and succeeded in outwitting their elders and those who hated them. Junod (1927) emphasises that those stories were indirect criticisms levelled against the aristocrats who had always dominated over the weaker ones. The younger siblings who were maltreated also manoeuvred their ways and triumphed over their older siblings. Orphans equally portrayed resilience in the midst of oppression. Scheub (1975 cited in Dederen, 2008, p.215) examined the conflict theme and exposed the real and familiar world vis-à-vis the fabulous, magical world of supernatural creatures such as amasi birds and helpful frogs. In different categories of Ronga tales, “the wisdom of the little ones” has been stressed through discontent expressed by the bigger creatures. The protest from the weaker ones has been directed against the oppressive power of traditional rulers. Victory of wisdom over sheer brute force seemed to symbolise victory over an oppressive chief who wielded political power. As he had strong political power, the lives and death of his subjects were greatly controlled by him. Under such circumstances, the performers of folktales depicted what could be termed as malicious pleasure in narrating the clever tricks of Hare and his associates (Dederen, 2008, p.218). For instance, in a tale entitled: “Sankambe Kills Muzhou”, Sankambe, the wily creature succeeds in outwitting the king. The small creature deceives and defeats the mighty elephant. He demands the best parts of the slaughtered animal. Other character traits Sankambe exhibits are puzzling to the audience. He is often portrayed as the victor and succeeds in his trickery using fraud and deceit. In another tale, he betrays his uncle Baboon, devours the lion cubs entrusted

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to his care and goes away scot free. Thus, in Ronga folklore, Sankambe (Hare) projects deceit and treachery. Folktales are meant for entertainment; however, narrators use various skills, tricks and tools in oral performance to create humour and entertainment. Thus, young people learn and appreciate certain human conditions such as surprise, fear, horror, shock, confusion and amazement. Sankambe could be regarded as a villain in terms of morality. However, he could be regarded as a metaphorical figure for young people especially the pre-adolescent youth who are not yet initiated. Despite his small size, Sankambe is a hero because of his trickery. Like Ananse ‘spider’ of the Akan in Ghana, Dɛrpɛrlhɛrɛ ‘spider’ among the Dagara of northwestern Ghana), Sankambe is not only a naughty little creature but is also a creature endowed with cleverness, wily attitude, cunningness. These attributes can be associated with young male. Trickster tales in particular are significant to adolescent males. They are often trained to learn survival skills and military training. Among the Shona people, one way by which one could be regarded as clever is by scheming, plotting and finding the right solution in order to expound the ideal concept of wisdom and knowledge. The young male was also expected to possess oratory skills during public political meetings and legal cases in the traditional court. Trickery and stealth were important components of the curriculum of the initiation school. These prepared the youth for hunting expeditions and military training. The Orphan also possesses distinctive powers of wisdom. This is exemplified by events in Lyela story entiltled “The King Who Ate Raw Cereals”. In this story, the King is depicted as a fool who carries the boy’s bag of cereals and is forced to eat them uncooked and gets lost in the forest. Thus, the King in this Lyela tale is regarded as a buffoon. There are also trickster tales which depict the training of young girls for adult life. For instance, the “tshirivba” was once described as a goatskin back apron of married women. However, nowadays, it is regarded as a traditional wedding gown by many Venda women. It marks social maturity and readiness for marriage as a graduation uniform. In the

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story “The Girl and the Lions”, the heroine is the youngest of the women and the wisest who obeys the female elders. Unmarried girls need to be protected against men, the lions, powerful beasts, wild animals who are ready to devour womanhood.

2.0

Brief Survey of Literature

It is also important to talk about the categorisation of African folktales as a way of foregrounding the discussion on supernatural characters as aesthetic elements in Dagaaba folktales. Okpewho (1992) posits that there are roughly four broad ways of classifying folktales which he prefers to call ‘Oral Narratives’ (similar to what Bascom (1965) proposed as ‘Prose Narratives’) on the basis of the protagonists of the tales. Okpewho therefore argues that distinction must be drawn between “Animal Tales”, “Human Tales” and “Fairy Tales”. However, he points out that there are two problems associated with this kind of classification. With the three categories, he cautions that any group of characters in any of the three categories behaves in the same way in the world of folktale narration. This is because with the Animal Tales, the animals are made to think, talk and behave like human beings. It is in this way that the human attitudes of love, hate and jealousy are equally attributed to them. Okpewho (1992) contends that these human characteristics are used by folktale performers to entertain the audience and expose didactic lessons emanating from the tales. The second problem with the classification by protagonist is the fact that it ignores numerous episodes of tales in which supernatural beings (e.g. dwarfs, fairies as exemplified in Tale No. 57 of researcher’s collection of Dagara folktales), humans and animals interact with one another. Apart from this first group of tales, Okpewho also refers to the Myth as a tale in which gods and divinities appear. These characters are often regarded as sacred and authoritative. However, certain tales depict some divine protagonists as immoral and wayward in behaviour and defy possessing sacred qualities. The element of delight seems to be stronger than the sacred and authoritative character traits.

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Okpewho cites a tale from a Yoruba collection of divine texts known as ese ifa to illustrate this incongruity related to sacred characters in myths (Okpewho, 1992, p.181). A second method by which one can classify tales is drawing moralistic or didactic lessons from them based on the content. In fact, he points out that “a large group of such tales … are seen to have a fundamentally moralistic or didactic purpose. In nearly all of them, a moral is drawn by the storyteller at the end, which either encourages good or discourages evil as revealed within the story” (Okpewho, 1992, p.182). Okpewho refers to Trickster tales as a third category of folktales closely linked with the moralistic tales. They are so-called because of the quality of their structural features. Trickery, deceit, breach of faith all form the main character traits of tricksters. The main characters in these tales are mostly animals. Examples of such tales collected by the researcher include “How Badɛr Fulfilled an Oath to Mountain” (Tale No. 2), “Monkey and the Ungrateful Hyena” (Tale No.11) and “Dɛrpɛrlhɛrɛ Outwits Lion and Monkey” (Tale No. 46). He suggests that they might be the largest category of tales. Additionally, Okpewho describes “Dilemma Tales as “those that end with a question or a problem to be debated and resolved between the narrator and his audience”. (Okpewho, 1992, p. 182) Other groups of tales Okpewho mentions in his collection are “Historical Tales” in which are found genealogies, legends, epics-stories depicting “extraordinary personalities” who have achieved certain “feats under extraordinary circumstances” (Okpewho, 1992, p.182). Other splinter categories are “Origin Tales”, “Moonlight Tales”, “Divination Tales” as well as “Hunter’s Tales.” These splinters have occurred in folktale categorisation because of the fluidity of the tales. For instance, an epic could also be regarded as a human tale. Moreover, tricksters may occur in myths or legends rendering them difficult to classify. As the thesis of this chapter dwells on the assessment of supernatural characters, it is indispensable to focus our lenses on types of characters depicted in African folktales. Generally, characters are either dynamic or static. Dynamic characters grow and change but others are impervious to change (Kirsner & Mandell, 2007). Characters in most folktales are flat.

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They hardly change even from the beginning of the tales. The folktale is the commonest African narrative prose which uses human beings, animals, spirits and other supernatural phenomena like giants, strange animals as its characters to represent human virtue and vices in the society. Oral literature in this form can be seen as allegory through which the realities of human world are dramatised in such a way that certain aspects of human dilemma are emphasised (Adakonye & Jen 2016, p. 37). African folktales feature tortoises, spiders, lions, hyenas and other animals as tricksters. Some of these characters sometimes transform into mysterious creatures. Characters become symbols of goodness, evil, treachery, avarice, revenge, diligence etc. (Torres, 2003, p.7) Characters of African stories also recur throughout the continent. Most familiar of all are the animals, particularly the wily hare, tortoise, spider, and their larger dupes. However, there are also many stories about people, ordinary and extraordinary, legendary heroes or ancestors and a few which recount the actions of various supernatural beings. They are also occasionally woven around other personified objects like parts of the body, vegetables, minerals, the heavenly bodies, or abstractions like hunger, death, or truth (Finnegan, 1970). Such characters do not usually appear in strictly separate cycles, but in many cases, they are depicted as interacting among themselves. Thus, a story mainly about animals may introduce a human being or even God as one of the figures, or a human hero can be shown as succeeding through his magical powers in speaking with and enrolling the help of various animals. In Lamba stories, ‘the exploits of the little-hare and of a curious little human being, Kantanga . . . are very much the same’ (Doke, 1934, p.358). In other cases, it may be rather ambiguous whether the central figure is really animal or really human, and it may appear in different guises on different occasions. The Kikuyu Wakahare appears sometimes as a squirrel and other times as a human, the Zande trickster is called ‘spider’ but envisaged as a man, while the famous Zulu equivalent of Tom Thumb and Jack the Giant Killer rolled into one, uHlakanyana, is usually a tiny clever boy, but in other contexts appears as a weasel.

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Hamilton (1997) posits that Ananse is the most iconic figure in African mythology credited with much of creation work. She cites the example of Ananse and Wulbari the Creator, locked in a struggle of wits. Ananse tales are some of the best-known in Ghana especially among the Asante. In Dagara mythology, Ananse is known as Dɛrpɛrlhɛrɛ, Badεr (or Badεre ‘my friend’ Dεr; ‘reincarnated male child among the Dagara.’ Ananse himself is synonymous with skill and wisdom in speech. In the Caribbeans, Ananse is often celebrated as a symbol of slave resistance and survival. Ananse is able to use his cunning nature and trickery on his powerful oppressors. In the Caribbean too, the slaves used similar behaviour to gain the upper-hand within the confines of the plantation power structure. In most of these tales, supernatural beings like jinn, ghouls or su’luwwa (ogress) and sorcerers, good or evil, lend a helping hand to alter the path of the narrative and secure a happy ending for the worthy hero or heroine, or a fitting punishment for the villain (El-Nour, 2011, p. 174). The supernatural character and essence of the Kwagh-hir (Efik term for folktale) finds expression in the fact that the art form provides a concrete setting or platform on which dramatic enactments or performances involving human beings, spirits, animals and other non-human categories with an anthropomorphic consciousness can take place (Tsaaior, 2015, p.2). The Biloko are diabolical dwarf-like creatures believed to roam the interior regions of the rainforest in central Zaire. Some legends point out that these beings are agiatated ancestorspirits who have some resentment towards the living. They jealously guard the forest and its living creatures from the hollow trees in which they hide. Women lose consciousness at the sight of them and only the most daring hunters enter these forests and survive. Apart from their hideous appearance, they also have a tendency to bewitch and eat those who come under their spell. They have no hair, long sharp claws, and mouths with sharp teeth that can open wide enough to swallow a human being (Gerber, 2013). Now let us also turn our attention to aesthetic elements in African oral tradition. The essence of critical analysis of African folktales in many

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instances settles on aesthetic elements which abound in several African oral texts. It is in this way that one can never dissociate characters from aesthetic elements in African folktales. Oral literature has style and structure and the composition of the various genres, vary from one performer to another and even the societies where they emanate. Various aspects of verbal art can be well comprehended through effective use of style. The way a tale is structured, or the way dirges are performed and the context under which these verbal arts are performed all constitute style. Specific components of style could be setting, diction, imagery, symbolism among others. Various figures of speech and sound are often used to embellish oral texts such as proverbs, folktales, riddles, dirges and drum language. Oral literature appeals to the use of sound and as such many figures of sound occur in the course of performances. Some of these include parallelism, anaphora, onomatopoeia and repetition itself. The effectiveness of the oral performance depends on the style and techniques. Members of the audience are compelled to make sense out of what they hear. Sometimes, performers indulge in nonsensical terms for the purpose of entertainment and also as a way of saving them from embarrassment when they commit verbal slips. It is important to begin with the element of repetition as a foremost aesthetic feature in African oral texts. Repetition is an effective feature in the performance of oral literature. It serves two purposes: aesthetic and utilitarian values. That is to say, it gives a touch of beauty or attractiveness to a piece of oral expression either in a song or a narrative. For instance, the audiences are delighted to identify with and accompany the performer in a song or a tale. It is used to enhance poetic quality especially in situations of chanting. According to Okpewho (1992, p.72) repetition is also employed to mark a feeling of excitement or agitation as in ‘The Ozidi Saga’. Repetition is also used to impress the audience in situations where performers display all kinds of skill and talent. Okpewho cites Babalola’s collections of Yoruba hunters’ poetry as typical examples of impressive repetition.

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One of the best ways of representing oral literature in Africa is by employing certain specific words to paint typical mental pictures which appeal to our sense of feeling, taste, smell and touch in order to reinforce messages that are essential in the literary genre chosen by the writer. Most of the tales gathered by Kyoore (2009) in Folktales of the Dagara of West Africa portray various images. The baobab tree whose fruits must be harvested for Orphan’s motherin-law (who has just delivered) suggests a huge image of impossibility. Though the tree is very tall and gargantuan in nature, it is surmounted by monkey: : … at nightfall Monkey climbed the baobab tree and harvested all the fruits. This feat enabled Orphan to pass the hard test set by the chief. The image of poison is also clearly portrayed in Cobra which bit and eventually killed the bull that Orphan was asked to slaughter all by himself. Everybody thought it was actually Orphan who killed the bull by his might (Kyoore, 2009, pp. 4, 6). Metaphorical images are significant in a tale entitled “Moral Lessons a Man Gives to the Children” in Kyoore’s (2009) collection. The names of the six sons are typical examples of particular pictures that the narrator tries to portray. The following charactonyms portray various aspects of Dagara philosophical views about certain circumstances in life. In one sense, they could be regarded as eponymous. Zumɛ-wa-kpɛ ‘Intuition-Just-Entered or Premonition’, Nyubri-Bang-Sↄr ‘Sniff-To-Know-the-Way/Path.’ Kpɛ-NyuKuoↄ ‘Go-Inside-and-Drink-Water’, Urbɛr-Dɛgr ‘Scrub-and-Remove-theDirt’, Dagol ‘Cudgel’ Zu-Sↄg-kole ‘Catch-in-Mid-Air.’ All of them equally played significant roles in the intuition, recovery, search and final salvation of their father in this dilemma tale. The so-called Goat is named Tizayelle” ‘All-of-Us-Our-Problems’ in Chapter Two of Kyoore’s tales. One can judge from the behaviour of this character that Rabbit, Hyena and the Dog are incompatible and can never co-habit. The message of incompatibility is strongly related in this story (Kyoore, 2009, pp. 8-10). These names are typical, narrative complements to the underlining message of the whole story.

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Such names are common in African works of art such as The Dilemma of a Ghost where the following interesting names can be found: Monka ‘Let them talk’, Nana ‘Old One’, Esi Kom ‘Peaceful Esi’, Akyere ‘Teacher.’ It is also important to state that names have great influence in characters’ actions in most of Achebe’s novels. A close look at these novels suggests that there is an interesting ‘connection between characters’ lives and the sociological context that connect the names to the novel action”. Names and characters’ actions are consciously or subconsciously related by the writer to give the reader the opportunity to interpret events for himself (Pewissi, 2008, pp. 155-156). A renowned authority in African Oral Literature delineates the importance of imagery in Oral Literature in the following words: Images may be expressed directly or indirectly. A narrator or a singer may describe a scene or an event with little reference to anything else but with such a powerful choice of words that are deeply touched either with admiration or with shock. These images can be concrete, simple, complex or symbolic in nature depending on where they occur or how they are used in the story (Agyekum, 2007, pp. 52-54). It is equally significant to turn our attention to the documentation of oral texts from two Mabia languages. Studies in Dagaaba oral traditions have been conducted to project their cultural image in various ways. Bodomo and Mora (2007) have done some research related to language and Dagaaba traditional music. The basis of this research is the documentation of spoken and sung texts of the Dagaaba. Specific oral elements have been examined on proverbs, riddles, spoken and sung folktales and dance performances. The chapter contends that the art of producing music among the Dagaaba is part and parcel of their social life. Different types of music are normally produced contextually on particular occasions, cult practices, communal work, rites of passage and also according to age groups. The music produced during the Bagre Festival differs from the one produced during funerals. Certain types of music are meant for entertainment solely and socialisation. For instance,

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ánléé is reserved exclusively for women, the féròò is a dance performed by the youth whilst sẹὲgàànáà is performed by elderly people. There are, also, war songs zɔɔré yiélé, a situation corroborated by Atintono’s (2012, p. 21) research. However, báwáá is a vigorous type of dance meant for entertainment. Pertinent among these collections are sénséllὲ-yiélé ‘sung folktales’ and sénséllὲ ‘spoken folktales.’ The significance of these two types of folktales can never be overemphasised. In one of the songs performed by a xylophonist he emphasises the downtrodden in the world. The performer draws the attention of society to the miserable plight of the weak, the disabled and disadvantaged in society (Bodomo and Mora, 2007, p.93). This is notable in Listening Example 8 whilst in Listening Example 9 the performer discusses the subject of living cautiously. Superstitious beliefs in connection with witchcraft are the main focus. However, prospective victims are normally saved by Nààngmén ‘Supreme God’ who is the greatest judge of human problems (Bodomo and Mora, 2007, p. 94). Listening Example 10 forms an interesting spoken tale which deals with the origin of diseases. The authors emphasise that the folktale gives a mythological explanation of the origins of diseases in the world. In fact, the popular trickster known as Bádέré (or Bàdὲr) in Daggaba folklore was too curious in making the unfortunate discovery. He was too stubborn and eventually unleashed all the diseases into human society. Another spoken tale which focuses on human affairs is Listening Example 11whose theme deals with heroes born by women. The story emphasises the value of Herculean men in society. The characters who are giants discover individually that there are other bigger creatures who are more gigantic and powerful than them as they venture into unfamiliar territory. The didactic lesson drawn from the tale is that no one woman has the singular honour of giving birth to a hero. The above spoken tales testify that Dagaaba folklore is replete with metaphorical and other forms of symbolic representation. In another development, Atintono (2012) carried out fieldwork between 2010 and 2012 and documented both audio and video recordings of endangered oral genres such as riddles and folktales of the Gurenɛ people. This project

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was borne out of the fact that riddles and folktales are considered as important verbal art-forms through which the local people can acquire oral linguistic skills, development of personality and didactic lessons. The two oral texts and other genres of oral texts were properly documented and archived at Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR) in London. Atintono (2012) cites similar projects done by earlier researchers such as Bodomo and Mora (2007) in the northwestern part of Ghana. Spoken and Sung Folktales were recorded and added value to the sustenance of the Mabia languages spoken in Ghana. The methodology used in both cases in the collection of oral texts was similar. However, both researches offer a striking difference between the cultural environments under which the researches were carried out. Bodomo and Mora (2007) and Atintono (2012) in different ethnographic situations used members of their communities who are conversant with the traditions of their people to authenticate their research work. In fact, both researches affirm that members of their communities participated actively in the projects. The researcher on Gurenὲ folktales recommends that documentation of oral genres of that nature should cover not only endangered and moribund languages but should also focus on aspects of endangered linguistic resources of languages which are considered to be endangered. Specific ways which have enhanced and can still enhance language documentation include digital technology in recording, observation of field ethics in data gathering, processing and archiving itself. Apart from this way of documenting the oral texts, data was also shared with community radio stations to help revive the spirit of sharing oral texts through traditional performances. Bodomo and Mora (2007) and Atintono (2012) did their utmost in transcribing data to reflect modern research trends on the gathering of data on Oral Traditions. Additionally, these materials have been annotated to suit perusal by academic researchers on languages. Despite initial challenges, Atintono was able to overcome obstacles based on recorded tapes which were discovered to be damaged and became dysfunctional over the years, after oral texts had been recorded on them. Some folktales were recorded in the 1970s and the researcher could retrieve only ten of these from the parish

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archives. This resulted into a ten-page manuscript which was produced from the old collections that the researcher checked through. These old collections were done by early Catholic missionaries. He resolved that problem of documentation by depositing transcribed and annotated oral materials at ELAR, SOAS in London. Atintono (2012) emphasises that earlier speakers of Gurenɛ valued riddles and folktales so much that the language through which these tales were rendered became an indispensable part of the expressive culture of the people. “Elders and grandparents narrated them in the evenings with children and adults sitting by the fireside to listen and acquire oral language skills, morals and character training” (Atintono, 2012, p.7). The researcher on Gurenɛ oral texts corroborates earlier studies on the performance of oral texts such as riddles and folktales across African communities. Comprehensive coverage was made on data collection using both audio and video recordings. The time of recordings was another important feature in fieldwork. Most of the recordings of riddles and the folktales took place in the late afternoon (4pm) running late into the night (8pm). This was because the narrators informed the researcher that the culture of narration usually takes place in the evening but not day time. In this way, when the narrator travelled deep into the night, it became difficult to do videorecording without sufficient light (Atintono, 2012, p.12). It is commendable to note that one thousand photos were taken to depict the various settings of the performances. Out of this, two hundred and twenty-five photos were archived. The photos depicted different scenes of folktale narration sessions, sung folktale performances and traditional songs performed by women. Records were equally made on social events such as funerals and chieftaincy installation events in Bongo. Apart from these, specific information was elicited from respondents and consultants. Whilst the installation of a chief took place at Bongo, narration of folktales took place at Kansuo (Namoo), Yorogo, Bolga Soe and Sapooro. The researcher followed one expert in folktale narration for over five weeks before he agreed to perform for him based on the terms of refreshment with an alcoholic drink. Such challenges are often anticipated in fieldwork of this nature and every researcher needs tack and patience in order to accomplish fieldwork properly.

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Moreover, it is customary to present gifts in kind and in cash to family heads, traditional heads and other important personalities before permission is granted to conduct fieldwork. The researcher was often compelled by social norms to honour invitations to attend events such as weddings, festivals anniversary commemorations in and out of church in order to maintain cordial working relationship with the community. Outright refusal could spell doom and disrupt fieldwork considerably. The researcher equally visited local pubs; focal points, where he easily elicited information from prospective respondents and consultants. Thus, they gained his confidence and provided him with the requisite information.

3.0

Mysterious Characters in Dagaaba Folktales

The crux of this discussion is the assessment of supernatural characters as aesthetic elements in Dagaaba folktales. Dagaaba mythology is full of weird and mysterious characters. This fact is exemplified in Kyoore’s (2009) first collection of Dagara tales one of which is used for this Chapter. Tale No. 1 is entitled “Spider Tricks Family and Eats Fatty Goat”. The main character, Spider feigned illness and sent the wife, Mwampirɛ ‘to consult a supposed diviner’ known as sɔkyara ‘crossroads.’ In fact, Spider put an egg in his jaw and deliberately swelled it up claiming that he was ill. After consultation with Sɔkyara, Spider made plans to deceive his family by feigning illness. This necessitated the wife to go to Crossroads for a consultation that was planned in advance by Spider. Sɔkyara told Spider’s wife that she needed to release her fatty goat so that it could be sacrificed by Spider to bring him healing (Kyoore, 2009, p.19). Mwanpirɛ ‘Spider’s wife’ had no choice than to release her fatty goat that her husband had always coveted. After the goat had been slaughtered and cooked, Spider claimed that his family could not eat the meat. Then Spider went hunting for a special delicacy mouse known as mhalɛr. He didn’t want the children to watch him eating the goat meat alone. Therefore, he decided to go hunting for some game for them. He dug the first hole and caught one mouse and also got a second one from another hole. However, as he persisted and dug a third hole, he discovered that it

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was the home of Zumwapiel ‘Grey-Headed Creature.’ This was a mysterious little creature with supernatural powers. As he began covering up the hole, Zumwapiel asked who it was that was covering him up and issued the term vàgvίgί ‘utterance of a magical spell.’ Spider collapsed dead and Zumwapiel revived him by issuing another term Sumanyiel ‘another magical spell’ and Spider came back to life at once (Kyoore, 2009, p. 20). Zumwapiel ordered him to carry him to wherever he had come from. Upon seeing their father approaching with somebody on his shoulders, Spider’s children began jubilating and said: Ῐ sãà nu wáárɩ Bikuora, Bikuora kυ dɩ έ ‘Father is bringing a young farmlabourer, Bikuora won’t eat’ Kyoore, 2009, p.21). After he had put down his load, Spider served his children with some meat. Then, he took the goat meat and removed a bone and placed it in a broken pot added some porridge meal and soup and left the food in front of Zumwapiel to eat. Spider dared Zumwapiel and rebuffed his question about the food that was placed before him. Fữữ bέ wà dɩrὲ fữữ bέr. Ῐ zↄn fυ nɩnbáálυ à kυb bυndɩrɩ έkyέ fυ pυↄ bέ pέllɩ ɛ. Bέl nyέ à bɩbίίr à; buόr sόb nữ ↄbr à nέn? ‘If you won’t eat you can leave it. I have been generous enough to give you some and you’re not being grateful. See, the children are the eating any of this meat?’ Kyoore, 2009, p. 21). This infuriated Zumwapiel and he cast his magical spell once again: Dɛbɛlɛrɛ à nɩ Dɛrbίlί nɩ vàgvίgί ‘Spider and the children vàgvίgί.’ Immediately they all collapsed and died. Zumwapiel then had booty at his disposal. After he had eaten to his satisfaction, he revived them. He had left behind only bones for Spider and his family. The famished family stampeded for the surplus. Zumwapiel continued to torture them when they attempted escaping from the mysterious creature. Spider returned to their home to retrieve a piece of wood used to stir thick porridge (known as saab/saabo in Dàgááre). The stirrer is known as vứứr in Dagara. Zumwapiel discovered that someone was around the house and had roused him from his siesta. So, he called to find out who it was: bόm nέ zá nà nu à; bàndáá bῖῖ nyɩrá bῖῖ bόm nέ zá nà nu à, vàgvίgί ‘whether it’s a lizard, an ant or whatever creature it is, vàgvίgί.’ Spider could

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not hide and collapsed dead again under the magical spell. Zumwapiel ordered Spider to carry him wherever the family had escaped. Spider had no choice but to comply (Kyoore, 2009, p. 22). The family was shocked to see Spider return with the troublesome creature. Mwanpire taunted: Tɩ sãà nυ lέ tuό à bόmnὲ lέ wààrῖ. Fυ bέ sàg à bɩbίίr bέ kyén éɩ; bῦῦnứ fυ ῖ à dↄↄ nà lὲ tɩ nyέ fυ? Ặ fυ lέb màálί tέr υ wáárῖ à kã? ‘Our father is bringing that thing again. You who would not allow the children to go, what were you doing when this man saw you? And now you’re bringing him back here’ Kyoore, 209, p. 23). In an attempt to get rid of Zumwapiel, Spider tricked him to enter a bush and sit on a dry piece of wood to aid them in getting game when they attempted hunting. He was supposed to use the magical spell vàgvίgί to cause all animals trying to escape to collapse and die. As the bush was set ablaze, the game that Zumwapiel saw, escaped neatly though he had used the spell. However, the raging fire drew closer to him and he tried to repel it with the spell: Vῦῦ vàgvίgί ‘Fire quench immediately.’ As he continued to try to repel the conflagration, Spider and his family countered Zumwapiel’s magical spell by instigating: Vῦῦ tág tàrέ ‘Fire come closer.’ Presently, Zumwapiel was engulfed by the raging fire and consumed to death. The following day, Spider suddenly thought of an idea about Zumwapiel’s ashes and said to his wife: Ặ nɩr nà dɩrὲ bυn kãã, Zumwapiel tàmpέllứ nà nυmέ nɩ yágà zã. Vhέ Ῐ ῖh bulãŋ lὲmɩ kàá nyέ à ‘For a person who eats such fatty delicious food, Zumwapiel’s ashes should be very delicious too. Let me try some and see.’ Kyoore, 2009, p.23) Spider’s wife was then directed to collect the ashes to be used for cooking. As she tried to sieve it, the water dripping from the sieve made the following musical sound:

“Mῖŋ màŋ mῖŋ Dɛbɛlɛrɛ pέr kyàmpɩlé, kpáglữ Mῖŋ màŋ mῖŋ Dɛbɛlɛrɛ tɩέr kέ υ zῦ kό nà Mῖŋ màŋ mῖŋ Dɛbɛlɛrɛ nà zànɩ nɩ yãn vυlà zà Mῖŋ màŋ mῖŋ”

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Translation:



Mῖŋ màŋ mῖŋ; Spider’s small, hard buttocks Mῖŋ màŋ mῖŋ; Spider thinks he is a crook Mῖŋ màŋ mῖŋ; Spider will be taught a lesson Mῖŋ màŋ mῖŋ; (Kyoore, 2009, p.24)

This song caused stir and a lot of confusion. Spider jumped out of the house and ordered the wife to pour away the ashes. Mwampire did not hear him properly and enquired: Fυ yélkέ Ῐ tàá wà tứứr à nãà yίr έ bέ zέllέ nà zuό yà? ‘Did you say I should not pass by the Chief’s house because they like begging too much?’ Spider became angry and rebuffed, Fữữ bυn dέgr nà!” Ặ dίr έ nɩ zέllέ έkyέ yɩélé mῖŋ màŋ mῖŋ ‘You dirty thing! It pulls off people’s tongues and sings “mῖŋ màŋ mῖŋ!’ Eventually, Spider’s wife heard clearly and poured away the ashes she had been sieving. Back home, as Spider and his wife tried to listen to the music coming from the pot of ashes, the pot rather jumped and stuck on the forehead of one of his children. He tried to hit the pot off the child’s head, but it jumped off and stuck on another child’s forehead. The deadly blow killed the first child as the pot dodged him. As Spider prepared to hit the second child’s forehead, he cautioned him to stand properly to avoid any mishap. The pot stuck on the forehead of Spider’s wife and the husband told her to stand properly. As he tried to hit the pot it jumped off and finally settled on his own forehead. He hit the wife and she died. He was then uncertain what to do so he took some arrows and stuck them in the barn. Then, he charged like a bull at the arrows. He hoped to pierce the mysterious creature and get rid of it. However, the creature flew away, and the arrows rather pierced him to death. Mwanpire’s friend Tortoise paid a visit and realised that Spider’s family was destroyed. By some magical incantation, he revived Mwanpire back to life and swore that he will never revive Spider as he might turn on him as meat to feed on. Dɛbɛlɛrɛ bέ ɩ nίr vυlá ὲ. Màà dέ sῖŋ, u nà ɩr nà nyↄg mέ Ῐ ῖ nέn u nà bↄbr ữữ ↄb. Màà kυ sῖŋ à kữữ pυↄ u lέb vữữrɩ ὲ. ‘Spider is not a good person.

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If I bring him back to life, he will turn around and see me as meat to feed on. I won’t bring him back to life’ Kyoore, 2009, p.26). However, Mwanpire implored and convinced Tortoise and he revived Spider. As soon as Spider saw Tortoise, he exclaimed Oh Mwanpire, ŋmiŋmin nà fứứ nɩ à bɩbίίr dé nῖŋ vãã ίr à Ῐ ίàŋ, έkyέ fυ bέ nyέ à nέn vυlà nà. Ῐ nà pág nɩ à Kứr nɩ dῦg έkyέ kyén tɩ bↄ vῦῦ wà sέn. ‘Oh, Mwanpire, how come you and the children have been ‘awake’ before me and yet you did not see this fine meat. I will cover up Tortoise in a pot and go to look for fire to roast him.’ Kyoore, 2009, p.26). After Spider had left, Mwanpire released Tortoise who took the same path that Spider had used, and he met Tortoise again and thought that was a different one and collected it to add to the first one he had kept. Then Spider concluded that he was going to use two ‘fires’ (i.e. live coals) to roast the two tortoises. Spider did not check to verify whether the first, Tortoise was around so he covered the ‘second’ one with a different pot. After that, he went around looking for fire to roast his two tortoises. When he left, Mwampire released Tortoise again and tied a bell (“gbélnyέ”) round his neck and told to take the same path as Spider did. Tortoise was taught to sing a song:

“Léréng, léréng, nɩ nyɔg Nyããzié Dɛbɛlɛrɛ. Dεr bέ tέr sãà nɩ mã ɩ nɩ nyɔg Ίàŋ kãã zàá mέlfέllέ kà tɩ dɩ”



Translation:

Léréng, léréng catch arrogant Spider Spider has no father and mother, catch him And spice him in an oily and appetising manner for us to eat” (Kyoore, 2009, p.27) Upon hearing the song, Spider threw away the fire and fled. However, Tortoise pursued him with the bell round his neck still ringing that threat. They both met Nyããkpῖῖnpεrkứr ‘Ghost-with-Hardened-Buttocks’ who grabbed Tortoise and swallowed him. Tortoise escaped through Ghost’s anus. In turn, he

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swallowed Ghost and he too escaped through Tortoise’s anus. Spider watched the spectacle and sang and danced by instigating the rivals saying:

“Nyããkpῖῖnpεrkứ vɔlɩ kứr



Ặ kứr mί lɩέbɩ vɔl à Nyããkpῖῖn Vhέ Ῐ mhág fυ dɔglɩ tɩ-kόŋ zữ έ pàã dé à kứr kυb à fυ vɔl. Yuό à pὲr Ṹ nà lɩέbɩ nà yɩ à fυ pέrɩ Ặ lόh vá kusɩέr à ŋmέr yààrɩ pίrί sί sίί. Tɩ nà wόb nɩ à nέn bɩé à ɔb”



Translation:



Ghost swallows Tortoise Tortoise in turn swallows Ghost Let me put you on top of that dry three there. Then I will give Tortoise to you to swallow. Open the behind. He will fall through and land hard on that stone and break into pieces. We can then pick up the pieces and eat (Kyoore, 2009, p.28). However, Spider had made a plan with Eagle who was flying around in the

area looking for prey. Ghost climbed the dry tree swallowed Tortoise and Tortoise fell through the anus and landed on a hard rock and shattered. Spider dashed for the scattered morsels of Tortoise meat. Eventually, Eagle swooped down and grabbed Ghost in its claws and disappointed into the skies. This intriguing tale is embellished by the role of Zumwapiel as a supernatural character. The discovery of this strange character was borne out of the greed of spider who wanted to deprive his family of enjoying the booty that he had schemed with the controversial diviner, Sɔkyara ‘Cross-Roads.’ In fact,

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following Spider’s encounter with Zumwapiel, Spider realised that he had been caught unawares and in his own web. His struggles to free himself from such an embarrassing entanglement formed the basis for the enfolding episodes. In the First Episode, Spider’s discovery of Zumwapiel in a hole that he dug was the beginning of his troubles. Initially, he wanted to escape but failed because the mysterious little creature had overwhelming, supernatural powers and uttered the magical spell; vàgvίgί ‘an ideophone which refers to vigorous shake up and an attendant fall.’ That explains why Spider collapsed dead. Zumwapiel realised it was Spider and revived him immediately by uttering another magical spell sυmànyiὲllὲ ‘another ideophone which emphaises resurrection.’ By uttering such a term Zumwapiel had proved that he had great supernatural powers through the magical spell. Spider immediately came back to life. Zumwapiel ordered him to carry him to wherever he had come from. In the Second Episode, Spider fed his children well and before he settled down to enjoy his booty, he served the mysterious creature with bones and some porridge meal in a broken piece of pot. Spider was arrogant to rebuff Zumwapiel when the creature enquired about the miserable food placed before him. ‘If you won’t eat, you can leave it. I have been generous enough to give you some and you’re not being grateful. See the children are they eating any of this meat?’ (Kyoore, 2009, p.21). As he was infuriated, Zumwapiel cast his magical spell once again’ Spider and the Children Vàgvίgί. Immediately they all collapsed dead. Zumwapiel then enjoyed his booty and when he had eaten to his satisfaction, he revived Spider and his family to scramble for only bones he had left behind. In the third Episode, Zumwapiel continued to torture them when Spider and his family attempted escaping from the mysterious creature. In their rush to escape, they forgot to pick up a cooking item known as vuur ‘a well-shape, pad-like stick used to stir a thick porridge meal.’ Spider went back, and in an attempt to retrieve it, he disturbed Zumwapiel again and he cast the same spell on him, and he fell down, dead. In an angry tone, Zumwapiel commanded ‘Carry me wherever your family has escaped to’ (Kyoore, 2009, p.22). Upon seeing Spider carrying the creature back to the family, Mwanpire

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‘Spider’s wife’ taunted ‘Our father is bringing that thing again… What were you doing when (the creature) saw you again?’ (Kyoore, 2009, p.23). In the Fourth Episode, Spider demonstrated that he was determined to get rid of the mysterious creature which was an albatross around his neck. So, he tricked Zumwapiel to enter a bush to assist them in hunting. Spider placed him on a dry piece of wood overlooking the bush where game was anticipated. Zumwapiel was supposed to use the magical term Vàgvίgί to cause all game trying to escape to fall down dead. The bush was set ablaze and the mysterious creature uttered his magical term vàgvίgί, but no animal fell. They all escaped. Meanwhile Spider’s family chanted together evoking the conflagration to consume Zumwapiel. However, Zumwapiel countered and tried to cause the fire stay at bay but it was too much for him to counteract. Tale No. 2 examined in this Chapter is entitled ‘Naa, Badɛre Ane Kↄntↄndaa ‘Chief, Spider and Adult Male Dwarf.’ It is the eighth tale in Zakpaa’s (1977, pp. 14-15) collection. This short tale can be summarised as follows: A certain Chief threw a challenge to his subjects to bring the head of a dwarf so that he could use it to bury his mother who was at the point of death. It was a tough ordeal, but Spider managed to catch a dwarf which was lured into a sack and firmly tied. However, when Spider was about to present Dwarf for sacrifice it vanished mysteriously from the bag. Eventually, Spider managed to catch another one whose head was then used in burying the Chief’s mother. The third tale is similar to the first one collected by Kyoore (2009). It is Zakpaa’s (1977, pp. 21-24) eleventh tale entitled Badɛre Ane Ngmamporezupelaa ‘Spider and the Grey-Headed Ngmamporezupelaa.’ Though they are similar, they were narrated in different cultural communities. Whilst the first one was narrated in Nandom, the second one was narrated in Jirapa. By way of comparison, there are differences in terminologies with reference to the names of characters and other narrative terms associated with the performance of folktales among the Dagaaba. This tale which is longer than the second one referred to earlier on, states that Badɛr deceived his wife, Ngmamporↄ and feigned illness of a swollen jaw. He disguised himself as a diviner and

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instructed the wife to tell the husband to sacrifice a fat he-goat to cure his swollen jaw. After he had sacrificed the goat, he went around looking for mice in order to increase the booty he was destined to enjoy alone. He dug a hole and encountered a mysterious creature described as Ngmamporezupelaa ‘Grey-Headed-Ngmampore’ who cast a spell on him when he attempted to escape. Badɛr was compelled to carry this creature home. The woes he and family endured, caused Badɛr to regret his foolish actions. Eventually, he and all his family perished because of the insatiable greed he exhibited (Zakpaa, 1977, pp.21-24). The fourth tale comes from Kyiileyang’s corpus collected in 2015. This Tale is the thirty-eighth one in the collection. It is entitled ‘The Hunter and the Mysterious Bird.’ It is a long tale with eleven episodic parts. The tale can be summarised as follows: Once, there lived a hunter who often engaged in a lot of hunting expeditions. One day, he went hunting and suddenly ran out of bullets. Then, he saw a bird on the tree and picked up a stone and threw at it. The bird responded with a tuber of yam. The Hunter used another stone and the bird responded with another tuber of yam. Hunter threw at the bird three times and also got back three tubers from the bird. After Hunter had roasted the yam and was about to eat it, Sáázú-Kᴐŋ ‘Leperfrom-Above’ landed before him and declared in audacity, ‘I, Leper-fromAbove, will neither eat the front part nor the anterior part of the yam but only the middle portions.’ After Hunter had fed him, Leper later said that he was thirsty and needed to drink some water. Hunter carried him to several water sources, but he refused to drink from them. Finally, he got a large expanse of water and Leper then indicated that it was the kind of water that he wanted. Meanwhile, before Leper drank it, he instructed Hunter that in the course of drinking if his anus opened up widely, he should never laugh at it but rather cut leaves and cover it up. Hunter obeyed Leper’s instructions. After Leper had finished drinking, a lot of fish remained at the bottom of the water which he caught and sent home.

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Dɛbɛlɛrɛ ‘Spider’ sent his son to Hunter’s house to fetch some fire. When he saw the fish being smoked, he devised tricks of quenching the fire with his saliva. Hunter gave him some of the fish and he ate and stuck a bit of it in his nose and returned home. When he got home, he went first to the mother and later to the father and asked them to blow his nose, but they drove him away. Finally, the grandmother blew his nose and a piece of fish stuck in Dɛbɛlɛrɛ’s son’s nose fell out and Dɛbɛlɛrɛ took it and quickly consumed it. Then, he enquired from his son, where he got it and he revealed the original source as Hunter. Dɛbɛlɛrɛ rushed to Hunter who disclosed the source. Hunter then invited Dɛbɛlɛrɛ to join him the following day to know more about the wilds. Early, the following morning, long before Hunter even got ready, Dɛbɛlɛrɛ rushed to Hunter’s house and he told him to return home and wait until he saw signs of the rising sun. Over anxiety caused Dɛbɛlɛrɛ to get his grandmother and forced her to open her arse to show that it was dawn. Afterwards, he returned to Hunter and he advised him to return back as it was still not yet day. Dɛbɛlɛrɛ returned home and overslept only to discover that Hunter had already left for his hunting expedition. He traced and tried to find Hunter in the wilds and began singing the following song:

“Nàbáglὲ gbὲὲ gɔngɔn ὲ màã gbὲὲ tórίtórί Nàbáglὲ gbὲὲ gɔngɔn ὲ màã gbὲὲ tórίtórί”



Translation:



Crooked legs of Hunter Straight and shapely legs of Dɛbɛlɛrɛ Crooked legs of Hunter Straight and shapely legs of Dɛbɛlɛrɛ

A s s e s s m e n t o f S u p e r n a t u r a l C h a r a c t e r s a s A e s t h e t i c E l e m e n t s i n D a g a a b a F o l k t a l e s 245

When Dɛbɛlɛrɛ saw Hunter all of a sudden emerging from the bush, he quickly changed the structure of the song and rather sang:

Nàbáglὲ gbὲὲ tórίtórί



ὲ màã gbὲὲ gɔngɔn Nàbáglὲ gbὲὲ tórίtórί ὲ màã gbὲὲ gɔngɔn”



Translation:



Straight and shapely legs of Hunter Crooked legs of Dɛbɛlɛrɛ Straight and shapely legs of Hunter Crooked legs of Dɛbɛlɛrɛ

Hunter accosted Dɛbɛlɛrɛ and insisted that he had changed the way he was singing but Dɛbɛlɛrɛ denied vehemently. Both of them went together and after a long search, Dɛbɛlɛrɛ proposed that they should visit the place where he encountered the bird. Hunter told him to wait as it was not yet time to go there. At the appointed time, they went and saw the bird again. Hunter picked a stone once again and threw at the bird and it responded with a tuber of yam. Dɛbɛlɛrɛ advised Hunter to use a bigger stone but he did not do so. In anxiety, Dɛbɛlɛrɛ picked up a bigger stone and threw it and the bird never responded. Hunter continued using the sizeable stones until they had gathered enough tubers. They roasted the tubers and got ready to eat when Leper-from-Above dropped from the sky and demanded to eat only the middle portions. Dɛbɛlɛrɛ retorted by saying that he was not going to get a morsel to eat. Hunter called for patience and they fed the leper to his satisfaction. Afterwards, when Leper wanted water to drink from a particular source, Hunter had to carry him to the same place. Dɛbɛlɛrɛ was offended by Leper’s demand and tried to prevent Hunter from carrying him to the river to no avail.

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Leper instructed Hunter once again never to laugh at his anus whenever it turned red in the course of drinking. Dɛbɛlɛrɛ was peeved and told Leper that he was not going to comply with that order. Therefore, he derided Leper when his anus turned ‘red’ later on. At the bottom of the river, there was plenty fish. Hunter and Dɛbɛlɛrɛ both harvested the fish and sent it home. Unfortunately, Spider’s fish all turned into serpents back home, and cut short the family’s excitement. Instead of selecting the sizeable pieces, he took the bigger fish home which turned into serpents. He had suffered for his greed.

4.0

Delineation of Aesthetic Elements in the Tales

The main aesthetic element in Tale No. 2 is delineation of character. There are three main characters. However, Badɛr ‘Spider’ and Kↄntↄndaa are quite outstanding; one for its craftiness and the other for its ability to resist being lured into trouble. The rivalry that ensued, exposed the true nature of their character as being witty, cunning, deceitful, cautious, contentious and supernaturally powerful. Both characters are portrayed as anthropomorphic creatures as they act and behave in intelligent ways like humans. They are compelled by social circumstances, in the world of folktale narration, to be deeply involved in human affairs. The Chief who challenged his subjects is a symbol of authority and supremacy. Everybody failed to accomplish the difficult task he had given. However, Spider dared and failed in his first attempt and later succeeded in catching the dwarf that was badly needed by the Chief. He lured Kↄntↄndaa ‘Adult Male Dwarf’ into a sack; it escaped, and he caught a second one and presented it to the Chief. Spider can be viewed as brave, courageous and also spiritually powerful. Spider was crafty and demonstrated a wily attitude. One needed such power in order to capture Kↄntↄndaa. In Dagara language, fairies and dwarfs are synonymous and are generally known as Kontonbili (Kontobile for singular). Thus, the two terms can be used interchangeably. These are different from the term kontomɛ which has several connotations. It can refer to a person’s bad mood which causes him/her to behave in a queer manner because of severe anger or possession of an evil spirit being manifested in the person. In another sense, kontomɛ

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refers to ancestral spirits which can be invoked in times of need or dire circumstances. Furthermore, kontomɛ are regarded as the mature beings of the wilds and in a particular context, they are the spirit-patrons of divination. However, there is distinction between the gender or sex of these fairies. The male dwarf is known as Konton-Daa whilst the female one is referred to as Konton-Pↄg. Generally, fairies can be considerate and mild according to the circumstances under which one encounters them. However, when they are consciously or even unconsciously provoked by any challenger or aggressor, they become fierce, wicked, contentious and unforgiving. In the second tale, Dwarf is evasive and contentious. This explains why he challenged and opposed Spider in trying to capture it. The chief’s desire to honour his dying mother created antagonism among people as they all tried to satisfy his whims and caprices hence the contention for the head of a dwarf to bury his mother. Tale No. 3 is a typical Animal Tale, but it can also be classified as a Didactic Tale because of the deep moral lesson drawn from the episodes. Repetition is a common aesthetic feature in African folktales. e.g. Zumwapiel’s spell vàgvίgί was repeated to the desired effect to inflict justifiable pain on Spider. Zumwapiel’s supernatural powers overshadowed Spider’s greedy behaviour towards his own family. Repetition of Zumwapiel’s actions towards Spider reiterates outright condemnation of Spider’s persistent greed as amoral behaviour. The major aesthetic elements in the three tales can be delineated as follows: the characters and the narrative language employed in narrating the tale. All the characters played significant roles. Though Badɛr can be regarded as a trickster par excellence, he was caught in his own web of intrigues. His persistence in trying to cheat magnified his greed and increased his woes and tribulations concurrently. His wife Ngmamporↄ and children Dɛrbili, i.e. Junior Dɛrs became innocent victims of circumstances and bore the brunt of Badɛr’s foolhardiness. They died a vain death because Badɛr attempted to be vainglorious. Several words have embellished this tale in various ways: Ngmamporezupelaa is a charactonym which describes the mysterious creature Spider encountered as grey-headed Ngmampore. Age and experience in life are significant

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in the African cultural environment. Elders are respected and held in high esteem by younger ones. Dagaaba cultural values also emphasise honour and respect for the aged in society. Grey hair is regarded as a mark of wisdom and experience. One can therefore imagine the awe with which Spider held Ngmamporezupelaa whom he encountered through over-curiosity and greed. Also, Tale No. 4 has several aesthetic elements. These include the characters especially Sáázú-Kᴐŋ ‘Leper-From-Above’ whose appearance from above was characterised by mystery. His demands were unique, and this exposed his audacity which Hunter tolerated but Spider despised. Apart from the tubers of yam the mysterious bird conjured for Hunter, the anthropomorphic creature Sáázú-Kᴐŋ also bestowed plenty fish on him. To a large extent, the roles of these characters add great aesthetic value to the performance of Tale No. 4. The aesthetic values of the musical text do not only emphasise humour but also reveals the effectiveness of parallelism in exposing Spider’s vacillating nature. This shows how funny, cunning and wily Spider is. The parallel feature also exposes the sharp contrast and sudden deviation Spider made on his initial attitude towards Hunter. After all, Spider did not want to arouse Hunter’s wrath before the hunting expedition they had jointly planned to embark on. Other words were used by the narrator to describe various things. Some of the words repeated to the desired effect were gɔngɔn, tórίtórί and even gbὲὲ as depicted in the song. When Dɛbɛlɛrɛ defied the order from Leper-from-Above not to laugh at his anus when it turned ‘red’ in the course of drinking, the narrator used the following expressions:

“Dɛbɛlɛrɛ mɩ kpɩ, kpɩ, kpɩ



Nyέ bυn fàã pέr nà tɩ mυɔ à



Nyέ à pὲr wà tɩ mυᴐ kyõĩ, kyõĩ, kyõĩ, kyõĩ, kyõĩ, kyõĩ”



Translation:



Dɛbɛlɛrɛ was overwhelmed with laughter



Imagine the reddish looking arse of this dirty-looking creature.



Imagine the reddish looking arse of this creature.

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Such expressions heighten the humour and melodrama shown in the various episodes throughout the performance. The effectiveness of diction was equally reinforced by expressions such as kyáá dɛrbɩlɩ, nίr zà mέrέ lứgé ‘Small Ders everybody should seek refuge by jumping to the ceiling.’ The term kyáá is an ideophone which describes the funny way Dɛbɛlɛrɛ’s tone is when he is speaking. In fact, kyáá is Dɛbɛlɛrɛ’s idiosyncrasy. These words were expressed when the fish Dɛbɛlɛrɛ brought home turned into serpents. He therefore warned his children to jump to the ceiling to avoid being bitten by them.

5.0

Conclusions Drawn on the Study

Zumwapiel is a typical example of an albatross around Dɛbɛlɛrɛ’s ‘spider’s’ neck. He could not keep and maintain Zumwapiel to make him fully satisfied. Neither could he escape from Zumwapiel otherwise the spell would be cast on him. The creature had complete control over Spider’s life. Similarly, in human life, we sometimes look for trouble and it can turn out to a big burden; in fact, some kind of permanent inconvenience for the rest of our lives. Dɛbɛlɛrɛ ‘Spider’ is a familiar trickster in African folktales. Most times, he is too wise to reflect on the possible consequences of his actions. Avarice is one of his greatest weaknesses. He is always caught in the web of trickery and suffers the dire consequences. Even when he is admonished about any impending disaster, he persists in his actions and continues to suffer immensely. Spider is well known for his ingratitude exemplified in Tale No.1 when he caught Tortoise and planned to roast him after Tortoise had resurrected him and his family from Zumwapiel’s magical powers. The use of supernatural characters in folktale performance captivates the attention of keen and discerning audience. It also arouses their interest in the turn of events as details of tales unfold in the course of narration. Tonal expressions about such characters enable the audience to observe and analyse their behaviour critically. Moreover, such weird characters

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are symbolic figures as they represent and reinforce major themes of the tales and the moral lessons drawn from them. Supernatural and weird characters add great aesthetic value to the narrative structure and the narrative language of Dagaaba folktales. They expose and emphasise order of events, themes, reiterate moral lessons and create humour in Dagaaba folktale performance. Therefore, supernatural characters are great aesthetic elements in making Dagaaba folktale narration not only interesting but also revealing about the cultural environment in which these tales are performed. Linguistically, Tale No.4 is replete with several rich terms which do not only embellish the performance of the tale, but they also help members of the audience to appreciate the roles played by the characters especially the weird ones, such as the Mysterious Bird who conjured tubers of yam, and Sáázú-Kᴐŋ who enabled Hunter to harvest plenty fish from the river. With reference to Genette’s Narrative Models, diction contributes greatly to the success of folktale performance and the performance of other African oral narratives. At the early part of the narration, the performer described the way Sáázú-Kᴐŋ landed before Hunter and Dɛbɛlɛrɛ after they had roasted some tubers of yam ‘donated’ by the mysterious bird. The sudden landing of Leper before them was illustrated by the expression: Sáázú-Kᴐŋ ar à lέ έkyέ vứr wà lόh ‘Leper from Above just emerged suddenly and landed.’ One can therefore conclude that the use of supernatural characters in Dagaaba folktale performance embellishes both the narrative structure and narrative language. These characters equally captivate and sustain the interest of members of the audience during folktale performance. By their appearance and stature, some of them can easily frighten children. However, to a large extent, they help to enliven and augment the entertainment and humorous perspectives of tales narrated. Finally, they teach great moral lessons as the tales in which they appear are characteristically didactic in nature.

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Doke, C. M. (1934). “Lamba literature”, Africa 7.

El-Nour, E.A.H. (2011). “Not just a pretty face: Women as storytellers and subjects in the folktales of Northern Sudan” In TYDSKRIF VIR LETTERKUNDE, 48 (2).

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Finnegan, R. (2012). Oral Literature in Africa, Cambridge, United Kingdom, Open Book Publishers CIC Ltd. (Original work published in 1970) Gerber, H. B. (2013). Ten African Myths and Legends. listverse. com/2013/07/18/ten-african myths-and legends-2/ Hamilton, V. (1997). A Ring of Tricksters: Animal Tales from America, the West Indies, and Africa, New York: The Blue Sky Press. Harris, T. (2009). “The Trickster in African American Literature.” Freedom’s Stor TeacherServe©. National Humanities Center. Wednesday, August 16, 2017.  h ttp://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/freedom/1865-1917/ essays/trickster.htm Hayward, W. F. (2008). “Folktales: Trickster Stories Across Time: From African Ancestors to African American Rappers”. Junod, H.A. (1927). The Life of a South African Tribe, London: Macmillan. Kehinde, A. (2010). “Storytelling in the Service of Society: Exploring the Utilitarian Values of Nigerian Folktales”. Lumia, 21 (2), 1-17.

www.tip.sas.upenn.edu/curriculum/units/2008/02/08.02.02.pdf

Kyiileyang, M. (2018) Beyond the Moral Lessons: The Aesthetics of Dagara Folktales, Ongoing Ph.D Dissertation, Department of English, University of Cape Coast, Ghana. Kyoore, P.B. K. S. (2009). Folktales of the Dagara of West Africa. Accra Ghana, Qolyns Skan Multimedia Limited. Kyoore, P. K. (2011). Dagara Folktales. New Orleans, USA, University Press of the South. Owomoyela, O. (2004). “Tricksters in African Folklore” in African Folklore, Peek, Philip M. & Kwesi Yankah.(Eds.), New York/London: Routledge.

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Peek, P. M. & Yankah, K. (2004). African Folklore: An Encyclopaedia, New York: Routledge. Pewissi, A. (2008). “Names as a Narrative Complement in Chinua Achebe’s Novels”, in Kwakuvi Azasu (Ed.) GUMAGA, International Journal of Language and Literature, Accra, Yamens Publishing House 1, 148-172. Pinto, C. F. (2007). “The animal trickster – an essential character in African tales”, Porto, Portugal, School of Education - Polytechnic Institute.

Scheub, H. (1975). The Xhosa Ntsomi, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Tsaaior, J.T.(2015). “Telling The Tale, Telling The Nation: Tiv Tales, Modernity And The (Re) Construction Of Nigerian Nationhood”, In Southern African Journal For Folklore Studies, UNISA, 25, (2). Zakpaa, B. B. (1977). Dagaare Sinsolong, Accra: Bureau of Ghanaian Languages.

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CHAPTER NINE A L I T E R A RY L I NG U I ST IC A NA LYS I S O F T H E K A S E NA DIRGE: ITS CONTEXTS AND FORM Asangba Reginald Taluah University of Cologne

Abstract Dirges, like most verbal arts are imbued with a wealth of knowledge and ingenuity of a people and they serve to usher the deceased into the hereafter. They are mostly communally owned and censored, shelved in human minds and are passed down from one generation to the other. The charm of the dirge hinges on the evocative images projected through apt use of metaphors, symbols, similes, allusions, personifications, euphemisms and repetitions through, call-and-response patterns. In spite of the evident significance of oral traditions, a majority remains untapped. In the wake of lost and dying voices, it has become evident in recent times to adore the literary prowess of oral traditions as mere documentations and socio-cultural examinations of texts do not explore the totality of their charm. This chapter therefore attempts to assert the literariness of the Kasena dirge by examining its contexts and form. Five main texts, some common interpolations and excerpts of some other dirges are the focus of analysis. These texts were recorded in the Kasena communities in Navrongo, Paga, Chiana and their environs. The contexts of the Kasena dirge in general and the performance context in particular are explored in detail. To affirm the dynamic, yet subtle twist of themes and the figurativeness of the Kasena dirge as a unique poetic form, both literary

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and linguistic approaches are employed. The chapter dwells liberally on the ethnopoetics theory and performance approaches. Interlinear transcriptions and translations are rendered, and interpretative analytic procedures adopted in the examination. Keywords: literary, linguistics, dirge, Kasem, performance, context

1.0 Introduction Oral traditions are noted to be the store vessels of the lives and experiences of a people. And for so long a time, scholars from diverse disciplines, both in the sciences and humanities have had interests either in one way or the other on some aspects of these sources of knowledge. The interest of linguists and literary expects on the verbal arts in particular stem from the fact that they are most importantly products of language and are used for communication. Storch (2011: 9), contends that: “Languages are… a powerful form of socially active knowledge maintained by and belonging to people who share ideas and ideologies of aesthetics, truth, sacredness, and identity.” There is the need to keep oral traditions vibrant as they serve to uphold cultural identity. Recent trends in Linguistic and literary studies have not been devoid of new approaches to verbal arts as well, and in most respects, a critical examination of verbal arts requires multidisciplinary approaches. Stressing on the need for interdisciplinary research in African Languages and Literatures, Bodomo (2015), in an inaugural lecture outlines the unique characteristics of African languages and their significant contributions to theorizing in diverse fields. As such, this chapter adopts both linguistics and literary approaches in its analyses. It seeks to examine the contexts in which the emotions and feelings of the Kasena are expressed in their dirges in times of grief and separation. In an introduction to Literary Analysis and Linguistics, Koenig and Pfister (2017:12) state that: “…literary studies can and will profit from linguistics and vice versa, particularly if one focuses on the area where they intersect

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most directly and closely, i.e. on the literary work of art as a verbal structure and the aesthetic use of language it employs.” According to Culler (1975: 4), “the notion that Linguistics might be useful in studying other cultural phenomena is based on two fundamental insights: first, that social and cultural phenomena are not simply material objects or events but objects or events with meaning,… and second, that they do not have essences but are defined by a network of relations, both internal and external.” To affirm the dynamic, yet subtle twist of themes and the figurativeness in the skillful dribble of language of the Kasena dirge as a unique poetic form, this chapter adopts liberally the performance and ethnopoetic approaches as theoretical underpinnings. Many researcher (cf: Bauman 1984; Okpewho 1990, 1990, 1992; Finnegan 1970, 1977, 2007) see the performance contexts as crucial to the understanding of verbal arts such as Kasena dirges. According to Okpewho (1992: 42), “it is therefore in the study of performance that we are able to see the essential character of oral literature as distinct from written literature that is, as an art form created in the warm presence of an audience as against the cold privacy of the written work.” Ethnopoetics advocates faithful renditions of oral genres. It is an approach to literary analysis that seeks to examine the ideology of a people and its artists in particular, their resources and their artistic manifestations (Foley, 2002; Hymes, 1981, 1994). Ethnopoetics focuses intensely on the recording and translating of poetry in a manner that is faithful to its artistic performance. There is usually a fuss of both poetic and dramatic elements in the performance of oral texts. These techniques or features, as ethnopoetics advocates serve to portray the lively qualities of performances. Research on multimedia documentation and transmission of oral traditions has been identified by many scholars of oral traditions as the bridge between the linguistics features and paralinguistic features. Hence, the concepts and propositions of Technauriture are gaining grounds in recent scholarship in oral traditions (Merolla 2014; Kaschulla 2012; Dovlo 2012; Merolla & Ameka 2012; Schipper 2012; Kaschula & Mostert 2009). It is significant to note

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that, the voice quality of the performer, intonation, rhythm and other such paralinguistic features that are often lost in transliterations and translations will be clearer with the diverse developing media. The interaction between orality and literacy is now more complex than one would expect, as it now also involves technology. It would seem to be dependent on the individual performer and where they find themselves on the oral-literacy-techno continuum, as well as the extent to which they choose to allow orality and literacy to interact with modern technology. (Kaschulla, 2012: 10). Notwithstanding the stated propositions and approaches employed in this chapter, it should be noted that, the mere transfer of the oral text to a written word for example poses great losses to the charm of the texts as they are originally composed orally; hence, the need for situating oral traditions in their appropriate contexts with faithful transcriptions and translations. The art of translation can be a very frustrating task to the linguist. To say the least, the source language and the target language are etymologically diverse with different grammatical structures. For instance, translating texts such as Kasena dirges into English involves that one translates the structure of the dirge into English which can be a very daunting task. More so, it will also involve the linguist translating the culture of Kasem into English, and as language is an integral part of culture, the figurative use of language carries some cultural undertones. Translating the Kasena dirge into English can be likened to translating a Shakespearean sonnet into Kasem. No matter the efforts of the translator to remain faithful to the original text, maintaining the structure of the sonnet in Kasem as in its rhyme scheme or its metrical glide and its English idioms can be very challenging. For a better grasp of the creative inventiveness of the Kasena as realized in their dirge forms, this chapter sets out to give a brief introduction of the Kasena people, with a focus on their history and geography in particular. A

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literature review is undertaken to establish this study in previous research on the Kasena as a people and their oral traditions as well as the dirge form amongst other neighbouring people. As texts are generally constructs of the worldview of a people, this chapter further examines both the general contexts of the texts and the performance contexts in which they are situated. Drawing on the conclusion that Kasena dirges are ingenious creations of the people in all literary respects, selected texts and excerpts are analyzed from both literary and linguistic points of view.

2.0

The Kasena

The oral tradition on the origin of the Kasena is quite diverse. However, basing our knowledge on Kasena oral traditions (more particularly accounts passed on from one generation to the other) and quite recent conjectures, a brief summary can be ascertained. Some notable places credited as the cradle of Kasena migrations are Egypt, Western Sudan and Northern Nigeria. It is worth noting that the aforementioned places would have been the earliest migration attempts by the Kasena, if the assertions are factual. Other notable claims are that the KasenaNankani migrated from Zecco, at the fridges of Northern Eastern Ghana. The Kasena of Paga and Chiana in particular are also known to have migrated from the Kasena communities in Burkina Faso as a result of Chieftaincy disputes between brothers. The Kasena are found along the fringes of Southern Burkina Faso and in Northern Ghana. According to the Joshua Project, Kasena number about one hundred and sixty-nine thousand (169,000) in Ghana and one hundred and nine thousand (109,000) in Burkina Faso, placing them at a total of about two hundred and seventy eight thousand (278,000) in the world. Generally, the Kasena inhabit most communities in Navrongo, Chiana, Paga and their environs in Ghana and Tiebele, Po, Kampala and their environs in Burkina Faso. The Kasena in Navrongo are typically known as the Kasena-Nankani as

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some communities share some biological ties with their Farefari neighbours. It is worth noting that though the Kasena are divided by imaginary boundaries between Ghana and Burkina Faso especially, their worldview and cultural practices are almost the same. The Kasena, otherwise known as the Gurunsi or Awuna by some of their neighbours, speak Kasem. Kasem is a Mabia language, which is also known to belong to the earliest classification of Gur languages from the ProtoNorthern sub-division of languages traced from the Niger-Congo language families (Naden, 1998: 12-49). Bodomo (1993) employs the term Mabia in lieu of the otherwise known term Gur as he maintains beyond linguistic doubts that, the former is a more appropriate genetic classificatory term. There are however a few varying dialectal differences between the Kasena of Paga, Navrongo, Chiana in Ghana and Tiebeli, Po and Kampala in Burkina Faso. The closest affinities of Kasem are Nuni and Lyele, both spoken in Burkina Faso. Below is a map highlighting the Kasena territories in Burkina Faso and Ghana respectively.

Fig. 1: Map of Kasena Land (Highlight), Adapted from the Joshua Project

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3.0

Literature Review

Kasem is one of the nine (9) Government sponsored languages in Ghana. As a result, it has a considerable amount of Literature as compared to most languages in Ghana. Kasem is a language of instruction at the lower primary and a subject of study from class four (4) in the Kasena-Nankani area and through to the tertiary levels. This may however not be effective as a result of the non-alignment to teacher postings and the non-implementation of the language policy. Over the years, scholars, governmental and non-governmental institutions have put in efforts to document indigenous languages, literatures and also promote such languages in diverse literacy programmes in Ghana. For instance, the Ghana Institute of Linguistics, Literacy and Bible Translation (GILLBT), since its establishment in 1962 has made great strides in Ghanaian local languages literacy and bible translations in particular, working in about forty (40) minority languages of which Kasem is no exception. The College of Languages Education, (formally the Institute of Ghanaian Languages) has also been preoccupied in training teachers in Kasem and some other Ghanaian languages to take up teaching positions. The Bureau of Ghana Languages (BGL), established in 1951, and the Non-Formal Education Division of the Ministry of Education are other institutions which have documented the Kasem language. In the past decade, a significant research on Kasem and Kasena oral traditions have flourished across the Ghanaian boundary in Burkina Faso. The Joshua Project in conjunction with some other bodies have conducted and documented research on Kasena ethnography, oral traditions, literacy, such as primers and health campaigns and especially the bible and bible related literature. (See Open Language Archive Community, OLAC for details of publications) Worth noting publications on the grammar of Kasem include: Awedoba (1990; 1996; 2002) where he examines Kasem tones, orthography, phonetics,

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phonology and Kasem nominals. Others include Callow’s (1965a) and (1965b) Collected Field Reports on the Phonology of Kasem and research on Kasem nominals and Hewer (1983), examines the basic grammar of Kasem in general. Apart from the contributions on the grammar of Kasem, there have been fairly significant research on the oral traditions of the Kasena and the dirge in particular. Wedjong’s (1970) Kasena Lui de Lusei is a slim volume of documented Kasena dirges written in Kasem. This volume also discussed the socio-cultural aspects of Kasena dirges and was purposely written for Kasem education. It is worth noting that Kasena Lui de Lusei is out of print and so are most of the primers initially made to boost the learning of Kasem. In a quite recent publication, Taluah (2013), undertakes an extensive study of Kasena dirges, exploring their literariness and Kasena worldview with regard to funerals. Exploring the songs of enslavement by the Kasena and their Builsa neighbours, Saboro (2017) notes some Kasena songs of enslavement that are also typically employed as dirges for the funeral rites of deceased men in particular. Nketia’s (1955) examination of the funeral dirges of the Akan people is, undoubtedly, one of the earliest contributions to the dirge form. In this seminal book, Nketia discussed the artistry of the Akan dirge, pointing to its form and the performance contexts in particular. Following this feat, different researches on the dirge form have sprung up from diverse communities (see for example Mutia, 2003; Alembi, 2008; Taluah, 2013). There are also considerable unpublished researches on the dirge form and oral traditions in other cultures of Ghana. Other notable oral genres of the Kasena to have caught the attention of researchers include: Awedoba (2000), where he explores the social roles of riddles in Kasena society. Umur (2017), undertakes a literary analysis of Kukula praise songs. Kukula is a popular deity amongst the Kasena and the Kayɔrɔ community in particular. Whereas Awedoba undertakes a study

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of Kasena proverbs and how they reflect Kasena society and culture, Yitah (2007; 2009) examines how Kasena women subvert Kasena proverbs in defining female personhood. Kasem and Kasena oral traditions to some extent have received some scholarly attention. However, what has often been left out, yet very vital is their dirges. The neglect of this unique art form from investigations is as a result of their sacred nature, shrouded in Kasena funeral rituals. The funeral rituals, in which context the dirges are performed are looked down on and are gradually being maligned by some Christian and Moslem converts.

4.0

General Contexts of Kasena Dirges

Once one is born, the inevitability of death becomes a gnawing shadow lurking on the brinks of life. And at one point or the other, man is certain to die. There has been no known antidote to death and so are diverse accounts, mostly woven in myths, the world over on the origin of death. Significantly however, man has often found consolation in diverse beliefs with respect to death, paramount amongst which is the belief in the hereafter. The belief in the hereafter has fostered entrenched ritual performances to adequately prepare the deceased for an ideal transition to the hereafter in many cultures, of which the Kasena is no exception. The relief in defeating death is also expressed in the Kasena saying Tɩ́ sē n’dárɩ̀ mῡ tún lɩ́rà which loosely translates as ‘the antidote to death is in having offspring.’ It is therefore of little doubt or no doubt at all that the Kasena place reverence on childbearing.

Amongst the four rites of passage; birth (including naming), puberty, marriage and death rites, known in most cultures, death rites have assumed central stages in most communities. In most Kasena communities for example, puberty rites to say the least have become tales of the past and naming rites are rarely performed in recent times. Marriage and death rites still remain common practices in Kasena communities, however, death rites remain more crucial than marriage rites as they assume diverse spiritual connotations for

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both the living and the dead. Of significant importance in Kasena funeral rites is dirge performances. Kasena dirges embody the beliefs and values of the people in diverse respects and often include other oral literary forms like proverbs, puzzles and idioms in general. The Kasena have diverse oral traditions which are further expressed in diverse kinds and forms. There are Stor(ies) (Sɩ̀nsῡlə́ / Sɩ̀nsῡlé), Riddle(s) (Dìndɩ̄/ Dìndɩ́), Puzzles (Dìndɩ̄ jùnjūə/ Dìndɩ̄ jùnjūi), Proverb(s) (Sɩ̀nsērá / Sɩ̀nsērɩ́), Song(s) (Léŋə̀/ Léɩ) and their diverse kinds. Amongst these oral literary forms, the song is perhaps the commonest form with consequent numerous distinctions. For instance, there are work songs, dirges, war songs amongst a host of other songs for various occasions. There is however, no clear distinction between poetry and song and there is no word in Kasem that precisely translates as poetry. Poetry therefore falls under the main oral literary category of song. Therefore, in Kasena context, the dirge as a poetic form is regarded as a song (Taluah, 2015: 601). Most oral traditions such as folktales, myths, proverbs and the arts in particular are transmitted from one generation to the other through apprenticeship. However, common in many other societies, the manner of acquiring the skill for dirge singing especially with regard to the Kasena requires not only genuine interest but also determination on the part of the neophyte. Quite apart from one making the effort to ascertain the contexts within which the texts are performed and the circumstances surrounding their composition, one must be present at most funerals and also commit to memory the diverse texts of communities on funeral occasions. Quite apart from the texts considered a taboo to be sung anywhere other than the funeral context, rehearsals also can only be done in secrecy or on other funeral occasions where the learner slowly follows the words and rhythms of the master dirge singers. Notwithstanding the above stated problems, the advent of globalization, formal education, rural-urban migration and their associate currents have in diverse ways contributed to the dwindling knowledge in Kasena oral

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traditions, especially with respect to the dirges. While older generations die with their songs, the younger generations are being drawn to other cultural artistic forms through the mediums of radio, television and the cinema: influenced by foreign musical forms such as hip pop and their consequent adaptation into a synthesis of diverse musical forms such as hip-life in Ghana, to the disregard of their oral traditions. Experiences from the field reveal that, there are some particular dirges that are not known to the coming generations with others not responded to appropriately. Participants confess these texts can only be performed by one or two old men, and considering their ages, they could pass on any time from now without the coming generations ever having wind of the existence of the texts.

4.1 The Context of Performance Perhaps, one of the greatest challenges to the oral word is the neglect of the contexts within which the texts are rendered. One such significant context in the rendition of Kasena dirges and oral texts in general, is the context of Performance. Knowledge of such performance is not only crucial for the performers but the audience as well. A better appreciation of the texts can only be ascertained with the contexts in mind. Eagleton (1998: 463) notes that, “To write [or to perform] well is more than a matter of “style”; it also means having at one’s disposal an ideological perspective which can penetrate to the realities of men’s experience in a certain situation.” As in all literary works, the text is central to the performances of the dirges. However, without the performance, there can be no texts and without the audience, referred to as “co-creators of performance” by Finnegan (2007: 147), there can be no performance. Consequently, the performer, the performance and the audience in all contribute to the ingenuity of the texts. Unlike written texts, which find their dwelling on sheets, the texts come to life only through their rendition in performance. The texts remain in the minds of the cantors until they are showcased in the situation of performance. Okpewho understands this as he maintains that “It is therefore

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in the study of performance that we are able to see the essential character of oral literature as distinct from written literature that is, as an art form created in the warm presence of an audience as against the cold privacy of the written work.” (1992: 42). Adapting mathematical procedures in set theory, the diagram below attempts an exposition of the interrelationships between the performer, performance, audience and texts as realized in oral literary works in context.

Fig. 2: The Matrix of Orature (Taluah, 2013: 45) Dirge performances are characterized by both linguistic and paralinguistic features. Though dirges are the collective conscience of the Kasena as a whole, the charm or quality of a performance is the result of the lead cantor in particular and the audience in general. In spite of the texts being unique constructs of language, the paralinguistic features realized in the performances of Kasena dirges serve as significant

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complements to their ingenuity and effects. The semantics of silence and sound, intonation, distance, human presence and the use of instruments and the general verbal and non-verbal cues employed in performance convey a great deal of meanings. The situation of performance is so complex that performances are bound to vary in diverse respects, and as such, not a single dirge can be deemed as same as they are performed by different cantors and audience at diverse places. Thus, a dirge performed by the same lead cantor in different situations will not be the same as the occasions are bound to vary. There is the tendency for the lead cantor to be more socially attached to a particular funeral performance than the other, perhaps, due to some social or biological ties one has with the deceased, or better still the evaluations and compensations involved. These factors and others such as these can determine the way and manner in which a text is performed. Lead cantors normally vary with respect to the communities in question. However, in the presence of dirge singers or lead cantors in particular, there are no contestations on who to lead, because, every cantor is unique in one way or the other. It is however not unusual to have more than one lead cantors leading in dirge performances. In some other instances, the lead cantors alternate. The mood and personality of the lead cantor and the performers in general can either augment or degrade the performance. The clapping of hands, ululations and several other gestures especially with regard to the performances of dirges contribute to the success of every performance. The voice quality of the lead cantor is paramount as it can enforce the cathartic effects of dirges and move the audience as a whole into a mournful state. A cherished characteristic of the lead cantor’s quality of voice is intonation or the ability to vary one’s pitch. Lead cantors who have a good voice quality and are able to vary their pitches appropriately in dirge performances are lauded with ululations and money in particular.

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More often than not, lead cantors strategically maintain silence within some intervals in dirge performances. In other instances, they may shout, make some sounds or remarks before or after a line or entire dirges. As witnessed in some dirge performances, lead cantors break in the middle of a dirges as they are choked by their weeping. The audience will rush to such lead cantors and try to console them. These gestures evoke empathy from the general audience. There are instances where dirge singers will clasp their hands on their heads or breasts while they sob, shake their heads in disappointment, move slowly or simply gaze at the sky or at an imaginary object, kneel, lie prostrate or cup their chins in their palms amongst a host of other non-verbal gestures. These gestures serve to heighten the pathos of the dirge performances as a whole. The descriptions above may seem to be clarifying, however, they barely explain the cathartic and creative effects non-verbal cues contribute to the artistry of oral texts and the Kasena dirge performances in particular. As Egudu and Nwoga (1973: 2) have observed: “Not only does one get a more meaningful understanding of the verses by knowledge of their cultural and ceremonial context, a more imaginative reality derives from seeing and hearing the performers” Commenting on his field experience on the documentation of the Dogon baja ni, van Beek (2012: 24) further notes that: “Participating in baja ni is a major fieldwork experience and this has been one of many, all as memorable as others…. Captivating because of its sonorous chant, the graceful interchange of the singers, the marvelous cliff setting and the regal posture of the old men in their large indigo gowns, the baja ni is unforgettable for a field anthropologist.” Being a witness to a performance cannot be compared with being informed of such a performance. A greater appreciation of a performance rest on one’s presence at the performance. It is also not uncommon to find musical instrument accompaniments in dirge performances. Some of the instruments employed in dirge performances are, but not limited to these: the flute(s) (wúə / wúi), drum(s) (Gùngwə̄ŋə́ / Gúngwéi), rattles made of gourds (some made of straw with calabash coverings

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at the ends) known in Kasem as Sɩ̀nyāglɩ́ / Sɩ̀nyāglá, and on some occasions and at some particular settings, traditional Guitar(s) (Kɔ́nɔ̀ / Kwánɔ̀). Dirges may however be sung without the accompaniment of instruments. The general practice has been that women clap gently and rhythmically as they sing the dirges for deceased women in particular. However, scarcely is there any performance without ululations (wúlìm). Wúlìm is normally the prerogative of women but can be employed in both dirges of deceased men and women respectively.

5.0

General Features of the Kasena Dirge

In Kasena worldview, great literary works should have both intrinsic and extrinsic merits. The dirge as a literary work must entail two essential elements. Dirges must be edifying and have aesthetic beauty. The texts must be didactic in order that the audience can benefit from the moral or the information that the texts seek to convey, as the educative elements of the texts unassisted, cannot draw the attention of the audience and hence, may not carry the texts through time. The texts must necessarily have an aesthetic charm to make them more appealing to listeners. Dirges and Kasena literary texts in general therefore aspire to attain these two essential elements. It is worth noting that, both didacticism and aesthetics further encourage the audience or listeners to put into practice what has been deemed good and abhor actions that have been deemed inappropriate or wrong in Kasena worldview. The texts must have an effect on the audience. Quite apart from the moral sought to be echoed by the texts, what also stands true for Kasena dirges in particular is that by the appropriation of language and other paralinguistic elements, the dirges should have some cathartic effects on the audience. Provided that the didacticisms and aesthetics of the texts are well coordinated to facilitate their impacts on the Kasena populace in particular, there remains yet another factor that is crucial to Kasena literary arts: the texts

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must transcend time. And true to this fact, Kasena dirges to a large extent do not aspire to other literary forms and techniques. They were conceived and crafted by the creative inventiveness of the Kasena ancestors based on their environment and worldview in general. The dirges have survived centuries, and may be said to be as old as the Kasena themselves primarily because they reflect the beliefs and aspirations of the people and more so capture the basic elements dear to Kasena literary arts: Didacticism and aesthetic beauty. It could be stated therefore that, with respect to Kasena dirges, tradition makes the poet as the texts are skillfully woven from the worldview and aspirations of the people. The dirges proper have no known poets, and as a gesture of humility, the Kasena, generally, term their creative arts as Nábārə́ Kīkɩ́ə, which literally translates as “Ways of the Ancestors.” There is no single known authorship to the texts. What is generally known is that some particular texts are common with some particular Kasena communities as compared to others. The texts are generally the creations of the Kasena ancestors since time immemorial and are passed down virtually in the same form from one generation to the other. The dirge however becomes uniquely the creation of individual performers at the situation of performance. Funeral rites and the consequent performance of dirges vary in diverse ways. It is not in all occasions of death that dirges are performed. Babies and children in particular, irrespective of their sex are not accorded these rites. There is usually a burial ceremony anyway, but the rites involved differ significantly. For one to be accorded the appropriate funeral rites without any reservations, the deceased must have lived a purposeful life as by the dictates of the Kasena community. Other notable criteria include the following: one must have lived to a mature life, one must have been married and had children and some other related conditions. The worldview of the Kasena is consistently emphasized as most of these criteria have diverse implications. For instance, a man who has no biological children can be accorded the appropriate funerals rites on grounds that he had indeed catered

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for children. The funerals of Chief(s) (Pɛ́ /Pύə), Custodian(s) of the Land (Tɩ́gātύ / Tɩ́gātínə̀), elder(s), clan and lineage heads (Nākwɩ́ / Nākwə́) and other influential people in Kasena society are accorded outstanding rites. The dirges serve as some form of tributes and are performed only on the occasions of funerals. In fact, it is a taboo for these texts to be sung outside the funeral context. And even when performed at funerals settings, they have to be the appropriate texts, most especially to the type of funeral, sex, age and status of the deceased. The normal practice has also been that, women perform the dirges for deceased women and men perform the dirges for deceased men. Funerals for deceased men and women differ, and so are the dirges sung on such occasions. Kasena have what they term the fresh and final funerals respectively. Accordingly, there are the fresh and final funerals for deceased men and the fresh and final funerals for deceased women. Per this account, the Kasena dirge proper has four main manifestations, namely: Lūséɩ, Sōgó léɩ, Nágῡrύ and Tígūrá léɩ. In Kasena contexts, these four concepts relate to dirges. Lūséɩ and Sōgó léɩ are sung on the funerals of deceased women. Lūséɩ are sung on the occasion of fresh funerals whereas Sōgó léɩ are sung on the occasion of final funeral rites. Nágῡrύ and Tígūrá are sung on the funerals of deceased men. Nágῡrύ is sung on fresh funeral occasions, whereas Tígūrá is sung on the final funeral rites of deceased men. As reiterated above, dirges are, generally, communally owned and performed. Though Kasena dirges are normally fixed, some dirges go through some deletion and substitution processes. There is usually room for improvisations, for instances where some personal names or names of communities are to be replaced to reflect the name of the deceased or place and time the said performance is taking place. Further explications of deletion and substitution processes as realized in Kasena dirges are in the following paragraphs. One fundamental feature of Kasena texts that is consistent in virtually all known dirges is Call-and-response patterns. Call-and-Response patterns

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are common features in Kasena dirges and come in varying forms. Traditionally, under no circumstance is a dirge performed solely by an individual. Dirges are always performed by a group of people. As the lead cantor(s) intone the song, the others respond through refrains or repeat similar lines. Quite apart from Call-and-Response patterns, repetition is also employed in most dirge renditions. Though many dirges are very brief, containing at least four lines, they are generally repeated and may last as long as the lead cantor desires. Below is an example of a complete Kasena dirge performed during the final funeral rites of deceased women. The diction of dirge, as implied in the action of movement and the ancestral world of which all departed souls belong, quite explains the reasons for its performance on final funeral rites as it captures the imagery of a final exit of the soul in a series of repetitions. Lead Cantor

Tá n’ dāanɩ̀ n’ vé mɛ̄mɛ̄. Be 2SG steadily. ADV 2SG move slowly. ADJ ‘Steadily move slowly.’

Sē dèbám kwó sɔ̀ŋɔ́ bā nwáe. For 1PL father house NEG close ‘For our father’s house is far away.’ Audience

Tá n’ dāanɩ̀ n’ vé mɛ̄mɛ̄. Be 2SG steadily. ADV 2SG move slowly. ADJ



‘Steadily move slowly.’



Tá n’ dāanɩ̀ n’ vé mɛ̄mɛ̄. Be 2SG steadily. ADV 2SG move slowly. ADJ ‘Steadily move slowly.’

As intimated above, Kasena dirges can be very elaborate. Though the dirges are generally fixed, there is usually the employment of interpolations by the cantors. Interpolations are statements that are often uttered during the

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performances of dirges. They may introduce or conclude a dirge or even come in the middle of the text and serve to foreground the cathartic elements of the text. As Kasena dirges are centered on deceased, the circumstances of death, close associates like children, husband and relatives left behind, some common interpolations convey these sentiments as follows: i.

Kō gúm mὺ, sé kō 3SG tilt FOC, but 3SG ‘It has tilted, but it has not poured.’

wō NEG

ló-gɩ̀. pour-PST

ii.

N’ mῡ yágɩ̀ ā 2SG FOC leave 1SG ‘Is this how you leave me?’

tɩ̀ntύ this

mὺ? FOC

iii.

Wɔ̄ mὺ wō ní bía Who FOC FUT look child.PL ‘Who will look after the children?’

iv.

N’ pém lāmyírànɩ́. 2SG sleep well ‘Sleep well.’

mῡ FO

bām? DET

Interpolations are very unique complements of the Kasena dirge and most lead cantors employ them for diverse effects. In fact, some lead cantors exploit interpolations to express their ingenuity in dirge performances. When interpolations such as the examples stated above are employed at the appropriate time and place, with their corresponding paralinguistic features, the catharses can be overwhelming. The first example reiterates the fact that, though the said death has created a vacuum in the lives of loved ones, all is not completely lost and further implies that the loved ones must forge on. The state of loss and longing is conveyed in the second example whereas in the third example what is being inferred is that the deceased is the bread provider of the house, and therefore, in the absence of such a person, who will

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cater for the young ones. The fourth and final interpolation presented herein is laden with double interpretations. In the context of dirge performances, it signifies that the deceased should rest in peace at the hereafter, where the Kasena perceive as the final abode of man. The same statement can also be uttered as good night respectively.

5.1 Literariness of the Kasena Dirge: A Linguistic Approach Though most Kasena poetic sensibilities are woven in song, the dirges are perhaps the most captivating. Kasena dirges capture life experiences and complexities in few lines. The motifs, unique idioms, tropes, images and symbols of the texts are uniquely woven in a coherent manner. Poetry thrives on imagery and metaphor, and Kasena dirges prove their literariness by exploring these figurative elements in amazing detail. Other figurative elements in Kasena dirges include symbols, euphemisms, allusions and personifications amongst several other literary and linguistic devices. This will be ascertained in the following analysis. Some aspects of the form of Kasena dirges have been elucidated in the preceding sections, and the contexts of Kasena dirges dealt in extensive detail. Kasena dirges may focus on the deceased or the bereaved as subjects. In some texts however, both the deceased and bereaved are treated as subjects. With respect to syntax, Kasena dirges are usually simple in structure with generally simple types of sentences. In some few instances, compound sentences are employed and are often realized in enjambments. As call-and-response patterns are typical of the Kasena dirge form, the use of interrogatives is quite pervasive. Call-and-response patterns are often manifested in question-and answer sequences. These sequences often alternate between the lead cantor and the audience. A question posed by the lead cantor can further be responded by the audience in the form of a question. This strategy serves to foreground the message of the line or the subject of the dirge in particular. Lines 1, 2 and 3 of the following excerpt points to the instances stated above.

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Lead Cantor: A ̄

nú

wùn

dɛ̄

yè,

1SG POSS mother FOC pass PERF where, ā

nú

óooo?

1SG POSS mother IDEO? ‘Where has my mother passed, my mother?’

Audience: Ā 

nú

1SG POSS

wùn

mother FOC

dɛ̄

yè?

pass PERF

where?

‘Where has my mother passed?’ Dēbàm

nú

wùn

dɛ̄

yè

óooo?

2PL POSS mother FOC pass PERF where IDEO? ‘Where has our mother passed?’

Lead Cantor: P  úgnīa

sɔ́ŋɔ̀ house

Pugnia

Ká-lāo

tɩ́gə̀. woman-good diePST

‘A good woman from Pugnia’s house is dead.’

Audience: Ā 

nú

1SG POSS

wùn

mother FOC

dɛ̄

yè?

pass PERF

where?

‘Where has my mother passed?’ Dēbàm

nú

wùn dɛ̄

2PL POSS mother FOC pass PERF

yè

yóooo?

where IDEO?

‘Where has our mother passed?’

Lead Cantor: Ā 

mὺ

1SG POSS kā loss

FOC

jíŋə̀ nábìlí póŋə̀ kūrɩ́ hand tail white remove it

jɛ́ yóoo! PST IDEO

‘My white tail is lost from my grip!’

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Audience: C  hírə̀ m jɩ́gè ká bā -lāo Spirit DEF have woman-good ‘Do the spirits have a good woman?’

ná? do

The employment of declarative and exclamative kinds of sentences in Kasena dirges as the excerpt above portrays is also possible. Verbs are usually in the present tense. There are some verbs that are expressed in the past tense, but the future tense is very rare. The simple and perfect aspects are also common with Kasena dirges. The progressive and past progressive aspects are not common as the dirges represented herein reveal. Though Kasena dirges are generally fixed, there are some dirges that offer the performer the linguistic opportunity to add and subtract some words or expressions. For instance, the noun Pugnia in line 4 of the above excerpt denotes a name of a person whom the deceased woman is said to hail from. Therefore, in a situation where the deceased woman hails from a different village, clan or family, such as Namolo (a name of a Kasena village), Anemeh ‘a name of a person which may also denote a linage or clan’, the noun Pugnia can be substituted for Namolo or Anemeh respectively. It is worth noting that both lexical and grammatical words constitute Kasena dirges. However, in instances where the absence of grammatical words, especially articles, do not obscure the semantics or the grammaticality of the expressions, they are mostly avoided. Nouns and verbs are also more pervasive in Kasena dirge forms as compared to adjectives and adverbs. The verbs employed in Kasena dirges are usually verbs of motion. As typical of poetry, these verbs in conjunction with nouns are meant to enhance the imagery of the texts, emphasize symbols and highlight conceptual metaphors. Some example of verbs contained in the dirges include: vé ‘move/go’, zégɩ̀ ‘stand’ (used in the dirge to refer to a state) bɛ́ ‘cross’, dálè ‘lean’, zwɛ́ ‘sear’ and dónɩ̀ ‘bite’ amongst others as found in the following dirges. Interpolations have more static verbs such as: pém ‘sleep/lie’, ní ‘watch/look’ yágɩ̀ ‘leave’ as evidenced in examples ii, iii, and iv above. Example (i) has motion verbs

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as in gúm ‘tilt’ ló ‘pour’ as this compound literary expression is actually a Kasena proverb that can be employed in diverse other situations. There are a few archaisms as with respect to words found in Kasena dirges. Though archaisms are not that pronounced in the dirge form, typical Kasena idioms and tropes routed in Kasena worldview and environment in particular are employed. Hence, the need for one to be well versed in the worldview of the Kasena for a better understanding of the texts. The omniscient or first-person point of view is the commonest style employed in most dirges. Although the first-person singular ā ‘I’ point of view is what is typical of the Kasena dirge, it is not uncommon to also find the use of the first-person plural dēbám we as well as the second person singular and plural n and ā ‘you’ points of view respectively. Though in reality, the lead cantor or the performers in, general, are not directly affected by the loss, they assume to be directly affected by the loss in a way to empathise with the actual bereaved persons. This way of showing empathy heightens the cathartic effects of the situations as the dirges also seek to console the bereaved. A conceptual metaphor leaps for attention when the dirge refers to the deceased woman as a ‘white tail’nábìlí póŋə̀. The tail is seen as symbol of authority or protection in Kasena contexts. Therefore, the tail serves as a metaphor of protection. The adjective póŋə̀ ‘white’ that modifies the tail further foregrounds the idea of inimitable protection. A white tail is conspicuous amongst tails of other colours. It is a symbol of purity and peace. These virtues ascribed to the colour white further foregrounds the idea of a motherly figure. More so, the repetitive use of the verb de ‘pass’ foregrounds the message of loss or departure of a loved one who is being sought after, after haven been taken away or removed kūrɩ́ by death. Some syllables and lines, especially with ideophones and initial lines intoned by lead cantors are given rhythmically stressed articulation. The rise and fall of pitch as realised in melodic syllable and word tones give the dirges a solemn texture.

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We now take a critical examination of the figurative and prosodic elements of four selected Kasena dirges. It should be noted that, these dirges are performed solely on the funeral rites of deceased women and they are chosen on grounds of their brevity and for the fact that they portray to a great extent, what is immanent in Kasena dirges as whole. The first lines of the dirges usually serve as the titles of the respective texts. However, for the purposes of our examinations, we chose to label them in alphabetical order. Dirge A. Lead Cantor Ā  mῡ zégɩ̀ ná tétāré nɩ̀ mὺ yóoo 1SG FOC stand water middle LOC FOC IDEO ‘I stand in the middle of water.’ Ā mῡ zégɩ̀ ná tétāré nɩ̀ mὺ yóoo 1SG FOC stand water middle LOC FOC IDEO ‘I stand in the middle of water.’ Nā-yénn-à nà wórà bā báa já-nè Water-wader-PL if there 3PL come hold-1SG. ACC s’(e) ā bɛ́eee. to 1SG out. STR ‘Are there waders, they should help me out.’ Nā-púgn-à nà wórà bā báa Water-swimmer-PL if there 3PL come já-nè s’(e) ā bɛ́eee hold-1SG(ACC) to 1SG out. STR ‘Are there swimmers, they should help me out.’ Bí-a bàam, ā mὺ zégɩ̀ nā ̀ Child-PL DEF 1SG FOC stand water tétāré nɩ̀ mὺ púgà púgà púga middle LOC FOC IDEO ‘Children, I stand in the middle of the water.’ Audience

The entire text is repeated by the audience as chorus

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The inevitability of death is a recurrent theme in Kasena dirges. However, themes that leap at the listener in dirge A are loss, longing, despair and anxiety as captured in the image of drowning. The images invoked in this dirge are those of sight and sound, as captured in the drowning incident and the ideophones púgà púgà púgà respectively. The debilitating nature of the water currents tend to symbolize the nature of death and how man has no control of such currents. The mourner cries out to both swimmers and waders (in Kasena contexts, the difference of these synonymous concepts is with respect to the level of expertise, where the latter is seen to be more of an expert than the former.) No less significant is the musical effects of the dirge. There is a rhyme scheme of a a b b c. The vowel sounds /o/ and /e/ as manifested in ideophones and stress respectively and the last ideophone púgà púgà púgà repeated in succession in the final line serves to foreground the images of struggle in the process of drowning. The use of ideophones in the dirges in general tend to capture the feelings and actions of the cantor in sound which consequently evoke pathos in the audience, therefore giving the dirge the necessary cathartic effects. The ideophones are employed herein to complement the structure and semantics of the texts. Ideophones in Kasena dirges foreground the rhythmic effects of the dirge to maintain syllabic patterns. Quite revealing is also the diction employed in the dirge. The synonyms Nāyénn-à and Nā-púgn-à are used in alternation in lines 2 and 4, yet the words that follow these nouns remain the same. This is actually meant to maintain the rhythm of the lines. It can be noted also that, the ideophone púgà púgà púgà is derived from the verb of the noun form Nā-púgn-à depicting the sound produced in the act of swimming. The focus marker mὺ as realised in the repeated lines 1 and 2 appears in two instances in the same statement. These occurrences further reiterate the despair and anxiety felt by the mourner as they seek to emphasis the fact that, it is indeed the bereaved who is in the state of drowning and not the listeners per see.

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Dirge B.



Lead cantor B  ótāré

dóor-à

wō

dálè mā yó-a

māmā- mā

Orphan old-PL will lean beam-PL all. REP ‘Old orphans will lean on all the beams.’ Bótāré

dóor-à wō

dálè yó-a

māmā- māmā

Orphan old-PL will lean beam-PL all. REP ‘Old orphans will lean on all the beams.’ Bótāré

dúur-à

Orphan

new-PL will

bā

dálè

3PL lean

wō

báa

nā

yó-a

come

see

beam-PL

yéee where. STR.

‘Where will new orphans find beams to lean on?’ Bótāré

dúur-à

Orphan

new-PL will

bā

dálè

3PL lean

wō

báa

nā

yó-a

come

see

beam-PL

yéee where. STR.

‘And where will new orphans find beams to lean on?’

Audience

The entire text is repeated by the audience as chorus

Dirge B begins with an allusion to orphans, thereby highlighting the effects or perhaps products of death. The beams, as in pillars symbolize authority and fortitude. In Kasena architecture they are used to hold huts and mud roofs. Without the beams such structures cannot stand. When the lead cantor bemoans in a rather rhetorical question in lines 3 and 4 as to where the bereaved, referred to as new orphans, will have beams to lean on, what is being implied is that the deceased was a source of support to the mourners whom death has bereaved.

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What further enhances the cathartic effects of the dirge is the metrical glide, as carried from one word to the other through to one line to the other. Dirge B is in the form of a quatrain and has a rhyming scheme of a a b b. Line 2 is a repetition of line 1 as line 4 is a repetition of line 3. The entire dirge is also repeated by the lead cantor and the audience as well and this can continue in varying pitches per the dictates of the lead cantor. /a/ and /e/ represent the last syllable sounds of the dirge and are repeated and stressed respectively for rhythmic effects. Alliteration is found in lines 1 and 2 as in the /d/ in Bótāré dóorà wō dálè… and in lines 3 and 4 as in the /d/ in Bótāré dúurà wō … bā dálè yéee. The assonance with respect to /o/ as in Bótāré dóorà in lines 1 and 2 is so rhythmical to be unnoticed.

Dirge C.



Lead Cantor N  ɔ́ŋɔ̀

kōm

Scorpion the

zwɛ́ wɔ̄ sear. PST who

mὺ

náaa?

FOC IDEO

‘Who has been seared by the scorpion?’

Audience

N  ɔ́ŋɔ̀

dónɩ̀ ā mὺ yóooooo Scorpion bite. PST 1SG FOC IDEO ‘A scorpion has stung me.’



Lead cantor ( Ā wíe)

nɔ́ŋɔ̀ kōm zwɛ́ wɔ̄ mὺ náaa? (1SG say) scorpion the sear. PST who FOC IDEO ‘I say who has been seared by the scorpion?’



Audience

N  ɔ́ŋɔ̀

dónɩ̀ ā mὺ yóooooo Scorpion bite.PST 1SG FOC IDEO ‘A scorpion has stung me.’

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All

N  ɔ́ŋɔ̀

ká-pùa

Scorpion

woman-pregnant

nē

yóooooo

1SG. ACC

IDEO

kā

zwɛ́ 3SG sear. PST

‘A pregnant scorpion has seared me.’ Nɔ́ŋɔ̀ dónɩ̀ ā mὺ Scorpion bite. PST 1SG FOC

yóooooo IDEO

‘A scorpion has stung me.’ Dirge C is perhaps one of the most popular dirges amongst the Kasena. It is laden with Kasena cultural undertones. The dirge begins on a rather interesting note, asking a question and actually demanding an answer unlike the usual rhetorical questions often posed in dirges. Here, death is personified as a scorpion. The effects of the scorpion’s sting are likened to the painful and depressing effects of death. A closer look at the dirge reveals that the action verbs ‘sting’ and ‘sear’ are used in alternating order in similar positions. It is significant to point out that, in normal utterances one will expect to hear ‘sting’ and not ‘sear.’This creative use of language as employed in dirge C is mainly to enhance the effects of the scorpion’s sting. What is implied is that the scorpion as a metaphor of death does not only sting but causes a burning sensation to the bereaved. Indeed, a burn comes with many connotations as in pain and shock, and may also inflict chronic wounds on victims. What further enhances the effects of death is captured in line 5. The final response meant to be sung by all cantors, switches from the usual ‘scorpion’ as maintained in the preceding lines for ‘pregnant scorpion.’ Why is this the case? Kasena maintain that the sting of a pregnant scorpion is more painful than an ordinary scorpion. Hence, what is meant is that the pain and sorrow as created by death is most devastating. Dirge C is characterized by call-and-response patterns well employed in question-and-answer sequences. A rhyme scheme of a b a b b b can be

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ascertained. In fact, the question and answer sequence as seen in lines 1 and 2 are repeated in lines 3 and 4 respectively. The last two lines serve as a confirmation to the question posed and therefore follow the rhythm of the response. Dirge D. Lead Cantor Zúŋ’ dúŋà kām Bowl new DEF ‘The new calabash.’

Wɔ̄ mυ zó ō kwé lélè lélè? Who FOC enter 3SG take now. REPT ‘Who has suddenly come for it?’

Audience

Á jórè á gjā á bá 2PL back 2PL hold 2PL come ‘You should bring it back.’



Á jórè á jā á bá 2PL back 2PL hold 2PL come ‘You should bring it back.’

Nɔ́nù bā jén’(a) -jén’(a) ō tóa Man does sit sit 3SG die

‘A person does not die without a cause.’

Dirge D employs an elevated style of rhetoric in its use of symbolism to enhance the meaning and effects of the dirge. The use of ‘calabash’ is symbolic and even more symbolic with ‘new calabash.’ The Calabash in Kasena worldview is seen as a symbol of life. The interrogation seeking to know who came for the calabash has death as its implication. It is death that rids one of life. The calabash occupies a centre stage in the lives of Kasena women and deceased Kasena women in particular. It is impossible to perform the final funeral rites of a deceased woman without a ‘new

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calabash.’ The calabash is used for funeral rituals, and it is therefore of little doubt that this dirge is actually meant to be performed on final funeral rites of deceased women. The use of symbols to signify qualities and ideas in Kasena contexts abound. The symbols employed in Kasena dirges take up figurative meaning that transcend the literal meanings. The last line is rooted in the Kasena belief that no death occurs by accident. The reduplication of the verb jén’(a) -jén’(a) in the final line reemphasizes the sudden effect it seeks to convey. Dirge D has a rather odd rhyme scheme of a b c c d. However, the rhythm of the tones and stresses on most last syllables in the lines maintain its musical quality.

6.0 Conclusion Oral traditions are store vessels through which the norms, values and the general worldview of a people are stored. And as language serves as the main conduit for verbal arts such as dirges, a literary linguistic examination of the texts can yield tremendous results. The performance context, and the several other contexts within which verbal arts are rendered are crucial to the understanding of the texts. The linguistic and paralinguistic features together contribute to the artistry of verbal arts. The prosodic element that holds sway with respect to dirges is rhythm. Stresses of final syllables as found in most lines, ideophones and repetitions amongst a host of other musical elements equally contribute to the rhythm and artistry of the dirges. Sound, silence, distance and pace, all contribute to the meaning and effects of the dirge. A neglect of these factors can be very detrimental to the appreciation of verbal arts in general. At the very least, verbal arts should be devoid of analyses which see them as means to an end. To cast the texts into western oriented frames, such as adopting theoretical approaches that seem to examine verbal arts as though they are performed on sheets of paper are most inappropriate. The devices involved in the construction of oral texts as Kasena dirges differ quite

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significantly from devices employed in written texts. Oral texts, to say the least are dynamic, while written texts are stable. There is a living presence of the performer(s) and audience in the contexts of performance with respect to oral texts whereas the writer in written text is an abstract entity. In fact, the performer(s) and audience together contribute in in shaping oral texts. The strictest care must therefore be taken in comparative studies of oral and written texts in particular.

List of Abbreviations: DEF DET LOC FOC PST IDEO REP NEG STR PL SG

Definite Article, Determiner, Locative, Focus, Past Ideophone, Repetition, Negation, Stress, Plural, Singular,

1SG 2SG

First Person Singular, Second Person Singular,

3SG 1PL

Third Person Singular, First Person Plural,

2PL 3PL

Second Person Plural, Third Person Plural,

ADJ ADV

Adjective, Adverb.

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REFERENCES Abasi, A. K. (1993) “Death is Pregnant with Life: Funeral Practices among the Kasena of North-East Ghana”. Unpub. Ph.D Thesis.Catholic University of Leuven. Abasi, A. K. (1995). ‘Lua-Lia,’The Fresh Funeral: Founding a House for the Deceased Among the Kasena of North East Ghana. African Journal of the International African Institute, 65.3: 444-475. Alembi, Ezekiel, (2008). “The Abanyole Dirge: “Escorting” The Dead with Song and Dance”, accessed on 29/01/2018, pp.1-22, https://www. folklore.ee/folklore/vol38/alembi.pdf Awedoba, A.K. (2000a). An Introduction to Kasena Society and Culture Through their Proverbs. Lanham: Maryland University Press of America. Awedoba, A. K. (2000b). Social Roles of Riddles with reference to Kasena Society. Institute of African Studies Research Review 16.2: 35-51. Awedoba, A. K. (1990). Kasem Tones and Othography. Journal of West African Languages. XX (2): 31-46. Awedoba, A. K. (2002). Studies in Kasem Phonetics and Phonology. Volume 5 of Language Monographs. Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana. Awedoba, A. K. (1996). Kasem Nominal Genders and Names. Research Review (NS). 12 (1&2): 8-24. Bauman, R. (1984) Verbal Art As Performance (3rd Ed.). Illinois: Waveland Press Inc. Bauman, R & Braid, D. (1998) The Ethnography of Performance in the Study of Oral Traditions. In Ed. John Miles Foley (ed.), Teaching Oral Traditions. New York: The Modern Languages Association of America, 106122.

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Bodomo, A. (1993). Complex Predicates and Event Structure: An Integrated Analysis of Serial Verb Constructions in Mabia Languages of West Africa. Workshop Papers in Linguistics No. 2.

Bodomo, A. (2015). African Languages, Linguistics, and Literatures:

Exploring Global Interdisciplinary Research Trends in the Humanities. An Inaugural Lectured delivered on June 10, 2015 at the Faculty of Philosophy and Cultural Studies, University of Vienna, Austria. Callow, J. C. (1965a). Collected Field Reports on the Phonology of Kasem. Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana. Callow, J. C. (1965b). Kasem Nominals---A study in Analyses. Journal of West African Languages. 2 (1): 29-36. Catford, C. J. (1965) A Linguistic Theory of Translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Culler, Jonathan. Structuralist Poetics: Structuralism, Linguistics, and the Study of Literature. New York. Cornell U P. 1975. Dovlo, Kofi. (2012). Lessons from the Documentations and Use of Oral Texts: Verba Africana 1. Multimedia Research and Documentation of Oral Genres in Africa. Berlin: LIT Verlag. 107-111. Eagleton, T. (1998) “Literature and History” Context for Criticism rd (3 Ed.). Ed. Donald Keesey. Califonia: Mayfield Publishing Company, 460467.

Egudu, R. and Nwoga, D. (1973). Igbo Traditional Verse. London:

Heinneman, Ethnologue. 28th January,2018 https://www.ethnologue.com/ language/xsm

Finnegan, R. (1970) Oral Literature in Africa. Oxford: Oxford U P.

Finnegan, R. (1977) Oral Poetry: Its Nature, Significance and Social Context. Cambridge: Cambridge U P. Finnegan, R. (2007) The Oral and Beyond: Doing Things with Words in Africa. Piertermarzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.

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Foley, J. M. (2002). How to Read an Oral Poem. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. Hewer, P. L. (1983). A Basic Grammar of Kasem. GILLBT, Kasem Language Project. Hymes, D. (1981) “In Vain I Tried to Tell You”, Essays on Native American Ethnopoetics, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Hymes, Dell. (1994). Ethnopoetics, Oral-Formulaic Theory and Editing Texts. Oral Traditions. 9 (2): 330-370. JoshuaProject. 28th January, 2018. https://joshuaproject.net/people_ groups/12556/GH Kaschula, R.H. and Mostert A. (2009). Analysing, digitising and technologising the oral word: the case of Bongani Sitole. Journal of African Cultural Studies, 21.2:159–17. Kashula H. Russell. (2012). Technauriture: Multimedia Research and Documentation of African Oral Performances. Multimedia Research and Documentation of Oral Genres in Africa. Berlin: LIT Verlag,1-20. Koenig, Ekkehard & Pfister, Manfred. (2017). Literary Analysis and Linguistics. Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag. Mbiti, J. S. (1976). African Religions and Philosophy. London: Heinemann Educational Books. Merolla, Daniela. (2014). Orality and Technauriture of African Literatures. Tydkrif Vir Litterkunde. 51.1. Merolla, Daniela & Ameka, Felix. (2012). Reflections on Video Fieldwork: The Making of Verba Africana IV on the Ewe Hogbetsotso Festival. Multimedia Research and Documentation of Oral Genres in Africa. Berlin: LIT Verlag. 123-132. Mutia, B. J. (2003). Stylistic Patterns in Oral Literature: The Form and Structure of Bakweri Dirges. Nordic Journal of African Studies. 12 (3): 387-406.

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Naden, Tony. (1998). The Gur Languages. In M. E. Kropp Dakubu (ed.), The Languages of Ghana. London: KPI. 12-49. Nketia, J. H. (1955). Funeral dirges of the Akan People. Exeter: James Townsend and Sons Ltd. Okpewho, I. (1992). African Oral Literature: Background, Character and Continuity. Bloomington: Indiana U P. Okpewho, I. (1990). The Oral Performance in Africa. Ibadan: Spectrum Books. Okpewho, I. (1990). “Towards a Faithful Record: On Transcribing and Translating the Oral Narrative Performance” The Oral Performance in Africa. Ibadan: Spectrum Books. Saboro, E. (2107). The Wound and the Voice: Verbal Articulations of Enslavement among the Builsa and Kasena of Ghana. Nordic Journal of African Studies. 26 (1): 34-61. Schipper, Mineke. (2012). Multimedia Research and the Documentations of Oral Genres in Africa. Multimedia Research and Documentation of Oral Genres in Africa. Berlin: LIT Verlag. 133-137. Storch, A. (2011). Secret Manipulations: Language and Context in Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Taluah, A. R. (2013). The Context and Poetics of Kasena Dirges and

War Songs. Deutschland: Lambert Academic Publishing.

Taluah, A. R. (2015). Oral Traditions as Embodiments

of Knowledge: The Case of the Kasena of North Eastern Ghana. International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies. 2 (1), 597 – 607. Tedlock, D. (1983). The Spoken Word and the Work of Interpretation, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Umar, A. H. (2017). Literary Analysis of Kukula Praise Songs. Studies in Social Science and Humanities. 4 (4): 197-210.

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Van Beek, E. A. Walter. (2012). From Ritual to Performance – The dynamics of the Dogon baja ni. Multimedia Research and Documentation of Oral Genres in Africa. Berlin: LIT Verlag. 21-38.

Wedjong, P. S. (1970). Kasena Lui de Lusei. Accra: Bureau of Ghana

Languages. Yitah, H. (2009). Fighting with Proverbs: Kasena Women’s (Re) Definition of Female Personhood through Proverbial Jesting. Research in African Literatures 40. 3: 74-95. Yitah, H. (2007). Throwing Stones in Jest: Kasena Women’s ‘Proverbial’ Revolt. Proverbium 24: 369-391.

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CHAPTER TEN T H E NAT U R E A N D P E R F O R M A N C E O F FA R E FA R I ANAANUURɛ WOMEN’S SONGS Habiba Alhassan Bolga Centre, Distance Education, University of Cape Coast Avea Nsoh University of Education, Winneba

Abstract The chapter examines the performance of seven Anaanuurɛ Pɔgesi yuuma (APY), a popular music genre regularly performed among the Farefari people in northern Ghana. Farefari comprises five major dialects made of about 500,000 speakers (2010 Housing and population census). Data used for this research was taken from a collection of songs recorded between October and November 2016 at Feo, Soe, Namoo, Bongo town, Boko and Zɔkɔ by the researchers, all in the Bongo District of Ghana, whilst Sumbrongo women songs were selected from Awinkene Atintono’s archived manuscripts collected in 2010. The songs evolved from a long singing tradition among women in the Farefari community. The songs are categorized into wa’a yuuma ‘danceable’ and baaŋa or yuuma ma’a ‘non-danceable’ songs. These songs are usually accompanied by the stamping of the feet, clapping, dancing, body movement, ululations or movement of the tongue, and the maracas. The songs are also laced with appellations, proverbs, interjections and code mixing. Additionally, they are rich in literary devices including simile, repetitions, imagery etc. The

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songs are mostly composed by the lead singer with the support of her chorus singers. However, the songs may sometimes be renditions of folk songs. The study also shows that the songs can be used to narrate stories; either fiction or actual happenings in society. Most of all, the chapter allows us to document and study a song genre which is under threat of extinction.

1.0 Introduction The chapter is a descriptive analysis of Anaanuurɛ pɔgesi yuuma or baaŋa, Farefari19 women songs. Farefari is a Mabia20 language of the Niger-Congo phylum, which is a sub-group of the Oti-Volta sub-group. The Language is mainly spoken in the Upper East Region of Ghana by about 500,000 people (2010 Ghana Housing and Population census). According to Nsoh & Adjei (2010), about 25,000 Farefari people live across the borders in Togo and Burkina Faso (also see Atintono 2015 and Nsoh 2011). It has five major dialects namely Boone, Gurenɛ, Nabt, Nikarɛ and Taln (Dakubu 1996; Nsoh 1997). The songs, used for this chapter, were performed in the Gurenɛ dialect. The study therefore focused on the Gurenɛ dialect of the Farefari language. The Farefari have various forms of activities that they perform as forms of entertainment. Prominent among them are folktales, songs, dances and the playing of instrumentals. The song related to entertainment in the Farefari culture may be classified into various genres such as kɔ̃legɔ,21 yɔŋɔ,22 pitesi,23 Farefari has been anglicized to Frafra and mostly used in that fossified forms across the country. It derives from the reduplicated form fara fara, a poular greetings of the ethnic group. However, for the purpose of this chapter we employ the conservative form, Farefari. 20 Until now, the group of languages currently referred to as Mabia languages were erroneously labelled as Gur languages. 21 Kɔ͂legɔ is a local guitar made with two strings joined to a calabash and a stick to make a rhythmic and melodic sound which is accompanied by singing. Singers of kɔ͂legɔ songs are men or young boys. King Ayisoba, Stevo, Guyone and Ayuunɛ Sulley among others who are singers of kɔ͂legɔ music. They are known in Ghana and in some parts of the world. Kɔ͂legɔ is one of the Farefari oral genres which is still much alive. 22 Yɔŋɔ is a type of oral performance rendered by men but can sometimes be joined by some women. Yɔŋɔ is performed using dinlaŋa or dinlasi/dinlᴐnᴐ (a sizeble metal rattles for the palm) to make melodic sounds, accompanied by singing and energetic dancing. 23 Pitesi (sg piteŋa) is usually performed by a man using a small metal rattles on the fingers, used to create sound for the performances. This sound goes with singing usually praise songs. 19

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duureŋa,24 nansãsi25 and Anaanuurɛ pɔgesi yuuma/baasi among others. All these forms of entertainment can be performed at funerals, festivals (Adaakɔya, Kibesa, Azambene etc.), at the chief’s palace and on durbar grounds (see Alhassan, 2017). Even though Farefari women have a number of songs they perform such as kinkã’asi ŋmɛ’a yuuma,26 biyaala yuuma,27 pͻgesi tuuma yuuma,28 sin-yaga or ayayariee29 among others, this study focused on the performance of Anaanuurɛ Pͻgesi yuuma (APY)30 or baaŋa. We intend studying these as a literary genre. Previous literature has provided evidence that various works have been done on Gurenε culture. Scholars like Nsoh & Adjei (2010), Nsoh et al. (2010), Ababila (2006), Rattray (1969), Meyer (1945), Cardinal (1920) and others have worked on Gurenε culture, but little or no attention has been given to Anaanuurɛ Pɔgesi yuuma. With the exception of Atintono (2010) who collected and archived folktales and women songs, (without analysis) very little has been done by way of literary analysis as we have done in this research. Unlike some singers who write and record in recording studios, the APY for instance, are not even collected. These songs may be composed anywhere, on the farm, at work, at political rallies and so forth and could therefore be lost very easily if not properly documented.  uureŋa is a kɔ͂legɔ-like musical instrument made from a calabash, a stick and a string played by a D man as he sings on various themes. The performance is usually backed with maracas (sin-yaka) to add more musicality to the performance. 25 Nasãsi is similar to yɔŋɔ. Dancers of nasãsi put on a number of metal rattles around their ankles. They also put on heavy sandals to create melodious sounds as they stamp their feet uniformly to dance. The onomatopoeia name nasãsi depicts the sounds the dance makes as the dancers perform. The performance also goes with singing that is solely associated with the dance. 26 The Kinka’asi song is performed by women. A calabash is broken into pieces and is shape into circular forms. Holes are then created in the middle of each of the shaped calabash pieces; they are then piled up through their holes in a stick. Each woman may hold one or two kinka’asi sticks. They are accompanying by kinka’asi songs. 27 Biyaala yuuma (lullabies) are mostly folk songs or sometimes composed by women which are sung to children. 28 Pɔgesi tuuma yuma (women work songs), these are work songs that are performed by women during work. 29 Sin-yaga or ayayariee, these are songs mainly performed by young ladies. They are known as Farefari maiden songs and performed at night after they have finished their evening meals. 30 Anaanuurɛ Pɔgesi Yuma (APY) refers to songs that are composed and rendered or performed by various women groups in the Farefari Community. 24

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In order to document these songs comprehensively, there is the need to collect them, study their composition and how they are performed. This will fill the documentation gab and add knowledge to this area of Gurenɛ oral literature. Data used for this research was taken from a collection of songs recorded between October and November 2016 at Feo, Soe, Namoo, Bongo town, Boko and Zɔkɔ, all in the Bongo District of Ghana. One of the authors was a participant observer at the field and conducted the recordings. The secondary data was drawn from Atintono’s archived manuscripts collected in 2010. The chapter is divided into eight sections. The first section introduces the reader to the general concept and outline of the chapter. The next section discusses what constitutes the songs. The following sections focus on the formation of the women groups, the role of the performer and their audience in the performance of Anaanuurɛ Pɔgesi Yuuma (APY), the nature and performance of the Anaanuurɛ Pɔgesi Yuuma (APY). Finally, we summarise the chapter and draw our conclusions. To make for easy understanding, English capital letters are used to refer to the songs while numbers are used to refer to the lines in the songs. Each song is presented with its title at the appendix. Anaanuurɛ Pɔgesi yuuma (APY) and Farefari women songs will be used interchangeably in the chapter.

1.1 Research approach As observed above our study was focused on women songs composed and performed mostly in the Bongo district of Ghana. Most communities in the Farefari area have such groups. As a result, we purposefully sampled the Sugeri Anaanuurɛ Pɔgesi performing group in Feo led by the lead singer Hajia Zenabu. Both researchers come from the district and one of them live in a community next to the subjects. The second researcher has known and worked with the group for about 30 years. Most importantly, unlike most of Anaanuurɛ groups, singing was the main motivation for the creation of

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the group. The research approach was therefore participant observation. In addition to living and participating directly in the group’s performance, one of the researchers organized, participated and observed a number of performances by the group. In addition to the observation, we also interviewed the lead singer and her chorus singers. Transcriptions from the interviews supported the study and analysis of song texts. One other feature that attracted the researchers is that the sampled group was one of the earliest established groups whose membership has hardly changed. Most of its members are aged above 60 years. The primary data mostly came from sessions purposely organized for the project or recordings done while they performed at community functions. These were systematically and meticulously cleaned and transcribed into texts then translated into English. The secondary data was taken from Atintono Awinkene’s collections of similar song texts in Farefari speaking communities in 2010. The research design is qualitative. Consequently, we critically studied, analysed and described the phenomena as the data presented itself.

2.0

The concept of pͻka ‘woman’ among the Farefari

In this section, we briefly explain the concept pͻka ‘woman’ among the Farefari in order to situate her in the context of women songs. A woman in the Farefari Community is a person who does not only have the natural biological female features from birth but also, a person who is morally upright, a mother, a wife, a helper and a social companion. She is expected to submit to and respect not only her husband and parents but also to the elderly in society particularly the immediate siblings of the husband. She must fully relocate to the husband’s community and family. Subsequently, she must take the identity of that community and be given a new name. She can only refer to her husband’s family as home and the parents’ as a house. Decision-making among the Farefari is stratified. The youth, women, men and elders are all involved in the decision-making process. While women have the

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right to take decisions at home and inside the house; men are expected to carry on the same function outside the home. This is also found elsewhere in Africa. In Zimbabwe for instance, Chinouriri (2015:396) argued that “man ordered the woman, the woman managed the man. The woman commanded on a regular basis the obedience of the entire family by the authority of her traditional role of processing, cooking and apportioning edible food.” Therefore, since everything is stratified, when it comes to certain roles like traditional political governance in the Farefari society which is mostly practised outside homes, women may have limited roles (See Meyer 1945). Though women may have good inputs to make, they sometimes have to pass through their husbands and elders in their families or put their message across through songs because of the strict role stratification. Women also have more of an advisory role in the decision-making process which is sometimes overlooked by foreigners who do not understand the culture. Also, this is in line with Faseke (1998) that, over the years, women have combined a number of roles as wife, mother and so on. It is therefore not surprising that many women songs are targeted at community and political leadership. The emergence of Anaanuurɛ baaŋa was partially motivated by these critical roles of women as change agents in their communities.

3.0 Understanding Anaanuurɛ Pͻgesi Yuuma? Before we discuss what constitutes these women songs, we take a brief look at the individual words that come together to form Anaanuurɛ pͻgesi yuuma. Anaanuurɛ is a compound stem comprising the nominalizer [a-], the verb naɛ

‘to come/join together or ‘unite’ and the noun, nuurɛ ‘mouth’. The compound literally means ‘becoming one mouth’ an imagery signifying several mouths coming together as one to express unity and non-disagreements. Pɔgesi means ‘women’; while yuuma stands for ‘songs’, the plural of yuunɛ ‘song.’ The entire construction, Anaanuurɛ pͻgesi yuuma, denotes ‘the songs of women who agree with one another.’ As a recognized named group, we

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refer to the songs as ‘united women's songs.’ It is not by coincidence that these words came together to form the name Anaanuurɛ pͻgesi yuuma. The name has a great influence on what the women do. Anaanuurɛ pɔgesi are women in the Farefari community who come together to form women groups to help each other and in this case, also sing songs. We however, admit that singing is not the motivating cause or factor for the emergence of most anaanuurɛ women groups. Singing is however, the activity that drives the major activities they do, and indeed, sustains the groups. Almost every community in the area has such groups with songs as their trade mark. They farm for each other; contribute money to support their children in school and above all, they are strongly united and do everything towards achieving one goal. We use yuuma and baaŋa interchangeably to refer to songs for the purposes of this chapter. It is however, worthy of note that baaŋa refers more to singing that is not usually accompanied by choruses such as praise singing, and performed in formal contexts such as funerals, rallies, durbar and on festival grounds, or in ritualistic contexts such during the initiation of the Tindaana31 or bakolego daana.32 For instance, Kyere and Ampofo (2015:377) explained that “… in the religious arena, women have performed songs for deities and ancestors’ songs of praise, supplication and appreciation.” The Anaanuurɛ groups have subsequently extended to churches, mosques and other social gatherings in the area. In the Catholic Church for instance, Christian mothers in the spirit of women solidarity sing songs in praise of God. The Muslim women also sing to praise Allah/God or just to entertain themselves. The Anaanuurɛ women’s spirit is popular among market women, women in various trades such as: hairdressing, sewing, smock material weaving, and many other trades usually dominated by women. These women A Tindaana is the spiritual head and the custodian of the entire land of communities in the Farefari and several communities in Northern Ghana. 32 The Bakolego daana is the spiritual intermediary between the ancestors, shrine gods, and God on the one hand, and humans on the other. He has the singular honour of interpreting messages from the spiritual world. 31

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sing already existing songs or compose new songs. It is important to note that their men counterparts do not have parallel singing groups even though there exist songs which are exclusively the preserve of men.

4.0 The evolution, growth and development of Anaanuurɛ women’s groups The groups are believed to have existed since the emergence of the Farefari people. The main difference however between the precursor groups and the modern ones is the degree of formality. While the former was more informal and neither held regular meetings nor elected leaders, the latter incorporates these features and many others associated with modern day associations or clubs. The main purpose of creating such groups was to support each other on various personal and community activities. In previous times, the lead singer was considered the head of the groups. Even though she still remains the head and inspiration to the groups in many cases, the leader must not necessarily be the lead singer. One obvious difference is that the APYs have identifiable individual names in addition to the generic name Anaanuurɛ pɔgesi usually printed on their paraphernalia such as T-shirts, head-scarves and banners. These modern-day groups also have regular meetings where they compose their songs and plan their activities. Some of these activities include attendance at programmes such as funerals, political rallies; seeking and crafting economic empowering projects or helping one another out on farms, at construction sites and so forth. It is important to note that the content, focus, purpose and outlook of the Anaanuurɛ groups have drifted substantially from the traditional informal women’s group. The political orientation has changed while a variety of songs have expanded drastically with the emergence of the Anaanuurɛ groups. We, however, acknowledge that song structures for both the traditional and Anaanuurɛ groups are generally similar. They both have a call and response structure; lead singers and chorus singers for different lines; they are in

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stanzas while the refrain remains a major feature in both songs. They both perform danceable and non-danceable songs. Audience acknowledges the singers and dancers by putting money on their foreheads or throwing it gently at them. Again, in other cases, performances are accompanied by dancing, body movement, ululation, clapping etc. Most importantly the performance of Anaanuurɛ pͻgesi yuuma is dependent on the audience. In the period predating institutionalization of Anaanuurɛ groups, women used to sing in groups at funerals, at construction sites, on farms etc. The Anaanuurɛ pͻgesi yuuma was an evolution from a long-standing singing tradition among women in the area. It was one of the major developmental stages of the women songs. According to Hajia Zenabu Amadu (P.C), women used to play more restricted roles in public and in oral performances until the 1980s. She added that the only time you would see women staging performances in public in the olden days was at funeral grounds where they sang as part of the ritual performance; at the tindaana’s house, where women sang for rituals to be performed to rainfall33; singing normal folk songs on farms or at construction sites, etc. Also, young ladies sang at a house that was yet to perform final funeral rites for their deceased family member. These young ladies mainly performed Farefari maiden songs at night after they have finished their evening meals and chores. This was how singing groups or women singing associations partly began and developed. Singing was accompanied by clapping, maracas, ululation, dancing etc. The ability of women to understand group dynamics, resolve conflict and commit to group goals and objectives strengthened and sustained the groups in their formative informal stages. At the early stages of their development, the decision to perform was spontaneous and instantaneous. There was usually no planned gathering before performance. Similarly, many songs were folk songs known and sang in the community with occasional song composition by lead singers or gifted persons in communities. As it is the case today, they used the songs to criticize society, praise people and communicate various messages. 33

This happens when the community lacks rain for a long time.

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The proliferation of what came to be called Anaanuurɛ groups coincided with the 31st December 1981 Revolution (usually referred to as the 31st December Revolution) led by Ft. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings. This was an uprising that gained popular support among the youth and the vulnerable in society including women. During the period, the wife of the president established the 31st December Women’s Movement (DWM) which became extremely popular with women especially in rural communities. As a result, it became competitive and attractive to belong to this civil society organisation which had a lot of government influence and support. It is therefore not surprising that some of their songs are in praise of J.J Rawlings and some of his appointees. Song C is a typical example which is in praise of J.J Rawlings and Jacob Agambire (District Chief Executive of Bongo at the time). Until recently, most of the groups were affiliated to the former president and wife’s party. With the return to party politics and the change of government in the year 2000, party enthusiasts and government appointees also deliberately formed new groups or attracted those from the deposed party. The formation of these Anaanuurɛ pɔgesi groups are therefore in many cases backed by various political enthusiasts and traditional political authorities. Since the groups may be backed by political affiliations, each group usually comprises of members or sympathisers of a particular political party. However, with the passage of time, many groups are formed without any political coloration. Since women sing songs during communal work within the village, they are able to identify good singers among themselves and form singing groups. Therefore, most of the groups are formed based on the location of the women. It is common to find every group with its members being mainly women within a particular village. However, few men are members of some groups who are not necessarily singers but probably executive members in the group. For instance, one of the Balungo women groups had a man among them who was the group secretary. The purpose of these groups is not necessarily to sing as observed earlier, but as the saying goes, “all work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy.” It is in this

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regard that at the various meetings whether on the farm, during flooring or plastering of a compound, at political or a health gathering among others, they sing some already existing songs and create new ones to entertain themselves. Songs composed by one group are adopted or adapted by another group. One important objective of the Anaanuurɛ groups is to provide solidarity and social protection for members and their children as vulnerable persons. The 31st December Women’s Movement, from which many of the groups originally derived inspiration and which facilitated their creation, was a women’s emancipation organization. The groups therefore had as a major aim to protect the interests of women through personal development, economic empowerment, attracting women dominated community projects such as craft centres and Daycare Centres, and in particular providing a voice for them in communities and on various platforms. Many of them subsequently became community leaders.

5.0 The role of the performer and the audience in Anaanuurɛ Pɔgesi yuuma (APY) This section briefly discusses the roles that lead singers, chorus singers, and the audience play in the performance of Anaanuurɛ Pɔgesi yuuma. These three actors are very central and interdependent in the performance of the Anaanuurɛ pɔgesi yuuma.

5.1 The role of the lead singer In every oral performance, the lead performer plays a major role as she is the driver of the performance. The dynamism of the lead performer determines the success of the performance. In the performance of Anaanuurɛ pͻgesi yuuma, the lead singer directs the whole performance. She decides when to start and end songs. She composes most of the songs sung during performances. This is why Agyekum (2013:33) stated that ‘the performance is the major task of the

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performer, and it is his responsibility to entertain, educate, capture and sustain the attention of his/her audience throughout the period of the performance (also see Okpewho 1992:34).’ The lead singer keeps everybody awake throughout the performance by bringing in songs that will interest the audience. Also, she eulogises the audience by their appellations, ancestor and clan names. She sometimes climaxes the performance by bringing in danceable songs and encourages the audience to dance and also lures them to offer her money. She sometimes jumps in to dance whiles one of the women takes over by leading the performance. She constantly moves her body, throws her hands in the air, directs them to the audience or chorus singers in an effort to keep the performance exciting and interesting. These gestures and movements are an attempt to attract attention to herself and to sustain interest in messages. A good performance is as good as its lead singer. It is mostly her duty to know when, where and what time to perform certain songs to satisfy and please the audience and chorus singers. She adds gestures and body movement to dramatise the performance. Thus, there is always a lot of pressure on her as she has to perform well to keep her dignity and the visibility of the group. For the Anaanuurɛ pɔgesi groups, every performance outing is a branding and visibility campaign that they never fail to take opportunity. In order to maintain and sustain their respect and integrity, some lead singers drink alcohol to enable them to perform well. Others may go to the extent of seeking spiritual powers to be able to sing well or to protect themselves against evil persons. The lead singer in our study is a Muslimah34 and according to her, her religion would not permit her to take alcohol. In order to remain relevant, she rehearses all the time even in the kitchen to maintain her name and impress her audience as an experienced singer. According Hajia Zenabu (pc), as a widow and illiterate she has nothing to do than farming, 34

A female Muslim

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trading and singing. She added that it is her job and she is not ashamed of it. Her community, children and the whole family at large are proud of her. They respect her talent and they always support her. On the other hand, she has a lot of enemies in the community as she sometimes sings to criticise negative behaviours in society. People who are affected by her critical songs turn to hate her. Song E in the Appendix is a typical example where she composed a song to condemn the bad behavior of the youth During a performance, the lead singer occasionally sings a solo song in which both chorus singers and audience do not actively participate. This is the time to show to the two actors her performance quality as lead singer and to demonstrate to her chorus singers that she is in control of the group not for anything other than her skills in performance (see Okpewho 1992:33). During such occasions, the audience is very silent in order to enjoy the performance. They also ululate and shout out praises to encourage her to give out more.

5.2 The role of the chorus singers The chorus singers in performance contexts may be categorized into two namely, the women singers who are partners or colleagues of the lead singer and work with her as a team, and the audience. These, we refer to respectively as the group chorus singers and the audience chorus singers. The former consistently perform with the lead singer throughout a given performance session. They usually compose and rehearse the songs together with the lead singer before a given formal performance and are therefore conversant with all songs introduced by the lead singer at any gathering. They can be bored if the lead singer cannot impress the audience and can also help the lead singer in leading the performance by reminding her of appellations of people present and what type of song to sing next. The audience and chorus singers only join song performance in given contexts. For instance, Anaanuurɛ groups very often sing folk songs which are well known by almost everyone in the community, so when

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such songs are performed the audience may easily sing along with the group. It is also possible for songs that have been composed by the groups to become known across several communities. It is usually a very ecstatic moment when the audience joins in a singing performance. This is usually associated with dance and other forms of body movements, ululations, shouts and so forth. There is also pressure on the group chorus singers as they have to memorise every new song fast enough in order to respond to their lines well. Also, in the process of performance, one of the chorus singers could take over and lead the singing. This happens when the lead singer is exhausted, has missed her lines, taken the dance floor or cannot think of a new song quickly. Some of the group chorus singers also help in the composition of the songs. Though they may not be able to lead the singing, they could be good composers. However, some of them are good singers just as the lead singers. Zenabu Amanu (P.C.) informed one of the authors that, before she became a lead singer and later a leader of her group, she was a chorus singer to Abuna Ayɔregɔ (a lead singer of one of the Anaanuurɛ groups at Feo). At the time, she used to compose many songs and sought comments from her colleagues. The chorus singers may also offer money to each other and also challenge each other or the audience to the dance floor.

5.3 The role of the audience Like the lead singer, the audience also plays a significant role in the performance quality. (see Okpewho 1992:57-63). The audience determines what to expect from the singers. This is why Unruh (2015:192) observed that ‘often there is little separation between performers and audience because everyone present is part of the performance community’. The mood and profile of the audience at the Anaanuurɛ group performance determine the nature of the performance. It is therefore not surprising that during the field

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work we observed that the lead singer performed the same song at different gatherings differently. The audience also have the duty to motivate the singers by applauding and offering them money, giving them attention and participating in the singing and dancing as mentioned above. Since the singers’ main aim is to satisfy the audience, the profile 9 male/ female, ordinary/prominent, adult/children) as well as the enthusiasm of the singers of the audience will influence the choice of songs sang at a particular gathering (see Nsoh et al 2010). Thus, the women cannot perform without the audience. The only time I saw them perform without audience was their rehearsal session. During rehearsal, other members in the group perform the role of the audience: they judge, criticize, encourage and provide aesthetic evaluation.

6.0

Analysis of Anaanuurɛ pͻgesi yuuma (APY)

Until now, we have sought to profile characters and the Anaanuurɛ pͻgesi yuuma. The discussion in the previous sections was to provide the background and basis for the analysis. We now focus on analyzing the song structure of the Anaanuure pɔgesi in the sections that follow. As mentioned in the introduction, the songs will be identified by capital letters whiles lines will be identified by numbers. Our analysis covers two Anaanuurɛ groups in Feo and Bulungo in the Bongo district and another in Sumbrungo in the Bolgatanga Municipality. Our emphasis is however on the Feo group whom we worked with during the field work. The choice of the Balungo and Sumbrungo groups is to compare the performance of the three groups in order to support our findings in the target group. We now analyse the songs focusing on their composition, structure and the literary devices employed by the artist in performance. We shall also discuss the performance process in this section.

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6.1 Composition of Anaanuurɛ songs The women employ two strategies in composing their songs. The traditional women songs were mostly composed in performance as they hardly prepare before performance (Lord 1978:13-14; Okpewho 1992:53). Since Anaanuurɛ groups are organized and institutionalized, many of their songs are prepared and rehearsed ahead of performance. The lead singer together with the rest of the group composes songs which are performed at given functions. In some cases, such as the visit of an important personality, specific songs may be composed for the occasion. A second important approach is spontaneous composition where the women compose the songs during performance. This may be motivated by events during performance such as the exceptional generosity of their host or provocation by a rival group. In such cases, they immediately compose songs to either give praise or mock the rival group. In the sections that follow, we discuss in some detail the structure of Anaanuurɛ women songs.

6. 2 Call-response structure The most obvious structure of the songs is their call-response structure. The lead singers call for the response and the chorus singers take over in their response. It is the common structure for many songs cross-culturally. We demonstrate the structure with song A, line 1 to 4 below. Example 1

Song A, line 1-4

1. LS

Ya bem bã’asi n boi tiŋa wa zuo What kind of sicknesses are on this land

2. CS A de la eesi It is AIDS

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3. LS

Bem bã’a n boi tiŋa wa zuo wa What kind of sickness is on this land

4. CS A de la eesi It is AIDS The above song text shows the call and response structure of the genre. In line 1 of the song above, the lead singer calls for the response in a question form and the chorus singers respond in statements in lines 2 and 4. The call section is not always in a question form. The use of the question structure in this case is to lay emphasis in order to attract attention to issue she is about to raise; in this case, the AIDS epidemic. She also adopted the question-statement parallel structure to the call-response structure in order to raise an important societal threat. It was as if she was appealing to the chorus singers and the audience to act on the problem immediately. The strategy also allows both lead singer and chorus singers to demonstrate to the audience that they share some knowledge on the subject they are singing about. It is as if the lead singer is telling the support singers that “you can guess accurately what I am about to say, please respond”. In addition to the call-response structure, we observe that the lead singer repeats her lines and therefore compels the chorus singers to repeat their responses. Again, this is a common stylistic tool or device employed by lead singers and artists in different genres in Farefari such as folktales, riddles, songs, lullabies etc to sustain musicality in songs, engage the attention of the listeners, lay emphasis on event etc. Repetition as a literary device does not only focus attention on a piece of oral expression but also serves certain practical purpose in the overall organisation of oral performance (See Okpewho 1992 and Nsoh et.al 2010). It is also a strategy to carry all her refrain singers along with her especially when the song is new, or the refrain singers are detracted. In song C line 2 saa naa yinɛ is repeated 21 times wholly and in line 37 saa naa yinɛ akulepeele naa la Azuaa… is repeated only 2 twice. Thus, beside the

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linear repetition of whole lines, some of the lines are partially repeated. For instance, in song D (see Apendix), the first stanza is a partial repetition of the subsequent stanzas. It is also interesting to note that the chorus singers do not read nor write the English language but manage to code mix by using AIDS, party, vote and other English expressions. They however, integrate the English items into the phonological and lexical structure of the Farefari language. For instance, AIDS is thus realised as eesi; party as paati; and vote and votum.

Appellations Additionally, the women make extensive use of appellations in the composition of their songs. Since many of the songs are sang to praise people or directly address personalities in their communities, they cannot do without appellations. From the field observation, we noted that all the lead singers in our study make use of appellations, not only to praise people but also to beautify their works. One of the lead singers, Zenabu Amadu of Feo, makes extensive use of appellations in her songs. Her lines are always long due to the number of times appellations are repeatedly employed. She is well versed with appellations of people in and around the community. She has grown and lived in the community and conducted business in the communities around her for a long time and has therefore built a stock of appellations for individuals, clans, groups and communities. Consider Song E, line 1 of her song in example (2) below. Example 2

Song E, line 1

Appellations 1. LS ya yele na’am lem yaarum ooo, ba yaaba daa de la Sumpikiŋɔ n  vuge Booŋo, yele ya na’am la bilia, ya yaaba bilia n belum kiima, a belum kiima lem yaarum, Boonaba n doe

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Nalerigu daarɛ la, ba tari la huu huu taa doori la yoo aaa… a kan nyaŋɛ na’am la, n soke bisɛ boonaba nyaŋɛ Booŋo me yo?  “tell chief that tasted salt, his ancestor was Sumpikiŋɔ that covered Bongo, tell baby chief, your baby ancestor who is the chief has begged the senior in order to taste salt”, when Bongo Chief went to Nalerigu to contest for the chieftaincy, they said huuu huuu huuu he was going in vain, he can’t even handle of the na’am (skin), I ask you has the Bongo Chief been able to rule Bongo or not?” (The bolded parts of the song above are the appellations found in her songs) In the appellation above, the lead singer eulogizes the paramount chief of Bongo whose chieftaincy appellation is na’am lem yaarum which means the chief has tasted the most coveted spice, salt. In the past, salt was a rare commodity and even now it is required to make food complete. In order to demonstrate the greatness of the paramount chief, the leader singer likens him to a huge umbrella-like object which covers the whole of his paramountcy, Bongo. She goes on to show the chief as a humble person likening him to a baby who begs elders in order to taste salt, the ultimate. Nsɔma Abaa, on the other hand, makes use of appellations but she has a style of breaking her appellations into shorter lines. Having observed her songs, we noticed that, whenever she used appellations the chorus singers responded by saying uhuummm and they continue with this response till the end of the song. Her style of using the appellations is to enable the audience to hear all the appellations in their songs. This may excite the audience and she may probably get favours in the form of money from them. The chorus singers’ lines will mostly end with uhummmu uhummmu uhummm. However, Nsɔma sometimes adopts the general style employed

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by Zenabu. It is important to state here that some of the women groups including Zenabu’s also use uhummm in their songs sometimes in similar circumstances. They do this especially if they are performing a solo song or one that is used to tell a story. We also found that, unlike Zenabu who will complete the appellations before her chorus singers respond; Nsɔma involves the chorus singers throughout the appellations. Observe song A below by Nsɔma, from line 6 to 11 in example (3). Example 3

Song A line 6 to 11



The Uhummmmu response in Nsoma’s songs

6. LS

Yele ya kua tiŋa Naba woi Tell chief of farming (appellations)

7. CS

uhummmm… uhmmmm…

8. LS

Na’am kopelega lagum nyuura Drinking royal clean water together (appellations)

9. CS uhummm ‘uhummmm…’ 10. LS tingɔnkeko belum zi’ire

A deity has begged to settle in the land (appellations)

11. CS uhummmu uhummmu uhummm… ‘uhummmu uhummmu uhummm…’ Again, the use of ‘uhummmmu’ as a chorus response is associated with solo performance by the lead singer. Such solo performances are usually rich in appellations and were employed by all three lead artists on those occasions. The intention is to minimize interruptions or interference with the

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performance so that people can listen to, appreciate and acknowledge the appellations. There are usually occasional uses of ululations or the skillful use of the tongue to make a shrill musical sound very much enjoyed by Farefari audience. The lead singer of the Sumbureŋɔ women group35 also makes good use of appellations in her songs. Her style of singing in terms of the use of appellations is similar to that of Zenabu. Consider a few lines of one of her songs, Example 4

song G line 25 to 27



Sumbrungo women songs

25. LS yele ya Ayelesunɛ piɛ ti’a, yaaba Amɔgerɛ, kosɔmɔ n lagum nyuura, a basɛ ti gurɛ kuure Tell Ayelesunɛ ancestor Amɔgerɛ, the potable water for everyone together, he should let us hold the hoe

26. CS ee, kuure gani la sɛla woo yes hoe is better than any other thing 27. LS ya yi basɛ ti gurɛ kuure Then let us hold the hoe (The bolded section sare appellations, in praise of Ayelesunɛ, who is described as the potable ancestral reservoir from which everyone drinks). Again, as part of the appellations, the women make use of personal names, clan names, names of ancestors, town/village names, deity names and so on. Many of the names are part of the appellations. The names are used when they want to directly address someone. Also, to get the attention of the audience, the women cry out names of the individual members of the audience, clan names, and names of deities they (the audience) believe in, among others. The use of these names is also to lure them to dance or 35

Their songs were taken from a secondary source, therefore, we do not have their meta data.

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give the singers money. It is also a strategy to keep the audience alive and focused on the performance. Consider song D line 3, 4, 11 in example (5) below. Example 5

Song D line 3, 4, 11



Address forms: names

3. LS. Adeliga wooi yama ya’am yeti boo? Adeliga (name of deity) wooi what do you have to say? 4. LS. Abayo’e dee Gaana yeti bo? Abayo’e , but what has Ghana got to say?. yele ya Azɔmmahama yetaa… Birikina bɔba sa ba tiiri la pɛɛma, bugundɔɔrɔ yɛgera, ba lɔbera kuga dee Azɔmmahama yeti boo…? Tell John Mahama that, in Burkina they are shooting bow and arrow, guns are being fired, they are throwing stones, but what has John Mahama got to say? 6. LS. Yele ya Agekɔpi Agambire yeti dee Gaana yeti bo? Ask Jecob Agambire what has Ghana got to say? The above bolded parts of the text show how the women use deity names, town names and names of people in their songs. Again, notice that John Mahama and Jacob Agambire are both politicians and belong to the same party as the lead singer.

6.3 The use of code mixing Code mixing is another strategy that is commonly adopted by the Anaanuurɛ singers. They encounter English at home with their children, at religious and other social gatherings, in the market place and so forth.

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It is therefore possible for them to integrate English loan words into their performances unconsciously. They code mix in order to put their message across in a language that will capture the attention of the general public especially the youth. Again, not all of the borrowed words have Gurenɛ equivalent expressions and that might be one of the reasons why they borrow from English. The use of English in Ghana is prestigious, and the women are very conscious of this as they engage their audience. However, they are unable to code-switch because none of them is literate in the English language. Observe song E line 4 and song G lines 9 and 10 in Example (6) below. Example 6

Song E, line 4

4. CS. Boonaba n wi too… Wire-Kɔrisi n wi’ too ooi ti Dɔgeta yetaa, bã’a bo sore aaa... C.S.M bo sore aaa... ti suuba yɛgeraa…, la ti kɔ’ɔm zoi mɛ ãã, tɔgɛ ti nɛreba bɔkaa…, la ti kɔ’ɔm zoi mɛ zɔta dee yuuna sinaa… Nɛra woo bɔkɛ ya ti C.S.M la lɔkɛ Booŋo la mɛ, ya baŋɛ ti sɛbin tuma tɔgɛ ti nɛra woo bɔkɛɛ… “Bongo Chief has called us, Red-Cross has called us, that doctor said, there is sickness on the way aaa… C.S.M is on the way aaa… and witches are also competing, so we should run ããã, and educate people, we should run and be singing, everybody understand that C.S.M has locked up Bongo, know that by seven we have spoken and people understood” Observing the above extracts, you will realise that the bolded English words and expressions have been integrated into word structure of the language ‘seven is pronounced sɛbin; ‘lock’ became lɔkɛ; doctor is rendered dɔgeta while Red-Cross is pronounced Wire-Kɔrisi. Whiles, CSM does not have a local equivalent; ‘seven’, ‘doctor’ and ‘lock’ have very good substitutes which could be used by the singers. The decision

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to select these foreign language equivalents may be attributable to the reasons spelt out above and possibly several others. In song G line 9 and 10 below, it may be observed that bankum which means ‘bank’ has been used in the song. Example 7

Song G, line 9 and 10



9). CS ? hu bia de la kanaa?

10. CS. bɔna bankum

‘Who is your child?’ “In the bank”

‘Bank’ has no direct Gurenɛ equivalent, so the composer decided to use bankum because of the contact of English speakers with these women. All the women in our study regularly employ code-mixing in their songs.

6.4 Other Stylistic Features The women also employ several stylistic tools such as imagery, simile, repetition, parallelism, symbolism, ideophones, proverbial expressions and figurative language in general to enrich the songs and to capture the attention of the audience. We discuss at least four of them to depict our observations of these tools in the field.



6.4.1

Proverb use

In line 2 of song H below, the women used the proverb tarema ŋmɛ’ɛri la gere, which literally means ‘the weak or disadvantaged person hits the thigh.’ Example 8

Song H line 2

2. LS/CS ba yeti ԑԑ tuma wum yaa…, soo soo soo tarema ŋwԑ’ԑri la gere, ya

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Boko naba naa naa Sagebↄ naba naa…ya belum nԑra woo yeti ba san votum ba kulaa… dee kɛ’ɛma boi mԑ ti tarema bↄna ba ka zuni taabaa ba san tuura ya , ya sinaa… We said yes, we have heard please please please the poor or the subordinate have no say Boko chief naa naa Sagebↄ chief naa. Beg everybody to go home after voting because there is always the strong ones and the weaker ones, we are not equal if they insult you, be quiet. This is an expression to say people, especially the disadvantaged should endeavor to appreciate or acknowledge every gesture, and also be submissive whenever the situation demands. It is in this respect that the singers appealed to voters especially those in their political party to return quietly home after casting their votes. They further appealed to them not to respond to insults from the rival party. The songs are replete with proverbs.



6.4.2

The use of simile

Simile is a literary device which is regularly employed by the artists in question. bii and wuu ‘like’ are elements used in the songs to mark comparison or in this particular case, the occurrence of a ‘simile’. For instance, in Song C line 9, the lead singer (Zenabu), compares how they carried themselves to cross the river as if they were carrying corpses. Example 9

Song C line 9

9. LS. Baaba bisɛ ya pɔgesi n nɔŋɛ Ageege ti ba zɛɛra taaba bii kum la. Father, see how women love J.J and they have to carry each other like corpse

The lead singer uses the word bii ‘like.’ This was to indicate how they were committed to President J. J. Rawlings and his party and consequently risked

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to cross rivers while helping to carry each other in order to meet him. Again, in Song B line 9 below the singer compares the dance movements of young women to the dangling of Shea fruits on a Shea tree. Here she uses the word wuu ‘like.’It is important to state that, bii and wuu are used interchangeably in the language to refer to ‘like.’ Example 10

Song B line 9

9. LS Ya boti wa’a dee gɛgera kɔma duma n zãsɛ wa’a dee miina wuu ta’ama waa… You want to dance, and you are dangling, children who learnt how to dance and they are shaking like shea fruits on a shea tree.

6.4 The use of Imagery Another commonly used literary device is imagery. Images allow the artist to re-enact past events or paint imaginary events in order to assist the audience share her experiences and thoughts. Images bring the audience face-to-face with reality. Anaanuurɛ singers exploit this device extensively to drum home their message by involving the audience. The first image that comes to mind in our study is the one associated with the name of the singing groups, namely anaanuurɛ pɔgesi which literally means ‘joined mouths’ women.’ As was explained in the introduction, the word annanuurɛ comprises the nominalizer [a-], the verb naɛ [-naa-] ‘join together’ and the noun nuurɛ ‘mouth.’ ‘Mouth’ in its extended meaning also refers to opinion. What we see therefore is an image of the joining of the mouths of several different women with divergent opinions into one big mouth, signifying the aggregation opinions leading to an agreement to work together as a team.

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Again, in song C line 5,11,13, 21 23 and 25, the lead singer painted an image of determined women carrying each other like copses in order to cross a flooded river following a torrential rainfall. The re-enactment of the river crossing event places the singers and their audience at the scene again. Observe song C text below Example 11

Line 5, 11,13, 21,23,25,

5. LS

Bisɛ ya saaga ni se’em ti pɔgesi tara kua, See how it has rained and women are farming

11. LS Ayɔregɔ-Buna n pakɛ fuo yese yɔkɛ zua yaaa… Ayɔregɔ-Buna picked her dress and started running yaaa… 13. LS Tuma tari ta paɛ la Booŋo kulega ti ko’om pirɛ kulegaa… When we got to Booŋo river, the river was full 21. LS Mam kɔ’ɛ n fuo ŋwana dikɛ yɔkɛ sia yaaa… I removed my cloth and tired it around my waist yaaa… 23. LS Yaŋa lebe ta yabegɛ n vɔnɛŋa dikɛ vile zuo yaaa… And i removed my pants and tires head on my head 25. LS Yaŋa paɛ ta zɛɛ Ayɔregɔ-Buna tukɛ doe kulegaa…

And now went to pick Ayɔregɔ-Buna and crossed the river

As may be seen from the extracts, the lead singer painted a vivid and grueling picture of their efforts to cross a river in order to meet the President of Ghana. They did it in spite of the risk and they want the audience to share their pain and commitment to the cause of the President.

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7.0 Conclusion The chapter discussed the Anaanuurɛ women’s songs of the Farefari communities in northern Ghana. The study focused on the Sugeri group in the Feo community of the Bongo district. The group has worked together for more than thirty years. Unlike many of the Anaanuurɛ groups of the Farefari community, singing is their core business. They however engage in other activities such as supporting each other on their farms, construction of houses etc. Over the several years of their existence, they have become very skilled in the women songs, authored many of them and gained respect in the entire Farefari area and among other women groups. Even though they have political roots like many of the groups, they have managed to maintain a non-partisan outlook with the passage of time. They have become a voice of the women and other vulnerable groups in their communities and continue to lead the women’s emancipation agenda. Their single most important threat is the ageing membership of the group. There is the need to encourage and train more young women to join the group. Their songs have never been professionally recorded in the studio. A copy of the video of their performance which we handed to them motivated them and they expressed their commitment to start to record their songs. They subsequently recorded and launched their songs early this year. We observed that the women employed a wide range of stylistic tools such as repetition, proverbs, simile, ideophones etc to entertain and communicate their messages to their audience. In that regard, the lead singer is very instrumental in composing and directing the performance. Throughout the performance, the singers are able to sustain and excite their audience and make them a part of the performance. The Anaanuure pɔgesi yuuma is a genre that has been sustained through its traditional form to its modern-day status. A conscious effort must be made by the artists, the community and government to ensure their continued survival. For now, there is no serious threat to its future development, but individual songs disappear with the passage of time.

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REFERENCES Ababila, A. J. (2006). Sociolinguistic analysis of Gurenԑ proverbs. Unpublished. M.Phil. thesis, University of Education, Winneba. Adongo, H. A. (2008). Spectrographic analysis of Gurenε short oral vowels. Unpublished. M.Phil. thesis, Winneba: University of Education, Winneba. Agyekum, K. (2013). Introduction to Literature. (3rd ed.). AccraLegon: Adwinsa Publications. Alhassan, H. (2017). Literary analysis of Farefari women songs. Unpublished. M.Phil. thesis, Winneba: University of Education, Winneba. Atintono, A. S. (2010). Songs and Folktales Manuscript. Unpublished. Atintono, A. S. (2013). The semantics and Grammar of Gurenԑ positional verbs: A typological perspective, Ph.D. thesis, University of Manchester, Manchester. Cardinall, A. W. (1920). The natives of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast; the customs, religion and folklore. London: Goorge Routlege & Sons Ltd. Chinouriri, B. (2015). Is a woman only worth the rib of a man?: the place of woman in Zimbabwean musical arts, pass and present. In K. Anpane, eds J. H. Kwabena Nketia Festschrift: Discoures in Musicology (p. 374 - 393). Michigan: African Studies Centre University of Michigan. Dakubu, M. E. K. (1996). Gurune Grammar. Legon: Language Centre Faseke M. (1998). The role of women in traditional Yoruba society: A review in Ogunremi, D and Adediran B. (Eds), Culture and society in Yoruba land, Rex Charles Publication. Ibadan, p157.

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Kyere A. and Ampofo A. A. (2015). Women doing Music: The lives and songs of Contemporary Ghanaian Women Musicians. t. In K. Anpane, eds J. H. Kwabena Nketia Festschrift: Discoures in Musicology (p. 394 416). Michigan: African Studies Centre.

Lord, Albert B. (1978). The singer of Tales. New York: Atheneum

Meyer, F. (1945). The Dynamics of clanship among the Tallensi. London: Oxford University Press. Nsoh, A. E. & Adjei A. F. (2010). The daboo (multiple) burial rites(s) of the Farefari people in Ghana and its benefits to modern city development. Glimpses of Africa Cultures 63- 73 Nsoh, A. E, Fusheini, A. R., & Ababila, J. A. (2010). Aspects of oral literature in Ghana. Saarbrucken: LAMBERT Academic Publishing. Nsoh, A. E. (2011). A lexical-functional syntax of the adjective in the Farefari; Language. PhD. thesis, University of Ghana, Legon. Okpewho, I. (1992) African Oral Literature: Background, Characters and Continuity. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. Olatunji, M., Babalola, D. & Daramola, Y. (2001) Bi and TriLingualism: A Reflection of code mixing and switching in contemporary Yoruba Christian gospel and Islamized music. Journal of Performing Arts. Vol.2. 108-119.

Rattray, R. S. (1969). The tribes of the Ashanti Hinterland. Vol. II.

London: Oxford University Press.

Unruh, A. (2015). Spontaneity, improvisation, and musical and

social aesthetics in Ghanaian Kpanlogo music and dance. In Kwasi Ampene, Discourses in African Musicology. Mitchigan: Michigan Publishing, 186-205.

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APPENDIX A Title of song A: Beni bã’asi n boi tiŋa wa zuo what sicknesses are on the land’ 1. L.S ya bem bã’asi n boi tiŋa wa zuo?

What kind of sicknesses are on the land?

2. C S

a de la eesi

It is AIDS 3. L.S

bem bã’a n boi tiŋa wa zuo wa?



What kind of sickness is on the land?

4. CS

a de la eesi

It is AIDS 5. L.S

ma soke ti bem bã’asi n boi tiŋa wa zuo wa?



I asked what kind of sicknesses are on this land

6. CS a de la eesi kɔ’ɔm kuura kum ka zε, fu san wε la pɔka zi’an maa sum fu bunɔ naa paɛ foe furaa fufurε batã yɔɔma furε ya kaŋi kaŋi dee bã’a la kuuri la kumaa. it is AIDS and it kills irrespective of persons, if you are going to a woman put it in your pocket, when you get there put it on, put on three, modern children put it on tight because the sickness kills a lot.

7.

L.S



Yele ya kua tiŋa Naba woi Tell chief of farming (appellations)

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8. CS

uhummmm…



uhmmmm…



Na’am kopelega lagum nyuura

9.

L.S

Appellations 10. CS uhummm

‘uhummmm…’

11. L.S

tingɔnkeko belum zi’ire

Appellations 12. CS

uhummmu hummmu hummm…



‘uhummmu hummmu hummm…’

13. L.S

ti beni bã’asi n boi tiŋa wa zuo waa



What kind of sicknesses are on the land?

14. CS

a de la eesi

It is AIDS 15. L.S

beni bã’asi n boi tiŋa wa zuo waa



What sicknesses are on the land

16. CS A de la eesi kɔ’ɔm kuura kum ka zε, fu san wε la pɔka zi’an maa sum fu bunɔ naa paɛ foe furaa furε, ya batã n suurɔ furε ya kaŋi kaŋi dee bã’a la kuuri la kum maa. It is AIDS and it kills irrespective of persons, if you are going to a it in your pocket, when you get there put it on raa, put on three, my siblings put it on tight because the sickness kills a lot.

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Title of song B: Y  a boti wa’a dee gɛgira, “You want to dance and you dangling.” 1. L.S Ya boti wa’a dee gɛgira ŋwana bani n boti wa’a dee gɛgira balaa... You want to dance, and you are dangling like this, who want to dance and will be dangling like that. 2. CS Eee eee eeeoo boti wa’a dee gɛgira bala. Eee eee eeeoo you want to dance, and you are dangling like that. 3. L.S ya boti wa’a Asugerɛ Nasekolego boti wa’a dee gɛgera bala yee… You want to dance Asugerɛ Nasekolego wants to dance and dangling like that yee… 4. CS Eee eee eeeoo boti wa’a dee gɛgira bala. Eee eee eeeoo you want to dance, and you are dangling like that. 5. L.S ya boti wa’a Awilege miŋa buɛ tanɛ n boti wa’a dee gɛgera bala yoo… You want to dance… apellalation wants to dance and dangling like that yoo… 6. CS Eee eee eeeoo boti wa’a dee gɛgira balaa... Eee eee eeeoo you want to dance, and you are dangling like that.

7.

L.S boti wa’a Aziisi konyɛligɔ n boti wa’a dee gɛgera bala ti bo?  You want to dance Aziisi apellalation wants to dance and dangling like that why?

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8. CS

Eee eee eeeoo boti wa’a dee gɛgira balaa…

Eee eee eeeoo you want to dance, and you are dangling like that.

9.

L.S ya boti wa’a dee gɛgera kɔma duma n zãsɛ wa’a dee miina wuu ta’ama waa…

You want to dance, and you are dangling, children who learnt how to dance and they are shaking like shea nut tree. 10. CS

Eee eee eeeoo boti wa’a dee gɛgira balaa...

Eee eee eeeoo you want to dance, and you are dangling like that. 11. L.S ya boti wa’a de gɛgera bani zãsɛ wa’a dee gɛgera boo…? You what to dance and you are dangling, which people have learnt to dance and are dangling like that? 12. CS

Eee eee eeeoo boti wa’a dee gɛgira balaa...

Eee eee eeeoo you want to dance, and you are dangling like that. 13. L.S a boti wa’a dee gɛgera bala mma gu’usi n boi la tiŋa bii… ? You want to dance, and you are dangling like that my mother are there thongs on the ground? 14. CS

Eee eee eeeoo boti wa’a dee gɛgira balaa...

Eee eee eeeoo you want to dance, and you are dangling like that.

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15.

L.S a boti wa’a dee gɛgera bala bani zãsɛ wa’a dee gɛgera bala yee…

She wants to dance and dangling like that, which people have learnt to dance and will be dangling like that yee. 16. CS

Eee eee eeeoo boti wa’a dee gɛgera balaa...

Eee eee eeeoo you want to dance, and you are dangling like that.

17.

L.S a boti wa’a dee gɛgera bala bani zãsɛ wa’a dee gɛgera bala yoo…?

She wants to dance and dangling like that, which people have learnt to dance and will be dangling like that yoo? 18. CS

Eee eee eeeoo boti wa’a dee gɛgera balaa...

Eee eee eeeoo you want to dance, and you are dangling like that.

19.

L.S a boti wa’a dee gɛgera bala bani zãsɛ wa’a dee gɛgera bala ti bo?

She wants to dance and dangling like that, which people have learnt to dance and will be dangling like that why? 20. CS

Eee eee eeeoo boti wa’a dee gɛgera balaa...

Eee eee eeeoo you want to dance, and you are dangling like that.

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Title of song C: Saa naa yinɛ ‘saa naa yinɛ’ 1. L.S

ba yeti ya’ani yee kuli peele yaŋa dooŋaa…



They said ya’ani yee kuli peele yaŋa dooŋaa

2. CS

saa naa yinɛ



saa naa yinɛ

3. L.S

N suurɔ ya’ani yee kuli peele ya’an dooŋaa



My brothers and sisters ….

4. CS

saa naa yinɛ



saa naa yinɛ

5. L.S

bisɛ ya saaga ni se’em ti pɔgesi tara kua,



See how it has rained and women are farming

6. CS

saa naa yinɛ



saa naa yinɛ



Ageekɔpi miŋa yaŋa wi ma Booŋo

7.

L.S



Ageekɔpi has called me to come to Booŋo

8. CS

saa naa yinɛ



saa naa yinɛ



Ti mam paɛ tiɛ Ayɔregɔ-Buna ma we la Booŋo ãã…

9.

L.S

And I went to Ayɔregɔ-Buna and told her am going to Bongo 10. CS

saa naa yinɛ

saa naa yinɛ

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11. L.S Ayɔregɔ-Buna n pakɛ fuo yese yɔkɛ zua yaaa… Ayɔregɔ-Buna picked her dress and started running yaaa… 12. CS

saa naa yinɛ saa naa yinɛ

13. L.S tuma tari ta paɛ la Booŋo kulega ti ko’om pirɛ kulegaa… When we got to Booŋo river, the river was full 14. CS

saa naa yinɛ saa naa yinɛ

15. L.S

Ayɔregɔ-Buna yele yeti eŋa wan lebe kule mɛ Ayɔregɔ-Buna said, she will go back

16. CS

saa naa yinɛ saa naa yinɛ

17. L.S

mam soke e bisɛ beni iŋa ti a lɛbera kulaa… And I asked her why she is going back

18. CS

saa naa yinɛ



saa naa yinɛ



19.

L.S ti a kan dikɛ a nyuurɛ ta basɛ ko’om me dee kan nyaŋɛ doe aa…? That she will not throw her life in water when she knows she cannot cross? 20. CS

saa naa yinɛ saa naa yinɛ

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21. L.S

mam kɔɛ n fuo ŋwana dikɛ yɔ͂kɛ sia yaa



I removed my cloth and tire it around my waist yaa

22. CS

saa naa yinɛ



saa naa yinɛ

23. L.S

yaŋa lebe ta yabegɛ n vɔnɛŋa dikɛ vile zuo yaa…



And i removed my panties and tire it on my head

24. CS

saa naa yinɛ



saa naa yinɛ

25. L.S

yaŋa paɛ ta zɛ’ɛ Ayɔregɔ-Buna tukɛ doe kulegaa..

And now went to pick Ayɔregɔ-Buna and cross the river 26. CS

saa naa yinɛ



saa naa yinɛ



27.

L.S Baaba bisɛ ya pɔgesi n nɔŋɛ Ajj ti ba zɛɛra taaba bii kum la.

Father look at how women love J.J and the have to carry each other like corpse 28. CS

saa naa yinɛ akulepeele naa la Azuaa…



saa naa yinɛ akulepeele naa la Azuaa



ya yele ya’anɛ yee ya kuli peele yaŋa dooŋaa…

29.

L.S



Tell yele ya’anɛ yee ya kuli peele yaŋa dooŋaa…

30. CS

saa naa yinɛ

saa naa yinɛ

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31. L.S Awoo ya kulepeele yaŋa dooŋaa…

Awoo ya kulepeele yaŋa dooŋaa…

32. CS

saa naa yinɛ



saa naa yinɛ

33. L.S

Agekɔpi Ayambire yaŋa wi ma Booŋo ããã

Agekɔpi Ayambire has called me and asked me to come to Booŋo 34. CS

saa naa yinɛ



saa naa yinɛ

35. L.S

dee yele mam yeti Ajj yaŋa sim Booŋa ããã…



And told me that JJ is coming to Bongo ããã…

36. CS

saa naa yinɛ



saa naa yinɛ



n lebe ta yele Alaazi eŋa sɔna Feo maa…

37.

L.S

I should go back and tell Alhaji to take charge of Feo 38. CS

saa naa yinɛ



saa naa yinɛ



n paɛ ta yele Alaasanɛ yeti a sɔna Boko aaa…

39.

L.S



I should go and tell Alhassan to take charge of Boko

40. CS

saa naa yinɛ

saa naa yinɛ

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41. L.S la n tole ta yele Atɔni yeti a sɔna Namoo maa… And I should go and tell Tony to take charge of Namoo 42. CS

saa naa yinɛ saa naa yinɛ

43. L.S la n paɛ ta yele Akampaɛ yeti a sɔna Booŋoo ããã… And I should go and tell Akampaɛ that he should take charge of Bongo ããã… 44. CS

saa naa yinɛ saa naa yinɛ

45. L.S yaŋa bisɛ ya N.D.C yuuma n lebege Bakolego laŋɛ ma sinaa… Now see how N.D.C songs has turn to sothseeing following me 46. CS

saa naa yinɛ akulepeele naa laa Azuaa… saa naa yinɛ akulepeele naa laa Azuaa…

Title of song: D Tuma daa ka bɔkɛ ‘We did not understand’ 1. L.S Ya tugum iŋɛ la ŋwani ŋwani ti kun wa kɔ’ɔm kuura daari woo, ba yeti a ŋmɛ- Tɛregɛ sia, ti Akɔsɛ lii lii lii lii, ti a Tiiri dee nyɛ’ɛra, ti Kasua n lu Booŋo,ya tugum iŋɛ la ŋwani ŋwani ti kun wa kɔ’ɔm nuu nuu kuura ka yaɛ yire yeeeii… What have you done, and people are dying everyday like this, they said C.M.S, tuberculosis, diarrhea, that measles has dropped in Bongo, what have you done and this death noo noo killing without selecting?

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2. C.S

tuma daa ka bɔkɛ, tuma na pagɛ la deto dee gã’.

We did not understand, we used to lock ourselves inside and be sleeping. 3. L.S.

Adeliga wooi yama ya’am yeti boo?

Adeliga wooi (name of a deity) what do you have to say? 4. CS tuma daa ka bɔkɛ, tuma na pagɛ la deto dee gã’, Bã’a san wa’am maa, ba ya’am we la baga yire to’e n bia bo maa bakolego to’e n pogaa, bakole ka’ɛ yaala biŋe pɔgeya’amɔlega n boi deon wai sɔna kum laa…, veeeii bã’a waa, veeii bã’a waa, veeii tara ya kum kulaa… We did not understand, we used to lock ourselves inside and sleep, when sickness come, they will go to the soothsayer and will be begging it to safe their child and wife, the soothsayer will also lie that, there is an old fair witch in the house who is behind the deaths veeii sickness waa, veeii sickness waa, veeii go with your copse home. 5. L.S ya ya’am iŋɛ la ŋwani ŋwani ti kun wa kɔ’ɔm kuraa wooi, Atiiri dee nyɛ’ɛra, kasua n lui Booŋo ããã, ti Akɔsɛ lii lii, ti zãnkana n wɔm maa…, ya iŋɛ la ŋwani ŋwani ti kum wa kɔ’ɔm ba’am ba’am kuura ka yaɛ yire aaa…? What have you done and people are dying everyday like this wooi, dirrehia, C.M.S, measles dropped Bongo, tuberculosis, skin rashes, what have you done and these sickness has taken everywhere, killing without selecting?

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6. C.S tuma daa ka bɔkɛ, tuma na pagɛ la deto dee gã’. We did no understand, we used to lock ourselves inside and be sleeping. 7. L.S. Adeliga kutoo goo yama ya’am yeti boo ooi…? Adeliga wooi (name of a deity) what do you have to say 8. C.S tuma daa ka bɔkɛ, tuma ni pagɛ la deto dee gã’, Bã’a san wa’am maa, ay a’am we la baga yire to’e n bia bo maa bakolego to’e n pogaa, bakole kaɛ yaala biŋe pɔgeya’amɔlega n boi deon wai sɔna kum laa…, veeeii bã’a waa veeii bã’a waa veeii tara ya kum kulaa… We did not understand, we used to lock ourselves inside and be sleeping, when sickness come, they will go to the soothsayer and will be begging it, safe my child, and my wife, the soothsayer will also lie that, there is an old fair witch in the house who is behind the deaths veeii sickness waa, veeii sickness waa, veeii go with your copse home. Title of song: E Bonaba Mɔmɛ “Bongo Chief has done well” 1. L.S ya yele na’am lem yaarum ooo, ba yaaba daa de la sumpikiŋɔ n vuge Booŋo, yele ya na’am la bilia, ya yaaba bilia n belum kiima, a belum kiima lem yaarum, Bonaba n doe Nalerigu daari la, ba tari la huu huu taa doori la yoo aaa… a kan nyaŋɛ na’am la, n soke bisɛ bonaba nyaŋɛ Booŋo me yo? Tell Bongo Chief Apellations, when Bongo Chief went to Nalerigu to contest for the chieftaincy, they said he was going in vain, he can’t even take care of the na’am (skin), I asked that has Bongo Chief been able to rule Bongo?

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2. CS Bonaba a mɔmɛ a nyaŋɛ sɛba dee ka nyaŋɛ sɛbaa… Bongo chief has done well; he has been able to rule some but not all. 3. L.S

na’am lem yaarum nyaŋɛ Booŋo la mɛ yo?

Has Bongo Chief Appellations been able to rule Bongo? 4. CS Bonaba a mɔmɛ a nyaŋɛ sɛba dee ka nyaŋɛ sɛbaa… a nyaŋɛ a kima ma mɛ ti a Nabibisi dɔlaa.., a nyaŋɛ pɔgeya’asi mɛ ti Anaanuurɛ pɔgesi dɔlaa…, ya yɔɔma budibeto n dikɛ wii tu zuo ti tiŋa la mina, ti kɔmpugeto dɔla woli woli ɛɛra lɔbera bii ki’ini, Na’am lem yaarum kɔ’ɔm mɔmɛ maa. Bongo chief has done well; he has been able to rule some but not all, his elders are with him and his small Chiefs are following he has been able to rule old women and Anaanuurɛ pɔgesi are following. You, boys of today, have taken smoking marijuana as your brand and the girls are roaming on the street laying eggs like guinea fowls. 5. L.S Yele ya Bonaba yeti aa mam daa zi’ la yire ti ba yeti ba tole la Nalerigo ti ba lɛgɛ. Na’am wa’am, ba tari la huu huu taa a doori la yooŋo, a ka nyaŋɛ Booŋo, lɛɛ lɛɛ soke Bonaba nyaŋɛ Booŋo la mɛ yo? Tell Bongo Chief that, I was setting in the house and heard he has gone to Nalerego to contest for the chietency; they were doing huu huu and said he was going in vain, he can’t even take care Bongo. Now I asked that has Bongo Chief been able to rule Bongo?

334 Handbook Of The Mabia Languages Of West Africa

6. CS Bonaba a mɔmɛ a nyaŋɛ sɛba dee ka nyaŋɛ sɛbaa... Bongo chief has done well; he has been able to rule some but not all.

7.

L.S

na’am lem yaarum nyaŋɛ Booŋo la mɛ yo?

 Has Bongo Chief Apellations been able to rule Bongo? 8. CS Bonaba a mɔmɛ a nyaŋɛ sɛba dee ka nyaŋɛ sɛbaa… a nyaŋɛ a kima ma mɛ ti a Nabibisi dɔlaa.., a nyaŋɛ pɔnya’asi mɛ ti a naanuurɛ pɔgesi dɔlaa…,ya yɔɔma budibeto n dikɛ wee tu zuo ti tiŋa la mina, ti kɔmpugito dɔla woli woli ɛɛra lɔbera bii ki’ini, Na’am lem yaarum kɔ’ɔm mɔmɛ maa… Bongo chief has done well; he has been able to rule some but not all, his elders are with him and his small Chiefs are following he has been able to rule old women and Anaanuurɛ pɔgesiare following. You nowa day boys have taken smoking marijuana as your brand and the girls are roaming on the street laying eggs like guinea fowls.

9.

L.S kaasɛ Asabega kutoogo ooi, ba yaaba daa de la Akutoogo waka san de ni la Anaazuurɛ giŋɛ tiŋa, bugum san gelige lebege tiim, kaasɛ Afariba siyoga ooi. Naba nyaŋɛ Booŋo mɛ yo?

I cried … name of a deity… APPELLATIONS: has Chief been able to rule Bongo? 10. CS

Bonaba a mɔmɛ a nyaŋɛ sɛba dee ka nyaŋɛ sɛbaa…

Bongo chief has done well; he has been able to rule some but not all.

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11. L.S ya tɔgɛ sira sira Bonaba nyaŋɛ Booŋo la mɛ yo? Say the truth, has Bongo Chief been able to rule Bongo? 12. CS Bonaba a mɔmɛ a nyaŋɛ sɛba dee ka nyaŋɛ sɛbaa..a nyaŋɛ a kima ma mɛ ti a Nabibisi dɔlaa.., a nyaŋɛ pɔgeya’asi mɛ ti a naanuurɛ pɔgesi dɔlaa…,ya yɔɔma budibeto n dikɛ wee tu zuo ti tiŋa la mina, ti kɔmpugeto dɔla woli woli ɛɛra lɔbera bii ki’ini, Na’am lem yaarum kɔ’ɔm mɔmɛ maa… Bongo chief has done well; he has been able to rule some but not all, his elders are with him and his small Chiefs are following he has been able to rule oldwomen and Anaanuurɛ pɔgesi are following. You, boys of today, have taken smoking marijuana as your brand and the girls are roaming on the street laying eggs like guinea fowls. Title of song: F C.M.S bo sore ‘C.M.S is on the way’ 1. L.S ya bisɛ ya warɛ n ze’ele se’em wa, nɛra woo fabeli mɛ, ti saaga ni pan, ba yese tara kua dee Azenabu ya’am we la bɛ? See how the rain has stopped raining for a while, everybody is weeping, rain has fallen pan, they are out farming, but where is Zenabu going again? 2. C.S

Bonaba n wi too… Wire-Kɔrɔsi n wi’ too ooi Bongo Chief has called us, Red-Cross has called us.

3. L.S ba tugum yiga bala kɔɔra wakerɛ duma ya’am we la bɛɛ…? They are farming but where are you people going?

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4. C.S Bonaba n wi too… Wire-Kɔrisi n wi’ too ooi ti Dɔgeta yetaa, bã’a bo sore aaa... C.M.S bo sore aaa... ti suuba yɛgeraa…, la ti kɔ’ɔm zoi mɛ ãã, tɔgɛ ti nɛreba bɔkaa…, la ti kɔ’ɔm zoi mɛ zɔta dee yuuna sinaa… Nɛra woo bɔkɛ ya ti C.M.S la lɔkɛ Booŋo la mɛ, ya baŋɛ ti sɛbin tuma tɔŋɛ ti nɛra woo bɔkɛɛ… Bongo Chief has called us, Red-Cross has called us, that doctor said, there is sickness on the way aaa…C.M.S is on the way aaa… and witches are also competing, so we should run ããã, and educate people, we should run and be singing, everybody understood that C.M.S has locked up Bongo, know that by seven we have spoken and people understood. 5. L.S. ya bisɛ ya saa wa n ni se’em wa ti nɛreba tara burega ti tam la tole ya, dee hu ya’am we la bɛɛ? See how it has rain, people are sowing and said the time for sowing has passed, but where are you going?

6.

C.S



7.

Bonaba n wi too… Wire-Kɔrisi n wi’ too ooi Bongo Chief has called us, Red-Cross has called us.

L.S. ba tugum ana kilima dee yama ya’am we la bɛɛ?



They are busy working but where are you going?

8. CS Bonaba n wi’ too… Wire-Kɔrɔsi n wi’ too ooi ti Dɔgeta yetaa, bã’a bo sore aaa… C.M.S bo sore aaa…ti suuba yɛgeraa…, la ti kɔ’ɔm zoi mɛ ããã, tɔgɛ ti nɛreba bɔkaa…, la ti kɔ’ɔm zoi mɛ zɔta dee yuuna sinaa… Nɛra woo bɔkɛ ya ti C.M.S la lɔkɛ

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Booŋo la mɛ, ya baŋɛ ti sɛbin tuma tɔgɛ ti nɛra woo bɔkɛɛ… Bongo Chief has called us, Red-Cross has called us, that Doctor said, there is sickness on the way aaa…C.M.S is on the way aaa… and witches are also competing, so we should run ããã, and educate people, we should run and be singing, everybody understood that C.M.S has locked up Bongo, know that by seven we have spoken and people understood. Title of song G: Hu bia de la kana bɔna bankum “Who is your child at the bank” 1. L.S

hu bia de la kanaa? Who is your child?

2. CS bɔna bankum In the bank 3. L.S

Amɔgerɛ kɔma ya bia de la kanaa Children of Amɔgerɛ who is your child?

4. CS bɔna bankum In the bank 5. L.S

a de la kanaa



Who is he/she

6. CS

bɔna bankum, bɔna bankum, bɔna bankun In the bank, in the bank, in the bank

7. L.S

ya yi basɛ ti gurɛ kuure 33 Let us hold the hoe

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8. CS

ee

ee

9.

L.S

n yaba Alegele kɔma basɛ ti guri kuure



My ancestor Alegele’s child let us hold the hoe

10. CS

ee kuure gani la sɛla woo



Ee hoe is more than everything

11. L.S

ya yi basɛ ti guri kuure



Then, let us hold the hoe

12. CS ee ee 13. L.S

Amɔgerɛ biisi kɔma ya basɛ ti gurɛ kuure



Amɔgerɛ’s children let us hold the hoe

14. CS

ee kuure gani la sɛla woo



ee hoe is more than everything

15. L.S

ba yeti ya bia de la kanaa?



They said who is your child?

16. CS

bɔna bankun

At the bank

17.

L.S

Azaberɛ Tabia kɔma ya bia de a kanaa?



Azaberɛ Tabia’s children who is your child?

18. CS

bɔna bankum

At the bank

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19.

L.S ya yi basɛ ti gurɛ kuure



Then let us hold the hold

20. CS ee ee 21. L.S yama yaaba Agyeirewa Ki’isekɛ basɛ ya ti guri kuure Your ancestor Agyeirewa Ki’isekɛ let us hold the hoe 22. CS

ee kuure malegeri la sɛla woo



Ee hoe is good for everything

23. L.S

aya yi basɛ ti gurɛ kuure



Then let us hold the hold

24. CS ee ee 25. L.S

yele ya Ayelesunɛ piɛ tia basɛ ti gurɛ kuure

Tell Ayelesunɛ appellation he should let us hold the hoe 26. CS

ee, kuure gani la sɛla woo



Ee hoe is more than everything



ya yi basɛ ti gurɛ kuure

27.

L.S



Then let us hold the hoe

28. CS ee ee

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29. L.S

ya yi basɛ ti guri kuuri Then let us hold the hoe

30. CS ee ee 31. L.S yeli ya Ayelemunɛ siwa timɔleka basɛ ti guri kua Tell Ayelemunɛ appellations that he should allow us to hold the hoe 32. CS

ee, kuuri gani la sɛla woo ee hoe is more than everything

33. L.S

ya yi basɛ ti guri kɔa Then let us hold hoes

34. CS ee ee 35. L.S

yama yaaba Adɔ’ɔ muutabe ya basɛ ti gurɛ kuure Your ancestor Adɔ’ɔ appellations

36. CS

ee, gurɛ gani la sɛla woo Ee hoe is more than everything

Title of song: G zamesԑ ya gↄŋↄ “study the book” 1. LS ya ti͂ ’ԑ nԑŋa bisԑ gↄŋↄ dee basԑ paati wa, yele ya Boko-Feo naba, san dԑna kurupↄkↄ and lebege sãlema, ma yeti ya pike nini zamesԑ gↄŋↄ dee basԑ paati wa, paati ŋwa’ari tiŋa. Just try and learn your books well n stop this politics, tell Boko-Feo Chief APPELLATIONS, I said open your eyes and learn your books and stop this politics, politics courses the land to fight.

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2. CS/LS ba yeti ԑԑ tuma wum yaa…, soo soo soo tarema ŋwԑ’ԑri la gere, ya Boko naba naa naa Sagebↄ naba naa…ya belum nԑra woo yeti ba san vote ba kulaa... dee ke’ema boi mԑ ti tarema bↄna ba ka zuni taabaa ba san tuura ya, ya sinaa… We said yes, we have heard please please please the poor or the subordinates have no say Boko chief naa naa Sagebↄ chief naa. Beg everybody to go home after voting because there is always the strong ones and the weaker ones, we are not equal if they insult you, be quiet. 3. LS n yeti ya pike nini bisԑ gↄŋↄ dee basԑ paati la, yele ya Bↄlega tiŋa naba san dԑna napii suŋↄ belum kuuraa…, ke’ema la tarema n kan zi’ire aaa…tu yaaba Abelum go’e taɛ urigo aa...ya pike nini zãsԑ gↄŋↄ dee basԑ paati la dee paati ŋwa’ari la tiŋa aa… I said open your eyes and learn your books well n stop politics la, tell chief of Bolga appellations the weak and the strong ones cannot be together aa… our ancestor Abelum go’e- taa- urigo aa... open your eyes and learn your books and stop politics la, politics courses ‘houses’ to fight. 4. CS

ba yeti ԑԑ tuma wum yaa…, We said yes, we have heard!

5. LS

na’am lem yaarum woi Chieftaincy name for Bongo chief

6. CS/LS soo soo soo tarema ŋwԑ’ԑri la gere, ya Boko naba naa naa Sagebↄ nabanaa…ya belum nԑra woo yeti ba san vote ba kulaa... dee ke’ema boimԑ ti tarema bↄna ba ka zuni taabaa ba san tuura ya, ya sinaa...

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please please please, the the poor or the subordinates have no say, Boko chief naa naa Sagebↄ chief naa. Beg everybody to go home after voting because there is always the strong ones and the weaker ones, we are not equal. If they insult you, be quiet.

7.

LS ba yeti ba pike nini bisԑ gↄŋↄ dee basԑ paati laa… ah, mam yaŋa namesԑ bia ŋwanaa…, ka’ԑ ligiri yↄ aaa...ti a dikԑ sukuu la basԑ aa… dee lem wa dↄla paati aa... n yeti ya pike nini zãsԑ gↄŋↄ dee basԑ paati la dee paati ŋwa’ari la yire. They said they should open their eyes and learn your books well n stop politics laa...ah, I have suffered to take care of this child, I poured money went and paid aaa…his/her school aaa…and he/she left schooling and now following politics aaa…I said open your eyes and learn your books and stop politics la, politics courses houses to fight. 8. CS

ba yeti ԑԑ tuma wum yaa…, they said yes, we have heard!



na’am lem yaarum woi

9.

LS



Chieftaincy name for Bongo chief

10. CS/LS soo soo soo tarema ŋwԑ’ɛri la gere, ya Boko naba naa naa Sagebↄ naba naa… ya belum nԑra woo yeti ba san vote ba kulaa… dee ke’ema boi mԑ ti tarema bↄna ba ka zuni taabaa ba san tuura ya, ya sinaa.. please please please, the poor or the subordinates have no say Boko Chief naa naa Sagebↄ chief naa. Beg everybody to go home after voting because there is always the strong and the weak ones, we are not the same. If they insult you, be quiet.

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11. LS ya pike nini bisԑ gↄŋↄ dee basԑ paati laa, yele ya vԑma’arԑ la si’iŋa oooi, yele ya Vea tiŋa naba ooi, ya kããsԑ la Vea la tansԑ̃ka, a pike nini bisԑ gↄŋↄ dee basԑ paati la dee paati ŋwa’ari la nԑreba... Open your eyes and learn your book and stop politics laa, tell appellations, tell chief of Vea ooi, cry out appellations, he should open his eyes and learn the books and stop politics la, politics course human being to fight. 12. CS

ba yeti ԑԑ tuma wum yaa…,



We said yes, we have heard!

13. LS

na’am lem yaarum woi



Chieftaincy name for Bongo chief

14. CS/LS soo soo soo tarema ŋwԑ’ԑri la gere, ya Boko Naba naa naa Sagebↄ Naba naa… ya belum nԑra woo yeti ba san vote ba kulaa...dee ke’ema boi mԑ ti tarema bↄna ba ka zuni taabaa, ba san tuura yaa, ya sinaa... please please please, the poor or the surbodinates have no say Boko chief naa naa Sagebↄ Chief naa. Beg everybody to go home after voting because there is always the strong ones and the weaker ones, we are not equal. If they insult you, be quiet. 15. LS ba pikɛ nini bisԑ gↄŋↄ dee basԑ paati la bala, yele ya Asalabaka la Akↄ mu’ↄ, yaaba Abariyana n zole vise dikԑ kandibega nԑ tↄnↄ aaa… Boko Atibirekugere san de ni Akunbege te’ele gↄbega, n yeti ya tiԑ nԑŋa zãsԑ gↄŋↄ dee basԑ paatiii… dee paati ŋwa’ari la yire oooi

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said open your eyes and learn your books well n stop the politics, tell Asalabaka… appellations … Boko Atibirekugere appellations I said open your eyes and learn your books and stop politics like that, politics courses ‘houses’ to fight ooi. 16. CS

ba yeti ԑԑ tuma wum yaa…, they said yes, we have heard!

17. LS

na’am lem yaarum woi Chieftaincy name for Bongo chief



18.

C/LS soo soo soo tarema ŋmԑ’ԑri la gere, ya Boko Naba naa naa Sagebↄ naba naa… ya belum nԑra woo yeti ba san vote ba kulaa… dee ke’ema boi mԑ ti tarema bↄna ba ka zuni taabaa ba san tuura ya, ya sinaa... Please please please, the the poor or the subordinates have no say, Boko chief naa naa Sagebↄ Chief naa. Beg everybody to go home after voting because there is always the strong ones and the weaker ones, we are not equal. If they insult you, be quiet

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CHAPTER ELEVEN C U LT U R A L A N D P O E T I C A NA LYS I S O F T H E DA G A A R E AND SƖSAALƖ DIRGES Moses Dramani Luri

Abstract This chapter examines the cultural and poetic analysis of Dagaare and Sɩsaalɩ dirges. Both languages are Mabia languages of the Moore-guma and Grusi sub-famies. They are spoken in the Upper West Region of Ghana and some parts of Burkina Faso. I argue that, contrary to the claim of the opponents of the Oral Formulaic Theory (Parry 1930) that it was due to lack of memory, illiteracy and lack of ideas that repetition, parallelism and the other features of the oral act works are presented. They are well calculated, specialized and intellectualized for specific purposes, irrespective of dialect or language. I discuss repetition, parallelism (syntactic, synonymous, and antithetical). The significance of parallelism, metaphor and cultural portrayal of the dirges are considered. The study shows that dirges reveal the cumulative cultures of Dagaare and Sɩsaalɩ as in (1a and 1b) respectively: 1a. Kʋŋ dí yέlέ bύmakyέ ká yέlέ kύύrɔ

‘Won’t eat the things of trouble yet trouble kills him.’

b. Bohúúro píému bá píému

‘If the undertakers have buried, they have buried.’

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The data are examined using Oral Formulaic Theory (Parry 1930). I use two basic sources of data in this research:Primary and secondary sources. primary sources include data elicitation from native speakers and secondary sources from existing literature from desk reviews.

1.0 Introduction This chapter examines the cultural and poetic analysis of Dagaare and Sɩsaalɩ dirges. Both languages are Mabia languages of the Moore-Gurma and Grusi sub-families. I argue that, contrary to the claim of the opponents of the Oral Formulaic Theory (Parry 1930) that it was due to lack of memory, illiteracy and lack of ideas that repetition, parallelism and the other features of the oral act works are presented, they are well calculated, specialized and intellectualized for specific purposes, irrespective of dialect or language. I discuss repetition, parallelism (syntactic, synonymous, and antithetical). The significance of parallelism, metaphor and cultural portrayal of the dirges are considered. Oral literature is a crucial cultural transmission tool among the Dagaaba, Sɩsaala and indeed the entire people of Africa even though they had their own writing systems long ago. The culture, technology and daily life are stored, preserved and maintained in the oral art form of the people. In everything they do, oral art is an integral part of it and in most cases, oral art is the means by which their daily assignments are accomplished. Proverbs are particularly integrated into the daily communication process and the ability to acquire and use appropriate proverbs was part of the language and cultural transmission. Others are puzzles/riddles, stories, libation, legends, appellations and dirges. My concentration in this chapter is on Dagaare dirges because Dagaare is taught and leant as a compulsory subject in the basic schools in Dagao and as a second language in the Sɩsaala communities. It is also a course offered in the Colleges of Education and optionally in two universities in Ghana: University of Ghana and University of Education, Winneba. I make a conscious effort to include some basic information in

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Sɩsaalɩ, in order to cater for the non-native teachers/students or readers of Dagaare. Dagaare and Sɩsaalɩ are both Mabia languages spoken in the Upper West Region of Ghana. Dagaare belongs to the Moore-Gurma language family while Sɩsaalɩ belongs to the Grusi language family (Greenberg 1963, Wilson 1970, Bendor-Samuel 1971, Naden 1988). Geographically and politically, they are both blended as a region (GSS, 2005) with diversified cultural, literary and linguistic features. However, due to proximity, of course, there is cultural integration and acculturation in some aspects of their lives. The Oral Formulae Theory (1930) is the basis of our analysis of this presentation. The main idea of the theory is that poets have a store formulas (structure), an expression regularly used, under the same metrical conditions, to express a particular crucial idea. The other important element of the theory is the linking of the formulas in conventionalized ways by poets to rapidly compose new verses. The dirge is a poet and runs on metrical conditions, orally composed under same conditions and the methodology that were applied by the theory suit this study. Data is collected from both primary and secondary sources. Four native dirge singers of Dagaare were interviewed and recorded for analysis. The observations on funeral grounds too form part of this study while earlier researchers’ works both in Dagaare and other ethnic groups have been consulted, particularly Saanchi (1992, 2000)’s studies on the Dagaare dirge. This is crossed examined with the primary sources to confirm the validity and reliability of the previous study. The importance of the dirge in our Ghanaian society cannot be overemphasized. Researchers have given the topic some attention in Ghana even though there is still more to be done. Nketia (1955) discusses the Funeral Dirge of the Akan People. An in-depth analysis of the Akan dirge was covered including the role of the dirge during funeral celebrations, the scope, the clans

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of the Akan, the literary aspects and the texts regarding the various aspects of the dirge in Akan. Some aspects of his submission are still relevant even with the cultural transformations over the years. For instance, his thematic areas of the dirge are relevant to the study. These include:

a. b. c. d.

Reference to the ancestors Reference to the deceased Reference to the domicile, to the ancestor and to the deceased and Reflection and messages. (Nketia ibid: 19).

Indeed, both Dagaaba and Sɩsaala believe in the ancestral world, notably that the source of our daily life is mediated and controlled by our ancestors, deities and almighty God. So, the belief system of the Dagaaba and Sɩsaala are tripartite: The Ancestors, Deities and Almighty God. Dirges are therefore sung with references to the ancestors of the deceased and his family in the form of family appellations and the like. The idiosyncratic feature of the deceased besides the family are often referred to while the history of the entire clan of the deceased is often traced and referred to in the dirge. Reflections, lessons and good will messages are presented in the dirge as well. In view of the fact that culture is dynamic, some of the findings of the Akan dirge might not be the same today. This is confirmed in Anyidoho (2002) when she titled her presentation ‘Contemporary funeral eulogies in Akan.’ The influence of foreign religion and the contemporary professional advancement in the Akan dirge was exploited as an update to Nketia’s work. Indeed, there are various changes in our society today, gradual as they may appear, significant and noticeable changes are realized over time. This is true with the Dagaare and the Sɩsaalɩ dirges too. A blend of Christian or Muslim funeral is celebrated in the Region today and all these have effects not only on the dirges but on the entire culture of the people. The study of the dirge is not only limited to Akan and other cultures. Dagaaba dirge scholars also exist. Yabang (1981) discusses the topic placing emphasis on the definition, types, mode of acquisition and its importance. However, the

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textual, literal and linguistic analysis are not in- depth. Yemeh (2002) outlined the background to the Dagaaba dirge, notably its features and structure. These studies are however historical and structural. The significance of the dirge was also discussed. Little literal analysis of the dirge was offered. Saanchi (1992, 2002) offers a more literary analysis of the Dagaaba dirge by presenting its structure, style, and poetic component, particularly with regard to parallelism in the dirge. Taking after Saanchi (2002), I discuss these poetic features further with emphasis on metaphorical aspects of the dirge. In addition, the chapter offers a comparative perspective of the Dagaaba and Sɩsaala dirges to cater for the non-native reader/learner/teacher of Dagaare. Section 2 of the presentation discusses the repetition of a dirge, repetition within lines and across lines. In section 3, synonymous, antithetical, and syntactic and the significance of parallelism are presented. Section 4 discusses the metaphor and the underlining cultural base of the dirge. In section 5, we look at the summary and the conclusion of the presentation.

2.0

Repetition in the Dirge

The literary devices that are analysed in this current work are parallelism, repetition and metaphor. Saanchi (2002: 413-422) and Anyidoho (2002:375377) have devoted a lot of time for repetition and parallelism in Dagaare and Akan respectively. They both examine repetition within lines and across lines.

2.1 Repetition Saanchi (2002) for instance illustrates repetition within the line as follow: (2).

a. Kʋŋ dí yέlέ bύma kyέ ká yέlέ kύύrɔ ‘Won’n’t eat the things of trouble yet trouble kills him’



b. Bohúúro piému bá piému ‘If the undertakers have buried, they have buried.’

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In 2(a) Saanchi has shown that yԑlԑ ‘palavers’ is repeated within the line. A similar phenomenon is shown in 2(b) in Sɩsaalɩ where the serial verb ‘takego’ is repeated. Indeed, repetition is very pervasive within the line across the line and across stanzas in Sɩsaalɩ like Dagaare and other languages in the data. (3).

a. K  1 : Kʋbύgnίnίέnԑ fʋ gyέnnɪ na wáá lԑ ‘Kʋbύgnίnίέnԑ your thoughts will be like this.’ K2: Sĩԑdáárίɪnίέnԑ fʋ gyέnnɪ biŋéé yeŋ? ‘Sĩԑdáárίɪnίέnԑ where will your thoughts be placed?’



b. K1: Háluwié báá á nɪέ áŋ yáá ‘Háluwié is that how they treat people?’ K2: Lá dɪέ lá báá á nɪέ áŋ nԑ ‘This is how they treat people in our house.’

In 3(a) your thoughts fʋ gyέnnɪ is repeated in line 2 and 3 in Dagaare by Saanchi to illustrate a word repetition in the same line. The same is shown in Sɩsaalɩ in 3(b) where baa a nɪԑ aŋ ‘they do people this’ is repeated in line 2. We use Saanchi’s illustration of repetition within stanza in 4(a) again while the Sɩsaalɩ counterpart is shown in 4(b) again. (4).



a. K  1: Dύnέέ yԑ mɔö tίέrԑ ká wύla lԑ ‘Humanity what do you really think it is?’ K2: Ándύnέέ yԑ yԑ mɔö tίέrԑ ká wύla lԑ ‘Humanity what do you really think it is?’ C: Hmm



K1: Nyέ yaa dύnέέ ‘See indeed humanity’ Káŋ nʋɔrί bɔrɪ ka aŋ dίԑ koŋ ‘Look humanity if I do not speak who will mourn?’ C: Yee, yee, yee.

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b. K1: Wʋwʋlί rί ɓʋ nɪέ dintonní máá sʋwί rίsίέ? ‘If talking kills will the deaf die?’ K2: Wʋwʋlί rί ɓʋ nɪέ bípúllí máá sʋwί rίsɩέ? ‘If talking kills will the infant die?’



C:Wooo o! K1: Ka dintonní máá sʋwί rίsɪέ ‘The deaf also dies.’ í jίmá rί wʋl‫ כ‬sʋʋ nί weré taŋŋί sʋwί ‘It is better to speak and die than to die silently.’

Line 2 is almost a repetition of line 1 in 4(a) while line 2 is equally almost a repetition of line 1 in 4(b) too. These points show that there is a very close similarity between Dagaare dirge and Sɩsaalɩ dirge as far as repetition is concerned. This is similar to the case reported by Okpewho (1992) about the findings of the evolutionary in Africa concerning oral literary genre in Africa and the world at large. Their major conclusion was that oral literary genres manifest the same phenomena everywhere including their so called ‘primitive or dark continent’. It is worth however to note that idiosyncratic features exist though. The selected words for the various repetitions in Dagaare from examples 2 to 4(as) might not fit well with those of the Sɩsaalɩ counterparts in example 1 to 4(bs). Each language has a unique way of manifesting these parameters. Parametric variation and universality of language phenomena is clearly demonstrated in examples 1 to 4 above.

2.2 Effects of Repetition in the Dirge The proponents of the Oral Formulaic Theory have stressed the effects and purpose of repetition in oral art. These findings are applicable and useful in this study even though opponents of the theory thought that it was due to lack of memory, illiteracy and lack of ideas. Contrary to these feelings the Dagaare dirge as well as that of the Sɩsaalɩ repeats for a number of very good reasons. Emphasis is placed on the message, line, stanza or the art. The process is

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co-temporal and evanescent. This message, when repeated is enjoyed by the artist, the co-artists and the mourners. Attention is sometimes drawn for the first time while the main message is drummed home in the subsequent utterances as the mourners will now be attentive. Unity, co-ordination and even in some cases training are intended as the apprentice dirge singers emulate. It is even usually repeated after the lead dirge singer has ended in the Sɩsaalɩ gɔkɛɛ ‘male dirge singers’ ensemble. The zenduuro ‘xylophonist’ also carries only one stanza around the entire funeral ground emphasizing the message and making sure that everybody hears his message. The chorus is repeated for participation by all. This could not have been lack of ideas, memory failure or whatever. Saanchi (2002) makes the following observation on the effects of repetition in the Dagaare dirge. Repetition helps give unity to the dirge, makes dirges easy to retain in the mind, gives emphasis to the message and ‘above all, repetition is a supremely suitable device for a verbal art form that has been occasioned by death’ (Saanchi 2002:418). Others are, it emphasises the loss and underscores the pathos of the situation: it is a great aid to mourning and finally, it is a great feature of the lament in many cultures (Saanchi 2002:417-18). Clearly, repetition is purposive, intellectual and requires specialization, contrary to the opponents of the theory as stated above. Interestingly, repetition is observed in many disciplines. In art, patterns, colours and designs are repeated to give the work an aesthetic appeal while passwords are repeated in the field of information technology to ensure consistency and accuracy. Same is done in banking when cheques are written. We now turn our attention to the effects of parallelism in the dirges.

3.0 Parallelism Parallelism is a balanced return of structure or the recurrence of identical structure in a discourse. It is the repetition of the same structural pattern. Commonly between phrases or clauses e.g. out of sight, out of mind (prepositional phrase,

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prepositional phrase). He came, he saw, he conquered (clause, clause, clause). Recurrence structure and sense is remembered when parallelism is mentioned. Classically, it is proven that pioneering studies of parallelism and its forms were done in Hebrew. Parallelism is a dominant feature of poetry and scholars (Jakobson 1966, Levin 1971, Saanchi 2002) among others have endorsed this. Levin, for instance, refers to these special features in poetry as Couplings and underscores the significance of them. It is generally affirmed that these features make the lines of poetry memorable. Some scholars term them alternation in linguistic chain while Levin (ibid) further calls them comparables or parallels. Saanchi (ibid) uses the following examples to illustrate this point: (5).

a. Tall wooden building. b. He feared and esteemed the man. c. Good food and soft music. d. The girl came but disappointed.

In (5) comparables and parallels are illustrated. Comparables are seen in (5ab): tall/wooden while parallels are shown in (5c-d): good food and soft music/ came but disappointed. No one will definitely expect a disappointment after struggling to get to a destination. But that was the case for the poor girl. Other classical examples of parallelism are found in the book of Proverbs (8:19-21; 14:20). Three main types of parallelism are discussed in the literature:

1. Synonymous parallelism 2. Antithetical parallelism 3. Syntactic parallelism

We discuss them in detail using data from Dagaare and Sɩsaalɩ.

3.1 Synonymous Parallelism Synonymous parallelism: a proposition is repeated either completely or partially. The expression can be varied but the sense or meaning is entirely or nearly the same. Examples are:

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Choose my instruction instead of silver. Choose knowledge rather than finest gold. Snatched be the scepter of his sovereignty. Offset be the thrown of his kingship. I dried up the sea with a command. I turn pools into dry land. It is important to note that, the text of a dirge in both Dagaare and Sɩsaalɩ are a collection of a number of literal devices. In Dagaare, Saanchi cites the following examples: (6).

a. K  1: A fʋ pɔgίbá pɔɔmínní ba wύlɔŋ wέ? ‘Your wife, the true wives how many have come to nothing?’



C: Aa



b. K1: A fʋ Sέnίmέ pɔɔmínní ba wύlɔŋ yí ‘Your sweethearts, the true wives, how many have deserted you?’



C: Yee, yee, yee



c. K  1: Zɔɔrί máŋ báárɩŋ kyέ zʋŋkύrʋ bá báára ‘A dispute comes to an end, but the old insult is always remembered.’ K2: Bontáŋá máŋ báárɩŋ ύ bíní bá máŋ báárɩ ‘The camel may come and go but its dung remains forever.’



C: Aaa K2: Nyέ bontáŋá máŋ báárɩŋ, ύ bíní bá máŋ báárɩ ‘You see, the camel may come and go but its dung remains forever.’

d. K2: Kʋŋ dí yέlέ bʋmá ká yέlέ kύύrɔ?



‘Won’t eat the things of trouble and yet is being caught by trouble?’ C: Haa

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K2: Zorό yέlέ úúno ka yέlέ máŋ pögɩ ‘Runs and hides from trouble and yet is being caught by trouble?’ C: Haa, haa



In Sɩsaalɩ we cite example 6 to illustrate it. (6).



a. K1: Sʋʋ sʋɔrί dʋɔ nέ ʋ wί táá sʋɔrέ ‘The corpse rots on the earth but not in the grave.’ K1: Botúú sʋwɔ botúú yɩrί máá yʋgsίrέ ‘If the elephant dies, it will still be rembered.’ C: Woo-o, woo b. K2: Ɓáá dáárί nɔhɔɔ náásί mί nέ ɓá wί nɔhɔɔ nʋɔ mί dáárί ‘They can step over the legs of an elderly person, but they cannot ignore his advice.’ K2: Nɔhɔɔ nʋɔ nί sʋɔrέ ʋ wɪέ wáá sʋɔrέ ‘No matter how ugly the elder his advice is useful.’

In (6a) line 1 and 2 are bearing the same sense even though they may be structurally different. The same sense and structure are featured in (6b-c). Lines 1 and 2 are always synonymous while repetition is found in line 3 in (6b). We shall do a detail analysis of these similarities culturally and contextually later in section 4. In Sɩsaalɩ, the lines are equally synonymous. In (6a-b) lines 1 and 2 are always bearing the same sense. Line one reveals that you can never forget of the death of a loved one. While line 2 reveals that you can never forget the death of an important person. Note that love ones are equally important persons in our lives. We discuss antithetical parallelism below.

3.2 Antithetical parallelism This is parallelism with contrast. The correspondence of the line is a means of an opposition- sometimes in expression, sometimes in the meaning. Example 7 below illustrates it:

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(7).

They have ears but will not hear. They have eyes but do not see They will hear and hear but will never understand They will see and see but will never find



A wise son gladdens the father but a foolish… Proverbs 27:6 and 7 provide more examples

In the examples in (5) and (6) for Dagaare and Sɩsaalɩ respectively, each line is an example of antithetical parallelism. There is a contrast in each line like those in (7) above. We further illustrate this in example (8), using data from Sɩsaalɩ dirge text. (8).



a. K  1: Bapáárίwáájίέ bíí ní tʋɔsί mɩέ bíé έ. ‘That is a renowned farmer’s child picking grains on the ground.’ K1: Bapáárίwáájίέ bíí ní tʋɔsί mɩέ bíé έ. ‘That is a renowned farmer’s child picking grains on the ground.’ C: Wooo-o, woo b. K2: Nyúfʋnnίwáájίέ bíí ní sʋwί rί nyúkúú ‘A renowned barber’s child dies with a bushy hair.’ K2: Ká wʋwύllίwájίέ bíí máá sʋwί wɪέ táá ‘An eloquent talker’s child dies in the mist of trouble.’ (Could not defend himself).

As we shall discuss soon, the farmer that excels in his profession is expected to have abundant grains in his barn. It is therefore a contrast and a surprise to find such a farmer’s child picking grains on the ground to survive as (8a) shows. This however is to alert society that achievement is not transferable; it comes by determination and hard work. If your father is a professor, that does not automatically make you a professor, and the Sɩsaalɩ dirge singer recognizes this. The same is the case in (8b) where an excellent barber’s child dies with a bushy hair as well as a clever speaker’s child being unable to defend himself. We present another form of parallelism below.

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3.3 Synthetic parallelism It has a similar form of construction, but the meaning could be synonymous or antithetical e.g. ‘I came, I saw, I conquered,’ the construction type and structure are the same subject verb (intransitive) for all the three classes. We cite an example of this in our data in Sɩsaalɩ dirge in (9). (9).

K1: Ɓá kόό ɓáná, ɓá kόό na rέ ‘They came to see, they saw it’ (clause, clause). K1: Ɓá sí úú sí kό ú sí ú kόό ‘They advised him not to come, he said he will’ (clause, clause). K1: Ɓásí úúsí píí-Ø u síú píí ‘They told him not to come, he said he could’ (clause, clause). C: Wόόό-ό, wόό

Finally, I present the last form of parallelism in section 3.4. Note that all the forms have to do with some form of repetition. This observed either in the meaning or structure.

3.4 Cross Parallelism Another type of parallelism that is cited in the literature which is found in Sɩsaalɩ dirge is the Cross parallelism. In this type of parallelism, the first line is repeated but in reverse order as exemplified in (10) below. (10).

The egg comes from the chicken



The chicken comes from the hen



Asuo tware akwan (The river crosses the road)



Akwan tware asuo (The road crosses the river) Akan

Structure:

Subje V.

Obj.

SVO → OVS



Sub V. Obj – Obj, V, Subj

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In Sɩsaalɩ dirge we find this: (11). a. K1: Nɔgʋɔ sɔŋ nɔdúú rí ‘The left-hand washes the right-hand’ K2: Nɔdúú máá sɔŋ nɔgʋɔ ‘The right- hand also washes the left-hand’

C: Wόόό-ό, wόό



b. K1: Bíwíé jʋwίί, kʋhίʋɔ lá ‘The child can be troubled by an elder’ K2: Kʋhίʋɔ jʋwίί, bíwíé la ‘The elder can also be troubled by the child’



C: Wόόό-ό, wόό

From the data, it is observed that each set of dirges constitute a stanza, which constitutes a text by itself. Now that we have discussed each of the forms of parallelism above, I present the significance of parallelism in the next section, 3.5.

3. 5 The Significance of Parallelism Parallelism makes poems or oral art work memorable and pleasing to the ear of the artiste and the audience and there is unity in structure as well (Levin 1971). Emphasis or stress is placed on what has been said already, especially so with synonymous parallelism. The language of parallelism brings about wonder or deep thinking as we shall soon see in section 4.3. These are common features of poetry according to Jakobson (1966). The art work is given more elegant euphonium information. All forms of dirges are poetic both in Dagaare and Sɩsaalɩ.

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4.0 The Metaphor and the Underlining Cultural Base of the Dirge The available literature (Smith, Stanly and Shore 1957, Nduanya et al. 1986, Aboagye 1999) have agreed that the totality of the life of a group of people is culture. Aboagye (1999:2) for instance cites Good (1973) as follow: The aggregate of the social, ethical, intellectual, artistic, governmental, and industrial attainments characteristic of a group, state or nation and by which it can be distinguished from or compared with other groups, states or nations. It includes ideals, concepts, usages, institutions, associations and material objects. From this all-encompassing definition, it is explicit that culture includes every aspect of the life of a specified group of people which could be a family, community, ethnic group, state or a nation. In this chapter, I consider two ethnic groups: Dagaare and Sɩsaalɩ and how their art work (dirges) blend the other aspect of their cultures. It is therefore worth noting that all the aspects of culture are integrated and intertwined with a thin line between them if at all. For example, our focus is on dirges, but we could not do this without language and culture and even different aspects of language. The implied use of language to reveal the underlying culture after a wonder; a critical and analytical thinking is the metaphor. It is an implicit comparison that describes something or somebody by word or phrase that is not meant literally but by means of a vivid comparison expressing something about him, her, or it (Volkman 2008). Some scholars consider metaphor to include aspects of language such as figures of speech or symbolism and does not literally represent the real thing (Volkman ibid). I take after these scholars in our analysis of the data. It is however important to state that the question of literal language is disputed. But for our study we do not delve into this debate. For lack of time and space we refer to a few examples in our data from examples 1-11to illustrate our point.

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4.1 Manifestation of the Underlying Culture in the Dirge In example (2) repeated here as example (12) for convenience, (12a) underlyingly reveals that Dagaare society is full of troubles and fortunes. People are therefore generally cautioned to avoid troubles. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. This clearly shows the antithetic nature of the parallelism and symbolically representing the idea of trouble and fortune in Dagaaba society. One is therefore expected to be extra careful, yet make room for the opposite, should it happen. This caution is symbolic and not explicitly stated in the proposition. This has an underlying psychological support. In the event of troubles people are shocked, grieved and discouraged. These have negative effects if not expected. On the contrary one adjusts to such conditions, sees them as normal and forges ahead, on grounds that whatever that cannot be cured has to be endured. The dirge singer therefore acknowledges the effort of the bereaved to avoid trouble and encourages the bereaved to take it easy because it is normal. (12).

a. K  ʋŋ dí yέlέ bύmakyέ ka yέlέ kύύrɔ ‘Won’n’t eat the things of trouble yet trouble kills him’



b. Bohúúrό píémú ɓá píémú ‘If the undertakers have buried, they have buried’.

In 12(b) bohúúrό píémú signals burial, the last dirges, mourning and respect are shown in the Sɩsaalɩ funeral setting. It announces publicly that the dead is being buried. Among the Sɩsaala, the deceased is a communal property. The spirit of co-operation, weesm and social grief, lament and sadness is called for in this dirge. It also reveals division of labour in Sɩsaala tradition. The bohúúrό undertakers, gɔkέέ ‘dirge singers’, yúkό ‘mourners’ and the public are involved in the funeral. Each of these plays a special role and the time for the bohúúrό to play their role is this moment. Notice that division of labour, calls for burial and collective sharing of grief are not explicitly stated; they are intuitively cultivated in the natives and this represents the

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metaphorical language we are discussing. Example 5 above is repeated here with modifications as (13) with a lot of symbolism and cultural revelations. (13).

a. K1: A fʋ pɔgίbá pɔɔmínní ba wύlɔŋ wέ?



‘Your wife, the true wives how many have perished?’ C: Aa



K1: A fʋ Sέnίmέ pɔɔmínní ba wύlɔŋ yí? ‘Your sweethearts, the true wives, how many of them have deserted you?’ C: Yee, yee, yee





b. K1: Zɔɔrί máŋ báárɩŋ kyέ zʋŋkύrύ bá báára ‘A dispute invariably ends but the old insult is always remembered.’ K2: Bontáŋá máŋ báárɩŋ ʋ bíní bá máŋ báárɩ ‘The camel may come and go but its dung remains forever.’ C: Aaa

First, it is revealing that marriage is very important among the Dagaaba as we noted above. The number of wives, children, size of farm and kraal determine the achievement of a Dagao (singular of Dagaaba). Women are therefore important in meeting the social and economic status of the Dagaaba. Pɔgɪ is ‘woman’ and pɔgɪba is ‘women’, the plural. The Dagaaba tradition encourages polygamy as (13a) shows. Secondly, among the women of the man, each of them is expected to be pious, industrious and committed. This is further revealed in (13a) by pɔɔmɪnnɪ. A man is therefore expected to retain all the women with these qualities by providing all their needs, physical, and health, social and psychological needs. Where there is poverty or any evil behavior by the husband or the family, such a precious wife is lost through divorce or death. The dirge singer is praising the deceased for maintaining all his wives, as an achiever. The elements of the praise, polygamy, the values of women, good qualities of the couple are all hidden in the dirge as metaphors.

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Furthermore, sԑnɩmԑ symbolizes lovers, socialization and collective living among the Dagaaba. In the event of bereavements, ill health, hunger, disaster or any sort of misfortune, Dagaaba tradition requires that neighbours show sympathy and love to the affected. One does not wait until there is trouble before one calls on people to help. Dagaaba tradition therefore encourages love-making by pious members of the society. Love is exchanged between members of the opposite sex: sԑnɪ ‘lover’ and sԑnɩmԑ ‘lovers.’ Lovers are expected to be responsible (exchange of gifts, joy and sympathy or grief). If this is met, love relationship lasts till death and even on the day of death love is publicly shown and transfer of the relationships are made to kinsmen. If this is not met, the love relationship is lost, wasted or comes to nothing as Saanchi puts them like marriage relationships. Both marriage and lovemaking relationships are expected to be forever among the Dagaaba and the Sɩsaala. However, I wish to state that these could be abused and the society frowns at their abuse. The dirge singer therefore metaphorically draws the mourners’ attention to these good deeds of the deceased. This leads to further mourning by the wives, lovers and their relatives. The indispensability of disputes and reconciliation in any human social setting is underscored in (13b) above and (14a) below. Significantly life is a fight between humanity and death. Death kills, mourners mourn and give in to allow for life to continue but the effect of death is never forgotten, especially when a loved one is lost, a bread winner, the provider, the companion and the like (Pettett 2002). In the case of death which is compared to dispute there are two contrasting features for both. These are the enemies who will be inwardly happy, and the lovers who will be profoundly grieved. The dirge singer warns the enemies that even though the deceased is lost, his achievements remain indelible in the life of humanity. The dirge singer also consoles the bereaved to take courage and consolation in the decease’s indelible achievements. In the literal sense, disputes exist in society (Dagaaba, Sɩsaala, and Akan). Also, reconciliation and interventions are real among the Dagaaba, but true reconciliation or total forgiveness is absent because the insults will ever be remembered. When there is a dispute, facts are pointed out, mutual respect for each other is derailed and the weaknesses of the opponent which but for

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the dispute would not have been mentioned, are high-lighted. Elders and neighbours intervene, and reconciliation is met, but can the mediators take away the insults? The irreversibility of insult over dispute has therefore been revealed in (13) and (14) in both Dagaaba and Sɩsaala cultures. Furthermore, value of animals is revealed in (13b), line 2 where the camel is introduced. Camel is a precious animal among others and the dung of the camel is believed to have spiritual value, especially for its medicinal value. Symbolically the dung of the camel is preserved, stored and used for medicinal purpose and it is not perishable just as the good name of the deceased is not perishable. A similar interpretation is given in (14) for Sɩsaalɩ. (14).

a. K1: Sʋʋ sʋɔrί dʋɔ nέ ʋ wί táá sʋɔrέ ‘The corpse rots on the earth but not in the grave.’ K2: Bόtúú sʋwɔ bόtúú yίrί máá yʋgsίrέ ‘If the elephant dies, it will still be remembered.’



C: Wόόό-ό, wόό



b. K1: Ɓáá dáárί nɔhɔɔ náásί mί nέ ɓá wί nɔhɔɔ nʋɔ mί dáárί ‘They can step over the elder’s legs, but never over his advice.’ K2: Nɔhɔɔ nʋɔ nί sʋɔrέ ʋ wɩέ wáá sʋɔrέ ‘It’s an elder’s mouth that smells, not his words.’

We have already discussed the cultural significance of (14a) in (13) above. However, it is important to point out the metaphors in (14a) now. Sʋʋ ‘corpse’ symbolizes the life experiences of the deceased. Apart from the dirge singer’s use of it to console the bereaved family and to warn the enemies, it is also a proverb that is said when circumstances prevent a lover from partaking in the funeral rites of the deceased. He or she says this proverb to console him or herself while still having in mind that there is still room to share the knowledge and relationship between him and the deceased or the deceased family whenever opportunity avails itself. It is a moment of recounting, reflecting on the life experience of the deceased. While the deceased is buried, his life experiences remain indelible and can be remembered, mourned in

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sympathy with the family anytime. Similarly, the botuu ‘elephant’ is the largest animal in the forest in the Sɩsaalaland. The deceased is compared to the elephant while the achievements, good deeds and life experiences are linked to his good yɪrɪ ‘name.’ It is often said in Ghana that ‘Nkrumah never dies.’ The picture and name of Nkrumah remain alive in the minds of many. It is not Nkrumah, it is his struggle for independence, his achievements. We also wish to point out that, the use of the proverb here further shows that the dirge singer is skillful in the use of language and can use all the oral genres in the dirge appropriately. The dirge therefore could be a chant, song, proverb, story, or appellation. We must also add that the other genres equally show this cultural revelation of the life of the people. Finally, (14b) underscores the supremacy of the wisdom and experiences of the elderly in both the Sɩsaala and the Dagaaba society, especially the old lady. Nɔhɔɔ ‘elder’ symbolizes wisdom or experience while wɪԑ/nʋɔ ‘matters/mouth’ symbolizes advice, teaching or admonishing. daarɪ ‘step over’ symbolizes ignore while naasɪ ‘legs’ is literally used. Sʋɔrԑ ‘smell’ symbolizes bad, dislike or hatred. Indeed, nobody likes bad smell, and, in some cases, the elderly smell and their physical appearances are sometimes not good to be associated with, but their wisdom and experiences are rich, making them good sources of information. This reminds us that, we may have to compromise certain things if we need to succeed in some aspects. In just (14b) alone, we can see the number of metaphors used by the dirge singer. Both lines are also proverbs as well, to buttress the earlier argument. Among the Sɩsaala and Dagaaba, seniority is spatial: first come, first served. In the family, heredity or inheritance is by age: the senior-most people in the family or clan. However, leadership by women contradicts age but experience. The first lady married to the family even if she is younger is older than the ones that are married to the family after her. Nɔhɔɔ is therefore defined by birth and chronology in Sɩsaalɩ. It is logical in both cases. If you are born first, you are expected to have more experience than those born after you. Similarly, if you were married to the family first, you are expected to gain more experience in the family matters than those after you. While age and chronology remain different, experience runs through both.

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It is the elders that know or understand the language, culture and the society, better than the youth. They are therefore expected to teach, advise and admonish the youth. By so doing, they transmit the culture, social norms and the ideals of the society. Children seek permission from parents and elders in everything they do among the Sɩsaala. Today, technology and civilization seem to be reversing the trend. Letters are written by the youth and mobile phones are controlled by the youth on behalf of the elders in Sɩsaala communities today. A balance between the experiences of the elders and the youth is a better option for a good Sɩsaala family or society today. We may now turn our attention to the effects of the symbolic use of language in the dirge.

4.2 The Effects of the Metaphor in the Dagaare and Sɩsaalɩ Dirges Like repetition and parallelism, metaphor or simile is among the most important literary devices when it comes to poetry or dirge. It is indisputable to say that the language of the dirge is idiomatic, symbolic and very figurative. Many poets have employed this device to achieve the desired effect. Volkman (2008) views it this way. Among the most important figurative (as opposed to literal or factual) uses of language, metaphor and simile make comparisons as a way of illuminating or developing meaning. Metaphor equates two things that are not the same, while simile says two unlike things are like each other. At their simplest, these figures of speech (underlined below) may be used in a descriptive way to emphasize qualities, as in this Navajo praise poem: ……my horse whose legs are like quick lightning (simile) whose body is an eagle-plumed arrow………. (metaphor) (“War-God’s Horse Song I,” trans. Dave & Mary Roberts Coolidge), 1968) From the above, Volkman means the effect of metaphor is to develop meaning. The real meaning of what is meant with comparison with the reality on the ground. Aristotle contends that metaphor genius use metaphor to reveal

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resemblance. “it is the token of genius. For the right use of metaphor means an eye for resemblance.” Dickinson (1935) cited in Volkman (2008) however uses metaphor without any direct resemblance because there is nothing to compare and Volkman terms this complex metaphor: Stil at the Egg-life Chafing the Shell Till you troubled the Ellipse And the Bird fell(Emily Dickinson, Poem #728, 1935) Metaphor helps communicate unexpressed feelings. Metaphor also has a surprising emotional effect on readers when the poet uses an implied comparison to invent an image and act as links in a descriptive chain. Metaphor tends to encompass other poetic devices as well, in particular imagery, the use of descriptive language to create pictures in the reader’s mind. Dirges are poetic, rich with repetition and parallelism of all kinds. These elements enrich the dirge, bring about deep thinking and aid mourning.

5.0 Conclusion While dirges are sung by many cultures across the world, there are culturespecific variations in the manifestation of dirges. Language and culture are embedded in the poetic dirge. The use of repetition, parallelism and the metaphor among others in the dirge in Dagaare, Sɩsaalɩ and other languages is evidence that our local languages are tools for teaching other languages. Dirges primarily function as praises to the deceased, ancestry and the family sometimes. However, dirges also criticize society especially the deceased family among many cultures. By so doing, dirges educate and sustain mourning, we term this, ‘mournful entertainments’ as one of the primary functions of literature. Dirges take the structure and novelties as claimed by oral formulaic theory, however, they are purposively and skillfully presented by intelligent artist, contrary to the claim that illiterates perform dirges.

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REFERENCES Aboagye, J. K. (1999). Some Issues in Curriculum Development. City Publishers: Ghana, Accra. Anyidoho, A. (2002). Contemporary Funeral Eulogies in Akan. In Ameka, K. Felix and Osam E. Kweku (eds.). New Directions in Ghanaian Linguistics: essay in Honour of the 3Ds; M. E. Dakubu, F. A. Dolphyne and A. S. Duthie. 409-423. Black Mask Ltd: Accra. Bendor-Samuel, J. T. (1971). Niger-Congo Gur. In Current Trends in Linguistcs. Vol 7, Linguistics in Sub-Sahara Africa ed. T. Sebeok. The Hague Mouton Curriculum Research and Development Division (1998). Cultural Studies for Junior Secondary Schools. Pupils Book 3. Accra: CRDD. Dave, C., & Roberts, M. (1968). War-God’s Horse Song I, In Redmond, W. (ed.). Encarta Study Dictionary. Dickinson, E. (1935). Poem #728 cited in Volkman, (2008). Poetry. In Redmond, W. (ed.). Encarta Study Dictionary. Ghana Statistical Service (2005). 2000 Population and Housing Census: Analysis of District Data and Implications for Planning, Upper West Region. GSS: Accra. Greenberg, J. A. (1963). The Languages of Africa. Indiana University Research C5.3 http://en.wikipidia.org Jakobson, R. (1966). ‘Grammatical Parallelism and its Russian Facer’. Language 42 (2) 399-429. Kannan, R. (2006). “A Wail for their Survival”. The Hindy online. Retrieved from http://www.wytda.org Sunday, 16th May, 2010. Klein, E. (1966). A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of English Language.vol.1. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Levin R. S. (1971). The Convention on Poetry. In Seymour Chatman (ed.) Literary Style: A Symposium. London: Oxford University Press. Naden, T. (1988). The Gur Languages. In Dakubu, M. E. K. (ed.), The languages of Ghana. London: Kegan Paul International. Nduanya et al. (1986). Curriculum Studies. Nsukka: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd.

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Nketia , J. H. K. (1955). Funeral Dirge of the Akan People. Acimota & Exeter. James Townsend. O’Connor, M.F., Irwin, M. R. & Wellish, D. K. (2009). Grief. Retrieved from http://www.tc. columbia.edu/faculty/index.htm?facid=gab38. Sunday, 16th May 2010. Okpewho, I. (1992). Africa Oral Literature, Background, Charater, and Continuity. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Parry, M. (1930). Studies in the Epic Technique of oral verse-Making I: Homer and Homeric Style. Harvast Studies in Classical Philology Vol. 41, pp 73-143. Pettitt, P. (2002). When “Burial Begins”. In Denison, Simon (ed.). Archaelogy (66). Retrieve from http://www.britarch.ac.uk. Sunday, 16th May 2010.

Redmond, Wa (ed.) (2008). Encarta Study Dictionary.

Saanchi, J. N. A. (1992). The Dagaaba Dirge: A Study of its Structure and style. M.Phil. Thesis. Department of of Linguistics, University of Ghana, Legon. Saanchi, J. N. Angkaaraba (2002). Linguistic Parallelism and the Dagaba Dirge. In Ameka, K. Felix and Osam E. Kweku (eds.). New Directions in Ghanaian Linguistics: essay in Honour of the 3Ds; M. E. Dakubu, F. A. Dolphyne and A. S. Duthie. 409-423. Black Mask Ltd: Accra. Smith, B. O., Stanley, W. O. & Shores, J. H. (1957). Fundament Development. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World Inc. Volkman, M. (2008). Poetry. In Redmond, W. (ed.). Encarta Study Dictionary. Wierzbicka, A. (2004). “Emotion and Culture: Arguing with Marta Nussbanm”. Ethos 31(4) 577-601. Yabang, K. C. (1981). Dagaaba Kongkombie. Unpublished. UCEW: Winneba Yemeh, P. N. (2002). The Dagaaba Dirge. Adwinsa Publications: Legon, Accra.

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C H A P T E R T W E LV E DOCUMENTING GURENƐ ORAL GENRES IN NORTHERN GHANA: LESSONS FROM THE FIELD Samuel Awinkene Atintono Accra College of Education

Abstract The chapter discusses the processes and challenges of eight months fieldwork experience of documenting essential Gurenɛ (Mabia, Niger-Congo) oral genres which include riddles and folktales, sung folktales, songs and ritual performances between 2010 and 2012 in Bolga and Bongo in northern Ghana. In particular, it presents the documentary corpus of over thirty hours of both audio and video recordings and discusses the strategies and challenges of documenting these genres. It is argued in this chapter that though Gurenɛ with a speaker population of over 600 000 is not endangered, its oral genres such as riddles and folktales are vanishing. The chapter draws attention of linguistic field workers and documentation practitioners to pay attention to such languages and not to focus only on so-called endangered or moribund languages. The discussions further show that the performance of the traditional riddle and folktale ((sɔlema) are important verbal art forms through which the community members acquire oral language skills, moral and character training. But the performance of these genres at narration sessions have long been replaced by modern forms of entertainment such as television and video. Unfortunately, however, there are no records of these folktales for the younger generation to learn and only four elderly people at the time

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of the documentation had expert knowledge in them and the present work took advantage of these experts to record them on both audio and video for preservation and revitalization. The documentation corpus has been archived at Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR) at SOAS, London. The lessons in this project can be used to document these genres in other Ghanaian or African languages for revitalization and preservation of these linguistic and cultural resources. Keywords: Gurenɛ, rare oral genres, language documentation, linguistic resources, preservation

1.0 Introduction The chapter discusses eight months experiences of documenting essential Gurenɛ (Mabia, Niger-Congo) oral genres which include riddles and folktales, sung folktales, songs, daily traditional court trials and ritual performances between 2010 and 2012 in Bolga and Bongo in northern Ghana, West Africa. In particular, it discusses the case and the goals of the documentation project, the fieldwork setting and activities, the documentary corpus, strategies for documenting the Gurenɛ oral genres and some challenges encountered during the fieldwork. It is important to note that apart from Bodomo and Manolete (2007) documentation of spoken and sung folktale in Dagaare, this documentation is one of the few pioneering projects that documents these genres on a larger scale in the Mabia languages spoken in Ghana. The chapter discusses some of the strategies used to document the Gurenɛ oral genres. They include community entry protocols such as seeking permission from chiefs and community leaders, establishing trust among community members, ensuring transparency of the documentation materials and involving community members in the documentation project to ensure its success. It further draws the attention of fieldworkers to the fact that these strategies can be used to document these genres in other Ghanaian and African languages. This will ensure the revitalization and preservation of the linguistic and

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cultural resources of these languages. It is also proposed that fieldworkers and language documenters should not only focus on documenting endangered and moribund languages but should also pay attention to aspects of endangered linguistic resources of languages that are not considered to be endangered. It is not the intention of this chapter to describe documentary linguistics as an academic discipline in itself with its own methodological processes. Central to language documentation methods is the use of digital technology in recording, ethics of documentation, data processing and archiving. Even though, I have employed some of these methods and tools in my fieldwork, the aim is not to provide an overview of the field. Instead, any reader who is interested in the essentials and details in documentary linguistics can refer to Grenoble and Lindsay (1998), Crystal (2000), Austin (2003; 2006), Woodbury (2003), Grinevald (2003), Gippert et al. (2006), Dwyer (2006), Schultze-Berndt (2006), Bowern (2008), Chelliah and Willem (2011), and Essegbey et al. (2015). The rest of the chapter is organised as follows; Section 2 provides the sociolinguistic and typological profile of the language with section 3 on the goals of the documentation project. Section 4 presents a case for the project while section 5 discusses the fieldwork setting and the activities and section 6 focuses on the documentary corpus with section 7 providing a discussion on the strategies used in documenting the folktales. In section 8, the challenges on the field are presented and section 9 concludes the chapter.

2.0

Sociolinguistic and typological profile

Gurenɛ is a Mabia (Gur), Niger-Congo, language spoken in northern Ghana, West Africa. It is sub-classified as a Northwestern Mabia language with its closest relative being Dagaare and Moore spoken in Burkina Faso (Naden 1989; Bendor-Samuel 1989; Bodomo 1994, 2004, this volume). It is estimated that the language has 600,000 speakers based on the Ghana Statistical Service Census Report (2010). Granted that the census did not

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include specific questions on the language that the participants speak but on ethnic membership this figure might not be accurate. There is evidence to suggest that the number could be as more as 800, 000 speakers based on recent literacy fieldwork activities that we have undertaken in the speaker community. Some speakers are in Burkina Faso and are estimated to be over 200, 000 speakers. Thus, the total number of speakers could be about 1,000,000 (cf. Bodomo in this volume). Gurenɛ is one of the five dialects of Farefari besides Boone, Nabt, Nankani and Taln (Dakubu 1996; Nsoh 1997, 2011; Atintono 2002, 2004, 2011, 2013). It is important to point out that in the language classification literature there have been a misrepresentation of the language name leading to spellings such as Frafra, Gurenne, Gurune and Gureni. As noted in my previous works (Atintono 2002, 2004, 2011), Farefari is a cover term for the language. However, Gurenɛ is privilege to have a unified orthography as far back in 2001 and has been considered as a language. It is studied in the Universities and Colleges of Education in Ghana, but it is yet to be introduced at the early grade and primary school. The College of Languages Education, Ajumako at the University of Education, Winneba is one main institution in Ghana that trains both undergraduates and postgraduates in Gurenɛ. The present documentation project focused on Gurenɛ and the Boone dialects. The typological features of the language include: an active suffixal noun class and concord system, advanced tongue root (ATR) vowel harmony, SVO in its canonical clause structure and serial verb constructions. Most of these features are shared with the other Mabia languages spoken in Ghana and those reported in this volume (Bodomo in this volume).

3.0

Goals of the documentation project

The documentation project was motivated by four goals. First, the aim was to collect the disappearing oral genres especially the riddles and folktales, sung folktales, songs performed by women and other oral genres as many as

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possible. An examination of the practice of the performance of the riddles and folktales in particular shows a progressive loss of these verbal art forms in the communities, starting in the 1970s and gaining speed in the mid 1980s. Today, these genres are fast disappearing in the communities as a result of the massive impact of modern life, motivated by the desire to adopt western values and commodities. For example, in most of the communities that I visited in Bolga, Sapooro, Bongo and Namoo the younger generation has no knowledge in them and has little interest to practise these older traditions. They prefer to view western programmes such as European or American football or some other local Ghanaian programmes on TV or video. Since there are no records of these genres or opportunity for the younger generation to learn them, I saw this as an opportunity to document and archive them. Related to this goal was also to make available the audio and video recordings available to the community radio stations and members to take advantage of the digital technology and learn them as a revitalization strategy. The second goal as is the case with many other documentation projects (see Trilsbeek & Wittenburg 2006; Austin 2003, 2006; Himmelmann 1998, 2006; Brickell 2018) is to ensure that the materials documented from the project are transcribed, annotated with metadata and deposited in a digital archive (e.g. ELAR) to provide a lasting record. This way, it will prevent the loss of the genres. It will also create an opportunity for the speaker community and other members of the research community to have access to the digital corpus. Indeed, during my fieldwork my attention was drawn by the community members about the recording of over 100 folktales by a catholic priest, Rev. Father Armand Libel in Bolga and Bongo in the 1970s which were stored on the old cassettes and left at the church. Unfortunately, all the collections were unusable as a result of long storage and the effect of the bad tropical weather condition. Of course, the change in the digital technology as opposed to the analogue form of these cassettes made it difficult to retrieve the recordings. It was only a short transcription of his work of about ten (10) folktales in a tenpage manuscript that was retrieved. To avoid this situation, the materials from

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this current documentation project have been transcribed and annotated and deposited at ELAR, SOAS in London. They can be accessed at https:// www.elar.soas.ac.uk The third goal was to collect as many as possible varied natural texts that can be used for the linguistic analysis of the various aspects of the grammar of the language. In particular, the project contributed both natural and elicited data for the writing of my PhD thesis (see Atintono 2013) on the grammar and semantics of positional verbs from a typological perspective. This work is a contribution to cross-linguistic studies in the positional verb typology based on Ameka and Levinson (2007) approach. The same documentary data is being used for my recent (2017-2018) Fulbright research fellowship project on the writing of a grammar of Gurenɛ which took place at the University of Florida, Gainesville, USA. A fourth goal of the project was also to draw the attention of linguistic fieldworkers and language documenters not to only focus on documenting endangered languages and moribund languages but also pay attention to aspects of endangered linguistic resources of languages that may not be classified as endangered. This was an important aspect, as I have had to make stronger arguments to be awarded the small grant from ELDP (SG0049) in 2009 after my initial application was rejected on grounds that the language was not endangered. Most of the Mabia (Gur) languages such as Dagaare, Dagbani, Kusaal, Kasem, Birifor, and Safalba are all facing similar situation of endangerment of the riddles and folktale and other oral genres. They require similar attention and support if we are to ensure that these important genres are not lost.

4.0

Making a case for the project

Towards the end of the 1980s and early 1990s, language documentation and description has attracted the attention of linguistic fieldworkers as a result of global concerns about language threat, endangerment and death (Hale et

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al. 1992; Himmelmann 1998, 2006; Crystal 2000, 2003; Woodbury 2003; Austin 2006; Essegbey et al. 2015; Nurse 2018). Consequently, a great deal of attention has been paid to language endangerment and documentation issues in the last few decades. Despite these efforts, there has not been a balance in actual practice in terms of the languages that have been documented across the continents and funding support for language documentation projects as far as the literature shows. Thus, the attention of fieldworkers and funding for documentation projects from organizations such as UNESCO, NSF, DOBES, ELDP so far are skewed towards documenting endangered languages in Australia and the Americas to the neglect of African languages (cf. Essegbey et al. 2015). There is also a huge support for documentation projects that tend to focus on severely endangered or moribund languages. In this respect, a critical defining criterion is that languages with fewer speakers with an estimate between 1 to 100 speakers are very good candidates for documentation projects with a high potential to attract support from endangered languages documentation funding agencies. The reality, however, is that there are many languages in Africa with large numbers of speakers from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands with many aspects of their linguistic resources endangered. Such languages do not fit in the documentation agenda and are usually left out. The argument that is pushed in the language documentation discourse is that they fit into the language preservation and revitalization projects but not language endangerment projects. I will like to put up a strong argument that equal attention should be paid to such languages and be treated as endangered so long as there is sufficient justification to point out that some linguistic resources are vanishing or dying in these languages. One of the languages which cannot be classified as an endangered language with a speaker population of about 600,000 but with certain aspects of its linguistic and cultural resources such as oral genres especially riddles and folktales which are vanishing is Gurenɛ, Mabia (Gur), Niger-Congo language. These genres are no longer practised in the community for over three decades.

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They are severely endangered because only a few speakers have knowledge in them and there is no intergenerational transmission of the folktales to younger generations. As Atintono (2013) noted, the level of endangerment of the language and therefore, the genres can be equated to Fishman’s (1991) Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (GIDS) level six, for the folktales are not used at home or other social events such as funerals and marriage ceremonies. At the time of my documentation project between 2010 and 2011 only five elderly men had expert knowledge in narrating the folktales. However, by February 2011 one of these five experts who mentored the other four experts had passed away. But for my project, the community would have lost this genius narrator with his knowledge in this endangered genre. African oral genres such as riddles and folktales, sung folktales are far less familiar in western cultures and are less documented. Among the Gurenɛ speakers sɔlema ‘riddles and folktales’, used to be major verbal art forms until the 1980s. Elders and grandparents narrated them in the evenings with children and adults sitting by the fireside to listen and acquire oral language skills, moral and character training. In many traditional communities across Africa, riddles and folktales narration sessions are more than entertainment. They are viewed as a vital part of the cultural heritage of the speakers and serve as a central medium for the transmission of cultural knowledge. Most African communities are more oral than written. Folktale traditions, therefore, have accumulated special linguistic techniques that respond to the needs of specific cultural and oral practices of the community. Oral language skills, moral and character training are passed on through the riddle and folktale (sɔlema) genres. The narration sessions among the Gurenɛ speakers are major verbal performance in the community in the 1970s. The narration took place in homes of newly married couples or social events such as funerals. The folktale experts usually perform their narrations in the evenings after dinner to children and adults. As these old traditions vanish with the older generations

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of speakers, they take along with them an array of specialized linguistic and cultural resources significant for the moral and character training of the youth. This explains the reason why it is important to document them for the community. Modern forms of entertainment such as television and video have recently replaced them. Furthermore, other oral performances such as sung folktales, praise songs and dirges are vanishing in the communities due to the massive impact of modern life, motivated by the desire to adopt western values and commodities. The Gurenɛ community like most other African communities, however, has no records of these genres for the younger generation to learn and practise. As I pointed out in section 3, this lack of records partly motivated the documentation of these genres to provide a lasting record in an archive and also with a keen interest of revitalising the community interest in them.

5.0

The fieldwork setting and activities

The practice of conducting linguistic fieldwork is an integral part of language documentation projects (cf. Newman & Ratciff 2001). Thus, the fieldwork took place in six (6) communities in Bolga and Bongo between February 2010 and July 2011 in the Upper East Region. Bolga is the regional capital while Bongo is a district capital located 15km away from Bolga. The communities were typically rural except a few that were close to Bolga town such as Tanzui, Soe and Bukere where I recorded some of the folktales, funeral and ritual events. In total, I spent eight (8) months on the field for the documentation. The first major field visit took place from February-June 2010. I had a host family and stayed at Bolga Soe. During this period, I recruited five documentation team members and one research assistant to assist in the recording on the field and transcription of the data. All the six members were from different villages of the speaker community. The research assistant and one other team member have basic knowledge in language and linguistics for they have a first degree in a Ghanaian language but among the other three, one was an accountant while the other two were

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teachers with specialization in Math and ICT. They were trained to acquire some basic skills to understand the project and the use of the audio and video recording equipment in language documentation. One other initial activity was to identify five (5) experts in folktale narration and two (2) groups of sung folktale narrators in the communities with the help of the community members. We arranged with these teams and did a lot of the audio and video recordings with them in their communities either at a school compound or at the home of the performer. Together with my documentation team members, we met each of the narrators at least once in a week for about six months even though some of the narrators frequently cancelled work appointments due to some emergencies. The communities were relatively far apart. Two of the narrators were in Soe and Bukere in Bolga while one narrator was from Yorogo (about 15km north of Bolga), and the last one who is the most talented narrator was from Kansuo (Namoo) near the Ghana and Burkina Faso border in the Bongo district. The latter used to ply his trade in Bolga in the 1960s and 1980s but had retired to his village located north of Bolga, about 35km away from Bolga. The sung folktale groups were both from Beo and Sapooro respectively located east of Bolga. While the folktale narrators had between two (2) to seven (5) members in a group that of the sung folktale groups had between seven (7) to twenty (20) members in a group. Apart from the five expert narrators’ tales that we recorded, we came across by chance a blind narrator in Bongo who was identified by a community member. We had two recording sessions with him. Although, he had a good knowledge in folktales he did not have a team to support him like the other groups. He told us that he learned the tales from his parents while growing up in the 1950s. He invited his friends to support him, but they were not good respondents. Other events that we recorded during the period include interviews with some elders on funeral performances and burial rituals. We also participated in recording chieftaincy installation events and traditional court proceedings

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at the Bongo palace. The paramount chief was very enthusiastic about our programme and granted us interviews about the history of the Bongo chieftaincy and also the rituals associated with the installation processes. Recording of women’s songs was also another major activity that we under took on the field. We had a women’s group from Sumbrongo, a town located at about ten kilometers west of Bolga who agreed to perform for us. We had four recording sessions with them. While on the field we took advantage to document daily conversations and other cultural events that were spontaneous in the communities whenever community members drew our attention to. As I have indicated in section 3 above, one of the goals of the project was to collect natural data for the writing of my thesis. In line with this goal, I also conducted elicitation sessions using various types of positional verbs stimuli sets with other consultants to collect data specific on the grammar and semantics of positional verbs. The follow-up fieldwork was from May-June 2011. This last visit was mainly to cross-check gabs in the data with the consultants and do a few more elicitations and recordings of the folktales. The transcription of the recordings and preparation of the metadata constituted the main activities during this visit. It is important to point out that fieldworkers should ensure that the thin and thick metadata are properly recorded while on they are on the field. But for the follow-up field trip, I had difficulty identifying names of some contributors, places the data was recorded and even dates and times. This is because we did not record some of metadata information properly. Unfortunately, on my second visit, the expert folktale narrator from Namoo (Azulemania) had died in February 2011. I had planned to meet him and record a few more tales and crosscheck a few things with him but it was too late. The community members were, however, happy that my documentation record will help to preserve some of his folktales for future generations.

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6.0

The documentary corpus

The documentation project produced a large volume of both audio and video recordings of a variety of genres. These are shown on Table 1 and Table 2 below. Most of the corpus have been transcribed and annotated using ELAN and are archived with accompanying metadata at the ELAR repository at SOAS, University of London in 2012. This is an open-access archive and can be accessed at https://www.elar.soas.ac.uk. You may need permission from the archivist before you can access some of the restricted materials. Table 1: Audio recordings of the oral genres Genre Riddles Folktales Sung Folktale Women Songs Daily Conversations Historical Narratives Palace Genres Descriptive Text Burial and Funeral Genres Ritual Performances

Length of

Genre

Recording 1 hr : 15 mins 25 hrs : 30 mins 5 hrs : 30 mins 6 hrs : 50 mins 4 hrs : 20 mins 5 hrs : 45 mins 5 hrs : 25 mins 1 hr : 15 mins

Count

5 : 40 2 : 20

Transcription

Archived

1 hr : 15 mins 12 hrs : 15 mins 3 hrs : 30 mins 3 hrs: 30 mins

0 hr : 30 mins 10 hrs : 40 mins 2 hrs :30 mins 2 hrs : 30 mins

2 hrs

1 hr

2 hrs : 30 mins 3 hrs : 25 mins 1 hr : 15 mins

1 hr : 30 mins 2 hrs : 20 mins 1 hr : 15 mins

10

2 hrs : 10 mins

1 hr : 10 mins

15

1 hr : 15 mins

1 hr : 15 mins

160 350 150 75 35 3 36 5

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Table 2: Video recordings of the oral genres

Genre

Length of Recording (Hours:Minutes)

Genre Count

Transcription

Archived

Riddles

0 hr : 30mins

75

0 : 30mins

0 hr : 30 mins

Folktales

10hrs : 30mins

200

5 hrs : 0 mins

5 hrs: 0 mins

Sung Folktale

6hrs : 30mins

150

3 hrs : 30 mins

2 hrs :30 mins

Women Songs

4hrs : 30mins

50

2 hrs: 30 mins

2 hrs : 30 mins

Daily Conversations

1hr : 20mins

10

1 hr

0:0

Historical Narratives

0hr : 30mins

1

0 : 30 mins

0 : 30 mins

Palace Genres

4hrs : 30mins

20

3 hrs : 25

1 hrs: 30

mins

mins

War dance

2hrs : 15mins

5

0 hr: 0 mins

2 hrs : 15 mins

Burial and Funeral Genres

4hrs : 40mins

10

2 hrs: 10 mins

1 hr: 10 mins

Ritual Performances

0:0

0

0: 0 mins

0: 0 mins

Notice that in Table 1 and Table 2 above, there is a difference between the audio and video recordings in terms of the length of recording and the number of genres recorded. There are a number of factors that account for these differences. The main factor is that it is much easier to do audio recording on

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the field than video. Further, as you might have observed, some of the genres like ritual genres are not on video because we were never permitted to use video to record. Besides, the type of equipment you use to record will also contribute to how much data you can record. In my case, I used a Panasonic Video Camcorder, which could only record, on mini cassettes with a maximum of one hour. So, there were instances where we ran out of cassettes to record. But the audio recorder used SD cards and could record for longer hours of between three to five hours depending on the capacity of the card. So, this is the advantage of the audio recorder over the camcorder. Even if we had a camera that could record longer hours there was also the challenge of the time of the day that the recording takes place. Most of the recordings of the riddles and the folktales in the communities took place late afternoon (4.00pm) running late into the night (8.00pm). This was because the narrators informed us that in the culture the narration usually takes place in the evening but not day time. Thus, when the narration goes into the night it becomes difficult to do video recording without sufficient light. Also, the fact that we were operating in typical rural settings made it difficult to have electricity at the place of recording. Apart from the audio and video recordings, I also took still pictures of about one thousand (1,000). Two hundred and twenty-five (225) photos out of this number have been archived. The pictures depict different scenes of the folktale narration sessions, sung folktale performances, women song performances, cultural events such as the funerals, and the chieftaincy installation events in Bongo as well as the elicitation sessions. Figures 1 to 6 below represent some of the scenes of the folktale narration sessions and other events.

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Figure 1: Folktales narration session at Kansuo (Namoo) by Azulemania (seated in the left firstrow third from left facing microphone). On the right first row monitoring the recording are Samuel Atintono (firt from right) and James Akolgo (second from right)

Figure 2: Riddles and Folktales narration session at Yorogo by Apia (Middle in singlet) and his team members.

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Figure 3: Adagesaana (first from right) from Bolga Soe with his colleague Narrator Nsoh from Bolga Bukere (second from right) at a narration session. Extreme left is Philip Anangina who has been my key documentation team member in Bolga and his friend Mba (my former student) who accompanied us.

Figure 4: Sung Folktales performance session at Sapooro by Abugebiire (front row) directly facing the microphone with his hands clasped). His group members are the rest sitting on front row.

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Figure 5: Sumbrong women performing women songs with the documenter (Samuel Atintono) dancing with his back facing the camera.

Figure 6: A traditional court trial on land dispute at the Bongo Chief’s Palace with the chief seated on skins on the platform at the top right. The documenter (Samuel Atintono) is seated on first row from right.

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7.0

Strategies for documenting the Gurenɛ oral genres

In this section, I discuss some of the strategies that were employed in documenting these genres. The first strategy involves the observation of some community entry protocols such as consultations with the opinion leaders in the community in order to gain access to both consultants and places for the documentation. They include chiefs, elders, gatekeepers, and local political leaders (e.g, like in the case of Ghana, the Assemblyman). Being a native speaker or a member of the community does not necessarily grantee you easy access to people and places. I belong to the community but the fact that I had returned from outside to document these genres meant I needed to obtain permission from these opinion leaders before I could start the project. The only advantage that I had as a native speaker was that the people were very receptive to me and in most cases I also knew the appropriate persons to contact for particular information. There is also the issue of making clear the goals of the project by the fieldworker to enlist the support of the community. In this respect, you must build trust between you and the community members. They are only willing to cooperate in the execution of the project when you have established trust with them, and they are convinced about the goals of the project. Some of the members complained that in the past, some local and foreign researchers who came to the community as linguistics or anthropological fieldworkers in the 1970s recorded some traditional cultural performances such as dance, rituals, naming rites, etc. and they never returned to the community. However, they later saw their materials in publications or even in documentaries shown on national TV without their knowledge. In order to establish their trust, we agreed to give copies of some of the recordings on CDs and DVDs to the opinion leaders after the initial recordings. Further, as part of establishing trust, some of the recorded audio or video of the folktales or songs were shown while we were on the field at an important community member’s home or at a school compound for members to observe or listen to. We did this after every two or three weeks build the trust. They were

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happy to be the first to witness their own recorded performances and were satisfied with what would be shown to the outside world. Also, I was asked to give them my village name, permanent home address and phone number as well as colleagues that I work with at the university in Ghana for future contact should the need arises. The fieldworker must also demonstrate transparency with the community members concerning the intended use or preservation of the documentation products. As discussed in the preceding paragraph, they complained about previous researchers (both local and foreign) not granting them access to the recordings that they have taken from them. We explained to them that the materials will be archived at an archive in London and made available online for open access except those that will require restriction. In addition, we made them to understand that after the completion of the documentation they would be given some of the audio and video recordings and we did give them DVDs after the project. It is important to give community members some of the products created out of the documentation project such as DVDs of the audio and video recordings, simple literacy materials, wordlists or dictionaries. This way they will appreciate and support the project. One other strategy that was adopted in the fieldwork was to involve the help and support of the local people who have high interest in the documentation and preservation of the language and cultural resources. The five people we recruited were all self-motivated to participate in the project and this also helped us to record a lot of genres. As pointed out in the section on fieldwork and activities above, these five members were young men with different backgrounds. Two are teachers with language and linguistics background from university but with no fieldwork experience while one other was also a math teacher with a polytechnic training background. The other two had their training in accounting, and home management respectively. Despite their lack of previous training in fiedwork, they acquired the practical documentation skills quickly and could go on their own to document some events without my presence. When you involve active community members in your

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documentation, they may have privileges to access some community events that the fieldworker will not be allowed to participate and record. A typical example in my documentation was a situation where I wanted to document ritual genres associated with burial of the dead in Bolga and the pallbearers would not grant permission to an uninitiated person to observe and record the rituals. Fortunately, one of my documentation team members had been initiated as a pallbearer so he had the advantage of recording the rituals and also interviewing the expert pallbearers. The promotion of the documentation project on local radio or TV stations in the community where it is possible can also help to raise the community interest in the project for revitalization purposes. It will also create the opportunity among the community members to be informed about the project goals so that they can support it. It will be helpful to let the local team members do the discussion about the need for the documentation project. We had a weekly programme of about 45 minutes to discuss our documentation project on a local radio station called Gurenɛ Style in Bolga which ran its programmes using only Gurenɛ. The response from the community members was very impressive as it created the awareness among community members to discuss the need for families to speak to their children in Gurenɛ for intergenerational transmission. They also suggested ways such as encouraging children to learn the folktales at school to revitalise and preserve them in the communities. There should also be the opportunity for the listeners to call in during the radio discussions and make their contributions on the project. In our project, this proved to be very helpful as those who listened to the programme expressed their appreciation for the initiative and also pointed out to us some other experts in some of the genres. Another crucial thing that we did was to play some of the folktales that we have transcribed on the radio stations and it generated a lot of interest. People were surprised to hear these dying genres being played on the radio. We gave a number of the audio recordings of the songs and the folktales to the radio station to play during our programme time at the end of the project. Other radio stations soon learnt about them and also collected some to use at play. The outcome of the radio discussions is that many people became aware of the tales and were more interested in listening to them.

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8.0

Challenges on the field

Every fieldwork for a language documentation project has its own challenges ranging from practical to psychological (cf. Bowern 2008; Brickell 2018). In this section, I will focus on a number of practical challenges that I encountered during the fieldwork which affected the progress of the project. They range from consultant’s work schedules to equipment malfunctioning. I discuss each of these issues in the sections that follow.

8.1 Consultants and work schedules Generally, you must expect disappointments from your consultants in terms of meeting them on time or postponements of meetings particularly in the communities that I had my fieldwork. Most of them will not respond to appointments on time. You may schedule a meeting at 1.00pm and they turn up at 2.00pm or later. In some instances, they may not even turn up. Some consultants are also very difficult to get them to work even though they may have agreed to. An example is one folktale narrator in Bolga that I have had to follow him for six weeks before we were able to get him to start the narration of his tales. He would schedule an appointment for a meeting on a Bolga market day which comes every three days but whenever I met him, he would give an excuse but will request that you buy him a local drink. He was a very slippery person but very knowledgeable in the riddles and folktales genre. So, I had no option but to continue to look for him on every Bolga market day to buy him the drinks until I finally had him in the sixth week to start the narration. As a fieldworker one needs to be patient and also you must adjust to the activities and time of the consultants to succeed on your fieldwork. Some other consultants had emergencies and could not honour appointments.

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8.2 Observing cultural norms and social events in the community One of the challenges that I had was the observance of cultural norms and social practices in the communities which posed a challenge to find the correct balance of time of work and personal time. Brickell (2018:194-195) expressed similar concerns about his fieldwork experience in the Indonesian archipelago where he has to balance work time and other community commitments. While on the field there was a cultural expectation that whenever there is a funeral in any of the communities that I work, I will have to suspend my fieldwork activities for a few days to show my respect for the bereaved family. Particularly, if the funeral affects one of my consultant’s family or their neighbours you are required to attend and express your condolences. You may also be required to make a token donation of cash or provide a local drink. Unfortunately, the period of my documentation coincided with the performance of funerals in the communities and I frequently encountered these situations on the field which made me to postpone my appointments with consultants. Many times, I have had invitations from my consultants to attend other social events such as weddings, festivals, birthday or anniversary celebrations of churches or prominent community members. The fieldworker’s physical presence at the event is often very much appreciated by the community. In addition, there is an expectation from the fieldworker to present a donation in cash or kind to the person inviting you. Thus, it is time consuming to attend these events and it also involves some cost of which I did not anticipate in the preparation of my fieldwork budget. Even if I did, I wonder if my sponsors (ELDP) would have approved it since it is not a direct expenditure of the project. On the flip side, even though attendance to these events do not directly relate to my documentation project, they help to maintain a cordial working relationship with the community. It is also important to observe these cultural norms and practices in the community to avoid potential breaking of these norms which could have some consequences. One other social event that was also a bit disruptive was friends’ invitation to socialising events such as drink sessions at local pubs in the evenings.

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I found myself busy working on my documentation data even when I am not on the farm and I hardly had time to attend them but to my friends I must honour them otherwise I will be labelled as showing off. This requires some negotiations with my friends to attend some of them and avoid others else it will derail your work. This is partly because I was a member of the community and had a number of friends growing up and they were excited about my return and wanted to have time with me to discuss some issues.

8.3 Recording and recording equipment In the documentation literature, a lot has been said about how to record events and the type of equipment to take to the field for optimum results (Woodbury 2003; Bowern 2008; Austin & Grenoble 2007). It is important to be aware of the type of event that you can record and also the type of equipment that can be used. The recording of some cultural events such as the Gurenɛ traditional war dance performance which involved the performers moving in a fast pace in a queue or file on the field as shown in Figure 7 below. It was very difficult to position the camera in a good angle and record perfectly because of the fast movement.

Figure 7: A group of war dancers (the leader is in front) from Bolga Soe performing at a funeral.

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Also, the dancers sang along while performing the dance and this created an excessive noise coupled with the noise made by the enthusiastic crowd who follow them. Thus, running to catch pace with them and record made the images to be unstable. The only time we had good images of the war dancers was when they performed at the front of the compound in a circular movement. But even in such a situation, I have had to climb on top of a wall and drop the camera to be able to record good images. Further, there were instances where some people among the audience deliberately shout or passes through the path of the camera lens just to be captured in the video. Another important issue to note while on the field is to ensure that the recording equipment is constantly in good condition for an efficient workflow while on the field (cf. Bowern 2008). Even though you might have charged your batteries and tested them the previous night before going to the field it is important to frequently monitor the equipment because the weather conditions can affect its performance. My audio recorder which has a soft plastic case easily melted under the heat of the tropical sun and this sometimes led to the malfunctioning of the recorder. In northern Ghana, between April and June the weather usually gets hotter peaking between 30-40 degrees celsius. Thus, the audio recorders with metal or hard plastic casing are much better under such conditions.

8.4 Power management on the field One other important issue a fieldworker should consider is how to manage efficient power supply to the recording equipment during fieldwork. In some of the communities that we worked there was no electricity and in others there was electricity, but it was very unstable and could be switched on or off frequently e.g every 30 minutes. In my case, I used lithium and alkaline rechargeable batteries for the audio recorder. But we have had instances where the batteries depleted completely even though they were fully charged over night before the start of the sessions the next day. It is advisable to have sufficient rechargeable batteries for the digital audio recorder and camcorders.

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You must remember to charge them over night before the next day sessions. I found out that Lithium batteries were far better than Alkaline in terms of long-lasting power retention. In the tropics, heat can cause the batteries to discharge faster.

Figure 8: Samuel Atintono (left) and James Akolgo (right) monitoring the video camera during a folktale narration session at Namoo As you can see in Figure 8, the documenter (left) and his team member are monitoring the battery level of the camcorder and to also ensure that it was actually recording the event. It is important to ensure that you do not lose your recording as a result of the battery or the camera malfunctioning.

9.0 Conclusions In this chapter, I have discussed in detail my personal experience of documenting Gurenɛ oral genres in northern Ghana. It is shown that the documentation has contributed significantly to saving one of the essential linguistic and cultural resources which are riddles and folktales, sung folktales and songs. This project is one of the few documentation projects of the Mabia languages on a bigger scale with the materials archived at ELAR. Language documentation is, therefore, one of the important means to preserve the

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linguistic and cultural resources of the community. An argument is made that though a language may not be classified as an endangered language like the case of Gurenɛ, some aspects of its linguistic resource such as the folktales are vanishing as there are only a few elderly people living today who have expertise in them and they die along with their knowledge. Most of the Mabia languages though are not considered endangered as a result of the large number of speakers that they have but some aspects of their linguistic resources are endangered and therefore require attention for revitalization. The Gurenɛ documentary corpus contains many hours of both audio and video recordings of different types of oral genres e.g. riddles, folktales, songs, ritual texts, traditional court proceedings, descriptive texts and cultural performances. Most of these data have been transcribed, annotated and archived. The chapter also outlined a number of strategies that are required in order to be able to undertake a successful fieldwork which include community entry protocols, building trust among community members, ensuring transparency of the project, community members’ participation in the project, advocacy and rewarding them with the documentary products. I also draw the attention of fieldworkers and language documenters to some challenges that I encountered on the field that can significantly affect the progress of your work on the field. They include delays in consultant’s work schedules, the observance of cultural norms in the community, participation in social events, managing recording and equipment to ensure efficient workflow. It is recommended that careful planning by the fieldworker, collaboration with the community and creativity in dealing with the problems on field will lead to success of the project. It is also important for one to take advantage of any form of training either at graduate school or read some of the literature available that report on practical field experiences of fieldworkers before embacking on field work (see Crowley 2007; Bowern 2008; Chelliah & Willem 2011; Brickell 2018). Despite all these advice it is important to know that every field situation is unique and every fieldworker must be prepared to find innovative ways to overcome them.

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Acknowledgements The documentation of the Gurenɛ oral genres was made possible through the support of ELDP small grant award (SG0049) for my fieldwork and I will like to express my deepest appreciation for the support. I will also like to express my gratitude to the Fulbright Commission and the American Embassy in Ghana for the award of the Fulbright Visiting Research Fellowship (November 2017-August 2018) which allowed me to have uninterrupted time to conduct my research and the writing of the draft of this chapter at the University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.

REFERENCES Atintono, S.A. (2002). The Gurenɛ relative clause. Postgraduate Diploma Long Essay, University of Ghana, Legon. Atintono, S. A. (2004). A Morpho-syntactic study of the Gurenɛ verb. MPhil thesis, University of Ghana, Legon. Atintono, S. A. (2011). Verb morphology: Phrase structure in a Gur language (Gurenɛ). Saarbrücken: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing. Atintono, S. A. (2013). The grammar and semantics of positional verbs in Gurenɛ. A typological perspective. PhD thesis, University of Manchester, UK. Austin, P. K. (2003). Introduction. In P. K. Austin (Ed.), Language Documentation and Description (Vol. I). London: SOAS. Austin, P. K. (2006). Data and language documentation. In Jost Gippert & P. Nikolaus Himmelmann (Eds.), Essentials of Language Documentation, 87-112. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Austin, P. K. & Grenoble, L. A. (2007). Current Trends in Language Documentation. In K. A. Peter (Ed.), Language Documentation and Description (Vol. 4). London: SOAS.

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Bendor-Samuel, J. T. (1989). (Ed.) The Niger-Congo languages: A classification and description of the Africa’s largest language family. New York: University Press of America. Brickell, T. C. (2018). Linguistic fieldwork: Perception, preparation, and practice. In P. K. Austin & L. Gawne (Eds.), Language Documentation and Description (Vol. 15, pp. 179-207). London: Elpublishing. Bodomo, A. (1994). Language, history and culture in Northern Ghana: An introduction to the Mabia linguistic group. Nordic Journal of African Studies 3:25-43. Bodomo, A. (1997). The structure of Dagaare: Stanford monographs in African languages. Stanford and California: CSLI Publications. Bodomo, A. (2000). Languages of the world materials No. 165. Munchen: Lincom Europa. Bodomo, A. (2004). Moore and the Gur languages. In Encyclopedia of Linguistics. London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Bodomo, A. and Manolete, M. (2007). Documenting spoken and sung texts of the Dagaaba of West Africa. Empirical Musicoloy Review 2:81102. Bodomo, A. (2017). Mabia: its genesis, geographical spread, and some salient genetic features. A paper presented at the second Mabia worshop, University of Vienna, Vienna. October 29-31, 2017. Bowern, C. (2008). Linguistic fieldwork: A practical guide. London: Palgrave Macmillian. Chelliah, S. L. & Willem, d. R. J. (Eds.). (2011). Handbook of descriptive linguistic fieldwork. London and New York: Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg. Crystal, D. (2000). Language death. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Crystal, D. (2003). Endangered Languages: What should we do now. In P. K. Austin (Ed.), Language Documentation and Description (Vol. I). London: SOAS.

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Crowley, T. (2007). Field Linguistics: A Beginner’s Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dakubu, K. M. E. (1996). A Grammar of Gurune. Legon: Language Centre. Dwyer, A. M. (2006). Ethics and practicalities of cooperative fieldwork and analysis. In G. Jost, N. P. Himmelmann, & U. Mosel (Eds.), Essentials of Language Documentation. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Essegbey, J., Henderson, B., & Laughlin, F. M. (Eds.). (2015). Language Documentation and Endangerment in Africa. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Grenoble, L. A., and Lindsay, W. J. (Eds.). (1998). Endangered languages: Current issues and future prospects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Jost, G., Himmelmann, N. P. & Mosel, U. (Eds.). (2006). Essentials of Language Documentation. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Hale K., Krauss, Michael, Watahomigie Lucille J., Yamamoto Akira Y., Craig Colette G., LaVerne, Jeanne Masayesva and England, Nora C (1992). Endangered languages. Language 68:1-42 Himmelmann, P. N. (1998). Documentary and descriptive linguistics. Linguistics 36:161-195. Gippert, J., Nikolaus P. Himmelmann & Ulrike Mosel (Eds.). (2006). Essentials of Language Documentation. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Haviland, J. B. (2006). Documenting Lexical knowledge. In Gippert, J., Nikolaus P. Himmelmann and Ulrike Mosel (Eds.), Essentials of Language Documentation. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter Himmelmann, P. N. (2006). Language documentation: What is it and what is it good for? In Jost Gippert and P. Nikolaus Himmelmann (Eds.), Essentials of Language Documentation, 1-30. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

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Nathan, D. (2006). Thick interface: Mobilising language documentation with multimedia. In G. Jost, N. P. Himmelmann, & U. Mosel (Eds.), Essentials of Language Documentation. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Nurse, D. (2018). Documenting language shift and loss: Banjuni in Somalia. In P. K. Austin & L. Gawne (Eds.), Language Documentation and Description (Vol. 15). London: Elpublishing. Nsoh, A. E. (1997). Some aspects of Gurune (Frafra) nominal structure, MA thesis, University of Ghana, Legon. Nsoh, A. E. (2011). A lexical-functional syntax of the adjective in the Farefari Language, PhD thesis, University of Ghana, Legon. Schultze-Berndt, E. (2006). Linguistic annotation. In G. Jost, N. P. Himmelmann, & U. Mosel (Eds.), Essentials of Language Documentation. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Trilsbeek, P., & Peter, W. (2006). Archiving Challenges. In G. Jost, N. P. Himmelmann, & U. Mosel (Eds.), Essentials of Language Documentation (pp. 311-335). Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Woodbury, T. (2003). Defining documentary linguistics. In P. K. Austin (Ed.), Language Documentation and Description (Vol.1, pp. 35-51). London: SOAS.

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