Kusaal grammar_Agoswin Musah Flipbook PDF

27 Kusaal is a Mabia (traditional Gur) language spoken in north-eastern Ghana. Until recently, there was a paucity of linguistic research on the language, thus, the need for a concise and lucid grammar. The study adopts a holistic linguistic approach to language documentation and description drawing on a corpus of synchronic data collected on fieldtrips. The analysis of the data is guided by a confluence of structural and functional grammar approaches following Payne (1997) and Dixon’s (2010) Basic Linguistic Theory. The phonology, nouns and noun class systems, nominal modifiers and relator nouns, verbs, phrases, aspect and modality, clause structure, verb serialisation and pragmatically marked structures are considered together with a speech form similar to ‘signifying/playing the dozens’.

Schriften zur Afrikanistik Re s e a r c h i n A f r i c a n S t u d i e s Band 27

A. Agoswin Musah

A Grammar of Kusaal

A. Agoswin Musah is a native speaker of Kusaal and a lecturer at the Gur-Gonja Department of the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana. He holds bachelor and master’s degrees from the University of Ghana and a PhD in African Studies (Linguistics) from the Goethe Universität of Frankfurt. His research interests include language documentation and description and the development of contact languages.

ISBN 978-3-631-74868-8

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A. A. Musah · A Grammar of Kusaal

A Mabia (Gur) Language of Northern Ghana

A Grammar of Kusaal

Schriften zur Afrikanistik Research in African Studies Herausgegeben von Rainer Vossen

Band 27

Zur Qualitätssicherung und Peer Review der vorliegenden Publikation Die Qualität der in dieser Reihe erscheinenden Arbeiten wird vor der Publikation durch den Herausgeber der Reihe geprüft.

Notes on the quality assurance and peer review of this publication Prior to publication, the quality of the work published in this series is reviewed by the editors of the series.

Anthony Agoswin Musah

A Grammar of Kusaal A Mabia (Gur) Language of Northern Ghana

Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar. Zugl.: Frankfurt (Main), Univ., Diss., 2018 Printed with the financial support of the DAAD – Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst / German Academic Exchange Service

Gedruckt auf alterungsbeständigem, säurefreiem Papier. Druck und Bindung: CPI books GmbH, Leck D 30 ISSN 1436-1183 ISBN 978-3-631-74868-8 (Print) E-ISBN 978-3-631-76083-3 (E-PDF) E-ISBN 978-3-631-76084-0 (E-PUB) E-ISBN 978-3-631-76085-7 (MOBI) DOI 10.3726/b14344 © Peter Lang GmbH Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften Berlin 2018 Alle Rechte vorbehalten. Peter Lang – Berlin · Bern · Bruxelles · New York · Oxford · Warszawa · Wien Das Werk einschließlich aller seiner Teile ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung außerhalb der engen Grenzen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes ist ohne Zustimmung des Verlages unzulässig und strafbar. Das gilt insbesondere für Vervielfältigungen, Übersetzungen, Mikroverfilmungen und die Einspeicherung und Verarbeitung in elektronischen Systemen. Diese Publikation wurde begutachtet. www.peterlang.com

Contents 1 Language Profile ............................................................................................25 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................25 1.2 Geography ...................................................................................................25 1.3 Demography ...............................................................................................25 1.4 Socio-cultural information .......................................................................26 1.4.1 Political institutions .......................................................................26 1.4.2 Religion ...........................................................................................26 1.4.3 Family systems ...............................................................................27 1.4.4 Festivals ...........................................................................................27 1.4.5 Funerals ...........................................................................................27 1.4.6 Marriage ..........................................................................................29 1.4.7 Climate and farming practices .....................................................29 1.4.8 Linguistic pluralism .......................................................................30 1.5 Language .....................................................................................................31 1.5.1 Language family .............................................................................31 1.5.2 Dialects ............................................................................................32 1.5.3 Typological sketch .........................................................................35 1.6 Kusaal research overview ..........................................................................36 1.7 Objectives ....................................................................................................37 1.8 Theoretical background.............................................................................38 1.9 Methodology...............................................................................................40 1.10 Orthography ...............................................................................................41 1.10.1 Phonemes ........................................................................................41 1.10.2 Word combinations .......................................................................42 1.10.3 Pronouns .........................................................................................43 1.10.4 Tone .................................................................................................43 1.11 Organisation of the thesis .........................................................................44 1.12 Conclusion ..................................................................................................45 5

2 Phonology.........................................................................................................47 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................47 2.2 Phonological inventory .............................................................................47 2.2.1 Consonants .....................................................................................47 2.2.1.1 Plosives ..........................................................................48 2.2.1.2 Fricatives ........................................................................50 2.2.1.3 Nasals .............................................................................51 2.2.1.4 Liquids ...........................................................................52 2.2.2 Some minimal pairs .......................................................................54 2.2.3 Vowels ..............................................................................................54 2.2.3.1 Oral vowels ....................................................................55 2.2.3.2 Nasal vowels ..................................................................57 2.2.3.3 Vowel sequencing .........................................................57 2.2.3.3.1 Diphthongs ....................................................................57 2.2.3.3.2 Triphthongs ...................................................................58 2.2.3.3.3 Epenthetic/intervocalic glottals ..................................58 2.2.4 Vowel harmony ..............................................................................58 2.2.4.1 [ATR] harmony ............................................................58 2.2.4.2 Roundness harmony ....................................................60 2.3 Tone..............................................................................................................61 2.3.1 Morpho-syntactic tone ..................................................................62 2.3.1.1 The imperfective ...........................................................62 2.3.1.2 The habitual ...................................................................63 2.3.1.3 The progressive .............................................................63 2.3.1.4 The perfect .....................................................................64 2.3.1.5 The factative ..................................................................65 2.3.1.6 Future time marking ....................................................65 2.3.1.7 The future interrogative ...............................................66 2.3.2 Near-grammatical minimal pairs ................................................66 2.3.2.1 The indicative and interrogative of the perfect.........66 2.3.2.2 Negation of the future and the factative ....................67 2.3.2.3 The imperative ..............................................................67 6

2.4 Syllables .......................................................................................................68 2.4.1 Peak-only syllables .........................................................................69 2.4.2 VC syllables.....................................................................................69 2.4.3 The CV syllable...............................................................................69 2.4.4 The CVC syllable ............................................................................70 2.5 Word structure............................................................................................70 2.6 Phonological processes ..............................................................................72 2.6.1 Place of articulation assimilation .................................................72 2.6.1.1 hom*organic nasal assimilation ..................................72 2.6.1.2 Consonant gemination ................................................72 2.6.2 Nasalisation.....................................................................................73 2.6.3 Consonant elision ..........................................................................74 2.6.3.1 Deletion of final –g noun class suffix .........................74 2.6.3.2 Deletion of coda consonants in compounds ............75 2.6.4 Consonant mutation in loanwords ..............................................75 2.6.5 Vowel apocopation.........................................................................76 2.6.6 Vowel coalescence ..........................................................................78 2.6.7 Vowel lengthening .........................................................................78 2.6.8 Vowel epenthesis ............................................................................79 2.7 Conclusion ..................................................................................................80

3 Nouns, Pronouns and the Noun Class System .................................81 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................81 3.2 Structure of the simple noun ....................................................................81 3.3 Noun types ..................................................................................................82 3.3.1 Proper/common nouns .................................................................82 3.3.1.1 Personal names .............................................................82 3.3.1.2 Place names ...................................................................83 3.3.1.3 Days of the week ...........................................................83 3.3.1.4 Cardinal points .............................................................84 3.3.1.5 Names of established entities ......................................84 3.3.2 Common nouns .............................................................................84 7

3.3.3 Concrete/abstract nouns ...............................................................84 3.3.4 Countable/uncountable nouns.....................................................85 3.4 Derivational processes ...............................................................................85 3.4.1 Derived nominals...........................................................................85 3.4.2 Associative constructions .............................................................87 3.5 Pronouns .....................................................................................................87 3.5.1 Personal pronouns .........................................................................88 3.5.2 Emphatic personal pronouns .......................................................90 3.5.3 Possessive pronouns ......................................................................91 3.5.4 Demonstrative pronouns ..............................................................92 3.5.5 Reflexive pronouns ........................................................................93 3.5.6 Reciprocal pronouns......................................................................93 3.5.7 Relative pronouns ..........................................................................94 3.5.8 Interrogative pronouns..................................................................95 3.6 Inflectional processes and the Kusaal noun class system......................96 3.6.1 Class 1/2 (-V, -d/-b) .......................................................................98 3.6.1.1 Suffix variants (Class 1 & 2) ........................................99 3.6.1.2 Sub-class -Ø/nam .........................................................99 3.6.1.3 Derivations ................................................................. 101 3.6.1.4 Compounds with –nid, -daan/dim ......................... 101 3.6.2 Class 3/4 (-Vŋ/-Ni) ..................................................................... 102 3.6.3 Class 5/6 (-r/-a) ........................................................................... 102 3.6.3.1 Suffix variants (Class 5 & 6) ..................................... 102 3.6.3.2 Derivations ................................................................. 105 3.6.4 Class 12/13 (-g/-s) ....................................................................... 106 3.6.4.1 Suffix variants (Class 12 & 13) ................................. 106 3.6.4.2 Derivations ................................................................. 108 3.6.5 Class 15/21 (-g/-d) ...................................................................... 109 3.6.6 Class 19/4 (–f/-i) ......................................................................... 109 3.6.7 Class 20/13 (-bil/-bibis) .............................................................. 110 3.6.8 Single class 14 (–b) ...................................................................... 111 3.6.8.1 Derivation................................................................... 111 8

3.6.9 Single class 22, 23 (–m) .............................................................. 111 3.6.9.1 Suffix variants (Class 22 & 23) ................................. 111 3.6.9.2 Derivation................................................................... 114 3.6.10 Irregular classes ........................................................................... 114 3.7 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 115

4 Nominal Modifiers and Relator Nouns ............................................ 117 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 117 4.2 Nominal Modifiers .................................................................................. 117 4.2.1 Adjectives ..................................................................................... 117 4.2.2 Semantic categorization of adjectives....................................... 118 4.2.2.1 Dimension .................................................................. 119 4.2.2.2 Physical property ....................................................... 119 4.2.2.3 Colour ......................................................................... 120 4.2.2.4 Value adjectives.......................................................... 120 4.2.2.5 Age............................................................................... 121 4.2.3 Distribution of adjectives in Kusaal.......................................... 121 4.2.3.1 The bʊn-paradigm ..................................................... 121 4.2.3.2 Adjectives in attributive position ............................ 123 4.2.3.3 Predicative adjectives ................................................ 125 4.2.3.4 Post-copula adjectives............................................... 126 4.2.3.5 Pluralisation ............................................................... 128 4.2.4 Numerals ...................................................................................... 129 4.2.4.1 Cardinals..................................................................... 129 4.2.4.2 Ordinals ...................................................................... 132 4.3 Relator nouns ........................................................................................... 132 4.3.1 Body-part nouns as relator nouns ............................................ 134 4.3.2 zug ‘on top of ’, ‘because of ’ ........................................................ 135 4.3.3 Other sources of relator nouns.................................................. 136 4.3.4 Relator nouns and the locative marker .................................... 136 4.3.5 The nɛ ‘with’ preposition ............................................................ 137 4.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 138 9

5 Noun Phrases ............................................................................................... 139 5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 139 5.2 Distribution of NP elements .................................................................. 140 5.2.1 Possessives.................................................................................... 140 5.2.2 Noun/pronoun as head of NP ................................................... 141 5.2.3 Adjectives ..................................................................................... 141 5.2.4 Numerals ...................................................................................... 143 5.2.5 Determiners ................................................................................. 145 5.2.6 Demonstrative determiners ....................................................... 146 5.2.7 Quantifiers (adverbial quantifiers) ........................................... 148 5.3 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 149

6 Verbs and Verb Phrases ........................................................................... 151 6.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 151 6.2 Morpho-syntactic features of Kusaal verbs.......................................... 151 6.2.1 Verb configuration ...................................................................... 151 6.2.1.1 Stems of the CV/CVV type ...................................... 152 6.2.1.2 Stems of the CVC/CVVC type................................. 153 6.2.1.3 Stems of the V/VC/ & VV/VVC type ..................... 153 6.2.2 Derivational morphology and verb extensions....................... 154 6.2.2.1 The causative .............................................................. 154 6.2.2.2 The applicative ........................................................... 155 6.2.2.3 The inversive .............................................................. 155 6.2.2.4 The iterative ................................................................ 156 6.2.2.5 The ventive ................................................................. 157 6.2.3 Inflectional morphology ............................................................ 157 6.3 The verb phrase ....................................................................................... 159 6.3.1 The pre-verbal particles.............................................................. 159 6.3.2 Adverbials .................................................................................... 160 6.3.2.1 Place adverbials.......................................................... 161 6.3.2.2 Adverbs of time.......................................................... 162 6.3.2.3 Manner adverbs ......................................................... 163 10

6.3.2.4 6.3.2.5 6.3.2.6

Intensity/degree ......................................................... 165 Certainty/probability adverbs .................................. 165 Frequency adverbs..................................................... 166

6.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 166

7 Aspect & Modality in Kusaal ................................................................ 167 7.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 167 7.2 Aspect ....................................................................................................... 167 7.2.1 The unmarked verb: The factative ............................................ 168 7.2.1.1 Unmarked action verbs ............................................ 169 7.2.1.2 Factative 1-verbs and Foc -nɛ .................................. 170 7.2.1.3 Unmarked stative verbs ............................................ 170 7.2.1.4 Factatives and the pre-verbal particles ................... 171 7.2.2 The habitual ................................................................................. 173 7.2.3 The progressive ............................................................................ 175 7.2.4 Pre-verbals and the IPFV forms ............................................... 178 7.2.5 The perfect ................................................................................... 178 7.3 Modality ................................................................................................... 180 7.3.1 Future time marking................................................................... 180 7.3.2 The ingressive clause................................................................... 181 7.3.3 The conditional clause ................................................................ 182 7.3.4 The imperative ............................................................................. 183 7.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 185

8 Clause Structure ......................................................................................... 187 8.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 187 8.2 The role of transitivity............................................................................. 187 8.3 Grammatical relations ............................................................................ 189 8.3.1 Subject and direct object/complement..................................... 189 8.3.2 Indirect object ............................................................................. 190 8.4 Argument structure ................................................................................ 191 11

8.4.1 Single argument clauses ............................................................. 193 8.4.1.1 The existential ............................................................ 193 8.4.1.2 Statives and state-of-affairs verbs ............................ 194 8.4.1.3 The perfect .................................................................. 195 8.4.2 Two argument clauses ................................................................ 196 8.4.2.1 Agent and patient ...................................................... 197 8.4.2.2 Experiencer and theme ............................................. 198 8.4.2.3 Copula clauses/complements................................... 199 8.4.2.4 Locative/motion clauses ........................................... 200 8.4.3 Three argument clauses .............................................................. 200 8.5 Clause combinations ............................................................................... 202 8.5.1 Coordination ............................................................................... 202 8.5.1.1 nɛ ‘and/with’ ............................................................... 203 8.5.1.2 ka ‘and’ ........................................................................ 204 8.5.1.3 bɛɛ ‘or’ ......................................................................... 205 8.5.1.4 amaa ‘but’ ................................................................... 206 8.5.2 Subordination .............................................................................. 206 8.5.2.1 Complement clauses ................................................. 206 8.5.2.2 ka ‘that’ as complementiser ...................................... 208 8.5.2.3 Relative clauses .......................................................... 210 8.6 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 212

9 Serial verb constructions – A prototypical overview ................. 213 9.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 213 9.2 Serialisation.............................................................................................. 213 9.3 Prototypicality ......................................................................................... 213 9.4 Some features of SVCs ............................................................................ 214 9.4.1 The single event paradigm ......................................................... 214 9.4.2 Same argument sharing.............................................................. 215 9.4.3 The connector constraint ........................................................... 217 9.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 220 12

10 Pragmatically Marked Structures....................................................... 221 10.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 221 10.2 Focus ......................................................................................................... 221 10.2.1 Broad focus .................................................................................. 221 10.2.1.1 nɛ/-nɛ Foc ................................................................... 222 10.2.1.2 n Foc ............................................................................ 223 10.2.1.3 -i cl*tic Foc .................................................................. 224 10.2.2 Narrow focus ............................................................................... 225 10.3 Negation ................................................................................................... 226 10.3.1 Nominal negation ....................................................................... 227 10.3.2 Negation of the declarative ........................................................ 228 10.3.3 Future time negation .................................................................. 230 10.3.4 Negation of the imperative ........................................................ 231 10.4 Questions.................................................................................................. 232 10.4.1 Polar questions ............................................................................ 232 10.4.2 Content questions ....................................................................... 234 10.5 Context-dependent structures............................................................... 236 10.6 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 237

References ............................................................................................................. 239 Appendices – Kusaal Literary Genres/Texts ......................................... 249 Appendix A – Sɔlim gima ‘Signifying/playing the dozens’ ......................... 249 Appendix B – Kusaal short story .................................................................... 258 Appendix C – Kusaal folktale ......................................................................... 261 Appendix D – Instructional Text ................................................................... 273 Appendix E – Kusaal Poems ........................................................................... 278

List of figures Figure 1.1: Kusaal language area .............................................................................28 Figure 1.2: The genetic affiliation of Kusaal ............................................................34 Figure 3.1: Overview of Kusaal nominal suffixes ...................................................98 Figure 7.1: Inflectional, modal and polarity features .......................................... 168

List of tables Table 1.1: Mabia – ‘My brother/my sister’ .............................................................31 Table 1.2: Extensions of Mabia ...............................................................................32 Table 1.3: Noun class system exemplified ...............................................................36 Table 1.4: Kusaal orthographic symbols.................................................................42 Table 2.1: Consonant phonemes .............................................................................47 Table 2.2: Vowels ......................................................................................................55 Table 3.1: Structure of the simple Kusaal noun .....................................................82 Table 3.2: Kusaal personal pronouns......................................................................88 Table 3.3: Cross-class group.................................................................................. 114 Table 3.4: Dual plural forms ................................................................................ 115 Table 4.1: Relator nouns ....................................................................................... 133 Table 6.1: Structure of the verb ............................................................................ 152 Table 6.2: Preverbal particles ............................................................................... 160 Table 6.3: Temporal adverbs................................................................................. 162 Table 6.4: Aspectual markers derived from adverbials ...................................... 163 Table 6.5: Ideophones functioning as manner adverbs ...................................... 164 Table 10.1: Kusaal interrogative pronouns ........................................................... 234

Acknowledgments “We are social creatures to the inmost centre of our being. The notion that one can begin anything at all from scratch, free from the past, or unindebted to others, could not conceivably be more wrong.” – Karl Popper

And so it is, that I am aware that I did not come this far on my strength alone. My first gratitude goes to my supervisors, Prof. Dr. Rainer Vossen and PD. Dr.Klaus Beyer at the Institut für Afrikanistik, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, for accepting me as their student and for their academic guidance and administrative support in the course of this journey. Through their unflinching support, I was able to draw on a DAAD scholarship (ID# 91522579) to finance the three and half years of my study. I am very grateful to the DAAD for this. Their backing also got me partial support from the Vereinigung von Freunden und Förderern (VFF, Goethe-Universität) to finance my fieldwork stays in Ghana. My gratitude also goes to Drs. Zoch and Marggrander for their assistance, especially reading through some of my sections, and to my senior colleagues, Dr. Aziaku and Dr.Ngom, for paving the way and for their assistance in diverse ways. Much love to Agnesa for holding all of us down and to Mba and Winbun for making every day more worthwhile. I love you guys to bits. To my mom, Vero Abena Boateng for being my greatest fan and my dad Joe Mbasibidi Musah for all that he taught me. I am very proud of you both. I am also grateful to my siblings Bapiam, Gladys, Kiran, Mati and Clare for their thoughts, support, and prayers. We have come far! Thanks also to Siegfried and Ella, Felix, Lisbeth and Jochen (my Latin Godfather who acquired many Asterix and Obelix books in Latin for me), and all the lovely people from the Rensch and Schneider families who have taken my academic progress to heart. Many people dirtied their hands proper in the process of data collection, transcription, translation and analyses and editing and I stand forever in their debt. Special mention especially to Michael Awimbilla, Sam Issah, Asangba Taluah, Anasah Linus, and to my many good friends and research assistants: Joe Bawa, Bador Kamal, Barnabas Abanga, Francis Nasara, Jonas Sarko, and Moses Atiiga. Thanks also to Abariche O. Ayuuba, Azubilla Illyasu, and Alhassan M. Agingri for sorting out one especially complicated part of the Kusaal data with me. To Isaac Issah, Peter Nso, Moses Bawre, Michael Assibi, TchiTchorly, Max Aziabah, Simon Sarko, Joel Abekuliya, Roy Aboku, Denis Adamu, Simon Sarko, Cupid Adumbireh, Tony Kobah, James Abakwam, Wuffele and Avoka, and my other NDOBA 2002 colleagues; to Reggie Duah, Abby Ayiglo, Majeed Abdul 19

Razak, Simon Dankyi, Comrade Simba, Frank Afari, and on and on and all your beautiful families. As well as to my spiritual godfathers Vitus Alnaa, Robert Abotzabire, Linus Anaba, Peter Winimi, Clement Ajongba, Sylvanus Ayoubire… Thank you all for being there! I am also indebted in many different ways to my mentors and professors at the Department of Linguistics, University of Ghana especially Drs. Akanlig-Pare, Amuzu and Agbedor and Prof. Osam, as well as to Profs. John Singler and Chris Collins (NYU/ALS) for their backing and support. To the staff of the College of Languages Education (UEW) especially Dr. Atintono and Prof. Avea-Nsoh for their encouragement and support to me personally and for the cause of the Kusaal programme. Finally, I appreciate the individual support of the students of the B.A. Kusaal Education programme at UEW, my silent backers and all who take a strong interest in the development of minority languages as well as those I may have inadvertently left out in these few lines. May our strength never falter. Yà tʊ̄ʊmà tʊ̄ʊmà. 2PL.POSS work work ‘Good job./Thumbs up./Congratulations.’ Glory to God!

List of abbreviations1 .n .sthing .v * + ø 1 2 3 ADJ ADV ALL AMP ANIM APPL ATR AUX C CAUS cf. CHVH CL CM COM COMP COMPL COND CONJ COP 1

Minus/absent Noun Something Verb Ungrammatical construction Plus/present Empty morph 1st person 2nd person 3rd person Adjective Adverb Allative Aspect, Mood and Polarity Animate Applicative Advanced Tongue Root Auxiliary Consonant Causative Cross reference Cross Height Vowel Harmony Class Class Marker Comitative Complementiser Completive Conditional Conjunction Copula

Except for a few modifications, the abbreviations and glossing conventions used in this thesis closely follow those outlined in the Leipzig Glossing Rules (Comrie et al. 2015). Available online at: https://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/pdf/Glossing-Rules.pdf [Accessed: 3rd October 2015].

CRAS DEF DEM DER DER-A DET Dim. DIR DIST DM DO e.g. EMPH EPV etc. Ex. EXPL EXST FCT FCT1 FCT2 ff Foc FOC FUT GER GPE H HAB HEST HH HNA HOD HUM i.e. IDEO IMP INDEF 22

Crastinal Definite Demonstrative Derivational Derivational Affixes Determiner Diminutive Directive Distant Discourse Marker Direct object example Emphatic Epenthetic Vowel et cetera Example Expletive Existential Factative Factative 1 (Active verbs) Factative 2 (Stative verbs) following (Broad) Focus (Narrow) Focus Future Gerund Ghanaian Pidgin English High Habitual Hesternal High-high etc. hom*organic Nasal Assimilation Hodiernal Human that is Ideophone Imperative Indefinite

INFL INFL-A ING INST INT INVR IO IPFV IRR ITR L lit. LL LOC LWC M MM N NARR NC NEG NOM NP NUM NVC OBJ pc PFV p. PL P.NAME PNC POSS PP pp. Pre-V PREP PRF

Inflection Inflectional affixes Ingressive Instrument Interrogative Inversive Indirect object Imperfective Irrealis Iterative Low literally Low-Low, etc. Locative Languages of Wider Communication Mid Mid-Mid, etc. Noun Narrative Noun Class Negator Nominalised form Noun Phrase Numeral North Volta-Congo Object personal communication Perfective Page Plural Place Name Proto-Niger-Congo Possessive Prepositional Phrase pages Pre-Verb Preposition Perfect 23

PRO PROG PROX PRT PST PST-V Q QUANT R REDUP REL RFLX RN RNP sb. SBJ SFE SG SHS SL SVC SVO TBU TZ V V VEN VH VOC VP

Pronoun Progressive Proximal Particle Past Post-Verb Question particle Quantifier Root Reduplication Relativiser Reflexive Relator noun Relator noun phrase somebody or someone Subject Sentence final element Singular Senior High School Sign Language Serial Verb Construction Subject Verb Object Tone bearing unit Tuo-Zaafi ‘main northern-Ghana staple dish’ Verb Vowel Ventive Vowel harmony Vocative Verb Phrase

1 Language Profile 1.1 Introduction This study describes salient aspects of the grammar of Kusaal, a language spoken in north-eastern Ghana and in the adjoining areas of the Republic of Burkina Faso and Togo. In this introductory chapter, we provide a profile of the language and its speakers as well as the motivation and methods used in the study. While §1.1 introduces the chapter, §1.2, §1.3, and §1.4 talk about the geography, demography and the socio-cultural contexts of the language. In §1.5, we highlight the linguistic situation of the language and provide a review of research around the topic in §1.6. In §1.7 we underscore the objective of the research while the theoretical underpinnings of the research are taken up in §1.8 and §1.9 elaborates on the research methodology employed. In §1.10 we elaborate on the current Kusaal writing system and make a statement of the chapter breakdown of the thesis in §1.11. The chapter is summarised in §1.12.

1.2 Geography Kusaal is spoken in the north-eastern corner of Ghana and in the adjoining areas of neighbouring Burkina Faso and Togo. The areas within Ghana where the language is spoken are all found in the Upper East Region around latitude 11.050000°N and longitude -0.233333° W. Of the 13 districts in the Region, Kusaal is spoken in 6, namely Bawku Municipal and Zebilla, Garu-, Tempane, Pusiga-Polimakom and Binduri District Assemblies. These are also the most important towns in the Kusaal speaking area including Binaba and Bazua. The location is generally arid, a result of the generally long seasons of dryness followed by intermittent rains over a 4-month period (June to September) each year (see Figure 1.1 below).

1.3 Demography Kusaal is one of approximately 50 or so languages spoken in Ghana (Dakubu 1988, Anyidoho and Dakubu 2008). This number includes two non-indigenous languages of wider communication (LWC): English and Hausa; two sign languages (SL): Ghanaian SL and Adamorobe SL, and a simplified LWC, Ghanaian Pidgin English

(GPE), used mostly among young people. Kusaal2 is the formal name of the language while the speakers are called Kusaas (Kusaa for singular). Kusaug is the term used to refer to the contiguous area within which Kusaal is spoken. The speaker population of the language, per estimates from the listings on Ethnologue (Simons and Fennig 2017), number 420,000 people in Ghana alone.3

1.4 Socio-cultural information 1.4.1 Political institutions The five administrative assemblies of the Kusaal speaking area: Bawku, Binduri, Pusiga, Garu-Tempane and Zebilla correspond to 5 political constituencies. Representatives of the people are voted based on Universal Adult Suffrage into Parliament, the law-making body of Ghana. These representatives work in close hand with the authorities at the assemblies (local level administrative offices) to improve on the lot of the people. Traditional authority is vested in the Paramount Chief of Kusaug (presently Naba Abugrago Azoka II). He embodies a number of important roles in the traditional affairs of the people including being a ceremonial figurehead and the last resort of traditional adjudication on civil offences in the Bawku Traditional Area. To assist him in his duties are the traditional representatives (divisional and sub-chiefs) in the various small towns and villages across Kusaug. Syme (n.d.) provides an insightful history of the Kusasis with particular regard to the office of chieftaincy with its attendant colonial and ethno-political undertones. (See also Cleveland 1980: 97–113 for an elaborate description of the history of the people and the onset of chieftaincy and its associated issues.)

1.4.2 Religion Majority of the people are adherents of Traditional African Religion followed by Islam. The high presence of Islam is attributed to the conquests of Jihadists and early Muslim activity in the area long before the advent of Christianity. Islamic religious influences are thus found incorporated into some practices of the people including Kusaal naming systems and the Muslim garb. This is equally true of 2 3

Alternate language names not used by the author include Kusaali/Kusaale, Koussassi/ Koussasse. Culled from the Ethnologue listing at: https://www.ethnologue.com/ language/kus. The Ethnologue approximates a further 13,000 speakers of Kusaal in Burkina Faso and 1,200 in Togo (Simons and Fennig 2017).

several parts of northern Ghana where Islam has taken over some of the beliefs and practices of the people such as is found among the Walas of the Upper West region and the Dagbambas of the Northern Region. There is also a significant number of Christians in the general area.

1.4.3 Family systems Family systems tend to be extended in nature with traditional Kusaa families comprising parents, grandparents, children, cousins, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews amongst others. As regards marriage, polygyny is not uncommon with the concomitant large family sizes and plurality of children considered by many as signals of economic and social wellbeing.

1.4.4 Festivals The biggest festival of the Kusaas is Samanpiid ‘cleaning of the compound or outside of the house’. This is generally celebrated after the farming season when everyone has harvested their crops and brought them home for threshing. The husks and other unwanted components are then cleaned away in a traditional ceremony to mark the end of the farming season and to thank the gods and ancestors for a bountiful harvest. The festival is often celebrated across the towns, villages and suburbs of the area with a grand event usually held in one of the more important towns. There is also another post-harvest festival, the Yong festival, but this is not as well known or patronised by many.

1.4.5 Funerals Ceremonies for dead relatives are often solemn but elaborate affairs. On the death of a person, family members, community members and other well-wishers gather at the house of the individual to mourn with the family. All family members including in-laws and relatives far off are expected to attend and to contribute in making it a successful event. Generally, the official burial ceremony is held not long after the demise of the individual. This is then followed by a final funeral service usually held forty days after the person’s death.

Figure 1.1: Kusaal language area

In some jurisdictions, however, the forty-day period could be surpassed resulting in the final funeral rites being performed long after the death. At the final funeral rites, the fanfare is greater especially if the dead person lived a long live and died at a ripe old age.

1.4.6 Marriage Marriage is an important social achievement among the Kusasis. All people of marrying age are encouraged to marry; girls of 16 years and boys up from 18 can marry. Dowry is paid by the family of the boy to the girl’s family and usually involves some number of livestock. Not until recently, the dowry included four cattle, a goat, a sheep and a number of guinea fowls together with some food and household items. The number of cattle has since been reduced to two for a number of reasons; to enable more young people to go into marriage and to eliminate the risk of men thinking that they have bought off their wives because they paid huge dowries.

1.4.7 Climate and farming practices We cull the following from Cleveland (1980) to contextualise the state of the climate, farming and agriculture in the Bawku area. The Kusaal speaking area has savannah type vegetation with grasses predominating. High temperatures and low levels of precipitation in a single rainy season characterise the savannah (p.70). Like most savannah farmers, the Kusaas depend on rainfall for growing most of their food supply. But while annual distribution of rain is divided into distinct wet and dry seasons, distribution within the wet season is highly variable in time and space. This uncertain rainfall, along with the high rates of evapotranspiration4 produced by high temperatures, make the savannah farmers’ job a difficult one at best. Environmentally, this area is more vulnerable to degradation than the forest area to the south and is also the region where most indigenous forms of intensive agriculture are found. Because of its sparser vegetation and more level surface, it has often been seen as having great potential for supporting large-scale irrigation and/or mechanised agriculture (p.68). In addition to the foregoing, he remarks that agriculture is characterised in the northeast as “a custom and not a business, with the result that … the maximum is left to nature” (Lynn 1937:10 cited in Cleveland 1980:115). Indigenous 4

“Loss of water from a moist soil by the combined processes of vapor transfer away from the soil surface… and water withdrawal from the soil by plant roots followed by vapor transfer away from the leaf surfaces…” (Jury 1979:184 in Cleveland 1980:68).

grain and legume crops dominate:millet, sorghum, rice, cowpeas, and bambara groundnuts. The methods by which they are grown, however, vary widely from extensive slash and burn to very intensive fixed cultivation. A large variety of naturally occurring food resources are also known and exploited, although they tend to be used less and less with the development of more intensive agriculture (p.115). The intensity of traditional agriculture in Kusaug is increasing, in terms of land use, and probably labour input, while culture, economics, and the physical environment limit technical intensification. Traditional agriculture in Kusaug has been adapted to the social and physical environment through constant change, and farmers continue to be willing to change if they see an advantage in it. Under existing environmental conditions and the high and increasing population densities, Kusaa agriculture is unable to check the process of increasing land degradation and loss of productive capacity, which exacerbates the food shortage. While the diet is adequate qualitatively, it suffers from yearly seasonal shortages (p.155–156).

1.4.8 Linguistic pluralism Language pluralism/multilingualism is one of the major facets of the language landscape in much of Africa and especially so in the Kusaal area. Jungraithmayr et al. (2002: 127) state that apart from the dominance of European languages such as English and French, it is not uncommon for African communities to use not only the language of wider communication in the community (such as Hausa or Twi) but to also use one or more other languages together with the mother tongue. This view resonates Berthelette’s findings in a sociolinguistic study of the Kusaal speaking population (2001). On the whole, Kusaas use Kusaal at home and in the wider community in areas where Kusaal is the dominant language. As a result of mutual intelligibility, the language users also have access to other languages in the wider community such as Mampruli and Moore. Moore has an added advantage in terms of its high speaker population that live just across the border in Burkina Faso and who have a huge presence in the Bawku area as well. While English is used chiefly in official places of work and in the churches in the area, Hausa predominates in the market places and around the mosques and town centres of the more cosmopolitan areas. Heavy code-switching between the local languages and English is also quite wide-spread. Multilingualism is thus accepted as the norm rather than the exception with many Kusaal speakers possessing varying levels of fluency in not only languages like Bissa, Gurenɛ and Bim (Moba), which are spoken in the general area, but also Asante Twi, which is spoken mainly in the southern part of Ghana. 30

1.5 Language 1.5.1 Language family Kusaal is a Niger-Congo language. It belongs in the North Volta-Congo (NVC) grouping of the Atlantic-Congo languages. In the NVC group, Kusaal is clustered traditionally under Gur, which we prefer to call Mabia, and is represented schematically as follows: (1) Niger-Congo < Atlantic-Congo < Volta-Congo < North Volta-Congo < Mabia (Gur) < Mabia Central < Mabia Central East < Kusaal:Agole, Toende

Mabia is used as a replacement term for the group of languages which have hitherto been referred to as Gur. The first usage of the label is traced to Bodomo (1993) inter-alia and is adopted by Musah (2010) among others who consider the label as more encompassing and aptly definitive of the languages in the group.The appropriateness of the Mabia name is attested by the fact that it is a combination of two lexemes, ma ‘mother’ and bia ‘child’ which runs across many of the languages in the enclave. In all these languages too, the meaning of such a concatenation is the same and translates as ‘my mother’s child’ or more precisely ‘my brother/my sister’. To put this into perspective, the examples from the core Mabia cluster below suffice: Table 1.1: Mabia – ‘My brother/my sister’ Buli

‘mother’ ma

‘child’ biik

mabiik

Dagara

bie

mabie

Dagbani

biya

mabiya

Gurenɛ

bia

mabia

Hanga

biya

mabiya

Kusaal

biiga, biig, bii

mabiiga

Mampruli

bii

mabii

Moore

biiga, bii

mabiiga

Nabt

bia

mabia

Nankani

bia

mabia

Talni

bia

mabia

Waale

bie, bibile

mabie

Interestingly, with the exception of Gurenɛ, which actually has gur in its nomenclature and perhaps, following a detailed historical reconstruction, Kusaal, none of the languages in Mabia Central has gur occurring anywhere in their names. Further, though the token items above relate to the central members (see modified family tree in Figure 1.2 below), the six languages in Mabia East and West also highlight an important facet of the new and encompassing name as highlighted in Table 1.2 below. From the token lexemes too (in Table 1.2), one can easily identify the proto-form for ‘child’ in the languages and the similarly consistent proto-form for ‘mother’. Table 1.2: Extensions of Mabia Bassari

‘mother’ ne

‘child’ biki

nebik

Kabiye

biya/piya

nebiya

Kasem

nubu

Likpankpaanl (Konkonba)

nii

biikɛ

niibiikɛ

Moba

naa

bik

naabik

Sisaala

naaŋ

bile

naaɳbie

As a result of the foregoing, it is therefore not surprising that in the last few years the Mabia label has gained more grounds especially amongst native speaker linguists from the general geographical area who see the name as being “native, more meaningful, neutral, and common in the languages under this subgroup” (Abubakari et al 2017: 3). These languages share not only a similarity in the Mabia name and its apparent (political) correctness but as well several historical antecedents and linguistic features expressed in their tonal patterns, their nominal and pronominal systems, their general word order parameters amongst others (see for instance Bodomo 2017 and Bodomo and Abubakari 2017).

1.5.2 Dialects There are two dialects of Kusaal:Agole and Toende spoken in the east and west of the language area respectively, from where they get the labels “Eastern” and “Western” dialects respectively in some of the literature. Each dialect assumes equal status in the language as their respective names suggest:Agole means ‘up’ or ‘high’ while Toende means ‘front’ or ‘ahead’. The Toende dialect is spoken across the border to the north in Burkina Faso while Agole is found to the east 32

and in Togo. Irrespective of the “superior” names of both dialects, however, Agole has more representation in terms of dialect speakers; some 350,000 as opposed to 87,000 Toende speakers in all the areas where Kusaal is spoken (Simons and Fennig 2017).5 Agole has also received more literary attention and is therefore the written dialect in most of the major books in the language such as the official orthography and translations of the Holy Bible. It is also the medium of instruction in school especially at the University of Education Winneba, where Kusaal has, since August 2014, been studied as a degree subject.

Some estimations (such as Winkelmann 2001:238) place the number of speakers above the 500,000 mark but this can neither be confirmed nor denied. Enquiries at the Ghana Statistical Service also yielded no results – they had no figures for native and non-native speakers of Kusaal as at the time of concluding this thesis (July 2017).

Nilo-Saharan

Waale

Kabiye

Safaliba

Birifo

Dagaare

Mabia Central-West

Khoisan

Sisaali

Kasem

MABIA WEST

Atlantic-Congo

Niger-Congo

Konni

Buli

Mabia Mid-West

Mande

(adapted and modified from Bodomo 1993:114, 2017:5)

Afro-Asiatic

Figure 1.2: The genetic affiliation of Kusaal

Moore

Mabia North

MABIA CENTRAL

Nabt

Nankane

Gurun

Kwa

Kamara

Hanga

Mabia MidSouth

Mabia (Gur)

Mabia Mid-Central

West Atlantic

North Volta-Congo

Volta-Congo

Nanuni

Mampruli

Dagbane

Mabia South

Toende

Agole

Kusaal

Mabia Central-East

Talni

Moba

Likpankpaanl (Konkomba)

Bassari

MABIA EAST

1.5.3 Typological sketch Subjects generally precede verbs, which in turn come before objects; complements occur in object position. This ordering is quite strict in Kusaal unlike in a cognate language like Dagbani where the position of the complement is, to some degree, quite flexible. For instance, while the example in (2a) is acceptable, the (2b) is grammatically untenable: (2) Kusaal a. Adam ã -nɛ tampĩir Adam COP-Foc bastard ‘Adam is a bastard.’ b. *Tampĩir n ã ‘Adam is a bastard.’

Adam

However, in the examples for Dagbani below (3), it is possible to topicalise the complement in the canonical clause structure in (3a) by inverting the copula and its complement (Issah 2008:41) in order to arrive at the sense that is found in (3b) which underlies a focussed construction. This second rendition is however inadmissible in Kusaal even if the clause entails the introduction of a focus paradigm. (3) Dagbani (Issah 2008:41–42) a. Ama nye la karimba Ama COP Foc teacher ‘Ama is a teacher.’ b. Karimba n teacher Foc ‘Ama is a teacher.’

nye Ama COP Ama

Another intriguing feature of the language is the noun class system, which is one of the most studied topics in the nominal system of many African languages as is, for instance, illustrated in Jungraithmayr etal. (2002), Winkelmann (2001) and Miehe (2012a, b, c) for Niger-Congo languages or in Vossen (1994, 2001, inter-alia) for some Khoesan/Bantu languages. Noun classes denote a tendency for languages to group nominal items together based, for instance, on the alignment of concord markers. More precisely, in the case of Kusaal, these groupings are not motivated by considerations of grammatical gender (i.e., masculine, feminine or neuter) but rather are “nature-based”, i.e., nouns are grouped based on the “human/non-human or living/non-living” dichotomy and on number (Heine etal. 1982:45). These are exemplified below and discussed in detail in

§3.6. While the first numbers of the classes (1, 3, 5 and 12) refer to the singular class, the second numbers in each class (2, 4, 5 and 13) relate to the plural forms: Table 1.3: Noun class system exemplified Singular Class 1 and 2 Class 3 and 4 Class 5 and 6 Class 12 and 13

Plural

‘female sibling’

tã -ʊ

tã -p

‘female siblings’

‘man’

da-ʊ

da-p

‘men’

‘fish’

zi-iŋ

zi-mi

‘fishes’

‘guinea fowl’

kpã ’-ʋŋ

kpi’-ini

‘guinea fowls’

‘stick’

dib-ir

dib-a

‘sticks’

‘belly’

lʊg-ır

lʊg-a

‘bellies’

‘moon’

nwadi-g

nwadi-s

‘moons’

‘hand’

nu’-ug

nu’-us

‘hands’

1.6 Kusaal research overview Linguistic research on Kusaal proper is on the increase in present times with the most recent being a book chapter on syllable weight and moracity in Kusaal (Musah 2017) while Musah etal. (2013) defines the writing system of the language and lucidly explains how a uniform system of spelling and writing can be achieved. Abubakari (2011) examines the syntax of the language with particular relevance to verb serialisation. That study posits that Kusaal has a tense and aspect system as opposed to Musah (2010), which opines that temporal systems in Kusaal are aspectual in nature in keeping with established research found among many of the languages of Ghana (see, for example, Osam 2004). In Musah (2010), the phonology of Kusaal is also thoroughly examined while broad aspects of the syntax of Kusaal take up a BA thesis by Abubakari (2007). These are studies undertaken by native-speaker linguists. There are also good and quite accessible studies on Kusaal by expatriates many of which are however dated. Lässig (1928), for instance, is a (German) treatise of the language along the paradigms of a descriptive research based on collected tape recordings while Rattray (1932) contains one of the well-known corpora of linguistic data on the languages of northern Ghana including Kusaal. Other studies undertaken by expatriates on the variety spoken in Ghana include studies such as Melançon (1957) which researches into various topics in the grammar of the language including the phonology, morphology, and syntax; it also includes some socio-cultural information such as insights into some of the 36

underlying customs. The missionary couple, David and Nancy Spratt, are most well placed in the Kusaal linguistic description enterprise through their pacesetting research into the phonology and syntax in 1968, 1972 and 1976. There is also research by Ladusaw & England (1987) into the structure of complement clauses in the language, while England & Ladusaw (1984) consider question formation. Finally, Ladusaw (1985) discusses the class of adjectives and concludes that the putative adjective class in Kusaal may indeed have derived from nominal or verbal sources in the language. There are also a number of important researches on especially the Toende variety such as Niggli (n.d. > no date), an online resource on the structure of Kusaal as spoken in Burkina Faso and the adjoining area in and around Zebilla.

1.7 Objectives The foregoing notwithstanding, there is, until now, no encompassing study that is an embodiment of the wide range of linguistic peculiarities of the Kusaas with particular reference to the Agole variety. This study thus attempts to effect pragmatic solutions to this problem by producing a concise grammar of the language. By embarking on a project that will serve as the nerve core of data and linguistic analyses on a less known Niger-Congo language, this study is relevant because it not only seeks to thrust Kusaal into the linguistic limelight but also results in its grammatical description. In light of current efforts to document the various languages of the world, this study will serve as a repository of the synchronic use of a language which has seen very little description. Further, it will update linguistic research on the language using a combination of stimulating theoretical paradigms that are embedded in up to date linguistic thought and practices. It will also add onto the growing linguistic literature on Kusaal. The overarching objective of this project is to describe the most pertinent structures of Kusaal grammar. Amongst other considerations, it succeeds in highlighting the socio-cultural and linguistic contexts of the language; identifying, describing and properly analysing its most recurring sound, syllable and word structures; identifying and explaining the most crucial morphophonemic processes; unravelling the complex of Kusaal word classes, phrases and clauses; expounding on the parameters used to mark grammatical relations, as well as on the aspectual and modal systems of the language and ultimately accentuating the place of contemporary Kusaal oral genres in the face of the ever-evolving traditions. 37

A research of this nature is often labelled as quite “problematic”. In view of the fact that it draws on theoretical strains that are often not in tandem with each other, it may be so labelled. However, considering its many strong points such as unearthing a lot of information that can be further tested or developed and creating a virtual “one-stop-shop” for inquiring minds, we believe such an enterprise is worthwhile.

1.8 Theoretical background Basic Linguistic Theory (BLT) forms the basis of this thesis (Dixon 2010a, 2010b, 2012). Amongst other considerations, we subscribe to BLT because it assumes a “single cumulative” approach to language documentation and description that allows for a research to draw, concurrently, on competing and complementing theories in linguistics to enhance an adequate description of hitherto less studied languages. This implies that equal attention is placed both on the formal aspects of the language such as on word classes, phrases and constituency as well as on function such as grammatical relations, argument structure, and semantics (as is, for instance, embodied in the discussion on aspect and modality). BLT as an approach can be “traced to Sanskrit and Greek grammarians between 3000 and 2000 years ago” and is continually enhanced through the descriptions of new languages (Dixon 1997:128; 2010a:3). The approach is thus holistic in nature encouraging researchers to immerse themselves in the speech community and to endeavour to achieve a more than adequate understanding of the systems of the language and the language users. To this end, concepts and topics in language description that have received relatively little attention in the language are considered in as much detail as relevant aspects of already studied topics. Further, the eclectic nature of such an approach implies that the researcher must have a more than adequate understanding of the forms, systems and functions of the language in order to allow for more than a fair assessment of the state of art of the language so studied. Undertaking language description from a BLT perspective stipulates, among other things, that considerations such as the following inform the researcher’s task. We highlight some of the views as expressed in Dixon (2010a): That linguistics as a natural science, such as physics or biology, has a primary goal of explaining the underlying nature and structure of human language (p.1). That the task of describing the nature of language can be achieved through becoming actively engaged in the language description process and, in the case of living languages, to become part of the community of language users (p.1). 38

Sources of data collected should vary and cover various genres and aspects of the language and include oral texts on legends, narratives and instructions, which are recorded, and subsequently transcribed and analysed (p.2). That the task of working out the grammatical structures should be undertaken inductively on the basis of the corpus of text collected, together with observation, while checking that formulated hypotheses take this information into consideration and are thoroughly evaluated (p.2). Allow for the task of the description to be constantly informed by theory and vice versa and based on the knowledge acquired to move on to typological comparisons based on observed similarities and differences (p.2). In addition to the foregoing, BLT actively perceives each language as a complete linguistic system with different parts intertwined into each other and allowing for a fluid communicative and interactive community (pp.3, 4, 24). A good grammatical description would thus, using a wide array of descriptive tools rather than “constrain linguistic description within a procrustean jacket” (p.70), aim to describe by giving an indication of how the language is; explain by exploring why the system is so disposed in the language; make tenable predictions based on the analysed data and, finally, evaluate the description in relation to how it compares or differs from other languages (p.4). BLT is cognisant of the fact that “the grammar of any language is a network of interactive structures and categories” and by implication that the need to adopt prototypical categories may arise (p.4) as different languages will have different approaches to organising/ describing different or similar structures. Finally, BLT heavily informs our methodology (see §1.11 below). Two of the more general considerations of BLT that have also informed the organisation and description of issues in this thesis include: Avoiding following a traditional orthography of the language being described which does not allow for easy comprehension to outsiders (pp.66–70). We have thus used some conventional linguistic practices in this thesis that differ somewhat from the current representation in Kusaal orthography (cf. §1.11). Avoiding “quotationitis”. Which is “attempting to cite every single thing published on or around a topic, irrespective of its quality or direct relevance” (p.xiii). Citations have thus been used parsimoniously and reflect only the relevant sources and pointers for further reading necessary so as to allow for an adequate/lucid representation of the issues discussed herein. For the analyses of individual categories, therefore, this research draws inspiration from existing documentations of other languages such as Dorvlo (2008) 39

which studies the grammar of Logba, a Ghana-Togo Mountain (GTM) language, and Bodomo (1997), which studies Dagara (Niger-Congo < Mabia) structural features. Aside these, it draws motivation from current descriptions on languages such as Balantak (Austronesian < Western Malayo-Polynesian) by Berg and Busenitz (2012) and Bardi (Australian < Nyulnyulan) by Bowern (2012) among others. Studies such as Akanlig-Pare (1994, 2005), Dakubu (1988), Payne (1997), Asante (2009), Dixon (2010a, b, 2012), Dolphyne (1988), Naden (1988), and Atintono (2002, 2004) among others that are related to the topic and language also influence our description and analyses of Kusaal. Thus, a cross-linguistic examination of grammar descriptions and treatises play a very prominent role in this endeavour.

1.9 Methodology The ideals of Basic Linguistic Theory elaborated above inform our methodology. A holistic approach to language documentation and description was thus resorted to for this research. This method involved drawing on a synthesis of current linguistic theory to effect pragmatic solutions to the lack of a codified reference book on Kusaal. Considering that the documenter/describer is a native speaker of Kusaal, this was one of the most important assets; this helped in determining what data points to focus on and in what amounts. The number of field trips to the language area was therefore limited to two totalling four months altogether. Respondents across genders and ages were interviewed or recorded to give a representative picture of the current state of the language. Formal and informal settings were also balanced, while traditional oral genres (folk tales, riddles/wordplays, proverbs, funeral rites, etc.) also received equal attention in relation to elicitation. Audio-visual recordings of the research activity were made. Only audio recordings were however preferred in face-to-face conversations and in questionnaire/model elicitations so as to reduce the chances of the recording device becoming obtrusive and marring the quality (content wise) of the recording process. Group performances and socio-cultural events such as funerals, and religious activities were also captured on video to complement the audio recordings. Audio-visual recordings of traditional drumming, music and dance, and traditional practices were also made. Though spontaneity was preferred, prearranged documentation sessions were also resorted to because in some instances and for some of the genres, respondents had to be informed beforehand so that they could prepare. Some respondents were thus notified ahead of visits to them.

Elicitation tools that were actively or passively used were the field manuals: “Lingua Descriptive Guide for Linguistics”, and the “Ibadan Wordlist”. Some of the carrier frames in these were used to elicit structured information while spontaneous recordings provided the remaining bulk of data. Both spoken and written data was also collected and sampled for this study. In order to overcome or minimise the impact of the “Observer’s Paradox”, a number of strategies, including but not limited to the following, were adopted: i.

Interferences during the recording sessions, except where necessary, were kept to a minimum. ii. Respondents were interviewed within settings that they were familiar with. In face-to-face conversations, they were free to choose whom they wanted to hold their conversations with. iii. The first few minutes (between 5 to 10 minutes) of any documentation event were used to explain the goals of the project, to capture consent procedures, for self-identification and small talk that allowed for respondents to relax. These minutes are generally not considered as forming part of the transcribed or annotated data. All major participants or group leaders received a token amount (or appropriate compensation, such as a little refreshment or required traditional offering) to compensate for their time and effort. At one of the chiefs’ palace, for instance, tobacco, cola-nuts and traditional drinks (daam ‘millet beer’) were offered before the session at the courts was recorded. High quality equipment including a Panasonic NV GX7 video recorder, a Zoom 200 digital audio recorder and a Sony 3D digital audio recorder were used to gather data on the field. I also contracted the help of one research assistant, who was paid at a basic fee, to help in the data collection process.

1.10 Orthography A formal guide on Kusaal orthography was published only recently (Musah etal. 2013). Hitherto, the written system of the language was not formalised leading to differences in writing across the Kusaal speaking area. We list a few of the important considerations below.

1.10.1 Phonemes The orthographic representation of the Kusaal phoneme is written as such. While a few of the phonemes use a different representation, the vast majority remain 41

like the phonemes they represent. Where a phoneme is written differently, this is listed under “symbol” (see Table 1.4 below). Table 1.4: Kusaal orthographic symbols Consonants Vowels Phoneme Symbol Phoneme Symbol Short Vowels Symbol Long vowels Symbol p

g kp

i j

ıı

ɛɛ

gb ʔ

’

ʊʊ

ɔɔ

ʋʋ

m n

Nasal vowels

Phoneme

Symbol Phoneme

Symbol

ĩi

iin

ɛ̃

ɛn

ɛ̃ɛ

ɛɛn

ã

ã a

aan

ʊ̃

ʋn

ʊ̃ ʊ

ʋʋn

ɔ̃

ɔn

ɔ̃ ɔ

ɔɔn

Comments: i.

The advanced and retracted high front vowels /i/ and /ı/ are both represented by the advanced vowel /i/. ii. The retracted high back vowel /ʊ/ is represented by /ʋ/. iii. To indicate a nasal vowel, an –n is placed after the vowel.

1.10.2 Word combinations Generally, compounds (including noun + determiner and noun + adjective) are treated similarly. When the first element in a compound loses any of its parts (such as a final consonant or vowel), then it is attached to the next element in the written form. If the first lexical item does not lose any of its parts, the compounded form is written separately. Examples: 42

(4) Full form biig la na’ab biig

Short form biila na’abiig

Gloss ‘the child’ ‘prince’

(5) Separate daam daan baa ni’im dau kan paŋ tita’ar na’af zʊʊr

‘pito owner’ ‘dog meat’ ‘that man’ ‘great strength’ ‘cow tail’

Together dabin babil bakan na’atita’ar na’azʊʊr

‘yeast’ ‘small dog’ ‘that dog’ ‘great chief ’ ‘cow tail’

1.10.3 Pronouns At subject position all pronouns including the emphatic forms are written separately: (6) a. M 1SG ‘I eat.’

dit eat

Fʊ dit 2SG eat ‘You eat.’

b. O dit 3SG eat ‘S/he eats.’

Ba dit 3PL eat ‘They eat.’

c. Fʊn ka biig la 2SG.EMPH FOC child DET ‘It is you that the child hates.’

kis hate

At object position, all pronouns including the emphatic forms are written separately except the first and second person pronouns which cl*ticise to the preceding verb. An epenthetic process inserts a vowel to break the consonant cluster that would have arisen in the example tisim ‘give me’, for instance. (7) a. Tis o give 3SG ‘Give him!’ b. Tis-i-m give-EPV-1SG ‘Give me!’

Pie ba wash 3PL ‘Wash them!’ Pie-f wash-2SG ‘Wash you!’

1.10.4 Tone Tone is not marked in Kusaal orthography. This is not to disregard the role of tone in the morpho-syntactic structuring of the language but underscores a compromise to allow for both native and non-native speakers easy access to the 43

basic grammatical structures of the language without having to deal with the fluctuating nuances of Kusaal pitch. In most cases, too, the context of the speech event suffices to make known the intended structures without recourse to tonal marking. In this thesis too, we mark tone only when it has a direct bearing on the discussion at hand. In a sequence of vowels with similar tones such as HH, LL or MM, only one tonal mark is provided. This is placed on the first vowel. Example:the single mid-tone mark on bʊ̄ʊg ‘goat’ implies that both vowels are mid-toned.6

1.11 Organisation of the thesis The structure of this thesis draws on an outline for achieving a balance between formal and functional approaches in grammatical descriptions set up by Payne (2009, 2014:104–108). We have thus taken freely from that outline and have modified it to fit our purposes. The various issues in the thesis are split into chapters, each of which deal with the different thematic areas. In this chapter, we have reviewed the language situation and contextualise the research. In Chapter 2, we underscore various crucial topics in the phonology of the language, while Chapter 3 describes nouns, pronouns and the noun class system of the language. In Chapter 4, we discuss nominal modifiers and a class of grammaticalised nominal items called the “relator noun”. We also consider the nature of nominal phrases in Chapter 5 while the verb and its operators are taken up in Chapter 6. In Chapter 7 we discuss the aspect and modal systems of the language while Chapter 8 examines the various clausal structures of the language and Chapter 9 delves into consecutive constructions with particular relevance to the phenomenon of serial verbs. In the final chapter, Chapter 10, we discuss some pragmatically marked constructions in language and include an appendices section where we highlight on several Kusaal literary genres including a speech form which is much akin to “signifying/playing 6

We make an additional argument that although tone is very crucial, it is also very cumbersome to mark and would have greatly impeded the data driven nature of the present study. We note that a painstaking marking of tone would have drastically reduced the number of token constructions considered in this thesis (altogether about 800 individual tokens) to only a hand full. Further, we argue that although other suprasegmental features such as intonation, accent and stress (eg. the English ‘import, noun vrs. im’port verb or the German ‘umschreiben “rewrite” vrs. um’schreiben “outline”) are equally important in the underlying structuring of many languages of the West, only very few linguistic studies actually do underlie these differences by overtly marking them. Context has often sufficed to guide the reader in such situations and context can be applied to the case of Kusaal and other tonal languages.

the dozens”. Some of the texts used for the analyses in the thesis are also taken from that section.

1.12 Conclusion In this chapter, the language was contextualised taking into account the general geographical, demographic and other socio-cultural factors that identify the people. The chapter entails a foregrounding of the language and provides some linguistic information. It also provides details about how the corpus of data for the study was gathered. Previous research on the language or near neighbours as well as research on the topic of the thesis is also highlighted. The chapter ends with a description of the current orthography of the language and a section on the structure of the thesis.

2 Phonology 2.1 Introduction In this chapter, we highlight some of the topical issues in Kusaal phonology. The chapter adapts broad sections of Musah (2010) which describes various aspects of the phonology of Kusaal; that study could thus be consulted for in-depth phonological discussions on some of the topics found here. The major sub-divisions of the chapter are:§2.2 relates the phonological inventory of Kusaal under the thematic areas of consonants, vowels and vowel harmony. §2.3 examines diverse applications of tone in Kusaal as instantiated in lexical and morpho-syntactic milieus while §2.4 deals with syllables and syllable structures and §2.5 makes a brief statement on Kusaal word structures. In §2.6 we underlie various phonological processes in the language such as place of articulation harmony, nasalisation, consonant mutation and elision as well as vowel apocopation, vowel coalescence, vowel lengthening and vowel epenthesis. The chapter is concluded in §2.7.

2.2 Phonological inventory 2.2.1 Consonants Kusaal has 23 consonant segments which correlate to seven places of articulation and six manner of articulation features. While phonemes aligned to the top in each cell are voiceless those at the bottom are voiced. Table 2.1: Consonant phonemes

Plosive

Bilabial Labiodental +v p -v b f v

Alveolar Palatal Velar Labiovelar t k kp d [r] g gb

Glottal

s z

[ʝ]

n nw

Fricative

+v -v

Nasal

+v m

Approximant

Lateral

Trill

ŋ w

2.2.1.1 Plosives7 The plosives in Kusaal are the bilabials /p/ and /b/, the alveolars /t/ and /d/, the velars /k/ and /g/ and the double articulated sounds /kp/ and /gb/. The glottal stop /ʔ/ is also a very ubiquitous vocal segment. The plosives are paired according to voicing quality except the glottal sound which is restricted to only one voicing quality. The following are the opposing sets: /p/ and /b/ The voiceless and voiced bilabial plosives /p/ and /b/ can occur at both initial and syllable final positions in the language; they occur before and after all vowels. On the left column in the examples that follow are consonants occurring at syllable-initial positions while the sets on the right are the consonants occurring at syllable final positions. (8) paŋ pu’a paal

‘strength’ daap ‘woman’ tã p ‘new’ bup

(9) bugum ‘fire’ biig ‘child’ baa ‘dog’

‘men’ ‘sisters’ ‘IDEO’

pu’ab nidib na’ab

‘women’ ‘people’ ‘chief ’

/t/ and /d/ Voiceless and voiced alveolar plosives can also occur at both initial and final positions of syllables. (10) tan ‘sand’ tɔl ‘pito residue’ tɛ’ɛg ‘boabab fruit’

dit gat kasɛt

‘eats’ ‘to surpass’ ‘witness’

(11) di’em ‘to collect’ diã ’ad ‘dirt’ daam ‘millet beer’ da’ad ‘sticks’ dɛ̃’ɛ̃m ‘green (slimy)’ pi’ed ‘washes’

All consonants are written in line with Kusaal orthographic conventions (see §1.10 above) and all phonemes are written as such except the following:/ʔ/ is written ’, /nw/ is written nw, /ɲ/ is written ny, /ʝ/ is written j and /j/ is written y.

/k/ and /g/ The voiceless and voiced velar stops can be found at both syllable initial and final positions. (12) kuug kã ’ab kɔm

‘mouse’ ‘to worship’ ‘hunger’

dansik fak gik

‘smock’ ‘light weight’ ‘dumb person’

(13) gɛdʊg gaad gɛ̃’

‘a fool’ ‘to pass’ ‘to tire’

luobʊg biig daʊg

‘sling’ ‘child’ ‘stick’

[ʝ] The voiced palatal fricative is found in a handful of words in Kusaal and is a free variant of the velar /g/. It is the closest the language gets to articulating the alveopalatal sound /dʒ/ (see for instance how the language treats the alveo-palatal sounds in borrowed words in §2.6.4 below). It occurs only at syllable initial positions. In the exhaustive list of examples below, we provide the approximations that can be found: (14) abanʝa jebun je’uŋ jauk

abangia gebun ge’uŋ ---

‘lizard’ ‘type of charm’ ‘type of dance’ ‘type of dance’

/kp/ and /gb/ The voiceless and voiced labio-velar plosives are found only at syllable initial position. They occur with all vowels except the three back vowels /u/, /o/ and /ɔ/. Examples are found below: (15)

kpi kpan kpɛ̃’ kpʊkpaŋ kpi’em

‘to die’ ‘spear’ ‘enter’ ‘wing’ ‘hard’

gbıgım gbaʊŋ gbɛr gbɛ’ʊg gbin

‘lion’ ‘skin, leather’ ‘thigh’ ‘forehead’ ‘buttocks’

/ʔ/ The voiceless glottal stop is written ( ’ ) in the orthography and usually occurs between long vowels or as the coda element in syllables which contain short nasal vowels. In the case of the former, it appears to have an important function in the re-syllabification of long syllables of type CVV(C) into two syllables of CV.CV(C) form. The latter usage – as coda element of short syllables with a nasal vowel – is found in the second set of examples ‘b’ below. 49

(16) a. na’ab fɛ̃’ʊg gɔ̃ ’ɔg sı’ʊŋ pu’a b. fɔ̃ ’ sã ’

du’a kpı’ım ya’ad gɛ’ɛŋ

‘chief ’ ‘sore’ ‘sickle’ ‘open pot’ ‘woman/wife’

‘to be silent’ bã ’ ‘to run diarrhoea’ tɔ̃ ’

‘to give birth’ ‘dead person/ancestor’ ‘lump of clay’ ‘to catch something’ ‘to ride’ ‘to be able’

2.2.1.2 Fricatives The six fricative sounds of Kusaal relate to four place of articulation features:bilabial and alveolar, which are patterned along opposing voice quality, and the palatal and glottal which are restricted to either voiced or voiceless correlates respectively. The following are the phonemes: /f/ and /v/ While the voiceless labio-dental fricative can occur at initial and final positions of syllables, its voiced counterpart occurs only at initial position. (17) fʊʊs faal fɔɔŋ fɛ̃’ʊg

‘to blow’ ‘space’ ‘to suck’ ‘sore’

(18) vã ad vuug vɔl vilig vulinvuug

‘leaves’ ‘to pull’ ‘to swallow’ ‘to wrap’ ‘mud-wasp’

piif waaf na’af wief

‘genet’ ‘snake’ ‘cow’ ‘horse’

/s/ and /z/ The voiceless and voiced alveolar fricatives are patterned like the preceding set of consonants – while the voiceless one is found at both initial and final positions, the voiced is realised only at syllable initial positions.

(19) sııg sã lim sisibig sɔlʊŋ sɛ

‘shadow’ ‘gold’ ‘neem tree’ ‘story’ ‘to plant’

ã as baas nu’us tɛbıs di’es

‘to tear’ ‘dogs’ ‘hands’ ‘to be heavy’ ‘to collect’

(20) ziiŋ zuor zaam

‘fish’ ‘mountain’ ‘evening’

zɛ̃ɛd zua

‘soup’ ‘friend’

/h / The voiceless glottal fricative is another phoneme with a rather limited occurrence in the language. Though found most commonly in borrowed words from Hausa, it is accepted as an artefact of the Kusaal consonant system. Naturally, it occurs only at syllable initial position. A near-exhaustive list is found below. The phoneme is nearly always followed by the vowels /a/ or /ɛ/: (21)

hakir haali hali hã ’ wahala haya hɛɛs hɛɛlim!

‘a hand’s measurement’ ‘behaviour, attitude’ (from:Hausa < Arabic) ‘a lot, very much, greatly’ ‘take.IMP’ ‘trouble, problem’ (from:Hausa < Arabic) ‘exclamation’ ‘to yell to someone/something’ ‘exclamation, similar to Eureka!’

2.2.1.3 Nasals Nasal sounds are naturally voiced. There are five in Kusaal:the bilabial /m/, alveolar /n/, palatal /ɲ/, velar /ŋ/ and labio-velar /nw/. Of these, only /m/ is syllabic. Below is the distribution: /m/ and /n/ The bilabial and alveolar nasal sounds can occur at word initial and final positions and with all vowels. The bilabial /m/ is an especially good candidate that can enter into nucleus positions of syllables: (22) m mi’ mɔdır mɛ

‘1SG (SBJ, OBJ, POSS)’ ‘to know’ ‘swelling’ ‘to build’

tam kpaam bimbim nyalim

‘to forget’ ‘oil’ ‘earth platform’ ‘to astound’

(23) nu’ug nɔŋ nintaŋ niŋgbin

‘hand’ ‘poverty’ ‘afternoon’ ‘body’

tan nan pu’asaan man

‘sand’ ‘to appreciate’ ‘new wife’ ‘1SG.EMPH’

/ɲ/ and /ŋ/ The palatal and velar nasals mutually exclude each other at syllable initial and final positions; i.e., while the former can occur only at syllable initial positions, the latter occurs only at final positions. /ɲ/ is ny in the orthography while /ŋ/ is written as such:

(24) nyan nyin nyɛsıg nyɛ nyuug nyɔn

‘shame’ ‘tooth’ ‘to miss (a mark)’ ‘to see’ ‘to smell’ ‘to complain’

kpa’ʊŋ niŋ pɛ’ɛŋ pu’asa’ʊŋ nya’aŋ lɔŋ

‘guinea fowl’ ‘body’ ‘borrow’ ‘adultery’ ‘back/behind’ ‘toad’

/nw/ The labialised alveolar nasal /nw/ is quite similar to the velar approximant /w/: they occur in similar environments and are influenced by similar conditions; the only difference being the nasal colouring evident at initial aspects of the labialised consonant. This nasal occurs only at syllable initial positions and only before central and front vowels: (25) nwaaŋ nwɛdʊg nwaae nwadbil nwiig

‘monkey’ ‘to guide’ ‘to cut’ ‘stars’ ‘rope’

2.2.1.4 Liquids Kusaal liquids are the approximants and the alveolar lateral and trill sounds. These sounds are so described because their production involves the release of the pulmonic egressive airstream without much perturbation. They are all voiced. /y/ and /w/ The palatal and labio-velar approximants occur only at syllable initial positions (and never at syllable final positions): (26) ya’am yir yugudir waaf wiak wabʊg

‘sense’ ‘house’ ‘hedgehog’

yɛɛl yʊʊr yɔlʊg

‘to help wear’ ‘name’ ‘money bag

‘snake’ ‘to hatch’ ‘elephant’

wɛɛl wʊsa wɛʊg

‘unneeded (unsold)’ ‘all’ ‘deep bush, forest’

/l/ The alveolar lateral is found to occur at both initial and final positions of syllables. While the set to the left instantiates the lateral at syllable initial positions, those to the right are examples of the phoneme at syllable final position:

(27) lɔ laa sılıg bilia ligidi

‘to tie’ ‘bowl’ ‘to sieve’ ‘infant baby’ ‘money’

gol paal babil pɔ̃ bıl buol

‘high, up’ ‘new’ ‘small dog’ ‘to fold’ ‘to call’

/r/ The alveolar trill is common at syllable final positions. It also occurs at syllable initial positions, but not at word initial position. In the set of examples below, we highlight the phoneme at syllable final (left column) and initial position (right column). (28) nɔbir tʊbʊr pɔɔr ta’adir amɛŋir

‘leg’ ‘ear’ ‘an oath’ ‘sandal’ ‘truth’

bɛrıga biribiŋ ɛ̃rıg ã arʊŋ karim

‘hemp’ ‘son’ ‘to shift/move over’ ‘boat’ ‘to read’

At syllable initial position within words, the voiced alveolar stop /d/ is sometimes a free variation of the trill /r/; this often marks idiolectal or dialectal differences among speakers of the language. At syllable final positions, however, an alternation between /r/ and /d/ yields ungrammatical items. It appears two conditioning factors must be met before this variation is possible: i.

the phoneme /r/ must be the initial segment in the penultimate or last syllable of the lexical item; ii. the final segment in the last syllable must not be the velar nasal /ŋ/. (29) A pu’asara pʊrʊg kʊrʊg kurug birig bɛrıga ɛ̃rʊg ɛ̃rıg Bugraan

B pu’asada pʊdʊg kʊdʊg kudug bidig bɛdıga ɛ̃dʊg ɛ̃rıg Bugdaan

‘young ladies’ ‘to share’ ‘shorts’ ‘old’ ‘to scatter/fall apart’ ‘hemp’ ‘anger’ ‘to shift/move over’ ‘owner of Bugur (P.NAME)/owner of prayer’

(30)

but not *bidibiŋ *ã aduŋ *ã ã diŋ

‘son’ ‘boat’ ‘blackberry’

biribiŋ ã arʊŋ ã ã riŋ

2.2.2 Some minimal pairs In this section, we present a few examples to make clearer the oppositions between some of the phonemes listed above: (31) /p/ /t/ /k/ /kp/ /k/ /g/ /k/ /m/ /n/ /f/ /s/

pɛn tam kum kpan ki gam mak mɛ’ lɛn fã ad saam

‘vagin*’ ‘to forget’ ‘death’ ‘arrow’ ‘millet’ ‘gate’ ‘to measure’ ‘to build’ ‘again’ ‘to save’ ‘to marsh’

/b/ /d/ /g/ /gb/ /kp/ /gb/ /ʔ/ /n/ /ŋ/ /v/ /z/

bɛn dam gum gban kpi gbam ma’ nɛ’ lɛŋ vã ad zaam

‘end’ ‘to shake’ ‘cotton’ ‘shrine’ ‘to die’ ‘tadpole’ ‘to deceive’ ‘DEM’ ‘bonus’ ‘leaves’ ‘evening’

/nw/ and /w/ In the first column, an obvious nasalisation of the approximant is perceived in the pronunciation of these words. The same cannot be said of the set to the right: (32) nwiak nwaae nwɛ’ nwaaŋ nwiig nwada

‘to squeeze, wring’ ‘to cut’ ‘to beat’ ‘monkey’ ‘rope’ ‘moons’

wiak waae wɛbig wa’aŋ wiiug wada

‘to hatch’ ‘to reduce, or pour off ’ ‘to oppress’ ‘to heat up’ ‘red’ ‘laws’

/ny/ and /y / The explanation in the preceding section also holds true for the range of lexical items that are found in the following sets: (33) nyidig nyan nyin nyɛ nyɔ’ɔg

‘to bare teeth’ ‘shame’ ‘tooth’ ‘to ease’ ‘chest’

yidig ya’an yin yɛ’ yɔɔg

‘to untie’ ‘as usual’ ‘home’ ‘to wear’ ‘open’

2.2.3 Vowels There are nine phonetically distinct vowels in Kusaal which are produced based on the position at which the sound is articulated (front, back or central) and the nature or height of the aperture (close, mid or open). With regard to their positions, /i, ı, e, ɛ/ are front vowels, /u, ʊ, o ɔ/ are back vowels and /a/ is the only 54

central vowel. Based on height, the vowels can be put into the following categories:high /i, u/, near high /ı, ʊ/, mid-high /e, o/, mid-low /ɛ, ɔ/ and low /a/. They are also differentiated by their tongue root [+/- ATR] features:while /i, u, e, o/ are [+ATR], /ı, ʊ, ɛ, ɔ/ are [-ATR] and /a/ occurs with either group.These facts are highlighted in the table below: Table 2.2: Vowels Front i

High

Mid

Central

Back u

ʊ8

High

Low

ɔ a

Low

2.2.3.1 Oral vowels The segments on the chart represent only the short oral vowels of Kusaal; vowel oppositions based on phonemic length are however also distinguished. For each of the pure short vowels, there is therefore a corresponding long vowel segment. Examples of this are found below: (34) Short vowels /i/ ki igin /u/ bus uk /e/ ye lieŋ /o/ suor biyuol /a/ lama fabil

‘millet’ ‘bow’ ‘to sprout’ ‘to expand’ ‘to say’ ‘axe’ ‘way’ ‘babysitter’ ‘gums’ ‘to complain’

/ı/ /ʊ/ /ɛ/ /ɔ/

kı ıtʊŋ bʊd ʊk yɛlig lɛŋ sɔlma ɔ̃ b

‘alert’ ‘behaviour’ ‘to sow’ ‘to lift, carry’ ‘to winnow’ ‘bonus, top up’ ‘stories’ ‘to chew’

In Kusaal orthography, the phoneme /ʋ/ is used to indicate the near-close back vowel /ʊ/. The choice is based on aesthetic reasons as well as to allow for easy usage especially in the hand-written form. Thus, though /ʋ/ derives from the labio-dental approximant, it is strictly used as a vowel letter in the language. Similarly, ‘i’ is used to represent both /i/ and /ı/ in the orthography. However, for the benefit of clarity of the phonological description in this chapter, we represent all vowels with their characteristic phonemic form. We revert to the orthography in the chapters hereafter (see also notes on Orthography in §1.10 above).

(35) Long vowels /ii/ biig piim /uu/ buug fuug /ee/ --/oo/ googi /aa/ laa na’ab

‘child’ ‘needle’ ‘to wade’ ‘shirt’ ‘fiddle’ ‘bowl’ ‘chief ’

/ıı/

tııg ııla /ʊʊ/ bʊʊg fʊʊs /ɛɛ/ bɛɛ /ɔɔ/ lɔ’ɔŋ

‘tree’ ‘horns’ ‘goat’ ‘to blow’ ‘or?’ ‘to cross’

In the range of occurrences of these vowels, the [–ATR] (non-advanced tongue root) vowels /ı, ʊ, ɛ, ɔ/ have a wider spread of usage than their [+ATR] counterparts /i, u, e, o/.9 Musah (2010:92–93) posits that this may be evidence of a process of coalescence on-going in the language with an end result of the [+ATR] vowels eventually merging into their [–ATR] counterparts. The spread of data also shows that the mid-high vowels /e/ and /o/ together with their long counterparts /ee/ and /oo/ are quite restricted in usage and are found more frequently in borrowed lexical items. We also ascertain that in addition to the foregoing, /e/ i. never occurs at syllable initial position; ii. generally, occurs as the final vowel in diphthongs such as in nie ‘wake’, pie ‘wash’, paae ‘reach’; iii. has only a few known occurrences in other positions in the language: ye ‘that’, keŋ ‘go’ and its different realisations kem, ken; iv. and finally, that the occurrence of /ee/ is even more scarce. Similarly, we observe that /o/ i. never occurs at syllable initial position either; ii. is generally more relevant in diphthongs especially after the central and high back vowels such as in kuos ‘sell’, duom ‘get up!’ including when the glottal stop is at intervocalic position between these vowels. Examples:ku’om ‘water’, bʊ’os ‘ask’; iii. occurs more regularly in borrowed lexical items e.g. from English via Hausa tolotolo ‘turkey’, and toroko ‘push-truck’ and from English via Akan boroboro ‘bread’; iv. and finally, that occurrences of /oo/ are also hard to find.

An interesting study would be to carry out a quantitative analysis of the vowel system to put this into greater perspective. Unfortunately, this is beyond the scope of the present study.

2.2.3.2 Nasal vowels Nasal vowels are produced via both the oral and nasal cavities rather than through the oral cavity. In Kusaal, only [-ATR] vowels can occur as nasal vowels. While the sets to the left represent the phonemic short vowel, the sets to the right are their long counterparts: (36) Short Nasal Vowel /ĩ/ tĩ pĩ /ʊ̃ / sʊsʊ̃ f kʊ̃ s /ɛ̃/ ɛ̃bis fɛ̃’ʊg /ɔ̃ / bɔ̃ gɔ̃ lʊg /ã / bã vã b

‘to throw up’ ‘to bury’ ‘heart’ ‘to inject’ ‘to scratch’ ‘sore’ ‘to mark’ ‘to be crooked’ ‘to ride’ ‘to bow deeply’

Long Nasal Vowel10 /ĩı/ fĩı ‘a little’ dĩıb ‘pressing down’ /ʊ̃ ʊ/ sʊ̃ ʊr ‘anger’ tʊ̃ ʊl ‘to line up’ /ɛ̃ɛ/ bɛ̃ɛr ‘a gruel’ ɛ̃ɛ ‘yes’ /ɔ̃ ɔ/ dɔ̃ ɔd ‘dawadawa fruit’ kɔ̃ ɔs ‘to scrape’ /ã a/ kpãar ‘the last one’ fã ar ‘safety’

2.2.3.3 Vowel sequencing 2.2.3.3.1 Diphthongs The range of sequences of vowels tenable in the language is quite wide. Vowel sequencing refers to the juxtaposition of two or more vowels within a syllable constituent. Within this category, therefore, we exclude long vowels, which though forming a sequence do not display the same level of complexity as combinations of vowels drawn from the different places and manners of articulation within a syllable. Below we highlight lexical items containing two sequences of vowels: (37) uo ae aʊ ıa ua ɛɔ

kuos kae gbaʊŋ siak luak pɛɔg

‘to sell’ ‘not’ ‘book’ ‘to agree’ ‘to avoid’ ‘basket’

ɔı aı au ie ɛʊ ei

ayɔpɔı awaı dau biel bɛkɛʊŋ ayei

‘seven’ ‘nine’ ‘man’ ‘seed’ ‘dawn’ ‘no’

10 Nasal vowels are indicated in the Kusaal orthography with an –n placed after the vowel; this is not to be confused with the alveolar nasal consonant occurring at syllable final position. In this study, however, we use the tilde throughout to mark nasalisation in order to make clearer the various phonological and linguistic phenomena. In a sequence of nasal vowels, we mark only the first vowel with a tilde.

2.2.3.3.2 Triphthongs Sequences involving three vowels, though quite rare, can also be found in the language. These are often, though not always, a combination of long vowels as the initial elements followed by another vowel from a different level. Examples include the following: (38) aae aaʊ ʊɔɛ

paae saaʊŋ sʊ̃ ɔɛ

‘to reach’ ‘to show hospitality’ ‘to smear, rub’

ɛɛʊ iiu

sɛɛʊŋ bakimpiiuŋ

‘dry season’ ‘armpit’

2.2.3.3.3 Epenthetic/intervocalic glottals Considering that the production of diphthongs and triphthongs is a rather cumbersome phonological process, some of the vowel sequences often take an epenthetic glottal stop.In these instances, it appears that the glottal causes a resyllabification of the vowel segments thereby generating a new syllable. These forms, then, are removed from the domain of diphthongs with the glottal representing either an initial or coda consonant in each individual case. Below, find an exhaustive list of these forms: (39) u’a ɔ’i ɛ’o u’oe

bumbu’a ayɔ’i bɛ’og su’oe

‘potholes’ ‘flying ants’ ‘bad’ ‘to own’

u’a i’e u’o

bidiku’ã bi’ela bu’os

‘deceit’ ‘small’ ‘ask’

2.2.4 Vowel harmony Vowel harmony (VH) relates to co-occurrence restrictions within vowels in some of the languages of the world. In such languages, combinations of vowels within morphological stems or across morpheme boundaries appear to follow a strict or formalised order of vowel selection. In this regard, an important facet of the Kusaal vowel system is the preponderance of [-ATR] vowels whereby the non-advanced tongue root vowels appear to be more widespread than the advanced ones. This notwithstanding, we highlight two instances where vowel harmony is important in the phonology of especially Agole Kusaal:[ATR] harmony and roundness harmony.

2.2.4.1 [ATR] harmony Stewart’s (1967) study of Akan (Kwa) determines that the kind of VH occurring in the language is instantiated along [ATR] lines; i.e., while advanced tongueroot vowels (i, e, o and u) often occur together in a unit, non-advanced tongue 58

root vowels (ı, ɛ, ɔ, ʊ and a) also occur together in analogous positions. Cross height vowel harmony (CHVH) based on [+/-ATR] status is attested among many languages of Ghana and is more developed in languages like Akan and Dagara (see Bodomo 1997) than in others. In Kusaal, the [ATR] harmony system has not fossilised but can be shown to have a number of important similarities to what pertains in the Mabia cluster (see Musah 2010:87–93 for an in-depth discussion and Niggli (n.d.:74–78) for somewhat divergent views on the topic). Kusaal vowels are divided according to the degree of tension in the tongue:the [+ATR] vowels /i, e, o and u/ and the [–ATR] vowels /ı, ɛ, ɔ, ʊ and a/. Except for the low central vowel, which is ambivalent in nature and occurs with both [+] and [–ATR] vowels, the rest of the vowels often occur (although not exclusively) together with their counterparts from the same tongue root position. Below, we provide some instances: (40) [+ATR] zuor diem bulug awai daug kurug

‘mountain’ ‘in-law’ ‘a well’ ‘nine’ ‘stick’ ‘trousers’

[-ATR] pɛ’og pʊa bʊlʊg gbıgım dagɔbʊg kpııbıg ayɔpɔı

‘sheep’ ‘woman’ ‘to smear’ ‘lion’ ‘left hand’ ‘orphan’ ‘seven’

Considering that vowels in the singular form often harmonise with each other, in the plural forms too, the vowel element of the plural morpheme also harmonises with the root vowel. For instance, from the sets below, the form for ‘cow’ na’af is divided into the morphological root na’- and a class marker –Vf which indicates a singular nominal. In the plural form, however, the root na’- is transposed to nias a result of the plural marker –gV. Similarly, because the singular class marker of fɛ̃-ʊg ‘sore-NC.SG’ harmonises with the root, the plural morpheme equally harmonises with the root to become fɛ̃-ɛd ‘sores-NC.PL’: (41) Singular gloss ‘ear’ ‘cow’ ‘guinea fowl’ ‘leg’ ‘uncle’ ‘sore’

STEM-NC.SG tʊb-ʊr na’-af kpa’-ʊŋ nɔb-ır ã s-ib fɛ̃-ʊg

Plural STEM-NC.PL tʊb-a nii-gi kpi’-ni nɔb-a ã s-nam fɛ̃-ɛd

gloss ‘ears’ ‘cows’ ‘guinea fowls’ ‘legs’ ‘uncles’ ‘sores’

Further, the nature of the vowel element that precedes the imperfective habitual morpheme (-Vd) also often harmonises with the vowel segments in the verb root. Thus, the degree of advancement or otherwise of vowels in the verb root determine which form the vowel segment in the habitual suffix will take. The underspecified vowel in the habitual form could thus be realised as [+round] and [–ATR] based on the nature of the vowel in the verb, as seen in dʊg ‘cook’, or as [-round] and [+ATR] as in pies ‘to wash’ below: (42) Bare verb dʊg ‘to cook’ kuos ‘to sell’ pies ‘to wash’ kua ‘to farm’ mɔn ‘to stir’ pɛŋ ‘to borrow’

HAB o dʊgʊd o kuosid o piesid o kuod o mɔnıd o pɛŋıd

‘s/he cooks’ ‘s/he sells’ ‘s/he washes’ ‘s/he farms’ ‘s/he stirs’ ‘s/he borrows’

Within morpheme boundaries (shown in the examples above), however, harmonization is more prominent than across morpheme boundaries. For instance, while the vowel elements of root morphemes often harmonise, when two roots are juxtaposed to each other to form a new word (such as in compounding), the vowels of the new word may not harmonise. The hitherto individual morphemes may thus maintain their respective vowel qualities in the new word. Examples: (43) Pu’a dɔɔg piiga nɔɔr yu’or

‘woman’ ‘room’ ‘ten’ ‘mouth’ ‘penis’

yua bil ayɔpɔı di’es kɔlʊg

‘young’ ‘small’ ‘seven’ ‘receive’ ‘sack’

> > > > >

pu’ayua dɔbil pisyɔpɔı nɔdi’es yu’okɔlʊg

‘maiden’ ‘kitchen’ ‘seventy’ ‘linguist/prophet’ ‘uncircumcised penis’

2.2.4.2 Roundness harmony Roundness harmony also accounts for the structuring of the phonological word in Kusaal. It is thus the case that vowel phonemes of some lexical items in the language pattern up based on their [+/-round] features so that while the round segments co-occur, non-round segments also occur together. The groups are: (44) [+ Round] u, ʊ, o, ɔ [- Round] i, ı, e, ɛ

Here too, as with [ATR] harmony, the central vowel /a/ can occur with either group of vowels. Examples include the following:observe that aside adhering to roundness harmony, the vowel segments that precede the suffixes also follow, to quite a large extent, [ATR] harmony: 60

(45) Adapted from Niggli (n.d.:78), mostly for Toende Kusaal11 bɔɔt ‘to want’ + -m (drv. sfx.) > bɔɔrʊm ‘will’ kʊg ‘seat’ + -s (PL. sfx). > kʊgʊs ‘seats’ su’oe ‘to possess’ + -m (drv. sfx.) > sʊ’ʊlı’m ‘kingdom’ bʊn ‘to harvest’ + -p (drv. sfx) > bʊnnʊp ‘harvest’ bʊt ‘to sow’ + -m (IMP.sfx) > bʊrʊm ‘sow!’ vug ‘to uncover’ + -l (rvsl. sfx) > vugul ‘to cover’ zı’ı ‘to not know’ + -m (drv. sfx.) > zı’ılım ‘ignorance’ mi’i ‘to know’ + -m (drv. sfx.) > mi’ilim ‘knowledge’ gut ‘to wait’ + m ‘me’ (DO) > gurum ‘wait for me’ dʊg ‘to cook’ + ba ‘they’ (DO) > dʊgʊ ba ‘to cook them’

2.3 Tone Kusaal is a register tone language. It makes a three-way distinction between high ( ́), mid ( ̄) and low ( ̀) tones. Tone has many implications in the morpho-syntax of Kusaal because it has not only a lexical function but a grammatical one as well. With regard to the domain of tone, we maintain, following Musah (2010:113, 2017) that the mora rather than the syllable is the tone-bearing unit. This assertion, contra Niggli (n.d.:80 who supports syllable as TBU in Kusaal), is buttressed by England & Ladusaw who state, with respect to Kusaal that: We assume that only one tone may be associated with a short vowel, but that a long vowel may (but need not) bear two tones. Tone patterns in monosyllabic lexical items support this assumption; there are no stems with moving tone on a short vowel, but there are stems with moving tones on long vowels… (1984:108).

The notion of the mora as “the basic unit of the phonological structure” is not only relevant in Kusaal but is a held fact in the phonology of many languages including, for instance, the Khoe (Central Khoesan) language ||Ani (Vossen 2004:181, 1986 inter-alia). Kusaal vowels and the syllabic nasal m̄ 1SG (SBJ/OBJ/POSS) are the only candidates that have tone bearing ability. Coda nasals such as the n in bun ‘thing’ are not syllabic and thus do not qualify to carry or bear tone. Below are examples of near minimal triples that are differentiated based on the varying pitches.

11 Abbreviations:drv = derivational, sfx = suffix, PL = plural, IMP = imperative, rvsl =reversal, DO = Direct Object.

(46) H sáam sáad dá lá

‘strangers’ ‘brooms’ ‘NEG.IMP’ ‘DET’

M sāam sāad dā lā

‘father’ ‘pricing’ ‘remote past’ ‘to laugh’

L sàam sàas dà’

‘to mash’ ‘to sharpen’ ‘to buy’

Tonal patterning in Kusaal is quite arbitrary. Except verbs which are invariably non-high toned, i.e., they are often low or mid-toned (Musah 2010), nominal items and other word classes may take any of the three tonal types. These may be realised differently in differing contexts. There are also sequences of tones (i.e., tone glides from different levels), occurring on moraic elements within and across syllables. Below we provide some examples: (47) Lexical items that begin with a high tone: H/H pú’á ‘woman’ búpúŋ H/M kú’ōm ‘water’ nɔ́bīr H/L yɛ́lìg ‘to winnow’

‘girl’ ‘leg’

(48) Lexical items that begin with a mid-tone: M/M dā’ūg ‘stick’ sūmā M/H ānú ‘five’ kūrúg M/L lūōbùg ‘sling’

‘groundnuts’ ‘trousers/shorts’

(49) Lexical items that begin on a low tone: L/L kʊ̀rʊ̀g ‘old’ L/H nyà’ár ‘root’ L/M bìlīā ‘infant’

zı̀lı̀m ‘tongue’ Kùsáá ‘Kusasi person’ dàwɛ̄n ‘pigeon’

2.3.1 Morpho-syntactic tone Aside the lexical function of tone discussed above, tone plays an important role in the morpho-syntax of Kusaal. In the sections that follow, we provide an overview of some of the important morpho-syntactic roles of tone (cf. Musah 2010: 116–138 and Niggli n.d.: 79–97 for further discussions of the topic in Kusaal; Akanlig-Pare 2005 inter-alia on the near-cognate language Buli and Dolphyne 1988 for similar discussions on Akan). Implications of tone on morpho-syntax are noteworthy in the aspectual system of the language. We state the following where tone is crucial.

2.3.1.1 The imperfective Generally, 1st and 2nd person pronouns pattern up similarly as regards the tonal system while the 3rd person behaves differently in the imperfective. We discuss

two imperfective aspects:the habitual and the progressive and how they differ based on tonal perturbations.

2.3.1.2 The habitual The Habitual marker is a suffix –Vd (allophone –t) affixed to the root of the verb. In habitual constructions expressing intransitive usage, the tonal feature realised on both the verb and the 1st and 2nd pronominals is mid (Ex. 50a and b below) whereas in habitual constructions with the 3rd person pronominal, both the pronominal form and the verb phrase are low toned (Ex. 50c). (50) a. M̄ sʊ̄-ʊ̄d 1SG bath-HAB ‘I bath.’ b. Fʊ̄ sʊ̄-ʊ̄d 2SG bath-HAB ‘You bath.’ c. Ò sʊ̀-ʊ̀d 3SG bath-HAB ‘He baths.’

Constructions involving a high-toned direct object raise the tonal characteristics of the preceding syntactic elements in the 1st and 2nd person (Ex. 51a and b below) causing their relative pitches to go up a notch. Recurring high tones on the object are however transposed to mid tones in all cases and for all pronouns. The change of the high tone of any nominal to a mid-tone is a result of automatic downstepping caused by a preceding mid-toned verb: (51) a. M̄ dī-t 1SG eat-HAB ‘I eat rice.’

mūi rice

b. Fʊ̄ dī-t 2SG eat-HAB ‘You eat rice.’

mūi rice

c. Ō dī-t 3SG eat-HAB ‘S/he eats rice.’

mūi rice

2.3.1.3 The progressive The imperfective progressive is indicated by suffixing a (broad) focus marker –nɛ to the habitual form. In other words, a focussed habitual construction underlies 63

progressive action (see also Chapter 7). The tone on the verb stem and the tone of the progressive form are usually opposite to each other. That is, in the 1st and 2nd persons, the verb is high-toned (Ex. 52) while the progressive marker is low; in the 3rd person, the tone on the verb stem is low while the affix has a high tone (Ex. 53). (52) a. M̄ dí-t-nɛ̀ 1SG eat-HAB-Foc ‘I am eating.’ b. Fū dí-t-nɛ̀ 2SG eat-HAB-Foc ‘You are eating.’ (53) but

Ò dì-t-nɛ́ 3SG eat-HAB-Foc ‘S/he is eating.’

In typical transitive constructions, i.e. in constructions involving direct objects, the tone of the object is often influenced by that of the preceding aspectual suffix. If the tone of the aspect marker is high, the tone of the object also rises. The tones of object nominals (especially token lexical items with high tones) that are preceded by a falling tone are regularly downstepped resulting in mid tones. See the examples below: (54) Tĩ dʊ̄g-ʊ̄d-nɛ̀ !sū m-ā 1PL cook-HAB-Foc groundnut-PL ‘We are cooking groundnuts.’ (55) Bà dʊ̀g-ʊ̀d-nɛ́ sū m-ā 3PL cook-HAB-Foc groundnut-PL ‘They are cooking groundnuts.’ (56) Tĩ wá’-ád-nɛ̀ 1PL dance-HAB-Foc ‘We are dancing ge’uŋ.’

!gē’ùŋ type of dance

(57) Bà wà’-ád-nɛ́ 3PL dance-HAB-Foc ‘They are dancing ge’uŋ.’

gé’ùŋ type of dance

2.3.1.4 The perfect The tonal patterning of the perfect is also split between the 1st and 2nd persons (Ex. 58a and b) versus the 3rd (Ex. 58c). Here too, the tone of the aspectual morpheme is the opposite of the tone of the verb stem. The perfect is expressed via a suffix -ya affixed to the base form of the verb root. This form of the verb cannot or does not take an object. Examples: 64

(58) a. M̄ dí-yà 1SG eat-PRF ‘I have eaten.’ b. Fʊ̄ dí-yà 2SG eat-PRF ‘You have eaten.’ c. Ò dì-yá 3SG eat-PRF ‘S/he has eaten.’

2.3.1.5 The factative The factative is generally the most unmarked or basic form of the verb. According to Welmers (1973:346) it “expresses the most obvious fact about the verb in question, which in the case of active verbs is that the action took place but for stative verbs is that the situation obtains at present.” Here too, tones on the verb in the first and second persons are similar while those of the third person differ. (59) M̄ nwɛ́ 1SG hit/beat.FCT ‘I hit/beat the child.’

bīig child

lá DET

(60) Ò dì 3SG eat.FCT ‘S/he ate the food.’

dīib food

lá DET

2.3.1.6 Future time marking Future time is indicated in Agole Kusaal by a pre-verbal particle na. The particle is high-toned for the 1st and 2nd persons (a and b) and mid-toned for the 3rd (c) while the main verb retains its default non-high tone. In Toende Kusaal, however, the particle is ne and it is low-toned (Niggli n.d.:92). We provide examples in Agole Kusaal below: (61) a. M̄ ná 1SG FUT ‘I will drink.’ b. M̄ ná 1SG FUT ‘I will eat.’

nū drink dī eat

c. Ò nā dī 3SG FUT eat ‘S/he will eat.’

2.3.1.7 The future interrogative Generating an interrogative of the future form is achieved through a significant degree of tone rising until the end of the statement where short final vowel segments in the verb stem become lengthened and take a low tone. The 1st and 2nd personal pronouns become mid-toned in the question (Ex. 62) while low tones in the 3rd person are transposed to mid-tones (63). The interrogative raises the pitch level of the entire sentence until the very end where it falls to low. See the examples below and also the section on questions in §8.4. (62) a. M̄ ná 1SG FUT ‘Will I run?’

zɔ̄-ɔ̀? run-INT

b. Fʋ̄ ná zɔ̄-ɔ̀? 2SG FUT run-INT ‘Will you run?’ (63) a. Ō nā zɔ̄-ɔ̀? 3SG FUT run-INT ‘Will s/he run?’ b. Bā nā zɔ̄-ɔ̀? 3PL FUT run-INT ‘Will they run?’

2.3.2 Near-grammatical minimal pairs In this section, we highlight three differences that come up when the verbal forms are juxtaposed to each other with regard to their tonal differences.

2.3.2.1 The indicative and interrogative of the perfect A perfect indicative construction and its interrogative form are similar in all respects except in the tonal structure of the final elements. To form the interrogative, the final vowel of the perfect indicative form is lengthened and the low tone of the perfect suffix is then associated with the final vocalic element. See the examples in the two sets below: (64) a. Bī-is lá dì-yá child-PL DET eat-PRF ‘The children have eaten.’ b. Bī-is lá dì-yá-à? child-PL DET eat-PRF-INT ‘Have the children eaten?’

(65) a. M̄ pʋ́ ’ʋs-yà 1SG greet-PRF ‘I have greeted.’ b. M̄ pʋ́ ’ʋs-yá-à? 1SG greet-PRF-INT ‘Have I greeted?’

2.3.2.2 Negation of the future and the factative The distinction between the negative forms of the future and the factative aspect is not only lexical but also of a tonal nature. Two particles that are used to indicate negativity or negation in the language are kʊ́/pʊ̀. Negative sentences in the future take kʊ́ with high tone for the 1st and 2nd persons and low tone for the 3rd while the marker for present or past time negation, pʊ̀, has high tone for the 3rd person and low tone for the 1st and 2nd persons. Examples: (66) a. M̄ kʊ́ 1SG NEG.FUT ‘I will not eat.’

dī-i eat-SFE

b. Ò kʊ̀ 3SG NEG.FUT ‘S/he will not eat.’

dī-i eat-SFE

(67) a. M̄ pʊ̀ yʊ̄’ʊm-ɛ̄ 1SG NEG sing-SFE ‘I did not sing.’ b. Ō pʊ́ yʊ̄’ʊm-ɛ̄ 3SG NEG eat-SFE ‘S/he did not sing.’

2.3.2.3 The imperative The imperative is formed by the addition of the imperative suffix –Vm to the base form of the verb:examples, yɛ̄l ‘say’ but yɛ̄līm ‘say!’. These forms are commands without overtly stated objects. When the imperative form takes an overt direct object, such as the first person pronominal m ‘I, SG/OBJ’ (e.g. yɛ̀lím ‘tell me!’), the hitherto mid tones of the imperative forms are transposed to a sequence of low-high tones. See the examples in (68) below: (68) a. Gɔ̀s look ‘look’

Gɔ̄s-īm but Gɔ̀s-ím look-IMP look-1SG ‘look!’ ‘look at me!’

b. Tìs give ‘give’

Tīs-īm give-IMP ‘give!’

Tìsím give-1SG ‘give me!’

c. Dı̀gı̀l put.down ‘put down’

Dīgīl-īm Dìgìl-ím put.down-IMP put.down-1SG ‘put down!’ ‘put me down’

2.4 Syllables Syllabic constitution refers to the smallest unit that the sounds of a language can be grouped into. Vowels and some nasal sounds are central components of the syllable; they account for the various configurations of syllable types in Kusaal. Important elements of the syllable are the onset:segments found at the initial position of syllables; the nucleus:segments that are central to the syllable; and the coda:the final components – segments that are positioned at the end of the syllable unit. Generally, Kusaal syllable configuration restricts the formation of consonant clusters of any kind which is not unlike the case for ||Ani (Vossen 1986:323ff). Another important consideration in Kusaal syllable descriptions is syllable weight which refers to the number of syllabic segments that can be found in the nucleus of the syllable. Syllables with only one segment in the rime are considered light-weight while those with two or more are heavy-weight syllables (see Musah 2010, 2017). The syllable types in Kusaal can be classified into four as shown in (69–72): (69) Peak only m 1SG ‘I, me’

o 3SG

‘he, him’

(70) VC (also VVC but not *VCC) ɛl ııl ‘marry’ ‘horn’ (71) CV (also CVV but not *CCV) li sia ‘fall’ ‘a certain’ (72) CVC (also including CVVC and CVVVC) tis biig ‘give’ ‘child’

2.4.1 Peak-only syllables These are open syllables that comprise only the nucleus or peak. They can be either light or heavy weight, i.e. containing one or two moraic elements respectively. The moraic segment could be one of three elements:the bilabial nasal sound, a single vowel, or a sequence of vowels (either long vowels or diphthongs). Peak-only syllables only occur as the initial components of words. Below are a few examples12: (73) m ie a.naŋ i.sig ɛ̃.bis a.yi’ ã a.ruŋ

1SG ‘to search’ ‘Mr. Scorpion’ ‘to awake’ ‘to scratch’ ‘two’ ‘boat’

o ɛ̃ɛ̃ a.tiig ɛ̃.rig á.la a.gol uu.sug

3SG ‘yes’ ‘Mr. Tree’ ‘to shift’ ‘thus’ ‘up’ ‘dust’

2.4.2 VC syllables This is a closed syllable with a moraic segment as the initial element. The mora in this case is restricted to a vowel sound (which could be short, long or a sequence of vowels) while syllabic nasals do not qualify. In the coda position of closed syllables, all consonants can occur except the following:/kp/, /gb/, /v/, /z/, /h/, /w/ /nw/ /y/, and /j/. Examples: (74) ɛl ʊk is ɔ̃ b on

‘to marry’ ‘to lift’ ‘to remove’ ‘to chew’ ‘3SG.EMPH’

ɛ̃ɛs ʊʊn ĩak ııl uak

‘to wipe’ ‘dry season’ ‘to fly’ ‘horn’ ‘to flood’

2.4.3 The CV syllable The CV syllable is open and yields many lexical items in the language. Kusaal syllable structure does not permit clusters of any kind; although doubly articulated consonants such as the final examples in (75) may present structures similar to consonant clusters they, in fact, are not. Abutting consonants at syllable boundaries are also not considered as consonant clusters. The moraic elements in the CV syllable could be a single or a long vowel or a sequence of vowels but never a syllabic nasal. Examples include the following:

12 A period is used to mark off syllable breaks.

(75) li fʊ laa pie tã u gba

‘fall’ ‘2SG’ ‘bowl’ ‘to wash’ ‘female sibling’ ‘even’

mɛ bā nua naae mɔ kpalug

‘to build’ ‘3PL’ ‘chicken’ ‘to finish’ ‘to wrestle’ ‘dawadawa’

2.4.4 The CVC syllable This syllable type is one of the most useful and quite unique syllable types of Kusaal. Unlike some of the languages in the Mabia cluster which simplify final consonants with a vocalic segment, Kusaal syllable structure does not simplify such syllables especially at word final position. For instance, the word for ‘ear’ is tɔbrɛ in Gurenɛ, tibili in Dagbani, toore in Dagaare but tʊbʊr in Kusaal. Other examples include the following: (76) man tã s zab lɛm

‘1SG.EMPH’ ‘to shout’ ‘to fight’ ‘to taste’

bil pʊd pɔ̃ r kpar

‘small’ ‘to name’ ‘to approach’ ‘to close (lock)’

In the CVC class of syllables, we also include those syllables where the vocalic elements are either long vowels or a sequence of different vowels. Examples: (77) maal bʊʊg bııŋ lɛɛg vɔ̃ ɔr ni’im

‘to make’ ‘goat’ ‘to part open’ ‘to dig’ ‘hole’ ‘meat’

kpa’ʊŋ wiak piel buol yaog ziiŋ

‘guinea fowl’ ‘to hatch’ ‘white’ ‘call’ ‘grave’ ‘fish’

2.5 Word structure Based on the foregoing syllable structures and types, words can take a variety of forms in the language. Roots, because they are the fundamental aspects of words generally, but not always, contain single syllables. Below, we provide a list of single syllable words with different configurations: (78) Single syllable word structure Nasal m 1SG V: ɛ̃ɛ ‘yes’ VV ie ‘search’ VC ʊk ‘carry’ V:C ııl ‘horn’

VVC CV CV: CVV CVC CV:C CVVC CV:V CVVV

ĩak mi maa sia nan paal luak paae guoe

‘to fly’ ‘to know’ ‘alone’ ‘waist’ ‘not yet’ ‘new’ ‘to find’ ‘to reach’ ‘to restrain’

Based on the word structures above, a wide range of word structures can be formed. Thus, combinations of at least two single-syllable word structures up to a maximum of five yield different structures of words in the language. These permutations reflect a number of morpho-syntactic processes such as number marking and compounding on-going in the language. We list a few of the tenable combinations below: (79) Two syllable words V.CV a.la CV.CV nini CVC.CV mal.ma CVC.CVC kın.kın CVC.CVC bug.sum CVC.CV:C zug.daan

‘therefore’ ‘eyes’ ‘rites’ ‘welcome’ ‘wickedness’ ‘lord’

(80) Three syllable words V.CV.CV V.CVV.CV CVC.CVC.CV CV:C.CV:C.CVC CVC.CVC.CVC

a.ni.na a.yuo.bʊ nan.nan.na maan.maan.nib zab.zab.dib

‘there’ ‘six’ ‘now’ ‘officials’ ‘warriors’

(81) Four syllable words V.CVC.CV.CVC CV.CVC.CV:C.CVC CV:C.CV.CV.CV CVC.CV.CV.CV

a.baŋ.kʊ.sɔl ka.rim.saam.nam yʊʊm.pʊ.kʊ.da bʊn.nya.li.ma

‘lizard’ ‘teachers’ ‘olden days’ ‘wonderful things’

(82) Five syllable words These are not very common but a few can still be found. Examples: CVC.CV.CVC.CV.CV bin.ti.pi.gi.da ‘dung beetles’ V.CV.CV.CV.CVC ã .zu.ru.fa.nam ‘silver (PL)’

2.6 Phonological processes Kusaal phonological processes have been described at length in Musah (2010: 72–105). One of these processes, vowel harmony, has already been discussed in §2.2.4 above. In this section, we highlight a few more of these processes and their roles in the ordering of words, syllables and borrowed lexical items.

2.6.1 Place of articulation assimilation Assimilatory processes relate to how segments adapt to each other especially at contiguous positions. In this regard, elements occurring before or after each other could cause the behaviour of nearby segments to change in a progressive or regressive manner. That is, segments before or after could cause a modification in the structure of other segments that occur at adjacent positions. Place of articulation assimilation implies one segment copies the place of articulation of the other.

2.6.1.1 hom*organic nasal assimilation hom*organic Nasal Assimilation (HNA) is generally a place of articulation assimilation which stipulates that syllable final nasal consonants copy the place of articulation of the segments they immediately precede. This assimilation often occurs when two items are compounded or occur quite close to each other. The following formalisation adapted from Niggli (n.d.:59) serves to illustrate: (83) N > m / _bilabial N + b > [mb] tan ‘sand’+ biis ‘children’ N + p > [mp] bʊn ‘thing’+ piel ‘white’ N + m > [mm] nwam ‘calabash’ + ma ‘PL’

= tambĩ’isi = bʊmpiel = nwamma

‘fine sand’ ‘white thing’ ‘calabashes’

(84) N > n / _alveolar N + d > [nd] teŋ ‘land’ + daan ‘owner’ N + t > [nt] niŋ ‘body’ + ta’am ‘?’ N + n > [nn] dawan ‘bird’ + ma ‘PL’

= teŋdaan = ninta’am = dawanna

‘land owner’ ‘tears’ ‘birds’

(85) N > ŋ / _velar N + g > [ŋg] N + k > [ŋk]

zɔŋ ‘courtyard’ + guom ‘cover’ = zaŋguom pɛn ‘vagin*’ + kɔ̃ bʊg ‘hair’ = pɛŋkɔ̃ bʊg

‘wall’ ‘pubic hair’

2.6.1.2 Consonant gemination Gemination is one form of assimilation which is progressive in nature and leads to the production of double consonants especially at word and syllable boundaries. At word boundaries, for instance, the definite article la which comes after nominal items usually assimilates the place of articulation of the final consonant 72

segment of the preceding word. This process is prominent in the spoken language where the noun and its determiner are realised as one form. In the orthography, they are written separately. Examples: (86) dap la na’ab la pu’ab la biis la saag la ban la nɛŋ la

[dappa] [na’abba] [pu’abba] [biissa] [saagga] [banna] [nɛŋŋa]

‘the men’ ‘the chief ’ ‘the women’ ‘the children’ ‘the broom’ ‘those ones’ ‘this one’

Gemination also comes up in negation of verb forms such as the following. Aside the negation factor, such verbs usually contain only one moraic element: (87) dit zaŋ nɔk bak la’aŋ

‘eats’ ‘takes’ ‘takes’ ‘discerns’ ‘lights’

…pʊ ditta …pʊ zaŋŋida …pʊ nɔkkida …pʊ bakkida …pʊ laŋŋida

‘not eating’ ‘not taking’ ‘not taking’ ‘not discerning’ ‘not lighting’

2.6.2 Nasalisation When oral segments occur next to nasal ones, the oral segments ultimately get nasalised as a result of the spread of nasality from the nasal to the non-nasal segments. Nasalisation of oral segments could occur in a regressive or progressive manner, i.e., oral segments could become nasalised when they occur either before or after nasal consonants. Examples: (88) After nasal consonants mɛ ‘to build’ na’af ‘cow’ mua ‘to suck’

nyɔɔd nwa mɔ

‘intestines’ ‘this’ ‘to fight, to try’

(89) Between nasal consonants man ‘1SG.EMPH’ naŋ nyɔn ‘to complain’ nwam mum ‘to bury’ nyaŋ

‘scorpion’ ‘calabash’ ‘to be able’

(90) Before nasal consonants fufum ‘jealousy’ kum ‘death’ sɔlʊŋ ‘story’

‘earth mound, pillar’ ‘sun’ ‘fool’

bimbim nintaŋ yalim

The above are all instances of contextual nasalisation. This implies the reason for the nasalisation of the vowels is implicit in the nasal consonants occurring 73

in their immediate environment. These vowels are therefore intrinsically oral. Some other segments are contrastively nasalised and do not require overt nasal segments in the immediate environment in order to be nasalised. These are thus ‘real’ nasal vowels– because their very nature embodies both a nasal and oral stricture. As stated already above (in §2.2.3.2), five vowels which are all [–ATR] are naturally produced with such a nasalised stricture. These are exemplified below with their contrasts: (91) fã agid bɛ̃ tĩ bɔ̃ kʊ̃ s

faar bɛ tı bɔ kʊ

‘saviour’ ‘to pursue’ ‘to vomit’ ‘to mark’ ‘to prick’

‘inheritance’ ‘to be’ ‘1PL’ ‘what’ ‘to kill’

2.6.3 Consonant elision Consonant elision/deletion is a fossilised phonological procedure which ensures that lexical items fit into the morphophonemic ordering of the language. Consonant segments are very good candidates for elision when they occur as the coda elements of some syllables. Usually, the elements that get elided are the noun class markers of the first nominals leaving behind only the nominal stem. Two examples of this process are:

2.6.3.1 Deletion of final –g noun class suffix The final suffix of a class of nominals ending in the velar consonant –g often gets deleted under two conditions:first, if the stem of the nominal is heavy, i.e. has two vowel elements, and second, if the vowel elements are long but not a sequence. For example, while the renditions in the first and second sets ‘a’ and ‘b’ in (92) below are acceptable, the second sets in (93) are not: (92) A bi-ig tı-ıg ba-ag fu-ug bʊ-ʊg (93) A pa-ok da-ug pɛ-og

> > > > >

B bii tıı baa fuu bʊʊ

‘child’ ‘tree’ ‘dog’ ‘dress’ ‘goat

B *pao *dau *pɛo

‘tree bark’ ‘stick’ ‘sheep’

2.6.3.2 Deletion of coda consonants in compounds Consonant deletion is prominent in compounding. In this case, the coda consonant of the first lexical item gets elided to allow for a perfect fit with the next item. Long vowel segments are also consistently shortened. In other words, all initial nominals in compounded forms lose their noun class suffixes which are often realised as coda consonants. Such compounds often yield new lexical items. Examples: (94) na’-ab nɔ-ɔr bi-ig na’-af da-am pɛ’-ɔg suo-r zuo-r ku’o-m

‘chief-sg’ ‘mouth-sg’ ‘child-sg’ ‘cow-sg’ ‘local beer-sg’ ‘sheep-sg’ ‘road-sg’ ‘mountain-sg’ ‘water-sg’

+ + + + + + + + +

bi-ig ‘child-sg’ gba-n ‘skin-sg’ bi-a ‘bad-sg’ sabil-ø ‘black-sg’ bin-ø ‘waste-sg’ bil-ø ‘small-sg’ bil-ø ‘small-sg’ bil-ø ‘small-sg’ tʊʊl ‘warm’

= na’abiig = nɔŋgban = bibia’ = na’asabil = dã bin = pɛ’bil = suobil = zuobil = ku’otʊʊl

‘prince’ ‘lips’ ‘bad child’ ‘black cow’ ‘yeast’ ‘lamb’ ‘path’ ‘small mountain’ ‘warm water’

Final consonants are however not deleted if the preceding vowel element in the syllable is a short one. The majority of items in this category are nominal items that have zero morphs at positions where noun class markers would have been. Coda consonants may however assimilate some of the properties of the ensuing segments such as in the last two examples in (95) below: (95) kɔm-ø kʊk-ø zu-g nɔŋ-ø bʊn-ø

‘hunger-sg’ ‘chair-sg’ ‘head-sg’ ‘poverty-sg’ ‘thing-sg’

+ tita’ar ‘big-sg’ + bil ‘Dim.-sg’ + daan ‘owner-sg’ + daan ‘owner-sg’ + paal ‘new-sg’

= kɔmtita’ar = kʊkbil = zugdaan = nɔŋdaan = bʊmpaal

‘famine’ ‘stool’ ‘overlord’ ‘poor person’ ‘new thing’

2.6.4 Consonant mutation in loanwords Borrowed lexical items are subjected to Kusaal morphophonemic processes. Considering that certain consonants are not used in the language, borrowed items with “strange” sounds mutate so as to match the inventory of consonants available to the speaker. Consider the following examples from Musah (2010:102) which demonstrate that the palatal fricative /ʃ/ is realised as the alveolar fricative /s/, while the alveolar affricate /tʃ/ is realised as the velar plosive /k/ in Kusaal:

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English [ʃɑk] [ʃɔ:t] [tʃə:tʃ] [fıʃ] [kıtʃən] [tʃıkın] [steiʃən]

Kusaal [sɔ:k] [sɔ:t] [kɛ:k] [fıs] [kıkın] [kıkın] [sitesin]

Gloss ‘shock’ ‘shoot’ ‘church’ ‘fish’ ‘kitchen’ ‘chicken’ ‘station’

2.6.5 Vowel apocopation Vowel segments regularly get deleted in certain environments, especially in compounded forms. One instance of vowel apocopation is in relation to the noun class (NC) system of the language (see §3.6 below for a discussion on the Kusaal NC system). When the class marker ends in a vowel sound, this vowel generally gets truncated or deleted in compounded forms: (97) la-a ‘bowl-sg’ da-u ‘man-sg’ sa-a ‘rain-sg’ sa-a ‘rain-sg’ ninta-a ‘co-wife-sg’

+ paal-ø ‘new-sg’ =lapaal + sa-ŋ ‘young-sg’ =dasaŋ + tã s-ʊg ‘shouting-sg’ =satã sʊg + ĩas-ʊg ‘flying-sg’ =sa-ĩasʊg + bɛ’ɛd-ø ‘bad-sg’ =nintabɛ’ɛd

‘new bowl’ ‘young man’ ‘thunder’ ‘lightening’ ‘bad co-wife’

While the examples above represent singular nominal items and the subsequent deletion of their class markers (leaving behind only the roots of these nominals), the examples below highlight the deletion of final vowels in plural nominals. The indication of plurality or otherwise in the compounded form is then borne or deduced from the form of the second element in the compounded forms: (98) nɔb-a ‘leg-pl’ lam-a ‘gum-pl’ tʊʊm-a ‘deed-pl’

+ ɛ̃ɛ-s ‘nail-pl’ + feo ‘empty’ + bɛ’ɛd ‘bad’

= nɔb-ɛ̃ɛs ‘toe nails’ = lamfeo ‘toothless’ = tʊʊmbɛ’ɛd ‘bad deeds’

Deletion also occurs when in a compound, two vowels of similar quality come together. In such instances, resulting long vowels are shortened. This is also related to the noun class system of the language. Examples: (99) dab-a ‘day-pl’ + ayi’ ‘two’ dab-a ‘day-pl’ + atã ’ ‘three’

= dabayi’ = dabatã ’

‘two days’ ‘three days’

Deletion is also evident in the counting system of the language. After the base cardinal numbers which go up to pii-ga ‘ten-sg’, the remaining cardinals are derived by addition, indicated by a conjunction nɛ ‘with/and’. At the resulting word boundaries, between the conjunction nɛ and the cardinals, the conjunction loses 76

its vocalic element (101 and 102) or the cardinal loses its prefix (100). Observe that the class marker of ‘ten’ pii-ga also gets deleted (via vowel and consonant deletion): (100) pii-ga nɛ ayinne > ten-sg CONJ one

pii nɛ yinne ‘eleven’

[piinɛyinne]

(101) pii-ga nɛ ayi ten-sg CONJ two

pii n- ayi’ ‘twelve’

[piinayi]

(102) pii-ga nɛ anu ten-sg CONJ five

pii n- anu ‘fifteen’

[piinanu]

Similarly, when the conjunction nɛ ‘with/and’ precedes a proper noun, the vowel of the conjunction coalesces with the nominal prefix a- to become a. (103) …nɛ Abugur …with Abugur ‘…with Abugur’

[n’Abugur]

(104) …nɛ Amali …with Amali ‘…with Amali’

[n’Amali]

In the counting system above ten, all vowels at word final and initial positions are generally deleted. This is also related to the noun class system of the language and represents a fossilised diachronic process: (105) pi-si pi-si pi-si pi-si pi-si pi-si

‘ten-pl’ ‘ten-pl’ ‘ten-pl’ ‘ten-pl’ ‘ten-pl’ ‘ten-pl’

+ anaasi + anu + ayuobu + ayɔpɔı + anii + awai

‘four’ ‘five’ ‘six’ ‘seven’ ‘eight’ ‘nine’

= = = = = =

pisnaasi pisnu pisyuobu pisyɔpɔı pisnii piswai

‘forty’ ‘fifty’ ‘sixty’ ‘seventy’ ‘eighty’ ‘ninety’

Finally, the vowel of the VP conjunction ka ‘and’, when it precedes the third person pronominal o ‘3SG’ [pronounced ʊ], usually gets deleted in the spoken form. Examples: (106) a. …ka o nɔk …CONJ 3SG steal ‘…and he took’ b. …ka o zã ’as …CONJ 3SG refused ‘…and he refused’

[…kʊ nɔk]

[…kʊ zã’as]

2.6.6 Vowel coalescence There are a few instances where vowel segments at word boundaries do not get deleted. In some cases when two vowel qualities are juxtaposed to each other, the vowels coalesce to yield a new form. In the examples below, the high back vowels /u/ and /ʊ/ coalesce with the low central vowel /a/ to produce the mid back vowel /ɔ/ before the compounded forms. (107) nua ‘chicken’ pu’a ‘woman’

+ nya’aŋ + nya’aŋ

‘female’ = nɔnya’aŋ ‘old’ = pɔnya’aŋ

‘female chicken’ ‘old lady’

2.6.7 Vowel lengthening Several lexical items such as nouns and verbs occur in the language with short rather than long vowel elements. In some environments, therefore, some vowel segments become lengthened. To form the interrogative, for instance, final vowel elements of the last syllable are usually lengthened. Compare the ‘a’ and ‘b’ examples in (108) below: (108) a. O di-ya. 3SG eat-PRF ‘S/he has eaten.’ b. O di-ya-a 3SG eat-PRF-INT ‘Has s/he eaten?’ (109) a. Ba kul-ya 3PL go.home-PRF ‘They have gone home.’ b. Ba kul-ya-a 3PL go.home-PRF-INT ‘Have they gone home?’

Aside the interrogative, some derivational and inflectional processes cause the vowel elements of some verbs to become long. These are exemplified in Niggli (n.d.:72) for the Toende dialect of the language and are similar to the forms which obtain in the Agole dialect as well.

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‘to hoe’ ‘to drink’ ‘to kill’ ‘to wash’ ‘to buy’

FCT

IPFV +r/t

IMP +m

Action of doing (+p for Toende and +b for Agole)

kɔ nu kʊ sʊ da’

kɔɔt nuut kʊʊt sʊʊt da’at

kɔɔm nuum kʊʊm sʊʊm da’am

kɔɔp/kɔɔb nuup/nuub kʊʊp/kʊʊb sʊʊp/sʊʊb da’ap/da’ab

2.6.8 Vowel epenthesis Insertion of vowels especially in borrowed words serves to re-syllabify such loanwords along the phonological parameters of the language. Consonant clusters, because their occurrence is barred in Kusaal, are often simplified if not avoided by the introduction of vowel elements. We cite the following examples from Musah (2010:103): (111) English [sku:l] [hɑspıtəl] [tebl] [stri:t] [bæg] [fılm]

Kusaal [sakur] [sibiti] [te:bul] [sitirit] [ba:gi] [filim]

Gloss ‘school’ ‘hospital’ ‘table’ ‘street’ ‘bag’ ‘film’

Another environment where vowel insertion is productive is at word boundaries between a verb with a closed syllable or consonant coda and its object which has a consonant as initial segment. Compare the examples in (112/113) to those in (114) below: (112) a. tıs-ı-f give-EPV-2SG ‘give you’

b. pa’al-ı-f show-EPV-2SG ‘show you’

(113) a. tıs-ı ba give-EPV 3PL ‘give them’

b. pa’al-ı show-EPV ‘show them’

ba 3PL

(114) a. tıs give ‘give him’

b. pa’al show ‘show him’

o 3SG

2.7 Conclusion This chapter highlighted some of the topical issues in the phonology of Kusaal. Topics discussed in the chapter include the phonological inventory of Kusaal, the nature of tone, and the structure of syllables and words. We also highlight some phonological processes in the language including, nasalisation, consonant mutation and vowel coalescence.

3 Nouns, Pronouns and the Noun Class System 3.1 Introduction Nouns denote both physical and abstract entities. They are referential words pointing to the limitless possibilities of entities found within the cosmology of a people’s language. Kusaal nouns, much like in many of the languages of the world, are quite predictable based on a number of important markers. We discuss the underlying structure of the Kusaal nominal system and the noun class system of the language in this chapter as follows:in §3.2, we examine the structure of the simple noun; in §3.3, we contextualise the types of nouns in Kusaal while some derivational processes are elaborated on in §3.4. In §3.5, we underscore the Kusaal pronominal system. The section explores the various forms of the Kusaal pronoun under themes such as personal pronouns, emphatic/weak pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, reflexive pronouns, reciprocal pronouns, relative pronouns, and interrogative pronouns. In the last section, §3.6, we present a thorough depiction of Kusaal nominal inflectional processes and how they map out the noun class system of the language.

3.2 Structure of the simple noun The structure of the Kusaal simple noun is given schematically as follows: (115) (a)-ROOT-EPV-CM (SG/PL)13

This implies that the only obligatory category within the atomic composition of the noun is the root. The root could be preceded by a prefix a- which points to proper nouns (see §3.3.1.1). In some instances, a vowel lengthening process inserts an epenthetic vowel (EPV) to make up for short roots followed by a marker of the class (CM) of the noun. Noun class markers are relevant only in the domain of number inflections, i.e. in singular and plural differentiations. In the following table, we provide an illustration for the schematic representation above and in (116) we provide examples of Kusaal simple nouns.

13 Legend: EPV:Epenthetic Vowel, CM:Class Marker, SG:Singular, PL:Plural.

Table 3.1: Structure of the simple Kusaal noun STEM

EPV

CM.SG

-i

-g

biig

‘child’

-s

biis

‘children’

-g

zug

‘head’

-t

zut

‘heads’

nua

‘fowl’

-s

nɔɔs

‘fowls’

nɔbir

‘leg’

-a

nɔba

‘legs’

kpã ’uŋ

‘guinea fowl’

-ni

kpĩ’ini

‘guinea fowls’

iil

‘horn’

-a

iila

‘horns’

ã arʊŋ

‘boat’

-a

ã arima

‘boats’

(116) Simple nouns exemplified Singular ‘child’ biig ‘tree’ tiig ‘woman’ pu’a ‘man’ dau ‘leg’ nɔbir ‘tongue’ zilim ‘donkey’ bʊŋ ‘genet’ piif ‘mother’ ma ‘chief ’ na’ab ‘farmer’ kpaad

Plural biis tiis pu’ab dap nɔba zilima bʊmis piini manam na’anam kpaadib

zu nu

-a

nɔb

-ir

kpã ’

-u

-ŋ

iil ã arʊ

-ŋ

CM.PL

‘children’ ‘trees’ ‘women’ ‘men’ ‘legs’ ‘tongues’ ‘donkeys’ ‘genets’ ‘mothers’ ‘chiefs’ ‘farmers’

3.3 Noun types Kusaal nouns can be classified into the following broad types:

3.3.1 Proper/common nouns Proper nouns refer to names of people, towns and villages as well as the names of the days of the week and the cardinal points. They also refer to the names of local deities and the spiritual and political leaders, among others.

3.3.1.1 Personal names Personal names make up a huge component of Kusaal proper nominal items. Quite a significant number of Kusaal personal names are preceded by a marker

a- that is “reverential”14 in nature. To wit, the juxtaposition of this morpheme to any nominal sets it apart and indicates that that nominal is being used as a personal name or as a reference to a human being (Ex. 117 a–d). It is also the case that Kusaal names, like many other African names, are full of meaning; a name could thus embody an entire phrase or clause. Examples include the following: (117) a. b. c. d. e. f.

A-sibit A-bugur A-wini A-wimbilla Bapiam Mamboda

‘Mr./Ms.-Saturday born’ ‘Mr-local deity’ ‘Mr-God’ ‘diminutive of Awini; small or junior Awini’ ‘let them say/talk’ ‘I want or like’

3.3.1.2 Place names Another important category within Kusaal proper nouns is the names of the various towns and villages found within the Kusaal speaking area. We provide a few examples to illustrate15: (118) Sabil Sapɛlig Bazua

‘Zebilla’ ‘Sapeliga’ ‘Bazua’

Pũ sug Bɔk Aniisin

‘Pusiga’ ‘Bawku’ ‘Aniisin’

3.3.1.3 Days of the week Kusaal weekday names are borrowed from Hausa lexical items that can be traced to Arabic roots. These names are also often used as personal names for people born on the respective days. (119) Kusaal Atini Atilata Alaarib Alamis Azumah Asibit Alasid

(From Hausa) Littinin Talata Laraba Alhamis Jumma’a Asabar Lahadi

English ‘Monday’ ‘Tuesday’ ‘Wednesday’ ‘Thursday’ ‘Friday’ ‘Saturday’ ‘Sunday’

14 For lack of appropriate terminology, we indicate that this marker is a “reverential” marker, i.e. revering or giving reverence to an otherwise commonplace object, thereby changing its category to a proper or personal name. 15 An interesting project would be to undertake a toponomastic study to determine the meanings of and sources from which these towns and villages derive their names.

3.3.1.4 Cardinal points Kusaal cardinal points take their bearing from the position of the main entrance of the traditional home. It is the norm, albeit some divergences, for the entrance of a typical Kusasi house to face the west:this position, ya-tuon (houses-front/ front part of houses) is the focal point for determining the other three major cardinal pointers. In (120), we list all the others: (120) Kusaal ya-tuon ya-nya’aŋ ya-datiuŋ ya-dagɔbʊg

Literal meaning houses-front houses-back houses-right houses-left

‘west’ ‘east’ ‘north’ ‘south’

3.3.1.5 Names of established entities Another category in this group refers to names of deities and other sacred entities or institutions. Gbanwaa, for instance, is the name of a snake deity in Pusiga, Bawku.16 Sacred institutions include the paramount chieftaincy led by Naba Abugrago Azoka II. Others are the names of schools such as the Azoka Memorial SHS, amongst others.

3.3.2 Common nouns Common nouns on the other hand include all other nominal items not captured in the above; they refer to everyday items that make up the nominal system of the language. These do not include names of persons, places or entities.

3.3.3 Concrete/abstract nouns Distinctions can also be made between items that are concrete and those that are abstract. Concrete lexical items are those that appeal to the human senses:sight, touch, smell, auditory and taste while abstract entities do not appeal to any of these. In the following, we provide examples to illustrate:

16 It is believed that the Gbanwaa is the ancestor of some of the people of the area; pythons are therefore tabooed as food and are treated with courtesy. The python’s home is also the shrine of Naa Gbewa, a powerful Mamprusi warrior chieftain who passed through the area and is considered by some as the father of many of the languages of northern Ghana.

(121) Abstract pɛpsim nɔŋilim paŋ nyan ya’am siig yɛla

‘air’ ‘love’ ‘strength’ ‘shame’ ‘intellect’ ‘soul’ ‘trouble’

Concrete gbauŋ kut kpaam bugum ni’im ku’om faar

‘skin’ ‘metal’ ‘oil’ ‘fire’ ‘meat’ ‘water’ ‘property’

3.3.4 Countable/uncountable nouns Nouns are either countable or they are seen as collective wholes. Food items, fluids and abstract entities are all uncountable while all other common nouns are countable. The count/non-count dichotomy accounts for the various compartmentalisations of the noun class system of the language: (122) Uncountable ku’om ‘water’ pɛpsim ‘air’ daam ‘pito’ mui ‘rice’ sa’ab ‘TZ’ kı ‘millet’ diib ‘food’ tan ‘sand’

Countable (SG, PL) kugir kuga tiim tima du’ata du’atanam lieŋ liemis bʊŋ bʊmis gbauŋ gbana bʊʊg bʊʊs nwaaŋ nwaamis

Gloss ‘stone(s)’ ‘medicine(s)’ ‘doctor(s)’ ‘axe(s)’ ‘donkey(s)’ ‘skin(s)’ ‘goat(s)’ ‘monkey(s)’

3.4 Derivational processes Several sources account for the nominal items of Kusaal; one of them is derivation. Derivation refers to the means by which speakers increase the lexicon of their languages through the conversion of existing categories. The process could result in completely new words arising from old ones without any change in the lexical category; it may result in words changing categories (classes) from one to the other or in words acquiring a semantically new meaning. Nominal items can be derived from Kusaal verbs through a number of processes. We describe two of these, action and agent nominalisation in this section and present further derivational processes in the discussion on the noun class system.

3.4.1 Derived nominals Deverbalised forms yield a number of nouns in Kusaal which move from their verbal antecedents into a new category as nominal items. Several of these are incorporated into the noun classes and the derived forms thereof in the next 85

section. The first category is the agentive nominal which implies that these nouns carry out or undertake the sense implied in the meaning of the verb. The nominalised form of the singular agentive is a final –d (realised as –Vd after coda consonants) and -dib for the plural form: (123) Gloss ‘drink’ ‘kill’ ‘trample’ ‘know’ ‘write’ ‘watch’ ‘farm’ ‘want’

V nu kʊ nɔ mi’ sɔb gu’ur kua bɔɔd

NOM nuud/nuudib kʊʊd/kʊʊdib nɔɔd/nɔɔdib mi’id/mi’idib sɔbid/ sɔbidib gu’ud/gu’udib kpaad/kpaadib bɔɔd/bɔɔdib

Gloss ‘doer of V’ ‘drinker(s) ‘killer(s)’ ‘trampler(s)’ ‘knower(s)’ ‘writer(s)’ ‘watcher(s) ‘farmer(s)’ ‘wanter(s) (literal)’

In the examples below, we highlight the usage of some of these nominalised forms in clausal constructions where their status as nominals is underscored. (124) Awam ã -nɛ zaal-bɔɔd Awam COP-Foc free-wanter ‘Awam is a freeloader.’ (125) Dã -nuudib pʊ dit pu’ab-a alcohol-drinkers NEG eat women-PL ‘Alcoholics do not marry. (lit.:Alcoholics do not eat women)’

Another group of nominals, with quite a different verb extension as the above, refers not to agents but to a state of being in relation to the semantics of the verb. The nominalised form in this case is –r/Vr which often highlights a gerundive form of the verb: (126) Gloss ‘to open’ ‘to spread’ ‘to separate’ ‘to help’ ‘to tie around’

V yɔ’ɔg yadig wɛlig sʊŋ vilig

NOM yɔ’ɔgir yadigir wɛligir sʊŋir viligir

Gloss ‘state of V’ ‘opening’ ‘spreading’ ‘separation’ ‘help’ ‘tying around’

The action nominal is derived from verb stems via two means depending on whether the stem terminates in a vowel or consonant segment. In the case of the former, the morpheme –b is suffixed after an initial process has transposed short vowels to long ones (Ex. 127a). In the latter case, where stem ends in the velar consonants /k/ and /g/, the nominalised form is preceded by an epenthetic vowel –Vb (Ex. 127b). Finally, if the consonant coda is any other consonant, the nominalisation process to derive the action nominal is –Vg (Ex. 127c): 86

(127)

Gloss a. ‘to drink’ ‘to dance’ ‘to kill’

V nu wa’a kʊ

NOM nuub wa’ab kʊʊb

Gloss ‘Act of V1ing’ ‘drinking’ ‘dancing’ ‘killing’

b. ‘to fly/jump’ ‘to agree’ ‘to open’ ‘to spread’

ĩak si’ak yɔ’ɔg yadig

ĩakib siakib yɔ’ɔgʊb yadigib

‘flying’ ‘believers’ ‘opening’ ‘spreading’

c. ‘to cry’ ‘to make’ ‘to wash’ ‘to stalk’ ‘to advise’

kaas maal pies pigis sa’al

kaasʊg maalʊg piesʊg pigisʊg sa’alʊg

‘crying’ ‘making’ ‘washing’ ‘stalking’ ‘advice’

3.4.2 Associative constructions These underlie a relation between two nominal items juxtaposed to each other in a derivation and expressing a close-knit association between the two. For instance, the Kusaal word for ‘pillow’ is zʊkʊgir; from zʊg ‘head’ and kʊgir ‘stool’. This translates loosely as ‘head stool’, i.e. a stool or seat that is used by or for the head. Other examples include: (128) dã bin pɔnya’aŋ

‘yeast’ (from daam ‘pito’ and bin ‘waste’) ‘old lady’ (from pʊ’a ‘woman’ and nya’aŋ ‘old’)

3.5 Pronouns Pronouns are word categories that are used in place of nouns; they are replacements for nouns within a pragmatic discourse situation where all the participants are, to some extent, identified and delineated. The Kusaal pronominal system is quite straight forward in its ordering:the subject and object forms are very similar except in the second person pronominal system where the object pronoun diverges from the rest. These are captured in the table below:

Table 3.2: Kusaal personal pronouns Subject

Object

Emphatic/Independent forms

-m

man/mam tinam

fʊ

-if

fʊn

yanam

+HUM

ban/bannam

-HUM

di/li

din/lin

dinnam/bannam

In subjective versus objective usage, a marked morphological difference is found only in the 1st and 2nd object forms. This might be indicative that case is, somewhat, marked in the pronominal system but not on lexical nouns. In both instances, the pronominal items are not free or independent but must necessarily be suffixed to the preceding verb form. All other pronouns in all other environments are free. The emphatic pronominal form is what is referred to as the “strong form” in Bodomo (1997:71) or as the “independent” pronoun in Dorvlo (2008:57). These forms are used both at subject and object positions and do not change their morphological form in either position. Kusaal makes a distinction between 3rd person human and non-human entities. It makes a distinction in pronominal forms only in relation to number (i.e. between singular and plural entities); gender distinctions are of no significance whatsoever and so do not show up in the pronoun system. In other words, both masculine and feminine entities take the same pronominal forms.

3.5.1 Personal pronouns In the examples below, we show how the personal pronominal system maps out in subject and object positions in (129–133) and (134–136) respectively: (129) O mɔr biis 3SG have children ‘S/he has two children.’

ayi’ two

(130) Fʊ kuos bʊʊg laa? 2SG sell goat DET-INT ‘You sell the goat? (Did you sell the goat?)’ (131) O dʊg-nɛ diib-i tis 3SG cook-Foc food-Foc give ‘S/he cooked food for his/her children.’

o 3SG.POSS

biig child

(132) Ti ã -nɛ sakur-biis 3PL COP-Foc school-children. ‘We are school children (students/pupils).’ (133) M yaapu’a da’a-nɛ fʊʊg 1SG.POSS grandmother buy-Foc shirt ‘My grandmother bought a shirt/dress for me.’

n Foc

tis-i-m. give-EPV-1SG

(134) Duata la na kʊ̃ s o Doctor DET FUT inject 3.SG ‘The doctor will inject him.’ (135) Nɔk-im sa’ab la tis-i ba take-IMP TZ DET give-EPV 3PL17 ‘Give the TZ to them!’ (136) Di zɔ-nɛ 3SG.HUM run-Foc ‘It run into the bush.’

kpɛ̃’ mɔɔg-in enter forest-LOC

As regards the distribution of these personal pronouns, therefore, they occur in positions reserved for bonafide nominal items because pronouns simply replace nouns. Personal pronouns can therefore occur before and after predicates as subjects and objects respectively. The table above also presents alternative pronouns for addressing human [+HUM] and non-human [-HUM] entities in the subjective form of the 3rd person. This distinction is a common feature of Safaliba (as observed by Schaefer 2009), but not Dagbani where the pronouns used for both are the same (see, for instance, Issah 2012). The 3rd person pronominal for human is o while the non-human pronominals are li/di; used in free variation at subject positions, i.e. at subject positions, either li or di can be used. At object positions however, neither of them is used, the default being o. In Dagbani, the equivalent of these pronouns is di which performs the same functions as is found in Kusaal. In (137) and (138) we illustrate 3rd person pronoun forms at object position. (137) Kɔm n mɔr-i ba Hunger Foc have-EPV 3PL ‘Hunger has them (They are hungry).’ (138) Biig la saa nye o Child DET PST see 3SG ‘The child saw him (yesterday).’

17 Sa’ab ‘TZ’ is the staple food in most of northern Ghana. The short form ‘TZ’ comes from the Hausa forms Tuo Zaafi. Tuo is the generic term for ‘food’ and zaafi means ‘hot’.

3.5.2 Emphatic personal pronouns The pronoun system also distinguishes between strong and weak forms each with specific contexts of occurrence. These forms are used for emphatic purposes and can function as either subjects or objects of clauses. They can also function when used alone, as specific emphatic responses to questions bordering especially on anɔ’ɔnɛ ‘who’. Emphatic pronouns appear to incorporate in their nature an underlying sense of broad focus marking. In Table 3.2 above these forms are highlighted while examples are provided in (139 ff): (139) O nɔk-nɛ tis man 3SG take-Foc give 1SG.EMPH ‘S/he gave it to me (not her).’ (140) Banɛ tʊ’ na’ab la 3PL.EMPH insult chief DET ‘They are the ones (and not any other people) who insulted the chief.’ (141) Tinam di-ya 1PL.EMPH eat-PRF ‘We have eaten.’ (142) Wina’am buol-li yanam God call-Foc 2PL.EMPH ‘God selected you (lit.:God called you).’

In the last example in (143) below, we show that the emphatic pronoun can stand alone in (143b) in response to the question posed in Q. This indicates some form of emphasis. (143) Q: Anɔ’ɔnɛ la’-ad-i who laugh-HAB-EPV ‘Who is laughing at my child?’ a. Onɛ b. On.

la’ad

m POSS

biig la? child DET

‘He’s the one laughing.’ ‘Him.’

Strong or emphatic forms of pronouns are the only pronominal forms allowed in focus positions via either their inherent emphatic forms (broad focus) or via the focus marker ka in narrow focus. Object focus is achieved through the movement of the focussed material to the front of the clause and followed by the object focus marker ka ‘that’, as in (144/5). When the strong forms are used in such constructions, using the additional focus marker –i/n which focuses subject nominals (143above), yields ungrammatical constructions as in (146).

(144) Man ka o 1SG.EMPH FOC 3SG.SBJ ‘It is me that he called.’

buol call

(145) Din ka biig la da’ 3SG.-HUM.EMPH FOC child DET buy ‘That is what the child bought.’ (146) *Yanam-ɛ 3PL.EMPH-Foc

ka biig la ie-d FOC child DET search-HAB

Weak forms can never occur with the focus marker ka nor do they possess the ability to mark broad focus. The examples in (147) would thus also constitute ungrammatical usages. (147) a. *m 1SG

ka FOC

o 3SG

buol call

b. *Ba 3PL

ka FOC

ti 1PL

mi’ know

3.5.3 Possessive pronouns Kusaal possessive constructions are structured on the personal pronominal forms. All subject forms of the personal pronominal are also used in genitive constructions to signal a possessor-possessed entity relation between the speaker and a referred entity. The subject form of the personal pronoun thus has an underlying hom*onymous function. The main difference between the possessive and the personal pronoun paradigm is however found in their distributional properties:while the personal pronoun occurs in subject or object positions of predicative elements, the possessive is restricted to a genitive position which aligns with Vossen’s (2010a:244–5) “simple construction” in pronominal possession in some languages whereby there is a “juxtaposition of a personal pronoun… and a noun to which this pronoun refers … i.e., PRO-N”. In other words, in Kusaal, while personal pronouns occur as nominal items, when they are used in a genitive construction (as possessive pronouns), they must necessarily precede the nominal item they so modify/describe. These are exemplified in 148 below. (148) a. b. c. d. e. f. g.

m nɔba fʊ nɔba o nɔba di nɔba ti nɔba ya nɔba ba nɔba

‘my legs’ ‘your.SG legs’ ‘his/her legs’ ‘its legs’ ‘our legs’ ‘your.PL legs’ ‘their legs’

In focus constructions, the strong forms listed in Table 3.2 above are also used in genitive constructions. These independent forms often attempt to answer specific questions such as ‘whose, for whom, to whom’; the result is often the topicalisation of the appropriate pronominal form. Examples include the following: (149) Anɔ’ɔn bʊʊg-ʊ Whose goat-EPV ‘Whose goat is this?’

nwa? this.INT

(150) Man bʊʊg-i 1SG.POSS goat-EPV ‘That is my goat.’

la that

(151) Li ã -nɛ mam bʊʊg 3SG.HUM COP-Foc 1SG.POSS.EMPH goat ‘It is my goat.’ (152) Fʊn ka o da’ tis (O da’anɛ tis fʊn) 2SG.EMPH FOC 3SG buy give ‘It is you s/he bought it for (S/he bought it for you).’

3.5.4 Demonstrative pronouns Demonstrative pronouns are used for deictic purposes. i.e., to point to an entity or occurrence within a certain spatial-temporal domain. These include the following: (153) Kusaal demonstrative pronouns Proximal Singular

Plural

Distal

kaŋa

‘this’

kan/ ‘that’ kan la [kanna]

ɔŋŋa

‘this person’

on la

nɛ’

‘this one’

nɛ’ɛŋŋa

nwa

‘that/this one’

bama

‘these’

[onna] ‘that person’ ‘that one’

ban/ ‘those’ ban la [banna]

The range of demonstratives in the language is thus quite limited and must necessarily also be accompanied by extra-linguistic factors (such as finger pointing) in order to avoid ambiguous interpretations. When presented with two items from which a choice of one has to be made, for instance, simply stating nwa or nɛ’ɛŋŋa without an accompanying indexicalisation may yield very mixed or confused results. 92

3.5.5 Reflexive pronouns All reflexive pronouns in Kusaal are a combination of a personal pronoun and a reflexive morpheme mɛŋ ‘self ’ which is attached to the personal pronoun. The resulting meaning of the conjoined items is to indicate a relationship between the reflexive particle and its immediate antecedent, i.e. the pronoun. Below is an exhaustive list of reflexive pronouns in Kusaal: (154) a. b. c. d. e. f. g.

m mɛŋ fʊ mɛŋ o mɛŋ di mɛŋ/li mɛŋ ti mɛŋ ya mɛŋ ba mɛŋ

‘myself ’ ‘yourself ’ ‘him/herself ’ ‘itself ’ ‘ourselves’ ‘yourselves’ ‘themselves’

Emphatic forms of the above reflexive pronouns are used to place emphasis on the entity whom a discourse event talks about. These are listed in (155) below: (155) a. b. c. d. e. f. g.

mam mɛŋ fʊn mɛŋ on mɛŋ din mɛŋ tinam mɛŋ yanam mɛŋ bam mɛŋ

‘I myself ’ ‘you yourself ’ ‘s/he himself ’ ‘it itself ’ ‘we ourselves’ ‘you yourselves’ ‘they themselves’

3.5.6 Reciprocal pronouns Reciprocity is another element of the Kusaal pronominal system with the marker of reciprocity being the lexical item taaba ‘each other/one another’. This item is not affixed to any pronoun but is used in a clause to indicate that a reciprocal relationship exists between the participants in the discourse situation. The participants could be overtly or covertly expressed. (156) Sɔŋ-imi taaba! help-IMP.PL each other. ‘Help each other/one another!’ (157) Ba la’-ad-nɛ taaba 3PL laugh-HAB-Foc each other ‘They are laughing at each other/one another.’ (158) Na’ayiis la zu-nɛ taaba thieves DET steal-Foc each other ‘The thieves stole each other’s money.’

ligidi money

(159) A-tʊ’18 taaba ka’ sʊ’ʊm to-insult each other NEG good ‘To insult (rain invectives on) each other/one another is not good.’

In the examples (156–158) above, the participants are explicit but in (159), there is no overt reference to the participants. The in-situ position of the reciprocal pronoun is often found at post-verb positions, but in passive or focus constructions it is fronted followed by the FOC marker ka: (160) Taaba ligidi ka each other money FOC ‘They stole each other’s money.’

ba 3PL.SBJ

zu steal

(161) Taaba tʊ’ʊb ka’ sʊ’ʊm. each other insulting NEG good ‘Insulting one another is not good (lit. Insulting of each other is not good).’

3.5.7 Relative pronouns The class of relative pronouns in Kusaal is quite restricted (we count only three). Relative pronouns introduce additional (often extraneous) information into a statement in a bid to make clearer the phenomenon that is being talked about. These are found in (164) below and are exemplified in (163/4): (162) Human

kanɛ

‘who’

banɛ

‘who’

Non-Human SG PL

kanɛ/dinɛ/linɛ ‘which’ banɛ

‘which’

(163) Dau kanɛ kpi man.SG who.SG die.FCT ‘The man who died is a teacher.’

la Foc

anɛ COP

karimsaam teacher

(164) Daap banɛ kpi man.PL who.PL die.FCT ‘The men who died are teachers.’

la Foc

anɛ COP

karimsaamnam teacher.PL

18 a- as used here is different from our “reverential marker” highlighted in §3.3.1.1 above. Here, a- is used as a “verbal linker” to derive the finite from the verb tʊ “insult” (see for instance Vossen 2010b:47–60 for the analysis of a similar linker in Central Khoesan (Khoe)).

(165) Baa kanɛ wɛs-id dog which.SG bark-HAB ‘The dog which is barking is mine.’

la Foc

anɛ COP

man my

bun thing

3.5.8 Interrogative pronouns Interrogative pronouns are used to elicit specific information. They can be used in isolation in turn-taking during conversations and include the following forms: (166)

Singular Human

NonHuman

Plural

anɔ’ɔnɛ

‘who’

anɔ’ɔnama ‘which people’

kanɛ

‘which one’

banɛ

‘which ones’

din(ɛ)/ lin(e)

‘which one’

yaanɛ

‘where’

dakanɛ

‘which day’ ‘when’

bɔ’

‘what’

bɔnama

‘what things’

Anɔ’ɔnɛ is also often shortened to anɔ’ɔn in clauses such as found in the following examples where it is used as an interrogative for possession in (167) and as a bare interrogative in (168): (167) Anɔ’ɔn fuug ka whose dress FOC ‘Whose dress did s/he take?’ (168) …anɔ’ɔn na …who FUT ‘who will know?’

o 3SG

nɔk-kɛ? take-INT

baŋ-ŋɛ? know-INT

Other examples of the interrogative usage include the following: (169) Li ã bɔ’ bʊn-nɛ? EXPL COP what thing-INT ‘What thing is it?’ (170) Bɔnam piã ’ad-i la? what kind talking-Foc DET ‘What kind/manner of talking is that?’ (171) Din saan ka fʊ 3SG.HUM one FOC 2SG ‘Which one of these do you want?’

bɔɔd-a? want-INT

3.6 Inflectional processes and the Kusaal noun class system In her overview of Proto-Niger-Congo (PNC), Williamson shows that a system of affixes (both prefixes and suffixes) was used to mark the range of inflections that were possible on the nominal (Williamson in Bendor-Samuel 1989:31–40). Noun class distinctions based on prefixes is a common phenomenon in Bantu languages. The only remaining prefix system as regards noun classes in Kusaal is bʊ- used to differentiate the class of +humans from other noun groups. Below we provide an exhaustive list: (172) bʊ-raa bʊ-pɔk

‘man’ ‘woman’

bʊ-ribiŋ bʊ-pʊŋ

‘young boy’ ‘young girl’

The above together with the reverential prefix a- (§3.3.1.1) are the only remaining artefacts of the prefixal system of noun class marking in the language. In a closely related language such as Gurenɛ, for instance, this prefixal system is still quite important and comes up in a number of important ways in gender distinctions such as in nominal modification by numerals (see Nsoh 2002 for an elaborate discussion on the subject). For instance, in the examples below, in order to show gender in Gurenɛ, a system of prefixes is triggered on the modifier which move in tandem with the nominal. In other words, a system of concord ensures that the prefixes on the modifier agree with the type of noun that is being modified. Compare the class markers for the [+animate][+human] entity in (173a) to that of the [+animate][-human] entity in (173b) below: (173) Gurenɛ (Alhassan Habiba, pc) a. budaa-si ba-naasi man-CM.PL CM-four ‘four men’ b. baa-si dog-CM.PL ‘four dogs’

si-naasi CM-four

Conversely, in the Kusaal examples below, this system is non-existent. The only means by which concord can be shown is via suffixes inflected only on the nominal items themselves: (174) a. bu-us goat-CM.PL ‘three goats’ b. pʊ-ab woman-CM.PL ‘two women’

atã ’ three ayi’ two

Following from the above, it has been shown that the ordering of nominals in many Mabia languages is nature- rather than gender-based (see Heine et al. 1982). Across the cluster, it appears that the most significant remnant of the Proto-Mabia (Gur) noun class system is reflected mainly in the inflectional suffixes (rather than prefixes) of nominal items. Thus, number marking via a method of suffixation is attested across the cluster in languages such as Moore, Dagbani and Dagaare. Based on number inflections on nominal items, therefore, it becomes possible, broadly, to group nouns into classes depending on the suffixes they take in the singular and plural forms. In Kusaal too, an important feature of the nominal form is their grouping based on a system of number marking. These distinctions allow for a semantic classification of nominal items as well as for a proper syntactic categorization. So far, some of the studies on the language explicate on the system. Niggli (n.d.:98ff) identifies 14 noun classes factored into 7 groups for the Toende dialect and Abubakari (2011:10–11) also classifies the Toende noun class system into seven groups. Melançon (1957:39–43) puts the class system of Agole Kusaal into nine groups while Lässig (1928:23–29) identifies a 12-noun class system. In the present analysis, we synthesise the views on Kusaal noun classes into an elaborate system following Miehe etal. (2012) and adopting the conventions used therein. Among other things, we adopt the numbering system of the reconstructed forms for Proto-Niger-Congo found in that study and set up the table below to give an overview of the Kusaal noun class system in comparison with how the system has been set up and used in the reconstruction of the forms in related Gur languages such as Moore (Winkelmann 2012), Dagara, Gurenɛ, Mampruli and Dagbani (in Miehe 2012a, b, c, and d respectively) and in nearrelated languages like Pana (Beyer 2012, also 2006) and Buli (Schwarz 2012). Following that study too, we use numbers on either side of the vertical lines to represent the Proto-Mabia noun class system. The letters on either side of the bold letters are the various realisations of the system in Kusaal while the bold letters represent the reconstructed proto-forms for the language. The connecting lines indicate that the suffixes on the left, the singular forms, are realised as those on the right in the plural. Uncount or single classes are shown in the middle (classes 14 and 22) while the dotted line between the uncount form in 23 indicates that this class may not have fossilised or even that there are disagreements on whether the plural forms are tenable (my formalization). Considering the synchronic nature of the present study, the data is representative of current usage of the language and is especially reflective of the Agole dialect spoken in the Bawku area. 97

Figure 3.1: Overview of Kusaal nominal suffixes

We discuss the above formalisations below taking each corresponding set in turn.

3.6.1 Class 1/2 (-V, -d/-b) Noun suffixes

Contents of class

Singular

Plural

Group members

-a, -ʊ

-b, -p

People

-d

-b

-ø

-nam

Social status nouns, Associative nouns, Borrowed nouns

-nid

-dim

Possession, inhabitants

Human beings, loan words

Derivative function Deverbal agent nouns

This class of nouns captures only people and captures the entities listed under 1/2 and 1a/2a in Figure 3.1 above. While the singular forms end in a range of forms including the vowels -a and –ʊ, the bilabial –d or an empty morph –ø; the plural 98

is formed by suffixing -b/-p to singular nominal forms which end in vowels (–V). Singular nominals which end in –d/-t take the plural–b suffix. The various means of forming the plural are explicated below.

3.6.1.1 Suffix variants (Class 1 & 2) SG:-V/-b, PL:-b/-p Members of this group have vowel elements as their final segments in the singular. In the plural, a plosive is suffixed; either -b or -p which are in free variation is used based on the [+/-height] status of the vowel in the nominal stem. (175) Singular ‘woman’ ‘witch’ ‘male sibling’ ‘female sibling’ ‘man’

pu’-a sɔ̃ -ya pit-u tã -ʊ da-ʊ

Plural pu’-ab sɔ̃ -ɔb pit-ib tã -ap da-ap

‘women’ ‘witches’ ‘male siblings’ ‘female siblings’ ‘men’

SG:-d/-l, PL:-b The members of this sub-class also refer to people including derived agentive nouns (from verb forms). Within the Mabia cluster and in the Toende dialect as well, this group is usually not differentiated from the above based on what Niggli (n.d.) calls long forms and short forms and where the long forms of the nominals cited here would otherwise have a final vowel. Though we agree that there are long forms, which are sparsely used, and considering the outlook of Agole Kusaal as it is used today, we prefer to keep the nominals as we find them highlighting the most significant lexemes. Examples: (176) Singular ‘husband’ ‘person’ ‘human being’

sid-ø nid-ø ninsaal-ø

Plural sid-ib nid-ib ninsaal-ib

‘husbands’ ‘people’ ‘human beings’

3.6.1.2 Sub-class -Ø/nam This class includes nouns bordering on social status or individual rankings in the social hierarchy, associative plurals, and borrowed nominal items. While the final segments of the singular segments vary, the plurals always end in –nam. The three distinguishable groups of this sub-class are explicated below:

A. Social status These are social status/situation nouns referring to people with different positions or levels in society or with characteristics that set them apart from others in the larger social group.Examples: (177) Singular ‘chief ’ ‘mother’ ‘father’ ‘in-law’ ‘friend’ ‘grandparent’ ‘ancestor’ ‘land owner’ ‘uncle’

na’ab-ø ma-ø ba’-ø diem-ø zua-ø yaab-ø kpi’im-ø teŋindaan-ø ã s-ib

Plural na’a-nam ma-nam ba’a-nam diem-nam zua-nam yaa-nam kpi’im-nam teŋindaan-nam ã s-nam

‘chiefs’ ‘mothers’ ‘fathers’ ‘in-laws’ ‘friends’ ‘grandparents’ ‘ancestors’ ‘land owners’ ‘uncles’

B. Associative plurals “Associative plural constructions consist of a noun X (typically of human reference, usually a person’s name or a kin term) and some other material, most often an affix, a cl*tic, or a word. The meaning of the construction is ‘X and other people associated with X’” (Daniel and Moravcsik 2013). The form is represented in the plural by a –nam suffix. Examples: (178) Personal names Abaŋ Akudugu Aruk Bapiam Awin

Associative plurals Abaŋnam ‘Abanga and company’ Akudugnam ‘Akudugu and company’ Aruknam ‘Aruk and company’ Bapiamnam ‘Bapiam and company’ Awinnam ‘Awin and company’

C. Loanwords Nominals in this group are borrowed lexical items which have varying forms in the singular but which all end in –nam in the plural. Examples: (179) Singular ‘car’ ‘bicycle’ ‘doctor’ ‘pastor’ ‘bottle’ ‘metal’ ‘motor bike’

100

lɔr keeke duata pasta kɔlbir kut puupu

Plural lɔr-nam keeke-nam duata-nam pasta-nam kɔlib-nam kut-nam puupu-nam

‘cars’ ‘bicycles’ ‘doctors’ ‘pastors’ ‘bottles’ ‘metals’ ‘motor bikes’

3.6.1.3 Derivations Deverbal agent nouns are derived in this class through the suffixation of the agentive nominal –d to verb stems. The agentive nominal is realised as –ib in plural forms. Examples: (180) From kua bɔɔd nu kʊ mɛ

verb ‘to farm’ ‘to want’ ‘to drink’ ‘to kill’ ‘to build’

Singular ‘farmer’ kpaad ‘wanter’ bɔɔd ‘drunkard’ nuud ‘killer’ kʊʊd ‘builder’ mɛɛd

Plural kpaadib bɔɔdib nuudib kʊʊdib mɛɛdib

‘farmers’ ‘wanters’ ‘drunkards’ ‘killers’ ‘builders’

3.6.1.4 Compounds with –nid, -daan/dim In the Mabia noun class literature, this sub-class is often considered a spin-off of the people class in a category labelled as “nominal compounds” elements (see for example, Miehe 2012c:358). There are two realisations:while group A exclusively covers inhabitants or citizens of places, group B covers people in a state of possession/ownership. A. Inhabitants:This subgroup refers to inhabitants or citizens of places. While singular forms end in the –daam suffix, the plural always ends in –dim: (181) Singular ‘citizen of Pusiga’ ‘citizen of Bawku’ ‘citizen of Accra’ ‘citizen of Zebilla’ ‘citizen of Bolga’

Pũ sug-nid Bɔk-nid Ankara-nid Sabil-nid Boliga-nid

Plural Pũ sug-dim Bɔk-dim Ankara-dim Sabil-dim Boliga-dim

‘citizens of Pusiga’ ‘citizens of Bawku’ ‘citizens of Accra’ ‘citizens of Zebilla’ ‘citizens of Bolga’

B. Possession:This group captures people who possess the nominal item that is named or are actively engage in selling it (see last two examples below). Singular forms end in -daan while plurals end in -dim: (182) Singular ‘poor person’ ‘rich person’ ‘strong person’ ‘medicine owner’ ‘groundnuts owner/seller’ ‘rice owner/seller’

nɔŋ-daan ligi-daan paŋ-daan tiim-daan suma- daan mui-daan

Plural nɔŋ-dim ligid-dim paŋ-dim tiim-dim suma- dim mui-dim

‘poor persons’ ‘rich persons’ ‘strong persons’ ‘medicine owners’ ‘groundnuts owners/sellers’ ‘rice owners/sellers’

101

3.6.2 Class 3/4 (-Vŋ/-Ni) Noun suffixes

Singular

Plural

-ŋ

-Ni

Content

Animals

Derivation

No derivations found

This class of nouns with velar nasal as the singular suffix and –i as the plural marker has only a few animal members. We find only two nominal items which fit into this category: (183) Singular ‘fish’ zi-iŋ ‘guinea fowl’ kpã ’-ʋŋ

Plural zi-mi kpi’-ini

‘fishes’ ‘guinea fowls’

3.6.3 Class 5/6 (-r/-a) Noun suffixes

Singular

Plural

-r

-a, -ya, -da

-l, -N

-a

Content

Body parts, animals, products/fruits, things

Derivation

Action nominals, abstract nouns

The nouns in this class all end in sonorant sounds in the singular form while the plural forms end in -a/-ya/-da.

3.6.3.1 Suffix variants (Class 5 & 6) SG:-ir, PL:-a Final trills in nominal stems have three allophonic variants in the plural. First, when the final trill is preceded by the high front vowel /i/ in the singular form, in the plural the suffix becomes –a. Nominal items in this group generally have more than one syllable: (184) Singular ‘hut’ ‘ear’ ‘leg’ ‘stick’ ‘belly’ ‘maiden’ ‘rafter’

102

sʊg-ir tʊb-ır nɔb-ir dib-ir lʊg-ır pu’asad-ir yu’ad-ir

Plural sʊg-a tʊb-a nɔb-a dib-a lʊg-a pu’asad-a yu’ad-a

‘huts’ ‘ears’ ‘legs’ ‘sticks’ ‘bellies’ ‘maidens’ ‘rafters’

yʊgʊd-ir bunnuud-ir nya’-ar

‘hedgehog’ ‘drinkable’ ‘root’

yʊgʊd-a bunnuud-a nya’-a

‘hedgehogs’ ‘drinkables’ ‘roots’

SG:–r, PL:-ya The second realisation of the plural marker for stems ending in –r is –ya. The plural marker is realised as –ya when the trill is the final element after diphthongs or long vowels in the singular form which occur without an intervening glottal in the local environment: (185) Singular ‘clay pot’ ‘mouth’ ‘tail’ ‘yam’ ‘walking stick’ ‘entrance’ ‘fruit tree’ ‘thigh’ ‘yam’

yʊ-ʊr nɔ-ɔr zʊ-ʊr nyu-ur duo-r za’anɔ-ɔr dã zũ -ur gbɛ-r nyu-ur

Plural yʊ-ya nɔ-ya zʊ-ya nyu-ya duo-ya za’anɔ-ya dã zũ -ya gbɛ-ya nyu-ya

‘clay pots’ ‘mouths’ ‘tails’ ‘yams’ ‘walking sticks’ ‘entrances’ ‘fruit trees’ ‘thighs’ ‘yams’

SG:-r, PL:-da In the third and final realisation, the trill becomes –da in nominal items containing glottal stops between long vowels or a sequence of vowels. Glottals at intervocalic positions cause re-syllabification of syllables pushing the glottal stop to initial positions of syllables. We find only a restricted number of members for this group: (186) Singular ‘penis’ ‘name’

yu’or yʊ’ʊr

Plural yuoda yʊda

‘penises’ ‘names’

SG:-l, PL:-a Nominal items which end in the alveolar lateral in the singular form consistently take the suffix –a in the plural forms. These nouns depict, amongst others, food, farm products and parts of whole entities: (187) Singular ‘sheaf ’ ‘fruits’ ‘branch’ ‘horn’ ‘egg’ ‘muscle’

kazã l tiwɛl wil iil gɛl gĩil

Plural kazã l-a tiwɛl-a wil-a iil-a gɛl-a gĩil-a

‘sheaves’ ‘fruits’ ‘branches’ ‘horns’ ‘eggs’ ‘muscles’

103

‘space’ ‘street’ ‘trouble’

fal pal yɛl

fal-a pal-a yɛl-a

‘spaces’ ‘streets’ ‘troubles’

SG:-m, PL:-a Countable nominals which have the bilabial nasal -m as singular class marker regularly take, in addition to the bilabial, a plural suffix –a. Usually singular nominals that have a long vowel in the noun stem transpose the long vowels to short in the plural form. This class includes some body parts and fruits amongst other common nouns: (188) Singular ‘knee’ ‘year’ ‘arrow’ ‘debt’ ‘shea fruit’ ‘medicine’ ‘tongue’

dum yʊʊm piim sam ta’am tiim zilim

Plural dum-a yum-a pim-a sam-a ta’am-a tim-a zilim-a

‘knees’ ‘years’ ‘arrows’ ‘debts’ ‘shea fruits’ ‘medicines’ ‘tongues’

SG:-n, PL:-a Similarly, nominal stems that have final alveolar nasals in the singular also take–a as the marker of plurality. Membership of this group is varied: (189) Singular ‘tooth’ ‘dove’ ‘vagin*’ ‘bow’ ‘bottom’ ‘okra’ ‘sign’

nyin dawan pɛn kpan gbin ma’an zã bin

Plural nyin-a dawan-a pɛn-a kpan-a gbin-a ma’an-a zã bin-a

‘teeth’ ‘doves’ ‘vagin*s’ ‘bows’ ‘bottoms’ ‘okras’ ‘signs’

SG:-ŋ, PL:-na Velar nasals at word final positions are transposed to alveolar nasals before the marker of plurality is affixed. Members include body parts and household nouns, amongst others: (190) Singular ‘skin’ ‘front room/ entrance’ ‘mat’

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gbau-ŋ zɔ-ŋ

Plural gba-na zɔ-na

sɔ-ŋ

sɔ-na

‘skins’ ‘front rooms/ entrances’ ‘mats’

saŋgba-uŋ zinzɔ-ŋ zugwa-uŋ

‘sky’ ‘fruit bat’ ‘skull’

saŋgba-na zinzɔ-na zugwa-na

‘skies’ ‘fruit bats’ ‘skulls’

3.6.3.2 Derivations A. Deverbal nouns Deverbal nouns in this category receive the marker of deverbalisation, which is a suffix that is realised as -Vd/-t/-s based on the final segment of the verb stem. The class marker -ir is then affixed to this form in the singular while –a is used in the plural. The class includes a range of nominals including objects and things. The examples below highlight the derived nominal items aligned to the right while verb sources are aligned to the left: (191) Verb tua sua zab iã k bʊt puug

> ‘to pound’ ‘to hide’ ‘to fight’ ‘to fly’ ‘to sow’ ‘to cross’

dɔl ‘to follow’ gbɛ̃ɛ ‘to sleep over’ lɔdig ‘to turn a corner’

Singular ‘mortar’ ‘hidden thing’ ‘fight’ ‘flying thing’ ‘sowable thing’ ‘cross, crossed stick’ ‘regulation’ ‘lodging’ ‘corner’

tuod-ir suad-ir zab-ir bun-iã d-ir bʊmbʊt-ir dapuud-ir

Plural tuod-a suad-a zab-a bun-iã d-a bʊmbʊt-a dapuud-a

dɔls-ir gbɛ̃ɛ-sir

dɔls-a gbɛɛs-a

lɔdis-ir

lɔdis-a

‘mortars’ ‘hidden things’ ‘fights’ ‘flying things’ ‘sowable things’ ‘cross, crossed sticks’ ‘regulations’ ‘lodgings, sleeping places’ ‘corners’

B. Verbal nouns Verbal nouns are derived in this class through the affixation of the class suffix –ir. This category is labelled verbal nouns because the members do not inflect for number, i.e., there are no plural counterparts. Nouns in this derived class are also called action nominals because they depict the action of the verb from which they are derived or imply a consequence of the action of the verb. A second reading of these derived nouns is expressed in a gerundive form and implies ‘the act of doing the verb’. Examples: (192) Verb buoɛ̃ nu pɛ’ɛŋ dam tam

Gloss ‘to mark’ ‘to drink’ ‘to borrow’ ‘to shake’ ‘to forget’

Deverbal bɔ̃ ɔr nuur pɛ’ɛŋir dammir tammir

Gloss ‘Noun’ ‘markings’ ‘drunkenness’ ‘borrowing’ ‘shaking’ ‘forgetting’

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C. Conversion We find a few examples where the lexemes are seemingly “converted” from verbal forms to nominal items albeit with a deletion of the glottal stop in the second case below:19 (193) Verb tʊm yʊ’ʊm

> ‘to work’ ‘to sing’

Singular ‘work’ ‘song’

tʊʊm yʊʊm

Plural tʊʊma yʊʊma

‘works’ ‘songs’

3.6.4 Class 12/13 (-g/-s) The nominals in this group all end in velar sounds in the singular form while the plurals take the suffixes:-s/-is. Noun suffixes

Singular

Plural

-g, -k, -ŋ, -V

-Vs, -mis

Contents

animals, body parts, some languages and many commonplace nouns

Derivations

Verbal nouns

3.6.4.1 Suffix variants (Class 12 & 13) SG:-g, PL:-s The voiced velar plosive –g is consistently realised as the fricative -s in plural forms when it occurs after all vowels but never after a sequence of vowels. It includes many common nouns. Examples: (194) Singular ‘tree’ ‘child’ ‘orphan’ ‘moon’ ‘hand’ ‘soul’ ‘stomach’ ‘sickle’ ‘knife’ ‘warthog’

ti-ig bi-ig kpiibi-g nwadi-g nu’-ug si-ig pʊ-ʊg kʊsi-ig sʊ’-ʊg dɛ-ɛg

Plural ti-is bi-is kpiibi-s nwadi-s nu’-us si-is pʊ-ʊs kʊsi-is sʊ’-ʊs dɛ-ɛs

‘trees’ ‘children’ ‘orphans’ ‘moons’ ‘hands’ ‘souls’ ‘stomachs’ ‘sickles’ ‘knifes’ ‘warthogs’

19 “Albeit” because in typical conversion, there should be no morphological difference between the two words.

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SG:-V, PL:-s Nominals in this group behave like those in the preceding subgrouping. The group contains names of language groups and other common nouns. Synchronically, nominal items in this group have vowels occurring as final elements in the singular form. However, it is quite easy to determine that the “actual” coda position of this group of nominals was once occupied by the voiced velar plosive –g. For instance, everyday usage of the word for ‘dog’ is baa. However, when casting invectives on someone using the nominal item as a standard of comparison, the velar component shows up (ex. 195). We refer to these “missing” consonant segments as “decomposed” consonants that have undergone a diachronic change. Examples: (195) Baa-ga dog-CM.SG ‘You dog!’ (196) Singular ‘Kusasi’ ‘dog’ ‘bowl’ ‘Moshi’ ‘Asante’ ‘undertaker’ ‘chicken’ ‘enemy’ ‘rain’

fʊ! 2SG.EMPH

Kusaa baa-ø laa-ø Mua-ø Santiɛ-ø bayaa-ø nua-ø dataa-ø saa-ø

Plural Kusaas baa-s laa-s Mɔɔ-s Santiɛ-s bayaa-s nɔɔ-s dataa-s saa-s

‘Kusasis’ ‘dogs’ ‘bowls’ ‘Moshes’ ‘Asantes’ ‘undertakers’ ‘chickens’ ‘enemies’ ‘rains’

SG:-k, PL:-Vs The members of this group are animals, personal items and people including some borrowed lexical items. In most cases, the voiceless velar becomes voiced while vowel epenthesis simplifies any clusters that may arise. Vowel harmony is also a crucial feature here: (197) Singular ‘chair’ ‘termite’ ‘antelope’ ‘dumb person’ ‘courtyard’ ‘hat’

kʊ-k mua-k nya-k gi-k za-k vɔ-k

Plural kʊ-gʊs mua-s nya-gis gi-gis za’-as vɔ-gis

‘chairs’ ‘termites’ ‘antelopes’ ‘dumb persons’ ‘courtyards’ ‘hats’

SG:-ŋ, PL:-s Velar nasals at word final positions in singular forms have two realisations in the plural. In the first realisation, while the place of articulation feature of the 107

singular suffix (the velar -ŋ) is deleted, its manner of articulation feature (nasal) does not get deleted. The “leftover” nasalisation effect is then associated with the contiguous vowel before the plural suffix –s is added. Examples: (198) Singular ‘kitchen’ ‘right’ ‘Mamprusi’ ‘Bissa’ ‘clay pot’ ‘ring’ ‘story’

dã ’-aŋ dati-ʊŋ Mampuru-ŋ Busa-ŋ si’i-ʊŋ ba-ŋ siil-iŋ

Plural dã ’a-s datĩ-is Mampurũ -s Busã -s sĩ-is bã -as siil-is

‘kitchens’ ‘rights’ ‘Mamprusis’ ‘Bissas’ ‘clay pots’ ‘rings’ ‘stories’

SG:–ŋ, PL:-mis This subclass contains many animals and some common nouns. It highlights the second realisation of the velar nasal in plural forms. In this case, the velar nasal is transposed to a bilabial nasal before the plural morpheme is suffixed to it. Singular forms of lexical items found here are mostly monosyllabic words. Vowel epenthesis also breaks up the cumbersome final syllable that comes up in the plural form: (199) Singular ‘scorpion’ ‘mosquito’ ‘rabbit’ ‘toad’ ‘monkey’ ‘axe’ ‘chin’ ‘donkey’

na-ŋ dʊ-ŋ su’o-ŋ lɔ-ŋ nwaa-ŋ lie-ŋ tie-ŋ bʊ-ŋ

Plural na-mis dʊ-mis su’o-mis lɔ-mis nwaa-mis lie-mis ti-emis bʊ-mis

‘scorpions’ ‘mosquitoes’ ‘rabbits’ ‘toads’ ‘monkeys’ ‘axes’ ‘chins’ ‘donkeys’

3.6.4.2 Derivations A. Verbal nouns Verbal nouns in this category end with a –g suffix. There are no plural forms and these refer either to the act of undertaking the action of the verb or a “state of being” in relation to the meaning of the verb. Examples include the following: (200) Gloss ‘to disturb’ ‘worry’ ‘to remove’ ‘to make’ ‘to cry’ ‘to tear’

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Verb daam fabil is maal kaas ã aɛn

Verbal N daam-ʊg fabil-ʊg is-ʊg maal-ʊg kaas-ʊg ã as-ʊg

Gloss ‘disturbance’ ‘worry’ ‘removal’ ‘making’ ‘crying’ ‘tearing’

‘to mash’ ‘to whip’ ‘to change’

saam fieb tiak

saam-ʊg fieb-ʊg tias-ʊg

‘mashing/destroying’ ‘whipping’ ‘change’

3.6.5 Class 15/21 (-g/-d) Noun suffixes Contents

Singular

Plural

-g

-d/-t

Farming, body parts, tree parts/fruits

SG:-g, PL:-d/-t This class of nouns behaves quite similarly to class 12/13 but in a slightly different manner. Here, all final velar sounds are regularly transposed to –Vd (or –t in Toende) to mark plurality if they occur after back vowels. (201) Singular ‘broom’ ‘dress’ ‘basket’ ‘forehead’ ‘pot’ ‘baobab pod’ ‘grass’ ‘farm’ ‘grave’ ‘bow’ ‘head’ ‘major path’

sa-og fu-ug pɛ-og gbɛ’-og dʊ-g tɛ-og mɔ-ɔg pɔ-ɔg ya-og tira-ʊg zu-g suora-og

Plural sa-ad fu-ud/fu-ut pɛ-ɛd gbɛ’-ɛd dʊg-ʊd tɛ-ɛd mɔ-ɔd pɔ-ɔd ya-ad tira-ad zu-t suora-ad

‘brooms’ ‘dresses’ ‘baskets’ ‘foreheads’ ‘pots’ ‘baobab pods’ ‘grasses’ ‘farms’ ‘graves’ ‘bows’ ‘heads’ ‘major paths’

3.6.6 Class 19/4 (–f/-i) Noun suffixes Contents

Singular

Plural

-Ci

Animals, money, yams

Nominals in this class are mostly animals together with a small class of other nouns. The plural (which it shares with the restricted class 3 nouns) ends in –i and is formed based on the singular suffix –f. (202) Singular ‘horse’ ‘genet’

wi-ef pi-ef

Plural wi-di pii-ni

‘horses’ ‘genets’

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wa-af na-af la’af ni-f biel-if mal-ifʊ

‘snake’ ‘cow’ ‘money’ ‘eye’ ‘seed’ ‘gun’

wii-gi nii-gi ligi-di ni-ni bie-li mal-i

‘snakes’ ‘cows’ ‘moneys’ ‘eyes’ ‘seeds’ ‘guns’

The forms for ‘snake’ waaf and ‘cow’ na’af have very irregular realisations in this category which are similar to the form for ‘money’ la’af. The -g in ligidi is explained from the fact that, often, the elicited form of the singular of ‘money’ is given as lagf.

3.6.7 Class 20/13 (-bil/-bibis) Noun suffixes Contents

Singular

Plural

-bil

-bibis

Diminutives

SG:bil, PL:bibis Diminutive forms of many nominal items are created through the suffixation of a -bil suffix. This is realised as -bibis in the plural. Final consonants in the nominal are deleted and long vowels in the main noun are shortened to allow for a proper agglutination of the compounded items. Though a few of the lexical items in this category, such as daaŋ “kitchen”, do exist, their diminutive forms also have a wide currency. Examples include the following: (203) Nominal ‘hand’ ‘room’ ‘fowl’ ‘dog’ ‘child’ ‘cow’ ‘mother’ ‘road’ ‘warthog’

nu-ug dɔ-ɔg nu-a ba-a bi-ig na-af ma-ø suo-r dɛ’-ɛg

Dim.SG ‘finger’ ‘kitchen’ ‘chicken’ ‘puppy’ ‘infant’ ‘calf ’ ‘aunt’ ‘path’ ‘warthog’

nubil dɔbil nɔbil babil bibil nabil mabil suobil dɛbil

Dim.PL nubibis dɔbibis nɔbibis babibis bibibis nabibis mabibis suobibis dɛbibis

‘fingers’ ‘kitchens’ ‘chickens’ ‘puppies’ ‘infants’ ‘calves’ ‘aunts’ ‘paths’ ‘warthog piglets’

The stems of nominal items which have a short vowel and end in consonant codas are not further modified before the diminutive form is applied: (204) Nominal Dim.SG ‘moon’ nwadig ‘star’ ‘chair’ kʊk ‘stool’ ‘calabash’ nwam ‘small calabash’

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Dim.PL nwadbil nwadbibis kʊkbil kʊkbibis nwambil nwambibis

‘stars’ ‘stools’ ‘small calabashes’

3.6.8 Single class 14 (–b) This single class is restricted in nature and has only very few members. We find two members in Agole Kusaal: (205) sa’ab ki’ibʊ

‘TZ (stable millet or maize meal)’ ‘soap’

3.6.8.1 Derivation A. Verbal nouns The foremost derivative found in this category is the word for ‘food’ diib derived from the verb ‘to eat’, di. Other derivatives are listed below: (206) Verb ‘to laugh’ ‘to drink’ ‘to beat’ ‘to farm’ ‘to build’ ‘to make’ ‘to insult’ ‘to dig’ ‘to tie’

la nu bʊ kʊa mɛ maal tʊ tu lɔ

Deverb. N la’ab nu’ub bʊ’ʊb kuob mɛɛb maalib tʊ’ʊb tuub lɔɔb

Act of V-ing ‘laughing’ ‘drinking’ ‘beating’ ‘farming’ ‘building’ ‘making’ ‘insulting’ ‘digging’ ‘tying’

3.6.9 Single class 22, 23 (–m) Noun suffixes

Singular

Plural

-m

(-ma)

Contents

Masses, collectives, liquids, abstract nouns

Derivation

Deverbal nouns, abstract nouns

The members of this class generally do not inflect for number. They are neutral indicating “wholeness, immensity, having no parts” (Melançon 1957:42). Nouns found in this group include fluids or liquid substances, abstract nouns together with other nouns that cannot be individually counted (mass nouns). We split them into the following sub-groupings:

3.6.9.1 Suffix variants (Class 22 & 23) SG:-m, (no plural forms) The majority of members of this group end in a bilabial nasal and include the following sub-categories: 111

A1. Liquids/fluids:-m Most liquid or fluid substances end in the bilabial nasal. These cannot be counted: (207) biim daam kpaam ku’om iilim dʊ’ʊnʊm nintɔ’ɔm zɛɛm

‘broth’ ‘local beer’ ‘oil, butter’ ‘water’ ‘milk’ ‘urine’ ‘tears’ ‘slime’

A2. Liquids/fluids 2:-d, -r We consider this group a sub-category of the category of nouns which captures liquids/fluids (sub-category A). The members of this group terminate in –d or –r. The anticipated bilabial nasal which is deleted however leaves behind its nasality which is associated with vowels in the environment where the bilabial would have occurred. These vowels are thus nasal vowels: (208) nintɔ̃ ɔd zɛ̃ɛd bɛ̃ɛr

‘spittle’ ‘soup’ ‘gruel for making TZ’

B1. Uncount class: -m All the members of this group are uncountable. These are entities that can be seen or felt but not individually counted: (209) sisiem pɛpsim ni’im bugum zɔ’m tan bugulum pʊpʊʊm puum

‘wind’ ‘air’ ‘meat’ ‘fire’ ‘flour’ ‘sand’ ‘manure’ ‘foam’ ‘flower’

B2. Uncount class:-V We consider this category a sub-grouping of B above. The members of this uncount class do not end in nasal segments but in a diverse range of vowel sounds. The group contains mostly food crops whose individual members cannot be counted:

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(210) ki bɛlikɔ kawɛnna mui naada bɛŋa

‘millet’ ‘red millet (guinea corn)’ ‘maize’ ‘rice’ ‘early millet’ ‘beans’

C1. Abstract:-m Abstract members of the -m class refer to abstract entities which cover a range of categories including intelligence, authority and sleep: (211) ya’am na’am fʊfʊm gbɛ̃ɛm kɔm

‘intelligence’ ‘authority’ ‘wickedness’ ‘sleep’ ‘hunger’

C2. Abstract:-ŋ This variant ends in the velar nasal sound and also captures mainly abstract phenomena. We thus classify it under the class of abstract entities: (212) paŋ nɔŋ mɛŋ

‘strength’ ‘poverty’ ‘self ’

SG –m, PL:-ma Miehe (2012c: 369) cites Naden as suggesting for Mampruli that “some items of the single class gender m may be pluralised in the sense of different kinds of X”. We observe the same for Kusaal within a similar semantic domain where the individual properties of this class are strictly not countable unless they are considered in terms of groups, for instance, sitting in different receptacles. Only a few of the nouns in this class are found in this category: (213) ku’om ni’im daam ziim biim zɛ̃ɛd

‘water’ ‘meat’ ‘drink’ ‘blood’ ‘broth’ ‘soup’

ku’oma nima dama zima bima zɛ̃ɛdnam/zɛ̃nam

‘different “containers” with water’ ‘different types of meat’ ‘different types/containers of drink’ ‘different types/containers of bloods’ ‘different broths’ ‘different soups’20

20 This final example appears to be the only deviation from the others but it is also classified as a member of the class of liquids which have a class marker -d, -r instead of -m (see §A2 above).

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3.6.9.2 Derivation Verbal nominals are derived in this category through the suffixation of the bilabial nasal –m to verbs and noun stems alike. The following serve to illustrate: (214) Gloss ‘to kill’ ‘troublesome’ ‘to be’ ‘to want’ ‘to insult’ ‘to kill’ ‘to love’ ‘to be alone’ ‘man’ ‘to give birth’ ‘fool’ ‘to be cool’

V kʊ bibia bɛ bɔɔd tʊ kʊ nɔŋ gul bʊdaa dua gaaʊŋ ma’ae

Deverb. N kʊm bibielim bɛllim bɔɔdim nintʊ’ʊsim ninkʊʊsim nɔŋlim gʊllim bʊdaalim duam gaam ma’asim

Gloss ‘death’ ‘troublesomeness’ ‘existence’ ‘desire’ ‘arrogance’ ‘murder’ ‘love’ ‘loneliness’ ‘manliness’ ‘birth’ ‘madness’ ‘shade’

3.6.10 Irregular classes In the posited irregular class, we capture a few nominal items that behave differently based on their singular and plural pairings. As a result, they are found across categories as regards the respective number pairings. In the table below, we provide a few singular examples highlighting the respective “deviant” plural forms alongside the regular plural pairings that members of their class would generally have taken. Table 3.3: Cross-class group (215) Singular

114

Plural

SG class

Nominal

CL19

susunf

CL12

Gloss PL class

Regular PL class

susunya

CL6

CL4

‘lung(s)’

vaaŋ bauŋ

vã ad bã ad

CL21

CL13

‘leave(s)’ ‘armpit(s)’

CL12

gbɛtʊg zɔtʊg

gbɛta zɔta

CL6

CL13

‘bush baby(ies)’ ‘dangerous animal(s)’

malifʊ

mali

CL4

‘gun(s)’

In this category, we also highlight a few nominals that can have two diverging forms for the plural. This is most noticeable in borrowed lexical items including the following: Table 3.4: Dual plural forms (216) Singular

Dual Plurals

SG Class CL1a

Gloss PL Class 2

PL Class

arezak arezaknam CL2a

areza’as CL13

‘wealth’

dansik dansiknam

dansigis CL13

‘smocks’

lɔr

lɔɔm

lɔrnam

CL2a?

‘cars’

3.7 Conclusion This chapter discussed the underlying structure of the Kusaal nominal system and attempted a detailed reconstruction of the noun class system. In §3.2, we examined the structure of the simple noun; in §3.3, we contextualised the types of nouns in Kusaal while some derivational processes were elaborated in §3.4. In §3.5, we underscored the pronominal system of the language following a functional set up. In the final section, §3.6, we presented a thorough depiction of Kusaal nominal inflectional processes and how they map out the noun class system of the language.

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4 Nominal Modifiers and Relator Nouns 4.1 Introduction Chapter four undertakes an in-depth examination of Kusaal nominal modifiers and relator nouns. In §4.2, we explore the class of adjectives from a semantic categorization perspective where we consider a distinction of adjectives based on dimension, physical property, colour, value and age. We also discuss the class of adjectives with regard to their distribution, and consider, for instance, what carrier frames they can fit into such as the bun- paradigm, their distribution in terms of their uses at attributive and predicative positions and their occurrence at post-copula position. This section likewise underscores a salient feature of the Kusaal (Mabia) adjective whereby it can inflect for number especially when it is compounded with nominal items. In addition, we briefly consider one other nominal modifier – the numeral system of the language in §4.2.4. In the second major section §4.3, we examine functional operators that evolve from nominal items, the so-called “relator noun” (RN), which corresponds to what is traditionally the class of “postpositions” in some (African) languages. The second section thus discusses the use of body-part nouns as relator nouns and the sources from which other relator nouns may be derived. The section ends with a discussion of the only probable existing preposition in the language:the nɛ ‘with’ prepositional.

4.2 Nominal Modifiers Modifiers relate to the class of words which provide more information on nominal items. These are all located at post-nominal position in Kusaal NPs and include the class of adjectives and numerals as well as quantifiers, possessives and relative clauses.

4.2.1 Adjectives While the category of nouns and verbs is a fairly established one in many languages, the jury is still out on the argument of a bonafide class of adjectives in some languages. In Kusaal, for instance, Ladusaw (1985) asserts that the category “adjective” may be a misnomer for the class of noun- or verb-like items which modify nominal items in the language. He opines that because the “putative adjective” in Kusaal can be shown to behave either like nominal or verbal items, a more useful approach would be to categorise them (the so-called adjectives) as sub-categories 117

of the class of nominal or verbal items from which they derive. His views resonate the caveat by Welmers (1973:267) on the need for circ*mspection on ascribing the label “adjective” to property words across languages and especially for Mabia languages. However, a number of major works that point to the nature of adjectives in Mabia languages include Nsoh (2011) on Gurenɛ and Olawsky (1999, 2004) on Dagbani adjectives. Nsoh contends that the reluctance to describe the class of property words in some African languages as adjectives is a spinoff of the Eurocentric approach whereby necessary and sufficient characteristics are prescribed which conform mainly to Indo-European language structures to the exclusion of others not found in the immediate cluster. A second reason he proffers relates to the number (quantity) of members that an adjective class must or might have. He holds that the number of members of a lexical category is a marginal issue so long as the lexical category can be convincingly and satisfactorily shown to be relevant to the language in question (Nsoh 2011:45–46). In that work as well as in Olawsky (2004), a holistic approach to differentiating the “adjective” class from other grammatical categories is established for Gurenɛ and Dagbani respectively, both of which are cognates of Kusaal. An underlying factor in the above studies is the sources from which many of the class of adjectives are derived; which are mainly nominal and verbal sources (the order of this derivation – whether from verb sources to nouns or noun to verb is quite difficult to determine; see also Ladusaw 1985:204). However, irrespective of the sources from which many of the adjectives in the collective Mabia cluster derive, we will, following the tradition already established for other languages in the cluster, describe the class of property words in Kusaal as adjectives because their primary function is to qualify or modify nominal items, which is a major function of the class of words called “adjectives”. As descriptive words, they present us with additional insight into the cognitive processes on-going in the speakers’ mind vis-à-vis how they set apart one entity from the other in the midst of several choices or probable readings. Further, words that are simply converted from one part of speech to another (as is a common trend especially between nouns and verbs cross-linguistically) do in fact assume new roles in the new classes to which they are put. Though they may not tick off all markers of prototypicality as regards their new class, they are nonetheless considered bonafide members of the established categories into which they are brought.

4.2.2 Semantic categorization of adjectives On the backdrop of these considerations, we discuss the adjective class based on a synthesis of some of the recurring views as established by Nsoh (2011 inter-alia) 118

for Gurenɛ, Olawsky (1999, 2004) for Dagbani and Ladusaw (1985) for Kusaal. Our point of departure is the semantic categorization or groupings of adjectives as found in Dixon (1982:16). We thus categorise the adjective class of Kusaal into similar groupings to put the adjective into a much clearer perspective. However, human propensity adjectives, one of the semantic groupings of Dixon (1982), are conspicuously lacking if not non-existent in Kusaal as these concepts are expressed by means of verbs or nouns. Speed adjectives are also expressed only via adverbials. Further, these categorizations do not always represent strict groupings as some members can be found to intersect:for instance, it should be possible to collapse colour adjectives into physical property adjectives without much trouble, etc. The following groups are thus relevant.

4.2.2.1 Dimension The dimension category of adjectives involves words which describe an entity in relation to its size, height, length and depth and implicitly involves determining a measurable value of the nominal being modified. The adjective types include the following: (217) bil giŋ bã alig bã alif waʊŋ

‘small’ ‘short’ ‘narrow, slender, fine’ ‘thin, slim’ ‘thin’

tita’ar wɔk yaliŋ bɛdir zuluŋ

‘big’ ‘long’ ‘wide’ ‘fat’ ‘deep’

4.2.2.2 Physical property This semantic categorisation of adjectives expresses a view about the characteristic of the nominal being described in relation to a number of features bordering on tactility, sight, weight, outlook, amongst other physical properties. We include in the physical property adjectives, the category “shape”. Examples include the following sets which do not always present us with antonyms: (218) tɛbsir mum saalig kpi’eʊŋ malsʊg bi’im gbilug milsʊg

‘heavy’ ‘whole’ ‘slippery’ ‘strong, hard’ ‘sweet’ ‘ripe’ ‘round’ ‘filthy’

faksir pʊsʊg gbirbir bʊgsir mi’isʊg kã s-ir mauk nyain

‘lightweight’ ‘half ’ ‘rough’ ‘soft, weak’ ‘sour’ ‘raw’ ‘square, flat’ ‘clean’

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4.2.2.3 Colour The basic colour words of Kusaal are black, white and red which align closely with the findings of Naden (2005) for Mampruli, a cognate language. These three central colour terms are not derived from nominal or verb sources and play a primary role in nominal modification. (219) sabil/sabilig piel/pielig wiiug

‘black’ ‘white’ ‘red-brown’

Other colour terms found in the language are derived by association, that is, in relation to the colour property of a particular entity or through a number of other means by which the language users conjure or envisage colour links between two entities. For instance, the other term for ‘red’ in the language, ziã ’/ zɛ̃’ʊg (representing an idiolectal or dialectal form), appears to be derived from the close symbolism of red found in the word for ‘blood’, ziim. Other examples include the following: (220) dɛ̃’ɛ̃m/dɛlmadɛɛt

dɔ̃ bʊʊlim pʊgʊsʊg pʊpɔ̃ rʊg pipɛlʊg

‘green’ (derived from the greenish nature of slime). Also in high currency is the use of ma’asim ‘fresh’ (in relation to green plants) to denote the colour green. ‘yellow’ (lit.:‘dawadawa powder’ from the yellow nature of the dawadawa fruit which is eaten as food). ‘grey, ash-colour’ ‘multi-coloured’ ‘pale’ (likely reduplication of the term for ‘white’ piel)

One colour word is borrowed from English and is used extensively across the language area and not only among Kusaal speakers who are literate in English: (221) bʊlʊʊ

‘blue’

A few calques are also found that are used almost exclusively in the newly translated Kusaal Bible to refer to colour schemes that are not common in the language. One striking example is the following form which incorporates two colour terms in order to create a label for purple: (222) pipɛl-zɛ̃’ug

‘pale-red (purple)’

4.2.2.4 Value adjectives Value adjectives make a judgment about the worth or otherwise of the nominal item being modified. According to Scheibman (2002:137), in English, the class 120

of value adjectives “derive their primary meanings from the speaker’s evaluation of what is in discursive focus (the subject)”. We identify only the following in Kusaal: (223) sʊ’ʊm bɛ’ɛd bia vɛ̃l/vɛ̃liŋ tita’ar

‘good, proper’ ‘bad, terrible’ ‘naughty’ ‘nice, beautiful, lovely’ ‘great but ultimately from big’

4.2.2.5 Age Adjectives which indicate age are not many and include the following: (224) kʊdʊg /nya’aŋ kpɛɛm paal/paalʊg

‘old’ ‘elder’ ‘new’

saŋ/sadir kpã ar

‘young’ ‘last’

The first set of age adjectives are used, in relation to [+HUM] entities, exclusively in complementary distribution. While bʊn-kʊdʊg ‘thing-old’ translates only to ‘old man’, pɔ-nya’aŋ ‘woman-old’ refers to an old woman. Similarly, da-saŋ ‘manyoung’ refers to a young male while pu’a-sadir ‘woman-young’ refers to a young woman. As a result, forms such as *bʊn-nya’aŋ or *pu’a-kʊdʊg are not possible. However, these forms have fossilised over time and have come to represent closeknit units which function effectively as single nominal items that can further be modified by other adjectives such as age. It is thus possible to have forms such as bʊn-kʊdʊg paal ‘a new old man’ or pɔnya’aŋ paal ‘new old woman’.21

4.2.3 Distribution of adjectives in Kusaal The structure of the adjectival form in Kusaal, though largely arbitrary, is signalled in part by a velar consonant (/g/ and /ŋ/) occurring at word final position. In the following sections, we present a number of diagnostics that can be used to set apart the class of adjectives from other modifiers in Kusaal.

4.2.3.1 The bʊn-paradigm As a rule of thumb, any lexical item that can occur after the nominal bʊn ‘thing’ is adjectival in function (see also Nsoh 2011:73 on Gurenɛ). Moreover, the underlying form of any adjective can be determined by juxtaposing it to this nominal 21 In the sense of, for example, ‘a new (different) old lady came here today rather than the ‘old’ old lady who always comes here’.

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whereby it (the adjective) assumes a modification function at attributive position. These adjectives could have non-derived sources or they could have been derived from especially verb sources. Examples include the following: (225) bʊn-Adjective (NP)22 bʊn-sʊŋ ‘thing good’ bʊn-paalig ‘thing new’ bʊn-milisʊg ‘thing dirty’ bʊn-bʊgʊsir ‘thing soft’ bʊn-tita’ar ‘thing big’ bʊn-gbilug ‘thing round’ bʊn-lammir ‘thing flat’ bʊn-ma’asʊg ‘thing fresh/wet’

Adjective -sʊŋ -paal -milig -bʊgʊsir -tita’ar -gbilug -lammir -ma’asʊg

‘good’ ‘new’ ‘dirty’ ‘soft’ ‘big’ ‘round’ ‘flat’ ‘fresh/wet’

As already stated, adjectival forms occurring at post-nominal bʊn position are either un-derived or derived from nominal or verbal sources. Central members of noun and verb classes do not qualify to enter into this paradigmatic slot which appears to be reserved only for the class of adjectival modifiers. For instance, it is not possible to find collocations such as *bʊnnaaf ‘thing cow’, *bʊnbiig ‘thing child’ etc. or *bʊnkɛn ‘thing walk’, or *bʊnpit ‘thing wear’. Similarly, it is quite difficult to find non-adjectival modifiers such as cardinal and ordinal numbers occurring in this position. Bʊn ‘thing’ because it refers to a generic nominal, is often left unspecified when specific nominals are being qualified as will become clearer in the next section. In a few cases, however, bʊn- co-occurs with the adjective to modify other nominals. These combinations usually signal additional focus strategies used to underlie the characteristics of the entity being qualified. As a result, constructions with Noun-bʊn-ADJ are often a common feature of some focus constructions. In such constructions too, the “actual” nominal that is being modified does not become truncated. Examples: (226) Lɔr bʊn-paal ka o car thing-new FOC 3SG ‘New car that s/he bought (not an old car).’ (227) O mɔr 3SG has ‘S/he has a black cow.’

na’af cow

da’a buy

bʊn-sabilig thing-black

22 If the initial consonant of the next word is the bilabial plosive b/p, then the nasal coda of bun assimilates the place of articulation of this plosive. In the orthography, some of these examples would be written bʊn-paalig [bʊmpaalig], bʊnbʊgʊsir [bʊmbʊgʊsir].

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(228) Nɔk-im nwiig take-IMP rope ‘Bring the long rope here.’

bʊn-wɔk thing-long

la DET

na VEN

4.2.3.2 Adjectives in attributive position While the nominal bʊn is a very good means of determining what constitutes an adjective in Kusaal, bʊn is generally replaced by the specific nominal that is modified by these adjectives. When used attributively, adjectives occur in post-nominal positions usually following a truncated form of the nominal (leaving behind the nominal root). Except in a few cases, therefore, nominals are often shortened to allow for a perfect concatenation with the adjective form that they precede. Generally, truncation follows one of the following patterns when nominal items precede adjectives in attributive constructions. First, mono-morphemic nominals with short vowels such as paŋ ‘strength’, tan ‘sand’, wil ‘branch’, kʊg ‘chair’ retain their nominal forms when they precede adjectives. Final alveolar nasals may however assimilate the place of articulation of the initial consonants of the adjective23: (229) teŋ ‘country’ + sʊŋ ‘good.SG’ wil ‘branch’ + bɛda ‘big-PL’ tan ‘sand’ + piel ‘white’

teŋ-sʊŋ wil-bɛda tam-piɛl

> > >

‘good country’ ‘big branches’ ‘white sand’

Secondly, in mono-morphemic nominals with long vowels, deleting the second vowel shortens the long syllable. If there is a consonant coda, this is also deleted. Examples: (230) tiig baa na’af nɔɔr daam

‘tree’ ‘dog’ ‘cow’ ‘mouth’ ‘pito’24

+ sʊŋ + gɛ’ɛŋ + zɛ̃’ʊg + yaliŋ + paal

‘good’ ‘mad’ ‘red’ ‘wide’ ‘new’

> > > > >

ti-sʊŋ ba-gɛ’ɛŋ na’a-zɛ̃’ʊg nɔ-yaliŋ dã -paal

‘good tree’ ‘mad dog’ ‘red cow’ ‘wide mouth’ ‘new pito’

23 The system of nominal truncation before adjectives differs from that of nominals being truncated before other nominals, for instance in associative constructions or in compounded forms to derive new nominals. E.g. zug ‘head’ + nwam ‘calabash’ yields zuwauŋ ‘skull’, similarly zug ‘head’ + pibug ‘covering’ yields zupibig ‘hat’, with the second items in the combination in each case being nominal entities. When zug is modified by an adjective, however, the nominal is not truncated in line with the pattern above:zug ‘head’ + tita’ar ‘big’ > zug tita’ar ‘big head’. 24 Pito/daam is the locally brewed alcoholic beverage made from red millet (guinea corn). .

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Thirdly, in di-morphemic stems, the coda element or the second syllable is deleted leaving only the root of the nominal (see also the discussion on nominal inflection in §3.6 above). (231) ta’ada kugir nɔbir gbana

‘sandals’ ‘stone’ ‘leg’ ‘skins’

+ sabila ‘black’ + tita’ar ‘big’ + tita’ar ‘big’ + pa’ala ‘new’

> > > >

ta’a-sabila kug-tita’ar nɔb-tita’ar gban-pa’ala

‘black sandals’ ‘big stone’ ‘big leg’ ‘new skins’

Finally, in mono- or di-morphemic nominals containing a sequence of vowels (particularly diphthongs), the vowels are retained and not deleted. If there is a consonant coda, this is however deleted. Examples: (232) ku’om ‘water’ suor ‘road’ dabiem ‘fear’

+ tita’ar ‘big’ + paal ‘new’ + tita’ar ‘big’

> > >

ku’o-tita’ar suo-paal dabie-tita’ar

‘big water’ ‘new road’ ‘big fear’

All adjectives, irrespective of their sources – whether derived or non-derived – can be used attributively at both subject and object positions of sentences together with the nominals with which they form nominal phrases. Attributive usages underlie close-knit relations between the noun and its modifier much like exists between noun-noun combinations in associative constructions. However, the difference between a noun modified by an adjective and one modified by another nominal lies in the morphosyntactic functions that arise. While noun-noun combinations generally result in the derivation of new nominal forms (compounding), noun-adjective combinations present more detailed information about the nominal under discussion. Consider the following: (233)

Associative constructions N1

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N1+N2

a. bʊʊg ‘goat’

gbauŋ ‘hide/skin’

bʊʊgbauŋ ‘goat skin’

b. baa ‘dog’

zuur ‘tail’

baazuur ‘dog tail’

c. zug ‘head’

kugir ‘stool’

zukugir ‘pillow’

d. nɔɔr ‘mouth’

gbauŋ ‘skin’

nɔgban ‘lips’

e. kut ‘metal’

dʊg ‘pot’

kudʊg ‘metal pot’

The examples above present a situation where the first nominal (N1) has a modification role in relation to the second (N2):N1 thus expresses what type of noun N2 is. To wit, bʊʊg gbauŋ ‘goat skin/hide’ is a type of gbauŋ ‘skin/hide’ but not a type of bʊʊg ‘goat’. The qualification of the nominal is thus seen to be occurring in a progressive fashion:emanating from the first nominal to the second; and generally, yielding a new lexical item. With adjectival forms, however, the reverse is the case:these highlight a modification process which proceeds retrogressively - from 2 to 1. They also do not yield new lexical items as do the examples provided in (233) above. In examples (234–236), we present usages involving adjectives at attributive positions. (234) Bã ’a-bɛ’ɛd tiigi o niŋgbina wʊsa. disease-bad/terrible spread 3SG.POSS skin all ‘A terrible disease spread all over his/her (skin) body.’ (235) O da’a-nɛ ba-bil 3SG buy-Foc dog-DIM ‘S/he bought a small puppy.’ (236) Ya saam da 2PL.POSS father DIST.PST ‘Your father was a good man.’

ã -nɛ COP-Foc

nin-sʊŋ person-good

4.2.3.3 Predicative adjectives Some adjectives can be used predicatively where they function as the controlling elements of predicate constructions. When used in predicative functions, however, these adjectives express property concepts which refer to nominal items located at subject position. As predicates, they thus do not refer to specific actions or processes but often express a view about the property of the nominal in question. Adjectives that are used predicatively often assume a verb morphological structure that allows them to incorporate the new paradigms that they take on. This appears to be a pervasive property of predicative adjectives in most Mabia languages. In (237) below, we present some of these adjectives and the verbal forms they assume at predicative positions: (237) Attributive adjective wɔk(ʊ) ‘tall’ giŋ(a) ‘short’ kpi’eʊŋ ‘hard’ vɛ̃lʊg ‘beautiful’ mi’isʊg ‘sour’ ma’asʊg ‘wet’

Predicative adjectives wa’am ‘be tall’ gim ‘be short’ kpi’em ‘be hard’ vɛ̃l ‘be beautiful’ mi’is ‘be sour’ ma’ae ‘be wet’

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tʊʊlʊg sabilʊg pielʊg

‘hot’ ‘black’ ‘white’

tʊl sɔbʊg pie

‘be hot’ ‘be black’ ‘to wash’

Characteristically, predicative adjectives occur as the final elements in the predicate clause where they are used in similar ways as stative verbs. Below, we provide sample usages of adjectives in predicative positions. (238) Ba fuut la 3SG.POSS shirts DET ‘Their shirts/dresses are beautiful.’

vɛ̃l be.beautiful

(239) Abugur kpi’em Abugur be. hard (tough) ‘Abugur is tough.’ (240) Dau la gim man DET be.short ‘The man is short.’ (241) Saŋgbana la pĩ’il-i cloud DET start-Foc ‘The clouds started to darken.’

sɔbʊgʊd to.black

The above usages are different from “adjective forms” that are used in constructions involving more than one argument. The hitherto stative-adjectival forms assume a transitive function as exemplified in the following: (242) Ba gim daug la 3PL shorten stick DET ‘They made the stick short.’

nɛ Foc

(243) Ba tʊlʊg-i ku’om la 3PL heat-Foc water DET ‘They heated up the water.’

4.2.3.4 Post-copula adjectives Some adjectival forms cannot occur in predicative forms especially in a sense where they are used as intransitive stative verbs; this may point to sources other than a verbal one – they may derive from nominal sources or indeed belong in a bonafide class of their own. These types of adjectives generally may reflect what has traditionally been called the non-derived adjective class in Mabia languages (see for example Nsoh 2011) and include the following:paalig ‘new’, sʊ’ʊm ‘good’, fĩif ‘little’, tita’ar ‘big’. When they occur in post-copula positions, the adjective forms which function as complements must not co-occur with any nominal item 126

including even the generic bun, because then they would be in an attributive position. In this position, post-copula adjectives differ from predicative adjectives in that while the latter behave like verbs the former behave like nouns. More precisely, while predicative adjectives take the properties of verbs, such as the perfective marker -ya, the attributive ones take the properties of nouns since they inflect for number such that, even when they occur with plural nouns, the indicator of plurality is marked not on the noun but on the adjective. (244) O fʊʊg la 3SG.POSS shirt DM ‘His/her shirt is short.’

ã -nɛ COP-Foc

(245) Til la mɛ ã trunk DET also COP ‘The trunk is also good.’

sʊ’ʊm. good

giŋa. short

(246) Kɛl ka fʊ piã ’ad ã fĩĩ let FOC 2SG.POSS talk COP small ‘Let your words/speeches be small/short (control your tongue).’

One reason why post-copula adjectives are considered adjective complements and not noun complements is because it is not possible to front/move these adjectives to subject position without yielding ungrammatical forms. Consider the following:when the object complement in (247) is moved to subject position in (248), the construction remains grammatical; however, a similar fronting of the element in (249) yields an ungrammatical sentence in (250): (247) O ã -nɛ 3SG COP-Foc ‘He is a teacher.’

karimsaam teacher

(248) Karimsaam di-ya teacher eat-PRF ‘Teacher has eaten.’ (249) O ã -nɛ giŋa 3SG COP-Foc short ‘He is short (in stature).’ (250) *Giŋa diya (*short has eaten) short eat-PRF

In order for an adjectival form such as giŋa ‘short’ to move from complement position in copula constructions to agent position and still be grammatical, then at post-copula position it must necessarily be preceded by either a specific nominal or the generic nominal bun ‘thing’. In such an instance, however, an attributive 127

usage rather than a post-copula usage comes into play. Further, while nominals in post-copula positions can take an adjectival modifier, adjectives in such positions cannot be further modified. (251) O ã -nɛ 3SG COP-Foc ‘S/he is a good child.’ (252) *o 3sg

ã -nɛ COP-Foc

bi-sʊŋ child-good wɔkɔ-sʊŋ tall-good

4.2.3.5 Pluralisation A characteristic feature of adjectival forms in the Mabia (Gur) cluster (and some other languages) is their ability to inflect for number like nominal items. In nounadjective combinations, the marker of number or plurality is generally inflected on the adjoining adjectival form as only the root form of the nominal is used. The inflected adjective often but not always patterns up with the gender of the noun class it modifies (see also the section on the Kusaal noun class system in §3.6 above). All adjectives in Kusaal, irrespective of the sources from which they derive25 inflect for number which suggests that they cannot be considered as verbals because verbs in Kusaal do not inflect for number. (253) SG sʊ-ŋ/sʊ’ʊ-m bil-ø fĩi-f tita’-ar gi-ŋa wɔk-ʊ paalwiiu-g sabil-ø/sabil-ig piel-ø/piel-ig bɛ’ɛd-ø kpɛɛm-ø

PL sʊ’ʊ-ma bi-bis fĩi-s tita-da gi-ma wɔk-a [wa’a] paal-a wii-d sabil-a/sabil-is piel-a/piel-is bɛ’ɛd-nam kpɛɛm-nam

Gloss ‘good’ ‘small (size)’ ‘small (quantity)’ ‘big (size)’ ‘short’ ‘tall’ ‘new’ ‘red’ ‘black’ ‘white’ ‘bad’ ‘elderly’

25 This includes even borrowed adjectives. For instance, the colour ‘blue’ is buluu in Kusaal; the plural is derived by suffixing -nam, the plural marker for revered entities as well as borrowed items to buluu to get buluunam. fuut buluunam would thus mean ‘blue shirts’.

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A few of the singular and plural adjectival forms used in context include the following in (254). While the examples in (254a - c) represent forms that can be pluralised, the example in (254d) represents a non-count nominal (except when it is considered as a whole). The alignment of noun-adjective interface and the indication of plurality are contextualised further in §5.2.3 below. (254)

Singular a. Fu-ã al-iŋ shirt-torn-SG ‘torn dress’

Plural Fu-ã al-ima shirt-torn-PL ‘torn dresses’

b. Na’a-tita’-ar chief-big-SG ‘big chief ’

Na’a-tita-da chief-big-PL ‘big chiefs’

c. La-piel-ig bowl-white-SG ‘white bowl’

La-piel-a bowl-white-PL ‘white bowls’

d. Bugum piel-ø fire white-SG ‘white fire’

Bugum piel-a fire white‘white fires’

4.2.4 Numerals Kusaal has quite a productive system of counting structured on the base numbers one to ten. On account of this, a more elaborate derived cardinal system obtains from which an ordinal system is in place. Numerals have a core function as nominal modifiers occurring in post-nominal positions where they underscore the number of participants present in the discourse situation. They come in two forms:cardinal and ordinal numbers.

4.2.4.1 Cardinals In the table below, we elaborate on the cardinal system. Numeral

Brief notes/explanation Ones

The ‘ones’ category constitutes the core of the numeral system of the language; the lexical items here present the underlying forms for the derivation of all other numerals. 0

zaal-im

This is obviously not a “real numeral” but is derived from the nominal for ‘nothing, null’. The suffix –im is an indication of the non-count class of nominal items.

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Numeral

Brief notes/explanation Ones

a-yinne, -yinne, a-rakɔ̃ ’

The a- prefix in all the ‘ones’ is a nominal prefix. Usually, this prefix is deleted when the numeral is combined with other numeral forms.

a-yi’

‘two’

a-tã ’

‘three’

a-naasi

‘four’

a-nu

This form corresponds to nu’ug ‘hand’ (noted in Lässig 1928:45, see also Payne 1997:66).

a-yuobʊ

‘six’

a-yɔpɔi

‘seven’

a-nii

‘eight’

a-wai

‘nine’ Tens

The ‘tens’ are built on a combination (via coordination or conjunction) of the root of the numeral 10 together with the ‘ones’ above. We gloss the coordinator nɛ as ‘and’. 10

pii-ga

ten-SG; ‘ten’

pii nɛ yinne

ten and one; ‘eleven’

pii nɛ ayi’

ten and two; ‘twelve’

pi-si (pis-yi’)

ten-PL, tens-two; ‘twenty’

pisi nɛ yinne

twenty and one; ‘twenty-one’

pisi nɛ anii

twenty and eight; ‘twenty-eight’

pis-tã ’

tens-three, three-tens; ‘thirty’

pis-naasi

tens-four, four-tens; ‘forty’

pis-nu

tens-five, five-tens; ‘fifty’

pis-yuobʊ

tens-six, six-tens; ‘sixty’ Hundreds

From the base of 100, other numbers in the hundreds category are derived by coordination involving the tens and ones. 100

kɔb-ig

‘hundred-SG’

101

kɔbig nɛ yinne

‘hundred and one’

106

kɔbig nɛ ayuobʊ ‘hundred and six’

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Numeral

Brief notes/explanation Hundreds

110

kɔbig nɛ piiga

‘hundred and ten’

120

kɔbig nɛ pisi

‘hundred and two-tens’

140

kɔbig nɛ pisnaasi ‘hundred and four-tens’

200

kɔb-is-yi’

hundred-PL-two; ‘two hundred’

300

kɔb-tã ’

hundreds-three; ‘three hundred’

400

kɔbis naasi

hundreds-four; ‘four hundred’

900

kɔbis-wai

hundreds-nine; ‘nine hundred’ Thousands

The base form for ‘thousand’ together with the preceding numerals provide the forms for numerals in this category: 1000

tus-ur

‘thousand-SG’

1001

tusur nɛ yinne

‘thousand and one’

1014

tusur nɛ pii nɛ anaasi

‘thousand and ten and four’

1230

tusur nɛ kɔbis ayi’ nɛ pistã ’

‘thousand and hundreds-two and tens-three’

1500

tusur nɛ kɔbis anu

‘thousand and hundreds-five’

1800

tusur nɛ kɔbis anii

‘thousand and hundreds-eight’

2000

tus-a ayi’

‘thousand-PL two’

3000

tusa ata’

‘thousands three’

9000

tusa awai

‘thousands nine’

10000

tusa piiga

‘thousands ten’

11000

tusa pii nɛ yinne ‘thousands ten and one’

100 000

tusa kɔbiga

1 000 000 tusa tusir

‘thousands hundred’ ‘a thousand thousands’ This form stretches the limit of the derived form and represents forms that have come to be used to count especially money and large numbers of people such as is found in the Kusaal Bible.

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4.2.4.2 Ordinals While the cardinal numbers can be used in their current forms as ordinals, the main form of the ordinal is derived by suffixing daan ‘one/thing > owner’ to the cardinal numbers. The prefixes of the cardinal numbers are retained in all cases except for number one -1- which loses its nominal prefix a-. A few of these are listed in (255a) and exemplified in (255b - e) below: (255) a. yiiga daan ayi’-daan atã ’-daan anaasi-daan anu-daan piiga-daan

‘first (thing), firstly’ ‘second (thing), secondly’ ‘third (thing), thirdly’ ‘fourth (thing), fourthly’ ‘fifth (thing), fifthly’ ‘tenth (thing), tenthly’

b. Yiiga-daan ã nɛ on na ie ki. First-thing COP 3SG.EMPH IRR search.for millet. ‘The first thing (to do) is to look for millet.’ c. Ayi’-daan ã nɛ on na neem ki la second-thing COP 3SG.EMPH IRR grind millet DET ‘The second thing is to grind the millet.’ d. Atã ’-daan ã nɛ fʊn na maal ku’omisim Third-thing COP 2SG.EMPH FUT make sour.water ‘The third thing is to make sour water.’ e. Di naar ã nɛ fʊn na maal zɛ̃ɛd EXPL end COP 2SG.EMPH FUT make soup ‘Its end (finally) is to make soup.’

4.3 Relator nouns Relator nouns (aka relational nouns) refer to what has traditionally been labelled the class of adpositions in some languages. Adpositions (both pre- and postpositions) express a relation between two entities with particular regard to their spatio-temporal location. In Kusaal and some of the related languages in the Mabia (Gur) and Kwa cluster, the indication of the spatial and/or temporal relation between entities at phrasal or clausal level is expressed through the use of lexical items that have been shown to be derived from nominal sources. Dorvlo (2008), for instance, shows that the Logba “postposition” derives from body part nouns that have grammaticalised over time and thus have lost some of their inherent noun qualities. Similarly, Osam etal. (2011) argue that because the class of words which function like postpositions in other languages derive from 132

mainly nominal sources in Akan, a more appropriate label would be to call them “relator or relational nouns”. Considering that an interchangeable usage of the terms “relator/relational nouns” may give rise to ambivalent meanings, we use only “relator nouns” and in the sense in which Post (2007:374) uses it to denote: … a functional subclass of noun (or a class of function words which are historically derived from nouns, and which continue to resemble nouns in significant respects) which stand in a modifying syntactic relation to a distinct, lexical head noun. Most often, relator nouns encode spatial or locational concepts, but they may also denote types of temporal or conceptual relations (which may or may not be relatable to spatial concepts).

The Kusaal relator noun is a nominal item including body part nouns that is used in a functional sense as an indicator of a spatial relation between two items. Though similar to the sources from which they derive, as functional categories these forms have lost some of their properties through a steady process of grammaticalisation. Structurally, relator nouns occur in post-NP positions in Kusaal and some of the cognate languages, which explains the higher currency of the “postposition label” vis-à-vis Indo-European “prepositions”. The following are some of the forms in the language. Table 4.1: Relator nouns

Body-part nouns

Term

As noun

As relator noun

zug

‘head’

‘on’ ‘on top of ’ ‘topside’ ‘because of ’

gbin

‘buttock’

‘bottom of ’ ‘bottom side’

nɔɔr

‘mouth’

‘edge of ’ ‘tip of ’

pʊʊg

‘stomach’

‘in’, ‘inside’

nya’aŋ

‘back’

‘behind’ ‘back of ’

tuon

‘front’

‘in front of ’

kʊkpɛŋ (from kukpaŋ)

‘wing’

‘beside’ ‘edge of ’

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Others

Term

As noun

As relator noun

babir

‘area’

‘around’ ‘in the location of ’

teŋ

‘ground’, ‘land’

‘under’

lɛŋ

‘under’

teŋsʊk

‘middle’

‘in between’ ‘in the middle of ’

sʊʊg

4.3.1 Body-part nouns as relator nouns From the above table, it is apparent that Kusaal RNs have morphological properties which share similarities with the nominals from which they derive. Structurally, these forms occur in post-NP positions to form what we will call RNPs (relator noun phrases; in place of the traditional prepositional phrase, PP). Examples: (256) Nwaaŋ zĩ’ lɔr la zug monkey sit.FCT lorry DET head (on top of) ‘A monkey is sitting on the head (top of) of the lorry.’ (257) Biis la diem-id-nɛ tiig la gbin-in children DET play-HAB-Foc tree DET buttock-LOC ‘The children are playing at the bottom (buttocks of) of the mountain.’ (258) Amus la kpɛ̃’-nɛ vɔ̃ ɔr cat DET enter-Foc hole ‘The cat went into the hole.’

la pʊʊg-in DET stomach-LOC

In the above examples, the “nominals” occurring at final positions of the NPs express a spatial relation between the elements at subject and object position. In (256) above, zug refers to a position rather on the upside than on the bottom of a typical lorry:it would not matter if the monkeys were to be on the bonnet, trunk or roof of the car. In (257), gbin is conceptualised in relation to the space at the foot of the tree, the space that the boughs of the tree would cover:playing on a lower branch that reaches closely to the ground would still not be considered as playing “under” but rather “on” the tree. Similarly, playing outside the spatial reach of the branches of the tree would not constitute playing “under the tree”. In (258) the word for “inside” correlates to the nominal for the stomach (not the belly) and presents the case of an enclosure, a container. The body part nya’aŋ ‘back’ is 134

the only RN that expresses not only a spatial relation, but a temporal one as well in respect of the noun phrase that it follows. In the example below, the former usage is highlighted: (259) Sakur la bɛ-nɛ kɔl-daug la nya’aŋ school DET EXST-Foc river-big DET back ‘The school is behind (at the back of) the big river.’

In examples (260) and (261) however, the sense of a temporal rather than a spatial relationship is implied: (260) Yuma ayi nya’aŋ ka dau la nan kul-na years two back FOC man DET then go.home-VEN ‘Two years after (at the back of) that the man came (returned) home.’ (261) Ti kpɛ̃’-nɛ gbis sɔnsʊg la nya’aŋ 1PL enter-Foc sleep conversation DET back ‘We went to sleep after (at the back of) the conversation.’

Relator nouns because of the sources from which they derive, essentially retain a few features that are characteristic of prototypical nouns. The most prominent of these is their ability to be specified by the definite determiner which characterises only nominalised items. In the following examples, RNs are instantiated with and without the determiner respectively: (262) Ti tʊm-nɛ yir la nya’aŋ 1PL work.HAB-Foc house DET back/behind. ‘We are working behind/at the back of the house.’ (263) Bipumis banɛ ka ya bas nya’aŋ la daughters which COMP 2PL leave behind DM ‘The daughters you have left behind will run (away).’

na FUT

zɔ run

4.3.2 zug ‘on top of ’, ‘because of ’ The behaviour of zug ‘head’ as a relator noun often requires extra-linguistic information, such as context, in order to eliminate ambiguous readings. This is because as a relator noun it could be used to indicate either location or reason (cause). In the following, the readings in ‘a’ and ‘b’ are both likely renditions of the construction in (264) if taken out of context. (264) Kugir stone a. b.

la zug ka keeke la zi’el DET head (on top of) FOC bicycle DET stop ‘On top of the stone that the bicycle stopped (location).’ ‘Because of the stone (which was in the rider’s way, perhaps?) that the bicycle stopped (reason/cause).’

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Similarly, when zug is used in relation to an animate entity, an ambiguous reading could arise if the context is not clear enough in relation to whether the location being spoken about is specifically on the head (not just on top) of the entity or on a general location on the body of the entity. Example: (265) Zaŋguom la li-nɛ baa la wall DET fall-Foc dog DET a. ‘The wall fell on the head of the dog.’ b. ‘The wall fell on top of the dog.’

zug-in head-LOC

4.3.3 Other sources of relator nouns In the foregoing, we highlighted usages involving body-part nouns which have assumed a functional dimension as RNs. The second source of relator nouns includes words that are derived from nominal items not related to body parts but which have a function in the lexicon as spatial indicators. Examples of these are underlined in the following. (266) Amus dig gado la cat lie.FCT bed DET ‘A cat is lying under the bed.’

lɛŋ-in under-LOC

(267) Ba duoe-nɛ keŋ Sabil baba 3PL rise-Foc go P.NAME26 area ‘They got up and went (they moved) to an area near Zebilla.’ (268) Na’ab zak la sʊʊg-in ka ba’ar chief house DET centre-LOC FOC deity ‘In the middle of Chief ’s house stands the deity.’

la DET

zi’e stand.FCT

(269) Li zi’e zan’antɔli-s ayi’ la teŋsʊk EXPL stand.FCT pillar-PL two DET centre ‘It stands between (in the middle of) the two pillars.’

4.3.4 Relator nouns and the locative marker Often relator nouns can be but are not restricted to co-occurring with the locative morpheme –Vn. The locative morpheme is affixed to nominal items to indicate location as well as the source or direction implied by the nominal to which it is affixed. The difference between the locative and the RN is one of a cognitive-semantic extension whereby the locative refers to a specific or identifiable position in respect of the entity being spoken about while the RN or so-called 26 P.NAME = Place Name. Sabil ‘Zebilla’ is one of the important Kusaal speaking towns.

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postposition would point to a general position of one entity in relation to the other. As regards their distribution, the locative nominal and the relator noun differ in that while the former occurs at complement position of intransitive/stative verbs, the latter is the adjunct of a nominal phrase. Intransitive and stative verbs, which precede the locative noun, often encode semantic information such as the location (at/in where), source (from where) and the goal (to where). See the examples below with and without the locative in examples (270) and (271) respectively: (270) Waaf bɛ tiig la snake EXST tree DET ‘There is a snake on the tree.’

zug head

(271) Niimis maan-nɛ ba tɛɛd birds make-Foc 3PL.POSS nests ‘Birds make their nests on top of the tree.’

tiig tree

la DET

zug-in head-LOC

In the examples above, (270) implies that the snake could be anywhere ‘on’ the tree; this includes any position beginning from just above the ground but on the tree trunk upwards to the tip of the highest branch. (271) however, implies that the birds’ nests must necessarily be higher up on the tree; on the upper side of the tree. This second example instantiates the use of the locative. Another set of examples are found in (272) and (273) below, with and without the locative: (272) Ba da sig bʊmbɔk 3PL PST go down into hole ‘They went down into the hole.’

la DET

pʊʊg stomach

(273) Li gat ban nyɛ si’eli ba vɔm EXPL be.more 3SG. see thing 3PL.POSS life than EMPH ‘It is more than what they have seen (in) their whole life.’

pʊʊg-in inside-LOC

4.3.5 The nɛ ‘with’ preposition As noted in the foregoing, the traditional class of postpositions is best defined in Kusaal as a subclass of nominal items which are called Relator Nouns. These RNs are often found in post-NP positions and code spatio-temporal relations between the nominals that are localised in a construction. RNs at pre-NP positions (prepositions) are hard to find. However, we find that in Kusaal, one functional item which appears to be a fully-fledged preposition is nɛ ‘with’ which is

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preposed to NPs and conveys a semantic function of “instrument”.27 Two examples involving nominal (NP) instruments that are concrete are found in (274) and (275) below while forms which involve abstract instruments are found in (276) and (277). (274) Kpaadib la mak-nɛ teŋ la farmers DET measure-Foc land DET ‘The farmers measured the land with a stick.’

nɛ INST

daug stick

(275) O da nyaŋi o dataa 3SG PST.DIST overpower 3SG.POSS enemy ‘S/he conquered his/her enemy with a sling.’

nɛ INST

luobʊg sling

(276) Biis la gɛ̃’-ɛnɛ nɛ ba sʊ̃ f wʊsa children DET angry-Foc INST 3PL. POSS heart all ‘The children were angry with all their heart (were very angry).’ (277) O gɔs-i o sid 3SG look-Foc 3SG.POSS husband ‘She looked at her husband with love.’

nɛ INST

nɔŋlim love

4.4 Conclusion This chapter discussed the various means of nominal modification with respect to the class of adjectives and numerals. In §4.2, we explored the class of adjectives from a semantic categorization perspective and underscored their distributional properties. We also underlined a salient feature of the Kusaal (Mabia) adjective whereby it can inflect for number especially when it is suffixed to nominal items. This section also briefly considered the numeral system of the language under §4.2.4. In §4.3, we examined the concept of the “relator noun” which functions primarily to mark spatio-temporal relations but is shown to have evolved from mainly body-part nouns. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the only probable existing preposition in the language:the nɛ ‘with’ phrase.

27 nɛ is hom*onymous in Kusaal. Apart from the instrumental function, it is also used as a comitative conjunction ‘and/with’ and as a marker of general emphasis or broad focus.

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5 Noun Phrases 5.1 Introduction The preceding discussion on adjectives and numerals factor prominently in the structuring of noun phrases which is taken up in this chapter where we consider the components of the typical Kusaal NP ranging from constructions underscoring possession to others bordering on nominal modification. In considering the nature of nominal phrases (NPs) in Kusaal, we make an important formal linguistic generalisation along the lines found in Carnie (2006) inter-alia. We assume that NPs comprise strings of words including the noun or nominal as the head of the phrase. Alternatively, NPs can comprise only the head, in this case, a simple noun without modifiers and articles. The head is the central element in a phrase around which all other categories revolve. It is also the category that is referred to in the phrase. In this regard, the following token examples from English are all NPs:‘man’, ‘the man’, ‘the very tall man’, ‘the very tall athletic man’, etc. A similar motivation is given for the underlying representation of the noun phrase in several other languages such as !Xun, a Northern Khoesan language (Heine and König 2013:618). With respect to the position of the elements in the Kusaal noun phrase, in constructions involving several modifiers, the definite determiner la is generally marked phrase finally, i.e., it is often the last element in NP constructions. Modifiers – adjectives, numerals and quantifiers in that order, take up middle positions between nouns and determiners albeit with some restructuring in complex phrases. Possessive pronouns however, are the only categories that can occur in pre-nominal positions. Schematically, the structure of the NP is given as follows in (278) and exemplified in (279). (278) POSS HEAD (N/PRO) ADJ1/2 NUM DEM/DET ADV/QUANT (279) POSS

ADJ1

ADJ2

NUM

DET

ADV

ta’a- vɛ̃l-a

sabila

atã ’

wʊsa

1SG.POSS shoe beautiful-PL black-PL three

DEF

all

the

all

shoe beautiful

black

three

‘all my three beautiful black shoes (my three beautiful black shoes all)’

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5.2 Distribution of NP elements Using the example in (279) above, we discuss in turn the distribution of the identified elements in the following sub-sections.

5.2.1 Possessives The possessive marker is the only element that can precede the nominal in any phrasal construction; all other modifiers or categories occur post-nominally. Possessive markers are derived (or simply converted) from Kusaal personal pronouns and express a possessor-possessed entity relationship between the possessive marker and the nominal which it precedes. In (280) below, we re-introduce the markers and in (281–283), we provide some examples: (280) Kusaal possessive pronouns Singular Weak

Plural Emphatic

‘Gloss’

Weak

Emphatic

‘Gloss’

1 m

man/mam

‘my’

tinam

‘our’

2 fʊ

fʊn

‘your’

yanam

‘your’

3 o

‘his/her’ ba

ban

‘their’

(281) M 1SG.POSS ‘my wife’

pu’a wife

(282) O biis 3SG.POSS child ‘her/his children’ (283) Ba yir 3PL.POSS house ‘their house’

The domain of pronominals as head of NP is also constrained in this case:while prototypical nouns can take a possessive marker, personal pronouns cannot be further possessed.28 Forms such as the following are thus ungrammatical:

28 This is mainly due to the fact that personal pronouns are already quite definitive or specific as their antecedents are located in the immediate context of the discourse situation and to a smaller extent, because personal and possessive pronouns have essentially one and the same morphemes.

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(284) a. *m my

o s/he

b. *ban ti their us

Personal and place names can however be modified by a possessive marker in order to eliminate ambiguous readings (in the event that several probable meanings could arise) in which case they are often also specified by the determiner la which assumes a demonstrative function: (285) M Adam my Adam ‘my Adam (NOT yours) that’

la DEM

(286) Ya Bɔk your Bɔk ‘your Bawku’

la DEM

5.2.2 Noun/pronoun as head of NP The headword of NP is the noun: this includes all proper and commonplace nominal items including abstract and concrete ones as well as countable and non-countable nouns and derived nominals. Alternatively, the head of NP could comprise only a pronominal form. Aside personal/place names and pronouns, when all other nominal items occur in isolation as NPs, the derived meaning is one of an indeterminate nominal. Some examples include the following. (287) pã ’asʊg sakur o dau kpaadib ti Ayamba Basyonde

‘deceit’ ‘school’ ‘s/he’ ‘man’ ‘farmers’ ‘2PL’ ‘Ayamba (NAME)’ ‘Basyonde (P.NAME)’

5.2.3 Adjectives Adjectives have been discussed extensively in §4.2.1 above and therefore will only be briefly highlighted in this section. When they modify the head of NP, adjectives form a close-knit unit with the nominal usually through a process of nominal modification to allow for a perfect agglutination. Usually (but not always), the nominals are truncated and the adjective is then affixed to this reduced stem.

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(288) Baa + bil > dog + small ‘small dog, puppy’

Ba-bil dog-small

(289) Tiig + wɔk tree + long ‘long tree’

Ti-wɔk tree-long

(290) Bʊʊg + sabil > goat + black ‘black goat’

Bʊ-sabil goat-black

Not all nominals are truncated:quite a number retain their form and simply precede the adjective. Examples: gbaʊŋ ‘book’ + titar ‘big’ > gbauŋ tita’ar ‘big book’, pu’a ‘woman’ + nyalʊŋ ‘wonderful’ > pu’anyalʊŋ ‘wonderful woman’, etc. In addition, number marking is transferred onto the adjective when it occurs in attributive position. Considering that most nominals are truncated before the adjective is attached, and that the truncated part in its full form would otherwise have highlighted number inflections, it is possible to determine if a singular or plural nominal is implied only via the inflected form of the adjective. Examples: (291)

Singular a. Bi-lia-ø child-suckling-SG ‘baby’

Plural Bi-lia-s child-suckling-PL ‘babies’

b. Nɔ-bil-ø fowl small-SG ‘chick’

Nɔ-bi-bis fowl-small-PL ‘chicks’

c. Ti-wɔk-ø tree-tall-SG ‘tall tree’

Ti-wɔk-a tree-tall-PL ‘tall trees’

d. Wa’a-sabil-ug snake-black-SG ‘poisonous snake’

Wa’a-sabil-a snake-black-PL ‘poisonous snakes’

In example (268d) above, for instance, the plural for wa’af ‘snake’ is wiigi ‘snakes’ but this is not realised in the plural form; rather, the marker of plurality is inflected on the adjective sabil-ig/sabil-a ‘black-SG/black-PL’. Tentatively, we find that up to two adjectives can follow each other successively in a phrase:the nominal and the first adjective may represent derived nominals as exemplified in (291a) above or they may represent simple nominals together with their modifiers such as the forms in the examples below show. The ordering of the adjectives in examples 142

(293–296) could thus be varied to achieve different semantic interpretations except for the example in (292) with – bil: (292) Nɔ-bil-ø fowl-small-SG ‘black chick’

sabil-ug black-SG

(293) Kug-piel-a vɛ̃l-a stone-white-PL beautiful-PL ‘beautiful white stones’ (294) Ti-tita’ar-ø tree-big-SG ‘big tall tree’

wɔk-ɔ tall-SG

(295) Fu-paal-ø shirt-new ‘black new shirt’

sabil-ig black-SG

(296) Ta’a-vɛ̃l-a sabil-a sandal-beautiful-PL black-PL ‘beautiful black shoes’

5.2.4 Numerals Numerals and adjectives occur in quite the same environments in NPs: when they occur in succession in the same phrase, adjectives always take precedence. Unlike adjectives, numerals are not combined with the nominal; thus, the morphological structure of the nominal is retained and the nominal is clearly marked for number: (297) Da-ar day-SG ‘one day’

yinne one

(298) Da-ba day-PL ‘two days’

ayi’ two

(299) Nwad-is anii moon-PL eight ‘eight moons > eight months’ (300) Saa-m atã ’ visitor-PL three ‘three visitors’

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(301) Niigi cow.PL ‘five cows’

anu five

(302) Nɔɔ-r yinne mouth-SG one ‘one mouth > unity’

Adjectives, as stated above, precede the numeral modifier when they are both located in the NP.Examples: (303) Bʊpʊŋ vɛ̃l-a anaasi girl beautiful-PL four ‘four beautiful girls’ (304) Nya’a-kpi’em-a root-hard-PL ‘two hard roots’

ayi’ two

(305) Nin-sʊŋ person-good.SG ‘one good person’

yinne one

(306) Mui gbil-a rice ball-PL ‘five rice balls’29

anu five

The definite determiner la may sometimes modify nominals which precede the numeral. In such cases, the implied reading is ‘one of a certain number of a larger group or one member of a group of similar members’. The nominal is thus realised in the plural form: (307) Dasa-m la young.man-PL DET ‘one of the young men’

yinne one

(308) O zua-nam 3SG.POSS friend-PL ‘one of his friends’

la DET

(309) Toroko-nam la truck-PL DET ‘five of the trucks’

ayɔpɔı five

yinne one

29 Riceballs are boiled/cooked rice made into balls and eaten with a soup.

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5.2.5 Determiners Determiners are found at post-noun positions and are used to indicate mainly definiteness. Lexical items that take determiners in a construction therefore function as nouns even if they derive from other word class sources. When NPs are not further modified by adverbial quantifiers, determiners usually take final position in NPs. The determiners are the following: (310) Determiners Singular

Plural

Definite

‘the’

Indeterminate

“zero determiner” ø

+HUM

sɔ’

‘a certain’

-HUM

si’a

Indefinite

‘the’ “zero determiner”

si’eba ‘some’

The definite determiner la ‘the’ is used to indicate definiteness for both singular and plural nouns. (311) Singular dau la tiim la yir la baa la

‘the man’ ‘the medicine’ ‘the house’ ‘the dog’

Plural dap la tima la ya’ la baas la

‘the men’ ‘the medicine ‘the houses’ ‘the dogs’

Indeterminacy, on the other hand, is generally unmarked such that a nominal without a definite/indefinite article is construed as referring to an undetermined/ or undefined entity; we refer to these as the “indeterminate” or “zero determiner” forms. These are basically bare nominal items, which are not specified as being either definite or indefinite (also see N/P as head of NP above). Below, we highlight indeterminate forms in examples (312–313) juxtaposed to similar usages in (314–315) that involve the use of a determiner. (312) O pies-id-nɛ fu-ut. SG.SBJ wash-HAB-Foc cloth-PL ‘S/he is washing clothes.’ (313) Lɔr ka m baba Lorry FOC 1SG.POSS father ‘(It is) a car that my father bought.’ (314) O pies-id-nɛ 3SG.SBJ wash-HAB-Foc ‘S/he is washing the clothes.’

da’ buy

fu-ut cloth-PL

la DET

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(315) M baba da’a-nɛ lɔr 1SG.POSS father buy-Foc lorry(car) ‘My father bought a certain car.’

si’a INDEF

To indicate that the nominal being referenced is not particularly a known one, either the indefinite determiner sɔ’/si’a ‘a certain’ or si’eba ‘some’ is used after singular and plural nouns respectively. While sɔ’ is used after human nominal items (316), si’a is used after non-human entities in NPs (317). Examples: (316) INDEF Singular [+HUM] a. Bi-sɔ’ child-INDEF ‘a certain child’

b. Dau sɔ’ man INDEF ‘a certain man’

c. Na’a-sɔ’ chief-INDEF ‘a certain chief ’

d. Kpɛɛm sɔ’ elder INDEF ‘a certain elder’

(317) INDEF Singular [–HUM] a. Zĩ’i-si’a place-INDEF ‘some/a certain place’

b. Teŋ si’a country INDEF ‘a certain land’

c. Piã -si’a talk-INDEF ‘a certain talk’

d. Yɛl si’a problem INDEF ‘a certain problem’

The indefinite plural is the same for all nominals irrespective of whether they specify human or non-human nominals. (318) a. Bi-si’eba child-INDEF ‘some children’ c. Dabis si’eba days INDEF ‘some days’

b. Nin-si’eba people-INDEF ‘some people’ d. Nwad-si’eba months-INDEF ‘some months’

5.2.6 Demonstrative determiners These are determiners that are used to locate nouns within a certain spatial dimension. Whereas there are demonstratives that point to entities close by (proximal), some are used to point to nominal items that are removed from the speaker in terms of distance (distal demonstratives). Demonstratives are also found in post-noun positions following a truncated form of the nominal as with adjectives. Often, they have to be accompanied by supra-linguistic factors (such as 146

pointing with the hand or head or a shared discourse context). In (319), the forms are highlighted while examples are provided in (320–321): (319) Kusaal demonstrative determiners Singular

Plural

Proximal

kaŋa

‘this’

bama

‘these’

Distal

kan

‘that’

banna

‘those’

(320) Singular a. Fu-kaŋa dress-DEM.SG ‘this dress’ b. Gbauŋ-kaŋa book-DEM.SG ‘this book’ c. Daa-kan day-DEM.SG ‘that day’ (321) Plural a. La’a-bama things-DEM.PL ‘these things’ b. Nim-bama people-DEM.PL ‘these people’ c. Yɛl-banna trouble-DEM.PL ‘those troubles’

Though the demonstratives and determiners occur in practically the same environment (usually in quasi-final positions of NPs), they do not always mutually exclude each other. One form of the demonstrative that is used in such contexts relates closely to the discourse use (or discourse marker, DM) of demonstrative determiners (see Bhat 2004).

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(322) Na’a-bama la30 chief-these DM ‘these chiefs that…’ (323) Dɔ-bama la room-these DM ‘these rooms…’ (324) Tʊʊm-kaŋa la work-this DM ‘this work/job…’ (325) Piã ’a-kaŋa talk-this ‘this talk…’

la DM

(326) Suo-kan la day-that DM ‘that day…’ (327) Buud-ban la tribe-those DM ‘those tribes…’

5.2.7 Quantifiers (adverbial quantifiers) Adverbials modify not only verbs, adjectives and other adverbs but nominal items as well. When adverbials which underlie quantifiers modify nominal items, they often take phrase final position but are not restricted to occurring only in that position. In their absence, determiners occupy phrase final position. Elements which occur after quantifiers are usually the predicate and its constructions, another NP or relative clause or a word final element/particle. Quantifiers include the following:fĩĩ ‘a little’, wʊsa ‘all’, bɛdigʊ ‘most, a lot, many’, woo ‘every’ are often the final elements of NPs. Examples: (328) Yʊ’ʊŋ la wʊsa night DET all ‘the whole night/all night long’

30 In regular speech, this interface triggers off geminates through the assimilation of the initial consonant of DET to the final consonant of DEM: bama + la > [bamma] ‘these ones’ kaŋa + la > [kaŋŋa] ‘this one’ kan + la > [kanna] ‘that one’ ban + la > [banna] ‘those ones’

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(329) Ti wʊsa 1PL all ‘All of us’ (330) Si’el-ø thing-SG ‘everything’

woo every

(331) Zuobid la fĩĩ hair DET little ‘a few of the hair’ (332) Ku’om fĩĩ water.NC little ‘a little water’

5.3 Conclusion In this chapter, we discussed the components of the typical Kusaal NP and underscored the nature of the elements found in it. The chapter thus elucidates on the elements which can occur before and after NP head. The head of NP is either a nominal (including derived nominals) or a pronominal element. At pre-NP head position, it was shown that only the possessive marker can occur while at post-NP head position, adjectives, numerals, demonstratives and determiners as well as adverbial quantifiers were shown to be at play.

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6 Verbs and Verb Phrases 6.1 Introduction Kusaal has quite a strict SVO syntactic ordering; thus, the verb is literarily central in the setup of syntactic elements. Kusaal verbs do not inflect for number – the range of participants can be determined only from the indications of number highlighted on nominal items. In this chapter, we examine in detail the structure of Kusaal verbs and verb phrases. While §6.2 elaborates on some of the morpho-syntactic features which underscore the Kusaal verb complex, in §6.3, we delve into a depiction of the verb phrase proper and highlight its composition in relation to other elements such as the pre- and post-verbal elements as well as adjuncts (adverbs). The chapter is concluded in §6.5.

6.2 Morpho-syntactic features of Kusaal verbs This section discusses the morphological structure of verbs in Kusaal with particular regard to the derivational processes that are salient in their configurations. We identify a number of these derivational processes:the causative, applicative, inversive, iterative, and the ventive and discuss how they pattern up in the morphology of the language.

6.2.1 Verb configuration The central component of the verb is the root followed by its satellite components. Some roots require an additional derivational process (such as verb extensions) to form the stem before they can convey any meaning. Derivational processes are also applied first before inflectional processes. The structure of the verb is given schematically as follows (333) while a few examples are provided in Table 6.1. (333) VERB(ROOT)-DER-A/INFL-A

Per the schema, the obligatory category of the verb form is the root (R) which may take derivational affixes in certain cases to form the verb stem. Inflectional affixes are peripheral categories affixed to the verb stem which highlight aspectual marking. These facts are highlighted in the table below. Canonical verb roots are of the CV and CVC types while a few forms with initial positions occupied by vowels also exist. This structuring conforms to the pertaining syllable structures in the language. Mono- and disyllabic verb stems predominate while trisyllabic verb stems 151

though possible are uncommon. The predominant tonal feature on most verb stems is non-high, i.e., they are often low or mid-toned and seldom high-toned. Table 6.1: Structure of the verb Stem ROOT

Inflection (Aspectual suffixes)

Derivation (Verb extensions)

yɛ ‘to wear’

yɛ-ɛl wear-APPL ‘to help someone wear’

yɛ-ya wear-PRF ‘has worn’

yɛɛl-ya unwear-PRF ‘has unworn’

CVC

pil ‘to cover’

pib-ig cover-INVR ‘to uncover’

pil-id cover-HAB ‘covers’

pibig-id uncover-HAB ‘uncovers’

ĩak ‘to fly’

ĩak-ir fly-GER ‘the flying’

ĩak-nɛ fly-Foc ‘flew’

ĩak-id-nɛ fly-HAB-Foc ‘flying’

ã ã ɛ ‘to tear’

ã ã -s tear-ITR ‘to tear severally’

ã ã -nɛ tear-Foc ‘tore’

ã ã s-id tear-HAB ‘tears’

In the following, we highlight some of the underlying forms of the bare verb indicating their various configurations in line with the syllable structures that pertain in the language.

6.2.1.1 Stems of the CV/CVV type These verb types have stems that are composed of simple open syllables. We include in this group extensions of the CV syllable type, i.e., verbs that have long vowels or a sequence of vowels in the nucleus are clustered in this group.Double-articulated consonant segments (such as /gb/ and /kp/) represent only one consonant sound and are also found in this group as are nasal consonants that are palatalised or labialised (such as (/nw/ and /ny/). (334) di nu la’ zɔ kʊ sɛ nwɛ’

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‘to eat’ ‘to drink’ ‘to laugh’ ‘to run’ ‘to kill’ ‘to transplant’ ‘to beat, hit’

nwaae mua nyɔ gbã ’e kpi duoe paae

‘to cut’ ‘to suck’ ‘to burn’ ‘to catch’ ‘to die’ ‘to rise, get up’ ‘to reach’

6.2.1.2 Stems of the CVC/CVVC type Another huge class for verbs is those with closed syllables. Included in this group are closed syllables with long nuclei. (335) vɔl dum wʊm tis yɛl dʊg

‘to swallow’ ‘to bite’ ‘to hear’ ‘to give’ ‘to say, tell’ ‘to cook’

saam maal buos tɛ’ɛg kuos gbɛ̃ɛl

‘to destroy’ ‘to make’ ‘to ask’ ‘to pull’ ‘to sell’ ‘to stare’

6.2.1.3 Stems of the V/VC/ & VV/VVC type Verbs in this category have a vowel segment as the initial element and they may have various extensions such as two vowels (either long or a sequence) occurring with or without a coda consonant. A few of these are listed below: ã ʊk ik ak yis VV ie ʊ̃ ʊs VVC ĩak ɔ̃ ɔl

(336) V VC

COP ‘to lift’ ‘tp support’ ‘to carry’ ‘to remove’ ‘to search’ ‘to grunt’ ‘to jump, fly’ ‘to smoke (fish)’

ɛl ɔ̃ b ɛ̃big/s yi ã ã ɛ

‘to marry’ ‘to chew’ ‘to scratch’ ‘to go out’ ‘to tear’

ʊʊg ɛ̃ɛs

‘to wash face’ ‘to wipe, clean’

Generally, verbs either take a monosyllabic (shown in examples 336 above) or disyllabic form in the language (337 below). Some of the disyllabic verbs have vowels occurring as initial segments: (337) igin idig isig ɛ̃big ɛ̃rig ã sig

‘to kneel’ ‘to untie’ ‘to wake up’ ‘to signal’ ‘to shift, make room’ ‘to break off, spilt’

silig kã dig kpirig pʊdʊg fɛ̃dig kpilim

‘to sieve’ ‘to over ripen’ ‘to dislocate’ ‘to share’ ‘to turn away’ ‘to roll up’

Trisyllabic verb stems, though quite uncommon, include some of the following examples in (338) below:the glottal stop ( ’ ) in some of the examples is counted as the initial segment of the second syllable.

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(338) gigilim wabilim pʊgilim

‘to be dumb’ ‘to be lame’ ‘to trample’

kpi’ilim vɛ’ɛlim

‘to come to an end’ ‘to mess things up’

6.2.2 Derivational morphology and verb extensions Derivational processes yield a number of important verb forms in Kusaal. Here, we do not make reference to the derivation of verbs from non-verbals (such as verb forms from nominal items); these are actually hard to find in Kusaal. What is crucial in the language and some of the related languages in the Niger-Congo phylum is the morphological process termed “verbal extensions” which results in “the formation of new verbs from existing verb stems by the addition of certain suffixes” (Voeltz 1977:1). We identify five categories of verb extensions for Kusaal, viz. causative, applicative, inversive, iterative, and ventive.

6.2.2.1 The causative Causative verb extensions give impetus to the verb stem by indicating that an additional argument, a causer, is at play in the meaning of the verb. The causer, either a person or thing, initiates or controls the activity implied in the meaning of the verb. In Kusaal, verbal extensions which yield the causative usually transpose intransitive or stative verbs into transitive ones. The valence of the verb is thus increased as regards the number of participants or arguments it takes (Dixon 2000:30, Payne 1997:173–180). The causative morpheme –s is suffixed to the verb stem at fairly predictable environments. Verb stems with a coda consonant take a -Vs extension while those which end in a vowel have – s suffixed albeit with a lengthening of short vowel stems (in most cases). Some of the oppositions are listed below: (339) Gloss ‘to die’ ‘to enter’ ‘to go out’ ‘to eat’ ‘to suck’ ‘to drink’ ‘to tire’ ‘to come down’ ‘to climb up’

V1 kpi kpɛ̃ yi di mu’a nu gɛ̃ sig dʊ

V2 (CAUS) kpi-is kpɛ̃’-ɛs yi-s di-is mu’a-s nu-l-is gɛ̃-ɛs sig-is dʊ’-ʊs

Gloss ‘cause to V1’ ‘to put off, extinguish’ ‘to put in/inside’ ‘to remove’ ‘to feed’ ‘to suckle’ ‘to cause to drink’ ‘to cause to tire’ ‘to cause to come down’ ‘to cause to climb up’

In its present form, it is obvious that the causative morpheme is a relic of the reconstructed form *CI for Proto-Niger-Congo (PNC) (Voeltz 1977:60). Although 154

the majority of semantic meanings that are achieved in respect of the causative are derived via derivational morphemes, in other instances, causation is instantiated not via derivational processes but through a causative construction introduced by the phrase kɛ/kɛnɛ ka X VERB ‘allow X to do VERB or ‘cause X to do VERB’ (where X refers to a noun or nominal item). Such forms go beyond the scope of this section but we provide two examples to illustrate: (340) Gloss ‘to laugh’ ‘to cry’

V1 la’ kaas

(cause to V1) kɛnɛ ka …la’ kɛnɛ ka…kaas

‘caused … to V1’ ‘caused… to laugh’ ‘caused … to cry’

6.2.2.2 The applicative The applicative verb stem differs from the causative in that while the latter introduces a causer who controls the event, the former implies that the action on the verb is to the “benefit” of someone or something else:a patient or benefactive. The morph for the applicative –l parallels Westermann’s proto-form *l which, according to Voeltz (1977:59), corresponds to the reconstructed form *DE for PNC. Vowel epenthesis breaks up consonant clusters in stems that end in a consonant before the morpheme is suffixed. Stems that end in a short vowel generally become lengthened before the applicative marker. Deleted nasal consonants in the applicative cause preceding vowels to become nasalised, as in the examples for ‘sit’ and ‘block’ in (341) below. (341) Gloss ‘to ride’ ‘to carry’ ‘to stand’ ‘to lean’ ‘to sit’ ‘to wear’ ‘to cross over’ ‘to divine’ ‘to lie down’ ‘to press’ ‘to block’ ‘to drink’

V1 bã ’ zi zi’e ti’e zin’ yɛ bie bʊg dig dĩ gɛŋ nu

V2 (APPL) bã ’-ã l zi-il zi’e-l ti’e-l zĩ’-ĩl yɛ-ɛl bie-l bʊg-ʊl dig-il dĩ’-il gɛ̃-ɛl tugul

Gloss ‘do V1 for/to’ ‘to help someone to ride’ ‘to help put head load on sb.’ ‘to make sthing/sb. stand’ ‘make to lean against’ ‘to make sthing/sb. sit’ ‘to help sb. wear’ ‘to accompany/escort sb.’ ‘to encourage/comfort’ ‘to put sthing down’ ‘to press sthing/sb. down’ ‘to fence, block off sb./sthing’ ‘to help to drink’

6.2.2.3 The inversive Inversive or reversive verb extensions indicate reverse situations; they indicate that the action of the verb root is carried out in a reversed order. The reversive suffix –g which corresponds to the reconstructed form *KO for PNC 155

reversive-stative verbs (Voeltz 1977:67). Vowel lengthening is also crucial in this case if the verb stem contains a short vowel. If the stem is a closed syllable, a vowel is inserted between it and the verb extension to forestall consonant clusters: (342) Gloss V1 ‘to roof ’ pil ‘to cover’ pibil ‘to tie’ lɔ ‘to tie’ lɔ ‘to hang/hook’ ya’al ‘to wear (dress)’ yɛ ‘to put on (footwear)’ pid ‘to close’ yɔ’ ‘to block’ li’

V2 (INVR) pil-ig pib-ig lɔ-dig yi-dig ya-ak yɛ-ɛg pid-ig yɔ’-ɔg li’-ig

Gloss ‘do opposite of V1’ ‘to unroof ’ ‘to uncover’ ‘to untie’ ‘to untie’ ‘to unhang/unhook’ ‘to unwear’ ‘to unwear’ ‘to open’ ‘to dodge’

The class of reversive verb extensions is however quite limited as regards oppositions with similar stems as there are specialised lexical items which are used to imply the reverse of verbs. However, it is still possible to deduce that the V2 examples below, for instance, still retain the inverse stem –g: (343) Gloss ‘to close’ ‘to bury sb.’ ‘to sleep’

V1 kpar pĩ’ gbis

V2 (INVR) yɔ’ɔg lɛɛg nie(g)

Gloss ‘do opposite of V1’ ‘to open’ ‘to dig up’ ‘to wake up’

6.2.2.4 The iterative The iterative, also called the repetitive or plurality of action, indicates that the action of the verb is carried out severally or repeatedly and within the same timeframe (see Atintono 2004:61). Also implied in the meaning of the iterative is that the action could be repeatedly carried out on a single entity or on a range of similar or like entities. The iterative form differs from the causative construction in that while the causative explicates the introduction of an underlying agent in the verb form, the iterative reinforces the number of times an action is undertaken in succession and is indicated by the suffixation of the formative -Vs to the verb stem. (344) Gloss ‘to say’ ‘to tear’ ‘to break, cut’ ‘to chop’ ‘to shell’ ‘to pound’

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V1 ye ã ã ɛ nwaae kia pig tua

V2 (ITR) yɛ-ɛs ã ã -s nwã -as kie-s pig-is tua-s

Gloss ‘to V1 severally’ ‘to gossip’ ‘to tear up/tear into shreds’ ‘to cut/break up’ ‘to chop severally’ ‘to shell many’ ‘to pound severally’

fɔ̃ ɔg fʊrʊg si’

‘to suck’ ‘to sip’ ‘to stain’

fɔ̃ ɔ-s fʊrʊ-s si’is

‘to suck repeatedly’ ‘to sip severally’ ‘to touch’

6.2.2.5 The ventive The ventive (also called the directive or allative) morpheme signals a movement towards the agent or speaker and is built on quasi-imperative forms. The form corresponds closely to the “ingressive deixis” of Akan which incorporates into an imperative construction “a commitment to the location of the speaker’s body or self; [and thus involves a] movement … towards the speaker” Boadi (2008:61). In Kusaal, the directive morpheme is – na. In free speech, the initial component of the morpheme (the alveolar nasal) assimilates in a regressive manner to the place of articulation of consonant codas in the adjoining verb root. Examples include the following: (345) Gloss ‘to go’ ‘to have’ ‘to go home’ ‘to throw’ ‘to enter’

V1 kem mɔr kul lɔb kpɛ̃’ɛm

V2 (Ventive) ‘Motion towards’ kem-na [kemma] ‘come here!’ mɔr-na [morra] ‘bring here!’ kul-na [kulla] ‘come home!’ lɔb-na [lɔmma] ‘throw here!’ kpɛ̃’ɛm-na [kpɛ̃ ’ɛmma]‘come in!’

In light of the foregoing, and considering the various semantic nuances teased out from the varying morphological processes, Bodomo’s assertion that “derivational affixation is not a very developed phenomenon in Dagaare and by extension other Mabia languages” (1997:92) probably holds true for Dagaare and some other languages in the cluster but not for Kusaal. The system, as we have shown, is quite productive; certainly not as productive as has been posited for some Bantu languages, but still highlighting a number of important functional sub-structures achieved only by means of verbal extensions.

6.2.3 Inflectional morphology Inflectional suffixes found on Kusaal verbs express a number of aspectual meanings and are used to show various temporal delineations within the concept of time marking in the language. In this regard, the aspectual system is split between the perfective and imperfective forms. While the perfective splits further into the perfect marked by a suffix –ya such as in diya ‘has eaten’, the imperfective yields the habitual expressed by a –t/-d morph such as in dit ‘eats’, and the progressive indicated by –nɛ for example in ditnɛ ‘eating’. We discuss these in detail in Chapter 7. 157

Kusaal verb forms thus differ from nominal items in the type of inflectional processes they undergo:while nouns inflect for number, verbs inflect for aspect. These are both achieved through a system of suffixes31 that have survived grammaticalisation over time. Distribution-wise, verbs take central position in Kusaal clauses occurring after subject NPs and before object NPs or complements in canonical clause structures. Concord, that is, number agreement between the subject and its predicate such as is found in English, is not a feature of the Kusaal verb. In fact, the verb form together with its inflections remains “neutral” irrespective of the number of participants at subject position. A few examples are presented below from (346–348). In each case, the form of the verb does not change to reflect the number of participants; number marking is restricted to the immediate constituents of NP forms at either subject or object position. In the examples that follow, two forms are given: while the ‘a’ examples represent constructions involving singular nominal items occurring with the verb, the ‘b’ examples represent plural nominals with the verb form. (346) a. Da-u la man-SG DEF ‘The man dances.’ b. Da-ap la man-PL DEF ‘The men dance.’

wa’-ad dance-HAB wa’-ad dance-HAB

(347) a. Awam di-t-nɛ Awam eat-HAB-Foc ‘Awam is eating rice.’

mui. rice

b. Awam nɛ Adam di-t-nɛ mui. Awam CONJ Adam eat-HAB-Foc rice ‘Awam and Adam are eating rice.’ (348) a. Ba nɔk-nɛ yʊ’ʊŋ ka li lieb 3PL take-Foc night CONJ EXPL turn ‘They took night and turned it to day.’

nintaŋ afternoon

b. O nɔk-nɛ sɔlʊŋ kaŋa lɛbisi ba 3SG take-Foc story.SG DEM return 3PL ‘S/he took this story and gave (explained) it to them.’

31 The only Proto-Gur prefixes we find in Kusaal are the reverential particle a- ‘Mr’ and the prefix bʊ- ‘gender prefix’.

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6.3 The verb phrase The central component of the VP is the main verb. This may occur alone or together with other categories such as pre-verbals, auxiliary verbs and the postverbal particle sa ‘already’. Presented simply, a schema of the Kusaal VP would look like this: (349) (PRE-V, ADV/AUX) VERB (DER-/INFL) (OBJ, ADV, PST-V)

Stated elaborately, the schema in (349) posits that pre-verbal elements occur before the main verb system and highlight the various aspectual, modal and polarity nuances of the (un-)inflected verb stem and are a common phenomenon in Mabia languages. Adverbials, though not related only to verbal constructions, factor prominently in the structure of the VP.The verb stem could comprise a bare verb (the root) or a derived verb form. If there are any derived forms these always occur closer to the verb root; inflectional suffixes are then attached to the verb stem (the verb root with/without derivations). Verb stems precede object nominals which in turn precede the only post-verbal particle identified so far -sa ‘already’ while adverbial modifiers take up final position. These are discussed in turn beginning with a summary of the pre-verbal particles in the next section and adverbs in §6.3.2. The inflectional processes which yield aspect are taken up in the next chapter.

6.3.1 The pre-verbal particles Pre-verbal particles are a closed class of words that precede the main verb and form an important component of the VP in many languages in the Mabia cluster. These particles have thus been thoroughly investigated in related languages such as Dagara (Bodomo 1993, 1997:84), Gurenɛ (Dakubu 1995, Atintono 2004:95– 125), and Safaliba (Schaefer 2009:104ff). In Kusaal too, Spratt & Spratt (1972:26) and Abubakari (2011:22) underscore the special functions of these forms in the language as regards tense and aspect, mood and polarity. They place the number of particles between 10 and 15 individual items. As Bodomo (1997) rightly notes, these particles differ from adverbs in that while adverbs are quite unrestricted and can be used freely in pre- and post-verbal positions, pre-verbal particles are restricted to occurring only before the verb. The forms are listed below.

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Table 6.2: Preverbal particles Temporal

Modality

Polarity

pa/paa

Hodiernal past ‘earlier today’

HOD.PST

sa/saa

Hesternal past ‘only yesterday’

HEST.PST

da/daa

Pre-hesternal/distant past ‘two or more days ago’

DIST.PST

yan

‘as usual’

lɛn

‘again’

pʊn

‘already’

ɛ̃ɛti

‘often’

pa’ati

‘may be’

yaa

‘if/when’

nan

‘still’

sid

‘actually’

Future ‘will’

FUT

saa + na

Crastinal Future ‘only tomorrow’

FUT.CRAS

yé

‘going to’

ING (Ingressive)

pʊ̀

‘not’

NEG

kʊ́

‘will not’

NEG.FUT

dá

‘don’t’

NEG.IMP

COND

6.3.2 Adverbials The class of adverbs in Kusaal includes words which especially qualify verbs and adjectives as well as other classes of words including determiners, and certain phrases. They are categorised into temporal, manner, place, degree or intensity, probability and frequency adverbs and involve a mix of single words and/ or reduplicated stems. A formal identification of a bonafide class of adverbs for Kusaal counteracts the sentiment of Melançon (1957:71) that there are no “true adverbs” in Kusaal because in his view, adverbial functions are expressed via “‘nouns’ or ‘verbs’ in their root form or by phrases”. However, similar to Kpelle (Mande), adverbs in Kusaal “…may [actually] have a nominal use, particularly as the subject of a sentence. They can hardly be said to be nouns, however; among other things, they take no affixes and are never modified by a demonstrative or adjective” (Welmers 1973:446).

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Further, these adverbs cannot or do not have plural forms which is one of the important criteria for nominal identification (with the exception, of course, of abstract/non-count nominals). In addition, this class of words cannot be used as verbs in their own right but rather provide more information on other lexical or functional categories, especially verbs and adjectives. Structurally, adverbials often occur after the elements that they modify and occur in fronted positions when they are preceded by the focus marker ka. In the discussion that follows, we highlight how the class is represented in the language.

6.3.2.1 Place adverbials These adverbs indicate the location or provide information on the spatial situation of the arguments of the predicate. Typically, they answer the question yaani ‘where’. We find the following non-derived forms which have a demonstrative locative function: (350) kpɛla agol ani/anina

‘here’ ‘up’ ‘there’

kpɛ’ɛsa teŋir

‘there’ ‘down’

A productive means of deriving place adverbs is by affixing the locative morpheme –Vn to any nominal item to indicate a spatial dimension. The resulting derived meaning is one of ‘in/at x’; x being the nominal to which the locative is affixed. Examples: (351) siã r-in pɔɔg-in sakur-in yi-n

dɔɔg-in zak-in kugur-in yiŋ

‘bush-LOC’ ‘farm-LOC’ ‘school-LOC’ ‘house-LOC, home’

‘room-LOC’ ‘compound-LOC’ ‘stone-LOC’ ‘outside-LOC’

In the examples above, yin ‘home’ is a derived adverbial that has grammaticalised from yir ‘house’ + the locative morpheme -in which yields –yir-in ‘house-LOC > home’.32 The relator nouns described above (§4.3) also function conveniently as place adverbials when they occur with the nominal items that they locate. Thus, constructions such as kʊk la zug tiig la gbin pal la nɔɔr laa la teŋsʊk

chair DET head tree DET buttocks street DET mouth bowl DET centre

> > > >

‘on top of the chair’ ‘under the tree’ ‘the edge/side of the street’ ‘the centre of the bowl’

32 While yin and yirin both refer to ‘home’, the former is used more in the Agole area, while the latter has greater currency in Toende Kusaal.

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are all relator noun phrases (or the more common postpositional phrase) that are used as place adverbials.

6.3.2.2 Adverbs of time Time adverbials provide information about the temporal framework in a construction and involve words that speak to the concept of time (as regards ‘when’ an action occurred) and its demarcations thereof. These include the following items which basically answer the question saŋkanɛ ‘when/what time’: Table 6.3: Temporal adverbs ADV zina

Gloss ‘today’

ADV su’os

Gloss ‘yesterday’

bɛ’og

‘tomorrow’

bɛ’ogʊn

daar

‘day before yesterday’

asuba

‘day after tomorrow’

nintaŋ

‘afternoon’

zaamnɔɔr

‘evening’

yʊ’ʊŋ

‘night’

ã wa

‘by now’

yʊ’ʊŋtisʊʊs

‘midnight’

‘early morning’

Tentatively, we find only one reduplicated time adverb which resonates the urgency with which the action is undertaken or expected to be carried out in the language: (352) nannanna

‘right now, immediately’

A number of forms which derive from two of the adverbs above, su’os ‘yesterday’ and daar ‘day before yesterday’; appear to have undergone a semantic process of bleaching such that they have assumed a role only as “pre-verbal” particles. Though these pre-verbals have a similar function as the adverbials in question “they hardly lend themselves to free movement within the sentence as is the case with the adverbials” (Bodomo 1997:101). The functions that these forms play are comparable to the well-known multiple past and future tense systems of Bantu languages such as is discussed in Nurse (2008:88ff). The following are the forms:

33 From Hausa, with the same meaning.

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Table 6.4: Aspectual markers derived from adverbials Past time da ‘two or more days ago’ (pre-hesternal/ distant past PST.DIST)

Future time daa ‘two or more days to come’ (Post-crastinal future/ distant future FUT.DIST)

‘yesterday’ (Hesternal past PST.HEST)

saa

‘earlier today’ (hodiernal past PST.HOD)

‘tomorrow’ (crastinal future FUT.CRAS)

The above play a prominent role in the aspectual system of the language and are discussed therein (Chapter 7). Other temporal adverbials are the days of the week when they precede the adverbial daar ‘day’. Examples: (353) Alamisi-daar Arezum-daar Atilata-daar

‘Wednesday’ ‘Friday’ ‘Thursday’

Finally, temporal adverb phrases could constitute a combination of an NP and the temporal relator noun nya’aŋ ‘after’. Examples: (354) Yʊʊm paal year new ‘after the new year’

la DET

(355) Yʊma piiga years ten ‘after ten years’

nya’aŋ back

(356) Duam la birth DET ‘after the birth’

nya’aŋ back

(357) Tʊʊma la work DET ‘after the work’

nya’aŋ back

6.3.2.3 Manner adverbs These adverb types indicate the manner or nature in which the action of the predicate is completed or executed and answer the question wala ‘how’. Kusaal manner adverbs are usually preceded by the verb which they describe in detail. The class is also largely dominated by ideophones which conjure sensory connotations depicting the action of the verb in relation to a number of semantic 163

factors such as whether the action is carried out several times or once or whether several participants or one person is implied. Generally, the morphological structure of the ideophone is a single stem which is reduplicated for emphasis, continuity/iterativity or plurality amongst others. Table 6.5: Ideophones functioning as manner adverbs Single stem Ideophones Form

Gloss

kim

‘(to close) tightly’

kiŋ

‘(to hold) firmly’

warrr

‘sound of falling rain’

wamm

‘comfortably’

bup/bip

‘sound of falling’

vã b

‘(to fall or lie) prostrate’ Reduplicated Ideophones (adapted mostly from Musah etal. 2013:54)

vɛ̃’-vɛ̃’-vɛ̃

‘to follow/do something systematically/methodically’

vã b-vã b

‘several things falling with a vã b sound’

bup-bup

‘several things falling with a bup sound’

kiŋ-kiŋ

‘(hold on to something) tightly’

kaŋ-kaŋ

‘solidly/to be solid/something that is solid (firm)’

mat-mat

‘sound of wet substance as it makes contact with the ground; like mud’

wam-wam

‘actively/vigorously/reliably’

faa-faa

‘flowing freely; like air that blows’

waa-waa

‘fast-fast (Gh. English) < quickly’

bʊg-bʊg

‘break into pieces’

tat-tat

‘until, up until’

wai-wai

‘immeasurable or incomparable (pain/distress)!’

gbaagba

‘unbelievable!’

Some manner adverbs are not ideophonic but comprise a mix of single stem lexemes and/or reduplicated stems and include some of the following: (358) tɔ’/ tɔ’ɔtɔ bɛna-bɛna bar-bar

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‘early, quickly’ ‘into shreds’ ‘parched’, bone-dry’

agol-gola biel-biel azampɛ’ɛla bɔlimm-bɔlimm dʊʊr-dʊʊr bã alim/ki’ kii

‘high-high, up-up > loudly’ ‘slowly, in small quantities (‘small small’ in Ghanaian English parlance)’ ‘(to lie) supine’ ‘smoothly’ ‘in heaps’ ‘quietly’ ‘intently, observantly’

6.3.2.4 Intensity/degree Intensity or degree adverbs comprise a closed class of words which further modify verbs, adverbs and adjectives. These are hali34 and paa ‘a lot’. Sample usages include the following: (359) with verb Li zab pu’a la EXPL pain woman DET ‘It hurt or pained the woman a lot.’ (360) with adjective Lɔr la vɛ̃l car DET is.beautiful ‘The car is very beautiful.’

hali a lot

(361) with adverb O da zɔ-t-nɛ 3SG PST run-HAB-Foc ‘S/he was running really fast.’

tɔ’ɔtɔ quickly

paa a lot

hali a lot

6.3.2.5 Certainty/probability adverbs Certainty or probability adverbs relate to constructions concerning mood/modality and the extent to which the speaker can attest the truth-value of a statement or otherwise. These adverb types are generally restricted, in syntactic frames, to occurring at pre-verb position:Examples: (362) pa’ati pʊn sadigin

‘may/might have’ ‘already’ ‘once, so long as’

sid nan

‘really, truly’ ‘still’

34 Hali as an adverb is hom*onymous. The translation here should thus not be confused with its other meaning ‘even’.

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6.3.2.6 Frequency adverbs Frequency adverbs underlie the number of occurrences of an event and the related constructions thereof and, thus, indicate how often the referenced event happened. One lexical item that champions the cause of frequency adverbs is yiiti which can have up to a half-dozen meanings including the following:‘often, usually, habitually, frequently, normally, regularly’. Temporal adverbials which collocate with woo35 ‘every’ also underlie frequency adverbs with the indication of the frequency of occurrence deduced from the temporal adverbs. (363) daar woo nwadig woo zaam woo yʊʊm woo

‘every day’ ‘every month > every moon’ ‘every evening’ ‘every year’

Another productive means of deriving frequency adverbs is through a collocation of nɔɔr ‘mouth < times’ and a cardinal number (x) to form nɔɔr x ‘x times’ to indicate the number of times or occurrences of an event. Examples: (364) nɔɔr ayi’ nɔɔr anaasi nɔɔr piiga

‘two times’ ‘four times’ ‘ten times’

6.4 Conclusion In this chapter, we highlighted the canonical SVO clause structure of Kusaal and indicated that verbs in the language do not inflect for number; thus, the range of participants can be determined from the indications of number inflected only on nominal items. In this chapter too, we examined the configuration of Kusaal verbs and elaborated on some of the morpho-syntactic features that underscore the verb complex. The chapter also depicted the Kusaal verb phrase proper and highlighted its composition in relation to other elements such as pre- and postverbal elements as well as adverbs.

35 Woo ‘every’ is considered a quantifier (determiner) when it collocates with nominals that do not express temporal delineations such as nid woo ‘every human being’, etc.

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7 Aspect & Modality in Kusaal 7.1 Introduction In this chapter, the inflectional systems that yield the aspectual and modal forms of Kusaal are considered. In §7.2, we examine the various manifestations of aspect in the language and contend that time relations in Kusaal are best described in terms of the opposition between perfective and imperfective. We show that the unmarked or ø-form can thereby yield various meanings in discourse in both the perfective and imperfective. Marked forms, on the other hand, express more distinct meanings such as habituality and progressivity, as well as the perfect. In the next major section §7.3, we explore modality in Kusaal where we consider future time marking, the conditional, the ingressive and the imperative clause. The discussion on the pre-verbal elements highlighted in the preceding chapter is incorporated into each of the aspect and modality systems.

7.2 Aspect As a category, tense is a rather bastardised phenomenon in contemporary Ghanaian linguistics, especially in respect of current research on Kwa languages. Ameka (2008), for instance, asserts that tense is not prominent in Ewe; which view is further buttressed by Essegbey (2008) also on Ewe as well as by Dakubu (2008) and Osam (2008) on Ga and Akan respectively. Going with Comrie’s well-known definition of tense as “grammaticalised location in time” (1985:9), we note that while situations in Kusaal can very well be located in time, this location is secondary. Rather, situations are described according to their “internal temporal constituency” (Comrie 1976), i.e. how the situations in themselves are viewed. For instance, we contend that the perfective aspect (PFV) “provides the view of an event as a whole from outside…is unconcerned with the internal temporal structure of the event…[and] views the situation as bounded, and as forming a unified entity” (Bhat 1999:45/6, cf. Comrie 1976 inter-alia). Thus, situations presented perfectively are naturally perceived as being located in the past (or, much rarer, in the future). This depiction of the perfective form subsumes our discussion of unmarked action verbs (our socalled FCT1-verbs). Imperfective aspect on the other hand makes “…explicit reference to the internal temporal structure of a situation [and] involves viewing a situation from within” (Comrie 1976:24). Crystal (2003:227) succinctly paraphrases the nature 167

of the imperfective as “…those forms of the verb which mark the way in which the internal time structure of a situation is viewed”. In Kusaal, imperfectivity is indicated via two morphological forms which express the habitual and progressive aspectual forms. We also include in this category unmarked stative verbs, our so-called FCT2-verbs and highlight the aspectual system of Kusaal following Dakubu (2008:106) in the figure (7.1) below. The highest basic distinction is one of mood, namely between realis and irrealis. Within realis mood, situations can either be viewed perfectively or imperfectively, while the unmarked verb can relate to both. Habitual and progressive forms are viewed as belonging to imperfective forms. The perfect, on the other hand, cannot accurately be classified as either perfective or imperfective, and is viewed as a category on its own. We discuss all forms in turn in the following sections. Figure 7.1: Inflectional, modal and polarity features INFL/AMP features -REALIS -/+ VOLITION

+REALIS -INFL

+INFL +IPFV

FCT1-verbs 'Perfective'

FCT2-verbs 'Imperfective'

-IPFV

HAB

PROG

PRF

-Vd

-Vd-n

-ya

(adapted and modified from Dakubu 2008:106)

7.2.1 The unmarked verb:The factative As stated in at the beginning of this chapter, the unmarked verb relates to various meanings in discourse, comprising both perfective and imperfective interpretations, depending on verbal semantics as well as contextual cues. This characteristic of the unmarked verb has been observed in various 168

(West) African languages and has been referred to as the “factative”. The nature of the factative (FCT)36, also called the aorist (Ameka 2008:139ff), as a verbal category in African linguistics is traced to Welmers (1973:346/7) and “expresses the most obvious fact about the verb in question, which in the case of active verbs is that the action was observed or took place, but for stative verbs is that the situation obtains at present”. Underlying in the description of the factative therefore is the structure of the verb form itself, whereby only a base form of the verb, with minimal or no inflection, is at play. In Kusaal too, when an action verb stem (i.e., the root of the verb including derivational but not inflectional affixes) takes a complement or object nominal, a past event is implied. Conversely, a present/enduring meaning is implied when the verb used is stative.

7.2.1.1 Unmarked action verbs This use of the unmarked verb relates to action verbs which when used without any inflections point to past events. This is similar to the case in many Mabia languages such as in Gurenɛ where “verbs seem to have an inherent meaning of the perfective aspect [such that] any verb which is not marked with the imperfective suffix…receives a default perfective reading” (Atintono 2013:102). Verbs in this category are usually action verbs but also verbs of cognition or experience which are used in telic constructions, i.e. to express events that can be shown to have come to an end. We will refer to such verbs as FCT1-verbs. In the examples in (365–369) below, the verbs indicate that the event spoken about have already happened and involve, in all cases, only the base form of the verb: (365) Na’ayiis di thieves eat.FCT1 ‘Thieves ate all the food’

diib food

la DET

wʊsa all

(366) ka nu daam la paas CONJ drink.FCT1 pito DET in addition ‘and drunk the pito (local beverage) in addition.’ (367) Ba kpɛ̃’ tempʊʊg-in 3PL enter.FCT1 town-LOC ‘They have gone into town.’

36 We abbreviate Welmer’s factative as ‘FCT’ in this thesis in order to differentiate it from other abbreviations already in use such as FACT which refer to the “factitive” and/or “factive” ‘amongst others.

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(368) O yɔ’ɔg za’anɔɔr la 3SG open.FCT1 door DET ‘He opened the door with a knife.’ (369) Wina’am-i maal God-Foc make.FCT1 ‘God made this earth.’

dunia world

nɛ INST

sʊ’ʊg. knife

nwa. DEM

The examples above highlight factative realisations of mostly action verbs which express past events; in this regard, the factative expresses a perfective meaning.

7.2.1.2 Factative 1-verbs and Foc -nɛ37 In addition to the above forms, the FCT1- verb could occur with a broad focus marker -nɛ which has a primary function of directing attention to the specific action or event expressed in the clause. As a result, a meaning of “actually did verb” comes up when the unmarked action verb collocates with the -nɛ marker such as in the following pairs where extra attention is directed at the action of the verb in the ‘b’ examples. (370) a. O di 3SG eat.FCT1 ‘He ate TZ.’

sa’ab TZ

b. O di-nɛ sa’ab 3SG eat.FCT1-Foc TZ ‘He did eat TZ/ He ATE (not drunk) TZ.’ (371) a. O nu 3SG drink.FCT1 ‘He drunk water.’

ku’om water

b. O nu-nɛ ku’om 3SG drink.FCT1-Foc water ‘He did drink water/He DRUNK (not sold) water.’

7.2.1.3 Unmarked stative verbs The second meaning expressed by the unmarked verb is an imperfective one. When a stative verb is left unmarked, it indicates that the action of the verb 37 We make a distinction between Foc – with initial cap-letter only – and FOC – in all caps. While we relate the former to broad focus, we relate the latter to narrow focus following Dakubu (2005:18–20). Naden (1988) refers to these distinctions as light and heavy emphasis respectively.

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pertains at the moment of speaking. In Anyanwu (2013: 180/187), these are called ‘factative-stative verbs’. The category does not cover all stative verbs but only those that have an inherent atelic meaning; i.e., stative verbs that do not point to an end or completion of the action. Henceforth, we will refer to this group of verbs as FCT2-verbs. These are not many and include the verbs for ‘to be’, ‘to be at’, ‘to have’, ‘to know’ and ‘to not know’, ‘to love/like’, ‘to want’ and stative-adjective verbs: (372) Dau sɔ’ bɛ siã r-in man INDEF EXST.FCT2 bush-LOC ‘There is a certain man in the bushes.’

la DET

(373) O mɔr niigi nɛ pɛ’ɛs bɛdigʊ 3SG have.FCT2 cows CONJ goats many ‘He has many cows and goats.’ (374) Ka mi ba wʊsa yʊda CONJ know.FCT2 3PL.POSS all names ‘And (he) knows the names of all of them.’ (375) Kɔ̃ bʊg la nɔŋ o yɛla animals DET like.FCT2 3SG.POSS matter ‘The animals like him a lot (lit.:The animals like his matter).’ (376) Tiig la wa’am tree DET be.tall.FCT2 ‘The tree is tall.’

These verbs can also be used in focus constructions where they occur together with the Foc marker -nɛ and also point to a present or enduring event. Examples include the following: (377) Ku’om la ma’a-nɛ water DET be.cold .FCT-Foc ‘The water is cold.’ (378) Sakur la lal-nɛ school DET far.FCT2-Foc ‘The school is far.’

7.2.1.4 Factatives and the pre-verbal particles Irrespective of the form of the factative verb (whether stative or action), however, when it is preceded by the past temporal pre-verbals sa, da and pa or by temporal

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adverbials38 such as su’os ‘yesterday’, daar ‘day before yesterday’ which point to past times, they acquire a past time reference. While statives take on a “used to” sense (379), action verbs have a past reference (380): (379) Na’a-sɔ’ da bɛ chief-INDEF PST.DIST EXST.FCT2 ‘There used to be a certain chief.’ (380) O da mɔr 3SG PST.DIST have.FCT2 ‘He had (used to have) ten wives.’

pu’ab wives

piiga ten

Implicit in the examples above is the fact that the events being spoken about go back much longer in time because of the use of the pre-verbal da which relates distant past events. In the next two examples, the action of the event relates to a time point during the course of yesterday. That is, because of sa a hesternal past reading is implied and the time frame of the occurrence of the event is tied to only the day before; the particle thus excludes the possibility that the event took place earlier today or two or more days ago. This could also be indicated by the adverbial su’os ‘yesterday’. (381) Ku’om la sa tʊl water DET PST.HEST be.hot.FCT2 ‘The water was hot (yesterday).’ (382) Su’os nintaŋ ka wiim la bas o yesterday afternoon FOC sickness DET leave.FCT1 3SG ‘Yesterday afternoon that the sickness left her/him (s/he became well).’

Similarly, the use of pa in the following examples indicates that the time frame of occurrence of the event is tied to the present day of speaking. This instantiates hodiernal pastness, which is past in relation to an event that occurred earlier or during the day: (383) O pa keŋ 3SG PST.HOD go.FCT1 ‘He went to school (earlier today).’

sakur school

(384) Ba pa nyɛ na’ab la 3PL PST.HOD see.FCT1 chief DET ‘They saw the chief ’s dominion (earlier today).’

sʊ’ʊlim dominion

38 Temporal adverbials can precede the main verb ONLY in focussed constructions as shown in (382) below.

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7.2.2 The habitual The habitual situates events that occur frequently and relates predictive behaviour of the agent in respect of the action indicated in the verb. The habitual morpheme –Vd is suffixed to the base form of the verb:-V is realised as a long vowel for verbs ending in short vowels, or as an epenthetic vowel at verb stems with consonant codas. This vowel often harmonises in terms of [ATR] with the penultimate vowel in the verb stem. In the examples that follow, the habitual form is often highlighted together with object nominals. However, there is no need for overt object arguments if the context of the discourse situation is shared by all participants or is well-defined.39 (385) O dʊg-ʊd 3SG. cook-HAB ‘S/he cooks food.’

diib food

(386) Ba kuos-id 3PL sell-HAB ‘They sell clothes.’

fuut clothes

(387) Pu’a la pɛŋ-id ligidi daar-woo woman DET borrow-HAB money day-every ‘The woman borrows money every day.’

Usually, geminate forms (see §2.6.1.2 above) arise in the habitual form when the coda consonant of the verb is the bilabial nasal /m/: (388) Tiig la dam-mid tree DET shake-HAB ‘The tree shakes.’ (389) Ba tam-mid biig la yɛla 3PL forget-HAB child DET matter ‘They (often) forget about the child.’

Further, verb stems which terminate in a short vowel are lengthened as highlighted in the examples in (390–392) below. While –Vd is the archimorpheme in more than 90% of the cases, an epenthetic vowel becomes redundant if the verb stem terminates in a long vowel (393, 394).

39 Glossing convention:When the IPFV form specifically instantiates habituality, we parse it as HAB. With respect to the progressive forms we use two forms of parsing and glossing which will become evident in §7.2.3.

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(390) Awam nu-ud Awam drink-HAB ‘Awam drinks pito.’

daam pito

(391) Ba nwɛ’-ɛd 3PL beat-HAB ‘They beat.’ (392) O zi-id. 2SG carry-HAB ‘S/he carries.’ (393) Awam di’e-d yɔɔd Awam collect-HAB wages ‘Awam receives salary.’ (394) Ya fã ’a-d nɔŋdim 2PL rob-HAB poverty-owner ‘You.PL rob poor people.’

However, in a few instances involving mostly verbs of action/locomotion which have short vowels in the syllable nucleus, the short vowels are retained and do not become lengthened. The motivation for this restriction may be a semantic rather than morphological as no elements in the immediate environment of these verbs can be identified as the triggers of this occurrence. In this case, however, the habitual marker is realised as the voiceless suffix –t. Examples: (395) A-zaŋkuar zɔ-t Mr-hare run-HAB ‘Mr Hare runs very fast.’

tɔ‘ɔtɔ. fast~REDUP

(396) Man nɛ on la‘am di-t 1SG.EMPH CONJ 3SG together eat-HAB ‘S/he and I (often) eat together.’ (397) Sakuga yi-t agola li-t-na hailstones come-HAB up fall-HAB-VEN ‘Hailstones fall from above.’

Finally, there is a group of irregular verbs for which the habitual forms do not take any of the -Vd/-t suffixes. These verbs usually terminate in a liquid coda /l/. To form the habitual in this case, /l/ is transposed to the alveolar nasal /n/. This category also includes the verb for ‘walk/goes’ keŋ, which becomes ken in the habitual. These are exemplified under AII in the table below which presents a summary of the various realizations of the habitual form:

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(398) Summary of realizations of the habitual form A. Consonant codas I General outlook vC

‘look’ ‘cook’

II Final liquid consonants are transposed to nasal codas

+ id

_Nsl

gɔs

gɔs-id

‘looks’

‘show’

pa’al

pa’a-n ‘shows’

dʊg

dʊg-ʊd

‘gives’

‘swallow’

vɔl

vɔ-n

‘make’

maal maa-n ‘makes’

‘call’

buol

buo-n ‘calls’

dɔl

dɔ-n

‘take’

nɔk

nɔk-id

‘takes’

‘whip’

fieb

fieb-id

‘whips’

‘borrow’ pɛŋ

pɛŋ-id

‘borrows’ ‘follow’

‘cross’

lɔŋ

lɔŋ-id

‘crosses’

‘announce’ mɔɔl

‘sit’

zi’in zi’in-id

‘sits’

‘go’

‘shake’

dam dam-mid ‘shakes’

‘forget’

tam tam-mid ‘forgets’

keŋ

‘swallows’

‘follows’

mɔɔ-n ‘announces’ ke-n

‘goes’

B. Final vowels I Lengthening of final vowel sounds

II Retention of short final vowels

+Vd

‘drink’ nu

nu-ud

‘drinks’

‘fall’

lu-t

‘falls’

‘pay’

yɔ

yɔ-ɔd

‘pays’

‘run’

zɔ

zɔ-t

‘runs’

‘beat’

bʊ’

bʊ’-ʊd

‘beats’

‘climb’

dʊ

dʊ-t

‘climbs’

‘laugh’ la’

la’-ad

‘laughs’

‘eat’

di-t

‘eats’

‘wear’

yɛ

yɛ-ɛd

‘wears’

‘say’

yɛ-t

‘says’

‘buy’

da’

da-’ad

‘buys’

‘go out’

yi-t

‘goes out’

7.2.3 The progressive The progressive is the other instantiation of imperfective meaning. It is built on the imperfective habitual forms – together with -nɛ, the indicator of broad focus, which is generally suffixed to the verb form or is realised as the final element of the clause structure. Effectively, then, the progressive is a focussed version of the habitual with a derived meaning of “is actually doing the action of the verb”.40

40 As a result (of the above), a problem arises as regards a representative glossing of the progressive because three means of doing this avail themselves:

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We provide the examples in the following table to allow for a closer comparison of the forms as they pertain in the language: (399) Juxtaposition of the habitual and progressive forms HAB PROG a. Nayiis la zu-ud ligidi Nayiis la zu-ud-nɛ ligidi thieves DET steal-HAB money thieves DET steal-HAB-Foc money ‘The thieves steal money.’ ‘The thieves are stealing money.’ b. O bʊ-t ki 3SG sow-HAB millet ‘S/he sows millet.’

O bʊ-t-nɛ ki 3SG sow-HAB-Foc millet ‘S/he is sowing millet.’

c. Fʊ dʊ-t tiis 2SG climb-HAB trees ‘You climb trees.’

Ba dʊ-t-nɛ tiis 2SG climb-HAB-Foc trees ‘They are climbing trees.’

d. Ya sɔb-id gbana 2PL write-HAB books ‘You.PL write books.’

Ya sɔb-id-nɛ gbana 2PL write-HAB-Foc books ‘You.PL are writing books.’

e. Ba nwɛ’-ɛd biis 3PL beat-HAB children ‘They beat children.’

Ba nwɛ’-ɛd-nɛ biis 3PL beat-HAB-Foc children ‘They are beating children.’

f. Ti ken sakur 2PL go.HAB school ‘We go to school.’

Ti ken-nɛ sakur 2PL go.HAB-Foc school ‘We are going to school.’

The structure of the progressive form – the focussed HAB – from the above illustrations is quite uncomplicated. Thus, when the imperfective form instantiates progressive action, a progressive form –Vd-nɛ is triggered as has been exemplified in the above. Thus, while the ‘a’ examples below can have only progressive meanings, the ones in ‘b’ have a habitual reading: (400) a. Dasaŋ la kʊ-ʊd-nɛ nɔɔs. young.man DET kill-HAB-Foc chickens ‘The young man is killing chickens.’

-Vd-nɛ II. -Vd nɛ III. -Vdnɛ -HAB-Foc -HAB Foc -PROG In this thesis, however, we use the representation in I in the glossing and parsing of the underlying form of the progressive –Vdnɛ together with its allophonic variation –tnɛ. We use the glossing form in II when progressive action is implied but other lexical elements intervene between the IPFV form and the focus marker. Number III is however the preferred form in Kusaal orthography. I.

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b. Dasaŋ la kʊ-ʊd young.man DET kill-HAB ‘The young man kills chickens.’

nɔɔs. chickens

(401) a. Pa’an la sʊŋ-id-nɛ biig teacher DET help-HAB-Foc child ‘The teacher is helping the child.’ b. Pa’an la sʊŋ-id teacher DET help-HAB ‘The teacher helps the child.’ (402) a. O tĩ-id-nɛ s/he vomit-HAB-Foc ‘S/he is vomiting blood.’

biig child

la DET la DET

ziim blood

b. O tĩ-id ziim s/he vomit-HAB blood ‘S/he vomits blood.’

Having pointed out the underlying form of the progressive – with embedded focus in the underlying form of the IPFV, we highlight a few instances where progressive action is nevertheless implied although the focus marker is a little removed from the IPFV form. The ‘b’ examples in the following are representative: (403) a. Ba sɛ̃’-ɛd-nɛ zimi 3PL roast-HAB-Foc fishes ‘They are roasting (not frying) fish.’ b. Ba sɛ̃’-ɛd zimi nɛ 3PL roast-HAB fishes Foc ‘They are roasting fish (not meat).’ (404) a. O di-t-nɛ sa’ab 3SG eat-HAB-Foc TZ ‘He is eating (not drinking) TZ.’ b. O di-t sa’ab 3SG eat-HAB TZ ‘He is eating TZ (not rice).’

nɛ Foc

(405) a. Ba vaa-d-nɛ kuga la 2PL take-HAB-Foc stones DET ‘They are collecting (not scattering) the stones.’ b. Ba va-ad kuga la nɛ 2PL take-HAB stones DET Foc ‘They are collecting the stones (not the skins).’

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7.2.4 Pre-verbals and the IPFV forms Pre-verbal elements that co-occur with the IPFV forms are often the modals lɛn ‘again’, yan ‘as usual’, yiiti ‘usually’, sid ‘really’, nan ‘still’, pa’ati ‘may be’. These reinforce the information with personal convictions or knowledge about the state of affairs expressed by the verb. Examples: (406) O nan mu’ad bĩ’isim 3SG still suck-HAB breast milk ‘S/he still sucks breast milk/ he still suckles.’ (407) On ɛ̃ɛti maan si’em 3SG usually make-HAB way ‘That’s what he usually does…’

n la… FOC DET

The IPFV forms could also be modified by temporal adverbials which express frequency and are indicated by woo ‘every’. Example: (408) Ti ma’ da’-ad 2PL.POSS mother buy-HAB ‘Our mother buys millet every month.’

ki millet

nwadig-woo month-every

Temporal pre-verbals such as da PST.DIST and sa PST.HEST, when they occur with the imperfective forms, locate the occurrence of the HAB or PROG event in the past time. The derived meanings are “used to VERB” or “was VERBing” respectively: (409) Nasara la da di-t white.person DET PST.DIST eat-HAB ‘The white person used to eat TZ.’

sa’ab TZ

(410) O sa kuo-d-nɛ ki 3SG PST.HEST farm-HAB-Foc millet ‘S/he was hoeing/farming millet yesterday.’ (411) Ba da vɔ̃ -ɔd suma n 3PL PST.DIST uproot-HAB groundnuts FOC ‘They used to uproot groundnuts and eat.’

ɔ̃ b-id chew-HAB

7.2.5 The perfect The perfect aspect relates a situation to the reference time. Null-object constructions in the past take the perfect form which is built on the base form of the active verb. The perfect morpheme –Vya is inflected on the unmarked verb form and yields a form similar to the English ‘has/have VERB-en’ form. –V is a vowel which remains unrealised when the verb stem terminates in a vowel but 178

is realised as an epenthetic –i- vowel between verb stems which terminate in a consonant coda and the perfect morpheme. When a verb is used in the perfect, object (pro)nominals as well adverbials of any kind are barred from occurring in object/complement position. Based on a similar restriction in Dagbani, a cognate language, Issah (2015) refers to this form of the verb as “disjoint perfective” verb forms. The structure of the perfect form is thus quite uncomplicated: (412) Perfect PRF forms Gloss

Verb

PRF

FCT1

FCT1-Vya41

Gloss

‘eat’

di-ya

‘has eaten’

‘drink’

nu-ya

‘has drunk’

‘die’

kpi

kpi-ya

‘has died’

‘tie’

lɔ

lɔ-ya

‘has tied’

‘buy’

da’a

da’-aya

‘has bought’

‘sleep’

gbis

gbis-iya

‘has slept’

‘take’

nɔk

nɔk-iya

‘has taken’

‘go’

keŋ

keŋ-iya

‘has gone’

‘call’

buol

buol-iya

‘has called’

‘send’

tʊm

tʊm-iya

‘has sent’

‘make’

maal

maal-iya

‘has made’

From the above we generate the following formalisation to account for the two realisations of the perfect form. Stated clearly, (413) expresses the fact that the PRF form is realised as –ya when it is preceded by a verb stem which ends in a vowel or as -Vya when the preceding element of the verb is a consonant: [-ya] / V (413) PRF

[-Vya] / C

Verbs that cannot be used in the perfect are mostly FCT2-verbs, the so-called factative-stative verbs. Forms such as the following are thus not tenable:

41 The epenthetic vowel i after the consonants s, k, ŋ, l, and m is realised more in the spoken word and serves to simplify the “apparent” consonant cluster at the syllable boundaries.

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(414) mɔr ã ã bɛ

‘to have’ ‘to be’ ‘to be at’

*mɔr-iya *aa-ya *bɛ-ya

Some verbs of cognition and stative-adjectival verbs which do not always entail real actions can however be used in the perfect. Examples: (415) a. O gim-iya 3SG short-PRF ‘S/he has become short.’

[from giŋ ‘short’ > gim ‘to shorten’]

b. Li pɛlig-iya EXPL whiten-PRF ‘It has become white.

[from piel ‘white’ > pɛlig ‘to whiten’]

c. Ba tɛ̃’ɛ̃s-iya 3PL remember-PRF ‘They have remembered.’

[from tɛ̃’ɛ̃s ‘to remember’]

d. O nyɛ-ya 3SG see-PRF ‘He has seen.’

[from nyɛ ‘to see’]

7.3 Modality The realis mood subsumes our discussions above on the two meanings expressed by the unmarked verb (on either FCT1- or FCT2-verbs), the perfect (PRF), and the two forms of the imperfective (the HAB and PROG) which can be preceded by pre-verbal modals such as yan ‘as usual’, pʊn ‘already’, nan ‘still’, lɛn ‘again’, yiiti ‘often’, sid ‘actually’, which more or less affirm the truth value of the various realis forms. In this section, we explore the irrealis mood with particular regard to future time marking and the conditional, which are both achieved via pre-verbal particles. We will also consider the imperative and the ingressive construction in this section.

7.3.1 Future time marking Future time marking is used here to refer to what has been called the “future tense” in some languages. As Dakubu (2008) and Essegbey (2008) state for Ga and Ewe, the future/non-future forms and their related morphemes in most Kwa languages are actually best classed as modal forms in view of their main function, which is to indicate potentiality, a domain that sits snugly within irrealis mood. Considering that futurity is only one possible interpretation of the future form in Kusaal, we prefer to not refer to the future form as a tense category. Since 180

the meanings are often tinged with modal nuances, we consider the expression of futurity as a modal category. To make statements concerning future events, the uninflected form of the verb is used, preceded by the pre-verbal particle ná which has a ‘will, about to’ reading. The tone on the particle is high for the first and second persons and low for the third person: (416) M̄ ná 1SG FUT ‘I will eat.’

dī eat

(417) Fʊ̄ ná nū 2SG FUT drink ‘You will drink’. (418) Ò nà má’ pū ’à lá 3SG FUT deceive woman DET ‘He will deceive the woman.’ (419) Ba nà lɛn kúos 3PL FUT again sell ‘They will sell again.’

While ná points to a generic time in the future, it has a special crastinal (CRAS) reading when it is preceded by the particle saa ‘tomorrow’. This indicates that the foregrounded event, even though it is yet to happen, is restricted to happening only in the course of tomorrow: (420) Nā ’ab lá sā a nà kēnā chief DET CRAS FUT come ‘The chief will come tomorrow.’ ` (421) M mà sā a nà mɔ̄n sā ’ab 1POSS mother CRAS FUT stir TZ ‘My mother will stir (make) TZ tomorrow.’ (422) Bà sàa nà dū oe bɛ̄’og zā am 3PL CRAS FUT leave tomorrow evening ‘They will leave (depart) tomorrow evening.’

7.3.2 The ingressive clause The morpheme ye introduces a complement clause when it occurs after one of the verbs of verbal expression discussed in §8.4.2.1 below. As a modal marker, however, ye occurs alone and has an epistemic function wherein it foregrounds an ingressive clause. The epistemic reading is underscored in the conviction or certainty that the speaker has about the event about which he/she speaks. The 181

ingressive form and future time marking are similar but differ only in the fact that the ingressive foregrounds a potential event and has a far more important relevance to the present time of speaking than the future form. While the future relates events that are somewhat removed from the present discourse event, (and may or may not actually happen), the ingressive has a predictive angle to it and indicates that the event spoken about is bound to happen (unless a timely measure is put in place). The particle of the ingressive form ye translates as ‘is going to’. Examples: (423) Lɔr la ye di Lorry DET ING 3SG.HUM ‘The lorry is going to fall.’

li-nɛ fall-Foc

(424) Biig la ye o kaas-nɛ child DET ING 3SG cry-Foc ‘The child is going to cry.’ (425) Bugum la ye di kpi-nɛ fire DET ING 3SG.HUM die-Foc ‘The fire is going to die (to go off).’ (426) Waaf ye di vɔl snake ING 3SG.HUM swallow ‘A snake is going to swallow the toad.’

mgbam la toad DET

nɛ Foc

7.3.3 The conditional clause The conditional mood is indicated by the pre-verbal particle ya’a ‘if/when’ and points to an irrealis event. In the first instance, the conditional could reference an event posterior to the moment of speaking; the form of the verb used then is the uninflected verb stem. In the examples that follow, only the group of words not in parenthesis is relevant for the discussion: (427) O ya’a ke-na 3SG COND comes-VEN ‘If/when he comes

(yɛlim o yɛɛ man kɛ̃ kpɛna)

(428) Fʊ ya’a da’ 2SG COND buy ‘If you buy

(m na paas-if lɛŋ)

(429) Ya ya’a bɔɔdda 2PL COND want ‘If you.PL want

(ya tɔ̃ ’ kul)

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(tell him that I came here)’

(I will give you a bonus)’

(you can go home)’

Aside references to future events, the reference time of the conditional could also be to an event in the past; for which construction not only the conditional pre-verbal is used but also an irrealis (IRR) form of the verb indicated by a –Vn suffix. (430) Ba ya’a di-in 3PL COND eat-IRR ‘If they had won

(ba naan kulin na) (they would have come home)’

(431) Biig la ya’a nɔk-in child DET COND take-IRR ‘If the child had taken the shirt

fʊʊg la shirt DET

(ti naan nyɛɛn) (we would have seen)’

(432) Yidaan la ya’a mi’-in… house-owner DET COND know-IRR ‘If the landlord had known…’ (433) Ba ya’a tis-in 3PL COND give-IRR ‘If they had given…’

The temporal pre-verbals sa, da, pa ‘PST.HEST, PST.DIST, PST.HOD’ could also follow the conditional modal to further locate the reference in the past time as regards whether the event relates to earlier today, yesterday or two or more days away: (434) O ya’a pa mɔr-in 3SG COND PST.HOD have-IRR ‘If he had had (earlier today) money

ligidi (o naan da’an fuug la) money (he would have bought the shirt)’

(435) Fʊ ya’a sa kuos-in na’af la, (ti naan mɔr-in ligidi) 2SG COND PST.HEST sell-IRR cow DET ‘If you had sold (yesterday) the cow, (we would have had some money)’.

7.3.4 The imperative The imperative form is achieved in the language through the suffixation of the imperative morpheme, the bilabial nasal –Vm to the verb stem. If the verb stem terminates in a final vowel, this vowel, if it is short in duration, generally becomes lengthened before the morpheme is suffixed. Verb stems that have coda consonants take an epenthetic vowel before the imperative morpheme is affixed. The examples below represent singular imperative forms (436) Gloss ‘to drink’ ‘to kill’ ‘to laugh’

V1 nu kʊ la’

V2 (IMP) nu-um kʊ-ʊm la’-am

Gloss ‘do V1’ ‘drink!’ ‘kill!’ ‘laugh!’

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‘to buy’ ‘to make’ ‘to give’ ‘to take’ ‘to eat’

da’ maal tis nɔk di

da’-am maal-im tis-im nɔk-im di-m

‘buy!’ ‘make!’ ‘give!’ ‘take!’ ‘eat!’

The plural form of the imperative, i.e. a command to more than one person, takes an additional indication of plurality –i which is attached to the singular imperative form. Thus, while the IMP.SG implies ‘you singular, do the action of the verb!’, the IMP.PL implies ‘you plural, do the action of the verb!’: (437) V gaad pies kaas vɔl kã al nɔ

‘to leave’ ‘to wash’ ‘to cry’ ‘to swallow’ ‘to count’ ‘to trample’

IMP.SG gaadim piesim kaasim vɔlim kã alim nɔ’ɔm

IMP.PL gaadimi piesimi kaasimi vɔlimi kã alimi nɔ’ɔmi

‘leave!’ ‘wash!’ ‘cry!’ ‘swallow!’ ‘count!’ ‘trample!’

In clausal constructions, the imperative form always occurs at clause initial position and always constitutes the main verb in such constructions. The difference between directives at an individual and more than one person is found only in the form of the imperative. These are exemplified in the following oppositions. While the ‘a’ examples refer to one person, the ‘b’ examples refer to more than one person: (438) a. Bas-im pu‘a la bã alimm leave-IMP.SG woman DET quietly ‘(You.SG) Leave the woman in peace!’ b. Bas-imi pu’a la bã alimm leave-IMP.PL woman DET quietly ‘(You.PL) Leave the woman in peace!’ (439) a. Zamis-im tʊm sʊma learn-IMP.SG work good.PL ‘(You.SG) Learn to do good works!’ b. Zamis-imi tʊm sʊma learn-IMP.PL job good.PL ‘(You.PL) Learn to do good works!’

In example (438) above, basim ‘leave/allow’ also achieves a hortative status wherein it is used to exhort or gently prod the addressee to a certain course of action. The hortative imperative form is however often introduced by kɛ/kɛl ‘let/allow’. Such constructions achieve their goal because they involve the use of a politeness strategy aimed at saving face; the addressee, together with the addressor, is thus 184

impressed upon to take a certain action in a manner/tone that does not command but implores. While kɛl is addressed at only one person, kɛlli is addressed at more than one person. Examples: (440) Kɛ ka fʊ bɛllim ã nyain let.SG COMP 3SG.POSS environment COP clean ‘(You.SG) Let your environment be clean!’ (441) Kɛl-li ka o kul let-PL COMP 3SG go.home ‘(You.PL) Let him go home!’ (442) Kɛl ka ba di let.SG COMP 3PL eat ‘(You.SG) Let them eat!’ (443) Kɛl-li ka ti let-PL COMP 1PL ‘Let us go!’

kɛŋ-ŋin go-IRR

7.4 Conclusion In this chapter, the inflectional systems which yield the various aspectual and modal forms of Kusaal were considered. In §7.2 we examined the various manifestations of aspect in the language and identified the perfective and imperfective forms as the base of the aspectual system. While the unmarked verb form has both perfective as well as imperfective meanings, perfect meaning is expressed by the null-object perfect form, and the habitual and progressive forms are considered as expressing meanings subsumed under imperfective meaning. In the last major section §7.3, we explored modality in Kusaal and considered future time marking, the conditional, the ingressive and the imperative clause. We incorporated the discussion on pre-verbal elements into each of the aspect and modality systems.

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8 Clause Structure 8.1 Introduction This chapter considers the nature of the basic Kusaal clause from an argument structure perspective. Before turning to the discussion on argument structure proper, we discuss the role of transitivity in the first section §8.2 and highlight grammatical relations in the next major section §8.3. Argument structure is then taken up in the third major section §8.4 and we include a consideration of the various means of clausal combinations in the last major section §8.5.

8.2 The role of transitivity The nature of the verb in Kusaal and some of the related Mabia languages is quite dicey making it difficult to classify them into strict categories such as “transitive and intransitive”. Koops (2009:133ff) makes a similar observation about the verb form in Kuteb (a Jukunoid language of East-Central Nigeria) which shares some structural similarities with Kusaal. Kusaal verbs appear to be ambitransitive (Dixon 2010) or labile (Payne 1997) which implies that they can be used in either a transitive or intransitive sense based on the function that they assume. It is therefore difficult to find that verbs are or can be categorised into strictly grammatical “transitive” or “intransitive” classes. Consider the following examples: (444) Awaaf kɔ̃ r-id Awaafo snore-HAB ‘Awaafo snores.’ (445) Awaaf kɔ̃ r-id-nɛ kɔ̃ r Awaafo snore-HAB-Foc snore ‘Awaafo is snoring a certain snore (lit. Awaafo is snoring a very strange snore).’

sia certain

In (444), ‘snore’ is used intransitively, meanwhile in example (445), it takes an immediate NP constituent – the so-called complement. This second NP is derived from the preceding verb form and has quite a number of functionalities that categorise it as a nominal. Amongst other things and in respect of NP constituency tests for instance, the derived nominal takes a marker of indefiniteness sia ‘a certain’ which is an element which collocates with nominal rather than verbal categories. This usage renders the usually “intransitive” snore verb a somewhat “ambitransitive” usage. In addition, examples of verbs used in an “intransitive” 187

and then in a “transitive” sense include the following pairings where the verb kpi ‘to die’ is used intransitively in (446) with a single argument at subject position. In (447), however, it is used with a second argument at object position. (446) Pu’a la sid woman DET husband ‘The woman’s husband died.’

kpi-nɛ die-Foc

(447) Dau la kpi-nɛ man.SG DET die-Foc ‘The man died a bad death.’

kum bɛ’ɛd.42 death bad

Similarly, in (448) to (453) below, the verbs have ambivalent/ambitransitive usages: (448) Saa ni-id-nɛ rain to rain-HAB-Foc ‘It is raining (lit. Rain is raining).’ (449) Li ni-id-nɛ sakuga EXPL rain-HAB-Foc hailstones ‘It is raining hailstones.’ (450) Nwaaŋ la monkey DET ‘The monkey fell.’

li-nɛ fall-Foc

(451) Nwaaŋ la li-nɛ monkey DET fall-Foc ‘The monkey fell a great fall.’

li fall

tita’ar big > great

(452) Ba ɛrim-nɛ 3SG.SBJ belch-Foc ‘They belched.’ (453) O ɛrim-nɛ daam 3SG.SUBJ belch-Foc pito ‘He belched pito fumes (as in when he belched, pito fumes came out).’

Following from the above, in some of the analyses of Mabia verbs, alternative approaches are used such as is found in Issah (2015) which considers the verb 42 Death could either be good or bad in Kusaal socio-cultural set up.A good death is when one grows to a ripe old age and dies peacefully perhaps in his/her sleep.A bad death could be death through a vehicle accident or a snakebite which is considered bad luck. People who die a bad death often do not qualify to become ancestors. This brings up an important ethnological problem that deserves further scrutiny. In the event that an important chief or tindana ‘landowner’ dies through a motor accident, for instance, what becomes of his/her soul? Do they still qualify to join the ranks of the ancestors or not?

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in Dagbani from a conjoint/disjoint (conjunctive/disjunctive or long/short) perspective. While conjoint clauses or constructions contain verb forms which require an obligatory NP at object position, disjoint clauses have verb forms which do not require object NPs. This novel approach to analysing Dagbani verbs is a common typological approach to the verb descriptions of especially Bantu languages exemplified by studies such as Creissels (1996) on Tswana and Buell (2006) on Zulu. For the purposes of this study, therefore, we use the notion of transitivity rather loosely without necessarily resorting to a broad categorization of the individual verbs into transitive classes. What is salient is the precise function that the verb has in the particular construction in which it is found. Thus, transitivity is considered in this study as a feature of the whole clause and not just the verb. More importantly, we present clause types in the language with particular regard to the number of participants in the construction; we contend that argument structure tends to be a more representative analysis of Kusaal clausal structures.

8.3 Grammatical relations As indicated elsewhere in this study, Kusaal has an SVO clause structure. Thus, the major components of the prototypical clause are the subject and the predicate; predicates comprise the verb and its object(s) or complement(s). Distributionwise, NP forms which precede the main verb are subject NPs while object NPs occur after the verb in the basic canonical structure.

8.3.1 Subject and direct object/complement Subject and object NPs could comprise a token noun/pronoun, or a nominal together with its modifiers (see Chapter 5 on Kusaal NPs above). In (454), we exemplify single token NPs at both subject and object position of a prototypical clause. (For the purpose of clarity, we include another glossing tier to highlight the major divisions of the sample clauses): (454) SBJ V Anyuam kuo-d Anyuam hoe-HAB ‘Anyuam farms millet.’

OBJ ki millet

While (455) below highlights a subject NP with an adjectival modifier and determiner, the object NP comprises a nominal and its determiner. In (456), the subject is a pronominal form while the object is a nominal item with an adjectival modifier. 189

(455) SBJ V OBJ Dau wɔk la nwɛ’ɛ-nɛ biig man tall DET beat-Foc child ‘The tall man beat the child.’

la DET

(456) SBJ V OBJ Ba mɛ-nɛ yir tita’ar 3PL build-Foc house big ‘They built a big house.’

At object position, complements rather than NP objects are located. Complements, as NPs at quasi object position which are not necessarily affected by the action of the verb, supply more information on the subject under discussion. Verbs which require complements include the verbs ‘to have’ mɔr, ‘to be’ ã , ‘to be at/to exist’ bɛ, amongst others. These are highlighted below: (457) SBJ V COMPLEMENT O mɔr pu’ab ayi’ 3SG has.FCT wives two ‘He has two wives.’ (458) SBJ V COMPLEMENT Ameŋa nɛ Amali ã -nɛ sakur biis Amenga CONJ Amali COP-Foc school children ‘Amenga and Amali are school children (pupils).’ (459) SBJ V COMPLEMENT Baa la bɛ yin dog DET be at home ‘The dog is at home.’

8.3.2 Indirect object While the sample sentences above explicate the subject and its immediate NPs – the so-called direct object (DO) or complement, a third argument, the indirect object (IO) could also be relevant in clausal constructions. Indirect objects subsume a plethora of semantic roles in Kusaal realised chiefly in their functions as beneficiary of the clause. The beneficiary is the one to whose benefit the action of the verb is undertaken. Beneficiary objects are usually introduced by a second verb tis ‘to give’ which immediately precedes the indirect object NP.We exemplify with the following: (460) SBJ V DO V IO Dap la nɔk-nɛ ligidi tis pu’ab men DET take-Foc money gave women ‘The men took money and gave it to women.’

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(461) SBJ V DO V IO Na’ab la ie-nɛ zĩ’ig-i tis o chief DET search-Foc place-Foc give 3SG.POSS ‘The chief looked for a place and gave to his children.’ (462) SBJ V DO Atiig da’a-nɛ zimi Atiig bought-Foc fishes ‘Atiiga bought fish and gave us.’

V tis-i gave-Foc

(463) SBJ V DO V O kʊ-nɛ naaf la tis 3SG kill-Foc cow DET give ‘He killed the cow for his wife.’

IO ti 1PL

IO o 3SG.POSS

(464) SBJ V DO V O maal-nɛ tiim la tis 3SG make-Foc medicine DET give ‘S/he made the medicine for the children.’

bi-is children

IO biig child

pua wife

la DET

(465) SBJ V DO V IO Bʊŋ la vɛ’ɛg-nɛ toroko la tis o donkey DET pull-Foc truck DET INST 3SG ‘The donkey pulled the truck for him.’

8.4 Argument structure We consider in this section one, two and three argument structure clauses. Similar to the discussion on transitivity, argument structure is determined by the precise function that the clause has in the precise context in which it is found. Some arguments in a clause can be underspecified due to a number of pragmatic factors such as shared knowledge and/or the use of special politeness strategies. For instance, the inherently polar verbs mi’ ‘to know’ and zi’ ‘to not know’ could, on the one hand, be used with only a single argument at subject position as exemplified in the following: (466) M 1SG.SBJ ‘I know.’

mi’. know

(467) M zi’ 1SG.SBJ know.NEG ‘I don’t know.’

However, while the above examples indicate that the speaker may or may not have knowledge of a certain situation, this information is not easily deductible if the 191

constructions are taken out of context or remain as they stand. Additional information will be needed before such constructions can carry any special meanings. When an extra argument is spelt out such as in the following examples, however, the constructions become much more relevant or comprehensible. (468) Ti mi’ biig la yʊ’ʊr 1PL know child DET name ‘We know the child’s name.’ (469) A-wiak-sɛ̃ɛug zi’ sin-nɛ Mr-hatch-in-raining-season know.NEG lack-Foc ‘He who is born in the rainy season knows not lack/scarcity.’

In (468), the second argument is an associative construction while in (469) it is a Kusaal proverb. The import of the proverb is that any person who is born in the rainy season, a period where there is a lot to eat because of fruit trees and the like, cannot appreciate scarcity or hard times. To contextualise the discussion on argument structure further, in possessive constructions, two (or more) nominal items are located in the possessive phrase such as in m nɔbir ‘my leg’, ba yir ‘their house’, o sid tã u ‘her husband’s sister’. These constructions are fairly similar to the associative construction where forms such as biig la gbaʊŋ ‘the child’s book’ or tebul la zʊg ‘the table’s head < on top of the table’ abound to show possession and location respectively. However, we do not consider these types of constructions as two separate arguments because though they may underscore a number of different nominal items, they form a single unit in a possessive phrase (POSS.P) in the first instance ‘the child’s book’ and a relator noun phrase (RNP, the so-called prepositional phrase PP) in the second case ‘on top of the table’. While the entire possessive construction can be replaced with a single pronominal form, for instance, the relator NP can also be replaced with a single adverbial and, thus, these forms cannot be considered as two or more arguments based on their individual characteristics or composition. Finally, the only preposition in the language nɛ43 ‘with’ is used to highlight the instrument; the means through which the action of the verb is undertaken or carried out. In view of the fact that the phrase that is formed from a juxtaposition of this preposition with nominal items is a prepositional phrase, we do not consider these PPs as arguments either but as adjuncts as they can be left out of the clause without obstructing the goal of the communicative process or affecting 43 nɛ is hom*onymous and thus is also used as the CONJ ‘and/with’. It is also used as a Foc marker in the language and places some form of emphasis on the element with which it is contiguous.

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its grammaticality. They therefore only add to the information and do not affect the well-formedness of the constructions. Following from the above, we tie our discussion on arguments exclusively to NP and quasi-NP forms. Constructions that involve a possessive or prepositional phrase are thus not taken to entail an additional argument. Stated more precisely, when one opens a door, the means by which the door is opened is not crucial and can be underspecified so long as the door is opened. Whether the door was opened with a knife, a key or by sheer force/strength only serves to add more information but is of no critical importance to the action that is implied in the clause. The examples that follow serve to illustrate the above. While the ‘a’ example is sufficient in itself, the examples in ‘b – d’ simply provide more information: (470) a. O yɔ’ɔg za’anɔɔr 3SG opened.FCT door ‘S/he opened the door.’

la DET

b. O yɔ’ɔg za’anɔɔr la 3SG opened.FCT door DET ‘S/he opened the door with a knife.’

nɛ INST

sʊʊg knife

c. O yɔ’ɔg za’anɔɔr 3SG opened.FCT door ‘S/he opened the door with keys.’

la DET

nɛ INST

saafibiis keys

d. O yɔ’ɔg za’anɔɔr la 3SG opened.FCT door DET ‘S/he opened the door with strength.’

nɛ INST

paŋ knife

The examples in (470) above thus exemplify two NP arguments at subject and object position together with a PP adjunct beginning from nɛ.

8.4.1 Single argument clauses Clauses with single arguments entail only one participant at subject position and are basically “intransitive” constructions. Principal members of single argument clauses include constructions involving the existential, stative and state-of-affairs verbs, and constructions involving the perfect aspectual form.

8.4.1.1 The existential The existential verb is bɛ ‘to be’. When used without a direct complement, it entails a single argument at subject position and presents a situation where it implies that the subject in question ‘exists’ in the case of animate subjects (471–472) or is felt to be present in the case of inanimate nominals (473–474). 193

(471) M bɛ. 1SG EXST ‘I exist (lit.:I am there).’ (472) Ba bɛ yin. 3PL EXST home.LOC ‘They are at home.’ (473) Waad bɛ. cold EXST ‘Cold exists (lit.:there is cold).’ (474) Kɔm bɛ hunger EXST ‘Hunger exists (lit.:there is hunger).’

Two other means of expressing the existential are achieved through the use of vʊe ‘to be alive’, and dʊrnɛ ‘to abound’44 which are used in a sense where they depict an existential reference. These construction types also entail a single argument at subject position. In fact, while the EXST bɛ can take a complement in some cases, such as (472) above to indicate location, these two never take a complement. (475) O vʊe 3SG be.alive ‘S/he lives.’ (476) Li dʊrnɛ EXPL abound ‘It abounds.’

8.4.1.2 Statives and state-of-affairs verbs Stative and state-of-affairs verbs express a state of affairs in the cosmology of the language and, often, do not involve actual “action entailing” events. They generally state a fact or provide information about the quality, size, amount, or physical dimension of the entity under discussion. State-of-affairs verbs also entail discourse on meteorological/weather factors and are often expressed via a single argument at subject position. Examples: (477) Saa ni-id-nɛ rain rain-HAB-Foc ‘It is raining.’

44 Dʊrnɛ ‘to abound, to be in abundance’ is used rather in colloquial settings and is similar to the use of pɛ’ɛl ‘to be full’ to show that one is available, around or there.

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(478) Biig la kaas-id-nɛ child DET cry-HAB-Foc ‘The child is crying.’ (479) Lɔr la li-nɛ lorry DET fall-Foc ‘The lorry fell.’

An appreciable number of stative verbs are derived via conversion from “adjectival” forms and include the following listed in (480) below. Observe that the form of the verb varies from the adjective mostly in the nature of the stem; in the kind of suffix that it takes: (480) Gloss ‘tall/long’ ‘mad’ ‘short’ ‘round’ ‘big’ ‘rotten’ ‘wet/cool’

Adjective wɔk gɛɛŋ gıŋ gbilug bɛdir pɔ̃ sʊg ma’asig

Stative wa’am gɛ̃ɛ̃m gım gbilim bɛdim pʊ̃ ɔ̃’ madig

Gloss ‘be long’ ‘be mad’ ‘be short’ ‘be round’ ‘be big’ ‘be rotten’ ‘be damp’

In the examples that follow, sample usages of some of the statives listed above are given. These “verb forms” highlight adjectives being used attributively to provide information about the property of the subject NPs. In each case, they are used with only one argument located at subject position. (481) Biig la wa’am child DET be.tall ‘The child is tall.’ (482) O fuug la vɛ̃l 3SG.POSS dress DET be.beautiful. ‘His/her dress is beautiful.’ (483) Diib la pɔ-ɔd nɛ food DET be.small Foc ‘The food is too small (not enough).’

8.4.1.3 The perfect The null object perfect, the form of the verb which indicates that the action is completed and done with, always takes only one participant at subject position (see §7.2.1.3 above). It is indicated by the –ya suffix inflected on the verb stem and is the same form that Issah (2015) refers to as disjoint verb marker in 195

Dagbani. Disjoint because this form of the verb never requires an NP object or complement. (484) a. O nyɛ-ya. 3SG.SBJ see-PRF ‘S/he has seen.’ b. Ba di-ya. 3PL.SBJ eat-PRF ‘They have eaten.’ c. O la’a-ya. 3SG.SBJ laugh-PRF ‘S/he has laughed.’ d. Ba maal-ya 3PL.SBJ make-PRF ‘They have made.’

8.4.2 Two argument clauses Though several stative verbs are often used intransitively, with only one NP argument at subject position, some are or can be used transitively in constructions where they take second NP arguments at object positions. Two argument clauses are thus basically transitive constructions. In the following examples, for instance, the function of the adjective as stative verb (in the a examples) is transposed to one of dynamic status (in the b ones) where an activity-entailing event is instantiated. The oppositions are highlighted below: (485) a. Sa’ab la gbilim-nɛ TZ DET be.round-Foc ‘The TZ “rounded” (The TZ became round).’ b. O gbilim-nɛ sa’ab la 3SG round-Foc TZ DET ‘S/he made the TZ round (made them into balls).’ (486) a. Fuug la madig-nɛ shirt DET wet-Foc ‘The shirt is damp.’ b. Ku’om madig-nɛ gbaʊŋ la water to.wet-Foc skin/hide DET ‘Water wet/dampened the hide.’

Similarly, in the example below, gim ‘short’ is used with a single argument in (487a) but with two arguments in (487b). 196

(487) a. Pua la gim-nɛ woman DET be.short-Foc ‘The woman is/became short.’ b. O gim daug la nɛ 3SG short stick DET Foc ‘S/he shortened the stick; s/he made the stick short.’

Along a semantic categorization, typical two argument clauses include constructions involving an agent or experiencer at subject position and a patient or theme at object position. We consider first the thematic roles of agent and patient.

8.4.2.1 Agent and patient The agent is the main actor, the so-called subject, in a construction which involves a real activity event; an event that directly transfers action from the doer to the receiver of that action, the patient. The patient is thus the NP argument which receives the action of the verb. In the following constructions, these are highlighted. In (488), the agent is an unspecified non-human [-HUM] entity (such as a hawk or running water), which takes away the chicks, the patient. Observe also that the patient is a possessive noun phrase. Agent and patient construction types are typical transitive clauses: (488) Li da 3SG.HUM PST.DIST ‘It took all their chicks.’

nɔki take

ba 3PL.POSS

nɔbibis chick.PL

la DET

wʊsa all

The agent and patient in (489) are rather quite defined and involve token nominals in the NPs while those in (490) and (491) involve NPs with different configurations: (489) Asumbul gbã ’a-nɛ Asumbul catch-Foc ‘Asumbul caught fish.’

zimi fish

(490) Dɔɔg wʊsa nidib na da’a malma la’ad clan all people FUT buy rites things ‘People of all clans will buy accoutrements for rites.’ (491) Nidib la da mɛ-nɛ bimbim people DET PST.DIST build-Foc platform ‘The people built a huge platform (altar).’

tita’ar big

In all the foregoing examples, two arguments which are NPs of different types are explicated. While the first argument, the actor of the action (the agent), is located 197

at pre-verb position, the direct recipient of that action (the patient), is located at post-verb position.

8.4.2.2 Experiencer and theme Another type of two-argument construction comprises not an agent and a patient but rather an experiencer and the theme. The experiencer carries out an action that does not really involve a “typical” action event. These events often entail cognitive and sensory processes which do not exactly involve a transfer of action from an actor to the other. Rather, what is at play often involves processes bordering on perception and other sense-related processes as well as cognitive thought processes. In these instances, we underscore an “experiencer”, the one who undergoes such sensory processes and a “theme”, the thing/event around which the cognitive processes revolve. For instance, in the examples below, the verbs wʊm ‘hear’, nyɛ ‘see’ and nɔŋ ‘love’ instantiate typical constructions involving experiencer and theme: (492) Banɛ yʊn wʊm pĩa’a-bama… 3PL.EMPH now hear messages-DEM ‘Those who now hear these messages…’ (493) Ba kʊ lɛn nyɛ ba 3PL.SBJ NEG again see 3PL.POSS ‘They will not see their chief again.’

na’ab la chief DET

(494) Na’a-kim la nɔŋ bʊpʊŋ la cattle-herder DET likes/loves girl DET ‘The cattle herder loves the girl so much.’

hali a lot

Similarly, in the construction below involving the verb ‘to think’ tɛ̃’ɛ̃s, while the NP experiencer is only a nominal item, the NP as theme is a possessive NP: (495) Pu’ab la tɛ̃’ɛ̃s-id-nɛ ba women DET think-HAB-Foc 3PL.POSS ‘The women are thinking about their children.’

biis yɛla child.PL matter

Experiencer and theme constructions are referred to as “extended intransitive” constructions (Dixon 2010a:99). Extended intransitive verbs thus have a quasisecond argument at object position. These include the object arguments of verbs of perception and cognition which are not, in a real sense, affected by the action carried by the subject. For instance, in the preceding example, that women think about their children does not imply that they effected some perceived change in the nature of the children. This “thinking” remains a cognitive process and the children do not suffer any direct consequences. 198

8.4.2.3 Copula clauses/complements Copula clauses are another type of constructions involving two apparent NP arguments. The copula verb ã ‘to be’ requires two arguments, a subject NP and a complement. At complement position of the copula are usually words of occupation, personal traits and attitudes which refer back to the subject under discussion. These clause types are referred to in Koops (2009:145) as “equatives” because the two arguments at subject and complement position are co-referenced on each other. As pointed out elsewhere in this study, verb forms do not inflect for number in Kusaal and so the nature of the verb remains the same whether it refers to singular or plural subjects: (496) O ã -nɛ 3SG.SBJ COP-Foc ‘S/he is a teacher.’

pa’an teacher

(497) Ba ã -nɛ sakurbiis 3SG.SBJ COP-Foc school children ‘They are school children (pupils/students).’ (498) Nwɛnnɛ ya ã -nɛ like 2PL.SBJ COP-Foc ‘As though you were enemies.’ (499) Aduko ã -nɛ Aduko COP-Foc ‘Aduko is a rapist.’

dataas enemies

pu’a-bibid woman-swooper

To negate or cancel out a copula construction, a negative verb ka’ ‘to not be’ (which we call the negative copula NEG.COP) is used. This verb is used in exactly the same position as the positive copula and takes two NP arguments at subject and complement position. Examples include the following: (500) O ka’ 3SG.SBJ NEG.COP ‘S/he is not a Bawku person.’

Bɔk nid-a Bawku person-SFE

(501) Li pʊʊg-in ka’ EXPL stomach-LOC NEG.COP ‘Its inside is not good.’ (502) Sa’ab ka’ TZ NEG.COP ‘TZ is not medicine.’

sʊ’ʊm good

tiim medicine

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8.4.2.4 Locative/motion clauses The locative/motion clause is another type of construction involving two arguments. Locative clauses indicate the position of one entity in relation to another and often answer the question ‘where’ (Dorvlo 2008: 114) while motion verbs highlight a movement from one point to another. Kusaal locative/motion verbs include the following:kul, a portmanteau morpheme which means ‘to go home’, kɛŋ ‘to go to’, kpɛ̃ ‘to enter’, yi ‘to come out’, dig ‘to lie (on)’, tabil ‘to stick/mend’, bɛ ‘to be at’, niŋ ‘to put in’. The verbs in this category require a core NP argument at subject position and a second argument in complement/adjunct positions. The second argument, when it occurs as a locative, is indicated by the locative morpheme –in suffixed to the nominal item. In each of the examples too, the motion and locative forms can be shown to co-occur and thus must not necessarily exclude each other. Examples: (503) Pu’a la kpɛ̃’ɛ-nɛ dɔɔg-in la woman DET enter-Foc room-LOC DET ‘The woman went into (entered) the room.’ (504) M baba kɛŋ-nɛ 1SG.POSS father go-Foc ‘My father is gone to the farm.’

pɔɔg-in farm-LOC

(505) Ba bɛ zak-in 3PL.SBJ be.at compound-LOC ‘They are in the compound.’

8.4.3 Three argument clauses In our discussion thus far, we have considered NP arguments from the point of view of simple clausal constructions, i.e., we have considered the number of NPs in constructions involving mainly single verb phrases. In that regard, though the constructions below exemplify three individual NP arguments, they run outside the purview of basic clause types because both of them involve two coordinated verb phrases with their respective NP arguments. (506) NP1 V1 NP2 V2 NP345 O gbĩ’e-nɛ mui la niŋ o 3SG fetched-Foc rice DET put 3SG.POSS ‘S/he fetched the rice and put it in his hat.’

zupibig-in hat-LOC

45 Parsing convention:We include a fourth line in these examples as well to allow for an easy identification of the various demarcations of the sentence.

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(507) NP1 V1 NP2 V2 NP3 O da’a-nɛ diib tis biis la 3SG buy-Foc food give children DET ‘S/he bought food for the children.’

Consequently, we consider here, too, only single verb phrases with three categorically distinct NP arguments, with one NP at pre-verb position and two other NP arguments in post-verb position; the so-called “double object” construction. Simple clauses with three arguments are basically ditransitive or “extended transitive” constructions (see Dixon 2010a and b). Extended transitive constructions underlie the action of the clause flowing from the NP agent through a second NP to a third NP argument. Following a semantic categorization, we find that constructions involving Agent + Benefactor + Theme are the best exemplars of three argument constructions. The benefactor, which is the indirect object, always precedes the theme, the direct object. Examples include the following: (508) O tis nɔɔs la 3SG give chickens DET ‘S/he gave the chickens millet.’

ki millet

(509) Ba bas ki la ku’om 3PL allowed millet DET water ‘They allowed the millet water (they watered the millet).’ (510) O da’a-nɛ pu’a la fu-sia 3SG bought-Foc woman DET dress-a certain ‘He bought the woman a certain dress (he bought a certain dress for the woman).’

The first NP argument in imperative constructions is usually underspecified but is understood to be operational in constructions such as the following which also inure to the “benefit” of the indirect object. (511) Pa’al-im biig la ya’am teach-IMP child DET sense ‘(You) teach the child some sense!’ (512) Tis-im o la’ad la give-IMP 3SG.OBJ items DET ‘(You) give her/him the items!’

The two post-verb arguments could also involve deverbalised nominal items derived from the verb in the clause. This derivational process is very productive in the language where one form of the word is used as a verb in the first instance and as a nominal item in the adjoining position with/without some form of morphological modification. In (513), for instance, the second NP argument is banɛ ‘them’ while the third NP bu’osa ‘questions’ is derived from the verb bʊ’os ‘to ask’: 201

(513) Karimsaam la bu’osi banɛ Pastor DET asked 3PL.EMPH ‘The pastor asked them some questions.’

bu’osa questions

Similarly, the second argument in the following example is baa la ‘the dog’ while the third argument pu’alʊŋ bɛ’ɛd ‘a bad wounding’ derives the nominal item from the verb ‘to wound’ pu’alim: (514) O pu’alim baa la pu’alʊŋ bɛ’ɛd 3SG.SBJ wounded dog DET hurt bad ‘S/he wounded the dog a bad wounding (s/he wounded the dog seriously).’

Also, while the first occurrence of nwɛ ‘to hit’ in the example below is as a verb, it is converted to nominal status when it collocates with sia ‘a certain’ in the third argument: (515) Lɔr la nwɛ’ɛ-nɛ baa la nwɛ sia Lorry DET knock-Foc dog DET knock certain ‘The car hit the dog a certain hitting (…could be a terrible hitting…).’

Finally, an interesting way of saying that ‘one would teach another person a lesson’ is as follows in (516) below. The first NP argument is taaba ‘each other’ while the second NP ‘work’ tʊʊm is derived from the verb tʊm ‘to work’: (516) Ti na tʊm taaba tʊʊm 1PL FUT work each other work ‘We will show/teach each other a lesson (lit. we will work each other work).’

8.5 Clause combinations In the foregoing sections, we underlined various construction types involving mostly single verb phrases. We consider in this section the means by which various clauses are combined in coordinate and subordinate clauses as well as in relative and complement clauses.

8.5.1 Coordination In this section we highlight how various clauses are chained together or combined to form new/longer constructions in Kusaal. We thus show how coordination is achieved in both noun phrases and verb phrases. The more common coordinating conjunctions, as also noted by Ladusaw (1985:203) and Ladusaw & England (1987: 240), are the conjunctions nɛ ‘and/with’, and ka ‘and’. The former is used quite frequently to coordinate nominal items or NPs while the

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latter46 is used more often to coordinate verb phrases/clauses (cf. Olawsky 1999:44ff on similar forms for Dagbani).

8.5.1.1 nɛ ‘and/with’ The ambivalent use of nɛ as the phrasal connector ‘and’ or in the comitative as ‘with’ is quite a common phenomenon in sub-Saharan languages. Stassen (2013) classifies this phenomenon, within a typological framework, as “WITH-languages” because “the markers for noun phrase conjunction and comitative phrases are the same”. Aside the Kusaal conjunction, then, examples from other languages include those for Pana (Gur) where the conjunction ni is used to mean either et ‘and’ or avec ‘with’ (Beyer 2006:105, 129), and in Nǁuuki (Khoesan) where ŋla is the form of the conjunction ‘and’ as well as the comitative ‘with’ (Collins & Namaseb 2011: 24, 59). The examples in (517) to (519) exemplify NP47 coordination at phrasal level. The number and type of NP could also vary while the means of coordination is generally syndetic, that is, generally involving overt conjunctions: (517) Man nɛ m pu’a nɛ 1SG.EMPH CONJ 1SG.POSS wife CONJ ‘Me and my wife and all our children’

ti biis la wʊsa 1PL.POSS children DET all

(518) Sakur-biis nɛ vootʊg yɛla school-children CONJ voting matters ‘Students and voting matters (students and matters arising from voting)’ (519) Sa’ab nɛ zɛ̃ɛd TZ CONJ soup ‘TZ and soup’

In order for nɛ to be understood as being used in a comitative expression, it must occur after the action of the verb in a slot that is also occupied by the instrumental preposition. The difference is then teased out in the fact that while the comitative underscores an “accompaniment” function understood especially in terms of ‘together with, with’ (520–523), the instrumental underlies the means through which the ‘action of the verb is carried out’ (524): (520) Dap la kɛŋ-ŋi pɔɔg-in nɛ ba men DET go-Foc farm-LOC COM 3PL.POSS ‘The men went to the farm with their children.’

biis children

46 This is different from the negative copula ka’ ‘to not be’ (see also §9.3 on negation below). 47 NPs can constitute single lexemes or nominal items with any number of nominal modifiers (cf. chapter 5.2 above).

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(521) Fuut-dim la sig-na nɛ balaya shirt-people DET come-VEN COM clubs/cudgels ‘The soldiers (the uniformed people) have come down with clubs/cudgels.’ (522) O yɛ-nɛ gins kurwɔk nɛ li fuug 3SG wear-Foc jeans long.pants COM 3SG.-HUM shirt ‘He wore (a pair of) jeans trousers with its shirt.’ (523) A-diem nɛ bipumis da To-play COM young.girls PST.DIST ‘Playing with young girls used to be difficult.’ (524) Fuut-dim la nwɛ’ɛ-nɛ biis shirt-people DET beat-Foc children ‘The soldiers beat children with sticks.’

tɔ’-nɛ difficult-Foc nɛ INST

balaya cudgels

8.5.1.2 ka ‘and’ While the discussion in the preceding section represents coordination at the level of the nominal or nominal phrase, beyond the NP level, nɛ ‘and’ cannot be used to coordinate verb phrases or clauses. As a result, forms like the following are disallowed in the language because the two coordinated parts are verbs or verb phrase complexes: (525) *li di-t 3SG.-HUM eat-HAB (526) *o da’a-nɛ 3SG buy-Foc

nɛ CONJ

nu-ud eat-HAB

nɛ kuos-i CONJ sell-EPV

li 3SG.-HUM

In order for the forms in (525–526) to instantiate grammatically correct usages, the clausal conjunction ka ‘and’ must be used. This is because the two items being coordinated are not nominal items but, rather, are a mix of verb phrases and/or clauses. They would be represented thus: (527) Li di-t 3SG.-HUM eat-HAB ‘It eats and drinks.’

ka CONJ

nu-ud eat-HAB

(528) O da’a-nɛ ka kuos-i 3SG buy-Foc CONJ sell-EPV ‘S/he bought and sold it.’

li 3SG.-HUM

Other examples of the use of ka as a VP/clausal coordinator include the following in (529–531) where ka links the first part of the sentence which contains an independent clause, to the second part, which contains a dependent clause: 204

(529) M keŋ ka kena 1SG go CONJ come ‘I go and come (I will return shortly).’ (530) Baa la dum-nɛ biig la ka dog DET bite-Foc child DET CONJ ‘The dog bit the child and run home.’

zɔɔ run

kul go.home

(531) Ba da la’a-d si’eba ka fieb-id 3PL PST.DIST laugh-HAB some CONJ whip-HAB ‘They (used to) laugh at some and whip some of them.’

si’eba some

In the following examples, too, the conjunction links two independent clauses: (532) O mɔr-nɛ nyɛɛsim ka ba 3SG have-Foc arrogance CONJ 3PL ‘S/he is arrogant and so they sacked him.’

kad drive.away

o 3SG

(533) O mɛ-nɛ yir tita’ar ka bugum di-i li 3SG built-Foc house big CONJ fire eat-EPV 3SG.-HUM ‘S/he built a big house and fire ate it (fire razed it down).’ (534) Ti yɛl o ka o zã ’as 1PL told 3SG CONJ 3SG refuse ‘We told him and he refused (or didn’t listen).’

Ka ‘and’ also links two or more verb forms which could then express a single event or phenomenon such as the following where it refers to the major symptoms of cholera in example (535) and to a colloquial address form of an individual in (536) respectively: (535) A-tĩid to-vomit ‘cholera’

ka CONJ

(536) A nyɛ ka to get CONJ ‘to get and eat’

sã ad run.diarrhoea di eat

8.5.1.3 bɛɛ ‘or’ Another coordinating conjunction is bɛɛ ‘or’ which conjoins two probable, similar or alternative options and is not restricted to only noun- or verb-headed phrases or clauses but can be applied in the chaining of both construction types: (537) Fʊ na keŋ bɛɛ man kem-a? 2SG FUT go or 1SG.EMPH go-SFE? ‘You will go or should I go (Should I go or would you go)?’

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(538) O buon-nɛ pu’a la bɛɛ dau 3SG call-Foc woman DET or man ‘S/he is calling (either) the man or the woman.’

la DET

(539) Agbam bɛɛ Alal bɛɛ Atiig na mɔr-i Agbam or Alal or Atiig FUT bring-EPV ‘Agbam or Alale or Atiiga will bring it.’

li na 3SG.HUM here.VEN

8.5.1.4 amaa ‘but’ For its conjuncts, this particle takes only verb phrases or clauses and makes a statement about two facts that are contrary (540–541), or that are in a scalar relation to each other (542–543): (540) Ba di-ya amaa ba pʊ tiggɛ 3PL eat-PRF but 3PL NEG satisfy ‘They have eaten but they are not satisfied.’ (541) Ba duo-nɛ bɛ’ogʊn sa amaa ba nan pʊ paae 3PL departed-Foc dawn-LOC since but 3PL still NEG reach ‘They departed since morning but as yet they have not reached (arrived).’ (542) Mui malis amaa sa’ab malisi gati rice be.delicious but TZ be.delicious pass ‘Rice is delicious but TZ is more delicious (than it).’

li it

(543) Biig la wa’am amaa mam biig la wa’ami gat o child DET be.tall but 1SG.POSS child DET be.tall pass 3SG.OBJ ‘The child is tall but my child is taller than him/her.’

8.5.2 Subordination Subordinate/dependent clauses are introduced via a number of subordinating mechanisms. In this section, we discuss two major types of subordination:the complement clause and the relative clause.

8.5.2.1 Complement clauses Complementation in Kusaal is discussed quite thoroughly in Ladusaw & England (1987:239–246). The complement clause is a subordinated construction which is generally indicated by the prototypical complementiser ye/yee ‘that’. Verbs which foreground clausal complements in Kusaal include those that relate to the German Meinung äußern, Redemittel ‘means of expressing oneself or making one’s opinion heard’, the so-called “verbs of saying and propositional attitude”. These include the following: 206

(544) tɛ̃’ɛ̃s zã ’as mi’ buol mɔ’ɔd tis pa’al

‘to think’ ‘to refuse’ ‘to know’ ‘call’ ‘try to’ ‘give’ ‘show’

yɛl zã asim zi’ siak bɔɔd nar bas nɔɔr

‘to tell, to say’ ‘to dream’ ‘to not know’ ‘agree to’ ‘wants to’ ‘it is necessary’ ‘command’

The complement clause is introduced by one of the above verbs (not exhaustive) and is headed by the complementiser ye (yee): (545) Ba gbã ’e-nɛ ye ba mɛ’ yi-tita’ar. 3PL agreed-Foc COMP 3PL build house-big ‘They came to an agreement (decided) to build a big house.’ (546) Anɔ’ɔn-nɛ yɛl-if ye man who-Foc told-2SG COMP 1SG.EMPH ‘Who told you that I have come home?’

kul-la? come.home-VEN

(547) Fʊ zi’ ye o ã -nɛ 2SG NEG.know COMP 3SG COP-Foc ‘Don’t you know that he is our father?’

ti 1PL.POSS

(548) M mi‘ yee fʊ biig na 1SG know COMP 2SG.POSS child FUT ‘I know that your child will become a chief.’

lieb na‘ab become chief

saam-a? father-SFE

The complementiser is also often used to introduce or embed new information into a construction such as to foreground a quoted speech or provide the name or label of an entity (exemplified in 549–550) while the structure of the complement clause could be given schematically as found in (551): (549) O buol biig la ye “Nɔŋlim” 3SG called child DET COMP “Nonglim” ‘He named the child (that/as) “Nonglim” (Love).’ (550) O saam bas nɔɔr ye ‘da di pu’ab ayi’ 3SG.POSS father leave mouth COMP ‘NEG.IMP eat wives two’ ‘His father left a command that “do not marry two wives”.’ (551) Clause>Complementiser>Clause

When the complementiser ye collocates with certain verbs, such as verbs of volition or coercion, the embedded clause is translated into a construction which is comparable to the English infinitive form:

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(552) Ba bɔ-ɔd-nɛ ye ba zab 3PL want-HAB-Foc COMP 3PL fight ‘They want to fight with the soldiers.’

nɛ soogianam against soldiers

(553) Biis la mɔ-ɔd-nɛ ye ba children DET try-HAB-Foc COMP 3PL ‘The children are trying to get home.’

paae reach

(554) Ba muk-nɛ pu’a la ye o 3PL force-Foc woman DET COMP 3SG ‘They forced the woman to get married.’

la DET

yin home kul sid go.home husband

In one special case, the complementiser occurs alone while still introducing a clausal complement. Underlying in this construction type is an underspecified form of the verb yɛl ‘to say’. Compare the examples in (555) and (556) below where the meanings are both similar irrespective of the presence or absence of the verb yel ‘to say’: (555) O ye m mɔri li 3SG COMP 1SG bring 3SG ‘S/he (said) that I should bring it.’

na. VEN

(556) O yɛl-i ye m mɔr li 3SG say-EPV COMP 1SG bring 3SG ‘S/he said that I should bring it.’

na. VEN

8.5.2.2 ka ‘that’ as complementiser While Ladusaw & England (1987) rightly hypothesize about the use of ka ‘that’ as a complementiser, the examples they provide (ibid:245) do not properly underscore its function as complementiser. For instance, while their example (27), reproduced here with current orthographic modifications as example (557) rather highlights the use of ka as focus marker, other examples such as their (28a) repeated here as example (558) basically underscore ka as conjunctor and not as complementiser.48 (557) Nwam-tita’ar la ka m gɔt calabash-big DET FOC 1SG look-at ‘It’s the big calabash that I am looking at.’ (558) Akugur muk o ka o pie fuut la Akugur forced 3SG CONJ 3SG washed clothes DET ‘Akugri forced her/him and s/he washed the clothes.’

48 Ka is hom*onymous. It is used as a conjunctor, a narrow focus marker and as a complementiser.

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Though their translation of (558) as ‘Akugri forced him/her to wash the clothes’ is correct, it is however implied, as the depiction of the action is conceptualised twofold:first, through the action of coercion and then the subsequent undertaking of the preferred action. In order for (556) to relate a clausal complement, then the prototypical complementiser ye rather than ka must be used as indicated below: (559) Akugur muk o ye o pie fuut Akugur forced 3SG COMP 3SG wash clothes ‘Akugri forced/compelled her/him to wash the clothes.’

la DET

Following from the above we note that ka as complementiser has quite a restricted usage. While the morpheme ka has more currency in constructions involving irrealis subjunctive mood ye is used much more frequently in the realis. The marker takes on an additional function as linker and aligns with similar observations in, for instance, Dagbani (Issah 2012; Hudu 2012) as well as in Akan, Dangme and Ga (Amfo 2010). These facts are expressly underlined in the ‘a’ and ‘b’ examples below. (560) a. O mi’ ye man bɛ yin 3SG knows COMP 1SG.EMPH EXST home.LOC ‘S/he knows (for sure) that I am at home.’ b. O mi’ ka man bɛ yin 3SG knows COMP 1SG.EMPH EXST home.LOC ‘S/he knows (by supposition or conjecture) that I am at home.’ (561) a. Li nar ye fʊ di pu’a EXPL is proper COMP 2SG eat woman ‘It is necessary/proper that you marry (fact).’ b. Li nar ka fʊ di pu’a EXPL is proper COMP 2SG eat woman ‘It is necessary or proper that you marry (opinion).’

Other collocations that are similar to the paradigm in (560–561) are the expressions for ‘think…that’ tɛ̃’ɛ̃s…ye/tɛ̃’ɛ̃s…ka and ‘see…that’ nyɛ…ye/nyɛ…ka. While the former, in each case, imply factual/realis events to some extent, the latter underscore non-factual/irrealis events. (562) a. O tɛ̃’ɛ̃s ye di ã sʊʊm 3SG think COMP EXPL COP good ‘S/he thinks that it is good (realis).’ b. O tɛ̃’ɛ̃s ka di ã sʊʊm 3SG think COMP EXPL COP good ‘S/he thinks that it is good (irrealis).’

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As complementiser ka can also collocate with the subordinating conjunction asɛɛ49 ‘unless/except’. As a subordinating conjunction asɛɛ…ka ‘unless…that’ introduces an adverbial clause and indicates that the status quo will remain unless an action is taken to the contrary. (563) Li kʊ bassɛ asɛɛ ka ya tiaki ya EXPL NEG stop unless COMP 2PL change 2PL.POSS ‘It will not stop unless you change your hearts (behaviour).’

suuya hearts

(564) Sɛɛ ka fʊ yɔ sam la unless COMP 2SG pay debt DET ‘Unless you pay the debt (You must pay the debt).’

In (565), however, ka is underspecified but is still understood to be operational in introducing the complement clause. (565) Asɛɛ fʊ duoe zi’el yiiga … unless 2SG get up stand first ‘Except you stand up first…’

The ka complementiser also collocates with the verb kɛ/kɛl ‘let, allow’ which is used hortatively to exhort the addressee to a certain course of action (see also §7.3.4 above). The information introduced after ka in such constructions is couched in a clausal complement: (566) Kɛl ka ti let COMP 1Pl ‘Let us go home!’

kul go.home

(567) Kɛl ka ba let COMP 3PL ‘Let them eat!’

di eat

(568) Kɛ ka o pĩa let COMP 3SG talk ‘Allow/let her/him talk!’

8.5.2.3 Relative clauses The relative clause is another type of subordinating clause introduced by a relative pronoun which provides further and better particulars about a nominal that is usually situated in the discourse context. This pronoun is realised as kanɛ ‘who/

49 Asɛɛ is borrowed from Hausa ashee ‘surely, indeed’. It can be shortened to sɛɛ.

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which’ when the antecedent is animate [+ANIM] and as linɛ/dinɛ ‘which, the one’ for inanimate [-ANIM] antecedents. In the examples that follow, the relative clauses introduced via the respective relative pronouns are underlined: (569) Fʊʊg linɛ ka fʊ tis-im la vɛ̃l hali dress REL COMP 2SG gave-1SG DET be.beautiful a lot ‘The dress that you gave me is very beautiful/nice.’ (570) Li da ã -nɛ kʊ̃ t-zɛ̃’ug EXPL PST.HST COP-Foc metal-red ‘It was a red metal (iron) which was polished.’

dinɛ saalim REL polish

(571) Dau kanɛ zu ligidi la ka ba gbã ’e man REL stole money DET FOC 3PL caught ‘The man who stole the money is the one they caught.’

In the foregoing, the relative clauses take singular antecedents but, in the following, the antecedents are plural nominal items. The plural form for both [+/-ANIM] entities is banɛ ‘who, which, those ones’: (572) Ba gbã ’e daap banɛ zu ligidi la 3PL caught men REL stole money DET ‘They caught the men who stole the money.’ (573) O da mɔr biis banɛ ã 3SG PST.HEST have children REL COP ‘S/he had children who were leaders of the town.’ (574) Ba na nwa’ tiis banɛ kpi 3PL FUT cut trees REL die ‘They will cut the trees that have died.’

teŋ land

la DET

kpɛɛmnam leaders

la DET

Singular [+ANIM]/[+HUM] antecedents, especially but not exclusively restricted to personal names, can also take the relative pronoun onɛ ‘who, the one who’ which is derived from the interrogative pronoun anɔ’ɔnɛ ‘who’. The verb that often collocates with this relativiser is the copula ã ‘to be’: (575) Amali onɛ ã Ayam biig la Amali who COP Ayam child DET ‘Amali (who is) the son of Ayam was right.’

mɔr has

bʊʊd right

(576) Ba nɔki tis onɛ ã kpɛɛm la 3PL take give REL COP elder DET ‘They gave it to the one who is eldest.’

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8.6 Conclusion The clause structure of Kusaal is the major concern of Chapter 8. While §8.1 introduced the chapter, §8.2 examined the notion of transitivity in Kusaal and §8.3 briefly explored the relation between grammatical elements in the clause or sentence. The chapter also explored argument structure in §8.4 while an overview of clause combinations is presented in §8.5.

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9 Serial verb constructions – A prototypical overview 9.1 Introduction In this chapter, we evaluate one consecutive construction, the serial verb, from a prototype perspective. We consider the notions of serialisation and prototypicality in §9.2 and §9.3 respectively. In §9.4, we discuss some of the features of serialised verb constructions and conclude the discussion in §9.5. In Abubakari (2011), a thorough depiction of verb serialization in Kusaal is also presented.

9.2 Serialisation Serial verb constructions are an attested, peculiar sequencing of verbs that occur in some languages of the world and form part of the linguistic landscape of especially West African languages. SVCs have several other labels such as “serialization”, “serial verbs”, “consecutive verbs” and “sequential verbs”. Aikhenvald (2006:1) concisely underlies the state of the art in respect of this unique patterning of verbs: “A serial verb construction (SVC) is a sequence of verbs which act together as a single predicate, without any overt marker of coordination, subordination, or syntactic dependency of any other sort. Serial verb constructions describe what is conceptualised as a single event. They are monoclausal; their intonational properties are the same as those of a monoverbal clause, and they have just one tense, aspect, and polarity value.”

Schachter (1974) cited in Osam (2004:32) also opines that “a sentence that contains a serial verb construction consists, on the surface at least, of a subject noun phrase followed by a series of two or more verb phrases, each containing a finite verb plus, possibly, the complement(s) of that verb.” This sentiment is equally affirmed by Bodomo (1993:51) who states that “SVCs are constructions in which two or more verbs share arguments and temporal particles without intervening connectives”.

9.3 Prototypicality In the discussion that follows, however, we adopt a prototype approach to characterizing the SVC in Kusaal. A prototypical approach to characterizing linguistic forms is opposed to classic approaches which put linguistic forms into strict categories based on “necessary-and-sufficient” features. A crucial tenet of 213

the prototype approach is that “human categorization is not arbitrary but proceeds from central to peripheral instances of categories” (Hopper & Thompson 1984:705). It is the case, then, that the prototype usually characterises a most typical member of the set while other entities are classified in terms of their degree of similarity to or difference from the prototypical set members. In view of this, Durie’s (1997:289–290) assertion that “the archetypal serial verb construction consists of a sequence of two or more verbs which in various (rather strong) senses, together act like a single verb” sets the tone for an adequate contextualization of the SVC. This definition could be said to be cross-linguistically apt for describing the sequential juxtaposition of verbs in the languages of the world where verb serialisation is crucial.

9.4 Some features of SVCs The typology of serial verbs is a widely studied phenomenon in the cluster of languages to which Kusaal belongs. Amongst several other functions, SVCs tend to indicate evolution of the action, location, direction, and benefaction and are used in situations where in the English language, for instance, prepositional phrases or conjunctions would have been used. In the following, we highlight three main features of SVCs indicating how a prototype system might be more explanatorily adequate. This is because a prototype system allows for us to cite varying examples of SVCs that radiate from the best exemplars of the phenomenon situated at the very core of the SVC system to the less prototypical members located at the periphery. Thus, while some constructions may not possess all the criterial attributes of SVCs, they may still qualify as verb serializations based on their shared features. A typical SVC would be a construction like the following: (577) O di’e nu pib-pib-pib naae 3SG collect drink ADV finish ‘S/he collected drunk pib-pib-pib finish (S/he took it and drunk it down fast).’

9.4.1 The single event paradigm Verb serializations are often characterised as conceptualizing “single events” (cf. Durie 1997; Aikhenvald 2006) so that two or more verbs that are used in SVCs, which always follow each other, may be said to describe one single event. Examples include the following: (578) O zɔ-nɛ kpɛ̃’ dɔɔg-in 3SG run-Foc enter room-LOC ‘S/he run into the room.’

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(579) Mɔŋɔ la bi’ig-i paae li mango DET ripe-EPV reach 3SG.-HUM ‘The mango is matured (has ripened to its end).’

bɛn. end

(580) Nidib la duoe lɔ’ɔŋ Abush kɔldaug la people DET get.up cross Abush lake DET ‘The people got up and crossed the Abush Lake.’ (581) Ya tʊ̃ ’ la’as-i di diib la 2PL AUX gather-EPV eat food DET ‘You can eat the food together (it is possible that you eat food together).’

While it is the case that some serial constructions may constitute single events as has been exemplified above (for instance, the translated equivalents into nonserializing languages could be achieved through only one verb and a prepositional phrase), some strings of verbs cannot be said to be actively or fully expressing a single event. Consider the following examples where the verbs, though serialised, do not explicitly refer to one event but rather two. (582) Ba nɔk-i diib la tis biig la 3PL take-Foc food DET give child DET ‘They took food and gave the child (They gave the food to the child).’ (583) O da’a-nɛ tis pu’a la 3SG buy-Foc give woman DET ‘S/he bought it for the woman (lit.:she bought it and gave it to the woman).’ (584) Baa la ĩak-i gbã ’e dawan dog DET jump-Foc catch pigeon ‘The dog jumped and caught the pigeon.’

la DET

In the above, the events are conceptualised in (582) and (583) first as an act of taking or buying and then followed by an act of giving to a benefactive or beneficiary. These do not explicate one event. In (584) too, the action of jumping is obviously the first before the action of catching. From these examples, the various verbal combinations cannot be considered as expressing a single event but a series of different events albeit very closely related events. It may then be the case that while a prototypical SVC could express a single event, there are some verb serialization processes which comprise an accumulation of separate events.

9.4.2 Same argument sharing Serialised verbs often share the same arguments. Thus, the action explicated by the serialised verbs often has the same subjects/agents and objects/patients amongst other arguments. The following examples highlight the argument structure of the 215

serial construction. In all the examples, the subject arguments at pre-SVC position, and the object/complement arguments at post-SVC position, are shared by the range of verbs involved in the prototypical serialised verb construction: (585) Ba duoe-nɛ zɔ bas-i 3PL get.up-Foc run leave-EPV ‘They got up run leave their towns.’

ba 3PL.POSS

teŋ town

(586) Lɔr la yi-nɛ nya’aŋ gaad-i keŋ-i lu lorry DET came-Foc back pass-EPV go-EPV fall ‘The lorry came from the back and went to fall in the front.’ (587) Nɔɔs la wʊsa zɔɔ-nɛ chickens DET all run-Foc ‘All the chickens run in there.’

keŋ-i go-EPV

kpɛ̃ enter

tuon front.LOC ani. there

(588) Dau la duoe-nɛ ied zĩ‘ig paal man DET get.up-Foc search place new ‘The man got up in search of a new place.’

Argument sharing also implies that both object and subject nominals are shared irrespective of the configurations of the verb forms situated in the serial construction. This is highlighted in the examples in (589) and (590) respectively: (589) O gbĩ’e mui la nɔk-i niŋ o zupibig-in 3SG fetch rice DET take-EPV put 3SG.POSS hat-LOC ‘S/he fetched the rice and put it in his hat.’ (590) O gbi’e-nɛ nɔk-i niŋ 3SG fetch-Foc take-EPV put ‘S/he fetched it and put it in his hat.’

o 3SG.POSS

zupibig-in hat-LOC

Irrespective of the above, there are instances where some arguments are not shared by all the serialised verbs and underlie how a prototype system might incorporate some otherwise ill-formed examples. In Akan (Kwa), for instance, Osam (2004) notes instances where some verbs in serialised constructions take different arguments. He cites the causative construction in (591) which has different subjects for each verb phrase cluster, and the example in (590) where each verb in the serial construction takes a different object. (Credit:Osam 2004:41, 44; Akan > Fante) (591) Pàpá nó má-à àbòfŕá nó man DEF make-COMPL child DEF ‘The man made the child cry.’

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sú-ì cry-COMPL

(592) Gyasiba nyá-à sìká sí-ì Gyasiba get-COMPL money build-COMPL ‘Gyasiba got money and built a house.’

dáń house

In (591), the subject of the initial verb complex ‘made’ má-à is ‘the man’ pàpá nó while the verb sú-ì has as its subject the NP argument àbòfŕá nó ‘the child’. Conversely, in (592), the object of the initial verb nyá-à ‘got’ is sìká ‘money’ while the object of the second verb sí-ì ‘built’ is dáń ‘house’. These instances are not unlike the case in Kusaal exemplified in (581–582) above.

9.4.3 The connector constraint The connector constraint (Bodomo 1997) presents a challenge to a cross-linguistic description of SVCs, especially in respect of Kusaal (and some Mabia) languages, that is probably resolved through a prototypical approach. Bodomo (1997:115) elucidates that “if a construction C is a well-formed SVC, then there exists no connector y such that y intervenes between the row of verbs in C.” Thus, a prototypically “well-formed” serial verb will not contain any form of coordination or subordination as highlighted in the ‘b’ examples below. Thus, while the ‘a’ examples underscore coordination via the use of ka ‘and’, the ‘b’ examples highlight verb serialisation: (593) a. O nwɛ’ɛ-nɛ ka kpɛ̃’ dɔɔg-in 3SG knock-Foc CONJ enter room-LOC ‘S/he knocked and then entered the room.’

la DET

b. O nwɛ’ɛ-nɛ kpɛ̃’ dɔɔg-in ka pʊ pʊ’ʊsɛ 3SG knock-Foc enter room-LOC CONJ NEG greet ‘S/he knocked past (breezed) into the room and did not greet.’ (594) a. Kpaad la zɔ-nɛ ka bas farmer DET run-Foc CONJ leave ‘The farmer run and left the chicks.’

nɔbibis chickens

b. Kpaad la zɔ-nɛ bas nɔbibis la farmer DET run-Foc left chickens DET ‘The farmer run and left the chicks behind.’

la DET

nya’aŋ behind

In the example below, the two instances of the serialised verb are coordinated via an overt conjunction ka ‘and’:these are therefore two separate clauses/VPs with SVCs: (595) Baa la ɛ̃ɛti zɔɔ lɛb kpɛ ka zɔɔ dog DET used.to run turn here CONJ run ‘The dog used to run go here and run go there.’

lɛb turn

kpɛ there

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Notwithstanding the foregoing, Spratt & Spratt (1972:51) state that some form of coordination, which is realised as n, is underlyingly present in some constructions involving two or more strings of verbs particularly in the Agole dialect. We replicate one of their examples below (incorporating orthographic and glossing modifications): (596) Ka fʊ nɔk nu’ug n tʊm vɔ̃ rʊg-in CONJ 2SG take hand CONJ? send hole-LOC ‘And you take hand, put hole inside and grasp him.’

n gbã ’ CONJ? grab

o 3SG

The occurrence of this particle in such constructions cannot be contested. We find that, in some environments, this “connector”, which appears to have lost some of its inherent properties, may be overtly present in some constructions including verb serializations (see, for instance, Musah etal. 2013:61). However, the nature of the observed element appears to be a grammaticalised form of nɛ which we gloss as a broad focus marker (see §9.2 below). Further, as stated in §8.4, the coordinators in Kusaal are the conjunctions ka and nɛ, both translated as ‘and’. We also indicate that while ka is used exclusively to coordinate VPs, nɛ is used to coordinate NPs; considering that verb serialization is a property of verbs, it would therefore have been more revealing if the apparent “coordinator” in Agole Kusaal SVCs were an underlying form of the coordinator ka but not nɛ. Further, this grammaticalised focus marker appears to have two realisations:it is realised as n when it occurs alone at the head of a verb phrase (or simply precedes it), and as -i when it cl*ticises to a preceding lexical item, either a verb or a noun.50 We could thus render the Spratt & Spratt example above with the grammaticalised Foc –i as in the following:51 (597) Ka fʊ nɔk nu’ug-i tʊm vɔ̃ rʊg-in-i gbã ’ CONJ 2SG take hand-Foc send hole-LOC-Foc grab ‘And you take hand, put hole inside and grasp him.’

o 3SG

Also consider the sets of examples in (598) and (599) below where the constructed statements are basically the same but differ only in the realisation of the n/-i form. 50 As one of my respondents put it, the n/-i particle is a “fluency marker” which does not exactly add meaning to the construction. We also agree that inserting these particles allows for a smooth flow of the serialised elements and underscores native speaker competence but we hold that its precise function is to mark broad focus. 51 A second respondent who is a Bible Translator, also had this to say:“Whilst it is true that the Spratts introduced the n in their writings and particularly the original NT – New Testament -, we realise that it is not natural at all in spoken Kusaal. In revising the NT, we have had to take out lots of the ‘ns’ to ensure naturalness.”

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(598) a. Ba kaasid-i buon-i ba 3PL crying-Foc calling-Foc 3PL.POSS ‘They are crying and calling their mothers.’

manam mothers

b. Ba kaasid n buon-i ba 3PL crying Foc calling-Foc 3PL.POSS ‘They are crying and calling their mothers.’

manam mothers

(599) a. M wik-i ku’om-i 1SG fetch-Foc water-Foc ‘I fetched water for my wife.’

tis give

m pua 1SG.POSS wife

b. M wik-i ku’om n 1SG fetch-EPV water Foc ‘I fetched water for my wife.’

tis give

m pua 1SG.POSS wife

Using a prototype system, we are also able to consider the examples in the following as SVCs. They are not only strings of verbs which follow each other, but they also share arguments and take the same aspect and modality markers amongst other considerations underlined here and elsewhere on the nature of verb serializations albeit the presence of the epenthetic element. (600) Ba vaae la’ad la mɔr-i kul 3SG collect items DET take-Foc go.home ‘They collected the items and took them home.’ (601) Sɔ’ kʊ fã aɛ li lɛbis-i no.one FUT.NEG confiscate EXPL return-Foc ‘No one will confiscate it and give it back to you.’ (602) Ya na nɔk-i 2PL FUT take-Foc ‘You will take it seriously’

tis-i give-Foc

ya-a 2PL-SFE

maal nim-mua make eye-red

(603) Kpɛlim-im ka ti kʊ bʊ-pɔlli maal-i dʊg-i tisi-f stay-IMP COMP 1PL kill goat-young make-Foc cook-Foc give-2SG ‘Stay, so that we kill a young lamb and prepare it and cook it for you.’ (604) Manɛ da 1SG.EMPH PST.DIST ‘I was first to state/decree it.’

dɛŋ-i earlier-Foc

(605) Ba na nyaŋ-i nɔk-i 3PL FUT AUX-Foc take-Foc ‘Can they use it to fight against you?’

yɛl-i say-EPV

zi’el stand

zab nɛ fɔ-ɔ? fight PREP 2SG-Q

One could therefore circumvent the connector constraint as elaborated above or, on the other hand, one could equate the view of a connector, to a “consecutive” 219

element in the serial construction, following Hyman (1971 in Williamson 1989:30) “in which the first verb [in the serial construction] is fully marked [for a particular category, such as aspect, mood, or negation], while later ones bear a general marker [such as the Kusaal n/-i particles] showing that they are ‘consecutive’ to the first.” A prototype approach to verb serialisation may very well also cater for constructions such as Ansre’s “verbid construction” which “although it looks very much like that of the serial verb in certain respects, cannot be included in the system of the verbal group” (Ansre 1966:32).

9.5 Conclusion In this chapter, we considered the structure of a verb complex system, the serial verb construction and highlighted how a prototype approach may allow for one to accurately describe the system as it pertains in Kusaal. The discussion was thematised around the notions of serialisation in §9.2, on prototypicality in §9.3 and some features of the SVC in §9.4.

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10 Pragmatically Marked Structures 10.1 Introduction In this chapter, we consider structures which border on pragmatics and contextbased meaning readings. We begin with strategies used to mark focus in §10.2 where we make a marked distinction between broad focus (Foc – indicated by initial capital letter) and narrow focus (FOC – indicated by all caps) in §10.2.1 and §10.2.2 respectively. In §10.3, we underscore the means of negation in Kusaal, highlighting the various means of negating nominal and verbal constructions such as the future and imperative constructions. In §10.4 we consider question formation and highlight the main difference between polar and content questions. The penultimate section §10.5 considers context driven information and is tied to the pragmatics of one speech event – signification/playing the dozens – which is underlined in the Appendix A. §10.6 concludes the chapter.

10.2 Focus In this section, we highlight the strategies that are used to mark focus or place emphasis on any element/part of the Kusaal clause. Following Dakubu (2005:18–21), we also make a distinction between “broad” and “narrow” focus. Based on this consideration, we make a formal distinction between Foc and FOC in this thesis and relate the former form to broad focus and the latter to narrow focus (see also Schaefer 2009:53ff for a thorough discussion of the topic in general and for Safaliba in particular).

10.2.1 Broad focus In-situ focus, i.e. where lexical items remain in their canonical position in the SVO system of the language while receiving some focus or emphasis is termed “broad focus” in Dakubu (2005). We paraphrase her views as follows: “Broad focus correlates with a speaker making a general assertion that something happened. As a result, in an ordinary sentence, the predicate (verb plus its object) is in focus if there is no reason to put something else in focus. The marker of broad focus generally follows the verb, or verb together with its object, marking focus on the entire predicate. The marker could also follow the subject, in which case the subject is in focus. Subject and Predicate cannot both be in focus” (Dakubu 2005:18).

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While the particle in question in Dagaare is la/ŋ, which is similar to the Kusaal narrative assertion (discourse marker) la, the so-called factitive (Bodomo 1997), we find that Dakubu’s type of focus generally applies in Kusaal as well but via the particle -nɛ which has two other realizations:-n and -i based on where it occurs. As already stated, this type of focus relates to the occurrence of the various components of the clause in-situ, in their regular position in the clause.

10.2.1.1 nɛ/-nɛ Foc The full form of the broad focus Foc marker nɛ focuses only elements in the predicate in the so-called “predicate focus”. The element that is focussed in the predicate, be it the verb or the object/complement, has the Foc marker occurring immediately after it. Irrespective of the fact that the Foc marker can occur close to the verb, we do not consider this a verb derivational/inflectional process as derivational/inflectional processes are always contiguous with the verbs they so “modify” and cannot be separated from it. Any category that can be separated from the verb (as can the Foc marker) cannot be considered a bonafide feature of the verb. In the examples that follow, we provide some constructions highlighting that the element to which the marker is closest is the one on which focus/ emphasis is being placed. In the following we move the focus from the object to the verb in a and b examples respectively.52 (606) a. Pu’a la tʊm biig nɛ woman DET sent child Foc ‘The woman sent a child (not a man).’ b. Pu’a la tʊm-nɛ biig woman DET sent-Foc child ‘The woman sent (not called) a child.’ (607) a. Ya li teŋ-in nɛ 2PL fall ground-LOC Foc ‘You fell to the ground (not onto a mat).’ b. Ya li-nɛ teŋ-in 2PL fall-Foc ground-LOC ‘You fell (you did not sit).’ (608) a. Wɛbaas la vɔl-id ni’im nɛ lions DET swallow-HAB meat Foc ‘The lions are swallowing meat (not maize).’

52 In the brackets in the translations which follow we provide a probable distinction that could be implied from the perceived emphasis of the underlined cluster.

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b. Wɛbaas la vɔl-id-nɛ ni’im lions DET swallow-HAB-Foc meat ‘The lions are swallowing (not vomiting) meat.’

Lastly, the emphatic pronouns discussed in §4.2.2 incorporate this type of focus into their nature so that they become “focussed emphatic pronouns”. The examples below indicate their usages at subject position. However, because the coda elements of the emphatic pronouns are nasal in quality, like the focus marker itself, it is more desirable to use only the -ɛ form: (609) Man-ɛ di diib 1SG.EMPH-Foc eat food ‘I am the one who ate the food.’

la DET

(610) Yanam-ɛ tʊm tʊʊma 2PL.EMPH-Foc work.v work.n ‘You are the guys who worked the work.’

la DET

(611) On-ɛ da’a lɔr la 3SG.EMPH-Foc buy lorry DET ‘He is the one who bought the car.’

All the examples above highlight the ambivalent nature of the Foc marker in the predicate. Observe that the element to which nɛ is attached is the one to which attention is being pointed to. This brings up a number of meaning nuances that may be infinitesimal but are all the same considered to be very relevant to the language users and their processing of the precise communicative enterprise.

10.2.1.2 n Foc While the foregoing section highlights the presence of the broad focus marker in the predicate to indicate that the subject is the element being focussed, it is not possible to simply place the full nɛ form after subject elements. Such a usage would yield ungrammatical forms as indicated in the examples below derived from the above: (612) a. *pu’a woman b. *ya 2PL

nɛ Foc

c. *wɛbaas lions

la DET

nɛ Foc

tʊm sent

li fell

teŋ-in ground-LOC

nɛ Foc

ɔ̃ b-id chew-HAB

biig child

ni’im meat

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Instead, to show that the subject of the clause is the focussed element, a grammaticalised or reduced form of the broad focus marker nɛ > n is used. Naden (1997:10) refers to a similar form in Mampruli as “the post-subject assertive particle”. Thus, constructions that highlight the subject as focussed element include the following: (613) Niiŋ n nyɛ’ɛ mad bird Foc defecate wet ‘It is a bird that defecated on him.’

o 3SG

(614) Azaŋkuar n wʊm ala la Azankuar Foc hear thus DET ‘When Azangkuar (not another fellow) heard that…’ (615) Baa n gbã’e nɔɔ la dog Foc catch chicken DET ‘(It is) a dog that caught the chicken.’

On account of the subject being thus focussed, there can be no further focus on any element in the predicate. This is probably a reflection of the proposal that there can be only one focussed constituent at any one time (except perhaps, verbs in a serialised construction which share the same arguments and/or TAM markers). The following examples would thus instantiate ungrammatical usages because the examples in ‘a’ and ‘b’ have focus both on the subject and the verb while the example in ‘c’ has focus marking on both the subject and the object of the predicate: (616) a. *Niiŋ n bird Foc

nyɛ’ɛ-nɛ mad defecate-Foc wet

b. *Azaŋkuar Azankuar

c. *Baa n dog Foc

gbã ’e nɔɔ catch chicken

o 3SG

wʊm-nɛ ala Foc hear-Foc la DET

la thus

DET

nɛ Foc

10.2.1.3 -i cl*tic Foc In finalizing the discussion on in-situ “broad” focus marking, we turn our attention to the –i cl*tic. The indicators of focus on the verb -nɛ and on the subject n, but not the object/complement focus nɛ, are realised as a cl*ticised element -i especially in fast speech but also to indicate native speaker competence.53 Thus, in place of the subject focus marker n or the verb focus marker –nɛ, -i could be

53 This is as well incorporated into Kusaal orthography to allow for “naturalness” of the written form.

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cl*ticised to the lexical item that is being focussed so long as the element terminates in a consonant coda. For instance, the following pairs basically underscore the same meanings but are expressed (said and transcribed) differently: (617) a. M igin-nɛ m 1SG kneel-Foc 1SG.POSS ‘I kneel/genuflect on my knees.’

duma knees

zug head

b. M igin-i m 1SG kneel-Foc 1SG.POSS ‘I kneel/genuflect on my knees.’

duma knees

zug head

(618) a. Sɔ’mɛkama zig-id-nɛ o everyone strives-HAB-Foc 3SG ‘Everyone strives for their own cause.’ b. Sɔ’mɛkama zigid-i o mɛŋ everyone strives-Foc 3SG RFLX ‘Everyone strives for their own cause.’

mɛŋ RFLX

yɛla matter

(619) a. Suoŋ n kʊ pu’a rabbit Foc kill woman ‘It is a rabbit that killed a woman.’ b. Suoŋ-i kʊ pu’a rabbit-Foc kill woman ‘It is a rabbit that killed a woman.’

10.2.2 Narrow focus Dakubu’s (2005:21) “narrow focus” relates to ex-situ focus – which we underlie in this thesis with all caps FOC. This focus type is labelled variously in the Mabia (Gur) literature:it is for instance, “argument focus” in Beyer (2005:13) and “heavy emphasis” in Naden (1988:31). Most relevant in this category and with particular regard to the paradigm as it pertains in Kusaal is that the element being focussed is raised to subject position at the left periphery of the clause. The new left-dislocate constituent is then followed by the narrow focus marker ka ‘that’. Elements that can be fronted include objects (620) and complements (621) as well as adjuncts (622–623): (620) Ni’im ka biis la meat FOC children DET ‘(It is) Meat that the children ate.’

ɔ̃ b chew

(621) Nɛ’ɛŋŋa ka man this.one FOC 1SG.EMPH ‘This one that I want.’

bɔɔd want

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(622) Fʊ baa la ka 2SG.POSS dog DET FOC ‘(It is) Your dog that he hates.’

o 3SG

kis hate

Observe that in all the examples, the focussed elements precede the FOC marker and also that the entire promoted constituent at the left periphery can be moved wholesale to the right, to the position after the verb, their hitherto base positions. In the ‘a’ and ‘b’ examples below this is highlighted further. (623) a. On li la zug 3SG.EMPH fall DET head ‘Because he fell that he is crying.’ b. O kaas-id-nɛ on 3SG cry-HAB-Foc 3SG.EMPH ‘He is crying because he fell.’

ka FOC

o 3SG

kaas-id cry-HAB

li fall

la zug DET head

Zug ‘because of, because’ is a relator noun which derives from the nominal item zug ‘head’ (cf. §4.3.2 above) and is used effectively as a “postposition”. Structurally, it comes at the end of the clause that it subordinates and can be moved, together with the clause it subordinates, from sentence initial to final position and vice versa. It underscores the reason for the action expressed in the sentence. Observe also that in the ‘a’ and ‘b’ examples above, there is a restriction on marking both narrow and broad focus in the same clause.

10.3 Negation Structurally, Kusaal negators precede the verb or nominal that they negate unlike, for instance, in the Khoekhoe and Kalahari Khoe (Khoe > Central Khoesan) group of languages where negators generally occur in post-verb positions (cf., for instance, Vossen 2006:254–8). In this section, we discuss how the concept of negation is expressed in the language under the following thematic areas which adhere to different systems of negation: nominal negation, negation of the declarative, negation of the future and negation of the imperative forms. Two verb forms that are inherently polar to each other in Kusaal are the verbs mi’ ‘know’ and zi’ ‘not know’/‘NEG.know’. These are highlighted below with and without nominal complements in (624) and (625) respectively. (624) a. M mi’ 1SG know ‘I know.’

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b. M zi’ 1SG NEG.know ‘I don’t know.’ (625) a. M mi’ biig la 1SG know child DET ‘I know the child.’ b. M zi’ biig la 1SG NEG.know child DET ‘I don’t know the child.’

10.3.1 Nominal negation To negate nominal predicates or noun-headed phrases or clauses, the form ka’ ‘to not be’ is introduced at pre-nominal position. The underlying meaning of ka’ is ‘absence of ’ or ‘non-existence’ of the entity so referred to and, particularly, it reflects negative forms of the copula ã ‘to be’ and the existential bɛ ‘be at’, as well as a negative form of the verb ‘to have’ mɔr. See the ‘b’ examples below: (626) a. O ã -nɛ mam 3SG COP-Foc 1SG.EMPH ‘S/he is my child.’ b. O ka’ mam 3SG NEG.COP 1SG.EMPH ‘S/he is not my child.’ (627) a. Ti baaba 1PL.POSS father ‘Our father is at home.’

biig child biig-a child-SFE

bɛ yin EXST home.LOC

b. Ti baaba ka’ 1PL.POSS father NEG.EXST ‘Our father is not at home.’

yin-nɛ home.LOC-SFE

Other examples of negation of noun-headed phrases include the following. Observe that in all cases, the negator occurs before the nominal it negates while some of the constructions take a sentence final element (such as broad focus Foc marker) to allow for fluid speech: (628) O ligidi ka’ 3SG.POSS money NEG.has ‘His wealth/money has no end.’ (629) Man ka’ 1SG.EMPH NEG.COP ‘I am not you.’

bɛn-nɛ end-Foc

fʊ-nɛ 2SG-Foc

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(630) Ban nyɛ-t si’el la ka’ 3PL.EMPH see-HAB thing DET NEG.COP ‘What they are seeing is not real/true.’

sida true

To negate verb-headed constructions, however, one of three means of negation is drawn upon – through the negation morphemes pʊ, kʊ and da being placed before the main verb in the clause (see also Beyer 2006:115–7 for similar forms in Pana). These morphemes mutually exclude each other in the following positions:while pʊ is used to negate all other construction types, kʊ is used to negate only future event verbs/clauses and da is used to negate only imperative forms. These are highlighted below.

10.3.2 Negation of the declarative While ka’ is the generic nominal negator, pʊ is the generic verb negator. It is used to negate especially declarative sentences and all other construction types that do not make reference to a future event or do not constitute an imperative form. The particle occurs in the pre-verbal position. In addition, in negated constructions, lexical items at sentence final position are often modified with a sentence final element (SFE). This SFE is realised as a final vowel in the case of items which terminate in vowels or as a final vowel preceded by consonant geminates if the final element has a consonant coda. In the following, we exemplify: (631) Lin pʊ mɔr nya’a la 3SG.-HUM NEG have roots DET ‘Because it did not have roots that it died.’

zug ka because FOC

li kpi 3SG.-HUM die

(632) O pu’a pʊ gbã ’e li gbin-nɛ 3SG.POSS wife NEG catch 3SG.-HUM buttocks-Foc ‘His wife didn’t catch its buttocks (his wife did not understand it).’ (633) O nam pʊ nyɛ saŋ-ŋa 3SG still NEG seen time-SFE ‘S/he has still not had time.’ (634) Bʊŋ la pʊ tɔn zɔt tɔ’ɔ-tɔ donkey DET NEG able.to run fast-fast ‘The donkey is not able to run (very) fast.’

The negator pʊ when it occurs with temporal pre-verbals and a verb takes a central position between the temporal and the verb it negates: (635) Biis la da pʊ children DET DIST.PST NEG ‘The children did not return there.’

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lɛb anina-a return there-SFE

(636) Amus la sa pʊ cat DET HEST.PST NEG ‘The cat did not eat (yesterday).’

di-i eat-SFE

(637) Fʊ daa pʊ kul-ɛ 2SG DIST.PST NEG go.home-SFE ‘You did not go home.’

Both forms of the factative are negated similar to the above as indicated in (638) for factative action verbs and factative stative verbs in (639) below: (638) Ba pʊ di’e ba yaapu’a la 3PL NEG collect/receive 3PL.POSS grandmother DET ‘They did not receive their grandmother well.’

sʊ’ʊ-ŋa well-SFE

(639) O pʊ mɔr niigi 3SG NEG have cattle ‘S/he does not have cattle.’

The perfect form is also negated by placing the NEG marker before the verb form. As a result, the negated perfect form loses its perfect marker –ya while the final element of the verb form geminates a consonant or lengthens the final vowel element. Compare the examples in (640–642) below: (640) a. O di-ya 3SG eat-PRF ‘S/he has eaten.’ b. O pʊ di-i 3SG NEG eat-SFE ‘S/he did not eat.’ (641) a. Ba nɔk-iya 3PL take-PRF ‘They have taken.’ b. Ba pʊ nɔk-kɛ 3PL NEG take-SFE ‘They did not take.’ (642) a. Fʊ tis-ya 2SG give-PRF ‘You have given.’ b. Fʊ pʊ tis-sɛ 2SG NEG give-SFE ‘You did not give.’

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The imperfective forms – the HAB and the PROG – are negated via one means. The negative marker is placed before the IPFV form, and a final element is incorporated into the sentence: (643) a. O pies-id daar-woo 3SG wash-HAB day-every ‘S/he washes every day.’ b. O pʊ pies-id daar-woo 3SG NEG wash-HAB day-every ‘S/he doesn’t wash every day.’

nɛ Foc

(644) a. Ba tus-id 3PL push-HAB ‘They push.’ b. Ba pʊ tus-id-da 3PL NEG push-HAB-SFE ‘They don’t push.’ (645) Ya’am sɔb pʊ nwɛ’-ɛd pu’ab-ba sensible person NEG beat-HAB women-SFE ‘A sensible person does not hit/beat women.’

10.3.3 Future time negation To negate future time constructions, the particle kʊ is used. Kʊ incorporates both a negative meaning and a future time reading; it thus replaces the underlying FUT marker na in the negative form. These facts are highlighted in the ‘a’ and ‘b’ examples in (646), while the example in ‘c’ is ungrammatical because it has both the positive and negative forms of the future marker. In (647–649), other negative future time events are highlighted: (646) a. O na pies la’ad la 3SG FUT wash clothes DET ‘S/he will wash the clothes.’ b. O kʊ pies la’ad la 3SG NEG wash clothes DET ‘S/he will not wash the clothes.’ c. *O kʊ na 3SG NEG FUT

pies wash

laad la clothes DET

(647) Ba kʊ nyɛ diib-i diis ba 3PL NEG get food-Foc feed 3PL.POSS ‘They will not find food to feed their families.’

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yidim-ma household-SFE

(648) Ba kʊ pu’alim bɛɛ sa’am 3PL NEG hurt or destroy ‘They will not hurt or destroy each other.’

taaba RFLX

(649) O kʊ fã aɛ̃ sʊ’ʊlim la na’ab la 3SG NEG snatch kingdom DET chief DET ‘S/he will not take away the kingdom from the chief.’

ni place

10.3.4 Negation of the imperative To negate the imperative form, the negative particle da ‘do not/don’t’ is introduced at pre-verbal position of the imperative construction. This is unlike the case in the Khoesan language Deti where the negative imperative is formed by placing a particle tí after the verb stem (Vossen 2013:816). The Kusaal da ‘don’t’ particle is used only in negative forms of the imperative and the form of the verb no longer incorporates the imperative marker –Vm, but rather a modification of the coda elements of the verb stem is instantiated. While verb stems which terminate in short vowels become long, verb stems which terminate in a consonant undergo a process of gemination and take a final vowel: (650) di nu tis nɔk

‘eat’ ‘drink’ ‘give’ ‘take’

dim! nuum! tisim! nɔkim!

‘eat!’ ‘drink!’ ‘give!’ ‘take!’

Da dii! Da nuu! Da tissɛ! Da nɔkkɛ!

‘Don’t eat!’ ‘Don’t drink!’ ‘Don’t give!’ ‘Don’t take!’

When the negative imperative construction involves an overt object NP, the form of the verb is not modified, i.e., while the negative imperative morpheme still precedes the verb, the verb retains its base form without any modifications such as vowel lengthening and gemination of coda consonants: (651) Da di diib la! NEG eat food DET ‘Don’t eat the food!’ (652) Da nɔk fuug la! NEG take dress DET ‘Don’t take the dress!’ (653) Da keŋ sakur-rɛ! NEG go.to school-SFE ‘Don’t go to school!’ (654) Da nu ku’om! NEG drink water ‘Don’t drink water!’

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10.4 Questions The structure of Kusaal questions is taken up quite extensively in Spratt & Spratt (1972: 83–86) and in England & Ladusaw (1984: 105–110). In Musah (2010:131–134) too, the tone of the interrogative form is juxtaposed to that of the declarative perfect and future forms. In the following, we present a synthesis of the recurring views which underscore the nature of particularly polar questions in the language. All these studies observe that declarative sentences can be converted into the interrogative form via the following strategies with the first consideration (#I) being constant: I.

Final elements in the interrogative form always take a low tone (as a result of downdrifting from the beginning of the statement). II. If the final element terminates in a long vowel, then an optimal requirement has been met and the low tone is simply associated with the final vowel. III. If the final element terminates in a short vowel, this vowel becomes lengthened and then the low tone is associated with the new final vowel. IV. If the final element ends in a consonant, a geminate form may first arise before a final vowel is suffixed. The low tone is applied to this final vocalic element.

10.4.1 Polar questions Based on the above criteria, we exemplify with the following oppositions using the aspect and modality distinctions underlined in Chapter 7 above. The questions, the ‘b’ examples in the pairs below, relate to what are typically called ‘yes/ no’ questions because a satisfactory response to any of them is a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Noteworthy in each of the following oppositions is the fact that while the ‘a’ examples highlight declarative forms of statements, the ‘b’ examples highlight interrogative statements (which are morphologically represented by the introduction of an interrogative element) at the end of the declarative. The interrogative element is realised as a low tone which is associated with the lengthened component of final vowels in words which end in vowels or to newly introduced final vowel elements in words which have a consonant coda. These are exemplified in the following contrastive pairs: (655) Factative (action) declarative and interrogative: a. Yà dī dīib là 2PL eat.FCT food DET ‘You ate the food.’

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b. Yā dí díib 2PL eat.FCT food ‘Have you eaten the food?’

lá-à? DET-INT

(656) Factative (stative) declarative and interrogative: a. Tī mí’ tàabà 1PL know.FCT RFLX ‘We know each other.’ b. Tí mí’ tāabā-à? 1PL know.FCT RFLX-INT ‘Do we know each other?’ (657) Perfect declarative and nterrogative: a. Kíkíríg lá dɔ̄l ò là, lí yùug-iyà. dwarf DET follow 3SG DM 3SG long-PRF ‘The dwarf followed him, it has been long (The dwarf has followed/haunted him for a while now).’ b. Kíkíríg lá dɔ̄l ō là, lí yúug-iyá-à? dwarf DET follow 3SG DM 3SG long-PRF-INT ‘The dwarf followed him, it has been long? (Has it been long since the dwarf followed/haunted, him?)’ (658) Habitual declarative and interrogative: a. Bà kèn sákūr 3PL go.to.HAB school ‘They go to school.’ b. Bā kēn sákūr-rɛ̀? 3PL go.to school-INT ‘Do they go to school?’ (659) Progressive declarative and interrogative: a. Pù’a-pʊ́ʊg lá tĩ ̄-id-nɛ̄ woman-stomach DET vomit-HAB-Foc ‘The pregnant woman is throwing up.’ b. Pù’a-pʊ́ʊg lá tĩ ̄-id-nɛ̄-ɛ̀? woman-stomach DET vomit-HAB-Foc-INT ‘Is the pregnant woman throwing up?’ (660) Future declarative and interrogative: a. Fʊ̀ ná kūl sīd 2SG FUT go.home husband ‘You will get married.’

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b. Fʊ̄ ná kūl 2SG FUT go.home ‘Will you get married?’

sīd-āà? husband-INT

(661) Imperative declarative and interrogative: a. Zɔ̄m sù’á! run hide! ‘Run and hide!’ b. M̄ zɔ̄m sū’á-à? 1SG run hide-INT ‘Should I run and hide?’

10.4.2 Content questions While the considerations above (in §9.4:I–IV) all hold true for polar questions, content questions, so-called wh-questions, on the other hand behave somewhat differently. These question types interrogate, through the use of interrogative pronouns, about the ‘where’, ‘which’, ‘what’, ‘how’, ‘how much’ ‘who’, and ‘when’ of an event. Table 10.1: Kusaal interrogative pronouns Form

Gloss

yáanɛ̀

‘where’

kānɛ̀/līnɛ̀

‘which’

bɔ̀

‘what’

wálà

‘how’

àlà

‘how much/‘how many’

ànɔ̄’ɔnɛ̀

‘who’

dàakānɛ̀

‘which day’

sáŋkānɛ̀

‘what time’

In the regular interrogative forms, that is, when the interrogatives above (excluding the ànɔ̄’ɔnɛ̀‘who’) are used in-situ or in their base forms, they occur after the verb and usually as the last elements in the interrogative construction. Content questions differ from polar interrogative forms, the yes/no question, especially in the fact that final elements do not become lengthened. In this case, the difference between any declarative and its interrogative form is realised in a much 234

noticeable downdrift of tones in the latter as compared to the former. Downdrifting spreads rightwards from sentence initial position, where nominal items are realised on a relatively higher pitch (up-stepping) than in their regular form, until the final vocalic element of the interrogative word which is associated with a low tone. (662) Fʊ̄ bɛ́ yáanɛ̀? 2SG EXST where ‘Where are you (lit.:you be where)?’ (663) Nā’ayíig lá zú bɔ̀’ ? thief DET steal what ‘What did the thief steal (lit.:the thief steal what)?’ (664) Ò nɔ̀k-í tīs ànɔ̄’ɔnɛ̀? 3SG take-Foc give who ‘Whom did s/he give it to (lit.:s/he take it give who)?’ (665) Ná’af lá zēm wala? Cow DET size how ‘How big is the cow (lit.:the cow is sized how)?’ (666) Yā bɔ̄ɔ̀d dɔ̄-kānɛ̀? 2PL want room-which ‘Which room do you want (lit.:you want room which)?’

All the wh-questions above are expressed in-situ, i.e. occurring where one would expect them to be found in the typical SVO-A system of the language. When wh-question words occur ex-situ, that is, when they are fronted, then they must necessarily be focussed using the focus marker ka discussed above. These facts are also highlighted in the following examples and hold true for all wh-question words except for the pronoun anɔ’ɔnɛ ‘who’ which can be topicalised with or without recourse to the focus marker as highlighted in example (670–671): (667) Yáanɛ́ kā nī’im lā where FOC meat DET EXST ‘Where is it that the meat is?’

bɛ̀?

(668) Bɔ́’ ká nā’ayīig what FOC thief ‘What did the thief steal?’

lā DET

zù? steal

(669) Dāa-kānɛ kā yà day-which FOC 2PL ‘Which day will you come?’

ná FUT

kē-nà? come-VEN

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(670) Ànɔ́’ɔn ká ō nɔ̄k-í who FOC 3SG take-Foc ‘Whom did he give it to?’

tīs-ɛ̀? give-Q

(671) Ànɔ́’ɔn-ɛ́ dā’a lɔ̄r-ɛ̀ who-Foc bought lorry-Q ‘Who (has) bought a lorry/car?’

The difference between (670) and (671) relates to the fact that while there is a narrow focus marker (FOC) in (670), (671) has a broad focus marker (Foc).

10.5 Context-dependent structures Clauses in Kusaal always require a verb. The context-dependent clause, the socalled verbless clause, is the type that makes a complete statement but does not incorporate any form of a verb in the underlying clause structure. Amongst other things, such clauses include those that ask questions such as the following: wala? ‘how?’ and to some extent ‘why?’. Based on shared context, for instance, the question, wala ‘how?’, could be inquiring about a number of situations including ‘how are you?’, ‘how are things?’, ‘how did it happen?’ ‘how should I do a or b?’, etc. If spelt out fully, however, the copula is incorporated into the clause proper as in the following: (672) Fʊ ã wala 2SG COP how ‘How are you (lit.:you are how)?’

Similarly, many other lexical items such as the interrogatives/adverbials yaani ‘where’ and kpɛla ‘here’ could replace whole lines of rhetoric if the participants of the speech event share the same contextual situation or have similar experiences. Often, these are related not only to questions but as well to the responses which could be espoused in single lexemes. These one-word forms could be expressed via the emphatic forms of especially personal pronouns or affirmative or negative responses to questions. For instance, in response to the question in (673a), the responses in the ‘b–d’ examples should suffice: (673) a. Anɔ’ɔn-ɛ di who-Foc ate ‘Who ate the food?’ b. Man. c. On. d. Biig la.

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diib food

‘Me.’ ‘Him.’ ‘The child.’

la? DET

Especially in the case of the responses in ‘b’ and ‘c’ above, the fact that the pronouns used are emphatic points to evidence for focus marking. Similarly, when one knocks on the door of a house, for instance, the occupant may simply ask anɔ’ɔnɛ ‘who?’. In itself, this lexeme then covers a number of plausible interpretations including ‘who is at the door’, ‘who is looking for me’, etc. Similarly, in response to a question such as ‘who owns this horse’, instead of using the complete response as highlighted in (674a) which entails a copula and an underspecified subject, the ‘b’ example could be used without resort to any verb form. (674) a. Ã -nɛ na’ab bʊn COP-Foc chief thing ‘It is the chief ’s thing.’ b. Na’ab bʊn chief thing ‘Chief ’s thing.’

Finally, some forms of casting invectives/insults often do not involve verbs. Usually, the anticipated verb form in such instances is the copula ã ‘to be’ but it is usually left out if the statement is directed at an identified participant in the discourse situation. As a result, instead of using the entire clause as expressed in (675), the forms in (676) are much more pronounced. These forms all involve the juxtaposition of a nominal item and the 2nd person pronominal item. Consonant codas of the nominal items geminate, indicated by the elements after the hyphen. (675) Fʊ ã -nɛ 2SG. SBJ COP-FOC ‘You are really a donkey.’ (676) a. Bʊŋŋa fʊ! donkey 2SG. ‘You donkey!’ c. Baaga dog ‘You dog!’

fʊ! 2SG

e. Na’ayiigga thief ‘You thief!’

fʊ! 2SG

bʊŋ donkey

paa ADV b. Pu’abibidda rapist ‘You rapist!’

fʊ! 2SG

d. Balɛrigga fʊ! ugly fellow 2SG ‘You ugly fellow.’

10.6 Conclusion In this chapter, we considered structures bordering on pragmatics and contextbased readings. Strategies used to mark focus are discussed in §10.2 where we 237

differentiated between broad focus (Foc) and narrow focus (FOC). In §10.3, we discussed negation and elaborated on how nominal items, declarative, future and imperative constructions are negated. In §10.4 we considered question formation and took a cursory look on context driven information in the language in §10.5.

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Appendices – Kusaal Literary Genres/Texts Introduction In view of the anthropological-linguistic orientation of the Institut für Afrikanistik at Goethe University, we capture in this section some literary genres, mostly spoken/oral (but transcribed and translated in this thesis), that are found in the language. Some of these texts have provided the data for the preceding chapters. We begin with Kusaal sɔlim gima ‘short stories’ which bear a striking affinity to ‘signifying’ or ‘playing the dozens’ found amongst African-American communities in §A. We also include a typical Kusaal story and a folktale, as well as an instructional text – on how to make TZ in §B, §C and §D respectively. We espouse in this section too, some Kusaal poems one of which is old (based directly on the oral nature of the language) while the rest are modern day poems written by some younger speakers in §E. In all cases, we provide a summary and a free translation. Where necessary, we provide a morpheme-by-morpheme gloss as well.

Appendix A – Sɔlim gima ‘Signifying/playing the dozens’ On the backdrop of Kusaal invectives/insults in the last main section, we consider here the speech event known as “Signifying”. Signifying, more commonly known as “playing the dozens” is one of the most prominent speech act events used amongst mainly African-American communities. It is a verbal game which seeks to highlight the superior verbal/lyrical prowess of one group of contenders over the other. Green (2002:139) elaborates on this type of verbal banter further: During the game, which is in the call and response format, two opponents dual verbally, making derogatory remarks about each other and/or each other’s family members… Participants play the game with persons they know or who are in their circle of acquaintances. To stay within the boundaries, they use exaggerated statements that do not, in reality, characterise the opponent’s family members and family life. The audience judges the opponent’s verbal comebacks in determining the actual winner.

The verbal genre, because of its uniqueness to African-Americans, is traced to Africa and the communities therein from which these people were uprooted. It adds to a long list of both verbal – such as soul- and rap-music – and non-verbal speech events – such as ‘cut-eye’ and ‘suck-teeth’ – that were amongst the prized possessions of the indigenes who were taken away from the motherland across the Atlantic. Among the Kusaas too, we find that aside stories/folktales – sɔlima, riddles and jokes, idioms, and proverbs – siilima, the language users wax lyrical 249

on subjects that border on “complementary teasing” in a genre called sɔlim gima ‘short stories > signifying/playing the dozens’. The participants of this verbal tango are usually of the same social rank and status and they engage each other in the full glare of the public. In the ensuing rhythmic gymnastics, the contending parties – comprised at least of one active vocal person on each side – attempt to out-do the other party with their knowledge of or versatility in the genre. The goal of the game is to tease the other until they relinquish their participation while the format of the teasing could oscillate between well-structured forms known to all members or to new, innovative and lyrically interesting material that may have been previously practiced or thought up on-the-spot. The modus operandi of the game proper is for the first participant P1 to make a statement, the CALL, a sort of line-opener which generally fits the slot ‘MY something-something’. ‘something-something’ being anything that comes to the mind of the one who opens the next line of tittle-tattle. If the opponent, P2, knows the line, he completes it or provides the response (RESP) making sure that the final word in his response rhymes with the last line of the call. If he doesn’t know the line that completes the opener, the response, he states simply:m zi’ ‘I don’t know’. P1 then proceeds to complete his line. However, if P2, knows the line which completes the opener, he simply states it. If he gets it right, he is entitled to bring up the next line opener, otherwise P1 brings up another opener. This goes on and on until one participant is technically “knocked out”, lyrically, to the admiration and applause of the bystanders. In the following, we highlight some of these in order to show how playing the dozens patterns out in Kusaal. As mentioned, the game takes a call and response pattern where the participants make very unlikely comparisons. The range of topics could include everyday matters as well as taboo topics such as talking about excreta and open references to sexual body parts (such as the cl*tor*s). We provide only a free translation in this section.

Text54 (677) CALL: Ti sɔlim. ‘Let’s signify.’ RESP: a. Nini wʊʊ ti pimis. ‘Your eyes like we should shake it vigorously.’

54 Many thanks to Michael Awimbilla for helping to compile the Kusaal texts found herein.

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b. Zɛ̃ɛd ka’ laan, ti talis. ‘There’s no soup in the bowl, let’s postpone.’ (678) CALL: M nwiigi vu. ‘My rope got pulled.’ RESP: Zug nwɛnnɛ ti pʊdigi zi. ‘Your head like we should split it and carry (Your head is so big that we could split it and carry).’ (679) CALL: M nwiigi vu. ‘My rope got pulled.’ RESP: Fʊ sa kpɛ̃’ kʊkɔma da’a da’ mɛti nu. ‘You went to the lepers’ market yesterday and bought pus and drunk.’ (680) CALL: M tɛ̃ɛti rɛ̃rɛ̃ɛ. ‘My tɛ̃ɛti rɛ̃rɛ̃ɛ.’ RESP: Fʊn ya’an dii tig la bin ya’an pɛ’ɛl kikɛ̃ɛʊg nɛ. ‘Now that you have eaten and are satisfied, the bush is filled with your faeces.’ (681) CALL: M hakkamangana. ‘My this way of (directed) talking.’ RESP: Zug nwɛnnɛ fʊ ba’ saman taba. ‘Your head like your father’s front yard tobacco.’ (682) CALL: M kugul-kugul kukki. ‘My rolling tin rolled to a halt.’ RESP: Na’abilia sa ɔ̃ b Adu’am-du’am naada, ‘A week-old calf grazed Mr. Adu’am-du’am’s early millet’ Ka Adu’am-du’am kuk o ‘And Mr. Adu’am-du’am caught it’ Ka ye m mabitaa yim na ‘And said “my siblings come out” ’ Ka m gbã ’e bʊn la bippi. ‘For I have caught the something (the destroyer) red-handed.’ (683) CALL: M lɔ’ɔf-lɔ’ɔf. a. ‘My mouse, mouse.’ b. ‘My lanky, lanky walk.’ RESP: Duom ka kɔ’ɔmi tɔ̃ ’ʊf ‘Get up, for it is hunger that has abled (has conquered) you.’

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(684) CALL: M ku’omin kugirɛ ‘My stone found in water.’ RESP: Kɛl ka ti dʊ gɔs Azambugirɛ. a. ‘Let us get out of the water to see the real betrayer.’ b. ‘Let us get out of the water to see Mr. Azambugire.’ (685) CALL: M ta’ampima dɛŋ silʊg. ‘My shea leaves flew over a hawk.’ RESP: Yɛlim na’anam ye ba kena bigis teŋ la titɔ̃ dig. ‘Tell the chiefs that they should come and show us the boundary of the land.’ (686) CALL: M sipaana. ‘My spanner.’ RESP: Fʊ sa kad pʊmpɔɔgʊ lɔ’ɔŋ Gaana ‘You chased a fly yesterday and crossed the borders of Ghana.’ (687) CALL: M furpiim lu bʊʊrin kaŋŋilimm. ‘My needle fell in a millet bank (granary) and sounded kaŋŋilimm.’ RESP: Tʊm pu’a-ɛliŋ ka o keŋi yɛl wiŋilimm. ‘Send a betrothed girl to go and say it (break the news) clearly (that there is no more food in the granary).’ (688) CALL: M kurkur zambɛŋ. ‘My pig’s pen.’ RESP: Pʊʊr nwɛnnɛ abangia sa’a-nwam ‘Your stomach like a lizard’s TZ (food) bowl.’ (689) CALL: M bi (bit biis). ‘My vegetable seeds.’ RESP: Fʊ sa nyɛ sa’abi la’ hi’. ‘Yesterday you saw TZ and laughed “hi”.’ (690) CALL: M siŋ ma’asim. ‘My cold big pot.’ RESP: Bʊn gbã a-gbã a nwa nɔŋ bʊʊg zã ã sim. ‘This skinny-lean fellow likes the taste of goat (goat meat broth).’ (691) CALL: M bʊlʊʊgin kpa’ar. ‘My well’s peg.’ RESP: Yɛl la ã nɛ fʊ zugin ba’ar. ‘The problem/trouble is the god of your head.’

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(692) CALL: M bʊsabil zʊʊr. ‘My black goat’s tail.’ RESP: Zã asim daar ka fʊ saam galigid bʊʊr. ‘On days that there is meat that your father enters the millet bank (Your father enters the granary only on days that there is meat).’ (693) CALL: M dɔkpin. ‘My foundation’s wall.’ RESP: Ã gii wʊʊ adi bin ‘You look stiff as though you have eaten faeces.’ (694) CALL: M kikambil kikama. ‘My small fig tree’s fruits.’ RESP: Fʊ ya’a pʊ dii tigɛ fʊn yii vɔl sisɔma. ‘If you haven’t eaten to your satisfaction you can go out and swallow grasshoppers.’ (695) CALL: M pɛya’aŋ kpaligi dɛ̃’ɛd bɔ̃’ɔg. ‘My female sheep got to the valley first.’ RESP: Pu’a ninfiaʋ̃ k la dɛŋ dɔɔg. ‘The one-eyed woman is first to enter the room.’ (696) CALL: M zɔŋin kugzĩdir. ‘My yard’s sitting stone.’ RESP: Fʊnɛ ã teŋa bʊntʊ’ʊdir. ‘You are the laughing stock of this area.’ (697) CALL: M tĩtiaã tiɛ̃d gɔnin. ‘My crawling grass is leaning in the courtyard.’ RESP: Zum sa giligi keŋ gɛŋin ‘cl*tor*s roamed to the funeral dance yesterday.’ (698) CALL: M nɔya’aŋ gaŋ-gaŋ. ‘My only fat female chicken.’ RESP: Bam ditnɛ pu’ab ka fʊn ditta ala’a m mɛŋnam. ‘Whiles others are marrying women, you are marrying those who are the laughing stock.’ (699) CALL: M dɔkpin kʊdʊg. ‘My old foundation wall.’ RESP: Ã nyai’ wʊʊ dɛɛgi tɔ̃ ’ kudug ‘You are tightened up like a bush pig in a pair of trousers/shorts.’

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(700) CALL: M zɛnnir. ‘My heavy axe.’ RESP: Fʊ ba’ nɛ fʊ ma ya’a siakinnɛ ba naan nɔkif tisim ka m yɔɔ m yaŋir ‘If your father and mother had agreed to give you to me I would have used you to lock my gate.’ (701) CALL: M kukua zi’e yiri. ‘My small calabash is standing yiri.’ RESP: Fʊ ya’a ã burikin biig fʊn zɔm ziri. ‘If you are a honest child, you should fear lies (telling lies).’ (702) CALL: M bʊtiŋ bili vaae zɔm. ‘My little/small sowing calabash conveyed flour.’ RESP: Pu’a-ɛliŋ bili vaae ya’am. ‘A small betrothed girl conveyed wisdom.’ (703) CALL: M niiŋi zi’e Agɛlgɛl pɔɔgin. ‘My bird is standing in Mr Egg-egg’s farm.’ RESP: Yaarim tuaka amimilim nɔɔrin. ‘Salt has dropped in Mr. Taste’s (amimilim) mouth.’ (704) CALL: M kawɛnna diga-digaa. ‘My short–short (stunted) maize.’ RESP: Fʊ sa keŋi fʊ sabua yin ka ba ʊki fʊ lɔb gɔnnin ka fʊ tʊba dam vaga-vaga ‘Yesterday you went to your girl/boyfriend’s house and they threw you in the first court of the house and it sounded vaga-vaga in your ears.’ (705) CALL: M gingaŋi ya’ae nyɔ’ɔsin. ‘My drum hanging in the smoke.’ RESP: Ã gumm wʊʊ barik-kʊkɔmi kpi vukin. ‘You look bloated like a Bissa leper died on a farm bed.’ (706) CALL: M gbɛsiŋgbɛŋ kpisir. ‘My tilting riverbank.’ RESP: Ba sa da’a fʊ gbɛ’ʊg tusir ‘Yesterday someone bought your forehead (for a) thousand (cedis).’ (707) CALL: M dɔ̃ tita’ari yaarim-yaarim. ‘My big dawadawa spread-spread.’ RESP: Zʊm na’abi kpi ka zʊm bibis kaas ka nini mɛɛlim-mɛɛlim. ‘cl*tor*s chief died and small cl*tor*ses cried and their eyes became very sore.’

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(708) CALL: M tambĩ’is bʊʊlʊg sã a-sã a kʊm bʊd ma’anɛ. ‘My fine sand scattered saa-saa and still not good for sowing.’ RESP: Na’ayir wief ã zɔl-zɔl kʊm bus iilɛ ‘Chief ’s house horse may grow big-big but can never grow horns.’ (709) CALL: M siŋ sɛr. ‘My (broken) pot pieces.’ RESP: Ã yã a wʊʊ lɔŋ gbɛr. ‘You are straight like the thigh of a frog.’ (710) CALL: M bʊlʊg kippi. ‘My tightly closed well.’ RESP: Duom kpɛla nɛ fʊ gbin gbana nyɔppi. ‘Get up from here with your squeezed/folded buttocks.’ (711) CALL: M zaar kpaliga zaarɛɛ. ‘My anvils short hammer.’ RESP: Mam pʊ kun balɛr-tʊgʊliga yirɛɛ. ‘I don’t go home to an ugly-man’s house.’ (712) CALL: M ki-ka’a ki. ‘My millet-stalk millet.’ RESP: Kɛl ka fʊ ma gbis ka ti yi ‘Let your mother sleep so that we can go out.’ (713) CALL: M ya. ‘My houses.’ RESP: Fʊ ba’ kuod za. ‘Your father grows (farms) za (late millet).’ (714) CALL: M saligi li ka ba’. ‘I slip and fall but gain my ground.’ RESP: Silinsiig sa gbã ’e fʊ gɔs ka la’. ‘A ghost caught you yesterday, looked at you and then laughed.’ (715) CALL: M tuugi li ‘I stumble and fall.’ RESP: Tarra ka m di ka kpi. ‘Bring and let me eat and die.’ (716) CALL: M kikɛʋ̃g busum bɔi. ‘My plantations best goat is lost.’

255

RESP: Fʊ ma sa ye fʊ yii la’as saalim ka fʊ yii zi’en parɛŋin ka ye “m maa saalim kae” ‘Your mother said that you should go out and gather potash and you came out and stood at one side and said “mother there’s no potash”.’ (717) CALL: M sari zi’ela, fʊ sarɛɛ? ‘My broken pot piece standing, is it for you?’ RESP: Fʊn keŋ kpia yiri dii pʊ tigɛ ka nukid nɔɔr la fʊ yirɛɛ ‘As you went to the neighbour’s house and ate and are not satisfied and have raised your mouth high, is it your house?’ (718) CALL: M sisirigĩsi. ‘My sisirigisi.’ RESP: Fʊ sa keŋi fʊ sabua yiri nyɛ’ bin gala anii ka fʊ sabua yi. ‘You went to your boy/girlfriend’s house and eased eight huge faeces there so that your boy/girlfriend came out.’ (719) CALL: M gbɛsiŋgbɛɛgʊ bisig ka zimi muad. ‘My riverbank broke and fishes are sucking.’ RESP: Lakimpielisi bɛ anina wa’ad ka nɔba kɔɔd ‘The cattle egrets are there dancing and their legs are breaking.’ (720) CALL: M sampama yi’ zuoe lɛŋʊn ‘My thrashing sticks come from under a mountain.’ RESP: Ba sa nɔki fʊ pugidnam ayi’ nwɛ’ baa kʊʊrin. ‘They used two of your aunties to beat (play) at a dog’s funeral yesterday.’ (721) CALL: M pɔɔgin yʊʊr. ‘My farms pot.’ RESP: Pʊʊr nwɛnnɛ fʊ pudigid pʊʊr. ‘Your stomach like you share (distribute) stomachs.’ (722) CALL: M kugiri dig ka pʊ lakida. ‘My stone is lying and cannot be turned over.’ RESP: Fʊnɛ ã teŋa sɔ̃ bil ka pʊ iã kida. ‘You are the small witch of this town who cannot fly.’ (723) CALL: M tampɛligim gɔŋ. ‘My ashes’ jug.’ RESP: Fʊnɛ mɔr ya’am bɛligid bam. ‘You are the one who has sense and is deceiving others (So you think).’ (724) CALL: M bimbim-bimbim. ‘My raised walls-raised walls.’

256

RESP: Fʊ sa’abɔ̃ sʊg la zug ka ba sa nwɛ’ɛdif kpisinkpil-kpisinkpil ‘Because you are fond of begging for TZ that they beat you yesterday kpisinkpil-kpisinkpil.’ (725) CALL: M suobɔk la, fʊ kpɛn dɔllaa? ‘My footprints, you are still following?’ RESP: M bin kʊkɔ’ɔg la, fʊ kpɛn mabidaa. ‘My watery faeces, you are still stepping into.’ (726) CALL: M darkpɛɛ̃ri. ‘My market entry.’ RESP: Fʊ sa’abɔ̃ sʊg la yɛla ka ba sa nwɛ’ɛf ka fʊ lu avã batã ã di. ‘Because you beg for TZ that they beat you yesterday and you fell on your face.’ (727) CALL: M telee. ‘My telee.’ RESP: Saan bɔɔd kulug ka gɔsida agolee. ‘Visitor wants to go home and is looking up.’ (728) CALL: M sɔlima naaya. ‘My stories (signifying lines) have finished.’ RESP: Di ka mɔŋ dakɔ̃ ya win paaya. ‘The time to eat and leave bachelors has reached.’

257

Appendix B – Kusaal short story Dau kanɛ keŋi o diem yir-ra man REL go 3SG.POSS in-law house-DET ‘The man who went to his in-law’s house’ (As told by Assibi X, Kpalwega Chief ’s Palace)

Summary A man goes to visit his in-law. Before the visit, he gets a clean-shaven haircut and has no more hair and so he puts on a hat. While at his in-law’s place, his mother in-law cooks some food and offers him some of it. He politely refuses. The mother in-law then excuses herself to go into the house in order to get ready and accompany the man back to where he came from. Before she comes out of the room though, the man has fetched some of the rice and put it in his hat. The rice, because it is hot scalds the man while they are on their way. The in-law, who is not aware of the scalding rice in the man’s hat, does not immediately return but keeps accompanying the man. At a point, the poor guy cannot stand the heat of the hot food in his hat and on his scalp and grudgingly returns it to his in-law.

Text (729) Dau sɔ’ da man certain PST.DIST ‘There used to be a certain man

bɛ yaa EXST NARR

ka keŋi o diem yir. CONJ went 3SG.POSS in-law house who went to his in-law’s house. (730) Dau la wa’a o diem Man DET going to 3SG.POSS in-law As the man was going to his in-law’s house

yir-ra house-DET

o ki’ɛs-nɛ kɔlikɔli ka pil zupibig. 3SG barbered-Foc clean-shave CONJ wore hat he got a clean-shaven haircut and put on a hat. (731) On pil zupibig keŋi o 3SG.EMPH wore hat go 3SG.POSS As he wore his hat and went to his in-laws house ka o diem-pu’a CONJ 3SG.POSS in-law-woman And his mother-in-law cooked rice.

258

dʊg mui. cook rice

diem yir-ra in-law home-DM

(732) Ka buos o CONJ ask 3SG And asked him that

ye, COMP

“m dakɔ̃ ɔre, fʊ na di 1SG.POSS son, 2SG FUT eat “my son, will you eat some of the rice?” (733) Ka dau la lɛbis ye CONJ man DET reply COMP And the man replied that “no” ye on pʊ COMP 3SG.EMPH NEG.FUT that he doesn’t want some. (734) Ka pu’a la CONJ woman DET And the woman said “Ok,

ye say

mui rice

laa?”55 that

“ayei”, ‘No’, bɔɔdda. want “awoo, ‘ok,

kɛl ka m kpɛ̃’ dɔɔgin ka yina let FOC 1SG enter room-LOC CONJ come let me go inside and come out and accompany you.” (735) Pu’a la yʊ’ʊn kpɛ̃ dɔɔg-in Woman DET then enter room-LOC The woman then went into the room, ka dau la pibigi CONJ man DET remove and the man removed his hat

o 3SG.POSS

la, DET

zupibig hat

ka vaae mui la nɔki niŋ o CONJ collect rice DET take put 3SG.POSS and fetched some of the rice and put it in his hat (736) Ka pu’a la yʊ’ʊn yi-na CONJ woman DET then come-VEN and the woman now came out and said

biel-if ”. accompany-2SG

la DET zupibig-in hat-LOC

la DET

ka ye, CONJ COMP

55 It is culturally inappropriate to ask a visitor (especially an in-law) if he/she will partake in a meal. Out of politeness or courtesy, etc., most people would turn such an invitation down. The proper thing is for a visitor to simply be served food or drink, without prior asking. This offer they may then strongly decline or they may politely sip or nibble at whatever is offered them even if they did not want to. The “asking” thus factors into the in-law’s response.

259

“m dakɔ̃ ɔre, ti 3SG.POSS son, 1PL “my son, can we leave now?”

kem-a?” go-INT

(737) Ka dau la yʊ’ʊn ken ka kɔlikɔli CONJ man DET now goes CONJ skinhead And the man was now going and his skinhead

la DET

ya’an zabid wi’i-wi’i. now paining very much was now paining very much. (738) Dau la zi’ on ye man DET NEG.know 3SG.EMPH ING The man didn’t know what he was going to do.

o 3SG

maal si’el-la. make what-DM

(739) Mui la zɛ̃ɛd la ɛ̃ɛti keŋ awana rice DET soup DET usually go this.way The soup of the rice would trickle down this side of his hat ka o lɛlig. CONJ 3SG lick and he would lick it off. (740) Ba keŋ-i paae suor-in 3PL go-Foc reach road-LOC They went along for a while and

ka CONJ

di yʊ’ʊn fʊkk-id-i dau n EXPL now scald-HAB-EPV man Foc it was becoming too much for the man to bear (741) Ka dau la yel CONJ man DET say and the man said “Take!

ye COMP

galis too.much

“Han! “Take.IMP

Di yaa ã fʊ mui la zug ka EXPL COND COP 2SG rice DET head FOC If it is because of your rice that you are following me fʊ dɔl-im-aa, 2SG follow-1SG-SFE then take and go back.”’

260

fʊn 3SG.EMPH

di’em ka lɛb.” collect CONJ go.back

Appendix C – Kusaal folktale A-sumbul nɛ A-zaŋkuar nɛ gɛla yɛla Mr.-Hare CONJ Mr.-Wolf CONJ eggs matter ‘Mr. Hare and Mr. Wolf and the story of the eggs’ (As told by Michael Awimbilla)

Summary Mr. Hare and Mr. Wolf are friends who live in the same neighbourhood. One day Mr. Hare, the intelligent one, goes out on a search in the forest and finds a huge pile of partridge eggs which he brings home. His wife cooks them and he and his family enjoy them. This continues for a number of times/days. One day, Mr. Wolf ’s wife sends a child to Mr. Hare’s house to get some fire for food. When the child gets there, he is given some of the eggs to eat which he enjoys a lot. On getting home he informs his mother about the good fortune at Mr. Hare’s house. Mrs Wolf is not happy about this and complains to her husband that he only goes out each day to roam and brings nothing back while Mr. Hare brings eggs to feed his family whenever he goes out. On hearing this, Wolf sets off immediately for Hare’s house and gets there out of breath. After he has been offered some water to drink and has calmed down, he asks Hare where he gets the eggs he feeds his family with. Hare laughs and responds that Wolf should come back early tomorrow morning and he will show him where he gets the eggs. Wolf goes back home but can hardly sleep.As soon as he hears the first co*ck’s crow, he rushes to Hare’s house but Hare is still asleep.Wolf knocks furiously on the door and wakes Hare up but Hare begs to sleep a little longer until it is light outside. At first light, they set off into the forest to search for eggs. While in the forest, whenever Hare finds a heap of eggs, Wolf would claim that he left those eggs there yesterday so he could collect them today. Hare is obliged to give these eggs to Wolf because Wolf is stronger. When Hare finds only one or two eggs, however, Wolf says he can keep it. At the end of the search, Wolf has a bag full of eggs while Hare has only a few. On arriving home, Mr. Hare, unhappy about the turn of the day’s events, conspires with his wife. He tells her that after she has boiled him an egg and he has eaten it, he will fall supine and pretend to be dead. His wife would then mourn via a song that if Hare ate only one egg and has died, what then will befall those who eat more than one? Hare and his wife set this plan in motion and Hare falls down supine after eating an egg. His wife goes out wailing and singing that her husband has died after eating only an egg. Wolf hears the song and gets worried. He asks his wife to throw all the eggs away in the bush. Hare and his wife retrieve these eggs and eat them. 261

Text (742) Asumbul nɛ Azaŋkuar da AS CONJ AZ PST.HIST ‘There lived Mr. Hare and Mr. Wolf. Ka daar yinne ka Asumbul CONJ day one CONJ AS One day Asumbul went searching

keŋ go

bɛ.56 EXST iebi searching

gilig round

hali ti nyɛ kɔdʊŋ gɛla zĩ’is atã ’ vaae kul until RFLX get partridge egg places three collect go.home until he found partridge eggs in three places and collected them home ka o pu’a dʊg ka on nɛ CONJ 3SG.POSS wife cook CONJ 3SG CONJ and his wife cooked them and he and o yidim ɔ̃ b. 3SG.POSS household chew his household members ate. (743) Ka bɛ’og nie ka o CONJ morning break CONJ 3SG The next day, he went again to this place

lɛn again

keŋ go

zĩ’i-kan place-that

la DET

ya’asi nyɛ gɛla bɛdigʊ mɔri kul ka ba dʊgi ɔ̃ b. again get eggs many take go.home CONJ 3PL cook eat and again got lots of eggs and brought home and they cooked and ate. (744) O da niŋ-id-nɛ 3SG PST.HIST do-HAB-Foc He used to do that every day

ala like.that

ka daar yinne ka Azaŋkuar CONJ day one CONJ AZ until one day, Mr. Wolf ’s wife sent a child

pu’a wife

ye o keŋ Asumbul yin-ni COMP 3SG go AS home-LOC that s/he should go to Mr. Hare’s house mu’oe bugum fetch fire and get fire for her.

tis give

56 Asumbul = AS, Azaŋkuar = AZ.

262

o. 3SG

daar day

wʊsa, all

tʊm send

biig child

(745) O paa-ya ka Asumbul 3SG reach-PRF FOC AS He got there and Mr. Hare and his

nɛ CONJ

yidim la’as-i ɔ̃ b-id household.members gather-EPV eat-HAB household were gathered around eating eggs. (746) Ba da tis o gɛla 3PL PST.HIST give 3SG eggs They gave him some of the eggs to eat

o 3SG.POSS gɛla. eggs

si’eba some

ka o CONJ 3SG

ɔ̃ b eat

ka nyɛ ka li malis hali. CONJ see FOC EXPL sweet a lot and he saw that they were very tasty. (747) Biig la da paae yinni yɛl Child DET PST.HST reach home tell The child got home and told his mother

o 3SG.POSS

ma mother

gɛla la yɛla. eggs DET matter about the eggs. (748) Li pʊ yuugɛ ka Azaŋkuar yi gʊ̃ a EXPL NEG delay CONJ AZ return roaming Not long after that, Mr. Wolf returned home from roaming ka o pu’a mɔr ku’om na CONJ 3SG.POSS wife bring water VEN and his wife brought water for him

tis give

kul-na come-VEN

o 3SG

ka lɔ nidaa kiŋ-kiŋ. CONJ tie face IDEO and tied her face tightly (she was frowning). (749) Ka o sid bu’os CONJ 3SG.POSS husband ask And her husband asked her that,

o 3SG

ye, COMP

“Bɔ ka fʊ lɔ nindaa wala?” what FOC 2SG tie face like that “Why have you tied your face so?” (750) Ka o gbɛ̃ɛl o ka tã s CONJ 3SG cut.eye 3SG CONJ burst.out She cut him with her eyes and burst out that

ye, COMP

263

(751) “Kema Asumbul yinne gɔs ban ɔ̃ b gɛla go.to AS house see 3PL.EMPH eat eggs “Go to Mr. Hare’s house and see how they have eaten eggs ka li wɛɛl si’em; CONJ EXPL be.in.excess way and it is in excess amaa fʊn ya’a yi bɛʊg-ʊn but 2SG.EMPH COND go.out morning-LOC but you, when you go out in the morning fʊ ginnɛ yɔri- yɔri ka tʊʊma ka’e!” 2SG roaming anyhow CONJ work NEG you just roam anyhow and produce no results.” (752) Ka ye, “Zina fʊ na gbɛ̃ kɔm!” CONJ COMP “Today 2SG FUT sleep hunger” She added, “Today you will sleep on an empty stomach.” (753) Azaŋkuar n wʊm ala AZ Foc hear that As soon as Mr. Wolf heard this

la, DM

o kpɛn yinɛ zɔ hali paae Asumbul 3SG just went.out run until reach AS He just went out and run until he reached Mr. Hare’s home. (754) O paae-ya ka Asumbul zĩ’i 3SG reach-PRF CONJ AS sitting When he reached there, Mr. Hare was sitting outside ka o zĩ’in kugir zug ka vʊ’ʊsid CONJ 3SG sat stone top CONJ breathing and he sat on a stone and breathed fiã ã -fiã ã (heavily). (755) Ka Asumbul ke ka o CONJ AS let FOC 3SG.POSS And Mr. Hare let his wife bring water

pu’a wife

yin. home

saman-in, outside-LOC fiã ã -fiã ã . IDEO mɔr bring

ku’om na water VEN

tis o ka o di’e nu pib-pib-pib naae give 3SG CONJ 3SG collect drink IDEO finish give him and he collected the water and drank it down pib-pib-pib (quickly) ka digil nwam CONJ put-down calabash and dropped an empty calabash.

264

kpaliga empty

(756) Ka Asumbul bu’os o CONJ AS ask 3SG And Mr. Hare asked him that

ye, COMP

“M zua Azaŋkuar-ɛ, 3SG.POSS friend AZ-VOC “My friend Mr. Wolf li malis ka fʊ zɔ paa-na EXPL sweet CONJ 2SG run reach-VEN Is it sweet that you have run and reached here

vʊ’ʊsid breathing

ka CONJ

li pʊ paad-aa?” EXPL NEG reach-Q and are breathing and it is not reaching?” (Is everything ok that you have run and reached here out of breath?)” (757) Ka Azaŋkuar lɛbis ye, CONJ AZ return COMP And Mr. Wolf replied that “Asumbul-ɛ, fʊn nyɛ gɛla ya’ AS-VOC, 3SG.EMPH got eggs where “Mr. Hare, where did you get eggs for your

tisi give

fʊ 3SG.POSS

yidim ka ba ɔ̃ b ka li wɛɛlɛ?” household.members CONJ 3PL eat CONJ EXPL excess-Q household members such that they have eaten and left some in excess?” (758) Ka Asumbul la’ ka yɛl CONJ AS laughed CONJ tell Mr. Hare laughed and told him that

o 3SG

ye COMP

o kulim ka bɛ’ʊg bɛkɛʊng asuba 3SG go.home.IMP CONJ tomorrow dawn dawn he should go home and early tomorrow morning

ka CONJ

o lɛb-na. 3SG return-VEN he should come back. (759) Ka Azaŋkuar kul ka mak CONJ AZ go.home CONJ try Mr. Wolf went home and tried to sleep

ye COMP

o 3SG

gbisi sleep

gʊ’ʊŋ ka lieb hali bɛ’ʊg nyain. no.success CONJ turn until morning clean to no avail and tossed and turned in bed until day break.

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(760) Nɔraʊgʊ ti kum kʊʊkʊlʊʊkʊʊ la, co*ck when cry IDEO DET As soon as a co*ck crowed kʊʊkʊlʊʊkʊʊ, Mr. Wolf

ka Azaŋkuar CONJ AZ

va bab-bab niŋ zɔɔs tat-tat-tat get.up IDEO do running IDEO jumped up bab-bab and run all the way until

hali until

ni to

Asumbul yin. AS house Mr. Hare’s house. (761) O paae-ya ka Asumbul nam 3SG reach-PRF CONJ AS still He got there and Mr. Hare had not yet come out

pʊ NEG

ka o kabir hali ka Asumbul CONJ 3SG knocked until FOC AS And he made a racket until Mr. Hare came out and told

yin-na come-VEN

Azaŋkuar ye o AZ COMP 3SG Mr. Wolf that he should be patient

suguru patience

ka zĩ’in ka bɛ’ʊg CONJ sit CONJ morning and sit until daybreak.

di-m eat-IMP nie. break

(762) Bɛ’ʊgʊ nie la, ka ba mɔr ken morning break DM CONJ 3SG have going At daybreak, they started to walk until they paae gɛla la bɛ zĩ’i-sia reach eggs DET EXST place-certain reached the place where the eggs are. (763) Ka ba pĩ’il-i CONJ 3PL started-Foc And they started to search.

la. DM

ied. searching

(764) Asumbul ya’a ti nyɛ gɛla ka ye, AS COND when get eggs CONJ COMP Whenever Mr. Hare sees eggs and says “Fa’! M gɛla piiga nwa.” Great! 1SG.POSS eggs ten DEM “Great! Here are my ten eggs.”

266

yi-naa, come-VEN

hali until

ti RFLX

yɛl tell

Ka Azaŋkuar tã s CONJ AZ burst.out Mr. Wolf bursts out/retorts that

ye, COMP

“Zug pilʊga, mɔr na ka manɛ head pointed bring VEN CONJ 1SG.EMPH “Your pointed head like that, bring them for I saw them

daa nyɛ PST.HIST got

ka bas ka ye m lɛb na CONJ leave CONJ COMP 1SG return VEN and left them so that I come for them later!”

nɔk!” take

(765) O paŋ-i gat 3SG.POSS strength-Foc more.than Because he was stronger than Mr. Hare

Asumbul la AS DET

ka Asumbul gʊ’ʊŋ ka nɔki tis CONJ AS was.obliged CONJ take give Mr. Hare was obliged to give them to him (to Mr. Wolf)

zug head o. 3SG

(766) Asumbul ya’a ti yee, AS COND when COMP When Mr. Hare says ‘Heelim! Gɛl ‘There! egg ‘There! An egg.’

yinne.’ one’

Azaŋkuar yɛt AZ says Mr. Wolf says

ye, COMP

“Ayeei, man daa pʊ nyɛ “No, 1SG.EMPH PST.HIST NEG see “Nay, I didn’t see an egg, keep it.”

gɛl egg

yinne; one;

zaŋim.” keep!”

(767) Li niŋ-nɛ ala ka Asumbul ya’a nyɛ EXPL make-Foc that.way CONJ AS COND get It went on like that such that whenever Mr. Hare finds gɛla bɛdigʊ, Azaŋkuar fã -ad-nɛ eggs plenty, AZ claim-HAB-Foc many eggs, Mr. Wolf would claim them amaa li ya’a ã gɛl yinne, o pʊ fã ada. but EXPL COND COP egg one, 3SG NEG rob but when it was only one egg, he did not claim it.

267

(768) Azaŋkuar daa vaae gɛla la pɛ’ɛl kɔlʊg pappi AZ PST.HIST collected eggs DET fill sack IDEO Mr. Wolf collected many eggs and filled his bag to the brim ka Asumbul gɛla lɛɛ pʊ zem si’ela. CONJ AS eggs still NEG size anything While Mr. Hare’s eggs didn’t amount to much. (769) Bam mɔri kul la ka Asumbul 3PL.EMPH take go.home DM CONJ AS When they brought them (the eggs) home, Mr. Hare made (let) o pu’a dʊg gɛl yinne ka yɛl 3SG.POSS wife cook egg one CONJ tell his wife to cook one egg and he told her that

kɛ let

ka FOC

o ye 3SG COMP

o ya’a pik gɛl la niŋ o 3SG COND unshell egg DET put 3SG.POSS when he has unshelled the egg and put it in his mouth

nɔɔr-in, mouth-LOC

o na iã ki lii azampɛ’ɛl nwɛnnɛ 3SG FUT jump fall supine as.though he will jump and fall supine as though he were dead.

kpi-nɛ. died-Foc

o 3SG

(770) Ka ye o yim kaas-id kʊʊr-i ken CONJ say 3SG go.out cry-HAB loud-Foc go He told her that she should then go out and cry out loud while moving Azaŋkuar yi-baba ka yʊ’ʊm ye: AZ house-area CONJ sing COMP towards Mr. Wolf ’s house and sing that: (771) Song: M sid Asumbul-i ɔ̃ b gɛl yinne ka 1SG.POSS husband AS-Foc ate egg one CONJ My husband Mr. Hare ate only an egg and has died Ka banɛ zaŋ wʊsa CONJ REL take all How about those who have taken all Asumbul-i ɔ̃ b yinne ka Mr. Hare-Foc ate one CONJ Mr. Hare ate only one and died

kpi-la died-DM

Ka banɛ zaŋ wʊsa la na niŋ CONJ REL take all DET FUT do What will those who have taken all do

268

wala what

kpi-la died-DM

O ɔ̃ b yinne 3SG ate one He ate one and died

ka kpi CONJ died

Ka banɛ zaŋ wʊsa CONJ those that take all How about those who have taken all (772) Ka Asumbul sid nɔk gɛl-i niŋ o nɔɔr-in CONJ AS really take egg-EPV put 3 SG.POSS mouth-LOC And Mr. Hare did take an egg and put it in his mouth ka iã ki lii azampɛ’ɛl wʊʊ o kpi-nɛ. CONJ jump-Foc fall supine like 3SG die-Foc And then he jumped and fell supine as though he were dead Ka o pu’a yii da’ae kʊʊri CONJ 3SG.POSS wife go out raise loud And his wife went out and raised a loud cry that:

bas ye: leave COMP

(773) Song M sid Asumbul-i ɔ̃ b gɛl yinne ka kpi-la 1SG.POSS husband AS-Foc ate egg one CONJ died-DM My husband Mr. Hare ate only an egg and has died Ka banɛ zaŋ wʊsa CONJ REL take all How about those who have taken all Asumbul-i ɔ̃ b yinne ka kpi-la Mr. Hare-Foc ate one CONJ died-DM Mr. Hare ate only one and died Ka banɛ zaŋ wʊsa la na CONJ REL take all DET FUT What will those who have taken all do?

niŋ do

wala? what

O ɔ̃ b yinne ka kpi 3SG ate one CONJ died He ate one and died Ka banɛ zaŋ wʊsa? CONJ those that take all How about those who have taken all? (774) Azaŋkuar-i wʊm ka Asumbul pu’a kaas-id AZ-Foc heard CONJ AS wife cry-HAB When Mr. Wolf heard Mr. Hare’s wife crying and

ka CONJ

269

yʊ’ʊm la ka o yɛl o singing DM CONJ 3SG say 3SG singing, he told his household members to be

yidim household

ye COMP

ba 3PL

ã bã ã limm ka ba kɛlis COP calm CONJ 3PL listen.to calm/quiet so that they can listen to Asumbul pu’a yʊʊma la. AS wife song DET the song of Mr. Hare’s wife. (775) Ka Asumbul pu’a maligim dʊ’ʊs CONJ AS wife again raise And Mr. Hare’s wife screamed even louder that:

yier jaw

(776) Song: M sid Asumbul-i ɔ̃ b gɛl yinne 1SG.POSS husband AS-Foc ate egg one My husband Mr. Hare ate only an egg and has died

ye, COMP

ka kpi-la CONJ died-DM

Ka banɛ zaŋ wʊsa CONJ REL take all How about those who have taken all Asumbul-i ɔ̃ b yinne ka kpi-la Mr. Hare-Foc ate one CONJ died-DM Mr. Hare ate only one and died Ka banɛ zaŋ wʊsa la na CONJ REL take all DET FUT What will those who have taken all do?

niŋ do

O ɔ̃ b yinne ka kpi 3SG ate one CONJ die He ate one and died Ka banɛ zaŋ wʊsa? CONJ those that take all How about those who have taken all? (777) Pu’a la li’e-d woman DET near-HAB As the woman neared them and

na ka VEN CONJ

ba wʊm yʊʊm la yɛt si’el la, 3PL hear song DET says what DM, they could hear what the song was saying

270

wala? what

Azaŋkuar yɛli o AZ tell 3SG.POSS Mr. Wolf told his wife that (778) “Fʊnɛ, basim gɛla la 2SG.EMPH, leave eggs DET “You, stop the cooking of the eggs ka kpa’ae li wʊsa keŋ CONJ pour EXPL all go And throw all of it on the dump.

pu’a wife

nɛ Foc

ye: COMP

dʊgʊb cooking bas bɔ̃ ’ɔg-in. leave dump-LOC

(779) Tinam zug malis ka ti nan 1PL.EMPH head sweet FOC 1PL yet We are even lucky that we had not yet eaten it.”

pʊ ɔ̃ b-bɛ” NEG eaten-SFE

(780) Ka ba kpɛn kpa’ae gɛla la wʊsa keŋ CONJ 3PL just throw eggs DET all go And they threw all the eggs away on the dump

bas bɔ̃ ’ɔg-in leave dump-LOC

(781) Ka Asumbul sin ka yʊ’ʊŋ ka on nɛ CONJ AS silent CONJ night CONJ 3SG.EMPH CONJ Mr. Hare was quiet and at night he and o yidim keŋi vaae li wʊsa 3SG.POSS household go collect EXPL all his household folks went and collected all of it and kul ka o pu’a dʊg go.home CONJ 3SG.POSS wife cook went home and his wife cooked and they ate.

ka ba ɔ̃ b. CONJ 3PL eat

(782) Din ka ba ye ka 3SG.-HUM FOC 3PL COMP FOC That’s why they say that “bɔɔd pɛɔg vaae nwam want basket collect calabash “he who is greedy loses much.”

la.” DM

(783) Azaŋkuar daa tɛ̃’ɛ̃s AZ PST.HIST thought Mr. Hare thought that he could use

ye on COMP 3SG.EMPH

o paŋi fã aɛ Asumbul 3SG.POSS strength collect AS his strength to rob all of Mr. Hare’s eggs

gɛla eggs

na FUT

nɔk take

wʊsa all

271

amaa Asumbul daa but AS PST.HIST but Mr. Hare used his intelligence

nɔk o take 3SG.POSS

fã aɛ̃ Azaŋkuar gɛla nɛ o mɛŋ gɛla. collect AZ eggs CONJ 3SG RFLX eggs to rob Mr. Wolf ’s eggs and retrieve his own eggs as well.’

272

ya’am intellect

Appendix D – Instructional Text Sa’ab mɔnib yɛla TZ stirring matter ‘How to make TZ’ (As instructed by Moses Atiiga)

Summary TZ is an abbreviation of Tuo Zaafi which is Hausa for the Kusaal sa’ab. Sa’ab/TZ is the staple meal of northern Ghana and is made from mainly millet but also maize. The millet is taken from the grain store (granary) or bought and ground to a powder/flour either at a “grinding mill” or on a grinding stone. Before the grinding, the millet must be checked for foreign material such as stones or pieces of millet stalks. When the flour has been ground, what is left is to make “sour water”. Sour water is made by pouring water into some of the flour and allowing it to sit in a container for a day or two. When it is time to stir the TZ proper, the sour water is sieved into a cooking pot, and placed on a lit fireplace. When the sieved water begins to boil, the bottom of the sieved water, which contains the flour residue, is mixed with more flour and water. The flour and water mixture is poured into the pot and a TZ spatula is used to stir the mixture until it assumes a consistent/hom*ogeneous texture. You then place a lid on the pot and allow the mixture to simmer for a while and to become thick. When the mixture has simmered and become thick, use a TZ scoop to scoop out some of the gruel into a separate bowl and leave only a little in the pot. Next, you put some flour into the pot and use the TZ spatula to gently stir the flour so that the flour and the TZ gruel mix up properly and no tiny balls form in the gruel. Add the gruel into the cooking pot bit by bit and keep stirring so that everything mixes up very well and until the gruel gets used up.Then you stir the thick gruel until the TZ has cooked and is properly done. Using the TZ scoop, scoop out the TZ into bowls. When you have scooped all the TZ into bowls, what is left is to make some soup.

Text57 (784) Sɔ’ ya’a ye o mɔn sa’ab, dinɛ Someone COND ING 3SG stir TZ, REL ‘If someone wants (is going) to stir TZ, the first thing

gat goes

tuon forward

57 Thanks to Moses Atiiga GILLBT/UEW for helping with this text.

273

ã -nɛ on na ia ki bɛɛ COP 3SG.EMP FUT search for millet or is for the person to look for millet or maize.

kawɛnna. maize

(785) Ki la ã -nɛ ba sig bʊʊr-in yis ka millet DET COP-Foc 3PL lower granary-LOC remove CONJ The millet is to be taken from the grain store (granary) so that onɛ ye o mɔn sa’ab la di’e ki la bʊ’ 3SG.EMPH ING 3SG stir TZ DET collect millet DET beat the one who is going to stir the TZ collects the millet and grinds/beats it bɛɛ o keŋ da’a-n da’ ki ke-na or 3SG go market-LOC buy millet come-VEN or s/he goes to the market to buy millet to come and grind.

nɛɛm. grind

(786) Onɛ pʊ mɔr banɛka58 ligidii, 3SG.EMPH NEG have grinding.mill money, The one/fellow who does not have money to go to the grinding mill o na kpɛ̃’ dɔbil-in nɛɛm nɛɛr-in. 3SG FUT enter small.room-LOC grind grindery-LOC he will enter into the kitchen and grind it on the grindery (grinding stone). (787) Onɛ na nɛɛm la, sɛɛ ka o kpɛɛs 3SG.EMPH FUT grind DM, except COMP 3SG sift The person who will grind (the millet) must sift ki la sʊ’ʊŋa yis kuga nɛ ka-kpɛɛd la wʊsa millet DET properly remove stones CONJ stalk-pieces DET all the millet properly and remove stones and all the remaining millet stalks ka mɔri keŋi nɛɛm. CONJ take go grind and take it to grind (and bring it to be ground). (788) Zɔm la ya’a nɛɛmi naae, dinɛ kpɛlim ã -nɛ flour DET COND grind finish REL left COP-Foc When the flour has been ground, what is left is sour water.

ku’omi’isim. sour.water

(789) Ku’omi’isim la na mi’ilimnɛ bɛ’og-un bɛɛ nintaŋ. sour.water DET FUT become.sour morning-LOC or afternoon The sour water will become sour by tomorrow morning or afternoon.

58 From Hausa manika/nika nika ‘grinding mill’.

274

(790) Mɔnib saŋa ya’ati paae, fʊn stirring time COND reach 2SG.EMPH When it gets to time to stir the TZ, you sieve

silig-im sieve-IMP

ku’omi’isim la niŋ sa’aruk la pʊʊg-in dʊgʊl dã ’aŋ-in sour.water DET put TZ.pot DET stomach-LOC put.on tripod-LOC the sour water and into (inside) the TZ pot, place it on the fireplace ka nyu’oe CONJ light and light the fire.

bugum. fire

(791) Ku’om la ya’ati lɛ’ɛd was-was, nɔk-im zɔm kanɛ ka water DET COND boil IDEO take-IMP flour REL FOC When the sieved water begins to boil was-was (very well), take the flour which fʊ pa’a mi’ilim 2SG PST.HIST made.sour you made sour and mash the TZ.

la DET

(792) Ban saalim-id sa’ab si’em 3PL.EMPH mash-HAB TZ how This is how they mash TZ:

saalim sa’ab la. mash TZ DET nwa: this:

Gbɛ̃’-ɛm ku’om paas zɔm kanɛ ka fʊ siligi li fetch-IMP water add flour REL FOC 2SG.EMPH sieve EXPL Fetch water and add it to the flour which you already sieved its ku’om n niŋ dʊk-ʊn la ka li nwɛnnɛ zɔm-ku’om. water Foc put pot-LOC DET CONJ EXPL resembles flour-water water and put in the pot and it resembles/looks like flour water. (793) Kpa’a-m zɔm-ku’om la niŋ dʊk-ʊn la pour-IMP flour-water DET put pot-LOC DET Pour the flour and water mixture into the pot ka nɔk sa’a-vuguri gudig ka li CONJ take TZ-spatula stir CONJ EXPL and take a TZ spatula and stir and let it mix

gɛ̃dig mixes

sʊ’ʊŋa ka fʊ lɛbis dʊk la lim n Properly CONJ 2SG return pot DET lid Foc properly and then you replace the lid of the pot and cover it.

pibil. cover

(794) Sa’ab la ya’a lɛ’ɛgi gã dig, fʊn gbɛ̃’ɛ-m TZ DET COND boil thicken, 2SG.EMP fetch-IMP When the TZ has simmered and become thick, you reduce

275

sa’a-bɛ̃ɛr la zi’el (nɔk-im sa’a-bi’a kɔ̃ dig TZ-gruel DET stand (take-IMP TZ-scoop scoop some of the gruel and put it down/aside (use a TZ scoop to scoop sa’a-bɛ̃ɛr la ka nya’al bi’ela dʊk-ʊn TZ-gruel DET CONJ leave a little pot-LOC the gruel and leave only a little in the pot).

la). DET)

(795) Gbɛ̃’ɛ-m zɔm niŋ dʊk-ʊn la ka nɔk sa’a-vugur la Fetch-IMP flour put pot-LOC DET CONJ take TZ-spatula DET ‘Fetch some flour and put it in the pot and use/take the TZ spatula mɔn ka zɔm la nɛ sa’a-bɛ̃ɛr la gɛ̃dig stir CONJ flour DET CONJ TZ-gruel DET mix to stir the flour so that the flour and the TZ gruel mix up sʊ’ʊŋa ka li da gbilim lieb properly CONJ EXPL NEG round become properly and doesn’t become full of tiny uncooked balls. (796) Paas-im sa’a-bɛ̃ɛr la dʊk-un add-IMP TZ-gruel DET pot-LOC Add the TZ gruel into the pot bit by bit

la DET

taaba each other

sa’a-gbiliga. TZ-round bi’el-bi’el small-small

ka mɔn ka li gɛ̃dig taaba sʊ’ʊŋa CONJ stir CONJ EXPL mix each.other very.well and stir so that they mix with each other very well ka fʊ paasid ka mɔn hali nɛ sa’a-bɛ̃ɛr la CONJ 2SG add CONJ stir until Foc TZ-gruel DET and you keep adding and stirring until the gruel na ti naae. FUT RFLX finish gets finished. (797) Fʊ ya’a mɔn ka sa’ab la ti bi’igi 2SG COND stir CONJ TZ DET PRT ripe When you have stirred the TZ and it has ripened to its

paae li reach EXPL

bɛn, nɔk-im sa’a-bi’a nyu’us sa’ab la niŋ end take-IMP TZ-scoop scoop TZ DET put end you take a TZ scoop and scoop out the TZ into bowls. (798) Sa’ab la ya’ati nyu’usi naae, TZ DET COND scoop finish, When you have scooped the TZ and finished,

276

laas-in. bowls-LOC

dinɛ kpɛlim ã -nɛ REL remain COP-Foc What is left is to cook soup.’

zɛ̃ɛd dʊgʊb. soup cooking

277

Appendix E – Kusaal Poems Our selection of four poems are modern renditions written by modern day Kusaal poets (Poems #1, 2, 3 and 4). These poems incorporate knowledge of poetry derived from foreign/English sources. In this section, we provide only a free translation to the right side of these stanzas. #1. M Sabua

My Girlfriend

(written by Mbasibidi Anyuam ) 59

M sabua ye

My girlfriend

M sabua ye

My girlfriend

Daar woo m sabua ye

Every day, my girlfriend

Di’a!

Oh boy!

O zɔnɛ ka basim

She’s run and left me

M sabua ye

My girlfriend

M daa pʊ da’ la’ad la nɛ bee?

Did I not buy the stuff you requested?

Agbambil da pʊ mɔri ba na?

Or did Agbambilla not bring them?

Ka ta’a-paala la?

How about the new shoes?

Nɛ tʊblɛma la?

And ear rings?

Mi ka m mɔr ligidi

Beware that I have money

Kumase ã bɔ’ bɛɛ?

What is Kumasi?

Ti na keŋ ka lɛbna

We will go and return

Nɛ nasa’asilig

with the Whiteman’s bird (aeroplane)

Hali gba fʊ ma pʊ baŋŋɛ

Even your mother will not notice we have left

Amaa

But

M zi’ẽ yampʊn n buon

I stand at the back of the house and call

Ka fʊ pʊ yitta

But you do not come out

Ba ye ka Agbambil n tʊmnɛ buolif

They say that Agbambilla sent for you

Sidaa?

True?

Hmm!

59 Pen-name of Agoswin Musah.

278

#2. Pʊa lialia

‘Pretty Lady’

(written by Mbasibidi Anyuam)

Pʊa lialia

Pretty lady

Paad yaani?

Where are you off to?

M mi’ ye fʊ pʊ mɔr ya’

I know that you have no time

Amaa, nan ã ki

But, stay put for a while

Ka m paami piã tisif

So that I can get to talk to you

M mɔr pɔɔd

I have farms

Ka mɔr bʊʊs

And I have goats

M niigi ka’ bɛnnɛ

My cattle are endless

Zak tita’ar pʊ bɛ zuor la zugɔɔ?

Is there not a big house on the mountaintop?

Bu’osim, ka ba na yɛlif onɛ su’oe

Ask, and they will tell you the one who owns it

Man nyɛɛf zina dabatã ’

It’s been three days since I saw you

M nan pʊ nyaŋi gbisɛ

But up till now I am unable to sleep

Afʊʊ

You!

Da maan tankama

Stop being petty

Ka m sid bɔɔdif nɛ

For I really need you

Basim a-‘am go en kam’ la

Stop the ‘let me go and come’

Ka yɛlim mam bɔɔdi m wʊm si’el. And tell me what I long to hear.

Fʊ sabua la gaad Kumase la li yʊʊma ala zina?

That your wretched boyfriend, how many years has it been since he left you and travelled to Kumasi?

Zaam ya’a ma’aɛ, mɔdigim ka paae ‘Akorin tu yu’60 na

When the sun goes down, do well to come to ‘According to you’

Ka ti paami sɔ̃ s bi’ela

So that we get to converse for a while

Ka nwa’ kɔlibnam

And break some bottles

60 Name of a bar in Bawku.

279

#3. Nyɔvʊr

Life

(Kusaal text by Asarah Stephen Azumah)

280

Nyɔvʊr,

Life

Fʊ ã wʊʊ bɔ?

What are you like?

Fʊ mɔr nwɛnnɛm bɛɛ?

Do you have a colleague?

Fʊn ã sɔ’.

Who you are

Fʊn ã si’em

What you are

Lin ka mam yamsid.

That is what I think about

Ninsaalib mɛ tɛ̃’ɛ̃sidnɛ ala

People also think like that

Li ã nɛ vʊ’ʊsim linɛ ka ti vʊ’ʊsid la

It is the air that we breathe

Yɛt fʊn sid ã si’em sidaa?

which says what you really are, true?

Bɛɛ suoya kɔ̃ ’ɔb-kɔ̃ ’ɔb

Is it different routes

Ka ninsaal dɔlisid dunia nwa bɛɛ?

That mankind follows on this earth?

Yɛlim mam

Tell me

M bɛnɛ suokita ni

I am at the small path

Saŋa kan ka mam

That time that I

Saŋa kan ka tinam

That time that we

Saŋa kan ka ba tɛ̃’ɛ̃s

That time that they think

Fʊ ã anɔ’ɔn sida?

Who are you truly?

Malisim nɛ tɔɔgɔ?

In sweetness and bitterness?

Nɔŋ nɛ kpã’am?

In poverty and plenty?

Laafi nɛ bã’as̃ ɛɛ?

In health and sickness?

Bu’os kaŋa ka m bɔɔd ye fʊ lɛbis

The question that I want you to answer is this

Fʊ ã anɔ’ɔnɛ?

Who are you?

Yɛlim mam!

Tell me!

Honour and Advice #4. Na’asi nɛ sãasug (Kusaal text by:Asarah Stephen Azumah)

Ka m wʊm

And I heard

Ka sɔ’ wʊsa mɛ wʊm

And everyone else heard

Ka kuŋ lɔb zig-zig Kuui ye! Kuui ye!

And a cry rose zig-zig

O zɔya, O suaya

Kill! Kill! He has run, He has hidden

Ka li ã yʊ’ʊŋ tisʊʊs

And it was Midnight

Bɔ’ maan na?

What is going on?

Anɔ’ɔnɛ zɔ ka su’a?

Who has run and hidden?

Ti nyɛ ka ba lɔ o

We saw that they tied him

Ba lɔ o nɛ nwiis

They tied him with ropes

Nwɛnnɛ kpã’uŋ ka ba pɔ̃d

Like a guinea fowl that is wrapped up

Ka o kia kʊŋ muu-muu!

And he cried out loud muu-muu

Ka nyɔya pʊbigid nɛ ziim

And his nose was flooding with blood

Nwɛnnɛ kɔlʊg ku’om

Like water from a water pipe

Gulungu’ugɔ, o din Tampiaka, o din

Cudgels, his own

Ka ba dʊ’ʊnɛ waan o Ka ya’an pid o zupibig 20

Ka ba yʊ’ʊm gɛuŋ Ayidaan biis ya’an yee! Ooo! Burikin biiga

Slaps, his own And they peed on him Before they put a hat on him And they sang around him

Da kɛ ka nɛ’ ãã fʊ tʊʊmmɛ

Ayidaan’s children then said. Ooo! Honest child Don’t let this be your portion

Bɔɔm yʊ’ʊsʊŋ

Look for a good name

Da kɛ ka ba tiesidif nu’usɛ

Don’t let them point fingers at you

Kɛl ka ba ye ‘ɛ̃hɛ̃ɛ!̃ ’ Ti bɔɔd ye ti nwɛnnɛ aza’ala

Let them say ‘ɛ̃hɛ̃ɛ!̃ ’ We want to be like this fellow

Ka dʊ̃ʊdig nwɛ’ ka buol pɔɔr

And googi play and call lack

Ka buol zab yʊ’ʊr

And call fights name

Ka kaali fʊ tʊʊmsʊma

And count your good works

Sɔ’ wʊsa iem yʊ’ʊsʊŋ

Everyone should look for a good name

281

Schriften zur Afrikanistik – Research in African Studies Herausgegeben von Rainer Vossen

Band

Gabriele Sommer: Das Innere eines Ortes sehen. Dokumentation einer Sprachforschung in Botswana. 1999.

Band

Sabine Neumann: The Locative Class in Shengologa (Kgalagadi). 1999.

Band

Abdourahmane Diallo: Grammaire descriptive du pular du Fuuta Jaloo (Guinée). 2000.

Band

Pascal Boyeldieu: La langue bagiro (République Centrafricaine). Systématique, textes et lexique. 2000.

Band

Abdourahmane Diallo: Phonologie et morphologie des emprunts arabes en pular de Guinée. 2001.

Band

Doris Löhr: Die Sprache der Malgwa (Nárá Málgwa). Grammatische Erstbeschreibung einer zentraltschadischen Sprache Nordost-Nigerias. 2002.

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Ronny Meyer / Renate Richter: Language Use in Ethiopia from a Network Perspective. Results of a sociolinguistic survey conducted among high school students. 2003.

Band

Reinhard Klein-Arendt: Die traditionellen Eisenhandwerke der Savannen-Bantu. Eine sprachhistorische Rekonstruktion auf lexikalischer Grundlage. 2004.

Band

Koen A. G. Bostoen: Des mots et des pots en bantou. Une approche linguistique de l’histoire de la céramique en Afrique. 2005.

Band

Rosalie Finlayson / Sarah Slabbert (eds.): Language and Identities in a Southern African perspectives. 2005.

Band

Mohamed El-Mohammady Rizk: Women in Taarab. The Performing Art in East Africa. 2007.

Band

William A. A. Wilson: Guinea Languages of the Atlantic Group. Description and Internal Classification. Edited by Anne Storch. 2007.

Band

Zygmunt Frajzyngier: A Grammar of Gidar. 2008.

Band

Christa Kilian-Hatz: Contes des Pygmées Baka du Cameroun. 2008.

Band

Rose-Juliet Anyanwu: Fundamentals of Phonetics, Phonology and Tonology. With Specific African Sound Patterns. 2008.

Band

Stella Linn / Maarten Mous / Marianne Vogel (eds.): Translation and Interculturality: Africa and the West. 2008.

Band

Daniel Ochieng Orwenjo: Lexical Innovation in Child Language Acquisition. Evidence from Dholuo. 2009.

Band

Antje Meißner: Morphologische Aspekte in den dialektalen Varietäten des Maa. 2011.

Band

Gerald Stell: Ethnicity and Language Variation. Grammar and Code-switching in the Afrikaans Speech Community. 2011.

Band

Julia Maximiliane Becker: Sprachattitüden in Uganda. Sprachpolitik und interethnische Beziehungen. 2013.

Band

Patricia Friedrich: Afrikanische Silbenspiele. Betrachtet im Kontext von Sondersprachen. 2014.

Band

Ulrike Zoch: Verbalmorphologie der Bole-Tangale-Sprachen (Nordostnigeria). 2014.

Postcolony.

Band

Kanana Fridah Erastus: Lexico-Phonological Comparative Analysis of Selected Dialects of the Meru-Tharaka-Group. 2014.

Band

Carl Ebobissé: Sawabantu. Eine vergleichende Untersuchung der Küstensprachen Kameruns (Bantu A.20 und A.30). 2014.

Band

Bernhard Köhler: Form und Funktion von Fragesätzen in afrikanischen Sprachen. 2015.

Band

Marie Ngom: Transitivité en seereer. Variante «ool» de «NGoye Mbayaar» (Sénégal). 2017.

Band

Anthony Agoswin Musah: A Grammar of Kusaal. A Mabia (Gur) Language of Northern Ghana. 2018.

Kusaal grammar_Agoswin Musah Flipbook PDF - PDF Free Download (2024)

References