Himalayan Journal of Education and Literature Open Access

Research A contrastive study of the in English and Seereer-Siin

Babacar SARR English teacher, Dakar, Senegal *Corresponding Author Babacar SARR Abstract: Summery Article History The present study deals with determination in English and Seereer. More specific research questions will concern the uses and functioning of the possessive Received: 20.03.2021 determiners in English and Seereer. This study will analyse the differences and the Accepted: 30.03.2021 similarities of the possessive determiners in the two languages. Ho wever, English and Published: 10.04.2021 Seereer work differently in relation to these aspects even if some similarities can be

noticed. Citations: Babacar SARR (2021) A contrastive study of the possessive determiners in English and Seereer-Siin. Hmlyan Jr Edu Lte, 2(2) 155-160

Copyright @ 2021: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non commercial use (NonCommercial, or CC-BY- Keywords: Contrastive, Analysis, Morphology, Determiners, Possessive, Language, NC) provided the original author and source English, Seereer are credited.

INTRODUCTION The system of the source language can influence the correct use of determiners in the target language. Determiners may also have a number of other functions, which can vary from language to the other. In this study, we will be concerned with the influence an African language can have in the process of the acquisition of a second non-African language; the languages at hand here are Seereer and English. In other terms, the stress will be placed on a systematic of Seereer and English noun determination, to find out linguistic differences, which will eventually help us predict the difficulties Seereer learners may encounter in the process of learning English. Here we will be focusing on the possessive determiners.

One grammatical area that is universally acknowledged being of great difficulty for non-native speakers of English is the determiners, particularly those that constitute the article system. The is used to describe the grammatical element that comes at the beginning of a . A determiner is an obligatory element of a noun phrase, the only other obligatory member of which is the noun itself. Since noun phrases not are one of the constituents of a sentence, it follows that a noun cannot appear by itself in an English sentence: it must minimally be preceded by a determiner. Since every noun requires a determiner, it is not surprising that determiners constitute some of the most frequent words in the language.

Determiners are important noun modifiers that contextualize nouns in sentences. In English as well as in Seereer, determiners include articles, , , and quantifiers but with structural and functional differences. First and foremost Seereer is a language provided with noun classes by opposition to English which is devoid of noun classes. Noun classes are often based at least in part on characteristics such as gender, shape, of the of some of the nouns in each class, and distinguished by and affix on the noun and an between affixes and the noun constituents.

Nouns in Seereer are divided between nine classes with each the category of words matching with classes. Classes are divided into three groups: group (-o) and group (-a) which contain each two classes and group (-∅) which contains fives classes. The particularity is that the Seereer language makes use of the definite marker to form the demonstratives and interrogatives determiners and to mark definite . Apart from the zero marking, determination in Seereer

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Babacar SARR.; Hmlyan Jr Edu Lte; Vol-2, Iss- 2 (Mar-Apr, 2021): 155-160 would also involve the use of a prefix or suffix marker However, a good study of grammatical items in a for certain category of nouns which is one of the given language needs at a time, a look at other language specificities compared to the English system. languages. We cannot neglect the effect of widely spoken languages like English on minor languages. A contrastive analysis brings out the similarities and Contrasting a widely spoken language with a minor differences of languages. Such a work can be valuable language could help to popularize the minor language, in the sense that it provides a morphological which is the wish of any speaker. background and practical information as reveal the limits of compatibilities and differences between the The English possessives two languages. On the one hand that can make it easier Possessive determiners are one of the English for the teachers of the both languages to tackle their grammatical forms. indicate possession but can subjects on a better known ground, and on the other also indicate some other relationship to the noun. They hand, for the students of Seereer or English to realize are formed such as my, your, his, her, its, our, their and that in several aspects their languages share many are used as determiners of nouns. The possessives things. A contrastive analysis of the possessive (its) is the neutral form used for object and determiners in Seereer and English will provide us with animal nouns, e.g. the bird is in its nest. The possessive crucial insights into the very reasons why Seereer are invariable words. They do not change learners misuse some determiners or forms depending on the number of the noun they make some mistakes. determine

Examples: Here is our friend (singular) Here are our friends (plural)

Possessive adjectives change forms according to the personal subject that express the possession or the belonging. Examples:1 I live in my house I →my You live in your house you →your He lives in his house he →his It lives in its house it →its She lives in her house she →her We live in our house we →our They live in their house they →their

Personal may be used to indicate possession as well as the in the possessive case. The apostrophe punctuation is not required with pronouns and should not be mingled with the contracted form of the auxiliary “be” “it is” which gives the contraction “it‟s”. The apostrophe for possessive determination set a relation of ownership between two nouns, the first being the possessor and the second the possessed. Apart from the interrogative “whose” which has a double function, the following words are the English possessive determiners and combine like this:

(Possessive + noun) Singular plural 1)person singular my house 1) person plural our house 2) person singular your house 2) person plural your house 3)person singular (male) his house 3) person plural their house 3)person singular (female) her house 3)person singular (non-human) its tail (the tail of the dog)

Singular possessive pronouns Plural possessive pronouns My Our Your Your His /her / its Their

1BERLAND-DELEPINE S., 2000, la grammaire anglaise de l’étudiant, pp 391 156

Babacar SARR.; Hmlyan Jr Edu Lte; Vol-2, Iss- 2 (Mar-Apr, 2021): 155-160

Chart of the English possessive pronouns NUUN mbin nuun=== your house DEN mbind den === their house In English there is a distinction of gender when dealing with male or female possession. If the Chart of the English and Seereer possessive possession is expressed by a masculine proper noun, we determiners use the possessive adjective his and if it is a feminine Unlike the and interrogative, the proper noun we use the possessive adjective her. We possessive determiner does not involve a suffix class understand by “his son” that the person referred to as marker in forming or expressing possession. The being the owner is a male character. In the same way if Seereer language displays two categories of possessive we say “her son” would refer to female owner. It is determiners. Possessive determination contains two also important to note that the possessive determiner series with indefinite and definite forms. The indefinite “your” is used both for the singular and plural is composed of morphemes of possessive determination possessive. The possessive pronoun “its” would refer with singular and plural personal pronouns: to possession attributed to non-humans and should not Indefinite possessive determination: be mingled with the contracted form of the auxiliary “be” with the apostrophe. (it‟s = it is) . The  Indefinite possessive determiners determinative genitive is sometimes used as an operator (Prefix marker + noun + possessive pronoun) of possession when we are talking about things that belong to other things. The “of” particle sets the link of Singular persons plural persons possessor and possessed between the two nouns. Es a ndok es my room in a ndok in our room Of a ndok of your room nuun a ndok nuun your room Ex: “the head of the state”. Um a ndok um his / her room den a ndok den their room The possessive adjectives my and your are also used with parts of body and with someone‟s clothes. With certain words, the three persons of singular have contracted forms but the three persons of plural do Examples: not have contracted forms. From the spelling rule of the Emma shook her head sadly and not Emma shook the Seereer language, these nouns lose their final vowel by head sadly contraction when they are suffixed by singular You must take off your shoes before you enter a mosque possessive adjectives Contraction runs as follow: C V C V The Seereer possessive determiners C V V with an assimilation of V by V2. There are six forms of possessive adjectives in Seereer Siin: three in singular form and three in Example: plural form. japil “a knife”  The singular form of possessive adjectives: Japil +es (japiles) = japles “ my knife” They are formed as es, of, and um and are directly Japil + of (japilof) = japlof “your knife” suffixed to nouns they determine. Japil + um (japilum) = japlum “his or her knife” For example the indefinite noun a cek “a hen”, if the O tew es which gives the contracted form o tees my wife speaker wants to express that the hen belongs to him or O tew of which gives the contracted form o teef your wife her, he or she can say a cek es “my hen”. However O tew um which gives the contracted form o teem his wife when the possession or belonging is expressed in the singular second person (you), we would say a cek of It is important to notice that not all the nouns can “your hen”. match with these contracted forms of the possessive. The noun should present a sequence of consonants and When the belonging is expressed in the third singular vowels allowing contraction. person we would say a cek um “his or her hen”.  The plural form of possessive adjectives: Here is a list of nouns allowing this contraction: They are formed such as nuun “your”, in “our” and O ɓiy es o ɓees den “their”. These three forms in plural are not suffixed O tew es o tess to the noun; they are put separately after the noun. With the possessive determination the definite Example: aspect of the noun is specified by the definite marker A cek in“our hen” following the morpheme of possession. To highlight A cek nuun“your hen” this specifying role a definite class marker can appear A cek den“their hen” just after the possessive determiner to put an emphasis. Seereer English ES ====mbindes ==== my house OF=== mbindof ===== your house UM==bindum ======his, her, its house 2 Birane Sene: the process of noun determination in IN == mbind in ======our house English and Seereer.P.26. 157

Babacar SARR.; Hmlyan Jr Edu Lte; Vol-2, Iss- 2 (Mar-Apr, 2021): 155-160  Definite possessive determiners Similar Features Seereer language has the possibility to determine a The possessive determiners consist of six different noun at the same time with the possessive adjective and forms: three in singular and three in plural. The three the demonstrative definite article. singular forms are suffixed to the nouns and the plural ones are placed after the noun but written separately. Example: mbind “house” While in English we use seven forms of possessive The possessive form: adjectives which are placed before the noun. These mbindes= mbind +es “ my house” forms are not inflected in number; they agree with their The definite form: Mbindne= mbind + ne “ the house” subject pronouns or inflect in gender. The possessive and definite forms = mbindes ne “ my house” (here) Possessive forms usually refer to animate beings: mbind-es -ne “ my house” The student‟s book (Noun + possessive pronoun + definite class marker) A man„s shirt

Singular plural Inanimate things usually follow of: MBINDES NE my house MBIND IN NE our house The beginning of the week MBINDOF NE your house MBIND NUUN NE your house MBINDUM NE his / her house MBIND DEN NE their house The end of the war Seereer uses different forms depending on whether the We notice that when the noun is used both with a nouns are definite or indefinite. possessive adjective and a definite article, the possessive comes always between the noun and the For indefinite nouns: article. If the possessives are -es, -of, -um, they are If the noun is indefinite we can have up to three suffixed to the nouns. But if it is in, nuun, and den, construction they are written separately to the noun. Therefore the definite article which follows the possessive is always 1. nouns with zero c.m free. with nouns which have class zero, the possessed precedes directly the possessor. Examples are here: O jan naak Mbindof ne“your home”, a horn of a cow mbind denne “their home”, a ndokum ale“his or room”, 2. nouns with o.c.m a ndok nuunale“your room” with these nouns also the possessed precedes the o cokes ole“my neck” possessor but here the particle „n‟ is introduced plus the class mark of the possessor The second type of definite possessive determiner is composed of the definite marker which goes with the possessed + n + o + possessor noun and the singular or plural personal pronouns: a caf no kiin a man‟s leg The noun is followed by a definite class marker first 3. nouns with a.c.m before the personal pronoun and this whole structure they follow the same procedure like noun with o.c.m. stands for the expression of possessive determination. possessed + n + a + possessor foofi a ngas Singular plural water from a well MBIND NE MI my house MBIND NE IN our house bomb a ndok MBIND NE WO your house MBIND NE NUUN your house a roof of a room MBIND NE TEN his / her house MBIND NE DEN their house With the in English the The contrastive analysis possessor always precedes the possessed while in The first remark we can make in contrasting the two seereer the possessed precedes the possessor. languages is to question the language families whether Consequently seereer learners can have difficulty they belong to the same family or different families and choosing the appropriate form in English. how far the two languages can be related. English is a Germanic language which belongs to the Indo- But in seereer we can have some construction where European family and Seereer belongs to the Niger- the possessor precedes the possessed and in this case Congo family in the group of West Atlantic language. the possessive determiner is placed after the possessed The Seereer language is provided with noun classes and noun. the displays the opposite. From these O kiin a cafum waagee uut ta fecaa superficial remarks, we can logically expect some A man with a swollen foot cannot dance difference in the way both languages would operate

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Babacar SARR.; Hmlyan Jr Edu Lte; Vol-2, Iss- 2 (Mar-Apr, 2021): 155-160 Different Features In Seereer, nouns already marked with possessive The first difference is how nouns are determined suffixes can be layered with determiners, resulting from singular to plural with regard to transformations complex noun phrases with both articles and which occur in the nouns and the determiner possessives. Seereer learners will make the following morphology. mistakes: calelof ke The dissimilarities between English and Seereer are *„the your job‟ greater than the similarities in the contrastive study of ruules le the two languages. It is here that we can observe that *„the my pig‟ atuules ake both of them are operating according to their realities *„the my pigs‟ *The dog is moving its tail  Gender Possession O ɓox ole xe yo‟naa a las ale ten In English the identity of the owner is marked in the third person by masculine or feminine possessive Given that the reverse order is not permissible, the pronoun. In Seereer, the distinction of male and female possessive suffixes are suffixes, while the determiners possession is not marked. are not, and they can position outside the word. There is some non-standard compounding or modification when We can notice that the third person singular in dealing with inalienable possessions: Seereer does not make a distinction of gender in the oɓay Jegan „Jegan‟s hand‟ possessive determination. Whether the owner is a male wiin we Senegal „people of Senegal‟ or female character, the “um” form can be used in any xaɓay Jegan „Jegan‟s hands‟ cases. In English there is a distinction of gender when dealing with male or female possession. By “his son” In these cases, the usual possession suffixes do not We can easily understand that the person referred to as apply, and instead the possessor and the possessed are being the owner is a male character while “her son” compounded. would refer to a female owner. His sheep (male possession) These may be cases where the dependent is outside Her sheep (female possession) of the head noun phrase, and constitute some form of Mbal- ne – ten (the possessor can be a male or female predication on that noun, one which is not character) morphologically marked. It may also be a genitive Noun- def mark- rd pers sg construction, which needs to be further explored in So Seereeer learners can make such mistakes: Seereer. *Fatou has put his tshirt Fatu rokwa ndokne ten With the following set, the noun that is being quantified or contained acts as a non-agreeing modifier Definite and Indefinite Possession to the head noun, the counter or container. The Seerreer language illustrates also possessive by ofep maalo „a grain of rice marking a difference between definite and indefinite mbep ngaaf a grain of millet possession. The position of the possessive mark can mbep maalo „grains of rice change according to whether the possession in definite pep kaaf „grains of millet‟ oɓek suukar ole „the piece of sugar‟ or indefinite. The definite markers and personal 3 xaƥek suukar axe „the pieces of sugar‟ pronouns can be used to express definite possession.

English will use personal possessive or the “s” mark The determiners agree but the modifier does not, before the noun to mark ownership, but does not take (i.e., *xaƥek xasuukar axe), suggesting that these into account the definite or indefinite character and puts modifiers have a different status and are transparent to the possessive determiner before the noun. It is also agreement. important to note that the English possessive determiner

„your” is used both for the singular and plural possessive but the Seereer language makes a distinction CONCLUSION of form from the first to last person. The possessive In this study, we have tried to show that in a global pronoun “its” would also refer to possession attributed system, determiners cannot be studied alone. Thus, any to non-humans which is not the case for Seereer. grammatical item is to be studied within its context. In A - cek- es indefinite possession / my chicken Seereer, the use of determiners depend to a large extend Pref- noun- poss mark on the class in which the noun belongs. In most cases, A - cek - es - ale indefinite possession / my chicken consonant alternation is also required from singular to Pref- noun- poss mark- def mark A – cek - ale - mi definite possession / my chicken Pref- noun- def mark- pers pron

3 Oana David , Morphology Sketch: Sereer Noun Morphology November 15th, 2012 159

Babacar SARR.; Hmlyan Jr Edu Lte; Vol-2, Iss- 2 (Mar-Apr, 2021): 155-160 plural and the plural forms are visibly in the noun as 6. Faye, W.C. (1979). Etude morphosyntaxique well as the determiners morphology. du sereer singandum (région de Jaxaaw- Naaxar). Thèse de doctorat. Université Word ordering and transformations occurring in Stendhal nouns will certainly be the born of contention in the 7. Ionin, T. (2003). Article semantics in second way English and Seereer determiners operate. The language acquisition. Doctoral dissertation, English learner of Seereer and the Seereer learner of English could face difficulties when it comes to the MIT, Cambridge, Mass determiner‟s position and the required syntactic 8. Mc Laughlin, F. (1992). Noun classification in modifications. The English learner of Seereer will have Seereer-Siin. Ph.D. thesis. Austin : University to let down the principle governing the use of the of Texas English determiner which is put before the noun. When 9. Oana, D. (2013). A Prototype Theory using Seereer determiners, the English learner must be Approach to Noun Classes in Sereer-Saloum aware of the fact that the determiner comes after the Field Methods noun in simple determination. However, he should not 10. Oana, D. (2012). Morphology Sketch: Sereer be confused with the ante position of the determiner in Noun Morphology, November 15th, some cases when insisting on the type of possessive reference. English would not accept the postposition of 11. Sene, B. (2012). The Process of Noun determiners in any of these cases. It is important to Determination: A Contrastive Study between notice that the possessive nouns differ from the other Seereer siin and English, mémoire de master 2 determiners in the sense that they, themselves, are UCAD, 2011/2012. accompanied by other determiners 12. http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/tal.html:import ance of determiners in language. Consulted REFERENCES 11/08/2020 1. Adamczewski, H. (1982). Grammaire 13. http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/sereer/guestwiki linguistique de l‟anglais, Paris, Armand Colin. /uploads/Birth.pdf 27/09/2019 2. Berland-Delepine, S. (1989). La grammaire https://elearn.univouargla.dz/20132014/course anglaise de l‟étudiant, Ophrys s/603MT/document/AContrastiveAnalysisofE 3. Faye, S. (1980). Comparative Study between nlgishandArabicMorphology_1_.p . consulted Tamil and Seereer, PH.D Thesis, Annamalai 01/08/2020 University, Tamil Nadu 14. http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/sereer/gestwiki/i 4. Faye, S. (1982) Morphologie du verbe Seereer, ndex.php?title=Sereer-Siin-vocabulary in les Langues Naturelles au Senegal. (03/12/2019) N.84.Dakar. CLAD 15. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_posse 5. Faye, S. (2009). Manuel d‟orthograghe du ssive consulted 30/032021. Seereer, Dakar.CNRE

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