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Tense-Aspect Categories and Standard Negation in Five Bamileke Languages of Cameroon: a Descriptive and Comparative Study

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Tense-Aspect Categories and Standard Negation in Five Bamileke Languages of Cameroon: A Descriptive and Comparative Study By Eliane Sonkoue Meli Epse Kamdem A thesis submitted to the Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS), University of Bayreuth, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Dr. Phil.) in African Linguistics Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Gabriele Sommer Mentor: Dr. Kerstin Winkelmann Mentor: PD Dr. Klaudia Dombrowsky-Hahn June 2020 Dedication To Stephen C. Anderson, for your encouragement which made the journey easier. Acknowledgments I thank God Almighty for protection and direction, and for all the good people He prepared for me on this journey. Words fail me to adequately express my gratitude to my supervisor, Pr. Dr. Gabriele Sommer. Her confidence in me right from our first meeting gave me the impetus to apply to BIGSAS and her academic rigour and patience have made me a better researcher; I am forever in her debt. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my first mentor Dr. Kerstin Winkelmann, who read numerous versions of my thesis and provided useful advice and comments. Kerstin’s compassion and support made an otherwise difficult situation seem easy. From the very beginning, she was interested in everything I did. I would also like to sincerely thank my second mentor, PD Dr. Klaudia Dombrowsky-Hahn, who was instrumental in giving this thesis its current shape. Her constructive and insightful contributions, both individually and during group meetings, not only gave me focus, but also drew my attention to the pitfalls in some of my earlier positions. I appreciate the funding from BIGSAS, as well as the University of Bayreuth Graduate School that enabled me to carry out this research, present my work in conferences, attend a summer school, and most importantly live in Bayreuth with my two daughters while working on my thesis. This dissertation would not have been possible without the help and enthusiasm of my language consultants. I am greatly indebted to them for their diverse support during my fieldwork in the Bamileke villages. I am particularly grateful to my research assistant, Blaise Talla, who patiently taught me some basic notions in the Ghomalaʔ language and, most importantly, actively participated in the collection and transcription of the material analysed in this study. The research colloquium organised by the departments of African Linguistics I and II as well as Literatures in African Languages (University of Bayreuth) was the platform where I presented my work-in-progress. Special thanks go to my friends, colleagues, and professors who attended my presentations and offered useful comments. I am also greatly indebted to Nancy Haynes, Stephen Anderson, Bernard Comrie, Östen Dahl, Larry Hyman, Roland Kießling, Maarten Mous, Prosper Djiafeua, Matti Miestamo, Derek Nurse, and Thera Crane who provided useful feedback on the various drafts of my work or tolerated my numerous questions and requests. Above all, I owe a debt of gratitude to my loving husband, Hector Kamdem, for his support during the entire period. I know it has not been easy in my absence, but you stood firm. I am sorry for being away from you this long and I hope I can make it up to you when I return. Special thanks go to my parents Mr. and Mrs. Sonkoue, my brothers and sisters; Lucien, Thierry, Christelle, Michelle, Pegui, Alvine, Leslie, Sandrine, Dany, Alix, and Sonia, my friends; Guillame, Thierry, Fabrice, Alex, Arnaud, Blaise, George, Christian, Charles, Pamela, i Maguerite, Jocelyne, Larissa, Lisa, Deborah, Claudia, Mr. and Mrs. Frempong, for supporting me in every way possible. All the visits, phone calls, and text messages made all the difference. Your prayers were not in vain. To all whose names did not find space here, I appreciate your encouragement and support. ii Eliane Sonkoue Kamdem (2020). Tense-Aspect and Standard Negation in Five Bamileke Languages. Abstract This thesis is a study of tense-aspect and standard negation in five Bamileke languages: Ngiemboon, Feʔfeʔ, Ghomalaʔ, Ngombale, and Medumba. It aims at a detailed description of the mechanisms for expressing tense-aspect categories and standard negation in each of the five languages under investigation and a comparison of the tense-aspect systems and standard negation across the languages analysed. The ultimate aim of the comparison is to test previous scholars’ claims that aspects of grammar largely exhibit the same properties from one Bamileke language to the other (Nissim 1975, Sonkoue 2014). The study is mainly synchronic and is based on working sessions with language consultants, using a questionnaire and a list of topics for collecting short oral texts. The conceptual framework that guided the analysis and interpretation of the data relies basically on the works by Comrie (1976, 1985) and Dahl (1985) on tense-aspect and Miestamo (2000, 2003, 2005) on negation. The main findings of the study are: (i) tense and aspect are encoded differently in each of the languages analysed. Verb forms may either lack an overt tense or aspect marking, they may exhibit a single marker, or a construction including at least two elements (for example, two tense markers following each other). Tense-aspect markers may also have one or more basic uses. (ii) Tense-aspect and standard negation interact in an interesting way in the languages analysed; and (iii) on close inspection, both the similarities and differences between the five languages analysed with respect to tense-aspect and standard negation prove to be considerable. Thus, this study departs from previous scholars’ claims and argues that Bamileke languages show a high degree of similarity in the basics of their tense-aspect systems and standard negation. Nevertheless, when deep analyses are carried out in each individual language within these domains of grammar, comparing the languages indicates that they have both, similarities and differences and thus, neither should be de-emphasised. In addition, the study indicates that various hypotheses about diachronic change relating to tense-aspect systems and standard negation in the languages under investigation, and to a certain extent in related languages outside the Bamileke group, can be advanced. For example, it is posited in the study that the near past markers (kà in Ngiemboon, kə̄ in Feʔfeʔ and Ghomalaʔ, and kə̀ in Ngombale) are probably derived from the same source. The study closes with recommendations for future research. It recommends, for instance, an analysis of the extended functions of tense-aspect categories in each of the languages analysed. iii Eliane Sonkoue Kamdem (2020). Tense-Aspect and Standard Negation in Five Bamileke Languages. Zusammenfassung Die vorliegende Arbeit ist eine Untersuchung der Tempus/Aspektsysteme und der Standardnegation in fünf Bamileke-Sprachen: Ngiemboon, Feʔfeʔ, Ghomalaʔ, Ngombale und Medumba. Ziel der Arbeit ist eine detaillierte Beschreibung der verschiedenen Mechanismen zum Ausdruck von Tempus und Aspekt und der Standardnegation in jeder einzelnen der fünf Sprachen sowie ein Vergleich der Tempus/Aspektsysteme und der Standardnegation dieser Sprachen. Der Vergleich dient der Überprüfung einer These früherer Arbeiten, wonach bestimmte Teile der Grammatiken der Bamileke-Sprachen überwiegend dieselben Eigenschaften aufweisen (Nissim 1975, Sonkoue 2014). Die Studie ist vorrangig synchron angelegt und basiert auf der Arbeit mit Muttersprachlern/Muttersprachlerinnen. Hierfür wurden ein Fragebogen und eine Liste verschiedener Themen zum Sammeln kurzer mündlicher Texte verwendet. Der konzeptuelle Rahmen für Analyse und Interpretation der Daten stützt sich in Bezug auf Tempus und Aspekt im Wesentlichen auf die Arbeiten von Comrie (1976, 1985) und Dahl (1985), bezüglich der Negation auf Miestamo (2000, 2003, 2005). Die wichtigsten Ergebnisse der Studie sind: (i) Tempus und Aspekt sind in jeder der analysierten Sprachen unterschiedlich kodiert. Verbformen können entweder keine overte Tempus/Aspektmarkierung besitzen, sie können einen einzigen Marker oder eine Konstruktion aus mehreren Elementen (z.B. zwei aufeinander folgende Tempus-Marker) aufweisen. Tempus/Aspektmarker können zudem eine oder mehrere grundlegende Verwendungen haben. (ii) Tempus/Aspekt und Standardnegation interagieren in den analysierten Sprachen auf interessante Weise. (iii) Bei näherer Betrachtung erweisen sich sowohl die Ähnlichkeiten als auch die Unterschiede zwischen den fünf analysierten Sprachen in Bezug auf Tempus/Aspekt und Standardnegation als beträchtlich. Daher weicht diese Studie von den Behauptungen früherer Wissenschaftler ab und konstatiert stattdessen, dass es in den Bamileke-Sprachen einen hohen Grad an Ähnlichkeit bei den Grundmerkmalen der Tempus/Aspektsysteme und der Standardnegation gibt. Tiefergehende Analysen zeigen jedoch, dass sich in diesen Bereichen sowohl Ähnlichkeiten als auch Unterschiede zwischen den Sprachen finden, und beides nicht unterschätzt werden sollte. Darüber hinaus stellt die Studie verschiedene Hypothesen auf über diachrone Entwicklungen in den Tempus/Aspektsystemen und bei der Standardnegation in den untersuchten Sprachen und in begrenztem Rahmen auch in verwandten Sprachen außerhalb der Bamileke-Gruppe. So wird in der Studie beispielsweise postuliert, dass die Markierungen für die nahe Vergangenheit (kà in Ngiemboon, kə̄ in Feʔfeʔ und Ghomalaʔ und kə̀ in Ngombale) wahrscheinlich aus derselben Quelle stammen. Die Studie schließt mit Anregungen für
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