Auxiliary Verb Constructions in the Languages of Africa
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THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY OF LANGUAGE Cognitive and Functional Approaches to Language Structure * Volume 2 This page intentionally left blank THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY OF LANGUAGE Cognitive and Functional Approaches to Language Structure Volume 2 Edited by Michael Tomasello Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Leipzig, Germany LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS 2003 Mahwah, New Jersey London Copyright © 2003 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microfilm, retrieval system, or any other means, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers 10 Industrial Avenue .Mahwah, New Jersey 07430 Cover design by Kathryn Houghtaling Lacey Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The new psychology of language : cognitive and functional approaches to language structure (vol. 2) / edited by Michael Tomasello. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8058-3428-1 (alk. paper). — ISBN 0-8058-3429-X (pbk. : alk. paper). 1. Psycholinguistics. I. Tomasello, Michael. P37.N44 1998 4()1'.9—dc21 98-11415 CIP Books published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates are printed on acid-free paper, and their bindings are chosen for strength and durability. Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Introduction: Some Surprises for Psychologists 1 1 Concept Structuring Systems in Language 15 Leonard Talmy 2 Discourse and Grammar 47 John W. Du Bois 3 Human Cognition and the Elaboration of Events: Some Universal Conceptual Categories 89 Suzanne Kemmer 4 Social Interaction and Grammar 119 Cecilia E. Ford, Barbara A. -
Replacive Grammatical Tone in the Dogon Languages
University of California Los Angeles Replacive grammatical tone in the Dogon languages A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics by Laura Elizabeth McPherson 2014 c Copyright by Laura Elizabeth McPherson 2014 Abstract of the Dissertation Replacive grammatical tone in the Dogon languages by Laura Elizabeth McPherson Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics University of California, Los Angeles, 2014 Professor Russell Schuh, Co-chair Professor Bruce Hayes, Co-chair This dissertation focuses on replacive grammatical tone in the Dogon languages of Mali, where a word’s lexical tone is replaced with a tonal overlay in specific morphosyntactic contexts. Unlike more typologically common systems of replacive tone, where overlays are triggered by morphemes or morphological features and are confined to a single word, Dogon overlays in the DP may span multiple words and are triggered by other words in the phrase. DP elements are divided into two categories: controllers (those elements that trigger tonal overlays) and non-controllers (those elements that impose no tonal demands on surrounding words). I show that controller status and the phonological content of the associated tonal overlay is dependent on syntactic category. Further, I show that a controller can only impose its overlay on words that it c-commands, or itself. I argue that the sensitivity to specific details of syntactic category and structure indicate that Dogon replacive tone is not synchronically a phonological system, though its origins almost certainly lie in regular phrasal phonology. Drawing on inspiration from Construction Morphology, I develop a morphological framework in which morphology is defined as the id- iosyncratic mapping of phonological, syntactic, and semantic information, explicitly learned by speakers in the form of a construction. -
5 Phonology Florian Lionnet and Larry M
5 Phonology Florian Lionnet and Larry M. Hyman 5.1. Introduction The historical relation between African and general phonology has been a mutu- ally beneficial one: the languages of the African continent provide some of the most interesting and, at times, unusual phonological phenomena, which have con- tributed to the development of phonology in quite central ways. This has been made possible by the careful descriptive work that has been done on African lan- guages, by linguists and non-linguists, and by Africanists and non-Africanists who have peeked in from time to time. Except for the click consonants of the Khoisan languages (which spill over onto some neighboring Bantu languages that have “borrowed” them), the phonological phenomena found in African languages are usually duplicated elsewhere on the globe, though not always in as concen- trated a fashion. The vast majority of African languages are tonal, and many also have vowel harmony (especially vowel height harmony and advanced tongue root [ATR] harmony). Not surprisingly, then, African languages have figured dispro- portionately in theoretical treatments of these two phenomena. On the other hand, if there is a phonological property where African languages are underrepresented, it would have to be stress systems – which rarely, if ever, achieve the complexity found in other (mostly non-tonal) languages. However, it should be noted that the languages of Africa have contributed significantly to virtually every other aspect of general phonology, and that the various developments of phonological theory have in turn often greatly contributed to a better understanding of the phonologies of African languages. Given the considerable diversity of the properties found in different parts of the continent, as well as in different genetic groups or areas, it will not be possible to provide a complete account of the phonological phenomena typically found in African languages, overviews of which are available in such works as Creissels (1994) and Clements (2000). -
Exploring Material Culture Distributions in the Upper Sepik and Central New Guinea
Gender, mobility and population history: exploring material culture distributions in the Upper Sepik and Central New Guinea by Andrew Fyfe, BA (Hons) Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Discipline of Geographical and Environmental Studies The University of Adelaide November 2008 …..These practices, then, and others which I will speak of later, were borrowed by the Greeks from Egypt. This is not the case, however, with the Greek custom of making images of Hermes with the phallus erect; it was the Athenians who took this from the Pelasgians, and from the Athenians the custom spread to the rest of Greece. For just at the time when the Athenians were assuming Hellenic nationality, the Pelasgians joined them, and thus first came to be regarded as Greeks. Anyone will know what I mean if he is familiar with the mysteries of the Cabiri-rites which the men of Samothrace learned from the Pelasgians, who lived in that island before they moved to Attica, and communicated the mysteries to the Athenians. This will show that the Athenians were the first Greeks to make statues of Hermes with the erect phallus, and that they learned the practice from the Pelasgians…… Herodotus c.430 BC ii Table of contents Acknowledgements vii List of figures viii List of tables xi List of Appendices xii Abstract xiv Declaration xvi Section One 1. Introduction 2 1.1 The Upper Sepik-Central New Guinea Project 2 1.2 Lapita and the exploration of relationships between language and culture in Melanesia 3 1.3 The quantification of relationships between material culture and language on New Guinea’s north coast 6 1.4 Thesis objectives 9 2. -
The Languages of Rivers State of Nigeria: an Overview
THE LANGUAGES OF RIVERS STATE OF NIGERIA: AN OVERVIEW Ethelbert Emmanuel Kari1 Abstract This paper2 provides an updated overview of the languages of Rivers State of Nigeria in respect of the number, linguistic classification and features of the languages, as well as the distribution of the languages across the 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs)3 of the state. This is because the existing overviews contain little or no data on the linguistic features of the languages. It notes that Rivers State is a multilingual state in which 28 native or indigenous languages are spoken, and that the languages fall into two major sub-families (Benue-Congo and Ijoid) within the Niger-Congo phylum. With relevant data, the paper highlights and illustrates some of the interesting linguistic characteristics of the languages, which include advanced tongue root vowel harmony, noun classification via noun prefixes and noun classifiers, inclusive- exclusive distinction in personal pronouns, sex gender, verbal extensions, serial verb constructions and subject and/or object agreement marking. Furthermore, the paper considers the distribution of Rivers State languages and notes that the languages are not evenly distributed across the LGAs, and that many indigenous people of the state are bilingual or multilingual in the languages of the state. Finally, the paper notes that despite the enabling national and state policies and laws favouring mother-tongue education, Rivers State languages have not actively been used at the levels stipulated by the policies and laws. It recommends the enforcement and implementation of existing laws and policies so that the indigenous languages of the state are used at the levels stipulated by the National Policy on Education for the benefit of the citizens, state and country. -
The Emergence of Hausa As a National Lingua Franca in Niger
Ahmed Draia University – Adrar Université Ahmed Draia Adrar-Algérie Faculty of Letters and Languages Department of English Letters and Language A Research Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for a Master’s Degree in Linguistics and Didactics The Emergence of Hausa as a National Lingua Franca in Niger Presented by: Supervised by: Moussa Yacouba Abdoul Aziz Pr. Bachir Bouhania Academic Year: 2015-2016 Abstract The present research investigates the causes behind the emergence of Hausa as a national lingua franca in Niger. Precisely, the research seeks to answer the question as to why Hausa has become a lingua franca in Niger. To answer this question, a sociolinguistic approach of language spread or expansion has been adopted to see whether it applies to the Hausa language. It has been found that the emergence of Hausa as a lingua franca is mainly attributed to geo-historical reasons such as the rise of Hausa states in the fifteenth century, the continuous processes of migration in the seventeenth century which resulted in cultural and linguistic assimilation, territorial expansion brought about by the spread of Islam in the nineteenth century, and the establishment of long-distance trade by the Hausa diaspora. Moreover, the status of Hausa as a lingua franca has recently been maintained by socio- cultural factors represented by the growing use of the language for commercial and cultural purposes as well as its significance in education and media. These findings arguably support the sociolinguistic view regarding the impact of society on language expansion, that the widespread use of language is highly determined by social factors. -
Nilo-Saharan’
11 Linguistic Features and Typologies in Languages Commonly Referred to as ‘Nilo-Saharan’ Gerrit J. Dimmendaal, Colleen Ahland, Angelika Jakobi, and Constance Kutsch Lojenga 11.1 Introduction The phylum referred to today as Nilo- Saharan (occasionally also Nilosaharan) was established by Greenberg (1963). It consists of a core of language families already argued to be genetically related in his earlier classiication of African languages (Greenberg 1955:110–114), consisting of Eastern Sudanic, Central Sudanic, Kunama, and Berta, and grouped under the name Macrosudanic; this language family was renamed Chari- Nile in his 1963 contribution after a suggestion by the Africanist William Welmers. In his 1963 classiication, Greenberg hypothesized that Nilo- Saharan consists of Chari- Nile and ive other languages or language fam- ilies treated as independent units in his earlier study: Songhay (Songhai), Saharan, Maban, Fur, and Koman (Coman). Bender (1997) also included the Kadu languages in Sudan in his sur- vey of Nilo-Saharan languages; these were classiied as members of the Kordofanian branch of Niger-Kordofanian by Greenberg (1963) under the name Tumtum. Although some progress has been made in our knowledge of the Kadu languages, they remain relatively poorly studied, and there- fore they are not further discussed here, also because actual historical evi- dence for their Nilo- Saharan afiliation is rather weak. Whereas there is a core of language groups now widely assumed to belong to Nilo- Saharan as a phylum or macro- family, the genetic afiliation of families such as Koman and Songhay is also disputed (as for the Kadu languages). For this reason, these latter groups are discussed separately from what is widely considered to form the core of Nilo- Saharan, Central Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. -
Marketing Fragment 6 X 10.T65
Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-87611-7 - A Linguistic Geography of Africa Edited by Bernd Heine and Derek Nurse Index More information Index Aari 277 consonant types 40–1 ablative, grammaticalization 235–6, 237–8 distinctively African characteristics 26 accusative case marking 253 distribution of case languages 251 accusative languages 253, 254 distribution of typological properties 31 Adamawa languages 31 documentation of languages 86, 103, 153, Adamawa-Ubangi languages 18 224 ATR vowel harmony 158 genetic relationships among languages 12, features of the Macro-Sudan belt 167 34 labial flaps 165 history of 1 labial-velar stops 157 phonological features 10 in the Macro-Sudan belt 178 prosodic features 68–80 minimal-augmented pronoun systems 169 relative frequency of typological properties question intonation 79 29 word order 161, 162, 164, 167 segmental features 39–68 adjectives 125–6, 279 specific properties 10, 28–34 paucity of 21 typological features 11 position of 279 typological relationships among 1 possibilities of expansion 125 variation space 36 reduplication of 21 African linguistics, history of 170–4 adpositions 124–5, 145, 280 genealogical super-group 173–4 adverbs 126, 237, 304 Greenberg’s nuclear African area 172–3 Afar 140 morpholosyntactic features 11, 148 Afitti 285 Niger-Kordofanian þ Nilo-Saharan Africa 15–33 super-group 173–4 ‘‘Africanisms’’ 19–27 Westermann’s Sudansprachen 170–2 as an areal-typological unit 10 ‘‘Africanisms’’ 18, 19–27, 39 comparative linguistics 17–18 gender or noun class systems 19 evidence for -
Central Africa, 2021 Region of Africa
Quickworld Entity Report Central Africa, 2021 Region of Africa Quickworld Factoid Name : Central Africa Status : Region of Africa Land Area : 7,215,000 sq km - 2,786,000 sq mi Political Entities Sovereign Countries (19) Angola Burundi Cameroon Central African Republic Chad Congo (DR) Congo (Republic) Equatorial Guinea Gabon Libya Malawi Niger Nigeria Rwanda South Sudan Sudan Tanzania Uganda Zambia International Organizations Worldwide Organizations (3) Commonwealth of Nations La Francophonie United Nations Organization Continental Organizations (1) African Union Conflicts and Disputes Internal Conflicts and Secessions (1) Lybian Civil War Territorial Disputes (1) Sudan-South Sudan Border Disputes Languages Language Families (9) Bihari languages Central Sudanic languages Chadic languages English-based creoles and pidgins French-based creoles and pidgins Manobo languages Portuguese-based creoles and pidgins Prakrit languages Songhai languages © 2019 Quickworld Inc. Page 1 of 7 Quickworld Inc assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions in the content of this document. The information contained in this document is provided on an "as is" basis with no guarantees of completeness, accuracy, usefulness or timeliness. Quickworld Entity Report Central Africa, 2021 Region of Africa Languages (485) Abar Acoli Adhola Aghem Ajumbu Aka Aka Akoose Akum Akwa Alur Amba language Ambele Amdang Áncá Assangori Atong language Awing Baali Babango Babanki Bada Bafaw-Balong Bafia Bakaka Bakoko Bakole Bala Balo Baloi Bambili-Bambui Bamukumbit -
Poetics and Politics in Contemporary African Travel Writing
Poetics and Politics in Contemporary African Travel Writing Maureen Amimo Thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Stellenbosch University Supervisor: Prof Louise Green Co-supervisor: Prof Grace Musila March 2020 i Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Declaration By submitting this thesis electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own, original work, that I am the sole author thereof (save to the extent explicitly otherwise stated), that reproduction and publication thereof by Stellenbosch University will not infringe any third party rights and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification. Date: ……………………………………… Copyright © 2020 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved ii Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Abstract This study investigates contemporary travel narratives about Africa by Africans authors. Scholarship on travel writing about Africa has largely centred examples from the Global North, yet there is a rich body of travel writing by African authors. I approach African travel writing as an emerging genre that allows African authors to engage their marginality within the genre and initiate a transformative poetics inscribing alternative politics as viable forms of meaning-making. I argue that contemporary African travel writing stretches and redefines the aesthetic limits of the genre through experimentation which enables the form to carry the weight and complexities of African experiences. Drawing on the work of theorists such as Edward Said, Mary Louise Pratt, James Clifford and Syed Manzurul Islam, as well as local philosophy emergent from the texts, I examine the reimaginations of the form of the travel narrative, which centre African experiences. -
Languages of Harappa
•§ Michael Witzel Feb. 17, 2000 135 k The Languages of Harappa § 1. The riddle of the Indus script and language Each year, or as it seems, by now every other month, we see a new decipherment of the Indus script. Beyond G. Possehl's fifty-odd examples (Possehl 1996), there must be some dozens more, by now frequently found on the internet. However, as is well known, neither is the script itself well understood nor do we know on which language it is based and for which languages it has been used. In this paper, I am not going to add myself to the long list of failures of decipherment of the script. Instead, I think we should first prepare the ground for such undertaking by investigating the peculiarities of the script itself, a task that has not been carried systematically enough (Wells 1998). Secondly, we should take a much closer look at the various sources which may indicate which languages were spoken in the core areas of the Indus civilization, in the Greater Panjab and in Sindh-Baluchistan. During the past few decades, the language underlying the Indus script has almost universally been taken as Proto-Dravidian (leaving aside such unlikely explanations as Sanskrit, Sumerian, etc., see Possehl 1996). This means a form of reconstructed, early Dravidian that precedes --by some two thousand years or more-- that of the Sangam (Cakam) texts which were composed in archaic Tamil around the beginning of our era. The tacit presupposition has been that the by and large South Indian Dravidian languages preceded the various dialects of Old Indo-Aryan (OIA) in the Panjab and Sindh. -
Supplementary Material for Linguistic Situation in Twenty Sub-Saharan African Countries: a Survey-Based Approach
Supplementary material for Linguistic situation in twenty Sub-Saharan African countries: a survey-based approach Katalin Buzasi (word count: 9942) 1 Introduction The aim of this supplementary material is to present available data on indigenous and European languages in the twenty sample countries and to compare them with the Afrobarometer (hereafter AB). The linguistic situation of each country is described in a table. Reported values are understood as percentages. Column 1 lists the name of groups as used and spelled in the AB codebook. The classification and the names of ethnic and linguistic groups in Q79 and Q3 are usually identical. Exceptions, if exist, are explained in the General notes under the tables. Column 2 and 3 show the share of the listed ethnic and linguistic groups based on Q79 (on ethnicity) and Q3 (on home language), respectively. Column 4 presents the share of the population speaking the listed languages as additional languages from Q88E. The total share of speakers is computed in Column 5. In order to cross-check the Afrobarometer data, the remaining columns (Column 6 to 11) present linguistic information from Ethnologue (Lewis et al. 2014), the latest available national censuses, and other sources. However, census questionnaires are not standardised across countries: certain countries collect information on ethnicity, while others on home languages or both. The column headings make it clear which one of the two is reported. The General notes have two additional aims. First, they list some references which contain information on the historical origins of the language situation, the spread of languages and their use in various domains (education, media etc.) and the design of language policies.