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Wushi (Babessi): the Verb Phrase

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Wushi (Babessi): the Verb Phrase Wushi (Babessi): The Verb Phrase Rachel Robinson March, 2021 Presented as part of the requirement of the MA in Field Linguistics, Redcliffe College. Declaration This dissertation is the product of my own work. I declare also that the dissertation is available for photocopying, reference purposes and Inter-Library Loan. Rachel Robinson 2 Abstract Wushi (Babessi): The Verb Phrase Rachel Robinson, March 2021 Wushi is a Grassfields Bantu language spoken in the village of Babessi in NorthWest Cameroon. It is a relatively undocumented language and its orthography is still in the process of being developed. This is the first linguistics paper that has been written on the verb phrase in the language. The aim of this study is to contribute to development of the language. The verb in Wushi can be considered as the basic word class in the language. It consists of the verb root and optional affixes. Verb morphology functions primarily to provide grammatical information relating to aspect and changing valency. The verb phrase consists of the verb and its modifiers, which include markers of tense, aspect, modality, mood and negation. These grammatical markers are highly interdependent with significant tonal complexities. Special verb constructions (notably, copula constructions and serial verb construc- tions) are also examined in this study. Serial verb constructions convey information about the ‘cognitive packaging’ of an event. Asymmetrical serial verb constructions may also convey grammatical information, such as the comparative construction. Analysis of both lexical tone and grammatical tone in the verb phrase highlights the richness and complexity of tonal processes in the language. This research on tone should provide a contribution to developing a tone orthography for the language. 3 Contents Declaration . 2 Abstract . 3 Preface . 6 List of tables . 7 List of abbreviations . 8 1 Introduction . 9 1.1 The Wushi language . 9 1.2 Objective of the current study . 11 1.3 Methodology and notation . 12 1.4 Literature relevant to the current study . 14 1.4.1 Theoretical model . 14 1.4.2 Verb studies on related languages . 14 1.4.3 Tone analysis . 16 2 The verb . 17 2.1 The verb root . 17 2.1.1 Syllable structure of the verb root . 17 2.1.2 Tone categories for verb roots . 18 2.2 Verb morphology . 20 2.2.1 Affixes on the verb root . 20 2.2.1.1 Verb suffixes . 20 2.2.1.2 The verb prefix mə- ...................... 29 2.2.2 Verb reduplication . 30 2.3 Verb derivations . 32 2.3.1 Nominalisation . 33 2.3.2 The adjective class . 34 3 The verb phrase . 37 3.1 Overview of the verb phrase . 37 3.1.1 Structure of the verb phrase . 37 3.1.2 Transitivity in the verb phrase . 38 3.2 The tense-aspect-modality system . 39 3.2.1 Tense, aspect and modality markers . 39 3.2.1.1 Tense . 39 3.2.1.2 Aspect . 41 3.2.1.3 Modality . 44 3.2.2 Tone processes evident in the verb phrase . 45 3.2.2.1 Tone grounding . 45 3.2.2.2 Tone spreading . 46 3.2.2.3 Tone merging . 46 3.2.2.4 Non-automatic downstep . 47 3.2.2.5 Summary of tone processes . 48 3.2.3 Lexical indicators of tense, aspect and modality . 48 3.2.3.1 Lexical indicators: tense . 48 3.2.3.2 Lexical indicators: aspect . 49 3.2.3.3 Lexical indicators: modality . 50 3.3 Moods in the verb phrase . 52 3.3.1 The declarative mood . 52 3.3.2 The interrogative mood . 53 4 3.3.2.1 Polar questions . 53 3.3.2.2 Content questions . 55 3.3.3 The imperative and hortative moods . 57 3.4 Negation . 59 3.4.1 Negation in the declarative and interrogative moods . 60 3.4.2 Negation in the imperative and hortative moods . 60 3.4.3 Negative versions of indefinites . 62 4 Special verb constructions . 63 4.1 Copula clauses . 63 4.1.1 Copula verbs and semantic relations . 63 4.1.2 Verbless copula clauses . 66 4.2 Reflexive and reciprocal constructions . 67 4.2.1 Reflexive constructions . 67 4.2.2 Reciprocal constructions . 68 4.3 Passive constructions . 69 4.4 Causative constructions . 70 4.5 Applicative constructions . 70 4.6 Serial verb constructions (SVCs) . 70 4.6.1 Asymmetrical serial verb constructions . 71 4.6.2 Symmetrical serial verb constructions . 74 5 Conclusion . 75 5.1 Summary of findings . 75 5.2 Application of this research to language development . 77 5.2.1 Lexical tone: verb roots . 77 5.2.2 Grammatical tone in the verb phrase . 78 5.3 Areas for further research . 79 References . 81 Appendix A: Verb roots collected during this study . 83 Appendix B: Texts collected during this study (titles and genres) . 91 5 Preface This dissertation is a study of the verb phrase in the Wushi language, spoken in the village of Babessi in the North West region of Cameroon. The main areas of research for this study are verb morphology, tense-aspect-modality marking, mood and nega- tion. Special verb constructions, most notably copula constructions and serial verb constructions, are also examined. The goal of this research is to contribute to the work of language development. In particular, the study of tone in the verb phrase should contribute to developing a tone orthography for the language. This study would not have been possible without the help of many friends and col- leagues. I am very grateful to the people of the village of Babessi for their kindness to me over the last few years. I have often been humbled by their hospitality and generosity of spirit. Without Ma Adjara (Adjara Ngoungoure), I would not have found a home and a family while I was living in the village. Without David Tiegho, I would not have had the faithful friendship and support of a reliable co-worker. I am humbled by the sacrifices he has made to help me in my research and I am thankful tohisfam- ily for allowing him to leave the village at times to work with me. I am also grateful to Confidence Jua for patiently working through long texts with me. Her helpwith this painstaking task of transcribing and interlinearising audio recordings of narrative discourse was invaluable. To all of these Babessi people, and the countless others who have been a blessing to me, I would like to say nyi jəmə ŋwi iyɔ! I would also like to thank my colleagues at SIL Cameroon for their help with this research, in particular, Jane Ingle, who patiently checked through countless surface tone transcriptions with me, and Cam Hamm, who commented on drafts of this paper. I am also grateful to Dr. Karin Zeibig, my supervisor at CLTL (Redcliffe College, UK), for her constructive criticism of my work and her encouragement throughout this project. Finally, thanks is due to my family and friends in the British Isles whose financial, moral and spiritual support has facilitated my living and working in Cameroon. 6 List of tables Table 1 Verb phrase studies/ grammars consulted during this study . 15 Table 2 Syllable types for verb roots . 17 Table 3 Minimal tone pairs for verb roots . 19 Table 4 The -tə suffix: pluractional . 23 Table 5 Examples of verbs where -tə suffix is lexically 'frozen' on verb root . 25 Table 6 The -sə suffix: causative . 25 Table 7 Examples of verbs where -sə suffix is lexically 'frozen' on verb root . 26 Table 8 The -nə suffix: detransitivising . 27 Table 9 The -nə suffix: aspectual . 28 Table 10 Examples of verbs where -nə suffix is lexically 'frozen' on verb root. 28 Table 11 The -mə suffix: function ambiguous . 29 Table 12 Verb reduplication and aspectual functions . 31 Table 13 Strategies for nominalisation from verb roots . 33 Table 14 Examples of adjectives . 34 Table 15 Tenses in Wushi . 39 Table 16 Verb phrases in different tenses . 41 Table 17 Compulsory aspect marking: perfective or imperfective . 41 Table 18 Optional aspect marking . 42 Table 19 Modality in Wushi: realis or irrealis . 44 Table 20 Examples of lexical indicators of tense . 49 Table 21 Lexical indicators of phase of activity . 49 Table 22 Lexical indicators of degree of activity . 50 Table 23 Lexical indicators of modality . 50 Table 24 Interrogative words in Wushi . 56 Table 25 Constructions used for negative versions of indefinites . 62 Table 26 Types of copula clause . ..
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