Delalorm, Cephas (2016) Documentation and description of Sɛkpɛlé: a Ghana-Togo mountain language of Ghana . PhD Thesis. SOAS, University of London http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/22780 Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non‐commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this thesis, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", name of the School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination. DOCUMENTATION AND DESCRIPTION OF SƐKPƐLÉ: A GHANA-TOGO MOUNTAIN LANGUAGE OF GHANA Cephas Delalorm Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD in Field Linguistics 2016 Department of Linguistics SOAS, University of London 1 Cephas Delalorm Declaration for SOAS PhD thesis I have read and understood regulation 17.9 of the Regulations for students of the SOAS, University of London concerning plagiarism. I undertake that all the material presented for examination is my own work and has not been written for me, in whole or in part, by any other person. I also undertake that any quotation or paraphrase from the published or unpublished work of another person has been duly acknowledged in the work which I present for examination. Signed: ____________________________ Date: _________________12/01/2016 2 Cephas Delalorm ABSTRACT This thesis is a documentation and description of Sɛkpɛlé, a Kwa language spoken along the Akwapim Range close to the Ghana-Togo border by the people of the Likpe traditional area. It belongs to the linguistically diverse group of Ghana-Togo Mountain Languages (GTM), spoken in the Central Volta region of Ghana. The language is spoken primarily by ten Likpe communities north-east of Hohoe: Bakwa, Nkwanta, Mate, Bala, Todome, Abrani, Koforidua, Agbozume, Avedzime and Kukurantumi. This thesis is divided into eleven chapters and a set of appendixes. The first chapter presents a general introduction. This includes a background overview of the Bakpɛlé (speakers of Sɛkpɛlé) which includes demographic and ethnographic information, as well as material on language classification, dialects and multilingualism, and research methodology. The second chapter is a literature review. Topics covered include language documentation, description, and language classification, and an overview of previous research on the language. The third chapter discusses the phonology of Sɛkpɛlé. The fourth chapter focuses on the noun morphology of Sɛkpɛlé and includes topics such as the noun class system, agreement, and some noun derivations. The fifth chapter discusses the structure and types of noun phrases in Sɛkpɛle. The sixth chapter focuses on pronouns while the seventh chapter describes the verb morphology. The eighth chapter discusses semantic classes of verbs and their valency. The ninth chapter discusses clause structure and clause types in Sɛkpɛle. The tenth chapter discusses several construction types that involve combinations of verbs and/or clauses. This chapter is organised as following: (1) multi-verb clauses: serial verbs; overlapping 3 Cephas Delalorm clauses; consecutive constructions, (2) complement clauses, (3) adverbial clauses, (4) relative clauses, and (5) coordination. The eleventh chapter consists of the conclusion followed by a full bibliography of materials referenced in this thesis and a set of appendixes containing selected texts collected and annotated in the course of the research. 4 Cephas Delalorm ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to acknowledge the contribution of some individuals and institutions. First, I wish to give all praise and thanks to Almighty God, for the life that has sustained me through this period. Thanks also go to the Endangered Languages Documentation Programme (ELDP) for the realisation of my dreams through their financial support. I am also grateful to the Faculty of Languages and Cultures and the Department of Linguistics of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (SOAS) for the facility and the spectacular services rendered to me from the beginning of my studies. I also acknowledge the contributions of the members of my supervisory committee; Prof. Peter K. Austin, Dr. Lutz Marten and Dr. Monik Charette for their fruitful criticism and recommendations. Thanks go to the staff and my colleagues at the Linguistics Department. I also acknowledge the contributions of Michael Franjieh and Charlotte Hemmings for their time proof-reading this work. Thanks go to Prof. Felix Ameka whose research on Sɛkpɛlé motivated me to take on the mantle and to follow suit. I also wish to thank the Department of Linguistics, University of Ghana and the Department of Language and Communication Studies, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) for the foundation they gave me that has brought me this far. Finally, I am very grateful to the people of Likpe who have accepted me as one of their own and shown interest in my project. Special thanks go to my consultants Cyprian Somevi, Gloria Akposu, Daniel Bonsi, Robert Ouedraogo and Emila Bonsi. 5 Cephas Delalorm CONTENT OVERVIEW 1 INTRODUCTION 25 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 50 3 SƐKPƐLE PHONOLOGY 60 4 NOUN MORPHOLOGY 84 5 NOUN PHRASES 125 6 PRONOUNS 184 7 VERB STRUCTURE AND VALENCY 223 8 TENSE, ASPECT, MODALITY AND NEGATION 309 9 CLAUSE STRUCTURE AND TYPES 376 10 VERB AND CLAUSE COMBINATIONS 446 11 CONCLUSION 559 BIBLOGRAPHY 577 APPENDIXES 587 6 Cephas Delalorm TABLE OF CONTENTS DOCUMENTATION AND DESCRIPTION OF SƐKPƐLÉ: A GHANA-TOGO MOUNTAIN LANGUAGE OF GHANA ............................................................................................................. 1 ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................... 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................. 5 CONTENT OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................ 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................ 7 LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... 16 LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... 18 LIST OF GRAMMATICAL MORPHEMES ............................................................................... 19 ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................................................... 23 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 25 1.1 The People ........................................................................................................................ 25 1.1.1 Geographical location .................................................................................................. 25 1.1.2 History .......................................................................................................................... 27 1.1.3 Economy....................................................................................................................... 35 1.1.4 Education ...................................................................................................................... 35 1.1.5 Religious affiliation ..................................................................................................... 36 1.2 The Language ................................................................................................................... 37 1.2.1 Classification ................................................................................................................ 37 1.2.2 Dialects and speaker multilingualism ......................................................................... 40 1.3 Methodology and research framework ........................................................................... 42 1.4 Presentation of data ......................................................................................................... 49 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................................... 50 2.1 Language documentation and description ...................................................................... 50 2.2 Language classification ................................................................................................... 52 2.3 Previous research in Sɛkpɛle ........................................................................................... 56 3 SƐKPƐLÉ PHONOLOGY..................................................................................................... 60 3.1 Sound inventory ............................................................................................................... 60 3.1.1 Consonants ..................................................................................................................