Crosslinguistic effects in adjectivization strategies in Suriname, Ghana and Togo

Berg, Margot van den; Amuzu, Evershed Kwasi; Essizewa, Komlan E.; Yevudey, Elvis; Tagba, Kamaïloudini

doi:10.1075/cll.53.15ber

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…Compare the Akan and English adjectives bɔne (bad) and clever in (33). There is areal evidence that languages with a weak adjective-verb distinction make use of copula clauses as a template for the integration of borrowed or code-switched adjectives from languages with large adjective classes (see Meechan and Poplack 1995 for Wolof-French;Yakpo 2009 for Pichi-Spanish; Van den Berg et al 2017 for Ewe-English/French, Akan-English, and Sranan-Dutch). We return to the divergent distribution of chain in section 7 where we address the broader distribution of adjectives in Likpakpaln.…”

Section: The Adjective As a Copula Complementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adjectives in Likpakpaln (Konkomba): Structural and Areal-Typological Aspects

Bisilki

Yakpo

2020

Language Matters

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Likpakpaln is a little-described Mabia (Gur) language of northern Ghana. Drawing on primary data, this first study of adjectives in Likpakpaln concludes that the language has a small, closed adjective class of about 20 members that shares grammatical properties with nouns and verbs to varying degrees. Contrary to what is the case in other Mabia languages, Likpakpaln adjectives lack inherent class markers. We identify three types of adjectives, distinguishable from nouns and verbs on morpho-syntactic and semantic grounds. Type 1 items lean towards nouns and never function as predicates of verbal clauses. Type 2 consists of one item, possibly a loan, and appears in a predicate adjective construction typical of languages with large adjective classes. Type 3 adjectives lean towards verbs and may form the predicate of verbal clauses. An understanding of Likpakpaln adjectives can contribute to refining our current knowledge of the genetic and typological position of Likpakpaln in the Mabia family.

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Section: The Adjective As a Copula Complementmentioning

confidence: 99%