Lexical insertions in Kabiye-Ewe codeswitching in Lome

Abstract

This article deals with contact phenomena between two languages of distinct branches of Niger-Congo in Lome, Togo. The contact between Kabiye and Ewe has manifested itself in terms of Ewe lexical insertions and borrowings in Kabiye. My study deals specifically with Ewe lexical insertions into Kabiye. The article highlights some aspects of Kabiye grammar, including tone (for marking tense and aspect in verbs), nouns and noun classes, adjectives and predicative adjectives with linking verbs, focus constructions, and serial verbs in the language. I find that, in areas where Kabiye and Ewe grammar are congruent, Ewe insertions are frequently used, with the insertions taking Kabiye morphology. But in areas where the two grammars diverge, insertions are infrequent and those that occur do not take Kabiye morphology.

Ewe borrowings into Logba

“…In Togo, government promotion of the teaching of the country's two national languages, Ewe and Kabiye, is fitful, but there is a wide range of other ways in which Ewe's status as the most widely spoken and most highly prestigious of Togo's indigenous languages is constantly reinforced (cf. Essizewa, 2009Essizewa, , 2014. English and French are present in the Ewe-speaking communities in Ghana and Togo, respectively.…”

“…Essizewa, 2009Essizewa, , 2014. English and French are present in the Ewe-speaking communities in Ghana and Togo, respectively.…”