Logophoric strategy in San-Maka

Abstract

The article deals with strategies of coding the participants of communication in reporting dicours in San-Maka (Eastern Mande < Mande < Niger-Congo). San-Maka demonstrates an interesting case wherein 3rd person Sg and Pl pronouns, combined with an emphatic marker sɛ́, are used in a logophoric function. However, this construction is not fully grammaticalized. The combination of the pronouns with the emphatic marker acts in a logophoric function in specific reported speech contexts in the presence of the quotative particle mà ~ mə̀ ~ m’ which occupies the leftmost position of the clause. Different possible interpretations of this strategy are shown, followed by a conclusion about the ongoing formation of the logophoric strategy in San-Maka and the grammaticalization of pronouns with the marker sɛ́ into a specialized logophoric pronoun series.