The Syntax and Semantics of Relative Clauses in Kusaal
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4314/gjl.v8i2.248Keywords:
Kusaal, relative clauses, Mabia (Gur) language, in-situ head-internal relative clause, left-headed head internal relative clauseAbstract
This paper looks at the syntax and semantics of relative clause constructions in Kusaal, a Mabia (Gur) language spoken in the Upper East Region of Ghana. Although extensive work has been done on sister Mabia languages on this topic, little can be said of same in relation to Kusaal. This paper gives a comprehensive discussion on the various elements, functions, and formations of Kusaal relative clauses and, among other things, shows that the language has both in-situ internally-headed relative clauses and left-headed internally-headed relative clauses (Hiraiwa et al. 2017). This is carried out with data collected on fieldwork, in addition to my own native speaker intuitions.
References
References
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- 2018. Aspects of Kusaal Grammar: The Syntaxt-Information Structure Interface. PhD Dissertation. Department of African Studies, University of Vienna.
Atintono, Awinkene Samuel. 2003. A functional analysis of Gurenɛ relative clause. Ms.,University of Education, Winneba, Ghana.
Boadi, Lawrence A. 1974. Focus-marking in Akan. Linguistics 140:5-57.
Bodomo, Adams. & Hiraiwa, Ken. 2009. Relativisation in Dagaare and its typological implications: Left-headed but internally-headed. Lingua, doi: 10.1016/j.lingua.2009.06.008
Bodomo, Adams & Hiraiwa, Ken. 2004. “Relativisation in Dagaare”. Journal of Dagaare Studies, Vol.4.
Chomsky, Noam. 1995. The minimalist program. Cambridge, Massachusetts/London: MIT Press.
Comrie, Benard. 1989. Language Universals and Linguistc Typology. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd.
Dzameshie, K. Alex. 1983. Relativisation in Ewe (Unpublished MA Thesis). Indiana University, Bloomington.
Dzameshie, K. Alex. 1995. Syntactic Characteristics of Ewe Relative Clause Construction. Research Review (SN) 11(1&2), 27-42.
Fiedler, I. and Schwarz, A. 2005. Out-of-focus Encoding in Gur and Kwa. In Ishihara, S., M. Schmitz, and A. Scharz (eds.), Interdisciplinary Studies on Information Structure 3, 111-142. Postdam:Potsdam University.
Givón, Talmy. 2001. Syntax: An Introduction (Vol.II). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Givón, Talmy. 1993. English Grammar: A Functional-Based Introduction (Vol.II). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Heine, Bernd & Reh, Mechthild. 1984. Grammaticalization and Reanalysis in African
Languages.Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.
Heine, Bernd & Kuteva, Tania. 2002. World Lexicon of Grammaticalization. Cambridge
University Press: Cambridge.
Hiraiwa, Ken, George Akanlig-Pare, Samuel Atintono, Adams Bodomo, Komlan Essizewa, and Fusheini Hudu. 2017. A comparative syntax of internally-headed relative clauses in Gur. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics X(X): X.1-30, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.40
Hiraiwa, Ken. 2003. Relativisation in Buli. In George Akanlig-Pare and Michael Kenstowicz (ed). Studies in Buli grammar. MIT Working Papers on Endangered and Less Familiar Languages Vol.4. Cambridge, MA: MITWPL, 45-84.
Hiraiwa, Ken. 2004. Head-internal relativisation in Gur. Paper presented at the 78th annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of America. January 8-11, 2004.
Keenan, Edward, & Bernard Comrie. 1977. Noun phrase accessibility and universal grammar. Linguistic Inquiry, 8: 62-100.
Larson, Richard. 2003. Event descriptions in Fon and Haitian Creole. In Dany Adone (ed.), Recent development in creole studies,67–90. Tübingen: Niemeyer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110948318.67
Lefebvre, Claire. 1998. Multifunctionality and variation among grammars: The case of the determiner in Haitian and Fongbe. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 13(1). 93–150. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.13.1.04lef
Lefebvre, Claire. 1992. On the distribution of clausal wɛ̀ in Fongbe. In Travaux de recherche sur le créole haïtien: Numéro 8 – Avril 1992, 49–68. Université du Québec à Montréal: Groupe de rechercher sur le créole haïtien, Départment de linguistique.
Maxwell, N. Daniel. 1979. Strategies of relativisation and NP accessibility. Language 55:352-371
Mwinlaaru, I.N. & Yap, F.H. 2017. A tale of two distal demonstratives in Dagaare: Reflections
on directionality principles in grammaticalization. Language Sciences,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2017.07.005.
Payne, E. Thomas. 1997. Describing morphosyntax: a guide to field linguists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Perlmutter, M. David.& Soames Scott. 1979. Syntactic argumentation and the structure of English. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Ross, John R. 1967. Constraints on variables in syntax. Published doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Saah, Kofi K. 2010. Relative Clauses in Akan. In Enoch, O. Aboh and James Essegbey (eds.) Topics in Kwa Syntax. Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, New York: Springer.
Sigurd, Bengt. 1989. A referent grammatical analysis of relative clauses. Acta Linguistica 21(2):95-115
Stassen, Leon. 1997. Instransitive predication: Oxford studies in typology and linguistic
theory. Oxford u.a.: Clarendon Press.
Williamson, Janis. 1987. An indefiniteness restriction for relative clauses in Lakhota. In Eric Reuland & Alice G.B. ter Meulen (eds.), The representation of (in)definiteness, 168-190. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- . 2016a. Contrastive Focus Particles in Kusaal. Paper presented at the 47th Annual Conference of African Linguistics (ACAL). Berkeley: Carlifornia.
- . 2016b. Noun Class System in Kusaal: A Lexical-Phonology Approach. Paper presented at the 2nd Symposium on West African Languages (SyWAL2016). Vienna. University of Vienna.
- . 2018. Relativisation in Kusaal. In Miriam Weidl & Samantha Goodchild (eds.) SOAS Working Papers in Linguistics, 19.
- 2018. Aspects of Kusaal Grammar: The Syntaxt-Information Structure Interface. PhD Dissertation. Department of African Studies, University of Vienna.
Atintono, Awinkene Samuel. 2003. A functional analysis of Gurenɛ relative clause. Ms.,University of Education, Winneba, Ghana.
Boadi, Lawrence A. 1974. Focus-marking in Akan. Linguistics 140:5-57.
Bodomo, Adams. & Hiraiwa, Ken. 2009. Relativisation in Dagaare and its typological implications: Left-headed but internally-headed. Lingua, doi: 10.1016/j.lingua.2009.06.008
Bodomo, Adams & Hiraiwa, Ken. 2004. “Relativisation in Dagaare”. Journal of Dagaare Studies, Vol.4.
Chomsky, Noam. 1995. The minimalist program. Cambridge, Massachusetts/London: MIT Press.
Comrie, Benard. 1989. Language Universals and Linguistc Typology. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd.
Dzameshie, K. Alex. 1983. Relativisation in Ewe (Unpublished MA Thesis). Indiana University, Bloomington.
Dzameshie, K. Alex. 1995. Syntactic Characteristics of Ewe Relative Clause Construction. Research Review (SN) 11(1&2), 27-42.
Fiedler, I. and Schwarz, A. 2005. Out-of-focus Encoding in Gur and Kwa. In Ishihara, S., M. Schmitz, and A. Scharz (eds.), Interdisciplinary Studies on Information Structure 3, 111-142. Postdam:Potsdam University.
Givón, Talmy. 2001. Syntax: An Introduction (Vol.II). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Givón, Talmy. 1993. English Grammar: A Functional-Based Introduction (Vol.II). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Heine, Bernd & Reh, Mechthild. 1984. Grammaticalization and Reanalysis in African
Languages.Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.
Heine, Bernd & Kuteva, Tania. 2002. World Lexicon of Grammaticalization. Cambridge
University Press: Cambridge.
Hiraiwa, Ken, George Akanlig-Pare, Samuel Atintono, Adams Bodomo, Komlan Essizewa, and Fusheini Hudu. 2017. A comparative syntax of internally-headed relative clauses in Gur. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics X(X): X.1-30, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.40
Hiraiwa, Ken. 2003. Relativisation in Buli. In George Akanlig-Pare and Michael Kenstowicz (ed). Studies in Buli grammar. MIT Working Papers on Endangered and Less Familiar Languages Vol.4. Cambridge, MA: MITWPL, 45-84.
Hiraiwa, Ken. 2004. Head-internal relativisation in Gur. Paper presented at the 78th annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of America. January 8-11, 2004.
Keenan, Edward, & Bernard Comrie. 1977. Noun phrase accessibility and universal grammar. Linguistic Inquiry, 8: 62-100.
Larson, Richard. 2003. Event descriptions in Fon and Haitian Creole. In Dany Adone (ed.), Recent development in creole studies,67–90. Tübingen: Niemeyer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110948318.67
Lefebvre, Claire. 1998. Multifunctionality and variation among grammars: The case of the determiner in Haitian and Fongbe. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 13(1). 93–150. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.13.1.04lef
Lefebvre, Claire. 1992. On the distribution of clausal wɛ̀ in Fongbe. In Travaux de recherche sur le créole haïtien: Numéro 8 – Avril 1992, 49–68. Université du Québec à Montréal: Groupe de rechercher sur le créole haïtien, Départment de linguistique.
Maxwell, N. Daniel. 1979. Strategies of relativisation and NP accessibility. Language 55:352-371
Mwinlaaru, I.N. & Yap, F.H. 2017. A tale of two distal demonstratives in Dagaare: Reflections
on directionality principles in grammaticalization. Language Sciences,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2017.07.005.
Payne, E. Thomas. 1997. Describing morphosyntax: a guide to field linguists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Perlmutter, M. David.& Soames Scott. 1979. Syntactic argumentation and the structure of English. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Ross, John R. 1967. Constraints on variables in syntax. Published doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Saah, Kofi K. 2010. Relative Clauses in Akan. In Enoch, O. Aboh and James Essegbey (eds.) Topics in Kwa Syntax. Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, New York: Springer.
Sigurd, Bengt. 1989. A referent grammatical analysis of relative clauses. Acta Linguistica 21(2):95-115
Stassen, Leon. 1997. Instransitive predication: Oxford studies in typology and linguistic
theory. Oxford u.a.: Clarendon Press.
Williamson, Janis. 1987. An indefiniteness restriction for relative clauses in Lakhota. In Eric Reuland & Alice G.B. ter Meulen (eds.), The representation of (in)definiteness, 168-190. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
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Published
12/30/2019
How to Cite
Abubakari, H. (2019). The Syntax and Semantics of Relative Clauses in Kusaal. Ghana Journal of Linguistics, 8(2), 27–62. https://doi.org/10.4314/gjl.v8i2.248
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