By
Ota Ogie
Researcher was affiliated with the former Department of Language and Communication Studies from 1999 - 2012.
NTNU -
e-mail:ota.ogie@hf.ntnu.no
(alternatively you can use the TC-internal e-mail to contact me)
The study examines multi-verb constructions in the following languages of the Niger-Congo: Igbo and Yoruba (Benue-Congo), Gurenne (Oti-Volta), Ga, Baule, Akan and Ewe (Kwa) and situate
properties of Èdó multi-verb constructions within typology common to these languages.
ÈDÓ
1.Infinitival complement construction: covert reference subject sharing
Íràn kùgbé-rè kó!kó ìzẹ̣̣̣̣̣́
“They joined together and gathered the rice”
| kùgbérè |
| kùgbé | rè |
| join | IVRT |
| Vtr |
| ìzẹ̣̣̣̣̣́ |
| ìzẹ̣̣̣̣̣́ |
| riceDOTH |
| N |
2.Consequential SVC : token subject and object sharing
Òzó lé ìzẹ́ ré
“Ozo cooked rice and ate”
3. Covert coordination:covert reference subject sharing and overt reference object sharing
Òzó dẹ̣̣̣̣́ ìzẹ̣̣̣̣̣́ rrí ọ̣̣̣̣̀ré
“Ozo bought rice and ate it”
| dẹ̣̣̣̣́ |
| dẹ̣̣̣̣́ |
| buyPASTH |
| Vtr |
| ìzẹ̣̣̣̣̣́ |
| ìzẹ̣̣̣̣̣́ |
| rice.AFFDO |
| CN |
| ọ̣̣̣̣̀ré |
| ọ̣̣̣̣̀ré |
| it3SGACCDOTH |
| PN |
4. Purpose construction :token subject and object sharing
Òzó miẹ̣́n àlìmóí kpá!án
“Ozo saw an orange to pluck”
| miẹ̣́n |
| miẹ̣́n |
| seePASTH |
| Vtr |
IGBO
5.Commutative SVC: Token subject sharing
Ó wè-re ìte byá
“S/he came with a pot”
AKAN
6.Clause chaining SVC (CCSVC): covert reference subject sharing
Ama noa di
“Ama cooks and then eats”
YORUBA
7.Commutative SVC: Token subject sharing
Ó mú ìwé wá
“He brought the book”
EWE
8.Complement/embedded clause construction: Switch function
Kofí ná (bé) wò-ɖu nú-á
“Kofi made him/her eat the thing”
9. Consecutive construction: Token subject and no sharing of objects
Agbeko wɔ dɔ, kpɔga fle afe
“Agbeko worked got money and bought a house”
10. Overlapping constructions: switch function
É-fo-m wò-sẽ̃
“S/he hit me hard”
BAULE
11.Resumed Subject Construction (RSC): Coreferent overt subjects and no sharing of objects
ɔsi-li aliɛ-`n (ɔ) sɔkɔ-li tro`n
“S/he pounded the futu and prepared the sause”
| sɔkɔli |
| sɔkɔ | li |
| prepare | COMPL |
| V |
GURENNE
12.Theme SVC: token subject and object sharing
Bà diki mà tá`asi zí'à ná
“They sent me to that place”
Ga
13. Extended Verb Construction: token subject and direct object sharing, indirect object not shared
E kɛ wolo lɛ ha mi
“He gave me the book”
Multi-verbs identified include SVCs in all the languages discussed, consecutive constructions and overlapping constructions in Ewe and covert co-ordination in Èdó, Igbo and Baule. Typological features used for identification include:
tense, mood, aspect, negation, adverb distribution, predicate cleft and argument sharing patterns. The findings show that the typological features of a language determine the type of multi-verb construction it licenses. Also while, inflection may demarcate multi-verb types within a language, the pattern observed for a language may not map onto another language.
With respect to argument sharing, the following types are discussed; token sharing of subjects; switch sharing; overt reference sharing of subjects; covert reference sharing of subjects; token sharing of objects ; overt reference sharing of objects and covert sharing of objects.
The patterns found in the languages studied support the claim that languages with rich verbal agreement features allow recoverability of unexpressed arguments and tend to license null subjects and objects.
Object sharing patterns show asymmetry with respect to switch sharing and reference sharing. Languages that have overt reference subject sharing patterns do not have switch sharing (Ewe, Ga and Baule) while those that do not, tend to employ token/covert reference sharing of subjects and switch sharing (Èdó, Yoruba and Akan).This is buttressed by data from Attie and Likpe closely related languages to these languages. With respect to object sharing, these languages that do not have switch sharing all have covert sharing of objects, while those that have, do not have covert sharing of objects. Èdó belongs to the type that does not have overt reference sharing of subjects and tend to employ token sharing of subjects and switch sharing. For object sharing, Èdó does not have covert sharing of objects and employs mainly token sharing of objects.In particular, object sharing in multi-verb constructions in Èdó is analyzed as token sharing by grammatical function.
References for research on Èdó language by Ota Ogie