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The Akan verb kɔ

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One of the difficult issues when annotation Akan is to decide how to annotate the two verbs and . Both verbs occur as independent verbs, meaning come and go respectively and as verbal prefixes adding aspectual information. may in addition occur in connection with a noun denoting a place or a location. In the latter case it seems to express directionality.

TypeCraft hosts at present 37 sentences from Akan and Abron (Bono), one of the dialects of Akan, that contain ; either as an independent verb or as a verbal prefix. You can easily verify this by going to Search for Phrases where you enter in the field: 'Extract morpheme' under the heading Morpheme Level.

Sentence (1) and (2) exemplify the use of as in independent verb meaning go.

(1)
nkɔ
“Don't go.”
n`kɔ´
n
NEGIMPgo
Vitr

(2) The next three sentences illustrate that may describe manner of movement as well as the directedness of the movement towards a given endpoint. Using terminology introduced by Talmy one could say that is neither head nor satellite marking but instead combines both functions by indicating manner and path of movement in one lexical item. Notice that the English translations given by native speaker annotators try to capture this fact, leading to slightly awkward translations such as He left Accra to Kumasi (meaning: going to Kumasi) or He passed by the school to church (meaning: going to church)

(3) (3) is interesting for others reasons too. Ato is said to have taken his piano to town. I was wondering if sɛnkuo possibly refers to one of the African instruments shown in the picture of African music instruments to the right? --Dorothee 00:04, 4 June 2009 (CEST)

Could Ato's piano have been a Sanza?

The read square-shaped instrument in the middle of the picture is a Sanza which is a small thumb piano. The white element fixed to the body of the instrument are depressed and released to produce the sound. This would be an instrument that easily could be taken along by the player.

Perhaps somebody reading this knows the answer?!

Sentence (4) below shows clearly that remains a verb since it does inflect for past tense also in its function as a spatial expression. (4) (5) Although as discussed above may combine the expression of manner of movement and path of movement this is not always the case. In (6) below Akan used together with the verb expressing manner of movement, just as if it were a well-behaved satellite marking language, again using Talmy's terminology. The only difference to Germanic satellite-marking languages in this case is that the 'satellite'-expression is headed by a verbal predicate rather than a prepositional one.

(6)




ɔkɔ asɔre
“S/he goes to church”
ɔkɔ
ɔ
S/heSM3SGgo
Vtr
asɔre
asɔre
churchOBJ
N
Kofi bùé pono he bɔkɔɔ kɔyε a biara ante.
“Kofi opened the door gently and left without no one noticing.”
Kofi
kofi
kofi
Np
bùé
bùé
openPAST
V
pono
pono
door
N
he
he
DEF
DET
bɔkɔɔ
bɔkɔɔ
slowly
ADVm
kɔyε
goPAST
V
a
a
CONJ
CONJC
biara
biara
everybody
PN
ante
ante
PASTNEGhear
V
Nkansa atu akɔtena Ahafo sε nhwεsoni.
“Nkansa has travelled to live Ahafo as a caretaker.”
Nkansa
nkansa
nkansa
Np
atu
atu
PFVfly
V
akɔtena
atena
CONSDIRsit
V
Ahafo
ahafo
ahafo
N
like
V
nhwεsoni
nhwεsonni
NpreftakingCareSGNMLZAGT
N
Ampofo bεkra me dasuom sε ɔrekɔ Nkran aba.
“Ampofo came and told me that he was going to Accra and come.”
Ampofo
ampofo
ampofo
Np
bεkra
kra
INGRgiveMessage
V
me
me
 
 
dasuom
dasuom
midnight
N
COMPL
PRT
ɔrekɔ
ɔre
3SGSBJPROGgo
 
Nkran
nkran
Accra
N
aba
aba
CONScome
V
Papa he yere resi n’akokɔafuom.
“The man's wife is washing his farm clothing.”
Papa
papa
man
N
he
he
DEF
DET
yere
yere
wife
N
resi
resi
PROGwash
V
n’akokɔafuom
n’akokɔafuom
3SGPOSSNpreffarmClothing
N
Nnipa bebree suro sε bεbεkɔ afunsieε anadwo.
“Many people fear to go to the cemetery in the night.”
Nnipa
nnipa
PLperson
N
bebree
bebree
many
QUANT
suro
suro
fearSTAT
V
COMPL
PRT
bεbεkɔ
3PLSBJDIRgo
V
afunsieε
afunsieε
NprefcorpsehideLOC
N
anadwo
anadwo
night
ADVm
Me papa yε dwadini a ɔde bɔɔfrε kɔ amanoɔne.
“My father is a businessman who exports pawpaws.”
Me
me
1SGPOSS
PN
papa
papa
father
N
be
V
dwadini
dwadini
marketeatNMLZ
N
a
a
COMPL
PRT
ɔde
ɔde
3SGSBJtake
V
bɔɔfrε
bɔɔfrε
pawpaw
N
goHAB
V
amanoɔne
amanoɔne
abroad
N
Mmrahyεbεdwani he de nkondwa akɔma asɔre he.
“The member for parliment has donated chairs to the church.”
Mmrahyεbεdwani
mmrahyεbεdwani
lawmakecouncilNMLZ
N
he
he
DEF
DET
de
de
use
V
nkondwa
nkondwa
PLchair
N
akɔma
ama
PFVINGRgive
V
asɔre
asɔre
church
N
he
he
DEF
ART
Me nam w’adwuma mu kɔ sukuu
“I walk through your work to school”
Me
me
ISBJ1SG
PN
nam
nam
walk
Vtr
w’adwuma
w'adwuma
POSS2SGwork
N
mu
mu
inOBJ
N
go
Vtr
sukuu
sukuu
schoolOBJ
N
Kwame de car no apie kɔ asɔre
“Kwame has gone out with the car to church”
Kwame
kwame
KwameSBJ
Np
de
de
take
Vtr
kaa
kaa
carOBJ
N
no
no
DEF
DET
apie
apie
PFVout
Vitr
go
Vtr
asɔre
asɔre
churchOBJ
N
Yaw fii Accra kɔɔ Kumasi
“Yaw left Accra and went to Kumasi”
Yaw
yaw
YawSBJ
Np
fii
fii
leavePAST
Vtr
Accra
accra
AccraOBJ
Np
kɔɔ
ɔ
goPAST
V2
Kumasi
kumasi
KumasiOBJ
Np
Bɛɛkɔhwe aburaa no.
“They are going to drain the stream.”
bɛɛkɔhwe
ɛhwe
theySBJPROGgodrain
V
aburaa
aburaa
streamOBJ
N
no
no
the
DET
Ama maa kofi kɔɔ fie.
“Ama made (caused...to) Kofi go home.”
Ama
Ama
AmaSBJ
Np
maa
maa
makePAST
V
kofi
kofi
KofiOBJSBJ
N
kɔɔ
ɔ
goPAST
V2
fie
fie
homeOBJ
CN
Amankwaa kɔe.
“Amankwaa left.”
Amankwaa
amankwaa
A.
N
kɔe
e
goPAST
V
Monkɔ nkɔkyeakyea.
“Go and greet them.”
Monkɔ
mon
2PLSBJOPTgo
V
nkɔkyeakyea
nkyeakyea
OPTINGRgreetgreet
V
Boakye rekɔgye aba abεdi.
“Boakye is going to collect it, come back and eat it.”
Boakye
boakye
B.SBJ
N
rekɔgye
regye
PROGINGRcollect
V
aba
aba
CONScome
V
abεdi
adi
CONSINGReat
V
Yεεkɔgye yaba yabεdi.
“We are going to collect it, come back and eat it.”
Yεεkɔgye
εgye
1PLSBJPROGINGRcollect
V
yaba
yaba
3PLSBJCONScome
V
yabεdi
yadi
1PLSBJCONSINGReat
V
Ama tɔɔ ankaa kɔe.
“Ama bought oranges and left”
Ama
ama
A.SBJ
N
tɔɔ
ɔ
buyPAST
V
ankaa
ankaa
orangeOBJ
N
kɔe
e
goPAST
V
Me wɔfa de sikan no kɔ afuom.
“My uncle has gone to the farm with the cutlass.”
Me
me
1SGGEN
PN
wɔfa
wɔfa
uncleSBJ
N
de
de
take
V1
sikan
sikan
cutlassOBJ
N
no
no
DEF
DET
go
V2
afuom
afuom
farmOBJinLOC
N
Mɛkɔ maba.
“I will go and come.”
Mɛkɔ
ISBJgo
V
maba
maba
ISBJPFVcome
V
Kɔ bra.
“(You) go but return”
go
V
bra
bra
come
V2
ɔnkɔ fie.
“S/he should go home”
ɔnkɔ
ɔn
S/heSBJOPTgo
V
fie
fie
houseOBJ
N
Ma no nkɔ.
“Let him/her go”
Ma
ma
letCAUS
V
no
no
him/herOBJ
PN
nkɔ
n
OPTgo
V
Kɔ fie.
“(You) go home”
go
V
fie
fie
houseOBJ
N
ɔrokɔ ahenfie
“He is going to the palace”
ɔrokɔ
ɔro
3SGPROGgo
V
ahenfie
ahenfie
palace
N