By Miaomiao Zhang
This page is about the aspect marker CONS in SVC of Akan. The examples are collected from TC database and articles by Boadi and Osam.
1. INF or CONS?
In Boadi’s article, he claims that the affix à indicates the INF verb form. But other linguists consider this affix as an aspect marker- CONS, because it can only occur after the PROG and FUT which request a certain agreement, namely, “concord”.
2. Data from TC database
From the TC database Akan Future Aspect, we can see that when there are two subjects in a SVC sentence with future aspect, two FUT markers will appear after respectively the first subject and the second subject, which we called the FUT-FUT pattern. In this pattern, the serial verbs obey the agreement of future tense, see examples as follows:
2.1 FUT-FUT pattern
εbεyε animguaseε sε wobεsεe awareε.
“It will be humiliating to commit adultery.”
| εbεyε |
| ε | bε | yε |
| 3SGINANIM | FUT | be |
| V |
| animguaseε |
| animguaseε |
| disgraceful |
| ADJ |
| wobεsεe |
| wo | bε | sεe |
| 2SG | FUT | destroy |
| V |
2.2 Purpose FUT-CONS pattern
In other cases, when there is only one subject in the SVC sentence, the FUT-CONS pattern and PROG-CONS pattern occur. That is to say, the serial verbs in such patterns share the same subject. We also found that the CONS can occur in both purpose clause and clauses expressing consecutive actions.
2.3 Consecutive FUT-CONS pattern
Mansa bεpɔn ne ho afi adepam mu afe yi.
“Mansah will finish and come out of dressmaking this year.”
| adepam |
| adepam |
| dressmaking |
| N |
Kofi bεtɔ dware aku no anoa awe.
“Kofi will buy a sheep, kill it,boil it and eat it.”
yaa bɛ tɔ brodeɛ anoa adi ada
“Yaa will buy plantain, cook it, eat it, and sleep.”
| bròdéɛ` |
| brodeɛ |
| plantain |
| CN |
2.4 Purpose PROG-CONS pattern
ɔɔkɔ fa safoa abie bono no
“He is going to take the key to open the door.”
Boakye rekɔgye aba abεdi.
“Boakye is going to collect it, come back and eat it.”
| rekɔgye |
| re | kɔ | gye |
| PROG | INGR | collect |
| V |
Yεεkɔgye yaba yabεdi.
“We are going to collect it, come back and eat it.”
| Yεεkɔgye |
| yε | ε | kɔ | gye |
| 1PLSBJ | PROG | INGR | collect |
| V |
| yaba |
| y | a | ba |
| 3PLSBJ | CONS | come |
| V |
| yabεdi |
| y | a | bε | di |
| 1PLSBJ | CONS | INGR | eat |
| V |
From the data, we can see that the CONS marker in the FUT-CONS pattern can express both purpose and consecutive meaning, while in the PROG-CONS pattern it can only express the purpose meaning.
3 PAST-PAST vs FUT/PROG-CONS
Although the PAST-PAST or PAST NEG-PAST NEG pattern can also express the purpose, they are different from FUT-CONS pattern, because the verbs in the former pattern share the agreement on tense or polarity, while the verbs in the latter pattern only share the agreement on tense or aspect.