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小组练习-苗苗的贡献

Revision as of 17:49, 24 April 2011 by Miaomiao Zhang (Talk | contribs)

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
3SGINANIMFUTbe
V
animguaseε
animguaseε
disgraceful
ADJ
COMPL
PRT
wobεsεe
wosεe
2SGFUTdestroy
V
awareε
awareε
marriage
N


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.”
Mansa
mansa
mansa
Np
bεpɔn
pɔn
FUTclose
V
ne
ne
3SG
PN
ho
ho
REFL
PN
afi
afi
CONScome.out
V
adepam
adepam
dressmaking
N
mu
mu
inside
Nrel
afe
afe
year
N
yi
yi
PROX
DEM
Kofi bεtɔ dware aku no anoa awe.
“Kofi will buy a sheep, kill it,boil it and eat it.”
Kofi
kofi
K.SBJ
N
bεtɔ
FUTbuy
V
dware
dware
sheepOBJ
N
aku
aku
CONSkill
V
no
no
3SGOBJ
PN
anoa
anoa
CONSboil
V
awe
awe
CONSchew
V
yaa bɛ tɔ brodeɛ anoa adi ada
“Yaa will buy plantain, cook it, eat it, and sleep.”
yáá
yaa
Yaa
Np
bɛ´tɔ´
bɛ́
FUTbuy
Vtr
bròdéɛ`
brodeɛ
plantain
CN
ánóá
anoa
CONScook
V2
ádí
adi
CONSeat
V3
ádá
ada
CONSsleep
V4


2.4 Purpose PROG-CONS pattern


ɔɔkɔ fa safoa abie bono no
“He is going to take the key to open the door.”
ɔɔkɔ
ɔɔ
SBJ3SGPROGgo
V
fa
fa
take
V
safoa
safoa
keyOBJ2
N
abie
abie
CONSopen
V
bono
bono
doorOBJ
N
no
no
 
DET
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


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.