Classroom:CONS marker in SVC of Akan

This page was created as an in-classroom exercise in LING 2208 NTNU

By Miaomiao Zhang and John Gannah

From the TC database Akan Future Aspect, we observed that there were two occurrences of FUT-FUT pattern as in the examples below:

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

sε

sε

COMPL

PRT

wobεsεe
wo	bε	sεe
2SG	FUT	destroy
V

awareε

awareε

marriage

N

From the two examples we can see that when there are two subjects in the sentence, the FUT-FUT occurs. In other cases, where the FUT-CONS occurs,there is only one subject of the event described by the string of verbs.

FUT-CONS pattern

Esther bɛfa oslo akɔ Germany

“Esther will pass through Oslo to go to Germany”

Esther

esther

SBJ

Np

bɛfa
bɛ	fa
FUT	pass
V

Oslo

Oslo

OBJ2

Np

akɔ
a	kɔ
CONS	go
V

Germany

germany

OBJ

Np

Sε yεpɔn adwuma a, yεbεnantew akɔ fie.

“When we close from work we will walk home.”

Sε

sε

COND

PRT

yεpɔn
yε	pɔn
1PSBJ	close
V

adwuma

adwuma

work

N

a

a

COND

PRT

yεbεnantew
yε	bε	nantew
1PSBJ	FUT	walk
V

akɔ
a	kɔ
CONS	go
V2

fie

fie

home

N

Mansa bεpɔn ne ho afi adepam mu afe yi.

“Mansah will finish and come out of dressmaking this year.”

Mansa

mansa

mansa

Np

bεpɔn
bε	pɔn
FUT	close
V

ne

ne

3SG

PN

ho

ho

REFL

PN

afi
a	fi
CONS	come.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
bε	tɔ
FUT	buy
V

dware

dware

sheepOBJ

N

aku
a	ku
CONS	kill
V

no

no

3SGOBJ

PN

anoa
a	noa
CONS	boil
V

awe
a	we
CONS	chew
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	tɔ
FUT	buy
Vtr

bròdéɛ`

brodeɛ

plantain

CN

ánóá
a	noa
CONS	cook
V2

ádí
a	di
CONS	eat
V3

ádá
a	da
CONS	sleep
V4

PROG-CONS pattern

ɔɔkɔ fa safoa abie bono no

“He is going to take the key to open the door.”

ɔɔkɔ
ɔ	ɔ	kɔ
SBJ3SG	PROG	go
V

fa

fa

take

V

safoa

safoa

keyOBJ2

N

abie
a	bie
CONS	open
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
re	kɔ	gye
PROG	INGR	collect
V

aba
a	ba
CONS	come
V

abεdi
a	bε	di
CONS	INGR	eat
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

We found a total of 16 phrases which had the token we sought to investigate. Below is a statistical occurrence of the Future Aspect in Akan SVCs from the TC database.

Aspect Type	Frequency
FUT-FUT	2
FUT-CONS	10
PROG-CONS	3