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Phonological processes
Different phonological processes take place within and outside the syllable in Tɔŋúgbe. Due to the pervasiveness of these processes, some morphemes can be difficult to recognize. In order to facilitate the identification of the morphemes, when phonological processes are very important in the constructions presented, I adopt a four-level gloss: the first level presents the construction as it is realized (with all the phonological processes present); the second level presents the construction free of phonological processes; the third level presents an interlinear morphemic gloss; and the final level presents the free translation in English. Below, I present some of the commonest phonological processes that are attested in Tɔŋúgbe.
Elision
Elision involves the omission of certain vowel and consonant sounds, and even of whole syllables, in particular contexts. Vowel elision involves the elimination of certain vowel sounds, in the presence of other vowels. In example (4), the vowel of l is elided in contact with the vowel a of asī ‘hand’.
Noun Phrase structure
The noun phrase in Tɔŋúgbe, and other dialects of the Ewe language, is composed of one or more nuclei optionally accompanied by other elements. The nucleus can be a noun, a pronoun or a quantifier. Modifiers and determiners include adjectives, quantifiers, demonstratives, articles and intensifiers (Duthie 1996: 44). Ameka (1991: 45) represents the internal structure of the noun phrase in Ewe as: (INT) N (ADJ) *(QT) (DET) (PL) (INT)* PRO QT.
The noun phrase pattern in Tɔŋúgbe is identical to the noun phrase pattern as detailed by Ameka (1991) for standard Ewe. However, the various elements that enter the positions of the pattern in Tɔŋúgbe can manifest different characteristics from the forms that occur in other dialects of the language. The major divergences concern intensifiers (section 4.1.1), pronouns (section 4.1.2), demonstratives (section 4.1.3) and articles (section 4.1.4). The noun phrase, its nominal nucleus, and the elements that can occur to modify or determine it, will be crucial in understanding the relations that are examined later on in attributive possessive constructions and external possessor constructions i.e the discussions in chapter 3 and chapter 5 respectively.
Verb Phrase Structure
Verbs feature prominently in chapters 4, 5 and 6, which deal with clausal constructions. Different kinds of verbs are to be noted in Tɔŋúgbe (from one place to multiple place verbs). However, one opposition needs to be noted in relation to this work: the opposition between inherent complement verbs (or inherent object verbs) and simple verbs.
Inherent complement verbs (ICV) are verbs that, independent of their objects, are semantically generic. They therefore rely for their interpretation on their complements (for a useful discussion on inherent complement verbs in Ewe, see Essegbey (1999, 2010)). The meaning of the verb ƒú in example (51) below cannot be determined independent of its complement tsì ‘water’. Such a verb is thus referred to as an Inherent Complement Verb.
Table of contents :
List of tables
List of illustrations
List of symbols
List of abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Subject of this research
1.1. Theoretical assumptions
1.2. Data and methodology
1.3. Fieldwork location
1.4. Outline and presentation
Chapter 1: Tɔŋúgbe Sketch Grammar
1. Tɔŋúgbe: the language of the shorelines
1.1. Tɔŋú: the geographical area
1.2. The people
1.3. The Tɔŋúgbe dialect
2. Phonetics
2.1. Phones of Tɔŋúgbe
2.1.1. Vowels
2.1.2. Consonants
2.2. Tones. ..
2.2.1. The level tones
2.2.2. The contour tone
2.3. Phonological processes
2.3.1. Elision
2.3.2. Coalescence
2.3.3. Assimilation
3. Morphology
3.1. Word formation
3.1.1. Reduplication
3.1.2. Compounding
3.1.3. Affixation
4. Syntax
4.1. Noun phrase structure
4.1.1. Intensifiers
4.1.2. Nouns
4.1.3. Pronouns
4.1.4. Demonstratives
4.1.5. Articles
4.1.6. Coordinate noun phrases
4.2. Verb phrase structure
4.2.1. Modals
4.2.2. Locatives
4.2.3. Aspectual markers
4.3. Adpositional phrases
4.4. Focus marking
4.4.1. Argument focus marking
4.4.2. Verb focus marking
5. Conclusion
Chapter 2 : Linguistics of Possession
1. The notion of possession
2. Possessive constructions
2.1. Attributive possessive constructions
2.1.1. Formal variation of attributive possessive constructions
2.1.2. Semantic parameters in attributive possessive constructions
2.2. Predicative possessive constructions
2.2.1. Have possessive constructions
2.2.2. Locative possessive constructions
2.2.3. Comitative possessive constructions
2.2.4. Topic possessive constructions
2.3. External possessor constructions
2.4. Possessive, locative and existential constructions
2.4.1. Locative and existential constructions
2.4.2. Relationship between locative and existential constructions
2.4.3. Relations between possessive, locative and existential constructions
2.4.4. Accounting for the relationships: approaches
Chapter 3: Attributive Possessive Constructions in Tɔŋúgbe
1. Introduction
2. Syntactic attributive possessive constructions
2.1. Constructions with connectives
2.1.1. Possessee in connective constructions
2.1.2. The possessive connectives
2.1.2.1. The conditions of use of the connectives
2.1.2.2. Constraints on the use of the connective wó
2.1.2.3. Tɔŋúgbe connectives and other Ewe connectives
2.2. Juxtaposed possessive constructions
2.2.1. Possessee in juxtaposed constructions
2.2.2. Head-initial and dependent-initial constituent orders
2.3. Tones in syntactic attributive possessive constructions
2.3.1. Tone spreading
2.3.2. Tones of possessees
2.4. Splits in syntactic attributive possessive constructions
2.4.1. Kinship terms in syntactic attributive possessive constructions
2.4.1.1. Kinship terms of Tɔŋúgbe
2.4.1.2. Explaining the kinship terms
2.4.1.3. Kinship terms in connective constructions
2.4.1.4. Kinship terms in juxtaposed constructions
2.4.1.5. Alternation of kinship terms between constructions
2.4.2. Motivations for splits in syntactic attributive possessive constructions
2.4.2.1. The alienability split
2.4.2.2. The constituent order split
3. Attributive possessive constructions on the syntax/morphology interface
3.1. Suffixed constructions
3.1.1. The possessor suffix
3.1.2. The possessee in suffixed constructions
3.1.3. Suffixed possessive constructions: morphological or syntactic constructs?
3.2. Compound constructions
3.2.1. Compound possessive constructions and classificatory constructions
3.2.2. Compound constructions as morphological constructs
3.3. Tones in attributive possessive constructions on the syntax/morphology interface
4. Accounting for Tɔŋúgbe attributive possessives
5. Conclusion
Chapter 4: Predicative Possessive Constructions in Tɔŋúgbe
1. Introduction
2. Copular possessive constructions
2.1. Constructions with dedicated possessee pronoun
2.2. Constructions with possessor suffix
2.3. Copular possessive constructions and copular constructions
2.3.1. The variety of copular possessive constructions
2.3.2. Copular possessive constructions versus copular constructions with possessor suffix
2.4. Copular possessive constructions and attributive possessive constructions
3. Locative possessive constructions
3.1. Locative possessive constructions with postpositions
3.1.1. Locative possessive constructions with así
3.1.2. Locative possessive constructions with ŋú
3.1.3. Locative possessive constructions with dzí
3.1.4. Locative possessive constructions with gbɔ
3.1.5. Locative possessive constructions with dòme
3.1.6. Locative possessive constructions with allative and postpositions
3.2. Locative possessive constructions with prepositions
3.2.1. Locative possessive constructions with dative
3.2.2. Locative possessive constructions with allative
4. Conclusion
Chapter 5: External Possessor Constructions in Tɔŋúgbe
1. Introduction
2. Object possessee external possessor constructions
2.1. Object possessee external possessor constructions involving simple predicates
2.1.1. Verb semantics and argument structure
2.1.2. Possessee and possessor noun
2.1.3. Expression of reflexivity
2.2. Object possessee external possessor constructions involving inherent complement verbs
2.2.1. Verb semantics and argument structure
2.2.2. Possessee and possessor noun
2.2.3. Expression of reflexivity
3. Allative possessee external possessor constructions
3.1. Verb semantics and argument structure
3.2. Possessee and possessor noun
3.3. Expression of reflexivity
4. Relations in external possessor constructions
4.1. Part-whole meaning in external possessor constructions
4.1.1. Part-whole meaning and argument structures
4.1.2. Part-whole meaning and possessee noun type
4.2. Conceptualized relations in external possessor constructions
5. External possessor constructions and syntactically similar constructions
5.1. External possessor constructions without dative ellipsis and dative constructions
5.2. External possessor constructions with dative ellipsis and transitive constructions
6. Conclusion
Chapter 6: Possessive, Existential and Locative constructions
1. Introduction
2. Existential construction of Tɔŋúgbe
3. Locative constructions of Tɔŋúgbe
3.1. Verbs in locative constructions
3.1.1. Basic and non-basic locative constructions
3.1.2. Internal and external non-basic locative constructions
3.1.3. Internal non-basic locative constructions
3.2. Grounds in locative constructions
4. The existential construction and locative constructions
5. Possessive, existential and locative construction
5.1. Initial remarks on the complex relationships
5.2. Attributive possessive constructions in existential and locative constructions
5.3. Locative possessive constructions, existential construction and locative constructions
5.3.1. Relationships characterized by the locative predicate 237
5.3.2. Relationships characterized by other verbal predicates
6. Relationships between clause-final dative-oblique constructions
6.1. Syntactic function of the possessee in clause-final dative-oblique constructions
6.2. Possessee slot as bare or modifiable nouns in clause-final dative-oblique constructions
6.3. Semantic features of the possessee in clause-final dative-oblique constructions
6.4. Dative-oblique existential/locative constructions and other syntactically similar constructions
6.4.1. Dative oblique existential/locative and external possessor constructions
6.4.2. Dative-oblique locative and dative-oblique locative possessive
7. Conclusion
Conclusion
