Aspect and Modality in Kwa Languages

Editors
ORCID logoFelix K. Ameka | Leiden University
Mary Esther Kropp Dakubu | University of Ghana, Legon
HardboundAvailable
ISBN 9789027205674 | EUR 120.00 | USD 180.00
 
e-Book
ISBN 9789027291387 | EUR 120.00 | USD 180.00
 
Google Play logo
This book explores the thesis that in the Kwa languages of West Africa, aspect and modality are more central to the grammar of the verb than tense. Where tense marking has emerged it is invariably in the expression of the future, and therefore concerned with the impending actualization or potentiality of an event, hence with modality, rather than the purely temporal sequencing associated with tense. The primary grammatical contrasts are perfective versus imperfective. The main languages discussed are Akan, Dangme, Ewe, Ga and Tuwuli while Nzema-Ahanta, Likpe and Eastern Gbe are also mentioned. Knowledge about these languages has deepened considerably during the past decade or so and ideas about their structure have changed. The volume therefore presents novel analyses of grammatical forms like the so-called S-Aux-O-V-Other or “future” constructions, and provides empirical data for theorizing about aspect and modality. It should be of considerable interest to Africanist linguists, typologists, and creolists interested in substrate issues.
[Studies in Language Companion Series, 100] 2008.  ix, 335 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Table of Contents
“The methodological rigour of the analysis carried out by the various authors of the contributions collected in this volume and the solid theoretical premises on which each essay is based compel this much-needed book not only to the attention of scholars and students carrying out comparative work on African languages, but also to that of linguists, typologists and researchers investigating the influence of the West African substrate on Atlantic creoles.”
Cited by

Cited by 10 other publications

Ameka, Felix K.
2017. Logophoricity. In The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Typology,  pp. 513 ff. DOI logo
Caesar, Regina Oforiwah
2019. A Morphosyntactic Analysis of Dangme Allusive Names. Journal of Universal Language 20:2  pp. 53 ff. DOI logo
Caesar, Regina Oforiwah
2020. Locative Constructions in Dangme. Issues in Language Studies 9:2  pp. 52 ff. DOI logo
Essegbey, James
2010. Inherent Complement Verbs and the Basic Double Object Construction in Gbe. In Topics in Kwa Syntax [Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 78],  pp. 177 ff. DOI logo
Kropp Dakubu, M.E.
2010. Review of Aboh & Essegbey (2010): Topics in Kwa syntax. Studies in Language 34:2  pp. 442 ff. DOI logo
Osei-Tutu, Annabella, Vivian A. Dzokoto, Adjeiwa Akosua Affram, Glenn Adams, Joakim Norberg & Bertjan Doosje
2020. Cultural Models of Well-Being Implicit in Four Ghanaian Languages. Frontiers in Psychology 11 DOI logo
Schneider, Agnes
2016. Future time marking in spoken Ghanaian English. In New Approaches to English Linguistics [Studies in Language Companion Series, 177],  pp. 141 ff. DOI logo
van Sluijs, Robbert
2014. What's Past Is Past: Variation in the Expression of Past Time Reference in Negerhollands Narratives. Journal of Germanic Linguistics 26:3  pp. 272 ff. DOI logo
Yakpo, Kofi
2024. The indigenization of Ghanaian Pidgin English. World Englishes 43:1  pp. 182 ff. DOI logo
Yakpo, Kofi & Pieter Muysken
2014. Language change in a multiple contact setting: The case of Sarnami (Suriname). In Pidgins and Creoles beyond Africa-Europe Encounters [Creole Language Library, 47],  pp. 101 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 11 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Subjects

Main BIC Subject

CFK: Grammar, syntax

Main BISAC Subject

LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General
ONIX Metadata
ONIX 2.1
ONIX 3.0
U.S. Library of Congress Control Number:  2008002762 | Marc record