Cover not available
Article published In:
Diachronica
Vol. 40:1 (2023) ► pp.1–29

Agreement in Kadu

Inflectional merger as morphosyntactic abstraction

ORCID logo | University of Surrey
Krongo, a member of the Kadu family (Nuba Mountains, Sudan), has four agreement classes: feminine, masculine, neuter and plural (Reh 1985). Nominal number-marking prefixes play a key role in class assignment: productive plural prefixes trigger plural agreement, and productive singular prefixes trigger neuter agreement. In most other Kadu languages, there is no distinction between plural and neuter classes. Comparative and typological evidence shows that Krongo’s system represents the older state of affairs. It is argued that the motivation for the merger of these two classes was a morphosyntactic abstraction over agreement rules. Two distinct rules, one for singular prefixes and one for plural prefixes, were replaced by a single rule that assigned the same agreement class to all productive number prefixes, regardless of whether they mark singular or plural. The result is the morphosyntactic mirror-image of an inverse number system, such as is found in, for example, Dagaare (Grimm 2012).
Keywords: agreement class, gender, inflection, syncretism, Krongo, Kadu family
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Gender, agreement and noun morphology in the Kadu languages
  • 3.Evidence for the merger of agreement classes
    • 3.1Agreement on nominal modifiers
    • 3.2Morphological and lexical correspondences
    • 3.3First singular/second singular n-
    • 3.4A note on third person pronouns
    • 3.5Interim summary
  • 4.Class merger as morphosyntactic abstraction
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 16 September 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.20068.bae
References
Baerman, Matthew & Greville G. Corbett
2013 Person by other means. In Dik Bakker & Martin Haspelmath (eds.), Languages across boundaries: Studies in memory of Anna Siewierska, 13–26. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baerman, Matthew
2020 Gender flip in Benchnon (North Omotic). Glossa 5(1). 76. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blench, Roger
2006 The Kadu languages and their affiliation: Between Nilo-Saharan, Niger-Congo and Afro-Asiatic. In Al-Amin Abu-Manga, Leoma Gilley & Anne Storch (eds.), Insights into Nilo-Saharan language, history and culture, 101–127. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.Google Scholar
Bond, Oliver
2019 Where are gender values and how do I get to them? In Matthew Baerman, Oliver Bond & Andrew Hippisley (eds.), Morphological perspectives, 327–369. Edinburgh University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Byarushengo, Ernest Rugwa
1977 Preliminaries. In Ernest Rugwa Byarushengo, Alessandro Duranti, & Larry M. Hyman (eds), Haya grammatical structure (Southern California Occasional Papers in Linguistics 6), 1–15. Los Angeles: Department of Linguistics, University of Southern California.Google Scholar
Bruil, Martine
2014 Clause-typing and evidentiality in Ecuadorian Siona. PhD dissertation, Leiden University.
Chacon, Thiago C. & Lev Michael
2018 The evolution of subject-verb agreement in Eastern Tukanoan. Journal of Historical Linguistics 8(1). 59–94. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chumakina, Marina, Anne Kibort & Greville G. Corbett
2007 Determining a language’s feature inventory: Person in Archi. In Peter K. Austin & Andrew Simpson (eds.), Endangered languages ( Linguistische Berichte 14), 143–172. Hamburg: Helmut Buske.Google Scholar
Di Garbo, Francesca & Matti Miestamo
2019 The evolving complexity of gender agreement systems. In Francesca Di Garbo, Bruno Olsson & Bernhard Wälchli (eds.), Grammatical gender and linguistic complexity: Volume II: World-wide comparative studies, 15–60. Berlin: Language Science Press.Google Scholar
Dimmendaal, Gerrit J.
2000 Number marking and noun categorization in Nilo-Saharan languages. Anthropological Linguistics 42(2). 214–261.Google Scholar
Gilley, Leoma
2013 Katcha noun morphology. In Thilo C. Schadeberg & Roger Blench (eds.), Nuba Mountain language studies, 501–522. Cologne: Köppe.Google Scholar
Grimm, Scott
2012 Individuation and inverse number marking in Dagaare. In Diane Massam (ed.), Count and mass across languages, 75–98. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Güldemann, Tom
2018 Historical linguistics and genealogical language classification in Africa. In Tom Güldemann (ed.), The languages and linguistics of Africa, 58–444. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Güldemann, Tom & Jan Junglas
2018 Gender and number in Kadu with particular reference to Krongo. Paper given at workshop ‘Gender across Niger-Congo’, Humboldt University, Berlin, 29–30 November.
Hyman, Larry M.
2018 More reflections on the nasal classes in Bantu. In John R. Watters (ed.), East Benue-Congo: Nouns, pronouns, and verbs, 223–236. Berlin: Language Science Press.Google Scholar
Jones, Wendell H. & Paula S. Jones
2019 Bilingual dictionary: Eduria & Jãnerã – English, English – Eduria & Jãnerã. SIL International.Google Scholar
Kafi, Haroun, Nicholas Evans, Matthew Carroll, Rosey Billington, Zurab Baratashvili, Amelia Carter, Kira Davey, Shubo Li, Haoyi Li, Naijing Liu, Keira Mullan, & Harry Power
In prep. A grammar of Kufo. Ms, Australian National University.
Matsushita, Shuji
1984 A preliminary sketch of Kadugli vocabulary. Sudan Sahel Studies I1. 15–73.Google Scholar
1986 A preliminary sketch of Kadugli vocabulary. Part 2: Verb and verbal sentences. Sudan Sahel Studies 21. 111–138.Google Scholar
Meakins, Felicity & Rob Pensalfini
2016 Gender bender: Superclassing in Jingulu gender marking. In Felicity Meakins & Carmel O’Shannessy (eds.), Loss and renewal: Australian languages since colonisation, 425–452. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Meinhof, Carl
1916–1917 Sprachstudien im egyptischen Sudan 6: Tumtum. Zeitschrift für Kolonialsprachen VII1. 57–63.Google Scholar
Mohamed, Adam Mohamed Adam
2013 The noun phrase in the Miri language, Nuba Mountains. M.A. Thesis, University of Khartoum.
Mullan, Keira
In prep. Number, person, and gender agreement in Kufa nouns and pronouns. Ms, The Australian National University. In Haroun Kafi, Nicholas Evans, Matthew Carroll, Rosey Billington, Zurab Baratashvili, Amelia Carter, Kira Davey, Shubo Li, Haoyi Li, Naijing Liu, Keira Mullan, & Harry Power. In prep. A grammar of Kufo. Ms, Australian National University.
Reh, Mechtild
1985 Die Krongo-Sprache (Nìinò Mó-Dì): Beschreibung, Texte, Wörterverzeichnis. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag.Google Scholar
1994 A grammatical sketch of Deiga. Afrika und Übersee 771. 197–261.Google Scholar
Schadeberg, Thilo C.
1994 Comparative Kadu wordlists. Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere 401. 11–48.Google Scholar
Seligmann, Brenda Z.
1910–1911 Note on language of the Nubas of Southern Kordofan. Zeitschrift für Kolonialsprachen I1. 167–188.Google Scholar
Stevenson, Roland C.
n.d. Dictionary of Katcha Edited by Roger Blench [URL]
1956–1957 A survey of the phonetics and grammatical structure of the Nuba mountain languages, with particular reference to Otoro, Katcha and Nyimang. Afrika und Übersee 401. 73–84, 93–115; 411. 27–65, 117–153, 171–196.Google Scholar
Suker, Nada
2013 Verbal morphology of Miri language. MA thesis, University of Khartoum. [not consulted]
Sutton, Logan
2014 Kiowa-Tanoan: A synchronic and diachronic study. PhD dissertation, University of New Mexico.
Thelwall, Robin & Thilo C. Schadeberg
1983 The linguistic settlement of the Nuba mountains. Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika 51. 219–231.Google Scholar
Trager, G. L.
1946 An outline of Taos grammar. In Cornelius Osgood (ed.), Linguistic structures of Native America, 184–221. New York: Viking Fund.Google Scholar
Turner, Darryl J.
2016 Morphosyntax of Katcha nominals: A Dynamic Syntax account. PhD dissertation, University of Edinburgh.
Wheeler, A.
1987 Ganteya Bain: El pueblo Siona del río Putumayo. Bogotá: Instituto Verano de Lingüística. [URL]