Language Documentation and Endangerment in Africa
Edited by James Essegbey, Brent Henderson and Fiona Mc Laughlin
[Culture and Language Use, 17] 2015. vi, 317 pp.
James Essegbey
List of John Benjamins publications for which James Essegbey plays a role.
Title
Subjects Afro-Asiatic languages | Anthropological Linguistics | Language documentation | Other African languages
Articles
2020. Moving into and out of Sranan: Multiple effects of contact. Advances in Contact Linguistics: In honour of Pieter Muysken, Smith, Norval, Tonjes Veenstra and Enoch O. Aboh (eds.), pp. 37–60
In Sranan, a creole language of Suriname, motion in and out of locations is expressed differently from English, its primary lexifier language. Talmy (2000), among others, has shown that the expression of motion in English involves a verb that indicates the Manner of movement, e.g., walk, and, where… read more | Chapter
2015. “Is this my language?”: Developing a writing system for an endangered-language community. Language Documentation and Endangerment in Africa, Essegbey, James, Brent Henderson and Fiona Mc Laughlin (eds.), pp. 153–176
It used to be taken for granted that language documenters would develop an
orthography for the language which they document in cases where no writing
system exists already. Such systems facilitate the production of materials
for revitalization of the languages. Lately however questions have been… read more | Article
2015. Introduction. Language Documentation and Endangerment in Africa, Essegbey, James, Brent Henderson and Fiona Mc Laughlin (eds.), pp. 1–12
Article
2008. The potential in Ewe. Aspect and Modality in Kwa Languages, Ameka, Felix K. and Mary Esther Kropp Dakubu (eds.), pp. 195–214
Article
2007. “Cut” and “break” verbs in Gbe and Sranan. Substrate Influence in Creole Formation, Migge, Bettina and Norval Smith (eds.), pp. 37–55
This paper compares “cut” and “break” verbs in four variants of Gbe, namely Anfoe, Anlo, Fon and Ayizo, with those of Sranan. “Cut” verbs are change-of-state verbs that co-lexicalize the type of action that brings about a change, the type of instrument or instrument part, and the manner in which a… read more | Article
2007. Gbe and other West African sources of Suriname creole semantic structures: Implications for creole genesis. Substrate Influence in Creole Formation, Migge, Bettina and Norval Smith (eds.), pp. 57–72
This paper reports on ongoing research on the role of various kinds of potential substrate languages in the development of the semantic structures of Ndyuka (Eastern Suriname Creole). A set of 100 senses of noun, verb, and other lexemes in Ndyuka were compared with senses of corresponding lexemes… read more | Article
2006. Review of Migge (2003): Creole formation as language contact. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 21:1, pp. 208–214
Review
2005. The “basic locative construction” in Gbe languages and Surinamese creoles. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 20:2, pp. 229–267
This paper compares the conceptualisation and expression of topological relations in Surinamese creoles with that of Gbe languages (which were part of the substrate) and English (the superstrate). It investigates the components of the Basic Locative Construction (BLC), i.e. the most neutral… read more | Article
2001. Pointing left in Ghana: How a taboo on the use of the left hand influences gestural practice. Gesture 1:1, pp. 73–95
In Ghana, many peolple consider pointing by the left hand to be a taboo. We investigated consequences of this taboo on the Ghanaian gestural practice by observing gestures produced during naturalistic situations of giving route directions. First, there is a politeness convention to place the left… read more | Article