Cover not available
Article published In:
Pragmatics
Vol. 15:2/3 (2005) ► pp.151–168

Recurrence marking in Akan

The linguistic phenomenon of recurrence is identified in two aspects; either as a repetition of an action or a restoration to a former state. This paper examines two lexical items, an auxiliary verb san and an adverb (e)bio, which encode this phenomenon in Akan. The recurrence marker san is claimed to be the output of a grammaticalization process which has as its historical input a phonologically identical lexical verb with a restorative meaning. Even though the recurrence marker san is diachronically associated with restoration, its use gives rise to either a restorative or a repetitive assumption, in the form of an implicated premise. This assumption forms part of the context within which the utterance containing san is interpreted. Thus its function coincides with that of (e)bio, except for one particular use of the latter, associated with its occurrence at utterance-initial position. The almost identical functions of these two markers reveal the close conceptual relationship between recurrence of the repetitive and of the restorative type.

Keywords: Akan, Implicature, Grammaticalization, Recurrence, Relevance theory
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.
Published online: 1 June 2005
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.15.2-3.01amf
References
Amfo, N.A.A
(2005) Modal marking in Akan: The case of anka. Journal of Pragmatics 371: 997-1013. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Amfo, N.A.A., S.A. Boateng, and T. Fretheim
(2004) Markers of recurrence in two European and two African Languages. Working papers ISK, 1/2004 , Special issue on Contrastive Lexical Pragmatics. Trondheim: NTNU, pp. 1-24.Google Scholar
Andersen, G
(2001) Pragmatic markers and sociolinguistic variation: A relevance-theoretic approach to the language of adolescents. Pragmatics and Beyond, New series, 84. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Andersen, G., and T. Fretheim
(eds.) (2000) Pragmatic markers and propositional attitude. Pragmatics and Beyond, New series. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Blakemore, D
(1987) Semantic constraints on relevance. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.Google Scholar
(1992) Understanding utterances: An introduction to pragmatics. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.  BoPGoogle Scholar
(2002) Relevance and linguistic meaning: The semantics and pragmatics of discourse markers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Blass, R
(1990) Relevance relations in discourse: A study with special reference to Sissala. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Carston, R
(2002) Thoughts and Utterances: The pragmatics of explicit communication. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. DOI logo  MetBibGoogle Scholar
Fretheim, T., S.A. Boateng, and I. Vaskó
(2003)  Then -adverbial pro-form or inference particle? A comparative study of English, Ewe, Hungarian and Norwegian. In K.M. Jaszczolt and K. Turner (eds.), Meaning through language contrast. Vol. 2. Pragmatics and Beyond, New Series.Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 51-74.  BoP DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Greenbaum, S
(1969) Studies in English adverbial usage. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Grice, H.P
(1975) Logic and conversation. In P. Cole and J. Morgan (eds.), Syntax and Semantics 3: Speech Acts, 41-57.Google Scholar
Heine, B., U. Claudi, and F. Hünnemeyer
(1991) Grammaticalization: A conceptual framework. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Heine, B., and M. Reh
(1984) Grammaticalization and reanalysis in African languages. Hamburg: Helmut Budke Verlag.Google Scholar
Hopper, P.J
(1991) On some principles of grammaticization. In E.C. Traugott and B. Heine (eds.), Approaches to grammaticalization. Volume I1.Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 17-35. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hopper, P.J., and E.C. Traugott
(2003) Grammaticalization. 1st edition 1993 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lakoff, G., and M. Johnson
(1980) Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Lehmann, C
(1985) Grammaticalization: Synchronic variation and diachronic change. Lingua e Stile 20.3: 303-318.Google Scholar
(1995) Thoughts on grammaticalization. Lincom studies in theoretical linguistics. München: Lincom Europa.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Nicolle, S
(1998) A relevance theory perspective on grammaticalization. Cognitive Linguistics 9.1: 1-35. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2002) Distal aspects in Bantu languages In K.M. Jaszczolt and K. Turner (eds.), Meaning through Language Contrast. Vol. 2. Pragmatics and Beyond, New Series. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, DOI logopp. 3-22.Google Scholar
Noh, E-J
(2000) The semantics and pragmatics of metarepresentation in English: A relevance-theoretic account. Pragmatics and Beyond, New Series. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Osam, E.K.A
(1994) Aspects of Akan Grammar: A functional perspective. Ph.D. thesis, University of Oregon.
(2004) The Trondheim Lectures: An introduction to the structure of Akan, its verbal and multiverbal systems. Legon: Department of Linguistics.Google Scholar
Recanati, F
(2004) Literal meaning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Sperber, D., and D. Wilson
(1995) Relevance: Communication and cognition. 2nd edition with a postface. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. First published 1986.  MetBibGoogle Scholar
Wilson, D., and D. Sperber
(1993) Linguistic form and relevance. Lingua 90.1-2: 1-25. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2004) Relevance theory. In L. Horn and G. Ward (eds.), The handbook of pragmatics. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Amfo, Nana Aba Appiah
2007. Clausal conjunction in Akan. Lingua 117:4 ► pp. 666 ff. DOI logo
Appah, Clement K. I. & Nana Aba Appiah Amfo
2011. The Morphopragmatics of the Diminutive Morpheme (-ba/-wa. Lexis :6 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 september 2023. 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.