Noun phrase conjunction in Akan
The grammaticalization path
Noun phrase conjunction in Akan (Niger-Congo, Kwa) is performed by placing a connective between two noun phrases, but there is some variation in the forms used in the major dialects. In the Twi dialects the connective is ne, but Fante speakers may use nye or na depending on whether a comitative or a coordinative interpretation is intended. This paper focuses on the historical origins of the noun phrase connective n(y)e in Akan. It suggests that Akan patterns with other sub-saharan African languages such as Ewe, Ga, Yoruba and Hausa, which have noun phrase connectives originating from comitative verbs. This suggestion is based on the morpho-semantics of these connectives. In addition, the paper demonstrates that the origin of the connective n(y)e could be further traced to an equative copula in the language. This conclusion is based on syntactic and semantic evidence available in the language and strengthened by the cross-linguistic tendency for copula verbs to develop into noun phrase connectives in a number of unrelated languages.
Keywords: Comitative, Akan, Grammaticalization, Coordinative, Conjunction
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.
Published online: 01 March 2010
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.20.1.02amf
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.20.1.02amf
Full-text
References
References
Abdoulaye, Mahamane L.
Amfo, Nana Aba A.
(2007b) The encoding of procedures: A pragmatic analysis of selected function words in Akan. Ph.D. thesis, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Dakubu, Mary Esther Kropp
Ellis, Jeffrey, and Lawrence Boadi
Heine, Bernd, Ulrike Claudi, and Friederike Hünnemeyer
(1991) From cognition to grammar. In Elizabeth C. Traugott and Bernd Heine (eds.), Approaches to Grammaticalization, Vol 1. (Typological Studies in Language (TSL), Vol 19).Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 149-188. BoP 

Heine, Bernd, and Mechthild Reh
Hopper, Paul J.
Hopper, Paul J., and Elizabeth C. Traugott
Lehmann, Christian
Lyons, John
Meillet, Antoine
Mithun, Marianne
Osam, E. Kweku
(1994) Aspects of Akan grammar: A functional perspective. Ph.D. thesis, University of Oregon.
Svorou, Soteria
(1994) The grammar of space. (Typological Studies in Language (TSL), Vol 25). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
MetBib
Cited by
Cited by other publications
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 14 january 2021. 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.