Chapter 5
Moving from verbs to prepositions in Gbe
Gbe languages have two classes of adpositions, namely prepositions and postpositions that have been
argued to have developed from verbs and nouns, respectively. Focusing on the former, we highlight the functions of the
forms across Gbe using examples from Eastern Gbe (e.g., Gungbe) and Western Gbe (e.g., Ewegbe). We further show that
verb-to-preposition shift is gradual: some of the forms (e.g., ablative) are not fully grammaticalised in all the
languages. Likewise, the process is associated with a semantic change from “temporal predicate” in Serial Verb
Constructions (SVC) to a more abstract atemporal predicate, which is also reflected in the loss of the power of the
verbal element to take aspectual inflections or markers.
Article outline
- 1.The Gbe languages
- 2.Establishing verbhood
- 2.1Morphology
- 2.2Position
- 2.3Reduplication
- 2.4Verb focus in Gungbe and Ewegbe
- 3.Distinguishing between the V1 position and following verb positions
- 4.Becoming a preposition
- 4.1From verbs to ablative prepositions
- 4.2From verbs to allative position
- 5.On the verbal origin of Sɔn
- 6.Conclusion
-
Notes
-
Abbreviations
-
References
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