Clement Appah | University of Ghana (original) (raw)

Unpublished Papers by Clement Appah

These studies show that numeral systems distinguish between two basic types of numeralsprimary nu... more These studies show that numeral systems distinguish between two basic types of numeralsprimary numerals and complex numerals, the latter built out of the primary numerals. Two important factors underpin their formation. One is the arithmetic operations employed, which may be one of the four identified cross-linguisticallyaddition, subtraction, multiplication, or division. The other is the morphological and/or syntactic processes involved, which may be affixation, compounding, juxtaposition, reduplication or coordination (Greenberg 1978). Although the properties of Akan numerals have not featured in the theoretical literature on numerals, this is not the first study on Akan numerals. Christaller (1875: 50-55) describes Akan numerals, distinguishing between definite numerals (e.g., du 'ten') which denote exact numbers and indefinite numerals (e.g., pii 'many', nyina 'all' & bi 'some') which do not denote exact numbers. He treats the former as (abstract) nouns and the latter as adjectives. He also categorizes numerals formally into primary and compound numerals and functionally into cardinal, iterative/multiplicative, distributive, ordinal and fractional numerals. Balmer & Grant (1929) and Dolphyne (1996) cite numerals from the Fante and Asante dialects respectively, but do not analyse them. Ofori (2008) discusses a subset of cardinal numerals (20-90 and 200-900) in the Asante and Akyem dialects. He recognises them as compounds and attempts to account for the morphophonological processes (vowel harmony, deletion, compensatory lengthening, etc.) which occur at the boundary between constituents to ensure the wellformedness of the numerals. Ofori's study, though limited in coverage, shows that, in their formal makeup, those Akan numerals are compounds. Finally, in some recent studies focused on the properties of non-cardinal numerals (Appah 2019a, 2019b; Appah et al. 2019) it is shown that these non-cardinal numerals share formal structures with other morphological and syntactic constructions in Akan.

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Page 1. The Morphology and Syntax of Action Nominals in Akan Clement Kwamina Insaidoo Appah Lanca... more Page 1. The Morphology and Syntax of Action Nominals in Akan Clement Kwamina Insaidoo Appah Lancaster University, UK Action nominal (AN) are formed productively from non-stative verbs through various strategies and ...

Thesis by Clement Appah

The thesis is divided into six chapters. Chapter one, the introduction, covers the aims and objectives of the study as well as the ethno-linguistic description of Akan. Chapter two presents general information on the phrase structure of Akan, specifically, that of the noun phrase and the verb phrase. The two main sections of the chapter begin with the description of the morphology of the noun word and that of the verb word respectively. Chapter three discusses the derivational processes that characterise nominal derivation in the language. Chapter four shows how the derivational processes described in chapter three work. Chapter five discusses some of the most basic phonological issues that come into play during nominal derivation. Chapter six summarises and concludes the thesis.

Akan, like any other language, has both regular and irregular complex nominals (CNs). However, pr... more Akan, like any other language, has both regular and irregular complex nominals (CNs). However, previous studies of Akan nominals have been constructive in approach, mostly adhering to a strict form of the principle of compositionality and assuming that the morphological, phonological and semantic properties of CNs can be accounted for fully by tweaking those of their constituents. Consequently, CNs whose properties cannot be so accounted for are either ignored or forced into the mould of regular ones. In this study, I do three things. First, I present a detailed empirically-based assessment of attested CNs in Akan based on a dataset of 1000 CNs drawn from a variety of written sources. This shows that Akan CNs may be grouped into four; compounds, affix-derived CNs, those formed by tonal changes and “lexicalized” forms, which have the form of phrases but occur as CNs and are mostly only partially compositional. Secondly, I present a detailed discussion of the formal and semantic properties of all the attested compounds and a subset of the lexicalized nominals. Thirdly, on the basis of the latter discussion, I examine what the formation and structure of CNs reveal about the interaction between morphology and syntax and about the architecture of the grammar. The analyses show that the formation of CNs in Akan may at once involve morphological and syntactic structure in a way that renders untenable the view that morphology and syntax constitute two completely different modules of the grammar which may be assumed to interact only because the output of the former is the input to the latter. The present study provides support for the constructional view of the grammar.

Published Papers by Clement Appah

SKASE Journal of Theoretical Linguistics, 2020

This paper examines the class of Dangme compound words that consist of two nouns within the frame... more This paper examines the class of Dangme compound words that consist of two nouns within the framework of Construction Morphology. The paper indicates that the constituents of Dangme noun-noun compounds are either simplex or complex, with the latter being compounds or affix-derived complex nominals. The study shows that the constituents of N-N compounds in Dangme may not share the same semantic characteristics; yet a covert relation such as "part of", "ingredient of", "causer of" and "location of" holds between them, and this unexpressed relation constitutes pragmatic information that affects the interpretation of the compounds. It is shown that some nouns may lose part of their core semantic properties when they occur as constituents of compounds, resulting in the non-compositionality of the compounds in which they occur. This is the case especially with exocentric N-N compounds in the language which would have be interpreted metonymically or metaphorically because their meanings are constructional properties rather than the compositional function of the meanings of their constituents.

In this paper, we hope to disambiguate the nature of look-alike intervening elements that appear ... more In this paper, we hope to disambiguate the nature of look-alike intervening elements that appear between verbs in Serial Verb Constructions (SVCs) and Serial Verb Construction Nominalizations (SVCNs). To do so, we will first show that these intervening elements share the same phonological form. We will then show that although the intervening elements look the same on the surface, they can be differentiated by appealing to semantics and the construction from which the SVCN is derived. In doing so, we find that some of the intervening elements should, indeed, be regarded as tamp markers, while others are nominalizers (nmlz). In conclusion, we identify abstract schemata/templates that account for, and predict the positioning of, intervening elements found in Akan SVCNs.

Constructions, 2019

Numerical thinking is so flexible that it is possible for numbers to be used in a variety of cont... more Numerical thinking is so flexible that it is possible for numbers to be used in a variety of contexts, where they assess properties of empirical objects, and relations between numbers are associated with relations between empirical objects. This is called number assignment (Wiese 2003b) and three basic types are distinguished-cardinal, ordinal and nominal number assignments (Wiese 2007:759-60). This paper looks at ordinal number assignment, which is the expression of the relative rank or position (first, second, third, etc.) of items in ordered sets, so that a particular element of the set is assigned a place within that fixed order (Stampe 1976:600, von Mengden 2010:21). The set of ordered entities that are assigned number in ordinal numeral assignment is referred to as the ordinal space. Focusing on the formal means of expression, it is shown that Akan ordinal expressions inherit their formal structure from verb phrases in the language. This makes them structurally regular, although they constitute constructions some of whose elements are prespecified, making them constructional idioms (Booij 2002, Jackendoff 2002). It is shown that Akan ordinal numerals contain cardinal numeral constituents which identify the relative rank of entities in the ordinal space. It is also shown that there is a class of ordinal-like verb phrases which also identify ranks of ordered entities. However, they are not regarded as ordinal numerals because they do not contain numbers and so they only express successor relations non-numerically, making them incapable of referring to specific positions in ordered items. In the presentation of the data and analysis I employ formalism from Construction Morphology.

SKASE Journal of Theoretical Linguistics , 2019

There are two principal means of expressing relative position/rank in ordered sequences-numerical... more There are two principal means of expressing relative position/rank in ordered sequences-numerical and non-numerical means. For Akan, Christaller (1875) subsumed both of them under the heading of ordinal numerals. Based on data drawn from a variety of sources, we attempt to make a clear distinction between the two in this paper, noting that a numeral must express the properties of empirical object by means of numbers. We find this to be true of only one class of the constructions. Therefore, they are qualified as ordinal numerals and they can refer to the exact ranks of ordered items numerically. The other construction type, which refers to successor relations non-numerically, are clearly identified and their properties discussed. It is shown that the two kinds of constructions divide any sequence of ordered items, called the ordinal space, differently. Ordinal numerals partition the ordinal space into two, first position and others, excluding the last, which are referred to specifically by means of cardinal numeral constituents. The successor relation constructions divide the ordinal space into three (first, last and others in-between) or two (first and next) where the speaker deliberately avoids mentioning the expression for the last position in a set of ordered items. Ideas and formalism from Construction Morphology are employed for the analysis and presentation of the data.

Linguistik Online, 2019

This paper examines transparent and non-transparent diminutive forms in Akan and the range of mea... more This paper examines transparent and non-transparent diminutive forms in Akan and the range of meanings associated with each group, as presented in Appah/Amfo (2011). It takes the discussion of Akan diminutives a step further by showing that some of the meanings communicated by transparent diminutive forms are dependent on the context, including the semantic properties of the base to which the diminutive morpheme is attached. In addition, it demonstrates that even though the non-transparent diminutive forms communicate diminutive meanings and contain what appears to be the Akan diminutive morpheme, synchronically they are formally unanalyzable since the putative diminutive morpheme cannot be delineated from the base. Also, it is argued that these forms have come from a lexicalization process that resulted in the reanalysis of the base+diminutive morpheme as a single unanalyzable unit. It is observed that the process of lexicalization could have been facilitated by a number of factors, including the loss of the bases from the language, which meant that the putative base could only be found in the context of their diminutive use. Finally, the lexicalization process is schematized using formalism from Construction Morphology.

Contemporary Journal of African Studies, 2019

Lexical expansion may be triggered by different factors. A recent case of protracted intermittent... more Lexical expansion may be triggered by different factors. A recent case of protracted intermittent power outages in Ghana gave rise to dumsor, an Akan word which means 'turn off' and 'turn on'. This word spawned many neologisms, some of which became part of the political discourse in Ghana at the time. However, very few of the neologisms are actually in use because the situation that gave rise to them no longer exists and the formation of most of them was purely jocular. Based on data collected from Facebook posts and status updates, this paper discusses what is called the dumsor lexicon and the morphological and sociolinguistic motivations for the formation of the dumsor-based neologisms. First, we observe that the motivation for the linguistic behaviour that spawns such neologisms is consistent with the light heartedness of Ghanaians. We show that the neologisms fall into various semantic classes and that the morphological processes of compounding and affixation are employed predominantly but dumsor itself is partially anglicized and the affixes employed in the derivation of the neologisms are of English origin, because Akan, from which dumsor emanates, lacks equivalent affixes. Additionally, we observe that the use of English affixes could be because the originators of the neologisms either did not know alternative processes in Akan that could yield the same result or possibly did not find them useful because of the multilingual setting of the platform. Thus, we argue that the morphology of the neologisms and the range of items and concept they refer to betray the possible social backgrounds of the originators of the words and the multilingual setting of the linguistic behaviour. Résumé L'expansion lexicale peut être attribuée à plusieurs facteurs. Une situation récente de pannes de courant de manière intermittente et prolongée au Ghana a donné naissance au terme dumsor, un mot Akan qui signifie « éteindre » et « allumer ». Ce terme produisit, à son tour, plusieurs néologismes, dont certains firent partie du discours politique au Ghana à l'époque. Cependant, très peu desdits néologismes sont vraiment utilisés actuellement, car la situation qui donna naissance à de tels néologismes n'existe plus et la formation de la plupart desdits néologismes eut purement pour but de faire des plaisanteries. En s'appuyant sur des données tirées des publications et des mises à jour des statuts Facebook, cet article discute ce que nous appelons le lexique dumsor et les motivations morphologiques et sociolinguistiques pour la formation des néologismes à partir du terme dumsor. En premier lieu, nous observons que la motivation pour le comportement linguistique qui génère de tels néologismes est cohérente avec la nature farceuse des ghanéens. Nous montrons que les néologismes entrent dans différentes classes sémantiques et que les procédés morphologiques de la composition et de l'affixation sont principalement employés. Nous montrons également que le terme dumsor est partiellement anglicisé et que les affixes employés dans la dérivation des néologismes sont d'origine anglaise, car Akan, d'où émane le terme dumsor, manque des affixes équivalents. En outre, nous constatons que l'utilisation des affixes anglais pourrait être attribuée au fait que soit les auteurs desdits néologismes ne connurent pas de procédés alternatifs en Akan qui pourraient produire le même résultat, soit, peut-être, ils les considérèrent comme étant inutiles en raison du contexte multilingue de la plateforme. Par conséquent, nous soutenons que la morphologie des néologismes et la gamme des éléments et du concept auxquels ils renvoient sont révélatrices desorigines sociales des auteurs de tels mots et du contexte multilingue du comportement linguistique.

Acta Linguistica Academica, 2019

This paper highlights three issues in the study of verb-noun compounding and shows how data from ... more This paper highlights three issues in the study of verb-noun compounding and shows how data from Akan (Niger-Congo, Kwa, Ghana) help answer the relevant questions for the language. The issues, which mainly concern the exocentric subtype, are: one, the syntactic category of the left-hand constituent and that of the whole compound; two, whether the formation of verb-noun compounds is a matter of syntax or morphology; and three, how to distinguish between verb-noun compounds and verb phrases, given their structural similarity. Although these issues have come up somehow in the literature on Akan verb-noun compounds, they have not been deliberately targeted for discussion. This paper fills the gap. It is shown that the left-hand constituent is definitely a verb. This raises the question of how to account for the syntactic category of the exocentric subclass of the compound, given that the compound is not a hyponym of the right-hand nominal constituent whose syntactic category may be assumed to percolate to the whole. It is also argued that, per the criteria in the literature, the formation of Akan verb-noun compounds has to be a matter of morphology and not syntax. Finally, it is shown that there are formal and semantic basis for distinguishing verb-noun compounds from verb phrases in Akan.

Ghana Journal of Linguistics , 2019

Whereas the existence of exocentric compounds is taken for granted in the literature on compoundi... more Whereas the existence of exocentric compounds is taken for granted in the literature on compounding, there are just a few studies devoted to the nature and types of exocentric compounds cross-linguistically and in African languages in particular, leaving exocentricity in African languages severely under-researched. This paper seeks to contribute to knowledge on exocentricity by exploring the range of exocentric compounds in three Kwa languages-Akan, Ewe and Gain the context of the typology of exocentric compounds proposed by Bauer (2008a, 2010) who posited five types-bahuvrihi, exocentric synthetic, exocentric co-compounds, transpositional exocentric and metaphorical compounds. Appah (2016b, 2017b) argued that three of the five types (bahuvrihi, exocentric synthetic and transpositional exocentric compounds) with various subtypes occur in Akan. The equivalent of Bauer's metaphorical compounds was subsumed under bahuvrihi compounds, while the absence of exocentric co-compounds was argued to be an areal feature, given the observation that co-compounds are rare in Africa (Wälchli 2005). This paper shows that apart from exocentric co-compounds, the rest are found in the languages under discussion to varying extents. All three languages have metaphorical and location bahuvrihi compounds, but the status of the possessor bahuvrihi type is not certain, except in Akan. Ewe has agentive exocentric synthetic compounds, but not the action and patient types, whilst Ga has none. Again, only Ga does not have transpositional exocentric compounds. Finally, it is observed that all the compounds are nouns, notwithstanding the syntactic category of the constituents. This is another potential areal feature.

Nordic Journal of African Studies, 2019

Beyond the two usual types of numerals (i.e. cardinal and ordinal numerals) are othe... more Beyond the two usual types of numerals (i.e. cardinal and ordinal numerals) are other types like fractional, frequentative, distributive and multiplicative numerals which present very in-teresting linguistic properties. However, research on numerals usually focus on either cardinal or ordinal numerals. This paper provides a detailed description of the structure and formation of non-cardinal and non-ordinal numerals in Akan as well as a constructionist account of their properties. In the description of the facts, we show that the formal structure of the various classes of numerals is quite regular because they inherit their structure from already existing syntactic and morphological constructions in the language, including coordinate constructions, compounds and reduplicated forms. In the proposed theoretical account, we show that Con-struction Morphology provides the appropriate tools for the analysis of the numerals because the framework anticipates form-meaning disparities, thus making it possible to account for both compositional and extra-compositional properties of the numerals. The properties of the various types of numerals are captured in schemas which abstract over their general and idio-syncratic properties. We posit constructional idioms in which specific aspects of the numerals, regarded as constructional properties, are prespecified in the schemas and inherited by instan-tiating constructions.

Acta Linguistica Académica

This paper highlights three issues in the study of verb-noun compounding and shows how data from ... more This paper highlights three issues in the study of verb-noun compounding and shows how data from Akan (Niger-Congo\Kwa, Ghana) help answer the relevant questions for the language. The issues, which mainly concern the exocentric subtype, are: one, the syntactic category of the left-hand constituent and that of the whole compound; two, whether the formation of verb-noun compounds is a matter of syntax or morphology; and three, how to distinguish between verb-noun compounds and verb phrases, given their structural similarity. Although these issues have come up somehow in the literature on Akan verb-noun compounds, they have not been deliberately targeted for discussion. This paper fills the gap. It is shown that the left-hand constituent is definitely a verb. This raises the question of how to account for the syntactic category of the exocentric subclass of the compound, given that the compound is not a hyponym of the right-hand nominal constituent whose syntactic category may be assumed to percolate to the whole. It is also argued that, per the criteria in the literature, the formation of Akan verb-noun compounds has to be a matter of morphology and not syntax. Finally, it is shown that there are formal and semantic basis for distinguishing verb-noun compounds from verb phrases in Akan.

Legon Journal of the Humanities, 2017

This paper provides a constructionist account of Akan constructions of the form àhòɔ ̀ déń 's... more This paper provides a constructionist account of Akan constructions of the form àhòɔ ̀ déń 'strength' and àsòɔ ̀ déń 'disobedience' which had been previously analysed as compounds. Through the analysis of previously cited examples in the relevant literature and additional examples collected purposively from written sources, it is shown that the constructions exhibit a constellation of formal and semantic/pragmatic properties that get masked in a straightforward compounding analysis. Also posited is a constructional idiom whose formal structure is motivated by a typical syntactic construction (predicate adjective construction) and a prefixation schema, through the process of template unification. Thus, some of the properties of this construction are motivated by already existing constructions, even though their properties may not be entirely predictable from those other constructions, confirming that language is a network. It is shown that the construction has limited productivity because of some stringent restrictions on possible constituents. Finally, a broad semantic classification of the constructions is provided and some properties of the major classes discussed.

Muabɔsɛm
Krataa yi yɛ kɔnstrakhyen kwan so mpɛnsɛnpɛnsɛnmu wɔ Akan nsɛmfua bi te sɛ ahoɔden ne asoɔden a afoforɔ kyerɛ sɛ ɛyɛ mbɔho nsɛmfua no. Yɛpɛnsɛnpɛnsɛn mfatoho a ɛwɔ nkrataa a y'atwerɛ afa nsɛmfua a ɛtete saa yi ho nyinaa na yɛgyina so kyerɛ sɛ nsɛmfua yi wɔ semanteks/pragmateks su bi a, sɛ yɛsusu sɛ wɔyɛ mbɔho nsɛmfua a, ɛntumi ɛnna adi. Wɔ krataa yi mu no, yɛde nhyehyɛpono kyerɛ sɛdeɛ saa nsɛmfua yi teɛ ankasa ɛdefa wɔn nhyehyɛeɛ ne sɛdeɛ wɔne nsɛmfua afoforɔ di ahyia wɔ kasamu anaa kasamufa mu. Eyi kyerɛ sɛ nhyehyɛe
bi a ɛwɔ hɔ dada na ɛma saa nsɛmfua yi wɔn su no bi, sɛ mpo saa nhyehyɛe a ɛwɔ hɔ dada no ntumi nkyerɛ nsɛmfua yi su nyinaa. Eyi ɛkyerɛ bio sɛ kasaa ayɛ te sɛ ntentan a ɛkyerɛ abusuabɔ a ɛda nsɛmfua ntam. Krataa yi da no adi sɛ nsɛmfua yi nnɔɔso esiane su a yɛhwehwɛ sɛ ɛbɛda adi wɔ saa nsɛmfua yi mu nti. Awieɛ no, yɛgyina nsunsuanso a afiri mpɛnsɛnpɛnsɛnmu yi mu aba no so ɛkyekyɛ nsɛmfua yi mu na yɛkyerɛ kuo akɛseɛ no su.

In M.E. Kropp Dakubu and E.K. Osam (eds.), Studies in the languages of the Volta Basin: Proceedings of the Annual Colloquium of the Legon-Trondheim Linguistics Project. Accra: Linguistics Department, University of Ghana., 2004

In Akan, nouns can be formed from both lexical and non-lexical categories. This paper deals with ... more In Akan, nouns can be formed from both lexical and non-lexical categories. This paper deals with the formation of nouns from noun phrases. It looks at the derivational processes involved as well as the parts of the construction that remain as part of the derived noun. The paper argues that the derived noun, as noted by Mensah (2003), is an economic way of conveying the full meaning of the structure from which the noun was derived. To this extent, only those elements of the phrase that are central to the expression of the meaning of the construction will remain as part of the derived noun.

In M.E. Kropp Dakubu and E.K. Osam (eds.), Studies in the languages of the Volta Basin: Proceedings of the Annual Colloquium of the Legon-Trondheim Linguistics Project. Accara: Linguistics Department, University of Ghana., Sep 25, 2005

Payne (1997) defines action nominalization as the process by which an action nominal is formed fr... more Payne (1997) defines action nominalization as the process by which an action nominal is formed from a non-stative verb. Various languages adopt different strategies for deriving action nominals. This paper explores the strategies that Akan speakers use as well as the semantic and morpho-syntactic properties of the derived nominal. It notes that relative to other verbs, the nominal behaves like a prototypical noun, occurring in subject and object positions and being the possessed element in a possessive construction. However, relative to the cognate verb, the nominal cannot occur as the subject or object. Therefore, in a post-verbal position, only an adverbial reading is acceptable.

SKASE Journal of Theoretical Linguistics, Jan 1, 2009

as complex predicates with all the verbs sharing all the arguments in the construction . In this ... more as complex predicates with all the verbs sharing all the arguments in the construction . In this paper, I argue that the complex predicate analysis amounts to an overgeneralization of the sharing relations that usually characterise the verbs in an SVC, since there are instances where some arguments are not shared. In its place, I propose an analysis in which shared arguments are put into the functional structure of the parent VP so that its properties can be inherited by any verb that shares that argument. Any argument that is not shared will occur with the verb with which it is associated only in the functional structure of that verb.

Lexis, Mar 27, 2011

The present paper is concerned with the diminutive morpheme -wa/-ba in Akan. It examines the form... more The present paper is concerned with the diminutive morpheme -wa/-ba in Akan. It examines the form, the origin and the various meanings associated with diminutive forms in the language. We attribute the origin of the diminutive to the lexical word for ‘child/offspring’ ɔba, basing our argument on language internal evidence as well as cross-linguistic generalizations. The identified meanings of the Akan diminutive are as follows: small, young/offspring, feminine, member, insignificant/nonserious, affection/admiration and contempt/disdain. Having identified the basic meaning of the diminutive as ‘small’, Jurafsky’s [1996] Radial Category theory provides us with a basis to adequately account for the various meanings; drawing a link, through metaphors and inferences, between the diachronic and the synchronic meanings.

Journal of West African Languages, 2013

This article questions the status of Adjectives-Noun nominal compounding ([A-N]N) in Akan. Althou... more This article questions the status of Adjectives-Noun nominal compounding ([A-N]N) in Akan. Although the A-N compounding is postulated, no single study offers more than three good examples at any time. This is interesting because compounding is very productive in Akan. Again, in all the putative examples, the adjectives bear prefixes that they do not have elsewhere in the grammar, except when they modify plural nouns. I argue that the prefixes nominalize the adjectives which then must occur as the left-hand nominal modifiers in N-N compounds which are predominantly right-headed in Akan. Real adjective constituents of nominal compounds occur on the right. Thus, the morphological make-up and distribution of the constituents of such compounds suggest that they may be better analyzed as N-N compounds with nominalized adjectives as left-hand constituents. However, we may not rule out the existence of A-N compounding in Akan yet, hoping that proponents may succeed, somehow, to adduce real evidence to justify their postulation.

Cet article remet en question le statut du nom composé formé de l’adjectif-nom ([A-N]N) en akan. Bien que l’on postule l’ensemble A-N comme nom composé, il n’existe aucune étude qui ait étayé ce genre de nom composé avec plus de trois exemples. Ceci est intéressant dans la mesure où la composition en akan est hautement productive. Ici aussi, dans les exemples mentionnés, les adjectifs ont des préfixes qu’ils n’exhibent pas ailleurs dans la grammaire de la langue, sauf lorsqu’ils modifient les noms au pluriel. Il est proposé dans cet article que les préfixes nominalisent les adjectifs qui, à leur tout, doivent paraître à la droite. C’est ainsi que l’issue morphologique et la distribution des constituants de tels mots composés suggèrent qu’ils devraient être analysés comme des composés N-N avec des adjectifs nominalisés apparaissant comme constituants à leur gauche. Cependant, nous n’excluons pas nécessairement l’existence de composés A-N en akan, en espérant que ceux qui soutiennent leur existence pourront un jour fournir des preuves convaincantes à ce sujet.

sx.ac.uk

SKASE Journal of Theoretical Linguistics, 2020

Constructions, 2019

SKASE Journal of Theoretical Linguistics , 2019

Linguistik Online, 2019

Contemporary Journal of African Studies, 2019

Acta Linguistica Academica, 2019

Ghana Journal of Linguistics , 2019

Nordic Journal of African Studies, 2019

Acta Linguistica Académica

This paper highlights three issues in the study of verb-noun compounding and shows how data from ... more This paper highlights three issues in the study of verb-noun compounding and shows how data from Akan (Niger-Congo\Kwa, Ghana) help answer the relevant questions for the language. The issues, which mainly concern the exocentric subtype, are: one, the syntactic category of the left-hand constituent and that of the whole compound; two, whether the formation of verb-noun compounds is a matter of syntax or morphology; and three, how to distinguish between verb-noun compounds and verb phrases, given their structural similarity. Although these issues have come up somehow in the literature on Akan verb-noun compounds, they have not been deliberately targeted for discussion. This paper fills the gap. It is shown that the left-hand constituent is definitely a verb. This raises the question of how to account for the syntactic category of the exocentric subclass of the compound, given that the compound is not a hyponym of the right-hand nominal constituent whose syntactic category may be assumed to percolate to the whole. It is also argued that, per the criteria in the literature, the formation of Akan verb-noun compounds has to be a matter of morphology and not syntax. Finally, it is shown that there are formal and semantic basis for distinguishing verb-noun compounds from verb phrases in Akan.

Legon Journal of the Humanities, 2017

SKASE Journal of Theoretical Linguistics, Jan 1, 2009

Lexis, Mar 27, 2011

Journal of West African Languages, 2013

Acta Linguistica Hungarica, 2015

In accounting for the properties of morphological constructions, one may adopt a source-oriented ... more In accounting for the properties of morphological constructions, one may adopt a source-oriented view where every property of the whole emanates from the parts or a product-oriented view where the whole may have properties that do not come from the parts. Such properties are called holistic constructional properties. Studies on Akan compounds have been invariably source-oriented, assuming that every property in a compound, including the syntactic category, has to come from its constituents. I show that compounding in Akan is blind to the syntactic category of the constituents. Thus, notwithstanding the syntactic category of the constituents the Akan compound is invariably nominal. This paper, therefore, provides evidence of holistic properties of morphological constructions in the form of the syntactic category of Akan compounds. I also present a Construction Morphology modelling of the syntactic category of the Akan compound as a holistic constructional property which is inherited from a constructional meta-schema that is pre-specified to be nominal. Finally, I posit and exemplify four schemas which inherit the category N from the meta-schema but differ in terms of the presence and position of a head constituent.

SKASE Journal of Theoretical Linguistics, Jun 22, 2016

Bauer (2008, 2010) provides a whole new way of looking at exocentric compounds, supplying, for th... more Bauer (2008, 2010) provides a whole new way of looking at exocentric compounds, supplying, for the first time, both a typology and the requisite terminology for discussing exocentric compounds. Bauer's papers constitute a marked deviation from other approaches that perceive exocentricity as a marginal feature of the lexicon of a language, where it is attested. Appah (forthcoming) has subsequently shown that three of the five types posited by Bauer occur in Akan. This paper shows the current state of the typology of exocentric compounds and suggests the need for more research based on Bauer's typology to test the robustness of the typology, to see what other (sub)types may be proposed and, more importantly, to find the best way of eliciting data on exocentric compounds within and across languages.

Italian Journal of Linguistics, 2016

This paper attempts to demarcate the class of Akan verb-noun compounds like bɔ́-àdéɛ́ [create-thi... more This paper attempts to demarcate the class of Akan verb-noun compounds like bɔ́-àdéɛ́ [create-thing] 'creator', to discuss their properties and to present a Construction Morphology account of the properties. Working with the view that Akan verbs are invariably consonant-initial and that the verb constituent of verb-noun compounds are invariably simplex, it is shown that many exemplars cited in the Akan literature do not belong to the class because they bear affixes that betray them as either nominalized verb phrases or noun-noun compounds with deverbal left-hand constituents. It is shown that the noun constituent may be the internal argument of the verb mostly, but may also be the external argument or an adjunct, usually naming the location of the action. The noun constituent may bear the semantic role of undergoer, affected object, patient, instrument, location, result or goal of the action/event designated by the verb, while the denotatum of the compound may be agent, theme, instrument, location or condition. Finally, it is shown that Akan Verb-Noun compounds have endocentric and exocentric subtypes whose properties are adequately accounted for in Construction Morphology.

Lingue e linguaggio, 2016

Compounds of nouns and attributive adjectives have received considerable attention in various stu... more Compounds of nouns and attributive adjectives have received considerable attention in various studies, with two principal issues engaging the attention of researchers. The first is the nature of the modification relation between the constituents of the compounds. The second issue, which borders on the nature of the morphology-syntax interface, is how to distinguish between noun-adjective compounds and corresponding noun-adjective phrases. This paper provides a descriptive account of the properties of Akan (Niger-Congo, Kwa) Noun-Adjective compounds. It shows that the constituents of the compounds tend to be simplex bases and that there is no restriction on the semantic types of nouns and adjectives that may occur in the compounds. There must, however, be a plausible relation between the constituents. The interpretation of the compound is shown not to be completely straightforward, because the adjectives may not retain their core adjectival semantics in the compound or there may be additional meaning components that do not emanate from the constituents or even because the compound may have to be interpreted metaphorically. Finally, given the considerable formal and semantic similarities between noun-adjective compounds and noun-adjective phrases, I show how Akan noun-adjective compounds may be differentiated from Akan noun-adjective phrases

Akan (Kwa, Niger-Congo) is assumed to have compounds. Various works have discussed compounds in A... more Akan (Kwa, Niger-Congo) is assumed to have compounds. Various works have discussed compounds in Akan (Christaller 1875; Balmer and Grant 1929; Dolphyne 1988; Marfo 2005). However, none provides a principled account of why the relevant structures are regarded as compounds and not phrases. The same can be said about the types of compounds. The status of these Akan constructions needs verifying, using principled language-internal and/or language-external criteria, beyond native-speaker intuitions about their status.
In the literature on compounding (Bauer 1983, Fabb 1998, Lieber 1992, Lieber and Štekauer 2009, etc), various criteria have been used, with varying degrees of success, to establish whether a group of words constitute a compound or not. Lieber (1992) notes that, for English, three main criteria – stress placement, comparison to syntactic phrases and inseparability – are used to determine compounds. She contents that, though there are no unequivocal criteria for determining that a group of words forms a compound, one or a combination of these criteria frequently succeeds in picking out what is intuitively felt to be a compound. Other criteria for ‘compoundhood’ are inflection, mobility within syntactic structure and lexical integrity. Lieber and Štekauer (2009) group these criteria into three – Phonological, Syntactic and Inflection/linking elements.
In this paper, I use these criteria to assess the constructions that have been classified as compounds in Akan with the view to establishing what may hopefully be a definitive list of the types of compounds in Akan. I also discuss the compounding process, noting that (i) compounds may be formed from VPs, NPs and Serial Verb Constructions (SVCs), and (ii) the process may involve an inversion of the linear order of the elements of the input construction, with either choice resulting in a compound of different semantic characterization. For example, the linear order of the elements of the input is maintained in (1) and reversed in (2) and the results are Agentive nominal and Action nominal respectively. Finally, I address the issue of headship in the compounds and the relationship that obtains between heads and the non-head elements of the compounds. I show that Akan Compounds are generally right-headed although there may be some left headed as well as doubly headed ones.
1. kɔ̀ àyíé → kɔ́àyíé ‘one who attends funerals often/habitually’
go funeral
2. kɔ̀ àyíé → àyí!kɔ́ ‘funeral attendance (the act of attending funerals)’
go funeral
3. dí ‘eat’ + má ‘give’ → dí + má ‘intercede’ → ò-dí-má ‘intercession’
This study is significant in that it provides new data from a language that the mainstream literature on compounding does not cover. For instance, what is undoubtedly the most extensive collection of works on compounding – Lieber and Štekauer (2009) – includes no paper on compounding in any African language.

Diminution in Akan may be expressed by the use of what is generally described as a diminutive suf... more Diminution in Akan may be expressed by the use of what is generally described as a diminutive suffix, -ba/-wa (Dolphyne (1988), Appah and Amfo (forthc.)), as exemplified in (1).
(1) a. a-ponkye-ba b. dan-wa c. a-sekam-ba d. a-de-wa
SG-goat-DIM house-DIM PL-knife-DIM SG-thing-DIM
‘kid’ ‘cottage’ ‘penknife’ ‘trifle’
A careful look at diminutive forms involving the so-called diminutive suffix reveals that such diminutive forms can generally be put in two main groups: A and B (Appah and Amfo, forthc.). For the forms in group A, exemplified in (1), the suffix can be delineated from the base, and the base will be an identifiable lexical item in the language. The suffixed word thus denotes a diminutive form of the concept denoted by the base. On the other hand, there are a number of words containing the form -wa/-ba which cannot be split into an identifiable word in the language and a suffix. In spite of this, such words still do communicate various diminutive meanings as shown in (2) below.
(2) a. kakraba ‘small’ b. kurukuruwa 'smallish',
c. abasiriwa ‘middle-aged woman’ d. dwodworba 'smallish'
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the semantic and pragmatic characteristics of the two groups. The words which can be found in group B tend to communicate more central diminutive meanings such as small and feminine, whereas those in group A cover a fuller range of diminutive meanings including small, feminine, young, affection, admiration, non-serious, and insignificant. Two things are of interest here. First, we consider the forms in group B to have lexicalized and we examine the motivation for the lexicalization. Second, we posit, following Jurafsky (1996), that the range of meanings communicated by diminutives (typically exemplified by diminutive forms from group A) range from core/concrete meanings such as small, feminine, young to more evaluative meanings like insignificant and affection and are generally motivated by inferences made during on-line interpretation. The dependence of the meanings of these diminutives on the context, including the semantic properties of the bases they are attached to is critical in determining the communicated meanings of these diminutive forms.
Finally we observe the limited productivity of the diminutive marker -ba/-wa in the formation of new words in synchronic Akan.

Ghana Journal of Linguistics , 2020

Linguistik online, Mar 29, 2019

Contemporary journal of African studies, Nov 3, 2019

Word Structure, Oct 1, 2017

Ghana journal of linguistics, Jun 30, 2020

Legon Journal of the Humanities, 2017

Lingue e linguaggio, 2016

Acta Linguistica Hafniensia, Nov 17, 2016

Ghana journal of linguistics, Dec 31, 2019

Acta linguistica academica, Mar 1, 2019

Lexis, Mar 27, 2011

The present paper is concerned with the diminutive morpheme-/-in Akan. It examines the form, the ... more The present paper is concerned with the diminutive morpheme-/-in Akan. It examines the form, the origin and the various meanings associated with diminutive forms in the language. We attribute the origin of the diminutive to the lexical word for 'child/offspring' ba, basing our argument on language internal evidence as well as cross-linguistic generalizations. The identified meanings of the Akan diminutive are as follows: small, young/offspring, feminine, member, insignificant/nonserious, affection/admiration and contempt/disdain. Having identified the basic meaning of the diminutive as 'small', Jurafsky's [1996] Radial Category theory provides us with a basis to adequately account for the various meanings; drawing a link, through metaphors and inferences, between the diachronic and the synchronic meanings.

Acta Linguistica Hungarica, Dec 1, 2015

In accounting for the properties of morphological constructions, one may adopt a sourceoriented v... more In accounting for the properties of morphological constructions, one may adopt a sourceoriented view where every property of the whole emanates from the parts or a product-oriented view where the whole may have properties that do not come from the parts. Such properties are called holistic constructional properties. Studies on Akan compounds have been invariably source-oriented, assuming that every property in a compound, including the syntactic category, has to come from its constituents. I show that compounding in Akan is blind to the syntactic category of the constituents. Thus, notwithstanding the syntactic category of the constituents the Akan compound is invariably nominal. This paper, therefore, provides evidence of holistic properties of morphological constructions in the form of the syntactic category of Akan compounds. I also present a Construction Morphology modelling of the syntactic category of the Akan compound as a holistic constructional property which is inherited from a constructional meta-schema that is pre-specified to be nominal. Finally, I posit and exemplify four schemas which inherit the category N from the meta-schema but differ in terms of the presence and position of a head constituent.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Oct 1, 2017

The purpose of this paper is to investigate exocentric compounds in Akan and to present a Constru... more The purpose of this paper is to investigate exocentric compounds in Akan and to present a Construction Morphology account of their properties. I show that the complex issue of exocentricity is better accounted for if we distinguish between formal and semantic exocentricity. I present Bauer's (2008, 2010) typology of exocentric compounds (bahuvrihi, exocentric synthetic, transpositional exocentric, exocentric cocompounds and metaphorical exocentric compounds) and test the Akan data against them, showing that all Akan compound types (N-A, N-N, N-V, V-N, and V-V) are either exocentric or have exocentric subtypes which fall into three of the five types identified by Bauer. They are bahuvrihi compounds and exocentric synthetic compounds (of which I identify two subtypes each) and transpositional exocentric compounds. I present the properties of each identified type of Akan exocentric compound using formalisms from Construction Morphology (Booij 2010b) in which compounds are word-level constructions capable of having holistic properties. The unexpressed features of the exocentric compounds are regarded as holistic constructional properties that do not emanate from the constituents per se.

The Italian Journal of Linguistics, 2016

This paper attempts to demarcate the class of Akan verb-noun compounds like bɔ́-àdéɛ́ [create-t... more This paper attempts to demarcate the class of Akan verb-noun compounds like bɔ́-àdéɛ́ [create-thing] 'creator', to discuss their properties and to present a Construction Morphology account of the properties. Working with the view that Akan verbs are invariably consonant-initial and that the verb constituent of verb-noun compounds are invariably simplex, it is shown that many exemplars cited in the Akan literature do not belong to the class because they bear affixes that betray them as either nominalized verb phrases or noun-noun compounds with deverbal left-hand constituents. It is shown that the noun constituent may be the internal argument of the verb mostly, but may also be the external argument or an adjunct, usually naming the location of the action. The noun constituent may bear the semantic role of undergoer, affected object, patient, instrument, location, result or goal of the action/event designated by the verb, while the denotatum of the compound may be agent, theme, instrument, location or condition. Finally, it is shown that Akan verb-noun compounds have endocentric and exocentric subtypes whose properties are adequately accounted for in Construction Morphology. *

Social Science Research Network, 2011

Social Science Research Network, 2013

T his article questions the status of Adjectives-Noun nominal compounding ([A-N]N) in Akan. Altho... more T his article questions the status of Adjectives-Noun nominal compounding ([A-N]N) in Akan. Although the AN compounding is postulated, no single study offers more than three good examples at any time. T his is interesting because compounding is very productive in Akan. Again, in all the putative examples, the adjectives bear prefixes that they do not have elsewhere in the grammar, except when they modify plural nouns. I argue that the prefixes nominalize the adjectives which then must occur as the left-hand nominal modifiers in N-N compounds which are predominantly right-headed in Akan. Real adjective constituents of nominal compounds occur on the right. T hus, the morphological make-up and distribution of the constituents of such compounds suggest that they may be better analyzed as N-N compounds with nominalized adjectives as lefthand constituents. However, we may not rule out the existence of AN compounding in Akan yet, hoping that proponents may succeed, somehow, to adduce real evidence to justify their postulation. Cet article remet en question le statut du nom composé formé de l'adjectif-nom ([A-N]N) en akan. Bien que l'on postule l'ensemble AN comme nom composé, il n'existe aucune étude qui ait étayé ce genre de nom composé avec plus de trois exemples. Ceci est intéressant dans la mesure où la composition en akan est hautement productive. Ici aussi, dans les exemples mentionnés, les adjectifs ont des préfixes qu'ils n'exhibent pas ailleurs dans la grammaire de la langue, sauf lorsqu'ils modifient les noms au pluriel. Il est proposé dans cet article que les préfixes nominalisent les adjectifs qui, à leur tout , doivent paraître à la droite. C'est ainsi que l'issue morphologique et la distribution des constituants de tels mots composés suggèrent qu'ils devraient être analysés comme des composés N-N avec des adjectifs nominalisés apparaissant comme constituants à leur gauche. Cependant, nous n'excluons pas nécessairement l'existence de composés AN en akan, en espérant que ceux qui soutiennent leur existence pourront un jour fournir des preuves convaincantes à ce sujet. 1 The study reported here formed part of my PhD dissertation (Appah 2012) from Lancaster University, UK which was funded by Scholarship from the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan. I am grateful to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK for the Scholarship. I would also like to thank Keir Hansford, the editor of JWAL, and an anonymous referee for careful reading and comments that help in shaping this paper. Any remaining shortcomings are mine.

Ghana Studies, 2020

ABSTRACT:Words are of two kinds—simplex and complex words. Whereas both are important parts of th... more ABSTRACT:Words are of two kinds—simplex and complex words. Whereas both are important parts of the mental lexicon, the latter are of special interest to psycholinguists and morphologists because their internal structure may be seen as a window into how morphological knowledge is encoded in the mind (Gagné & Spalding, 2006; Jackendoff, 2010; Pinker, 1999). During a period of protracted unplanned power outages in Ghana, a complex word was formed to denote the phenomenon: dumsor, a nominal compound formed from two Akan verbs—dum, "to turn off" and , "to turn on" (anglicized as sor). Consistent with the nature of new words to trigger the formation of other words to expand their morphological family, dumsor grew a large family of dumsor-based neologisms to refer to related situations, entities and concepts, most of which were jocular and turned out to be ephemeral in equal measure. Appah and Anderson (2019) established the existence of the words, providing the socio-linguistic background and motivation for their formation. Building on that, this paper presents a systematic account of the structure and formation of the neologisms, which are grouped and discussed according to the processes by which they are formed. The identified word-formation processes are affixation, blending, compounding, conversion and reduplication, showing that even in light-hearted settings, people's linguistic behavior in relation to word-formation remains generally consistent. It is observed that, although dumsor is of Akan origin, all but one of the affixes employed for dumsor-based derivations are of English origin. This is not unexpected, given that English is the de facto official language of Ghana and a lingua franca for many who use Facebook, the source of the data for this study. We provide Construction Morphology modeling of the structure and meaning of the words.

Almost every linguist working on the grammar of the language has noted that Akan has an interesti... more Almost every linguist working on the grammar of the language has noted that Akan has an interesting way in which nouns are formed from many different structures – lexical and non-lexical. What has not been done, however, is a deliberate attempt at describing the derivational process(es) involved. This thesis is an attempt at showing how noun formation in Akan happens. This is a descriptive analysis. It looks at the processes involved in the formation of the nouns as well as the structure of the nouns formed. The thesis is divided into six chapters. Chapter one, the introduction, covers the aims and objectives of the study as well as the ethno-linguistic description of Akan. Chapter two presents general information on the phrase structure of Akan, specifically, that of the noun phrase and the verb phrase. The two main sections of the chapter begin with the description of the morphology of the noun word and that of the verb word respectively. Chapter three discusses the derivational processes that characterise nominal derivation in the language. Chapter four shows how the derivational processes described in chapter three work. Chapter five discusses some of the most basic phonological issues that come into play during nominal derivation. Chapter six summarises and concludes the thesis.