APPENDtX __
s.
Conjunctions And Alternatives
in Kpelle
"ll.cin~~eft O~FladE ,-::.btbi.riao
Beee•••
eer li5+ ' tllS,
- John K. Wealar .
C. c.Jt:t nl fJ to'" Co I I~CJ e
Every Language hH.S its dWn s.ysttnn or putting two different
things, or two sets ot things together to be considered as one
unit or as one group~
Moreover, each language has its own system of indicating al t~;rnatives.
In Ent51ish, for instance, we
may group John and Peter together by the use of the conjunction
"and" (John and .Peter have come)<J
il.'Hi we may show alternatives
in various ways b'y ")<. use ot the word "or" (John or Peter should
come ,
Do your irc::.,.- .,::t' you be pum.shed ,
For your work, I ,will
r;ive you two dollu.;~)r
some cloth.
Now"if we observe the Kpel1e Language , we will discover
different
ways or systems or puttin[; things together and also
different
ways of ahovd.ng alternatives.
For instance,
in putting thine;s (ioeo,
nOUl1Sor pronouns) toe;ether, we use the pronouns /da/, /ke./, itwa/. and the adjectival
/-pclcc/.
And for
indicating al ternu 1:.iV(lS we use several words or phrases t such as
/kpaa/. /kpaa/. /kpaa m~t1/, /a w;~la ke t{ t and /y!ni fe.i/.
~
~
,
~ka,
:{¥a
A;~4 w:; Ich i~ ott-:m used as ii pronoun (th ird person plural)
may be said to be used superficially
like an Eng~ish conjunction.
Wecan say/Fulomo 9:,~ iJ10kpa da ltL!, Ful.omo and. Topka are r,oinBo
The first /d'tJ./ may be considered as a conjunction join6 Fulomo
and '.ropka, and the sf~'~;,ond
Ida/ is a pronoun whose an tecendenba
are Fulomo bnd Topka
However, in the real sense, the first
/da/ is not used as the conjunction "and" is used in~ne;11sho
Basically speaking, Ida/ is here used as pronoun referring
to
Fulomo and Topka~ In tact, the limitation
in the use of
this word as a conjunc tuon may clearly show th~t it is not, ,in
the real sense a conjunction.
For instance, we cannot use it
to relate two persons of either the first person nor-tho second
pe~sono
That is, we cannot say /ye.
Sumoka p", you and
_-L!...*.. /
tJl
Sumocomeo
Neither can we ~
nyaa 'de. ya kwaa pa , you
and I h~ve come.
But it is always used only for the' third
person.
/dfi ke-selaai dB.wale tooc>selu'a daa pal t the workers
and the sinGers huve come,
The literal
'translation
would be,
(thef" workers they the s1n~ers they have come).
Hence the
wn,..ti /0;\/ 'i ~ nt't.An l1FH'~d as a _nronoun instead
of a conjunction.
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de.
t'I
()
(},.
.:
Similarly, i-h'_-l , which 1s a pronoun indicating the second
person plural, may be said to be used as a conjunc tiono
We
may say /Tokpa, ka Noai ka p8/, Tokpa, you and Noai must comeo
Many persons may t pez-haps , claim the.t is used in this sense
as "and" is used in Itnglish, but as a pronoun
For instance
the literal translatIon of the above Kpelle sentence would
be, 'Topka, you Noai you come'o
Here one discovers that the
plural form of the pz-onoua indicate that the speaker is referring to two personso
Hence, in relat1ng two or more things,
/ka/ is still used aa a pronount but the torm or the pronoun
and the names of the things help to provide the condition in
which the sense of conjunction presents itselfD
At this point,
however, it is needLeas to discuss /k.:it/a/, because it is ueed
exactly as /da/ ?e"T: /k'a/, only that it indicates the tirst
person pluralo
also we must not torget to note that
these pronouns, wlu.ch are used to connect two or more things,
always appear in the plural formso
For instance, /dA/ is
the plural torm of /a/, /k8/ the plural form of /ya/, and
/kwa the plural form of /na/o
0
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•
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If we look at the use of the phrase /-pel~~o.omA/, we
will discover that it;functions more like an mglisb conjunction.
Its use often conveys the concepts of "and", "plus"
(as i8 used in mathematics), and "addition" (adding things
together),
Further, unlike the pronouns /da/, /ka/. and
/kwa/, I-pele~.ooma/ can be used for all persons, that is,
for the tirst person as well as the second and third persons,
For instance, we may say FUlomo pele~ Topka !!daa ~ "I ,
#
,
Fulomo and Topka have come.
Or we may say / 1a ipelcc ~
nyaa ma kwa& pSI, you and I have comeo
Also Ie p8 a wuru
p&lc& tee mal, he brought sticks and chickens. But this
word is mostly used i.n expres~ing mathematical concepts.
When we S8Y /-pele& •• "ma/, we mean adding one thing to another,
as we would say two plus two, /teer& )Ii p&ll.c teert mal.
hence, /-pel~& •••ma/ is more like a conjunction than are /da/,
/ka/, and /kwA/.
-
/
Il
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t;.
2r: : _,.~paa,,.!9l~_!.l!!!'..!.....!.~~L~_J.~£_
t t.t- CiE~_,;t2;,!!:! f e..!,
.:.
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As it has bean said above, we use several words or
phrases in Kpelle to show ~l term. ~::"'"est such as /kpaa/,
/kpaa mall/, fa. walu kc :lit t!/, /yill! rei/o
And if' we
observe these worda, we will discover that they convey'
sxac tl.y rhe ss.me meaning, although they may be used in
different contextso
Kpaa
The word Ikpaal in itself means no; it is not so; I
de not 8f,ree
BU1'j D
it may be used to show two or more
alternatives.
We may say Isave kpaa kclo, nEnc sa ya
lIwClii/, cloth or a book, which do you likeo
IYa l1i kp~&
{fe Iti?/, ure you !~oine:or vou tire not GoinES?
These
statements are shm·lin~ two alternatives between which one
must chooseo
And they are not alternatives which indicate
equivalence or equality.
0
Kpaa
ma,::.
!.aa mG.:rl means in itself no-alsoixim" Iman/
rneanin[ alsoD
I~ is ~lso used to prosent two or more
alternatives.
i.ence , it is used as "or" in English.
But
in presentinr; alternutives ,b,ythe use of /kpaa maTJ/, the
speaker is showing his free will; he is leavine; everythin~J:
entirely to the discretion of the listener, showing him that
he does not cur-e for his cnoace ,
Here the speaker does not
show any concern or any friendly feelingso
For. instance,
I!
"g
'()
p()
e
J may tell someone9 I·1 tl.i kc-oo kpaa mall lo'te tl.i kc-oo,
rove kpaa nil, whether you work or not, I do not c~reo
The phrase
(>
A wala
ke t:!.
This phra.se actually means "if that does not happen,
or if it does not. happen in that '<.'72,Y".,
It is used in the
sense that if one of the two 'cninp;:3 does not happen, the
other one should. hb.[;peno The curious thing about this form
or "or" is thl:J.t ,J alternative is given which may not be
altered unl~ss ~' io impossible to be accomplished~
And
this impossihility may he caused by the fact that the listener may fail to accept the alternative, or that the, alter""
n~tive in itself is difficult to accomplisho
But usually,
!, ..
_1-10'"p-
the speaker giveson€ alternatlvec
For instance, I may tell
'someone, /zeyei waa
wala ke t!, f berEi mu koo/, wash the
clothes ~r not clean the house.
In this case the speaker
is giving one EiltC=::·;:'tJ..xtive but under the condition that if
this alternative .i.:,;; :_mpossible, there 1s a possibility of
another alternativuo
Hence, th.e listener is not given two
things between which he can choose, but one which he must do
unless he fails, in "lt1ichcaae another al.ternative will be
possible.
Another 1.16eof this phrase conveys the idea that
you .should work or you do not eat, It:!i ke,
wal~
tf {
pai flaa mlt10
a
a
fe
ke
I:{n1 rei
This phrase means "if that is not", or "that ii3notll,
and is used exactly as /'t3. wala ki ti/o
It presents orte
alternative, but mak1:1g an allowance for ano thez- alternat1veo
There is always the tr\ajoralterna.'j;:l.if'3
':Ihichthe speaker'
emphClsizeso II!:£ pu a yl., y:fni fl3ir 3: p' altoi/, ~o"'and
brlng water if not ~<JO<)d.~
However, in the second use o£ .this
phrase, like the ph:::'J:H3e
/a wala kc t!./ t one~lternative
is
,
Riven, which is oni;; cha.nged as a result ot not accepting the
alternative.
For instance, 1 may tell someone, II! ! pa a·
.p
•
II'
~I
t
ya, Yl.ni tei, 1..fe pa., 1.1aa mi...,.,
go and bring waer,
i t.not,
you will not eat •
.' In short, beside l-pElss •••mB/the words /d~/./ka;, and
!kwa/, in the real sense., are not used as conjunctions, but
as IfkJUlJlJl pronouns.
And regarding "or", one may say various
phrases are used in Kpelle almost exactly as "or" is used in
En~li8h, but only that in several c~aes the Kpelle speaker
p;ives only one alternative, instea.d of two.
Q
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\5 Decerrnbe~
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