48 Annual Conference on African Linguistics Indiana University

48 th Annual Conference on African Linguistics
Indiana University Bloomington
March 30-April 2, 2017
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ACAL 48 Local Organizing Committee
SamuelObeng,Chair
RobertBotne,Member
SamsonLotven,Member(OrganizingCoordinator)
DamirCavar,Member
AntoniaSchleicher,Member
NoorAboMokh,Webmaster
ACAL 48 Sponsors
AssociationofContemporaryAfricanLinguistics
OfficeofVicePresidentforInternationalAffairs
OfficeofAssociateDeanofSocialandHistoricalSciencesandGraduateEducation,
CollegeofArtsandSciences
OfficeofAssociateDeanforInternationalAffairs,CollegeofArtsandSciences
OfficeofVice-PresidentforDiversity,EquityandMulticulturalAffairs
IndianaUniversityAfricanStudiesProgram
AfricanAmericanandAfricanDiasporaStudies
NationalAfricanLanguageResourceCenter&CenterforLanguageExcellence
IndianaUniversityLinguisticsDepartment
48th ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON AFRICAN LINGUISTICS
Program of Events
Thursday,March30,2017
3:00p.m.–4:30p.m. 4:30p.m.–5:45p.m. 6:00p.m.–7:00p.m. 7:00p.m.–8:30p.m. Friday,March31,2017 8:00a.m.–9:00a.m. 9:00a.m.–10:15a.m. 10:15a.m.–10:30a.m.
10:30a.m.–12:00p.m.
12:00p.m.–1:00p.m. 1:00p.m.–2:15p.m. 2:30p.m.–4:00p.m. 4:30p.m.–6:00p.m. 6:00p.m.
Saturday,April1,2017 8:00a.m.–9:00a.m. 9:00a.m.–10:00a.m. 10:00a.m.–10:15a.m.
10:15a.m.–11:45a.m.
11:45a.m.–1:00p.m. 1:00p.m.–2:15p.m. 2:30p.m.–4:00p.m. 4:15p.m.–5:45p.m. 5:50p.m.–7:00p.m. 7:30p.m.–9:00p.m. Sunday,April2,2017 8:00a.m.–9:00a.m. 9:00a.m.–10:30a.m. 10:30am–10:45a.m 10:45a.m.–12:15p.m.
RegistrationCheck-in PosterSessionw/Refreshment
PlenaryPresentation JennekevandeWal
HarvardUniversity
OpeningReception
RegistrationCheck-in LightBreakfast
Welcome
PlenaryPresentation
EkkehardWolff
LeipzigUniversity
BeverageBreak
ConcurrentSessions Lunch(onyourown)
PosterSessionw/Refreshment
ConcurrentSessions ConcurrentSessions Dinner(onyourown) IndianaMemorialUnion
EastLounge
FrangipaniRoom
FrangipaniRoom
StateRoom(SR)East&West
IndianaMemorialUnion
FrangipaniRoom
FrangipaniRoom
FrangipaniRoom
Maple,Walnut,SREast
FrangipaniRoom
Maple,Walnut,SREast
Maple,Walnut,SREast
LightBreakfast PlenaryPresentation MichaelMarlo
UniversityofMissouri
BeverageBreak
ConcurrentSessions Lunch(onyourown)
PosterSessionw/Refreshment ConcurrentSessions ConcurrentSessions BusinessMeeting
Reception&Banquet(ticketed)
IndianaMemorialUnion
FrangipaniRoom
FrangipaniRoom
LightBreakfast ConcurrentSessions
BeverageBreak
ConcurrentSessions
IndianaMemorialUnion
TreeSuiteLounge
Maple,Walnut,Sassafras
TreeSuiteLounge
Maple,Walnut,Sassafras
i
FrangipaniRoom
Maple,Walnut,Sassafras
FrangipaniRoom
Maple,Walnut,Sassafras
Maple,Walnut,Sassafras
MapleRoom
FrangipaniRoom
TheLexicalUnderspecificationofBantuCausativesandApplicatives
ShonaSubjectsareSubjects
TheMorpho-SyntaxofTwoTypesofFactiveClausesinSeereer
RelativizationinKaakye
EmaiCoordinationStrategiesforClauseLinkage
ComparativeStudyoftheNominalSysteminWolof,BedikandFrench
LinguisticGenocideAgainstDevelopmentofSignedLanguagesinAfrica
PosterSession1
TheNeedforanAlternativeSystemofNominalLicensinginBantu
ii
Plenary1
Chair:RobertBotne
6:007:00
8 TowardaBetterKnowledgeofSpeech-LanguageDisordersinAfrica:
AnalysisofChildSpeechDisorders
9 PhonemicQuantityDistinctioninNormalandPerturbedSpeechinTwi
10 FootConstructioninAnaanDenominalisation
11 QuantitativeMethodsinAfricanLinguistics-PredictingPluralsinHausa
12 TheSubjunctiveMoodinGiryamaandTanzanianNyanja
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
4:305:45
vanderWal
FrangipaniRoom
AduManyah
Udoh
GuzmánNaranjo&Becker
Ngowa&Ngonyani
Wechsler
Kodner
Torrence
Abunya&Osam
Schaefer&Egbokhare
Sall
Asonye,Edward,Ezinne&
Anike
Takam
FrangipaniRoom
ThursdayEvening,March30,2017
Maple Sociolinguistics1
iii
Chair:JosephClancy
Clements
1 ACloserLookatbi:An Owusu TheRustySpeakerParadox:
EpistemicIndefinite
Nyang'iPersonalPronouns
Analysis
andSemi-speaker-based
LanguageDescription
2 LogophoricReference Newkirk RhetoricalEcologiesDriving
inIbibio
LinguisticChangeinWest
Africa
3 Logophoricityand
Grano
Language,Gender,and
Coreference
&
Ideology:ASociolinguistic
ConstraintsinGengbe Lotven AnalysisofIfeomaFafunwa's
AttitudeReports
'HearWord!'NaijaWoma'
10:30- Semantics1
12:00 Chair:RobertBotne
Vocalogenesisin(Central)ChadicLanguages
Agbozo& ToneAssimilationin
Ehineni
Odebunmi YorùbáAgentiveAffixed
Nominals
Ofulue
RegisterLoweringand
Nformi
TonalOverwritingin
Awasom
LimbumDeverbal
Nouns
ThePhonetic
Myers,Selkirk
RealizationofHighTone &Fainleib
SpansinLuganda
Beer
Tone1StateRoom
Chair:ChrisGreen
East
Wolff
FrangipaniRoom
Walnut
Plenary2
Chair:PaulNewman
9:0010:15
FridayMorning,March31,2017
7
8
9
10
11
12
iv
ConsonantMutatationinEsahie
WordOrderinSenufoNafaraDPs
PersonandAnimacyInteractioninAkanandGaPost-positions
CausativeinLubukusuandOtherBantuLanguages
PresuppositionsandOtherProjectiveContentsinKiswahili
TheSyntaxandSemanticsofAkanHITVerbs
LanguageBarrierasHindrancetoInformationDissemination:ACriticalObservation
OntheStateDistinctionandCaseinKabyleBerber
IndexicalShiftinginDhaasanacandSomali
ASurveyofNegationPatternsintheKwaLanguageFamily
DisappearingLexemesintheIgboLanguage:AnEffectofLanguageVariationand
Change
6 FocusConstructionsinIbibio
1
2
3
4
5
1:00- PosterSession2
2:15
Anyanwu,Nwogu,Orji&
Okoro
Akanlig-Pare&Owusu-Ansah
Baron
Korsah
Wasike
Jordan
Eshun
Oppong-AsareAnsah
Felice
Nishiguchi
Schneider
Obiamalu&Nkamigbo
FrangipaniRoom
FridayAfternoon,March31,2017
Carstens
&Zeller
1 NguniPhrase-final
FocusParticlesand
AntisymmetryTheory
v
TheLexiconoftheMixed
LanguageMa'á/Mbugu
3 Comparative
ConstructionsinTafi
Mous
Cook
Ruralvs.UrbanZulu:TheLossof
yiinReduplication
Bobuafor
Cahill
StateRoom
East
TowardsaTypologyof
'TonalCompactness'in
Mande
Green
TonalInequalitiesinaFour- McPherson
toneLanguage:TheCaseof
Seenku'sMiddleTones
Tone,Orthographies,and
PhonologicalDepthin
AfricanLanguages
Tone2
Chair:DavidOdden
ImplicationsofAbsolute
NeutralisationonHarmonic
Serialism:AJóolaCaseStudy
EfikNominalTonal
AlternationsasPhrasal
Morphology
AnHGAnalysisofWord-Final
VowelDeletionandReduction
inGulmancema
Baird
Glewwe
Hantgan
Walnut Phonology1State
Chair:LauraMcPhereson
RoomEast
Rudd
Chair:SandraKübler
Sociolinguistics2
Ofori
Ditsele
Elsaadany
Walnut
ResearchandRevolution:Text
MessagingasTacticalTool
Maple
MoralPanicinGhanaian
PoliticalDiscourse:A
PreliminaryStudy
Chair:AlwiyaOmar
APragmasemantic
InvestigationofMetaphor
(Un)translatabilityinArabic
ReligiousDiscourse
DidSA'sPoliticalParties
Promote'Multilingualism'
DuringtheLastElections?
LanguageinPolitics&
Religion
1 ASyntacticDescription Tamba
ofExperiencersin
Sereer-siin
2 Comitative
LambertConstructionsinFon
Bretiere
4:30- Syntax2
6:00 Chair:RonSchaefer
2 Piecesofthe
Doherty
Periphery:AGlance
intotheCartographyof
Ibibio'sCPDomain
3 ComplementClauseC- Safir&
AgreementwithMatrix Letsholo
SubjectandTensein
Ikalanga
Maple
2:30- Syntax1
4:00 Chair:StevenFranks
FridayAfternoon,March31,2017(continued)
Mitchley
2 SwahiliPassiveand
Ngonyani
StativeExtensions
andtheirInteraction
withtheApplicative
3 TenseAgreementin Pietraszko
NdebeleLight-verb
Constructions
1 RaisingtoObjectin
Lubukusu
10:1511:45
vi
TheInflectionalParadigmofthe Legg
BembeVerb
ADescriptiveOverviewofNoun Hung
ClassesandtheMorphosyntax
ofAgreementinZaramo
CommonPlantNamesinSouth Legère
NiloticAkie
Walnut
ToneintheLuyiaVarietiesofWesternKenyaandEasternUganda
Syntax3
Maple
Descriptive
Chair:JamesEssegbey
Chair:AlwiyaOmar
VowelSplitinKinshasa
Lingala
TheTypologyofNC
SequencesinCentral
Tano
Kabasele
Akinlabi&
Owusu
VowelProcessesinGusii Choti
Phonology2
Sassafras
Chair:KrisEbarb
Marlo
Plenary3FrangipaniRoom
Chair:StuartDavis
9:0010:00
SaturdayMorning,April1,2017
vii
1 AMusicalNotationAnalysisofTonalDowntrendsinAnaañReduplicative
Constructions
2 APhoneticStudyofYorubaVowelDeletion:ACaseofIncompleteNeutralization?
3 TowardaTypologyofNiger-CongoComplementation
4 BenefactiveApplicativesandAnimacyinNdebele
5 SyllableSimplificationProcessesinFròʔò
6 SavingtheFaceofKings:TheIdeologyofSuperiorityinYorubaDiscourse
7 UltrasoundImagingof[d],[ɖ],and[g͡b]inGengbe
8 AnOTAnalysisofConsonantDeletioninIjẹ̀ṣàYorùbá
9 ElucidatingDogonProsodicStructures:TheCaseofLiquid'Flip-frops'inBeni
(Dogon)
10 ThePhoneticPropertiesofKiheheStops
11 ProsodyandCohesioninÉkegusií(Kisii)Narrative
12 GhanaianSocialInteractions:AnEthnopragmaticApproach
13 BafutLoanwords:AnOptimalityTheoryAnalysis
1:00- PosterSession3
2:15
Steimel&Nyamahanga
Hieber
Thompson
Birnschein
Danis
Schaefer,Duah&Egbokhare
Sibanda
Traore&Fery
Aluko
Lotven,Berkson&Lulich
Alabi
Dow,Green&Hendrickson
Udoh,Ekong,Usoro,Ita&Ntuk
FrangipaniRoom
SaturdayAfternoon,April1,2017
4:155:45
2:304:00
Maple
Chair:TomGrano
Semantics3
2 TwoStrategiesfor
AffirmativeResponse
toPolarQuestionsin
BamilekeMedumba
3 AdjectivesinSɛlɛɛ
Agbetsoamedo
viii
EventSemanticsofAkan
SeparationVerbs
Keupdjio& TowardsaUnifiedAccount
Wiltschko fornainAkan
Agyepong
Gluckman,
Bowler,
Diercks,
Sifuna&
Alulu
Essegbey&
Hatav
Walnut
Schneider- UniversalQuantificationinthe KasperZioga&
NominalDomaininKihehe
Cushman
Mutaka
Isaiah
Ebarb&
Raksachat
Obiri-Yeboah
&Rose
Bickmore
TheSyllableStructureofBuli Akanlig-Pare
Words
DomainsandDirectionality
inGuaVowelHarmony
AtypicalOpacityinRutooro
Phonology
Phonology4
Sassafras
Chair:KellyBerkson
SonorantAcquisitionin
YorubaChildPhonology
HereroVerbTone
Payne
Downing&
Nilsson
Phonology3
Sassafras
Chair:AbbieHantgan
Keupdjio LexicalDensityoftheJUMP
DomaininMaa
Walnut
ProsodicRestructuringin
SomaliNominals
Chair:PatríciaAmaral
Semantics2
Major& NearSynonymsinLugungu
Oriikiriza
Torrence andtheirMeaningDifferences
Maple
1 TwoTypesofFocusin Nformi
ATypologicalStudyof
Limbum(Grassfields
Awasom, ModalityinLuhyaLanguages
Bantu)
Driemel&
Becker
Chair:PhilLeSourd
Syntax5
1 WhInterrogativesin
Ibibio:Movement,
Agreementand
Complementizers
2 A-barAgreementand
theTense-Aspect
SysteminBamileke
Medumba
3 CausingbySocial
Interaction
Syntax4
Chair:KenSafir
SaturdayAfternoon,April1,2017(continued)
1 Antiagreementin
BerberandTheoryof
Agreement
2 GETCASEisViolable:
Evidencefor
WholesaleLate
Merger
3 ACorpusStudyof
SwahiliRelatives
ix
Mwamzandi AutomatedClassification
ofIdeophonicSound
PatternsinWolof
Baglini&
Hjorth
LanguageandNational
Oyetade
Unity:ACaseofIgboTraders
inIbadan,Nigeria
InterjectionsinGa
Ollennu
Sulemana
Bowler&
Gluckman
LanguagePolicyand
Sall
LinguisticIdeologyinSenegal
Lionnet
Odden
Kinjo
Stem-initialProminencein
WestandCentralAfrica:
Niger-Congo,Areal,or
Both?
TheAugmentinLogoori
NumberandAnimacyinthe Hyman,
TekeNounClassSystem
Lionnet&
Ngolele
Chair:AbbieHantgan
IntensifyingIdeophonesin
ThreeLuhiaLanguages
Belew
Anyanwu,
Nwogu,
Orji&
Okoro
EmekaNwobia
Morphology
Sassafras
Chair:KellyBerkson
LanguagePolicy
Sassafras
Chair:MikeCahill
Male/FemaleParents'
IndigenousOccupational
RolesandTransferof
IndigenousVocabulary
NegotiatingIdentity
throughPersonalNames
amongNigerian
Pentecostals
"We'reallSpeaking
GibberishHere:"Discourses
ofSpeakerhoodinIyasa
Chair:SolomonOyetade
Language&Identity
Walnut
Ideophones&
Walnut
Interjections
Maple
Jerro
3 TheStative
Morphemein
Kinyarwanda
10:45- Syntax6
12:15 Chair:AnnBunger
Kanijo
2 TheSemanticsof-ile
inNyamwezi
1 OptionalPastTensein Bochnak&
Wolof
Martinovic
9:00- Tense&Aspect
Maple
10:30 Chair:RobertBotne
SundayMorning,April2,2017
List of Abstracts
TheNeedforanAlternativeSystemofNominalLicensinginBantu...........................................................5
Vocalogenesisin(Central)ChadicLanguages..............................................................................................5
ToneintheLuyiaVarietiesofWesternKenyaandEasternUganda............................................................6
RelativizationinKaakye...............................................................................................................................7
PhonemicQualityDistinctioninNormalandPerturbedSpeechinTwi......................................................7
AdjectivesinSɛlɛɛ........................................................................................................................................7
RhetoricalEcologies DrivingLinguisticChangeinWestAfrica.....................................................................8
EventSemanticsofAkanSeparationVerbs.................................................................................................8
ConsonantMutationinEsahie.....................................................................................................................8
TheSyllableStructureofBùlìWords...........................................................................................................9
TheTypologyofNCSequencesinCentralTano..........................................................................................9
AnOTAnalysisofConsonantDeletioninÌjẹ̀ ṣàYorùbá................................................................................9
SavingtheFaceofKings:TheIdeologyofSuperiorityinYorùbáDiscourse..............................................10
FocusConstructioninIbibio......................................................................................................................10
MaleandFemaleParents’IndigenousOccupationalRolesandIntergenerationalTransferofIndigenous
Vocabulary:EvidencefromIgbo................................................................................................................10
LinguisticGenocideAgainstDevelopmentofSignedLanguagesinAfrica.................................................11
AutomatedClassificationofIdeophonicSoundPatternsinWolof............................................................11
AnHGAnalysisofWord-FinalVowelDeletionandReductioninGulmancema........................................11
WordOrderinSenufoNafaraDPs.............................................................................................................12
TheRustySpeakerParadox:Nyang’iPersonalPronounsandSemi-speaker-basedLanguageDescription
...................................................................................................................................................................12
“We’reAllSpeakingGibberishHere:”DiscoursesofSpeakerhoodinIyasa..............................................12
AtypicalOpacityinRutooroPhonology.....................................................................................................13
BafutLoanwords:AnOptimalityTheoryAnalysis......................................................................................13
ComparativeConstructionsinTafi.............................................................................................................13
OptionalPastTenseinWolof....................................................................................................................13
IntensifyingIdeophonesinThreeLuhyaLanguages..................................................................................14
Tone,Orthographies,andPhonologicalDepthinAfricanLanguages........................................................14
NguniPhrase-FinalFocusParticlesandAntisymmetryTheory.................................................................14
1
VowelProcessesinGusii............................................................................................................................15
Ruralvs.UrbanZulu:TheLossofyiinReduplication................................................................................15
APhoneticStudyofYorubaVowelDeletion:ACaseofIncompleteNeutralization?................................15
DidSA’sPoliticalPartiesPromote‘Multilingualism’DuringtheLastElections?.......................................16
PiecesofthePeriphery:AGlanceintotheCartographyofIbibio'sCPDomain........................................16
ElucidatingDogonProsodicStructures:TheCaseofLiquid‘Flip-Frops’inBeni(Dogon)..........................16
ProsodicRestructuringinSomaliNominals...............................................................................................17
HereroVerbTone......................................................................................................................................17
ToneAssimilationinYorùbáAgentiveAffixedNominals...........................................................................17
APragmasemanticInvestigationofMetaphor(Un)translatabilityinArabicReligiousDiscourse.............17
NegotiatingIdentitythroughPersonalNamesamongNigerianPentecostals..........................................18
TheSyntaxandSemanticsofAkanHITverbs............................................................................................18
TowardsaUnifiedAccountfornainAkan................................................................................................18
OntheStateDistinctionandCaseinKabyleBerber..................................................................................19
EfikNominalTonalAlternationsasPhrasalMorphology...........................................................................19
ATypologicalStudyofModalityintheLuhyaLanguages..........................................................................19
LogophoricityandCoreferenceConstraintsinGengbeAttitudeReports.................................................20
TowardsaTypologyofTonalCompactnessinMande...............................................................................20
QuantitativeMethodsinAfricanLinguistics-PredictingPluralsinHausa................................................20
ImplicationsofAbsoluteNeutralisationonHarmonicSerialism:AJóolaCaseStudy...............................20
ProsodyandCohesioninÉkegusií(Kisii)Narrative....................................................................................21
ADescriptiveOverviewofNounClassesandtheMorphosyntaxofAgreementinZaramo......................21
NumberandAnimacyintheTekeNounClassSystem..............................................................................21
SonorantAcquisitioninYorubaChildPhonology......................................................................................22
TheStativeMorphemeinKinyarwanda....................................................................................................22
PresuppositionsandOtherProjectiveContentsinKiswahili.....................................................................22
VowelSplitinKinshasaLingala..................................................................................................................22
TheSemanticsof-ILEinNyamwezi...........................................................................................................23
UniversalQuantificationintheNominalDomaininKihehe......................................................................23
A-barAgreementandtheTense-AspectSysteminBamilekeMedumba..................................................23
TwoStrategiesforAffirmativeResponsetoPolarQuestionsinBamilekeMedumba...............................23
AntiagreementinBerberandTheoryofAgreement.................................................................................24
2
ShonaSubjectsareSubjects......................................................................................................................24
PersonandAnimacyInteractioninAkanandGãPost-Positions...............................................................24
ComitativeConstructionsinFon................................................................................................................25
CommonPlantNamesinSouthNiloticAkie..............................................................................................25
TheInflectionoftheBembeVerb..............................................................................................................25
Stem-InitialProminenceinWestandCentralAfrica:Niger-Congo,Areal,orBoth?.................................26
UltrasoundImagingof[d],[ɖ],and[g͡b]inGengbe..................................................................................26
Wh-InterrogativesinIbibio:Movement,AgreementandComplementizers............................................26
TonalInequalitiesinaFour-ToneLanguage:theCaseofSeenku’sMiddleTones....................................27
RaisingtoObjectinLubukusu....................................................................................................................27
TheLexiconoftheMixedLanguageMa’á/Mbugu....................................................................................27
ACorpusStudyofSwahiliRelativeClauses...............................................................................................27
ThePhoneticRealizationofHighToneSpansinLuganda.........................................................................28
LogophoricReferenceinIbibio..................................................................................................................28
TwoTypesofFocusinLimbum(GrassfieldsBantu)...................................................................................28
RegisterLoweringandTonalOverwritinginLimbumDeverbalNouns.....................................................28
SwahiliPassiveandStativeExtensionsandtheirInteractionwiththeApplicative...................................29
TheSubjunctiveMoodinGiryamaandTanzanianNyanja........................................................................29
MonstersinDhaasanacandSomali...........................................................................................................29
DisappearingLexemesintheIgboLanguage:AnEffectofLanguageVariationandChange....................30
DomainsandDirectionalityinGuaVowelHarmony.................................................................................30
TheAugmentinLogoori.............................................................................................................................30
“MoralPanic”inGhanaianPoliticalDiscourse:APreliminaryStudy.........................................................31
Language,GenderandIdeology:ASociolinguisticAnalysisofIfeomaFafunwa’s‘HearWord!Naija
WomanTalkTrue’......................................................................................................................................31
InterjectionsinGa......................................................................................................................................31
LanguageBarrierasHindrancetoInformationDissemination:ACriticalObservation.............................32
Near-synonymsinLugunguandtheirmeaningdifferences......................................................................32
ACloserLookatbi:AnEpistemicIndefiniteAnalysis................................................................................32
LanguageandNationalUnity:ACaseStudyofIgboTradersinIbadan,Nigeria........................................32
LexicalDensityoftheJUMPDomaininMaa.............................................................................................33
TenseAgreementinNdebeleLight-VerbConstructions............................................................................33
3
ResearchandRevolution:TextMessagingasTacticalTool.......................................................................33
ComplementClauseC-AgreementwithMatrixSubjectandTenseinIkalanga.........................................33
ComparativeStudyoftheNominalSysteminWolof,BedikandFrench...................................................34
LanguagePolicyandLinguisticIdeologyinSenegal...................................................................................34
EmaiCoordinationStrategiesforClauseLinkage......................................................................................34
TowardaTypologyofNiger-CongoComplementation.............................................................................35
ASurveyofNegationPatternsintheKwaLanguageFamily.....................................................................35
CausingbySocialInteraction.....................................................................................................................35
BenefactiveApplicativesandAnimacyinNdebele....................................................................................35
ThePhoneticPropertiesofKiheheStops..................................................................................................36
GETCASEisViolable:EvidenceforWholesaleLateMerger.......................................................................36
TowardaBetterKnowledgeofSpeech-LanguageDisordersinAfricanCountries:AnalysisofChildSpeech
DisordersinCameroon..............................................................................................................................36
ASyntacticDescriptionofExperiencersinSereer-Siin..............................................................................37
GhanaianSocialInteractions:AnEthnopragmaticApproach....................................................................37
TheMorpho-SyntaxofTwoTypesofFactiveClausesinSeereer..............................................................37
SyllableSimplificationProcessesinFròʔò.................................................................................................38
AMusicalNotationAnalysisofTonalDowntrendsinAnaañReduplicativeConstructions.......................38
FootConstructioninAnaañDenominalisation..........................................................................................38
CausativeinLubukusuandotherBantuLanguages..................................................................................39
TheLexicalUnderspecificationofBantuCausativesandApplicatives......................................................39
4
The Need for an Alternative System of Nominal Licensing in Bantu
JennekevanderWal(HarvardUniversity)
Acorepurposeofhumanlanguageistoconveyinformationaboutevents.Inmanylanguagesthe
informationabout‘whodidwhat’isencodedinthesyntaxbygrammaticalrolessuchassubjectand
objectthatlicensetheoccurrenceofnominalsintheclause.Theserolesarealsoatthebasisofmany
typologicalgeneralisationsandtheoreticalmodelsofnominallicensing.However,theydonotseemthat
importantatallinthegrammarofBantulanguages(spokeninsub-SaharanAfrica),posingachallenge
formodelsbasedontheseroles.Instead,itappearsthattherelativediscoursesalienceofarguments
affectsnominallicensingatamorefundamentallevelthaninmanywell-studiedEuropeanlanguages:
whetherareferentisgiveninformation,orcontrastedwithanalternativecandeterminewordorder,
morphologyandsyntacticoperations.
Buildingonlastyear’sACALplenarybyJeffGood,inthislectureIfirstindicatehowBantulanguagesare
problematicforourcurrenttheoryofnominallicensingbyexaminingarangeofphenomenaintheareas
of1.agreement(subjectandobjectmarking),2.dependentmarking(tonecases,augment),and3.
valency(passive,applicative,adverbial/argumentdistinction).Theseallshowthattraditionalnominal
licensing(Case,grammaticalroles)isunsatisfactoryasanexplanation,butthatatthesametimethere
aresyntacticrestrictionsonnominals.Thesecondpartofthelecturesuggestsanalternativelicensing
systembasedongrammaticaliseddiscoursesalience,andoutlineshowthiscouldbestudied.
Vocalogenesis in (Central) Chadic Languages
H.EkkehardWolff(UniversityofLeipzig)
Whydoesn’tthecomparativemethodworkforvowelsin(Central)Chadic?Whydopresent-dayChadic
languageshavesuchdisparatevowelsystemswithbetweenonlyone(orevennone)and17vowels?Are
there,indiachronicperspective(andpossiblysynchronicallyunderlying),any‘true’vowelsin(Central)
Chadic,orarewedealingwithasetof[±syll]‘vocoids’fromthestartratherthanwith[+syll]‘vowels’?
Whereandhowdo‘weakradicals’(asknownfromSemiticscholarship)and‘long
components’/‘prosodies’(palatalization,labialisation,singleandcombined)comein,whichappearto
sometimesaffectsurfacevowels,sometimesconsonants,andsometimesboth–acrosssyllablesandthe
word?ThesearesomeofthequestionsthatcoulddrivecomparativeChadicistsinsane.
Intheplenarytalk,Iwillpresentadiachronictheoryof‘vocalogenesis’for(atleast:Central)Chadicto
explainhowlanguageswithnooronlyonevowel,underlyingand/orarrivedatbyinternal
reconstruction,couldbeassumedtoendupwithtenormorevowelsinsynchronicdescriptions.–My
renewedinterestintheseissueswastriggeredbyRichardGravina’schallengingstudyonThePhonology
ofProto-CentralChadic.TheReconstructionofthePhonologyandLexiconofProto-CentralChadic,and
theLinguisticHistoryofCentralChadicLanguages(PhDdissertation,LeidenUniversity,2014.)
5
Tone in the Luyia Varieties of Western Kenya and Eastern Uganda
MichaelR.Marlo(UniversityofMissouri)
TheLuyialanguagesofwesternKenyaandeasternUgandahavesomeofthemostcomplicatedsystems
oftonalmorphologyamongBantulanguages.Luyiavarietiescommonlyhave7-8ormoreinflectional
tonalpatternsinverbs,andasmanyas12arereportedinoneMarachidialect,possiblymarkingthe
peakcomplexitywithinBantu.
AlthoughsegmentalandlexicaldifferencesamongLuyiavarietiestendtoberelativelyminor,thereis
considerablediversityamongLuyiaverbaltonalsystems.EasternvarietieslikeIdakhoandTachonihave
historicallyconservativesystemswithacontrastbetween/H/and/Ø/verbroots.Intheselanguages,
sometensesareinflectedwitha‘melodicH’thatlinkstoapositionatoneoftheedgesofthestem,e.g.
secondmora,finalvowel.SouthwesternLuyiavarietieslikeKhayoandSaamiahavedevelopedintosocalled‘predictable’systemsinwhichtherearenolexicalcontrastsinverbroots,andalltensesare
inflectedwithamelodictone.YetotherLuyiavarietieshavehybridproperties,withalexicalcontrast
betweentwotonaltypesofroots,andamelodictonalinflectioninallverbforms.Someofthese
systems,e.g.NyoleandNyalaEast,appeartohaveinvertedrootHtonesassynchronically/L/,while
others,e.g.BukusuandWanga,aremoreambiguousastowhetherhistorically*Hverbrootsare
synchronically/H/or/L/.
ThroughoutBantu,nominaltoneislesswellstudiedthanverbaltone,duetothefactthatnounsare
morphologicallysimplerandtendnottohaveinflectionalalternations.However,emergingresearch
suggeststhatatleastsomeLuyianountonesystemsrivaltheirverbaltonesystemsincomplexity.For
instance,eightdistinctlexicaltonalpatternsareattestedindisyllabicnounstemsinthecentralLuyia
varietyWanga—ahistoricaldoublingofthefourpatternsreconstructedforProto-Bantu(LL,HH,LH,HL).
TwopatternssurfaceallLinphrase-finalposition:tonelessomu-limi‘farmer’vs.L-finalaxasì‘maternal
cousin’.Thesetwopatternsdistinguishthemselvesphrase-medially.Threeothertonepatternsare
characterizedbyasingleHthatoc-cupiesdifferentpositions:eʃi-láaro‘shoe’vs.omu-laáme‘heir’vs.ikoofyá‘hat’.ThreefurtherpatternsarecharacterizedbytwoHs,againdifferinginthepositionsofthe
Hs:eʃi-muúꜜná‘squir-rel’vs.eʃiꜜ́-túúyu‘rabbit’vs.liiꜜ́-téété‘grasshopper’.
AsseemstobethenorminLuyia,thereisalsosignificantinternaldiversityinthelexicaltonalpatterns
ofnouns.Forexample,fourmainlexicalpatternsareattestedinBukusu.Thereisthefamiliartoneless
pattern,e.g.omu-limi‘farmer’.TheotherthreepatternshaveaHontheaugment,anddifferfromone
anotherinwhetherthereisasecondHonthestem,and,ifso,itslocation:kúmu-xono‘arm’vs.kúmuxomwá‘whip’vs.kúmu-βáno‘knife’(realizedaskúmú-βánoduetoaruleofplateau).
Thistalkaimstobeginthechallengingtaskofexplainingthediversificationandcomplexificationof
modernLuyiatonesystems.
6
Relativization in Kaakye
LevinaAbunya(UniversityofGhana)
E.KwekuOsam(UniversityofGhana)
Thispaperdescribesrelativeclauses(RC)inKaakye.ItshowsthatKaakyeRCispostnominalandthe
headanditsreferentwithintheRCareobligatorilyexpressed.Kaakyeusespronounretentionandgap
strategiestoindicatethepositionstheheadoccupiesintheRC.Withpronounretention,aresumptive
pronounco-referencestheheadinperson,numberandanimacytostatethereferentoftheheadwithin
theRC.AllNPpositionsontheAccessibilityHierarchyarerelativizable.Kaakyeemploysthe‘bracketing
device’inrelativizationwheretwoenclosingrelativemarkersareplacedatthebeginningandendofthe
RC.Evidencefromthelanguagesuggeststhattherelativemarkershavedevelopedfrom
demonstratives.
Phonemic Quality Distinction in Normal and Perturbed Speech in Twi
KofiAduManyah(KNUST,Kumasi,Ghana)
Non-pathologicalperturbedspeechisexamined.Previousstudiesindicatethatconsonantlengthening
aftershortvowelsmaycontributetoenhancingphonologicaldistinction.Whathappenstoquantity
distinctionunderincreasedspeakingrateconditionsandthecompressionthatmeasuredparameters
mightundergo?
Theoverwhelmingevidencefromacousticdatashowsthatincreaseinspeechrateleadstoa
compressionofabsolutedurationsofvowelsaswellaspost-vocalicconsonants.Irrespectiveofthe
expansionorcompressionoftheacousticsignal,phonemicquantitydistinctionemergesconsistentlyin
theVCdomain,andseemsindeedtobearobustphonologicalfeatureintheTwilanguage.
Adjectives in Sɛlɛɛ
YvonneAgbetsoamedo(UniversityofGhana)
ThispaperdescribesthevariousmeansbywhichpropertiesattributedtoentitiesareexpressedinSɛlɛɛ,
aGhana-TogoMountains(GTM),Kwa(Niger-Congo)languagespokenbythepeopleofSantrokofiinthe
VoltaRegionofGhana.Sɛlɛɛhasthreegroupsofadjectives:(a)twounderivedadjectives,kplɛ‘big’and
lɛ‘good’;(b)adjectivesderivedfromverbsbyaddingenclitic–letotheverbroot;forinstancetheverb
sɛɛ‘toberipe’becomessɛɛle‘red’;and(c)alargegroupofideophonicadjectiveswhichischaracterized
byreduplicativestemsandlongvowels.Theseincludekpɔlɔkpɔlɔ‘slippery’,kpalakpala‘sour’andtiii
‘rigid’.
7
Rhetorical Ecologies Driving Linguistic Change in West Africa
G.EdzordziAgbozo(MichiganTechnologicalUniversity)
TolulopeOdebunmi(MichiganTechnologicalUniversity)
In WestAfricaof the 21stcentury code-switching andpidginhavemovedfrom beingusedfor informal
conversationsto beingrhetorical tropes,especially inmarketingads.MTN,atelecommunication
company,showsthisintheirad:
MTN,e-debeekeke
MTN,it-isbeautiful[Ga-Adagme]just
MTN,itisjustbeautiful.
ApoliticalpartyinGhanausedthisexpressionastheir2012and2016campaignslogan–NDC,edebee
keke.Herethereisacode-switchingamongGa-Adagme,GhanaianPidginandEnglishacronym.This
studypointstoachangingpatternoflanguageuseandoffersanewperspectiveofthedecolonial
projectincontemporaryWestAfrica.
Event Semantics of Akan Separation Verbs
DorothyAgyepong(UniversityofCapeTown)
Separationverbscanbeclassifiedintotwomaincategories;CUTandBREAK.CUTverbslexicalizea
causalagentwhereasBREAKverbsdonot.Forthisreason,BREAKverbsandnotCUTverbsareableto
participateinthecausative/inchoativealternation.Thispaperexaminesthesemanticpropertiesof
theseverbsinAkan,Kwa(Niger-Congo)andarguesthatdatafromAkanshowsomedeviationsfromthis
claim.InthepresenceofcertaintypesofNPs,thequintessentialBREAKverbbehavessemanticallyand
syntacticallylikeCUTverbsandviceversa.Thepaperpresentsthevariouscontextsofsuchdeviations.
Consonant Mutation in Esahie
GeorgeAkanlig-Pare(UniversityofGhana,Legon)
VictoriaOwusu-Ansah(UniversityofGhana,Legon)
Esahie,alsoknownasSewhi,isaTano/Central-ComoelanguageofthebroaderKwalanguagefamily
whichisspokenintheSouth-easternpartofGhana,andpartsoftheIvoryCoast.Itdisplaysacomplex
seriesofconsonantalternationsknownasconsonantmutationintherealizationofallomorphsof
morphemes.Unlikeassimilatoryprocesseswheresoundsinadjacentpositionsexertchangeinfluences
oneachotherbasedonfeaturaldifferencesperse,inthecaseofconsonantmutation,thesound
changesareinducednotsomuchbysuchfeaturaldifferences,butprimarilybymorpho-syntactic
functions.Inthispresentation,weexaminevoicing,strictureandplacemutationsthataretriggeredin
theprocessofmarkingnumberinnominalsaswellastense/aspectinflectiononverbsinthislanguage.
8
The Syllable Structure of Bùlì Words
GeorgeAkanlig-Pare(UniversityofGhana)
ThispaperdiscussesthestructureofthesyllableinBùlì,aGurlanguagespokeninthenorthernpartof
Ghana.ItcontendsthatthemaximalsyllableinthelanguageisaCV-syllableandthateventhoughat
thesurfacelevel,CVC-syllabletypesarerealized,thesearemostlysurfacealternatesofdisyllabicCVCV
forms.InthesurfaceCVCform,therealizationofthecodaisalsoconstrained.Onlythreenasalsandtwo
obstruentsoutof23consonantsmayoccurhere.Amongthem,onlyone,anasaliscoronal,andtheone
whichhastheleastincidenceofoccurrence.ApparentVCandV-syllabletypesarealsonormally
articulatedwithaglottalstopinonsetpositionandinloanwordswithcoda,suchcodaarere-syllabified
intoonsetthroughepenthesis.VC-syllablescharacteristicallyhavethe[Coronal,+Anterior]nasalinthe
coda,whichinnormalspeechnasalizesthevowelandgetsdeleted.FurtherevidenceinsupportofaCVsyllabletypeforBùlìisderivedfromcomparingcognatesfromcloselyrelatedGurlanguages.Wherein
Bùlì,thesecognatesarerealizedasCVC,intherelatedlanguages,theyareCVCV-syllableforms.
The Typology of NC Sequences in Central Tano
AkinbiyiAkinlabi(RutgersUniversity)
AugustinaOwusu(RutgersUniversity)
TheCentralTanolanguagesofGhanaandCoteD’Ivore,includingAkan,Nzima,Anyi,BauleandAnuf,
havevaryingdegreesofalternationinNCsequences.Inthispaperwediscussthevariationamongthe
languages.InAkan,voicedobstruentsbecomenasals,keepingtheirunderlyingplacesofarticulation.
Voicelessobstruentsontheotherhandarefaithfultotheirunderlyingforminvoicing,nasalityandplace
ofarticulation.InAnyi,voicedobstruentsbecomenasals,asinAkan.However,voicelessobstruents
becomevoicedafterthenasal,unlikeAkan.Finally,affricates,voicedorvoiceless,resistchange.The
factsofNzimaformsarebroadlysimilartothoseofAnyi.However,onlytherelicsoftheNCalternation
remaininBaule,whereonlythelabialobstruent[b]completelychangesto[m]afternasals.Thefactsof
thefourlanguagesareaccountedforwithinteractionsthesamesetofmarkednessandfaithfulness
constraints.
An OT Analysis of Consonant Deletion in Ìjẹ̀ṣà Yorùbá
VictorT.Alabi(IndianaUniversity)
IexamineconsonantdeletioninÌjẹ̀ ṣàdialectofYorùbáusingOptimalityTheory.TheYorùbálanguage,a
memberoftheBenue-CongolanguagefamilyisspokenasalinguafrancainSouth-WestNigeria.Several
Yorubadialectsarespokeninthisregion,e.g.theÌjẹ̀ sàdialect,spokenbythepeopleinIléṣà,Ọ" ṣunState.
Icomparethe(Standard)YorùbáandÌjẹ̀ ṣàYorùbáexploringthedeletionsofglide/w/andliquid/r/
beforeanyroundedvowelinÌjẹ̀ ṣàYorùbáwith*Onset-W:assignaconstraintviolationforthe
consonant/w/;and*Onset-R:assignaconstraintviolationfortheconsonant/r/;beingthehighest
rankedconstraints.
9
Saving the Face of Kings: The Ideology of Superiority in Yorùbá
Discourse
YewandeAluko(IndianaUniversity)
ThispaperisaresearchintotheideologyofsuperiorityreflectedinsomeYorùbáproverbs,idomatic
expressions,euphemisms,andcircumlocutions,employedinsomespeechevents.ApplyingFairclough
andvanDijk'sapproachestoCriticalDiscourseAnalysisandMey'sPerspectivizationondatacollected
fromnativespeakersoftheYorùbálanguage,novelssituatedintheYorùbáculture,andYorùbáMovies,
itwasobservedthatsomeofthesecommunicationstrategieswerenotonlyreflectingpolitenessbutare
alsoideologicalrepresentationsofsuperiority,andthisindexicalizesthevaluetheYorùbáplaceson
positionandstatus.
Focus Construction in Ibibio
OgbonnaAnyanwu(UniversityofUyo)
AaronNwogu(UniverisityofCalabar)
MarkOrji(UniveristyofCalabar)
ImmaculateOkoro(UniveristyofUyo)
TheIbibiofocusconstructionspresentasyntacticprocessthatmovesthefocusconstituenttotheleft
periphery,thusallowingfocusedmaximalprojections(i.e.elementsofthetypeXP)tosurfaceattheleftadjacentpositiontothemorphemeke,thefocusmarkerleavinganemptycategoryintheIP-internal
positionItisarguedinthepaper,thatthefocusstrategyinIbibiorequiresaleftwardmovementofthe
focusedconstituentintothespecifierorheadpositionofafunctionalprojectionsFocPwhosehead,Foc
isspecifiedas[+F].ItisfurtherproposedthatIbibiofocusconstituentsaresubjectedtoalicensing
conditionthatissatisfiedinovertsyntax(i.e.atPF)withtherequirementthatanyconstituentspecified
as[+F]mustbeinSpec-Headconfigurationwitha[+F]headandvice-versa.Itisundersucha
symmetricalcheckingdomainthatthefocusedconstituentmustraiseinovertsyntaxtocheckitsfocus
features(Aboh2004;Rizzi1991,1996,1997;Brody1990;Chomsky1995).
Male and Female Parents’ Indigenous Occupational Roles and
Intergenerational Transfer of Indigenous Vocabulary: Evidence from
Igbo
OgbonnaAnyanwu(UniversityofUyo)
AaronNwogu(UniverisityofCalabar)
MarkOrji(UniveristyofCalabar)
ImmaculateOkoro(UniveristyofUyo)
Thepaperexaminesmaleandfemaleparents’indigenousoccupationalrolesandtheirinfluenceon
intergenerationaltransferofindigenousIgbovocabularyitems.Thedataforthestudyweregathered
frommaleandfemalerespondentsbetweentheagesof15to25yearswholivewithbothparents
engagedinindigenousoccupationsinthesub-urbanareasofthecapitalcitiesofthefiveSouth-Eastern
StatesofNigeriawhereIgboisindigenouslyspoken.Thefindingsofthestudyrevealthatthereis
evidenceofendangermentofindigenousIgbovocabularyitemsassociatedwithbothmaleandfemale
10
indigenousoccupationalactivities.Boththemaleandfemalerespondentshadhigherperformance
percentagescoresintheirknowledgeandidentificationofindigenouslexicalitemspeculiartothe
womenoccupation.Thefemalerespondentshowever,hadhigherperformancepercentagescoresin
thelexicalitemsassociatedwiththemen/womenoccupationalactivitieshence,itisthefemales,that
constitutestrongagentsintheintergenerationaltransferoftheIgbolanguage.
Linguistic Genocide Against Development of Signed Languages in
Africa
EmmanuelAsonye(UniversityofNewMexico,Albuquerque)
MaryEdward(UniversityofBrighton,Easbourne)
GeorgelineEzinne(SavetheDeafandEndangeredLanguagesInitiative)
NdidiAnike(SavetheDeafandEndangeredLanguagesInitiative)
ThispaperarguesthattheAfricanDeafcommunitiesarerichinsignedlanguageswhichhavecontinued
tosufferfromlackofdevelopmentduetolinguisticgenocide;itarguesthatAfricansignedlanguages
haveuniquegrammaticalstructuresdeservingtobedeveloped,anddemonstratepatternsoftheeffects
oflinguisticgenocideonsignedlanguagesinAfricaandtheirusers.Amultidisciplinaryapproachwas
usedinthedatacollectionandanalyses-simplequestionnairesandinterviewsfromdeafindividuals,
deafeducatorsandsignlanguageinstructors.Findingsshowthatthesesignlanguageshavedeveloped
uniquestructuralfeaturesdistinctfromtheASLoranyotherimposingsignlanguage.
Automated Classification of Ideophonic Sound Patterns in Wolof
RebekahBaglini(StanfordUniversity)
ArthurHjorth(NorthwesternUniversity)
CommoninAfricanlanguages,ideophonesaremarkedwordswhichiconicallydepictsensory
experiences.Becauseoftheirnon-arbitraryform-meaningassociations,ideophonestendtohave
unusualphonotacticsThisprojectusescomputationaltoolsBayesianclassificationtoinvestigatethe
degreetowhichphonotacticfeaturesdistinguishideophonesfromnon-ideophonicverbsinWolof
(NigerCongo,AtlanticBranch;Eth:Wo).Weextractedasetofthreedistinctphoneticfeaturesfroma
corpusof200+ideophonesand900+non-ideophonicverbsdrawnfromtheWolofWikipedia.Using
thesefeatures,wetrainedandtestedaBayesianclassifierandfoundthatitwasabletoidentify
ideophoneswithahighlevelofaccuracy.
An HG Analysis of Word-Final Vowel Deletion and Reduction in
Gulmancema
MaggieBaird(DartmouthCollege)
Gulmancema(Gur,BurkinaFaso)displaysanoveralldispreferenceforword-finaltensevowelsphrasemedially.Repairsincludevowelreductionandvoweldeletion,whichvarybothacrossandwithin
phonologicalcontexts.Thisworkwillprovideanoverviewofthecomplexdatapatternsanddescribea
weightedconstraintapproachtothedatapatternsusingaMaximumEntropyHarmonicGrammar.
11
Weightedconstraintsarepreferredtorankedconstraintsduetovariabilityinthedataandtoaccount
forcasesofconstraintganging,includingsuperadditivity.
Word Order in Senufo Nafara DPs
BertilleBaron(GeorgetownUniversity)
SenufoNafaraDPsshowtheparticularlyrareunmarkedwordorder[NAPDefDemNumeral].Inthis
cartographicaccount,theproposedderivationusesroll-upandspec-to-specmovementoperationsto
generatethiswordorder(Aboh2004,Cinque2005).Thisanalysisreliesontwomainclaims:thereisan
inflectionaldomainƩPunderNuminwhichmodifiersareinthespecifierpositionoftheirownfunctional
projections(Aboh2004);andEPP-featuresaregeneralizedtoalluɸ-features(Baker2003,Carstens
2005).ThisanalysisbuttressesAboh’sworkonGbeandshowspromiseinaccountingforotherWest
AfricanlanguagesshowingrareDP-internalwordorders.
The Rusty Speaker Paradox: Nyang’i Personal Pronouns and Semispeaker-based Language Description
SamuelBeer(UniversityofColoradoBoulder)
Insemi-speaker-basedlanguagedescription,formsfoundinfreeornaturalspeech(e.g.innarratives)
areoftenmorereliablethanformsproducedunderduress(i.e.indirectelicitation).Ontheotherhand,
semi-speakers’useofavoidancestrategiesinnarrativesoftenmeansthatparadigmsbasedonnarrative
dataareinevitablyincomplete.UsingthepersonalpronounsystemofNyang’i(Kuliak,Uganda),a
languagerememberedbyasinglesemi-speaker,Iillustratetheabovemethodologicalparadoxand
exploretheutilityofcomparativeandinternalreconstructioninharmonizingdatacollectedviathe
disparatemethods.
“We’re All Speaking Gibberish Here:” Discourses of Speakerhood in
Iyasa
AnnaBelew(UniversityofHawaii)
ThispaperpresentsaninvestigationoflanguageideologiesregardingspeakerstatusinIyasa,an
endangeredBantulanguageofCameroonandEquatorialGuinea.Usingadiscourse-analyticapproachto
datafromsociolinguisticinterviews,thisstudyexaminesthewaysinwhichIyasapeopleconstructthe
identityof‘good’or‘authentic’speakerhood—suchaspositioningrural,elderlymenaslanguage
authorities—andthewaysinwhichlocallanguageideologiesmaycomeintoconflictwiththosebrought
alongbyanoutsideacademicresearcher.Finally,thisstudyconsiderstheimplicationsoflocalideologies
ofspeakerhoodforconductingeffectivelanguagedocumentationandrevitalization.
12
Atypical Opacity in Rutooro Phonology
LeeBickmore(UniversityofAlbany)
Rutooro,aUgandanBantulanguage,exhibitsbothMidVowelHarmony,whereahighvowellowersto
midwhentheprecedingvowelismid,aswellasConsonantMutation,wherecertainsuffixesinduce
lenitionoftheimmediatelyprecedingconsonant.Giventhedescriptionsofthesetwoprocesses,they
arguablystandinableedingrelationship.ButwhatactuallyresultsinRutooroareformswhichare
neithertheresultofthebleedingorcounterbleedingofthesetworules.Itisarguedthatresulting
opaquesurfaceforms,unlesssomewhatarbitrarilycomplicated,exemplifyanatypicalopacity,andare
problematicforbothrule-basedandconstraint-basedaccounts.
Bafut Loanwords: An Optimality Theory Analysis
KathyAnnBirnschein(BaptistCollegeofMinistry)
InthispaperIanalyzeEnglishloanwordsfromBafut(Tamanji2009),anEasternGrassfieldsBantu
languageofCameroon,usinganOptimalityTheoreticalframework.IdemonstratethatBafuthasfour
inviolableconstraintsthatdisallowconsonantclusters,requireaminimumwordlength,limitthesyllable
codatoanasal,andrequirethattheleftedgeofthestemalignitselfwiththeleftedgeofthesyllable.It
employsvowelepenthesisandconsonantdeletiontoresolveconsonantclustersintheonsetandcoda,
respectively,andsorequiresthreeviolableconstraintsrankedwithrespecttoeachotherandbelowthe
inviolableconstraints.
Tamanji,Pius.2009.AdescriptivegrammarofBafut.
http://www.africananaphora.rutgers.edu/images/stories/downloads/casefiles/bafutgs.pdf(Accessed6July,2016)
Comparative Constructions in Tafi
MercyBobuafor(UniversityofGhana)
Thispaperdescribesconstructionsforcodingsimilarity,equalityorsuperiorityamongtwoormore
entitiesinTafi,aKA-Ghana-Togo-Mountainlanguage.SuperiorityandequalityareexpressedinSVCs:V1
denotesthePARAMETERwhiletheV2s(‘exceed’and‘be.equal’)co-lexicaliseboththeMARKandINDEX
ofthecomparison.Similarityinvolvesverblesstopic-commentstructures,theconnectivenânsí‘like.say’
whichmarksandindexestheSTANDARDortheverbyi‘resemble’astheMARKandINDEXlinkingthe
COMPAREEandtheSTANDARD.Comparisoncanalsobeinferredfromverbssuchasbusó‘do.first’.Tafi
doesnotformallycodeasuperlative.Itisinferred.
Optional Past Tense in Wolof
M.RyanBochnak(LeipzigUniversity)
MartinaMartinovic(LeipzigUniversity)
Wediscussthetensemorpheme(w)ooninWolof(Niger-Congo),wheretenseisnotanobligatory
category.Plungian&vanderAuwera(2006)analyze(w)oonas“discontinuouspast”,meaningroughly
“pastandnotpresent”.Weargue(w)oondenotesaplainpasttense,similartooptionaltensesinthe
NativeAmericanlanguagesWashoandTlingit,andthatthemeaning“...andnotpresent”isacessation
13
implicature,whichcanbedefeated,arisingduetotheexistenceoftenselessclauses.Ouranalysisadds
tothemountingcross-linguisticevidencethat“discontinuouspast”doesnotexistasagrammatical
category,butratherthatcessationinferencesareduetotheoptionalityofpastmarking.
Intensifying Ideophones in Three Luhya Languages
MargitBowler(UCLA)
JohnGluckman(UCLA)
Ideophonesaredescribedas“markedwordsthatdepictsensoryimagery”(Dingemanse2011:25);they
arearedocumentedinmanylanguages,particularlyinAfrica(Voeltz&Killian-Hatz2001,Hintonetal.
1994,amongothers).Ideophoneshavereceivedrelativelylittleattentionintheformalliterature,
despitetheinterestingpuzzlesthattheyraisefortheoriesofmorphology,syntax,andsemantics.We
provideacasestudyofideophonesinthreeLuhyalanguages(Luragooli,Lunyore,andLutiriki:Bantu,
Kenya),showthattheydifferfromotherdocumentedideophonesystemsinAfrica,giveadegree-based
proposalfortheirsemanticcontribution,anddiscussthetheoreticalpuzzlesthattheyraise.
Tone, Orthographies, and Phonological Depth in African Languages
MichaelCahill(SILInternational)
MarkingoftoneinAfricanorthographiesisachallenge,notonlyforanalyticalreasons,butalsobecause
mostdesignersofthesehavebeeneducatedinanon-tonallanguage.Thispaperreviewsvariousways
thatbothlexicalandgrammaticaltonearemarkedinseveralEastandWestAfricanlanguages,aswellas
whentoneisnotmarked.InlightofmorerecentphonologicaltheorythanChomskyandHalle(1968),I
examinethephonologicallevelatwhichtonemarkingshouldbebased,bothforunderlyingtonesand
fortheresultsoftonerules.Finally,Iclosewithtentativerecommendationsfororthographical
implementations.
Nguni Phrase-Final Focus Particles and Antisymmetry Theory
VickiCarstens(SouthernIllinoisUniversity)
JochenZeller(UniversityofKwaZulu-Natal)
ZuluandXhosaexpress'only'withthephrase-finalparticlekuphela.
(1)
Ngu-Sipho
kuphelao-ya-sebenza
kuphela.
COP.AUG-1a.Siphoonly 3S.REL-DISJ-cook
only
'It'sonlySiphowhoonlyworks'
Weshowthatkuphelamustc-commanditsassociate,likeEnglish'only'.Thatkuphelaappearstothe
associate'srightisaseriouschallengeforantisymmetrytheory(Kayne1994)underwhichhierarchy
mapsinvariantlyintolinearorder.WealsoshowthatrecentLCA-inspiredapproachestophrase-final
particlesfail(seeBiberaueretal2014,Erlewine2016)andconcludethatkuphelaisanadjunctexempt
fromtheLCA(Takano2003).
14
Vowel Processes in Gusii
JonathanChoti(MichiganStateUniversity)
ThistalkisadescriptionandanalysisofvowelprocessesinGusii,arelatively under-describedBantu
languageofKenya.Thetargetphonologicalprocessesareobservedacrossadjacent morphemes and
words. This work accounts for these alternations in terms ofphonetic and phonological
conditioning. The relevant processes include fusion, gliding,deletion,harmony,lengthening,and
insertion.Theseareillustratedin(a-e):
a./e-bi-ino/
à[ebi:no] (fusion)
AUG-CL7-tooth
‘smallteeth’
b./o-mo-ana/
à[omwa:na](gliding,lengthening)
AUG-CL1-child
‘child’
c./o-go-soom-i-a
à[ogoso:mi](deletion)
AUG-CL15-teach-CAUS-FV ‘toteach,teaching’
d./ó-mo-kɔ́/ à[ɔ́mɔ̀kɔ́] (harmony)
AUG-CL1-brother/sister-in-law
‘brother/sister-in-law’
e./N-tom-e/
à[(i)ntome](insertion)
1SG-send-FV
‘Isend’
Rural vs. Urban Zulu: The Loss of yi in Reduplication
ToniCook(UniversityofVermont)
ThispaperpresentsZuludatafromruralandurbanareasofSouthAfrica’sKwaZulu-Natalprovince.The
variableinquestionisword-internalyiinthereduplicationofmonosyllabicverbstems.Theresultsshow
thatyiisstratifiedalongsociolinguisticlines,withthismorphemebeinglostinreduplicationamong
urbanspeakers.Althoughthesespeakersretainyiintheimperativeofmonosyllabicverbs,itis
unavailableinreduplication.Alongwitharural-urbandivide,thedatasuggestanageeffectaswell,with
youngerruralspeakerslesslikelytoproduceoracceptreduplicationscontainingyithanolderrural
speakers.Thistrendindicatesthatratherthanstablevariation,itisbetterunderstoodasachangein
progress.
A Phonetic Study of Yoruba Vowel Deletion: A Case of Incomplete
Neutralization?
NickDanis(RutgersUniversity)
AphoneticstudyofYorubavoweldeletion(/CV1+V2/→[CV2])showsthatthevowelthatremainsafter
deletionisslightlybutsignificantlylongerthanashortvowelinnon-deletionalcontexts(p<0.001).The
experimentcontrolledforinherentvoweldurationandvoicing/mannerofarticulationofthe
surroundingconsonants.Previousphonologicalaccounts(e.g.Akinlabi&Oyebade1987;OlaOrie&
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Pulleyblank2002)analyzethisprocessasfullvoweldeletion,butbecausetheresultingvowelis
incompletelyneutralizedwithasimplevowel,alternativeanalysesarediscussed.Thisalsorelatestoa
similarresultwithYorubatone(Ajíbóyèetal.2011)inthesamesyntacticconfiguration.
Did SA’s Political Parties Promote ‘Multilingualism’ During the Last
Elections?
ThaboDitsele(TshwaneUniversityofTechnology)
ThespiritofSouthAfrica’sConstitutionisthat‘multilingualism’shouldbepromotedasameansto
fostersocialcohesionandnation-building,withaviewtouniteitspeopleinacountrywithacenturieslonghistoryofracialsegregation.However,EnglishandAfrikaansremainthecountry’sdominant
languages.Thisstudyaimedatinvestigatingtheextenttowhichpoliticalpartiesusedthecountry’s11
officiallanguagestopromote‘multilingualism’duringthelastelectionsheldonAugust3,2016.Data
weregatheredinTshwane(orgreaterPretoria)andfocusedonthebiggestpoliticalpartiesinTshwane.
Pieces of the Periphery: A Glance into the Cartography of Ibibio's CP
Domain
John-PatrickDoherty(UniversityofKansas)
Cartographicstudiesoftheleftperipheryidentifyaconstantorderingofphrasesattheclausaledge.
ThisorderishypothesizedastheresultofapredeterminedfunctionalsequencethatispartofUniversal
Grammar.Proposalsforthisuniversalsequencemaketestablepredictionsabouttheorderingof
projectionswithinanyCP.Thesephrasesarevisiblethroughactivationbysyntacticphenomenathat
makethemovert.Ibibio(Niger-Congo)featuresaricharrayofperipheralelementsandstructure.The
relativeorderingofthephrasesinIbibioexaminedherereflectsproposeduniversalunderlying
hierarchicalstructureoftheleftperiphery,butmayrequireadditionalprojections.
Elucidating Dogon Prosodic Structures: The Case of Liquid ‘FlipFrops’ in Beni (Dogon)
MichaelDow(UniversitédeMontréal)
ChrisGreen(SyracuseUniversity)
RyanHendrickson(UniversityofMichigan)
LiquidsinBeni(Heath2009)aresubjecttostrictlinearrestrictionsacrosscertainroot-suffixboundaries,
whereallcombinationscollapseonto[l…r](e.g.,/ɔru-li/à[ɔli-ri]‘moist-INCH’).Thesepatternsare
particulartoderivationalmorphology(e.g.,[li:li]‘accompany’),andinflectionalsuffixesfailtotrigger
stemalternations.Inouranalysis,lateralizationfeedslateraldissimilation(e.g.,/ɔru-li/>|ɔli-li|>[ɔliri]).WelooktolateralizationandotherprocessesasevidenceofBeni’sprosodicstructure,wherethe
secondsyllableonsetpositionofwordsshowmetricalweakness,inlinewithprevioustrochaicanalyses.
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Prosodic Restructuring in Somali Nominals
LauraJ.Downing(UniversityofGothenburg)
MorganNilsson(UniversityofGothenburg)
ItisuncontroversialthatinSomalinomorethanoneHightonecanoccurperPhonologicalWord
(PWord).MoreproblematicistodeterminewhichmorphologicalconstructionscontributeaHightone
andtoprovideaformalaccountofthepositionandnumberofHightonesthatoccur.Preliminaryresults
ofourstudyoftheprosodyofnominalconstructions,basedonelicitationdata,showsthatsome
morphologicalconstructionsdonothavetheHightonepatternsexpectedfromworklikeHyman(1981),
Saeed(1999)andGreen&Morrison(2015).Weproposethepatternsaretheresultofprosodic
restructuring,whichappearstobetypicalofthesekindsoftonalsystems.
Herero Verb Tone
KristopherEbarb(UniversityofMissouri)
MilntraRaksachat(UniversityofMissouri)
ThistalkoverviewsthetonalphonologyofHereroverbs(Bantu,Namibia,R.30).Weidentifythreetonal
classesofverbs,anddescribetheeffectofthetoneclasses,inflectionaltonemelodies,andhigh-toned
affixesonverbalstemtonepatterns.Wealsodiscusstherelationshipoflexicaltoneclasseswitha
patternofsegmentalallomorphyrelatedtotense-marking.Someconstructions,e.g.theRecentPast,
areinflectedwithafinalvowel(FV)thequalityofwhichisdeterminedpartlybytheverb’stonalclass,
thenumberofstemsyllables,andtheidentityofthefinalconsonantandvoweloftheroot.
Tone Assimilation in Yorùbá Agentive Affixed Nominals
TaiwoEhineni(IndianaUniversity)
ThispaperexaminestoneassimilationinYorubaderivedcontexts.Basedondatawithinthecontextof
agentiveaffixedformsinYoruba,IarguethattoneassimilationinYorubaaffixedagentivenominalsis
influencedbythetonalitystructureofthebasewhereonlytheMLandMHverbbaseformsassimilate
tonefromanominalizingprefixandalsothetonalqualityoftheaffix.Thatis,prefixescarryingLowtone,
unlikeMidtoneprefixes,maytriggertoneassimilationwithintheaffixalconstruction.
A Pragmasemantic Investigation of Metaphor (Un)translatability in
Arabic Religious Discourse
KamelAElsaadany(GulfUniversityofScienceandTechnology)
Thisstudyinvestigatesmetaphor(un)translatabilityinQuran.Itaimstoanalyzedifferenttranslationsof
selectedmetaphorsinQuranandtoexploretheproblematicareasintranslatingthem.Itstheoretical
frameworkadoptsapragmasemanticapproachinanalyzingmetaphortranslationsintheQuran.The
studyfindingsshowthatthereisnoone-to-oneequivalencebetweenthemetaphoricelementsin
Arabic/English.TheprocessoftranslatingmetaphorsinQuranintoEnglishisproblematicbecauseofthe
linguisticandsocio-culturaldiversityofbothArabicandEnglish.Theprinciplesofconceptualmetaphor
theoryprovedsuitableforeverydaymetaphors,buttheyencountermanychallengesinrendering
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metaphorsinreligioustextsthatchallengetranslatorswhostruggletoconveytheintendedmeaningof
Quranicmetaphors.Thechallengeisclearforbothorientalandwesterntranslatorsofmetaphorsinthe
Quran.
Negotiating Identity through Personal Names among Nigerian
Pentecostals
NgoziUgoEmeka-Nwobia(EbonyiStateUniversity,Nigeria)
ApplyingFishman(2006)’sprincipleofSociologyofLanguageandReligionthepaperexploresthenexus
betweenPentecostalismasasubcultureanditseffectonpersonalnamesasalinguisticresourcefor
identityconstruction.Datafrom selectedPentecostalchurchesandschoolsinNigeriarevealashiftfrom
Africannamesthatreflectthelinguistic,philosophicalandgeographicalinformationofthename
giver/bearer.ThereisgrowinglinguisticpreferencefornamesinEnglishformsbutwithretentionof
indigenousthoughtpatterns.Thepaperarguesthatnames,justlikelanguageprovidemeansof
expressionofidentity;andreligionplaysapivotalroleinlanguageshiftandmaintenance.
The Syntax and Semantics of Akan HIT verbs
EmmaSarahEshun(UniversityofGhana)
ThispaperexploresthesyntacticandsemanticpropertiesofHITverbsinAkan,aKwa(Niger-Congo)
languagespokeninGhana.HITverbsinAkanexhibitmonomorphemic,serialverblexicalizationand
reduplicationproperties.Dowty(1991:576)arguesthatinThematicrolesasPrototype,theProto-roles
donotclassifyargumentsexhaustively,someargumentsmaysharethesamerole.Thestudyreveals
thatindeserializedconstructions,someinanimatesubjectentitiesuniquelyshareAgent/Instrumentrole
asunitaryelementanddisplayimpactofcausativecharacter.SomeHITconceptsalsoexhibit
polysemousdenotations.ThestudyusesdatafromvariouspublishedAkansources;FanteBible,novels
anddictionaries.
Towards a Unified Account for na in Akan
JamesEssegbey(UniversityofFlorida)
GaliaHatav(UniversityofFlorida)
GrammaticalaccountsofnainAkanidentify2differentforms:low-tonenà(LT-na)andhigh-tonená
(HT-na)towhichdifferentfunctionsareattributed.Wearguethatallusesofnaaresubcategoriesofa
super-category,Root-na.Root-nalinksthena-clausewithsomethinginthecommonground,i.e.,
somethingthatappearedinthepreviouscontextorispresupposed.ItisspelledoutasaLT-naorHT-na,
dependingonthekindoflinking.LT-namarksdiscoursecoherencerelationssuchasfocusandnarrativesequence.HT-naisanintensionalmarkerwhichlinkstimesorpossibleworlds.
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On the State Distinction and Case in Kabyle Berber
LydiaFelice(McGillUniversity)
InKabyle,nominalsmayappearintheFreeStateorConstructState.FreeStatenominalsare
characterizedbypresenceoftheprefixa-.ConstructStatenominalslackthisprefix.Nominalsinthe
FreeStateappearaspreverbalsubjects,complementsofcertainprepositions,andobjectsoftheverb.
NominalsintheConstructStateappearaspostverbalsubjectsandcomplementsofcertainprepositions.
IassumethattheFreeStatemorphemeisanintrinsiccasemarkeroccupyingK0.Nominalsinthe
ConstructStateareDPsthatmustbelicensedstructuralcase,whilenominalsintheFreeStateareKPs
thatreceivecasefromtheFSmorphemea-.IproposethattreatingtheFSvowelasK0accountsforthe
fulldistributionofFreeStateandConstructStatenominal.
Efik Nominal Tonal Alternations as Phrasal Morphology
EleanorGlewwe(UCLA)
CertainEfiknominalconstructionsexhibitfixedtonalmelodiesthatoverwritenouns’underlyingtones.
Previousanalysesofthesealternations(Welmers1973,Kim1974,Cook1985)arepurelyphonological.
Workinginaconstraint-basedframework,Iproposethatthetonalalternationsareactuallyphrasal
morphology(McPherson2014).Thetonalmelodiesareoverlaysencodedinlexicalizedconstructional
schemasthatrelateidiosyncraticphrasalphonologywithspecificsyntacticconstructions.The
constructionalschemasareenforcedbyconstraints.TheEfikcaseextendstheobservedrangeofphrasal
morphologybydemonstratingthatconstructionalschemaconstraintsandphonologicalconstraintscan
interacttodetermineaconstruction’ssurfacetones.
A Typological Study of Modality in the Luhya Languages.
JohnGluckman(UCLA)
MargitBowler(UCLA)
MichaelDiercks(PomonaCollege)
MauriceSifuna(KenyattaUniversity)
KelvinAlulu(UnitedStatesInternationalUniversityinNairobi)
WepresentacrosslinguisticstudyofmodalityinsixLuhyalanguages(Bantu,Kenya):Llogoori,
Lubukusu,Lunyore,Lusaamia,Lutiriki,andLuwanga.WeshowhowtheLuhyamodalsystemconforms
tothetypologyofNauze(2008)andalsochallengeshissystem.Ourdatacomefromoriginalfieldworkin
theUnitedStatesandKenya,andwerecollectedusingamodifiedversionofVanderKlok’s(2014)modal
fieldworkquestionnaire.Thisisthefirstin-depthdescriptivestudyofmodalityinBantu,anddirectly
contributestothebodyofresearchonmodaltypology(followinge.g.vanderAuweraandPlungian,
1998;Palmer,2001;vanderAuweraandAmmann,2011).
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Logophoricity and Coreference Constraints in Gengbe Attitude
Reports
ThomasGrano(IndianaUniversity)
SamsonLotven(IndianaUniversity)
WereportonnovelandpuzzlingfielddataconcerningclausalcomplementationinGengbe(Gbe,NigerCongo).Thecorepuzzleisthatalogophoricsubjectunder‘want’isobligatorilyboundbyanantecedent
intheimmediatelyhigherclausewhenthe‘want’-complementhaspotentialmoodbutobligatorily
boundbyanantecedentinamoreremoteclausewhenthe‘want’-complementhasjussivemood.We
documenttheseandrelatedfactsandconsidertheirimplicationsfortheoriesofcontrol,logophoricity,
andmood.Wearguethatcontrolcomplementsareproperty-denotingandthatlogophoricityand
jussivemoodaretwoindependentroutesforcreatingproperty-denotingclauses.
Towards a Typology of Tonal Compactness in Mande
ChristopherGreen(SyracuseUniversity)
Tonalcompactness(TC)involvestheneutralizationofthelexicaltonalmelodyofoneorbothelements
inmorphologicallycomplexwordsandsomephrases.OnlytwotypesofTCarereportedinthe
literature;thispaperproposestwoadditionaltypes.IshowthateachhasincommonthattheheadPWd
contributesitstonalmelodytothemaximalPWdencompassingthelargerconstruction.Themaximal
PWdreceivesthehead’stonalmelody,distributingitacrossotherelements;however,theoutcomesof
distributionandtheunitsacrosswhichtonesaredistributedaretype-specific.
Quantitative Methods in African Linguistics - Predicting Plurals in
Hausa
MatíasGuzmánNaranjo
LauraBecker
WewillpresentacasestudyonHausapluralclasses.Hausashowsanextremelycomplexpluralsystem,
withover40pluralmarkers,includingbrokenpluralsandreduplication,whichcanbegroupedinto15
majorclassesNewman(2000).Additionally,multiplenounsexhibitoverabundance.Weproposea
computationalimplementationofananalogicalmodelusingneuralnetworks.Weimplementthismodel
byusingformalfeaturesofthesingularformofthenouns:lastconsonant,lasttwovowels(withtheir
tone),thelengthofthesingularandtheCVstructureofthelastfoursegments.
Implications of Absolute Neutralisation on Harmonic Serialism: A
Jóola Case Study
AbbieHantgan(SOAS)
InJóolaBandialtheverbstems,[ɛ-xɔx]'totie',[na-xɔɣ-ɛ]'s/hetied'illustratethatthesameconsonant,
[x],inthecontextexpectedforthesametypeoflenition,thatbeingfollowingavowel,surfacesas[x]
andas[ɣ]respectively.Inthispaper,Iprovideanalternativeanalysisto(Bassène2012ː126)inwhich
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theunderlyingformofthisrootis/-kɔk/‘tie’,andthatthetwoprocessesoflenitionaresensitivetothe
applicationofstressinthelanguage.TheresultsarediscussedwithrespecttoHarmonicSerialism
(McCarthyJ.J.&PaterJ.2016).
McCarthyJ.J.&PaterJ.(Eds.).Duncan,G.J.,&Brooks-Gunn,J.(Eds.).(2016).HarmonicGrammar
andHarmonicSerialismAdvancesinOptimalityTheory.EquinoxPublishingLimited.
Bassène,M.(2012).MorphophonologyofJoolaEegimaa.PhDthesis,UniversityofMinnesota.
Prosody and Cohesion in Ékegusií (Kisii) Narrative
DanielW.Hieber(UniversityofCalifornia,SantaBarbara)
Thispapershowshowprosodicfeatureslendcohesiontodiscoursebysignalingthetransitionsfromone
unitofdiscoursetothenext,therelationsthatholdbetweenthem,andtheirrelativeprominence.I
examinesixprosodicfeaturesacross25narrativesinÉkegusií(Kisii),aGreatLakesBantulanguageof
Kenya–pause,vowelelision,prosodicaccent,pitchreset,isotony(intonationalparallelism),and
intonationalcontour.Iexemplifythewaysthesefeaturesdemarcateconceptuallycohesiveunitsof
discourse,createtiesbetweenonesegmentofdiscourseandanother,andindicatehow–andhow
closely–thenewdiscoursetopicrelatestotheoldone.
A Descriptive Overview of Noun Classes and the Morphosyntax of
Agreement in Zaramo
TobyHeiNokHung(GeorgetownUniversity)
Bantulanguagesareknownfortheirrichmorphosyntacticsystems.Thisdescriptiveprojecthighlights
agreementinZaramo(G33),apreviouslyundocumented,moribundlanguagespokenprimarilybythe
ZaramogroupinthePwaniandDaresSalaamregionsofEasternTanzania.Thepresentationwillbegin
withasystemoforganizingZaramonounclasses,includingtheirsemanticcategories,thenmoveonto
therulesthatgovernagreementmarking,particularlytheoccurrenceoftheobjectmarkerunder
differentvalencyconditionsintheverbalcomplex.Thefindingssuggestthatnounclassesand
agreementinZaramoarehighlysimilartoSwahili,despiteseveralkeydifferences.
Number and Animacy in the Teke Noun Class System
LarryM.Hyman(UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley)
FlorianLionnet(PrincetonUniversity)
ChristophèreNgolélé(UniversitéCatholiqued’AfriqueCentrale)
Inthispaper,wetracethedevelopmentofProto-BantunounclassesintoTeke(BantuB70,Ewodialect),
showingthatformalreflexesofclasses1,2,5-9,and14aredetectable.Wefurthershowthatanimacy,
abstractness,andnumberallowustodeterminethefateofclasses3,4,10,11andidentifythe
followingsingular/pluralgenders:1/2(animate<PB1/2,some9/10),1/8(inanimate,<PB3/4),14/8
(abstract,<PB14/8),5/6(<PB5/6),5/9(<PB11/10,with10>9merger),7/8(<PB7/8),and9/6(<PB9/6).
SuchreassignmentsprovideawindowintoprobingparallelnounclasschangesinotherNorthwest
BantuandNiger-Congoingeneral.
21
Sonorant Acquisition in Yoruba Child Phonology
AdebolaAyoolaIsaiah(KwaraStateUniversity)
Segmentalacquisitionhasuniversaldevelopmentalstagesandlanguage-particulardevelopmental
stages.InthispaperIaddresstheacquisitionofconsonantalsonorantsinwordsbyYorubachildren.I
showthatthereisaparticulardevelopmentalpatterncommontoallchildren.Thispatterncanbe
accountedforby(a)assumingtheemergenceofsegmentalmarkednessconstraints,(b)assumingthat
thereisaninterfacebetweenphoneticsandphonologyintheoutcomeofthechild’ssoundinventoryat
eachdevelopmentalstage,and(c)notingthatthesubstitutionofconsonantalsonorantsisdonewith
anotherconsonantalsonorantsbutnotobstruents.Irrespectiveofthevariationsamongchildren,the
systemicsimplificationmethodusedbyallchildreniscategorialsubstitution.
The Stative Morpheme in Kinyarwanda
KyleJerro
Idescribethestativemorpheme–ikinKinyarwanda(Bantu;Rwanda),whichhasanticausative,stative,
andpotentialreadings.Ipresentaformalsemanticanalysisof-ikasadetransitivizingmorphemein
whichthedifferentreadingsfollowfromverbmeaning,thetense/aspectoftheclause,andidiosyncratic
restrictionsoftheroot.ThelattermostfactisevidenceagainsttheBifurcationThesisofRoots
(BTR),whichproposesthatsyntacticrootscannotentailachange.Specifically,the–ikmorphemeisonly
availablewithrootswhichentailachange,anditisunexpectedontheBTRthattherootdeterminesthe
derivationalstrategy.
Presuppositions and Other Projective Contents in Kiswahili
JessiJordan(OhioStateUniversity)
ThisposterinvestigatespresuppositionprojectioninKiswahilibasedonfieldworkwithtwonative
speakerconsultants.Sixtriggersareexamined:kumaliza`tofinish',kuacha`tostop,toquit',kujua`to
know’,tenaàgain',pia`too',andappositivenounphrases(suchasmwalimuwangu`myteacher'or
kakangumdogo`mylittlebrother').Themethodologyfollowsdiagnosticsforprojectionproposedby
Tonhauseretal.2013,allowingforcross-linguisticcomparisonwiththeirreportsonthephenomenonin
EnglishandParaguayanGuaraní(TupíGuaraní).
Vowel Split in Kinshasa Lingala
PhilotheKabasele(UniversityofCalgary)
Thispaperinvestigatesthesplitof/o/into[o]and[u](hereins[o]ands[u])inKinshasaLingalaand
determineswhethersplits[o]/s[u]occupiesdifferentphoneticspacefromthealreadyexisting[o]/[u],
respectively.Thestudyinvestigateswhetherthissplitisprimaryorsecondary(Korchin,2013:614).A
PictureElicitationTaskwasadministeredto26participantstoelicitthedata.IusedPraattoextractthe
frequencymeasurementsofthevowels.IusedLobanov(1971)z-scoreformulatonormalizethedata.
Theresultsshowthat/o/isrealizedass[o]ors[u]whichhavemergedinto[o]and[u],respectively.
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The Semantics of -ILE in Nyamwezi
PonsianoS.Kanijo(UniversityofGothenburg)
NyamweziisoneoftheBantulanguagesinwhich-ileencodesaresultativereadingwithinchoative
verbs.Nevertheless,someinchoativeverbs,including“perception”verbs,postureverbsandthoseverbs
denotingmentalprocessingandphysicalcondition,donotneatlyencodearesultativereading.These
verbsgiveacontinuativereading,inwhichthereisnofinelineseparatingprioreventualityandthe
currentstate.Thesamecontinuativereadingoccurswithmotionverbs.Myanalysiswillprovidesome
insightsandgivefurtherevidenceontherelationshipbetweenresultativeandcontinuativereadings,
basedonelicitationdata.
Universal Quantification in the Nominal Domain in Kihehe
KellyKasper-Cushman(IndianaUniversity)
Thisstudyprovidesadescriptionoftheuniversalquantifiersmbe-ag2-li(‘all’)andkila(‘every’)in
Kihehe,aBantulanguagespokeninsouth-centralTanzania(G.62),andthuscontributestothescant
literatureonquantificationinBantulanguagesingeneral(Zerbian&Krifka2008).Followinga
descriptionofthepropertiesofthesequantifierswithintheNP,thisstudyanalyzeshowtheKihehedata
bearonthephenomenaofcollectivevs.distributiveinterpretationsandthepartitiveconstruction.
Finally,thisstudyarguesthattheKihehedatasupportMatthewson's(2001)hypothesisofnovariation
crosslinguisticallyinthesemanticsofquantifiers.
A-bar Agreement and the Tense-Aspect System in Bamileke
Medumba
HermannKeupdjio(UniversityofBritishColumbia)
A-baragreement(alsoknownaswh-agreement)isthemorphologicalreflexofA’-movement.Medumba
“tense-marking”morphemesaresensitivetoA’–extraction.IproposethatA-baragreementisamovebasedphasalAgreeoperation.Therefore,agreementispredictedtoappearancewithsubjectsas
subjectsmoveoncetoSpec-C.ExtractedobjectsfirstmovetotheedgeofvPwhereagreementis
reflectedonV,thentoSpec-CwhereagreementisreflectedonT.Whenthereismorethanonetensemarkingmorpheme,threeinstancesofA-baragreementarespelt-out.Iproposethatinthosecases,
thereisanintermediatephasebetweenCPandvPheadedbyα.Thus,theobjectcrosses3phases:first
vP,thenαPandfinallyCP.
Two Strategies for Affirmative Response to Polar Questions in
Bamileke Medumba
HermannKeupdjio(UniversityofBritishColumbia)
MartinaWiltschko(UniversityofBritishColumbia)
InMedumba,therearetwowaystosay“yes”asaresponsetoapolarquestion.Apolarquestioncanbe
answeredwitheitherŋ́ŋ̀orŋ̀ ŋ́ŋ̀.Thequestionthatarisesiswhethertheydifferfromeachother,andif
sohow.Thispapershowsthatthetworesponsemarkersdifferintheirresponsetarget.Whileŋ́ŋ̀isused
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torespondtothepropositionalcontentofthepolarquestion,ŋ̀ ŋ́ŋ̀isusedtorespondtoabias
introducedinthepolarquestion.
Antiagreement in Berber and Theory of Agreement
KunioKinjo(RutgersUniversity)
Oneoftheissuesthathavebeenlivelydiscussedintherecentliteratureoftheoryofagreementbased
onChomsky’s(2000)probe-goalsystemisondirectionalityofAgree:whetheritproceedsdownwardsor
upwards(Zeijlstra2012,Wurnbrand2014a.o).InthisstudyIclaimthat(a)probingisalwaysdownward,
and(b)phrasescanserveasprobes,throughaninvestigationoftheso-calledantiagreementeffectin
Berber(AAE;Ouhalla1993),anagreementsuppressioneffectcausedbysubjectextraction,witha
specialfocusonahithertounaccountedforcaseofAAEthatistriggeredbyanegativeconcorditem
(Ouali2005).
Shona Subjects are Subjects
JordanKodner(UniversityofPennsylvania)
TherehasbeendebateoverthestatusofShonapre-verbalsubjects.Traditionalanalysesassumethatits
pre-verbalsubjectpositionisanA-position(Harford1983,etc),whilesomerecentanalysessuggestthat
ShonaandotherBantupre-verbalsubjectsactuallyoccupyatopic,A’-position(Bliss&Storoshenko
2008,etc).WeprovidenewevidencefortheA-positionanalysisfromNSIpre-verbalsubjectsandthe
lackofweakcrossover.Additionally,wecounterclaimsmadeinfavorofthesubject-as-topicanalysis
relatedtosupposedstrongcrossovereffects.Theargumentspresentedheremayproveinsightful
appliedtothesubject-as-topicanalysisforotherBantulanguagesaswell.
Person and Animacy Interaction in Akan and Gã Post-Positions
SampsonKorsah(LeipzigUniversity)
Thispaperproposesthattheovertversusnullrealisationsofpronominalcomplementsofpost-positions
inAkanandGaresultfromthegeneralmechanismthatregulatestherealisationofpronounsinboth
languagesi.e.theovertonesmove,andthenullonesaredeletedinin-situ.
LikeseveraloftheirKwaneighbours,inAkanandGa,therealisationofapronominalcom-plementofa
post-positionisafunctionoftheanimacypropertyofitsnominalantecedent;animateonesarealways
pronounced,butinanimateonesareoftendeleted.Interestingly,thispronunciationdistinctionobtains
onlyforthirdpersonpronouns.Toformallyaccountforthesepatterns,Iassumethat:
a. Thenominalcomplementofapost-positionstartsoutasacomplement(totheright)ofthepostposition(seeAboh2005,2004).Thefactthatitappearstotheleftofitsselectingheadsuggests
somekindofdisplacementincourseofthederivation.
b. Animacyisthesemanticcorrelateofpersoninsyntax(seeRichards2015).Thismeansthatall
animatepronouns(includingfirstandsecondpersonpronouns,whichareneverinanimate)havea
personfeatureinsyntax,whileinanimatepronounsdonot.
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c. Nominalelementswithpersonfeaturesareattractedtoahigherposition(seeWoolford1999).This
meansthatanimatenominalsareattractedfromtheirbase-position.
d. LinearisationfollowsKayne(1994)’ssystemi.e.high-to-lowmapsleft-to-right.
Itfollowsthereforethatthenullpost-positionalcomplementsinAkanandGadonotmovehigher,
forcingtheirdeletedin-situ,inordertomakelinearisationpossible.Animatepronounsontheother
hand,duetotheirpersonfeature,escapethisdeletionmechanismbecausetheyareattractedtoa
higherspecifierbysomehigherfunctionalheadbearinganpersonprobe.
Comitative Constructions in Fon
ReneeLambert-Bretiere(UniversityofMaryland,BaltimoreCounty)
Fon,aKwalanguagemainlyspokeninBeninbyalmost2millionspeakers,exhibitstwotypesof
comitativeconstructions:onecomitativeserialverbconstructionwiththeverbxá‘toturn’inthesecond
oftheseries,andoneconstructionexpressingcomitativityviaanadpositionalphrase
kpó(ɖò)...kpó/kpán.ThetwocomitativeconstructionsinFonhavequitedifferentproperties.Theaimof
thispresentationistoinvestigatetheirsimilaritiesanddifferencesinformsandfunctionsfroma
functional-typologicalpointofview.Idemonstratethatthedistinctionbetweenthetwocomitative
constructionsinFonliesinwhichargumentistheprimaryparticipant,andwhichoneisthesecondary
one.
Common Plant Names in South Nilotic Akie
KarstenLegère(UniversityofVienna)
ThispresentationhastodowithcommonnamesforplantsintheAkielanguageofTanzania.The
identificationoftheseplantnames(andplantusesfromanethnobotanicperspective)infieldworkand
subsequentspecimenanalysis(intheHerbarium/UniversityofDaresSalaam)resultedinarichdata
collectionthatisavailableintheDoBeSarchive,MPINijmegen/Netherlands.The450plantnameswill
beanalysedfortheorigin(i.e.Akie,borrowingfromMaaresp.trueMaasynonymorBantu[mainly
SwahiliorneighbouringNgulu]),theselectionoflanguagespecificsingular–pluralpatternsandword
structuresaswellasetymologicalaspects.
The Inflection of the Bembe Verb
DerekLegg(UniversityofKentucky)
ThispaperpresentsananalysisofverbaldatafromBembe,aBantulanguagespokenprimarilyinthe
DemocraticRepublicoftheCongo.BasedondatafromIorio(2015)andelicitationsofBembespeakers
inLouisville,KY,IusetheNetworkMorphologyframework(Brown&Hippisley2012)toaccountfor
seeminglyirregularpatternsinBembeinflectionsuchasthepolyfunctionalityofsubject,object,and
relativizermarking,linkingtheframeworkwiththef-structureinLFG(Bresnanet.al2016).
25
Stem-Initial Prominence in West and Central Africa: Niger-Congo,
Areal, or Both?
FlorianLionnet(PrincetonUniversity)
LarryHyman(UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley)
ChristophèreNgolele(HekimaUniversityCollege)
Inthispaper,Ifocusonthedistributionofstem-initialprominence(SIP)inWestandCentralAfrica.
Basedonapreliminarysampleofca.100genealogicallyandgeographicallydiverselanguages,Ishow
that1)SIPisattestedalmostexclusivelyinNiger-Congolanguagesoccupyingthegeographicalcoreof
theNiger-Congospreadzone;and2)thefewnon-Niger-CongolanguageswithSIPinthisareaarein
contactwithNiger-Congolanguages,suggestingarealeffects.Iconcludethat,despitethefactthatitis
attestedmostlyinNiger-Congo,SIPisbettercharacterizedasanarealfeaturewithinthecoreofthe
Niger-CongospreadzonethanasaNiger-Congofeature.
͡ in Gengbe
Ultrasound Imaging of [d], [ɖ ], and [gb]
SamsonLotven(IndianaUniversity)
KellyBerkson(IndianaUniversity)
StevenLulich(IndianaUniversity)
Thisresearchpresentsthree-dimensionalimagingofthearticulationoftypologicallyunusualsoundsin
Gengbe,aGbelanguagespokeninSouthernTogoandBenin.OfnoteintheGengbeconsonant
inventoryistheuncommoncoronalcontrastbetween[d]and[ɖ]aswellaslabialvelardouble
articulation[g͡b].Recentadvancesinultrasoundtechnologymakeitpossibletocapturedetailedthreedimensionalimagesofthetonguesurfaceduringthearticulationofthesesounds,aboutwhichmuch
remainstobelearned.
Wh-Interrogatives in Ibibio: Movement, Agreement and
Complementizers
TravisMajor(UCLA)
HaroldTorrence(UCLA)
Inthistalk,weinvestigatethesyntacticpropertiesofwh-questionconstructionsinIbibio,aLowerCross
languageofNigeria.WeshowthatIbibioexhibitsthreewh-strategies:wh-in-situ,partial
wh-movement,andfullwh-movement.Wethenexaminehowthewh-questionstrategiesinIbibio
interactswiththecomplementizers:ke(declarative),mme(interrogative),andnaŋa.Wealsoexamine
theinteractionofwh-interrogationwithfocusmorphologyandagreementontheverbbylookingatthe
propertiesofantiagreementinlongdistanceAʹ-extractioncontexts.
26
Tonal Inequalities in a Four-Tone Language: the Case of Seenku’s
Middle Tones
LauraMcPherson(DartmouthCollege)
Seenkuisafour-toneMandelanguagespokeninBurkinaFaso,contrastingextra-low(X),low(L),high
(H),andsuper-high(S).WhileXandSarefreetoappearinmanydifferentenvironments,themiddle
tonesLandHaresubjecttorestrictionsatboththelevelofthelexiconandonthesurface.Drawingon
distributionaldatafromacorpusoftexts,Idiscusstherolediachronyplayedinthedevelopmentofsuch
inequalitiesandhowtheyaremaintainedbythesynchronicgrammar.
Raising to Object in Lubukusu
HazelMitchley(RutgersUniversity)
InLubukusuDPscannothyper-raisepasttheagreeingcomplementizerAGR-li.CarstensandDiercks
(2009)arguethatthisisbecauseAGR-liisahighC,whichactsasaphasehead,whilethenon-agreeing
complementizerisalowC,andthereforenotaphasehead.Apotentialproblemforthistheoryliesin
thefactthatispossibleto‘raisetoobject’acrossAGR-li.Thistalkattemptstodistinguishtheexactlocus
oftheraisedDP(matrixDPvsleftperipheryoftheembeddedclause),anddeterminethetheoretical
implicationsoftheDP’sposition.
The Lexicon of the Mixed Language Ma’á/Mbugu
MaartenMous(LeidenUniversity)
Ma’á/Mbuguisamixedlanguagewithajointgrammarandparallellexiconsharingmeaningand
morphosyntacticpropertiesbutwithtwodifferentforms,oneofwhichis“normal”Mbugu,aParelect,
andtheotherformdifferentwithavarietyofsources.Thistalkisconcernedwithcorrelationsbetween
thevarioussourcesofthedeviantMa’áwordsandtheirsemanticfieldstakingadiachronicperspective,
aswellaswiththewordsthatarenotdoubled,theiroriginandtheirsemanticfieldsandIlinkthisto
studiesoflanguageattritionandthelexicon.
A Corpus Study of Swahili Relative Clauses
MohamedMwamzandi(UniversityofNorthCarolina-ChapelHill)
Themainobjectiveofthisstudyispresenting,viacorpusanalysis,possibleexplanationsforthechoice
betweenthetensed-relativeandtheamba-relativeclausesinSwahili(Niger-Congo,Bantu).100ambarelativesand102tensed-relativeswereextractedfromtheHelsinkiCorpusofSwahili.Analysisofthe
datasetindicatesthattheamba-relativeisusedininstanceswherethetensed-relativeisrestricted.This
studypresentsanewperspectiveintheunderstandingofthepragmaticsofthetwoformsofSwahili
relativeclauses.Theresultsofthestudyshowthatthetensedrelativeisunmarked–morefrequently
used.
27
The Phonetic Realization of High Tone Spans in Luganda
ScottMyers(UniversityofTexasatAustin)
Lugandahasshorthightonespans,limitedtoasinglesyllable,aswellaslongones,coveringan
unboundednumberofsyllables.Thisstudycomparesthesetwoclassesinf0scalingandtiming,andalso
compareslexicalhightonesandintonationalboundarytonessubjecttothesametonespread
processes.Theboundarytoneshadasmallerf0riseandfallexcursionthanlexicalhightones.Inshort
spansthef0risewascompletedearlierinthesyllableandthesubsequentf0fallbeganlatercompared
tolongspans.Thissuggeststhatlongtonespanshavelongtransitions,likelongsegments.
Logophoric Reference in Ibibio
LydiaNewkirk(RutgersUniversity)
IpresentnoveldatafromIbibio(CrossRiver,Nigeria)logophoricpronouns,suggestingthattheybehave
likeshiftedindexicals(asinAnand,2006),despitebeingdistinctpronominalforms.Thisraisesquestions
aboutthesemanticsoflogophoricity,aswellassyntactic/morphologicalquestionsabouttherealization
oflogophoricelements.IproposethatIbibiologophorsaresen-sitivetobothacontext-shiftingoperator
aswellasabindingoperatorinthescopeofanattitudeverb.Theanalysiswillhaveimpactforthe
typologyoflogophorsandotherlogophoricelementscross-linguistically,suggestingthatlogophoric
pronounsandshiftedindexicalsarenotsoeasilydistinguishablesemanticallyaspreviouslythought,and
raisingsyntacticandmorphologicalques-tionsabouttherealizationoflogophoricelementsfoundcrosslinguistically.
Two Types of Focus in Limbum (Grassfields Bantu)
JudeNformiAwasom(LeipzigUniveristy)
ImkeDriemel(LeipzigUniveristy)
LauraBecker(LeipzigUniveristy)
Limbum(GrassfieldBantu,spokeninCameroon)hastwofocusconstructionsthatinvolvetwodifferent
markersandpositionsintheclause.AsinmanyotherWestAfricanlanguages,verbfocusisencodedby
thedoublingoftheverb.Byapplyingtestsforexhaustivity,contrastiveness,andaddressingthe
interactionwithfocus-sensitiveoperators(e.g.also,even,only,universalquantifiers)wewillshowthat
thetwofocusstrategiesinLimbumexpresstwofunctions:informationfocusandidentificationalfocus
(Kiss1998).Wewillaccountforthesyntaxofthetwoconstructionsandtest,whethertheyinvolvea
highandlowfocusposition.
Register Lowering and Tonal Overwriting in Limbum Deverbal Nouns
JudeNformiAwasom(LeipzigUniversity)
WithnoveldatafromLimbum(GrassfieldsBantu,Cameroon),Ipresentanaccountofaninteresting
behaviouroftoneinnominalisedverbs.Ishowthatthenominalizerinthelanguagecomprisesafloating
tonalcircumfix(l-L)whichtriggersdifferentkindsofloweringeffectsontheedgesofverbroots.I
assumethemodeloftonalrepresentationproposedbySnider(1999)andprovideanOT-analysisofthe
28
data.Nominalisationinvolvescombiningthecircumfixwhoseprefixalsegmentformspartofanoun
classmarkerandaverbroot.Theeffectofthisprocessisthatthetoneoftheverbrootlowers.TheH
andLofthefirstsyllablebecomeMandLL(Super-low)respectivelywhiletheHandMofthesecond
syllablebothbecomeL.Loweringofthetoneofthefirstsyllableresultsfromassociationofthefloating
l-registeroftheprefixalpartofthecircumfixtothetoneitprecedesanddelinksitsoriginalregisterifit
wash.Thesuffixaloverwritesthetoneofthesecondsyllable,henceHandMchangetoL.Thetoneof
thefirstsyllableishowevernotoverwrittenbythesuffixal.Iarguethattheroot-initialsyllableisa
prominentpositionwhosesegmentsarepreservedbyapositionalfaithfulnessconstraintwhichmakes
theinsightsofthesesystembetterexpressedinOT.
Swahili Passive and Stative Extensions and their Interaction with the
Applicative
DeoNgonyani(MichiganStateUniversity)
ThispaperexaminestwoconstructionsinSwahilithatfailtoassignanexternalθ-role,namely,passive
andstative,andtheirinteractionwiththeapplicative.Althoughboththepassivederivationandthe
stativederivationsuppresstheexternalargument,theyexhibitseveralsignificantdifferences.In
applicativeconstructions,thepassivepromotestheappliedobjectwhilethestativepromotesthedirect
object.ThepaperproposesisthatthepassiveextensionisgeneratedastheheadofVoiceP,whilethe
stativeisaheadthattakestheVPasitscomplement.Theanalysisprovidesanaccountfortherelative
positionsofthetwoextensionsintermsofsyntacticderivationsandtheMirrorPrinciple.
The Subjunctive Mood in Giryama and Tanzanian Nyanja
NancyJumwaNgowa(PwaniUniversity)
DeoNgonyani(MichiganStateUniversity)
Thesubjunctivehasoftenbeenassociateditssemanticdistributiontoirrealisincontrasttothe
indicative,whichisassociatedwithrealis.However,thereisplentyofdatafromdifferentlanguagesthat
showthatthesubjunctivedoesoccurinrealisenvironmentsofcomplementsoffactiveverbsand
causativeverbs.Usingtheprototypeapproachtomorphosyntax,wearguethatirrealismaynotbea
necessaryandsufficientconditionforthesubjunctive.However,wedemonstrateusingdatafromthe
BantulanguagesofGiryamaandNyanjaofTanzaniathatconstructionsthatgiveirrealisandweaker
manipulationreadingsprovidethebestexemplarsofsubjunctivesinthesetwolanguages.
Monsters in Dhaasanac and Somali
SumiyoNishiguchi(TokyoUniversityofScience)
InDhaasanac,Iintheembeddedclausecanrefertoeitherthematrixsubjectorspeaker,andyoushifts
itsreferenceintherelativeclause.Yesterday,todayandtomorrowoptionallyshiftreferenceinthe
embeddedclausewhilethelocativeindexicals,e.g.,here,remaincontextdependent.Suchshifting
patterndoesnotfitintothethreetypesofmonstersidentifiedinSlave(AnandandNevins2004).
Therefore,Iclaimtheexistenceofafourthkindofmonster.
29
InSomali,thepersonandtemporalindexicalsoptionallyshiftundertheverbyi`say'whilelocative
indexicalsremainunshifted.Ifthecontext-shiftingoperatoronlyallowsshift-togetherofallindexicalsin
itsscope,unshiftableindexicalsarenotreallyindexicalsbutdemonstrativesordefinitedescriptionsas
Sudo(2010)suggests.
Disappearing Lexemes in the Igbo Language: An Effect of Language
Variation and Change
GregObiamalu(NnamdiAzikiweUniversity)
LindaNkamigbo(NnamdiAzikiweUniversity)
ManywordsoftheIgbolanguagearefastbecomingobsoleteasaresultoftechnologicalandsocietal
changes.Thispaperdiscussesthedisappearinglexemesintheeverydayspeechofespeciallyyounger
speakersofIgbo.ThepaperprovidesampleexamplesofsuchwordsascollectedfromdifferentIgbo
dialectareasandexpressestheobviousfearthatwiththepassageoftime,suchwordswould
completelydisappearfromtheIgbolexicon.Thepaperconcludesonthenotethatthereisurgentneed
toconductmultimediadocumentationoftheselexicalitemsbeforetheycompletelydisappearfromthe
Igbolexicon.
Domains and Directionality in Gua Vowel Harmony
MichaelObiri-Yeboah(UniversityofCalifornia,SanDiego)
SharonRose(UniversityofCalifornia,SanDiego)
ThispaperreportsonthedomainanddirectionalityofAdvancedTongueRoot(ATR)vowelharmonyin
theBosodialectofGua,aGuanglanguageofGhana.Guahasninephonemicvowelsandanallophonic
vowelderivedviaATRharmony.Harmonyisenforcedwithintherootandwithinnominalandverbal
stems.Inaddition,theharmonicdomaincanextendtothelastvowelofaprecedingword.Guashows
exclusivelyregressivedirectionality,atypologicallyunusualpattern.WecompareGuavowelharmonyto
otherGuanglanguagessuchasNkonya,LɛtɛandNkami,whichdifferintermsofthedomainof
harmony,butallshowregressivedirectionality.
The Augment in Logoori
DavidOdden(OhioStateUniversity)
ThispaperinvestigatestheaugmentinLogoori(Bantu).Thequestion“doesLogoorihavetheaugment”
cannotbetriviallyanswered,sincepresenceoftheaugmentisvariable,accordingtospeakerand
phonologicalcontext.IftheclassprefixisCVandnotC,theaugmentismorelikelytobeomitted.Other
factsindicatephonologicaldeletion:speakersdifferintermsoftheinfluenceofthosefactors.Insome
morphosyntacticcontexts,theaugmentiseithermissingorrequiredforallspeakers,includingthose
thatneverusetheaugmentincitationforms:itisrequiredunlessitssyntacticslothasbeenusurped.
30
“Moral Panic” in Ghanaian Political Discourse: A Preliminary Study
EmmanuelAmoOfori(UniversityofCapeCoast)
Moralpanicoccurs“whenasocialphenomenonorproblemissuddenlyforegroundedinpublic
discourseanddiscussedinanobsessive,moralisticandalarmistmanner”(Cameron,2012:82).Inthis
paper,IexaminetheextenttowhichGhanaianpoliticaldiscourseevokesmoralpanic.Thepaper
addressesthequestion:Howislanguageusedinthecreationofmoralpanic?Toanswerthisquestion,I
analyzethreenewsstoriesperceivedtobemoralpanicsinGhanaianpoliticaldiscourse:Kennedy
Agyapong’ssexforjobinsultonGhana’sElectoralCommissioner;thetwoex-GuantanamoBaydetainees
inGhana;andmontiethree.Attheendoftheanalysis,itwasobservedthatthediscoursessurrounding
thesestorieswerealarming,obsessive,exaggeratedandcanbeleastdescribedasinstancesofmoral
panic.Thelanguageusedbythemediainreportingthesepanicswasfullofemotionsand
sensationalism.
Language, Gender and Ideology: A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Ifeoma
Fafunwa’s ‘Hear Word! Naija Woman Talk True’
ChristineIyetundeOfulue(NationalOpenUniversityofNigeria)
ThepaperexplorestheroleoflanguageincontemporarygenderequalitydiscourseinaNigeriansociety
andcontextwheregenderinequalityisencodedbyculturalandsocialpractices.Usinganethnographic
approach,thetheatricalpresentationofIfeomaFafunwa’splay‘HearWord!NaijaWomanTalkTrue’is
usedtohighlightissuesofdiscriminationandinequality.ThefindingsshowthatNaija(akaNigerian
Pidgin)alinguafrancawithanhistoryoflanguageinequalityandsociolinguisticvariablesareusedas
toolstoindexsocialdifferentiationandsocialgroupidentities,therebyempoweringactorstochange
traditionalstereotypicalnarrativesinacontemporarycontext.
Interjections in Ga
YvonneOllennu(UniversityofGhana)
Interjectionsareseenaspartoflanguageornon-wordsindicatingfeelings.Thepaperfocuseson
interjectionsinaKwalanguage,Ga,andexaminewhattheycommunicateamongtheGas.Itanswers
thequestionofwhetherinterjectionsarepartofthelanguageornot.Thepaperexaminesthe
morphopragmaticusesoftheinterjectionsbyemployingtheRelevanceTheory.Datausedwasgathered
fromnaturalconversationsandinterviews.Thepapershowsthatinterjectionsmayoccursentence
initial/finaloralonetomeanawholeutteranceorusedspontaneously.Theycommunicateemotional
feelingssuchassurpriseandangerofthespeaker.
31
Language Barrier as Hindrance to Information Dissemination: A
Critical Observation
JulietOppong-AsareAnsah(KwameNkrumahUniversityofScienceandTechnology)
Thisstudyaddressestheeffectoflanguagebarrierasahindrancetoinformationdissemination.It
examinesthecausesofviolationofcertainrulesintheKumasiMetropolis.Dataisdrawn,through
contentanalysis,fromcasespresentedtotheKumasiMetropolitanAssemblysuchas;driversparkingat
spotswithobvious“noparking”inscriptions.Thestudyestablishesthatpeopleviolatetheserules
becausetheyarehandicappedintermsofreading,andotherstooviolatetherulesduetocertainsociopsychologicalreasons.
Near-synonyms in Lugungu and their meaning differences
CelestinoOriikiriza(MakerereUniversity)
Thepaperpresentsresearchonnear-synonymsinLugungu.TheresearchaimedatusingLugunguasa
testlanguagetoestablishthecriteriafordisambiguatingthemeaningofnear-synonyms.Itinvolved
compilingaLugunguwordlist,obtainingsynonymsofeachword,usingthesynonymsinsentencesand
identifyingtheirdistinctivefeatures.Theresultsshowedthatmuchastherearesimilaritiesbetweenthe
meaningsofasetofnear-synonyms,therearedifferencesofdenotation,connotationandpragmatic
inference.Therefore,thethreearethebasisonwhichthemeaningofnear-synonymscanbe
disambiguated.VariousexamplesofLugunguaregivenasillustrations.
A Closer Look at bi : An Epistemic Indefinite Analysis
AugustinaOwusu(RutgersUniversity)
TheaimofthisstudyistoshedlightonaninterpretationoftheAkandeterminerbiwhichhashitherto
notbeendiscussed.Wehighlighttheuseofthedeterminerasanepistemicindefinite(EI).Previous
studieshaveanalyzeditasareferentialandspecificitymarker.Wearguethatwhenbiisused,the
speakersignalsthathedoesnothaveaccesstoalltheinformationthatisrequiredto‘know’areferent
inaparticularcontext.WeemployAloni(2001)andAloniandPort’s(2015)theoryofconceptualcovers
andmethodsofidentificationtodetermine‘knowledge’ofareferentinaparticularcontext.
Language and National Unity: A Case Study of Igbo Traders in Ibadan,
Nigeria
SolomonOyetade(UniversityofIbadan)
TheNigerianPolicyonEducation(NPE)isaimedatengenderingnationalunity.Itstipulatesthatevery
childlearnsoneofthemajorNigerianlanguages.Thispaperadoptslinguisticaccommodationtheoryto
surveyIgbotradersinIbadan(Yorubaland)tofindoutthelevelsofawarenessofNPEandintegrationof
theIgbo.FindingsindicatelackofawarenessofNPE,lowproficiencyinYorubaandstrongethnicidentity
linkedtotheIgbolanguage.WhileIgboisusedatintimatedomains,YorubaandPidginareusedin
businesstransactions.Thus,thefeasibilityofNPEinachievingnationalunitythroughformaleducationis
doubtful.
32
Lexical Density of the JUMP Domain in Maa
DorisL.Payne(UniversityofOregon)
Somelanguageshavehighlexicaldensityinagivensemanticdomain.MaasaifinelydividestheJUMP
domainbydistinctionsindegreeofprofilingcognitiveandsyntacticfeaturesofARGUMENTSTRUCTURE,
MANNER,PATHelementsthattheFIGUREtraverses,andculturalfeatures.Forinstance,intransitiveaigís‘tojumpstraightupanddown’reflectsasalientcharacteristicofMaasaidancing;transitivea-dookí
‘tojumpoversth.inadownwarddirection’typicallybringstomindwildanimalsjumpingoverafence
andintoakraal.TheMaaJUMPdomainalsoinformshowsemanticroot-levelfeaturescanbeoverriddenbyapplicativeandaspectualderivations.
Tense Agreement in Ndebele Light-Verb Constructions
JoannaPietraszko(UniversityofChicago)
Atypeoflight-verbconstructionsinNdebeleexhibittenseagreementbetweenthelightverbandthe
lexicalverb—thelattercansurfaceaspastsubjunctiveorpresent/unmarkedsubjunctive.Iprovidean
analysisofsuchtenseco-variationbasedonanindependentlymotivatedsystemofINFL-agreement
betweenverbsandfunctionalheadsintheclausalspine.ItisshownthattenseagreementinNdebeleis
nottheresultofadirectrelationshipbetweenthesubjunctiveverbandT,butratherbetweentheverb
andtheclosestinflectionalhead.Evidencecomesfromcompoundtenses,whereinterventionofan
aspectualcategorybreakstenseagreement.
Research and Revolution: Text Messaging as Tactical Tool
PhilipW.Rudd(PittsburgStateUniversity)
TextmessagingisadailyexpressionofliteracyinAfrica.SupportedbytheCenterforAdvancedStudyof
Language(CASL)attheUniversityofMaryland(UMD),thisprojectcreatedacorpusoftextinginSheng,
anAfricanurbanvernacularspokeninNairobi,Kenya.Thispaper,modelingtextmessagingasa
fieldworktool,examinestheresults.Messagesrefractintotheargotic,deviating,slang-like,rebellious,
andpostcolonial(Achebe1975;Deumert&Masinyanha2008)strataofAfricanUrbanandYouth
Language(AUYL)dynamics.
Complement Clause C-Agreement with Matrix Subject and Tense in
Ikalanga
KenSafir(RutgersUniversity)
RoseLetsholo(UniversityofBotswana)
Ikalangaclausalcomplementsareintroducedbythecomplementizerkuti,whichisinvariant,andasmall
setofverbscanuseanotherform,AGR-ti,thatagreeswiththematrixsubjectphi-features,butisalso
sensitivetomood,voice,andtense.BothAGR-tiandtheinvariantformhavetherootofaverbmeaning
‘say’,-ti,andcannotappearwhenmatrix‘say’ispresent.AGR-tilacksthefullmorphologyofitsmain
verbcounterpart,maskingagreementincertainways.Weshowhowtheagreementismaskedby
truncationandproposeasyntacticaccountofthelocalagreementrelationsmanifestedonAGR-ti.
33
Comparative Study of the Nominal System in Wolof, Bedik and
French
AdjaratouOumarSall(IFAN-CAD,DakarUniversity)
Thepurposeofthisstudyistoanalysethesyntacticandsemanticfeaturesofthenounandthenoun
phraseinWolof,mënikandFrench,allspokeninSenegal.Frenchistheofficiallanguageofthecountry,
WolofisthelinguafrancaandBedikisaminoritylanguagespokenineasternSenegal.Thestructuringof
thenounandthenounphraseisdifferentinthethreelanguagesandthesearesyntacticcategories
causingmanyproblemsinlearningandtranslation.Wewillshowhowthesethreelanguagesbelonging
todifferentfamiliesgroupwillinfluenceeachintheirownwayonthesyntaxofthelanguagebutwill
alsofindthemselves,despitetheirdifferences,throughtheuniversals.
Language Policy and Linguistic Ideology in Senegal
AdjaratouOumarSall(IFAN-CAD,DakarUniversity)
ThelanguagepolicyofSenegalaimstopromotethemainnationallanguagesasculturelanguagesandto
keepFrenchasanofficiallanguageandinternationalcommunicationmedium.
ThepurposeofthispaperistoanalyzethelinguisticlandscapeofSenegalwithafocuson:
-Howthecountry’slinguisticideologyisreflectedinitslandscape,
-HowlanguagesareshapedandusedbySenegaleseintheircommonpracticesandintheinstitutions,
-Finally,thegapordichotomybetweenthelanguagepolicyestablishedonthepaperandthelinguistic
landscapeinSenegal.
Emai Coordination Strategies for Clause Linkage
RonSchaefer(SouthernIllinoisUniversityEdwardsville)
FrancisEgbokhare(UniversityofIbadan)
WeexaminepropertiesofclausecoordinationinEmai,aforestzoneEdoidlanguage.Ourdataemanate
fromoraltraditiondocumentationaswellasdictionaryconstructionandreferencegrammar
description.Emailinksclauseswithadversativeàmáàanddisjunctivedà;thereisnoconjunctive.
Adversativeanddisjunctiveconstructionsarehighlyconstrained.Eachrequirescoordinandsshowing
subjectidentityandapolaritycontrast.Disjunctionfurtherlimitsmoodandverbphraseexpression.
AlthoughtheseconstraintsseemEdoidspecific,theclauselinkersthemselvesappeartoreflect
sustainedcontactwiththeLakeChadConfluenceZone,whereArabicàmmā‘but’andrâ,lâ‘or’have
becomewidelyadopted.
34
Toward a Typology of Niger-Congo Complementation
RonSchaefer(SouthernIllinoisUniversityEdwardsville)
ReginaldDuah(UniversityofGhana)
FrancisEgbokhare(UniversityofIbadan)
WeseektohighlightthenatureofS-complementsinNigerCongo.InitialsurveyresultsofWestAfrican
subfamiliesrevealcontrastingsystems.AdifferentiatedsystemisevidentinWestBenueCongo’sEdoid,
whereEmaishowsS-complementsforindicativekhi,subjunctiveliandconditionalsi.Morestreamlined
isKwa,whereAkanreliesonseandEweonbé.WhiletheseNigerCongoformscorrelatewith
independent/dependenttimereferenceandepistemicfunctions,wenotethatEdoidarticulatesthese
functionsbypairingS-complementswithclauseinternalcategories,whileKwareliesexclusivelyon
clauseinternalcategories.
A Survey of Negation Patterns in the Kwa Language Family
LaurenSchneider(TrinityWesternUniversity)
ExtensiveliteratureexistsonnegationbutonlyrecentlyhavestudiesexpandedbeyondIndo-European.
Oftencitedpatterns,Jespersen’scycleandnegativeconcord,arenearlyabsentfromKwa(Niger-Congo).
TherearecommonpatternsofnegationinKwausingapreverbalnasalmorpheme.Oneexceptionisa
smallnumberofGuanglanguagesthatdonothavethisfeature.Larteh(Leteh)utilizesaverbalprefixbÉ-
whichresemblesmorphemesfoundinotherAfricanlanguagefamilies.OtherbranchesofKwaalsodo
notrelyonpreverbalnasalnegationmarking.Thispaper’sintentistosurveynegationstrategiesinKwa
tocontributetothenegationliterature.
Causing by Social Interaction
PatriciaSchneider-Zioga(CaliforniaStateUniversityFullerton)
PhilipNgessimoMatheMutaka(UniversityofYaounde1)
WeexaminesociativecausationinKinande,whereadistinctboundmorphemeencodestheideathat
causationisaccomplishedby“helping.”Wedemonstratethistypeofcausationmeans:xdidQtohelpy
doQ.Thereisnotacomitativemeaningof“doingtogether.”Instead,eachagentdoesonlypartofthe
activity.Thishasconsequencesforthetypesofverbsthatcanundergosociativecausation.Weestablish
thatthesociativecausativeheadtakesaroot,ratherthanalargerunitsuchasavP.Weinvestigatehow
thesociative-causativeheadinteractswithfunctionalprojectionsintheextendedverbaldomain.
Benefactive Applicatives and Animacy in Ndebele
GalenSibanda(MichiganStateUniversity)
Thisstudyfocussesontheclaimthatthebenefactiveapplicativeisusuallyanimateespeciallysince
“benefactionusuallyimpliesthattheBENEFICIARYiscapableofusingtheresultofthedenotedeventfor
his/herpurposesinsomeway”(Kittilä&Zúñig2010:6).ThepapershowsthatinNdebeleanimacyisnot
equallyimportantinthecategoriesof‘recipient’,‘plain’and‘substitutive’beneficiary.Itisfurther
arguedthatbenefactiveapplicativesarebestexplainedbyappealingtothenotionofteleological
35
capability,“theinherentqualitiesandabilitiesoftheentitytoparticipateintheeventualitydenotedby
thepredicate”(Folli&Harley2007:191).
The Phonetic Properties of Kihehe Stops
KennethSteimel(IndianaUniversity)
RichardNyamahanga(IndianaUniversity)
Wearepresentingonthephoneticrealizationof[-continuant]consonantsinKihehe.Kihehe(heh)isa
G62BantulanguagespokenintheIringaregionofTanzania.Thislanguagehasalargevarietyof
contrastivestopconsonants.Nasality,glottalizationandsyllabicityareusedtocreatethesedistinctions
whichwerefertoas'articulatoryclass'.Thissizableinventoryof[-continuant]consonantsfeatures
articulatoryclassesthatareacousticallydistinct.Differencesinintensity,duration,andchangein
intensityovertimecharacterizetheseclasses.Spetrogramanalysesofthesesoundsalsoilluminatetheir
differences.
GETCASE is Violable: Evidence for Wholesale Late Merger
Abdul-RazakSulemana(MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology)
Thegoalofthistalkistoshowthatwh-questionsinBùlì,aGurlanguagespokeninGhana,providesnew
evidenceforWholesaleLateMerge(WLM)TakahashiandHulsey(2009),Stanton(2016).Inparticular,I
arguethattheoutcomeofovertmovementinthelanguageisasaresultofrankingtheconstraint
LATEMERGE,whichrequiresWLMaboveGETCASE,whichpenalizesaCaselessNPand*TOOLATE,which
assignsaviolationtolatemergeiftherelationshipitestablishesisnotthestructurallyhighestofits
type.Iarguethattheinteractionsoftheseconstraintsareresponsibleforreconstructiondistinctions
betweenBùlìandlanguageslikeEnglish.
Toward a Better Knowledge of Speech-Language Disorders in African
Countries: Analysis of Child Speech Disorders in Cameroon
AurélieTakam(UniversityofToronto)
Childspeechandlanguagedisordersaregenerallyunknowninsub-SaharanAfrica.However,theimpact
ofthesedisordersforchildreneducationarewellestablished.Fromasampleof1127children,6%of
childrenhadspeechdisorderswhichincludedspeechdelays,articulationandphonologicaldisorders.
Boysweremoreconcernedthangirls.Fricativeswerethemostalteredsoundsthroughomissionand
substitution.Also,complexsyllableswerethemostdisrupted.Theseresultsaregenerallyconsistent
withtheliteraturebothintermsofthelinguisticprofileofdisordersandintermsoftheirprevalence.
Wediscusstheimpactofthesedisordersforchildreneducation.
36
A Syntactic Description of Experiencers in Sereer-Siin
KhadyTamba(UniversityofKansas)
ThisstudyinvestigatesobjectexperiencersinSereer-SiinadialectofSereer,aWestAtlanticlanguageof
theNigerCongofamilyspokeninSenegal.IarguethatinSereer-Siin,experiencerscanbeusedtoextend
BellettiandRizzi’straditionalclassificationofexperiencers.Ialsoshowthatsomeobjectexperiencers
behavelikeregulartransitiveverbswithacausativecomponent,whereasothersshowpropertiesof
unaccusativeverbscontraLandau’sargumentsthatallobjectsexperiencersareunaccusative.These
differentpropertiesofobjectexperiencersverbsaccountforasymmetrieswithrespecttoconstructions
likepassive,antipassiveandnominalization.
Ghanaian Social Interactions: An Ethnopragmatic Approach
RachelThompson(GriffithUniversity)
Thisstudyfocusesonexpectedcommunicativebehaviorsduringasymmetricalinteractionalevents
amongGhanaians.Drawingontheethnopragmatictechniquesofsemanticexplicationandcultural
scripts(Ameka&Breedveld,2004;Goddard&Ye,2015),itdemonstrateshowtheGhanaianconceptof
socialhierarchy(i.e.thethoughtthatsomepeopleare‘above’others)influencesverbalinteractionin
specificways.Fiveculturalscriptsareproposedforinteractionswith(1)chiefs;(2)elders;(3)people
olderthanoneself;(4)sociallypowerfulindividuals;and(5)respectedprofessionals.Thestudyattempts
toshowthepossibilityofdescribingGhanaiancommunicativenormsinsimplecross-translatableterms,
soastoenablenon-Ghanaianstounderstandtheviewpointofculturalinsiders.
The Morpho-Syntax of Two Types of Factive Clauses in Seereer
HaroldTorrence(UCLA)
Thistalkdescribesthemorpho-syntacticpropertiesoftwofactiveclauseconstructionsinSeereer,an
AtlanticlanguageofSenegal.Thetwoconstructionsaretypesofrelativeclausesandinvolvethe
presenceofcomplementizersthatalsooccurinheadedrelativeclauses.Intheverbcopyconstruction,
thereisminimallyacopyoftheverbontheleftedgeoftherelativeclause.Inthene-construction,only
thecomplementizerispresentontheleftedge.ThistalkfocusesonthecopyingDPargumentsand
adjuncts,adverbs,prepositionalphrases,andverbalinflectionalandderivationalaffixesintheverbcopy
construction.
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Syllable Simplification Processes in Fròʔò
YranahanTraore(UniversityofFrankfurt)
FeryCaroline(UniversityFrankfurt)
Topicoftheposteraresyllablestructure,phonotacticsandsyllablesimplificationprocessesinFròʔò,a
Tagbana(Senoufo,Gur,Côted’Ivoire).Phonotacticrestrictionsinfluenceloanwordsadaptations
-aglottalstopcannotappearwordinitially,althoughitcanbeaword-medialsyllableonset,
-[r]andallnon-lowvowelsisalwaysprecededby[h]wordinitially(route→[heruti].
Threeprocessesofsyllablesimplificationareillustrated:fusion(1),apocopeandliquiddeletion(2).
(1)pē wí ɲà̰→pūɲà̰ (2) krɔ̀-+kpɔ̄-ʔɔ̄→kɔ̀.kpɔ̀.ʔɔ̀
they3.SG.PRO3 see ‘Theyhaveseenhim/her’ car big-CM‘bigcar’
A Musical Notation Analysis of Tonal Downtrends in Anaañ
Reduplicative Constructions
EmemobongUdoh(UniversityofUyo)
GraceEkong(UniversityofUyo)
NsidibeUsoro(UniversityofUyo)
HoganIta
MikeNtuk
Thispaperseekstoascertainthetype(s)oftonaldowntrendthattheAnaañbasesyllablesundergo
duringreduplication.UsingthekeyCmajoronthetrebleclef,theanalysisrevealsthat,forstemswith
Low-Hightone(e.g.àbómààbóm-àbóm‘taboo/inaforbiddenmanner’),theF0ofthesecondhightone
driftsdownbytwosemitoneswhencomparedwithitscorrespondinghightoneintheleftmost
morpheme.Thisdriftseemstobeconditionedbytheneighbouringlowtonebecause,inthecaseof
stemswithHigh-Lowtonecomposition(e.g.ídòtàídòt-ídòt‘bitterness/bitterly’),thesecondhightone
onthefirstsyllableoftherightmostmorphemealsodropsbytwosemitonesvis-à-visitscorresponding
leftwardtone.Thissyllableinitialhightonedriftinginthesecondmorphemedoesaffectthesucceeding
lowtonewhich,ineffect,dropsbyfoursemitones,inrelationtoitscorrespondinglowtoneinthe
leftmostmorpheme.WhiletheHigh-LowandLow-Highstemsundergotonedowndrifting,thosewith
theLow-Lowtonalcompositionundergodeclination.
Foot Construction in Anaañ Denominalisation
EmemobongUdoh(UniversityofUyo)
ThispaperexaminesthemappingpatternsandconstraintsthataccountfortheconstructionofAnaañ
footduringdenominalisation.ItwasdiscoveredthatAnaañdenominal/deadjectival,whichis
characteristicallybinaryfooted,doesconstructbothheavy-lightandlight-lightsyllabletrocheeswith
referencetothefunctionalunityofdenominal-specificanduniversalconstraints.Also,whiletherightaligned(RED)uplicantmorphemeisconstantlyaCVsuffix,certainphonologicalconfigurationsinthe
inputconditionabimoraicormonomoraicbasesyllable.Forinstance,theinputwithanN-prefixora
backvowelneithertakesacodanorallowsvoweldoubling.Ontheotherhand,bimoraicbasesyllables
arederivedfromCVinputswithaV-prefix,inputswithglidecodas,/p/codas,non-backvowelsand
38
trimoraicsyllables.Findingsalsorevealedthatdenominalisation-inducedphonologicalprocessesdotake
placeonlywithinthefoot,andanysegmentoutsidethefootmayremainunaffected.
Causative in Lubukusu and other Bantu Languages
AggreyWasike(UniversityofToronto)
ThispaperdiscussesthemorphologicalcausativeinLubukusu,Kiswahili,KinyarwandaandChichewa.
Theselanguagesmanifestsomesimilaritiesincausativemarking,buttheyalsodifferfromeachother
withregardstounspecifiedobjectdeletion,form~semanticscorrelation,andobject~obliquealternation.
Forexample,whileChichewafreelyallowsobject~obliquealternation,Lubukusudoesnot.Thepaper
thenconsidersthemeritsanddemeritsofanalyzingthecausativeconstructioninBantuasatwo-place
predicateontheonehandandathree-placepredicateontheother.Followingthisdiscussion,Ipropose
toderivethecausativethroughincorporationandsyntacticmovementthatappliestoastructure
containingacausativefunctionalprojection.
The Lexical Underspecification of Bantu Causatives and Applicatives
MattieWechsler
Pylkkänen(2008)proposestwokindsofapplicativeheadsandthreekindsofcausatives,bothtypologies
basedonmergeheight.Ataskincomparativesyntax,then,istoestablishwhereapplicativeand
causativeheadsmergeinagivenlanguage.MyevidencefromBantu(Shonainparticular)showsthat,at
leastforBantulanguages,causativeandapplicativeheadsareunderspecifiedforcomplementselection
(height)inthelexicon.Iarguethisbyprovidingevidenceofanadditionalmergelocationforapplicative
heads,examiningthesemanticinterpretationsofcausative-applicativeco-occurrence,andobserving
similaritiesbetweencausativesandapplicativesthatmergeinsimilarlocations.
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