The morphosyntax of ghomala' verbs: focus on inherent complément verbs and serial verb construction

Conclusion

The main of objective of this chapter was to put forward the theoretical framework adopted for the present dissertation. In doing so, I have retraced the evolution of Generative Grammar from its inception up to the MP in order to capture improvements brought by Chomsky to overcome some weaknesses inside the generative enterprise. This evolution help us to capture both early and modern approaches to SVCs since some refinements of the generative enterprise lead to the review of analyses of SVCs. Subsequently, we have move from deletion under identity based on early generative grammar features to the VP-shell approaches based on recent developments within generative grammar. I also stressed on the significance of some operations that hold within the syntactic component during the computation procedure. This presentation of relevant features of MP was completed by a sketch of approaches to SVCs as well as some literature on ICVs which are the phenomena discussed in this dissertation. The following chapter has to do with grammatical aspects of the language under study.

Chapter 2: The grammatical sketch of the language

32

Introduction

In the last chapter, theoretical assumptions adopted in the work have been discussed. As for this chapter, it provides background information on the language under study with an emphasis on grammatical features. This grammatical sketch aims at familiarizing the reader with the data which will be presented and discussed throughout the work. In this vein, it describes the phonological system, noun morphology as well as functional categories related to verb. The structure of the clause is also discussed. The chapter is split into four sections. Section one looks into the sound system. The consonant system, the vowel system as well as the tonal system are explored. Section two tackles noun morphology with a special focus on noun classes, gender, pronouns and noun modifiers. As far as section three is concerned, it explores the Tense-Aspect-Mood system since the following chapter deals with verb. The last section presents the basic syntax of the language.

2.1. Phonological system

This section lays emphasis on consonants, vowels and the tonal systems. This presentation is based on works of some linguists who did a deep phonological study of the language, namely Nissim (1972) and Domche Teko (1980).

2.1.1. The consonant system

A consonant is a speech sound produced with a complete or partial blockage of the airstream from the lungs. According to Nissim (1972), Gh?maìlaì distinguishes thirty one consonants amongst which two glides. Gh?maìlaì's consonant system is made up of stops [ p, b, t, d, k, g, ?], fricatives [ f, v, s, z, ?, ?, Y, h], affricates [pf, bv, ts, dz ], nasals [ m, n, ?, ?], lateral [l], pre-nasalized stops [mpf, nt, ?k] and glides [ w, J]. The following table presents the consonants attested in the language.

33

Table 2 : The Gh?maìlaì' consonant chart (from Domche Teko 1980)

	Labials	Apicals	Palatals	Velars	Glotals
Stops	p b	t d		k g	2
Fricatives	f v	s z	f 3	Y	h
Affricates	pf bv	ts dz	tf d3
Nasals	m	n	J1	ij
Pre-Nasalized Stops	mpf	nt		ijk
Lateral		l
Glides	w		J

2.1.2. The vowel system

The Ghomâlâ' vowel system is made up of ten vowels, namely four back vowels, four front

ones and two central vowels as it is represented in the table below. Table 3 : The Gh?maìlaì' vowel chart

	Front		Central	Back
High	i		u				u
Mid-high	e		?			o
Mid-Low	E				3
Low		a		a

2.1.3. The tone system

Richards and Schmidt (2010) define tone as a height of pitch which is associated with the

pronunciation of syllables or words and which affects the meaning of the word. As many Bantu languages, Ghomâlâ' is a tone language wherein tone is a distinguishing feature between different patterns. In line with previous works on the language, three simple tones as well as two contour tones are attested in Ghomâlâ'.

34

As simple tones, Gh?málá' distinguishes a high tone marked by an acute accent [ ì ], a low tone marked by a grave accent [ Ì ] and a mid-tone marked by [ ] or simply unmarked. Since the mid tone is predominant in the language, it may be optionally marked. They are illustrated below: Table 4 : Gh?maìlaì' tones

High tone [ ì] siìm «to spend» dá? «already»

Mid tone [ ] sim « market» dã? « only»

Low tone [ Ì ] siÌm « to spread» daÌ? « to be angry» (2^nd form)

Two musical tones are attested in the language, namely the rising tone and the falling one as shown below:

Rising tone [ ? ]	pu?? « package»	la?m «lamp»
Falling tone [ ^ ]	sa^p « sharper»	p??^ « madness»

Tone is very significant in the language. It has both a lexical value and a grammatical value. A tone is lexical when it distinguishes the meaning of two or more lexical items in the language as in (1):

(1) a. K?ì «fry» k?Ì «magic»

b. l?ì «clean» l?Ì «cry»

c. puì? «to beat» puÌ? «slave»

Grammatical tone is used to distinguish between functional categories such as verb tenses as in the example below:

(2)a. gä kw?ì pa?

/gà ì kw?ì pa?/

1SG.PRS1 build house
« I build a house »

b. gû kw?ì pa?

/gà Ì kw?ì pa?/

1SG.PRS2 build house

« I build a house»

The tones on the first person pronoun subject differentiate sentence (2a) from sentence (2b). In

facts, in sentence (2a), the high tone which marks the accomplished aspect clings to the tone of the

35

pronoun subject and derives the rising tone. Meanwhile in (2b), the low tone that marks the habitual aspect clings to the tone of the pronoun subject and derives the falling tone.

2.2. Noun morphology

This section is concerned with the nominal system of the language. A description of the noun structure is provided by examining some of its relevant aspects such as the noun classes, possessive and demonstrative adjectives as well as the personal pronouns. As in other Bantu languages, the noun in Gh?maìlaì' is made up of a prefix which can be null² or covert and a root. Gh?maìlaì' is a noun class language in the sense that nouns are classified according to the class to which they belong.

2.2.1. Gh?maìlaì' noun classes

The classification of substantives into classes is done on the basis of criteria proposed by Kadima (1969) namely the form of prefixes, agreement elements and the semantic content. The first criterion is relevant in Narrow Bantu languages wherein noun prefixes are attested and overtly marked. The semantic content criterion is no longer reliable in accounting for the noun classification in noun class languages. As it is claimed by Hedinger (1980), semantic classification of nouns is a purely arbitrary system wherein no class containing nouns of only one semantic content can be found.

The agreement criterion appears to be the most eminent criterion in noun classification in Bantu languages especially grassfields Bantu languages such as Gh?maìlaì', M?d?mbá...etc. Thus, on the basis of this criterion, a noun class is made up of nouns that share common agreement features. To put things in other way, nouns are said to belong to the same class if and only if they exhibit the same agreement morphology in relation with noun modifiers, or/and they make use of the same pairing system. Previous works by Nissim (1980), Domche and al (2008) and Moguo (2016) argue that six (06) noun classes are attested in Gh?maìlaì'; three classes for singular nouns represented by odd numbers (1, 3, 5) and three classes for plural nouns indicated by even numbers (2,4,6). This classification is done on the basis of possessives markers. Three series of singular possessive markers are attested in the language as well as three series of plural possessive markers.

² Gh?maìlaì' is devoid of noun class affixes. The sole noun affixes attested in the language is the plural maker m-

> 36

Class 1 is made up of singular nouns which express their possessive by using the aÌ, oÌ, e, j?k, j?, jap possessive markers as illustrated below:

(3) a. soì à «my friend»

Friend 1SG.1.POSS

Soì oÌ «your friend»

Friend 2SG.1.POSS

Soì e «his/her friend»

Friend 3SG.1.POSS

b. taì j?k «my father»

Father 1PL.1.POSS

Taì j? «your father»

Father 2PL.1.POSS

Taì jap «their father»

Father 3PL.1.POSS

> Class 2 deals with plural nouns that express their possessive by using the p??, pu?, pj?ì , p?ì k, p?ì ,paìp possessive markers as shown below:

(4) a. po^ p?? «my children»

Children 1SG.2.POSS

Po^ pû «your children»

Children 2SG.2.POSS

Po^ pjâ «his/her children»

Children 3SG.2.POSS

b. p?-d3wî p?ìk «our wives»

PL-wife 1PL.2.POSS

P?-d3wî p?ì «your wives»

PL-wife 2PL.2.POSS

p?-d3wî paìp «their wives»

PL-wife 3PL.2.POSS

> Class 3 gathers together singular nouns which their possessive is marked by the following possessive particles aì,oì, é,j?ì k, j?ì ,jaìp as demonstrated below:

(5) a. ?wà aì «my mouth»

Mouth 1SG.3.POSS

?wà oì «your mouth»

mouth 2SG.3.POSS

37

?w?Ì é «his/her mouth»

mouth 3SG.3.POSS

b. pa? j?ìk «our house»

House 1PL.3.POSS

Pa? j?ì «your house»

House 1PL.3.POSS

Pa? jaìp «their house»

House 1PL.3.POSS

? Class 4 contains plural nouns that mark their possessive by using the m?? , mu?, mj?ì , m?ì k, m?ì , maìp possessive particles as illustrated below:

(6) a. m-?wa??? m?? «my books»

PL-book 1SG.4.POSS

m-?wa??? mû «your books»

PL-book 2SG.4.POSS

m-?wa??? mj?ì «his/her books»

PL-book 3SG.4.POSS

b. m-lû? m?ìk «our spoons»

PL-spoon 1PL.4.POSS

m-lû? m?ì «your spoons»

PL-spoon 2PL.4.POSS

m-lû? maìp «their spoons»

PL-spoon 3PL.4.POSS

? Class 5 hosts singular nouns which their possessive markers belong to the ts??, ts??, tsj?ì ,

ts?ì k, ts?ì , tsaìp sequence as shown below:

(7) a. Su? ts?? «my tooth»

Tooth 1SG.5.POSS

Su? ts?? «your tooth»

Tooth 2SG.5.POSS

Su? tsj?ì «his/her tooth»

tooth 3SG.5.POSS

b. tseì ts?ìk «our forehead»

forehead 1PL.5.POSS

tseì ts?ì «your forehead»

Forehead 2PL.5.POSS

tseì tsaìp «their forehead»

forehead 3PL.5.POSS

? Class 6 is made up of plural nouns that express their possessive by using ts??, ts??, tsj?ì , ts?ì k, ts?ì , tsaìp possessive markers as demonstrated below:

(8) a. m-vaÌm ts?ìk «our stomaches»

PL-stomach 1PL.6.POSS

m-vaÌm ts?ì «your stomaches»

PL-stomach 2PL.6.POSS

38

b. m-??m ts?? «your speeches»

PL-speech 2SG.6.POSS

m-??m tsj?ì « her/his speeches»

PL-speech 3SG.6.POSS

Nissim (1975) proposed the following table which sums up noun classes as well as their concord

markers in Gh?maìlaì':

Table 5 : Gh?maìlaì' concord markers

Classes	Concord markers	Tones^3
1	Ø-	Low
	j-
2	p-	High
3	Ø-
	j-
4	m-
5	ts-
6	ts-

2.2.2. The notion of gender in Gh?maìlaì'

As in other Bantu languages, the gender system is based on the pairing of singular noun classes with the plural ones, contrary to the Indo-European languages where the gender system is based on the masculine/feminine distinction. In the language understudy, both regular and irregular gender are attested. We can also find gender made up of only one noun class instead of two.

Regular genders

They are obtained from the singular/plural pairing between two consecutive noun classes. These include the following below.

Gender I: class 1/class 2

(9) a. soì / m-so^ b. taì / m-ta^

Friend / PL-friend «friends» father/ PL-father «fathers»

Gender II: class 3/ class 4

(10) a. sjap/ m-sjap b. suì / m-su^

³ These tones are marked on the possessive particles.

39

Needle/ PL-needle «needles» hoe/ PL-hoe «hoes»

Gender III: class 5/class 6

(11) a. n?Ì?/m-n?Ì? b. tsoì/mtso^

hair/ PL-hair «hairs» name / PL-name «names»
Irregular gender

It is obtained from singular/plural pairing between two non-consecutive noun classes as shown below:

Gender IV: class 5/ class 4

(12) a. su?/ m-su? b. ?oÌ'/ m-?oÌ'

tooth/ PL-tooth «teeth» jaw/ PL-jaws «jaws»

Gender V: class 1/class 6

(13) g?ìp/ g?^p

chicken/ PL. chicken «chickens»

Single class genders

They are made up of invariable nouns which are inherently either singular or plural. These include the following below:

Gender VI: class 1

(14a) ?kaìp «money» Gender VII: class 3

(14b) ?j? «water»

Gender VIII: class 4

(14c) m-lu? «wine»

PL-wine

2.2.3. Noun satellites

This subsection focuses on some noun satellites which can occur in a simple noun phrase,

namely possessive adjectives and demonstrative adjectives.

40

2.2.3.1. Possessive adjectives

The form of possessive adjectives varies depending on the noun class of the noun that they modify. They occupy different positions within the noun phrase. According to their positions in the noun phrase, two types of possessive adjectives are attested in Ghamàlà': pre-posed possessive [POSS___N] adjectives and post-posed possessive adjectives [N___POSS]. In terms of information packaging, post-posed possessives are said to be neutral whereas their pre-posed counterparts are emphatic. In fact, the [POSS___ N] order encodes contrastive focus in some Bantu grassfields languages (Tamanji 1999; Kouakem 2011) especially in Ghamàlà'.

2.2.3.1.1. Neutral possessive adjectives

As I said above, there are three series of possessives for singular nouns as well as three series for plural ones. The following table presents the neutral possessive adjectives attested in the language.

Table 6 : Gh?maìlaì' neutral possessive adjectives

Person	Singular			Plural			Glosses
	Class 1	Class 3	Class 5	Class 2	Class 4	Class 6
1st SG	à	à	tsâ	p5	m5	tsâ	my
2nd SG	d	6	tsù	pû	mû	tsù	your
3rd SG	e	é	tsj5	pj5	mj5	tsj5	His/her/its
1st PL	jok	J5k	ts5k	p5k	m5k	ts5k	our
2nd PL	ja	J5	ts5	p5	m5	ts5	your
3rd PL	Jap	Jàp	tsàp	pàp	màp	tsàp	their

2.2.3.1.2. Focused possessives adjectives

As their neutral counterparts, three series of focused possessives for singular nouns and three other series for plural nouns. The following table outlines the emphatic possessive adjectives attested in the language.

Table 7 : Gh?maìlaì' emphatic possessive markers

Person	Singular			Plural			Glosses
	Class 1	Class 3	Class 5	Class 2	Class 4	Class 6
1st SG	Ja	Ja	tsa	po	ma	tsa	my
2nd SG	Ju	jû	tsu	Pu	mu	tsu	your

41

3rd SG	jo	J5	tsj5		pj5	mj5	tsj5	His/her/its
1st PL	Jok	J5k	ts5k		p6k	m5k	ts5k	our
2nd PL	Jo	J5	ts5		p6	m5	ts5	your
3rd PL	Jap	jâp	tsâp		Pâp	mâp	tsâp	their
(15) a. po^ pa? PL.child 1SG.2.POSS «My children» b. m-??m tsi PL-speech 2SG.6.POSS «Your speech» c. ?wa?,p? é book 3SG.3.POSS «his/her book»				(16) a. pa poì 1SG.2.POSS PL.child MY children «My children» b. tsu m-??m 2SG.2.POSS PL-speech YOUR speech «Your speech» c. Jaì ?wa?,p? 3SG.3.POSS book HER/HIS book «Her/his book

As one can observe in the data above, the examples in (15) illustrate neutral possessive adjectives whereas the ones in (16) are instances of focused possessive adjectives. In (16), the possessive adjectives occur before the noun as in some Indo-European languages but the interpretation is different. Here, the speaker is laying emphasis on the fact that the object referred to belongs to the owner, nobody else.

2.2.3.2. Demonstrative adjectives

Depending on the relative distance between the speaker, the listener and the object referred to, three kinds of demonstrative adjectives are attested in Ghomâlâ'. The noun class to which the noun belongs also determines the form of the demonstrative adjective. According to their position within the noun phrase, there are two types of demonstrative adjectives: neutral demonstrative adjectives and emphatic demonstrative adjectives.

2.2.3.2.1. Neutral demonstrative adjectives

They occur after the noun. The table below presents the different simple demonstratives attested in the language.

42

Table 8 : Neutral demonstrative markers

Noun classes	The degree of proximity
	Near speaker	Near listener	Far from both S and L
1	J?? ?	J??ì	J??
2	P??	P?^ì?^ì	pj??
3	J?? ?	j??ì	J??
4	M??	M?^ì?^ì	Mj??
5	Ts??	ts??ì	Tsj??
6	Ts??	Ts?ì?ì	Tsj??

2.2.3.2.1. Emphatic demonstrative adjectives

They appear before the noun. The following table shows the different emphatic demonstrative adjectives attested in the language.

Table 9 : Emphatic demonstrative particles

Noun classes	The degree of proximity
	Near speaker		Near listener	Far from both
1	J??		j?^ì?^ì	J?
2	P?		P?^	Pj?
3	J??		J?	J?
4	M?		M?^	Mj?
5	Ts?		tsá^	Tsj?
6	Ts?		tsáì	Tsj?
(17)a. muì ja?g Child 1.DEM «This child» b.?wa??? ja? Book 3.DEM «That book»		(18)a. jag muì 1. DEM child «THIS child (not that one)» b. ja ?wa??? 3. DEM book «THAT book (not this one)»

43

2.2.4. The pronoun system

It is shared knowledge that pronoun is a word that substitutes a noun or a noun phrase. This section focuses on absolute pronouns. Like in other grassfields Bantu languages, simple pronouns as well as coordinate absolute pronouns are attested in Gh?maìlaì'^ì.

2.2.4.1. Gh?maìlaì' s simple personal pronouns

The following table presents simple personal pronouns found in the language.

Table 10 : Gh?maìlaì' s simple personal pronouns

Persons	Nominative	Glosses	Accusative	Dative	Glosses
1SG	g?	I	aì	mj?Ì	me
2SG	o	you	oì	wuì	you
3SG	e	He/she	é	Jû	Her/him
1PL	Pj?	we	W?ìk	Pj?	us
2PL	po	you	W?ì	po	you
3PL	waìp	they	waìp	puì	them

Dative pronouns, especially singular ones, are subjected to morphological modifications when they are merged with the preposition biì «to» as shown below

(19) a.* É haì m-taìp biì mj?Ì

3SG.NOM.PRS1 give PL-shoe to 1SG.DAT

She gives shoes to me «She gives me shoes.»

b. É haì m-taìp b?^m

3SG.PRS1 give PL-shoe to.1SG.DAT «She gives me shoes»

(20) a. *Gã w?ì-g?ìm biì wù
1SG.NOM.PRS PROG-talk to 2SG.DAT « I am talking to you.»

44

b. Gá? w?ì-g?ìm bu^

1SG.NOM.PRS PROG-talk to.2SG.DAT « I am talking to you.»

(21)

a. *O k?Ì-há m-táp biì jù

2SG.NOM PST2-give PL-shoe to 3SG.DAT «You gave her/him shoes»

b. O k?Ì-há m-táp biì iì

2SG.NOM PST2-give PL-shoe to 3SG.DAT «You gave her/him shoes»

2.2.4.2. Gh?maìlaì' complex personal pronoun

The table below outlines complex personnal pronoun found in the language. Table 11 : Complex personnal pronoun

	Nominative			Accusative
Covert coordination	Person	Pronoun	glosses	person	pronoun	glosses
	1+2	Pu^	We (You and I)	1+2	Wókpuì	We andyou
	1+2	P?Ì	We (inclusive)
	1+3	Pj? é	I and him	1+3	Wókpje	We and him
	2+3	Po é	You and him
Overt coordination	1+3	P?Ìapuì	We (inclusive) and they	1+3	Wókpuìapuì	We and them
	1+3	Pj?apuì	We (exclusive) and they	2+3	Wópoé	You and him
	2+3	poapuì	You and they	3+3	waìppuìé	Them and him
	3+3	puìapuì	They and they	3+3	Waìp puìapuì	Them and them

45

After this overview of the noun morphology, emphasis will be laid in the next section on the inflectional system of the Gh?maìlaì' verb.

2.3. Tense, Aspect and Mood

This section provides an overview of grammatical categories of the verb, namely tense, aspect and mood in order to familiarize the reader with the inflectional system of the Gh?maìlaì verb.

2.3.1. Gh?maìlaì's tense system

This subsection discusses the three tense types identified in the language by previous works (Moguo 2016) in terms of their structural distribution and semantic interpretation.

2.3.1.1. The present tense ( PRS)

Moguo (2016) identifies four forms of present tense in the language namely the accomplished present, the latent present, the immediate present and the progressive present. The first two are tonologically marked meanwhile the last two are morphologically realized.

? The accomplished present indicates a completed action in the present time. It is marked by a floating high tone which merges with the register tone borne by the subject (personal pronouns) to derive musical tone (raising tone).

(22) a. gä kw?ì pa'
1SG.NOM.PRS1 build house «I has built a house»

b. pj?? toì g?Ìf?Ì

1PL.NOM.PRS1 roast maize

«We has roasted maize»

? The latent present expresses the idea of habitual action. This form is used to indicate

actions or activities we usually carry out and it is marked by a floating low tone that attaches with the register tone borne by the subject to derive the falling tone. In this form, it is the second form of the verb that is used.

(23) a. pj?^ d?ì
1PL.NOM.PRS2 cry «We cry»

b. Ta^la^ g? t??^siÌ

Tala.PRS2 go church «Tala goes to church»

46

? The immediate present⁴ is used to denote action that will be completed immediately after the moment of utterance. It is marked by the morpheme g? which is also used to derive future tense makers.

(24) a. E g?-l?ì

3SG.NOM PRS3-cry «He /She cries»

b. waìp g?-tiì

3PL.NOM PRS3-sleep

«They cry»

? The progressive present indicates action that is going on at the moment of speaking. It

is marked by wé which is an aspectual marker and the second form of the verb is used.

(25) a. p?-d?wi? waì-d?ì PL-woman PRS4-cry «Women are crying»

b. waìp waì-s?ìk m-ké
3PL.NOM PRS4-wash PL-dish «They are washing dishes»

2.3.1.2. The past tense (PST)

Four forms of past tense depending the time frame covered are attested in Ghomálá', namely the immediate past, the recent past, the distant past and the remote past.

? The immediate or today past is used to denote action that is completed hour (s) ago prior to the moment of utterance. It is marked by ê.

(26) a. Ta^mo ê -?? t??^siÌ
Tamo PST1-go church «Tamo went to church»

b. waìp ê-s?ìk m-ké

3PL.NOM PST1-wash PL-dish

«They washed dishes»

? The recent past describes events that happened some days or a day before the

present moment. It is marked by ka.

(27) a. Fo^tso? ka-pfâ g?ìf?Ì Fotso PST2- eat maize « Fotso ate maize»

⁴ Domche-Teko and al (2008) refers to this tense as immediate present, however, it is significant to keep in that this is a future tense. One can refers to it as general future since future tense markers are derived from this morpheme.

47

b. Ta^mo ka-s?Ìk m-dz?ì

Tamo PST2-wash PL-dz?ì

«Tamo washed clothes»

? The distant past indicates action that is completed months ago prior to the

present moment. It is marked by la.

(28)a. waìp la-s?ìk m-ké

3PL.NOM PST3-wash PL-dish

«They washed dishes «

b. Fo^tso? la- pfâ g?ìf?Ì

Fotso PST3-eat maize

«Fotso ate maize»

? The remote past describes an event that took place many years ago before the

moment of speaking. It is marked by the morpheme ladaì? and the second form of

the verb is used. This tense also refers to situations or events which occurred many

years ago and sometimes so long that the speaker cannot even remember the exact

moment.

(29)a. Fo^tso? laìdaì'- dz?ì m s??

Fotso PST4-eat fufu corn

«Fotso ate fufu corn»

b. Ta^?? laìdaì'-d??ì g?^p

Tagne PST4-steal chicken

«Tagne stole chicken»

2.3.1.2. The future tense (FUT)

This tense is often defined as a prediction on the part of the speaker that the situation in the

proposition which refers to an event taking place after the moment of speaking will hold. It is used

to express an action that has not been completed and to locate a situation at a time subsequent to

the present moment. Four forms of future depending on the time frame within which the action

will be realized are attested in Gh?maìlaì: the immediate future, the recent future, the near future,

the distant future and the hypothetic future.

48

? The immediate or today future is used to denote an action that will happen minutes or hours after the moment of speaking. It is marked by gdya.

(30) a. Pj? g???-toì g?Ìf?Ì
1PL.NOM FUT1-roast maize «we will roast maize»

b. waìp g???-l?ì

3PL.NOM FUT1-cry

«They will cry»

? The near future or future of tomorrow expresses action that will be completed a

day or several days after the moment of utterance. It is marked by gdtI.

(31) a. oì g?tiì - kw?ì pa'
2SG.NOM FUT2-build house «You will build a house»

b. Po g?tiì - n?ì naì'

2PL.NOM FUT2-cook soup

«You will cook the soup»

? The distant future locates a situation which will happen some months or few

years after the moment of speaking. It is marked by gdt?wé.

(32)a. Ta^la^ g?t?w?ì- tû? ?j?

Tala FUT3-draw water

«Tala will draw water»

b. E g?t?w?ì-n?ì p?ì

3SG.NOM FUT3-cook taro

«She will cook taro»

? The hypothetic future is used to denote an action that will be realized within an

undetermined time after the present moment. It is marked by gdlá2.

(33) a. Pô p?? g?lá? -?? m sim

Children _1SG.2.POSS FUT4-go LOC market

49

«My children will go to the market»

b. Fot?? g?lá?-jó t?j?ìpa?

Fotue FUT4-buy land for house

«Fotue will buy a land»

After this overview of the tense system, emphasis is now going to be laid on the aspect system in

a very sketchy fashion as discussed by Tala (2015), Foba (2015) and Moguo (2016).

2.3.2. Aspect

Talking about aspect, Comrie (1976) refers to different ways of viewing the internal temporal constituency of a situation/event/action, that is whether this latter is accomplished or not at the moment of utterance. Two aspectual features are addressed in this section: the inherent aspect and the derived aspect.

2.3.2.1. The inherent aspect

Also referred to as «semantic aspectual» (Comrie 1976:40), it is the aspect described or expressed is contained in the verb and it is tied to this latter. The verb carries both the action and its development. Talking of inherent aspect, Wiesemann et al (1993) argue that «certains procès ont un déroulement relativement long, d'autres par contre se déroulent très rapidement. Certains aboutissent à un résultat, ce qui n'est pas le cas pour d'autres». The verb is in the infinitive form and six inherent aspectual forms are attested in Gh?maìlaì': punctual, durative, dynamic, static, telic and atelic.

? The punctual aspect characterizes actions which proceed within an interval of very short time.

(34) a. N?ì -l?^?

INF- jump

«To jump»

b. N?ì - vù siì

INF - fall down

«To fall»

? The durative aspect describes action that takes place in a long period of time.

(35) a. N?ì - jw?^k

INF- spend the day «To spend the day» b. N?ì- kwo^?

50

INF-spend the night

«To spend the night»

? The dynamic aspect characterizes action which implies movement.

(36) a. N?ì -n?Ì?

INF- dance

«To dance»

b. N?ì- ?iÌ?

INF-walk

«To walk»

? The telic aspect is found in the verbs whose action implies a concrete and tangible

result.

(37) a. N?ì- tsû'

INF-cultivate

«To cultivate»

b. N?ì - s?Ìk

INF- wash

«To wash»

The difference between the telic aspect and the durative one lies in the fact that the first stresses

on the result of the process (concrete), whereas the second insists rather on the duration of the

process.

? The atelic aspect, according to Wéga Simeu (2016), does not imply a tangible

result. The interruption of the action of the verb implies a completed process, i.e.

an accomplished action.

(38)a. N?ì- ??mt?

INF- talk «To talk»

b. N?ì -l?ì INF-cry «To cry»

51

2.3.2.2. The derived aspect

There are two groups of derived aspects, namely the perfective aspect and the imperfective aspect. This section briefly discusses some derived aspectual categories with reference to their distribution and interpretation.

2.3.2.2.1. The perfective aspect

The perfective aspect in Gh?maìlaì' overlaps with some tenses such as the different past tenses previously discussed. Semantically, an event is said to be perfect or perfective if it is accomplished at the moment of speaking. Accordingly, Comrie (1976) points out that the verb is in a perfective aspect when: «it presents a totality of the situation referred to without reference to its internal temporal constituency». Although not morphologically marked, the perfective aspect is going to be materialized as PERF as in the following sentences.

(39)a. oì k?Ì - ts?ì ?k?Ìdeì

2SG.NOM PST2.PERF eat banana «You ate banana»

b. Pj? l?^ fiÌ? g?Ìf?Ì
1PL.NOM PST3.PERF sell maize

«We sold maize (few years ago)» 2.3.2.2.2. The imperfective aspect

The imperfective aspect denotes unaccomplished events at the moment of speaking. This aspect considers the action of the verb in one of the phases of its realization. In the imperfective statement, the speaker specifies if the action starts, if it is course, if it is repeated or if it is completed. Comrie (1976) distinguishes the imperfective aspect from the perfective one in the following words:

The perfective looks at the situation from the outside without necessarily distinguishing any of the internal situation of the situation, whereas the imperfective looks at the situation from inside and, as such, is crucially concerned with the internal structure of the situation.

The following imperfective aspects have been identified in Gh?maìlaì'.

? The progressive aspect describes an action which is under progress at the moment of speaking. Progressive in Gh?maìlaì' is marked by the morpheme wé.

(40)a. g?ì w?ì - n?^ naì'
1SG.NOM PROG -cook soup

52

«I am cooking the soup»

b. pj? k?Ì - w?ì - fiÌ? g?Ìf?Ì

1PL.NOM PST2-PROG- sell maize

«We were selling maize (yesterday)»

? The habitual aspect puts forward the habit of the action described by the verb. It is used to express the action of the verb which is usually realized. The habitual aspectual marker overlaps with the present tense. It is marked by a falling tone on the subject or the negative marker if present. The verb that follows always has the second form. It is also lexically marked by d?i which litterally means «often» as in (41b).

(41)a. Baka^m diì s?kuì
Bakam.PRS2.HAB sleep school «Bakam usually sleeps at school»

b. é k?- d3i - g?? t??^si

3SG.NOM PST2- HAB- go church

«She often went to church»

? The iterative aspect indicates that the action of the verb is repeated. It is marked

by kwi? or pi? «again».

(42) a. Pj? k?Ì pig fiÌ? g?Ìf?Ì

1PL.NOM PST2 - IT sell maize

«We sold again maize»

b. Ta^laì g?tiì kwi? s?Ìk m?ìtwa^

Tala FUT2 IT wash car

«Tala will wash the car again»

2.3.3. The mood system

This section discusses the mood system in Gh?maìlaì'^ì. According to Biloa (2004), mood is

the grammatical category which expresses the speaker's attitude towards what is said. Below, only

the conditional and the imperative are addressed.

2.3.3.1. The conditional mood

The conditional denotes a verbal form which expresses a condition owing to the realization

of a given action. The subordinate clause (protasis) states a condition, the truth of which is not

53

asserted, under which the main clause (apodosis) holds. In Gh?maìlaì', the protasis and the apodosis are separated by a conditional marker ba or baìja⁵. Syntactically, the morpheme ba is used when the protasis precedes the apodosis meanwhile baìja is used when the apodosis comes before the protasis. The examples below are some instances of conditional clauses.

(43)a. Ba?ka^m koì s?kuì ba Ta^laì g?t?w?ì- l?ìm é
Bakam.PRS enter school COND Tala FUT3-marry 3SG.ACC «If Bakam schools /goes to school, Tala will marry her»

b. Ta^laì g?t?w?ì- l?ìm é baìja e koì s?kuì aÌaÌ/l?
Tala FUT3-marry _3SG.ACC ^COND _3SG.NOM enter school DEF «Tala will marry her if she schools /goes to school»

2.3.3.2. The imperative mood

The imperative mood is used to express orders, commands or strong obligations. The imperative is expressed in the second person singular, the first person plural and the second person plural counterpart. It is not morphologically marked as in the following sentences.

(44) a. s?Ìk m?ìtwa^
Wash.IMP.2SG car «Wash the car !»

b. P? s?Ìk m?ìtwa^! 1PL.NOM wash.IMP car «Let us wash the car!»

c. Po s?Ìk m?ìtwa^

2PL.NOM wash.IMP car

«Wash the car!»

2.4. Negation

Negation is the verbal form which denies a positive assertion, it expresses the negative

attitude of the speaker towards the action of the verb. Negation in Gh?maìlaì' is bipartite, it is

marked by two negative particles / t?ì.....p?ì or aì /. The first one appears before the verbal base

⁵ Conditionals can also be expressed through the floating low tone placed on the verb of the protasis ( see Moguo and Bessala 2017 for more details)

54

whereas the second particle occurs at the end of the sentence and it is optional. The negation morphology varies depending on tense in Gh?maìlaì'.

2.4.1. Negation with present and future tenses

Syntactically, the negative marker occurs before the tense marker in the present and future tenses as it is shown in sentences below:

(45) a. Pj? w?ì- g? m - sim
1PL.NOM PRS4-go to- market «We are going to the market»

b. Pj? tê- w?ì - g? m - sim p?ì
1PL.NOM NEG- PRS4-go to-market NEG «We aren't going to the market»

c. oì g?tiì -fiÌ? g?Ìf?Ì
2SG.NOM FUT2-sell maize «You will sell maize»

d. oì t?^ - g?tiì- fiÌ? g?Ìf?Ì p?ì

2SG.NOM NEG- FUT2- sell maize NEG

«You will not sell maize»

2.4.2. Negation with past tenses

With past tenses, one observes some changes as far as the first negative particle is

concerned. Té directly follows the tense marker and this could be at the origin of the vocalic

alternation observed on the tense marker. The structures in (46) below highlight this situation.

(46) a. oì kaÌt? fiÌ? g?Ìf?Ì (p?ì)

2SG.NOM PST2. NEG sell maize NEG «You didn't sell the maize (yesterday)»

b. oì la^t? fi? g?Ìf?Ì (p?ì)

2SG.NOM PST3.NEG sell maize NEG

«You didn't sell the maize (months ago)»

Adopting Pollock (1989)'s split-IP hypothesis, Tala (2015) argues that the first particle t? or k? (Imperative negative marker) is the head of NegP in Gh?maìlaì' and the second particle is the reinforcer of Neg° . The reinforcer status of the second particle is based on the fact that it is

55

optional. In present and future tenses wherein the negative particle precedes the tense marker, the latter is left-adjoined to T°, the head of TP. This implies that negation is lower than tense within the I-domain. If negation was higher than tense, either it would raise rightward in past tenses or the tense particle would be right-adjoined to Neg° in present and future tenses. Rightward movement as well as right adjunction are proscribed by the LCA-based approach to syntax (Kayne 1994). The second particle projects a negative Reinforcer Phrase (ReinP) which is c-commanded by the NegP. The Reinforcer Phrase, being a functional projection, has the EPP feature that triggers the pied piping of the small vP to its specifier position as shown below:

(47) a. Ta^laì t?^ g?tiì ts?ì ?k?dé p?ì Tala Neg FUT2 eat banana Neg «Tala will not eat banana» b.

TP

Spec T'

Ta^laì T NegP

Neg T Spec Neg'

t?^ g?tiì Ta^laì Neg ReinP

t?^ Spec Rein'

Rein tiP
p?ì Spec ti'

Ta^laì ti VP

ø +tsû V NP

ts?ì ?k?dé

2.5. Gh?maìlaì' clause structure

Gh?maìlaì' is basically an SVO language as shown in (48) below:

(48) Fo^tso? k?Ì- w?ì- pfâ g?ìf?Ì
Fotso PST2-PROG- eat maize «Fotso was eaten maize»

56

The external argument occupies the preverbal position meanwhile the internal argument appears after the verb. As in some Eastern grassfield Bantu languages such as M?d?mba or Fe'f?', the subject verb agreement is totally absent. In other words, the subject marker, which displays class and gender agreement between the subject NP and the verb in some Bantu languages, isn't attested in Gh?maìlaì'. In this vein, Gh?maìlaì is not a pro-drop language. Moreover, tense, aspect and negative markers precede the verb. Thus, the order of functional categories is as follows:

(49) a. [Tense-Negation-Aspect]

b. Fo^tso? kaÌt?- w?ì- pfâ g?ìf?Ì (p?Ì)

Fotso PST2.NEG-PROG -eat maize NEG

«Fotso wasn't eating maize»

It is significant to note that double object constructions are very rare in the language⁶. Most of the time, the language introduces the third argument of three place predicate verbs via dative complementation as illustrated below:

(50) a. *Ta^la? haì so^ e ?wa???
Tala.PRS1 give friend _1SG.1.POSS book «Tala give his friend a book»

b. Ta^la? haì ?wa??? biì so^ e

Tala.PRS1 give book to friend 1SG.1.POSS

«Tala give a book to his friend»

However, the unmarked word order described above can be affected by information structure. In fact, it is a shared knowledge that scope-discourse properties such as focus or topic internally merge constituents in a sentence. Looking at the information structure, both topic and focus (not exclusively) are expressed in the left periphery. The focused items are preceded or followed by a focus marker (FOC) whereas topicalized ones are followed by a topic marker (TOP) as illustrated in the following data:

(51) a. Fo^?kaìm neì g?tiì-tsù ?k?deì
Fokam FOC FUT2-eat banana «FOKAM will eat banana»

⁶ What has been proposed by Tala (2015) as case of double object constructions are, in realis, case of dative complementation.

b.

57

Fo^?kaìm g?tiì-tsù p?ì ?k?dé Fokam FUT2-eat FOC banana «Fokam will eat BANANA»

c. Fo^?kaìm l?ì, é g?tiì-tsù ?k?dé

Fokam TOP _3SG.NOM FUT2-eat banana

«As for Fokam, he will eat banana»

The language displays two focus domains: the left peripheral focus and the post-verbal focus. As in any other Bantu languages, predicate focusing is expressed by verb doubling in Gh?maìlaì and the two copies of the verb figure in I-domain. Fronted wh-word are focused and therefore are followed by focalizers (see Tala 2015, for more detailed).