Aspects of the grammar of Likpakpaanl : a Mabia (Gur) language spoken in Ghana

Abstract

This thesis provides a grammatical description of Likpakpaanl (Konkomba), a Mabia (Gur) language spoken in several parts of Ghana, but traditionally associated with the Northern Region. The thesis was conceived out of the need to address the existing knowledge gap on the grammatical structure of Likpakpaanl and to provide a significant, reliable reference source that can be drawn on for further research and other educational purposes such as the teaching and learning of the language. The account rendered of the grammar of Likpakpaanl in this thesis is predominantly based on primary data, collected in both naturalistic and elicitation settings. The thesis covers, in appreciable detail, the phonology, morphology and syntax of Likpakpaanl. The thesis organises the analysis and discussion of these core structural levels of the language into eight key chapters, excluding Chapters one and ten, which serve as general introduction and conclusion, respectively, of the entire work. Chapter one treats the sound system. First and foremost, the segmental and tonal structure receive attention in this chapter. Three level tones (low, mid and high) are established for Likpakpaanl and backed with a Praat measurement of the pitch values and accompanying pitch traces. Likpakpaanl has inherent nasal vowels, corresponding roughly to the number of oral vowels in the language. The other phonological aspects well covered include phonological processes, phonotactics and syllable structure. Chapter three focuses on the nominal system. The internal structure of nouns and noun classification are considered. Seventeen noun classes are re-proposed for Likpakpaanl, instead of fifteen as was held in previous studies. Types of nouns, nominal compounds, the numeral system, the pronominal system, nominal derivation and noun phrase co-ordination equally receive prominence in this chapter. Chapter four explores the adjective system of Likpakpaanl. It is established that Likpakpaanl is a small adjective class language. The adjectives share properties of both nouns and verbs to varying degrees. Adjectives in Likpakpaanl are morpho-syntactically dependent since they cannot stand alone in the citation form, unless in co-occurrence with other lexical categories. Chapter five discusses the verbal system, taking into account the phonological and morphological structure of the verb word. The notional categories of tense, aspect and modality associated with the verb also receive sufficient treatment in the chapter. The evidence does not clearly support the analysis of Likpakpaanl as an aspect dominant language, contrary to what is usually said of related languages in Mabia and Kwa. Chapter six delves into clause structure and grammatical relations. Likpakpaanl is not a rigidly SVO word order language. Grammatical relations in the clause are mostly determined by constituent order and, in very few cases, by a combination of constituent order and case marking. Subordinate and co-ordinate relations are examined in Chapter seven. Chapter eight discusses the structure of body part terms, their occurrence in possessive constructions and their lexicalisation and further considers the phraseology of sensational body state expressions. Chapter nine tackles the phenomenon of ideophones. It is established that ideophones in Likpakpaanl cut across nouns, adverbs and adjectives, although there are certain phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic parameters on which ideophones distinguish from other word classes in the language.