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Topics in Kwa Syntax pp 39–64Cite as

General Properties of the Clause

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Part of the book series: Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory ((SNLT,volume 78))

Abstract

This chapter previews aspects of the clause structure in Kwa (e.g., argument structure, serialization, tense, mood, aspect marking). that the discussion on the INFL domain shows that the Kwa languages are analytic because they resort to free morphemes for marking tense, mood, and aspect, where synthetic languages display inflectional morphology. It appears that the position of the verb with respect to both the aspect markers and the internal argument is an indication of verb movement in these languages, which lack inflectional morphology of the Indo-European type. Next, we suggest that discourse particles (e.g., topic, focus, question) are functional elements whose syntax has repercussion on word order variation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This section is based on facts from Gungbe mainly, but see Bamgbose (1966) for some examples in Yoruba.

  2. 2.

    This view also implies that these languages do not have a category Adjective proper.

  3. 3.

    In Ewegbe, adverbs are derived from many attributive adjectives by suffixing e to the latter.Examples are sesi “hard” which becomes sesie “and nyui “good” which becomes nyuie “good”. Consider the examples below

    Ede nyɔnu sesi ade

    Kpɔ awu nyui ma

    Wɔ dɔa sesie

    Kpɔe nyuie Look closely “Be careful”

    Others are vi “small”versus vie “little”, kpui “short” versus kpuie “ shortly”

  4. 4.

     This variation also translates into the different readings Manfredi assigns to the examples in (24).

  5. 5.

     The emphasis is ours.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication, University of Amsterdam, Spuistraat 210, 1012, VT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Enoch O. Aboh

  2. Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, University of Florida, 342 Pugh Hall, Gainesville, FL, 32611-5565, USA

    James Essegbey

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  1. Enoch O. Aboh
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  2. James Essegbey
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Correspondence to Enoch O. Aboh .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fac. Humanities, University of Amsterdam, Spuistraat 134, Amsterdam, 1012 VB, Netherlands

    Enoch O. Aboh

  2. Dept. African & Asian Languages &, University of Florida, Gainesville, 32611, U.S.A.

    James Essegbey

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Aboh, E.O., Essegbey, J. (2010). General Properties of the Clause. In: Aboh, E., Essegbey, J. (eds) Topics in Kwa Syntax. Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, vol 78. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3189-1_3

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