A phonetic and phonological study of the nominal piece in Adangme.

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(1)if* > A PHONETIC AND PHONOLOGICAL STUDY OP THE NOMINAL PIECE IN ADANGME. T hesis subm itted f o r the Decree of Doctor of P hilosophy of th e U n iv e rsity of London. by. ERIC. OPOE. >. APRONTI. k School of O rien ta l and A frican S tu d ie s, June,. 1967..

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(3) 2 ABSTRACT. Chapter 1 p ro v id es a background of th e Adangme-speaking a re a , review s p rev io u s l i n g u i s t i c work on Adangme and d e fin e s th e scope o f the p re s e n t stu d y . C hapters 2 and 3 are concerned with th e grammatical d e s c rip tio n o f th e Nominal P la c e :. th e form er deals w ith a d e f in itio n of th e. Nominal P iece and w ith th e w o rd -classes o f which th e Nominal P iece i s composed;. th e l a t t e r d e sc rib e s th e relev an ce o f th e C ateg o ries. o f Person and o f Number to the Nominal P ie c e . C hapter 4 p re s e n ts a d e ta ile d d e s c rip tio n o f th e vowel and consonant sounds o f Adangme.. The d e s c rip tio n draws as w ell on. k in a e s th e tic evidence as on th e fo llo w in g in stru m e n ta l d ata, a l l o f which c o n trib u te an a d d itio n a l dimension to th e phonetic des c rip tio n :. p alato g ram s, kymograms and spectrogram s.. The r e s t of th e th e s is (namely Chapters 5, 6 and 7) d e sc rib e s th e phonology of th e Nominal P ie c e .. Chapter 5 p ro v id es a prosodic. a n a ly s is o f th e s y lla b le s tr u c tu re of Adangme and review s some lo a n words in Adan^ne.. In Chapter 6 i s p rese n ted a p ro so d ic statem ent. on n a s a liz a tio n in v a rio u s nominal c o n s tru c tio n s . F in a lly and by re fe re n c e to tonograms o f s e le c te d u tte ra n c e s , C hapter 7 d eals w ith P itc h , Tone and In to n a tio n in words o f vary ing s y lla b ic ty p e s, in c e r ta in g ram m atically -d elim ited Nominal P iece ty p e s , and in Sentences com prising a Nominal P iece and a Verbal P ie c e . A b ib lio g ra p h y o f works quoted and o f some o f th e works c o n su lte d appears a t the end..

(4) 3 ACKNOTOroraiiTOTS. Work on t h i s th e s is was made p o ssib le by a P o st-g ra d u ate Award of th e U n iv e rsity of Ghana, supplemented in th e second year by a Grant from th e West A frican L in g u is tic S o c ie ty .. I am g r a te f u l. to both bodies f o r t h e i r f in a n c ia l support. I should a ls o l i k e to ex p ress my deep g r a titu d e to ny Super v is o r ,. Jack Camoehan, fo r th e in v alu ab le encouragem ent, advice. ^nd c r itic is m s he so r e a d ily provided a t a l l sta g e s of t h i s work. Of g re a t h e lo , to o , were th e le c tu r e s and t u t o r i a l s given by members o f th e s t a f f of th e Department of General L in g u istics and P h o n e tic s.. T would lik e to thank Mr A.W. S tone, C hief T echnician. o f th e School, f o r p ro v id ing the experim ental m a te ria l used in th e th e s is . I am th an k fu l to Dr A .J. Fouroin of th e P h o n etics Department o f U n iv e rsity C ollege who gave me th e b e n e fit of h is advice on many m a tte rs r e la te d to A coustic P h o n etics. I should f i n a l l y li k e to thank my wife Eleanor f o r being an in d e fa tig a b le inform ant a t th e i n i t i a l stag es o f th e re se a rc h , and f o r th e encouragement she gave during the w ritin g of th e th e s is ..

(5) TABLE 0? CONTENTS. A bstract. *. „. ,. Acknowledgements. *. •. •. •. Table of C ontents. •. «. •. .. I. A bbreviations. -. *. •. ». 5. L is t o f Palatogram s •. .. .. L i s t o f Kymograms. *. L is t o f Spectrogram s L is t of Tono grams. .. 2. 3. 6. •. ,. .. 7. .. *. •. s. .. #. 10. Chapter One:. The Adangme Language and People. •. ft. C hapter Two:. D e fin itio n of th e Nominal P iece. ,. 20. Chapter T hroe:. C ateg o ries of th e Nominal P iece. .. C hapter Four:. The Vowel and Consonant Sounds of Adsr gme. C hapter F iv e:. The S y lla b le S tru c tu re of JLiangme. •. 25 125 20+. C hanter S ix :. N a s a lis a tio n in the Nominal P iece. ♦. 225. Chapter Seven:. P itc h , Tone and In to n a tio n. *. 200. B iblio g rap h y :. 212.

(6) AB^FEVTATTONS. D irect P alato p ram (s) P alato g ro m (s) Speetrogram (a ). Tonograa(s ) Kymogram(s ) Larynx tr a c in g Mouth tr a c in g Nasal tra o in g Nominal Piecofj) Cent!seconds compare H erts, cy cles p e r second WlA®- VWr tz. . F i r s t formant Second formant T h ird formant Fourth formant Low tone High tone V erbal P ie c e (s ) I n te r n a tio n a l Phonatio A lphabet adverb re fe -r. to.

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(12) ii 1.. *. THIS ADANGME LANGUAGE AND PEOPLE 1. *. 1 .1 .. ADANGME i s a tone language th a t belongs to th e KWA. sub-group o f th e NIGER-CONGO fam ily (see Greenberg 1963, p . 8; V oegelin 19&4, PP* 14-15)*. As th e map facin g p . 12. shows, i t. i s spoken m ainly in so u th -e a ste rn Ghana in an area bounded roughly by a lin e drawn from th e c o a s ta l town of Kpone eastw ards along th e c o a s t to Ada, th en up n o rth along th e oourse o f th e V olta R iver to Kpong, then north-w estw ards to B isa and along th e fo o t of th e Akwapim mountains to Dodowa, and th en down south again to Xpone. O utside Ghana, th e re i s an enclave of Adangme speakers in c e n tra l Togo who have been mentioned by w rite rs such as C h r i s t a l l e r (1887, p . 165 and 1933P* xi*)». Rapp (1943);. Westermann and Bryan. (195?,. p . 82),. and whose presence has been r e c e n tly a t te s t e d by Miss Mary. E sth er. Kropp •. Puplampu (1953, pp. 2 ? f f . ) p o s tu la te s I 65O as th e. date o f th e m ig ratio n of th e se Adary^me-speaking people to an area in Togo through which th e main body of Adangme3 had come to Ghana during t h e i r m ig ratio n from a p lace e a s t of N ig e ria .. In Togo, t h i s. Adangme-speaking community i s e n t i r e l y surrounded by Ewe-speakers b u t t h e i r language has remained d i s t i n c t l y Adangme. In Ghana, Adangme i s l i n g u i s t i c a l l y bounded on th e e a s t by Ewe, on th e n o rth by Akwapim Twi and on th e west by Ga. 1 . Also s p e lt ADANGBE, DANGBE and DANGME. 2. P erso n al communication.. Adangme-1and.

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(14) 12 covers th e seven t r a d i t i o n a l areas of Kpone, Prampram, Ningo, Ada, Osudoku, Krobo and Shai which were a s s o c ia te d with th e nowmoribund Dangme C u ltu ra l S o ciety o f th e 1940s and 1950s.. C onsiderable. confusion has been caused in the p a s t by th e la ck o f a stan d ard la b e l f o r th e a re a and by th e frequency w ith which a d m in is tra tiv e d e s ig n a tio n s have been changed.. Thus one o fte n h ears of "Dangbe-Shai". which i s ta u to lo g o u s sin ce Shai i s but one of seven Dangme sub d iv is io n s ;. "Ga-Adangbe" which denotes an eth n ic c l u s t e r com prising. th e Ga and th e Adangme, each w ith i t s own language and s o c ia l o rg a n iz a tio n ;. ”Ca-Dangbe-8hai" which i s th e ponderous d esig n atio n. of a Local Council Area th a t covers an area which i s p a r tly Ga and p a r t l y Adangme.. e tc .. P a rt o f th e confusion stems from inadequate li n g u i s t i c in fo rm a tio n . r e la te d ;. I t i s tru e t h a t Ga and Adangbe are v ery c lo s e ly. b u t sin ce th ey a re not m utually i n t e l l i g i b l e th e y are. b e t t e r co n sid ered as two se p a ra te languages.. T his p o s itio n did. not become c le a r u n t i l se rio u s lin g u i s tic a t te n t io n was focused on th e area in th e e a r ly 1940s.. About two c e n tu r ie s ago, incoming. m is sio n a rie s s e ttle d in Ga-speaking Accra and devised an o rth o graphy f o r Ga.. This language became the v e h ic le f o r e d u c atio n al. and m issio n ary work, and a grammar of Ga was p u b lish ed as e a r ly as 1^64 by a Danish soholar c a lle d P ro tte n . Then came many hypotheses about th e r e l a t i o n of Ga to Adangme. Zimmerman (1858, pp. 395-6) c a l l s Adangme 1i ul m i't "the raotherd ia le o t o f Ga" and l a t e r m entions "the Adangme d ia le o t of th e Ga.

(15) Language".. One reason he g iv es f o r th e m is s io n a r ie s ' choice of. Ga r a th e r th a n Adangme as th e language to be oho sen f o r m issio n ary work and to be w ritte n was **the moral and p o l i t i c a l supremacy o f th e proper Ga t r i b e oyer th e Adangme as w ell as th e o th er t r i b e s around** — an in te r e s tin g re a so n , b u t one th a t need not d e ta in us* Zimmerman*'* view th a t Ga and Adangme were one language seems to have been adopted by Westermann (1927, p . 4;. a ls o Westermann and. Bryan, 1952, p . 82), by C h r i s t a l l e r (1933* p . x iv ) and by Ward (1945, p p . 6 5 f f ) .. Ward f e l t th a t. and Adangme are f a i r l y. c lo s e ly r e la te d d ia le c ts of one language** b u t, s ig n i f ic a n t ly , she suggested t h a t th e y were d if f e r e n t enough to w arrant th e production of se p a ra te l i n g u i s t i c m a te ria ls f o r an impending l i t e r a c y campaign. As soon as th e d e fic ie n c y in th e amount o f l i n g u i s t i c inform ation on Adangme was rem edied by th e work o f P ro fe ss o r Jack B erry and o th e rs ( e .g . Rapp, 1943, P . 8 ), i t became c le a r th a t Ga and Adangme were se p a ra te lan g u ag es. p assim ).. Berry says as much (1950* p . 69;. 1952. Although Greenberg did n o t se p arate th e two in th e 1955. e d itio n o f S tudies in A frioan L in g u istic C la a a lf io a tio n . h is l a t e r work Languages of A frio a (1963) li® ts them as two lan g u ag es.. In. V oegelin (1964, pp. 14-15) th ey are l i s t e d as two lan g u ag es.. As. m entioned above, Ga and Adangme a re not m utually i n t e l l i g i b l e :. most. Adangmes understand Ga because i t i s th e only v e rn a c u la r th ey le a rn to re a d and w rite a t school;. and th o se Gas who have had no ex ten siv e. commercial or o th e r c o n ta c t w ith Adangme-speakers can , a t b e s t, only make rough guesses a t th e meaning o f Adangme u tte ra n c e s ..

(16) 14. The main o ccupations o f th e peonle liv in g in th e Adangme a re a are farm in g , f is h in g , animal husbandry and s a l t - c o l l e c t i o n . ( S a lt- c o lle c tio n i s done a t the Songaw [sbqb] lagoon n ear Ada, The s a l t i s g ath ered during the dry harm attan season from a f l a t a re a b o rd erin g th e se a, so "s a lt-m in in g ” would be an in a p p ro p ria te d e s ig n a tio n .). Owing to poor employment o p p o rtu n itie s in th e area. and to th e a r i d i t y of a l o t of th e la n d , many c o a s ta l Adangmes have ventured o u tsid e t h e i r home towns to seek employment elsew here, o fte n in o th e r Adangme-speaking a re a s to the n o rth but a t o th e r tim es to p la c e s such as t h e Tw i-speaking cocoa-farm ing areas f a r t h e r n o r th .. I t i s n o t only farm ers th a t have moved;. and o th e r o ccu p atio n al groups have moved to o .. te a c h e rs , tr a d e r s My f a th e r , fo r. in s ta n c e , h a ils from Ada (as does my mother to o ) but has been •4! a s s o c ia te d f o r over t h i r t y y e a rs , f i r s t as a stu d e n t and l a t e r as & te a c h e r, w ith a Secondary School th a t was e s ta b lis h e d a t Ewe-speaking Adi dome, moved to Ada in l%-2 and th en f i n a l l y moved to Dodowa in 1945*. I was f iv e when we moved to Dodowa and I went to school th e re. co n tin u o u sly u n til I was sev en teen ,. I a lso spent in te r m itte n t. p e rio d s th e re in th e follow ing s ix y e a rs , pending my d ep artu re f o r B r ita in .. My v i s i t s to my home town Ada have, on th e whole, been. sh o rt and in fre q u e n t. Dodowa i s a sm all town b is e c te d by a small seaso n al stream b ea rin g th e same name and e a s t o f which liv e Adangme-speaking (Shai d ia le c t) and Ha usa-speaking com munities.. To the west o f th e stream are to. be found a heterogeneous m ixture o f Yoruba-, Ga-, Ewe-, Twi- and.

(17) Adangme-speaking com munities.. The indigenous Shai people are. alm ost e n t i r e l y confined to th e e a s te rn sid e of th e stream .. My. fam ily liv e d in a house owned by an Ada fam ily th a t had s e ttle d a t Dodowa some y ea rs p re v io u sly ; fa m ily .. among our c o -te n a n ts were a Yoruba. We o h ild re n mixed a l o t , but my f a th e r was a t p ain s to. ensure th a t we d id not lo se our Ada ac ce n t.. Thus, although I have. spent only a few sh o rt h o lid ay s a t Ada i t s e l f , my speech m ain tains more f e a tu re s of th e Ada d ia le c t than of th e Shai o r any o th er d ia le c t of Adangme.. I t is w ith the Ada d ia le c t th a t t h i s th e s is. i s p rim a rily conoerned. The l a t e s t Census f ig u re s. 3. in d ic a te th a t th e re are about. 290,000 Adangmes, in clu d in g 50,000 Adas.. The fig u re f o r Gas i s. 236,000.. The Adangme t o t a l i s almost c e r ta in ly a co n serv ativ e if e s tim a te , sin ce both Zimmermann and Ward (19^5, P»65) agree th a t Adarypnes outnumber Gas by f a r and since i t i s known th a t enum eration in r u ra l a re a s such as Adangrae-land i s fa r l e s s thorough than i t i s in urbah c e n tre s such as Accra where most Gas l i v e .. I t i s very. doubtful i f th e re has been enough m igration from Adangme area s to 5 reduce th e p re -1 % 5 r a t i o of about A Adangmes to 1 Ga to the o v e ra ll margin re p re se n te d by the p rese n t f ig u r e s . 3. Ghana. Govt.. A c la s s ic example. (19 6 c), p . x x ii.. if. Zimmermann (1858, p . 385): n a tio n th an th e Ga.". "Adangme i s spoken by a f a r more numerous. 5. Ward, ib id , quotes the pre-1945 fig u re s as 90 ono t—r— Adangmes as a g a in st 20, 0 00 Ca8..

(18) of th e im p recisio n o f th e ru ra l count i s given by Puplaapu (1955, p * 8 .) who r e j e c t s th e 19^8 Census t o t a l o f 250,000 Adangmes and suggests n f ig u r e o f 500,000 f o r th a t :/ear.. 1*2.. P~cvion3 S tudies o f Adangmc 6. Ximmerman's I have seen*. i s the e a r l i e s t ex tan t A n a l y s i s of Adangme th a t. Along with h is b r i e f , tr a d it io n a l ly - o r ie n te d a n a ly s is. go a few te x ts o f Adangme from which he e x tr a c ts v ario u s gram m atical c o n s tru c tio n s f o r tr a n s la tio n and fo r comparison with Ga,. He uses. th e Ga s c r ip t o f those days which was c h a ra c te ris e d by th e presence o f many d i a c r i t i c s . The second a n a ly s is o f Adangme must have been a work o f Puplampu (I9*f5?) which Ward ( l 9^-5) said was ready fo r p r in tin g a t th e tim e. I cannot tr a c e i t , but i t appears to have been th e p recu rso r o f h is l a t e r tw o -p art Dangbe Manner o f Speech which was pub lish ed in 1953* The l a t t e r work i s c a s t in th e form of a classroom d isc u ssio n in which a te a o h e r t e l l s h is c la s s th e h is to r y of th e Adangme p eo p le, te a c h e s them same Adangme p h o n etics, and t e l l s them something about th e type of orthography th a t he would recommend f o r th e language. P a rt 3 o f t h i s work i s r e f e r r e d to on page 93 of P a rt 2 but i t does not appear to have been p u b lish ed . oare o f P ro fe sso r B erry;. The M3, of P a rt 3 i® in th e. i t was not p o s s ib le to c o n s u lt i t during. 6. o p . c i t , , pp. 3 8 5 ff, W-5ff*.

(19) th e course o f th e p re s e n t study* Puplanpu i s to he commended f o r th e energy and a s s id u ity he brought to h is s u b je c t:. he once took a frequency count a t th re e. m arkets so as to determ ine whioh speech sounds he should in tro d u ce f i r s t in h is i n f a n t s ' te x t books. The pedagogical grounds f o r 7 t h i s approach are q u ite ahaky , but th a t is not th e p o in t at issu e h e re .. In th e face o f heavy odds and d e sp ite the je a lo u s o p p o sitio n. o f many Adangmes, he took p ain s to analyse Adangme speech as r ig o ro u s ly as he c o u ld , and sought a l l a lo n g — a p p a re n tly without r e a liz in g th e lim ita tio n s o f such an approach — to s t r i k e a balance between th e d if f e r e n t Adangme d ia le c ts so as to f a c i l i t a t e th e acceptance o f h is orthography and o f h is te x t-b o o k s. T his attem pt a t compromise at a l l c o s ts o ften le d him to recommend as norms u tte ra n c e s th a t were q u ite a r t i f i c i a l , in th a t th e y were not th e n a tu r a l speech o f speakers o f any one o f the seven d ia le c ts ;. examples of th ese abound in h is school te x t-b o o k s .. a ls o , u n fo rtu n a te ly , sought to p e rp e tu a te. He. o b so le sce n t forms of th e. language f o r th e purpose of developing Standard Adangme, o f c re a tin g one speech community and o f sm othering d ia le c ta l d iffe re n c e s (Puplampu, 19^3, p . 63).. In t h i s attem p t, p r e d ic ta b ly , he f a i l e d .. But th e. 7, See O.C. Irw in (1^57), from which i t would appear t h a t a b e t te r approach would be to grade th e sounds by p la ce of a r tic u la t io n r a th e r than by th e frequency of t h e i r occurrence in a d u lt speech..

(20) problem of th e la c k o f any lo c a lly -re c o g n iz e d sta n d ard or C en tral d ia le c t i s bound to a r is e again i f and when an attem p t i s made to produoe te x t books f o r th e area and to make Adangme th e medium of in s tr u c tio n in th e e a r ly stag es of elem entary school ed u catio n . Indeed, a tr a n s la tio n o f th e B ible in to Adangme on which work i s re p o rte d to have s ta r t e d under th e d ir e o tio n of P ro fe ss o r Rapp i s alm ost c e r t a in ly going to be b e d e v ille d by t h i s problem . P uplanpu's aw areness of th e need f o r to le ra n c e in th e a p p li c a tio n o f h is orthography (1953, PP. 35, 37) i s o fte n fo rg o tte n when he comes to la y down r u le s f o r s p e llin g .. For in sta n c e he. recommends ( p .38) th e omission o f oonsonants th a t ten d to be dropped in speech but in th e same b re a th opposes th e om ission o f vowels th a t are s im ila rly dropped because "the language g ain s from our re p la c in g th e om itted vowels’*.. He o fte n in d u lg es to o in an. an tiq u arian ism th a t runs oounter to th e s p i r i t of modern l i n g u i s t i c s . Of th e Osudoku d ia l e c t , he says (1953, p .2 6 .) th a t i t Hi s th e p u re st form, com paratively speaking.. Because of i t s p o s itio n , i t has been. p ro te c te d from th e c o rru p tin g (ray i t a l i c s ) in flu e n c e s o f G-a, Twi, Ewe. ". T his i s a p a te n t value judgment which, as such, i s o f. l i t t l e use to se rio u s l i n g u i s t i c d is c u s s io n !.. In a d d itio n , he. o fte n invokes etymology to condemn forms t h a t a re , in f a c t , c u rre n t in contem porary speech (1953, PP. 50-51). Puplampu's a n a ly sis i s , on th e whole, q u ite v alu ab le and i s c e r ta in ly th e most d e ta ile d ever to have been p u b lish e d .. Since he. also spoke th e Ada d i a l e c t , any d iffe re n c e s in view point th a t are.

(21) 19. co n sid ered w orth r e f e r r in g to w ill be noted in th e re le v a n t se c tio n s o f th e t h e s i s .. He died about te n y ea rs ago.. P ro fe ss o r Ida Ward devoted some a tte n tio n to Adangme and worked 8 w ith Puplaopu when th e l a t t e r was a t t h i s School in th e 1940s. She p u b lish ed a schematic to n a l a n a ly sis o f two Adangme verbs in 9 a paper on Tonal A nalysis of West A frican Languages . A nother in v e s tig a to r w ith whom Puplampu worked and whom he c a l l s h is Ht u t o r , f rie n d and co n stan t companion** (Puplaopu, 1953, p . i i i . ) i s P ro fe sso r Jack B erry.. The l e t t e r ' s q u ite e x te n siv e. study of Adangme and of Ga f i r s t appeared in p r in t when he c o n t r i b uted an o u tlin e of Ga and Adangme s tru c tu re to Manoukian (1950 p . 69^. N ext, h is Ph.D. T h esis (Berry, 1952), c a ita in e d a b r i e f. a n a ly s is o f Adangme alongside analyses o f o th e r V o lta R iver Languages. He has sin ce p u b lish ed a p ap er on Krobo p h o n etio s (Berry, 1957) in which he d e a ls w ith th e q u estio n of s tr e s s in Adangme, and a lso a paper on Ada P ersonal Nomenclature (Berry, I9 6 0 ).. A p ro je c te d. d ic tio n a ry which P ro fe sso r B erry once mentioned does not appear to have been p u b lish e d y et (see B erry, 1958, p . 7 6 l. ). A c o n trib u tio n to Adangme sc h o larsh ip came from Miss Mary E sth er K ropp's 1964 p ap er on "The Morphology of th e Adangme Verb Complex". U n fo rtu n a te ly , she drew on b o th th e Krobo and th e Ada d ia le c ts fo r 8. The School o f O rien ta l and A frioan S tu d ie s, London U n iv e rs ity . 9. See Ward (1949), p . 59..

(22) 20. th e study and th e re b y exposed here s e lf a t many p o in ts to th e danger of assuming more homogeneity in th e l i n g u i s t i c m a te ria l than i s th e c a s e .. The f a c t th a t one of her inform ants spoke. Adangme w ith an Ewe accent was an a d d itio n a l co m p licatio n .. Below. i s an i l l u s t r a t i o n of the oonfusion th a t arose due to th e se f a c t o r s . In d e a lin g w ith n eg ativ e morphemes in A . I . 2 2 ., she says th e re are two, namely { - l } and ^wej .. This i s tr u e enough, but th e y. are d is tr ib u te d in d i s t i n c t l y d if f e r e n t ways in th e two d i a l e c t s , c f.. Ada /d u /. /d d f/. (b a th e ). but Krobo /d u /. /dd w e/. (b a th e ).. Furtherm ore, her s ile n c e on th e m atter o f the phonetic a lte r n a n ts of. i s l i k e l y to make a tran sfo rm atio n such as: /d d - b /. / d d - |/. (sharpen). u n in te lli g ib le to a non-Adangrae re a d e r.. On th e d is tr ib u tio n of. <£we] , she says th a t i t occurs a f te r d is s y lla b ic and a f t e r mid tone m onosyllabic v e r t* .. The form er statem ent is tr u e of n e ith e r Krobo. nor Ada, c f . /^iAwd/. /hbvrtS/. (w orry), in b o th d ia le c ts ;. and th e l a t t e r statem ent i s only p a r t i a l l y tr u e o f Krobo, fo r in s ta n c e : /s u /. /s d w e/. (k in d le ). / J e/. /& /. ( e a t). f o r which th e corresponding Ada forms are.

(23) 21. «nd. /»«/. Mi/. /$«/. /a /. An adequate account of th e se fe a tu re s i s p o s s ib le only when one t r e a t s each d ia le o t as a se p a ra te homogeneous whole and when one pays a t te n t io n to to n a l v a r ia tio n s in th e word c la s s e s o f each d a i le c t.. D espite a few more in sta n c e s of s im ila r shortcom ings,. Miss K ropp's paper brought to l ig h t f o r th e f i r s t tim e many s tr u c tu r a l f e a tu r e s of Admgme th a t had a p p a re n tly not been in v e s ti gated b e fo re . The l a s t sc h o la r of Adangme to be mentioned in t h i s review i s P ro fe sso r Eugene Rapp.. Of two papers he p u b lish ed in B e rlin in. 1% 2 and 1% ^ (see B ib lio g rap h y ), th e f i r s t i s a c o lle c tio n of Adangme p roverbs w ith tr a n s la tio n s and comments in German, and th e second i s a summary of the p h o n etics of th e language as spoken in Agotime in Togo follow ed by an Agotim e-German and German-Ago tim e le x ic o n .. P ro fe ss o r Rapp i s re p o rte d to be c u r r e n tly d ire c tin g work. in oonneotion w ith the t r a n s l a ti o n of the B ible in to Adangme. T his b r i e f review w ill have shown how l i t t l e has been done on Adangme so f a r , and, by im p lic a tio n , how much rem ains to be done..

(24) 1*3*. Score o f th e P resen t Study. This th e s is p re s e n ts a d e s c rip tio n of th e p h o n etics and phono1°gy of a g ram m atically -d elim ited p o rtio n of th e Ada d ia le c t of Adangme which i s d esig n ated th e Nominal P iece o r NP, and i s d efin e d in Chapter 2.. The statem ent i s th e re fo re a t th e th re e l i n g u i s t i c. le v e ls of grammar, p h o n etics and phonology in th a t o rd e r. The, phonetic d e s c rip tio n draws on k in a e s th e tic evidence o f my a r tic u la t io n of a v a r ie ty of Adangme u tte ra n c e s , supported by d a ta d eriv ed from th e study of d ir e c t and in d ir e c t palatogram s; kymoAV/ grams ; spectrogram s and tonograms of s e le c te d u tte ra n c e s . The in stru m e n ta l tech n iq u es th a t are used f o r th e p ro v isio n of th e se d a ta enable th e in v e s tig a to r to make a b s tra c tio n s o f v arious k inds <. o. illu m in a te asp e c ts of th e phonetic d e s c r ip tio n , give i t an. a d d itio n a l dimension and involve in many cases th e a p p lic a tio n of th e methods of n a tu r a l science to th e study o f human speech. A g rid f o r the in d ir e c t palatogram s i s p ro v id ed in th e ja c k e t in sid e the back cover of the apnendix, and a c h a rt f o r th e physio lo g ic a l ex p lan atio n o f th e g r id i s to be found in F ir th (l% ila, fa c in g p . 860).. Besides wide band spectrogram s w ith am plitude. d is p la y s , narrow band in te g ra te d se c tio n s are a lso provided f o r many of th e speech sounds d escrib ed and the advantages o f the one 10.. I t has been found n ecessary to show some kymograms more th an once in th e Appendix, sin ce th e y are d isc u sse d in more th an one place in th e t e x t . The o rd er i n which th e kvmo^r th e Appendix follow s th a t of the te x t in. as far as Possibly..

(25) over th e o th e r are o u tlin e d .. The phonetio tr a n s c r ip tio n employ*. th e I.P .A . symbols, w ith s lig h t m o d ific atio n s;. th e se are in d io a te d. in the re le v a n t s e c tio n s o f th e t h e s i s . Sinoe th e r e i s a t th e moment no standard orthography fo r Adangme, th e l i n g u i s t i c m a te ria l has been p re se n te d in th e form o f phonetic tr a n s o r ip tio n s and phonological form ulae only. to n e marks used — th e acute accen t. The. fo r h ig h to n e , th e grave. accent [%] f o r low tone and no tone mark fo r mid t o n e —a re of l i n g u i s t i c s ig n ific a n c e f o r th e to n a l s u b - c la s s if ic a tio n of wordc la s s e s .. N ative speakers of Adangme would re q u ir e f a r fewer tone. marks than are provided;. b u t sin c e the m a jo rity o f read e rs o f t h i s. th e s i s are l i k e l y to be non-Adangmes, i t has been thought b e s t to in d ic a te to n es in a l l c a se s . The phonological a n a ly s is employs the te ch n iq u e of prosodic a n a ly s is i n i t i a t e d by P ro fesso r J.R . F ir th and developed by h is stu d e n ts and c o lle a g u e s in th e School o f O rie n ta l and A frioan S tu d ie s. T his i s a polysystem ic r a th e r th a n monosystemic approach to phonology, and i t i s d isc u sse d a t some le n g th in Chapter 5» The l i n g u i s t i c m a terial i s la r g e ly of my own c o n s tru c tio n and i s d eriv ed from tr a n s c r ip tio n s of fo lk t a l e s t o ld and recorded by me, from spontaneous u tte ra n c e s I have oaught m yself using in conver s a tio n s w ith o th e r Adangme speakers and from c i t a t i o n s made, f o r example, f o r names of o b je o ts in th e oourse of th e c o lle c tio n o f le x io a l item s f o r a p ro je c te d d ic tio n a ry .. Care was taken in a l l. oases to ensure th e a u th e n tic ity of th e u tte ra n c e s , and most of them.

(26) 24. have from tim e to tim e been te s te d on o th e r sp eak ers o f th e Ada d ia le c t o f Adangme f o r t h e i r reac tio n s* For th e grammatical a n a ly s is which i9 p re se n te d in Chapter 2, a la rg e number of Adangme NP c o n stru c tio n s were c o lle c te d , as w ell from spontaneous u tte ra n c e s I have heard Adangraes use as from th e few Adangme pam phlets (m ostly w ritte n by R.P. D jabanor, see B ib lio graphy) a v a ila b le during th e p re p a ra tio n o f th e t h e s i s .. These. gave me access to a g reat v a r ie ty o f Adangme u tte ra n c e s of d is s im ila r s y n ta c tic com plexity;. i t is th e re fo r e hoped th a t th a t. ch a p te r covers v i r t u a l l y a l l major and minor s y n ta c tic types of Nominal P ie c e . A m a tte r of major concern to the a u th o r, b u t one th a t s t r i c t l y l i e s o u tsid e th e scope of t h i s t h e s i s , i s the d e v isin g of an adequate orthography f o r Adangme.. In th e p a s t, each o f th e s ix or so Adangme. au th o rs who have p u b lish ed pampKL£s or books have used t h e i r own m o d ific atio n s o f th e Ga orthography f o r t h e i r p urpose.. These took. account o f only t h e i r own p a r tic u la r d ia le c ts and th e re fo re had l i t t l e •hanoe o f being accepted by speakers of o th e r d i a l e c t s .. These. o rth o g rap h ies were f u r th e r weakened by a d ep lo ra b le la c k of c o n sis te n cy ty p if ie d by a f r e e a lte r n a tio n — sometimes on th e same page — between, f o r in sta n c e , dsua and dzwa fo r m arket.. Puplanpu was the. only Adangme author who had a c o n s is te n t orthography b u t none of th e o th e r a u th o rs employed i t , and i t has the d isad v an tag e, on the one hand, o f proposing too many major d e p a rtu re s from th e Ga orthography w ith which a l l l i t e r a t e Adangmes are f a m ilia r (fo r in s ta n c e , he uses.

(27) 9 rJ. and ± fo r th e a f f r i c a t e t£ and dz_ of th e Ga orthography) and, on th e o th e r hand, of proposing th e adoption of o b so lete forms wherever th e re were d ia le c ta l v a r ia tio n s in , say, le x ic a l item s. The problems involved in t h i s m atter o f an orthography f o r a language w ith many d ia le c ts none of which i s lo c a lly recognized as a S tandard a re , indeed, v a s t.. I t would seem th a t th e most p r a c t i. cable course would be the undertaking o f sep arate s tu d ie s o f each d ia le c t follow ed by a review of th e e x te n t and n atu re of d ia le c ta l v a r ia tio n as a b a s is fo r the form ulation of a Standard Orthography. The p o in t has o ften been made (e .g . Ward, 19U5, p assim ). and q u ite r i g h t l y to o , th a t what i s e s s e n tia l in an orthography i s not so much o v e ra ll p h o n etic accuracy as a w ritin g system which w ill be p h o n e tio a lly in te r p r e te d in d if f e r e n t ways by speakers of d if f e r e n t d ia le c ts of one langu ag e.. What must be e q u a lly emphasized i s th e f a c t th a t a. d e ta ile d knowledge o f what v a r ia tio n s of p ro n u n cia tio n any p ro je c te d orthography i s to accommodate cannot but help in th e adoption of the most s u ita b le o rth o g rap h ic conventions.. T his th e s is w ill, i t is. hoped, narrow th e gap t h a t must be f i l l e d b e fo re an adequate ortho graphy can be devised f o r Adangme as a whole, and is o ffe re d as a small c o n trib u tio n to our knowledge in th is a re a of A frican l i n g u i s t i c s ..

(28) DEFINITION OF THE NOMINAL PIECE. 2.. 2 .1 .1 .. "The Nominal P iece (NP) in Adangme" i s an a b s tra c tio n 1 made a t the grammatical le v e l o f d e s c rip tio n to subsume elem ents o f s tr u c tu r e th a t , b ro ad ly speaking, fu n c tio n e i th e r as independent se n te n c e s, or as s u b je c ts (and/or o b je c ts , in th e case o f t r a n s i tiv e v e rb s) o f verbal p ie c e s (VPs) in Adangme se n ten c es.. T his means th a t. any s tr e t c h of u tte ra n c e tr e a te d as an NP in th e th e s i s p lay s one Cv CCtwrao* of th e th r e e s y n ta c tic r o le s mentioned above. T his i s w e defending c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of a l l Adangme NPs and i t i s th is f a c to r t h a t , above a l l , j u s t i f i e s th e c o - id e n tif ic a tio n as NPs of s tr u c tu r e s th a t evince a wide range o f v a r ia tio n in th e com plexity of t h e i r in te rn a l s tr u c t u r e s .. These common sy n ta c tic fu n c tio n s sire c o l le c tiv e ly. c e n tr a l to th e a n a ly s is p re se n te d in th e th e s is and i t cannot be overem phasized th a t th e u n ity of the NP depends on them. The Sentence i s taken as th e la r g e s t u n it — l a r g e s t , th a t i s , not n e c e s s a r ily in terms of th e tim e i t ta k e s to u tte r i t , but w ith regard to i t s c o n s titu e n t s tr u c tu r c — w ith in th e framework of which t h i s gram m atical a b s tra c tio n i s made.. I t i s b eliev e d th a t t h i s. framework i s adequate fo r a statem en t o f th e in te r n a l s tr u c tu r e o f th e Adangme NP and, where d e s ire d , of th e e x te rn a l r e la tio n s o f th e NP with th e VP.. A d e ta ile d d isc u ssio n o f th e s tr u c tu re o f th e. 1 . F irth (1957), p . 7..

(29) I'O Adangme Sentence i s , however, o u tsid e the scope of t h i s t h e s i s . As a p o in t o f d e p a rtu re , i t w ill be s u f f i c i e n t to l i s t some of th e major sentence types of Adangme and to d isc u ss the r o l e o f NPs i n them.. Examples w ill be numbered only in t h i s c h a p te r.. 2 .1 .? .. Some Adangme Sentence Types.. An Adangme Sentence may c o n s is t o f: (a) a VP only, as in th e coasands 1•. Come 1. 2. h6. Go^l. o f (b) an NP only, as in th e exolamation 3. k&ff. Kofi |. o r in th e answer (Sentenoe 3) t o th e q u estio n: / / km mini p i p l l o 2 (what - sounded - j u s t now?) What made t h a t noise? Answer:. 3» Ikpb o. The dove. o r (c) a VP and an NP,as in the commands 6. j£ n l 3. F in ish your m e a l!. (eat - food - th e ) 7. b£ we o ml. Come in d o o rs!. (come - house - th e - in ) o r (d) an NP and a VP as in th e statement 8. bkpfc. o ba. The dove has come..

(30) 22. or (e) an NP and a VP and an NP, as in the statem ents 9« 10.. i n ! bkp& o.. I saw th e dove.. d e ja lo o gb£ d^Atd.. The hunter has k ille d a lio n .. (hunter - th e - k i l l e d - l i o n ) In a l l sentence types save th e f i r s t two, th e NP as su b je c t i s d is tin g u is h e d from the NP as o b ject as well by grammatical o rd er (the former always precedes the VP w h ilst th e l a t t e r always follow s th e VP) as by in to n a tio n s ! p a t t e r n s p e c u lia r t o t h e i r r e s p e c tiv e stru c tu ra l p o sitio n s. Only the f i r s t sentence type f a l l s e n t i r e l y o u tsid e th e scope of th is th e sis;. th e v ario us NPs in the o th e r sentenoe ty pes f a l l. w ith in the purview of our su b je ct o u tlin e. and w ill be disc u sse d below:. an. w ill f i r s t be given of the NPin i t s s t a t u s as Sentenoe. ( 2 . 1 . 3 1 .) , as Object ( 2 .1 .3 2 .) and as Subject ( 2 . 1 .3 3 . ) , follow ed by a d e ta ile d d isc u ssio n o f NPs having s tr u c tu r e s o f varying i n t e r n a l complexity. ( 2. 2. and 2. 3*)«. 2 .1 .3 1 .. Nominal Sentence. A sentenoe t h a t c o n s is ts of only an NP may be c a lle d a Nominal Sentence.. A comparison of Tgm 18 f o r th e Nominal Sentence. 5. ik pb o. The dove. with Tgms 23 to 25 f o r th e follow ing NP-plus-VP sentenoes 11. bkpo% 0. (Tgm 23). The dove oooed.. (Tgm 21+). The dove has come.. 12. Mcpi o d3» (Tgm 25). The dore has l e f t .. 8 . &kp£ o ba.

(31) 29 shows t h a t a Nominal Sentenoe has as an e s s e n t i a l p a r t of i t s s tr u c tu r e an in to n a tio n a l p a t t e r n p e c u lia r to i t s s ta tu s as an independent sentence t h a t i s bounded on both s id e s by s il e n c e . In i n t e r n a l s t r u c t u r e , a nominal sentence may o o n sist of any of th e fo llo w in g : (a) one word, as in Sentence 3» [k & fl].. Such an NP may be. c a l l e d a Nominal Wor d . (b) more than one word, but excluding a d eterm in ativ e as in 1%. rabtft flAkd.. Morning porridge (o f. Tgm 15). IV#. nbmlo n£ne.. Human le g (o f. Tgm 1 0 ).. Such an NP may be o a lle d a Nominal Croup.. As i s shown in 7.V#2. below,. NPs made up a nominal and a determ inative (see 2.11. on determ ina t i v e s ) are among th e v e ry few NP types t h a t are r e g u la r ly c h a r a c te r is e d by s p e c if ic in to n a tio n a l f e a t u r e s .. I t would seem d e s ira b le. to take account of t h i s f a c t in a d e s c r ip tio n of NP s t r u c t u r e , hence th e esta b lish m e n t of Nominal Groups (above) in c o n t r a d i s t i n c t i o n to ( c ) Nominal Phrases which o o n sist of more than one word and include a d e te rm in a tiv e . 3. bkpb o. \. 15# mi no.. Examples a re : The dove (o f. Tgm 18). This town ( c f . Tgm 20)..

(32) 30 NP as o b je c t to a VP.. 2 .1 .3 2 .. NPs in t h i s s y n ta c tic p o s itio n e x h i b it in to n a tio n s p e c u lia r. to t h a t p o s itio n and, of course, to t h e i r in te r n a l s t r u c t u r e (c f. Nominal P hrases ) .. They may be nominal words, nominal groups or. nominal p h rase s, as exem plified r e s p e c tiv e ly by: 16. bd hio. Come h e re .. \. 1 7 . 1 nS bkpfr &gb&. I s i* a big dove,. (I - saw - dove - b ig ) 13. 1 n \ Mcpb d. 2 .1 .3 3 .. 1 saw th e dove (cf. Tgm 26).. TIP as su b je ct to a VP.. These are again c h a ra c te riz e d by in to n a tio n s p e c u lia r to t h e i r s y n ta c tic p o s itio n and. to t h e i r in te r n a l s t r u c t u r e s .. They may be. nominal, words, nominal. groups or nominal p h ra se s, as exem plified. r e s p e c tiv e ly by: 19. wo. 06 p.. 20* n8 \gbb b£ pig o ml (big - cow - i s not 21. p g l i no 13c. Honey i s sweet. There i 3 no b ig. cow in th e e n c lo su re .. - enclosure - the - i n ) ^ h is bird's^-wing is b e a u tif u l. ( b i r d 's wing - t h i s - i s - b e a u t i f u l ). 2 . 1 . Vf.. Designated here th e Nominal Clause i s ano th er kind of. NP which i s somewhat r e l a t e d in s tr u c tu r e to th e Nominal Phrase but. from which i t d i f f e r s in re s p e c ts th a t w ill become c l e a r e r a f t e r the.

(33) 31. s tr u c tu r e of th e Simple NP has been d escrib ed below in 2 . 3 . A. S y n ta c tic a lly , a Nominal Clause may be one of the follo w in g: (a) An Independent Sentence, as in 22. mb Agbb no o ?. A b ig fellow l i k e you?. (y o u (sg .) - big - t h i s ?) (b) An antecedent to the su b je ct of a VP, as in 23, mb Agbb no. 0. , o 13 * ja f6 o,. (you ( s g .) - b ig - t h i s , you ( s g ,) - are - t e a r s - weep - in g ) . You are too b ig to c ry , where th e Nominal Clause i s antecedent to [ o ] , th e su b je ct of th e VP [ge j a f6 o ] , ( c ) An antecedent to the objeot of a VP, as in // / / / 2/f, mb Agbb no o, dMkfll pRfTT no gbb b. (you (sg. ) - b ig - t h i s , c h ild - t i n y - t h i s - b e a t - you ( s g . ) ) . Big though you a r e , t h i s t i n y o h lld beat you. where th e Nominal Clause i s antecedent to [ b ] , the o b je c t of the verb [g b b ]. The in te r n a l s tr u c t u r e of /the Nominal Clause i s d escrib ed in 2 .3 .5 .. 2 .2 .1 .. TYPES OP NOMINAL PIECE. 2 .2 .1 1 .. I n tro d u c tio n .. The examples c i t e d above are r e p r e s e n ta tiv e of th e sy n ta o tie s c a t t e r of NPs but th ey do not in themselves provide more th an an.

(34) 3 in k lin g o f the degree of s tru c tu re d com plexity to be observed in th e i n t e r n a l s tr u c tu r e s of some NPs.. Thus, while f o r c e r t a i n. purposes i t might be s u f f i c i e n t merely to la b e l as Nominal Phrases th e two su b ject NPs of th e follow ing sentences: 25* n& t66 no klfc. This c p w 's-ea r i s b ig .. (oow-ear - t h i s - i9 b ig ) ?6. n?. no tu e kl&. This cow's e a r i s b ig .. (cow - t h i s - e a r - i s b ig ) im portant s tr u c t u r a l f e a t u r e s of Adangme would be obscured i f one did n ot go beyond t h a t and account f o r th e d i f f e r e n t s y n ta c tic r o le s of th e d eterm in ative [no] in the two NPs.. Account needs to be taken. too of NPs th a t are lin k e d by the a d d itiv e co njun ctio n [kc] and or by th e a l t e r n a t i n g conjunctions [A166] and [166] o r, as in 27. 1 0* gb6 k* &nb.. I have a dog and a c a t .. (I - have - dog - and - o a t ) 28. b h6 bbf6 166 jc?. Did you buy oorn or yams?. (you ( s g . ) - bought - corn - or .yams ?) To account s a t i s f a c t o r i l y fo r the s tr u c tu r e o f th e se examples, i t w ill be n ecessary to a b s tra c t. a Nominal Head. (2.5*) or core of. each NP and to a b s tr a c t NP types by re fe re n c e to f a c t o r s such a s : how many Nominal Heads eaoh contains*. What are the r e l a t i o n s of. i t s p a r t s to the whole - i . e . does i t c c n ta in a co n jun ctio n?. If. i t c o n ta in s more than one Nominal Head, are t h e i r r e l a t i o n s those of a p p o s itio n or th ose of p ossessio n?. The c l a s s i f i c a t i o n to be. a r r iv e d a t w ill d i f f e r from, but w ill run more or l e s s p a r a l l e l.

(35) 33 2. t o , th e one p re se n te d above since a t t e n t i o n w ill now be focused l e s s on th e sy n ta c tic p o s i t i o n o f th e NP in r e l a t i o n to the VP and more on th e i n te r n a l s tr u c tu r e of the NP.. 2 .2 .1 2 .. Compound NPs. NPs t h a t c o n ta in Nominal Heads t h a t are lin k e d by one of the c o n ju n c tio n s: k«. and. 166. o£. &166. or. w ill be c a lle d Compound NPs i r r e s p e c tiv e of t h e i r s y n ta c tic p o s itio n in th e Sentenoe. 27. 28. 29.. t. Examples a re :. gb6 k t 6nS. I have a dog. and a c a t .. 6 h6 b6f6 166 j s ? Did you buy corn or yams? % v gb6hl kg 6n5hl ba we o mi. (dogs - an d -cats - came - house - th e - i n ) Dogs and o a ts en tered the house.. .. Where a Compound NP c o n s is ts of more th an two i t ems, th e co nju n ction preoedes a l l but the f i r s t item , as in 29a.. 1 l l gb6hl kc dnfrhl kc to h l kc n&hl.. *. (I - b red - dogs - and - o a ts - and - g oats - and - c a t t l e ) I bred dogs, c a ts ,. goats aid c a t t l e .. I t w ill be neoessary th e r e f o r e. to adopt the convention t h a t in. Compound NPs, a l l but th e f i r s t Simple NP (see 2 .2 .1 4 .) w ill have an in tr o d u c to ry c o n ju n ctio n . 2,. This statem ent i s q u a lif ie d in 2 .3 .5 . below..

(36) 34 2.2.13*. Complex NPs,. NPs t h a t co n tain more than one Nominal Head but c o n ta in no co nju n ctio n w ill be o a lle d Complex NPs i r r e s p e c t i v e o f t h e i r s y n ta c tic p o s it io n , examples being: 13. m&td flAkA'. Homing p o rrid g e. lif. nSSmlo nine \ 25. nX ttie no k l#. Human le g .. T his cow s -e a r i s b ig .. A su b -d iv isio n of Complex NPs in to those whose Nominal Heads are in a p p o s itio n a l r e la tio n s h i p and th o se whose Nominal Heads are in g e n i tiv a l r e la t i o n s h i p i s achieved by a simple t e s t :. i f th e. in s e r t io n between two such Nominal Heads of th e copula [dM] o r o f /. th e verbal phrase [ n l dM] who i s or which is y ie ld s a sentence t h a t might occur in Adangme, th e Nominal Heads concerned are in a p p o s itio n a l rela tio n sh ip ;. i f n o t, th ey. are in g e n i tiv a l r e l a t i o n s h i p .. Thus,. th e Nominal Heads in each of the th r e e examples above are a l l in g e n i t i v a l r e la t i o n s h i p since none of th e follow ing occur in Adangme: * mbtfc dM flAkd;. • mbth n i dM flAku;. * n2olo d3l nSne;. • nSmlo n l dM nine;. * nS dM tdA;. * nfi n l dM t(ie.. /. But i n :. 30.. nlgdnb slk A t/« o.. The r ic h Ningoman. (Ningoman - richman - th e ) th e two Nominal Heads [nlgdnb] and [ aikA t/c] are in a p p o s itio n a l r e l a t i o n s h i p since J l . nigdnb n i dM sik A t/e o The Ningoman who i s r i c h . i s an acceptable Adangme u tte ra n c e ..

(37) 35 The i n t r i c a c y of the s t r u c t ’ore of c e r ta in Complex NPs i s i l l u s t r a t e d by 32. AdMsd. jAA AsRntAwA. Queen Yaa Asantewa of E jisu. (EJisu - queen - Yaa - Asantewa) which c o n ta in s fo u r Nominal Heads.. The f i r s t two are c o l l e c t i v e l y. in a p p o s itio n a l r e la tio n s h i p t o the l a s t two, since the follow ing i s an Adangme Sentence: 3 3 .. AdMsd mSjii n l dM jAA AskntAwA (E jisu - queen - who-is - Yaa - Asantewa) The Queen of E.Usu whoi s o a lle d Yaa Asantewa.. The f i r s t two Nominal Headsare in g e n i tiv a l r e l a t i o n s h i p sin c e , n e i t h e r *[AdMsd dM mSjil] nor *[AdMsii n l dM mAjii] ooours in Adangme. On the o th e r hand, the l a s t two Nominal Heads [jAA] and [AsRntAwA] are in a p p o s itio n a l r e l a t i o n s h i p , since 3^. jAA n l dM AslntAwA. Yaa. who i s Asantewa. i s an Adangme sentence. The Chinese-box-type s tr u c tu r e of Complex NPs i s i l l u s t r a t e d by the c o n tra s t between th e Complex NPs of 25. nR td e no klA. This. oow's-e&r i s b ig .. and 26. n l no t6A klA. This. cow's e a r i s b ig .. In th e former, th e determ inative [no] q u a l if i e s th e j o i n t Nominal Heads [nS] and (ttiA];. in th e l a t t e r th e determ inative [no] q u a l i f i e s. only the f i r s t Nominal Head [nR ], so th a t th e Complex NP [n^notdA ] may be sa id to be composed of a tw o-place Simple NP (see 2 .3 .1 . below).

(38) 3li and a one-place Simple NP. An examination of sqm o th e r NPs l a t e r in th e t h e s i s w ill confirm th e v i a b i l i t y o f co n sidering Complex NPs as being composed of Simple NPs.. 2 .2 .1 4 .. Simple NPs.. The t h i r d type of NP i s the Simple NP which con tains only one Nominal Head, with or without i t s q u a l i f i e r s . 5.. bkpb o.. The dove.. 6.. j£ n^ 3.. F inish your meal.. Examples a r e :. IQ. wo T]b o.. Honey i s sweet.. 21, p c l i no n< f$ 6 .. This b i r d ' sowing i s b e a u t i f u l .. As s ta te d in 2 .2 .1 1 . above, th e s u b - c l a s s i f i c a t i o n of NPs 3. in to t h r e e ty pes i s d i f f e r e n t from, but runs p a r a l l e l to , the sub d iv is io n of NPs on th e bftsis of Sentence-syntax p re se n te d i t o 2 .1 .3 4 . above.. 2.1.51•. Thus of th e NPs c i te d in th e above examples of. Simple NP s t r u c t 'i r e , the f i r s t i s a Nominal Sentence and has an in to n a tio n a p p ro p ria te to i t s s t a t u s , the second i s an NP in objeot p o s it io n t o th e verb [ j £ ] , the t h i r d i s an NP in su b je c t p o s itio n to th e VP [i}b o] and th e l a s t i s an NP in su b ject p o s i t i o n to the VP [o« f W ] .. I t may a ls o be said th a t th e t h i r d i s a Nominal Word w h ils t. th e o th e r th re e are Nominal P h rases. Nominal Head has so f a r remained an undefined term;. a fu ll. d is c u s s io n of th e term i s provided in 2*5. below hence i t w ill s u f f i c e ?. This statem ent i s q u a lif ie d in 2 .3 .5 . below..

(39) here to. designate i t as th e core of each NP around which are b u i l t. q u a l i f i e r s t h a t are s u b - d iv is ib le on account o f t h e i r s y n ta c tic p ro p e rtie s.. These w ill now be discu ssed in r e l a t i o n t o the. s tr u e t u r e of th e Simple NP.. 2 .3 .1 .. S tru o tu re of the Simple NP. The d efin in g c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of a Simple NP as opposed to a Complex or a Compound NP i s the f a c t th a t i t has only one Nominal Head.. The l a t t e r may or may not be accompanied by v ario u s pre-Head. o r post-Head q u a l i f i e r s .. Thus th e NPs in th e follo w in g sentences. a re a l l Simple NPs (the Nominal Heads are u n d e rlin e d ): 35. d33ma dadkflj S 36. wk d3Sm& worn! t/ u t / U &gbb o.. That o h ild . That big red book of ours,. (our - t h a t - book - red - b ig t h e ) 37. 6 kdkld b*f6 f titi k t/b w i cm* fdil p « (your (sg. ) - f i r s t - corn - white - small ( p i . ) - the ( p i . ) p le n ty - grew). Many of those f i r s t small white grain s of corn of yours have sprouted. 38. 6 dSSml kdkle/ om3 5 k l i .. That f i r s t farm of yours i s b ig .. (your ( s g . ) - t h a t - f i r s t - farm - th e - i s b ig ) As th e se examples show, a c e r t a in grammatical order c h a ra c te r i s e s both pre-Head and post-Head q u a l i f i e r s . discu ssed in tu r n .. These two w ill be.

(40) 33. 2.3*2.. Pre-Head Q u alifie rs*. 2. 3. 21.. Example. 33 i l l u s t r a t e s th e maximum number of p la ces. t h a t has been encountered in pre-Head q u a l i f i e r s ;. th e re are th re e. p la c e s which can be co n v e n ien tly la b e ll e d "a", "b" and "c" and which are a l l o p tio n a l in Simple NP s t r u e t u r e .. 2 .3 .2 2 .. They are f i l l e d as follows:-. POSSESSIVTCS (3 .2 .2 5 ) alone f i l l p la c e "a";. th e y do. so only when a noun i s Head (place "d") o f the Simple NP canoerned. Thus senten ces 3 3 7. and 3® have the follo w in g in p la c e s Ma H and. "d": a_. d_. 36.. wA. • • • • • • •. worn!. our . . . . . . .. book. 37.. 6. •••••*•. b h f6. your. corn. 38.. 6. •••••••. gmS. your . . . . . .. farm. Another example i s : 39.. a d g 6 womi o klA.. Your book i s b ig .. ( your ( s g . ) - book - th e - i s b ig ). 2.3*23.. P lace "b" i s f i l l e d by one of the follow ing pre-Head. q u a lifie rs: d3&jn3. t h a t , those. d^Smddie. t h a t kind of, those kinds of. klkfaS. t h i s , th e se. kikim&d3e t h i s kind o f , th e se kinds of.

(41) 39 The Nominal Heads th e y o o lli g a te with are nouns, a d je o tiv e s and numerals;. th ey do not c o l l i g a t e with pronouns or w ith q u a n tif ie r s. when th e se operate as Head.. For examples of [d3&m5] o o lli g a ti n g. w ith nouns as Head see Sentenoes 35, 3^ and examples are : a a 40. d33m8d3e t/u t/u. g ami. , hi. above;. o th er. Those kinds o f red ones are bad.. (those kinds of - red - th e ( p i , ) - are not good) where th e a d je c tiv e [ t / u t / u ] o p e ra te s as Head; a £ \ /, 41. d33m&jiSrjmS &mlh l i Those te n are s u f f i c i e n t . (those - te n - th e ( p i . ) - are s u f f i c i e n t ) „ > / where th e Head i s the numeral LJTJhjm&J.. 2.3*24.. P lace Mc" i s f i l l e d by e i t h e r of th e pre-Head o rd in a l. numeral [kdkle] f i r s t and [k£kl££kl£1( t h e ) v ery f i r s t .. These are. th e only pre-Head numerals in Adangme (see 2 .1 0 . below), and th e y c o l l i g a t e w ith nouns, a d je o tiv e s and numerals o p eratin g as Head, b ut not w ith pronouns or q u a n t i f i e r s in t h a t p o s itio n ,[k £ k l£ ] appears in an NP w ith a noun as Head i n : 38.. 6 do am5. kdkl£ qm3 5 klfc.. That f i r s t farm of yours i s b ig .. (your (sg. ) - t h a t - f i r s t - farm - th e - i s b ig ) Other examples a re : 42. kdkl£ ftit&d a ptlX. The f i r s t white one i s s p o i l t .. ( f i r s t - white - th e - i s s p o i l t ) where th e a d je c tiv e [fdtdd] i s Head; 4*3* kdkld dwlfr ami b£. The f i r s t fo u r have passed. ( f i r s t - fo ur - th e ( p i . ) - have passed).

(42) where th e numeral. i s Head.. As s t a t e d above, these pre-Head q u a l i f i e r s are o p tio n a l in Adangme NP s t r u c t u r e , hence th e re may be a l l tlire e in an NP ( c f . Sentence 38), or only two (c f. Sentenoe 36) or only one ip f. Sentences *0- ^ 3 ) or none (c f . Sentence 3 : t 5kp5 0] The dove. ). 2 .3 .3 .. Post-Head Q u a lifie rs. 2 .3 .3 1 .. The post-Head q u a l i f i e r s , l i k e the pre-Head q u a l i f i e r s ,. are a l l optional elements of Simple NP S tru c tu r e .. Five p laces may. be se t up to account f o r them, namely: (i). Place He H, f i l l e d by A d jectiv es;. ( i i ) Place Hf M, f i l l e d by Numerals; ( i i i ) Place. wgM, f i l l e d by D eterm inatives;. ( iv ) Place Mh M, f i l l e d by Q u a n tifie rs , (v) As. and. Place * i " , f i l l e d by I n t e n s i f i e r s .. exp lain ed in 2.9* below, an NP may co ntain morethan. Head a d j e c t iv e , out in 2 .9 .. onep o s t-. in which case the a d je c tiv e s follow anorder. se t. Only one s tr u c t u r a l p la ce "e" has been s e t up fo r. a d j e c t iv e s , n o n e th e le ss. A simple NP may c o n tain a l l f iv e post-Head q u a l i f i e r s , or any fo u r post-Head q u a l i f i e r s , or any th re e post-Head q u a l i f i e r s . . . . . e t c • o r, of course, none of th e se f iv e .. In NPs in which th e se post-Head. q u a l i f i e r s appear, th e y always follow th e order in which they have been l i s t e d above. as Heads:. Here are i l l u s t r a t i o n s , a l l having Nouns o p e ra tin g.

(43) 41. 2.3*32.. Simple NPs w ith fiv e Post-Head Q u a li f ic r s . d. In UU.. e. f. g. h. i. i je Akbdfl fttfttl flcpA aa I krilAA p6 (I - a te -banana - r ip e - six - the ( p i . ) - a l l - even). I have even eaten a l l th e six rip e bananas. // th e post-Head q u a l i f i e r s are th e ad jectiv e [ f tif tir ] , the numeral [dkpA], th e d eterm in ativ e [am i], th e q u a n t i f i e r [kdlAA] and th e i n t e n s i f i e r [p 6 ].. 2 . 3«33*. Simple NPs w ith fo ur Post-Head Q u a lif ie r s. A Simple NP may co n tain any four of th e f i v e post-Head q u a l i f i e r s , but always in th e o rd er describ ed above, a s in : a. e t/u t/u. f. ^ i s35 p 6 s 8. (garment - red -. -. six - p le n ty - even - b u r n t). Nven as many as s ix red garments flot b u r n t. Htre th e post-Head q u a l i f i e r s are th e a d je c tiv e [ t / u t / u ] , the ✓ /. numeral [£kp8], th e q u a n t if i e r [ s55] and the i n t e n s i f i e r [p<5]. Another example of a Simple NP with four post-H ead q u a l i f i e r s is: if 6.. $>V. f. s. h,. 8mfa&g sg sg l &cp& ami kdlaa pQI. ( p la n ta in - to a s te d - six - th e ( p i . ) - a l l - s p o i l t ) . A ll th e s ix to a s te d p la in ta in s have ftone bad. \. \. /. where the post-Head q u a l i f i e r s are the ad jeo tiv e [ s l s l l ] , th e numeral [dkpA], th e determ inative [ami] and th e q u a n t i f i e r [kdlAA].

(44) 42 2.3.3-k.. Simple NPs with th re e Post-Bead Q u a li f ie r s ,. A Simple NP may con tain any th r e e post-Head q u a l i f i e r s .. Here. i s one example: If.6 .. *. wIlgb^. e. f. 8. n l lgb& £kp& ami.. (me - k i l l e d - cow - b ig - s ix - th e ( p i . ) ) . We have k i l l e d the six big cows. Here th e post-Head q u a l i f i e r s are the a d je c tiv e [Agbb], th e numeral [£kpl] and the determ in ativ e [am i].. 2 .3 .3 5 .. Simple NPs with two Post-Head Q u a lif ie r s .. A Simple NP may co n tain any two post-Head q u a l i f i e r s , as in th e second NP of Sentence 24: dMkfll J t f f t r n o. & -f/. 9.. 8. ". . . . . t h i s t i n y c h ild . . . . / // where th e post-Head q u a l i f i e r s are th e a d je c tiv e LPlfTT] and th e d eterm in ativ e [n o ].. 2 .3 .3 6 .. Simple NPs with one Post-Head Q u a lif ie r .. F in a lly , a simple NP may co n tain any one post-Head q u a l i f i e r , as in 3.. d g fckpb 0 e no. The dove. 13.. d» ml. 17.. % d e 1 n l 6kpA Aghl. This town I saw a b ig dove.. where the r e s p e c tiv e post-Head q u a l i f i e r s are th e d eterm in ativ es [ 0] and [n o ], and th e a d je c tiv e [Agb&]..

(45) 2*3.4.. Summary o f the S tru o tu re of the Simple NP.. A Simple NP can, th e r e f o r e , have anything from p la c e s f i l l e d. in i t s s t r u c t u r e .. Where nine p la c e s. one to nine are f i l l e d ,. th e f i r s t th r e e are pre-Head q u a l i f i e r s , the f o u rth i s th e Nominal Head (which, in t h i s ca se, i s always a noun, see 2 .3 .2 2 . above), and the l a s t f iv e are post-Head q u a l i f i e r s .. A ll p laces save p la c e. "d* fo r th e Nominal Head ( 2 . 5 . ) are op tio n al in Simple NP s tru c tu re ? t h a t i s , every Simple NP has one Nominal Head which may or may not be preceded by pre-Head q u a l i f i e r s and may or may not be follow ed by post-Head q u a l i f i e r s .. R e s tr ic t io n s th a t o p erate. s tr u c t u r e s in which Nouns are not Heads w ill be. in Simple NP. more f u l l y d isc u sse d. in 2 .5 . below where the c la s s e s of words t h a t fu n c tio n as Nominal Nouns, Heads — i . e . Subject P ro n o u n s,/A d jectiv es, Numerals and some Quanti f i e r s — are review ed. Examples of v a r'o u s Simple NP s tr u c t u r e s have been given above, but none has yet appeared. in which a l l n in e p la c e s. The example which follow s f i l l s t h a t gap;. are f i l l e d .. w hile i t i s h a rd ly. conceivable t h a t t h i s u tte r a n c e could i n i t i a t e a co n v e rsa tio n , i t i s a sentence th a t oould q u ite e a s i l y ooour in th e middle of one. . a b c d e f g h i 47. m& h6 6 dSinS kdkld qnS Agbb 4 t j Sm» kdlAd p6 . (I s h a ll - buy - y o u r ( s g .) - those - f i r s t -. farm - b ig - th r e e -. th e ( p i . ) - a l l - even). I should even l i k e to buy a l l those f i r s t th re e b ig farms of yours. The o p e ra tio n o f th e ca teg o ry of number in a l l th r e e ty pes of NP (Simple, complex and Compound) i s d isc u sse d in 3 .3 . below..

(46) 44 2 .3 .5 .. S tru c tu re o f th e Nominal Clause# The Nominal Clause was t r e a t e d in 2 .1 .3 4 . above as an NP t h a t. oocurs e i t h e r as a Sentenoe or as the p re lim in a ry p a r t of a sentence to whose su b je c t o r o b je ct i t i s an a n te c e d e n t.. It is , stric tly. speaking, d i f f e r e n t from a l l o th e r NPs and stan ds o u tsid e the t r i p a r t i t e d iv is io n of NPs in to Simple, Complex and Compound*. This. c a l l s f o r a q u a l i f i c a t i o n of statem ents made in 2. 2*11. and 2. 2. I k . above to th e e f f e c t th a t th e t r i p a r t i t e d iv is io n o f NPs p a r a l l e l s th e e a r l i e r one based p r im a r ily on the Syntax of th e Sentence: th e l a t t e r in clu d es Nominal d a i s e s , w h ilst the former does n o t. The f a c t of the Nominal Clause being d isc u sse d alo n g sid e o th e r NPs a t a l l was prompted by th e p a r t i a l resemblance between i t s in t e r n a l s tr u c t u r e o ru c ia l. and t h a t of the Nominal Phrase ( 2 . 1 . 3 1 .) :. one. d if fe re n c e between th e two i s th a t Eominal Phrases have a. maximum o f f i v e post-Head q u a l i f i e r s. ( c f . S tru c tu re o f th e Simple. NP, 2 . 3 . 4 . ) w h ils t nominal c la u se s have a s ix t h whose s ta tu s remains ambiguous, f o r reasons t h a t w ill be explained p r e s e n tly . I t w ill be agreed th a t in the term inology proposed above, the follow ing c o n ta in Simple NPs: d 8 5. fckpb o The dove 15.. $ no5 ma. This town. d , e ,, f g h i 44. i Je Sdcbdfl fflfttl &cp> ami tollLL pd (I - a te -. banana - rip e - s ix - the ( p i . ) - a l l - even). I have even eaten gill the s ix r ip e bananas..

(47) In connection w ith th e l a s t example, i t w ill be r e c a l l e d th a t the d eterm in ativ e i s th e t h i r d of f iv e post-Head q u a l i f i e r s (see 2 . 3 . 3 1 . ) . When one co n sid ers th e Nominal Clause 22. mb Agbb no o7. A b ig fello w l i k e you?. however, i t becomes c le a r t h a t th e r e i s a s ix th post-Head element o f s tr u c t u r e . o th e r NPs;. This i t i s t h a t s e ts Nominal Clauses ap a rt from. i t i s sim ila r in phonetic form to th e sin/palar d e f i n i t e. a r t i c l e (see 2 .1 1 .) and always comes l a s t in Nominal Clause S tru c tu r e , as in : x d e n lg b ll ami. 48.. h. i p6 o, A jA a wb.. (Ningomen - the ( p i . ) - p le n ty - even,. th e y - go - do - sea). As fo r many of th e Ningo people I mentioned, th ey go to sea. d e gbl Agbbhl 5,. 49«. a he qc gb£jb.. (dog - b i g ( p l . ) ,. th ey - se lv es - have - f e a r ). As f o r b ig dogs, they are f e a r f u l . Although th e l a b e l l i n g of places in the Nominal Clauses above may not he j u s t i f i e d , i t serves to p o in t out th e s ix th post-Head elem ent.. I n to n a ti o n a ll y , th e Nominal Clause i s always marked by. a p re-p au sal f i n a l low tone and a f a i r l y s u s ta in e d a r t i c u l a t i o n of th e f i n a l vowel, as i s. shown on Tgm 27 fo r [mb Agbb no 0] .. These. in to n a tio n a l f e a t u r e s are furtherm ore rem in isce n t of those found in c e r t a i n in tr o d u c to ry ad v e rb ial phrases, e . g . /. 49&•. mbnb o,. 49b.. hbgbA a,. i b a. i b£.. Today, I have come. On Sunday, I did not cone..

(48) 4G. The s tr u c tu r e of th e Nominal Clause re q u ire s f u r t h e r i n v e s t i g a tio n b efo re i t s r e l a t i o n to o th e r NPs can be adequately ex p lain ed .. 2.if.l«. Nouns d ! s t ingulshed from Other Nominal Heads.. As a prelude to th e review of Nominal Heads in 2 . 5 . t t h i s seotio n summarizes the f e a t u r e s t h a t d is tin g u is h Nouns from o th e r types o f Nominal Head, namely Pronouns (2 .A .2 . ) , A djectives (2A .3*)» Numerals (2.A .A .) and Q u a n tifie rs (2 .if .? .). 2 .A. 2. 2 .A.21.. "Noun" d is tin g u is h e d from "Pronoun": Unlike pronouns, nouns can c o l l i g a t e independently w ith. th e follow ing to form simple NPs t h a t ere not s y n t a c t i c a l l y BOUND (see b elow ): (a) w ith d e te rm in a tiv e s, v iz . 5.. &kp&o. The dove. 15.. mk no. This town;. 0>) with i n t e n s i f i e r s , v iz . ^9• k b f i o6 (c). Uven Kofi has l e f t .. with a d j e c t iv e s , v iz . 17.. \. 1 nS &kpb Agbb.. I saw. B esides, nouns are an open w o rd -class, and. a b ig dove. most nouns are in f le c te d. fo r number (5. 3*)•. 2 .if. 22.. Unlike nouns, Pronouns are a closed se t t o which a. th re e -te rm categ o ry of person a p p lie s (3 * 2 .)..

(49) Pronouns do not c o l l i g a t e independently w ith d ete rm in a tiv e s. ^ ^. w ithout an in te rv e n in g a d je c tiv e * £ Thus • [mb no] does not occur in Adangme, but d e g 50. mb n3 dM t o j e l o o2 (you(sg. ) - l i t t l e - t h i s - i s - shepherd - th e ) How can a l i t t l e fe llo w l i k e. you. be th e 3hcpherd7. does.. Such NPs can be in 3itoject p o s it io n only to the copula [dM] but not t o any o th e r v e rb .. They occur, of course, (and always with in to n . a tio n s a p p ro p ria te to t h e i r s y n ta c tic p o s i t i o n ) as o b je c ts to t r a n s i t i v e v erb s, as in 51. 1 na nb p R ftf no (I - saw - you(sg. ) - l i t t l e - t h i s ) Small though you a re , I saw you. Subjeot NPs t h a t c o l l i g a t e with amly th e copula [dM] may be termed ( s y n t a c t i c a l l y ) BOUND NPs in c o n t r a d i s t i n c t i o n to ( s y n ta c t i c a l l y ) FREE NPs t h a t are not so r e s t r i c t e d .. In th e s e term s, two-. word NPs t h a t comprise a pronoun and an i n t e n s i f i e r are a lso BOUND NPs,as in d i 52. mb p6 dM mftt/« o n t (y o u (sg .) - even - are - c h i e f - the - in f a c t ) Though you may not r e a l i z e i t , you are th e c h i e f . d i 53» i l e mb p6 I know even you. However a sentence l i k e *[mb p6 &5b] does not occur in Adangme; [ d3b] means t o le a v e . Also bound are NPs c a n p ris in g su b je ct pronouns of S e rie s One ( 3« ? .f i ~ ) t as in 18.. Tik bkpb o.. 53. i, l e mb p6.. I saw the I. know even you.. The fo llo w ing a r e , th e r e f o r e , th e NPs t h a t are bound: ( i ) an NP of s tr u c t u r e - * • , f i l l e d by a Pronoun of S e r ie s Oae ( j . 2 . 2 * . ).

(50) 43. (ii). an NP of s tr u c tu r e Md, e , g”, "d” being a Pronoun of S eries Two ( 3 . 2 . 2 3 .) ;. ( i i i ) an NP of s tr u o tu r e "d, i " , "d" being a Pronoun of S e rie s Two ( 3 .2 .2 3 ).. 2 .4 .3 .. "Noun" d is tin g u is h e d from "A d je ctiv e”.. 2 .4 .3 1 .. While Nouns and A djectives can be Heads of Simple NPs,. f o r example th e noun [bkp&] i s Head in d * bkpb o. 3. and. The dove. th e a d je c tiv e [Agbb] i s 34.. d g Agbb o l l i. Head in The bin one. a noun can be the Heado f. a Simple NPt h a t. is lo s t . c o n tain s aA> a d j e c t iv e ,. as in % d e 17. 1 nSL 6k? & Agb6 b ut noun.. I saw a big dove.. an a d je c tiv e cannot be the Head of a Simple NP Thus:. A. th a t c o n tain s a. ,k a. 55. pgf t r $ tu e ka The ear of th e t i n y one i s lo n g , I I ( t i n y - th e - e a r - i s lon g) d g d and S6# *>gb6 p njlne ka The leg of the big one i3 lon g. (big - the - le g - i3. long). are Complex NPs each c o n ta in in g two Heads ([jiSfTT] and [td£] in 55^ and [Agb6] and [nSne] in 56) in g e n i t i v a l r e l a t i o n s h i p , since u tte r a n c e s such as.

(51) 40. •ram dM tts# and. • Agbb dM n&ne. do n o t occur in Adangme.. I t i s to be noted th a t NPs of which. a d j e c t iv e s are Heads always r e f e r to something ( f e l t , heard, seen, e tc * ) e a r l i e r in th e extended l i n g u i s t i c c o n te x t. I t would be e n t i r e l y wrong t o s a y of an a d j e c t i v e th a t o p erates as th e Head of a Simple NP th a t i t "has become a noun" or th a t i t " fu n ctio n s as a noun", f o r (as explained in 2 .5 . below) on th e fa o t of i t s remaining an a d je c tiv e in a l l environments depend the o th e r word c la s s e s t h a t may appear in th e same Simple NP w ith i t . Sentences 55 and 56, the. (in. only o th e r p la c e s f i l l e d in the Simple. NPs having th e a d je c tiv e s. and [&gb&] as t h e i r Heads are. p la c e "g" f o r the d e te rm in a tiv e s ).. The p i a re -o r d erin g th a t is b a sic. t o th e s tr u c tu r e of the Simple NP has t h i s as one o f i t s major consequences.. 2A .3?«. A noun can be the Head of an NP co n tain in g a P ossessive,. but an a d je c tiv e cannot, as in ft d g 6 womi o k l fe. 39*. Your book i s b ig ,. (your ( s g .) - book - th e - i s b ig ) U tte ra n ces such as th e follow ing do not occur in Adangme: a. • •. d. g. 6 t /u t /u o klfc a d g 6Agbb o kl4. [ t / u t / u ] and [Agbb] being a d je c tiv e s meaning red and b ig re sp ectiv e ly.

(52) 50 ?.4.33«. Unlike nouns, a d je c tiv e s are commonly re d u p lic a te d f o r. emphasis in Adangme, as in 57.. tid £ futAA. White d re ss.. (dress - w h ite ) Very white d r e s s .. tf<StA-nSt. 58.. tid. 59.. t i d * fd tS b l. White d resses. 60.. tlid i fd td -fd t& h l. Very white d resse s. F in a l l y , i t i s worth mentioning t h a t NPs having a d je c tiv e s as t h e i r Head. are u n lik e those having Nouns or Pronouns as t h e i r Head. in never having human r e f e r e n t s .. 2 .If. 1*... "NounM d is tin g u is h e d from "Numeral".. A noun can be t h e Head o f a sim p le NP th A t o o n ta in s a numeral, o f . t h e noun ^tLd^J o p e r a t i n g as Head in : d e f h i x tAd4 t / u t / u 4kp& s5? r6 sX. 45.. Fven as many as s ix red garment s got h u rn t^ But a numeral oannot be Head of a dimple NP t h a t c o n ta in s a Noun; th e fo llow in g u tte ra n c e does n o t o c cu r i n Adangme: •. 4kpX t&d4. Unlike nouns, numerals e x h ib it a th re e -te rm morphological. system of C a rd in al, Ordinal and D is tr ib u tiv e (see 2.10. below) exampl es being: kdke \. 4jt3. one. k4kl4. two. 4n3nc. X. firs t second. VAkAAkX / /. \. 4ji5bnb. in ones in p a i r s.

(53) 2 .4 .5 .. "Noun" d i s t i n g u i s h e d from " Q u a n tifie r" ,. A noun may b e t h e Head o f a Sim ple NP o b t a i n i n g a q u a n t i f i e r , as i n : n t m l i fdd ba. 61.. Many p e o p le oaroe. (p e o p le - many - came) b u t a q u a n t i f i e r o a n n o t be t h e Head o f a Simple NP c o n t a i n i n g a noun, *. ftid n l m l i b a. W h ils t nouns a r e an open w o r d - c la s s. any member o f which may. f u n c t i o n a s t h e Head o f an NP, q u a n t i f i e r s (2 .1 2 .) a r e a c lo s e d w o r d - c la s s some o f whose members do n o t f u n c t i o n as Heads o f NPs, Most nouns a r e i n f l e c t e d f o r number ( 3 .3 .) b u t no q u a n t i f i e r i s so i n f l e c t e d ,. 2 .5 .. NOMINAL HEADS. 2 .5 .1 .. As was s t a t e d i n 2 .3 A . above, th e Nominal Head ( a t p l a c e. " d " ) i s th e o n ly o b l i g a t o r y e lem en t o f Simole NP s t r u c t u r e ;. th e. pre-H ea d q u a l i f i e r s and t h e p o st-H e ad q u a l i f i e r s a r e a l l o p t io n a l e le m e n ts o f s t r u c t u r e .. The word c l a s s e s t h a t f u n c t i o n as Nominal. Head a r e :. Subject p ronouns (3*-*)» Nouns. (2 .7 .),. A d je ctiv e s. (2 .9 .),. Numerals. ( 2 . 1 0 . ) , and. Q u a n tifie rs. (2 . 1 2 .)..

(54) The r e s t r i c t i o n s th a t o p erate in NPs not h a v in g p Noun as Head w ill serve to un d erlin e th e f a c t th a t p ia c e -o rd e rin g is c r u c i a l in Simple NP s t r u c t u r e :. i t i s the j u s t i f i c a t i o n fo r assig n in g a. maximum of nine p la ces Ma M to Hi M to Simple NP s t r u c t u r e s , and f o r saying t h a t only p lace nd H i s o b lig a to ry . "When p la ce *’dH i s not f i l l e d by a Noun, i t may be f i l l e d by a Subjeot Pronoun, or an A djective or a Numeral or a Q u a n tifie r, with ^td * t h a t o rd er of p r i o r i t y ^ (Note t h a t a Simple NP may <x>raprise combinations o f th e s e c la s s e s of words as w e ll, and see r e s t r i c t i o n s b e lo w .). 2,5«2*. Nouns as Head.. A Simple NP w ith a noun as Head may c o n t a i n a l l o r any o f th e p re-H ea d or p o st-H e a d q u a l i f i e r s ,. as in t h e exam ple given in 2 . ? . ^ .. above w ith a l l n in e places f i l l e d : . a b c d e f 2 f? .. rift. 6 k 6 k l< f r j. 5 K ybb £t%. (I s h a ll. g. h. i. otne kuil&A p 6. - buy - y o u r ( s g • ) - those - f i r s t - farm - b i g -. th r e e -. t h e ( p i . ) - a l l - even ). I s h o u ld f»vcn l i k e t o buy all t h o s ^ f‘ir3+ th re e b i g farms of y o u ri. Such NPs are not s y n t a c t i c a l l y bound;. th e y and those having Pronouns. as Heads a re the only NPs t h a t may have human r e f e r e n t s .. 2.5#?. 2 .5 .3 1 .. Pronouns as Head Then the Head o f a Simple NP i s a Subject Pronoun of.

(55) 53. S e rie s One (3 * 2 .2 ? .), no o th e r places can be f i l l e d , 5%. i, l e mb p6.. a s in :. I know even you.. Such NPs are always Nominal Words ( i* e . one-word NPs) and they c o l l i g a t e only with non-copula verbs.. 2.5*32.. When the Head of a Simple NP i s a Subject Pronoun of. S e rie s 2 (3*2.23*), th e NP i s s y n t a c t i c a l l y bound (o f. 2.A .22. above) i r r e s p e c t i v e of whether q u a l i f i e r s are p re se n t o r n o t, cf* • d i 52* p6 dM mRt/e o n Though you may not r e a l i z e i t . you are the c h i e f , d 62. mb d*5i n Z t/« o nS Youare th e c h i e f . U tteran ces such as the follow ing do not occur in Adangme. ( [ le ]. means to know): * *. 2.5**f*. d i mb pd l e m at/c o d mb l e m&t/e o. A djectives as Head. When an a d je c tiv e i s th e Head of a Simple NP, th e only wordc la s s e s t h a t may NOT occur in th e same Simple NP are Nouns ( 2 .A .31*) and P o sse ssiv e s (2 .if. 3 2 .) .. Any or a l l of th e o th e r r e le v a n t word-. c la s s e s may rep re se n te d in the NP, as in \* 63. 1 sG3 dSSinfl^ b b o I l i k e th a t. big one.. 5if.. is lo tt.. Agbb 0 lb £. The b ig one. r fe rtt hike no p6 hlb Even t h i s l i t t l e one would be enough, ( l i t t l e - one - t h i s - even - i s enough).

(56) NP3 having a d je c tiv e s as t h e i r Head never have human re fe re n ts#. 2•5• 5«. Numerals as Head.. When a numeral fu n c tio n s as the Head o f a Simple NP, th e only o th e r elements of s tr u c t u r e th a t may form p a r t of th e same Simple NP are the pre-Head q u a l i f i e r s and those post-Head q u a l i f i e r s th a t occur a f t e r th e numeral, namely d eterm in ativ es (place Hg " ) , q u a n t i f i e r s (place "h") and i n t e n s i f i e r s (plaoe ni M) as in : h d / g U1 . d3am& h li Those te n are enough# 65#. 3*r> p61 l&i (ten - rannv - even - got l o s t ). l^ven as many as te n got lo B t.. NPs having Numerals as t h e i r Head never have human r e f e r e n t s .. 2 .5 .6 .. j n a n t l f i e r s as Head.. >/ Of the q u a n t i f i e r s l i s t e d in 2.12. below, only [pMke] alo n e. [ t6 ] p le n ty of and [«53] many, appear nesrer to fu n c tio n as Beads o f any NP.. When any of th e o th e rs f a c t i o n s as Head of a Simple. NF, th e only o th e r word c l a s s whose members may appear in the same Simple NP i s t h a t of I n t e n s i f i e r s - i . e . th e only (post-Head) wordc la s s t h a t fo llow s q u a n t i f i e r s in the com position of th e Simple NP as d escribed in. This i s another m a n ife sta tio n of the. importance of pi ace-ordering in the s tr u c t u r e o f the NP. Examples o f q u a n t if i e r s o peratin g as Heads of 3 in p ie jjps are.

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