Interrogative Pronouns in Dagbani and Likpakpaanl
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21869886 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Samuel Alhassan Issah (0000-0003-3479-5406, University of Education, Winneba), Samuel Issah, Samuel Owoahene Acheampong, Samuel Acheampong (0000-0002-4377-8854, Saint Vincent Health System) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 30-57 |
| Publication date | 2021-12-31 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Ghana Journal of Linguistics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2026-6596 • E-ISSN: 2026-6596 |
| Publisher | African Journals Online (AJOL) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.4314/gjl.v10i2.2 |
| OpenAlex | W4285313811 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 9 |
This paper provides an analysis of the properties of interrogative pronouns of Mabia languages drawing data from Dagbani and Likpakpaanl. We focus on the inventory, internal structure, and key grammatical characterisation of the interrogative pronouns. We contend that interrogative pronouns are salient syntactic elements in the content question systems of these languages. In addition, we demonstrate that number marking, distinction between human/non-human and lexical ambiguity are salient grammatical properties of these interrogative pronouns. We further show that the inflection for number employs both suppletive and nonsuppletive patterns. We also contend that the interrogative pronouns that specify for the semantic domains of [+human], [-human] and [+thing] are sensitive to number, since they alternate for plurality (ŋuni ~banima (who.sg ~ who-pl), bo~bonima (what.sg ~what-pl), dini~dinnima (what.sg.thing ~ what.thing-pl) for Dagbani and (ŋma ~bilabi (who.sg ~ who-pl), nilan ~ bilabi (what.sg ~what-pl), ba ~ ba (what.sg.thing ~ what.thing-pl) for Likpakpaanl. Because the root may differ or be the same from that of the plural as evident in both languages, we propose that number marking in these interrogative words exhibit both suppletive and nonsuppletive patterns. The data are based on native introspection of the authors who are native speakers of these languages. This paper is important because of its empirical and theoretical contribution to the study of the Mabia languages
Ambiguity · Inflection · Interrogative · Interrogative word · Linguistics · Natural language processing · Noun · Plural · Salient · Computer Science · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy · Psychology · Swearing, Euphemism, Multilingualism · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation · Artificial Intelligence
Interrogative constructions
The Morphosyntax of Complement-Head Sequences
Two Functional Categories in Noun Phrases
Speech act distinctions in grammar
Object-sharing as Symmetric Sharing
Information structuring in Akan question-word fronting and focus constructions
Content interrogatives in a sample of 50 languages
Limits on Allomorphy
Canonical Typology, Suppletion, and Possible Words
| Highly cited | No |
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