The Perfect in Gã

Bibliographic Data

ID21869887
AuthorsAkua Campbell (0000-0002-5413-4034, University of Ghana, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume11
Issue1
Pages1-27
Publication date2022-06-30
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGhana Journal of Linguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2026-6596 • E-ISSN: 2026-6596
PublisherAfrican Journals Online (AJOL) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.4314/gjl.v11i1.1
OpenAlexW4283750832
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited8

This paper investigates the meaning and distribution of the perfect in Gã (Niger-Congo, Kwa). Data from natural speech and elicitation reveals that in addition to uses of the perfect that have been established cross-linguistically, Gã makes use of the perfect for the predication of qualities (perfect of quality), for overtly signalling a change of state (inchoative perfect) and for marking iterative, habitual or predictable events (sequential perfect). Apolysemous view of the perfect is advanced, and the semantic element of relevance is proposed as constituting the semantic core of the perfect. The paper also shows that the Gã perfect may be in the nascent stages of grammaticalization to a perfective or past tense, as it is now possible to use the perfect with hodiernal and prehodiernal temporal adverbs. The paper’s significance lies in its documentation of an ongoing grammaticalization process that is uncommon in Niger-Congo and a novel use of the perfect in the sequential perfect, which has not been attested cross-linguistically

Epistemology · Grammaticalization · Linguistics · Natural language processing · Present perfect · Computer Science · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Mathematics · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation · Artificial Intelligence

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