ABSTRACT
This thesis explores the Verbal Group (VG) of Buli, a Gur language spoken in northern Ghana, with focus on three main aspects: the morphology of the Buli verb, the grammatical functions of Buli verbal particles, and the distribution of such verbal particles in Serial Verb Constructions (SVCs). Having its underpinnings in Functional Grammar (and skewed towards Functional Typological Syntax), a theory that views language as a set of tools for communication, its data is drawn mainly from naturally occurring spoken texts (spontaneous speech) which was recorded from a range of communicative contexts in Buli-speaking communities. The oral data, which was tape- recorded from informal communication contexts and controlled formal interactions (where necessary), was then transcribed for the analysis and description. These spoken texts were supplemented by elicited data, as well as data based on my native speaker intuition. The analysis is purely descriptive, with data drawn from other better-studied Gur languages (e.g. Dagaare, GurunE, and Dagbani) in order to set the discussion in a
broader context. The findings show that although affixation is generally minimal in Buli, a dichotomy can be drawn between dynamic and stative verbs on morphological grounds; while the suffix {-i} is attached to the roots of most dynamic verbs, the suffix
{-a} is attached to the roots of most stative verbs. Also, the study reveals some Buli verbal particles and discusses the grammatical functions that each of them performs. The findings further indicate that, verbal particles generally manifest once (before the first verb) within SVCs, and have scope over any other verb that follows. Also, a mixture of some functional categories, specifically the progressive and the perfective aspects, is permissible in Bul, and it is possible for the two morphological units of the
progressive marker bóràà (i.e. existential bóró and the aspectual marker à) to be split between two serialized verbs in an SVC.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION i
DEDICATION ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii
ABSTRACT vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS viii
LIST OF TABLES xiii
LIST OF FIGURES xiv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xv
CHAPTER ONE 1
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1
Introduction 1
Buli Language 3
Ethnography of Buli 3
Linguistic Features 5
- Phonology 5Consonant System 5Vowel System 6
Morphology and Syntax 7
Tonal Features 9
Previous Studies and Justification for this Study 9
Problem Statement 10
Objectives of the Study 12
Research Questions 12
Significance of the Study 12
Organisation of Chapters 13
Chapter Summary 13
CHAPTER TWO 15
LITERATURE REVIEW, THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND METHODOLOGY 15
- Introduction 15
- The Verb 15
- Serial Verb Constructions (SVCs) 43
- The Verb 15
VERB MORPHOLOGY AND VERBAL PARTICLES 60
- Introduction 60
- The Buli Verb 60
- Verb Types 60
- Stative verbs 61
- Dynamic verbs 61
- The Verbal Group 71
- Tense, Time, and Aspectual Particles in Buli 73
- The Habitual Marker ‘à’ 74
- The Progressive Marker ‘bóràà’ 81
- The Future Tense Marker ‘lì/àlì’ 85
- The Past Time Marker ‘pòòm’ 88
- The Present Time Marker ‘nyìèm’ 90
- The Distant Past Marker ‘jàm’ 92
- Negation Markers in Buli – ‘kàn’ and ‘àn’ 93
- Other Verbal Particles 98
- The Emphatic Marker ‘lá’ 102
- The Affirmative Marker ‘kámā’ 103
- The Purposive Markers ‘àlē sòà / nyīN’ 105
- The Conditional Marker ‘dàn’ 108
- The Repetitive Marker ‘pīlīm’ 110
- The Positive Modal ‘zāā’ 111
- The Negative Modal ‘kāā’ 113
- The Modals ‘fE#’ and ‘zīkā /māgsīkā’ 114
- The Hortative Marker ‘tín’ 116
- The Optative Marker ‘tè (àtè)’ 117
- The Eventuality Marker ‘yāā’ 118
- Tense, Time, and Aspectual Particles in Buli 73
- Verb Types 60
- The Buli Verb 60
CHAPTER FOUR 120
VERBAL PARTICLES IN SERIAL VERB CONSTRUCTIONS 120
Introduction 120
Serial Verb Constructions (SVCs) 120
Defining Serial Verb Constructions (SVCs) 123
Marking Tense, Aspect, and Polarity (TAP) in SVCs 128
Tense, Time and Aspectual Markers in Buli SVCs 131
- The Future Tense Marker ‘lì’ in SVCs 131The Distant Past Marker ‘jàm’ in SVCs 132The Progressive Marker ‘bóràà’ in SVCs 133The Imperative SVCs 137
Negation Marking in Buli SVCs 138
| 4.1.2.2.1 | The Negative Perfective Marker ‘àn’ in SVCs | 140 | |
| 4.1.2.2.2 | The Negative Future Marker ‘kàn’ in SVCs | 145 | |
| 4.1.2.2.3 | The Negative Imperative SVC | 147 | |
| 4.2 | Chapter Summary | 150 |
CHAPTER FIVE 152
SUMMARY, FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 152
Introduction 152
Summary and Findings 152
Recommendations 156
Chapter Summary 157
REFERENCES 158
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1.1 The Buli Consonant System 6
Table 1.2 The Buli Pronominal System 8
Table 5.1 The Buli Verbal Particles and their Grammatical Functions 154
LIST OF FIGURES
| Figure 1.1 | Genetic Classification of Buli | 4 |
| Figure 1.2 | The Buli Vowel System | 6 |
| Figure 2.1 | The Panare Verb System | 15 |
| Figure 3.1 | Timeline for the use of ‘póóm’ | 89 |
| Figure 3.2 | Timeline for the use of ‘póóm bóràà’ | 90 |
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
| 1SG | First Person Singular |
| 2SG | Second Person Singular |
| 3SG | Third Person Singular |
| 1PL | First Person Plural |
| 2PL | Second Person Plural |
| 3PL | Third Person Plural |
| ADV | Adverbial |
| AFF | Affirmative Marker |
| ASP | Aspect |
| ASS | Assertive Marker |
| COMP | Complementizer |
| COND | Conditional Marker |
| DEF | Definite Marker |
| DEM | Demonstrative |
| EMPH | Emphatic Marker |
| EVT | Eventuality |
| FOC | Focus Marker |
| FUT | Future |
| HAB | Habitual |
| HOR | Hortative |
| IMP | Imperative |
| MOD | Modal |
| NEG | Negation/Negative Marker |
xvi
| OPT | Optative |
| POS | Positive |
| PRT | Particle (undefined) |
| PERF | Perfective |
| PL | Plural |
| PROG | Progressive Marker |
| PST | Past |
| PURP | Purposive Marker |
| REP | Repetitive Marker |
| SG | Singular |
| SVC | Serial Verb Construction |
| SVO | Subject Verb Object |
| TM | Time Marker |
CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
- Introduction
Of the different clausal elements in grammar, it is the verb that has often been described as indispensable. The fact that imperative sentences are made of a single verb corroborates this assertion. Thus, the verb can be described as the heart of the clause, since where a clause is made up of a single element, that element must necessarily be a verb.
In some languages, grammatical functions like tense, aspect, mood and polarity are marked on the verb via affixation. Thus, verbal affixes are attached to the verb to express functional categories which make up the entire verbal systems of such languages. Verbal affixes are also productive linguistic units, because some of them serve as derivational morphemes that change the word class and the meaning of the verb. For instance, it is not difficult to tell that, apart from marking past tense in English by attaching the inflectional suffix {-ed} to the regular verbs ‘pray’ and ‘climb’ to yield ‘prayed’ and ‘climbed’ respectively, we can derive the nouns ‘prayer’ and ‘climber’ when we attach the noun forming derivational suffix
{-er} to the verbs.
In tone languages, grammatical functions are often borne by verbal particles, and sometimes by tone which may interact with verbal particles. Like Gur languages such as GurunE, Dagaare, Dagbani, and Sisaali, Buli possesses verbal particles that are
assigned essential grammatical and discourse functions, including the marking of tense, aspect, modality, and polarity. Consider each of the Buli constructions presented in (1).
- a. Nípōwá à nyū dáám kámā.
woman.DEF HAB drink alcohol AFF ‘The woman drinks alcohol.’
- Nípōwá bóràà nyù dáám. woman.DEF PROG drink alcohol ‘The woman is drinking alcohol.’
- Nípōwá lì nyu# dáámú.
woman.DEF FUT drink alcohol.DEF ‘The woman will drink the alcohol.’
- Nípōwá ka$n nyu# dáámú.
woman.DEF NEG.FUT drink alcohol.DEF ‘The woman will not drink the alcohol.’
In each of the examples in (1), the verb nyū ‘to drink’ co-occurs with verbal particles
to mark either tense, aspect, modality or polarity. The particle à in (1a) is a habitual marker, which indicates the action of the subject occurs for an extended period of time (i.e. the act of drinking is a habit of the woman). As (1b) shows, bóràà1 is a progressive
marker. Also, as shown in (1c) and (1d), the particles lì and ka$n mark futurity; while
lì indicates that the action denoted by the verb will take place after the speech time,
1 bóràà, the progressive marker, is derived from the fusion of the existential bóró and the aspectual marker à.
kàn is a future negation marker which indicates that an action will not take place after the speech time.
Buli has a number of these verbal particles whose syntactic distributions vary, depending on the clausal elements with which they occur. In this descriptive study, we first explore the morphological make-up of Buli verb, and then discuss the various grammatical and discourse functions of verbal particles that co-occur with the Buli verb In order to show how the verbal particles relate with a series of verbs that occur in a single clause, the work also explores the distribution of Buli verbal particles in Serial Verb Constructions (SVCs).
Buli Language
- Ethnography of Buli
Buli, a Gur language of the Oti-Volta family, is spoken in the Upper East region of northern Ghana. Native speakers of Buli are the autochthonous inhabitants of towns such as Sandema, Siniensi, Wiaga, Kadema, Fumbisi, Chuchuliga, and Kanjag. Unlike GurunE, Dagaare, and Dagbani which have been sanctioned as mediums of instruction,
Buli is not yet used as a medium of instruction. With the exception of radio stations like Bulsa Radio, Ura FM, and Nabina FM that broadcast mainly in Buli2, it is rare to hear it spoken on radio or television stations in Ghana. Three dialects, namely the Northern dialect (spoken mainly in Chuchuliga), the Central dialect (spoken in Wiaga, Sandema, Siniensi etc.), and the Southern dialect (spoken in villages such as Fumbisi, Gbedema,
2 All the three radio stations (Bulsa Radio, Ura FM, and Nabina FM) are found in Buli- speaking communities.
and Yiwaasi) have been identified in the literature on Buli. This study focuses on the central dialect, which has received some attention by earlier scholars, with focus on the verb and verbal particles which nhave received minimal attention.
