LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
| CONJ | Conjunction | POSS | Possessive marker |
| DEF | Definite | POST | Postposition |
| DEM | Demonstrative | PRES | Present |
| EMPH | Emphatic | PROG | Progressive |
| FM | Focus marker | PST | Past |
| FUT | Future | SUBJ | Subject |
| HAB | Habitual | TOP | Topic marker |
| INDEF | Indefinite | 1SG | First person singular |
| NEG | Negative | 2SG | Second person singular |
| NP | Noun Phrase | 3SG | Third person singular |
| OBJ | Object | 1PL | First person plural |
| PERF | Perfect | 2PL | Second person plural |
| PL | Plural | 3PL | Third person plural |
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Reduplicated Adverbs formed from Adjectives……………………………….. 71
Table 2: Adverbs formed from reduplicated Nouns……………………………………….. 74
Table 3: Positional Possibilities of Dangme Adverbs and Adverbials……………… 168
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. The language map of Ghana (Ethnologue 2017)………………………………… 8
Figure 2. The language map of the Dangme speaking area………………………………… 9
Figure 3. Prototypical representation of Dangme adverb category…………………… 62
Figure 4. Semantic Classification of the Dangme Adverb Class……………………. 104
TABLE OF CONTENT
DECLARATION………………………………………………………………………………………… i
DEDICATION…………………………………………………………………………………………… ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT………………………………………………………………………….. iii
ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………………………. v
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS…………………………………………………………………….. vi
LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………………………………… ii
LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………………………………… iii
TABLE OF CONTENT……………………………………………………………………………… iv
CHAPTER ONE………………………………………………………………………………………… 1
GENERAL INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………. 1
CHAPTER TWO………………………………………………………………………………………. 19
LITERATURE REVIEW AND THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 19
- Introduction………………………………………………………………………… 19
CHAPTER THREE…………………………………………………………………………………… 51
THE MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF ADVERBS AND
ADVERBIALS IN DANGME……………………………………………………………. 51
- Introduction………………………………………………………………………… 51
3.3.3.2 Adverbs formed through Compounding…………………………… 81
- Other Lexical Categories that Function as Adverbs in Dangme….. 84
CHAPTER FOUR…………………………………………………………………………………… 102
SEMANTIC CLASSIFICATION OF DANGME ADVERBS AND ADVERBIALS……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 102
- Introduction………………………………………………………………………. 102
CHAPTER FIVE……………………………………………………………………………………. 135
A DISTRIBUTIONAL ANALYSIS OF DANGME ADVERBS AND ADVERBIALS……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 135
- Introduction………………………………………………………………………. 135
CHAPTER SIX………………………………………………………………………………………. 169
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 169
References……………………………………………………………………………………………… 178
CHAPTER ONE GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Introduction
This thesis is devoted to the study of adverbs in Dangme, a language that belongs to the Kwa group of the Niger-Congo family of languages. The study seeks to investigate the nature and structure of adverbs in Dangme, particularly examining what constitutes adverbs, their morphology, the various semantic classes present in the language and their syntactic distribution.
This current chapter presents the general introduction of this thesis. Section
- sets forth some general issues that underlie the study of adverbs. In section 1.3, I look at the genetic classification and the sociolinguistic status of the language. Section 1.4 gives a brief information about the structure of Dangme language and in section 1.5, I present the problem statement for this study. Sections 1.6 and 1.7 explores the objectives and research questions that inform this thesis respectively. In section 1.8, the significance of the study is discussed. The research methodology and the organization of the thesis are captured in sections 1.9 and
1.10 respectively. Section 1.11 concludes the chapter.
Background of the Study
One key goal that can be seen in the works of linguists regardless of their viewpoints is discovering the underlying properties of human language and making clear generalizations about the nature and the entire system of the language. One scope of language structure that has constantly remained an
eminent area of discussion for linguists, cross-linguistically is word classes (Payne, 2006; Schachter & Shopen, 2007; Simone & Masini, 2014). Substantial studies have shown that the study of word classes has had a place in linguistics more than some millennia ago (cf. Schachter & Shopen, 2007; Simone & Masini, 2014). This is mainly because of the varied properties that come with these parts- of-speech systems; while most languages in the world make parts-of-speech distinctions due to some unique qualities that tend to be rather language specific, there are also a number of similarities that cut across languages (Simone & Masini, 2014).
Interestingly, one open-parts-of-speech class which seems to have gained little attention in the typological analyses of word classes of the world’s languages is the ‘class of adverbs’ (Lusekelo, 2010; McNally & Kennedy, 2008; Nurse & Philippson, 2003; Saah, 2004; Tabe, 2015). Adverbs as a word category is one other lexical class aside adjectives that plays a dominant role in the modification of structures of a language. According to many linguists, the study of adverbs as a word category is intriguing, yet a relatively unexplored area for most languages in the world (McNally & Kennedy, 2008; Saah 2004; Tabe 2015). Formerly, the traditional term ‘adverb’ was used to grammatically denote lexical items that were used to modify a verb, an adjective or another adverb (Curme, 1935) however, given the wide functional and notional range of adverbs, it has now come to be more widely seen as a word category capable of not only modifying verbs, adjectives and other adverbs but also an entire sentence.
One lexical class that adverbs is closely connected to both morphologically and syntactically is adjectives (Pittner et al., 2015). This is mainly due to the fact that a large number of adverbs are identified to be derived from adjectives and also because some languages express adverbs by the use of adjectives (Geuder, 2000; Pittner et al., 2015; Schachter & Shopen, 2007). In actual fact, cross-linguistic studies on word classes show that prototypical examples of adverbs are genuinely very adjective-like in nature and hence the rationale behind why many languages do not make a distinction between the two categories (Geuder, 2000; McNally & Kennedy, 2008).
However, the robust distinction that exists between these two modifying elements has been, by and large, identified as their complementary distribution; whereas adjectives tend to modify nouns, adverbs aim at other components other than the nouns. As a result, some researchers regard adverbs as adjective-like items in non-adjective-like positions (Geuder, 2000; McNally & Kennedy, 2008). This study also give us a fair insight about how closely-related adjectives and adverbs are as the most cases presented here also show that most Dangme adverbs are genuinely very adjective-like. The reason being because Dangme (like all other human languages) productively uses words belonging to different word categories to execute functions that are generally not associated with them in any way. For instance, most of the data presented in this study reveal that Dangme does not only use adjectives to express adverbial functions, but also other lexical elements such
as temporal nouns, locative constructions as well as emphatic markers even though they all have their individual functions they perform when they occur in sentences.
Languages have various ways of forming adverbs. In English, most adverbs are formed by attaching the suffix ‘–ly’ to adjectival base words (Geuder, 2000). For Ewe, Dzameshie (1998) and Saah & Agbedor (2004) discover that the suffix ‘-tÉ”e’ is used in the formation of Ewe adverbs. Also in French and Italian languages, the suffixes ‘-ment’ and ‘-mente’ are attached to adjectives to form adverbs respectively (Tabe, 2015). A preliminary investigation of the morphological structure of Dangme adverbs shows that Dangme has a few true adverbs which are non-derived but then, the Dangme adverb category also consist of many derived adverbs. These derived adverbs are not formed by attaching affixes like observed in some languages, but formed through some other derivational processes.
Apart from the derived adverbs, most languages use other syntactic constituents like phrases and clauses to perform adverbial function. In fact, most typological findings have shown that generally adverbs do not only come as single words, but also as other syntactic categories like PP, NP, Adv.P, Adj.P and even clauses; constituents that one normally cannot tell instinctively if they belong to the class of adverbs (Bobuafor, 2013; Pittner et al., 2015; Saah, 2004; Schachter & Shopen, 2007 Tabe, 2015). Therefore, in quest of examining which structures can be considered as adverbs in Dangme, the study also seeks to investigate other
syntactic constituents that may be used to express adverbial notions in the language.
It is these assumptions and inferring generalizations that inspire this study on Dangme adverbs to investigate the nature, morphology and syntactic behaviour that are displayed by the adverbs in the language.
Genetic Classification and Dialectical Information
Dangme is a language spoken in Ghana, West Africa by the Dangmeli (Dangme people). It belongs to the Kwa group of the Niger-Congo language family. According to Apronti (1971), Dangme, is spoken in two main regions; the Eastern Region in towns such as Dodowa, Somanya, Odumase, Asesewa and Agormanya and east of Greater Accra in the coastal areas such as Ningo, Ada and Prampram. However, in recent works (cf. Akortia, 2014; Caesar, 2016 & 2012; Ameka & Dakubu, 2008), the Volta region is identified as the third area where the language is spoken. For all these three regions identified, the Greater Accra is estimated as the area with majority of the speakers (Akortia, 2014).
Although, there have been some uncertainties lately regarding the number of dialects the language has, all the various dialects found fall under Dakubu’s (1988) dialectal classification of the language. Dakubu (1988:94) recognizes two main dialects based on their geographical distribution, namely; the coastal dialects and the inland dialects. The coastal dialects include Ada, Gbugbla and Ningo. The inland dialects are Klo (Krobo), Sɛ and Shai. Apronti (1971) reports that the differences between the two dialects is as a result of some political divisions that
might have taken place in the past, precisely one that led them into agreeing to disperse at Lolovor to set up their own political territories at their present locations. While the two dialects may reflect marked differences in sound, grammar, or lexicon, Apronti (1971) further observed that the Dangme people are culturally and linguistically united mainly because they share a common heritage and language.
Geographically, the language shares borders with Ga to the west, Hill Guang (Ɔkere and Lɛtɛ) and Akan to the north and west, and Ewe to the east with the Volta Lake serving as the boundary mark (Dakubu, 1987; Amfo, 2011). The connections that Dangme has with its neighbouring languages explain the great influence of these languages on Dangme lexicon. The coastal dialects are influenced by Ga and Ewe. The inland dialects are greatly influenced by the Akan language. Dangme is also said to share close resemblance with Ga, the language spoken by the Ga people who reside in and around the Greater Accra region, when it comes to some basic words, but reflect striking differences in phonology, syntax and semantics (Dakubu, 1988; Adi, 1997).
Dangme has an official orthography and is one of the Ghanaian languages which was written on very early (Amfo, 2011). The language is taught as a subject in the primary and secondary schools. It is also learnt as a subject at the University of Education, Winneba and the School of Languages, University of Ghana. A number of scholarly works have been done on the semantics, phonology, morphology and syntax of the language. Many written texts in Dangme have also
been published by the Bureau of Ghana Languages. The language also features on the radio, specifically, on Obono fm and Rite fm, two major radio stations which can be found in the Dangme speaking area. Figure 1 and 2 show the various areas where Dangme is widely spoken.
