Did the category “adjective” exist in Proto- - PowerPoint Presentation

Did the category “adjective” exist in Proto-Kru? Lynell Marchese Zogbo Chercheure Associée , ILA, Abidjan Research Associate, University of the Free State, South Africa lynellzogbo@gmail.com

Kru still “dangling” out there

West-east divide : major indicator

Question of Adjectives : “Many works on African languages, including some that might be expected to be among the most reliable, show a remarkable lack of linguistic sophistication in their treatment of noun modifiers. The term ‘adjective ’ may be applied to any form which is reflected by an English adjective in translation, without reference to its derivation or grammatical function in the language being described” (1973: 249) Wm Welmers African Language Structures Denis Creissels : “ lorsque les linguistes se sont mis à décrire les langues parlées hors d’Europe, la pratique s’est instaurée de désigner comme ‘adjectifs’, non seulement des unités nominales dont le statut syntaxique présenterait des analogies avec celui de nos adjectifs, mais aussi toutes sortes d’unités qui dans la traduction apparaissent comme l’équivalent de nos adjectifs » (p. 176). Universals , Proto NC , psychologial reality, cognitive world view , discourse use (attributive vs predicative ) Thompson, Post,

Adjectival notions are expressed in many ways in Kru Adjectival verbs : Ɛ – za ‘it is red’ Periphrastic constructions : BE AT/HAVE/DO ‘X ’ Ideophones : Ɛ - nι’e -e - bhlibhli ! Ɛ - kpe ’o ‘ wee . ‘He’s completely black! He’s all black! Compounds: zƐ-zƐ-zere spoiled-spoiled fish (Koyo) “ yri -nmͻ- budu eyes-good-house ( Nyabwa ) Relative clauses ‘ True adjectives’ : N ADJ QUANT REL-S

Adjectival V’s dominant, most lexical items, true verbal behavior, most ‘ reconstructable ’ Verbal position as subject/topic : sakaa a sù . ‘ The rice is hot’ ( Lakota Dida) Negate as verbs : ‘ Nyuo ‘ nι wͻt ͻ. ‘ The water isn’t cold’ ( Neyo ); Bhitéa àá pɔɔl ε HLL ‘The house is not white’ (Lakota Dida) Default perfectives, can take imperfective aspect : - kͻb ι - ι zaan’o ‘ The rice is ripening (reddening) ( Nyabwa ) Can take TENSE : cͻ na nmͻ -ma wͻ ~ ‘ The palm b. was sweet DBY’ ( Klao ) Can carry verbal suffixes: process, subordinate, declarative, applicative : Ka : MƐle ’ ‘ bƐ - a , ka -: :Pͻͻ’ ‘ bƐ a zʌ ̀ a zʌ mʌ ɔ zʌ mʌ n ’a ( Godie ) way M big- SUB , way P is-big (Krahn) it’s red …reddens he red APPL-it (*ne/le) Enters into compounds : zƐ-zƐ-zere (Koyo ) cf. bhlabhlany ɔ (kill-kill-person)

Adj verbs take verbal particles, numerous semantic distinctions-extremely productive - tƐ …. ti ‘ to be long’ (river ) - tƐ ….. ya ‘to be big’ (person ) - tƐ …..’ mʊ ‘ to be deep’ (well ) - tƐ ….. gbo ‘ to be far’ (village)   - nmͻ… kwa ‘to be ok, suffiicient ’ - nmͻ…. wͻn ‘ to be delicious ’ - nmͻ….” yri li ‘ to be good, beautiful” - nmͻ….” yi ti ‘to be worthy’ - nmͻ….’ kpa ‘ mʊ ‘to be vigilant in regards to cleanliness’   - nyni ….” yri li ‘ to be bad - nyni …. wͻn ‘to be spoiled” - nyni ….’ kpa ‘ mʊ ‘to not be vigilant in regards to cleanliness’ ( Nyabwa ) Cycles of recreating expressions : nmɔ/ nyni … - jri i ‘ to be beautiful/ u gly’ ( good in the eyes in the eyes ) ( Wobe )

Semantics of Property Concepts CORE PROPERTY CONCEPTS : DIMENSION, VALUE, COLOR  COLOR, VALUE, DIMENSION PERIPHERAL PROPERTY CONCEPTS : PHYSICAL PROPERTIES HUMAN PROPENSITY QUANTITY ( Kokora , 1976, quoting Dixon,1977, 82, 2004) NOT necessarily in binary pairs some pairs have a dominant member (big-little) some items are negated ‘to be tired’ vs. ‘not to be tired’

COLOR: 3 way Proto Kru (PNC?) red-white-black   To be red To be white To be black Krahn zanɩ ‘plu ‐ kpe Wobe ‐ sain ’ ‘’plu kpe Guere    Glaro   Nyabwazaan/zaano/‐zana‘’plu‐kpeTepo Kruhlu BHplɛ Hjre M also: éteindreKlao Kruflo ML  Bassa **ɔ ni zizan  **ɔ ni kpiiBakwe‐flɔɔɔ‘pɔlɔ‘kpöröProto west*za(n)#plu*kpe  To be redTo be whiteTo be blackKouya‐zapͻlʊyluDida Lakota‐zalɩPɔɔlɛ Dida Yokoboue-zaPulu‐kpoNeyo   Godi JR‐zA  Godie Kagbewɔlɩ pɔɔkpəKoyozapɔnkpeGuebieɟalɛ1.pɔpɛ2.kpa4Bete Kpokolo   Bete Guiberua   Bete Daloa‐zaPɔnʋjuluProto East Krou ‐za *pɔL*kpV /?*ylu WEST EAST

VALUE   To be good To be bad To be bitter To be sweet to be straight Krahn nmɔ :nyni nenɛ: mene slɛ 'i Wobe nmɔ nyni “kae   Guere     Glaro     Nyabwa‐nmɔɔ‐nyni‐kma‘mɩɩ'srɛɛ ''yiTepo Krunɔnyre le yikla sii yéó nɔ ('yi lɛ)nyre 'yi lɛ kla 'sɩsrɩ H M 'sii HM 'o ye Klao Kru   nmͻ M Bassa     Bakwe‘nabʋbɔ ‘mɛnɛ'klɩgʌ̍Proto west#namɔ*-nyini#kLa…#mene*sl i/e To be goodBadBittersweetstraightKouya 'nanɩ   -kalɩ  mεnɩ  Dida Lakota     Dida Yokobouenanɩ‐nyu kalɩmɛnɩNeyo        sri saGodie JRnʌ̍‐nyukʌ̍‘mɛɛ Godie Kagbevɔlɩnʌ̍ʌ̍‐nyukʌ̍ʌ̍mɛɛgəə ‘yiKoyonan‐nyukalɩ…mlɛmɛ Gbadi     Bete Guiberoua     Bete Daloa‘nanɩ‐nyukalɩmɛnɩ slɛnɩAyizi    ɲre yɩProto East *‘na*nyu#kaL*mɛ#slI/E 

“TRUE” ADJECTIVES in Kru: some generalizations Adjectives are post-nominal. The class of ‘true’ adjectives is usually very small and appears to be closed and non-productive (can be listed, 6-20?, Western more numerous) Subclass of adjectives show signs of agreement (singular-plural and/or class) The presence of an adjective often provokes tonal changes within the NP. The adjective class is not homogeneous , i.e. there are various sub-classes and exceptions, based on different kinds of morphological and tonal behavior. Ex, Godie, Krahn Some “adjectives” look like reduplicated adjectival verbs Some “adjectives” look nominal.

Singular-plural agreement TEPO KRU SG PL faka cicre fakɩ cicre i ‘little knife(s) ya ká yɩ kɩ ‘old pot(s)hru petú hri peti ‘long road(s)yu yrayrʋ yuó yrayrɩ ‘new child’ TCHIEN KRAHN SG PLnyɔ klàbá nyʋ klàbɩ important person(s) de zʋn dɩ zʋɩn ‘bad thing(s)

Class (and number) agreement Godié ( jlukͻwalι ) Noun + Adjective + Demonstrative nyʉ̄kp ɔ ̄ kʌ́d ɔ ̄ n ɔ ̄ ‘this big (great) man’ [ɔ̄]ɓùtu kʌ̀dʋ nʋ ‘this big house’ [ʋ]mlɛ̄ kʌ̍d̍ɛ̄ nɛ̄ ‘this big animal’ [ɛ̄]nmlə kʌ̍dʌ̄ nʌ̄ ‘this big bird’ [a] ɓı̀tı̄ kʌ̍dɩ̄ nɩ̄ ‘these big houses’ [ɩ̄]nyʉ̄kpà kʌ́dʋa nʋa ‘these big (great) men’ [wa/ʋa](Bete de Guiberoua, de Daloa, but also Bakwe! Areal spreading?

Why is it difficult to reconstruct the ‘adjective’ class for proto-Kru? C lass is very limited (6-20 max); compare to verbs (50+) The class is not homogenous Besides 3 colors, “new”, and #”big”, almost impossible to reconstruct more adjectives They act like nouns!

Postnominal “Big” and “small”   big Little Krahn : klaba ’/ ‐ kolu ’ ‐bɛ: / ’chɛ Wobe Kla ?   Guere   Glaro  Nyabwa-klagba’’-toopeTepo Krugblaka MH‘cicrɛ H BHKlao Kru  Bassavɛnɛ LLTííwè/mɛnɛmɛnɛHHHHBakwekpakö KouyaK dV Dida Lakota‘kadV‘tɩklɩlVDida YokobouekadVcoNeyokadV Godi JRk dV ‘tεkεlɩε ?-lie (story)Godie Kagbewɔlɩk dV Koyo seeliyeBete Guebie tɛkɛlɪBete Kpokolo  Bete Guiberua  Bete DaloakadV PEK  Ayizikpasa (?)Pɩtrɛ jɩ[1] Some pronounce as –teepe.[2] No vowel harmony

The “adjectives” look like nouns They pattern as nouns : Daloa Bete : Pͻlʊ /- amӧ – Бa “It’s Paul/me ” “Kadͻ -Бa ‘It’s the big one’ ͻ wʊ la kadͻ mӧ (POST) “He was (already) grown They can be possessed: 'ɛ  ‒klagba  mo'o!  It’s the big one (Nyabwa) Á yrayrʋ nͻ lε yi ‘The new one is beautiful’ (Tepo)They have tonal behavior similar to N-N constructions : dibi’ :kolu’ :nmaa’e ‘a fine big deer’ (Krahn) naa2 sͻ3sA2 ‘dry catfish’ (Godie, 23) cf. nyie11 + dʌbʋ12 -> nyidʌbʋ132 ‘water + duck’ (‘wild duck’)

Unexplained formsPL or BASE FORM + SG “ADJ” = N ADJ (SG) Nglι vàye H LM ‘a tall woman ’ ( Neyo ) women tall-SG bhìti nana ‘a beautiful house’ cf . bhìti nánɩ ‘beautiful houses’ (Dida Lak) houses beautiful-SG ‘gɔ H nánʋ ‘a beautiful car’ cf. gɔ nánɩ ‘beautiful cars’ (Dida Lak)nyikpa nyonyo/ dɔgba-a/ lolo-o ‘an ugly man, the fat/new man’ (Koyo) men:PL ugly:SGdɔ- yu elephant child ‘a baby elephant’ (Tepo Kru) BASE N kayuó yrayrɩ ‘new houses’ = house its new ones X it’s one

Phonotactic features of “Adjectives” : many ending in LV/DV/NV/RV Tepo Godie Bete Dida Klao Kouya Krahn nanɔ ‘good’ 'nanɩ pru ‘white’ cícrε ‘little’ tεkεlIε ‘little’ kʌdV ‘big’ kadV kadV kadV zʌlV ‘red’ zVrV ‘red’ yrayrʋ ‘new’ lVlV ‘new’ bolu ‘long’ bolu ‘long’ tnɔ -tlʋlʋ yalV ‘fine’ mεnɩ bhòlʋ The PRONOUN LV does exist along with the LV/DV ‘thing’ :dhulu

N + Adjectival verb + NOM/PRO  N + agreeing adjective nyikpɔ za - lɔ  nyikpɔ zalɔ man red one (HUMAN SG) man the light skinned one  ‘the light skinned man’N N  N ADJ +HUM, +SGAlso consider the prominence of THING ͻ lƐ-kadͻ ‘He’s fat’ (Neyo, Dida, Godie) he thing-bigbATAa dƐƐ (non sacred) (Bakwe)Village thing

New scenarios possible Standard view : Proto Kru had a full blown N + ADJ paradigm with class agreement which was retained in Eastern Kru and lost throughout Western Kru OR New view: Eastern Kru had 6 classes (4 SG, 2 PL) which reduced in Western to 2 SG, 2 PL Eastern Kru innovated adjective formation and agreement through a N N construction based on PRONOUN AGREEMENT (*DFM : Pronoun agreement higher on the hierarchy than ADJ agreement) This extensive agreement spread as an areal feature into Western Bakwe (like central vowels)Western Kru never developed class agreement! *this explanation provides a mechanism for creation of agreement phenomenon in Kru

Did Proto-Kru have the category “adjective”? 5 “adjectives” seem reconstructible If the system existed, it was minimal Adjectival notions in Kru are closely linked to verbs and noun constructions But languages seem to like adjectives! And there appears to be something pushing languages to establish this category! Implications for what we know about NC? Thanks to Gneba , Sande, Singler, Slager, Thalmann , Wilson, documents from Cocora , Egner, Gnahoure, Grah, Guehon, Kokora, Sauder, Saunders, SeribATAa dƐƐ