Colloquium on African Languages and Linguistics (CALL 2012) Maximilien Guérin
[email protected]
Syntax of simple verbal constructions in Wolof
1
Plan
Wolof language
Verbal system
Topological model
Wolof patterns
Predicative marker
Wolof topology
S-AUX-O-V order in Wolof ?
Conclusion 2
Wolof language
Spoken in Senegambia
Classification: ↳ Niger-Congo ↳ Atlantic ↳ Northern
Typology: - Morphology: Agglutinative - Syntax: SVO 3
Verbal system 1/4
Based on ”conjugations”
They carry informations about:
mood
tense
aspect
information structure
4
Verbal system 2/4
Narrative:
ma 1SG
lekk eat
ceeb rice
Subject Focus:
ma-a 1SG-SFOC
lekk eat
ceeb rice
Presentative:
ma-a ngi 1SG-PRES
lekk eat
ceeb rice
Object Focus:
ceeb rice
Verb Focus:
da-ma VFOC-1SG
la-a OFOC-1SG
lekk eat
lekk eat
ceeb rice 5
Verbal system 3/4
Perfect:
lekk eat
na-a ceeb PRF-1SG rice
Future:
dina-a FUT-1SG
lekk eat
ceeb rice
Optative:
na-a OPT-1SG
lekk eat
ceeb rice
Imperative:
lekk-al eat-IMP.2SG
ceeb ! rice
6
Verbal system 4/4
Tense / Aspect / Polarity
dama VFOC.1SG 'I have eaten rice'
lekk eat
ceeb rice
dama VFOC.1SG 'I had eaten rice'
lekk-oon eat-PST
ceeb rice
dama=y lekk VFOC.1SG=IPFV eat 'I am eating rice'
ceeb rice
dama lekk-ul VFOC.1SG eat -NEG 'I have not eaten rice'
ceeb rice
7
Topological model 1/3
Model used to describe linear order
No claim about hierarchical organisation
Definitions:
Field:
syntactic position in the sentence
Domain:
sequence of fields
8
Topological model 2/3
Used in germanic linguistics to describe V2 phenomenon: Before field Left bracket Vorfeld
VF V1 V2
Lisa
Linke satzklammer daß würde gießt
Middle field Mittelfeld Lisa die Blume Lisa die Blume die Blume.
Right bracket Rechte satzklammer gießen würde gießen
After field Nachfeld morgen. morgen ?
Also used with Arabic, Catalan, French, Greek, Pashto, etc. 9
Topological model 3/3
Field selection:
Category: NP, VP, PP, etc.
Function: subject, object, etc.
Information structure: focus, topic
Semantic type: human/non-human, etc.
Field typology: Element E \ Field F
Take only element E
May take other kinds of element
Appear only in the field F
Strictly reserved
Reserved
May appear in other fields
Strictly appropriate
Appropriate 10
Wolof patterns 1/3 1 VFoc
Lex Sbj
PM
Sbj
Omar
dafa
∅ [3SG]
da
-ma [1SG]
dina
∅ [3SG]
dina
-a [1SG]
ko [3SG]
lekk
PM
Sbj
Obj
Verb
Lex Obj
na
Omar
lekk
ceeb
na
-a [1SG]
ko [3SG]
Omar
FUT 2 OPT 3 PRF
Obj
ko [3SG]
Verb
Lex Obj
lekk
ceeb
lekk lekk
Lex Sbj
Focus
PM
Sbj
Obj
Omar
lekk
na
∅ [3SG]
ceeb
lekk
na
-a [1SG]
ko [3SG]
ceeb
lekk
11
Wolof patterns 2/3 4
Focus
PM
Sbj
ceeb
la
Omar
lekk
démb
la
Omar
lekk
démb
la
-a [1SG]
Omar
a
ma- [1SG]
a
Omar
a ngi
ma- [1SG]
a ngi
Sbj
Verb
Obj
Omar
lekk
ceeb
ma [1SG]
lekk
ko [3SG]
CFoc
SFoc
PRES 5 NAR
Obj
ko [3SG]
Verb
ceeb
lekk lekk
ko [3SG]
ceeb
lekk lekk
ko [3SG]
Lex Obj
ceeb
lekk
12
Wolof patterns 3/3
5 morphosyntactic patterns
Patterns 3 and 4 = focus constructions → with focus position
Patterns 2 and 4: Sbj = Lex Sbj
Patterns 1 and 3: Sbj ≠ Lex Sbj (topic)
Pattern 5 is different:
SVO ; no predicative marker
Sbj = Lex Sbj ; Obj = Lex Obj 13
Predicative marker
Head of the sentence
Can be used as a copula doktoor la doctor CFOC 'he is a doctor'
Is not a verb *doktoor doctor
la-wul CFOC-NEG
Distinct lexical category 14
Wolof topology
Main domain:
Topic-sbj Field
Predicative Field
Subject Field
Clitic-obj Field
Verb Field
Object Field
Category
Function
Function
Category
Function
Strictly Reserved
Strictly Appropriate
Selection:
Category Function Info Struct
Focus Field
Info Struc
Typology:
Appropriate
Reserved
Strictly Reserved
Strictly Strictly Appropriate Appropriate
15
S-AUX-O-V order in Wolof ?
Common word order in West Africa (especially in Mande languages) Wolof: only with lexical subject & clitic object (as in another atlantic language: Biafada) From Proto-Atlantic or Mande influence?
Different order in Pulaar and Seereer
AUX in Wolof as predicative marker in Mande → rather Mande influence
16
Conclusion
5 morphosyntactic patterns in Wolof
Predicative marker is the head of the sentence
Predicative markers express TAM, but are not verbs
There are 7 fields in the main domain
There are occupation rules
Word order in Wolof seems to be influenced by Mande languages 17
Danke Thank you Jërëjëf Merci 18
