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Title On OV and VO at the Bantu/Bantoid borderlands
Full text https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/438
Date 2024
Author(s) Kerr, E.J.
Contributor(s) Huang, Y.; Kaldhol, N.H.; Lim, J.J.; Rose, S.; Struthers-Young, A.
Abstract While most Niger-Congo languages have SVO word order, a few outliers display S(Aux)OV(X) patterns, either in restricted TAM contexts or across the board. These OV languages include a handful of Guthrie zone A40 languages of Cameroon (Tunen, Nyokon), Bantoid languages (Tikar), and broader Niger-Congo (e.g. Gur and Kru languages). For the A40 languages, Nyokon ([nvo]/A45, Cameroon) has VO order in most tenses but OV order in the past tense, while its neighbour Tunen ([tvu]/A44, Cameroon) has OV consistently. This paper presents new data on Tunen and Nyokon, using controlled elicitation to test the accuracy of previous TAM and information structure (IS)-based accounts. I provide evidence that OV is the most pragmatically-neutral word order in Tunen, consistent across TAM contexts. For Nyokon, OV versus VO order is shown to be dependent on the TAM pattern and not directly conditioned by IS. I show that both languages otherwise consistently pattern as head-initial in their syntax. Based on these results, I reflect on the potential grammaticalisation source(s) of their OV syntax. Finally, I note that Tikar appears to pattern similarly to Nyokon in having a TAM-based OV/VO system. - NWO - 276-78-001 - Descriptive and Comparative Linguistics
Subject(s) Bantu; Bantoid; Niger-Congo; syntax; Information structure; Descriptive linguistics; Historical linguistics; African linguistics
Language en
Type of publication Part of book or chapter of book; info:eu-repo/semantics/bookPart; Text
Source Contemporary African Linguistics -- ACAL in SoCAL
Identifier isbn:9783985541010; eisbn:9783961104727; doi:10.5281/zenodo.11210464; lucris-id:1306259712
Repository Leiden - University of Leiden
Added to C-A: 2024-08-28;10:37:00