serial verb nominalization in akan

307 Pages·2013·1.61 MB·English

by  Obadele Bakari Kambon

SERIAL VERB NOMINALIZATION IN AKAN

BY

OBADELE BAKARI KAMBON

THIS THESIS/DISSERTATION IS SUBMITTED TO THE
UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON, IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF PHD LINGUISTICS
DEGREE

DECEMBER 2012
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DECLARATION

I do hereby declare that this thesis is the result of my own original research
under close supervision of Prof. E. Kweku Osam, Prof. Nana Aba Amfo and
Prof. Kofi K. Saah. References to other sources of information used in this
work have been duly cited. This thesis has not been presented either in whole
or in part for another degree elsewhere.

SIGNATURE OF CANDIDATE

…………………………………….. ……………………………….
OBADELE BAKARI KAMBON DATE

SIGNATURE OF SUPERVISOR

…………………………………….. ………………………………
PROFESSOR E. KWEKU OSAM DATE

SIGNATURE OF SUPERVISOR

……………………………………. ………………………………
PROFESSOR KOFI K. SAAH DATE

SIGNATURE OF SUPERVISOR

……………………………………. ………………………………
PROFESSOR NANA ABA AMFO DATE
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DEDICATION

For Ama, the late Prof. Olabode, the late Nsumankwaahene Nana
Baffour and the Beautiful Ones Not Yet Born
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

From the beginning of writing this thesis I was concerned about how I
would write the acknowledgements section. As time progressed through my
research and writing, many individuals really stepped up and went out of their
way to assist in making this thesis possible. First and foremost, I would like to
thank Professor “Pro VC SG KO” Osam for his invaluable guidance. From
topic selection to continually pushing me to make this thesis better
methodologically and in writing, his advice has been stellar. One could not
hope for a better supervisor. Professor Amfo’s comments have also been
helpful in improving my writing and in making comments that have
fundamentally shaped the final product. Professor Saah has also made himself
available for meetings and giving advice throughout this process.
I would also like to thank my parents for their support and inspiration
for letting me know through their words and actions that this could be done. I
would like to thank all those who assisted in data collection as well.
Particularly, I would like to thank those who allowed me to distribute
questionnaires in their classes including Prof. Nana Aba Amfo (UG), Prof.
Kofi Agyekum (UG), Mr. Kofi Abrefa Busia (UCC), and Mrs. Regina Caesar
(UEW). In setting up focus group interviews, several people assisted including
Nana Afua Tabiri and the Ɔboɔ Tabiri shrine in Koforidua, Brother Shabazz
from One Africa in Iture, Nana Ansa in linking me with her family in
Akuapem-Akropong and Mr. Reginald Duah for his assistance in gathering
Kumasi speaker data. I would also like to thank LAG for giving me an
opportunity to present. I would also like to thank Dr. Amuzu who coordinated
the department seminars where I got valuable feedback from attendees. I would
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like to especially thank Mr. Frimpong from the Linguistics Library as well as
all of the administrative staff in the UG Linguistics Department, the office of
the Dean of Humanities and the Pro-Vice Chancellor’s office. I would also like
to thank Dr. Clement Appah and Prof. Bodomo for their comments in our
email correspondence. I would also like to thank all questionnaire participants
and focus group participants. Without your help this thesis could not have been
completed. Also, finally, I would like to thank the late Prof. Afolabi Olabode,
Adeola Olabode and Prof. Harrison Adeniyi. Although I was not able to
incorporate the Yoruba data into this study, their assistance has afforded me the
opportunity to pursue SVN nominalization in Yoruba at a future date.
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ABSTRACT

This thesis focuses on nominalization of serial verb constructions
(SVCs) in the Akan language. The study develops a relevant typology of serial
verb nominalization on the basis of semantic integration and lexicalization
using a prototype theory (PT) framework. The three degrees of semantic
integration for serial verbs in Akan are Full Lexicalized-Integrated Serial Verb
Constructions (FL-ISVCs), Partial Lexicalized-Integrated Serial Verb
Constructions (PL-ISVCs) and Clause Chaining Serial Constructions (CCs or
CSCs). Each type of SVC is analyzed on the basis of how it is nominalized, the
degree to which nominalization occurs and whether nominalization can occur
at all. Various corpuses were consulted in three major literary dialects of Akan:
Asante Twi, Fante and Akuapem Twi. Further, native speakers of each of these
dialects were consulted to ascertain the goodness of various attested serial verb
nominals (SVNs) in Akan.
Because Full Lexicalized-Integrated Serial Verb Constructions behave
as lexicalized idioms, four criteria of idiomaticity are applied to them including
collocability, familiarity, flexibility and compositionality (Barkema 1996). The
results from the study show that over 98% of all FL-ISVCs identified have
nominal counterparts while less than 3% of all PL-ISVCs identified have
nominal counterparts. CSCs seem to nominalize haphazardly as frozen
sentences, proverbs, idioms and figures of speech which primarily function as
denotata and designata. While there was some degree of interdialectal
variability with regard to individual SVNs, the pattern of nominalization
behavior on the basis of degrees of semantic integration and lexicalization
remained consistent across dialects.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ............................................................................................. i
DEDICATION ............................................................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................... iii
ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................v
LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................... ix
LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................x
LIST OF APPENDICES ................................................................................ xi
ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................... xii
CHAPTER ONE: SERIAL VERB NOMINALIZATION IN AKAN:
INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW .....................................1
1.1 AIM/OBJECT OF STUDY ........................................................................1
1.1.1 Expectations ........................................................................................2
1.1.2 Primary Aims and Significance of this Thesis ......................................4
1.2 LITERATURE REVIEW ...........................................................................4
1.2.1 Serial Verb Constructions ....................................................................4
1.2.2 Definitions and Features of Serial Verb Constructions .........................6
1.2.2.1 Distribution of Serializing Languages ...........................................6
1.2.2.2 Origins of the Term “Serial Verb” .................................................6
1.2.2.3 Defining Serial Verb Constructions ...............................................7
1.2.2.4 Definitions based on Necessary and Sufficient Conditions .......... 10
1.2.2.5 Pitfalls of Definitions based on Necessary and Sufficient
Conditions .............................................................................................. 11
1.2.2.6 Features/Characteristics of SVCs ................................................ 12
1.2.2.7 Strings of Verb-like elements as a Characteristic of SVCs ........... 16
1.2.2.8 Iconicity as a Feature of SVCs .................................................... 16
1.2.2.9 Monoclausality as a Feature of SVCs .......................................... 18
1.2.2.10 Critiques of Cluster of Features/Characteristics Approach
(Prosodic Approach) ............................................................................... 19
1.2.2.11 Formal Definitions of SVCs ...................................................... 19
1.2.2.12 Definitions of SVCs based on Semantic Categories ................... 20
1.2.2.13 Challenges in Describing SVCs ................................................. 21
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1.2.3. Typology of Serial Verb Constructions ............................................. 23
1.2.3.1 Typology of SVCs Based on Transitivity .................................... 24
1.2.3.2 Typology of SVCs Based on Argument Sharing .......................... 26
1.2.3.3 Typology of SVCs Based on Semantic Integration ...................... 28
1.2.3.4 Semantic Integration as the Basis of SVC Typology .................... 29
1.2.3.5 Integrated SVCs .......................................................................... 32
1.2.4 Factors Influencing SVC Nominalization........................................... 35
1.2.4.1 Salient Distinct Event Types ....................................................... 35
1.2.4.2 Semantic Integration and Iconicity .............................................. 39
1.2.4.3 Semantic Integration, Nominalization and Idiomaticity ............... 44
1.3 Chapter Summary and Thesis Overview ................................................... 50
CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND
METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................... 55
2.0 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 55
2.1 Prototype Theory ..................................................................................... 55
2.1.1 Wittgensteinian Concepts of Categorization, Function and Context ... 55
2.1.2 Eleanor Rosch’s Concepts of Reasoning and Categorization .............. 57
2.1.3 Rosch’s Concept of Cognitive Economy ............................................ 60
2.1.4 Rosch’s Concept of Perceived World Structure.................................. 62
2.1.5 Rosch’s Contextuality ........................................................................ 64
2.1.6 Rosch’s Concept of Categorization .................................................... 66
2.1.7 Lakoff: Prototype Theory in Terms of Cognitive Models ................... 73
2.1.8 Lakoff: Central Aspects of Prototype Theory ..................................... 76
2.1.9 Critiques of Prototype Theory ............................................................ 76
2.2 SVCs, SVNs AND PROTOTYPE THEORY ........................................... 81
2.2.1 Idiomaticity, Collocationality and Prototype Theory .......................... 81
2.2.3 Serial Verb Nominalization and Prototype Theory ............................. 83
2.2.4 Idiomaticity, Collocationality and SVCs ............................................ 86
2.3 GRAMMATICALIZATION IN SERIAL VERB NOMINALIZATION .. 89
2.4 ICONICITY IN SERIAL VERB NOMINALIZATION ........................... 92
2.5 METHODOLOGY .................................................................................. 96
2.5.1 Bio Data of Akan Questionnaire Respondents.................................... 97
2.6 CHAPTER SUMMARY ........................................................................ 103
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CHAPTER THREE: NOMINALIZATION OF FULL LEXICALIZED-
INTEGRATED SERIAL VERB CONSTRUCTIONS (FL-ISVCS) IN
AKAN ......................................................................................................... 106
3.0 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 106
3.1 SURVEY OF AKAN FL-ISVC NOMINALIZATION ........................... 106
3.2 GENERALIZATIONS ABOUT FL-ISVN IN AKAN ............................ 198
CHAPTER FOUR: NOMINALIZATION OF PARTIAL LEXICALIZED-
INTEGRATED SERIAL VERB CONSTRUCTIONS (PL-ISVCs) IN
AKAN ......................................................................................................... 206
4.0 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 206
4.1 SEMANTIC INTEGRATION AND AKAN PL-ISVC
NOMINALIZATION .................................................................................. 206
4.2 SURVEY OF PARTIAL LEXICALIZED-INTEGRATED SERIAL VERB
CONSTRUCTIONS IN AKAN ................................................................... 208
4.2.1 Nominalized PL-ISVCs ............................................................... 208
4.3 GENERALIZATIONS ABOUT PL-ISVC NOMINALIZATION IN
AKAN ......................................................................................................... 228
CHAPTER FIVE: NOMINALIZATION OF CLAUSE CHAINING
SERIAL CONSTRUCTIONS (CSCs) IN AKAN ..................................... 234
5.0 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 234
5.1 NOMINALIZED CSCs IN AKAN ......................................................... 235
5.2 GENERALIZATIONS ABOUT CSC NOMINALIZATION IN AKAN 258
CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSIONS AND LINGUISTICALLY
SIGNIFICANT GENERALIZATIONS .................................................... 263
6.1 STATISTICALLY/LINGUISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT
GENERALIZATIONS ................................................................................ 263
6.2 METHODOLOGICAL CONCLUSIONS ......................................... 269
6.2.1 The Role of Identity in Native Speaker Judgments ..................... 273
6.2.2 The Role of Attitudes/Perception in Nominalization ........................ 274
6.3 THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS .............. 275
6.4 FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS .................................................. 277
APPENDIX ONE ....................................................................................... 281
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................... 285
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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Native Akan Dialect of Respondent Phase One (P1) ............................ 101
Table 2: Native Akan Dialect of Respondent Phase Two (P2) ........................... 102
Table 3: FL-ISVN representation in 4 major corpuses ....................................... 194
Table 4: PL-ISVN representation in 4 major corpuses ....................................... 227
Table 5: CSN representation in 5 major corpuses .............................................. 258