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LING213_ Morpho-syntax squib_Moore language Jinxiao Song

1. Clause structure

The constituent order of a pragmatically unmarked sentence is Subject-Verb-Object/Complement, as in sentence (1) below. But the data also shows that clefting is very common in Moore.

(1) Alamos wẽ mubili. ‘Alamos hit the car’

Alamos hit.PRES car

(2) Mubil-a fõ Alamos ‘The car hit Alamos.’

Car-DEF hit Alamos

(3) Alamos fõ - me. ‘Alamos got hit.’

Alamos hit

(4) ruk –a wãga –me ‘The jar is broken.’

Jar –DEF broke – DEC

(5) Alamos wã:g – a ruk-a ‘Alamos broke the jar. ’

Alamos break-PAST jar-DEF

Sentence (1) and (5) has no markers on the subject of a transitive verb. Sentence (2) has a definitive marker or nominal suffix on the subject. In sentence (3), the patient is marked (-ø) when it appears as subject of an intransitive, but sentence (4) is marked differently.

The grammatical relations in sentences (1) to (5) would be:

| |S |A |O |

|Case marking |Alamos –ø |Alamos –ø |ruk – a |

| |ruk – a |mubil – a |mubili – ø |

| | | |Alamos –ø |

This table fails to show a significant difference on these noun suffixes. On one hand, the agentive subject of intransitive clause is marked the same way as the single argument of an intransitive clause. On the other hand, the subject is also marked the same with the object of transitive clause. But generally, we do see ‘-a’ has a nominative suffix function. So I would still like to conclude Moore to be nominative –accusative kind of language, though word order is more obvious than case marking.

A sentence can have only a verb, without subject and object being surfaced. In this kind of short sentences, the auxiliary ‘mè’ or ‘la mè’ is often used after predicate, or combined with predicate to form a complete sentence.

(6) pid- a – ḿè ‘It’s full’

fill – IMPV - PRES

(7) am kwe ĺàḿè ‘I kill it’ (means ‘I killed it’)

1st sg. subj. kill (it)-DEC

2. Pronominal System

Moore pronouns have two dimensions, number and person. More pronouns have is different from English pronouns. It also has length differences.

a. Number: There are singular and plural pronouns. As examples in the data below, unlike English, verbs do not show morphological or lexical agreement with subject.

b. Person: The difference on person is similar with English. There are first person, second person and third person.

| |Singular |Plural |

|Person |Short |Long |Short |Long |

|1st |m /am |mam |id |tond/toŋdo |

|2nd |fo/of /i |ɲam |fo | |

|3rd |a |Ø |ob |bam/bamba |

|subject |object |

|Mam; fo; a; ɲam ; id; toŋ; ob; |Mam; bamba; tonŋdo; fo |

⑧Alamos ɲo:k – a toŋdo ‘Alamos caught us.’

Alamos catch – PAST 3rd.pl.

⑨fo ɲo:k –a mam ‘You caught me. ’

2nd sg. catch – PAST 1st. sg.

c. First person. Often times ‘mam’ ‘am’ and ‘m’ are used interchangeably in clause initial, subject position, they are connected to the word that immediately follows them. However, (i) ‘mam’ is the default 1st person object pronoun. The data never show ‘am’ or ‘m’ occurs in object position.

(ii) ‘mam’ carries emphatic meaning. Short form ‘m’ is mostly unemphatic. In order to put emphasis on a pronoun, one would change short ones into long versions, especially before NP objects. For example, in sentence (10) and (11) below,

(10) a ja mam nwãg-a. ‘He is my lover. ’

3rd sg. is 1st sg. lover – DEF

(11) m’ baba ne ʔm ma ‘My father and my mother.’

1st sg. father and 1st . sg. mother

d. Second person. There are different familiarity degrees connected with different forms for 2nd person sg. ‘you’. ‘fo’ appears more often in both declarative and imperative sentences than the other second person pronons. Length is corresponded with social dimension and degree of familiarity. Justine indicate that ‘fo’ is a default choice, while ‘i’ and ‘ɲam’ sounds more respectful. Generally, longer forms are found more formal than the short ones. ‘of’ is seen in folk lore and interrogatives. ‘ɲam’ is only used as subject and is more respectful then ‘fo’. Another respectful ‘you’ is [ì]. It appeared once in the sentence ‘ ì nã:nti karma sebre’ (you will read a book).

e. When expressing 3rd person singular object ‘him/her/it’, one need to use the word for ‘man’(roɣa), ‘woman’ (paʁa), or ‘things’ (tero) instead.

3. Nouns

3. 1 Number.

Noun class in Moore is marked by different suffixes and is reflected through singular and plural forms. Nouns and adjectives such as color terms both perform a lot of regularities between singular and plural forms. [1]

(1) Nouns and adjectives that have /a/ in the root, and end in –ga, -ka, -na. The plural form is to change –ga, -ka, -na into ‘–se’; Besides, ‘-se’ is found the most frequently used plural suffix for most of the nouns in Moore.

|Noun class |Gloss |Singular |Plural |

|-ga (-ɣa, ʁa) |Mossi (The people) |muaga |mose |

|-ka | | | |

|-na | | | |

| |sheep |buʁa |buse |

| |house |zaka |zakse |

| |leg |karga |karse |

| |foot |katnina |katnise |

| |small/short |kidga |kidse |

(2) Nouns and adjectives have /i/ or /o/ in the root, and also end in –go, -gu, -ku, -bo. The plural form is to change these into ‘-do’.

|Noun class |Gloss |Singular |Plural |

|-go/-gu (-ɣo, -ɣu, |food |ribo |ribdo |

|-ʁo, -ʁu) | | | |

|-ku/-ko | | | |

|-bo/-bu | | | |

| |meat |data missing |ɲemdo |

| |elephant |wobogo |wobodo |

| |red |migu |mido |

(3) Nouns and adjectives have /e/ in the root, and also end in –le, -ɾe. The plural form is to change –le, -ɾe, -li, ɾi into ‘-a’

|Noun class |Gloss |Singular |Plural |

|-le / -li |shoe |Ĩdɾe |Ĩda |

|-ɾe / -ɾi | | | |

| |egg |gelle |gela |

| |ear |tubɾe |tuba |

| |old |kudɾe |kuda/ kudɾa |

(4) Nouns end in –de, -di. Plural form is to change ‘de, di’ into –a, -na, -ma.

|Noun class |Gloss |Singular |Plural |

|-de |corn |Kamãnte |Kamãna |

|-di | | | |

| |knee |rũdi |rũma |

(5) Mass nouns (mostly end in ‘–m’) perform the same surface form in both singular and plural. There is no specific plural form for mass nouns.

|Noun class |Gloss |Singular |Plural |

|mass noun |fire |bugum |bugum |

|(Class M) | | | |

| |water |kʰóḿ |kʰóḿ |

(6) Some nouns are treated as collective nouns, the plural form is to add ‘damba/bamba’ at the end of the root. We also observed ‘bamba’ as a way of saying 3rd person pl. ‘them’. As in ‘Alamus ɲṍka bamba’ (Alamus caught them)

|Noun class |Gloss |Singular |Plural |

|collective nouns |window |kweliŋ –ga |kweliŋdamba |

| |fish |zima |zimdamba |

(7) Other nouns. There are other nouns that are found in neither categories above.

|Potential Noun class |Gloss |Singular |Plural |

|Nouns end in -k/-g, with out /a/ in the root|jar |ruka |ruksa |

|; | | | |

|change –ka to –sa/-ta | | | |

| |room |roɣa |rosa/rota |

|Nouns end in -gu, with out /i/ or /o/ in |hand |nugu |nuse |

|the root. | | | |

|Change gu ( se | | | |

|Other forms that needs further investigation|eye |nina |nifu |

| |woman |paʁa |paʁaba |

Apart from these observations, I also noticed likely definite articles and indefinite articles. A lot of nouns are transcribed with /-a/ or /-ã/ at word final position. It is likely that this suffix is a way to express definiteness. For example, the word for ‘jar’(sg.) and ‘jars’ (pl.), obviously we have the root /ruk/, /-sa/ is added as plural form, /-a/ is another suffix for definiteness. This is seen in sentene (12) through (15) below. What’s more, in sentence (15), the numeral ‘five’ (/nṹ/) perform the same definiteness as the noun ‘ruk’ (jar).

(12) Alamos wã:g-a ruk-a ‘Alamos broke the jar. ’

Alamos broke-PAST jar – DEF

(13) kõm – a ruk –a kõga–me. ‘The water jar is broken’

water- DEF jar – DEF broke–PRES

(14) am taɾa ruk–sa nṹ / nṹ-a. ‘I have 5 jars’

1st sg have jar - pl. five /five – DEF

(15) ruk –sa nṹ - a bè ká. ‘5 jars are here’

jar – pl. five –DEF at here.

3.2 Noun Phrase structure

(1) Head + Dependent. The most usual way of forming a noun phrase is head + dependent. Associative modifier including possessive, genitive are placed precede the head. But adjectives and numeral, deictic are placed after the head noun, with the quantitives in final place.

(16) Jõma yìbú ‘one year’

Year-ADJ one

(17) Niõ-(sa) sã́bɾ - sà jṍpwè ‘seven black cats’

Cat.pl black-pl. seven

(2) Possessive noun phrase. Unlike the sequence of head noun + dependent, pronouns are put in front of the head noun. The structure is ‘pronoun + noun’, such as ‘m ma’ (my mother); ‘mam nuga’ (my hands)

3.3 ‘-a’ — Nominal modifier/Definite article/ Topic marker

The nominal suffix ‘-a’ is found intertwined with definite article and topic marker. There are many examples showing the suffix ‘-a’ after subject and sentence topic. It also appears after adjectives. For example, by adding ‘-a’ to the word for water, the noun will be able to modify another noun ‘jar’.

(18) Alamus kù: buʁ-a ‘Alamus killed the sheep.’

Alamus kill sheep-DEF

(19)

4. Adjectives

(1) Agreement. Adjectives also have plural forms, they are found agreeing with plural head nouns. Color terms are always agreeing with the number of the head noun. Besides, the word for ‘small’, ‘big’ and ‘old’ also undergo this change.

(20) Puʔ kude-ɾe ‘an old woman’

Woman. old-sg

(21) Puʔ kud-ɾa/kuda ‘old women’

Women old- pl.

(2) Reduplication. Some adjectives can appear in a repeated fashion to express degree. I’m not quite sure if this reduplication, cause it is not related to verb agreement or other grammatical process. To indicate a stronger degree, one need to repeat one word no less than 5 times. The first four times will use a shortened form of the adjective. These adjectives are: bidɾe ‘big’; kidga ‘small’; ʊsgu ‘a lot’

(22) mam kom-a ja ʊs-ʊs-ʊsgu .

1st person sg. SUBJ water-ADJ is a lot more

‘My water is a lot, a lot , a lot’

5. Aspect

There are two aspects observed in Moore, the perfective and imperfective. Aspects are interacting with tense.

(1)The perfective is unmarked, but we do see marked form for imperfective. There is no grammatical element to indicate perfective, but it is indicated by the lack of the imperfective suffix. The perfective aspect indicates that at the time referred to, the action has already been completed, or the state of being referred to have already been achieved. For example in sentence (23) below. By adding adverbials such as ‘masmasa’ to an unmarked sentence such as sentence (27) below, one can also indicate progressive aspect.

(23) am paq – a roɣ-a ‘Alamos open the room. ’

Alamos open – PRES door– DEF

(2) The imperfective marker. By adding suffix /-da/ to a verb, the sentence would indicate that at the time referred to, the action is continuing, as in sentence (24) below. With time adverbials, an imperfective sentence can also express habitual meaning, as in sentence (27). With past tense marker, a sentence can express past progressive.

(24) am karm –da sebre da:r fã zabre.

1st sg read-IMPF book day all night.

‘I read book everyday evening.’

(25) ɲam karm –da sebɾe ‘You read a book now’

2nd person sg. read – IMPF book

(26) Am dagən karm-da sebre. ‘I was reading a book.’

1st sg. subj. PAST read- IMPF book

(27) am karm – da sebɾe masmasa. ‘I am reading a book now’

1st sg read-PROG book now

6. Tense

(1) Present tense does not show obvious morphological changes. Usually the verb is unmarked. Example is in sentence (29). Another way to express a state is to add ‘me’, ‘lame’ and ‘dame’ to the verb or adjective roots. These suffixes are found in present tense sentence final rather frequently. As in sentence (28) shows.

I also considered the possibility that ‘me’ and ‘lame’ being illocutionary markers that express a declarative sentence. Further data still needed to investigate this.

(28) buʁ - a zwẽ - me. ‘The sheep run’

sheep –DEF run.- PRES

(29) bõŋbũ wẽ Alazuma. ‘Something hit Alazuma’

something hit.PRES Alazuma.

(2) Past tense. The suffix /-a/ or /da/, and word /dagən/ are found in Moore to express past tense. /-dagən/ is found to co-occur with imperfective, to express imperfective meaning.

(30) Am karm-a sebre. ‘I read a book.’

1st sg. subj. read- PAST book

(3) Future. An uxiliary /nã́/ is used to indicate future tense. It is translated as ‘will’, ‘about to happen next’. A particle /ti/ can be added to indicate immediacy, that is, the action is going to happen from the time of the utterance.

(31) Id nã:n ti karm-a sebre

1st Pl. will particle read-PRES book

‘we will read a book.’ (from now on)

(32) zina nã́: ɲõk-a fo.

The spirit will catch-PRES 2nd sg. obj

‘The spirit will catch you’ (in the future)

7. Verbs

7.1 Stative verb

The verbs ‘taɾa’ (have); ‘ja’ (be); ‘be’ (at) are never found undergoing tense, aspect changes. They are stative verb. But ‘taɾa’ has a shortened form of ‘ta’ when it is used in negation. ‘ja’ is the ‘be’ auxiliary in Moore, it does not have specific morphological variations. Another auxiliary is ‘la’, which is also used as ‘be’.

(33) am taɾa mwẽ́ ‘I have rice’

1st sg. have rice

(34) am zaka bè Tampoe. My house at T ( I live in T)

1st sg. house at T

7.2 Transitive and intransitive verb

kṍõ̀ ‘to give’

8. Negation and question formation

1) Negation is marked by the ‘pa-’ [pʰá] prefix. It is used after the subject, before the verb, to express negation. The verb will change to a shorter form in negation sentence. ‘pa-’ is also found co-occur with the particle ‘je’ which is found in sentence final position. But ‘je’ does not mean negation. It is also found occur in interrogative sentence final.

m pa-ta mwẽ́ ‘I don’t have rice’

1st sg. subj NEG-have rice

mam jo:m-a tà fo ‘My age is the same with yours’

my age-DEF equal.PRES you

mam jo:m-a pa-ta fo je

my age-DEF NEG- equal to you NEG

‘My age is not the same with yours’ (I am younger than you)

wamb-a ɾib-a kà bì je. ‘The banana is not ripe’

Monkey-DEF food-DEF NEG ripe NEG

2) WH-word questions.

So far we have come across question asking ‘where’ ‘what ’and ‘who’. WH-word is found naturally in situ in object position. It follows the Subject + verb+ Object sequence. But it can also be in clause initial position.

|Where | Kamba bè: jɛ? ‘Where are the children?’ |

|jɛ |children at Where |

| |Fo ɾik – da jɛ? ‘Where are you going?’ |

| |2nd sg. go-PROG Where |

|Who | Fo ja anda? ‘who are you?’ |

|anda/anna |2nd sg. be who |

| |anna la fo? ‘who are you?’ |

| |who be you? |

| |anda dib – ta kwoloŋgo? ‘Who are going to school?’ |

| |who go –PROG school |

|What | fo jo la bwẽ? ‘What is your name?’ |

|bwẽ |2nd sg. name be what? |

| |fo pak-da bwẽ? ‘What are you opening? ’ |

| |2nd sg. open-PROG what |

|how |boɣo |

| |how old are you |

3) [bí:] and [là:] the question markers

Two question markers [bí:] and [là:] are observed in the data. Both of them are found in sentence final position.

Mwẽ́ ja kwologa bi bi? ‘Is the rice almost ready?’

Rice is almost ready Q

Fo karma-da sebre masmasa la ? ‘Are you reading a book now?’

2nd sg. read-PROG book now Q

9. Conclusion

Abbreviations:

Reference:

[1]

[2] Alexandre, H. P. 1953. La langue Moré. Dakar: Institut Français d’Afrique Noire.

[3]

[1] I referred to Alexandre, H. P. 1953. La langue moré. Dakar: Institut Français d’Afrique Noire. Volume 1, pp.44-59 for rough classifications of noun classes in Moore.

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