A typological rarum in Mande languages: Argument-predicate reversal in nominal predication

Abstract

After a typological overview of the nominal predication constructions found in the Mande languages, this article describes and analyzes in more detail a phenomenon found in the nominal predication constructions of Mandinka and some other Mande languages that does not seem to have been signaled outside of the Mande language family. In the Mande languages in question, the argument and predicate NPs in inclusion statements involving a non-verbal copula can exchange their coding characteristics in terms of flagging and position with regard to the copula. A functive or comitative adposition flags the predicate NP in the variant in which the term following the copula is the predicate, and the same adposition flags the argument NP in the variant in which the term following the copula is the argument. The status of the focus marker in nominal predication constructions that obligatorily include a focus marker attached to the predicate NP is also discussed.