Abstract
AbstractThis Chapter discusses the grammatical evolution of lexical items denoting body part terms into grammatical markers of various grammatical notions in Fulfulde. Historical linguists propose that most, if not all grammatical markers, originate from lexical terms of various categories. Studies in historical linguistics show that body part terms are one of the most crucial sources of lexical items that evolve into grammatical markers across languages of the world. The idea of this evolution process is studied in grammaticalization theory, which provides a systematic model of analysis regarding the evolution process of lexical items into grammatical markers. In Fulfulde, in particular, it is shown that the body part terms hoore ‘head’ yeeso ‘face’ ɓaawo ‘back’ and hunnduko ‘mouth’ are grammaticalized into the prepositions beginning, front, behind and front/around, respectively.KeywordsGrammatical markerLexical termGrammaticalizationFulfuldeFulɓe
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