Distributed Morphology of Akan-Twi Plurals

Emmanuel Amo Ofori

doi:10.11648/j.ijll.20160402.12

Abstract

Following the discussions of Bodomo and Marfo’s (2002) morphophonological analysis of Akan and Dagaare noun class system using number marking: singular and plural within Lexical Phonology theoretical framework, the present study seeks to provide a broader analysis of Akan-Twi plurals based on Distributed Morphology theoretical framework provided by Halle and Marantz (1993, 1994). The core issue of this paper is to account for whether the attachment of the prefix a- and the suffix -foɔ on some stems in Akan is due to the spell-out of vocabulary item (VI) or due to other morphological operations such as fission. Moreover, the paper attempts to address the context in which the Vocabulary Item /a-/ applies.

Highlights

This paper concentrates on the Distributed Morphology of Akan-Twi plurals
The analysis of the Akan-Twi plurals is too complicated because we could not establish the context for the insertion of the Vocabulary Item /a-/
If we accept the fact that it is the default or elsewhere vocabulary item (VI) what happens to the VI /n-/? There should be a new assumption and a more concrete evidence to classify which of the two is the default

Summary

Introduction

This paper concentrates on the Distributed Morphology of Akan-Twi plurals. Akan is a language which belongs to the Kwa sub-group of Niger-Congo family of West Africa, spoken in Ghana. Akan manifests the use of suffixes to show plurality They put nouns in Akan and Dagaare into classes based on the similarity of both the singular and plural affixes. The noun class system of Akan is based mainly on an interface between the morphological and phonological components of the grammar, the basic assumption with regard to their analysis is mainly phonological They further intimated that due to the preference involved in the selection of a particular affix, the morphological facts cannot satisfactorily explain their criterion, and appealed to phonological information. The aim of this study, is not to contradict Bodomo and Marfo’s analysis of noun class system of Akan, but rather to give an alternative theoretical basis, in this case Distributed Morphology, for analyzing plural formation in Akan. N-_-foɔ nkramofoɔ ‘moslems’ nneduafoɔ ‘prisoners’ nsamanfoɔ ‘ghosts’ mpanyinfoɔ ‘elders’

Theoretical Framework-Distributed Morphology

Analysis

Conclusion