Abstract
Bisang and Sonaiya (1999) call the high tone syllable (the HTS) in Yorùbá language "an operator which actualises or validates the relationship between a predicate and a subject within a state of affairs". This paper shows that this view is faulty because it makes wrong predictions concerning the element in the language.
Highlights
A V-syllable having a high tone and known in Yorùbá linguistic literature as the high tone syllable or HTS for short, regularly occurs directly after the subject in Yorùbá declarative sentences
The precise function of the V-syllable has long been a subject of debate among Yorùbá Linguists, who have variously called it (a) a "Subject-Predicate Junction Marker" (Bamgbose 1967: 35); (b) a "Clitic" Adewole (1998: 55–56); (c) a "Subject Concord Marker (Courtenay 1968: 71–74; Stahlke 1974: 177; Fresco 1970: 79–80); (d) a "Past/Present tense marker" (Awobuluyi 1975, 1978, 1992, 2008); (e) a "Concord Marker" (Bamgbose (1980: 197); and (f) an "Agreement Marker" (Dechaine 1993: 84, 483). In their own relatively recent contribution to that debate, Bisang and Sonaiya (1999) call the high tone syllable (the HTS) "an operator which actualises or validates the relationship between a predicate and a subject within a state of affairs." Put more this claim, as one understands it, affirms that the HTS serves to indicate that the action or process denoted by a predicate took place or occurred
There is no trace of the HTS anywhere in them, and that can only logically mean that that element has nothing to do with validating actualized predicates. This conclusion would appear confirmed by further data relating to Bisang and Sonaiya's claim about the HTS and negators
Summary
A V-syllable having a high tone and known in Yorùbá linguistic literature as the high tone syllable or HTS for short, regularly occurs directly after the subject in Yorùbá declarative sentences. The precise function of the V-syllable (the HTS) has long been a subject of debate among Yorùbá Linguists, who have variously called it (a) a "Subject-Predicate Junction Marker" (Bamgbose 1967: 35); (b) a "Clitic" Adewole (1998: 55–56); (c) a "Subject Concord Marker (Courtenay 1968: 71–74; Stahlke 1974: 177; Fresco 1970: 79–80); (d) a "Past/Present tense marker" (Awobuluyi 1975, 1978, 1992, 2008); (e) a "Concord Marker" (Bamgbose (1980: 197); and (f) an "Agreement Marker" (Dechaine 1993: 84, 483) In their own relatively recent contribution to that debate, Bisang and Sonaiya (1999) call the HTS "an operator which actualises or validates the relationship between a predicate and a subject within a state of affairs." Put more this claim, as one understands it, affirms that the HTS serves to indicate that the action or process denoted by a predicate took place or occurred. This conclusion would appear confirmed by further data relating to Bisang and Sonaiya's claim about the HTS and negators
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