Gbe Languages Research Articles

Cultural values and the pragmatic significance of proverbial sayings in Tafi and Ewe

Proverbs have cognitive and socio-cultural value. As tools for socialisation, proverbs are channels of shared moral and cultural values in communities of practice. The paper investigates the functions of, and the cultural values embodied in selected proverbial sayings in Tafi, a Ghana-Togo Mountain language, and their counterparts in Ewe, a Gbe language. The analysis is based on a small corpus of proverbs gathered during immersion fieldwork among the Tafi, and relies on ethnographic and linguistic methods. The Ewe versions are extracted from proverb collections and from the equivalents provided by Tafi bilinguals. From a semantic and a pragmatic perspective, proverbs have both textual and indexical, context-dependent, meanings. I explore the textual semantics of some of the Tafi and Ewe proverbial sayings drawing on the semantic template for proverbs used in the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM). It is suggested that the semantic structure of proverbs comprises framing components of traditionality and of their status as folk wisdom, as well as components describing the message, namely, the recurrent situation that calls forth the proverb, the advice and the analogy in the proverb. The paper reveals that patterns of proverb performance are similar across the languages suggesting shared practices due to language and cultural contact in proverbial language use.

Creoles as hybrid languages

The central claim of Enoch Aboh’s book is that creoles combine features of different languages spoken by people involved in their genesis. In the case of Haitian French Creole and the Surinamese English creoles, the main substrate languages in the formative founding period are claimed to be the languages of the Gbe group, part of the Kwa branch of the Niger-Congo family. After a summary of the book, the claims are evaluated. The book is considered well written and an excellent piece of scholarship but unfortunately its central claims failed to convince this reader. Creoles are seen as a result of failed acquisition. It is shown in the article that Bantu speakers were more numerous than Gbe speakers, on the basis of historical, genetic and linguistic evidence. Still, Bantu languages are structurally quite different from the creoles, which can be taken for an argument that Gbe as well only had a minimal influence on the grammatical structures of the creoles. The analytic structures are argued in the article to be as diverse for creoles as they are for the Gbe languages. Some structures are found to be different in all three creoles and five varieties of Gbe.

Consonant-tone interactions in Gengbe

Gengbe is an under-documented and understudied Gbe language spoken as a lingua franca in Southern Togo and Benin. Few resources for Gengbe exist, especially in the domain of empirical acoustic phonetic research. To this end, we present an overview of its consonant, vowel, and tonal inventories. Of particular interest is the fact that its two register tones, (L)ow and (H)igh, show systematic phonological variation based on the voicing of onset consonants. Like many other tone languages in Africa and beyond, voiced obstruents act as so-called “depressor consonants,” triggering lower f0 on subsequent vowels than do their voiceless counterparts. This lowering is phonologized in many H tone contexts, resulting in a Rising tone in many (but not all) morphophonological environments. The distinction is phonetically present in low tone as well, where it perseverates across the entire vowel and results in a lower register L (by approx. 20 Hz). We survey the phonological environments where such lowering effects are realized, and probe the interaction between obstruent voicing, tone, vowel height, and nasality via instrumental acoustic analysis.

French Guianese Creole

This article hypothesizes that French Guianese Creole (fgc) had a markedly different formative period compared to other French lexifier creoles, a linguistically diverse slave population with a strong Bantu component and, in the French Caribbean, much lower or no Arawak and Portuguese linguistic influence.The historical and linguistic description of the early years of fgc shows, though, that the founder population of fgc was dominated numerically and socially by speakers of Gbe languages, and had almost no speakers of Bantu languages. Furthermore, speakers of Arawak pidgin and Portuguese were both present when the colony began in Cayenne.

A Comparative Study of Bilingual Verb Phrases in Ewe-English and Gengbe-French Codeswitching

This article describes contact phenomena between two closely related varieties of the Gbe language cluster Ewe and Gengbe each with a Germanic and a Romance language. The focus is on a comparison of verb phrases in Ewe-English codeswitching, spoken in Ghana, and Gengbe-French codeswitching, spoken in Togo. It is the first qualitative comparative study of this kind although quite a number of local (West African) languages are in contact with English and French. It finds that because the two varieties of Gbe are morphosyntactically similar, there are remarkable morphosyntactic similarities between bilingual clauses containing English verbs and those containing French verbs. English/French verbs with the same transitivity value which assign the same set of thematic roles to their arguments occur in slots in Ewe/Gengbe-based clauses where Ewe/Gengbe verbs with those subcategorization features also occur. The explanation for this pattern, from the perspective of the Matrix Language Frame model, is that during codeswitching English and French verbs are treated as if they belong to the class of Ewe and Gengbe verbs which share their subcategorization features. Assuming language production to be modular (in the sense of Myers-Scotton 1993, 2002), it is argued that the pattern is illustrative of a kind of composite codeswitching (Amuzu 2005a, 2010, and in print) by which abstract grammatical information from one language about verbs from that language—here English or French—is consistently mapped onto surface structure through the grammatical resources of another language, here Ewe or Gengbe.

Done already? A comparison of completive markers in the Gbe languages and Sranan Tongo

The expression of completive by means of post-verbal kaba ‘already’ in the Surinamese Creole Sranan Tongo is generally assumed to mainly derive from transfer from a serial verb construction in the Gbe languages (Bruyn, 2003; Winford, 2006; Winford and Migge, 2007). However, not all Gbe languages share the serial verb construction (S…V…V[finish]) upon which the Sranan Tongo completive marker kaba is claimed to have been modeled. In Gungbe, for example, a quantifier meaning ‘all’ is used to derive the completive meaning and anteriority is expressed formally by means of the adverb kó ‘already’ in pre-verbal position (Aboh, 2004a). Similarly, Ameka's (2008) analysis of Ewegbe completive constructions involving ‘finish’ verb forms in final position suggests that such verb forms better qualify as adverbs. This would mean that such Ewegbe finish constructions do not involve verb serialization. If, as it seems, finish constructions in the Surinamese Creoles do involve verb serialization while the Gbe languages seem not to, the question arises to what extent one can show that the Gbe languages did influence the emergence of completive forms in the emerging creoles. In addition, English arguably displays biclausal constructions where the verb ‘finish’ takes a non-finite clause as complement (e.g., finish+V-ing) to encode completion. One can therefore wonder to what extent Sranan Tongo adopts such pattern. Given that English and the Gbe languages are the main contributors to the Suriname creoles in their formative period, the relevant question to ask might actually be to what extent a combination of the English and Gbe constructions (rather than just Gbe patterns) could have contributed to the emergence of the Sranan Tongo pattern. This paper addresses this issue by studying the expression of event completion in the Sranan Tongo while comparing it to English and Gbe constructions. In particular we focus on the meanings and uses of (ad)verbs of completion ‘finish’ vs. ‘already’ and event quantifiers such as ‘all’ in order to advance our understanding of the emergence of the completive marker in the creoles.

Relative clauses in Suriname creoles and Gbe languages

Two creoles of Suriname, Ndyuka and Saramaccan, are compared with each other and with Western Gbe, Eastern Gbe, and other languages of West Africa with respect to relative clause formation. Relativization strategies are described for the syntactic positions subject, direct object, and indirect object, and the semantic roles benefactive, locative, temporal, comitative, instrumental, comparative, and possessor. Omission of relative markers (rel), headless relatives, and other uses of rel are also compared.This comparison shows significant differences between the Suriname creoles, principally the presence of number marking on rels in Saramaccan vs. its absence in Ndyuka, and the wider distribution of relative markers derived from interrogative forms in Ndyuka than in Saramaccan. Some of these differences parallel differences between the Western and Eastern Gbe languages examined, strongly indicating a greater Western Gbe influence on relativization in Saramaccan vs. a greater influence of Eastern Gbe in Ndyuka. A brief examination of the non-Gbe Kwa language Akan and the non-Kwa language Kabiye, both of potential relevance to Suriname creoles in terms of extralinguistic history, shows that neither of these resemble the Suriname creoles with regard to relativization nearly as much as the Gbe languages do.

Possibility and necessity modals in Gbe and Surinamese creoles

In this paper we compare positive possibility and necessity modals in the Gbe languages and Surinamese creoles that emerged out of language contact between European and African languages, most importantly the Gbe languages. We propose that different varieties of Gbe languages played a role in the development of the modals in the creoles. A comparison of the influence of the modals on the temporal interpretations of the sentences in which they occur in the substrate languages with that of equivalent modals in superstrate languages suggest that while there is indeed substrate influence in the development of the modals, the influence from the superstrate cannot be discounted. The findings nuance earlier proposals that explain the emergence of the modality system as deriving from a Gbe model.

Fact-type complements in Gbe and the Surinamese Creoles

Although several researchers have suggested that fact-type complementation in the Surinamese Creoles is modeled on that of their main input languages, the Gbe languages, we still lack precise information on the extent of the similarities and differences. In this paper we provide a broad comparison of fact-type complementation in these two language groups and suggest an explanation for the similarities we find. We explore the syntax and semantics of the complementizers used in both language groups, the kinds of complement-taking predicator (CTP) that select these complements and their syntax and semantics. The analysis reveals close structural and functional similarities between the two language groups suggesting that fact-type complementation in the Surinamese Creoles was largely modeled on that of Gbe.

“Cut” and “break” verbs in Gbe and Sranan

This paper compares “cut” and “break” verbs in four variants of Gbe, namely Anfoe, Anlo, Fon and Ayizo, with those of Sranan. “Cut” verbs are change-of-state verbs that co-lexicalize the type of action that brings about a change, the type of instrument or instrument part, and the manner in which a change occurs. By contrast, break verbs co-lexicalize either the type of object or the type of change. It has been hypothesized that “cut”-verbs are unergative while breaks verbs are unaccusatives. For example “break” verbs participate in the causative alternation constructions but “cut” verbs don’t. We show that although there are some differences in the meanings of “cut” and break verbs across the Gbe languages, significant generalizations can be made with regard to their lexicalization patterns. By contrast, the meanings of “cut” and break verbs in Sranan are closer to those of their etymons in English and Dutch. However, despite the differences in the meanings of “cut” and “break” verbs between the Gbe languages and Sranan, the syntax of the verbs in Sranan is similar to that of the Eastern Gbe variants, namely Fon and Ayizo. We look at the implications of our findings for the relexification hypothesis.

The Saramaccan implosives

This paper takes as its starting point the recently discovered fact that Saramaccan contrasts two types of voiced labial and coronal stop, plain and implosive. The plain labials appear to be modern in origin, something which cannot be said about their coronal counterparts. So we reconstruct an earlier situation in Saramaccan in which only one type of labial voiced stop, the implosive, was present, but both types of coronal. The Gbe languages also have one voiced labial stop, and two coronals, although none of these are implosive. It can be demonstrated, however, that a near-regular correspondence exists between the three putative Saramaccan voiced stops and the three Gbe stops, and conclude that this is an additional piece of evidence for the role of Fon/Gbe as a substrate language for Saramaccan. We further discuss the implications this correspondence has for views on the nature of the 17th century Fon consonant system.

Gbe and other West African sources of Suriname creole semantic structures

This paper reports on ongoing research on the role of various kinds of potential substrate languages in the development of the semantic structures of Ndyuka (Eastern Suriname Creole). A set of 100 senses of noun, verb, and other lexemes in Ndyuka were compared with senses of corresponding lexemes in three kinds of languages of the former Slave Coast and Gold Coast areas, and immediately adjoining hinterland: (a) Gbe languages; (b) other Kwa languages, specifically Akan and Ga; (c) non-Kwa Niger-Congo languages. The results of this process provide some evidence for the importance of the Gbe languages in the formation of the Suriname creoles, but also for the importance of other languages, and for the areal nature of some of the collocations studied, rendering specific identification of a single substrate source impossible and inappropriate. These results not only provide information about the role of Gbe and other languages in the formation of Ndyuka, but also give evidence for effects of substrate languages spoken by late arrivals some time after the “founders” of a given creole-speaking society. The conclusions are extrapolated beyond Suriname to creole genesis generally.

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of grammatical features elicited among the Gbe language varieties of West Africa

This paper describes a synchronic analysis of grammatical features elicited among the Gbe language varieties of West Africa, conducted to explore how the investigated varieties might be treated as clusters and to establish priorities for further sociolinguistic research. For some of the investigated varieties, the current synchronic typological analysis yields a classification within the Gbe language continuum that differs from the findings of more recent sociolinguistic surveys conducted among some of the Gbe communities as well as from the findings of Capo's (1991) and Stewart's (1994) diachronic genetic analyses. The paper discusses how the results of these different approaches compare to each other, how the identified disparities should be weighted, and what conclusions can be drawn from these findings.

The “basic locative construction” in Gbe languages and Surinamese creoles

This paper compares the conceptualisation and expression of topological relations in Surinamese creoles with that of Gbe languages (which were part of the substrate) and English (the superstrate). It investigates the components of the Basic Locative Construction (BLC), i.e. the most neutral construction that is used to code topology, and the type of situations for which the BLC is used in the languages. It shows that the BLC in the creole and Gbe languages has a locative phrase which is made up of a noun phrase that expresses the Ground and a spatial element that expresses the Search Domain i.e. the specific part of the Ground where the Figure is located. The locative phrase in the creoles also has a preposition but this does not contribute to its spatial meaning. By contrast, English has a locative phrase which is made up of a preposition that expresses the Relation between the Figure and the Ground, and the Search-Domain information. The paper concludes that the Suriname creoles display a strong substrate influence in this spatial domain. There are some differences, which can be attributed to gradual Dutch influence and generalisation on the part of the creoles.

A Synchronic Lexical Study of Gbe Language Varieties: The Effects of Different Similarity Judgment Criteria

A Synchronic Lexical Study of Gbe Language Varieties: The Effects of Different Similarity Judgment Criteria

Reduplication and Object Movement in Ewe and Fon

This article examines two alternations which are found in the Gbe languages of West Africa.