SERIAL VERB NOMINALIZATION IN AKAN BY OBADELE BAKARI KAMBON THIS THESIS/DISSERTATION IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON, IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF PHD LINGUISTICS DEGREE DECEMBER 2012 i DECLARATION I do hereby declare that this thesis is the result of my own original research under close supervision of Prof. E. Kweku Osam, Prof. Nana Aba Amfo and Prof. Kofi K. Saah. References to other sources of information used in this work have been duly cited. This thesis has not been presented either in whole or in part for another degree elsewhere. SIGNATURE OF CANDIDATE …………………………………….. ………………………………. OBADELE BAKARI KAMBON DATE SIGNATURE OF SUPERVISOR …………………………………….. ……………………………… PROFESSOR E. KWEKU OSAM DATE SIGNATURE OF SUPERVISOR ……………………………………. ……………………………… PROFESSOR KOFI K. SAAH DATE SIGNATURE OF SUPERVISOR ……………………………………. ……………………………… PROFESSOR NANA ABA AMFO DATE ii DEDICATION For Ama, the late Prof. Olabode, the late Nsumankwaahene Nana Baffour and the Beautiful Ones Not Yet Born iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS From the beginning of writing this thesis I was concerned about how I would write the acknowledgements section. As time progressed through my research and writing, many individuals really stepped up and went out of their way to assist in making this thesis possible. First and foremost, I would like to thank Professor “Pro VC SG KO” Osam for his invaluable guidance. From topic selection to continually pushing me to make this thesis better methodologically and in writing, his advice has been stellar. One could not hope for a better supervisor. Professor Amfo’s comments have also been helpful in improving my writing and in making comments that have fundamentally shaped the final product. Professor Saah has also made himself available for meetings and giving advice throughout this process. I would also like to thank my parents for their support and inspiration for letting me know through their words and actions that this could be done. I would like to thank all those who assisted in data collection as well. Particularly, I would like to thank those who allowed me to distribute questionnaires in their classes including Prof. Nana Aba Amfo (UG), Prof. Kofi Agyekum (UG), Mr. Kofi Abrefa Busia (UCC), and Mrs. Regina Caesar (UEW). In setting up focus group interviews, several people assisted including Nana Afua Tabiri and the Ɔboɔ Tabiri shrine in Koforidua, Brother Shabazz from One Africa in Iture, Nana Ansa in linking me with her family in Akuapem-Akropong and Mr. Reginald Duah for his assistance in gathering Kumasi speaker data. I would also like to thank LAG for giving me an opportunity to present. I would also like to thank Dr. Amuzu who coordinated the department seminars where I got valuable feedback from attendees. I would iv like to especially thank Mr. Frimpong from the Linguistics Library as well as all of the administrative staff in the UG Linguistics Department, the office of the Dean of Humanities and the Pro-Vice Chancellor’s office. I would also like to thank Dr. Clement Appah and Prof. Bodomo for their comments in our email correspondence. I would also like to thank all questionnaire participants and focus group participants. Without your help this thesis could not have been completed. Also, finally, I would like to thank the late Prof. Afolabi Olabode, Adeola Olabode and Prof. Harrison Adeniyi. Although I was not able to incorporate the Yoruba data into this study, their assistance has afforded me the opportunity to pursue SVN nominalization in Yoruba at a future date. v ABSTRACT This thesis focuses on nominalization of serial verb constructions (SVCs) in the Akan language. The study develops a relevant typology of serial verb nominalization on the basis of semantic integration and lexicalization using a prototype theory (PT) framework. The three degrees of semantic integration for serial verbs in Akan are Full Lexicalized-Integrated Serial Verb Constructions (FL-ISVCs), Partial Lexicalized-Integrated Serial Verb Constructions (PL-ISVCs) and Clause Chaining Serial Constructions (CCs or CSCs). Each type of SVC is analyzed on the basis of how it is nominalized, the degree to which nominalization occurs and whether nominalization can occur at all. Various corpuses were consulted in three major literary dialects of Akan: Asante Twi, Fante and Akuapem Twi. Further, native speakers of each of these dialects were consulted to ascertain the goodness of various attested serial verb nominals (SVNs) in Akan. Because Full Lexicalized-Integrated Serial Verb Constructions behave as lexicalized idioms, four criteria of idiomaticity are applied to them including collocability, familiarity, flexibility and compositionality (Barkema 1996). The results from the study show that over 98% of all FL-ISVCs identified have nominal counterparts while less than 3% of all PL-ISVCs identified have nominal counterparts. CSCs seem to nominalize haphazardly as frozen sentences, proverbs, idioms and figures of speech which primarily function as denotata and designata. While there was some degree of interdialectal variability with regard to individual SVNs, the pattern of nominalization behavior on the basis of degrees of semantic integration and lexicalization remained consistent across dialects. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ............................................................................................. i DEDICATION ............................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................... iii ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................... ix LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................x LIST OF APPENDICES ................................................................................ xi ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................... xii CHAPTER ONE: SERIAL VERB NOMINALIZATION IN AKAN: INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW .....................................1 1.1 AIM/OBJECT OF STUDY ........................................................................1 1.1.1 Expectations ........................................................................................2 1.1.2 Primary Aims and Significance of this Thesis ......................................4 1.2 LITERATURE REVIEW ...........................................................................4 1.2.1 Serial Verb Constructions ....................................................................4 1.2.2 Definitions and Features of Serial Verb Constructions .........................6 1.2.2.1 Distribution of Serializing Languages ...........................................6 1.2.2.2 Origins of the Term “Serial Verb” .................................................6 1.2.2.3 Defining Serial Verb Constructions ...............................................7 1.2.2.4 Definitions based on Necessary and Sufficient Conditions .......... 10 1.2.2.5 Pitfalls of Definitions based on Necessary and Sufficient Conditions .............................................................................................. 11 1.2.2.6 Features/Characteristics of SVCs ................................................ 12 1.2.2.7 Strings of Verb-like elements as a Characteristic of SVCs ........... 16 1.2.2.8 Iconicity as a Feature of SVCs .................................................... 16 1.2.2.9 Monoclausality as a Feature of SVCs .......................................... 18 1.2.2.10 Critiques of Cluster of Features/Characteristics Approach (Prosodic Approach) ............................................................................... 19 1.2.2.11 Formal Definitions of SVCs ...................................................... 19 1.2.2.12 Definitions of SVCs based on Semantic Categories ................... 20 1.2.2.13 Challenges in Describing SVCs ................................................. 21 vii 1.2.3. Typology of Serial Verb Constructions ............................................. 23 1.2.3.1 Typology of SVCs Based on Transitivity .................................... 24 1.2.3.2 Typology of SVCs Based on Argument Sharing .......................... 26 1.2.3.3 Typology of SVCs Based on Semantic Integration ...................... 28 1.2.3.4 Semantic Integration as the Basis of SVC Typology .................... 29 1.2.3.5 Integrated SVCs .......................................................................... 32 1.2.4 Factors Influencing SVC Nominalization........................................... 35 1.2.4.1 Salient Distinct Event Types ....................................................... 35 1.2.4.2 Semantic Integration and Iconicity .............................................. 39 1.2.4.3 Semantic Integration, Nominalization and Idiomaticity ............... 44 1.3 Chapter Summary and Thesis Overview ................................................... 50 CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................... 55 2.0 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 55 2.1 Prototype Theory ..................................................................................... 55 2.1.1 Wittgensteinian Concepts of Categorization, Function and Context ... 55 2.1.2 Eleanor Rosch’s Concepts of Reasoning and Categorization .............. 57 2.1.3 Rosch’s Concept of Cognitive Economy ............................................ 60 2.1.4 Rosch’s Concept of Perceived World Structure.................................. 62 2.1.5 Rosch’s Contextuality ........................................................................ 64 2.1.6 Rosch’s Concept of Categorization .................................................... 66 2.1.7 Lakoff: Prototype Theory in Terms of Cognitive Models ................... 73 2.1.8 Lakoff: Central Aspects of Prototype Theory ..................................... 76 2.1.9 Critiques of Prototype Theory ............................................................ 76 2.2 SVCs, SVNs AND PROTOTYPE THEORY ........................................... 81 2.2.1 Idiomaticity, Collocationality and Prototype Theory .......................... 81 2.2.3 Serial Verb Nominalization and Prototype Theory ............................. 83 2.2.4 Idiomaticity, Collocationality and SVCs ............................................ 86 2.3 GRAMMATICALIZATION IN SERIAL VERB NOMINALIZATION .. 89 2.4 ICONICITY IN SERIAL VERB NOMINALIZATION ........................... 92 2.5 METHODOLOGY .................................................................................. 96 2.5.1 Bio Data of Akan Questionnaire Respondents.................................... 97 2.6 CHAPTER SUMMARY ........................................................................ 103 viii CHAPTER THREE: NOMINALIZATION OF FULL LEXICALIZED- INTEGRATED SERIAL VERB CONSTRUCTIONS (FL-ISVCS) IN AKAN ......................................................................................................... 106 3.0 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 106 3.1 SURVEY OF AKAN FL-ISVC NOMINALIZATION ........................... 106 3.2 GENERALIZATIONS ABOUT FL-ISVN IN AKAN ............................ 198 CHAPTER FOUR: NOMINALIZATION OF PARTIAL LEXICALIZED- INTEGRATED SERIAL VERB CONSTRUCTIONS (PL-ISVCs) IN AKAN ......................................................................................................... 206 4.0 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 206 4.1 SEMANTIC INTEGRATION AND AKAN PL-ISVC NOMINALIZATION .................................................................................. 206 4.2 SURVEY OF PARTIAL LEXICALIZED-INTEGRATED SERIAL VERB CONSTRUCTIONS IN AKAN ................................................................... 208 4.2.1 Nominalized PL-ISVCs ............................................................... 208 4.3 GENERALIZATIONS ABOUT PL-ISVC NOMINALIZATION IN AKAN ......................................................................................................... 228 CHAPTER FIVE: NOMINALIZATION OF CLAUSE CHAINING SERIAL CONSTRUCTIONS (CSCs) IN AKAN ..................................... 234 5.0 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 234 5.1 NOMINALIZED CSCs IN AKAN ......................................................... 235 5.2 GENERALIZATIONS ABOUT CSC NOMINALIZATION IN AKAN 258 CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSIONS AND LINGUISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT GENERALIZATIONS .................................................... 263 6.1 STATISTICALLY/LINGUISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT GENERALIZATIONS ................................................................................ 263 6.2 METHODOLOGICAL CONCLUSIONS ......................................... 269 6.2.1 The Role of Identity in Native Speaker Judgments ..................... 273 6.2.2 The Role of Attitudes/Perception in Nominalization ........................ 274 6.3 THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS .............. 275 6.4 FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS .................................................. 277 APPENDIX ONE ....................................................................................... 281 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................... 285 ix LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Native Akan Dialect of Respondent Phase One (P1) ............................ 101 Table 2: Native Akan Dialect of Respondent Phase Two (P2) ........................... 102 Table 3: FL-ISVN representation in 4 major corpuses ....................................... 194 Table 4: PL-ISVN representation in 4 major corpuses ....................................... 227 Table 5: CSN representation in 5 major corpuses .............................................. 258