Chapter 7 Valency changing processes in Akan E. Kweku Osam UniversityofGhana Valency has been considered as both a semantic and syntactic notion. Semantically it is usedtorefertotheparticipantsinanevent;asasyntacticnotionitisusedtoindicatethe number of arguments in a construction. In Akan, a Kwa language spoken in Ghana, we canidentifyvarioustransitivityclassesofverbs: verbsthatarestrictlyintransitive;those thatarestrictlytransitive; andverbsthatareusedditransitively. Apartfromthese,there areverbsthatcanbeusedbothintransitivelyandtransitively. Criticaltothestudyofthe notionofvalencyinAkanisthefactthatthereisclearevidenceforgrammaticalrelations inthelanguage.Asisthecaseinmanylanguages,Akanpossessesmorphosyntacticmeans throughwhichthevalencyofverbscanbeadjusted. Theapplicationofthesemorphosyn- tacticprocessesreducesorincreasesthevalencyofverbs. Thispaperexaminesthesepro- cessesinAkan. Thecriticalvalency-reducingprocessesinAkanarereflexivization,recip- rocals, anticausative/inchoative constructions, impersonal constructions, object omission constructions,andunspecifiedobjectconstructions. Valency-increasingprocessesinclude causativizationandagentivizationthroughserialization. 1 Introduction Thelinguisticsliteratureisrepletewithstudiesonvalency–thosethataretheoretical, cross-linguistic,andothersthatfocusonthestudyofvalencyinspecificlanguages.The interest in understanding the notion of valency has resulted in a number of volumes dedicated to the subject. Notable among these are Comrie & Polinsky (1993), Dixon & Aikhenvald (2000a), Malchukov & Comrie (In press). The papers in Malchukov & Comrie(Inpress)cameoutoftheLeipzigValencyClassesProjectandtheConference on Valency Classes in the World’s Languages held in 2011. Worthy of mention is also Nichols,Peterson&Barnes(2004)thatputforwardtheideaofthebasicvalencyorien- tationoflanguages.AsinthecaseoftheLeipzigProject,anumberofscholarsadopting themethodologyofNicholsandassociates,haveexaminedthebasicvalencyorientation ofvariouslanguages(see,forexample,Narogg2009;Plank&Lahiri2009;vanGelderen 2011;Luraghi2012). ThegoalofthispaperistoexaminethevalencyofAkanverbsandexplorethemor- phosyntactic processes that apply to modify the valency of verbs. It is expected that E.KwekuOsam.2016.ValencychangingprocessesinAkan.InDorisL.Payne,Sara Pacchiarotti&MokayaBosire(eds.),DiversityinAfricanlanguages,117–139.Berlin: LanguageSciencePress. DOI:10.17169/langsci.b121.478 E.KwekuOsam thepaperwillhelpexpandfurtherourunderstandingofthebehaviorofverbsinAkan, buildingonwhathasbeenreportedinOsam(2008b). ThispaperisbasedontheAkanVerbsDatabaseprojectwhichwasimplementedinthe DepartmentofLinguistics,UniversityofGhana,between2009and2011,andforwhich I was the Principal Investigator. The project was funded by the University of Ghana ResearchFund.Bytheendoftheproject,adatabaseofover3,500verbstemsandother verbformshadbeencreated. Thedatacomefromvarioussources,includingpublishednarratives,translatedworks and,insomecases,constructedexamplesbasedonmyknowledgeasanativespeaker. Thepaperisstructuredasfollows:§2providesanoverviewoftheverbalmorphology, focusing on the tense-aspects distinctions of the language and clause structure/gram- maticalrelations. Thissectionalsocoverssomeaspectsofserialverbconstructionsin thelanguagesincetheyhaveabearingonvalencyadjustmentinthelanguage.§3deals withAkanverbclasses.In§4themorphosyntacticprocessesthatreducethevalencyof verbs are discussed; §5 and §6 focus on the processes that increase valency. §7 is the summaryandconclusion. ThelabelAkanisusedtorefertoagroupofcloselyrelateddialectsspokeninGhana, and partially in the south eastern parts of Cote d´Ivoire. It belongs to the Kwa sub- family of Niger-Congo. The name also refers to the people who speak the language. ThedialectsofAkaninclude:Agona,Ahafo,Akuapem,Akwamu,Akyem,Asante,Assin, Bono,Denkyira,Fante,Kwahu,andWassa.Generally,exceptFante,alltheotherdialects tendtobeclassifiedasTwiintermsofAkandialectology. Currentspeakerpopulation isestimatedatnearlytenmillion. 2 Some morphosyntactic features of Akan In this section I provide an overview of tense/aspect and clause structure in the lan- guage. IshouldpointoutthatAkanisatwotonelanguageandoneoftheoutstanding phonological features of the language is the presence of Tongue Root Harmony in all thedialectsandroundingharmonyintheFantedialect. Thediscussionthroughoutthe paperwilldrawexamplesfromtheFante(Fa)dialectandinsomecasesfromtheAsante (As)andAkuapem(Ak)dialectsaswell.ExamplesdrawnfromFantewillgenerallynot beidentifiedassuch; thosefromAsanteandAkuapemwillbeindicatedasAsandAk, respectively,inparenthesesgenerallyattheendofatranslation. 2.1 Verbalaffixes InAkanverbalconstructionsaregenerallyformedwiththeverbanditsperson,tense, aspect,mood,andpolarityaffixes.Therearealsoverbalprefixestomarkmotiontowards orawayfromadeicticcentre(Table1). The pre-verbal affixes in Akan include the tense/aspect markers. As I have argued elsewhere(Osam1994a;2008a),AkancanbesaidtohaveaFutureTenseandthefollow- 118 7ValencychangingprocessesinAkan Table1:SubjectPrefixes 1sg me- 2sg wo-,i-(Fa) 3sg ɔ- 3sg(inanimate) ɛ-(inAk,AsandsomeFasubdialects) 1pl yɛ- 2pl mo-/wɔ-(Fa) 3pl wɔ-/yɛ- ing aspectual forms: Completive (compl), Perfect (perf), Progressive (prog), Habitual (hab),Continuative(cont),andConsecutive(consec). TheFuturetenseiscodedbytheprefixbɛ-.Therealizationofthevowelisdetermined byvowelharmony,especiallyintheFantedialect(seeDolphyne1988). (1) a. Íyí bɛ́-mà kóŕ-yɛ́ à-bà hóḿ ńtámú. thisfut-makeone-becons-come2pl.possmiddle ‘Thiswillbringunityamongyou.’(Krampah1970:79) b. Dàákyéyè-bé-nyá bì á-ká á-kyèrɛ́ à-fófóró. future 1pl.subj-fut-getsomecons-saycons-showpl-new ‘Infuturewewillhavesomethingtotellothers.’(Adi1973:34;Ak) WhatIconsidertheCompletiveiswhatinthegeneralliteratureonAkanisreferred toasthePasttense.However,Ihaveshowninvariousplaces(Osam1994a;2004;2008b) thatthisformismoreofanaspectthantense.TheCompletiveisasuffixintheaffirma- tive;butaprefixinthenegative. (2) a. Né ǹ-sèẁ-nóḿ bèènúnyìnáyɛ́-ɛ̀ èdzìbàń. 3sg.posspl-in.law-coltwo all make-complfood ‘Eachofhistwoin-lawscooked.’(Krampah1970:57) b. Né ǹ-sèẁ-nóḿ bèènúnyìnáà-ǹ-yɛ́ èdzìbàń. 3sg.posspl-in.law-coltwo all compl-neg-makefood ‘Histwoin-lawsdidnotcook.’ ThePerfectaspectisrealizedbytheprefixa-,andgenerallyagreeswiththevowelof theverbrootinATRharmony. (3) a. Bànyíńnó á-tɔ̀ àsàásé. man defperf-buyland ‘Themanhasboughtapieceofland.’ 119 E.KwekuOsam b. M`-bòfránó á-bà fíé. pl-child defperf-comehome ‘Thechildrenhavecomehome.’ TheProgressiveisaprefix,re-. (4) a. Mààménó rè-hwè-hwɛ́ né bá nó. womandefprog-redu-look3sg.posschilddef ‘Thewomanislookingforherchild.’ b. Àbòfránó rù-tù-tú ǹ-wúrá nó. child defprog-redu-uprootpl-weeddef ‘Thechildisremovingtheweeds.’ AkanalsohasaHabitualaspectwhichisrealizedbytone(seeDolphyne1988formore discussiononthis). (5) a. Òkùàfónó kɔ̀ hàbáńmùànɔ̀pá bíárá. farmer defgo;habfarm in morningevery ‘Thefarmergoestothefarmeverymorning.’ b. Akosuatɔ̀ǹ ǹdzɛ́ḿbáwɔ̀ gúá-mú. Akosuasell;habthings in market-in ‘Akosuasellsinthemarket.’ Twooftheaspects,theContinuativeandConsecutive,aretreatedasderivedaspects. The Continuative is used for stative verbs where the Progressive is used for dynamic verbs. The Consecutive aspect applies to non-initial verbs in a serial construction in whichtheinitialverbisineithertheProgressiveaspectortheFuturetense. Generally, theConsecutiveisrealizedasalowtoneà-. (6) a. Àbòfránó tsè dùá nó ásé. child defsit/conttreedefunder ‘Thechildissittingunderthetree.’ b. Kwesigyìnà fíé nó ényíḿ. Kwesistand/conthousedeffront ‘Kwesiisstandinginfrontofthehouse.’ (7) a. Bànyíńnó bɛ́-sáẃ à-kyèrɛ́ dɔ́ḿ nó. man deffut-dancecons-showcrowddef ‘Themanwilldanceforthecrowd.’ b. Kofirè-náńtsèẁà-kɔ̀ skúùl. Kofiprog-walk cons-goschool ‘Kofiiswalkingtoschool.’ 120 7ValencychangingprocessesinAkan ThereareverbalconstructionsinAkanwhichsometimeshavetwoprefixes,bɛ-and kɔ-.Theseprefixesarisefromtheverbsfor‘come’and‘go’,respectively.Ihavereferred totheseasMotionalprefixes(Osam2002).Theyreflectthemovementtowardsoraway fromadeicticcentrewhereaneventtakesplace. Movementtowardsthedeicticcentre ismarkedbythe‘come’verb;andawayfromthecentreismarkedbythe‘go’verb. (8) a. Amabɔ̀-sɔ́-ɔ̀ gyáwɔ̀ dáń nó ékyìr̀. Amacome-light-complfire at buildingdefback ‘Amacameandlitafirebehindthebuilding.’ b. Esikɛ̀-fá-à èkùtú nó bá-à fíé. Esigo-take-complorangedefcome-complhome ‘Esiwentandbroughttheorangeshome.’ Even though it is too early to say that Akan has a prospective aspect, the language hasthemeanstoexpressprospectivemeaning. Thisisdonethroughacombinationof theProgressiveandthe‘come’Motionalprefix. (9) a. Ɔ̀màǹpànyíńrè-bɔ́-sɔ́ŕ. president prog-come-stand ‘Thepresidentisabouttorise.’ b. Hyɛ́ń nó rè-bé-gyíná. vehicledefprog-come-stop ‘Thevehicleisabouttostop.’ Thelanguagemakesatwowaydistinctionintermsofmood–theindicativeandthe Imperative.TheImperativehastwomanifestations;whatwemaycallImperativeproper andtheOptative.WhereastheImperativehasnosegmentalrepresentation,theOptative isrealizedthroughtheuseofahomorganicnasalwithahightone,ń-. (10) a. Gyàè! stop/imp ‘Stopit.’ b. Yɛ́-ń-kɔ́. 1pl-opt-go ‘Let’sgo.’ Thelanguageusesahomorganicnasalprefixtoexpressnegation. (11) a. Mì-ǹ-nyím̀ èdwúmáâ ɔ́-yɛ́. 1sg.subj-neg-knowwork rel3sg.subj-do ‘Idon’tknowwhatworkshedoes.’ 121 E.KwekuOsam b. Mààménó à-ǹ-ká àsɛ́ḿ nó à-ǹ-kyèrɛ́ né ḿ-bá womandefcompl-neg-saymatterdefcompl-neg-show3sg.posspl-child nó. def ‘Thewomandidn’ttellherchildrenaboutthecase.’ 2.2 Verbalreduplication ManyverbsinAkanaresubjecttothemorphologicalprocessofreduplication.Generally, verbal reduplication is required where the event is iterative and/or where either the SubjectorDirectObjectNPsorbothareplural. (12) a. Áféí ǹ-nàm̀fò yí kyìǹ-kyíń-ń à-dɔ́fó kàkráâ wó-níḿ nowpl-friendtheseredu-roam-complpl-loverfew rel3pl.subj-know wɔ́ń nó sò krá-krà-à wɔ̀ǹ. 3pl.objdcmonredu-bid.farewell-compl3pl.obj ‘Nowthesetwofriendsvisitedsomeoftheirfriendstobidthemfarewell.’ (Adi1973:41;Ak) b. Né nà nà n-égyà é-wú-wú. 3sg.possmotherand3sg.poss-fatherperf-redu-die ‘Bothhismotherandfatheraredead.’(Martin1936:24) 2.3 Akanclausestructure ThesyntaxofAkandistinguishesgrammaticalrelations,ashasbeendiscussedinvarious studies(Osam1994a;1996;1997;2000;2004).ThelanguagehasSubjectandDirectObject withNominativeAccusativemarkingthatisrealizedthroughwordorder. WordOrder inthelanguageisstrictlySVO,withverylittlevariation. 2.3.1 Transitiveconstructions The prototypical Akan transitive clause has A (as Subject) and O (as Direct Object) as corearguments.TheAargumentprecedestheO;andeachcanberealizedasfullNPor asapronominalelement. (13) a. Akosuakyè-è àkókɔ́ nó. Akosuacatch-complchickendef ‘Akosuacaughtthechicken.’(As) b. Ò-kùà-fó nó á-dáá-dàà ɔ̀-bɔ̀-fó nó. sg-farm-idmdefperf-redu-deceivesg-hit-idmdef ‘Thefarmerhasdeceivedthehunter.’ If the O argument is inanimate, it is not represented by a pronominal form unless someotherclausalelementcomesafterit. 122 7ValencychangingprocessesinAkan (14) a. Ò-wíà-à náḿnó. 3sg.subj-steal-complfish def ‘Hestolethefish.’ b. Ò-wíà-è Ø. 3sg.subj-steal-compl ‘Hestoleit.’ c. Ò-wíà-à nò ńdédà. 3sg.subj-steal-compl3sg.objyesterday ‘Hestoleityesterday.’ AtransitiveclausecouldalsohaveoptionalObliqueelementsexpressedbylocational (bothspatialandtemporal)phrases. Itcouldalsobeapostpositionalphrase. Generally, obliqueswouldoccurinclause-initialorclause-finalpositions. (15) a. Mààménó sí-ì dáń ḿfédà. womandefbuild-complhouselast.year ‘Thewomanbuiltahouselastyear.’ b. Ḿfédà mààmé nó síì dáń. last.yearwomandefbuild-complhouse ‘Lastyearthewomanbuiltahouse.’ 2.3.2 Intransitiveconstructions Thesingleargumentofanintransitiveclause,theSargument,alwaysprecedesthepred- icate. (16) a. Èdzìbàńnó á-bèǹ. food defperf-be.cooked ‘Thefoodiscooked.’ b. Ɔ̀-sɔ́-fó nó wú-ù ńdédà. sg-pray-idmdefdie-complyesterday ‘Thepriestdiedyesterday.’ 2.3.3 Ditransitiveconstructions Akan has ditransitive constructions in which there are three core arguments, agent, benefactive and theme. In ditransitive constructions, the NP in the immediate post- verbal position is grammatically the Direct Object and semantically the benefactive. The entity that is transferred, the theme, occurs after the benefactive NP. I have re- ferredtothisastheAsymmetricalObject (Osam2000). (17) a. Mààménó má-à m̀-bòfránó èdzìbáń. womandefgive-complpl-childdeffood ‘Thewomangavethechildrenfood.’ 123 E.KwekuOsam b. Pàpánó kyɛ́-ɛ̀ hɔ̀ǹ sìká. man defgift-compl3pl.objmoney ‘Themangavethemmoney.’ 2.3.4 Serialverbconstructions One feature of Akan syntax crucial to valency discussions is serial verb constructions (SVC). Akan serialization has been studied extensively (see, for example, Lord 1973; Schachter 1974; Essilfie 1977; Forson 1990; Osam 1994a,b; 1997; 2004; 2014; Agyeman 2002;Hellan,Beermann&Andenes2003;Kambon2012).Withoutgoingintothedetails ofAkanSVCs,itisimportanttoidentifysomesalientfeatures. Subjectmarking: thesubjectmaybeaNPorapronominalformthatoccursononly theinitialverb. (18) a. Yaakwan-ábákáń gyínà-è yɛ́-ɛ̀ kyèámé bɔ́-ɔ̀ Yaakwa3sg.poss-first.bornstand-complbe-complspokespersontell-compl fíé àmàǹdzɛ̀ɛ́kyérɛ̀-ɛ̀ à-hɔ́hó nó. homenews show-complpl-visitordef ‘Yaakwa’seldestsonstoodasthespokespersonandbriefedthevisitors.’ (Krampah1970:83) b. Wɔ̀-twé-è nó gyìná-à ǹkyɛ́ń. 3pl.subj-pull-compldefstand-complaside ‘Theypulledhimaside.’(Adi1973:31;Ak) Generally,thereisuniformityintense/aspectcoding,asshownintheexamplesabove. However,mixedtense/aspectispossibleinsomeSVCs. NegationMarking:acrossalldialectsofAkan,eachverbintheseriestakesthenegation prefixwhenthesentenceisnegated,asin(19). (19) Mààménó à-ǹ-tɔ́ èdzìbàńà-m̀-má né ḿ-bá nó. womandefcompl-neg-buyfood compl-neg-give3.sg.posspl-childdef ‘Thewomandidnotbuyfoodforherchildren.’ In some serial constructions, the initial verb is de/dze. This is a form with reduced verbalproperties.ThedeisusedintheTwidialectsanddzeisusedinFante. (20) a. Wɔ̀-dè àsɛ́ḿ nó kɔ́-ɔ̀ àhèm̀fíé. 3pl.subj-takematterdefgo-complpalace ‘Theytookthecasetothepalace.’(Ak) b. Ɔ̀-dzè n-áhòɔ̀dzéń nyìnáyɛ́-ɛ̀ èdwúmányá-à sìká. 3sg.subj-take3sg.poss-strengthall do-complwork get-complmoney ‘Sheworkedveryhardandmademoney.’ The de serialization is also relevant in the expression of agentive arguments in the caseofverbsofspatiallocation.Thiswillbefurtherdiscussedin§5.2. 124 7ValencychangingprocessesinAkan 3 Akan verb classes Basedontheirargumentstructure,varioustransitivityclassesofverbscanbeidentified inAkan.Somearestrictlyintransitive(§3.1),somearestrictlytransitive(§3.2),someare ditransitive (§3.3), and some have varying expressions of arguments. Verbs of the last typeareaddressedin§4and§5. 3.1 Strictlyintransitive/monovalent Monovalentverbsoccurwithasingleargument;theSargumentonly(Table2). Table2:Monovalentverbs béń ‘becooked’ bèr̀ ‘beripe,befairincomplexion’ dwó ‘cool’ fé ‘becomesoft/smooth’ hóń ‘swell’ hwéḿ ‘blowone’snose’ hwèǹtsì ‘sneeze’ péŕ ‘struggle,rollaroundduringsleep’ prɔ̀ ‘rot’ húŕ ‘boil’ (21) a. Èdzìbàńnó á-bèǹ. food defperf-cook ‘Thefoodiscooked.’ b. Àǹkàá nó á-prɔ́. orangesdefperf-rot ‘Theorangesarerotten.’ 3.2 Strictlytransitive/bivalent Thereareverbsthatrequiretwoarguments,AandO(Table3). Table3:Bivalentverbs bòr̀ ‘beat’ dààdàà ‘deceive’ hyìrà ‘bless’ ká ‘bite’ kú ‘kill’ kyé ‘catch’ nyɛ́ń ‘rear’ pàà ‘curse’ sànè ‘infect’ sìè ‘bury’ táń ‘hate’ (22) a. Ɔ̀-bɔ̀-fóɔ́ nó kú-ù ɔ̀sónó. sg-hit-idmdefkill-complelephant ‘Thehunterkilledanelephant.’ 125 E.KwekuOsam b. Abamsíè-è né mààmé. Abambury-compl3sg.possmother ‘Abamburiedhismother.’ 3.3 Ditransitive/trivalent There are verbs that are ditransitive or trivalent. These require three core arguments (Table4). Table4:Trivalentverbs kyɛ́ ‘togift,giveasagift’ gyé ‘charge’ má ‘give’ kyèrɛ̀ ‘teach,show’ (23) a. Ńtsíɔ̀-má-à nò à-hɛ́ń èbìásá. so 3sg.subj-give-compl3sg.objpl-boatthree ‘Soshegavehimthreeboats.’(Martin1936:8) b. Esikyɛ́-ɛ̀ pàpánó sìká. Esigift-complman defmoney ‘Esigavethemanmoney.’ 4 Decreasing valence There are morphosyntactic processes that reduce verb valence. In various languages, morphologicalderivationsareutilizedinreducingthevalenceofaverb.Butashasbeen pointedoutintheliterature,verbscanalsomanifestachangeinthevalencestructure withouttheapplicationofanymorphologicalprocesses:“Alternationsinaverb’svalency patternarenotnecessarilytheresultofamorphologicalderivationalprocess. Verbsor wholeclassesofverbsmayhavealternatevalencypatternswithoutanychangeintheir formalmakeup…”(Haspelmath&Müller-Bardey2004:1131). 4.1 Reflexivization Reflexivization in Akan is marked by the use of a possessive (poss) pronoun and the morphemeho‘self’. (24) a. Kofié-kù Yaw. Kofiperf-killYaw ‘KofihaskilledYaw.’ 126