23 Non-verbal predication in Nilotic
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Gerrit J. Dimmendaal
Abstract
The Nilotic family belongs to the best-documented subgroups within the Nilo-Saharan phylum. A comparison of grammatical cognates in each of its three subgroups, Eastern Nilotic, Southern Nilotic, and Western Nilotic, makes it possible to investigate intragenetic divergence in the expression of non-verbal predication from a historical point of view. This grammatical domain revolves around identification, attribution, location, and possessive relations as major semantic types. The historical diversification involves the interaction of features associated with the formal expression of syntactic alignment, pronominal cross-reference marking on verbal and non-verbal predicates, the degree of syntactic configurationality, tense-aspect, the use of so-called “selective markers”, and pragmatic structures. Historical modifications in the formal expression of these features and their interaction also affected the structure of non-verbal predication, as becomes clear, for example, from the status of adjectival concepts in individual Nilotic languages. These range from the absence of adjectives as a lexical category in several Western Nilotic languages, and the corresponding extended use of verbal strategies, to their extensive presence as a category and their subsequent manifestation in non-verbal predication in Southern Nilotic Kalenjin. A second phenomenon pointing towards the key role played by the interaction of semantic features and their formal realization comes from the selective marking of noun phrases, whose presence signals the existence of a set of alternatives, thereby singling out one alternative for the entity referred to by a noun. Its presence plays a role in the conveyance of the difference between inclusive and identity predication, as in Southern Nilotic Kalenjin. Where selective markers were reinterpreted as number markers, as in some Eastern Nilotic languages, or as construct state markers, as in some Western Nilotic languages, this shift in feature value also had syntactic ramifications.
Abstract
The Nilotic family belongs to the best-documented subgroups within the Nilo-Saharan phylum. A comparison of grammatical cognates in each of its three subgroups, Eastern Nilotic, Southern Nilotic, and Western Nilotic, makes it possible to investigate intragenetic divergence in the expression of non-verbal predication from a historical point of view. This grammatical domain revolves around identification, attribution, location, and possessive relations as major semantic types. The historical diversification involves the interaction of features associated with the formal expression of syntactic alignment, pronominal cross-reference marking on verbal and non-verbal predicates, the degree of syntactic configurationality, tense-aspect, the use of so-called “selective markers”, and pragmatic structures. Historical modifications in the formal expression of these features and their interaction also affected the structure of non-verbal predication, as becomes clear, for example, from the status of adjectival concepts in individual Nilotic languages. These range from the absence of adjectives as a lexical category in several Western Nilotic languages, and the corresponding extended use of verbal strategies, to their extensive presence as a category and their subsequent manifestation in non-verbal predication in Southern Nilotic Kalenjin. A second phenomenon pointing towards the key role played by the interaction of semantic features and their formal realization comes from the selective marking of noun phrases, whose presence signals the existence of a set of alternatives, thereby singling out one alternative for the entity referred to by a noun. Its presence plays a role in the conveyance of the difference between inclusive and identity predication, as in Southern Nilotic Kalenjin. Where selective markers were reinterpreted as number markers, as in some Eastern Nilotic languages, or as construct state markers, as in some Western Nilotic languages, this shift in feature value also had syntactic ramifications.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- List of the Authors V
- Acknowledgments
- Contents IX
- Crucial issues in non-verbal predication: A questionnaire 785
-
Part II: Case studies
- 22 Non-verbal predication in Maltese 789
- 23 Non-verbal predication in Nilotic 829
- 24 Non-verbal predication in Cushitic 865
- 25 Non-verbal predication in Mandinka and other Mande languages 915
- 26 Non-verbal predication in Cuwabo (Bantu) 955
- 27 Non-verbal predication in Ju 993
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Austronesia, Papunesia, Australia
- 28 Non-verbal predicates in Oceanic languages 1021
- 29 Non-verbal predication in Formosan languages 1067
- 30 Non-verbal predication in three families of Papunesia: Teiwa, Tidore and Mian 1103
- 31 Non-verbal predication in Nungon 1143
- 32 Non-verbal predication in Ngumpin-Yapa languages (Australia) 1169
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Part III: Conclusion and prospects
- 33 Non-verbal predication: Results and perspectives 1213
- Subject index 1275
- Language index 1283
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- List of the Authors V
- Acknowledgments
- Contents IX
- Crucial issues in non-verbal predication: A questionnaire 785
-
Part II: Case studies
- 22 Non-verbal predication in Maltese 789
- 23 Non-verbal predication in Nilotic 829
- 24 Non-verbal predication in Cushitic 865
- 25 Non-verbal predication in Mandinka and other Mande languages 915
- 26 Non-verbal predication in Cuwabo (Bantu) 955
- 27 Non-verbal predication in Ju 993
-
Austronesia, Papunesia, Australia
- 28 Non-verbal predicates in Oceanic languages 1021
- 29 Non-verbal predication in Formosan languages 1067
- 30 Non-verbal predication in three families of Papunesia: Teiwa, Tidore and Mian 1103
- 31 Non-verbal predication in Nungon 1143
- 32 Non-verbal predication in Ngumpin-Yapa languages (Australia) 1169
-
Part III: Conclusion and prospects
- 33 Non-verbal predication: Results and perspectives 1213
- Subject index 1275
- Language index 1283
