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The coding of topological relations in verbs: the case of Likpe (Sεkpεlé)

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Published/Copyright: December 4, 2007
Linguistics
From the journal Volume 45 Issue 5part6

Abstract

This article examines the grammar, use and meaning of fifteen verbs used in the Basic Locative Construction (BLC) of Likpe — a Ghana-Togo-Mountain language. The verbs fall into four semantic subclasses: (a) basic topological relations: t ‘be.at’, tk ‘be.on’, kpé ‘be.in’, and fi ‘be.near’; (b) postural verbs: sí ‘sit’, ny ‘stand’, fáka ‘hang’, yóma ‘hang’, kps ‘lean’, fus ‘squat’, and labe ‘lie’; (c) “distribution” verbs: kpó ‘be spread, heaped,’ and tí ‘be covered’; and (d) “adhesion” verbs: má ‘be griped, be fixed’, mánkla ‘be stuck to’. Likpe locative predications reflect an ontological commitment to the overall topological relation between Figure and Ground and are not focused just on the Figure or the Ground. Various factors determine the choice of “competing” verbs for particular scenarios: animacy, nonindividuation of the Figure, permanency of the configuration and the speaker's desire to be referentially precise or to present stereotypical information. It is demonstrated that in situations where there is a choice, speakers tend to use the more general verbs (stereotype information). The implications of this tendency for the development of a language from a multiverb language using several verbs (e.g., 15) in its BLC to using only a small-set of verbs in its BLC, just as some of Likpe's neighbors have done, are considered.

*Correspondence address: Dept. African Languages and Cultures, Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, PB 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands.
Received: 2005-06-08
Revised: 2007-03-12
Published Online: 2007-12-04
Published in Print: 2007-10-19

© Walter de Gruyter

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Introduction: The typology and semantics of locative predicates: posturals, positionals, and other beasts
  2. Four languages from the lower end of the typology of locative predication
  3. ‘To sit face down’ — location and position in Goemai
  4. Locative construction and positionals in Trumai
  5. Grounding objects in space and place: locative constructions in Tidore
  6. Why a folder lies in the basket although it is not lying: the semantics and use of German positional verbs with inanimate Figures
  7. Laz positional verbs: semantics and use with inanimate Figures
  8. The coding of topological relations in verbs: the case of Likpe (Sεkpεlé)
  9. Standing divided: dispositionals and locative predications in two Mayan languages
  10. Publications received between 2 June 2006 and 1 June 2007
  11. Author index to Linguistics, volume 45, 2007
https://doi.org/10.1515/LING.2007.032

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Introduction: The typology and semantics of locative predicates: posturals, positionals, and other beasts
  2. Four languages from the lower end of the typology of locative predication
  3. ‘To sit face down’ — location and position in Goemai
  4. Locative construction and positionals in Trumai
  5. Grounding objects in space and place: locative constructions in Tidore
  6. Why a folder lies in the basket although it is not lying: the semantics and use of German positional verbs with inanimate Figures
  7. Laz positional verbs: semantics and use with inanimate Figures
  8. The coding of topological relations in verbs: the case of Likpe (Sεkpεlé)
  9. Standing divided: dispositionals and locative predications in two Mayan languages
  10. Publications received between 2 June 2006 and 1 June 2007
  11. Author index to Linguistics, volume 45, 2007
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