|
|
 E-mail this message to a friend
|
|
Title:
|
A Grammar of Pichi
|
|
Author:
|
Kofi Yakpo
|
|
Email:
|
click here to access email
|
|
Degree Awarded:
|
Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen
, Department of Linguistics
|
|
Degree Date:
|
2009
|
|
Linguistic Subfield(s):
|
Language Documentation
|
|
Subject Language(s):
|
Fernando Po Creole English
|
|
Language Family(ies):
|
Creole
|
|
Director(s):
|
Norval Smith
Pieter Muysken
|
|
|
Abstract:
|
|
Pichi (also know as Fernando Po Creole English) is an Atlantic
English-lexicon Creole spoken on the island of Bioko, Equatorial Guinea.
With at least 70,000 speakers, Pichi is an offshoot of Krio (Sierra Leone)
and shares many characteristics with its West African sister languages Aku
(Gambia) and Nigerian, Cameroonian and Ghanaian Pidgin. At the same time,
contact with Spanish, the colonial and official language of Equatorial
Guinea, has made a significant impact on the lexicon and grammar of Pichi.
This first comprehensive description of Pichi is based on extensive
fieldwork in Equatorial Guinea. It presents a detailed analysis of the
phonology, morphology and syntax of the language and addresses language
contact between Pichi and Spanish. The annexes contain a collection of
interlinearised and annotated texts as well as Pichi-English-Pichi
vocabulary lists.
Pichi has a seven vowel system and twenty-two consonant phonemes. The
language features a mixed prosodic system which employs both pitch-accent
and tone. The morphological structure of Pichi is largely isolating.
However, there is a limited use of inflectional and derivational morphology
in which affixation, tone and suppletive forms are put to use. The
categories of tense, modality and aspect are primarily expressed through
preverbal particles. In Pichi, aspect rather than tense, plays a dominant
role in expressing temporal relations. The modal system includes an
indicative-subjunctive opposition. Pichi verbs fall into three lexical
aspect classes: dynamic, inchoative-stative and stative. The language
exhibits a subject-verb word order in intransitive clauses and a
subject-verb-object order in transitive clauses. Pichi also features
various types of multiverb constructions. These include secondary
predication, clause chaining and serial verb constructions.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Page Updated: 25-Nov-2009
Please report any bad links or misclassified data
LINGUIST Homepage | Read
LINGUIST | Contact us
While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed
on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.
|
|
