LINGUIST List 17.2386
Thu Aug 24 2006
Diss: Lang Description: Sarpong: 'Cases of Akan Grammaticalisation ...'
Editor for this issue: Hannah Morales
<hannahlinguistlist.org>
Directory
1. Samuel
Sarpong,
Cases of Akan Grammaticalisation “Synchronic Perspective”
Message 1: Cases of Akan Grammaticalisation “Synchronic Perspective”
Date: 24-Aug-2006
From: Samuel Sarpong <srnsamyahoo.com>
Subject: Cases of Akan Grammaticalisation “Synchronic Perspective”
Institution: University of Education, Winneba
Program: Mphil
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2005
Author: Samuel Sarpong
Dissertation Title: Cases of Akan Grammaticalisation “Synchronic Perspective”
Linguistic Field(s):
Language Description
Subject Language(s): Akan (aka)
Dissertation Director:
Dr. Kofi Agyekum
Dissertation Abstract:
This thesis attempts to reanalyse some Akan content words as grammatical markers. The analysis is of two main parts; while as Chapter Three deals with categorial status, that of Chapter Four deals with functional markers. The thesis is based on the framework of grammaticalisation. The framework as discussed in this thesis is skewed in favour of synchronic as against diachronic dimension of language study. Grammaticalisation as defined in this thesis involves a meaning change of the grammaticalising item. Our discussion on grammaticalisation includes not only the development of grammatical items from lexical ones, but also their development from existing grammatical materials, as well as word, other changes and fixing of syntactic patterns. Chapter 1 is made up of the introduction, the Akan language and people, the objective of the study, methodology and organisation of the chapters. In Chapter 2, I introduced the core concepts of grammaticalisation theory, which forms the theoretical framework on which my analysis is based. In Chapter 3, I discuss some words which have been analysed as prepositions. Chapter 4 gives an account of grammaticalisation of functional items which do not fall into the prepositional paradigm. Chapter 5 summarises the thesis, highlights on the contribution of this thesis to the Akan language, and concludes the thesis.
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