Korsah Korsah
(Joint work with Andrew Murphy)
Claim: We argue that the exceptional presence of high tones on verbs in constructions which involve focusing, relativisation, and ex situ wh-questions in Akan (Niger-Congo: Ghana) should be analyzed to movement reflexes, our assumption is that the floating H tone is a morphological realisation of a v whose operator feature has been valued by a moving operator (i.e. focus, relative or wh-phrase).
Thus, Akan represents a rare case of a genuine tonal reflex of movement.
Data : In Akan, underlying low tones of verbs surface as a sequence of high tones in constructions involving movement. Consider (1), where the verbs nim and p E consist entirely of low tones (unmarked here), and (3) where the matrix verb kyer´ is underlying LH, while the embedded verb kita is LL. If we now consider the corresponding focus constructions (2),(4) and ex situ wh-questions (5),(6), we see that these verbs surface with all high tones in contrast to their underlying tones.
(1) Kofi
(3)
Kofi
‘Kofi knows that Ama likes yam.’
Kofi
Kofi nim know show s´ E that s E that
Ama
Ama
Ama
Ama p E like yam kita hold money
‘Kofi means that Ama is holding money.’
(2) Sik´ i na Kofi n´ m s E Ama t i
.
yam foc
Kofi know that Ama like
‘It is yam that Kofi knows that Ama likes.’
(4) D´ E n i na Kofi s E Ama t i what foc
Kofi show that Ama hold
‘What does Kofi mean that Ama is holding?’
(5) D´ E n i na Kofi n´ m s E Ama t i what foc
Kofi know that Ama like
‘What does Kofi know that Ama likes ?’
(6) D´ E n i na Kofi s E Ama t i what foc
Kofi show that Ama hold
‘What does Kofi mean that Ama is holding
?’
Note that it is not just the verb in the embedded clause which acquires high tones, but also the matrix verb too. Thus, the reflex of movement is marked on the verb in each clause (a Pattern I reflex in
Georgi’s 2014 terms). This can be seen by comparing these data to wh-in-situ questions (7) and topic constructions formed with de E (8). The latter are typically described as focus constructions but have the informational-structural properties of (aboutness) topics (see Bodomo & Marfo 2005). Accordingly, we assume that de E -constructions are base-generated and therfore do not involve movement (cf. Collins
1993 and Chung 1998 for similar arguments for Ewe and Chamorro respectively).
(7) Kofi
Kofi show s E that
Ama
Ama hold d´ E n what
‘What does Kofi mean that Ama is holding?’
(8) Sik´ i de E Kofi nim s E Ama p E t i
.
yam top
Kofi know that Ama like
‘As for money Kofi knows that Ama likes it.’
Analysis : The only previous analysis of the tonal change in Akan verbs is given in Marfo (2005).
He assumes that H tones on the verb are the result of a ‘boundary assimilation’ rule that applies across p(honological)-phrases. It is assumed that the application of this rule is specific to the the na focus construction. However, this analysis cannot account for the new long-distance extraction data in (2) and (9) where H tone spreading takes place in every clause. Instead, we propose that these H tones are a reflex of successive-movement marked on the head of a phase ( v P) through which operator movement has taken place. Now how does this work?
1

(9) Sik´ i na Kofi n´ m Esi ´ a s E Amma t i
.
money that Kofi know that Esi perf
-say that Ama like
‘It is money that Kofi knows that Esi has said that Ama likes.’
Following Georgi (2014), we assume that the v head in Akan bears an operator feature [ op:] that can be valued in a Spec-Head configuration with an operator. In cases where, for example, wh-movement proceeds through Specv P, this operator receives a positive value. Furthermore, we assume that Akan has two possible Vocabulary Items for v (10). The more specific of the two, is a floating H tone that realises a v head with a positively valued operator feature. The abstract derivation of an example such as (4) is given in (11). In (11-b), the wh-phrase moves from the object position to the edge of the vP phase in the embedded clause. In (11-c), the wh-phrases moves through the CP phase to the next Spec-vP position where it values the operator feature on the matrix v before finally moving to its criterial position in Spec-FocP (11-d). The v heads in question are combined syntactically via Head
Movement to form the complex v+V.
(10) VIs for v in Akan : a.
H-
↔
[ v , op
:
+ op
] b.
Ø
↔
[ v ]
On the phonology side, the low tones of the verb are ‘overwritten’ by the floating high tone introduced by v . We tentatively assume that the overwriting effect is due to the requirement for the floating H tone to be aligned to the right edge of the prosodic word and it therefore triggers delinking of the word-level (lexical) tone associations to achieve this (12). The assumption here would be that the floating H tone is introduced at phrase-level phonology. There are, however, a number of potential explanations for this H-tone overwriting that would be worth entertaining, particularly the high tone circumfixation proposed by Trommer (2011) for similar tonal phenomena in Jumjum and Hausa.
We will show further evidence that suggests that apart from v , C heads seem to consisitently show a related reflex of such movements.
(11)
H L L
⇒
H L L
= = ki ta ki ta
Summary : In sum, this paper provides new evidence from Akan to show that H-tone insertion is in fact a reflex of successive-cyclic movement in syntax. This fills an important empirical gap since tonal reflexes of movement have been rarely discussed in the literature (Clements et. al 1983 for Kikuyu,
Zentz 2011 for Ak OO se are notable exceptions). One particularly interesting implication could be for predicate doubling constructions in Akan and related languages. If H tone insertion on the verb is a reflex of movement, then its presence in predicate doubling constructions provides evidence for the fact that these constructions involve movement (e.g. Aboh 2006) rather than base-generation (e.g.
Cable 2004). This analysis has important consequences for the syntax-phonology interface and how successive-cyclic movement can act as a morphosyntactic trigger for tonal changes in every clause.
Selected references: Aboh, E. When verbal predicates go fronting.
ZAS Papers in Linguistics .
46:21-48.
●
Bodomo, A. & C. Marfo. 2005. Information Structuring in Akan Question-Word Fronting and Focus Constructions.
Studies in African Linguistics 34(2), 179-208.
●
Cable, Seth. 2004.
Predicate
Clefts and Base-Generation: Evidence from Yiddish and Brazilian Portuguese . Ms, MIT.
●
Clements,
G., J. McCloskey, J. Mailing & A. Zaenen. 1983. String-Vacuous Rule Application. Linguistic Inquiry
14(1), 1-17.
●
Collins, C. 1993.
Topics in Ewe Syntax . PhD Thesis, MIT.
●
Georgi, D. 2014.
Opaque
Interactions of Merge and Agree: On the Nature and Order of Elementary Operations . PhD Thesis.
Universit¨
●
Marfo, C. 2005.
Aspects of Akan Grammar and the Phonology-Syntax Interface .
PhD Thesis. University of Hong Kong.
●
Trommer (2011). Phonological Aspects of Western Nilotic
Mutation Morphology.
Habilitationsschrift.
Universit¨
●
Zentz, J. 2011.
Movement in adverbial clauses: Morphological evidence from Ak OO se wh-agreement . Ms., Yale University.
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