The Akan verb kɔ

Dorothee Beermann (2012)

To cite this page see footnote

The verb kɔ

A mini grammar squib

The verbs bɛ and kɔ occur as independent verbs, meaning come and go respectively. Sometimes however they are used to convey functional information of aspectual nature, or information tied to deixis. There is a third use of kɔ which occurs when it preceeds a noun denoting a location. In this case Kɔ seems to express directionality. In the following we will only discuss kɔ, leaving the discussion of bɛ for another occasion. This squib was based on the TC Akan corpus from December 2012. At that point the database hosted 41 Akan sentences containing kɔ. By now the public TypeCraft Akan corpus, which is an improved version of the older open-end corpus, contains 174 instances of kɔ.

Kɔ either is an independent verb, or a verbal prefix.

Kɔ as an independent verb

Let us first look at sentence (1) and (2) which exemplify the use of kɔ as a main verb meaning go.

The first sentence is a negated imperative while the second shows kɔ as the main verb.

(1)

nkɔ

“Don't go.”

n`kɔ´
n	kɔ
NEGIMP	go
Vitr

In (2) the verb is glossed as a past tense verb following standard annotation practice. It has been argued that Akan has an Aspect based verbal inflection system (see for example

(2)

In (3) kɔ is the V3 in a 'Clause Chaining' verb serialisation

(3)

Sentence (4) illustrates an 'Integrated' serialisation.

(4)

hwansena no akɔ si papa no atifi.

“the fly has gone to sit on top of the man's head”

hwansena

hwansena

3SGSBJ

N

no

no

DEF

DET

akɔ
a	kɔ
PRF	go
V1

si

si

descend

V2

papa

papa

man3SGOBJ

N

no

no

DEF

DET

atifi
ati	fi
head	top
Nrel

Kɔ combines with a manner of movement verb "si" descend. There seems to be a certain similarity to a satellite marking pattern, using Talmy's terminology [1975]. However, neither of the verbs expressing the descending motion is the head per se, but both verbs are serialised. So far we have seen kɔ as an independent verb, but when part of a serialisation kɔ may also appear as a verbal prefix, expressing the onset of an event. When occuring in this capacity, it is annotated as INGR, standing for ingressive. Its function then is that of an aspectual verb or an aspectual marker.

(5) to (8) shows kɔ as an aspectual verb/prefix

(5)

Mmrahyεbεdwani he de nkondwa akɔma asɔre he.

“The member for parliment has donated chairs to the church.”

Mmrahyεbεdwani
mmra	hyε	bεdwa	ni
law	make	council	NMLZ
N

he

he

DEF

DET

de

de

use

V

nkondwa
n	kondwa
PL	chair
N

akɔma
a	kɔ	ma
PFV	INGR	give
V

asɔre

asɔre

church

N

he

he

DEF

ART

(6)

Bɛɛkɔhwe aburaa no.

“They are going to drain the stream.”

bɛɛkɔhwe
bɛ	ɛ	kɔ	hwe
theySBJ	PROG	go	drain
V

aburaa

aburaa

streamOBJ

N

no

no

the

DET

(7)

Monkɔ nkɔkyeakyea.

“Go and greet them.”

Monkɔ
mo	n	kɔ
2PLSBJ	OPT	go
V

nkɔkyeakyea
n	kɔ	kyea	kyea
OPT	INGR	greet	greet
V

(8)

Boakye rekɔgye aba abεdi.

“Boakye is going to collect it, come back and eat it.”

Boakye

boakye

B.SBJ

N

rekɔgye
re	kɔ	gye
PROG	INGR	collect
V

aba
a	ba
CONS	come
V

abεdi
a	bε	di
CONS	INGR	eat
V