Typological Features Template for Konkomba
by Mary Steele of GILLBT Tamale, Ghana. Email:Mary_Steele@sil.org
| Feature | Description |
| Phonological Features | |
| Vowel inventory | a, aa, e, ee, i, ii, u, uu, o, oo, ɔ, ɔɔ |
| Vowel harmony | Konkomba does not have vowel harmony. |
| Consonant inventory | p, t, ch, f, b, d, g, gb, k, kp, p, h, j, l, m, n, ŋ, ŋm, r, s, w, y |
| Tone | Konkomba is a tonal language, but tone is not marked in the orthography. Some minimal tone pairs are marked by spelling, using a silent letter /h/ |
| Syllable Structure | cv, cvv, cvc, cvvc, v, vv, C (C is restricted to syllabic nasal only) |
| Morpho-syntactic Features | In the following fields some of the basic morpho-syntactic parameters of Konkomba are described. |
| morphological classification (1) | Konkomba is an isolating language rather than aglutinating. Most nouns have class affixes, some verbs have aspect markers, but apart from that most words consist of one morpheme. |
| morphological classification (2) | Konkomba is both a head-marking and a dependent-marking language: in a noun phrase the possessive marker is attached to the possessed element, (head marking), but it is also dependent-marking in that it is the adjective that is marked in a descriptive noun phrase. |
| Nominal Phrases | In the following fields there is a description of some of the basic morpho-syntactic properties of nominal constituents |
| syntactic structure | Linear order of elements in the noun phrase: N-ADJ/NUM-DET |
| nominal modification | There are few adjectives in Konkomba. Often the Adjective is fused with the noun as a suffix, agreeing with the class of the noun.
The relative clause normally follows the head noun. The relative pronoun agrees with the noun it modifies in class and number. |
| nominal specification | Konkomba has determiners, demonstratives, numerals and quantifiers. |
| possession | In Konkomba possession is expressed by a possessive/associative particle which immediately follows the possessor (if a noun) and is affixed to the possessed element, replacing the class prefix (if present)of the possessed element. Konkomba distinguishes alienable and inalienable possession. |
| pronominal system | Konkomba has free pronoun forms. Some personal pronouns are marked for object. Pronouns have an emphatic form. There are bound pronouns, e.g. when followed by a negative morpheme or a possessive morpheme. There are reflexive pronouns. |
| Verbal Phrases | The Verbal Phrase consists of: optional tense marker/s, (T) followed by the Verb (V). |
| word order | SVO |
| TAM | Future, Imperfect, Perfect, Time-depth markers |
| infinitival forms | Konkomba may use a verbal noun as Infinitive. Alternatively the Infinitive may be marked by a pre-verbal nasal with high tone. |
| verbal constructions | Konkomba has ditransitive constructions - Object and Indirect Object. There are also serial verb constructions composed of more than one verb (usually not more than two). |
| Adpositions | Konkomba has postpositions. |
| Complementation | Konkomba has descriptive Complement: (SVO - X is Y); Identity Complement: (Who is X?); and Quote Complement: X said What? |
| Special Properties of Konkomba | -- |