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One of the difficult issues when annotation Akan is to decide how to annotate the two verbs bɛ and kɔ. Both verbs occur as independent verbs, meaning come and go respectively and as verbal prefixes adding aspectual information. Kɔ may in addition occur in connection with a noun denoting a place or a location. In the latter case it seems to express directionality.
TypeCraft hosts at present 37 sentences from Akan and Abron (Bono), one of the dialects of Akan, that contain kɔ; either as an independent verb or as a verbal prefix. You can easily verify this by going to Search for Phrases where you enter kɔ in the field: 'Extract morpheme' under the heading Morpheme Level.
Sentence (1) and (2) exemplify the use of kɔ as in independent verb meaning go.
(1)
(2)
The next three sentences illustrate that kɔ may describe manner of movement as well as the directedness of the movement towards a given endpoint. Using terminology introduced by Talmy one could say that kɔ is neither head nor satellite marking but instead combines both functions by indicating manner and path of movement in one lexical item. Notice that the English translations given by native speaker annotators try to capture this fact, leading to slightly awkward translations such as He left Accra to Kumasi (meaning: going to Kumasi) or He passed by the school to church (meaning: going to church)
(3)
(3) is interesting for others reasons too. Ato is said to have taken his piano to town. I was wondering if sɛnkuo possibly refers to one of the African instruments shown in the picture of African music instruments to the right? --Dorothee 00:04, 4 June 2009 (CEST)
Could Ato's piano have been a Sanza?
The read square-shaped instrument in the middle of the picture is a Sanza which is a small thumb piano. The white element fixed to the body of the instrument are depressed and released to produce the sound. This would be an instrument that easily could be taken along by the player.
Perhaps somebody reading this knows the answer?!
Sentence (4) below shows clearly that kɔ remains a verb since it does inflect for past tense also in its function as a spatial expression.
(4)
(5)
Although as discussed above kɔ may combine the expression of manner of movement and path of movement this is not always the case. In (6) below Akan used kɔ together with the verb expressing manner of movement, just as if it were a well-behaved satellite marking language, again using Talmy's terminology. The only difference to Germanic satellite-marking languages in this case is that the 'satellite'-expression is headed by a verbal predicate rather than a prepositional one.
(6)
ɔkɔ asɔre
“S/he goes to church”
Kofi bùé pono he bɔkɔɔ kɔyε a biara ante.
“Kofi opened the door gently and left without no one noticing.”
Nkansa atu akɔtena Ahafo sε nhwεsoni.
“Nkansa has travelled to live Ahafo as a caretaker.”
| akɔtena |
| a | kɔ | tena |
| CONS | DIR | sit |
| V |
| nhwεsoni |
| n | hwεson | ni |
| Npref | takingCare | SGNMLZAGT |
| N |
Ampofo bεkra me dasuom sε ɔrekɔ Nkran aba.
“Ampofo came and told me that he was going to Accra and come.”
| bεkra |
| bε | kra |
| INGR | giveMessage |
| V |
Papa he yere resi n’akokɔafuom.
“The man's wife is washing his farm clothing.”
| n’akokɔafuom |
| n’ | a | kokɔafuom |
| 3SGPOSS | Npref | farmClothing |
| N |
Nnipa bebree suro sε bεbεkɔ afunsieε anadwo.
“Many people fear to go to the cemetery in the night.”
| bεbεkɔ |
| bε | bε | kɔ |
| 3PLSBJ | DIR | go |
| V |
| afunsieε |
| a | fun | sie | ε |
| Npref | corpse | hide | LOC |
| N |
Me papa yε dwadini a ɔde bɔɔfrε kɔ amanoɔne.
“My father is a businessman who exports pawpaws.”
| dwadini |
| dwa | di | ni |
| market | eat | NMLZ |
| N |
| amanoɔne |
| amanoɔne |
| abroad |
| N |
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 |
Me nam w’adwuma mu kɔ sukuu
“I walk through your work to school”
| w’adwuma |
| w' | adwuma |
| POSS2SG | work |
| N |
Kwame de car no apie kɔ asɔre
“Kwame has gone out with the car to church”
Yaw fii Accra kɔɔ Kumasi
“Yaw left Accra and went to Kumasi”
| Kumasi |
| kumasi |
| KumasiOBJ |
| Np |
Bɛɛkɔhwe aburaa no.
“They are going to drain the stream.”
| bɛɛkɔhwe |
| bɛ | ɛ | kɔ | hwe |
| theySBJ | PROG | go | drain |
| V |
Ama maa kofi kɔɔ fie.
“Ama made (caused...to) Kofi go home.”
Amankwaa kɔe.
“Amankwaa left.”
Monkɔ nkɔkyeakyea.
“Go and greet them.”
| nkɔkyeakyea |
| n | kɔ | kyea | kyea |
| OPT | INGR | greet | greet |
| V |
Boakye rekɔgye aba abεdi.
“Boakye is going to collect it, come back and eat it.”
| rekɔgye |
| re | kɔ | gye |
| PROG | INGR | collect |
| V |
Yεεkɔgye yaba yabεdi.
“We are going to collect it, come back and eat it.”
| Yεεkɔgye |
| yε | ε | kɔ | gye |
| 1PLSBJ | PROG | INGR | collect |
| V |
| yaba |
| y | a | ba |
| 3PLSBJ | CONS | come |
| V |
| yabεdi |
| y | a | bε | di |
| 1PLSBJ | CONS | INGR | eat |
| V |
Ama tɔɔ ankaa kɔe.
“Ama bought oranges and left”
Me wɔfa de sikan no kɔ afuom.
“My uncle has gone to the farm with the cutlass.”
| afuom |
| afuo | m |
| farmOBJ | inLOC |
| N |
Mɛkɔ maba.
“I will go and come.”
Kɔ bra.
“(You) go but return”
ɔnkɔ fie.
“S/he should go home”
Ma no nkɔ.
“Let him/her go”
ɔrokɔ ahenfie
“He is going to the palace”
