Typological Features Template for Akan (Twi)
Revision as of 11:04, 19 November 2009 by Joana Portia (Talk | contribs)
By Joana Portia Antwi-Danso
| Feature | Description |
| Phonological Features | In this field I describe the phonological inventory of Twi. |
| Vowel inventory | In this field I describe the vowels of Twi. See below:
Twi has ten vowels.They are /i, ι, e, ε, a, æ, ɔ, o, υ, u/Seven of them are written,//i, e, ε, a, ɔ, o, u/ but three /ι, æ, υ/ are not written. These three are normally represented by other vowel sounds autographically. |
| Vowel harmony | In this field I describe rule based assimilations involving vowels in Twi.
Vowel harmony is one of the major processes in Twi, especially in Akuapem Twi. In this dialect, the vowel type in affixes agree with the vowel type in the base. Where the vowel in the base is a plus ATR, or an advanced vowel, the sounds in the affexes must also be +ATR. If on the other hand, the base has a minus ATR or unadvanced vowels, all the affixes must also be minus ATR. Verbs inflect for tense and aspect. bu (break) has a +ATR vowel type.
æ-bu - has broken (Perfect)
rι-bu - is breaking (Continues)
be-bu - will break (Future)
bu-i - broke (Past)
bu - break (Habitual)
ka (say) has a -ATR vowel type.
a-ka - has said (Perfect)
rι-ka - is saying (Continues)
bε-ka - will say (Future)
ka-ι - said (Past)
ka - say (Habitual)
Also, when there is a verbal nominal prefix there is an agreement between them. di (eat) +ATR
mi-/wu-/o-/ ye-/ mu-/ wo-di
mi-/ wu-/ o-/ ye-/ mu-/ wo-di-i
mι-/wυ-/ɔ-/ yε-/ mυ-/ wɔ- rι-di
me-di/ wu-/o-/ye-/mu-/wo-be-di
m-/wυ-/ w-/ yε-/ mυ-/ wɔ-æ-di
gyina (stand)
mi-/wu-/o-/ye-/mu-/wo-gyina
mi-/wu-/o-/ye-/mu-/wo-gyina-ι
mι-/wυ-/ɔ-/yε-/mυ-/wɔ-rι-gyina
me-/ wu-/ o-/ ye-/mu-/wo-be-gyina
m-/wυ-/w-/yε-/mυ-/wɔ-æ-gyina
mi-/wu-/o-/ye-/mu-/wo-gyina
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| Consonant inventory | In this field you describe the consonants of [your language] |
| Tone | In this field you indicate if [your language] is a tone language and which tones are used; does [your language] have lexical tone? |
| Syllable Structure | In this field you indicate the basic syllable structures of [your language]. |
| Morpho-syntactic Features | In the following fields I describe some of the basic morpho-syntactic parameters of Twi |
| morphological classification (1) | Twi is mildly inflectional. There is a noun prefix and some verbal inflection indicating tense and aspect as well as negation. |
| morphological classification (2) | In Twi the subject and the verb do not agree.But there is some agreement with the nominal head in noun phrases. See below. |
| Nominal Phrases | In the following fields I describe some of the morpho-syntactic properties of nominal constituents |
| syntactic structure | In this field you describe the linear order of elements in the noun phrase |
| nominal modification | In this field you indicate the basic types of nominal modification (adjectives, relative clauses, adpositions...) |
| nominal specification | In this field you indicate the basic types of specification. Does [your language] have determiners, demonstratives (deixis), numerals, quantifiers. Are there affixes expressing reference, deixis. Are there nouns or other elements expression a portion of a noun that the co-occur with? |
| possession | In this field you describe how possession is expressed (for example, syntactically or by use of prepositions, through juxtaposition or morphologically) Does [your language] feature possessive pronouns? |
| pronominal system | In this field you indicate if [your language] has free pronoun forms? Are pronouns marked for their grammatical function (object versus subject pronouns)? Does your language have bound pronouns (affixes) or pronoun doubling? Are reflexives expressed by pronouns? |
| Verbal Phrases | In the following fields serve for the description of some of the basic morpho-syntactic properties of verbal constituents |
| word order | In this field you indicate the basic word order of your language (SOV, SOV ...) |
| TAM | In this field you indicate which tense and/or aspects are morphologically or tonally marked; does [your language] make use of periphrastic tense or aspect constructions? |
| infinitival forms | In this field you indicate if [your language] makes use of an infinitive marker? How many infinitival forms does your language have? |
| verbal constructions | In this field you indicate if [your language] has ditransitive constructions, serial verb constructions or complex verb forms composed of several verbs. Does your language have so called light verbs, perhaps only used to indicate a certain tense or aspect? |
| Adpositions | In this field you indicate if [your language[ makes use of prepositions or postpositions. Does your language have spatial nouns? Does your language use adpositions or particles to indicate grammatical relations between the verb and a nominal argument? |
| Complementation | In this field you describe complementation strategies. Does [your language] make use of complementizers? |
| Special Properties of [your language] | In this field you should mention properties of [your language] which did not fit into any of the other categories mentioned in this template |