Abstract

 Anne Schwarz
(Institut für Asien- und Afrikawissenschaften, SFB 632, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
 

This talk discusses structural parallels and distinctions in the formation of questions and answers in Konkomba, a scarcely documented North Ghanaian Gurma language (Oti-Volta, Gur). The presen­ta­tion is based on data that was elicited with a Konkomba speaker from Saboba (Likpakpaa dialect) in Ghana last year during a broader study on focus in several African languages of Gur and Kwa affi­liation.

The following structural properties of questions and answers will be addressed:
-     the parallels between sentence-initially questioned respectively focused constituents, both admitting the use of a particle lé which is regarded as “focus marker” by Langdon et al. (1981: 43) while I have recently shown that it represents a syntactic rather than a pragmatic device (Schwarz, ms.)
-     the distinction between post-verbally questioned respectively focused constituents, as only the latter may be accompanied by the focus marker lá
-     the restricted occurrence of focus marker lá in yes/no-questions and answers

I will point out where these findings depart from the encoding of question and answers in closely related languages and to what degree cross-linguistic expectations concerning focus marking in questions and answers (cf. Drubig & Schaffar 2001, among others) are met.

References
Drubig, H. B., and Schaffar, Wolfram. 2001. Focus constructions. In Language typology and language universals., eds. Martin Haspelmath and et. al., 1079-1104. Berlin, New York.
Langdon, Margaret A., Mary Steele, and others, compilers. 1981. Konkomba-English (Likaln-Likpakpaln) dictionary.
Schwarz, Anne. 2007. The particles lé and lá in the grammar of Konkomba. Paper held at ACAL 38, University of Florida, 22-25 March, 2007, manuscript (21 p.).