Book Review:"The Akan Noun Phrase: Its Structure and Meaning" by LA Boadi

Abstract

Lawrence Addai Boadi, 2010. The Akan Noun Phrase: Its Structure and Meaning. Cantonments-Accra: Black Mask Ltd. 286 pages. ISBN 978-9988-8489-5-8

The book, which is primarily on the noun phrase of Akan and perhaps the first that is devoted to that topic, is made up of ten chapters. It gives a detailed look at the noun in Akan and indicates the author’s enormous insight into the Akan language and grammar. Although the book is not purposely on Akan phonetics and phonology, the author recognizes and provides correct forms of the language (in terms of orthography) and takes pains to present them. One such case is his presentation of the third person singular pronoun in Akan as /ɔ-/ as in ɔ-aba ‘he has come’ and not /w-/ as in w-aba, which has commonly been given in the orthography and found in many books and, therefore, has become the norm. Indeed, this is a must-read book for every Akan scholar and student. Each chapter of the ten is devoted to a particular aspect of the Akan noun phrase (NP), which is then comprehensively and clearly presented.