The Multiple Senses of Sɔ in Sigu
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4314/gjl.v4i2.4Keywords:
lexical manipulation, lexical semantics, underspecification, alternate languageAbstract
In Sigu, a previously unrecorded non-natural, secret, and sacred language, the high frequency and meaning variation of the verb sɔ are among the notable aspects of the language. The paper outlines the nature and distribution of the phenomenon using a lexical-translational approach and presents the different usage values of the verb. It then investigates the meanings of sɔ, and how its usage values are related. The analysis proposes that sɔ is lexically underspecified and that linguistic and non-linguistic strategies work to narrow down the range of possible meanings.Author Biography
Jonathan Allen Brindle
References
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Schwartz, Bonnie D. & Rex A. Sprouse. 1996. L2 cognitive states and the Full Transfer/Full Access model. Second Language Research 12(1). 40–72.
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Trigilio, J., K. Brighenti & M.J. Cafone. 2011. Catholic Mass For Dummies. Wiley.
Viberg, Åke. 2010. Basic Verbs of Possession. CogniTextes 4.
Wang, Yong & Jie Xu. 2013. A systemic typology of existential and possessive constructions. Functions of Language 20(1). 1–30.
Welmers, W.E. 1974. African Language Structures. University of California Press.
Wildgen, Wolfgang. 2005. Catastrophe theoretical models in semantics Internationales Handbuch der quantitativen Linguistik. de Gruyter, Berlin. , 410-422.
Winston, Morton E., Roger Chaffin & Douglas Herrmann. 1987. A Taxonomy of Part-Whole Relations. Cognitive Science 11(4). 417–444.
Wittman, Henri & Robert Fournier. 1996. Contraintes sur la relexification: les limites imposées dans le cadre de la théorie minimaliste. Revue québécoise de linguistique 13. 245–280.
Amberber, Mengistu. 1995. Functional Verbs in Predicate Formation: Event - Type Hierarchy and Grammaticization. In Proceedings of the Twenty - First Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Historical Issues in Sociolinguistics/Social Issues in Historical Linguistics, 1–11.
Ameka, Felix K. 2006. Ewe serial verb constructions in their grammatical context. In Serial Verb Constructions, 124–143. New York: Oxford University Press.
Ameka, Felix K. & James Essegbey. 2006. Elements of the grammar of space in Ewe. In Stephen C. Levinson & David Wilkins (eds.), Grammars of Space Language, Culture and Cognition, Cambridge University Press.
Bach, Emmon. 1967. Have and be in English syntax. Language 43. 462–485.
Bagemihl, Bruce. 1988. Alternate Phonologies and Morphologies: University of British Columbia dissertation.
Bagemihl, Bruce. 1996. Language Games and Related Areas. In John A. Goldsmith (ed.), The Handbook of Phonological Theory, chap. 23, 697–712. Blackwell.
Baron, Irène & Michael Herslund. 2001. Semantics of the verb HAVE. In Irène Baron, Michael Herslund & Finn Sørensen (eds.), Dimensions of Possession, chap. 5. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Benveniste, Émile. 1966. Problèmes de linguistique générale. Gallimard.
Borer, Hagit. 1994. The Projection of Arguments. University of Massachussetts Occasional Papers in Linguistics 17.
Bouchard, Denis. 1995. The Semantics of Syntax: A Minimalist Approach to Grammar. University of Chicago Press.
Brindle, Jonathan Allen. 2011. Aspects of the Chakali language. Ph.D. thesis, Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet (NTNU). Trondheim
Brindle, Jonathan Allen and Samuel Awinkene Atintono. 2012. A Comparative Study of Topological Relation Markers in Two Gur Languages: Gurenɛ and Chakali. In Selected Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Conference on African Linguistics: African Languages in Context. Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
Carston, R. 2002. Thoughts and Utterances: The Pragmatics of Explicit Communication. Wiley.
Carston, Robyn. 2008. The Pragmatics of On-Line Concept Construction 320–375. Blackwell Publishing.
Clark, H.H. 1996. Using Language. Cambridge University Press.
Collins, Chris. 1997. Argument sharing in serial verb constructions. Linguistic Inquiry 28. 461–497.
Demolin, D. 1991. L’analyse des segments, de la syllabe et des tons dans un jeu de langage Mangbetu. Langages 101. 30–50.
Dixon, R.M.W. 1971. A method of semantic description. In D.D. Stenberg and L.A. Jakobovits (eds.) Semantics: An interdisciplinary reader in philosophy, linguistics and psychology. Cambridge University Press, 436-471.
Fontanals, Jaume Mateu. 1999. Universals of Semantic Construal for Lexical Syntactic Relations. In GLOW Workshop on Sources of Universals, Potsdam.
Fontanals, Jaume Mateu. 2002. Argument structure : relational construal at the syntax-semantics interface: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona dissertation.
Fontanals, Jaume Mateu & Laia Amadas Simón. 1999. Extended Argument Structure: Progressive as Unaccusative. Catalan Working Papers in Linguistics 7.
Freeze, Ray. 2001. Existential constructions. In Martin Haspelmath (ed.), Language Typology and Language Universals / Sprachtypologie und Sprachliche Universalien / La Typologie des Langues et les Universaux Linguistiques Handbooks of linguistics and communication science, 941–953. W. de Gruyter.
Hombert, J. M. 1986. Word games: some implications for analysis of tone and other phonological constructs. In J.J. Ohala & J. J. Jaeger (eds.), Experimental Phonology, 175–185. Academic Press.
Jung, Hakyung. 2011. Syntax of the Be-Possessive : Parametric Variation and Surface Diversities. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Lakoff, George. 1987. Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal About the Mind. University of Chicago Press.
Laycock, D. 1972. Towards a Typology of Ludlings, or Play Languages. Linguistic Communications, Working Papers of the Linguistic Society of Australia (6). 61–113.
Le Moal, Guy. 1980. Les Bobo: nature et fonction des masques (Travaux et documents de l’ORSTOM 121). ORSTOM.
Lefebvre, Claire. 1988. Creole genesis and the acquisition of grammar: The case of Haitian Creole. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lefebvre, Claire. 1991. Take Serial Verb Construction in Fon. In Serial Verbs: Grammatical, Comparative, and Cognitive Approaches Studies in the sciences of language series, 37–78. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Lefebvre, Claire. 2014. Relabeling in Language Genesis. Oxford University Press.
Leiris, Michel. 1948. La langue secrète des Dogon de Sanga. Paris: Institut d’ethnologie.
Lyons, John. 1967. A Note on Possessive, Existential and Locative Sentences. Foundations of Language 3(4). 390–396.
Matthewson, Lisa. 2004. On the Methodology of Semantic Fieldwork. International Journal of American Linguistics 70(4). 369–415.
McCarthy, John J. 1991. L’infixation réduplicative dans les langages secrets. Langages 25(101). 11–29.
Moñino, Yves. 1991. Les langues spéciales sont-elles des langues? La notion de pseudo-langue à travers l’exemple d’une ‘langue d’initiation’ d’Afrique Centrale. Langage et société (56). 5–20.
Mous, Maarten. 2003. The linguistic properties of lexical manipulation and its relevance for Ma’á. In Yaron Matras & Peter Bakker (eds.), The Mixed Language Debate, 209–236. Walter de Gruyter.
Mous, Maarten. 2001. Paralexification in Language Intertwining. In Norval Smith & Tonjes Veenstra (eds.), Creolization and Contact, 113–123. John Benjamins.
Mühlhäusler, P. 1986. Pidgin and Creole Linguistics. Blackwell.
Murphy, L. 2010. Lexical Meaning Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics. Cambridge University Press.
Muysken, Pieter. 1981. Halfway between Quechua and Spanish: The case for relexification. In Arnold & Valdman Albert Highfield (ed.), Historicity and variation in creole studies, 52–78. Ann Arbor: Karoma.
Pustejovsky, James. 1995. The Generative Lexicon. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Rubio-Fernández, Paula. 2008. Concept narrowing: The role of context-independent information in concepts. Journal of Semantics 25. 381–409.
Schwartz, Bonnie D. & Rex A. Sprouse. 1996. L2 cognitive states and the Full Transfer/Full Access model. Second Language Research 12(1). 40–72.
Talmy, Leonard. 2000. Toward a cognitive semantics, vol. 1. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Trigilio, J., K. Brighenti & M.J. Cafone. 2011. Catholic Mass For Dummies. Wiley.
Viberg, Åke. 2010. Basic Verbs of Possession. CogniTextes 4.
Wang, Yong & Jie Xu. 2013. A systemic typology of existential and possessive constructions. Functions of Language 20(1). 1–30.
Welmers, W.E. 1974. African Language Structures. University of California Press.
Wildgen, Wolfgang. 2005. Catastrophe theoretical models in semantics Internationales Handbuch der quantitativen Linguistik. de Gruyter, Berlin. , 410-422.
Winston, Morton E., Roger Chaffin & Douglas Herrmann. 1987. A Taxonomy of Part-Whole Relations. Cognitive Science 11(4). 417–444.
Wittman, Henri & Robert Fournier. 1996. Contraintes sur la relexification: les limites imposées dans le cadre de la théorie minimaliste. Revue québécoise de linguistique 13. 245–280.
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Published
12/01/2015
How to Cite
Brindle, J. A. (2015). The Multiple Senses of Sɔ in Sigu. Ghana Journal of Linguistics, 4(2), 1–28. https://doi.org/10.4314/gjl.v4i2.4
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