On the Syntactic Category of Akan Compounds: A Product-Oriented Perspective

Appah, Clement Kwamina Insaidoo. (2015). On the syntactic category of the Akan compound: a product-oriented perspective. Acta Linguistica Hungarica, 62 (4): 361-394.

Posted: 17 Nov 2016

Date Written: November 22, 2015

Abstract

In accounting for the properties of morphological constructions, one may adopt a source-oriented view where every property of the whole emanates from the parts or a product-oriented view where the whole may have properties that do not come from the parts. Such properties are called holistic constructional properties. Studies on Akan compounds have been invariably source-oriented, assuming that every property in a compound, including the syntactic category, has to come from its constituents. I show that compounding in Akan is blind to the syntactic category of the constituents. Thus, notwithstanding the syntactic category of the constituents the Akan compound is invariably nominal. This paper, therefore, provides evidence of holistic properties of morphological constructions in the form of the syntactic category of Akan compounds. I also present a Construction Morphology modelling of the syntactic category of the Akan compound as a holistic constructional property which is inherited from a constructional meta-schema that is pre-specified to be nominal. Finally, I posit and exemplify four schemas which inherit the category N from the meta-schema but differ in terms of the presence and position of a head constituent.

Keywords: Akan, compounds, Construction Morphology, constructional schema, holistic properties

Suggested Citation

Appah, Clement Kwamina Insaidoo, On the Syntactic Category of Akan Compounds: A Product-Oriented Perspective (November 22, 2015). Appah, Clement Kwamina Insaidoo. (2015). On the syntactic category of the Akan compound: a product-oriented perspective. Acta Linguistica Hungarica, 62 (4): 361-394., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2870458

Clement Kwamina Insaidoo Appah (Contact Author)

University of Ghana ( email )

Department of Linguistics
P.O. Box LG61
Accra
Ghana
+233247474745 (Phone)
247474745 (Fax)

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