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| Title: | Interrogative and syntactic inquiries: case studies from Africa |
| Editor: | Köhler, Bernhard |
| Year: | 2016 |
| Periodical: | Frankfurter afrikanistische Blätter (ISSN 0937-3039) |
| Issue: | 23 |
| Pages: | 158 |
| Language: | English |
| City of publisher: | Köln |
| Publisher: | Rüdiger Köppe Verlag |
| ISBN: | 9783896457233 |
| Geographic term: | Africa |
| Subjects: | African languages Dinka language Amharic language Kwa languages Gur languages Wolof language Chadic languages grammar |
| Abstract: | The present volume can be interpreted, in part, as a reaction to the editor's PhD thesis 'Form und Funktion von Fragesätzen in afrikanischen Sprachen' (see Köhler 2015). In this thesis, it is shown that a considerable number of African languages form interrogative sentences in ways which are typologically uncommon. For example, they have wh-verbs, right-shifted wh-pronouns, a low pitch or even a reduced morphology to mark interrogation. All this implies that linguistic theories, which mostly concentrate on widespread patterns, need to integrate rare patterns as well because the latter are also part of natural languages and they equally deserve an explanation - be it feasible or not. To stimulate an awareness of these uncommon phenomena, the editor has sent out invitations to a number of specialists on certain relevant languages or language groups. Several researchers have accepted to write papers for the present volume: Andersen on Dinka, Baye on Amharic, Dakubu on Kwa and Gur, Robert on Wolof and Schuh on a few Chadic languages. Although some of the languages discussed are relatively well-known, the present papers span parts of grammar which have not yet been studied extensively, either in the field of interrogative sentences as a whole or concerning certain aspects of them. [ASC Leiden abstract] |