SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The subject of this study is the syntax of the verb in the Anle dialect of Ewe. The categories of tense, aspect, meed and negation as well as the phenolegically clitic pronouns are investigated, and it is claimed that these forms are described with maximal generality in terms of relatively simple base representations and a small number of grammatical transformations. The peculiar syntactic properties of verb phrases marked for aspect are viewed as a consequence of a more general rule applying to a class of syntactically complex nouns. Verbs are then broadly subcategorized in terms of the (base) syntactic environments they accept: these environments, stated as subcategorization features, are shown to play a pivotal role in the differentiation of the many semantic functions which may be associated with single verb stems. It is finally suggested that an adequate independent definition of the notion 'morphological rule' may permit certain more general statements about the form of Ewe grammar and the functioning of its rules. This study is based primarily upon data collected by the writer during the course of field research in Legon and Anyake, Ghana.