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Classroom:Ewe Noun Phrases

This page was created as an in-classroom exercise in LING 2208, NTNU

group of LING 2208 (Linguistics) spring 2011 missing Prof. Dorothee Beermann

By Mercy Motte and Mango K. Bodua



Syntax of Ewe Noun Phrases

Simple Noun Phrases

1. The simple nominal phrase consists of only the nucleus which can be a noun or a pronoun and occasionally quantifier. [1] See re-write rule and example below.


NP → N|Pron|Quant


Noun only Eg.

agbà “load”


agbà
“load”
agbà
agbà
load
N


Pronoun only Eg.

é
“He/She/It”
é
é
3SG
 


Quantifier only

ɖeka
“one”
ɖeka
ɖeka
one
QUANT


Complex Noun Phrases

2. Complex noun phrases consist of the nucleus followed by one or more other elements of the structure. These more elements added to the nucleus are referred to as nominal modifiers. These include, adjectives, quantifiers, determiners, plural marker "wo", intensifiers. [1] [2]

Eg. NP → N|Pron|Quant (ADJ)*(QUANT)(DEM/DET)(PL)(INT)*


ɖevi lolo dzɔtsu eve ma wo ko
“those two big and stout children alone”
ɖevi
ɖevi
child
N
lolo
lolo
big
ADJ
dzɔtsu
dzɔtsu
stout
ADJ
eve
eve
two
QUANT
ma
ma
that
DEM
wo
wo
PL
 
ko
ko
INTER
PRT


2b. Complex noun phrases can also have a nucleus which is preceded and followed by a nominal modifier. In other words, noun phrases in Ewe are left-headed which on their left and right edge may host intensifiers. [1] See re-write rule and an example below.


NP → (INT)N|Pron|Quant (ADJ)*(QUANT)(DEM/DET)(PL)(INT)* [3]

neném ŋutsu ŋutasẽla ene sia wo koŋ
“these four wicked men”
neném
neném
INTER
PRT
ŋutsu
ŋutsu
man
N
ŋutasẽla
ŋutasẽla
wicked
ADJ
ene
ene
four
QUANT
sia
sia
this
DEM
wo
wo
PL
PN
koŋ
koŋ
INTER
PRT


2c. Nouns in Ewe are inflected for number. The plural suffix is ‘’wo’’ which is normally attached to nouns as a suffix. For example, Ðeviwo “children”

Ðeviwo
“children”
Ðeviwo
Ðeviwo
children
N


However, anytime there is the presence of definite (la), it contracts to ‘’a’’ and then infixes itself between the noun and its plural suffix. Eg.

Ðeviawo “the children”


Ðeviawo
“the children”
Ðeviawo
Ðeviawo
childDEFPL
N


Possessive Nominals

3. NP Ď NP | PRO Ď NP [1]

NP → N POSS N

NP → Pron POSS N

Aku Ď awu
“Aku's dress”
Aku
aku
Aku
Np
Ď
Ď
POSS
 
awu
awu
dress
N


é ƒé agbalẽ
“He/she/it's book”
é
é
3SG
PN
Ď
Ď
POSS
 
agbalẽ
agbalẽ
book
N


Morphology of Ewe Noun Phrases

4. Complex nouns exist in the Ewe language made up of different and unique morphemes. Compound words have this phenomenon. One can do a morphology of these complex nouns. See the breakdown of an example below.

xexeame
“World”
xexeame
xexeame
outsideDEFLOC
N


The example above is made up of the noun - outside, (DEF) marker - a (this is the contracted form of la and the LOCATIVE- me

4b. The Morphology of some complex nouns. See examples below.
afɔdzi
“toilet”
afɔdzi
afɔdzi
legon
N
gaƒoɖokui
“clock”
gaƒoɖokui
gaƒoɖokui
metalbeatself
N
aba-dzi-vɔ
“bed spread”
abadzivɔ
abadzi
bedoncloth
N
aliblaka
“belt”
aliblaka
aliblaka
waisttierope
N
zikpui
“chair”
zikpui
zikpui
seatshort
N
nuŋlɔti
“pen/pencil”
nuŋlɔti
nuŋlɔti
somethingwritestick
N
aƒe-me
“home”
aƒeme
aƒeme
houseLOC
N
dɔ ka
“intestine”
womb
N
ka
ka
rope
N
ata legbe
“trousers”
ata
ata
thigh
N
legbe
legbe
long
ADJ


Semantics of Ewe Noun Phrases

5. Some Nouns are polysemous. See examples below

“ear/mountain/pound”
ear/mountain/pound
 
“money/metal”
money/metal
N
“They/bark/PL”
they/bark/PL
 



Comparison of Ewe and English

6. Some noun phrases in Ewe are actually prepositional phrases in English when translated. This is interesting. Find an example below.

Le nukpɔkpɔ me la
“In the video”
L è
l è
PRES
 
nukpɔkpɔ
nukpɔkpɔ
video
N
me
me
inCTed
PPOST
la
la
DEF
DET


Locatives

In Ewe, some nouns are classified as Locative nouns. They do not need a preceding preposition before them, but follow a verb of movement directly. [2] See examples below.

Kofi dadá
“Kofi's sister”
Kofi
kofi
Kofi
Np
dadá
dadá
sister
N
mi va afii
mi
mi
youPL
PN
va
va
come
V
afii
afii
here
N
é yi suku
“He went to school”
é
é
3SG
PN
yi
yi
go
V
suku
suku
school
N
mia nɔvi
“your brother”
mia
mia
your
PN
nɔvi
nɔvi
brother
N


7. Orthography of the LOCATIVE/POSTPOSITION me in noun phrases In one context as shown below:

xexe-a-me agama-agbalẽ-e
“the world is the skin of a chameleon”
xexeame
xexeame
outsideDEFLOC
N
agamaagbalẽe
agamaagbalẽe
chameleonbookFOC
N


The LOCATIVE/POSTPOSITION me is written as part of the main noun.

7b. In another context as shown below:

Le nukpɔkpɔ me la
“In the video”
L è
l è
PRES
 
nukpɔkpɔ
nukpɔkpɔ
video
N
me
me
inCTed
PPOST
la
la
DEF
DET


The LOCATIVE me stands all alone; not attached to the main noun. This is so because orthographically it is allowed and again, the context for their usage is also different. In one context, it helps create a complex noun and in the other context, it behaves as a unique morpheme, standing all alone to make the phrase complete.

Other locative/postposition particles in Ewe include, dzi (top), ŋgɔ (in front of), dome (between),

ŋú/ŋúti (surface), xa (side), gɔme/ ɖome (underneath)

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Agbetsoamedo Yvonne Ami Dzigbodi (Master's Thesis - 2006) Syntactic Pattern in the Ewe Noun Phrase & A small computational grammar fragment of Ewe
  2. 2.0 2.1 Duthie A.S(1996) Introducing Ewe Linguistic Patterns
  3. Ameka Felix(1991) Ewe: 1st Grammatical Constructions and Illocutionary Devices (PhD Thesis)


Kofi dada means Kofi's mother in Standard Ewe (SE) and Kofi's sister in some variants of Ewe (eg Tongu)