Akan Teleteaching Course

Unit 10.6: Notes on grammar 1

Focus

Akan na focus

A. How constituents of a sentence are marked for focus
  • positionally (shift to the front of the sentence)
  • morphologically (addition of focus marker naà, always Low tone)
  • tonally (the first Low of the predicate becomes High)
  • sentence-finally if the sentence ends on a verb, with or without an object suffix (in Asante only: suffixation of a final open front vowel and/or of a High tone, in some tenses only)
Relative and temporal adverbial clauses show similar tonal and morphological characteristics of dependent predicates as the focus construction. Details of the tonal changes are shown in Notes on Pronunciation of this Unit.

-> Relative and temporal clauses
Koàfä baàaàeà. "Kofi came."
Koàfä naà ñábaáaàeàñá sometimes heard as [Koàfä naàaá baáaàòàñá]. "It was Kofi who came."
ÑÀyñà Koàfä naà ñábaáaàeàñá [… naàaá baáaàòàñá]. "It was Kofi who came."
ÑÀnàyñá Koàfä naà ñábaáaàeàñá [… naàaá baáaàòàñá]. "It was not Kofi who came."
Note: If a human subject is focused, as in these examples, the person prefix of the verb is replaced by the neutral prefix ñ-.
Mñáfràñá noà õàkyeánaá. "I shall call him tomorrow." 
ÏÀkyeánaá naà mñáfràñá noá. "Tomorrow I shall call him."
ÑÀnànoáraá meàfràñáñà woà naànásoá woáaámàmaá. "Yesterday I called you but you did not come."
ÑÀnànoáraá naà meàfrñáñà woá naànásoá woáaámàmaá. "It was yesterday that I called you but you did not come."
Meàfràñáñà Aèdoà. "I called Addo."
Aèdoà naà meàfràñáñàñá. "It was Addo whom I called."
Aèdoà naà meàfràñáñà noá. "Addo was the one I called (not both of you)."

-> Exercise 1

B. Serial verb construction: in situ vs. displaced na-focus -> optional research part

 

C. Scope of focus in extended serial verb constructions 

OÀyìì tuáoá fìrìì neà koátoákuáoá muá toá bõàõà Koàfä kuàmà noà
He-took pistol got-out-from his pocket inside threw hit Kofi killed him
"He took the pistol from his pocket and killed Kofi."
Koàfä naà oàyäì tuáoá fìräì neà koátoákuáoá muá toá bõáõà noà kuámà noá.
"It was Kofi whom he took the pistol from his pocket and shot."
EÀtuáoá naà oàyäi fìräì neà koátoákuáoá muá toá bõáõà Koàfä kuámà noá.
"It was the pistol that he took from his pocket and shot Kofi with."
Koàfä naà oàyäì tuáoá fìräì neà koátoákuáoá muá toá bõáõà neà baá kuámà noá.
1. "It was Kofi whose son he … shot."; 2. "It was Kofi who … shot his son."

-> Notes on grammar 2

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