Unit 4.6: NG2: The associative

Akan Teleteaching Course

4.6: Notes on grammar 2

The associative

The associative expresses various types of relations between concepts, such as possessive, part-whole, social relationships, etc. The first element may be a pronoun or a noun (or even a nominal phrase).

In the associative (or genitive) construction the possessor precedes the possessed.
The -/o-, -/e- prefixes of the second element, i.e. the possessed (noun) are dropped but the a-/N- prefixes are retained:

Kofi + nan Kofi nan Kofi's leg

Ado + etuo Ado tuo Addo's gun

Abenaa + kunu Abenaa !kunu Abenaa's husband

ne + oyere ne yere his wife

wo + agya w' agya your father

me + mpa me m!pa my bed

1. Identifying the possessor by a pronoun

Pronouns	Before noun with a-	Meaning
me	m'	my
wo	w'	your
*		his/her
ne	n'	his/her/its
yn		our
mo		your
wn		their

Table 1: Possessive pronouns

*Only for seniors

Tone variation is an important element in these constructions (cf. tonal patterns of pronouns).

Category Examples Possessor (pronoun) Possessed (noun) Possessor+ Possessed

preceding monosyllabic stem preceding di- or polysyllabic stem with 1st Low-toned stem syllable with 1st High-toned stem syllable

Seniors: kinship:
okunu, nana, agya, na, wfa High-toned - +Downstep me !kunu, yn nana,ne na, me wfa

Juniors / Dependents: kinship:
yere, ba, na!na, wfaase Low-toned - - ne yere, me ba, ne na!na, me wfaase

inherent (inalienable): body parts: nsa, kotodwe, akoma, koko, sr Low-toned High-toned - me nsa, ne kotodwe, n' ako!ma,me koko, me sr

non-inherent (alienable): dan, sika High-toned Low-toned High-toned +Downstep me !dan, me si!ka

Table 2: Tonal change with associative constructions (pronoun+noun)

Pronouns are emphasised by the particle ara 'own':

me ara me nua my own sibling

wo ara wo kaa your own car

no ara ne nsa his own hand

yn ara yn ba our own child

mo ara mo nkwa your own life

wn ara wn nana their own grandparent

2. Identifying the possessor by a noun

If the first element in the associative construction, the possessor, is a noun, it retains its basic tonal structure. The prefix of the possessed noun, on the other hand, will only undergo a change if the final tone of the possessor noun is High; in this case the final High tone will be copied (-> tone-spreading) to the subsequent low-toned prefix. A stem-initial High tone of the possessed noun is downstepped after the High-tone prefix, but only if the association between the possessor and the possessed is alienable:

Category	Possessor	Possessed with initial Low tone	Possessed nouns (Ex.)	Possessor + Possessed
inherent (inalienable):	Kofi	High-toned	nsa 'hand'	Kofi nsa
	Ado			Ado nsa
non-inherent (alienable)	Kofi	High-toned +Downstep	ns 'liquor'	Kofi n!s
	Ado			Ado ns

Table 3: Tonal change with associative constructions (noun+noun prefix)

Note: No tonal change occurs on prefix-less possessed elements beginning with High tone:

Kwadwo tekt ne. "It is Kwadwo's ticket."

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