Compounds
Compounds are formed of two or more stems, each of which
may be simple or may itself be derived or composite (cf. Dolphyne,
1988: 117 ff.).
The internal structure of compounds reflects that
of the Associative construction: Ina two-part compound, stem1
compares with the POSSESSOR and stem2 the POSSESSUM (i.e. the
possessed item); the latter may also be called the Head of the genitive
construction (-> associative construction
in Unit 4).
Examples:
|
Compound
|
Meaning
|
Stems
|
| abusþæpaánin |
head of the family |
abusþéæ 'family';
õpanän
'elder' |
| onuaábaáa |
sister |
onuaá 'sibling';
õbaáa
'woman' |
| aheámfäe |
palace |
oheáne 'chief';
efäe
'house' |
I. Formation
of compounds
Akan compounds undergo one or more of the following
phonological processes:
-
Loss of prefixes
-
Loss of final vowel or final syllable
-
Homorganic nasal assimilation
-
Vowel harmony
-
Tonal changes of stems
1. Loss of prefixes
The head noun of a compound, i.e. the second element
of the nominal construction from which the compound is derived, looses
its prefix.
The first element replaces its inherent nominal prefix
by a 'new' prefix (which may be zero) which belongs not to anyone of the
constituent elements, but to the compound as such:
|
Compound
|
Meaning
|
Stems
|
| agyaábaá |
child of the father |
agyaá 'father';
õbaá
'child' |
| abñákwaán |
palmnut soup |
abñá 'palmnut';
nkwaán 'soup' |
| yareápaá |
sick-bed |
õyareáñ 'sickness';
mpaá 'bed' |
| ofäewuára |
landlord, landlady |
efäe 'house';
owuára
'owner' |
2. Loss of final vowel or final syllable
The first stem of a compound may loose its final vowel
or even its final syllable. Nouns with a phonological structure: CV1NV1
will
be reduced to CVN and CV1L/rV1 to CV:
|
Compound
|
Meaning
|
Stems
|
| akumfäe |
husband's house |
okuánu 'husband';
efäe 'house' |
| aheánkuáro |
capital town |
õheáne 'chief';
kuroá 'town' |
| agopraáaàmæé |
playground |
agoárõ 'game';
pramæé
'place' |
3. Homorganic nasal assimilation and nasalisation
If the first stem ends in a nasal (cf. also the above
examples under 2.), the nasal will be assimilated to the consonant of the
second noun. At the same time, voiced plosives or voiced affricates at
the beginning of the second stem undergo nasalisation (-> nasalisation
rule):
|
Compound
|
Meaning
|
Stems
|
| õmaámpanin |
president |
õmaán 'country';
õpanän
'elder' |
| õheámmaa |
queen mother |
oheáne 'chief';
õbaáa 'woman' |
| akuámmaa |
sister-in-law |
okuánu 'husband';
õbaáa 'woman' |
Exception: In compounds with -deñ
which
are very frequent (cf. Danso
1983) - nasal assimilation does not take place:
| nimdeñá |
knowledge |
nìm 'know';
adeñá
'thing' |
4. Vowel harmony
The vowels of the head of the construction, the second
element in the compound, govern the vowels of the first element, since
vowel
harmony is predominantly a regressive process. An unadvanced vowel
of the first stem will become advanced if the initial vowel of the second
stem is advanced.
-> Vowel harmony
sets A and B
Examples
| [õàhòánòá] |
[eàfäeá] |
- > [aàhìmàfäeá] |
| unadvanced |
advanced |
'palace' |
| [aàsñámá] |
[huánuá] |
-> [aàseànàhuánuá] |
| unadvanced |
advanced |
'useless talk' |
5. Tonal changes in stems (cf. Dolphyne,
1988: 120 ff.)
II. Head nouns in compounds
The most frequent head nouns in compound are listed
below:
|
Nouns
|
Meaning
|
Head noun in a compound
|
Function
|
| 1.
õbaá |
child |
-ba |
'child of', origin |
| 2a.
õbaáa |
woman |
-baa |
female gender (of humans) |
| 2b.
õbaräma |
man |
-barima |
male gender (of humans) |
| 3a.
õpanän |
elder, old person, adult |
-panin |
chief, elder |
| 3b.
kuámaa |
young, small |
-kumaa |
junior |
| 4a.
õbeádeñ |
female (of animals) |
-bedeñ |
female gender (of animals) |
| 4b.
õnäni |
male (of animals) |
-nini |
male gender (of animals) |
| 5.
asñám |
word, matter |
-sñm |
abstract nouns |
| 6.
adeñá |
thing |
-deñ |
abstract nouns |
-> "Formation of compounds"
1. -ba
denotes
"child-of" (humans, animals, plants, etc.)
2a. -baa
Since Akan is not a gender language it becomes sometimes
necessary to specify genders. -baa
denotes
females:
| onuaá-baáa |
onuabaáa |
sister |
| aseá-baáa |
asebaáa |
mother-in-law |
| õheáne-baáa |
õheámmaáa |
queen (mother) |
Whereas onuaá
'sibling'
and aseá
'in-law'
are neutral, õheáne
is
intrinsically male.
2b. -barima
denotes
males:
3a. -panin
To express seniority - which is an important principle
in Akan, -panin
is
used in compounds:
3b. -kumaa
To express 'juniority' -kumaa
is
used in compounds:
Cf. kinship in Akan
in Unit 4
4a. -bedeñ
Animal names are not specified for male or female, to
denote females, -bedeñ
is
used:
4b. -nini
denotes
males (of animals):
5. -sñm
is
frequently used in compounding and very productive. Compounds with -sñm denote
abstract nouns:
The first element of such compounds can be a noun: ananse ('wisdom'),
nkwaseaá
('fools')
or a verb húaá('need').
6. -deñ
is
also frequently used in compounding and likewise productive.
The first element of such compounds is usually a verb.
cf. Danso (1983)
for 5. and 6. |