A comparison of the interaction of pronominals and word order in Naro and Gana

This article compares PGN markers, the pronoun system and word order in declaratives in Naro and Gana. These languages are similar in that (a) nouns are marked for person, gender and number; (b) both have complex pronoun systems; (c) the plural and dual categories distinguish inclusive from exclusiv...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inLanguage matters (Pretoria, South Africa) Vol. 46; no. 2; p. 222
Main Authors Letsholo, Rose, Saul, Isaac
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Pretoria Taylor & Francis Ltd 01.06.2015
Subjects
African languages
Case marking
Grammatical subject
Lexicon
Noun phrases
Pronouns
Word order
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Summary:This article compares PGN markers, the pronoun system and word order in declaratives in Naro and Gana. These languages are similar in that (a) nouns are marked for person, gender and number; (b) both have complex pronoun systems; (c) the plural and dual categories distinguish inclusive from exclusive pronouns; (d) main lexical items in both languages can be focused through fronting. They differ in that Gana NPs are marked for nominative and oblique case through the PGN marker, while in Naro this is not so. In Naro if constituents are re- ordered, the PGN marker of the fronted constituent hosts the PGN marker of the subject NP, thus identifying the subject. The use of pronouns in a sentence impacts word order at sentential level in Naro but not in Gana. PGN markers are obligatory for subjects only in Gana.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
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ISSN:1022-8195
1753-5395
DOI:10.1080/10228195.2015.1045012