A Grammar of HDI

By: Zygmunt Frajzyngier

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Hardcover | 1 December 2000

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576 Pages

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Hdi is a hitherto undescribed language spoken in northern Cameroon. The language belongs to the Central Branch of Chadic. The aim of the book is to provide a fairly complete description of the grammar of this language. Consequently, the grammar describes the phonology, morphology and syntax of Hdi and the semantic and discourse functions coded in this language. Most clauses in Hdi are verb-initial, with the subject directly following the verb. The object is often marked by a preposition. What makes Hdi unusual is that the object-marking preposition is unique and does not function elsewhere as a locative preposition. Another interesting feature of Hdi is that there are two types of clauses, pragmatically independent and pragmatically dependent, and that the difference between these is coded by different tense and aspectual systems. In addition, there are two clausal orders for complex sentences: The order embedded clause-matrix clause codes one type of modality, while the order matrix clause-embedded clause codes another. The language also has a rich system of verbal extensions coding the semantic roles of arguments and adjuncts and the direction of movement.

The grammar is of interest not only to linguists working in African, Chadic and Afroasiatic linguistics, but also to general linguists, since it describes phenomena rarely seen in other languages of the world. The grammar is described in terms accessible to linguists working within various theoretical frameworks.

The series builds an extensive collection of high quality descriptions of languages around the world. Each volume offers a comprehensive grammatical description of a single language together with fully analyzed sample texts and, if appropriate, a word list and other relevant information which is available on the language in question. There are no restrictions as to language family or area, and although special attention is paid to hitherto undescribed languages, new and valuable treatments of better known languages are also included. No theoretical model is imposed on the authors; the only criterion is a high standard of scientific quality.

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Non-Fiction Language & Linguistics Language Learning & Teaching Linguistics Grammar, Syntax & Morphology Semantics & Discourse Analysis

List of abbreviations	p. xxi
Introduction
The name and the classification of the language	p. 1
Typological characteristics of Hdi	p. 4
Phonology	p. 4
Morphology	p. 4
Syntax	p. 5
Discourse structure	p. 7
Phonology
Introduction	p. 9
Consonantal system	p. 9
Phonetic consonants	p. 9
Underlying consonants	p. 10
Phonotactics of consonants	p. 20
The distribution of single consonants	p. 20
Consonantal clusters	p. 21
Constraints imposed by place of articulation	p. 22
Constraints imposed by the manner of articulation	p. 24
Consonant devoicing	p. 25
Vowel system	p. 26
Vowel raising	p. 27
Vowel lowering	p. 28
Vowel rounding	p. 28
Vowel fronting	p. 29
Vowel epenthesis	p. 29
Vowel replacement	p. 31
Vowel deletion	p. 34
Glide formation	p. 34
Glide metathesis	p. 36
Syllable structure	p. 36
Allowed and disallowed syllabic structures	p. 36
Preferred syllable structure	p. 37
Tone	p. 39
The tonal system	p. 39
Tone and vowel deletion	p. 40
Tone and vowel replacement	p. 40
Tone and vowel epenthesis	p. 41
Tone and phrasal structure	p. 42
Conclusions	p. 43
The structure of the noun phrase
Introduction	p. 45
Nouns	p. 45
Morphological coding of number	p. 46
Associative plural	p. 48
Modifying constructions of the type noun--verbal noun	p. 49
Modifying constructions marked by demonstratives	p. 50
Phonetic realization and categorial status of the genitive a	p. 50
Functions of modifying constructions head-a modifier	p. 52
The order modifier head	p. 53
Possessive constructions	p. 53
Possessive pronouns	p. 54
Honorific possessives	p. 56
Unspecified possessor	p. 57
Topicalizing modification	p. 58
The collective	p. 59
Double modifying constructions	p. 60
Noun na Noun	p. 61
Modification through the preposition nga 'for'	p. 62
Modification through the comment marker ta	p. 63
Coding the notion of belonging	p. 67
Coding the absence of specific attributes	p. 70
Modification of nouns by adjectives	p. 71
The comparative form of the modifying construction	p. 73
Modification through color terms	p. 74
Co-reference and disjoint reference in possessive constructions	p. 76
Modification through numerals	p. 76
Noun modified by a quantifier	p. 77
Summary of modifying constructions	p. 79
The associative phrase	p. 79
Nouns in associative phrases	p. 79
Pronouns in associative phrases	p. 80
Disjoined noun phrase	p. 81
Conclusions	p. 81
Deixis and anaphora
Introduction	p. 83
Independent pronouns	p. 83
Dexis	p. 84
Proximate deictic na	p. 85
Middle distance deictic ya	p. 86
Remote demonstrative a and its connection with third-person singular	p. 87
Anaphora and definiteness	p. 88
An anaphor as an argument	p. 89
An anaphor as a modifier	p. 89
Specific and non-specific "child"	p. 94
The coding of locative anaphora	p. 95
The propositional anaphor	p. 96
Conclusions	p. 97
Verbal root and stem
Introduction	p. 99
The verbal root and thematic vowels	p. 99
The underlying tone of the verb	p. 101
Number coding in verbs	p. 104
Plural marking through the infix -a-	p. 104
Verbal plural through reduplication	p. 105
Suppletive plural	p. 107
Functions of verbal plurality	p. 108
Functions of thematic vowels	p. 110
The problem	p. 110
A hypothesis concerning verb-final vowels	p. 111
The structure of polysyllabic verbs	p. 115
Verbal nouns	p. 116
Conclusions	p. 118
Argument coding
Introduction	p. 119
Types of arguments	p. 120
Defining the terms	p. 121
Coding of the subject	p. 121
A full noun phrase as subject	p. 121
Independent subject pronouns	p. 123
Pronominal subject clitics	p. 123
Coding of the object	p. 130
The absence of an overt object	p. 130
Object coding through the preposition ta	p. 131
Object coding in clauses with the referential marker	p. 132
Object coding through position after the verb	p. 134
Pronominal object affixes	p. 135
The coding means	p. 135
First-person singular object affixes	p. 137
Pronouns and the order of extensions	p. 141
The third-person plural object	p. 142
Unspecified human object	p. 143
The specific object in the perfective aspect	p. 143
Inherent properties of verbs and object coding	p. 147
Intransitive verbs that do not allow an object	p. 147
Object coding with verbs of perception	p. 149
Object coding in the independent imperfective aspect	p. 150
Coding the addressee of verbs of saying	p. 153
Additional argument coding	p. 153
The additional argument marker and verbs of perception	p. 158
The addition of an argument to a transitive verb	p. 160
Cognate objects	p. 161
Arguments of verbs nza and tsa 'become'	p. 163
Independent object pronouns	p. 164
Pragmatically dependent clauses	p. 165
Independent object pronouns in the stative	p. 166
Conclusions	p. 167
Coding the semantic roles of arguments
Introduction	p. 169
Point of view of source	p. 169
Point of view of source in the imperfective	p. 172
The form of the absolutive marker	p. 172
The functions of the absolutive marker	p. 173
Point of view of goal	p. 176
Movement-away extension i	p. 178
The form of the movement-away extension	p. 178
The functions of the movement-away extension	p. 179
Transitivizing functions of the movement-away extension	p. 181
Dative and benefactive argument coding	p. 182
Coding the dative on the verb	p. 183
Pronominal dative arguments	p. 187
Verbs whose direct object is recipient	p. 187
The two forms of the third-person singular dative pronoun	p. 187
The functions of the first-person singular dative pronouns	p. 189
Dative pronouns with simple transitive verbs	p. 191
Dative coding indirect affectedness	p. 193
Dative pronoun and extensions	p. 193
Other functions of the dative form of the verb	p. 194
Coding of dative and benefactive through prepositions	p. 194
Co-referentiality of arguments	p. 195
Co-referentiality of the subject and the direct object	p. 195
Co-referentiality of the subject and the dative	p. 196
Co-referentiality of the subject and the locative	p. 197
Coding of the reciprocal function	p. 197
The applicative extension va	p. 198
Partial affectedness of the subject	p. 200
The applicative extension and the negative	p. 202
The inverse extension s	p. 204
The form of the inverse extension	p. 204
The functions of the inverse extension	p. 206
The system of partitive extensions	p. 210
The partitive extension a	p. 211
Locative arguments	p. 212
Prepositions da and da	p. 212
Spatial specifiers dista 'inside' and mista 'under, behind'	p. 214
Conclusions	p. 215
Extensions coding the manner of an event
Introduction	p. 217
"Do again" extension gl	p. 217
Tentative extension n, [characters not reproducible]	p. 219
Associative extension nda	p. 221
"Also" extension xa	p. 222
Conclusions	p. 223
Adjuncts
Introduction	p. 225
The oblique argument	p. 225
The instrumental adjunct	p. 226
The locative adjunct	p. 227
Inherently locative adverbs	p. 227
The preposition ta	p. 229
The preposition ga 'inner space'	p. 229
The preposition ma 'in'	p. 230
The associative preposition nda as spatial specifier	p. 231
The benefactive adjunct	p. 232
Adverbs of manner	p. 232
Adverbs of time	p. 235
Interjections	p. 236
Conclusions	p. 238
Locative extensions
Introduction	p. 239
Coding of the point of view	p. 239
Goal-oriented marker and the morphology of extensions	p. 239
The system of locative extensions	p. 241
The distal extension gh	p. 243
The form of the distal extension	p. 243
The role of tone with the distal extension	p. 244
The distal extension with verbs of movement	p. 245
The object in the scope of the distal extension	p. 248
The distal extension with non-directional verbs of movement	p. 250
The distal extension with non-movement verbs	p. 251
"Downward movement" extension xa	p. 252
"Inner space orientation" extension g	p. 253
Forms of the inner space extension	p. 253
Functions of the inner space extension	p. 253
The inner space extension with verbs of movement	p. 254
The inner space extension with non-movement verbs	p. 255
Arguments within the scope of the inner space extension	p. 256
Deictic center with the inner space extension	p. 257
The allative extension da	p. 258
"Upward movement" extension f(a)	p. 261
The form of the upward movement extension	p. 261
The functions of the upward movement extension	p. 262
The "movement into" extension m	p. 264
"Movement out" extension p	p. 265
The forms of the movement-out extension	p. 265
The functions of the movement-out extension	p. 267
The extension r[characters not reproducible]	p. 268
Conclusions	p. 269
Modalities
Introduction	p. 271
Epistemic modality	p. 271
Hypothetical mood	p. 271
Epistemic adverbs	p. 273
Imperative modality	p. 274
The imperative stem	p. 274
The perfective in the imperative	p. 275
Object coding in the imperative	p. 276
Number distinction in the imperative	p. 277
Politeness and the imperative modality	p. 279
Subjunctive modality	p. 279
The form of the subjunctive construction	p. 279
The subjunctive mood in the independent imperfective aspect	p. 280
The perfective aspect and subjunctive modality	p. 284
The subjunctive in equational clauses	p. 285
Normative modality	p. 286
The prohibitive mood	p. 287
The prohibitive through the preposition ma	p. 287
The prohibitive and the -a form of the verb	p. 290
The prohibitive through an auxiliary verb	p. 291
Emotive modality, or warning	p. 292
Conclusions	p. 293
Aspect
Two aspectual systems	p. 295
The perfective aspect in pragmatically independent clauses	p. 296
The morphology of reduplication	p. 296
The functions of the perfective through reduplication	p. 298
The perfective aspect in pragmatically dependent clauses	p. 300
The forms of the perfective in pragmatically dependent clauses	p. 300
Types of clauses that require dependent clause perfective coding	p. 302
The imperfective aspect	p. 305
The form of the independent imperfective	p. 305
The functions of the independent imperfective	p. 307
The imperfective and the point of view of source	p. 310
The dependent imperfective aspect	p. 311
The form of the dependent imperfective aspect	p. 311
The imperfective aspect in sequential clauses	p. 313
Argument coding in pragmatically dependent clauses	p. 314
The functions of the dependent imperfective	p. 315
The progressive aspect	p. 317
The form of the progressive aspect	p. 317
The functions of the progressive aspect	p. 318
The stative aspect	p. 320
The form of the stative	p. 320
Object coding in the stative aspect	p. 321
The functions of the stative aspect	p. 321
The grammaticalization of the stative aspect	p. 324
Conclusions	p. 325
Coding the domain of referentiality of an event
Introduction	p. 327
Referentiality of object	p. 327
Referentiality and the perfective	p. 328
Referentiality of the event and adjuncts	p. 329
Aspect coding in sequential clauses and in the normative mood	p. 330
Conclusions	p. 334
Tense
Introduction	p. 335
Referential past tense	p. 335
Future tenses	p. 337
Future tense with the perfective aspect: Pragmatically independent clauses	p. 338
Future tense with the perfective aspect: Pragmatically dependent clauses	p. 338
Future tense with the imperfective aspect	p. 339
The future tense in the negative clause	p. 340
Conclusions	p. 341
Verbless clauses
Introduction	p. 343
Coding the predicate and the subject through word order	p. 343
Identificational clauses	p. 344
Property concept predicates	p. 347
Property concept predicates through a copula	p. 349
Possessive clauses	p. 349
Existential propositions	p. 350
The possessive through existential constructions	p. 351
Locative sentences: X is located at Y	p. 352
Clause-initial deictic particles	p. 353
Conclusions	p. 354
Interrogative clauses
Introduction	p. 355
Questions about the truth	p. 355
The interrogative through tonal changes	p. 355
Clause-final interrogative particles	p. 356
Rhetorical interrogatives	p. 357
Specific questions	p. 357
Introduction	p. 357
Questions about participants in equational clauses	p. 358
De dicto and de re domains in specific interrogatives	p. 359
The copula in specific interrogatives	p. 360
Aspect coding in specific questions	p. 360
Questions about the subject in verbal clauses	p. 361
Questions about the object	p. 362
The role of referential marker ta	p. 364
Use of the copula in specific interrogatives	p. 366
Questions about the dative/benefactive	p. 368
Questions about the genitive modifier	p. 369
Questions about the locative	p. 370
Questions about the time of the event	p. 371
Questions about manner	p. 371
Questions about the reason	p. 373
The coding of the perfective in questions about the reason	p. 375
Questions about the kind	p. 377
Questions about instrumental and associative arguments	p. 377
Questions about purpose	p. 377
Questions about the predicate	p. 378
Conclusions	p. 378
Negation
Introduction	p. 379
Negation of pragmatically independent clauses	p. 379
Negation of identificational and equational clauses	p. 379
Negation of verbal clauses	p. 380
Negation and referentiality	p. 382
The dependent negative clause: The auxiliary xadu	p. 384
Negation of possessive clauses	p. 386
Negation through the auxiliary kwala 'lack, fail.'	p. 387
Conclusions	p. 388
Topicalization
Introduction	p. 389
Topicalization of the pronominal subject	p. 389
Topicalization of the nominal subject	p. 391
Topicalization of the subject in equational clauses	p. 393
Topicalization of the object	p. 394
Topicalization of the dative	p. 395
Topicalization of the adjunct	p. 396
The functions of topicalization	p. 397
Conclusions	p. 399
Focus and relative clauses
Introduction	p. 401
Focus on the subject in verbless clauses	p. 402
The copula in focus and relative clause constructions	p. 403
Focus on and relativization of the subject in verbal clauses	p. 403
Subject focus in the imperfective	p. 407
Focus on and relativization of the object	p. 408
The topicalized subject and focused object	p. 413
The topicalized adverb and focused object	p. 414
Focus on the dative	p. 414
Dative as the head of the relative clause	p. 416
Focus on and relativization of adjuncts	p. 417
Focus and relativization of locatives	p. 417
Focus and relativization of time adjuncts	p. 419
The associative as head of the relative clause	p. 420
Focus on the adverb of manner	p. 421
The possessor as head of the relative clause	p. 422
Focus on the predicate	p. 422
Negation, focus, and relativization	p. 424
Negation of focused arguments	p. 424
Negation of relative clauses	p. 425
Conclusions	p. 426
Paratactic, conjoined, sequential, and counterexpectation clauses
Introduction	p. 427
Paratactic asyndetic constructions	p. 427
Clauses conjoined by the verb la 'go'	p. 428
Disjoined clauses	p. 431
Sequential clauses	p. 432
Forms of sequential clauses	p. 432
Functions of sequential clauses	p. 434
Clauses corresponding to "instead of proposition 1, proposition 2"	p. 436
Negative sequential clauses	p. 437
Counterexpectation clauses	p. 437
Discourse conjunctions	p. 438
Conclusions	p. 439
Clausal complements of verbs of saying
Introduction	p. 441
The complementizer ka	p. 441
The form and syntactic position of the complementizer	p. 441
Subject pronouns and the complementizer	p. 443
The coding of the addressee	p. 444
The order of clauses in complementation	p. 445
The problem	p. 445
An explanation of clausal order	p. 446
Complements of cognitive verbs	p. 449
The imperative mood in complements of verbs of saying	p. 451
Backgrounding and complementation	p. 452
Prohibition in the complement clause	p. 453
Cross-reference and disjoint-reference coding	p. 454
Conclusions	p. 456
Interrogative complements
Introduction	p. 459
Yes/no interrogative complements	p. 460
Specific interrogative complements (wh-questions)	p. 461
Interrogative complements about human participants	p. 461
Interrogative complements about non-human participants	p. 463
Interrogative complements about the place	p. 463
Interrogative complements about the time	p. 464
Interrogative complements about the possessor	p. 465
Interrogative complements about the reason	p. 465
Interrogative complements about the manner	p. 465
Non-propositional addressees	p. 467
Conclusions	p. 467
Complements of verbs of perception
Introduction	p. 469
Direct perception	p. 469
Complementizer kawak	p. 469
Nominalization	p. 470
Matrix coding	p. 471
Coding indirect perception	p. 473
Conclusions	p. 475
Complements of volitional verbs
Introduction	p. 477
Same-subject complements	p. 477
Subject lowering	p. 478
Different subjects	p. 479
Complements of the verb kwala 'refuse'	p. 481
Conclusions	p. 482
Adverbial and adjunct clauses
Introduction	p. 483
Temporal sentences	p. 483
The protasis clause	p. 483
Overt coding of temporal priority and posteriority	p. 487
The temporal apodosis clause	p. 489
Subject coding in protasis and apodosis clauses	p. 490
Purpose clauses	p. 491
Manner clauses	p. 493
Reason clauses	p. 493
The auxiliary verb kla 'take' and reason clauses	p. 494
Conditional clauses	p. 495
Realis conditionals	p. 495
Irrealis conditionals	p. 497
The negative conditional mood	p. 498
Conclusions	p. 499
Comparative constructions
Equal predicates	p. 501
Unequal predicates	p. 501
Conclusions	p. 503
Texts
Proverbs and sayings	p. 505
Dog and Hyena	p. 505
ghuz-a duxwal 'Beer of Adulthood'	p. 512
skal-a hla 'Festivity of the Bull'	p. 515
Work for Squirrel's In-laws	p. 516
Conversation between two speakers	p. 531
Wives of a Chief	p. 536
How a Bat Wooed a Girl	p. 539
Notes	p. 541
References	p. 543
Index	p. 547
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A Grammar of HDI

At a Glance

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