Bodomo (1997) describes Dagaare (Gur; Ghana) as having a single low vowel, [a], which is neutral to ATR harmony. This paper presents acoustic data from a study of Dagaare <a> which is inconsistent with this description. A list of sentences was elicited from five native speakers of Dagaare. Each sentence contained <a> in one of four verbal particles situated in one of four contexts: ATR _ ATR, ATR _ RTR, RTR _ ATR, and RTR _ RTR. Formants of the low vowel were measured and compared across contexts. Results showed a substantial, significant difference in F1 values and a smaller but still significant difference in F2 values in contexts where <a> is followed by an ATR word compared to when it is followed by an RTR word. All speakers and all particles showed the same pattern. We conclude that, contrary to previous claims, the Dagaare low vowel is not neutral to harmony, but rather has acoustically distinct variants in RTR versus ATR contexts. Bodomo, A. (1997). The structure of Dagaare. California: CSLI publications. [Funded by SSHRC.]
The dependence of humans on the ecosystem services that natural resources provide is absolute. The need for social taboos as frameworks for governing natural resource abstraction is gaining widespread recognition especially within the context of climate change. However, the complex relationship between resource and habitat taboos (RHTs) and human health is not entirely understood. We conducted a systematic review of existing studies of the association between RHTs and human health outcomes, focusing on the best evidence available. We searched JSTOR, SocINDEX, Greenfile and Academic Search Complete databases from 1970 to July 2015; and also searched the reference lists of reviews and relevant articles. About 779 studies and data from 26 studies were eligible for the analysis. Only 9 out of 26 studies clearly linked RHTs to human health. Overall, nine taboos, spatial, temporal, gear, method, effort, catch, species-specific, life history and segment, were covered by the empirical studies. This systematic review provides new evidence of relationships between RHTs and human health outcomes. Several methodological limitations were identified in the empirical material. The findings suggest the need for context-specific conservation policies to reduce erosion of RHTs in order to sustain human health in the face of climate change.
Dàgáárè /dàgááɹɪ̀/ (ISO 639-3) is a Mabia language (Bodomo 1997) of Niger-Congo family. It is spoken by about 1.5 million The map in Figure 1 shows the areas, in northwestern Ghana and southern Burkina Faso, where Dàgáárè is spoken predominantly. There are four broad dialects of Dàgáárè. These include Northern Dàgáárè [dàgàɹà], spoken in Lawra /lóɹáː/, Nandom /nàndɔ̀ː/ and Burkina Faso; Southern Dàgáárè /wáːlɪ́/, spoken around Kaleo /kàlèó/ and in Wa /wá/; Western Dàgáárè /bɪ̀ɹɪ̀fɔ̀/ spoken in Lassie /lààsɪ̀ɛ́/, Tuna /tʊ́ːnà/ and along the western side of the Black Volta river in Burkina Faso. The other dialect is Central Dàgáárè. These broad dialects are further divided into sub-dialects, as there are internal variations in these dialect groups (Bodomo 2000). This paper’s primary focus is on Central Dàgáárè, which comprises the varieties spoken in and around Jirapa /ʤɪ̀ɹɛ́bǎː/, Han /hɛ̌ŋ/, Ullo /úlò/, Daffiama /dàfɪ̀ɛ́mɛ́/, Nadowli /nàdòlí/, Charikpong /tʃɛ̀ɹɪ̀kpóŋ/, Sombo /sʊ̀mbɔ́/ and Duong /dùóŋ/.
The Serial Verb Construction (SVC) phenomenon is widely researched across many languages. It is generally regarded as a construction in which two or more verbs share the same arguments within a single clause. The verbs in the series must share some grammatical properties such as tense, aspect and polarity. However, there is a verb sequence construction in Dàgáárè that shows apparent similarities to SVCs but with different values for aspect on the verbs. This paper investigates the internal structure of Dàgáárè SVCs and other verb sequence constructions such as multi-aspectual constructions (MACs) and coordinate structures. Applying a variety of syntactic and semantic tests, the paper distinguishes SVCs from MACs and coordination and shows the relation between MACs and coordination. Based on the results of the tests, I argue that although MACs have some properties of SVCs, they are not SVCs. Rather; I conclude that MACs pattern with coordination or covert coordination in Dàgáárè and they are perceived to express distinct events.
While previous studies on Dàgáárè tone have looked at the nouns, this paper particularly examines tone in verbs, perfective vs imperfective forms. The verbal system has different patterns based on the form of the verb. There are three tone classes for Dàgáárè verbs and for each of the classes, the surface tone pattern it exhibits in the perfective is systematically different from the tone patterns in the imperfective. For the perfectives we have L, H and HL while the imperfectives have LH, HL and H!H, at least in the dialect under study. I treat tone as a combination of the features [±upper] and [±raised] which are connected to what is described as a Tone node (T-node). These Tone nodes in turn connect to the syllable. Under this system, I assume L is represented with the features [-upper] and [-raised] and H with the features [+upper] [+raised]. Underlying tonal melodies of the root morphemes are identical to the surface tones of the perfective forms whether these contain an overt suffix or not. For the imperfectives, the suffix comes with an unspecified underlying T-node. The grammar then chooses the features [±upper] and [±raised] to insert under the already existing T-node.
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