Agreement and syncretism in Esahie

Abstract

This paper investigates the infl ectional system of the nominal domain in Esahie (Central-Tano, Kwa, Niger-Congo) by focusing on agreement and syncretism. It off ers a comprehensive description of these infl ectional phenomena in an attempt to test and account for the strength of the infl ectional system of an otherwise under-described language. It shows among other things that morpho-syntactic features including number, person, animacy, and case, all enter the Esahie agreement system in various contexts. Adopting Corbett's (2006) criteria for canonicity of agreement, this work demonstrates that, in Esahie, DP-internal agreement is more canonical than anaphora agreement. A general paucity of infl ection marking is argued to account for the several instances of syncretism in Esahie. Furthermore, this work demonstrates that syncretism is pervasive in the pronominal system of Esahie. Collected largely through elicitation from native speakers, the Esahie data discussed in this work provides empirical support for the irreducibility hypothesis proposed by Stump (2016). Hence, on the theoretical level, this work argues for adopting a paradigm-based approach to infl ectional morphology over a morpheme-based approach to infl ectional morphology.Keywords: Esahie, agreement, syncretism, infl ectional morphology, paradigm 1 We are grateful to the three anonymous reviewers of the Legon Journal of the Humanities for their insightful comments on an earlier version of this paper that have greatly improved on the general quality and outlook of the paper. We would also like to thank Chiara Melloni, Greville G. MuabɔlɛdwireSɔ krataa he te krataa bɔ ɔniania dumaa nwõ dwirɛ nu infl ɛkhyin wɔ Esahie (Tano-Afi ã, Kwa, Niger-Kongo) dwudwolɛ nu bɔ ogyĩ agriimɛnt ne sinkritisim soɔ. Krataa he botae yeɛ ole kyɛ ɔsɔ infl ɛkhyin nu anwoserɛ wɔ Esahie dwudwolɛ n'anu. Yiti, sɔ krataa he mma ngyerɛgyerɛnu paa bɔ ɔfa agriimɛnt ne sinkritisim nwo. Ɔmaa yɛ nwũ kyɛ number, person, animacy ne kase nkoraatiĩ̃ wura Esahie agriimɛnt nu dwirɛ wɔ nekaa sorõ ŋo sorõ ŋo. Sɛ yɛ di Corbett (2006) si aa, yɛkɔ nwũ kyɛ, ɛwɔ Esahie dwudwo lɛ nu ne, DPnu agriimɛnt nwõ yɛ se tra anafɔra nu agriimɛnt. Sɔ krataa he sã da yi adi kyɛ sinkritism gyasilɛ-nu-dwirɛ sone wɔ Esahie nu. Esahie dwudwolɛ nu mpɛnzɛɛmpɛnzɛɛnu bɔ y'ayɛ wɔ sɔ krataa he di Stump (2016) ye irreducibility adwenkyerɛ ne nwõ adanzeɛ. Sɛ ɔba ye tiɔri nu aa, sɔ krataa he kyirɛ hialɛ bɔ ohia kyɛ yɛ kɔ nia infl ɛkhyinaa mɔfɔlɔgyi nwõ dwirɛ wɔ paradaim atẽ ẽ so tra kyɛ yɛ kɔ fa ye wɔ mɔɔfi m atẽ ẽ so.