Exocentric compounds in Akan. (October 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Appah, Clement K. I.
• Is Part Of: Word structure. Volume 10:Number 2(2017)
• Page Start: 139
• Page End: 172
• Publication Date: 2017-10
• Subjects: Akan -- bahuvrihi -- Construction Morphology -- exocentric compounds -- synthetic compounds -- typology; Grammar, Comparative and general -- Morphology -- Periodicals; 415
• DOI: 10.3366/word.2017.0106
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1750-1245

Abstract

Abstract : The purpose of this paper is to investigate exocentric compounds in Akan and to present a Construction Morphology account of their properties. I show that the complex issue of exocentricity is better accounted for if we distinguish between formal and semantic exocentricity. I present Bauer's (2008, 2010) typology of exocentric compounds ( bahuvrihi, exocentric synthetic, transpositional exocentric, exocentric co-compounds and metaphorical exocentric compounds ) and test the Akan data against them, showing that all Akan compound types (N-A, N-N, N-V, V-N, and V-V) are either exocentric or have exocentric subtypes which fall into three of the five types identified by Bauer. They are bahuvrihi compounds and exocentric synthetic compounds (of which I identify two subtypes each) and transpositional exocentric compounds . I present the properties of each identified type of Akan exocentric compound using formalisms from Construction Morphology (Booij 2010b ) in which compounds are word-level constructions capable of having holistic properties. The unexpressed features of the exocentric compounds are regarded as holistic constructional properties that do not emanate from the constituents per se.