A dialect-based investigation of the future marker in Likpakpaln (Konkomba)

Abstract

A linguistic inquiry into the tense, aspect and mood (TAM) system of Likpakpaln (a Mabia [Gur], Niger-Congo language spoken in Northern Ghana and Togo) is a task yet to be undertaken. This study addresses the research gap and, by extension, sheds light on the underdescribed TMA systems of the Mabia languages of Ghana. The analysis draws on both primary and secondary data and follows the typological frameworks of Comrie (1976; 1985), Bybee, Pagliuca & Perkins (1994), and Ameka & Dakubu (2008). We provide an overview of the TAM system of Likpakpaln, with emphasis on a comparison of the future gram in three clan dialects (Lichabɔl, Linankpɛl and Linajuul) of the language. We argue that the tense system of Likpakpaln has a future/non-future contrast. The existence of dedicated functional items provide evidence for the grammaticalization of future tense. At the same time, the expression of present time lacks any corresponding structural representation. Further, past time reference is only expressed by default, as a corollary of perfective aspect marking. Lichabɔl, Linanakpɛl and Linajuul show no significant variation in relation to the devices that encode future, their distributional properties, and their functions. However, the Linajuul future morpheme, <lan>[lɑ̃́] or < la> [lɑ́] diverges phonologically from those of Lichabɔl and Linankpɛl, which are <ga> [gɑ́] and <ge> [gɘ́] respectively. We show that these future markers have grammaticalized from a cognate verb that roughly translates as ‘to like’, ‘to want’ or ‘to wish for’, thus representing a cross-linguistically well-attested grammaticalization path (Bybee, Pagliuca & Perkins 1991; Heine & Kuteva 2002). From a typological point of view, we argue that the TAM system of Likpakpaln is ambivalent between tense prominence and aspect prominence, rather than being clearly aspect-prominent, as shown for the Mabia and Kwa languages in general (Ameka & Kropp Dakubu 2008).