'Cutting' and 'breaking' events in Akan

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dc.contributor.advisorBrookes, Heather Jen_ZA
dc.contributor.advisorOsam, E Kwekuen_ZA
dc.contributor.advisorBrenzinger, Matthiasen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorAgyepong, Dorothy Pokuaen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2018-01-25T14:07:51Z
dc.date.available2018-01-25T14:07:51Z
dc.date.issued2017en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThis study investigates the grammar and semantics of verbs that describe separation events in Asante Twi (Akan), a Kwa (Niger-Congo) language spoken in Ghana. It adopts a constructionist approach combined with a 'monosemic bias' perspective in the analysis. It theoretical starting point is that contextual interpretations are derived from the interaction of the prototypical meanings of verbs and their arguments. A multi-method approach was used in data gathering: (i) compilation of verbs that code separation as well as sentences in which they are used from literary texts (bibles, and novels) and dictionaries. (ii) Descriptions of separation activities elicited using video-stimuli Bohnemeyer et al. (2001), 61 video clips depicting cutting and breaking events (fieldmanuals.mpi.nl) supplemented by 82 clips created by the author involving culturally appropriate objects (Agyepong 2015). (iii) Spontaneous narratives, and procedural discourses about cultural events/practices involving separation e.g. cooking, palm-wine tapping. (iv) Introspection based on the author's native speaker intuitions. The main findings of the thesis are that there are two central verbs in the separation domain in Akan: twá 'to cut' and bú 'to break'. There are, in addition, more specialized verbs for specific types of object separation, e.g. nú 'harvest palm fruit by poking with a bladed instrument' or pòrò 'to pluck fruit'. The choice of a particular verb in context is determined by the following parameters: instrument involvement, manner of separation, physical properties of entities as well as the end-state result of the situation. Crucially, the thesis further addresses the challenge of how to account for the interpretation of the typical as well as atypical argument realization patterns associated with the separation verbs. It shows how constructional meanings contribute to the interpretation of collocations of the verbs. Other principles such as coercion, addition and suppression of components in the lexical semantics of both the verbs and its arguments as well as cultural implicatures are invoked in the compositional process of calculating the contextual interpretations.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationAgyepong, D. P. (2017). <i>'Cutting' and 'breaking' events in Akan</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Linguistics. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27019en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationAgyepong, Dorothy Pokua. <i>"'Cutting' and 'breaking' events in Akan."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Linguistics, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27019en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationAgyepong, D. 2017. 'Cutting' and 'breaking' events in Akan. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Agyepong, Dorothy Pokua AB - This study investigates the grammar and semantics of verbs that describe separation events in Asante Twi (Akan), a Kwa (Niger-Congo) language spoken in Ghana. It adopts a constructionist approach combined with a 'monosemic bias' perspective in the analysis. It theoretical starting point is that contextual interpretations are derived from the interaction of the prototypical meanings of verbs and their arguments. A multi-method approach was used in data gathering: (i) compilation of verbs that code separation as well as sentences in which they are used from literary texts (bibles, and novels) and dictionaries. (ii) Descriptions of separation activities elicited using video-stimuli Bohnemeyer et al. (2001), 61 video clips depicting cutting and breaking events (fieldmanuals.mpi.nl) supplemented by 82 clips created by the author involving culturally appropriate objects (Agyepong 2015). (iii) Spontaneous narratives, and procedural discourses about cultural events/practices involving separation e.g. cooking, palm-wine tapping. (iv) Introspection based on the author's native speaker intuitions. The main findings of the thesis are that there are two central verbs in the separation domain in Akan: twá 'to cut' and bú 'to break'. There are, in addition, more specialized verbs for specific types of object separation, e.g. nú 'harvest palm fruit by poking with a bladed instrument' or pòrò 'to pluck fruit'. The choice of a particular verb in context is determined by the following parameters: instrument involvement, manner of separation, physical properties of entities as well as the end-state result of the situation. Crucially, the thesis further addresses the challenge of how to account for the interpretation of the typical as well as atypical argument realization patterns associated with the separation verbs. It shows how constructional meanings contribute to the interpretation of collocations of the verbs. Other principles such as coercion, addition and suppression of components in the lexical semantics of both the verbs and its arguments as well as cultural implicatures are invoked in the compositional process of calculating the contextual interpretations. DA - 2017 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2017 T1 - 'Cutting' and 'breaking' events in Akan TI - 'Cutting' and 'breaking' events in Akan UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27019 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/27019
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationAgyepong DP. 'Cutting' and 'breaking' events in Akan. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Linguistics, 2017 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27019en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentLinguisticsen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherLinguisticsen_ZA
dc.title'Cutting' and 'breaking' events in Akanen_ZA
dc.typeDoctoral Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoral
dc.type.qualificationnamePhDen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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