The connective Conclusive connectives

Finally, in negative imperatives and future negation, the particle -lä replaces -w ʋ. 176 a. plɛ kʋʋ sii- -lä liver on: XNEG burn:2 SO DP 2 ‘… dont be angry lit. your liver surface may not burn you …’ [filsprod 277] b. n nöö- -lä të [-kpazebhleku] 1 S XNEG :2 SO DP 2 leave_behind NUPT ‘… I will not leave you behind.’ [kokoleko 134]

8.3 Conclusive connectives

A conclusive connective is a linguistic element inviting the hearer to interpret the information of the utterance that contains the connective or that is introduced by the connective as the conclusion drawn from some information the hearer already has. Its presence conveys an argumentative tenor to the text, which is most certainly the reason why conclusive connectives are rare in narrative, except in represented speech. Rather than being constrained by a conclusive connective, a logical relationship between two pieces of information in narrative is typically left to the hearer to infer on the basis of contextual information and the presence of an additive connective see §8.1. Three conclusive connectives have been identified in Godié narratives. They are the phrases ɩzä ‘CLU1’ and ɩɩ ŋnö mnö ‘CLU2’, and the particle -kä ‘CLU3’. One difference between them seems to be the strength of the causal link between the connected pieces of information. This can also be rendered in their translation into English. The expression ‘it was because of that’ as a translation of ɩɩ ŋnö mnö CLU2 constrains a stronger link than ‘for that reason’ for ɩzä CLU1, and a translation by ‘so’ of -kä CLU3 reflects the fact that CLU3 constrains the weakest link of the three connectives. 22 Another difference between the three connectives appears to be whether the causal link is established at the time of speaking, which applies to the connectives ɩzä ‘CLU1’and ɩɩ ŋnö mnö ‘CLU2’, or whether it is assumed to be already part of the hearer’s contextual assumptions and thus only called back to mind, as seems to be the case with -kä ‘CLU3’.

8.3.1 The connective

ɩzä ‘CLU1’ Unlike the connectives dealt with in the preceding sections, ɩzä is still analysable, in a similar way to its suggested English translation ‘that is why’. It is actually a genitival nominal phrase and could therefore also be spelled ɩɩ -zä NHP:GENreason. The latter spelling shows that the connective is composed of the plural form of the non-human simple pronoun NHP and the nominal element -zä. The exact meaning of -zä is difficult to determine but the word is probably best translated as ‘reason’. 23 The pronoun of the connective refers back to preceding material, which can be just the preceding utterance or several preceding utterances, or even a whole narrative, as in example 177. The scope of the connective is thus left to the hearer to establish. 24 177 a. Laagɔ mɔ -ɔ cii- nynä n pɔnyɩ nä God TH REL speak SP 2 1 S throw:3 S : NHP SP 1 ‘It was God who said that I am to give it =name to him, 22 This is again an illustration of the iconocity principle, where more linguistic material in an expression corresponds to the additional weight and importance given to the information, in this case the causal link between two pieces of information. 23 It could be compared to the English word sake, incidentally semantically close to Godié -zä, which is also clearly a nominal element but occurs only within a genitival construction that is part of a prepositional phrase, e.g., ‘for my sake’. 24 In example 182, the plural form of the pronoun on p ɔnyɩ refers to the word ŋnö ‘name’, which is treated as a plural. For the nasal consonant ny inserted between the two object pronouns, see §2.2. ɩzä n -pɔɔnyɩ CLU 1 1 S throw: CP :3 S : NHP that is why I gave it to him.’ [elisabeth 94–96] b. -a yä bhɛ a nyɩ soo nynä a nö pää -lä s ɩɩ 1 P XPER PST 4 2 PO speak SP 2 2 P XNEG throw DP 2 ADD 3 ‘We had told you that you were not to throw the fishing net either, piloo kʋ ɩzä -a bhlüü- lä anyɩa piloo kʋ fishing_net: DEF VPC CLU 1 1 P take: CP LOP 2 P : GEN fishing_net: DEF VPC that is why we took your fishing net.’ [neyo 13.1–3] c. ɩɩ -zä n pä lä naa nünë o CLU 1 1 S throw LOP 1 S : GEN tale EXCL 2 ‘That is why I was telling my story’ [kazo 70] The procedural meaning of the connective ɩzä can thus be described by the following instruction for interpretation: • Look for the information which is the reason for or which explains the action or state expressed in the clause introduced by ɩzä. 8.3.2 The connective ɩɩ ŋnö mnö ‘CLU2’ The connective ɩɩ ŋnö mnö NHP:GENnameinside ‘CLU2’ seems to invite the hearer to construct a stronger logical link between the connected pieces of information than ɩɩ -zä ‘CLU1’. Like CLU1, CLU2 is a phrase, though not a nominal but a postpositional one. The literal meaning is ‘in its name’. It is best translated into English by the expression ‘because of that’. 178 ɩ - ŋwa kʋ nynä -a bä Fʋfʋɛ titi nii- a - lɔɔ NHP be_suitable VPC SP 2 1 P father Houphouet self see: NHP PST 2 there ‘It is suitable that our father Houphouet himself would see these things, ɩyä wa kɔ - mɔɔ kubhutuu -sä ADD 2 3 P XPOT :3 S LOC dead:house: OBL take_away so they could take him =the body there out of the morgue. ɩɩ ŋnö mnö ɔ -yä ɔɔ lebhenʋnyʋa sɔ […] CLU 2 3 S ADD 2 3 S : GEN work:do: AG : PL : DEF two Because of that he and his ministers lit. workers […], wa wlää- - mɔɔ kubhutu mnö wlu 3 P get_together: CP LOC dead_house inside VC head they gathered there inside the morgue.’ [decesrad 11–13] The causal link between the connected pieces of information seems to be even stronger when the spacer nä ‘SP1’ separates the connective from the rest of the utterance, as in example 179. 25 A possible rendering in English would be the cleft structure ‘it was because of that’. 25 The connective then functions as a point of departure see §4.2. 179 ɩɩ ŋnö mnö nä gokpünyɩkpaa mnö nöwa - wʋ mɛmä- CLU 2 SP 1 boat_people: DEF : GEN inside XNEG :3 P CNT 2 be_sweet: PRC : CP ‘It was because of that that the boat people were not happy.’ [greve 30–31] The hearer is instructed to establish an even stronger causal relation between the connected pieces of information when the spacer nä not only follows but also precedes the conclusive phrase ɩɩ ŋnö mnö ‘CLU2’, as in example 180. Indeed, in initial position the spacer nä takes an inferential sense see §7.1. 26 180 nɩ ɩ mɩa nyɩkpa -bhutukpä tänyɩ kʋ ADD 1 NHP overflow: ICP people many time VPC ‘… and they =the boats are wasting a lot of people’s time. nä ɩɩ ŋnö mnö nä nyɩkpɔ -bhlogbe ɔ -nʋ sää SP 1 CLU 2 SP 1 person one_single 3 S make: CP DP 1 So it was because of that that a certain man, he took ɔɔ gɔlʋlɛɛ nɩ ɔ ŋʋɔ- masii 3 S : GEN canoe: DIM ADD 1 3 S put: NH 3: CP motor his small canoe and put a motor on it.’ [greve 23–26] Another variant of the connective CLU2 is the clause ɩ -kä ŋnöö NHPhave.CPname:DEF, literally translated as ‘it has the name’. 27 The precise nuance of meaning cannot be established on the basis of the present data, but in example 181, the connective seems to have the sense of ‘this even led to the fact that’ or ‘this even meant that’. 28 181 ɩ -kä ŋnöö waa ducifio ɔ -mʋ CLU 2 3 P : GEN village:chief: DEF 3 S go: CP ‘This even meant that their village chief, he went nɩ ɔ -zla ɔ nagɔ -bhlo gɔlʋ ADD 1 3 S ask 3 S friend one canoe to ask one of his friends for a canoe.’ [greve 57]

8.3.3 The connective -kä ‘CLU3’