The basic clause types

25 3 Order of constituents Constituent order is of primary importance for analyzing discourse features in any language. For this reason, before beginning the study of Godié discourse proper, the topic of constituent order needs to be dealt with. After presenting the normal, or default, order of constituents in the clause in §3.1, this chapter will consider variations of that order, or marked constituent order, in §3.2, before looking at dislocated constituents in §3.3.

3.1 Default order of constituents in the clause

This section will examine the default order of constituents within the basic Godié clause types. This is necessary in order to identify any marked orders of constituents.

3.1.1 The basic clause types

The basic clause types in Godié have the following default constituent orders. 3.1.1.1 Transitive clause: S-V-O The transitive clause has a subject, a transitive verb as the predicate, and a direct object, as shown in example 47. 47 -a n ʋ lä lebhe 1 P do: ICP LOP work S V O ‘… we work lit. we do work.’ [greve 11] A number of transitive verbs are associated to a verbal particle VPC, as in example 48, where the postposition k ʋ ‘on’ occurs as a verbal particle. 1 48 n bhlü lä -kosu k ʋ 1 S take: ICP LOP fire VPC S V O POST ‘…I take fire …’ [medic 11] 3.1.1.2 Semi-transitive clause: S-V-LOC.COMP The semi-transitive clause has a subject followed by a motion verb. A small number of these verbs, such as -bha ‘to leave somewhere’ and ghlä ‘to pass somewhere’, must take a locative complement LOC.COMP as object, as shown in example 49a. Others, such as ‘go’ and ‘come’, may or may not take the complement, as shown respectively in examples 49b and 49c. Note that whenever the locative complement is present, as in 49b, its object carries the oblique marker OBL, which consists of a lengthened vowel with a high tone. 1 For Schachter 1985:45, verbal particles are one of the two classes of “verbal adjuncts,” the other one being auxiliaries. Like auxiliaries, verbal particles are a closed set of uninflected words. Some of them are postpositions and thus have locative or directional meanings. In most cases the verbal particle does not have a clearly separable semantic meaning but forms a lexical unit with the verb. Examples from English are “to pick up,” “to carry out,” and “to look after.” 49 a. ny ɩkpɔɔ bha klää person: DEF leave: ICP field: OBL ‘… the person was leaving the field …’ [devinet 18] b. n yi lä Ghlivi ɛlaa 1 S come: ICP LOP Riviera: OBL ‘… and I come to Riviera …’ [greve 10] c. -Mä ʋ mʋ nä ʋ yi ADD 4 NH 3 go: ICP SP 1 NH 3 come: ICP ‘But it =the canoe goes and comes …’ [greve 42] 3.1.1.3 Ditransitive clause In a ditransitive clause, the verb calls for a direct object and a second constituent, which is either an indirect object or a locative complement. Two types of ditransitive clauses can thus be distinguished, which are here referred to as the ‘give’-type and the ‘put’-type. The ‘give’-type has an indirect object followed by a direct object, while the latter has an object and a locative complement. a. ‘give’-type: S-V-IO-O In the ‘give’ type, the indirect object typically has the semantic role of the beneficiary of the action. It always precedes the direct object, whether it is realized by a noun or by a pronoun, as shown in examples 50a–c. 50 a. ʋ nyɩɔ gwieyi taa NH 3 give:3 S palm_nut:grain: PL three S V : IO O ‘He =God gave him three palm nuts.’ [sigo 38] b. ɔ -zla ɔ nagɔ -bhlo gɔlʋ 3 S ask: CP 3 S friend one canoe S V IO O ‘… he asked one of his friends for a canoe.’ [greve 58] c. nɩ ɔ yionyɛ nyɛ ADD 1 3 S XFUT :3 S : NH 2 give S V IO O ‘… he gave it to him.’ [sigo 129] b. ‘put’-type: S-V-O-LOC.COMP or S-V-LOC.COMPpron-O In the ‘put’ type, the locative complement typically has the semantic role of the goal of the action. When realized by a noun phrase, as in 51a, it follows the direct object, whereas when realized by the locative pronoun -m ɔɔ see §2.2.2, it precedes the direct object, as in 51b. 51 a. Fäd ɩnyʋä pää- waa pilo jiee Fanti_people throw: CP 3 P : GEN fishing_net ocean: OBL S V O LOC . COMP ‘Fanti people had thrown their net into the ocean.’ [neyo 6.3] b. n ŋʋ -m ɔɔ -nyakp ɩ 1 S put: ICP LOC leaf: PL S V LOC . COMP O ‘… I put leaves there …’ [medic 28] 3.1.1.4 Intransitive clause: S-V The intransitive clause has a subject followed by an intransitive verb as the predicate, as shown in example 52. 52 ɔ tuu- 3 S weep: CP S V ‘… he wept’ [neyo 63.2] 3.1.1.5 Copula clause: S-COP-NCOMP In copula clauses a subject is linked to a noun complement NCOMP by a copula. Copula clauses in Godié have one of four copulas. Only one of them, - glö ‘BE3’, is used exclusively in copula clauses, as in example 53. It expresses a relation of equality between the subject and the complement. 53 ɔmɔ Pɛlɩɔ nä ɔ -glö Guduyu 3 S : TH priest: DEF SP 1 3 S BE 3 Gudu_child ‘That priest, he is a member of the Gudu clan lit. a Gudu child.’ [neyo 52] The other three copulas are intransitive verbs that can also be used as copulas. Of these, -k ʋ literally means ‘to be in a place or position’. It is glossed ‘BE1’ both in locative and in copula clauses. Its use in a copula clause is illustrated in example 54. 54 ɩɩ -zä -n - kʋ -pl ɩɩ -a NHP : GEN cause 2 S BE 1: CP silent Q ‘Is it because of that that you keep silent?’ [devinet 38] The other two copulas are plö ‘to pass’ and bhlü ‘to fall’, which are glossed respectively as ‘BE2’ and ‘BE4’ in their use as copulas. They are illustrated in example 55. 55 a. ɩ plöö- gämalɩ NHP BE 2: CP play: NOM ‘It is fun.’ [creation 145] b. a yi nyɩkpa gwlɩ taa bhlü 2 P XFUT people twenty three BE 4 ‘You will be sixty people.’ [lueuzi 8] 3.1.1.6 Nominal clause The nominal clause in Godié consists of a noun phrase followed by either the past tense particle bha ‘PST4’ see §2.5.2.4 above or the low-prominence particle lä ‘LOP’ see §4.3.2.1 below, as in example 56a. These particles act as predicator particles and thus allow the noun phrase to function as a nominal predicate. 2 Note that a nominal predicate does not have a negative form in Godié. To express the non- existence of something, a negative copula clause with the verb plö ‘BE2’ is used with the non-human plural pronoun as a dummy subject, as in example 56b. 56 a. kpläkplödö lä lie:news LOP ‘It’s a lie …’ [lueuzi 6] b. ɩɩ - wʋ kpläkplödö plöö- NHP : XNEG CNT 2 lie:news BE 2: CP ‘That’s not a lie.’ fabricated example

3.1.2 The verb brace