The verb brace The default position of adjuncts

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

If an auxiliary is present in the clause, the main verb or the copula is moved to the end of the clause, a syntactic feature common to all Kru languages. 3 The auxiliary and the main verb thus form a brace around the material included between them marked in bold. In example 57a the verb brace includes the countering connective -w ʋ see §8.2 as well as the manner adverb sisio ‘quickly’. In 57b it includes the direct object and two adverbs, and in 57c it just includes the verbal particle k ʋ. 4 As for the position of the constituents within the verb brace, modal particles come first, followed by adjuncts, local complements, noun objects, and verbal particles in that order. 57 a. nn - wʋ sisio -yi 1 S : XNEG CNT 2 quickly come: CP ‘I havent come quickly …’ [devinet 40] b. nn n kä yɩ fɩa -ngbüna nünëa pä no 1 S XPOT now at_first five: DEM tale: DEF throw ‘No, I am now going to tell the fifth story first …’ [creation 11] c. nɩ ɔ yi kʋ bha nɩ ɔ yi mʋ ADD 1 3 S XFUT VPC leave ADD 1 3 S XFUT go ‘Then he got up and went.’ [devinet 22] 2 For the term predicator particle, see, for example, Schachter 1985:55. 3 However, Kru languages differ as to what kind of constituents can occur inside the verb brace. While some, like the three W ɛɛ varieties, allow only objects of the verb, others, like Godié, also allow adjuncts. See Marchese 1986a:218– 226 for more detail. 4 Some verbal particles are homonymous with postpositions and have locative or directional meanings, such as k ʋ in 57c, which means ‘on’ or ‘upward’. In most cases the verbal particle does not have a clearly separable semantic meaning but forms a lexical unit with the verb. Examples of verbal particles in English are up and out, as in “to pick up” and “to carry out”.

3.1.3 The default position of adjuncts

Adjuncts are not among the core constituents of a clause. Rather, they indicate the spatial, temporal, and other circumstances of the event talked about in the clause. In clauses without a verb brace, the default position of adjuncts in Godié is at the end of the clause, as shown in example 58. 58 a. gokpüü mʋ - wʋ - zɩkä boat: PL : XNEG go: ICP CNT 2 today ‘There are no boats going today.’ [greve 67] b. -n titonöɛ -yä -n mëë - lɩɩ kɔɔkɔ 2 S go_alongside: APL : NH 2 ADD 2 in spread_out thing: PL : DEF always ‘… walk alongside it =ocean and spread out the things all the time’ [creation 49–50] c. nä -n ni wäl ɩɩ -l ɩɩ - ɩ - ŋënöö lä SP 1 2 S find matter: GEN DPF : PL NHP : REL arrive: APL :1 SO LOP ‘So these are the kind of things that happened to me - mɔɔ -blɔ kʋ zëplüünöö nä LOC way on morning: DEM : OBL SP 1 there on my way this morning.’ [greve 91–92] In clauses with a verb brace the default position of adjuncts seems to be different for noun phrases and adverbs, possibly because of word length. Noun phrases, which are usually postpositional phrases, stay in the clause-final position outside the verb brace, as in examples 59a and 59b. Adverbial adjuncts, on the other hand, occur within the verb brace, as in 59c. This last example also shows that if there is an object, the adverbial adjunct precedes that object. 59 a. wa kä zlü tää Glɩsɩsɩɛɛ -za 3 P XPOT fish: PL look_for Christmas: GEN because_of ‘… in order to look for fish because of Christmas.’ [neyo 5.3] b. nɩ n yi lä nyie tɔɔ -zëplünöö ADD 1 1 S XFUT LOP lagoon cross morning: DEM : OBL ‘… and I crossed the lagoon this morning.’ [greve 85] c. a kä lä - zɩkä gwɛ yi ni 2 P XCND LOP today chimpanzee VPC see ‘Whenever you see a chimpanzee today …’ [gwebhutu 6]

3.2 Marked constituent order: Preposed constituents