A Grammar of Fa d'Ambô

336 Pages·2020·5.652 MB·English; Fa d'Ambô (Annobonese Creole)

by  Philippe Maurer-Cecchini, Tjerk Hagemeijer, Armando Zamora Segorbe

Tjerk Hagemeijer, Philippe Maurer-Cecchini, Armando Zamora Segorbe
A Grammar of Fa d’Ambô
Mouton Grammar Library
Edited by
Georg Bossong
Bernard Comrie
Patience L. Epps
Irina Nikolaeva
Volume 81
Tjerk Hagemeijer, Philippe Maurer-Cecchini,
Armando Zamora Segorbe
A Grammar
of Fa d’Ambô
The research contained in this work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science
and Technology (FCT).
ISBN 978-3-11-043802-4
ISSN 0933-7636
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020941477
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck
www.degruyter.com
Acknowledgements

We are truly grateful to all those who have in one way or another contributed to this
work. A short field trip to Bioko and Annobón in 2011, funded by the International
Portuguese Language Institute (IILP), allowed co-author Armando Zamora Segorbe,
Ana Lívia Agostinho, and Alfredo Christofoletti to carry out the audio recordings of
Fa d’Ambô that we used for this book project. The preparation of the searchable Fa
d’Ambô corpus at the Centre of Linguistics of the University of Lisbon (CLUL),
launched in 2014, greatly benefited from the expertise of corpus and computational
linguists Amália Mendes, Iris Hendrickx, and Michel Généreux.
The Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology (FCT) provided funding
for the following projects which contributed to the development of this book: The or-
igins and development of creole societies in the Gulf of Guinea: An interdisciplinary
study (PTDC/CLE-LIN/111494/2009) and FCT’s strategic funding
(UID/LIN/00214/2013) made available by CLUL’s research group Grammar & Re-
sources (formerly Anagrama).
We thank Julie Miess and Angelika Hermann at De Gruyter for their support dur-
ing the different stages of the book process.
The manuscript was substantially improved by the suggestions of an anonymous
reviewer and by the careful English revision carried out by Frazer Roberts and Parth
Bhatt.
We are of course greatly indebted to the storytellers whose stories are included
in the book, Esther Zamora, Donato Zamora, and Zonkin Matxia Kitxi Faaxa, as well
as to all the Annobonese speakers who magnanimously contributed to the larger cor-
pus and the data we use in this monograph. Dezu-paga.

Lisbon, June 2020
Tjerk Hagemeijer, Philippe Maurer-Cecchini, and Armando Zamora Segorbe

Contents
List of abbreviations � xi
List of tables � xii
1 Introduction � 1
1.1 Annobón and Fa d’Ambô � 1
1.2 Sociolinguistic overview � 3
1.3 Previous work on Fa d’Ambô � 3
1.4 Variation in Fa d’Ambô � 4
1.5 Linguistic corpus � 4
1.6 Examples in the grammar � 5
2 Phonology � 7
2.1 Shape of the words � 7
2.2 Segmental units � 8
2.2.1 Vowels � 8
2.2.2 Consonants � 10
2.2.3 Glides and diphthongs � 13
2.2.4 Syllable structure � 14
2.3 Spelling conventions � 15
2.4 Tone � 16
2.4.1 Nouns � 16
2.4.2 Verbs � 19
2.4.3 Minimal pairs � 19
2.4.4 Tone sandhi � 21
3 Morphological processes � 23
3.1 Reduplication � 23
3.2 Derivation � 26
3.2.1 Deverbal derivation � 27
3.2.2 Denominal derivation � 30
3.3 Fusion � 30
4 The noun phrase � 33
4.1 The noun � 34
4.1.1 Gender � 34
4.1.2 Number � 35
4.1.3 Diminutive and augmentative � 38
4.1.4 Determiners and corresponding pronouns � 41
4.1.5 Bare nouns and noun phrases � 66
4.1.6 The adjective � 68
4.2 Modifying noun phrases and prepositional phrases � 76
viii � Contents
4.3 Modifying verb phrases � 78
4.4 Relative clauses � 78
4.4.1 Introduction � 78
4.4.2 Subjects � 81
4.4.3 Direct and indirect objects � 82
4.4.4 Benefactives � 82
4.4.5 Locatives � 82
4.4.6 Temporal adjuncts � 84
4.4.7 Comitative adjuncts � 85
4.4.8 Instrumental adjuncts � 85
4.4.9 Possessors � 86
4.4.10 The relativiser pa � 87
4.5 Personal pronouns � 87
4.5.1 Forms and functions � 87
4.5.2 Boundedness of singular subject pronouns � 94
4.5.3 The conjoining of personal pronouns � 95
4.5.4 Absence of expletive pronouns � 96
4.6 The conjoining of noun phrases � 98
4.7 The noun phrase-final particle � 99
4.8 The structure of the noun phrase � 100
5 The verb phrase � 103
5.1 Tense, aspect, and mood markers � 104
5.1.1 The functions of Ø � 106
5.1.2 The functions of kha � 108
5.1.3 The functions of sakha/skha/ska � 115
5.1.4 The functions of skee/skhee/kee � 117
5.1.5 The functions of bi � 120
5.1.6 The functions of ta � 122
5.1.7 The functions of the combinations of bi with other TAM markers �
122
5.1.8 The functions of kha sakha � 123
5.1.9 The functions of kha ta � 124
5.1.10 The functions of skhee/kee kha � 124
5.1.11 The functions of la and sa � 124
5.1.12 The functions of la and sa with other TAM markers � 127
5.1.13 Summary of the functions of TAM markers � 128
5.2 Nominal predicates � 130
5.3 Verbs denoting possession and existence � 132
5.4 Positional verbs � 134
5.5 Modal verbs � 136
5.6 Complements � 138
5.7 Serial verb constructions � 144
5.7.1 Benefactive � 145
5.7.2 Motion and location � 146
Contents � ix

5.7.3 Instrumental � 152
5.7.4 Comitative � 154
5.7.5 Completive � 154
5.7.6 Durative � 155
5.7.7 Resultative � 155
5.7.8 Degree � 156
5.8 Negation � 157
5.8.1 Sentence negation � 157
5.8.2 The final negation marker � 159
5.8.3 Expletive negation � 161
5.8.4 Negative concord � 163
5.8.5 Constituent negation � 163
5.9 Non-clausal adjuncts � 164
5.9.1 Place � 165
5.9.2 Time � 167
5.9.3 Manner, means, and instrument � 170
5.9.4 Degree � 172
5.9.5 Focus � 173
5.9.6 Cause � 174
5.9.7 Other � 174
6 Simple sentences � 177
6.1 Order of arguments � 177
6.2 Focalisation � 178
6.3 Topicalisation � 182
6.4 Interrogatives � 185
6.4.1 Content questions � 185
6.4.2 Polar questions � 188
6.5 Imperatives and hortatives � 190
6.6 Exclamatives and interjections � 193
6.7 Vocatives � 196
6.8 Voice � 197
6.8.1 Reflexives � 197
6.8.2 Reciprocal � 200
6.8.3 Causative � 201
6.8.4 Passive � 201

7 Complex sentences � 205
7.1 Argument clauses � 205
7.2 Adjunct clauses � 209
7.2.1 Temporal clauses � 209
7.2.2 Conditional clauses � 213
7.2.3 Causal clauses � 214
7.2.4 Purposive clauses � 215
7.2.5 Concessive clauses � 217
x � Contents
7.2.6 Comparative and manner clauses � 217
7.3 Coordinate clauses � 218
7.3.1 The coordinator se � 220
7.3.2 The coordinator ku � 221
7.3.3 The coordinator pa � 223
7.3.4 The coordinator a � 224
7.3.5 Negative coordination � 225
7.4 Verb phrase and sentence-final particles � 225
8 Ideophones and onomatopoeia � 229
8.1 Ideophones � 229
8.2 Onomatopoeia � 232
9 Texts � 233
9.1 Soya Ton Tublan � 233
9.2 Dôtôl kula pe mun ôyô � 235
9.3 Memol’, m’na d’Êlê � 242
9.4 Soya Xinggil � 266
10 Fa d’Ambô – English word list � 307
11 English – Fa d’Ambô word list � 325
Appendix: Story in the four Gulf of Guinea creoles � 337
References � 344
Index � 346

Audio materials: The Fa d’Ambô audio files corresponding to the recordings of the
transcribed texts (Chapter 9) and tone spectrograms (Figures 2-15 in sections 2.4.1,
2.4.2, 2.4.3) can be accessed at the following webpage: https://www.degruy-
ter.com/view/title/510975