The Syntax Of Tafi Perception Verbs
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Date
2020-10
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Publisher
University of Ghana
Abstract
This study investigates the perception verbs of Tafi, a Ghana-Togo Mountain language. Using the cognitive linguistics approach, the study examines the syntactic structures and semantic properties of verbs that express sensory information. The data for the study was gathered using the Grammar of Perception questionnaire (Norcliff et al. 2010), spontaneous discourse and purposely created scenarios to elicit sensory perception information. Viberg’s (1984) typological survey on sensory perception verbs provides the framework within which the Tafi data was tested.
Tafi perception verbs largely fall within the semantic components of ACTIVITY, EXPERIENCE and COPULATIVE. The five basic sensory modalities are lexically differentiated in Tafi in exception of spontaneous sensory experiences of hearing, touch and taste which are lexically conflated in one verb. The percept object NPs of the conflated verb place semantic restrictions on the verb and help to differentiate the various sensory modalities. Also, perception verbs of Tafi are largely polysemous. The larger implication of the study is that the linguistic meaning of sensory perception verbs in Tafi is determined by syntactic structures and pragmatic context.
Description
MPhil. Linguistics
Keywords
Verbs, The Syntax, Perception