A Survey of Exocentric Compounds in three Kwa Languages: Akan, Ewe and Ga

Abstract

Whereas the existence of exocentric compounds is taken for granted in the literature on compounding, there are just a few studies devoted to the nature and types of exocentric compounds cross-linguistically and in African languages in particular, leaving exocentricity in African languages severely under-researched. This paper seeks to contribute to knowledge on exocentricity by exploring the range of exocentric compounds in three Kwa languages – Akan, Ewe and Ga – in the context of the typology of exocentric compounds proposed by Bauer (2008a, 2010) who posited five types – bahuvrihi, exocentric synthetic, exocentric co-compounds, transpositional exocentric and metaphorical compounds. Appah (2016b, 2017b) argued that three of the five types (bahuvrihi, exocentric synthetic and transpositional exocentric compounds) with various subtypes occur in Akan. The equivalent of Bauer’s metaphorical compounds was subsumed under bahuvrihi compounds, while the absence of exocentric co-compounds was argued to be an areal feature, given the observation that co-compounds are rare in Africa (Wälchli 2005). This paper shows that apart from exocentric co-compounds, the rest are found in the languages under discussion to varying extents. All three languages have metaphorical and location bahuvrihi compounds, but the status of the possessor bahuvrihi type is not certain, except in Akan. Ewe has agentive exocentric synthetic compounds, but not the action and patient types, whilst Ga has none. Again, only Ga does not have transpositional exocentric compounds. Finally, it is observed that all the compounds are nouns, notwithstanding the syntactic category of the constituents. This is another potential areal feature.