Morphosyntax of Dagbani nominal phrase

Abstract

This thesis investigates the morphosyntax of the Dagbani (Gur, Niger-Congo) nominal Phrase (NP). The study described the internal components or constituents of the nominal phrase. It looked at the sequential order and distribution of the elements within the NP in addition to the pronominal system of the language. The methods used to collect the data were focus group discussion and elicitation. The Basic Linguistic Theory (BLT) (cf. Dixon, 2009, 2010, 2012) was adopted for this study. The study revealed that the Dagbani noun phrase exhibite the following order: (Reference particle) – Noun – (Adjective) – (Numeral) – (Relative clause) – (Article) – (Quantifier) – (Intensifier). Apart from the reference particle lala ‘that’, which occurs prenominally, all other modifiers are postnominal. The study demonstrated that the cardinal and ordinal numerals differ in their syntactic realisations with the head noun. It is also demonstrated that Dagbani has two demonstratives, that is, proximal demonstrative ŋɔ ‘this’, which indicates that a referent is closer to the speaker and distal demonstrative ŋɔ ha/sa ‘that’ which indicates that the speaker is not closer to the referent(s). The study demonstrated that some pronouns maintain their form regardless of whether they occur in nominative (subject) or accusative (object) slots. It also found that Dagbani speakers do not use resumptive pronouns in their relative clauses. The study will serve as a way of documenting and preserving the knowledge of Dagbani speakers. It will also serve as a reference material which could be used to develop educational materials and written literature for the use of students and lecturers.