A Grammar of Jalonke Language

Publisher: Max Planck Institute for PsycholinguisticsPublication date: 2005Number of pages: 504This thesis offers a field-based account of argument structure in Jalonke, a Mande language of Guinea. After an introduction to the language and the framework used, chapter 2 gives an overview of essential grammatical features of this previously undescribed language. Chapters 3 to 6establish the parameters underlying the basic argument structure of Jalonke verbs, grouping them into the classes of base-intransitive, reflexive-only, base-transitive verbs, and causative/inchoative alternating verbs. Chapter 7 introduces valence- and meaning changing operations. Chapter 8 examines unaccusativity. Chapter 9 investigates quantitatively how often speakers realise all arguments of a given verb type and how often different types of alternations occur in discourse. It is shown that the alignment between lexical argument structure and argument realisation is extraordinarily close. Chapter 10 outlines the contributions of this thesis to theoretical and descriptive linguistics