-

THE UNlVERSXTY QF YAOUNDE

UNIVERSITE DE YAOUNDE

FACULTY OF LETTERS AND FACULTE DES LETTRES ET

SOCIAL SCIENCES SCIENCES HUMAINES

DEPARTMENT OF AFRICAN LANGUAGES

AND LINGUISTICS

Dipartement de Langues Africaines

et Linguistique

THE LIMBUM NOUN PHRASE

(A GENERATIVE APPROACH)
Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfifment of the requierements for the award
of a postgraduate diploma
"Maitrise" in Linguistics.

BY

MPOCHE Kizitus NFORMI

(B.A. in English)

Supervised by :

Dr. Carl EBOBISSE

(charge de Cours)
University of Yaounde

and

Mr. TAMANJI Pius

Lecturer
University of Yaounde.

April 1993

--
ri

DEDICATION

T o Friends

and r e l a t i v e s
o f goodwill
i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Work o f t h i s n a t u r e could hardly meet with success
9 without the support of many p e r s o n s . I n t h i s respect, I
e x t e n d my h e a r t f e l t thanks to my supervisors, Dr. Carl

EBOBISE and Mr. TAMANJI P i u s f o r t h e m a r v e l l o u s j o b t h e y

d i d towards t h e r e a l i z a t i o n o f t h i s p r o j e c t .

Much g r a t i t u d e a l s o goes t o my i n f o r m a n t s Mr. Ndamnsa

Clement and Jamba John who bore w i t h p a t i e n c e t h e many

q u e s t i o n s I asked d u r i n g t h e c o l l e c t i o n and a n a l y s i s of my

data. My t h a n k f u l n e s s t o M r . Ndamnsa Clement f o r l o d g i n g me

f o r a b o u t two months d u r i n g my p r o j e c t i s immeasurable.

I sincerely thank the following lecturers of the

Department of Linguistics, who o f f e r e d me c o u r s e s : Prof.

B.S. Churnbow, M r . Sadembouo E., Mme Zoe R., Mme Gerbault,

,Mme Ndongo, and M r . Ogwana John. I a l s o thank t h e head o f

L i n g u i s t i c s Department D r . TADADJEU Maurice and all the

members o f t h e department f o r t h e comprehension t h e y showed

whenever I came up w i t h a problem.

To a l l r e l a t i v e s and f r i e n d s who i n one way or the

o t h e r c o n t r i b u t e d towards t h e r e a l i z a t i o n o f t h i s p r o j e c t , I

e x p r e s s my g r a t i t u d e .

Thanks t o my p a r e n t s for their moral and financial

assistance.

Thanks t o M r . F r e d e r i c k Fanwong f o r t y p i n g t h i s work.

Thanks t o t h e L o r d A l m i g h t y .
Eil

L I S T OF ABBREVIATIONS AND

SYMBOLS

A AdJ e c t 1 ve

A- Argument

AM A s s o c i a t i v e marker

AP A d j e c t i v a l phrase

ADV. P A d v e r b i a l phrase

Art. Article

C complementizer

cf see

CL C 1 ass

CP Complementizer p h r a s e

D Determiner

eds. Ed1t o r s

E.C.P. Empty Category P r i n c i p l e

Fo Immediate f u t u r e

Fig. Figure

F.S. Far f r o m speaker

F.S.A F a r f r o m speaker and addressee

GB Government and B i n d i n g

Gen. P G e n e t i v e phrase

H High tone

1 Inflection

Interro Interrogative

IP I n f l e c t i o n phrase

L L o w tone

k L o w f l o a t i n g tone

MT mother tongue
 - iv -
N Noun

N.A Near addressee

NP Noun phrase

N.S Near speaker

Po Immediate p a s t

P1 Today p a s t

P? Yesterday p a s t

P3 Remote p a s t

POSS. Possessive

PP P r e p o s i t i o n a l phrase

Pres. t Present tense

P.S. Phrase s t r u c t u r e

Pron. Pronoun

R+R Referent plus referent

S+A Speaker p l u s addressee

SM S u b j e c t Marker

S+R Speaker p l u s r e f e r e n t

v Verb

VP Verb p h r a s e
 - v -
-1
.
- 4 LIST OF FIGURES
Page
d
i F i g . 1 ( 1 ) G r a s s f i e l d Bantu Languages ................... 3

F i g . 1 1 ( 1 ) Congo-Kordofanian Languages ................. 4

F i g . 1 1 1 ( 1 ) O r g a n i z a t i o n o f G . 6 ........................ 10

Fig.1 ( 2 ) Simple s u b j e c t human pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

F i g . 1 1 ( 2 ) Compound s u b j e c t human pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

F i g . 1 1 1 ( 2 ) Simple p r e p o s i t i o n a l o b j e c t pronouns . . . . . . . 18
Fig.1V ( 2 ) Compound p r e p o s i t i o n a l o b j e c t pronouns ...i.... 18

F1g.V ( 2 ) Non-human pronouns ........................... 20

Fig.VI ( 2 ) Reflexive pronouns .......................... 21

F i g . V I 1 ( 2 ) Possessive pronouns f o r m s f o r N.c:.

D3. 5/D1 ............................................. 22

F i g . V I I I ( 2 ) Possessive pronouns forms f o r o t h e r N.cls .. 23

......................
1 Fig.IX ( 2 ) D e m o n s t r a t i v e pronouns

Fig.X ( 2 ) I n t e r r o g a t i v e pronouns .......................

29

32
F i g . X I ( 2 ) D e f i n i t e pronouns ......................... i .. 34

F i g . X I 1 ( 2 ) I n d e f i n i t e pronouns ..................... :. . 35
F i g . X I I I ( 2 ) Possessive d e t e r m i n e r s ..................... 44

F i g . X I V ( 2 ) A t t r i b u t i v e a d j e c t i v e s ..................... 46
 - vi -
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION............................................ i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................... 11

ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS ............................. iii

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................. 1

1.1 General information on Limbum .................. 1

1.1.1 Geographical Situation ......................... 1

1.1.2 Historical Situation ........................... 2

1.1.3 Socio-economic Situation ....................... 2

1.2 The Langti-.ge

1.2.1 Cias-ification ................................. 3

1.2.2 Socio-linguistic Situation ..................... 5

1.2.3 Review o f Related literature ................... 6

1.3 Goais, Scope and Method of work ................ 8 ~

U Goais and Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I
1.3.1 8

1.3.2 Mezhoa of work ................................. 8

1.4 Theoretical framework .......................... 9

1.4.1 The X I Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Theta Theory ...................................

~

1.4.2 11
i
1.4.3 Projection principle ........................... 12 I
1.5 Outiine of work ................................ 13 l~
I
!I

CHAPTER TWO: THE NOUN PHRASE .......................... 14 I;

2.0 Introduction ................................... 14

1
!i
2.1 Pronouns ....................................... 16 I1
!
2.1.1 Personal pronouns .............................. 16 1I

2.1.1.1 Subject human pronouns ....................... 16 i

2.1.1.2 Human object pronouns of prepositions ........ 18
!,
!

Non-human pronouns ...........................

2.1.1.3
2.1.2 Reflexive P r o n o u n s .............................
19
21
1

... .. . . __ .. .~ ~ ~..~
...... ~ ~ .....
~ ~ . . .~
iI
;~ .
 .vii .

2.1.3 Possessive Pronouns ............................ 22

2.2 The modified NP ................................ 24
2.2.1 Determiners .................................... 29
A The demonstrative pronoun ...................... 29
B The interrogative pronoun ...................... 32
C The definite pronoun ........................... 34
D The indefinite pronoun ......................... 35
E The definite article ........................... 38
F The indefinite article ......................... 40
G Cardinal numerals .............................. 41
H Ordinal numerals ............................... 43
I The possessive determiner ...................... 44
2.2.2 Adjactives ..................................... 46
A The attributive adjective ...................... 46
2.2.3 The Associative NP ............................. 47
2.2.3 The Canplex NP ................................. 48

CHAPTER THREE: OTHER PHRASE TYPES ..................... 56

3 . 0 Introduction ..................................... 56
3.1 The inflection phrase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.2 The prepositional phrase ......................... 58
3 . 3 The adjectival phrase ............................ 62
3.4 The verb phrase .................................. 63

CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION .............................. 69

4 . 0 Summary o f work .................................. 69
4.1 Limitations ...................................... 70
4.2 Significance of project .......................... 71
BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................... 12

. !
I
i CHAPTER ONE

.
4 INTRODUCTION

1.1 GENERAL INFORMATION ON LIMBUM

I. 1.1.1 GEOGRAPHICAL S I T U A T I O N

L i means language and mbum refers to the speakers.

Limbum i s t h e r e f o r e t h e language o f t h e Mbum p e o p l e who a r e

r e f e r r e d t o as Wimbum.

The Wimbum occupy t h e n o r t h e r n e x t e n s i o n o f t h e Bamenda

Highlands - the middle belt of Nkambe plateau of

Donga-Mantung Division of the North West Province of

Cameroon. The region lies between l o n g i t u d e 1 0 ° 2 5 " and

1 1 0 2 0 ' ' E and l a t i t u d e 6 0 2 0 " and 6040'' N.

P I E T E R ( 1 9 6 6 ) says t h a t t h e s p e a k e r s o f Limbum who have

often been r e f e r r e d t o as n s u n g l i by t h e lamnss? and Yamba

speakers number w e l l above 7 0 . 0 0 0 w i t h some mbum communities

i n t h e Adamawa a r e a . P I E T E R and VOORHOEVE ( 1 9 7 7 ) s t a t e t h a t

t h e language o r i g i n a t e d as p a r t o f t h e o u t e r Mbarn-Nkam g r o u p

of Bantu languages b u t ALCAM ( 1 9 8 3 : 7 ) g i v e s i t number 903

meaning that it belongs to the subgroup of eastern

g r a s s f i e l d languages.

Limbum i s b o r d e r e d by Mbembe i n t h e n o r t h , d z o d i n k a and

rnfumte i n t h e n o r t h e a s t , Yamba i n t h e e a s t , Lamnso? i n the

souEh, n33ni .in the south west and n s a r i i n t h e west.

Speakers of the language occupy about 24 villages in

Donga-Mantung Division including the divisional capital

Nkambe.

- 1 -
I - 2 -

1.1.2 HISTORICAL S I T U A T I O N

H i s t o r i c a l l y , t h e Wimbum a r e believed to be of the

Tikari origin and t o have come t o t h e h i g h l a n d s d u r i n g t h e

e a r l y F u l a n i wars. T h e y a r e b e l i e v e d t o have come i n three

distinct groups. Wart-, Tang, and Ya w h i c h today form t h r e e

intermixed clans. FIORE ( 1 9 7 7 ) and CHILVER and KAYBERRY

(1967 p.27, 2 8 ) Share t h i s v i e w on t h e h i s t o r i c a l o r i g i n o f

t h e Tang and Ya g r o u p s b u t J e f f r e y s ( 1 9 6 3 ) holds that the

Warr p e o p l e d i d n o t o r i g i n a t e f r o m somewhere e l s e . He i s o f
t h e o p i n i o n t h a t t h e y were n a t i v e s o f the area and spoke
Limbum b e f o r e t h e coming o f t h e o t h e r g r o u p s .

It is really difficult t o draw a c l e a r c u t l i n g u i s t i c

d i s t i n c t i o n w i t h i n the three clans other than that which

FIORE (1977) provides because i n every d i a l e c t a l region,

v i l l a g e s b e l o n g i n g t o each o f t h e three clans are found.

For example, Mbot, Wat and Mbaa o f Warr o r i g i n a r e f o u n d

under t h e c e n t r a l v a r i e t y which i s supposed t o be made up o f

v i l l a g e s o f t h e Tang c l a n .

1.1.2 SGCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION

The Wimbum live in a rural area. There are no

i n d u s t r i e s ana c o n s e q u e n t l y few non-natives live in the

area.

Economically, the Wlmbum are very dynamic. They

p r a c t i s e much a g r i c u l t u r e and have abundant l a n d for this.

The women do most of the farmwork w h i l e t h e men engage

themselves c h i e f l y i n hunting, animal rearing and other

commerci a1 a c t i v i t i e s .
 - 3 -

1.2 -
THE LANGUAGE

1.2. 1 CLASSIFICATION

de Wolf (1971) classifies grassfield Bantu languages

in t two main groups namely West and Mbam-Nkam. Limbum

which c o n s i s t s o f a c l u s t e r o f i n t e r - c o m p r e h e n s i b l e dialects

spoken i n t h e Nkambe a r e a belongs t o t h e Mbam-Nkam group.

GRASSFIELO BANTU

[ WESTEilN G R A S S F I E L D MBAM-NKAM

NKAMBE

LIMBUM

(Fig.1) (Adapted f r o m de Wolf ( 1 9 7 1 ) )

Greenberg o n h i s p a r t c l a s s i f i e s A f r i c a n languages i n t o

4 major l i n g u i s t i c f a m i l i e s .

1 ) Congo-Kordofanian

2) N i l o - S a h a r i a n
3 ) Afro-Asiatic

4) Khoisari
Of these 4 main families, the first three are

represented in Cameroon. Limbum falls under the

Congo-Kordofanian f a m i l y . I t i s a g r a s s f i e l d Bantu language

belonging t o t h e Benue-Congo s u b d i v i s i o n of t h e Niger-Congo

 - A -

family. The language belongs to the northern group of

Grassfield Bantu. This i s ver fiable on the chart below:

Congo-Kordofanienne

I
Adamaoua
Oubanguiem

I II 1

Limbum
dzodinka
mfumte
(Fig.11) (Adapted from ALCAM ( 1 9 8 3 ) ) Yamba
mba?
 - 5 -

1.2.2 SOCIOLINGUISTIC S I T U A T I O N

Limbum i s spoken by t h e Wimbum with quite a lot of

dialectal variations. The d i f f e r e n c e s a r e m o s t l y t o n a l and

phonemic and t h e s e l e a d to discrepancies in the writing

system of the language. In s p i t e o f these d i f f e r e n c e s ,

speakers of the various areas understand each other

mutually. PIETER ( 1 9 7 7 ) f i r s t distinguished the v a r i e t i e s

as:

Western ( wat )
r
Nothern (Nkambe)
v
Central (Tabenken 1

Southern (Ndu)

South Western (Taku)

F I O R E ( 1 9 7 7 ) C l a s s i f i e s t h e v a r i e t i e s on t h e basis of

pronunciation i n t o N o r t h e r n , C e n t r a l and Southern. To h e r ,

t h e d i f f e r e n c e s i n t h e language a r e due t o t h e i n f l u e n c e of

t h e languages i n t h e n o r t h and s o u t h of t h e Wimbum area.

Variety L o c a t ion

Northern Binshua, Nkambe, K u n g i , Moo, E i , Binka,

N j a p , Nge, Chup, and Tabenken

Centra1 Wat, Mbot, Luh, Taku, Talla, and Ngarum

Southern Ndu, Ntumbaw, Wawo, Mbipgo, N t u n d i p , Sop,

 - 6 -

and Sinna.

FIORE holds that there is inter-relationship between

the varieties and that the Northern and the Southern are
greatly influenced by the Central variety. For example,
"Kolanut" is pronounced with variations in the various
regions. The North will pronounce it as bi while the South
and Central pronounce it as rbi. In most works in Limburn,
the latter option is adopted. There is also the
pronunciation of "water" which varies. In the North, it is
m-n-dip in the Central m-n-dip but in the South it is
m-n-dzip. The former pronunciation is adopted in most
in Limbum.
Apart from Limbum, there is also Pidgin whicu is spoken
v
in the area though not widely spread. This is mostly spoken
by the youths probably as a result o f education o r frequent
contact with members of other speech communities especially
in schools.

1.2.3 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATIRE

Relatively much has been written on Limbum in general
though very little or nothing at all exists on syntax. In
this section, there will be a brief discussion on past works
on the language that directly concern this study. Others
will just be mentioned for the sake o f future research on
the language.
..
Of great importance is NFORGWEI (1991). In his
dissertation, among other things, he treats nouns in Limbum
 - 7a-

and attempts their classification. This is important to

d this study in that it helps in the collection of data and

.d resolves some problems of orthography. He also treats
pronouns and adjectives which have been o f great help in the
analysis of the modified NP in this study.
In addition HYMAN and VOORHOEVE (1981) exhaustively
treat yrassfields noun classes amongst which is the noun
class system of Limburn. This has been of much use to this
dissertation in that it has facilitated the determination o f
the various forms of the determiner. It i s the noun Class
system proposed by VOORHOEVE in this document that has been
adopted for our present study.
Moreover, there is MFONYAM ( 1 9 8 8 ) who establishes that
there are 3 phonemlc level tones (H,M,L)and 5 glides o r
contour tones in Limbum. He proposes the marking of only
the low and combinations of low and other tones in the
orthography o f Bantu languages. This proposition is not
adopted in this study because a non-native speaker will
hardly easily predict the unmarked tone.
Apart. from the above, there are other works on Limbum.
There i s HIGGENS and BRADLEY (1985) who worked on "Limbum
Language Learning Course", N D I et a1 ( 1 9 8 3 ) who produced a
first and second primer to teach reading Limbum, and MBURU
and BOMNSA ( 1 9 7 4 ) who in trying to establish a foundation in
Limbum linguistics published "An introduction to Limbum".
We also have PECK ( 1 9 7 4 ) who concentrates mostly on Limbum
words and their translations into English. PIETER and
VOORHOEVE ( 1 9 7 7 ) also published "Gender in Limbum". These
a n d o t h r r \,:or:k form t h e b u l k of linguistic literature on
Liabux.
 - 7b -
/

TABLE OF CONCORDS IN L I M B U M

A) la 8- n- y'p yf A- &- yC 0- 0- 0- 0' - '0

h2 1,9 n- n- Y:@ yf 8- 6- yC 0- 9- 0- '0 - '0
B1 2,8 P- P- ULP p V(- Vi- V i p- P- P- pl p- 8'
B2
n- p- wLp p yf- yi- vi p- ply(- 8' 0 o'
83
m-n- p- ulp p vf- v{- vf p- V- P- 8' P- a'
p- p- ul p Q- vr- W<"t p- 6- 4- pll p- 0'
54
55
p- p- WL p vi- h- w5-u; pl- a'- 6- 8' P- 0'-
'6
P- P- u- v{- vf- us'ui 0- vf- 8'
p- 0- YIQ P
i- h- us,) a- h- 0: p- '0
(1 2
'(2 8 P- g- y q p vf- vi- vf V- Vf- P-
:1 3 n- 0- yLg 8- - '0
:2 7 @ @- y'0 yi yi- yi- y i 0- 8- yf- yf- - '0
:3
y- 0- yig yi yf- yf- y l 0- -
I 5 r- r- ilr r ti- t{- t i 8- t- 0- - 0'
6a m- m- mlm m ni- mi- mi m- m- a- p- m- '0
'2 il- mlp
'3 m-n- m- mLm m mi- mi- ni (m-) m- B- 0'
0 10 n- 0- y-8 p yi- yf- y{ 8- v i - yl- 0- 8- '0
 - 7c -
The rioun c l a s s s y s t e m p r o p o s e d for Limbum by VOORHOEVE.

A$/B1 b i r d , e l e p h a n t , g o r i l l e , lamp, r o p e , s t o n e
0-si'q / p- "bird"

Az/Bz chief, thief

o-kf? / p- "chief"

A2 /B3 bushcow, d o g , l e o p a r d

m-bjq / p- 'I b u s h c o w 'I

~ z / B 3 a n i m a l , a x e , b e l t , body, b r a n c h , f i y , god, chimpanzee, house,

k n i f e , male, m a r k e t , monkey, s n a k e , s o u p , v e g e t a b l e .
m-Sa / m - n - "animal"

n - j & a / m-ii- "axe"

A2 /B.I m-53 / b- c h i 1d "

A2 / 8 5 q-k&r / p- friend"

A2 /B6 n-dGu / b- "husband"

A2 /SI q-wLc / b-&e I' pe r s o n 'I

A2/1O g o a t , h e n , rat,, s h e e p

in-bG / m- "goat"

Ci/B3 bark, c r a b , d a y , gun, h e a r t , message, nose, root, s l a v e , t a i l

5 - j i i / m-ii- I' back"

Cz/Bi b a g , bamboo, b o n e , c l o t h , e a r , h e a d , h o e , h o l e , b a n a n a l e a f ,
m o u t h , p l a c e , t r a p , t r e e , c o u n t r y , yam
0-bSa / b- "bag" i

C I /Ds n-fi.e / m-n- 'I leg"

Cz / D I 0-b5 / m- 'I hand

Cz /D3 0-koo / m-0- vt f o o t 'I

c3 /xz y-ii / b- " t h i ng "

5/D1 a r m , belly, b r e a s t , death, egg, eye, feather, horn, kola,

m a t , m o u n t a i n , n a i l , name, n a v e l , n e t , p a l m t r e e , p e p p e r , p o t ,
t h r o a t , t o n g u e , t o o t h , work
 - 7d -
r - k j 3 / m- arm

5/Dz r-kaa / m- " d e b t ''

5/D3 r-gi. / m - 0 - c a d a v e r ''

Ai maize, i r o n , war

0-kwg " m a i z e ''

A2 rain, tobacco

m-b&n rain

Bi hridge, b r a i n , bed, bloos, f a c e , t h o r n , wing

b-r&a " bridge"

B3 co1.11, h a i r

m-m- bZ7 " c 1o u d "

CZ cornbeer, ashes

0-sa " cornbeer"

5 r-boo "sky"

D3 b e a n s , f a t , o 1, s a l i v a , s a l t , w a t e r , m e d i c i n e , wine

m-0-k o " be a n s "

10 b e e , cowry, d u s t , f i r e , f i r e w o o d , f i s h , f r u i t

ii-h '' be e ''

m- b a b i '' c o w r y "
 1.3 GOALS, SCOPE AND METHOD OF WORK
1.3.1 GOALS AND SCOPE
PROPELCA has Limbum as one of the languages due to go
on area extension soon. As a result, this study is aimed at
increasing what has already been written on Limbum so as to
facilitate the teaching and learning of the language in
particular and mother tongue (MT) education in Cameroon in
general.
Besides, this dissertation is aimed at describing the
NP in Limbum with focus on the internal structure as we 1 as
the linear and hierarchical order of elements within the

1% simple and modified NPs.

The choice of this topic has been triggered by the 1ack
of or little work on syntax in Limbum as opposed to other
areas of study in the language such as morphology and
phonology. This study therefore aims at laying a foundation
on Limbum Syntax.

1.3.2 METHOD.OF WORK

This research has been carried out exclusively in
Yaounde. The work has been based on a corpus of about 500

words, 150 phrases as well as a collection of vital data

from what has already been done in Limbum. My informants
Mr. Ndamnsa Clement aged 2 8 , working with Cameroon National
Family Welfare (CAMNAFAW) and John Jarnba aged 2 2 , a student
 - 9 -

i n the University o f Yaounde did the oral translation from

English to Limbum.
d I have sometimes used my little knowledge of the
i
language to ask them tricky questions that have gone a long
way to clarify the doubts that I have had in my analysis.
The initial step consists in the syntactic analysis o f
the NP in order to bring out the various elements that
modify the n o u n ( N ) in Limbum and indicate the linear order
of these s a t e i i ~ t e s within the modified NP in the language.
After every analysis of the N and a modifier, a phrase
structure (PS) rule will be postulated.
In the final analysis, the PS rules shall be collapsed
so as to come up with a single generalized PS rule that can
generate the NP i n Limbum.

1.4 THEORETIC& FRAMEWORK

$1 [q4
this-”fT

‘iI..
fi The theoretical orientation adopted for
~

“dissertation is that of government and binding ( G B ) which is

%generative transformational syntax. It deals with
/ how
‘well-formed sentences are generated in a language. The
study brings out rules which show the structural arrangement
of elanierits ‘iri a sentence, describes the relations that the
various elements have in the sentence, and shows how to
form, interpret and pronounce sentences in the language.
This theory i s one o f the most current theories in Syntax.
The overall organization o f ( G E ) with all its components 1s
shown below:
 - 10 -

Xi Theory, e-Theory

<-- move a Projection Principle

8-cr it e r i on

Phonetic f o r m

Fig.111

The s u b - t h e o r i e s o f GB t h a t directly relate to this

study include the Xi t h e o r y (X-bar t h e o r y ) , t h e t a theory

( @ - t h e o r y ) and t h e p r o j e c t i o n p r i n c i p l e which are briefly

p r e s e n t e d below:

1.4.1 T H E X’ THEORY (X-BAR THEORY)

This is a t h e o r y t h a t was developed by Chomsky i n t h e

1970s. I t i s a more adequate and more g e n e r a l i z e d n o t a t i o n

for c h a r a c t e r i z i n g p h r a s a l and s e n t e n t i a l s t r u c t u r e s . This

t h e o r y e s t a b l i s h e s t h a t any p h r a s e i n any human language has

a head w h i c h g i v e s t h e p h r a s e i t s e s s e n t i a l c h a r a c t e r . The

head c o n t r o l s t h e o t h e r e l e m e n t s w h i c h a r e i n turn Closely

related to it within the phrase. The head i s u s u a l l y a

l e x i c a l ( i t e m ) c a t e g o r y such as N , V, P, A , e t c .
 - 11 -
X-bar theory recognizes 3 levels of projection: phrasal
level or maximal projection level ( X ' l ) , the semi-phrasal
level (Xl) and the zero or word level (X). The semi-phrasal
level relates the maximal projection to the head. Maximal
projections include NP, VP, A?, PP, IP, ADV.P, etc.
X as used above is a variable over any syntactic
category. It captures linguistic generalizations. The
X-bar theory extablishes the linear and hierarchical order
of elements within a phrase or sentence. Linear order here
is understood to mean the successive occurence of the
elements while hierarchical order has to d o with the manner
in which lower level categories combine to form higher level

categories.

1.4.2 THETA THEORY ( 6 THEORY)

This is a theory that provides semantic information

that make u p part of the lexicon of any grammar. GB
believes that any lexical item must belong to a syntactic
category. The theory then assigns 8-roles such as agent,
patient, goal, source, genitive etc. to the various
arguments. 8-role here is understood to mean the
information given about the element which has been
subcategorized for. This information is given within a

subcategorization frame which specifies the kind o f element

that can come after the lexical item, and with selection
restrictions which give information about the semantic
nature of the element that is subcategorized for.
Example: Eat [-NP + edible]
 - 12 -
i Within the realm of e-theory, there is e-criterion
which states that once a role is attributed to a structure,
no matter what movement operation that structure may
undergo, the role must not change. e-criterion also holds
ri that in any construction, only one element bears a
particular e-role and a particular e-role is assigned only
to one element. The elements that have the ability to
assign e-roles are verbs and prepositions.

1.4.3 PROJECTION P R I N C I P L E

This is a well-formedness condition on syntactic

representation which establishes a kind of relation between
the requirements of lexical items and the syntax which fills
those requirements. The principle states that

Syntactlc representations are projected from

the 1ex:con in that they uniformly observe
the lex?cal properties of the items they
contain. (RADFORD (1988 p.54)

Syntactic representations i s here understood to mean

structures that we get after the projection of the lexicon.
Uniformly observed here implies that the lexical properties
of an item must be respected at all levels of representation
(Deep struturz, Surface Structure o r Logical and phonetic
form).
In summary therefore, the projection principle assigns
 i,
- 13 -
appropriate lexical items to appropriate nodes of tree
structures built out of P.S. rules.

1.5 OUTLINE OF WORK

Four chapters make up this study. The first is
introductory and is aimed at acquainting the reader with
what the work is all about. In it, we have the objective
and scope of the study, a review of related literature,
presentation of theoretical framework, general information
on the language and its speakers, as well as the outline of
the work.
Chapter two is concerned with the analysis o f the NP in
Lirnbum. It examines the internal constituent structure of

the NP and establishes the linear and hierarchical order of

the modifiers o f the head N.
The third chapter takes a look at other phrase types
and tries to determine the position of occurence of the NP
in relation to other constituent structures in larger
constructions. It also shows the relationship between the
NP and other phrase types and brings out the significant
linguistic generalizations that characterize the various
phrase types.
Chapter four which is the last contains a summary of
the work, problems faced during research, significance of
the project and suggestions for future research.
 CHAPTER T W O

THE NOUN PHRASE

2.0 INTRODUCTION

ORE YUSUF ( 1 9 9 2 p . 5 ) d e f i n e s t h e noun phrase ( N P ) as:

... t h e c a t e g o r y t h a t codes t h e p a r t i c i p a n t s
i n the e v e n t o r s t a t e d e s c r i b e d by t h e v e r b .
The NP i s headed b y t h e Noun ( N ) , o r pronoun
.
(when i t w i l l n o t be m o d i f i e d ) . . The "head"
of a phrase i s t h e S i n g l e word t h a t can s t a n d
f o r t h e whole c o n s t r u c t i o n ; i t i s t h e s i n g l e
lexical i t e m t h a t can r e p l a c e t h e whole
phrase.

G e o f f r e y Leech and Jan S v a r t v i k ( 1 9 7 5 , p.251) say t h a t :

A noun p h r a s e i s a p h r a s e w h i c h can a c t as
s u b j e c t , o b j e c t o r complement o f a c l a u s e o r
p r e p o s i t i o n a l complement. I t is c a l l e d a
noun phrase because t h e word w h i c h 1s I t s
head i s typically a noun.

From t h e above d e f i n i t i o n s , coup ed w i t h e x i s t i n g data

on Limburn, i t can be s a i d t h a t an NP n Limbum c o n s t i t u t e s a

head word ( n o u n o r pronoun) with 0 Without satellites.

When t h e NP i s made IJP o f t h e head word a l o n e , it i s said t o

be a simple NP. Examples in Limbum include: biran

"groundnuts", baa "bag", m-baa "money" kwa "mal ze" n-dap

"house", 0-gwi. "dog" etc. When the head word has

satellites, t i l e NP i s d e s c r i b e d as m o d i f i e d or complex.

In Limbum, the NP-functions as subject, object or

complement i n 3 sentence as i l l u s t r a t e d below:

- 14 -
 - 15 -
1 m33 yi ir,-kvir yo n-ye

child of chief is thief

"The c h i l d o f t h e c h i e f i s a t h i e f "

(subJ ) ( p r e p ObJ) (camp)

A l t h o u g h b o t h t h e noun and t h e pronoun, w h i c h are heads

of the NP i n Limbum, can f u n c t i o n as u n m o d i f i e d NPs, only

t h e head N can be m o d i f i e d as i s e v i d e n t f r o m the examples

below:

2 (a) m53 Ca ( b ) *ye Ch

child this him this

"This c h i l d " * " T h i s him"

(cj birair, cS rnber ( d ) *"wap cZ. mber

groundnuts c raw theirs c raw

'' R aw g r o u ndn u t s " *"Raw t h e i r s "

(e) n-gst-5 (c5) nsi (f) * cane mbviru

mango c black that white

" u n r i p e mango" *"white t h a t "

(s) b3 okip (h) * b-ca b- bog bbq

hand left these good

" L e f t hand " *"Good t h e s e "

As can be n o t i c e d above, any a t t e m p t t o m o d i f y an NP

which i s a pronoun ( P r o n ) l e a d s t o u n g r a m m a t i c a l i t y .
 - 16 -
Pronouns which mostly serve as NPs is Limbum are

possessive pronouns, reflexive pronouns and personal

pronouns.

2.1 PRONOUNS

PRYSE ( 1 9 8 4 p . 3 ) d e f i n e s pronouns a s : "...words which

are used instead of nouns to avoid t h e awkwardness of

r e p e a t i n g names c o n s t a n t l y i n one s e n t e n c e " .

I n Limbum, t h e r e a r e human and non-human pronouns which

can replace nouns earlier mentioned i n a d i s c o u r s e . The

non-htiman pronouns f u n c t i o n o n l y as s u b j e c t s w h i l e t h e human

counterparts have d i v e r s e d f o r m s which mark s u b j e c t , o b j e c t

of v e r b and o b j e c t o f p r e p o s i t i o n .

2.1.1 PERSONAL PRONOUNS

P e r s o n a l pronouns a r e a group o f words which stand in

place o f t h e name o f a p e r s o n o r a t h i n g . When t h e pronoun

s e r v e s as a s u b j e c t , i t i s said to assume the nominative

case and when it serves as an object, i t assumes t h e

a c c u s a t i v e case.

2.1.1.1 SUBJECT PRONOUNS

In Limbum, t h e r e e x i s t s i m p l e s u b j e c t human pronouns as

well as compound s u b j e c t human pronouns as shown on f i g u r e s

I and I 1 r e s p e c t i v e l y :
 - 17 -
S i m p l e S u b j e c t human Pronouns

Person Singular Plural

Limbum English Limbum English

-
1s t mZ me wer we
2nd WZ YOU wee you .
3rd e he/she wowee they

(Fig.1)

Compound S u b j e c t human Pronouns

Persons Singular Gloss Plural 'Gloss

1 +2 s37 we ( S + A ) see we ( S + A s )

1C 3 wer we (S+R) W er we (S+Rs)

2+3 yee you ( A + R ) yee you ( A + R s )

3+3 wowee they (R+R) wowee they (R+Rs)

( F i g . 11)

These pronouns a r e used as subjects in the examples

below:

3 (a) mZ mb& Ye kw5

I P2 eat maize

"I a t e maize"

(b) wer a mbi! ye kwa

we(i+3) sm P2 eat mai z e

"we a t e maize"

(c) s57 a mbi! so7sf n-yor

we(l+Z) sm P1 wash self/body

"We t o o k a b a t h " "we washed o u r s e l v e s "

 - 18 -
(d) yee a Ye m- baa

you(2+3) sm eat money

"You have s p e n t money"

2.1.1 2 HUMAN OBJECT PRONOUNS OF P R E P O S I T I O N S

There also exist simple and compound IOU of

prepositions which are used as o b j e c t s i n Limbum. These

typeJof pronouns can be seen on f i g u r e s I 1 1 and I V below:

Simple P r e p o s i t i o n a l object.pronouns

Person SIn g u l a r Gloss Plural Gloss

1 mi me wer we

2 W& YOU wee YOU

3 1 ye h 1 m/her wowee them

( F i g . 111)

Compound p r e p o s i t i o n a l O b j e c t Pronouns

Persons Singular G1 oss Plural II Gloss

1 +? S5? we (S+A) see we ( S + A s )

113 ,we r we (S+R) we r we ( S + R s )

2+3 yee you ( A + R ) yee you (A+Rs)

3+3 ' wbw5e they ( R + R ) wbwee they (R+Rs)

(Fig. I V )

The sentences below i l l u s t r a t e t h e use of some of these

pronouns :
 I

- 19 -
4 (a) mi fa ni wowee
I give to them
"I have given to them"

(b) fa ni mZ
give to me

"Give to me"

(c) e k5 SB Ye
he take from him
"He has taken from him"

(d) e k5 S6 w6wee
he take from them
"He has taken from them"

The human pronouns that substitute for berb objects\, , i.n

<
~~~~ ~ ~ ~.~
~~

. ~~~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~

Limbum are not different from

.
the pronounshf preposition
-\,------ ~~
~. ~~

already discussed above.

-~___-----
2.1.1.3 NON-HUMAN PRONOUNS

As earlier mentioned in 2.1, non-human pronouns in

Limbum function as subjects only. Their forms depend on the
class of the nouns which they substitute for. The table
below shows the various forms of non-human pronouns in
Limbum and their corresponding noun classes.
 - 20 -

Singular Plural Gloss N.cl.

li mi i t , they D3, 5/D1

a yi/vi it, ther A l l others

The use o f t h e s e pronouns as s u b j e c t s i s i l l u s t r a t e d i n

the sentences below. The noun which i s s u b s t i t u t e d f a r i s

i n oaranthesis.

5 (a) l i (rbi) rnbij bkte

i t (Kolanut) P2 rotten

"It got r o t t e n "

(b! & (n-wa?) rnbij b&te

I t (book) P2 rotten

"It got rotten"

( c ) m i (rn-n-dip) rnbij k&te

it (water) P2 sp111

" I t s D i 1 led"

( d ) v i (b-n-wa?) mbG sasi

they (books) P2 tear

"They g o t t o r n "
 - 21 -
2.1.2 REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS
Reflexive pronouns are formed in Limbum by adding
"nyor" (body or self) to the possessive adjectives which we
have in 2 . 2 . 1 (I) below:

I Singular I Plural
English I Limbum / English
ya-nyor myse 1 f yer-nyor ou rse1 ves
yo- n yor yourself yGe-ny6r yoursel vs
yi-nyor hi msel f/ wap-nyor themselves
herself/
itself

(Fi g.VI )

Examples o f sentences with reflexive pronouns are:

6 (a) mi gee ni y a-ny6r

I do with myself
" I have dealt with myself''

(b) e bi VG mbena ni yi-nyor

he Fo come here with himself
"He will come here

-
(c) 0 bi VG mbena ni wap-ny6r
they Fo come here with themselves
"They will come here themselves"
-- .
.

2.1.3 POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS

These pronouns whlch mark possession are noun class
dependent. Taklng into consideratlon the proposed noun
class system for Llmbum by VOORHOEVE (1981), Figure VI1

below shows the possessive forms of mass nouns ( D 3 ) and

nouns of class ( 5 / D 1 ) . Figure VI11 shows the possessive
forms of the rest of the nouns in Limbum.

Singular Plural Gloss

18 ma mi ne
1 0 mo yours
li mi his
1 isee mi see ours

3 16 mem yours
1 ap map theirs

Singular Plural Gloss

YS Wh mine
YO WO yours

Yi Vi his

yer, yisee I wer/visee ours

yee wee yours
Y aP wap theirs
-
 - 23 -
The use o f some o f these pronouns is exemplified in the
sentences below:

7 (a) baa ca a YA
bag this is mine
"This bag is mine"

(b) m33 Ca a yer/yisee

child this is o u r s
"This child is ours"

(c) rbi cane a 10

Kolanut that is yours
"That Kolanut is yours"

(d) m-bi m-cena a map

Kolanuts those are theirs
"Those Kolanuts are theirs"

The pronouns discussed above are those which directly

concern this part of the dissertation. They serve as
unmodified NPs in Limbum. NFORGWEI (199.1) also treats
pronouns in Limbum though not in the same light as in this
study. There shall be more on pronouns in subsequent
sections .
From the above analysis, the possible PS rule that can
generate an NP that consists only o f a pronoun o r a noun is:
 \ i
i
- 24 - Q
P rule I NP -
> [Pron J
In the next section of this study, there will be an
examination of the modified NP and the various satellites
that make UP such an NP.

2.2 THE MODIFIED NP

The modified NP is an NP that consists of an obligatory
head N with modifying elements. In Limbum, these modifying
elements can be premodifiers or postmodifiers.
Welmers ( 1 9 7 3 p.249) holds that "Many works on African
Languages... show a remarkable lack of linguistic
sophistication in their treatment of noun modifiers.''
Talking about Niger-Congo languages in particular, (p.250)
he says: " ... it should be recognized that the status of
forms used as noun modifiers in these languages, and o f
relat.ed forms, is intrinsically difficult to define." In
this wise, he prefers using the term "adjectivals "to define
the satellites that accompany the noun in a modified NP.
While Welmers's "adjectivals" is welcome because it
conflates the categories of determiners and adjectives and
thus limits our inventory of categories, there seems to be
no empirical evidence to support such a proposition in
Limbum. Any attempt to analyse determiners as adjectives in
Limbum will lead to a number of problems.
First, there is supposed to be a distinction between
 - 25 -
t h e d e t e r m i n e r and t h e a d j e c t i v e w h i c h s t a t e s t h e qualities

o f t h e noun as can be seen i n t h e examples below:

8 (a) 0-we Ca

person this

" T h i s man"

(b) 0 - ~ 2 mbviru

person white

" w h iteman "

Besides, a d j e c t i v e s can be s t a c k e d i n d e f i n i t e l y t o t h e

right of the head N they modify. This distributional

e v i d e n c e makes them d i f f e r e n t f r o m d e t e r m i n e r s which c a n n o t

be r e c u r s i v e l y s t a c k e d t o t h e head N w h i c h t h e y d e t e r m i n e .

9 (a) 0-gwa bbnb60 cG nsi

wife goodgood c black

"The v e r y good d a r k i n c o m p l e x i o n w i f e "

(b) *rwC cena ca

cat that this

*"This that Cat"

e
distributions when
--
Moreover, d e t e r m i n e r s

they
ani adjectives
-
-
.
.~
I
.~
-
-
--
-
have fferer;

a r e used t o g e t h e r t o m o d i f y an N.
--
-
The d e t e r m i n e r always jjrecedes t h e a d j e c t i v e . r
 - 26 -
10 m-bvk nsi
h ' i /
r,,? goat black \
"my b l a c k g o a t "
\

i/ !
friend my good j
" M Y good f r i e n d "

(c) Yb m- baa mfi

your money new

"Your new money"

I n a d d i t i o n , d e t e r m i n e r s can be c o o r d i n a t e d w i t h other

determiners of the same type just as a d j e c t i v e s can be

coordinated with others of the same type. However,

d e t e r m i n e r s c a n n o t be c o o r d i n a t e d w i t h a d j e c t i v e s . Consider

t h e examples below:

1 1 ( a ) n-dap ca 0 cena

house this and that

" T h i s and t h a t house"

( b ) kwa mber ce nfi

maize raw c new

"Raw f r e s h mai Ze"

 - 27 -
(c) * Cena o kw.3 mber

That and maize raw

* " T h a t and raw maize"

Furthermore, adjectives can be r e d u p l ic a t e d

m o r p h o l o g i c a l l y t o l a y emphasis on t h e degree o f t h e q u a l i t y

a t t r i b u t e d t o t h e noun b u t determiners do not have this

morphological p r o p e r t y .

" A v e r y good b a s k e t "

( b ) njinwF5 ntatap

woman hard hard

" A v e r y h a r d woman"

(C) * b-laba? b-cB CB

shoes these these

*"These t h e s e shoes"

Finally, adjectives have a stricter selection

r e s t r i c t i o n than determiners. Specific adjectives modify

specific nouns. This r e s t r i c t i o n i s r i g i d with adjectives

b u t l i b e r a l w i t h determiners.
R - 28 -
j /I
iii 13 (a) q-w2 fee
person sense
"intelligent person"

(b) *kao fee

pan sense
*"Intel 1 igent pan"

(c) n-w& cena

person that
"That person"

(d) kao cena

pan that
"That pan"

The use of the adjective fee "intelligent" is limited

to humans but the use of the determiner cena "that" goes
with both animate and inanimate things.
Having examined the distinction between determiners and
adjectives, it is clear that descriptive adequacy will be
achieved if t h e two categories are not conflated.
In the discussion o f the modifiers of the head N which
follows, determiners will be treated as belonging to a
category different from that of adjectives.
 - 29 -
2.2.1 DETERMINERS
/

As earlier mentioned, the determiner determines the

head N. In Limbum, determiners include the demonstrative
pronoun, the interrogative pronoun, the definite and
indefinite pronouns, the definite and indefinite articles,
and the ordinal and cardinal numerals.

A The demonstrative Pronouns

In Limbum, there are demonstratlve form that deslgnate
Objects near speaker (NS), ObJects far from speaker (FS) and
near the addressee ( N A ) and ObJects far from speaker and
addressee ( F . S . A ) . This is illustrated on the table below:

All Other Classes '

N.Cl.
D3 and 5/D1

Singular Plural
Limbum Gloss Limbum Gloss
this (NS) b-ca these (NS) m-ca
cane that (FS) (NA) b-cane those (FS)(NA) in-cane
b-yana
cena that (FSA) b-cena those (FSA) m-cena

(Fig.IX)

The column to the extreme right shows forms which are

used mostly with mass nouns ( D 3 ) but one finds out that
there are some non-mass nouns which take the same
demonstrative forms. There is the example of "Kolanut" rbi
which belongs to noun class 5/D1.
 - 30 -
14 (a) rbi Ca m- b i m-cti

Kol anut this Kolanuts these

" T h is Ko 1an u t '' "These K o l a n u t s "

( b ) rbi cane m-bi m-cane

yana m-yana

Kolanut that Kol a n u t those

"That Kolanut" "Those K o l a n u t s "

( c ) rbi cena m-bi m-cena

Kolanut that Kol a n u t s those

"That Kolanut" "Those K o l a n u t s "

( d ) m-n-dip m-ca

water this

"This water"

( c ) m-n-dip m-cane

m-yana

water that

" That water "

( f ) m-n-dip m-cena

water that

'' T h a t water ''

As can be seen i n t h e examples i n 14 and the various

,
 - 31 -
demonstrative forms in figure IX, the forms of the

d e m o n s t r a t i v e pronouns a r e noun c l a s s dependent i n Limbum.

The most p r o b a b l e reason why k o l a n u t and w a t e r t a k e t h e

same form f o r t h e d e m o n s t r a t i v e s h o u l d have been that they

belong to one c l a s s b u t VOORHOEVE ( 1 9 8 1 p.189-90) presents

them as b e l o n g i n g to classes 5/D1 and D3 respectively.

There is no information at the moment to c l a r i f y the

situation. ,/----)/

The PS r u l e c a p a b l e o f g e n e r a t i n g an NP which is made>. /

/=-A, i
,
up o f a noun modified by a demonytrate!pronoun w i l l be:

PS r u l e 2 NP - N(D)
\
k d '
1' / -,

The o p t i o n a l i t y o f t h e d e t e r m i n e r i s due t o t h e f a c t t h a t a

head noun w i t h o u t m o d i f i e r s has t h e p o t e n t i a l i t i e s o f a f u l l

NP as i n t h e example below:

15 M-n-dip rn-bo,oi

water good + pres.t.

"Water i s good"

This sentence can be s a i d t o be made up o f an NP and a

VP i n w h i c h case t h e NP i s a s i n g l e N .

B The I n t e r r o q a t i v e Pronoun

The i n t e r r o g a t i v e d e t e r m i n e r i s noun c l a s s dependent in

Limbum. There a r e t h e f o l l o w i n g f o r m s f o r t h e i n t e r r o g a t i v e

i n t h e language:
il - 32 -

6i~lnsG-1 Gloss I Plural I Gloss I

1 c&ft/yi-fi 1 which one? 1 mi-ft/vi-fd] which ones? I
fi where? fi where ?

kt what? ki what ?

ndaa whom, who, whose? ndaa who, whom, whose?

The use o f t h e s e i n t e r r o g a t i v e forms i s i l l u s t r a t e d in

t h e sentences below:

1 6 ( a ) n-dap c&fi m-n-dap vi-fi?

yi-fi houses which

house which "which houses?"

" w h i c h house?" (Amongst many o t h e r s )

(Amongst many)

( b ) m-n-dip mi-fi?
water which

"Which w a t e r ? "

( c ) n-dap ndaa? m-n-dap ndaa?

house who houses who

"whose house?" "whose houses?"

 - 33 -

iij ( d ) n-dap k i? m-n-dap k i?

house what houses what

"What house?" "What houses?"

I ( c ) n-dap fi? m-n-dap fi?

house where houses where

"Which house?" "Which houses?"

mi-fl i s used w i t h nouns o f c l a s s e s D3 (liquids) and

5/D1 such as rbi "Kolanut" as we have i n 1 6 ( b ) above.

C&fl or y i - f 6 a r e used when what i s t a l k e d about i s p r e s e n t

amongst many o t h e r t h i n g s . When t h e o b j e c t i s a b s e n t , fii s

used as w e have i n 1 6 ( c ) above.

yi-fc and v i - f i a r e r a r e l y used i n t h e language. The

former i s used m o s t l y by n o n - n a t i v e speakers and t h e l a t t e r

e s p e c i a l l y by c h i l d r e n .

The P . S . r u l e f o r an NP m o d i f i e d by an interrogative

determiner in Limbum i s .

the determiner being optional because t h e noun can S t i l l

f u n c t i o n i n d e p e n d e n t l y as a f u l l NP.

C The d e f i n i t e Pronoun

In L i m b u m , t h e d e f i n i t e pronoun morphemes i n c l u d e :
 - - 34 - !

1 Limbum I English I
We
msi p

rn37 ..... k a ?
a1 1

none
1
I
(Fig. X I )

M 3 7 means " o t h e r " and ka7 i s a marker o f n e g a t i o n .

18 ( a ) mi k3n mS7 6 wowee kS7

I 7ike other of them not

" I l i k e none o f them"

(b) n3 m-ro7 m-ca msip

drink wine this all

" D r i n k a l l t h i s wine"

(c) n5 m-ro7 m-ca we

drink wine this all

" D r i n k a l l t h i s wine"

I t i s w o r t h n o t i n g t h a t t h e d e f i n i t e pronoun i n Limbum

is not noun c l a s s dependent because i t s f o r m i s i n v a r i a b l e

w i t h r e s p e c t t o t h e noun i t d e t e r m i n e s .

19 ( a ) mZ ye birang m s i p/we

I eat groundnuts all

"I have e a t e n a l l t h e g r o u n d n u t s "

 - 35 -
(b) 0 y60 b-baa msip/we

they buy bags all

al
4 "They have bought all the bags"

(c) bee 0 n3 sha we/msip

people s.m. drink cornbeer all
"People have drunk a1 1 the cornbeer"

The definite pronoun is always positioned to the right

of the noun it determines.
The PS rule that can generate the NP consisting of a
noun modified by a definite pronoun is:

PS rule 4: NP -> N (D)

r The determiner i s optional because of the status of

(N) can independently function as an NP.
N. It

D The indefinite Pronoun

Like the definite pronoun, the indefinite pronoun in
Limbum is not noun class dependent. Forms for the
indefinite pronouns include those in figure X I 1 below.
 - 36 -

L imbum English

m5 7 some, c e r t a i n

93r many, s e v e r a l , much

kZ7 . . . + i n t e r r o Pron. any

M37 has many meanings depending on t h e c o n t e x t i n which

it is used. I t v a r i o u s l y means " o t h e r " , "some", "certain"

and "one" (when c o u n t i n g ) . B u t i f "one" i s used w i t h a noun

as a numeral e . g . one man, we use m 3 7 s i r .

As an indefinite pronoun, m57 means "some" or

"certain" .

20 ( a ) Q - W ~ m3 7

person some

Somebody

(b) bee m3 7

people some

"Some peop 1e "

(c) rl-wi m3 7 a mb6 vi,

person some s.m. P2 come

certain

Somebody came "

" A c e r t a i n p e r s o n came"
 - 37 -

g3r can also serve both as an adjective and as an

indefinite pronoun depending on the context in which it is
used. The former function will be examined subsequently.
In the following examples, g3r acts as an indefinite
pronoun.

21 bee 93r 0 mbi, vii

people many s.m. P2 come
several

many people came"

several

The sentence above i s vague as it can also mean "Big

people came" in which case g3r functions as an adjective
"big". To avoid this ambiguity, the native speaker would
prefer positioning the item "g3r" sentence-finally as in 2 2
below:

22 bee 0 mbi, vir 93r

people s.m. P2 come many/several
"Many/Several people came"

The morpheme kZ3 which is a marker o f negation becomes

an indefinite pronoun when attached to an interrogative
pronoun. It does not make sense on its own except when used
with other morphemes to mean "none" in the case of definite
pronouns, and "any" in the case of indefinite pronouns or to
express any aspect o f negation. T o mean "any", we have kZ7
I
+ interro.Pron. Consider the examples below:

2 3 (a) kZ7 ndaa

any who
" Any body ''

(b) kZ7 ki
any what
" Any th i ng "

(C) kZ? ce-fi

any which
" An y one 'I

(d) ka? mi-fi

any which
"Anyone" (N.Cl .D3)

The possible PS rule that can generate an NP i n which

the noun is determined by an indeflnlte pronoun is:
c?

PS rule 5 NP ->
(- N (D) c1

E The definite Article

Morphologically, the form of the definite article in
Limbum is similar to that of the near speaker (NS)
.- -__

- 39 -
demonstrative pronoun. They only differ in that they bear
different tones. The (NS) demonstrative bears a contour
tone as in ca "this" while the definite article bears a
register tone (L) as we have in 2 4 below:

2 4 (a) rn53 Ca e mbii dii

child the s.m. P2 go
"The child went"

(b) e mbi, dii ni 0-wa7 ca

he P2 go with book the
"He went with the b o o k "

The definite article in Limbum is noun class dependent

as illustrated in the examples below:

25 (a) b8o b-Ca vi bebi

things the s.m. spoil
"The things are spoi It"

(b) YO C& a bebi

thing the s.m. spoil
"The thing is spoilt"

(c) m-n-dip m-ca mi kGte

water the s.m. spill
"The water i s spilt".
 - 40 -
Sometimes, the defin te article is not marked as in
example I repeated as ( 2 6 for the sake o f convenience.

26 m k yi q-kvli yo 0-ye

child of chief is thief

"The child o f the chief is a thief"

The PS rule f o r an NP in which the head N is modified

by the definite article is:

The determiner is optional because the noun can act as a

full N P with o r without the determiner.

F The indefinite Article

The indefinite article is not morphologically marked in
Limbum. The structures below illustrate this.

27 ( a ) fa mZ q-g3r3
give me mango
"Give me a mango"

(b) 1st- n-Sara?

take needle
"Take a needle"
 \

- 41 -
( c ) o-wt yo mba n-dap

person i s in house

" A p e r s o n i s i n t h e house"

" T h e r e i s someone i n t h e house"

The possible PS rule for an NP modified by the

i n d e f i n i t e a r t i c l e w i l l be:

PS r u l e 7 : NP -> N

The d e t e r m l n e r i s n o t j u s t o p t i o n a l h e r e b u t absent because

t h e i n d e f l n l t e a r t l c l e i s n o t m o r p h o l o g i c a l l y marked i n the

1anguage .

G. C a r d i n a l Numerals
As NFORGWEI (1991 p39 ) points out, "In Limbum,

c a r d i n a l s a r e commonly used and a r e formed on base 10."

28 1 m3' 6 ntuunfir

2 baa 7 saamba

3 taar 8 waami

4 kjee 9 tG?ii

5 tzi 10 r G t i

A f t e r 10, we have nc6p + s i m p l e numbers.

 - 42 -
il 29 11 ncop-rn37

12 ncop-baa

13 nc6p-taar

C a r d i n a l n u m e r a l s a r e noun c l a s s dependent i n Limbum as

can be seen i n 30 below:

30 ( a ) tob5 m37si r m-tob5 m- baa

finger one fingers two C2/D1

"One f i n g e r " "Two f i n g e r s "

( b ) c5? m37sir b-cS7 b- bsa

c l o t h e one clothes two C2/B1

"One c l o t h e " "Two c l o t h e s "

(c) m53 m57si r b3s b- baa

child one children two A2/B4

"One c h i I d " "Two c h i l d r e n "

(d) rbi rn3'si r m-bi m- bSa

Kolanut one Kolanuts two 5/D1

"One K o l a n u t " "Two K o l a n u t s "

When a c a r d i n a l numeral d e t e r m i n e s a noun, i t i s always

p o s i t i o n e d t o t h e r i g h t o f t h e s a i d noun. The PS r u l e that

can g e n e r a t e an NP m o d i f i e d by a c a r d i n a l numeral i s :

PS r u l e 8: NP -> N (D)
 - 43 -
0 is optional because of N's ability to function as a full
NP independently.

H. Ordinal numerals
Unlike the cardinals, ordinals are less frequently used
in Limbum. This may be because they are very limited in
number. There are ordinals in Limbum which express "first"
(ahead), "next" (behind) and "last". They, unlike the
cardinals, are not noun class dependent as can be observed
in 31 below.

31 (a) s i 0 ent5mbi p-si0 entomb?

bird f i rst/ahead birds first/ahead Al/Bl

"First bird" "First bi rds"

(b) rn-bjr, ent6mbi m-m-bsrl entomb?

bush cow first/ahead bush cows first/ahead A2/B3

"First bush cow" "Fi rst bush cows

- &!I&]>
( c ) n-kar ernbgnji p - k6 r

friend next (behind) friends next/behind A2/B5

" N e x t friend" "Next friends"

We can therefore postulate the PS rule for an NP

containing a noun which is determined by an ordinal numeral
as:

PS rule 9: NP -> N (a)

D is optional because o f the potentiality of N which can
function independently as a full NP.

I The oossessive determiner

The possessive determiner in Limbum is noun class
deDendent. This Can be observed on the table below:

\
i
rn Singular I ---Plural
English Li mbum Engl ish
my bag wa b-baa my bags
I
t baa your bag wo b-bZa your bags
C2/B1 yi baa his bag v i b-baa his bags
ySr baa our bag wer b-baa our bags
yee baa your bag wee b-baa your bags
yap baa their bag wap b-baa their bag
m 3 3 wa my child b33 wa my children
m 3 3 wo your children
m 3 3 yi his children
A2/B4
rn33 wer our children
n33 wee your children
n33 wap their children

(Fig. XIII)

In most cases, the possessive determiner precedes the N

in Limbum but in some cases, it comes after the head N as
can be seen on figure XI11 above. The latter case is

,
- .
a
nouns reverse the general order o f [Poss. N.].
The PS rule that can generate this sequence of head
noun and the possessive determiner i s :
d
PS rule 10: NP -> N (D)

(D) N

I n the discussion of the noun and determiners so far,

we have postulated the following PS rules:-

1) N + demonstrative Pron. NP -> N (0)

2) N + interro. Pron. NP -> N (0)

3) N + definite Pron. NP -> N (D)

4) N + indefinite Pron. NP -> N (0)
(D) N
5) N + definite art. NP -> N (0)

6) N + indefinite art. NP-> N

7) N + Cardinal numerals NP -> N (D)

8) N + Ordinal numerals NP -> N (0)

9) N + Poss. Pron. NP -> N (D)

(D) N

A conflated PS rule for the noun and determiners wil

be:

PS rule 11: NP -> N (D)

(D) N
a - 46 -
2.2.2 ADJECTIVES
An adjective is a word which qualifies the noun with
which it is used in an NP. It assigns a particular quality
to the noun unlike the determiner which specifies or
determines the noun with which it is used, From the above
definition, adjectives in Limbum will include mainly the
attributive adjectives. All other adjectives serve more as
determiners than as adjectives. The form of the adjective
is determined by the noun class of the qualified noun.

A The attributive adjective

This type of adjective attributes a quality or
qualities to t h e noun with which it is associated as can be
seen on the figure below. Its form depends on the class of
the noun it modifies.

(Fig. XIV)
 - 47 -
The a t t r i b u t i v e a d j e c t i v e i n Limbum always comes after

t h e head N .

The PS r u l e necessary t o g e n e r a t e t h i s NP t y p e i s :

A i s o p t i o n a l because N can f u n c t i o n as a f u l l NP w i t h o u t i t

( i e A).

2.2.3 THE A S S O C I A T I V E NP

TAMANJI (1991 p . 7 4 ) says "The a s s o c i a t i v e c o n s t r u c t i o n

is used to express a var e t y of semantic aspects of

a s s o c i a t i o n such a s : possess on, time of use, material,

contents, o r i g i n , q u a l i t y , q u a n t i t y , f u n c t i o n , p l a c e o f use

etc. "

I n an a s s o c i a t i v e NP i n Limbum, t h e r e a r e two nouns: N1

and N 2 . They a r e l i n k e d by an a s s o c i a t i v e marker (Am) w h i c h

i s either a floating tone or a segmental unit of CV

structure. The form o f t h e (Am) depends on t h e c l a s s o f

N1. C o n s i d e r t h e examples below:

32 ( a ) n-dap b b-lbr n-dap b-lor

house Am stones

"House of s t o n e s "
 - 48 -

(b) u-gkp Lo ba n-gkp ba

fowl Am father
"Fowl of father"
"Father's fowl"

(c) n-d0u yi makf0

husband Am grandmother
" H u sb and o f g randmoth e r "

"Grandmother's husband"

(e) m-n-dip mi nigk6r

water Am yesterday
'' Wa te r of yesterday "

"Yesterday's water"

What we realize from the examples above is that the

noun ( N l ) which is modified is always to the extreme left of
the phrase. This leads us to the postulation of the PS rule
below for the associative NP:

PS rule 13: NP -> N (Gen.P.)

As in previous PS rules, the rule indicates that the N can

function as a full NP without any modification.

2.2.4 THE COMPLEX NP

A complex NP is one in which the modifier is an embeded
sentence that usually functions as a relative clause. The
complementizer

33 (a) birar,
groundnuts
as we have in the examples below:

ce nf3
c Nfor
"The groundnuts which Nfor ate"
a
s.m.
mbii
P2
ye
eat
0
le,/
mb6 kGte ~ n a
(b) in-0-gur Ci. ;?/
oi 1 C P2 spill
"The oil which spilled"

c CYh. //
O-gkP CG mama am fa mi
('',','
jna

fowl C mother s m P3 give me :the /

:ij
"The fowl which mother gave me"

From the exmples above, the PS rule that can generate

the comolex NP in Limbum i s

PS rule 14: NP -> N' D

N' -> N (C')

The C1 is optional for the obvious reason that the N

can alone function as a full NP. This PS rule indicates
that the satellites of a head N may not only be a single
modifier but also a phrase.
Our foregoing analysis of the modified NP in Limbum
implies that there are two levels of categories.
 - 50 -
- Word-level categories e.g. N , A, P, D etc.
- Phrase-level categories e.g. NP, VP, Gen.P, CP etc.
We established in (1.4.1.1) that the X-bar theory
recognizes three levels of projection: Phrasal level o r
Maximal projection level, Semi-phrasal level and zero or
word level. It was also said that the semi-phrasal eve1
relates the maximal projection to the head. Taking into
consideration the X-bar theory and basing our analys s on
information got so far from the NP types discussed, we are
going to verify the existence or non-existence of the

semi-phrasal l e v e l category in Limbum. Let us consider 33

below:

33 0-gljp ce mama mbii Ye na

fowl C mother P2 eat the
"The fowl which mother ate"

The phrase marker f o r example ( 3 3 ) will be (34) below:

 - 51 -

CS
SPEC
I mama
1
I I V' '

I t
fowl which mother P2 eat the
"The fowl which mother ate"

[n-giip cS mama mbir ye] forms a constituent which for the

sake of convenience now, we call X .
[o-giip ce mama mbii ye] and [na] form another constituent
which is an NP or N11. X in the phrase marker looks like an
NP or N11 but if we replace it with an Nl', it will give us
the PS rule below:

PS rule 15: NP -> NP D

This will make the rule recursive whereas naturally, a

determiner rule is not recursive. X is therfore not an N11
and cannot be an N o r a zero level category either because
it is not a single noun. It is therefore an intermediary
category between the phrasal level and the word level
categories. According to the X-bar theory, it is an N-bar
(N'). The tree diagram (34) above will thus be 35 below:
II - 52 -

D
na

C
CG

mama
V' '
mb6
V
I

fowl which mother P2 eat the

"The fowl which mother ate"

This means that in Limbum we have all the three levels

of projectlon that characterize phrasal and sententlal
structures.
The PS rule that can generate this NP type wlll be:

PS rule 16: Nll -> N1 D

N' -> N C'

C' -> c I' 1

111 -> SPEC I'

I' -> I V' 1

V l l -> v

The determiner in this NP is not optional because N' is

not a full NP and it is not an N that can function

independently as a full NP.
 So far, the discussion on the NP in Limbum has led to
the postulation of the following PS rules:

N (D)

2) NP -> (D) N (for the N and determiners)

3) NP -> N (A) (for N and adjectives)

4) NP -> N (Gen.P) (for the associative NP)

5) NIT -> N1 D (for the complex NP)

In order to achieve a significant linguistic

generalization, the rules will be collapsed so that we have
one generalized rule which will generate an NP out o f either
an obligatory pronoun or noun with or without modifying
el emen ts .
A generalized PS rule for the NP in Limbum will be ( 1 7 )
below:
a
1 PS rule 1 7 :

The discussion on the noun and its satellites in Limbum

has revealed that whenever a noun is modified by a
possessive determiner, the determiner precedes the head N

but the case of nouns of class A2/B4 is peculiar in that

they reverse this order of occurence. With them, it is
instead the noun which precedes the determiner.
d
The discussion has also shown that mass nouns (class

i.1 ' D 3 ) have semilar morphological features with nouns of

5/D1. For example in 2.2.1 (A), the forms

class
of the
demonstrative pronouns for the nouns of these clases are the
same :

36 (a) rn-n-dip m-c&

water this N.Cl. D 3
"This water"

(b) m-bi m-ck

Kol anuts these N.C1. 5/D1

"These Kolanuts"
 - 55 - 4

P NP,
Word o r d e r in the language is not very rigid.
the head mostly occupies the
In
leftmost position but
the

sometimes a determiner occupies this position which is

indicative of the fact that word order in the language is

not very strict.
Moreover, the discussion has revealed that only a
pronoun or a noun can function as a head in the NP. While
the t w o serve as unmodified NPs, only the noun can be
modified.
a
m
i CHAPTER THREE

OTHER PHRASE TYPES

3.0 INTRODUCTION

The a i m o f t h i s c h a p t e r i s to examine a few other

phrase types in order to determine the position of

o c c u r r e n c e o f t h e NP i n r e l a t i o n t o other constituents in
larger constructions, show t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p between t h e NP

and other phrase types, and bring out the relevant

s i g n i f i c a n t l i n g u i s t i c g e n e r a l i z a t i o n s t h a t c h a r a c t e r ze t h e

v a r i o u s phrase t y p e s . In this wise there w i l l be an

e x a m i n a t i o n o f t h e i n f l e c t i o n p h r a s e ( P ) , t h e prepos t i o n a l

phrase (PP), t h e a d j e c t i v a l p h r a s e CAP and t h e v e r b phrase

(VP) i n t e r m s o f t h e i r c o n s t i t u e n t s t r u c t u r e s and t h e 1 in e a r

and h i e r a r c h i c a l o r d e r o f t h e c o n s t i t u e n t s .

3.1 THE I N F L E C T I O N PHRASE

The I P i s e q u i v a l e n t t o t h e s e n t e n c e ( s ) . It i s headed

by I which always bears tense and concord p r o p e r t i e s .

T a l k i n g a b o u t t h e I P w i t h r e f e r e n c e t o B a f u t , TAMANJI (1991

p . 9 3 ) has t h i s t o say:

" I n the IP, I i s expanded by t h e VP i n t o I'

w h i c h i s i n t u r n expanded by a specifier
( u s u a l l y an N P ) i n t o I P . "

This also holds true f o r Limbum as seen i n t h e f o l l o w i n g

sentences:

- 56 -
 - 57 ~

1 (a) q-wZ bi VG hjansi

person Fo come tomorrow
"Somebody wi 11 come tomorrow"

(b) Sanga a Vk

Sanga Pres.P. come

"Sanga has come"

(c) Saqga bZ dG

Sanga PI go
"Sanga went"

(d) S a q g a mbir ye baa

Sanga P2 eat cornfufu

"Sanga ate cornfufu i

I
I

In ( d ) sanga is the specifier, mbG i s the I and ye is

I
I
!

the VP ( V 1 1 ) while baa i.s an NP (N") functioning as a 1

i
. I

direct object. ye expands rnbG into I1 which is in. turn I

I
expanded into 1" by the specifier Sanga. This projection I
1
i s illustrated below: !
 - 58 -

SPEC
sanga
I 1

m bG V
Ye
/ \Nil
baa

Sanga P2 eat cornfufu

“Sanga ate cornfufu“

The PS rule capable of generating the 1P i s :

PS rule I: IP -> SPEC 1’

I’ -> I V’ 1

V” -> v N1 ’

Other complex IPS could lead to some changes on this P S

rule but we shall maintain the present rule since it serves
the purpose o f this study.

3.2 THE PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE

The head word In the PP is a preposition which often
expresses possession, instrument, direction, accompaniment,
location, etc. The following prepositions can be identified
in Limbum: ni, mbe, mba, ko, nje.
The preposition n i functions as a marker of direction,
accompaniment and instrument as can be observed in the
sentences below:
 - 59 -
3 (a) e ba fa in-baa ni ye

he P1 give money to him

"He gave money t o hime"

(b) e mb6 cep n-too ni WZ

he P2 send message to you

"He s e n t a message t o you"

(c) e m-nvG ni in-baa

he P3 come with money

"He came w i t h money"

-/--
)c.

( d ) / e ' mbi, vi, ni m3 3 Yi

2'
he P2 come with child his

"He came w i t h h i s c h i l d "

(cf e mbi, gbar ye ni s a7

he P2 cut him with cutlass

"He c u t him w i t h a c u t l a s s "

(f) e mbil d6 ni Y i ta
he P2 go with his father

"He went w i t h h i s f a t h e r "

The p r e p o s i t i o n a is always used t o express location.

The examples below i l l u s t r a t e t h e use o f mbe as a marker o f

1o c a t ion :
 - 60 -
4 (a) e mbk n3o mbe koo

he P2 sleep in bed

"He s l e D t i n bed"

(b) e yo mbe n-dap

he is in house

"He i s i n t h e house"

(c) e mbk CG mbe n-ta?

he P2 sit on chair

"He s a t on a c h a i r "

(d) le b? mbe n-ji

put hand on back

" P u t your hand on t h e back"

The p r e p o s i t i o n s @& and @ function as markers of

direction and location. The o n l y d i f f e r e n c e which e x i s t s

between them i s t h a t g e o g r a p h i c a l l y , the former indicates

something which i s down w h i l e t h e l a t t e r i n d i c a t e s something

which i s up. The sentences below d e m o n s t r a t e t h e use o f t h e

two p r e p o s i t i o n s :

5 (a) e ba dk mba n-dap

he P1 go to house

"He went t o t h e house" ( w h i c h 1s down)

 - 61 -
(b) e ba VW k6 n-ndap

he Pl come to house

"He came t o t h e house" (chich i s up)

( c ) n-f5 mb6 v6 k6 la7

Nfor P2 come at home

" N f o r came home" (which i s up)

( d ) n-f5 mbG v6 mba la7

Nfor P2 come at home

" N f o r came home" ( w h i c h i s down)

The p r e p o s i t i o n n j e i n d i c a t e s d i r e c t i o n , location and

.J
Provenance. I t s use can be seen i n t h e sentences below:

6 (a) e ba vw nje n-dap

he P1 come to house

"He came t o t h e house"

(b) tata y6 nje n-wa?

Tata is at book

"Tata i s a t school"

(c) e ci VG nje dowala ntini

he pres. come from Douala today

cont.

"He i s coming f r o m Douala today"

 - 62 -
(d) n-jike mbit v6 nje Kirmba ninkirr

Njike P2 come from Kumba yesterday

" N j ike came f r o m Kumba y e s t e r d a y "

From t h e above d i s c u s s i o n , t h e f o l l o w i n g PS r u l e can be

p o s t u l a t e d f o r t h e g e n e r a t i o n o f t h e PP i n Limbum:

PS r u l e 2 : PP -> P NP (ADV.P)

3.3 THE ADJECTIVAL PHRASE

This phrase i s c a l l e d an AP because t h e head word i n i t
is an a d j e c t i v e . Below a r e examples of phrases in whlch

a d j e c t i v e s f u n c t i o n as t h e heads o f t h e AP.

7 (a) a O-WZ nsi na

Pres.t person black this

"This i s a b l a c k man"

(b) a n-WZ mbviru na

Pres.t person white this

" T h i s i s a w h i t e man"

( c ) m53 mbanrir

child male

"Male c h i I d "
 - 63 -
(d) m33 qki7
child little
“A little child”

Apparently, the adjectives in the examples above have

no complements but if we take into consideration structural
symmetry among phrase types, we can assume that A can be
expanded into A-bar ( A 1 ) which can in turn be expanded into
A-double bar (All). That is to say, A can be expanded from
the word level category into the intermediate semi-phrasal
category. This can in turn be expanded into the phrasal or
maximal projection level. In this wise, we can posit the
following PS rule f o r the AP in Limbum.

’ PS rule 3: AP -> A

3.4 THE VERB PHRASE

The VP is headed by a verb. As in English, the verbs
in Limbum are divided into transitive and intransitive
verbs. The intransitive verbs do not take NP complements as
in the examples below:

8 (a) ya ma ci bomi
my mother Pres. sleep
Cont.
“My mother is sleeping”
 .-

I,

- 64 -

(b) n-gwe $I kwe

dog Po die
" A dog has died"

(c) e bi kwe
he Fo die
"He will die"

(d) e mb& war

he P2 cry
"He cried"

Taking into consideration the above examples, the PS

rule that can generate the VP in Limbum will be:

PS rule 4 : VP --i V

The transitive verbs on the other hand take NP

complements. The examples in ( 9 ) testify this assertion.

9 (a) manjt3 a Ye kw8

Manjuh Pres.P. eat maize
"Manjuh has eaten maize"

(b) tala? bi 16r m- baa

Talah Fo take money
"Talah will take money"
 - 65 -
(c) Tala7 ba n3 m-n-di p

Talah P1 drink water

" T a l a h drank w a t e r "

The f o l l o w i n g r u l e w i l l g e n e r a t e t h e VP in the above

sentences:

PS r u l e 5 : VP -> V NP

Both transitive and intransitive verbs take PP

complements as i n t h e f o l l o w i n g examples.:

10 ( a ) ya ma C i bomi mbe n-dap

my mother Pres. sleep in house

Cont.

"My mother i s s l e e p i n g i n t h e house"

(b) O - W ~ a kwe ko la7

person Pres.P. die at home

"Someone has d i e d a t home"

( c ) Yo ma ci b ii ko la?

your mother Pres. dance at home

cont.

"Your mother i s d a n c i n g a t home"

 - 66 -
(d) YO ma bi fa m-baa ni ye

your mother Fo give money to him

"Your mother w i l l g i v e money t o him''

The PS r u l e t h a t can t a k e c a r e o f such a VP as shown i n

t h e sentences above i s :

PS r u l e 6 : VP -> V ( N P ) PP

The transitive verb takes t h e NP and PP complements

w h i l e t h e i n t r a n s i t i v e v e r b t a k e s o n l y t h e PP complement as

seen i n ( 1 0 ) above.

The verb can also take an embeded sentence as a

complement. The embeded sentence i s always introduced by

t h e complementizer G. T h i s i s shown i n t h e examples below:

1 1 ( a ) mama rin n5 ndi bi VG

mother know c Ndi Fo come

"Mother knows t h a t Ndi w i l l come"

( b ) r]-gBl& B l a n5 e bi vG

Ngala Pres.P. say c he Fo come

" N g a l a has s a i d t h a t he w i l l come"

( c ) n-ga1a a VG n5 ye fa ye m-baa

Ngala Pres.P. come c you give him money

" N g a l a has come so t h a t you ( P I ) g i v e h i m money"

 - 67 -
The PS r u l e t h a t can generate a VP from the above

examDles i s :

PS r u l e 7 : VP -> V C’

The VP c o n t a i n s a s p e c t u a l markers such as -cf which

r a i s e t h e V1 into Vll. F o r example:

1 2 ( a ) m-bjn mblj c 3 7 c i n-ja nje ki0

Mbong P2 remove + ASP meat from pot

“Mbong removed meat ( s l i c e a f t e r s l i c e ) f r o m t h e p o t ”

(b) e mbtj kwebcf b-ce?

he P2 p i c k + ASP clothes

“He p i c k e d c l o t h e s (one a f t e r t h e o t h e r ) ”

T h l s l a s t example can be r e p r e s e n t e d on a t r e e diagram

as 13 below:

ASP
C i

kwebci b-ce’
pick+ASP clothes
I
‘:He p i c k e d c l o t h e s ( o n e a f t e r t h e o t h e r ) ”
 - 68 - 1

so far, t h e f o l l o w i n g PS r u l e s have been posited for

t h e Vp i n Limbum.

VP -> v
-> V NP

-> V (NP) PP

-> v C’

A g e n e r a l i z e d PS r u l e f o r t h e V P i n Limoum w i l l be:

PS r u l e 8 : VP ->

i n t h i s c h a p t e r , i t can be r e a l i z e d t h a t t h e s u b j e c t NP
precedes any o t h e r phrase t y p e w i t h which i t o c c u r s in the

same c o n s t r u c t i o n ( c l a u s e o r s e n t e n c e ) i n Limbum.

I n addition, one n o t i c e s t h a t , u n l i k e i n t h e NP, i n the

PP, AP, VP and I P , t h e head word c o n s i s t e n t l y appears t o t h e

left o f i t s complements. In t h e NP ( c f c h . 2 ) t h e head word

o f t e n preceds i t s s a t e l l i t e s b u t sometimes i t f o l l o w s them.

Limbum is therefore not a Head F i r s t Language p e r se and

word o r a e r i s n o t v e r y r i g i d i n t h e language.

T h i s c h a p t e r has a l s o revealed a general phenomenon

which c h a r a c t e r i z e s phrase t y p e s i n Limbum. T h i s phemonenon

i s t h a t p h r a s e t y p e s have t h r e e l e v e l s of projection viz:

the (zero) word-level, the (single bar) intermediate o r

semi-phrasal l e v e l , and t h e ( d o u b l c - b a r ) maximal o r phrasal

level.
 CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION
4.0 SUK:;VA:;IY OF WORK
Tk,emain purpose of this study has been to describe the
NP in Limbum within the generative approach. I

To attain the envisaged goal, general information on

Limbum was given in chapter one. There was the presentation
of the geographical, historical and socio-economic situation
o f the people after which the classification o f the language

was discussed and its sociolinguistic stituatio briefly

examined. There was also a review of lite
a a t e d to
the language ana theoretical frame. The goa'!s and scope o f
the project were stated and its outline given.
in chapter two, attention was focussed on the NP, its
constituents and their linear and hierarchical order. Here,
it was pointed out that an NP is a head word (noun or
pronoun) with or without satellites. It was also stated
that only the head noun could be modified unlike the
pronoun. After the analysis of the NP, it was realized that
,.-A

word order is not very .*.striWin the Limbum NP because

.,*
sometimes the head noun edes its satellites and at other
times it is preceded by the satillites.

In chapter three, there was a brief look at other

phrase types and a comparison between them and the NP

revealed that the Subject NP always precedes any other

phrase with which it occurs in a larger construction. As

- 69 -
 concerns o t h e r A-pOSitiOnS i n other phrase types, it was

realized that the NP occurs only a f t e r t h e head o f t h e

phrase i n which i t i s f o u n d . I t was a l s o r e a l i z e d t h a t the

language has three levels o f projection viz: word l e v e l ,

semi-phrasal l e v e l and p h r a s a l l e v e l .

4.1 LIMITATIONS

One cannot c l a i m t o have e x h a u s t i v e l y t r e a t e d t h e NP i n

Limbum because i n t h e c o u r s e o f i t s a n a l y s i s , problems t o

which adequate s o l u t i o n s might not have been found and

others which m i g h t have escaped n o t i c e a r o s e . One o f t h e s e

problems concerns t h e A . P . I t was n o t p o s s i b l e t o f i n d any

satellites of the A and we had to r e l y on c a t e g o r i a l

symmetry t o assume t h a t t h e r e c o u l d be another constituent

that could expand A i n t o A’ and t h a t A’ c o u l d be expanded

i n t o A” by a n o t h e r c o n s t i t u e n t . Since t h e data available

might not have been s u f f i c i e n t t o e s t a b l i s h whether t h e A

has m o r p h o l o g i c a l l y marked s a t e l l i t e s o r n o t i n Limbum, it

i s f e l t t h a t t h i s c o u l d s e r v e as an a r e a o f f u t u r e r e s e a r c h .

Another problem which surfaced during the analysis

concerns t h e noun and ts satellites. I t was not easy to

differentiate between some m o d i f i e r s namely d e t e r m i n e r s and

adjectives. The ord nal numerals are not noun class

dependent while the cardinal numerals are noun class

dependent. The p r o b l e m t h e n was whether t h e former should

be treated as a d e t e r m i n e r and the. l a t t e r as an a d j e c t i v e ,

o r t h e two be t r e a t e d as determiners or adjectives. TO

solve the problem, i t was t e n t a t i v e l y d e c i d e d t h a t t h e y be

 - 71 -
treated as determiners taking into consideration the fact
that none of them could behave as an adjective per se. A
more detailed research on numerals could reveal whether they
are determiners or adjectives, or one is a determiner and
the other an adjective.
These major problems and some minor ones which might
have escaped notice came up during the analysis o f the NP in
Lirnbum. Such problem areas could then serve as areas of

future research.

4.2 SIGNIFICANCE OF PROJECT

In spite of the above problems for which tenable
solutions could not be found, it i s hoped that this study
will contribute to the growth of Limburn linguistics, and
, more importantly, to the progress of Mother Tongue (MT)
edcation i n Cameroon.
This
of linguistics in general, and potential
/
dissertation may also be o f inte rest to students
syntacticians in
particular because it hopefully lays a foundation for

syntactic studies in Limburn. It could also be of importance

to national and international linguistic bodies which are
interested in the study of African languages.
 - 72 -
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