Author: Robert Hedinger
Paperback: ISBN: 9781556712227 Pages: 317 Price: U.S. $ 38.00
The purpose of this book is to describe the grammatical structure of Akoose, also known as Bakossi, one of the north-western most narrow-Bantu languages of Cameroon.
After a brief sketch of the phonology, the structure of the noun is presented, including the noun class system typical for Bantu languages. The chapter on the noun phrase includes a discussion of different noun phrase types as well as the noun modifiers, both those that agree with the head noun and those not manifesting any agreement. The form of the associative noun phrase and the semantic relations expressed are also covered. In the chapter on the verb, the verbal extensions (derivational suffixes) and their effect on verb valency are described.
Also covered are verb tense, aspect, mood and negation. All the verb forms are illustrated with paradigms showing a complex verbal system. The chapter on the verb phrase includes a discussion of auxiliary verbs which have an interesting range of different functions.
There is a chapter on clause types and their constituents. Questions, topicalisation and relative clauses take up another chapter. Reported speech, indirect questions and other clause combinations are covered under complex sentences. There is an appendix giving lists of ideophones, exclamations, comparative wordlists, loanwords and an interlinerised text.
The book is aimed at both linguists with an interest in African and in particular Bantu languages as well as a local audience interested in their own language.