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Thesis

English

ID: <

10670/1.q5tmoo

>

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A grammar and lexicon of Kam (àŋwɔ̀m), a Niger-Congo language of central eastern Nigeria

Abstract

This thesis is the first extensive description of Kam (àŋwɔ̀m), a Niger-Congo language spoken in Taraba State, central eastern Nigeria, by an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people. It offers a typologically and areally informed analysis of the grammar and lexicon of Kam, thereby advancing our understanding of the grammatical structure of Niger-Congo languages. This description is based on novel linguistic data collected in the Kam community between 2016 and 2018. There are six parts: (1) introduction, (2) phonological analysis, (3) nominal morphosyntax, (4) verbal morphosyntax, (5) clausal morphosyntax and (6) a sample of text and a lexicon with approx. 1,300 entries. Features of Kam that may be particularly interesting for African and general linguistics include labial-velar stops kp and gb; a difference between prosodically strong and prosodically weak positions in prosodic stems; tonal morphology used for both derivation and inflection; the absence of noun classes or gender; logophoric pronominals; STAMP-morphs; multi-verb constructions; verbal reduplication strategies; clause-final negation and bipartite content interrogatives. The Kam community and their language are part of the linguistically and culturally diverse landscape of north-east and central-east Nigeria. Previous research classified Kam as an isolated language within the Adamawa sub-family of Niger-Congo, whose genealogical unity is no longer widely accepted. Therefore, the classification of Kam and other languages should be reviewed. While classification is not addressed in this thesis, it provides grammatical and lexical data indispensable for any comparison between Kam and other languages and lineages.

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