Linguistic Update

It’s been a while since I’ve given a linguistic update on Tommo-So. Here is a little bit about the Noun Phrase (NP):

Nominal morphology is rather isolating. It employs a lot of clitics, even to express things like plurality. An NP can be made up of some combination of the following constituents, in order:

a. possessor NP and/or pronoun possessor
b. noun stem
c. adjective
d. determiner /gɛ/, demonstratives /nɔ́/ or /ní/ (this, that), or possessive pronoun
e. plural particle /mbe/
f. numeral
g. ‘all’

Both the demonstrative and plural clitics have no tone of their own, but rather get their tone from the preceding noun. In citation form (i.e. out of context), they are often pronounced low, but within a phrase, the tone is usually identical to the final tone of the preceding noun. For instance, /tàgá=mbè/ ‘shoes’ /tàgá=mbé yàà=bé-m/ ‘I saw shoes’.

A relative participle can also come in slot c., creating quite a distance between the noun stem and the constituents that follow (d-g). However, in a relative clause, the numeral precedes the relativized participle. Here is an example of a complicated NP.

ànàn tààndù-gò mí sɛ́gìrì=gɛ̀=mbè
men three-GO I met=Det.=Pl.
‘the three men that I met’

Like adjectives, the relativized participle also causes tone dropping on the head NP, including its numeral (which, if you recall from long ago, does not drop its tone when part of a possessed NP).

I still don’t have a good analysis of what I simply glossed as –GO. This suffix is found sometimes on adjectives, always on numerals (when not used in counting), and sometimes on adverbs and with stative verbs. I think it has something to do with a temporary state of being, but I have yet to work that out.

This is but a brief introduction. Any insights or questions are welcome.