Sketch Grammars

Sketch Grammars

Types (Mosel 2006)

• 1. Preliminary grammar• 2. Introductory grammar for a specific research topic• 3. The summary of a large reference grammar• 4. Dictionary grammar• 5. Language documentation grammar

• NB. The author of a grammar needs to identify the kind of information that a reader needs in order to understand a specialized investigation.

Preliminary grammar

• You begin working on this grammar as soon as the first analyses of preliminary paradigms and constructions are put into words.

Reference grammar summary

• Contains a selection of an already existing analysis of the language based on what one considers as essential features of the language from a more general perspective.

Dictionary grammar

• “Brings together elements of the grammar that are separated by the alphabetical order of the headwords” (Mugdan 1989: 732, in Mosel 2006: 302)

• E.g. numerals• Derivational means of expression (reduplication)• Tsyina –titsyitsina ‘turning’; • wlakɛ� - tɛwawlakɛ� ‘struggle’• what does it mean to be a noun, verb, adjective,

etc.?

Documentation dictionary

• This is related to the corpus of annotated recordings and a lexical database. Enhances the accessibility of the work for a more general readership.

Specific topic grammar

• This is written after the research on the specialized area in question has been concluded.

• E.g. “The grammatical coding of postural semantics in Goemai (a West Chadic language of Nigeria)” (Hellwig 2003)

• Inherent complement verbs revisited: towards an understanding of argument structure constructions in Ewe (Essegbey 1999)

Sketch grammar for postural semanticsBirgit Hellwig (2003)

2.1 Phonology and tonology2.2 Nominals and the noun phrase2.3 Other word classes2.3.1 Adverbs2.3.2 Prepositions and spatial nominals2.3.3 Particles and clitic2.3.4 Question words

Sketch grammar for postural semantics

• 2.4 Verbs and verbal clauses• 2.5 Complex clauses• 2.6 Non-verbal clauses• 2.7 Summary

Inherent complement verbs (Essegbey 1999)

• 2. The Ewe language• 2.0 Introduction• 2.1 Typological overview• 2.2 Tones• 2.3 Reduplication• 2.4 Syntax• 2.4.1 The basic clause• 2.4.2 The verb and the verb phrase• 2.4.3 The noun phrase• 2.4.4 The postpositional phrase• 2.4.5 The prepositional phrase• 2.5 Conclusion

Aims

• Main aim is to facilitate access to the documentation. As such, the grammar should:

• -contain all the grammatical information that the reader needs to make use of the lexical database and understand how in the corpus of annotated recordings the translations relate to the transcriptions.

• -at any stage accurately reflect the author’s current knowledge of the language

• -be user friendly

Comprehensiveness-Teop• Bona moon• ART woman

• Bona moon• ART:A-CLASS.SPEC.SG.OBJ woman:A-CLASS

• Which one would you choose for your dictionary and why?

• -analysis has already been done• -the paradigm represents grammatical features of all

articles in a systematic way• - long glosses are not user friendly

Accuracy

• A sketch grammar should aim should aim to account for all the assumptions that underlie grammatical annotations in the corpus.

User-friendliness

• Must help the user get a quick overview of the essential features of the language and all the information necessary for using the annotated recordings in further linguistic and related research.

• It should, for example, include all terms whose meaning is vague or variable in the linguistic literature (e.g. adverb, particles), or which is presumably known to specialists only (e.g. logophoric pronoun, serial verb construction).

Content

• Question• What would be included in the content of your

reference grammar?• Charts of the consonant and vowel system

Tutrugbu vowel inventory

Front Central Back[+ATR] [-ATR] [-ATR] [+ATR] [-ATR]

High i, ĩ u, ũ ɔ, ɔ

Mid e, e ɛ, ɛ oLow a, ã

• A note on syllable structure and most important phonological processes

• CV = ki-wi ‘day’, bɔ-pa ‘house’, tɛ-wa ‘herb’• CCV = plɛnɔ ‘help’, ɔwlago ‘evening’• CVC = kam.pɛ ‘side’, kan.tse ‘calabash’• A statement on how the orthography and/or

transcription used in the documentation relates to phonological characteristics

• sh = /ƒ/

• ny= /ɲ/ • tsy = /tƒ/

• Overview of word classes and grammatical categories in order to facilitate a better understanding of the glosses.

• Inflectional paradigms• Word and constituent-order rules

sali nɔ� gɛ a-nya ka-hɔkpɔ - ɔ� gɛ

thing DEF REL 3SG-tie CM-wrist- DEF REL

e-nu watch ɛ yɛ a-a-pɛ�3SG-be watch TP FOC 3SG-PROG-

want‘The thing that is around the wrist which is the

watch, that is what she is looking for’(Focus1-July-20-2007.039-040)

Sketch grammar and lexical database

• The sketch grammar needs to explain the principles of word classification and briefly characterize each class in order to facilitate the understanding of the abbreviations used in the lexical database and the annotations.

Goemai Reference grammar

• Chapter 1: Introduction• 1. The Goemai language and its speakers• 2. The fieldwork setting• 3. Language profile• 3.1 Typological origins• 3.2 Diachronic origins• 4. Structure of the grammar


• Chapter 2. Phonology and tonology• 1. Phonemes, tonemes and orthography• 2. Syllables, morphemes and words• 3. Clauses• 4. Summary


• Chapter 3: Nouns and the noun phrase• 1. Noun phrase• 2. Nouns• 3. Conjoining nouns and noun phrases• 4. Nominalization• 5. Other elements of the noun phrase• 6. Summary


• Chapter 4: Verbs and the verb phrase• 1. Verbs and the verb phrase: an overview• 2. Argument structure and lexical aspect• 3. Argument structure constructions• 4. Detransitivizing strategies• 5. Adding participants to an event• 6. Changing lexical aspect


• Chapter 7. Tense aspect modality (TAM)• 1. Intoduction• 2. Unmarked verb• 3. Tense• 4. Aspect• 5. Modality and mood• 6. Summary


• Chapter 8. Clause types• 1. Simple verbal clauses• 2. Non verbal clauses: equational and possessive

clauses• 3. Verb serialization• 4. Multiverb constructions• 5. Summary

A brief look at some content in Tutrugbu grammar

Noun classes in Tutrugbu• Assimilating pronominal prefixesa. Focus1-July-20-2007.006

ɛ-mɔ yofo-anɛ� ba-dzɛ� ta- bha1SG-see white.person-PL CM-woman AM-twoI see white people two women.

b. i-vu e-zi�1SG-catch CM-thief‘I caught a thief.’

HEINE’S (1968) NOUN CLASSES

• Class I. a- /ba-• a-/ba- aga, baga ‘animal’• ɛ/ba- ɛy , bay ɛ� ɛ� ‘horse’• e-/be- ebu, bebu ‘dog’• ø-/bapampro, bapampro ‘bamboo’• ø-/be- seƒoƒo, beseƒoƒo ‘flower’

• Class II. ɔ-/ɛ-• o-/i- ozi, izi ‘hole’• ɔ-/ɛ- ɔtsr , ɛtsr ɛ� ɛ� ‘leg’

• Class III. kɛ-/bɔ• kɛ-/ɔ- kɛdzya, bɔdzya ‘meat’• ki-/bu- kiplukpa, buplukpa ‘book’

• Class IV. kɛ-/a-• ki-/e- kidzo, edzo ‘road(s)’• kɛ-/a- kɛpɔt , apɔtɛ� ɛ� ‘cloth’

• Class V. bɔ-/ba-• Bu-/be- butu, betu ‘mountain• bɔ-/ba- bɔwa, bawa ‘medicine’

• Class VI. ka-/bɔ-• Ke-/bu- kevu, buvu ‘building’• Ka-/bɔ- kazhwɛ, bɔzhwɛ ‘bird’

• Class VII. bɔ-/tɛ• Bu-/ti• bɔ-/tɛ-

• Class VIII. ka-/ba-• Ke-/be- keli, beli ‘day’

Generalizing agreement markers

• a. a-ny -ɛ� ɛ� a-l ɛ� bɔ-p a� mɛCM-man-DEF AM-be.at CM-house inside‘The man is at home.

b. o-kutu- ɔ� a-kpasɛ a-gbɛ nɔ�CM-orange-DEF AM-be.contained CM-bowl DEF

mɛinside‘The orange is in the bowl.


• c. ke-he a-maCM-struggle AM-not:be.at ‘There is no problem.’

d. kɛ-vɔbɔ� w sɔ�� ɔ� tumpa nɔ� mɛCM-frog lie bottle DEF inside‘Frog lay in the bottle.’


d. Ba-nɔ ba-lɛ bɔ-p -ma�CM-person AM-be.at CM-house-insideThe people are in the house.

e. Bɔ-dzya be-kpe nɛ� a-gb ɛ�

CM-meat AM-become.plenty PREP CM-bowl

n ɔ� mɛDEF inside‘(Different kinds of) meat abound in the bowl.’

Marking agreement on the verba. ki-tsikpi n ɔ� kɛ-y lɔ ɔ� bɔ-d ɔ� tɔ�

CM-pot DEF AM-stop CM-thing cook‘The pot stopped cooking.’ (Spider-and-orphan.050)

b. gɛ o-kotoku n ɔ� lo-yi so-ɔ, As CM-sack DEF AGR-be.full therefore-TP,

gɛ a-a-ba bɔ-ŋaŋa tuli bɔ-w lɛɔ�as 3SG-PROG-come CM-food SPECI AM-fall‘Because the sack was full, as he went some of the food fell out.’ (Spider-and-orphan.150-151)

Marking agreement on the verb

a. a-ny ɛ� a-lɛ ye-nu m’ a-kaCM-man AM-this RP-be 1SG:POSS CM-father‘This man, he is my father.’

b. o-kutu -lɛ ɔ� o-lo-nu mɔ-yɛ�CM-orange AM-this RP-??-be 1SG-POSS‘This orange, it is mine.’

Documents

Sketch Grammars