Author(s) :

Joshua A. G. Smolders.

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This paper describes the semantics, syntax, and phonological behaviour of certain prominent morphemes in the grammar of spatial relations in the Bilugu dialect of Opo [lgn], a little-known language of the Koman family of Nilo-Saharan. It covers spatial relations in three broad categories: distance, location, and direction. For distance it describes the demonstrative enclitics, which differentiate three levels: proximal, medial, and distal. For location it describes how a Figure is positioned in reference to a Ground (e.g. via a predicator and the locative prefix /à-/ or certain stative verbs) and via spatial relators (nominals used in an associative relationship with the Ground to specify a particular site). For direction it describes verbs with lexical direction, marking patterns of goal and source, the deictic directional markers (a set of paradigmatically opposed suffixes that deictically orient motion), and the index directional adverb. Notably, the directional verbs and deictic directionals are shown to be primarily goal-oriented, contrary to traditional expectations that they have strictly venitive and andative orientation. Finally, in a brief discussion in the conclusion this paper shows how the description of spatial grams serves as an important foundation for approaching non-spatial grammar in Opo, since more abstract concepts such as temporal deixis and aspect are derived directly from the grammar of space.

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5

Author(s) :

Bettina Mütze.

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Mursi is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken in the south-west of Ethiopia. This paper presents some of the spatial-relations features found in Mursi, such as demonstrative deictics, locative deictics and directional deictics. The paper explores functions of the two-way deictic contrast found in demonstrative deictics in exophoric as well as anaphoric use. Some space is devoted to the interaction of demonstratives with the case system of the language, as this occasionally creates ambiguity in noun phrase constituents. Locative deictics are divided into two types: locative demonstratives and relator nouns. Locative demonstratives function as tools to specify a particular location in relation to the deictic reference point. Additionally, the strong relationship between locative demonstratives and the demonstrative construction is presented. Relator nouns function as tools to specify the relation of one entity to another or to specify a particular location in relation to the deictic reference point. The source of these relator nouns are inherent parts of wholes, namely body part terms and terms referring to domains of the universe (e.g. ‘sky’, ‘ground’, ‘border’), whose function is to relate one entity to another. As for the verb system, Mursi marks spatial relations via directional deictics. It appears that Mursi has only a ventive but no itive suffix, the latter direction being assumed when the motion verb is unmarked. It is further shown that direction can also be expressed through the use of verbs with inherent directionality. Occasionally throughout this paper, spatial expressions in Mursi are compared with other Surmic languages to show whether or not Mursi constructions are typical of the family.

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8

Author(s) :

Moges Yigezu.

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The current study aims to describe the spatial deictic system of the Hamar language and contribute to the limited linguistic literature on the language. Deictic expressions are linguistic elements with built-in contextual parameters and are traditionally classified into three semantic categories: person, spatial, and temporal (Levinson, 1983). Spatial deictic, the focus of this study, refers to objects, locations, or persons relative to the speaker or addressee during the speech act. The core of spatial deictic constitutes a small class of expressions, such as demonstratives and locational adverbs. Hamar follows a distance-oriented system, and spatial deictics indicate four locations on a distance scale relative to the speaker’s location in the speech event. These are: proximal, medial, first-degree distal, and second-degree distal. All deictic words are formed from the deictic root -k-; the deictic stem consists of the deictic root and other morphemes. Spatial deictic elements inflect for gender, number, and case and function as modifiers of nouns. When marked for case, they can function as the head of a noun phrase. Syntactically, demonstratives in Hamar can be classified as nominal demonstratives and adverbial demonstratives. Adverbial demonstratives are deictically contrastive and make a three-way distinction between proximal, medial, and distal. Moreover, demonstratives in Hamar encode other planes of spatial orientations such as visibility, elevation, geography, and movement. Four degrees of elevation (that also combine visibility) have been recognized in the vertical dimension. In the horizontal dimension, two levels of distance are identified in the front-back axis, and three levels of distance in the left-right axis. The spatial deictic elements can also serve as temporal and anaphoric expressions. This study further discusses the source models for deictic expressions, including body-part nomenclature as metaphor and environmental landmarks as spatial deictic expressions.

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7

Author(s) :

Binyam Sisay Mendisu.

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Omotic language classified under the East Ometo sub-group and spoken in the southwestern part of Ethiopia. The paper provides a thorough description and analysis of the various functions of demonstratives in the language, with a focus on their role as spatial deixis. In this regard, demonstrative determiners and demonstrative pronouns that carry strong locational meaning are analyzed with illustrative examples. The findings show that the language has six demonstrative adjectives and their corresponding pronouns. Their usage is determined by parameters such as distance from the deictic center, reference point, visibility, and vertical axis. In addition to their usage patterns, the morphological structure of deictic expressions is examined in detail. Moreover, the study explores the ongoing grammaticalization process by which demonstratives develop into markers of definiteness, tracing a path of change from the lexical to the grammatical and from the concrete to the abstract. Finally, the chapter also addresses two additional elements in some detail: deictic expressions of location and direction, as well as demonstrative presentatives.

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5

Author(s) :

Girma Mengistu Desta.

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This paper examines the linguistic means employed by speakers of Sezo to encode object location, with particular attention to the expression of static spatial events. Static spatial expressions in Sezo fall into two broad categories: non-angular and angular spatial relations. Non-angular spatial relations are expressed through demonstratives, topographic terms, deictic serial verb constructions, and relational nouns, all of which serve a deictic function. Angular spatial relations, by contrast, are further divided into intrinsic and relative frames of reference. Intrinsic frames of reference are encoded by body-part terms, whereas relative frames of reference are expressed by lexical items such as mànì ‘right’ and wèŋílì ‘left’. Across both domains, these expressions function to locate a figure with respect to a reference entity, or ground.

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3

Author(s) :

Azeb Amha.

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Zargula, an East Ometo language in southwest Ethiopia, employs a few locative suffixes and numerous relational locative nouns to express spatial relations. Case categories such as the nominative and accusative play a role in the system of spatial grammar. The language has a rich system of deictic locative expressions which integrate distance and elevation in their meaning and are used both in expressions of static locative relations as well as motion events. The morphological form of some toponyms ending in -(l)la/(l)le), and locative nouns marked by so/se and encode designated spaces within a spatial domain, but also time (of the day) are discussed, and a hypothesis is advanced that both the -(l)la/(l)le) and so/se ending words are derived from nouns that designates space or place.

No. of Downloads :

6