A Dogon sentence analysed

[Ɔkyeame Kwame]

Table of contents: A Dogon sentence analysed

Christopher Culy
Linguistics Department
The University of Iowa
To Faculty: Culy Note: If your browser does not display the letter between these parentheses (é) as an e with an acute accent mark over it, then you should view the alternate page without accents.


Notice: all citations are from:

Kervran, Marcel. 1982. Dictionnaire Dogon: Donno SO, Région de Bandiagara. Bandiagara, Mali: Paroisse catholique. Electronic version, and English translations, by Christopher Culy.

Look at:

• Sentence
• Phonology and orthography
• Morphology
• Syntax
• Dictionary entries
• Notes about the dictionary
• Notes about Dogon
• References

Sentence

Table of contents p. 272

kandOw kO kandyu miñ mOrElE
maintenant je n'ai pas le temps de faire cela
Now I don't have time to do that
(Lit. Now this to-do me (it)-don't-have-time)

Phonology and orthography

Table of contents There are four aspects of Donno SO vowels that are relevant for the examples here. The first aspect is vowel height. Dogon has 7 oral vowels i, e, E (front mid lax "eh"), a, u, o, O (back mid lax "aw"). Where the dictionary uses epsilon these examples will have E, and where the dictionary uses backwards c, these examples will have O. Donno SO verbs have a system of vowel harmony, but other parts of speech do not.
The second aspect of vowels is their tones. Donno SO has three tones that can distinguish syllables, High, Mid, and Low. High tone is marked by an acute accent and low tone is marked by a grave accent. Mid tone is unmarked. The dictionary marks tones only in the entries, not in the examples. This is in large part due to the fact the tonal system has not been systematically studied.
The third aspect of vowels is nasality. Donno SO has distinct nasal vowels. These are marked in the examples by a following tilde, whereas in the dictionary the tilde is over the vowel.
The fourth aspect of vowels is length. Donno SO has both long and short vowels. The dictionary indicates long vowels by underlining the vowel; here they are indicated by doubling the vowel. Tone is marked only on the first element of a long vowel.
Two final notes:

• Orthographic dy is phonetic [j]
• Orthographic z is phonetic [d] in the dialect spoken in Bandiagara and certain other villages.

Morphology

Table of contents
kandOw =? kandá + w

-w attaches to an adjective to form an adverb. Sentence
kandyu = kanà + zù

-zù attaches to a verb stem to form an infinitive of volition or possibility. Kana is one of a small class of verbs in which the final vowel is deleted before a suffix starting with z, and the z becomes dy [j]. The other verbs are bElÈ , bólo, galà , yÉlE. This pattern is not phonological, since there are other verbs ending in nV or lV which do not have this pattern. For example, dyanà and dála. Sentence

miñ = mí + ñ

-ñ is the object case marker. It occurs at the end of the entire object, and is used for both direct and indirect objects. For example, p. 302
iñ oze baagara
apprendre à un enfant à marcher
to teach a child to walk
p. 37
i-gOñ u mO~ nE bErEndEmO~
laisse l'enfant s'approcher de toi
let the child come to you


The conditions on the distribution of phrases with object case marking are quite complex. See Culy 1995. Sentence


mOrElE = mÓrO + ElE

-ElE indicates the third person singular of the negative present progressive. It might be analysed as El+E+Ø, where -El- is the negative for the present progressive, E is the present progressive, and -Ø- indicates the third person singular. Compare
p. 447
uñ tubO tubOzEm
je te pose une question
I'm asking you a question


A complete analysis would be more complex. See Kervran and Prost 1986. Sentence


Syntax

Table of contents
Gross Constituent structure


S
________________|_________________
Adv VP NP V
kandOw ___|____ miñ mOrElE
now NP V I.acc don't have time
kO kandyu
that do

This example illustrates an interesting fact about Donno SO. There are apparently only a couple verbs like mOrO which allow their object to be understood as the subject of the preceding infinitive. All of these verbs have essentially identical meanings: bilÈ, OlÒ.

Another interesting aspect of this sentence is that in other constructions, the -zu infinitives are used to indicate that the subject of the infinitive is the same as the main subject. For example,
p. 281
nyaa u sirO nandazu ibEm
je veux goûter la nourriture que tu as préparée
I want to taste the food that you cooked


The above mentioned class of verbs seems to be the only instance in which the infinitive in -zu allows the main subject to be different from the subject of the infinitive.

Dictionary entries

Table of contents p. 34 bElÈ (back to morphology)

gagner, pouvoir
to win, can (to be able to)

p. 39 bilÈ (back to syntax)

avoir le temps (v. Impersonnel: la personne est complément du verbe)
to have time (impersonal verb: the person is a complement of the verb)

p. 43 bólo (back to morphology)

1. Aller, partir
to go, to leave
2. Employé comme auxiliaire
used as an auxiliary

p. 60 dála (back to morphology)

échouer dans une entreprise
to fail in an effort

p. 108 dyanà (back to morphology)

frapper
to hit

p. 141 galà (back to morphology)

passer
to pass (by)

p. 167 gÒ (back to morphology)

1. Particule indiquant le défini (après une voyelle brève, gO est contracté en OO avec cette voyelle)
particle indicating the definite (after a short vowel, gO contracts with this vowel into OO)
2. Accompagnant les relatives et complétives
accompanies relative and completive clauses

p. 182 íi (back to morphology)

1. Enfant (pl. Ulun)
child (plural ulun)
2. Fruit d'arbre
fruit of a tree
3. Exprime le diminutif
expresses the diminutive

p. 194 kanà (back to morphology)

1. Faire
do
2. Employé comme auxiliaire
used as an auxiliary
3. Employé avec les noms d'action
used with action nouns
4. Employé avec les mots d'emprunt
used with borrowed words

p. 194 kandá (back to morphology)

neuf, nouveau
new

p. 195 kandÓw (back to morphology)

maintenant
now

p. 224 kÓ (back to sentence)

ceci
this

p. 266 mí (back to morphology)

je, moi - (première personne du singulier)
I, me - (first person singular)

p. 272 mÓrO (back to morphology)

avoir le temps, le loisir, (v. Impersonnel)
to have time, leisure (impersonal verb)

p. 304 OlÒ (back to syntax)

1. Devenir souple, prêt
to become supple, ready
2. être prêt à, avoir le temps
to be ready, to have time

p. 499 yÉlE (back to morphology)

venir
to come

Notes about dictionary

Table of contents The dictionary was compiled by Marcel Kervran, a member of the Pères Blancs, who lived in the town of Bandiagara, Mali for about 30 years. This dictionary has over 7000 head words. A second expanded edition was published in 1993. The dictionary (partially) represents the varieties of Donno SO spoken in and around Bandiagara.

Notes about Dogon

Table of contents Donno SO is a Dogon language. Dogon is a group of languages in the Niger-Congo language family (roughly analogous to the Romance languages in Indo-European), spoken in Mali and Burkina Faso. The affiliation of Dogon within Niger-Congo has not been determined with certainty, but it seems to be marginally related to Gur.

References

Table of contents
Culy, Christopher. 1995. Ambiguity and case marking in Donno SO (Dogon) in Akinbiyi Akinlabi (ed.) Theoretical Approaches to African Linguistics.
(back to morphology)
Kervran, Marcel. 1982. Dictionnaire Dogon: Donno SO, Région de Bandiagara. Bandiagara, Mali: Paroisse catholique.
Kervran, Marcel and André Prost. 1986. Un Parler Dogon: Le Donno SO - Notes de Grammaire. Bandiagara, Mali: Paroisse catholique.
(back to morphology)

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Revised 10 September 1996 Copyright 1995-96 Christopher Culy All rights reserved. Send comments to:
Christopher Culy chris-culy@uiowa.edu