Gbe Languages - Grammar

Grammar

The basic word order of Gbe clauses is generally subject–verb–object, except in the imperfective tense and some related constructions. The Gbe languages, notably Ewe, Fon and Anlo, played a role in the genesis of several Caribbean creole languages—Haitian Creole for example is classifiable as having a French vocabulary with the syntax of a Gbe language.

The Gbe languages do not have a marked distinction between tense and aspect. The only tense that is expressed by a simple morphological marker in Gbe languages is the future tense. The future marker is ná or a, as can be seen from the examples below. Other tenses are arrived at by means of special time adverbs or by inference from the context, and this is where the tense/aspect distinction becomes blurred. For example, what is sometimes referred to as perfective aspect in Gbe blends with the notion of past tense since it expresses an event with a definite endpoint, located in the past (see example sentences below).

• ŋútsu á a ɸlè xéxí (man buy umbrella) the man will buy an umbrella (Ewegbe, future marker)
• ŋútsu á ɸlè xéxí (man buy: umbrella) the man bought an umbrella (Ewegbe, perfective)

Focus, which is used to draw attention to a particular part of the utterance, to signify contrast or to emphasize something, is expressed in Gbe languages by leftward movement of the focused element and by way of a focus marker wɛ́ (Gungbe, Fongbe), yé (Gengbe) or é (Ewegbe), suffixed to the focused element.

• àxwé yé Kòfí tù (house Kofi build:) Kofi built A HOUSE (Gengbe, focus)

Questions can be constructed in various ways in Gbe languages. A simple declarative sentence can be turned into an interrogative utterance by the use of the question marker à at the end of the sentence. Another way of forming questions is by using question words. These so-called question word questions are much akin to focus constructions in Gbe. The question word is found at the beginning of the sentence, as is the focus marker. The close relationship to focus is also clear from the fact that in Gbe, a sentence cannot contain a question word and a focused element simultaneously.

• Afua de Gɛ à? (Afua reach: Gɛ ) Did Afua go to Accra? (Ewegbe, question)
• étɛ́ Sɛ́ná xìá? (what Sena read:) What did Sena read? (Gungbe, question word question)

Topicalization, the signalling of the subject that is being talked about, is achieved in Gbe languages by the move of the topicalized element to the beginning of the sentence. In some Gbe languages, a topic marker is suffixed to the topicalized element. In other Gbe languages the topic has to be definite. A topicalized element precedes the focused element in a sentence containing both.

• ...ɖɔ̀ dàn ɔ́, Kòfí wɛ̀ hùì (that snake Kofi kill:-it) ...that the snake, KOFI killed it (Fongbe, topic)

Negation is expressed in various ways in the Gbe languages. In general, three methods of negation can be distinguished: Languages like Gungbe express negation by a preverbal marker má; Fongbe-type languages express negation either like Gungbe, or with a sentence-final marker ã; and languages like Ewegbe require both the preverbal marker mé and a sentence-final marker o.

Gbe languages share an areal feature found in many languages of the Volta basin, the serial verb construction. This means that two or more verbs can be juxtaposed in one clause, sharing the same subject, lacking conjunctive markings, resulting in a meaning that expresses the consecutive or simultaneous aspect of the actions of the verbs.

• Kofí trɔ dzo kpoo (Kofi turn: leave: quietly) Kofi turned and left quietly (Ewegbe, serial verb construction)