Koromfe / Edition 1

by John Rennison

Overview

Strong linguistic and ecological pressures are gradually pushing Koromfe, the local language spoken in the north of Burkina Faso, West Africa, towards extinction. Spoken by, at the most, 10,000 people, Koromfe has defied political and cultural domination by other local languages. Few other researchers have studied Koromfe in such detail and this is the first detailed linguistical analysis of its kind. Consequently, data is provided which sheds light on many previously unanswered questions concerning both Koromfe and genetic and general linguistic issues. The information which constitutes this Descriptive Grammar is based on field work made by the author. As a Gur or Voltic language, the author shows how Koromfe shares many phonological, lexical, morphological and syntactic affinities with other such languages.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415152570
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	01/02/1997
Series:	Descriptive Grammars
Pages:	576
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Preface, Introduction, Notes to the Introduction, 1. Syntax, 2. Morphology, 3. Phonology, 4. Ideophones and interjections, 5. Lexicon, Bibliography, Index

Editorial Reviews

'It is a very comprehensive and full description that Rennison has produced, and it is a great contribution to linguistic knowledge to have such detailed documentation of a truly endangered language.' - SOAS Bulletin, Vol61, No. 198

'Altogether John Rennison's work represents for his completeness not only a noteworthy contribution to our knowledge about the languages of the region (of Burkina Faso) enriching our data on the Gur family, but it is also an important documentation of a language which, being spoken by only a few people, could easily disappear and be lost to our research in a not so far distant future.' - Anthropos 4/6 1998

From the Publisher

Adding another volume to Routledge's series of descriptive grammars, Rennison (linguistics, U. of Vienna) analyzes in detail a language spoken in the north of Burkina Faso, West Africa, which is being pushed gradually toward extinction by strong linguistic and ecological pressures. Based on what is probably more field work than conducted by any other westerner, he sheds light on many unanswered questions both about Koromfe itself and about other languages in the Gur or Voltaic group that share affinities with many of the phonological, lexical, morphological, and syntactic features he describes. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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