A Reference Grammar of Mbili

by Funwi F. Ayuninjam

Overview

A Reference Grammar of Mbili explores the major linguistic components of the Mbili language from a primarily descriptive point of view and within the cultural context of this Bantu language spoken in Cameroon. It presents a detailed and accessible account of the roots and history of the language, clearly situated within both the Niger Congo language group in general and the Grassfield Bantu language sub group specifically.
The language portion begins with a descriptive introduction to the sound segments of Mbili and the methods of combining them. It then moves into the suprasegments of the language, including tone, stress, and intonation; it investigates the interaction of tone, tense, and mood, as well as the distribution of tone and intonation in Mbili. Segmental and suprasegmental phonemes are related in terms of what they require, tolerate, and exclude. The next presentation deals with the morphology of nouns and verbs. On the one hand it establishes a structural identification of the noun classes and determines a functional and semantic categorization of the classifiers; on the other hand it identifies and relates the temporal, aspectual, and modal categories of Mbili, and also studies the semantics of the verb through a case grammar analysis. Finally, the book approaches syntax through a clause and sentence level of analysis to explain the nature of sentence structure in a manner related to English sentence structure. The appendix contains a lexicon as well as traditional folk stories and their translations to convey aspects of Cameroonian culture and examples of the nature of the Mbili language.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761811206
Publisher:	University Press of America
Publication date:	08/20/1998
Pages:	480
Product dimensions:	5.62(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.94(d)

About the Author

Funwi F. Ayuninjam has published several articles on Linguistics, and is Assistant Professor of English at Kentucky State University.

Table of Contents

chapter 1 Figures chapter 2 Tables chapter 3 Abbreviations & Symbols chapter 4 Foreword chapter 5 Preface chapter 6 Acknowledgments chapter 7 Introduction: Cameroon- A Brief Profile chapter 8 Bambili- The People chapter 9 The Name Mbili chapter 10 Mbili Language or Dialect? chapter 11 Classification of Cameroonian Grassfield Bantu languages chapter 12 Mbili and Cameroonian Pidgin English chapter 13 Origin of Bantu chapter 14 Major Characteristics of Bantu Languages chapter 15 Methodology chapter 16 On the use of Indo European Distinctions chapter 17 Transcription chapter 18 Segmental Phonology: The Consonantal System chapter 19 The Vocalic System chapter 20 The Semi Consonants chapter 21 Assimilation of Loanwords chapter 22 Vowel Sequences chapter 23 Suprasegmental Phonology: Syllable Structure chapter 24 Morphophonology chapter 25 The Mbili Tone System chapter 26 Tonal Minimal Pairs and Contrastive Sets chapter 27 Tone Sandhi Rules chapter 28 Pitch and Intonation chapter 29 Noun Morphology: Noun Structure chapter 30 Derivation of Noun Stems chapter 31 Adjectives chapter 32 Determiners chapter 33 Verb Morphology: Noun Structure chapter 34 The Notion of Time in Mbili chapter 35 Tense chapter 36 Combinations of Tenses chapter 37 Aspect chapter 38 Mood chapter 39 Derived Verb Stems chapter 40 Semantics of the Verb chapter 41 Syntax: The Simple Sentence chapter 42 Clause Patterns chapter 43 Clause Elements Syntactically Defined chapter 44 Concord chapter 45 Selectional Restrictions chapter 46 The Vocative chapter 47 Negation chapter 48 Sentence Types chapter 49 Derived Sentences chapter 50 Ready Made Sentences chapter 51 Apposition chapter 52 The Complex Sentence chapter 53 Clause Coordination chapter 54 Clause Subordination chapter 55 Riddles & Proverbs chapter 56 Conclusion & Recommendations chapter 57 Appendices: Demonstration Texts chapter 58 Mbili English Lexicon chapter 59 Bibliography chapter 60 Index