Inherent complements as source of disambiguation of multi-meaning verbs in Bono
Abstract
This study is an investigation of multi-meaning verbs in the Bono dialect of the Akan (Kwa, Niger-Congo) language. The study further explores certain verbs in Bono whose meanings are conditioned by a specific inflectional form. Using Type Craft annotated data from ethnographic investigation of fifteen native speakers of Bono, we discuss issues regarding these verbs and categorize them into homonyms and polysemes based on their relatedness. The findings indicate that many Bono verbs change their meaning as soon as the complement changes which superficially presupposes that the verb is meaningless. However, in reality such verbs are meaningful, but that Bono has many homograph verbs which need linguistic contexts for disambiguation. It was observed that as much as the change of a complement leads to a change in meaning; in the same way the change of a verb brings about a meaning change. It was also established that the verbs bu ‘respect’, boa ‘lie’, de ‘called’, ho ‘get it’, occur only in the present form, and that they form past tense either through a past marker na or settle for a synonym. The verb Ho cannot form negation and can only occur in an imperative construction. But just like the others it occupies the slot of a verb in a construction.
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