ILCAA Joint Research Project

Studies on Event Integration Patterns in African Languages

Keywords

• Africa
• linguistics
• semantic typology
• event integration
• motion in space
• state change
• aspect
• multi-verb constructions

Areas

• Africa

Website

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About the Project

Project term: April, 2012–March, 2015

Covering spoken languages in all the major language phyla in Africa (Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, Afroasiatic, and Khoisan), and including sign languages in Africa in its scope of study, this project investigates how African languages characteristically integrate different types of components of macro-events (complex events) in such semantic domains as motion, state change, and aspect to express them morphosyntactically (Talmy 1985, 1991, 2000), and addresses theoretical issues raised by previous studies (e.g., what macro-events are, whether another typological type like the equipollent type exists) and those that we may encounter as our studies advance. Many African languages have been reported to commonly use multi-verb constructions to integrate event components, but no systematic comparison between morphosyntactic or semantic structures of these constructions seems to have been made so far. By comparing not only languages within Africa with each other but also languages in Africa with those in other areas of the world, the project examines how the African languages under study are classified into the typological types and whether there is any property that is characteristically found across African languages. The project further looks at how consistently characteristic patterns of expressing events are found across different semantic domains within each individual language, language family, and phylum.

Members

Coordinator

• Kazuhiro KAWACHI (Associate Professor, National Defence Academy of Japan)

ILCAA Staff

• Osamu HIEDA

Joint Researchers

• Daisuke SHINAGAWA
• Hideyuki INUI
• Hiroshi NAKAGAWA
• Junko KOMORI
• Katsuhiko SHIOTA
• Kyoko KOGA
• Leonard TALMY
• Monica KAHUMBURU
• Motomichi WAKASA
• Naho ORITA
• Nobukatsu MINOURA
• Nobuko YONEDA
• Nobutaka KAMEI
• Shigeki KAJI
• Tom Güldemann
• Toshiro KAMIYA
• Yuko ABE

Outputs

Meetings

The 4th meeting

• Date/Time: 18 May 2013 (Sat.) 13:00-18:30
• Venue: Room 301, ILCAA

• Kyoko KOGA (ILCAA Joint Researcher, Kochi University)

  “Event integration in Akan”

  Hirosi NAKAGAWA (ILCAA Joint Researcher, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)

  “Macro-events expressed by G|ui juncture constructions”

  Nobukatsu MINOURA (ILCAA Joint Researcher, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)

  “Mimetic words in sign languages: classifiers”

The 3rd meeting : Report(Japanese, English)(330KB)

• Date/Time: 26 January 2013 (Sat.) 14:00-18:00, 27 January 2013 (Sun.) 10:00-17:00
• Venue: 304 (Multimedia Conference Room), ILCAA
• 26 January
• “Typological Studies of Information Structures and Linguistic Forms in Africa”

• Osamu HIEDA (ILCAA)

  “Focus in Acooli”

  Abstract (English) (197KB)

• 27 January
• “Studies on Event Integration Patterns in African Languages”

• Yuko ABE (ILCAA Joint Researcher, Japan International Cooperation Agency)

  “Some aspects of Motion Verbs in Bende ? A sample from the ‘Frog Story’”

  Osamu HIEDA (ILCAA)

  “Aspect in Kumam”

  Kazuhiro KAWACHI (ILCAA Joint Researcher, National Defense Academy of Japan)

  “Motion expressions and constructions in Kupsapiny”

The 2nd meeting : Report(Japanese)(701KB)

• Date/Time: 15 September 2012 (Sat.) 13:00-18:00
• Venue: Hongo Satellite 7F

• Junko KOMORI (ILCAA Joint Researcher, Osaka University)

  “Event integration patterns in Yoruba and Swahili”

  Daisuke SHINAGAWA (ILCAA Joint Researcher, Kagawa University)

  “Modality markers grammaticalized from motion verbs in Chaga: With special reference to inter-dialectally discrepant construals on modal ‘definiteness’”

The 1st meeting : Report(Japanese)(102KB)

• Date/Time: 19 May 2012 (Sat.) 13:30-18:00
• Venue: Room 301 (Seminar Room), ILCAA

• Kazuhiro KAWACHI (ILCAA Joint Researcher, National Defense Academy of Japan)

  “Objectives and plans of the project”

  All participants

  “Research topic proposals”

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