glio1241

NP syntax

Possessors follow the possessee

     
     
Célestin gbé bouè
Célestin feet big

‘Céslestin’s feet are big’

Clausal syntax

Word order is S V O. To wit:

     
     
Dji di djre
leopard eat monkey

‘The leopard eats the monkey’

     
     
Djre di dji
monkey di leopard

‘The monkey eats the leopard’

Some verbs trigger special suffixation on the undergoer:

     
     
Dji weŋiɛ djre-wɔŋ
leopard bite monkey-SUF

‘The leopard bites the monkey.’

Past/perfective is not segmentally marked. A marking via tones is probable.

       
       
Dji di djre toro
leopard eat monkey yesterday

‘The leopard ate the monkey yesterday.’

Overt segmental marking of TAM or negation changes the word order from SVO to SAuxVO. This can trigger suffixation on the undergoer according to unknown criteria.

         
         
Dji ni djre di-o nga
leopard FUT monkey eat-SUF tomorrow

‘The leopard will eat the monkey tomorrow.’

Negation is complex. It has double exponency and is sensitive to TAM. The preverbal negation markers are ne and e for present and past respectively, while the postverbal marker is

         
         
Dji ne djre di
leopard NEG.PRS eat monkey NEG

‘The leopard does not eat the monkey.’

           
           
Dji e djre di toro
leopard NEG.PAST eat monkey yesterday NEG

‘The leopard did not eat the monkey yesterday.’

In the future/irrealis, we find preverbal nɛ mou and no postverbal marker. The first one is the same as the one used for the present.

           
           
Dji mou djre di nga.
leopard NEG.PRES FUT monkey eat tomorrow

‘The leopard won’t eat the monkey tomorrow.’