SCOPES - Lexicology of Eastern Mande languages – Second interim report 2002-2003 - 1

1. General information

1.1Lexicology of Eastern Mande[1]

1.2 languages in the context of Mande linguistic comparison

1.2 NF 7SUPJ062156.00

1.3 1.10.2000 - 30.6.2004

1.4 Prof. Dr. Thomas Bearth, University of Zürich (Dept. of General Linguistics, Program of African languages and linguistics)

Dr d'Etat, Valentin Vydrine, Senior Research Fellow in the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences.

2. Overview of activities

2.1 Objectives

In terms of its objectives, there has been no major change since the preceding report concerning this project. The research group is grateful to the SNF for the extension of the research period. Field activities had been totally halted after the eruption of armed conflict in Ivory Coast on Sept. 19, 2002. The main areas of research had become the scene of clashes and widespread insecurity (Gouro) or had passed under rebel control (Dan, Toura). With gradually improving conditions, resumption within the extended period appears now possible. See also 4 and 5 below.

2.2Activities report

  1. Field research: see 2.1.
  2. Workshop/courses

During the whole reporting period a permanent seminar on Mande lexicography and lexicology was held at St. Petersburg State University (last session: Sept. 11, 2003).

  1. Data processing and analysis

Analysis of the data collected during the two periods of field research in 2001 and 2002 was pursued unabatedly and has resulted in a number of new publications (see separate list).

  1. Extension of the project

As a spinoff of the interest triggered by the project among Russian Africanistis, preliminary studies were undertaken on the two remaining Mande language groups in Ivory Coast which had not been included so far: Beng (a Mande isolate near Bouaké, in the Center of the country), and Mwan (near Seguéla, close to Gouro). Materials available on these groups in the literature were collected by Denis Paperno, a 3rd-year student at the Dept. of Philology of Moscow State University (Beng), and Elena Perekhvalskaya, Ph.D., assistant professor at St. Petersburg State University (Mwan). Mrs. Perekhvalskaya will participate at the Colloquium on Mande lexicology in Abidjan, Oct. 2003.

  1. Meetings and publications : All Russian participants took an active part in various scholarly activities (meetings, conferences) as evidenced in the publications list below.
  2. Change in research personnel

Newly participating

PAPERNO, Denis, 3rd-year student at the Dept. of Philology of Moscow State University (Beng). See 2.2, 4 above.

Perekhvalskaya, Elena, Ph.D., assistant professor at St. Petersburg State University (Mwan). See 2.2, 4 above.

Change of status

erman Anna, Faculty of Oriental Studies, St. Petersburg State University, Western Dan, is currently a postgraduate student at the same Faculty. In addition, she was appointed senior laboratory assistant at the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography.

TCHERDYNTSEVA Alyona and JOUK Irina are currently postgraduate students at St. Petersburg State University.

Foreign grant

IDIATOV, Dmitry, has received a postgraduate grant from the Univerity of Antwerp (Prof. Ian van der Auwera). During his stay in Antwerp, he is continuing his work on Toura (see Publications).

3. Overview of results

3.1 Scientific results and impact
  1. Progress on dictionaries: The main emphasis here was on improving the quality of entries. The current state in terms of the number of entries is as follows:
  2. Alyona Tcherdyntseva’s Eastern Dan dictionary reached the number of 1550 entries.
  3. Anna Erman has handled nearly all of her data (the Dan-Blo dictionary counts now more than 2850 entries).
  4. Dmitri Idiatov continues entering his data (the current version of the Toura dictionary has about 2200 entries).
  5. Irina Jouk improved the structure of the Gouro dictionary, her advancement in inputting the data was limited (1230 entries).
  6. Valentin Vydrine inputted some of his Kla data (about 630 entries), concentrating mainly on the analysis of phonology and morphology of this language.
  7. The Gban dictionary of Alexandre Jeltov has about 1100 entries.
  8. Description and analysis:
  9. Gouro: Vydrine's paper on Gouro phonology was published both in Russian and in French (see 3.2).
  10. Kla: More work on this newly discovered variety of Dan was carried out. The current working hypothesis is that it has 4 level tones. The pronominal system is close to that in other Dan variants, with some important peculiarities.
  11. Comparative work:

New evidence from the languages under scrutiny has shed light on the history of core areas of the morphology of South Mande languages. Work started in these areas by V. Vydrine during the previous reporting period has now matured to publishable state:

  • A survey of personal pronoun systems of all South Mande languages (except Beng) has led to a comprehensive hypothesis concerning the reconstruction of the Proto-SM pronominal system (published in Russian; French translation forthcoming).
  • A paper on the negation markers in South Mande languages is under way (publication planned in English).
  • A paper on plural derivation of adjectives through reduplication in South Mande languages was published in Russian (French translation forthcoming).
  • D.Idiatov has carried out an elaborated study on the verbal extensions in Tura and in other South Mande languages. The results are ready for publication, both in Russian and in French.

On the lexical side, new data were collected in Mwan, Yaouré (both Ivory Coast) and Mano (Liberia). It appears that the South Mande group is much closer to the South-West Mande group (Mande languages spoken mostly in Guinea and Sierra Leone) than previously thought. Both groups share numerous isoglosses, and there are striking similarities in their pronominal systems.

3.2 Publications during the reporting period 2002-03

3.2.1. In French and English

–Vydrine, Valentin. La phonologie gouro: deux décennies après Le Saout. Mandenkan 38, Printemps 2003, pp. 89-113.

Forthcoming:

–Idiatov, Dmitry. The tmesis and the interaction between numerals and "intensifiers" in Tura. Paper submitted for publication in the Journal of African Languages and Linguistics.

In preparation:

–Nikitina, Tatiana. Verbs of inherently directed motion in Wan.

–Vydrine, Valentin. Pronoms personnels gouro.

See 3.1,3 above for further forthcoming publications in French and English.

3.2.2 In Russian

3.2.2.1 In: Sledzevsky I.V. et A.D. Savateev (eds.) 2003. Olderogge’s Readings: Russia in Africa and Africa in Russia. Papers of the Scientific Conference “Africa: Societies, Culture, Languages” (16-18 May, 2001, St. Petersburg). Moscow: Russian Academy of Sciences.

–Idiatov, Dmitry. 2003. Linguistic geography of Tura (Côte d’Ivoire). In: Sledzevsky I.V. et A.D. Savateev (eds.) , 279-288.

–Jouk, Irina 2003. Verbal polysemy in a Guro dictionary: the case of the verb je. In: Sledzevsky I.V. et A.D. Savateev (eds.)pp. 292-294.

–Tcherdyntseva, Alyona. 2003. The polyfunctional morpheme 6a in the Dan language, dialect of Gweetawo. In: Sledzevsky I.V. et A.D. Savateev (eds.). 326-331.

–Vydrine, Valentin. 2003. Results of a linguistic expedition to Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea (January – April 2001). In: Sledzevsky I.V. et A.D. Savateev (eds.), 258-262.

3.2.2.2 Other

–Erman, Anna. Le groupe nominal associatif en dan-blowo. // En: St. Petersbourg en Afrique, Afrique à St. Petersbourg. Actes de l’Ecole du jeune africaniste, 25-27 Novembre, 2002. St. Petersbourg: Fondation des cultures orientales, 2002, pp. 67-69.

–Idiatov. Dmitry. Le système des termes de parenté // In: V. Popov (éd.). L’algèbre de parenté. 5. St. Petersbourg: Musée d’Anthropologie et d’Ethnographie, 2001, pp. 278-284.

–Jouk, Irina. La dérivation causale en gouro (Côte d’Ivoire). Actes du 6e Colloque sur les langues de l’Extrême Orient, de l’Asie Sud-Est et de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (le 25-28 Sept. 2001). St. Petersbourg: Faculté Orientale, l’Université d’Etat de St. Petersbourg, 2001, pp. 63-67.

–Jouk, Irina. La polysémie en gouro: le cas de jÿ. Actes du colloque «L’homme dans l’espace socio-culturel et politique. Afrique: les sociétés, les cultures, les langues». Moscou: Institut d’Afrique, 2001. pp.??

–Jouk, Irina. Les adjectives en gouro (Côte d’Ivoire). Actes du Colloque international «Lomonosov-2002». Section «Etudes orientales et africaines». Moscou: Université d’Etat de Moscou, 2002, pp. 72-79.

–Nikitina, Tatiana. Formes aspectuelles et le temps relatif en wan (Côte d’Ivoire). // L’Afrique dans le contexte des relations Nord-Sud. Actes du 9e Colloque des africanistes russes. Section 10: Linguistique. Moscou, 2002. pp.??

–Nikitina, Tatiana. Le système des pronoms personnels en wan. Personal Pronoun System in Wan. // // Actes du 6e Colloque sur les langues de l’Extrême Orient, de l’Asie Sud-Est et de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (le 25-28 Sept. 2001). St. Petersbourg: Faculté Orientale, Université d’Etat de St. Petersbourg, 2001, pp?.

–Paperno, Denis. L’article défini en beng. In: St. Petersbourg en Afrique, Afrique à St. Petersbourg. Actes de l’Ecole du jeune africaniste, 25-27 Novembre, 2002. St. Petersbourg: Fondation des cultures orientales, 2002, pp. 64-65.

–Vydrine, Valentin. Le gouro: Une langue en instance de clivage tonal. In: Linguistique en théorie et en expérimentation. Pour le 80e anniversaire de Mikhail Roumiantsev et le 40 anniversaire du Laboratoire de phonétique expérimentale de l’Institut des pays d’Asie et d’Afrique, Université d’État de Moscou. Moscou: «Probel», 2002, pp. 161-189.

–Vydrine, Valentin. Les langues mandé et la théorie des types syllabiques. In: Actes du 6e Colloque sur les langues de l’Extrême Orient, de l’Asie Sud-Est et de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (25-28 Sept. 2001). St. Petersbourg: Faculté Orientale, Université d’Etat de St. Petersbourg, 2001, pp. 45-53.

–Vydrine, Valentin.. Reduplication of adjectives in Mande languages. In: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on the Languages of the Far East, South-East Asia and West Africa. Moscow, Sept. 16-19, 2003. Part II, pp. 246-254.

3.2.2.4 Forthcoming

– Idiatov, Dmitry. La structure du verbe en toura: l’élément /-LA/.

– Nikitina, Tatiana. Relation des préfixes verbaux au noms locatifs en wan. Actes de la Société linguistique de St. Petersbourg, Dec. 2001.

– Nikitina, Tatiana. Pronoms impersonnels en wan. // Actes de la 1ère Ecole des jeuns africanistes, Moscou, Nov. 2001 (à paraître).

–Vydrine, Valentin. Morphological categories of personal pronouns in South Mande languages. In: Proceedings of the International Meeting “Grammatical categories: Hierarchies, links, interaction”. St. Petersburg, Sept. 22-24, 2003.

To this, the book publication reported for the previous period has to be added:

Vydrine, V. and A. Zheltov (eds.) 2002. Les langues mande sud: La linguistique aux rythmes africains. Materiaux de l'expedition petersbourgoise en Cote d'Ivoire. St. Petersburg: Espaces européens.

4. Exchange, co-operation and field work

For reasons given above (2.1), travel to the field had to be suspended. However, during a short visit to Abidjan in May 2003, Dr. V. Vydrine resumed contacts with Ivorian colleagues and read a paper on the tonal system of Gouro at the Institut de Linguistique Appliquée of the University of Cocody (Abidjan).

In general, maintaining contacts during this time of trouble proved to be important. This contributed towards making it possible to organize the Round-Table on South Mande languages in Oct. 2003 together with the Institut de Linguistique Appliquée of the University of Cocody.

This will also hopefully be the moment of launching the final phase of the project including resumption of field work.

5. Financial aspects

The upcoming Round-Table in Abidjan will at the same time provide an opportunity for some of the attending researchers to resume fieldwork which had been suspended because of the crisis. Together with the subsidy granted by the SNF as a contribution to travel cost for the Round-Table, the remaining funds will be sufficient to cover the additional expenses for field work and phasing out.

Thomas Bearth

Valentin Vydrine

1

[1]Often called South or Southeastern Mande languages. Mani-Bandama is the term used for the Western subgroup.