1. Did the category “adjective” exist in Proto-Kru? Lynell Marchese Zogbo Chercheure Associée, ILA, Abidjan Research Associate, University of the Free State, South Africa lynellzogbo@gmail.com

2. Kru still “dangling” out there

3. West-east divide : major indicator

4. Question of Adjectives :  “Many works on African languages, including some that might be expected to be among the most reliable, show a remarkable lack of linguistic sophistication in their treatment of noun modifiers. The term ‘adjective’ may be applied to any form which is reflected by an English adjective in translation, without reference to its derivation or grammatical function in the language being described” (1973: 249) Wm Welmers African Language Structures  Denis Creissels : “lorsque les linguistes se sont mis à décrire les langues parlées hors d’Europe, la pratique s’est instaurée de désigner comme ‘adjectifs’, non seulement des unités nominales dont le statut syntaxique présenterait des analogies avec celui de nos adjectifs, mais aussi toutes sortes d’unités qui dans la traduction apparaissent comme l’équivalent de nos adjectifs » (p. 176).  Universals, Proto NC, psychologial reality, cognitive world view, discourse use (attributive vs predicative) Thompson, Post,

5. Adjectival notions are expressed in many ways in Kru  Adjectival verbs : Ɛ –za ‘it is red’  Periphrastic constructions : BE AT/HAVE/DO ‘X’  Ideophones : Ɛ -nι’e-e -bhlibhli ! Ɛ -kpe ’o ‘wee. ‘He’s completely black! He’s all black!  Compounds: z Ɛ -z Ɛ -zere spoiled-spoiled fish (Koyo) “yri-nm-budu eyes-good-house (Nyabwa)  Relative clauses  ‘True adjectives’ : N ADJ QUANT REL-S

6. Adjectival V’s dominant, most lexical items, true verbal behavior, most ‘reconstructable’  Verbal position as subject/topic : sakaa a sù. ‘The rice is hot’ (Lakota Dida)  Negate as verbs :‘Nyuo ‘ nι wt. ‘The water isn’t cold’ (Neyo); Bhitéa àá p ɔɔ lε HLL ‘The house is not white’ (Lakota Dida)  Default perfectives, can take imperfective aspect : -kb ι - ι zaan’o ‘The rice is ripening (reddening) (Nyabwa)  Can take TENSE : c na nm -ma w~ ‘The palm b. was sweet DBY’ (Klao)  Can carry verbal suffixes: process, subordinate, declarative, applicative  :Ka :M Ɛ le’ ‘b Ɛ - a, ka-: :P’ ‘b Ɛ a z ʌ ̀ a z ʌ m ʌ ɔ z ʌ m ʌ n ’a (Godie) way M big- SUB, way P is-big (Krahn) it’s red …reddens he red APPL-it (*ne/le)  Enters into compounds : z Ɛ -z Ɛ -zere (Koyo) cf. bhlabhlany ɔ (kill-kill-person)

7. Adj verbs take verbal particles, numerous semantic distinctions-extremely productive  -t Ɛ ….ti ‘to be long’ (river) -t Ɛ …..ya ‘to be big’ (person) -t Ɛ …..’m ʊ ‘to be deep’ (well) -t Ɛ …..gbo ‘to be far’ (village)  -nm…kwa ‘to be ok, suffiicient’ -nm….wn ‘to be delicious’ -nm….”yri li ‘to be good, beautiful” -nm….”yi ti ‘to be worthy’ -nm….’kpa ‘m ʊ ‘to be vigilant in regards to cleanliness’  -nyni ….”yri li ‘to be bad -nyni….wn ‘to be spoiled” -nyni….’kpa ‘m ʊ ‘to not be vigilant in regards to cleanliness’ (Nyabwa)  Cycles of recreating expressions : nm ɔ /nyni… -jri i ‘to be beautiful/ugly’ (good in the eyes in the eyes) (Wobe)

8. Semantics of Property Concepts CORE PROPERTY CONCEPTS : DIMENSION, VALUE, COLOR  COLOR, VALUE, DIMENSION PERIPHERAL PROPERTY CONCEPTS : PHYSICAL PROPERTIES HUMAN PROPENSITY QUANTITY (Kokora, 1976, quoting Dixon,1977, 82, 2004)  NOT necessarily in binary pairs  some pairs have a dominant member (big-little)  some items are negated ‘to be tired’ vs. ‘not to be tired’

9. COLOR: 3 way Proto Kru (PNC?) red-white-black To be redTo be whiteTo be black Krahn zan ɩ ‘plu ‐ kpe Wobe ‐ sain’‘’plukpe Guere Glaro Nyabwa zaan/zaano / ‐ zana ‘’plu ‐ kpe Tepo Kru hlu BHpl ɛ H jre M also: éteindre Klao Kru flo ML Bassa ** ɔ ni zizan ** ɔ ni kpii Bakwe ‐ fl ɔɔɔ ‘p ɔ l ɔ ‘kpo ̈ ro ̈ Proto west *za(n)#plu*kpe To be redTo be whiteTo be black Kouya ‐ zaplʊplʊ ylu Dida Lakota ‐ zal ɩ P ɔɔ l ɛ Dida Yokoboue -zaPulu ‐ kpo Neyo Godi JR ‐ zA Godie Kagbew ɔ l ɩ p ɔɔ kp ə Koyo zapɔnpɔnkpe Guebie ɟ al ɛ 1. p ɔ p ɛ 2. kpa 4 Bete Kpokolo Bete Guiberua Bete Daloa ‐ zaPɔnʋPɔnʋ julu Proto East Krou ‐ za *p ɔ L*kpV /?*ylu WEST EAST

10. VALUE To be goodTo be badTo be bitterTo be sweetto be straight Krahn nm ɔ :nyninen ɛ :menesl ɛ 'i Wobe nm ɔ nyni“kae Guere Glaro Nyabwa ‐ nm ɔɔ‐ nyni ‐ kma‘m ɩɩ 'sr ɛɛ ''yi Tepo Kru nɔnɔ nyre le yi kla sii yeo n ɔ ('yi l ɛ ) nyre 'yi l ɛ kla 's ɩ sr ɩ H M 'sii HM 'o ye Klao Kru nm M Bassa Bakwe ‘nabʋbɔbʋbɔ ‘m ɛ n ɛ 'kl ɩ g ʌ̍ Proto west #nam ɔ *-nyini#kLa…#mene *sl i/e To be good BadBittersweetstraight Kouya 'nan ɩ -kal ɩ mεnɩ mεnɩ Dida Lakota Dida Yokoboue nan ɩ‐ nyukal ɩ mɛnɩmɛnɩ Neyo sri sa Godie JR n ʌ̍ ‐ nyu k ʌ̍ ‘m ɛɛ Godie Kagbev ɔ l ɩ n ʌ̍ʌ̍ ‐ nyu k ʌ̍ʌ̍ m ɛɛ g əə ‘yi Koyo nan ‐ nyu kal ɩ …m l ɛ mɛmɛ Gbadi Bete Guiberoua Bete Daloa ‘nan ɩ‐ nyukal ɩ mɛnɩmɛnɩ sl ɛ n ɩ Ayizi ɲ re y ɩ Proto East *‘na*nyu#kaL*m ɛ #slI/E

11. “TRUE” ADJECTIVES in Kru: some generalizations  Adjectives are post-nominal.  The class of ‘true’ adjectives is usually very small and appears to be closed and non-productive (can be listed, 6-20?, Western more numerous)  Subclass of adjectives show signs of agreement (singular-plural and/or class)  The presence of an adjective often provokes tonal changes within the NP.  The adjective class is not homogeneous, i.e. there are various sub-classes and exceptions, based on different kinds of morphological and tonal behavior. Ex, Godie, Krahn  Some “adjectives” look like reduplicated adjectival verbs  Some “adjectives” look nominal.

12. Singular-plural agreement TEPO KRU SG PL faka cicre fak ɩ cicre i ‘little knife(s) ya ká y ɩ k ɩ ‘old pot(s) hru petú hri pet i ‘long road(s) yu yrayr ʋ yuó yrayr ɩ ‘new child’ TCHIEN KRAHN SG PL ny ɔ klàbá ny ʋ klàb ɩ important person(s) de z ʋ n d ɩ z ʋɩ n ‘bad thing(s)

13. Class (and number) agreement Godié (jlukwalι) Noun + Adjective + Demonstrative ny ʉ̄ kp ɔ̄ k ʌ d ɔ̄ n ɔ̄ ‘this big (great) man’ [ ɔ̄ ] ɓ u ̀ t u k ʌ ̀ d ʋ n ʋ ‘this big house’ [ ʋ ] ml ɛ̄ k ʌ̍ d ̍ɛ̄ n ɛ̄ ‘this big animal’ [ ɛ̄ ] nml ə k ʌ̍ d ʌ̄ n ʌ̄ ‘this big bird’ [a] ɓ ı ̀ t ı ̄ k ʌ̍ d ɩ̄ n ɩ̄ ‘these big houses’ [ ɩ̄ ] ny ʉ̄ kp a ̀ k ʌ d ʋ a n ʋ a ‘these big (great) men’ [wa/ ʋ a] (Bete de Guiberoua, de Daloa, but also Bakwe! Areal spreading?

14. Why is it difficult to reconstruct the ‘adjective’ class for proto-Kru?  Class is very limited (6-20 max); compare to verbs (50+)  The class is not homogenous  Besides 3 colors, “new”, and #”big”, almost impossible to reconstruct more adjectives  They act like nouns!

15. Postnominal “Big” and “small” bigLittle Krahn :klaba’/ ‐ kolu’ ‐ b ɛ : / ’ch ɛ WobeKla? Guere Glaro Nyabwa-klagba’’-toope Tepo Krugblaka MH‘cicr ɛ H BH Klao Kru Bassav ɛ n ɛ LL Tííwè/m ɛ n ɛ m ɛ n ɛ HHHH Bakwe kpakö KouyaK dV Dida Lakota‘kadV‘t ɩ kl ɩ lV Dida YokobouekadVco NeyokadV Godi JRk dV ‘tεkεl ɩ ε ? -lie (story) Godie Kagbew ɔ l ɩ k dV Koyo seeliye Bete Guebie tɛkɛlɪtɛkɛlɪ Bete Kpokolo Bete Guiberua Bete DaloakadV PEK Ayizikpasa (?)P ɩ tr ɛ j ɩ [1] [1] Some pronounce as –teepe. [2] [2] No vowel harmony

16. The “adjectives” look like nouns  They pattern as nouns : Daloa Bete: Pl ʊ /-am ӧ –Бa “It’s Paul/me” “Kad -Бa ‘It’s the big one’ w ʊ la kad m ӧ (POST) “He was (already) grown  They can be possessed : ' ɛ ‒ klagba mo'o! It’s the big one (Nyabwa) Á yrayr ʋ n lε yi ‘The new one is beautiful’ (Tepo)  They have tonal behavior similar to N-N constructions : dibi’ :kolu’ :nmaa’e ‘a fine big deer’ (Krahn) naa 2 s 3 sA 2 ‘dry catfish’ (Godie, 2  3) cf. nyie 11 + d ʌ b ʋ 12 -> nyid ʌ b ʋ 1 3 2 ‘water + duck’ (‘wild duck’)

17. Unexplained forms PL or BASE FORM + SG “ADJ” = N ADJ (SG)  Nglι vàye H LM ‘a tall woman’ (Neyo) women tall-SG  bhìti nana ‘a beautiful house’ cf. bhìti nán ɩ ‘beautiful houses’ (Dida Lak) houses beautiful-SG ‘  g ɔ H nán ʋ ‘a beautiful car’ cf. g ɔ nán ɩ ‘beautiful cars’ (Dida Lak)  nyikp a nyonyo/ d ɔ gba-a/ lolo-o ‘an ugly man, the fat/new man’ (Koyo) men:PL ugly:SG  d ɔ - yu elephant child ‘a baby elephant’ (Tepo Kru) BASE N kayuó yrayr ɩ ‘new houses’ = house its new ones X it’s one

18. Phonotactic features of “Adjectives” : many ending in LV/DV/NV/RV Tepo Godie Bete Dida Klao Kouya Krahn na n ɔ ‘good’ 'na n ɩ pru ‘white’ cíc rε ‘little’ t ε k εlIε ‘little’ k ʌ dV ‘big’ kadV ka dV ka dV z ʌ lV ‘red’ zV rV ‘red’ yray r ʋ ‘new’ lV lV ‘new’ bo lu ‘long’ bo lu ‘long’ t n ɔ -tl ʋ l ʋ ya lV ‘fine’ mε n ɩ bhò l ʋ The PRONOUN LV does exist along with the LV/DV ‘thing’ :dhu lu

19. N + Adjectival verb + NOM/PRO  N + agreeing adjective nyikp ɔ za - l ɔ  nyikp ɔ zal ɔ man red one (HUMAN SG) man the light skinned one  ‘the light skinned man’ N N  N ADJ +HUM, +SG Also consider the prominence of THING  l Ɛ -kad ‘He’s fat’ (Neyo, Dida, Godie) he thing-big  bATAa d ƐƐ (non sacred) (Bakwe)  Village thing

20. New scenarios possible Standard view : Proto Kru had a full blown N + ADJ paradigm with class agreement which was retained in Eastern Kru and lost throughout Western Kru OR New view: Eastern Kru had 6 classes (4 SG, 2 PL) which reduced in Western to 2 SG, 2 PL Eastern Kru innovated adjective formation and agreement through a N N construction based on PRONOUN AGREEMENT (*DFM : Pronoun agreement higher on the hierarchy than ADJ agreement) This extensive agreement spread as an areal feature into Western Bakwe (like central vowels) Western Kru never developed class agreement! *this explanation provides a mechanism for creation of agreement phenomenon in Kru

21. Did Proto-Kru have the category “adjective”?  5 “adjectives” seem reconstructible  If the system existed, it was minimal  Adjectival notions in Kru are closely linked to verbs and noun constructions  But languages seem to like adjectives!  And there appears to be something pushing languages to establish this category!  Implications for what we know about NC? Thanks to Gneba, Sande, Singler, Slager, Thalmann, Wilson, documents from Cocora, Egner, Gnahoure, Grah, Guehon, Kokora, Sauder, Saunders, Seri bATAa d ƐƐ