syntax and morphology of the language (cf. Cerulli ...

Afr'ícan Lang,uages and Cuhures 8,

I

(1995):

I-17

CASE IN BASKETOAzeb Amha

L

Introduction

This paper will present a description of the Casel system of Basketo, an Omotic language belonging to the West Ometo cluster (cf. Bender et al.1976), which is spoken in the Omo Administrative Region of southem Ethiopia. 1.1

.

The people

The language is spoken by approximately 100,000 native speakers (Hompó 1987) whose main livelihood is farming. Their most important products are coffee, ensete, maize, sorghum, and various root-crops such as yam and sweet potato. The linguistic neighbours of Basketo are Malo in the north, Gofa in the east, Dime and Bodi (Me'en) in the west, Aari and Galila in the south. People in the towns of Sawla and Bulk'i refer to both the speakers and the language as 'Mesketto', but the native speakers identify themselves as Basketo, claiming that this was originally the name of a kind of sorghum which is typical of the area.

1.2. The language Basketo is one of the least studied languages of Ethiopia (Institute of Ethiopian Studies, 1983). The materials available on the language mainly deal with the

syntax and morphology of the language (cf. Cerulli 1938, Hompó 1987, Haileyesus Bala 1988, Alemayehu Haile 1991). As the existing studies of the morphology and syntax of this language are

rather sketchy, some introductory information on word order, constituent structure and the morphology of the language, which may have relevance for the analysis of Case, are given below.

* I acknowledge with gratitude the support of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies (Addis Ababa University) for fieldwork in southem Ethiopia in 1992. I also thank my informants, especially Ato Girma Takkele. A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the 22nd Colloquium on

African Languages and Linguistics, held at the University of Leiden,

the

Netherlands, August 30 - September 2, 1992. [Some editorial assistance with this paper has been given by Professor R.J. (Dick) Hayward, whose occasional comments are initialled RJH.I 1 In this paper 'Case' is spelled with initial capital, to distinguish its usage in a technical sense.

2

Azeb Amha

1.2.1. Word order 1.2.1.1. Clauses Basketo is an SOV language, as the following examples show:2

(la) na?- in- dgful-

FEM- DEF-

ot- in- d- o

a

tong- a-

de

NOM pot- FEM- DEF- ACC break- ¡pS- pesr

'The girl broke the pot.'

(1b) iri rain

kats fud- is- i- re grain grow- CAUS- 3MS- IMPF

'Rain makes grain grow.'

However, in some constructions this word order can be violated without causing ungrammaticality. For example, when the object NP (Noun Phrase) is a complex structure, the subject-object word order can be reversed while the verb remains in the same position.

(2)

lek'ane Biragina dos- iza- d- a tani sisk- aLekane Biraga like- COMP- DEF- NOM I hear- lsc-

de PAST

'I heard that Lekane likes Biraga.'

Note also in this example that embedded sentences have the same SOV word order as the independent clauses in examples (1a) and (1b). Another situation occurs with verbs expressing sensation: then the OSV order is more common. (3)

a biraga surs' ekk- i- de Biraga sleep take- 3MS- IAST 'Biraga is asleep.' (lit. Sleep took Biraga)

nÞ

ti¡edness kill-

3MS- pAsr

'Tiredness killed me.'

However,

it is evident from most of the data that the basic word order for

various types of clauses is SOV.

1.2.1.2. Phrases

In the Basketo language the order of elements within the phrase has the following form: AP = Degree + Adjective, PP

as

in dam koÉ 'very good'

= Noun + Postposition, as in ketsi gat 'onthehouse'; ketsi 'in the house', etc.

garti

2 In the transcription employed for Basketo examples, attention is directed to the following symbols: b ' and d' (voiced bilabial and alveolar glottalized,l implosive

stops);

È

(a voiceless palato-alveolar fricative); c (a voiceless palato-alveolar

affricative);

c'

(an ejective palato-alveolar affricate), ñ (a breathy-voiced laryngeal

fricative); ä (a mid central vowel). Geminate consonants are represented by double letters. All other symbols carry values generally in accordance with the Intemational Phonetic Association system.

Case in Basketo

3

NP = Modifier +

head noun, as in

b,arints

na: ra ,tall boy'

This, taken together with the sov word order in sentences discussed above, brings us to the conclusion that Basketo is a head-final language. This was predicted by Hawkins (1984: 108) in his discussion of word-order universals: when a language has direct object modifier before the verb ... it wilr typically place genitive, adjective, and relative clause modifiers before ttre mé¿iReâ noun ... and noun phrase modifiers before the postposition.

However, unlike other phrases, e.g. postpositional phrase constructions, the word order in complex NPs is not always strict. compare the following examples:

(4a) mints gabar-ants- i dura mak,- i- de strong farmer- pL- NoM rich become_ 3pL_ IAST 'Hard working farmers become rich.'

gabara mints- ants- i farmer strong- pL- NoM

(4b)

dura rich

'Hard working farmers become rich.'

b'arints tall

(4c)

ants- i s,ank, boy- pL. NoM sank

na?-

'The tall boys are playing sank.'3

na?- ants b'arints- ants- i

(4d)

boy- pL

tall-

pL-

'The tall boys are playing sank.'

NoM

mak'- i-

de

become- 3pL- pAST

ka?- i-

re

play- :rL- narr

s'ank' sank

ka?- i-

re

play- 3PL- IMPF

In these examples ADJ+N order is reversed without causing ungrammaticality The same goes for nouns modified by demonstratives:

(5a) fiants na?- ants- i these boy- pL- NoM 'These boys'

(5b) na?boy-

antsñants-

pL

i

these- NoM

'These boys'

Note that in these examples the nominative Case morpheme is attached to the element on the right whether it is the noun, demonstrative or the adjective (cf. 3.5). As NPs are generally case-bearing units in languages, and hence are important in this paper, their internal structure in the Basketo language is briefly discussed in the following section. I

.2.1 .2.1

.

Structure of the noun phrase

Intemally an NP can have a simple or a complex structure. In the Basketo language, simple NP structure would include mass nouns, proper names, 3 This is a game which is played on a hollow wooden board or on the ground, and involves casting small stones. It is called gäbät ,a in Amharic.

4

Azeb Amha

pronominals, etc. As in many other Omotic languages (cf. Hayward 1990), most of the nouns in this language end in vowels. The most common wordfinal vowels are -i and -a.

kafi yefi k'oti

(6)

'bfud' 'tears'

'butter' 'cat'

bawi

yera

'cattle' 'donkey'

ira

'rain'

nola

'fish'

wuda

These final vowels are dropped when some other morpheme is affixed to the noun.

(7a)

ir-bär

(7b) (7c) (7d)

yer- in- d- o baw- a- d- i kaf- ants

'with rain' 'horse-(r'eu)DIMINUTTVE-DEF-ACC. 'Cat-MASC-DEF-NoM'

'birds'

Proper names for males usually have -o as their terminal vowel, while those for females mostly end with -e.

(8)

names Salo

Female names

Male

vlurane

Leso TuIIamo Sulado Dirgiso

Sertane Tobane Wyane

Marano

Simple NPs can also be used to derive other complex NPs by various processes of word formation: derivation and inflection. This brings us to the discussion of the derivational and inflectional processes of the language.

1.2.2. Derivation In the morphology of the Basketo language one can see that there are 'gaps' in the derivations of word formation, and the person/number distinction in inflection does not show different markers for all of the pronouns. The table below (9) shows part of the word formation resources of this language.a (9) Nominals derivedfrom verbs

Verb wod'k'as'u5kmec'-

InstrumentallAgentive

kll wod'izk'as'izcut drink uékizwash mec'iz-

Process

wod'a k 'as 'a mec

'a

Manner

Result

'itit s k'as'itits

uSkitits mec

'itits

Infinitival

wod'its

wod

k'as'its

u5

uðkits nec

'its

In the case of the instrumental, the verb that stands for the action is obligatory ro gerher with the

-'*iî:::T:î;ï:Ïi"i:::",

a Detailed analysis of word formation processes in the language is currently in progress.

Case in Basketo

-5

and similarly with the agentive:

verbroot

* iz I

agentnoun

Examples:

(10) (1

1)

uékizas u5kizk'ande

(uðk+iz+as)

(uék+iz+k'ande)

'a person who drinks' 'a cup for drinking'

Derivational forms expressing manner and infinitival nominals are productive in the language. I .2.3. Inflection

As claimed by Baker (1985: 380), 'the morphological shape of the verb is determined in part by the grammatical features of the noun phrase (number, person' gender, etc.).' Thus, the syntactic relation between a predicate and its arguments is usually reflected in the verb by affixing to it the AGR(eement) features of the noun. The chart below (12) shows how far this copying of nominal features onto the verb affects the shape of the verb in the'Basketo language (agreement markers are underlined).

(12) TenselAspect and Agreement: Iükk-,

Impefect lsc lukkanda lPL lukkanda 25 lukkare 2PL lukkire 3MS lukkire 3FS lukkare

Past tukkade lukkide lukkade lukklde lukkide lukkade

go,

perfect

Gerundive

Jussive

lukkine lukkine lukkine lukkine lukkine lukkine

lukkara

lukko

lukkari

lukkist

lukkarA

lukkabe

Iukkari lukkari

lukkibte lukko lukko

lukkara

In this chart, the AGR markers appear right after the verb root in the imperfect, past and perfect. In the gerundive and jussive, however, AGR

elements are the last to occur. The chart also shows that the inflection does not

show different markers for all of the subject pronouns. For example, the first, second and third person plural and third person masculine singular have identical agreement markers for the imperfective, past and gerunJive. only number and gender are consistently identified: singular {-a }, plural { -1 }; anâ third person singular masculine {i}, feminine {-a}. Ambiguities may arise from this if the subject NP5 is dropped, as illustrated in the following example:

(13) Ø

gents wong- i-

PRO ox

de

buy- AGR- rasr

'you (pl)/they/we/he bought an ox'

The ambiguity can be resolved by either pragmatic means

-

context

-

or by

lexical realization of one of the four possible subject nouns that show 5 The

AGR elements in Basketo identify only the subject Nps; object Nps are not identified by an AGR on the verb.

6

Azeb Amha

agreement with the verb. This may induce one to identify Basketo with the 'non-pro-drop' languages which require that all arguments of the verb are

morphologically realized. However, Basketo is also different from non-pro-drop languages in that, even though it is difficult to tell the exact person and number of the dropped subject, there is always an AGR element on the verb.

2.

Review of theory

Though the study of Case has attracted a lot of interest in earlier linguistic studies, the way it is studied and the categories that are considered to be Case assigners or receivers, have been rather differently interpreted over time. The number and types of Cases recognized and the rules required to realize these Case forms have varied with different linguistic theories. The same goes for key terms like nominative or accusative. For example, according to Fillmore (1968: 49) the nominative and accusative Cases show '... aneutralization of underlying case distinctions to a single form.' Thus, these two Case forms are missing in the list of basic Cases given in his article and also in that of Chafe (1970, as discussed in Cook 1979). 'Cases' such as source, experiencer, patient, benefactive, etc., which in later years came to be known as 'semantic functions' or 'theta roles', were considered 'deep Cases' which are realized in their surface forms through a series of realization rules. When we consider generative syntax, specifically the GB approach, we see the opposite of this. In this theory, Case is considered as a syntactic notion indicative of a structural relationship between arguments and predicates. Other relationships recognized by terms such as instrumental, patient, etc., are not regarded as Cases but as semantic (theta) roles.6 There are a few types of structural Case: nominative, accusative, genitive, and oblique Case. The nominative Case is assigned to a noun by tense/aspect or agreement elements in a sentence. The accusative is assigned by a verb or, in some languages, by

a preposition. Thus, it follows that every language has these Cases.

Structural Case can be realized in arguments (+N categories) in either of two ways: (i) it can be morphologically realized, i.e., represented with distinct phonetic elements; or (ii) it can be realized syntactically, i.e., the NPs get varying Cases by assuming certain positions in the structure of a sentence. This second type of Case is known as abstract Case, where'... case distinctions [are] morphologically neutralized' (Van Riemsdijk & V/illiams 1986:230). What is universal to all languages, according to this theory, is that all phonetically realized nouns are assigned Case. This is what is known as 6

Accordingly the use of technical terms, like nominative and accusative, is not to show preference for any particular theory. Rather the review of the theories is provided to establish a common understanding of these key terms as they are used in this paper.

Case in

Basketo

7

the case filter: where any phonetically realized noun is required to have case; failure to receive Case leads to ungrammaticality. obviously, the above theories, though they discuss the same subject, are substantially different. The first theory, unlike the second, treats case as a concrete morphological entity which encodes meaning. Furthermore, in this theory, terms like nominative and accusative do not designate basic case types but are surface manifestations of other 'real' cases. The second theãry emphasizes universal features of language which can be realized by syntactic elements like case which can be morphological, as in Latin, or abstract, as in English. In this theory nominative and accusative are a subset of the main case types while instrumental, comitative, locative, etc., are not cases at all, but are 'semantic roles'. This paper, while taking note of the theoretically fruitful points in both approaches, tries to present data on the Basketo case forms without too much emphasis on one theory or the other. The aim is primarily to present a description of morphologically realized case (in section 3). That is, exhaustive explanations as to how case is assigned in the language are not attempted. Semantic functions related to postpositions will also be considered

(in section 4).

3. Morphologically realized Case In the Basketo language the morphologically realized Cases are the nominative and accusative. The genitive case is designated by the morpheme {pe-} in a very restricted context. The first two are morphologically realized when the morphemes and they are suffixed to nominals which bear different semantic functions. These three case realizations belong to the set Anderson (r971:4) calls the 'typical syntactic cases'. 3.1

.

The nominative

The nominative morpheme for masculine gender is { - i } , while for feminine it {-a}. As mentioned above, both are assigned when the noun is [+definite].

is

Examples:

(l4a) ot- a- d- i kedd- ide pot- 3MS- DEF- NOM fall_ ¡lrs_ pesr 'The pot fell.'

(l4b)

na?in-

girl-

d-

a

ot- in- d-

DEF- NOM pot- FEM- DEF_ 'The girl threw rhe pot (diminutive).,

(l4c) kan- a- d-

i

na?ants-

dog- lrvrs- DEF- NoM children-

o

ACC

tong- a-

throw_

de 3FS_ PAST

bär bukk- int- i- de with beat- PASS_ 3MS_ PAST

'The dog was beaten by the children.'

8

(14d)

Azeb Amha

kan- in-

d- a

NOM

ay5- a-

d-

a

meat- 3MS- DEF- ACC 'The dog (f,) ate the meat.'

dog- FeM-

DEF-

n-

o:-

eat-

3FS-

de PAST

As the above examples show, the nominative Case can be suffixed to nouns with the semantic function of agent, patient, and experiencer. When the noun is not definite the nominative Case is not morphologically realized as shown below:

(15a)

yeri

färäs k'ak- i-

donkey horse 'A donkey kicks

kick- 3Ms-

re IMP

a horse.'

(l5b) kani ayÉ m- o: - de dog meat eat- FEM- PAST 'A dog (f.) afemeat.'

(l5c) ¡neh nati m- uyi- re cattle gfass eal- 3MS- IMP 'Cattle eat grass.'

Proper names also are not morphologically marked for nominative Case.

(16a) lek'ane biräg- ina

lækane

Biraga-

ACC

dos- a-

re

like- r'Bir¡-

IIr¡p

'lækane likes Biraga.'

(l6b) ðaba miS- in ta- bo imm- i- ne Shaba money- FEM me- for give- 3MS- PERF. 'Shaba gave me money.' (diminutive)

3.2 The accusative The accusative Case is indicated by the morpheme { -o} for feminine:

{-a} for

masculine, and

(l7a) íza dan- a- d- a éucc- bär bukk- ashe dog- 3Ms- DEF- Acc stone- with hit- FEM-

de PAST

'She hit the dog with a stone.'

(l7b) iza íz kan- in- d- o ta- bo she her dog- r'eu- DEF- ACC me- for

imm- a-

de

give- r'nira- resr

'She gave her dog (f,) to me.'

(l7c) na?in ap- ants- a yepi kamm- i- ne girl eye- PL- ACC tears close- 3MS- peRF 'Tears filled the girl's eyes.'

(l7d) Sabi lek'an- o dos- iShaba l-ekane- ACC like- ¡l¡s-

de

pesr

'Shaba likes Lekane.'

In the absence of definiteness, as in the case of the nominative, only bare NPs appear in the accusative positions.

Basketo (18a) iri kats fud- is- i- re rain grain grow- CAUSE- 3MS- IMP Case in

9

'Rain makes grain grow.'

ek- i-

(18b) birägi surs'

Biragi sleep

de

take- 3MS-

PAST

'Biraga is asleep.' (/ir. sleep took Biraga)

(18c) ñadzi p'ec yer- ants kats tokk- ithree big donkey- u-. grain cany- 3PL-

ne PAST

'Three big donkeys carried grain.'

Why definite NPs get morphological nominative and accusative Case while indefinite NPs are not phonetically marked with these Cases can be explained by following Belletti's (1988) proposal of partitive Case assignment. The plausibility of this assumption for the Basketo data has been argued for in another place (cf. Azeb Amha 1993).

In general, in this language Case morphemes and definite markers are If morphoplogical Case is marked for a category, the definite

inseparable.

morpheme accompanies it. The exceptions are plural and proper nouns in accusative positions since they take the morpheme {(i) (a) na} without the definite marker.T Example (19) below shows proper names in accusative Case positions. However, as example (17d) above illustrates, proper names can also be marked with the other accusative morphemes {-o} or {-a}.

(l9a) lek'ane biräg- ina dos- a- re L,ekane Biraga- ecc like- FEM- IMP 'Lekane likes Biraga.'

(l9b) Sab- ik

gäbr- ik

lek'an-

ina bukk- i-

SnaDa- CONJ. gaDre- CONJ. leK.Ane- ACL 'Shaba and Gabre beat Lekane.'

(19c)

de

Deat- 3PL.- PASI

lolise Éab- ana bukk- a- de Lolise Shaba- ecc beat- 3FS- PAST 'Lolise beat Shaba.'

3.3. The genitive In the Basketo language, the genitive can be expressed in two ways. Firstly, by the positioning of the possessor and possessed: the possessor is on the left.

(20a) asler afíl

Aster

clothes

'Aster's clothes'

7 [In other Ometo languages such as Gamo, Wolaitta,Zayse and Koyra, nominative is marked in indefinite as well as definite NPs. Comparison of some of the [-definite] nouns in (6) with the forms they assume in sentences where they have a subject function sometimes reveals a change of shape, e.g. yera 'donkey', but yeri in sentence (15a); ira 'rain', but iri in sentences (lb) and (18a). This suggests that there may just still be a relic of nominative marking in indefinite NPs in Basketo.-RJHI

10

Azeb Amha

(20b)

wus- ants

ketsi

thief- PL

house

'Thieves'house' (20c)

Lek'ane Iækane

na?i

child 'Lekane's child'

kani dog

(20d)

mek'etsi bone

'The dog's bone' (20e)

iz 'her

k'omma

hair'

At this point we need to test whether the examples above are real genitive constructions or are compound nouns. As can be seen from the following examples, they are all genitive constructions and not compounds because each element in the construction can be modified independently.

(2la) aster zok'ats afil Aster rcd cloth 'Aster's red cloth'

(zlb) wus- ants p'ec ketsi thief- PL big house 'Thieves' big house'

(2lc) karts kani toh mek'etsi nek'k'- í- de black dog leg bone break- 3Ms-pAST 'The bone ofthe black dog's leg broke.'

Secondly, by prefixing the morpheme {pe- }, but only when the possessor is third person singular or plural. This morpheme has the meaning equivalent to the English 'own'.

(22a) aykale Aykale

pe- na?a- bär

POSS.- boy- by 'Aykale was beaten by her son.'

buk- int-

a-

de

beat- PASS- 3FS- PAST

(22b) feso pe- iða- d- a mod'd'a- bär bukk- i- de Leso poss- brother- DEF- ACC stick- with hit- 3Ms- pAsr 'Leso hit his brother with a stick.'

(22c) inti they

pe- nehants-abo mati imm- ide grass give- 3PL. PAST cattle- for

POSS-

'They gave grass to their cattle.'

3.4. Case in pronouns 3 .4.1

.

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns in Basketo language are inflected for Case, as shown in the following table:

Case in Basketo

11

(23) Personal pronouns Nominative

lSG lPL 25 2PL 3MS 3FS 3PL

Accusative

tan-i

Genitive

nun-i nen-l

tan-ana

Ld-

nun-ana nen-ana

iza

yint-ana iy-ana iz-ana int-ana

nune-

yint-i i: int-i

yinte-

iizíinti-

Examples: Qaa)

tani

izana s,eg- a-

I

her

'I called her.' (24b)

de

call- rsc- pasr

iza tanana s,eg- ashe nE call- ¡rs-

de

p¡sr

'She called me.' (24c)

inti iyana s,eg- i- de they him call- 3pL- pesr

(24d)

yinti nu miz- in- d- o yott@l) our cow- FEM- DEF_ Acc

'They called him.'

wong-

i-

buy- ZVr-

'You (will) buy our cow.'

re rMp

There are a set ofclitic counterparts for these pronouns which are restricted to certain syntactic constructions (for further elaboration, see Azeb Arnha, 1994).

3.4.2. The demonstrative pronouns and determiner.r Basketo distinguishes two forms of demonstrative pronoun both of which are identified relative to the place of the speaker, i.e. close to the speaker and remote from the speaker. These are:

/ yí sekka

ña

'this' 'that

These demonstrative pronouns may be used without change

determiners of nouns in different Case positions.

(25a) fra

this

na:

r- a- d-

boy-

MAsc- DEF-

'This boy is tall.'

(25b) i:

na he this

na?in- dgirl- ler_

'He beat this girl.'

(25c) sekka kets- a- d-

that

i b,arints- e NoM tall_ copur-A o bukk- i- de ,e,cc beat_ 3MS_ pASr i

house- MAsc- DEF_ NoM 'That house is my house.'

ta

kets-

my

house- coptl-A

e

of form as

t2

Azeb Amha

(2sd)

tani sekka kets- a- d- a I that house- 3Ms- DEF- ACc 'I

wong-

a-

buy- lSG-

de PAST

bought that house.'

However, there are many instances where both the determiner and the noun are marked identically for the same Case, number, and gender as shown below:

i

(26a) na- d-

na?a-

d-

This- DEF, NOM boy- Orn-

i

b'arintstall-

NOIr

e COPIJLA

'This boy is tall.'

(26b) ña- nn- a na?- in- d- a b'arints- e this- FEM- NOM girl- ren4- DEF- NOM tall- COPULA 'This girl is tall.'

(26c) Saba ña- nn- o na?in- d- o k'o:ts- i- de Shaba this- FEM- ACC girl- ler- ecc insult- 3Ms- PAST 'Shaba insulted this girl.'

One interesting point about the inflection of such demonstrative pronouns is that, like other NPs, they are marked for definiteness, which is not expected considering their semantic interpretation. When the demonstrative pronouns independently take the nominative or the accusative Case position, they are marked with the same Case motphemes

that any nominal in that same construction would take. The following examples show these pronouns in the nominative Case position:

(27a)

fia:

- d-

this-

DEF-

int kets- e i NoM their house- CoPtlLA

(21b) sekka- d-

i

DEF- NOM 'That is my house.'

that-

ta kets- e my house- COPULA

The two preceding deictic expressions refer only to masculine singular subjects. The plural and the feminine have different forms:

(28a) ña- ants- i on- o this- PL- NOM who- COPULA 'Who are these?'

(28b) Ra- nn- a ta this- FEM- NoM my

miSsister-

a COPULA

'This is my sister.'

(28c) sekka- n-

a

FEM- NOM 'That is my sister.'

that-

la my

mié

a

sister- coPULA

The same cleictic expressions are inflected for the accusative Case when they occur as objects ofverbs as in:

Case in Basketo

(29a) i:

he

13

ña- d- ana bukk- i- de ACC beat- 3MS- PAST

this- DEF-

'He beat this.'

(29b) na?in- d-

gid-

a

sekk-

ants- ana k'o:ts- apL- ACC insult- 3Fs-

de

DEF- NoM that'The girl insulted those.'

PAST

(29c) ña- d- i sekka- n- o bukk- i- de this- DEF- NOM that- FEM- ACC beat- 3MS- PAST 'This beat that(f.).'

The above examples show that when the noun which is determined by the demonstrative pronouns is dropped, the demonstratives themselves are affixed with the same number, gender and Case forms which are otherwise affixed to the noun.

3.5. Case assignment to nouns with complements When a noun has complements, Case markers are assigned to the head noun. The following examples show this:

(30a) ta

try

ðaw1a goyts- a- d-

Shawla trip-

3MS- DEF'My trip to Shawla was good.'

i

koé-

NOM good-

e COPULA

(30b) na?in bulikki t'ilat- a- d- i zok,ats- e girl gaûnent fringe- 3us- DEF- NOM red- CopULA 'The girl's garrnent fringe is red.'

(30c) lek'ane kani toh- a- d-

Iækane dog

i

mek'- i-

leg- 3MS- DEF- NoM break-

de

:rr¿S- pAsr

(30d) iza afi sikk- iza kir- a- d- a she clothes sew- INST thread- 3MS- DEF- ACC d'ay- s- a- de lose- CAUS- 3FS- PAST 'She lost the thread for sewing clothes.'

The nominative or accusative marker is suffixed to the head of the relative clause.

(31a) tani I

miði imm- ino na?a- d- i ye- i- ne money give- COMP boy- oen- NOU come- 3MS- PERF.

'The boy to whom I gave the money came.'

(3lb) i: he

buni fentis- ino na?in- d- o coffee boil- CAUS girl- ner'- ecc

dos- i-

de

like- ¡n¿s- pest

'He liked the girl who made coffee.'

If the head noun

is dropped (head-less relative), the Case morphemes suffixed to the relative verb in the clause.

(32) tani miði I money

imm-

ino- d- i

ye- i-

ne

give- COMP- DEF- NOM come- 3MS- PERF. 'The one to whom I gave the money came.'

will

be

14

Azeb Amha

Examples (4) and (33) above show that the Case morpheme gets attached to a category immediately to its left whether that element is a complementizer, a head of an NP, an adjective, or demonstrative (specifier). Because of this, it is suggested that these Case morphemes are not suffixes but rather clitics, which find their host immediately to the left.8 As all examples in this paper show, this assumption is correct because the Case morphemes are always the last items that occur in a Case-bearing construction and they do not strictly choose the category ofnoun but can be attached to any ofthe above-mentioned elements.

4. Postpositions and semantic role (functions)

It is generally

agreed that adpositions, i.e. postpositions or prepositions, assign Case and/or semantic role to their complements. Early studies of Case did not distinguish between Case and semantic role, thus, what are discussed as semantic roles below are referred to as Case types in some linguistic literature. However, generative theories, such as Government and Binding,

and Functional Theory make this distinction and argue that terms like comitative, locative are semantic notions while accusative, oblique, etc., which may accompany adpositions are Case realizations.9 In the discussion below, all the traditional terms for 'Cases' assigned by (or canied with) postpositions will be referred to as semantic roles.

8

The following two sentences were given to informants but they were nof accepted as grafnmatical:

(l) *iza nasa- s- ana k'o:ts- a- de she man- DEF- ACC insult- 3FS- PAST 'She insulted the man' *iza wong- a- de miz- antsa- d- a Ø she cow- PL- DEF- ACC buy- 3FS- PAST 'She bought the cows'

By contrast, the same structures are accepted as grammatical when the

Case

suffixes are reversed:

(3) iza nasa-d-a-k'o:ts-a-de (4) iza miz-ants-ana wong-a-de [In at least one other Ometo language, Gamo, NPs headed by plural nouns are always definite, though not marked as such, as here in Basketo.-RJHI 9 This may be of interest for languages which identify the syntactic Case that accompanies pre- or post-positions and their complements. For example, in Wolaitta, an Omotic language related to Basketo, the morpheme marking the accusative Case is located betwen the postposition and its complement (cf. Bekale Seyoum 1989). In Basketo, however, there is no such marking of any of the syntactic Cases in postpositional constructions.

Case in Basketo

15

4.1. Locative Basketo has many postpositions to express spatial-locative concepts; not all of them are listed here. Examples:

(33a) birägi éawl- ap Biraga Shawla- from

ye-

i-

come- 3MS-

de PAST

'Btraga çame from Shawla.'

(33b) lek'ane algi- gal Iækane bed- on

do?- a- de sit- 3Fs- PAST

'Lekane sat on the bed.'

(33c) bawin- d- a algi- s'an caÍ- DEF- NoM bed- under

wod'

e

present- COPULA

'The cat is under the bed.'

The locative which shows direction towards is not morphologically marked.

(34a) inti

they

bassiti lukk- i- re forest go- 3PL- IMP

'They will go to the forest.'

(34b) nuni

we

gabi lukk- i- de market go- lPL- PAsr

'We went to market.'

However, if the direction mentioned is toward 'somebody', the morpheme {-ko} is suffixed.

(35) tani I

'I wrll

íz- ko her- to

lukk- a- re go- lSG- IMP

go to her.'

4.2. Instrumental The instrumental can be expressed in two ways:

(Ð To refer to the instrument (i.e., instrumental) noun requires the combination of a word referring to the action to be carried out by the instrument, followed by the morpheme {-iz} and a noun referring to the

instrument. It is a kind of compound word. As shown in1.2.2, these are derived from verbs.lo (36a) tani afil mec'- iz- qabat vrong- a- de I cloth wash- n¡sr- board buy- lsc- PAST 'I bought a board for washing clothes.'

10 [In Gamo, and possibly in other Ometo languages, the verbal suffix {-iz } is the relativizer employed in the imperfect. Arguably, in the Basketo examples given in (37) the deverbative forms in {-iz} could still be construed as relative verbs or

participles.-RJHI

16

Azeb Amha

(36b)

ñadi farsi this beer 'This is

uék- iz drink-

a (calabash) cup

k'anri-

NSr cup- COpUtA for drinking beer.'

(36c) na?in- d-

a u:ts k'as'- iz ma5i wong- a- de gid- DEF- NOM ensete cut- INST knife buy- 3FS- PAST 'The girl bought a knife for cutting ensete.'

(ii) When expressing an action canied out by a certain instrument the morpheme {-bär} 'with'is used. (31) Sabi pa- iða- d-

a mod'd'a-bär bukk- i- de with hit- 3MS- pAsr

Shaba poss- brother- DEF- ACC stick'Shaba hit his brother with a stick.'

This morpheme is also used to express two other semantic roles that may be independently identified in other languages: the agentive and the comitative (examples (38a-b) and (38c-d) respectively).

(38a) afil- a- d- i irj-- bär wo:k'- i de cloth- MASC- DEF- NoM rain- by soak- 3MS- IAST 'The cloth was soaked by the rain.'

(38b) aykale pe- na?a- bär Aykale poss.- boy- by

buk-

int- a-

beat- pASs- 3FS-

de PAST

'Aykale was beaten by her son.'

(38c) tani

i

'I will

ne- bär with

youeat

moeat-

nda FUT

with you.'

(38d) iza

ta indi- bär ðawli lukk- a- de she nry mother- with Shawla go- 3FS- pAST 'She went to Shawla with my mother.'

Thus the instrumental, comitative and the agentive roles are neutralized in Basketo. 4.3

.

B

enefactive-D ative

The benefactive and dative are expressed by the same morpheme examples (39a-b) and (39c-d) respectively.

(39a) lek'ane Lekane

ta- bo

me- for

gabí lukk- a- de market go- 3FS- PAST

'Lekane went to ma¡ket for me (to do my shopping).'

(39b) Iolise i: - bo I-olise him- for

fiËí food

eh- a-

de

bring- 3MS- IAST

'Lolise brought food for him.'

(39c) birägi ta iSa- bo Biraga my brother- to

rnl5i imm- i:- de money give- 3MS- PAST

'Biraga gave money to my brother.'

(39d) lek'ane lolisi- bo Lekane Lolise- to 'Lekane gave beer to Lolise.'

farsí im- a- de beer give- 3FS- IAST

{-bo},

see

Case in

5.

Basketo

l7

Conclusion

In this study, the Case system ofthe Basketo language has been described. It is hoped that the description will help to fill the gap that exists with regard to the knowledge of this language, as well as to provide data for the comparative study of the other Omotic languages. The data presented also raise some theoretical issues such as whether it is always possible to have a clear-cut distinction between'pro-drop' and'non-pro-drop' languages. Another question concerns relationship between definiteness and Case marking.

REFERENCES Alemayehu

Haile. 1991.

Some aspects

of the phonology of Basketto. Paper April 1991,

presented at the XIth Intemational Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa.

J. 1911. The Grammar of Case: Towards a Localistic Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Azeb Amha. 1993. The Case System of Baskeuo. Addis Ababa: Addis Ababa Anderson,

University, School of Graduate Studies (M.A. thesis). 1994. Pronouns in Basketto. Proceedings of the Second International

-.

Conference of Ethiopian Studies, April 1992, Addis Ababa: Insrirute of Ethiopian Studies (forthcoming).

Baker, M. 1988. Incorporation: a Theory of Grammatical Function Changing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Bekale Seyoum. 1989. The Case System in Wolayta. Addis Ababa: Addis Ababa University, School of Graduate Studies (M.4. thesis in Linguistics). Bender, M.L. (ed.). 1976. The Non-Semitic Languages of Ethiopia. East Lansing: Michigan State University, African Studies Center. Cerulli, E. 1938. Il Linguaggio dei Basketo. Studi Etiopici, Vol. III: 99-117. Roma: Istituto per I'Oriente. Cook, Vy'alter A.S.J. 1979. Case Grammar: Development of the Matrix Model ( I 97 0 - I 97 I ). Washington: Georgetown University Press. Dik, S. 1978. Functional Grammar. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Co. Fillmore, C. 1968. The case for Case. In Universqls in Linguistic Theory, ed.E. Bach and R. Harms, pp. l-88. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Haileyesus Bala. 1988. Masketto Phonology. Addis Ababa: Addis Ababa University (8.A. thesis in Linguistics).

J.A. 1984. Modifier-head or function-argument relations in phrase structure? The evidence of some word order universals. Lingua 63: 107-28.

Hawkins,

Hayward, R.J.

(ed.). 1990. Omotic Languages Studies. London: School of

Oriental and African Studies. Hompó, E. 1987. Report on a trip to Basketto, unpublished paper. Institute of Ethiopian Studies. 1983. Ethnographic Suney of Ethíopia. Unpublished report. Van Riemsdijk, H. & E. V/illiams. 1986. Introduction to the Theory of Grammar. Cambridge, Mass: M.I.T. Press.