Samuel A. Atintono
Address:
School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures, Postgraduate Office,
The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL.
E-mail:
Samuel.Atintono@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Title: A Typological study of the semantics of positional verbs in Gurene
The study investigates the typology, semantics, pragmatics, and grammar of positional verbs in Gurene, a Gur, Niger-Congo language spoken in northern Ghana, West Africa. It examines in detail the semantics and pragmatics of the set of all possible contrastive positional verbs and their interaction with other elements of the grammar (e.g. aspectual system) from a typological perspective using a documentary corpus of naturalistic data and stimuli based techniques. It is a contribution to the current discussion on the typology of the linguistic construction of space. The typology focuses mainly on the posture, positionals and locative verbs with the aim of establishing the Basic Locative Construction (BLC) across languages and to determine the number and meanings of the set of contrastive positional verbs that a particular language utilizes in the BLC. Based on studies so far on some languages the typology (Ameka and Levinson 2007) postulates four types of languages: verbless languages, those that use one verb usually a copula, languages with a few verbs, and multiverb (over seven verbs) languages. The question to be explored further on the Gurene data is to find out the typological type that it belongs and the various semantic and pragmatic factors that motivate the choice of a particular verb in the positional verb expression .
PhD Supervisors: Dr Martina Faller & Dr Andrew Koontz-Garboden
Main Discipline Areas
Semantics, Pragmatics, Typology, Language Documentation, Gur Languages.
Research Interests
Descriptive, documentary and theoretical linguistics, especially in the domain of Semantics, Pragmatics, Typology, Syntax; and Lexicography of African languages focusing on the Gur languages of Ghana.
Presentations and publications
Atintono, A. Samuel. 2010. Stative and Eventive Ambiguities: a proposal for classifying Gurene positional verbs. Presentation at Institute for Linguistics and Language Studies, Postgraduate Research Presentation Day, University of Manchester. November 24, 2010.
Atintono, A. Samuel. 2010. The Challenges of Documenting Gurene Oral Genres. Presentation at the Postgraduate language contact and documentation seminar, University of Manchester. October 7, 2010
Atintono, A. Samuel. 2009. The Basic Locative Construction in Gurene. Paper presented at the 6th WOCAL Congress of African Linguistics (WOCAL 6), University of Cologne, Germany. August 16-22.
Atintono, A. Samuel. 2009. The semantics of three-posture verbs gã 'lie', zi 'sit', and ze 'stand' in Gurene - A cognitive linguistics perspective. Paper presented at the 18th Postgraduate Linguistics Conference, University of Manchester. May 6, 2009.
Atintono, A. Samuel & Francisca Adjei. 2008. A comparative study of the Metaphorical Expressions of Eat Verbs qu in Ewe and di in Gurene. Paper Presented at Special World Congress of African Linguistics (WOCAL), University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. August 11-15.
Atintono, A. Samuel. 2008. A Note on the Syntactic Classification of Gurene Verbs. Presented at The 26th West African Linguistics Congress, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana. July 27-Agust 3.
Atintono A. Samuel. 2005: The Syntax and Semantics of Gurene Aspectual Modifiers. Presented at the Annual Colloquium of the Legon-Trondheim Linguistics Project. January 18-20.
Atintono A. Samuel. 2004. Gurene Verbal Suffixes: their nature and functions. Presented at the Inter-University Conference on the Co-existence of West African Languages in West Africa, University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. September 27-30.
Atintono A.Samuel. 2004. The Syntax and Semantics of Gurene Posture Verbs. Presented at the Legon-Trondheim NUFU Linguistics Project Annual Colloquium and Workshop, University of Ghana, Legon. January 12-13.
Atintono Awinkene Samuel. 2010. (Accepted). The Basic Locative Construction in Gurene. Proceedings of the 6th World Congress on African Linguistics, University of Cologne, Germany.
Atintono Awinkene Samuel. 2010. (Accepted). The semantics of three posture verbs gã 'lie' , zi 'sit', and ze 'stand' in Gurene. Proceedings of the 18th International Postgraduate Linguistics Conference, University of Manchester.
Atintono, Awinkene Samuel & Francisca Adjei. 2009. A comparative study on the metaphorical uses of Eat verbs Ði in Ewe and Di in Gurene. Proceedings of the Special World Congress of African Linguistics. University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Dakubu Kropp, M. E, Atintono, Samuel Awinkene & Nsoh, Ephraim Avea. 2007. (eds.). Gurene-English Dictionary. Legon: Linguistics Department.
Dakubu Kropp, M. E, Atintono, Samuel Awinkene & Nsoh, Ephraim Avea. 2007 (eds.). English-Gurene Glossary. Legon: Linguistics Department, University of Ghana.
Atintono, Samuel A. 2006: Gurene verbal suffixes: their nature and functions. Cahiers du Cerleshs, vol. 25: 63-83.
Atintono, Samuel Awinkene .2005: Serial verb constructions in Gurene: An overview. Legon Journal of the Humanities, XVI: 55-71
Atintono, Samuel A. 2004. The Syntax and Semantics of Gurene Posture Verbs. Studies in the Languages of the Volta Basin, vol. 2. 10-18.
Membership of Professional Organizations
- Member, Philological Society
- Member, International Pragmatics Association
- Member, West African Linguistics Society
Teaching Areas
Semantics, Pragmatics, Typology,and Documentary Linguistics
Professional Biography
- PhD Linguistics (ongoing), University of Manchester. Start date Sept 2008-
- M. Phil, Linguistics, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana. 2004-12-01
- Postgraduate Diploma, Linguistics, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana. 2002-05-01
- B.Ed Degree, Mathematics & Ghanaian Language (Gurene), University of Education, Winneba,Ghana. 1999-07-01
- PhD Fieldwork on the documentation of Gurene Oral Genres in Ghana with funding support from ELDP. January 2010-July 2010
- Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Manchester. 2008/2009
- Co-editor, on the Gurene-English Dictionary Project, University of Ghana. 2004-2007.
- University Teaching Position in Gurene, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana. 2004-2008.
- Teaching and Research Assistant, Ghanaian Languages Department, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana.
Other information
Academic Activities, Scholarships & Grant Awards
- PGR students Representative, School of Languages, Linguistics & Cultures, University of Manchester. 2008-present.
Member of the organizing committee for 18th Manchester International Postgraduate Linguistics Conference on 6 May 2009. - North West Commonwealth Scholars & Fellows, Regional Coordinator.
- Commonwealth Scholarship Award for PhD studies in Linguistics tenable at University of Manchester. 2008-2011
- Endangered Languages Documentation Programme (ELDP), SOAS, London, Small Grants Award to undertake six months fieldwork in Ghana to document Gurene oral genres. Dec. 2009-May 2011