Syntax and verbal systems in Jaane and Cerma (Gur)

Syntax and verbal systems in Jaane and Cerma (Gur)

Staff: Prof. Dr. Gudrun Miehe

Term of the project: 2008 – 2010

Financing: German Research Council (DFG)

Jaane and Cerma are spoken in Burkina Faso and are classified as belonging to two different sub-groups of South-Central Gur. The aim of this project is to fill a further gap in research on Southwestern Gur languages. Since verbal systems reveal the innovative or creative potential of speakers much more than nominal systems do, and on the other hand their analysis involves an intensive study of the syntactic network, the project concentrates on predication phenomena. Preliminary studies have revealed that besides specific group characteristics, both languages have some features in common with neighbouring but not closely related languages. Therefore, a deeper analysis of the syntactic patterns, and in particular of the verbal system, will help us to gain a better understanding of the linguistic history of this region.​