# Aliou Mohamadou, *Le Verbe en peul : Formes et valeurs en pulaar du Fuuta-Tooro*

Viktoria Appel

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OpenEdition
Journals

**Electronic version**

URL: https://journals.openedition.org/lla/12145

DOI: 10.4000/lla.12145

ISSN: 2822-7468

**Publisher**

Llacan UMR 8135 CNRS/Inalco

**Printed version**

Date of publication: December 31, 2016

Number of pages: 117-120

ISSN: 2429-2230

**Electronic reference**

Viktoria Appel, "Aliou Mohamadou, *Le Verbe en peul : Formes et valeurs en pulaar du Fuuta-Tooro*", *Linguistique et langues africaines* [Online], 2 | 2016, Online since 20 September 2023, connection on 30 September 2023. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/lla/12145; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/lla.12145

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#02

Juin 2016

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LLA

Linguistique
et Langues
Africaines

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- Additive Coordination, Comitative Adjunction, and Associative Plural in Tswana

- The Locative System in Cuwabo and Makhuwa

- Question Formation in ||Gana

- La liaison tonale en shingazidja septentrional

- Comptes-rendus / Book Reviews

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9 782359 351811

ISSN 2429-2230
ISBN 978-2-35935-181-1 20 €

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Lambert-Lucas
LLA

Linguistique
et Langues
Africaines

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#02

Juin 2016

1. Additive Coordination, Comitative Adjunction, and Associative Plural in Tswana (Denis Creissels) 11

2. The Locative System in Cuwabo and Makhuwa (P30 Bantu Languages) (Rozenn Guérois) 43

3. Question Formation in ||Gana, a Khoesan Language (Rose Letsholor) 77

4. La liaison tonale en shingazidja septentrional (Cédric Patin) 95

Comptes-rendus / Book Reviews

Aliou Mohamadou, Le Verbe en peu l: Formes et valeurs en pulaar du Fuuta-Tooro (2ᵉ édition) par Viktoria Apel 117

Michka Sachnine, Grammaire du yorùbá standard (Nigéria) par Nicolas Aubry 121

Anne Storch, A Grammar of Luwo: An Anthropological Approach par Noam Faust 125

Wilhelm J. G. Möhlig, Atlas of Kamba Dialects (Kenya Bantu E.55). Phonological and Lexical Comparison par Lolke J. van der Veen 131

Jacques Rongier, Dictionnaire éwé-français par Kofi Yakpo 135

Photo de couverture : Nicolas Quint : Vannier fabriquant un panier avec des nervures de rônier, village de Djifanghor, Sénégal, 2011.

Couverture : Jean-Irénée Cuin

Production et diffusion : Éditions Lambert-Lucas
LLA

Linguistique
et Langues
Africaines

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(UMR 8135 CNRS / INALCO / PRES Sorbonne Paris Cité)

# 2 – 2016
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© Éditions Lambert-Lucas, 2016
ISSN 2429-2230
ISBN 978-2-35935-181-1
**Comité scientifique**

Emilio BONVINI (LLACAN, CNRS), Denis CREISSELS (DDL, Université Lyon 2), Claude HAGÈGE (EPHE), Bernd HEINE (University of Cologne), Larry HYMAN (University of California - Berkeley), Sambieni KOFFI (Université d'Abomey-Calavi), Jérémie KOUADIO (Université d'Abidjan), Friederike LÜPKE (SOAS, University of London), Gudrun MIEHE (University of Bayreuth), Maarten MOUS (Leiden University), Papa Alioune NDAO (Université Cheick Anta Diop de Dakar), Margarida PETTERS (Universidade de São Paulo), Thilo SCHADEBERG (Leiden University), John MCWHORTER (Columbia University).

**Comité de rédaction**

Nicolas AUBRY (LLACAN, INALCO), Mélanie BOURLET (LLACAN, INALCO), Pascal BOYELDIEU (LLACAN, CNRS), Gwenaëlle FABRE (LLL, Université d'Orléans), Maximilien GUÉRIN (LLACAN, Université Paris 3), Sophie MANUS (DDL, Université Lyon 2), Aliou MOHAMADOU (LLACAN, INALCO), Sylvester OSU (LLL, Université de Tours), Yvonne TREIS (LLACAN, CNRS), Marie-Claude SIMEONE-SENELLE (LLACAN, CNRS), Valentin VYDRIN (LLACAN, INALCO).

**Rédaction**

Paulette ROULON-DOKO (LLACAN, CNRS), Nicolas QUINT (LLACAN, CNRS), Loïc-Michel PERRIN (LLACAN, INALCO).

**Administration**

Jeanne ZERNER

**Directeur de la publication**

Mark VAN DE VELDE
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## Consignes de soumission

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## Comptes-rendus

Les ouvrages sont à adresser à
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# Sommaire

1. Additive Coordination, Comitative Adjunction, and Associative Plural in Tswana .................................................... 11
Denis CREISSELS

2. The Locative System in Cuwabo and Makhuwa (P30 Bantu Languages) ................................................................. 43
Rozenn GUÉROIS

3. Question Formation in Gana, a Khoesan Language ................................. 77
Rose M. LETSHOLOR

4. La liaison tonale en shingazidja septentrional ........................................ 95
Cédric PATIN

## Comptes-rendus de lecture / Book Review

Aliou Mohamadou :
*Le Verbe en peul : Formes et valeurs en pulaar du Fuuta-Tooro (2ᵉ édition)* .................................................................................... 117
par Viktoria APEL

Michka Sachnine :
*Grammaire du yorùbá standard (Nigéria)*.................................................... 121
par Nicolas AUBRY

Anne Storch :
*A Grammar of Luwo: An Anthropological Approach* ................................. 125
par Noam FAUST

Wilhelm J. G. Möhlig :
*Atlas of Kamba Dialects (Kenya Bantu E.55). Phonological and Lexical Comparison* .................................................... 131
par Lolke J. VAN DER VEEN

Jacques Rongier :
*Dictionnaire éwé-français* .................................................................... 135
par Kofi YAKPO
Comptes-rendus
Book reviews
par Viktoria APEL

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

This monograph by Aliou Mohamadou is the first exhaustive study of verb morphology in the Atlantic language Fula. In this work, based on the Fuuta-Tooro dialect spoken in Senegal, the author examines in impressive detail verb roots as well as any morphemes that may be attached to these roots. In contrast to most discussions on inflectional paradigms in Fula, the form-function relationship of verb suffixes is analysed primarily by using data from a corpus. This particular approach makes this study unique. Furthermore, the author describes constructions involving auxiliaries, thus providing a very accurate description of Fula predicates.

In the introduction Mohamadou presents his motivation for the present work, namely a thorough corpus-based description as opposed to one heavily based on elicited data. The corpus is indeed large, comprising 28,540 instances of verbs. Nevertheless, it is a pity that only written texts were taken into account, including a collection of folk tales, four novels, three short stories, an autobiographical narrative, and a collection of proverbs. The inclusion of natural spoken discourse could have increased the value of the corpus by representing actual spontaneous language use. Be that as it may, a major result of the study is that 54% of the verb suffixes could not be found in the corpus at all. Mohamadou saves this for a small comment in the final chapter, however the finding is so important to the entire *raison d'être* of the study to warrant it being mentioned in the introduction, as the rest of the paradigm was in fact elicited after all. Some clarifying comments on the methodology would have nicely rounded off the introduction.

The introduction is followed by eight chapters. The first chapter is dedicated to the morphology of verbs and complex predicates. It constitutes the basis for the following chapters by providing definitions, describing patterns, and explaining the forms and functions of inflectional suffixes. In other words, this chapter represents a comprehensive summary of the paradigms to be discussed exhaustively later on. Mohamadou starts by defining the general verb structure: root (*lexème verbal*) – derivational suffix (*dérivatif*) – inflectional suffix (*morphème verbal*) – noun class marker (*classificateur*)<fnref n="1" />. The sequence formed by the root and the derivational suffix is called “basic unit” (*unité de base*).

<footnote n="1">1. This latter element is part of infinitives and participles. Participles are described in detail in Chapter 7 (see below).</footnote>
Subsequently Mohamadou discusses finite predicates by taking into account the form and position of subject pronouns on one hand and auxiliaries on the other. Subject pronouns may be simple (i.e. monosyllabic and preverbal), emphatic, locative, or enclitic to the finite verb stem. The author states that emphatic pronouns may also occur post-verbally in the Fuuta-Tooro dialect, but gives no example thereof. This is rather unfortunate since this point is claimed to be unique to Fuuta-Tooro. The section devoted to pronouns is followed by a description of four auxiliaries and a summary of the paradigms that characterise the infinitive, participle, imperative, subjunctive, imperfective, and perfective categories. Under each category, the different construction types are vividly illustrated by tree diagrams and are accompanied by examples. Mohamadou goes on to define three conjugation patterns with respect to the syllable structure of the basic unit. The first two patterns include two types of monosyllabic basic units (CVC and CVCC). The third one refers to polysyllabic basic units with a CVC(C)VC structure. Despite the detailed phonetic explanations, more information would help clarify the author's decision to treat differently long vowels and geminated consonants. Whilst roots with long vowels such as *loot-* 'to wash' are listed under the CVC structure, roots with a root-final geminated consonant such as *tapp-* 'to hit' belong to CVCC. A short explanation would help the reader understand this particular way of classifying roots. Overall, the first chapter is nevertheless well-structured and provides a systematic introduction for the chapters to come. Although the inflectional suffixes are complex, they are easy to identify because the various examples provided make generally use of one and the same verb root. However, this comprehensive and clear description of Fuuta-Tooro Fula is occasionally blurred by comments on other Fula dialects (in particular as regards morphemic and prosodic variation), to the extent of being sometimes distracting. To that end, it would have been in the author's and reader's interest to clearly restrict this study to Fuuta-Tooro. More consistent and standardised glossing conventions for all examples would also have improved this otherwise imposing work.

In Chapters 2 to 6, Mohamadou discusses infinitive, imperative, subjunctive, imperfective, and perfective in that order. Each of these categories is divided into two or more paradigms which, at the beginning of each chapter, are systematically explained and illustrated by one or more examples drawn from the corpus. The examples are followed by tables displaying the conjugation pattern, the so-called “rupture marker” (*marqueur de rupture*) -no, object pronouns, voice, and person. The identification of the suffixes is greatly facilitated by the author’s commendable decision to exemplify paradigms with the same six verb roots throughout all five chapters. However, some points require further research. Firstly, Mohamadou limits his description to singular third
person human object pronouns only. The next step would be to examine
the influence of the remaining object pronouns on the verb suffixes and
also to check the impact of enclitic subject/object pronoun combinations.
Secondly, in the discussion of the constructions subsumed under the title
"anteriority infinitive" (*infinitif d'antériorité*), the conjunction *hade
'before' is followed by different pronouns according to the person —
simple subject pronouns for the first person and possessive pronouns for
the second and third persons. An explanation would be needed in order to
shed light on this asymmetry. Thirdly, a closer look at the form of the
inflectional paradigms reveals that in several cases one and the same
paradigm appears in different constructions. For instance, the paradigms
described under *accompli statif* (p. 151-131) are identical to those given
under *accompli relatif-I* (p. 132-138). In order to avoid such form-
function overlapping, one could assign numbers to the perfective and
imperfective paradigms as done by Sylla (1982; 1993) for Pulaar or by
Diallo (2000) for Pular (Guinea) instead of labels. The advantage of such
numbers is that they dispense one from trying to coin a label that catches
all functions — arguably a vain and hazardous enterprise. In the three
works cited above, the paradigms are listed more or less strictly
according to the form of the suffixes, whereas the functions of these only
play a minor role. Another advantage of this approach is that it also
reduces the number of paradigms and renders the whole description of
Fula verb morphology less complex.

Chapter 7 deals with participles (*participes*). Participles are defined as
verbal constituents capable of assuming the function of an adjective.
They are composed of a verb root, an inflectional suffix, and a suffix
reflecting one of the 21 noun classes attested in Fula. The latter are liable
to influence the vowel length of the preceding inflectional suffix. By the
fact that participles display a noun class suffix, they crucially differ from
the suffixes discussed in the previous chapters which are not linked to the
noun class system. Also, most of the inflectional suffixes that appear on
participles are related to the inflectional suffixes attested in certain
subordinate clauses (specifically relative clauses). With this in mind, a
discussion on the morphosyntactic nature of participles would have been
particularly welcomed. As a matter of fact, the participles could as well
be analysed as subject relative clauses whose relative pronoun would
constitute the enclitic noun class marker.

The final chapter opens with comments on the orthographic,
morphological, and phonological variants of the verbal morphemes that
are presented in the glossary at the very end of this chapter. These
comments are followed by a short evaluation of the distribution and
frequency of the suffixes within the corpus. As mentioned above, one of
the main results is that 54% of the suffixes that are presented in the
paradigms were not found in the corpus at all. The glossary contains more
than 760 suffixes in alphabetical order. The size gives the impression that
Pulaar verb morphology is highly complex. In fact, considering that the
participles are listed for each of the 21 noun classes and that inflectional
suffixes followed by singular object pronouns are counted separately, it
becomes obvious that these high figures are rather a reflection of the
author's (maybe somewhat over-complicated) methodology than of the
actual intricacy of the language. A complete description, taking into
account all enclitic object pronouns (as well as all subject/object pronoun
combinations) as suggested above, would inflate this number even
further. The impact of the present work would have possibly been greater
if the author had adopted a simpler approach to analyse the verb
morphology by focussing mainly on the form of the inflectional suffixes
and paradigms (independently from their functions).

In conclusion, the conceptualisation of the present study, namely a
discourse-based approach to the analysis of verb morphology in Fula, is
to be commended. The chapters build up on each other systematically and
allow the reader to become, step by step, familiar with the Fula verb
system. The suggestions for improvement made herein do not detract
from the fact that this monograph constitutes an impressive study of Fula
verb morphology.

References

DIALLO Abdourahmane. 2000. *Grammaire descriptive du pular du Fuuta Jaloo* (*Guinée*). Berne: Peter Lang.

SYLLA Yèro. 1982. *Grammaire moderne du pulaar*. Dakar: Les Nouvelles Éditions Africaines.

SYLLA Yèro. 1993. *Syntaxe peule: Contribution à la recherche sur les universaux du langage*. Dakar: Les Nouvelles Éditions Africaines du Sénégal.