Aspects of Bangime Phonology, Morphology, and Morphosyntax

Abstract

This dissertation provides a description of aspects of the phonology, morphology, and morphosyntax of Bangime. Bangime is a language isolate spoken in the Dogon language speaking area of Central Eastern Mali. Although the Bangande, the speakers of Bangime, self-identify with the Dogon, their language bears practically no resemblance to the surrounding Dogon languages. Bangime has limited productive morphological processes whereas Dogon languages are agglutinating, with productive morphemes to indicate inflectional and derivational verbal and nominal processes.

Bangime has a complex tonal system. General tendencies of the tonal patterns are described, with the many exceptions which frequently occur also outlined. Nominal tonal melodies are apparent in plural forms. Objects in verb phrases receive tonal agreement with tones on the verb in accordance with the subject of the sentence.

The tense, aspect, and mood system of the language is also complicated. Inflectional marking on the verb, auxiliaries, and the word order all contribute to the indication of the tense, aspect or mood of the sentence. An overview of these multifaceted phonological and morphological processes is provided in this dissertation with hypotheses as to how the language might have evolved.