The syntax-pragmatics of Lelemi predicates

Abstract

This paper discusses the forms and functions of prefixed subject cross-reference markers of the verb in the Ghanaian Kwa language Lelemi. In contrast to Bantu languages with which Lelemi shares genetic ties and basic morphological type, it has two sets of subject markers: firstly, the common type displaying full agreement with the subject and secondly, a more restricted set in which 1st person singular forms prevail irrespective of the subject's person-number-gender properties. In the article it is argued that the regular agreement morphology indicates the pragmatically unmarked topic-comment configuration of the sentence in which subject and topic coincide and that, in the absence of a topical subject, the speaker (1st person singular) installs herself as the most easily accessible topic.