Clement K I Appah

Lancaster University, UK
UK
Compounding in Akan
Clement Kwamina Insaidoo Appah
Linguistics and English Language,
Lancaster University, UK

1. Introduction: Compounding
Lieber and Štekauer (2009:3) compared “our current picture of „compoundhood‟” to the parable
of the blind men and the elephant where each of the men developed a theory of „elephanthood‟
on the basis of their limited perception: “one fellow‟s elephant was like a rope, another‟s like a
broad leaf, a third‟s like a tree trunk, and so on”.
Probable reasons:
a) compounding is so common in the languages of the world that virtually every researcher
interested in morphosyntax has an opinion to express.
b) “In many respects compounding represents the interface between morphology and syntax
par excellence [...]” – (Spencer, 1991:309).
i. It exhibits features typical of both:
 Syntax: – concatenation of words to form phrases.
 Compounding: – the concatenation of words to form other words
ii. Compounds are subject to phonological and morphological processes, which may
be shared with either derived words or phrases (Fabb, 1998:66)
Research Questions that have engaged the attention of researchers include:
a) What is a compound?
b) What are the types of compounds? and
c) How different are compounds from phrases?
d) Are compounds syntactic or morphological constructs?
The answers to these depend on the language and theoretical persuasion of the researcher.
Universality of Compounds
Compounding is claimed to be universal (Fromkin et al. 1996: 54-5 and Libben 2006, cited in
Bauer, 2009a; Aikhenvald 2007, etc)
a) “compounding is found in languages of any type, (italics, added) but is dominant in Isolating
languages” (Aikhenvald, 2007:24).
b) “It seems that no known language is without compounds”, (Bauer, 1988:33)
c) They are reported to be either rare or totally absent in some languages (cf. Berman 2009)

Regarding this, Bauer (2009a:334) observes that “[W]hile the rarity of a phenomenon in any given
language might not contradict a claim of universality, the lack of it certainly seems to”.

On the issue of universality of compound, the jury is still out.

1.1. Compounding in Akan
Christaller (1875, 1881), Balmer and Grant (1929), Welmers (1946), Boadi (1966), Dolphyne
(1988) Marfo (2004, 2005), and Abakah (2004, 2006) have all:
a) Discussed various aspects of the features of compounds and compounding in Akan,
focussing mainly on the phonology of the identified types.
b) Classified compounds usually based on:
i. the putative category membership of the constituents as: N+N (ndua+dan „wooden
house‟), N+Adj (asεm+pa „good news‟), etc., as well as
ii. class membership plus phrase-internal function like Object+Verb (adze+tn „selling‟)

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Compounding in Akan,
Universals and Typology in Word-Formation, Košice-Slovakia, 16–18 August, 2009
 Clement K I Appah
Lancaster University, UK
UK
Research Gap
a) There are no clear criteria for distinguishing between compounds and phrases
b) The lack of clear criteria has lead to the proliferation of compound types in the language
c) The semantic relations between compound members, if any, have not been discussed.
d) Issues like headedness have not received any focused research attention.

The focus of this paper

In this paper I will:
a) Define the compound in Akan
b) Give mainly formal criteria for distinguishing compounds from phrases
c) Show that there are inconsistencies in the classification of compounds in Akan
d) Classify Akan compounds into three – attributive, subordinate and coordinate, following
Bisetto and Scalise (2005) and Scalise and Bisetto (2009).
e) Deal with the issue of headedness in Akan compounds showing that:
i. Akan compounds are mainly right-headed
ii. There are left-headed compounds as well as doubly headed ones.

1.2. Definition of compound in Akan

“A compound word is formed of two or more words, each of which may be either primitive or
derivative or event a compound” (Christaller 1875:19);
“A group of two or more stems [...] is a compound base” (Welmers 1946:48);
“Compounds are made up of two or more stems” (Dolphyne 1988:117);
“Compounds are formed by merging two or more free forms” Abakah (2004:298).

Issues: “two or more stems”? – (Welmers 1946 and Dolphyne 1988)

It is not clear, therefore, whether defining the compound as the formation of words by joining
two or more stems is appropriate.
 In compounds involving verbs, all affixes are stripped except negation markers which
may be retained for semantic reasons (e.g., n-to „not violate‟, in example (1)).
It is also not clear whether compounding involves only roots, since the presence of negation
markers makes the constituents larger than the root.
 For nominal constituents, affixes marking number distinctions in the base may appear in
the compound (e.g., n-tam → tam „oath‟ in example (1)).

My Definition of compound in Akan

I will define compounding in Akan as: the formation of words by joining two or more bases.

Since, the term base is a „cover term‟ for both stems and roots (Katamba 1993), we avoid
committing ourselves to whether or not the elements involved in compounding are roots or stems,
but we also make room for both roots and stems as constituents of compounds in Akan.

The Number of potential constituents

How many potentially free forms are admissible within a compound?
a) In Akan, there are cases where the words in a complete clause are strung together to form
a single word (exemplified in (1)).
b) In other cases, some of the words (except functional elements – e.g., pronominal
subjects/object, tense marker, etc.) are selected to form the word (as in (2)).
Do we consider these compounds or mere lexicalizations of clauses?

Should be taken on a case-by-case basis:

a) some of them instantiate process of compounding involving embedding (2)

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Compounding in Akan,
Universals and Typology in Word-Formation, Košice-Slovakia, 16–18 August, 2009
 Clement K I Appah
Lancaster University, UK
UK
b) others (involving the wholesale fusion of the elements of the construction) should be
regarded as cases of lexicalization of clauses (a), (Mchombo 1978, Spencer 1991).
(1) -ka ntam a -n-to → kantamanto
3SG-say oath COND 3SG-NEG-violate „the trustworthy one‟
„When he makes an oath, he does not violate‟
(2) kuo a w-de-yε man → amanykuo
group REL 3PL-use-do nation „political party‟
„An organisation for nation building‟

2. Distinguishing between compounds and phrases in Akan

It is important for the study of compounding that there be well-defined criteria for distinguishing
compounds from phrase in a language. However, this is not an easy task as Spencer (1991:310)
underscores this is the following:
Compounding [...] is prototypically the concatenation of words to form other words. However,
we have often no satisfactory, unequivocal way of distinguishing between a compound word and
a phrase. This means that when compounding is a freely generative process (as it usually is) we
are hard put to know whether we are looking at morphology or syntax or both (or, perhaps,
something else).

Abakah’s (2006:6) objection:

Spencer does not specify whether this remark reflects a universal phenomenon, neither does he
make any reference to any particular language to which the remark in question is applicable. In
Akan, on the basis of tone melody we can make a distinction between morphology and syntax
[...], in other words, Akan has a satisfactory and unequivocal [italics added] way of telling
morphology and syntax apart, and this is done through the complex tonal perturbation, which
constituent elements of a compound undergo. Phrases often do not undergo such tonal
perturbations and for this reason, distinguishing between a phrase and a compound in Akan does
not pose any remarkable problem.

My object to Abakah’s objection:

He places too much premium on tone. Sometimes tone does not help. See further assessment
below.

2.1. Phonological Criteria

Aikhenvald (2007) uses the phonological word (one in a compound/potentially several in a
phrase) as a criterion for compoundhood but, this will not be useful as it is not a well-defined
concept in Akan.
Abakah (2006), and others (Dolphyne 1988, Marfo 2004, etc) use tone, but there are problems:
a) Different dialects may realise the same compound on different tonal pattern as in (3)&(4)
b) The same derivation, involving the same input and in the same dialect, could have
differences in the tonal patterns for the output (i.e., the compounds) as in (5).
(3) Input Compound
sika „money‟ kk „red‟ → sikakk „gold‟ (Fa)
sikakk „gold‟ (As)
(4) a. batakri/bataker kεs „a big smock‟ = a phrase
Smock big
b. batakrikε!sε (As) „a big smock‟ = a compound
c. batakerkεs (Fa) „a big smock‟ = a compound

panini + bn „irresponsible adult‟ has two probable tonal patterns for the compound in Asante.
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Universals and Typology in Word-Formation, Košice-Slovakia, 16–18 August, 2009

(5) a. paninibn
b. paninib!n
Clement K I Appah
Lancaster University, UK
UK
„irresponsible adult‟ (penultimate syllable said on low tone)
„irresponsible adult‟ (penult high tone/ final syllable downstepped)

Other phonological phenomena like vowel harmony and assimilation are not unique to
compounds but are common to other word groups like phrases and even affixal derivation and so
cannot be used as criteria for distinguishing compounds from phrases.
2.2. Morphosyntactic criteria
“Compounds may also be recognised on morphological and morphosyntactic grounds”
(Aikhenvald 2007:26). I discuss 6 such features.
2.2.1. Presence/Absence of nominal suffixes
The Asante dialect has mid vowel nominal suffixes. They occur when the nominal ends in a high
vowel. Their form depends on the ATR and rounding feature of the base vowel as in (6), (e.g., 7).
(6) +ATR -ATR
+Round -o -
-Round -e -ε
(7) Akuapem/Fante Asante
fufu fufu-o „fufu - the name of a meal‟
dade/dadze dade-ε „metal‟
adidi/edzidzi adidi-e „eating‟
yare/yar yare-ε „illness‟
ayi ayi-e „funeral‟
a) When a noun which normally bears this suffix occurs as the first element in a phrase, the
suffix will be present, but
b) the suffix will be deleted when a compound results from the combination.
c) The absence of the suffix from a noun that should normally have it should signal that we
are dealing with a compound.
d) The derived compound, if nominal, might then have a new suffix which will be a
property of the entire compound, if it ends in a high vowel. The suffixes are boldfaced.
(8) Phrase compound Gloss
a. ayefor- kunu ayefokunu „Bride groom‟
bride husband
b. yare-ε mpa yarempa „sickbed‟
illness bed
c. ahho- edan ahhodan „guestroom‟
visitors room
d. k ayi-e ayik „funeral attendance‟
attend funeral
e. atu-o aduro atuduro „gunpowder‟
gun medicine
f. dade-ε εsεe dadesεe „steel bowl‟
metal bowl
g. ??k nsu-o nsuk „water-fetching‟
go water
g. afidi-e mono afidimono „new machine‟
machine new
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Compounding in Akan,
Universals and Typology in Word-Formation, Košice-Slovakia, 16–18 August, 2009
 Clement K I Appah
Lancaster University, UK
UK
This process has been discussed as one of the phonological changes that occur when compounds
are formed. It comes under various headings:
a) Loss of final vowel or syllable – (Dolphyne 1988:119),
b) diphthong simplification (Marfo 2004:97-8), etc.
However, it has not yet been recognised as a marker of the difference between a phrase, in which
the suffix normally occurs on the first element and a compound in which the suffix is usually
deleted and probably re-suffixed when the morpho-phonological environment permits so to do.
This is a potent way of telling that the two elements involved have been fused into one
morphological unit – a compound.
Christaller (1875) makes a similar observation in his discussion of the three main types of
compounds:
 perfect compounds, imperfect compounds, obscure compounds.
The perfect compound is:
consolidated, frequently by assuming new or changed prefixes (emphasis supplied), by
elision or assimilation of sounds and changes of tone; i.e. the two simple words have
become completely incorporated and appear as one word (1875:19).
The examples he cites include the following:
(9) ayeforo (= yere foforo, a new wife), bride;
ahemfi (= hene fi, the kings home or dwelling), court;
akyerεkyerεkwan (fr. kyerε, to show, kwan, way), forefinger.

All Akan nouns bear affixes (Abakah 2000, 2004), the assumption of a new or changed prefix
could signal the formation of a new word and once the new word is a consolidation of two words,
(Christaller 1875) it can be construed to be a compound.

2.2.2. Number Marking

Akan makes number distinction between one (singular) and more than one (plural), marked
formally on the noun as a prefix (Dolphyne 1988, Osam 1993, Bodomo and Marfo 2002, etc.).
Sometimes, there is overt marking of number agreement between a noun and its modifying
adjective1, as in (10).
(10) a-bofra ketewa m-bofra n-ketewa
SG-child little PL-child PL-little
„(a) little child‟ „little children‟
ε-tam fufuw a-tam e-fufuw
SG-cloth white PL-cloth PL-white
„(a) white cloth‟ „white cloths‟
o-buroni a-dwuma a-borfo n-dwuma
SG-white man SG-work PL-white man PL-word
„(a) white man‟s job‟ „white people‟s jobs‟
Number marking on both the input and on the output is a diagnostic for whether a sequence of
N+N or N+Adj should be regarded as constituting a phrase or a compound (cf. Lieber and
Štekauer, 2009).
a) That is, if in a group of two or more words, the elements can inflect for number
separately, then they ordinarily will not constitute a compound but a phrase.

1 This nouns-adjective agreement is a replacement system for a defunct noun class system in Akan (Osam 1993).
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Universals and Typology in Word-Formation, Košice-Slovakia, 16–18 August, 2009
 Clement K I Appah
Lancaster University, UK
UK
b) Again, for a true compound, it is the whole that inflects for number not individual
members.
“In the most typical cases, compounds do not contain internal inflection” (Bauer, 1988:34).

a N-N/N-Adj phrasal word is obtained when the two syntactic words constitute one φ [i.e.,
phonological phrase]. ... a pluralized complement phrases separately, the plural marker ... as a
marked phonemic unit, renders the complement morphophonemically complex (Marfo,
2004:106-7).
“a phrasal word is attained where constituents within an NP (i.e. N-N or N-Adj) could also be
mapped into one φ” (2004:101).

The presence of the plural marker in the examples below bleeds certain phonological process
and so prevents the formation of the phrasal word. Support for this assertion comes from the fact
that when the first element in each group occurs in a compound, it is invariably said on low tone,
yet when these first elements are said on low tone, the outputs are unacceptable as the rightmost
columns in (11) and (12) show.
(11) Number representation in N2 (Marfo 2004:107, ex. 27)
a. nyame, n-sεm 'a god, stories'
» nyame n!sεm 'issues about God' not *nyame nsεm
b. sakuo, n-nwom 'piano, songs'
» sakuo n!nwom 'music from piano' not *sakuo nnwom
c. nnua, a-dai 'woods, houses'
» nnua a!dai 'a wooden houses' not *nnua adai
d. dwon!s, a-dai 'urine, houses'
» dwon!s a!dai 'urinal places' not *dwons adai
e. dadeε, a-sεi 'steel, bowls'
» dadeε a!sεi 'bowls of steel' not *dadeε asεi

(12) [N1]  [Adj] φ: Number representation in Adj (Marfo 2004:108, ex, 29)
a. a-kyε, a-tuntum 'hats, black ones'
» akyε atuntum 'black hats' not *akyε atuntum
b. a-sεi, a-kεseε 'bowls, big ones'
» asεi akεseε 'big bowls' not *asεi akεseε
c. n-toa, n-ketewa 'knives, small ones'
» ntoa n!ketewa 'small knives' not *ntoa nketewa
d. ntoma, afitaa 'clothes, white ones'
» ntoma a!fitaa 'white clothes' not *ntoma afitaa

This criterion is not foolproof as there are cases where the constituents of a compound are
marked individually for number instead of a single marking of number for the whole. The
unacceptability of (13c-d) proves that plurality has to be marked on both constituents of the
compound.
(13) a. -sfo-panyin „senior clergyman‟ b. a-sfo-m-panyin „senior clergymen‟
SG-pastor-senior PL-pastor-PL-senior
c. *a-sfo--panyin d. *-sfo-m-panyin
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Universals and Typology in Word-Formation, Košice-Slovakia, 16–18 August, 2009
 Clement K I Appah
Lancaster University, UK
UK
2.2.3. Other inflectional categories – tense/aspect marking
Like number marking other types of inflections (tense/aspect marking) for compounds are
marked for the whole and not on individual constituents. I will not discuss this point any further
because uniformity of tense/aspect on multi-verb units is not unique to compounds. Indeed, for
serial verb constructions (SVCs), it is a requirement that the verbs in the construction agree on
this. The interested reader may refer to the huge volume of literature on SVCs in Akan
(Dolphyne 1988; Osam 1994a, 1994b, 2003, 2004, Hellan et al 2003; Appah 2009, etc.). Hellan
et al 2003 and Osam 2003 are at: http://edvarda.hf.ntnu.no/ling/tross/TROSS03-toc.html.

2.2.4. Head-Dependent Inversion (HD-Inversion)

First introduced in Appah (2003/2004) as object fronting, Head-Dependent Inversion (HD-
Inversion) deals with the fact that during nominal derivation, verbs and their objects which
normally occur in a verb-object (VO) order (because Akan is an SVO language) surface in the
order, object-verb – OV.
a) It is shown to be a widespread process that occurs between heads and their dependents.
b) This is a principal process in the formation of the so-called verbal or synthetic
compounds.
c) HD-Inversion has two subtypes – Head-Modifier Inversion (HM-Inversion) and Head-
Argument Inversion (HA-Inversion), as shown on the tree diagram.

HD-Inversion

HM-Inversion HA-Inversion

(14) Input (Phrase) Output Gloss

a. tn adze adzetn „selling‟
sell thing
b. toto aburow aburowtoto „maize roasting‟
roast maize
c. soa adze adzesoa „burden‟
carry thing
d. hu mbbr mbbrhu „have mercy‟
see pity
e. k sor sor!k „ascension‟
go up
f. k nsuo nsuk „water-fetching (the act of)‟
go water
g. k nsuo knsuo „one who fetches water (habitually)‟
go water
h. k ayie ayik „funeral attendance‟
attend funeral
i. k ayie kayie „One who attends funerals (habitually)
attend funeral
HD-Inversion signals the presence of a compound formed from the corresponding phrase since:
a) the output of this process has an unusual word-order and
b) is subsequently fused into one morphological unit.
c) It occasions some phonological processes noted to characterise compound formation:

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Compounding in Akan,
Universals and Typology in Word-Formation, Košice-Slovakia, 16–18 August, 2009
 Clement K I Appah
Lancaster University, UK
UK
i. The loss of syllables or segments in the output (e.g., loss of the nominal suffix) and
ii. changes in the tonal pattern of the constituents (Dolphyne 1988, Marfo 2004, etc.).

2.2.5. Modification of individual constituents

In a true compound individual constituents may not be modified; any modifier will have scope
over the entire compound. That generally holds in Akan as shown by the ill-formed compounds
(15) Phrase compound With modifiers inserted
a. ayefor- kunu ayefokunu *ayefo -dada-kunu
bride husband „bride groom‟ „old-bride groom‟
b. yare-ε mpa yarempa *yare-bne-mpa
illness bed „sickbed‟ „bad-illness bed‟
c. ahho- edan ahhodan *ahho-papa-dan
visitors room „guestroom‟ „good-guest room‟
d. nyame asεm nyamesεm *nyame-papa-sεm
god story „gospel‟ „good-god story‟
The structures in the right column are ill-formed because the first elements are modified
individually.
Sometimes, it may be difficult to tell whether the modifier is for the whole compound or for a
constituent. It happens when the modifier occurs to the right of the adjective in an N+Adj
compound.
(16) a. sika kk → sikakk „gold‟
b. sikakk kakra „a little gold‟ (the whole compound is modified)
gold little
c. sika kk kakra „slightly red money‟ (second element only is modified)
money red little
a) attributive modification in Akan is to the right of the modified element
b) it makes it difficult to tell whether the modifier is for the constituent to its immediate left
or for the whole unit.
In this case, tonal pattern and meaning of the resultant structure will have to be used to show
what is modified.
a) In (16b) where the whole compound is modified, the meaning of the compound is non-
compositional. However,
b) in (16c) where it is only the second constituent which is modified, the meaning of the
group is an aggregate of the meanings of the constituents.

2.2.6. Variable structure of modifying adjective

a) Adjectives in Akan may be reduplicated when used attributively.
b) When used attributively, the modifying adjective occurs to the right of the modified
element.
The structure of the modifying reduplicated adjective may be used to tell when a phrase has
crossed over to become a compound. In the example below, the adjectives papa „good‟ denden
„hard‟, dεεdεw „sweet‟ and tenten „tall‟ occur in the phrases fully reduplicated. In the compound,
however, the reduplication is reversed.

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Lancaster University, UK
UK
a) In a phrase the full/reduplicated form of the adjective must occur, when used
attributively,
b) In the compound, the reduplication in the adjective may be reversed.
(17) Phrase Compound Gloss
a. adwuma papa adwumapa „good work‟
work good
b. asεm papa asεmpa „goodnews/gospel‟
matter good
c. nkm dεεdεw nkmdεw „sweet conversation
conversation sweet
d. adwuma denden adwumaden „hard work‟
work hard

2.3. Semantic Criteria

The major semantic criterion for distinguishing between compound and phrases is
compositionality. It tends to be the case that whilst phrases are usually compositional,
compounds are non-compositional. As Aikhenvald (2007:28) puts it, “[I]diomaticity of the
meaning of the entire unit can be used as a semantic criterion for compounds”. In Akan,
compositionality may be used to distinguish a phrase from a compound. In (18c), because the
meaning is compositional, a post modifier may be construed to be modifying either the entire
unit or just the immediately preceding constituent. In (18b) the compound is non-compositional
(and lexicalised) so the group is modified as a unit.
(18) a. sika kk sikakk „gold‟
b. sikakk kakra „a little gold‟ (the whole compound is modified)
gold little
c. sika kk kakra „slightly red money‟ (second element only is modified)
money red little

3. Classification of compounds in Akan

Compounds are generally classified based on varying criteria. Tracing the classification of
compounds in such works as Bloomfield (1933), Bally (1950), Marchand (1969), Spencer
(1991), Fabb (1998), Olsen (2001) Bauer (2001), Haspelmath (2002) and Booij (2005), Scalise
and Bisetto (2009:35) give three main reasons why current classifications of compounds are
unsatisfactory. They observe that:
The classification of compounds that appear in current linguistics literature lack interlinguistic
homogeneity for the following reasons:
a) Terminology is often associated with a single language and thus not valid from an
interlinguistic point of view
b) Current research, but also less recent works, privilege the analysis of compounds formed
by certain lexical categories and disregard a number of other types of compounds; and
c) Classifications have often been built upon inconsistent criteria and therefore the different
types of compounds are not easy to compare.

3.1. Current state of the taxonomy

There is a bit of variety in the approach to the taxonomy of compounds in Akan. It is sometimes
confusing due to the arbitrariness that characterises the choice of labels. There is therefore the
need for some standardization in the classification of compounds in Akan.

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 Clement K I Appah
Lancaster University, UK
UK
3.2. Classes from various authors
The following is a graphic representation of the classes of Akan compounds found in the
literature.
(19) Types of Akan compounds – Christaller (1875) to Abakah (2006)

a. (Christaller 1875) Compounds Compound Nouns (10 classes)

Perfect Imperfect Obscure Genuine compounds Spurious compounds

(Christaller 1881) Compounds

N-Adj N-NAppo N-NAtt NSubj-V NObj-V VN-VN [- OV]S

b. Welmers (1946) Compound Compounds

Goal-Action Actor-Action Modifier-head N+N N-V V-N N-V-N V-V

Type Types constructions

c. Boadi (1966) Nominal Compounds

Possessive Locative Appositional

d. Dolphyne (1988) Compounds

N+N Obj + Verb Verb + Obj N + Adj Adj + N Verb + Verb

e. Abakah (2004/2006)
Noun – Noun
Noun – Adjective
Compounds Adjective – Noun
Verb – Noun
Noun – Verb
Verb – Object
Object – Verb
Verb – Verb
Phrasal Verbs
De-verbal Noun + Noun
Other Types – the Nominalization of sentences

3.3. The new proposal: Relation types

The solution to the proliferation of compound types in Akan lies in a classification that takes into
account the grammatical relationships that exist between the constituents of compounds, which
the current system of naming compounds masks. It is not just any two nouns, for example, that
can be concatenated to form a Noun-Noun compound; there must be some observable or
imaginable relationship between the elements of the compound, as the following quotes illustrate.
The principle of combining two words arises from the natural human tendency to see a thing
identical with another one already existing and at the same time different from it (Marchand
1969:11).

[...] any entity to be referred to by means of a compound participates in many relationships which,
in absolute terms, may serve as compounding relationships. Downing (1977:831)

The compound apron string designates a string that is somehow related to an apron, by being
attached to one, in the form of one, or whatever. Selkirk (1982:22)
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Lancaster University, UK
UK
3.3.1. Three Types of relations
Various relationships characterize the constituents in a compound and they form the basis for
different types of compounds. They are attribution, subordination and coordination (Bisetto and
Scalise 2005, Scalise and Bisetto 2009).
The idea of these three types of relations predates Scalise and Bisetto‟s work. Spencer (1991:310)
refers to three types of relations, differing from the former only in terms of terminology:
A third aspect of compounding reminiscent of syntax is that the elements of a compound may have
relations to each other which resemble the relations holding between the constituents of a sentence.
Three important relations are head-modifier, predicate-argument, and apposition.

3.4. Scalise and Bisetto’ (2005, 2009) proposal

With these, compounds have been classified into attributive, subordinate and coordinative
compounds. The members of each class can be further classified based on the semantic criterion
of whether or not there is a head in the compound – giving endocentric as opposed to exocentric
compounds (20). Further division could be along the lines of the class membership of the
constituent and the compound as a whole, determined by the head.
(20) Compounds

attributive subordinate coordinate

endo exo endo exo endo exo

3.5. Types of relations and compounds

I. Attribution – Attributive (ATT) compounds
In compounds with this kind of relation, there is one constituent (the head) that expresses a main
idea, which is usually generic (Allen 1978), and another (the modifier) that stands in the relation
of attribute to the head.
Other names for the head and modifier respectively are:
a) determinatum and determinant (Marchand 1969:31).
b) the fundamental component and the qualifying component ( Christaller 1875:25)

The compounds that are built on this type of relation are termed attributive compounds (Bisetto
and Scalise (2005), Scalise and Bisetto 2009).
Structurally, this relationship may pan out differently, giving rise to (a) head-modifier or (b)
modifier-head sequences.
The range of words that can have this kind of relation is potentially limitless; once the
constituents can have a natural or conceivable modifier-modified relation a compound can be
formed. This makes this type of compound highly productive.
A+N → Either Left or Right-Headed
(21) a. a-dze gyan!gyan → adzegyangyan „worthless thing‟
SG-thing worthless
b. a-dze gyan!gyan → egyangyandze „vanity‟
SG-thing worthless
N+N → Right-Headed (Endocentric)
(22) a. n-dua dan → nduadan „wooden building‟
PL-wood building
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 Clement K I Appah
Lancaster University, UK
UK
b. ebusua manso → ebusuamanso „family feud‟
family variance
c. apnkye nkrakra → apnkyenkrakra „goat(-meat) light-soup‟
goat light-soup
d. sanku ndwom → sankundwom „organ music‟
organ music

(23) a. kuo a  w-de-yε man → amanykuo „political party‟

group REL 3PL-use-do nation
„an organization for building (the) nation‟

b. asεm a  a-ba k → abaksεm „history‟

matter REL PERF-come go
„a matter that is come and gone‟

24. kuo a  w-de-yε man

manyε

a-manykuo

II. Argumental Relation - Subordinate (SUB) Compounds

Here, one constituent satisfies the subcategorization requirement of the other (the head). It is the
kind of relation that is found with the class of subordinate compounds.
Compounds are to be defined as „subordinate‟ when the two components share a head-
complement relation (Scalise and Bisetto, 2009:45).

I call this relation argumental, following Lieber (2009a:88) because “there are compounds like
city employee in which the first stem seems to have a subject interpretation rather than a
complement one”.
In Akan, as in English, there are cases where the argument present in the compound corresponds
rather to the external argument or subject. For example, in the compound otuboa „insect‟ (from
tu „to fly‟ and aboa „animal‟), the noun aboa is the subject rather than the object of the verb tu
„to fly‟.
This class of compounds is not very productive for, at least, two reasons:
a) it is required that the head of the compound be argument-taking.
b) the head is required to constrain which element can fill the dependent slot.
Akan, subordinate compounds are made up of verbal heads which project arguments that are
satisfied by the non-head constituents.
25. Input Output Gloss
a. tn adze adzetn „selling‟
sell thing
b. toto aburow aburowtoto „roast maize‟
roast maize
c. soa adze adzesoa „burden‟
carry thing
d. hu mbbr mbbrhu „have mercy‟
see pity
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 Clement K I Appah
Lancaster University, UK
UK
e. k sor sor!k „ascension‟
go up
f. k nsuo nsuk „water-fetching (the act of)‟
go water
g. k nsuo knsuo „one who fetches water (habitually)‟
go water
h. k ayie ayik „funeral attendance‟
attend funeral
i. k ayie kayie „One who attends funerals (habitually)
attend funeral
Generally, for these subordinate compounds, the linear order of the head and dependent is
reversed. However, for some input VPs, either order is possible with each choice yielding a
compound that is semantically different from the other. For example, for (f & g) and (h & i), the
linear order of the elements in the phrase may or may not be reversed, with the example in (f & h)
retaining the linear order of the input phrase and yielding action/eventive nominals whilst (g & i)
have the linear order of the elements of the phrase reversed and yielding agentive nominals.

III. Equal ranking (Coordination) – Coordinate compounds

The choice of the expression „Equal ranking‟ is meant to underscore the fact that it describes a
relationship that obtains between constituents in which neither can be said to be a dependent or
modifier of the other. There is equal ranking between the constituents. It is an additive relation
for which there is a logical coordination between the constituents usually without an overt
coordinator (Ceccagno and Basciano, 2009:481). For example, the English compound bitter-
sweet can be said to be made up of constituents that are equally ranked to the extent that neither
can be seen to be dependent on the other. The semantic basis for the compounding is the fact that
the entity/object that the compound designates has both properties of sweetness and bitterness in
equal measure.
The compounds that exhibit this kind of relation are either doubly headed or not headed at all.
The following observation by Scalise and Bisetto (2009:36) aptly describes this relationship.
Coordination can in fact: (a) associate two individual elements without reference to any of them
as a separate entity, as in true dvandva compounds (cf. the Sanskrit compound for „father-mother
= parents‟); or else (b) express two „properties‟ associated with an entity, as is the case in modern
formations such as poet-novelist or learner driver.

Coordinate compounds in Akan are usually of the serial verb type and they are doubly-headed.
They tend to be compositional. The sense in which the constituents contribute to the overall
meaning of the compound may be actual or metaphorical (Balmer and Grant 1929).
26 Input Output Gloss
fa ... kyε fakyε „forgive‟
take give-as-gift
dzi ... ma dzima „advoce/intercede‟
eat give
yi ... ma yima „betray‟
remove give

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 Clement K I Appah
Lancaster University, UK
UK
tse ... ma tsema „empathize‟
feel give
gye ... dzi gyedzi „believe‟
take eat
Evidence that this is a compound comes from the possibility of the resultant compound serving
as the base for further nominal derivation. For example, the compound formed from the bases
dzi and ma (i.e. dzima „to intercede‟) can have the prefix o- attached to it to form the nominal o-
dima „intercession‟. It can also have the suffix -fo attached to form the agentive nominal o-
dzima-fo „intercessor/advocate‟.

4. Headedness
From the discussion so far, the following observations can be made about headship in Akan
compounds.
a) Akan compounds may be headed or endocentric entities.
b) Akan compounds are mainly right headed (examples: (2), (8), and (22)). However,
c) there is a sizeable number of left-headed compounds (examples: (17) and (21a)), as well
as doubly headed compounds (example (26) in the language.
d) There is the need for a distinction between the syntactic head (which is generally always
ascribable to one of constituents in the compound) and the semantic head (which may not
be present in case of exocentric compounds).

5. Conclusion

a. Akan compounds are formed from Bases

b. Compounds are better differentiated from phrases using phonological, morphosyntactic
and semantic criteria.
c. Overreliance on phonological features (eg, tone) obscures the relation between
constituents
d. Compounds are better classified based on the relations between the constituents

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Lancaster University, UK
UK
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