Girma A Demeke, Ronny Meyer
Topics and topicalization in Amharic
The paper examines the information structure of Amharic sentences with regard to topicalization. The morphemes -mma, -ss, and -mm in Amharic have been ascribed a function as topic markers (cf. Blejer 1986, Gasser 1983, Hetzron 1973, Kapeliuk 1978, Leslau 1995, etc.). From a synchronic point of view we disagree with Leslau's (1995) analysis of -mma as a combination of -mm ‘TOP:N’ and -a(a) ‘TOP:E’. Further, we argue that only the morphemes -mma and -ss can be considered topic markers while -mm is rather a focus marker. Topics in Amharic are generally marked by fronting the constituent in question to the sentence-initial position. Those which are additionally marked by the morphemes -mma and -ss are contrastive, i.e., ‘as for’-topics, while topics only marked by fronting are non-contrastive.
Journal of African Languages and Linguistics, Walter de Gruyter
Print ISSN: 0167-6164
Volume: 28, 06/2007
Pages: 19 - 36
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