Marques rétrospectives en kla-dan

Abstract

This paper deals with two discontinuous past markers of Kla-Dan, kɯ̰̀ and kà, whose function is to shift the situations whose temporal localization is already established to the past. These markers differ in a number of parameters: distribution, semantics, the morphosyntactic features and the part of speech of the marker.The marker kɯ̰̀ is a verb with a broad distribution, which is used in a number of non-verbal and verbal constructions including the future time construction. The marker kà is an operator with a narrow distribution, and it can be used only in the neutral aspect and negative perfective constructions. Constructions formed with the help of the discontinious past markers kɯ̰̀ and kà express both meanings that are typologically predictable as well as meanings that are not typical from a typological perspective.

Keywords

• Mande languages
• Kla-Dan
• discontinuous past
• retrospective shift
• pluperfect
• bilingual lexicography