Conjonctions de taxis en kla‑dan

Abstract

In the Kla‑Dan language, three optional taxis conjunctions introduce the second clause of the complex taxis construction : tó, kɤ̀, yèlɛ̰̀. Each of them licenses a limited set of temporal‑aspectual constructions in the second clause, the choice of the temporal‑aspectual constructions being determined by a set of special rules. A number of constructions introduced by kɤ̀ and yèlɛ̰̀ is interpreted in relation to the reference time established in the first part of the complex sentence.The three conjunctions are often interchangeable, and the difference in their use is revealed in sequences of clauses introduced by the same conjunction. It turns out that the three conjunctions are distributed according to the time reference of events in these sequences. It is also used in independent clauses where the reference point is expressed by a temporal modifier that occupies the initial position in the clause, and as a result, the same conjunction is used in the topic function.

Keywords

• Mande languages
• Kla‑Dan
• complex constructions
• taxis
• taxis conjunctions