Some notes on the encoding of property concepts in Vai from a typological and comparative Central Mande perspective

Abstract

This paper investigates the different encoding strategies used for the expression of property concepts in Vai. Following Stassen (1997), it is shown that, viewed cross-linguistically, Vai represents an extreme case in that it makes use of four different encoding strategies (two non-verbal and two verbal ones). The multiple split of the property concept words in Vai is examined by drawing on the semantic types of Dixon (1977; 2004) as well as Givón’s (1984) Time Stability Scale. Moreover, the two verbal strategies, that is, the factative and the stative construction, are discussed from a Central Mande perspective.

Keywords

• Property Concepts
• Qualification
• Stative Verbs
• Quality Verbs
• Adjective Principle
• Vai