Linguistics Colloquium - Harold Torrence

"A Lot of Questions: Investigating Wh-Interrogatives in Avatime"

Abstract: This talk will take a close look at wh-question constructions in Avatime, an endangered Ghana Togo Mountain language, spoken in southeastern Ghana. Avatime is of interest because it employs four different wh-question strategies: wh-movement, wh in-situ, partial wh-movement, and a relative-like construction. Avatime wh-questions also make use of optional right- and left-edge question particles. This talk will consider some of the interpretive effects of these particles. Finally, the Avatime system will be compared to wh-interrogative formation in other West African Niger-Congo languages.

* Co-sponsored by the Boston University African Studies Center. We also gratefully acknowledge support from the Office of the Associate Dean for the Humanities in the College of Arts & Sciences.