Dinah Adom Mac-Arthur

RTG PhD student, member since 2024

Project "Multiple Wh-questions: Processing of in-situ and ex-situ/in-situ variations in Avatime"

In Avatime, wh-questions can appear both in-situ and ex-situ. A wh-element moves to the left periphery as the specifier of the CP where it checks for +wh feature and +focus feature (by bearing a high tone). Speakers optionally select an optional marker ‘na’ which has been previoiusly analysed as a question particle with no semantic or pragmatic import (Devlin et al ,2021). My current goal is to investigate the phenomenon of multiple wh-questions, variations and the syntactic/semantic implications on a class system language like Avatime.

Academic background:

I obtained a Bachelors Degree from the University of Ghana with a combined major in Linguistics and French. Having developed a keen interest in the documentation and revitalization of lesser-studied languages, I pursued an MPhil in Linguitics from the same institution . Under the supervision of Dr. Reginald Duah and Dr. Yvonne Agbetsoamedo, I investigated ‘Definiteness in Avatime’.

Research interests:

-Syntax

-Morphosemantics

-Language documention with a particular focus on endangered languages in the Ghana Togo Mountain (GTM) clusters