@phdthesis{110837,
  address               = {Ann Arbor},
  author                = {Ngantchui, Evelyne Debana},
  pages                 = {x+167},
  publisher             = {UMI},
  school                = {Gainesville: University of Florida},
  title                 = {Topic Structures in Batoufam},
  year                  = {2002},
  abstract              = {The complexity of the notion of topic is reflected in the ongoing debate among linguists. The domain of analysis, method of identification, and grammatical function or functions of topic structures seem to vary from one language to another and from one analyst to the other. Also, conclusions now available on topicality were drawn mostly from the study of non-African languages. In order to narrow this gap in our knowledge, the present analysis uses a discourse functional approach to test those past conclusions on Batoufam, a language of the Bantu family. First, the study addresses the issue of the very classification of Batoufam into the Bantu family. The analysis shows that, from a structural viewpoint, Bantu languages are divided into two sub-groups, which can be termed as “morphology versus word order and syntactic markers.” Bantu languages like Swahili, where the agglutinative type of word formation dominates, belong to the first group. In the second group we find languages like Batoufam, where word order and free morphemes are more often used to mark grammatical and discourse functions. This entails that topic structures in Batoufam may very well be differently expressed than in the heavily morphological languages. The study thus proceeds with the investigation of topic structures in Batoufam. Topic structures in Batoufam are of two types: simple topic constructions and complex topic constructions. (1) In simple topic constructions, anaphors are used for coding topic across clauses and sentences, therefore indicating continuity. The function of a simple topic construction is therefore to link clauses that are about the same entity, thus creating a topic chain. (2) Complex topic constructions are characterized either by richer morphological coding or syntactic positions. Left dislocation, which is attested cross-linguistically, is a linguistic device used in Batoufam to show formally that a syntactic element in sentence-initial position outside the clause is the topic of that following clause. The inquiry also identifies two particles, mbe and mbc which are used in Batoufam to formally mark a topic constituent as under focus. Complex topic constructions then combine both the center of attention (characteristic of all topic constructions) and focus of information. The use of one or the other type of topic construction lies mainly in the speaker's subjective assessment of the speech situation.},
  adviser               = {Chu, Chauncey C.},
  bestfn                = {africa\ngantchui_batoufam2002_o.pdf},
  besttxt               = {ptxt2\africa\ngantchui_batoufam2002_o.txt},
  cfn                   = {africa\ngantchui_batoufam2002.pdf},
  class_loc             = {PL 8547},
  degree                = {PhD},
  digital_formats       = {PDF 5.35Mb image-only PDF},
  document_type         = {B},
  fn                    = {africa\ngantchui_batoufam2002.pdf, africa\ngantchui_batoufam2002_o.pdf, africa\ngantchui_batoufam2002v2.pdf, africa\ngantchui _batoufam2002v2.pdf},
  hhtype                = {specific_feature},
  inlg                  = {English [eng]},
  isbn                  = {9780493719917},
  keywords              = {;waf;caf;cmr;lng;grm;t.198;ths;},
  lgcode                = {Nda'nda' [nnz]},
  macro_area            = {Africa},
  mpi_eva_library_shelf = {PL 8547 NGA 2007},
  oclc                  = {50396814},
  source                = {DAI-A 63/06, p. 2223, Dec 2002},
  src                   = {eballiso2009, hh, mpieva, weball},
  subject               = {LANGUAGE, LINGUISTICS (0290); LITERATURE, AFRICAN (0316)},
  subject_headings      = {waf, caf, cmr, lng, grm, t.191, ths},
  umi_id                = {3056768}
}