Structure of Kus names

Language Sciences 104 (2024) 101613 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Language Sciences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/langsci A structural analysis of personal names in Kusaal Hasiyatu Abubakari a, *, Lawrence Sandow b, Samuel Akugri Asitanga c a b c University of Ghana/ Rhodes University, South Africa University of Szeged, Hungary University of Education, Winneba, Ghana a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: Received 23 May 2022 Received in revised form 16 January 2024 Accepted 2 February 2024 Available online xxx New names are created on daily bases but old names never change in form. Thus, names offer a window where the archaic linguistics structure of a language can be traced. This study explores the grammatical structure of personal names in Kusaal by focusing on their phonology, morphonology and syntax. Phonologically, the paper explores the phonotactics of personal names; morphologically, it discusses the various morphemes that constitute this category of names, and syntactically, it analyses the rules that underlie the construction of personal names that are phrases, clauses and sentences. The meaning of personal names in Kusaal have been discussed extensively in previous studies for which reason minimal attention is dedicated to it in the current work. The findings show that personal names in Kusaal conform to almost all the structural rules of the language. They occupy specific positions in the noun phrase and in the sentence; they are neutral to syntactic features such as definiteness and plurality. Personal names also take prefixes and affixes and can be compound words. There are instances where insertions and deletions are observed in the compound formation of personal names in the language. The study uses the Basic Linguistics Theory for its descriptive analysis of personal names. Both primary and secondary data are used in this study. Ó 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Personal names Grammar of names Syntax of names Phonology of names Morphology of names Onomastics Kusaal Mabia languages 1. Introduction The study of names, especially personal names has gained considerable attention in the literature and recently, Kusaal and its sister languages have not been left out (Dakubu, 2000, Awedoba, 1996, Abubakari, 2020; Abubakari et al., 2023 among others). Previous studies on names in these languages have mainly focused on their sociolinguistic, and ethnolinguistic analyses. Numerous cross-linguistic studies reveal that personal names exhibit many linguistic features in relation to their syntax, semantics, morphology and phonology. For instance, some personal names are amenable to some phonological influences such as vowel elision, syllable truncation, consonant deletion and assimilation among others. Obeng (1998) suggests that Akan death-prevention personal names may be classified into simple and complex names. The simple names consist of either a root alone or a root with an affix or affixes. The complex names may be classified into phrases (usually possessive Abbreviations: ADV, Adverb; C, Consonant; COP, Copula; EMPH, Emphatic; FUT, Future; IMP, Imperative; INT, Interrogative marker; N, Noun/nasal; NP, Noun phrase; NEG, Negative; NOM, Nominal; PL, Plural; PST, Past; PERF, Perfect; POSS, Possessive; Pro, Pronoun; SGL, Singular; V, Vowel; VP, Verb phrase; 1, First person; 2, Second person; 3, Third person. * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (H. Abubakari), [email protected] (L. Sandow), [email protected] (S.A. Asitanga). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2024.101613 0388-0001/Ó 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 2 H. Abubakari et al. / Language Sciences 104 (2024) 101613 constructions), incomplete sentences and complete sentences. Agyekum (2006) states that certain phonological processes take place during Anglicisation of some Akan personal names while Adomako (2015, 2019) confirms that some personal names in Akan undergo some morphological operations including; compounding, truncation, and affixation (prefixation) as well as phonological processes such as elision, ATR harmony, V-raising, compensatory lengthening among others occur at the morpheme boundaries in casual speech context. Owu-Ewie (2014) additionally, presents a morpho-syntactic analysis of some Fante habitation names. He observes that some compound names as well as names which are formed by reduplication undergo some phonological processes such as vowel elision and assimilation. For instance, he argues that the word man (town) þ k3 se (big) þ mu (in) becomes mank3 sim where the vowel /u/ ending the postposition is elided and that though, the vowel is elided, its ATR influence is still felt to assimilate the high vowel /e (ɪ)/ to become /i/. Similarly, Owu-Ewie et al. (2021) indicate that some personal names in Akan are formed by reduplication and when that happens some reduplicated names undergo some phonological processes such as elision, assimilation, vowel raising and vowel addition. For example, Ky3 3 ky3 r (a person who delays) is made up of Ky3 r (to delay) þ Ky3 r (to delay) where there is deletion and vowel lengthening. They further explain that the liquid sound /r/ is deleted in the base form and compensated for with /3/ and pointed to this phenomenon as compensatory lengthening (Owu-Ewie et al., 2021: 38). Their study also notes that at the morphological level, some Akan names are single stems, compounds, affixations, and reduplications, while at the syntactic level some names are by function, being declaratives, imperatives or interrogatives and structurally as simple, compound or complex. Quite a number of the studies grammar of personal names is traced to Akan compared to other languages in Ghana. Caesar (2019) provides a morphosyntactic analysis of allusive names in Dangme. Morphologically, she points out that Dangme allusive names can take the form of mono-morphemic, di-morphemic and poly-morphemic. Syntactically, she reveals that allusive names in Dangme can take lexical, phrasal and sentential forms and function as declarative, imperative, interrogative clauses reduced to personal names and that at the phrasal level, noun phrases are the only forms that the allusive names take in Dangme. At the sentential level, simple and compound clauses were identified. With respect to the literature on Mabia languages, Awedoba (1996) points out that Kasena personal names exhibit a varied structure and are amenable to several kinds of classifications. He argues that many personal names in Kasena are derived from nouns rather than verbs. For instance, names like Agao, Anao, Kadoa, Kachana etc. morphemically contain a prefix and a noun root (Awedoba 1996: 12–13). Moreover, Kasena personal names do not have gender affixes (Awedoba 1996). In addition, Awedoba notes that Kasena personal names do not contain suffixes, however, it is shown that some Kusaal personal names take suffixes. Syntactically, Kasena personal names exhibit forms that are derived from potential sentences such as regular statements, questions, commands or exclamations (Awedoba, 1996). Although Kasena and Kusaal are sister Mabia languages, this study will show that Kusaal personal names differ in some structural ways compared to Kasena. Nmes in the former are formed from all lexical categories and also, though limited, mark gender using suffixes in some nouns. Sentential personal names are common in both languages. Rahman (2013 as cited by Fatawu, 2020) argues that the most common phonological process in the formation of compounds in Dagbani personal names is elision and that it deals with the loss of a segment; a vowel, a consonant and sometimes a syllable. Similarly, it is confirmed in the work of Abdul-Mumin (2019) that some compound personal names in Dagbani undergo deletion as a way of avoiding consonant clusters from occurring. This corroborates with Kusaal where the formation of some compound personal names goes through phonological processes like deletion or vowel insertion for the purposes of fulfilling syllable structure requirement of the language. In Likpakpaam, personal names exhibit linguistic characteristics both morphologically and syntactically. Morphologically, Bisilki (2018) opines that a typical personal name can consist of a maximum of three morphemes. That is, a personal name contains only one root or free form, with or without other bound morphological segments. Syntactically, he observed that many of the Lipkakpaam personal names are nominal phrases and clauses and in terms of functions, some names can be declarative, an interrogative, a command or even an exclamative. It is noted in Bisilki (2018) that some personal names in Likpakpaam succumb to some assimilatory processes like homorganic nasal assimilation. Kusaal personal names also exhibit similar linguistic features. Some Kusaal compound personal names are amenable to some phonological processes such as deletion and assimilation and also exhibit some morphological and syntactical features (Abubakari, 2020). In Oromo, a language spoken in Ethiopia, personal names are derived from nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and verbs (Gerba, 2014). He notes that while a few Oromo personal names are neutral and can be given to both males and females, many are gender specific. It has been observed that the suffixes attached to these names serve as markers of gender. Names ending with suffixes like -a, -aa, -an, -uu, and -saa are typically associated with males, whereas names ending with suffixes such as -tii, -tuu, and -ee are more commonly given to females (Gerba, 2014; 258). Similarly, it is observed in Tamil of India that some personal names are also distinguished by gender specific suffixes such as -an for male and -i as in Isvaran and Isvari respectively (Britto, 1986; 251). Kusaal follows a similar pattern, however, unlike in Oromo, this analysis reveals that there are only a limited number of gender-specific suffixes used for personal names. Nevertheless, it’s worth noting that in both Kusaal and the languages examined thus far, gender is not determined by the use of prefixes but suffixes. In Yoruba, spoken in Nigeria, Akinnaso (1980) proposes that personal names are either derived from nominal forms or from complete sentences with varying levels of complexity. Names derived from nominals can take the forms of: (1) a single noun, for example, Dàda (child born with curly hair); (2) a compound, like òkéowó / òké þ owó (bag þ money); and (3) a verb phrase nominalization, as seen in Àbíké / à bí ké (one who is born to be petted) (Akinnaso, 1980; 288). On the other hand, names derived from sentences are marked for different moods: declarative, as seen in Omóníyì / omó ní iyì (child has prestige); interrogative, as in Kíladéjo / kí ni adé jo (What is crown like?); and imperative, as in Dúrójayé / dúró je ayé (stay H. Abubakari et al. / Language Sciences 104 (2024) 101613 3 and enjoy life), as explained in (Akinnaso, 1980; 294–295). This pattern of Yoruba personal name structure closely resembles the structure of personal names in Kusaal, as argued in this study. The Turkish language employs various word-formation processes for creating personal names, with compounding being a commonly used method (Duman, 2004). It is interesting to note that many personal names in Turkish have been and continue to be formed through compounding using elements from Arabic, Persian, and Turkish. Duman (2004; 163) highlights that Turkish personal names can be created by combining two nouns or an adjective and a noun from different languages, such as Nuray (combining Persian “nur,” meaning ‘radiance,’ and Turkish “ay,” meaning ‘moon’), Songül (combining Turkish “son,” meaning ‘last,’ and Persian “gül,” meaning ‘rose’), or Nurşen (combining Persian “nur,” meaning ‘radiance,’ and Arabic “şen,” meaning ‘cheerful’). It’s worth noting that Arabic or Persian elements can take Turkish derivational suffixes, as seen in Nurdan, which means ‘made out of light’ (formed by combining Persian “nur” with the Turkish derivational suffix {-DAn}) as presented in Duman (2004; 163). While Kusaal has personal names borrowed from Arabic, Hausa, English, and Akan, no suffix morpheme is observed to be borrowed from another language into Kusaal. Borrowed names in Kusaal are rather adopted to suit the structure of Kusaal be it phonologically, morphologically and syntactically. The main objectives of this study are to (i) analyse the internal syntactic structure of personal names in Kusaal, (ii) discuss the morphological properties of personal names in the language, and (iii) explore the various phonological processes available in personal names in Kusaal. In general, personal names in Kusaal are not arbitrary. The typology of these names shows that they are not randomly given to newborn babies but are rather informed by special events and circumstances surrounding the birth of the name bearers (Abubakari, 2020; Musah & Abubakari, (forthcoming); Abubakari et al., 2023). All the personal names discussed in this study include their meanings which express the cultural philosophies of the people and further strengthen previous arguments that names are not randomly assigned but influenced by circumstances including the belief system of the people among others (Abubakari, 2020; Abubakari et al., 2023). The meanings of the names form a basis of their semantic analysis. To avoid redundancy, a separate section, therefore, will not be dedicated for the semantics of personal names in Kusaal in this work. This is because every aspect of the linguistics analysis: syntax, morphology and phonology give the meanings of the names with further explanations where necessary. These explanations clarify sources of some of the names and the reasons why some names are assigned as personal names. The significance of this study cannot be overemphasised. Studies on the grammar of personal names in the Mabia languages of Ghana and West African has received very little attention if any at all. The literature, as can be seen shows research where authors focus on aspects of the structure of the grammar of personal names in some Ghanaian languages: syntax, morphology and phonology. This work serves as a pioneering attempt of an all-encompassing analysis of the grammar of personal names in a single study with data from one language, Kusaal. The research further adds to the growing body of knowledge on Ghanaian and by extension African anthroponym. It demonstrates how names can be used as a tool to study the grammar of a language and its potential in unraveling the linguistics competence of speakers of a given language. The study employs the Basic Linguistic Theory (Dixon 2010) to describe and discuss the grammar of personal names in Kusaal. The data forms part of the daily discourses of the speakers of the language. The paper is organised as follows; section 1.1 discusses the methodology and data collection, 1.2. briefly talks about the Kusaal language and its speakers and 1.3 looks at personal names as cultural artifacts. Section 2.0 examines the syntactic structure of Kusaal personal names while the morphological analysis of Kusaal personal names is the focus in section 3.0. In section 4.0, the phonological analysis of personal is discussed and section 5.0 provides a conclusion to the paper. 1.1. Methodology and data collection This study is qualitative in nature as it describes language use in its natural context. It is entirely textual, devoid of any statistical analysis. The data form part of the daily discourses of speakers of the Kusaal language in the Upper East Region of Ghana. About seventy percent (70%) of the Kusaal personal names used in this study were gathered from the class attendance registers of pupils in a basic school in Barbuaka, a suburb in the Garu District of the Upper East Region of Ghana in 2022. The meaning of the names were cross-checked using four elders whose ages are between 50 and 80 years and are native speakers of Kusaal. These are Ayamba Asandaug (Male, 57 years), Apengi Azumbilla (Male, 80 years), and Awimbun Ayaaba (Female, 66 years). All reside in Bansi in the Binduri District and Sampson Abuosi (Male 55 years) from Kuksabila, in the Garu District. Unfortunately, Apengi Azumbilla is late at the time of putting this together. The two were chosen because they have deep cultural knowledge of the Kusaas and have lived all their lives in the Kusaug traditional area. We also conducted a semistructured interview with four graduate students who are studying at the University of Education, Winneba and are native speakers of Kusaal. These are: Moses Aputeeda (Male, 35 years), John Ndeogo Ayaabugri (Male, 37 years), Justina Anane (Female, 36 years), Grace Akotey (Female, 35 years). These interviews were recorded and transcribed for purposes of this work. The secondary source of data includes names which were drawn from 2014 matriculation and 2019–2021 graduation books of The University of Education, Winneba where two of the authors come from. These matriculation and graduation books contain names of students who bare Kusaal personal names. It is important to add that all the three authors are native speakers of Kusaal and their personal intuitions played a role in identifying data that potentially needed extra attention and consultations. 4 H. Abubakari et al. / Language Sciences 104 (2024) 101613 1.2. The Kusaal language and its speakers Kusaal is a minority language spoken by the group of people called the Kusaa (SG), Kusaas (PL). It falls under the Central Mabia subgroup of Mabia languages (Bodomo, 2020), which was called the Western Oti-Volta subgroup of Gur languages (Westermann and Bryan, 1952; Greenberg, 1963) of the Niger–Congo language family. The endonym ‘Mabia’ is a compound word composed of two nouns: ma ‘mother’ and bia ‘child’ and means ‘mother’s child’/‘sibling’. Bodomo (2020: 11) explains that the meaning of this endonym renders credence to the fact that these languages are metaphorically believed to have been born from a single mother or proto language hence the argument that this term is more representative of the languages under this group since these two words can be traced in almost all the languages compared to the term ‘Gur’ which is derived from the initial syllables of only three/four of the languages in this group: Gurensi, Gurma and Gurene (see Bodomo, 2020). The Kusaal language is spoken in three West African countries: Ghana, Burkina Faso and Togo. However, the data on personal names that are analysed in this paper are collected from the Ghanaian community although some of these names may also be traced in Burkina Faso and Togo. In Ghana, Kusaal is spoken in the Upper East Region of the country. The Kusaug traditional area has six district capitals: Bawku, Garu-Tempani, Pusiga, Zebilla, and Binduri (see Abubakari 2018, 2020, 2022). Kusaal has two dialects: Agolle and Atoende. The Atoende dialect is spoken in Zebilla and its surrounding areas and the Agolle dialect is spoken in Bawku Municipal, Garu-Tempane and adjoining areas. Fig. 11 is the map of the Upper East Region of Ghana showing Kusaal-speaking communities. It is taken from Abubakari (2022). Fig. 1. Map of Kusaal the Kusaug traditional area in the upper east region of Ghana. Abubakari (2018, 2020) argues that although there is no official census on the number of speakers of Kusaal, it is estimated that there are over 2 million people who use the language as their native language across the West African sub-regions. Data gathered from the Ghana Statistical Service Department, according to the 2010 population and housing census, shows that there are 534,681 speakers of Kusaal in Ghana. With a total population of 24,658,823 (GSS, 2012) people in Ghana, the Kusaas make approximately 2.2% of the population of Ghana as at 2010 (Abubakari, 2018, 2020). 1.3. Personal names as cultural artifacts Undeniably, personal names in Kusaal go beyond assigning identities to persons as Abubakari (2020) rightly opines, ‘any name given to a child in the Kusaal community is expected to have some kind of impact on the bearer both positively and 1 The concept and data in this map was provided by the author whilst the drawing was done by Bashara Abubakar. H. Abubakari et al. / Language Sciences 104 (2024) 101613 5 negatively’. A name is not selected randomly for a newborn baby among the Kusaas. There are several cultural dimensions that are considered before a name is conferred on a baby. Paramount among these is the religious factor. A soothsayer or diviner is traditionally consulted to divine if the newborn is an ancestor or associated with any spirit or god for which reason the ancestor’s name or the god’s or spirit’s name should be given to it. Additionally, the belief that the destiny as well as the future of a newborn baby or a person is encapsulated in the name it bears is kernel among the Kusaas. Thus, personal names are symbolic of the beliefs and cultural values of the Kusaas (Abubakari, 2020; Abubakari et al., 2023). Among the Kusaas, personal names are believed to have the protective powers such that they are even used as weapons against death. Neonatal deaths are curbed by the use of death preventive names (Abubakari, 2020; Abubakari et al., 2023). Personal names also allow people to express their emotions and experiences of particular moments in history. People name their newborns based on their current circumstances or experiences. Some of these names maybe innuendos and proverbial. The name bearer metaphorically becomes a ‘historical record’ such as the individual by virtue of its name reminds people of the experience of the name giver at the time the name was given. These could be both pleasant and bitter memories. The names Nde-daug (M), Nde-pɔka (F) mean a parent of the name bearer saw chameleons mating during the pregnancy. This is a taboo and to atone for this, the baby is names after the taboo object, a chameleon. The name Akaagur ‘Have no protector/guardian’ could also be an innuendo when one feels he/she has been rejected by people who should provide some protection (see Abubakari, 2020; Abubakari et al., 2023 for details). Notwithstanding these social and cultural functions of personal names in Kusaal, another interesting aspect of these names that must not be overlooked is their linguistic structure which is central to the discussion of this paper. 2. Syntactic analysis of Kusaal personal names The basic sentence structure of Kusaal is Subject þ Verb þ Object (SVO) (Abubakari 2011, 2018; Musah 2010, 2018; Eddyshaw 2019; Niggli, 2014 among others). Personal names in Kusaal can be in the forms of phrases and sentences. There are names that are of the structures: simple, complex and compound complex sentences. All such names follow the word order of sentences in the language. Additionally, personal names that are sentences also perform the functions of their respective sentence types. Personal names can be declaratives constructions, interrogative constructions and imperative constructions. This section sheds lights on the syntactic properties that are inherent in Kusaal personal names. 2.1. Personal names with phrasal structures The data indicate that Kusaal personal names can be phrases and usually in the domain of nominal phrases (1a-d) and verbal (1e-g) phrases as presented below: (1) a. M ma 1SG.POSS mother ‘My mother’s god’ win god Mmawin b. M ba 1SG.POSS father ‘my father’s deity’ bʋgʋr deity Mbabʋgʋr c. A-win NOM-NP God.POSS ‘God’s tree’ d. A-win bʋn NOM-NP NP God.POSS thing ‘God’s property’ Awimbʋn e. A-kp3lim NOM-ADV. Still ‘Still exit’ b3 VP exist Akp3limb3 f. A-kʋ NOM-NEG (fut.) Not (will) ‘Will not end’ naae VP Akʋnaae g. tiig NP tree Awintiig finish A-pʋ nar VP NOM-NEG. COP Not deserve ‘Doesn’t deserve’ Apʋnar 6 H. Abubakari et al. / Language Sciences 104 (2024) 101613 The examples above demonstrate that personal names in Kusaal are made of noun phrases. In example (1a), the noun phrase is made up of three elements, that is, a possessive pronoun m ‘my’ followed by a noun ma ‘mother’ which function as modifier to the head word win ‘god’. Similarly, in (1b) the noun phrase comprises a possessive pronoun m ‘my’ a noun ba ‘father’ which all function as a pre-modifier to the head noun bʋgʋr ‘deity’. Moreover, the examples in (1c-d) contain two elements in the noun phrase. The first element Awin ‘God’ is a noun functioning as an adjective to qualify the head noun tiig ‘tree’ and bʋn ‘thing’ respectively. It is observed that personal names with these structures are mostly theophoric names. The personal names in (1e-f), on the other hand, are verb phrases. In (1e) the phrase is composed of the adverbial intensifier kp3 lim ‘still’ which is modifying the head verb b3 ‘exist’ whereas in (1e-g), the head verbs naae ‘finish’ and nar ‘deserve’ respectively are negated using the negative particles: kʋ ‘will not’ and pʋ ‘not’ respectively. 2.2. Personal names with clausal structures Structurally, Kusaal personal names can occur as clauses. In such instances, they mostly have covert subjects, like imperative sentences, with accompanying verb phases (Abubakari, 2020). The data below demonstrate personal names with clausal structures. (2) a. A-bɔɔd NOM-VP Want ‘(I) like family’ Buudi NP Family Abɔɔdbuudi b. A-gɔs Win NOM-VP NP Look God ‘(I) look up to God’ Agɔswin c. A-la’a nɔɔr NOM-VP NP Laugh Mouth ‘Laughs with only the mouth’ Alaanɔɔr d. A-ka’a Gur NOM-NEG.COP NP Not Protector ‘Have no protector/guardian’ Akaagur e. A-pʋ nɔs NOM-NEG.COP VP Not love “Doesn’t love him/her’ f. A-bam bɔɔd NOM-3PL.EMPH VP Some want “Others want/need’ o 3SGL s/he Apʋnɔso Abambɔɔd In examples (2a-c) the clauses are introduced with transitive verbs like bɔɔd ‘like’ gɔs ‘look’ and la’a ‘laugh’ respectively with implied subjects which often refers to the name bearer making the interpretation assume a covert 1st person singular pronoun ‘I’. The examples in (2d-e) are negative constructions. The preverbal negative particle is prefixed with the name prefix -a. The construction in (2f), on the other hand, is an affirmative clausal name with an intransitive verb bɔɔd ‘want’. Personal names that fall under this category are often innuendos (Abubakari, 2020). 2.3. Personal names as simple sentences In simple sentences, Kusaal personal names have explicit subjects and a transitive or intransitive verb. Below is a demonstration of personal names in simple sentences. (3) a. M ma l3b-na N (Pro) N VP 1SG.POSS mother return-PERF ‘My mother has returned/come back’ Mmal3bina b. M N (Pro) 1SGL.POSS ‘My father has siak-ya VP-PST agree-PERF Mbasiakiya c. A-nyan NOM-NP ba NP Anyandiba ba NP father accepted’ di VP H. Abubakari et al. / Language Sciences 104 (2024) 101613 Shame eat ‘They are put to shame’ 3PL d. A-win nɔs NOM-NP VP God love ‘God loves us’ ti 1PL us Awinnɔsiti e. A-win tis NOM-NP VP God ‘God gave it to me’ mam 1SGL gave Awintisimam f. 7 me A-yʋ’ʋr yi-ya NOM-NP VP-PST Name go-past ‘Name has gone out/Famous person’ Ayʋ’ʋyiya In the examples illustrated above, the sentences in (3a-b) have the SV structure, which have m ma’ my mother’ and m ba ‘my father’ respectively as the subjects of the clauses. It is also observable that verbs are intransitive. The perfective ‘-na’ and ‘-ya’ do not take objects in Kusaal (Abubakari, 2011). Moreover, the sentences in (3c-e) follow the SVO structure. In these sentences, Anyan and Awin are the subjects of the sentences, while the transitive verbs di, nɔs and tis take the objects ba, ti and mam respectively. Example (f) on the other hand, is a SV sentence. The subject A-yʋ’ʋr ‘name’ is followed by a perfective verb yiya ‘gone out’. It is observed that mostly, names that fall under this category are names that cast insinuations or related to certain events or occasions. 2.4. Interrogative constructions as personal names The data also indicate that some personal names are interrogative sentences. The names under this category are mostly rhetorical questions and use the inversion question form. A main verb is nominalised into a name by using the name prefix a-. The question word then follows after the nominalised verb. The questions always use inversion question. These names are often given based on personal experiences of the name giver and they often fall under innuendos (Abubakari 2020). It is important to add that the implicit subject of the question can refer to the name giver, the name bearer of the name or a person(s) to whom the innuendo is thrown at. The name giver is the best person to explain the referent of the question. Although little to no restrictions are observed on the types of interrogative pronouns that can used for personal names, the commonest interrogative-words that are observed include: bɔ ‘what’ and ya ‘where’. This is illustrated below: (4) a. A-maal bɔ? NOM-VP INT Do what “What have I done?’ Amaalbɔ b. A-kis bɔ? NOM-VP INT Hate what ‘What do (you) forbid?’ Akisbɔ c. A-l3bid NOM-VP Return ‘Where do I turn Al3bidya d. A-bɔɔd bɔ? NOM-VP INT Want what ‘What do you want?’ Abɔɔbɔ e. bɔ? A-n3n NOM-VP INT Jealous what ‘What are you jealous of?’ An3mbɔ F. A-nɔ’ɔn bɔɔda? NOM-who want ‘Who wants/likes it? Anɔɔmbɔɔda ya? INT where to?’ It is observable in the above examples that all the personal names above are interrogative constructions. In examples (4ad) the constructions begin with the verbs maal ‘do’, kis ‘hate’, l3 bid ‘return’ and bɔɔd ‘want’ respectively and end with interrogative pronouns such as bɔ ‘what’ and ya ‘where’. The subjects that characterise these constructions are implicit. Whereas, in example (4e) the structure is made up of a relative pronoun anɔ’ɔn ‘who’ and a verb bɔɔd ‘want’. The a- prefix 8 H. Abubakari et al. / Language Sciences 104 (2024) 101613 nominalises the verbs into names before the interrogative pronouns are introduced. These names are allusive names because they refer to persons in an indirect way. 2.5. Imperative constructions as personal names Personal names in Kusaal are also expressed in the imperative form. In this type of name, the subject of the construction is always implied. Kusaal has both positive and negative imperative morphemes. Whilst the positive is a suffix morpheme –m the negative is a preverbal particle da (Abubakari 2018; Musah, 2018) and both forms can be used in personal names. The examples below are used for illustration: (5) a. Ba 3PL ‘Let them say!’ pian’a-m! talk.IMP b. A-da tam Do not forget ‘Don’t forget about them!’ c. A-k3l NOM-let ‘Let/allow them!’ d. A-luk-um NOM-Separate! ‘Take (it) out!” Bapian’am ba! 3PL ba! 3PP Adatamba Ak3liba Alukum The sentences presented above are personal names that perform imperative functions. The construction in (5a) has the object pronoun ba ‘them’ and the imperative verb form pian’am ‘talk’. Whereas, in (5b) the verb tam ‘forget’ and the plural pronoun ba ‘them’ are preceded by the negative imperative morpheme da. The negative morpheme is preceded by the name prefix a-. However, in (5c) the imperative form is introduced by k3 l ‘let/allow. Musah (2018) suggests that k3 /k3 l ‘let/allow’ impresses upon the addresser to take a certain action in a manner or tone that does not command but implores. 3. Morphological analysis of Kusaal personal names Morphology concerns word formation and how words in the same language relate to one another. Most of the personal names in Kusaal are derived from common nouns, proper nouns and abstract nouns that refer to deities and shrines, day names, fauna and flora names, circumstantial names, objects, experiences, innuendos among others (Abubakari 2020). Names are also derived from verbs and other lexical categories in the language. To differentiate personal names from nouns, verbs and other lexical categories, a prefix a- is attached to the lexical item to make it a personal name. One may refer to this prefix as a personal name typifier or a personal name marker in Kusaal. Previous research has also described it as a nominaliser (Bodomo et al., 2018). The role as a nominaliser often concerns changing verbs or series of verbs into a name or depicting the acts conveyed by a series of verbs (see Bodomo et al., 2018). Bodomo et al. explain that the Kusaas create names from verb phrases by the use of this prefix. They demonstrate this by using the examples below: (6) a. à-dá’á-níí i NOM-buy-cattle ‘(Mr) cattle buyer’ b. à-mí-wús-dím NOM-know-all-owners ‘(Mr) know all’ (Bodomo et al., 2018: 20) Since nouns are also changed into personal names using the same prefix, the function of the said prefix can then be said be go beyond being a nominaliser to something that serves more as a personal name prefix. However, words that begin with the voiced alveolar stop /d/ and the bilabial /m/ sounds are prefixed with the nasal /n-/ and /m/ respectively. Thus, most of the personal names in Kusaal either begins with the prefix a- or the nasal n- or m-/ (Also see Musah & Abubakari, (forthcoming); Abubakari 2020). The composition of a basic Kusaal personal name can be said to be di-morphemic (prefix þ a head word). Others can be up to three or more morphemes. This implies that Kusaal names can be divided into several morphemes, usually a bound and a free morpheme, a bound and two free morphemes or a bound, free and a bound morpheme among other possible permutations. Abubakari (2020), however, observes that instances where the above prefixes are not used for personal names include names that relate to chieftaincy titles and some nicknames. This section provides a discussion on some morphological properties in Kusaas personal names. 9 H. Abubakari et al. / Language Sciences 104 (2024) 101613 3.1. A prefix þ a noun Many personal names in Kusaal are derived by prefixing proper nouns, common nouns and abstract nouns that designate things such as deities, names of places, day names, fauna and flora among others with -a. The data below exemplify this assertion. Table 1 Personal names formed from two morphemes; a prefix and root (noun). a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. j. k. l. Prefix Noun Gloss Name Meaning Explanation aaaaaaaaaaaa- win bʊgʊr ba’ar tree kugur naaf baa gbaʊs laarib suor suguru kom god deity idol tree stone cow dog skin Wednesday path patience hunger Awin Abʋgʋr Aba’ar Atiig Akugur Anaaf Abaa Agbaʋs Alaarib Asuor Asuguru Akom god deity idol tree stone cow dog skin Wednesday path/road patience hunger named after a god named after a deity named after an idol named after a tree named after a stone named after a cow (a clan’s totemic item) named after a dog (a clan’s totemic item) to be tough like the skin of an animal a day name A child born on the road/path It means patience name of a person who was born during famine A closer look shows that all the personal names in Table 1 have two morphemes, the prefix a- and the head noun. The root word also points to the source of the name. For instance, examples (a-c) indicate that the names Awin, Abʋgʋr and Aba’ar are from ‘a god, a deity and an idol’ respectively. Moreover, in Kusaal, personal name may be derived from trees, animals, day names and other objects as observed in (d-j) and these objects have spiritual connotations, i.e. they may be gods, idols or family totems among others. In addition, a personal name such as Asuor ‘Road’ in (j), is derived from a common noun which indicates where the person was born. The examples in (k and l) demonstrate personal names that are derived from abstract nouns such as Asuguru ‘Patience’ and Akom ‘Hunger’. 3.2. The ‘a-’ prefix þ a verb Bodomo et al. (2018) explain that the prefix a- has the ability to nominalise series of verb in a complex construction to denote the act of carrying out the various activities denoted by the verbs sequentially. (7) à-z -ki -dí-tá0 amá NOM-ran-go-eat-shea fruit ‘the act of running to go and eat shea fruit/running in order to go and eat shea-fruits’ (Bodomo et al., 2018: 2) The data reveal that some personal names can also be formed by prefixing verbs with a-. Thus, the verb becomes a name by being attached to the prefix. The examples below demonstrate personal names that are formed by using this process. It is important to add that these names are all gender neutral. They can be given to both boys and girls. Table 2 Personal names formed from a prefix and root word (verb). S/N Prefix Verb Gloss a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. j. aaaaaaaaaa- tu’as Tiel ba’as bi’es di’ig san’am zi’i zan’as siak tiak ‘to ‘to ‘to ‘to ‘to ‘to ‘to ‘to ‘to ‘to imitate’ reach out’ finish’ doubt’ unexpect’ destroy’ not know’ refuse’ accept’ change’ Name Meaning Átuas-i Atiel-i Aba’as-i Abi’es-i Adi’ig-i Asan’am-i Azi’i Azanas-i Atiak-i Atiak-i Imitate Support Finish Doubt Unexpected/unannounced Destroy Unknown Refuse Accept Change 10 H. Abubakari et al. / Language Sciences 104 (2024) 101613 Table 2 illustrates the formation of some personal names by combining the prefix a- and a verb form. The long forms of the verbs are used in this situation (Abubakari 2017, 2018). Generally, words in Kusaal have long and short forms with the former considered as the archaic form. Whilst the long forms are used in questions and negation, the short forms are used elsewhere. The short forms, basically, delete the final vowel. In personal names the untruncated forms are also used. Similarly, in the sentential names below, the long forms of verbs are used. They are combined with object pronouns and prefixed by a- to form personal names. (8) a. b. c. d. e. f. Composition /a-dɔl # ba/ a.follow.3PL /a-gɔt # ba/ a.look.3PL /a-kɛl # ba/ a-spare#3PL /a-wɪn # miʔi/ a-god#know /a-wɪn # nɔs # tɪ/ a.god.love.2PL /a-naʔam # sɪakya/ a-majesty satisfy.PST Full form [adɔlɪba] Name Adoliba Meaning ‘It is following them’ [agɔtɪba] Agotiba ‘Look at them’ [akɛlɪba] Akɛliba ‘Spares (leave) them’ [awɪnɪmiʔi] Awɪnimiʔi ‘God knows best’ [awɪnɔsɪtɪ] Awɪnɔsiti ‘God loves us’ [anaʔansɪakqɪya] Anaʔansiakiya ‘Your majesty is satisfying’ In the examples presented above the verb, whether it occurs after the prefix and before the object, or it occur at the extreme right periphery of the name must be in the full form. Thus, it must end with a vowel. The use of the full form prevents the undesirable occurrence of consonant clusters in the language (see x4). 3.3. The ‘a-’ prefix þ a noun þ a noun Personal names in Kusaal can also be Noun–Noun compounds prefixed by /a-/. This is demonstrated in Table 3 below: Table 3 Personal names formed by three morphemes; a prefix, a noun and a noun. a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. j. Prefix Noun Gloss Noun Gloss Name Meaning Explanation aaaaaaa. aaa- female scorpion god god thick porridge god guest idol chieftaincy chieftaincy saan zʋʋr tiig na’ab na’ab ma dau win bas vuak Apʋasaan Anaszʋʋr Awintiig Awina’ab Asa’abna’ab Awimma Asaandau Aba’arwin Ana’ambas Anaanvuak female guest ccorpion tail’ god’s tree head of the gods king of thick porridge god’s mother male guest idol’s god chieftaincy ring chieftaincy hat A name given to the first female child It means to be tiny but dangerous like the tail of a scorpion Named after a tree which is a deity Named after the head of all the deities. To have plenty to eat The mother of my god A name given to the first male child It means an idol Named after a ring worn for chieftaincy Named after a hat worn for chieftaincy pʋ’a nas win win sa’ab win saan ba’ar na’am na’am guest tail tree chief chief mother male god ring hat 3.4. The ‘a-’ prefix þ a noun þ an adjective Kusaal personal names can also consist of a prefix, a noun (N) and an adjective (Adj.). Thus, personal names in Kusaal can be Noun-Adjective compounds as demonstrated in Table 4. Table 4 Personal names formed by three morphemes. S/n Prefix Noun Gloss Adjective Gloss Name Meaning Explanation a. b. c. HE aaa. win zʋʋr win ‘god’ ‘tail’ ‘god’ sʋ’ʋm bil bil good small small Awinsʋʋm Azʋbil Awinbil god is good Azʋ Junior small god/Awin Junior d. e. f. g. aaaa- nua ba’ar laa daug ‘fowl’ ‘idol’ ‘bowl’ ‘wood’ bil bʋn ~ fõinf kʋdʋg small own little old Anɔbil Aba’arbʋn Alafίinf Adakʋdʋg small fowl belong to the idol small bowl old wood My god is good There are two Azʋs; the younger is called Azʋbil. i. Named after a small deity The name of a younder Awin in the compound. Named after a chicken Dedicated to the idol named after a small bowl Named after an old wood In Kusaal, bil ‘small can either be a free or a bound morpheme. When used as a bound morpheme, –bil, it functions as a diminutive marker. In personal names, it means ‘junior’ or the diminutive form of the head word. If two people have the same name in a compound, the younger word gets -bil, attached to their name. 11 H. Abubakari et al. / Language Sciences 104 (2024) 101613 3.5. The ‘a-’ prefix þ a verb þ a modifying adverb Personal names in Kusaal can also be of the compound type: Verb-Adverb, prefixed with -a. Examples of these names are presented in Table 5 below: Table 5 Personal names comprise of three morphemes. a. b. c. d. e. f. g. Prefix Verb Gloss Adverb Gloss Name Meaning aaaaaaa- mɔr yi kul paae maal kis gɔnlʋg handle came out arrive reach do hate bent sʋm b3’3d sʋm sʋm sʋm n33m sʋm well badly well well well nothing well Amɔrsʋm Ayib33d Akulsʋm Apaasʋm Amaalsʋm Akisn33m Agɔnlʋsʋm Handle with care well Unlucky Go home safely Arrived safely Done well Hate me for nothing Miss. Bent well’ 3.6. The ‘a-’ prefix þ a nominalised verb Personal names in Kusaal can also be formed by using the prefix a-, a verb and a derivational suffix. In this process, the verb is nominalised by the suffix and the ‘name’ prefix a- is attached to the nominalised verb. Some examples to support this claim are presented in Table 6 below. Table 6 Personal names comprise a prefix, a root and a suffix. S/N Prefix Verb Gloss Suffix Name Meaning Explanation a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. j. aaaaaaaaaa- zi’i zi’e lʋak p3lig dɔl saans luk ny3 k3 g3n don’t know stand avoid expose follow to stress separate see to fault to be tired -lim -lib -b -b -b -m -m -t -ya -ya Aziilim Azielib Alʋakʋb Ap3ligib Adɔlib Asaansim Alukum Ignorance Standing Avoid (them) Expose (them) Follow (them) Stress/discipline (them) Separate me! Anyԑt At fault Tired They are doing it out ignorance I stand here Avoid them They have been exposed I follow them I have stressed them I am different from them I have seen it/them I am at fault They are tired Akԑya Agԑnya In the examples above, it can be observed that there are different nominalisation suffixes for different verbs in Kusaal. Verbs that end with consonants and nasals also undergo some form of vowel insertion. This shows that in forming personal names in the language, all the underlying rules in the phonotactics of the language must be adhered to. 3.7. Gender distinguishing personal names There are some personal names which distinguish between masculine and feminine forms. Such names mark the masculine mostly by using the suffix –daug ‘man’ and the feminine forms are invariably marked by –pɔka ‘woman’. Table 7 provides examples of names under this category. Most of the items people are named after, in the data below, are totemic items, gods and deities. Table 7 Gender distinguishing personal names in Kusaal. S/N Prefix Noun Gloss Masculine Feminine Meaning Explanation a. b. c. d. e. f. g. aaaaaan- laal win kugur Ayam zʋʋr bʋgʋr dindeog dormouse god stone wise’ tail deity chameleon Alaadau Awindau Akudau Ayandau Azʋdaug Abʋgʋ dau Ndedau Alaapɔka Awimpɔka Akupɔka Ayampɔka Azʋpɔka Abʋgʋpɔka Ndepɔka A A A A A A A Named after a Named after a Named after a A wise person Named after a Named after a Named after a dormouse god stone wise person tail deity chameleon dormouse (totemic item) god stone (deity) tail (totemic item) deity chameleon (totemic item) 12 H. Abubakari et al. / Language Sciences 104 (2024) 101613 4. Phonological analysis of Kusaal personal names The syllable structure of Kusaal is comprised of the regular syllable types: N, V, CV, CVC, CVN, CVV (Abubakari 2018) as also observed in (Musah 2010, 2017, 2018). The formation of personal names also conforms to this phonotactics. The syllable structure of Kusaal does not permit consonant clusters within syllables. This implies that a personal name in Kusaal which comprises two or more morphemes must have a way to avoid clusters of consonants. This section looks at some phonological processes that ensure that personal names conform to the phonotactics of the language. 4.1. Deletion Segment deletion is another phonological strategy that ensures that morphemes that come together to form a personal name follows the phonotactics of Kusaal. When two nouns are compounded to form a personal name, the first element in the compound loses its final segment(s) which is, mostly, a consonant. This process ensures that clusters or sequences of consonants at syllable boundaries are avoided. (7) a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. j. UR /a.kɔlʋg # bʋgʋr/ a.bag#divination /n.deog # bil/ n.chameleon#small /a.nã:f # des/ /a.bʋgʋr # wɪn/ a.deity#god /m.baʔar # wɪn/ m.father#god /a.lal # daʋg/ a.squirrel#man /a.ya:b # bʋ.gʋr/ a.ancentral# god /a.wi:d # dã:n/ a.horse#owner /a.wɪn # nãʔ.ãb/ a.god#chief /a.tiːg # ba/ a.tree#father SR [akɔlʋbʋgʋr] Name Akɔlʋbʋgʋr Meaning Named after a divination bag [ndebil] Ndebil Small chameleon/Nde Junior [anades] [abʋgʋwɪn] Anades Abʋgʋwɪn Named after the god of a shrine [abaʔawɪn] Abaʔawɪn ‘My father’s god’ [a.la:daʋg] Alaadaʋg ‘Named after a male squirrel’ [a.ya:bʋgʋr] Ayaabʋgʋr ‘Named after astral deity’ [a.wi:dã:n] Awiidaaan ‘Horse owner’ (the horse is a totemic animal of a clan among the Kusaas) [awɪnãʔãb] Awina’ab ‘Named after the chief of the gods’ [atiːba] Atiiba Named after a tree believed to be the father tree if trees’ It is noted that all the final consonants of the first stems in the underlying representations are deleted at the compounded forms at the surface level. Noun–Noun personal names or Noun-adjective compound personal names are mostly the names which undergo this type of phonological process. 4.2. Assimilation Zsiga (2011) explains assimilation as a phonological alternation in which two sounds that are adjacent become more similar. In Kusaal personal names, nasals assimilate to the place of articulation of adjacent consonants at morpheme boundaries. Thus, the assimilation in this situation is always regressive. This is illustrated below. (9) a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. UR /a-tãn # bil/ a.land.small /a-gbã s # bʋn/ a.skin.owner /a-wɪn # bɔɔd/ a. god#like /a-wɪn # mã/ a. god#mother /a-mãʔãn # bil/ a.okra#small /a-nãn # bɔɔd/ a.still#like /a-kpelim # gad/ a.still#lead /a-pãm # daug/ a.strength#man /a-nãʔãm # siakɪja/ a.majesty#satisfying SR [atãmbil] Name Atambil Meaning ‘Named after a small land/Atam Junior [agbãmbʋn] Agbambʋn own by the skin (chief) [awɪmbɔɔd] Awimbɔɔd ‘ God’s love’ [awɪmmã] Awimma ‘God’s mother’ [amãʔãmbil] Ama’ambil ‘A small okra/Okra Junior’ [anãmbɔɔd] Anambɔɔd ‘Still loved’ [akpelisgad] Akpelisgad ‘Still above/ahead’ [apãndaug] Apandaug ‘Strong man’ [anãʔãnsɪakɪja] Ana’ansɪakiya ‘Your reign is satisfactory’ From the above data, nasals assimilate in place of articulation to a following consonant. In (9a-c) the velar nasal /s/ becomes a labial nasal [m] following a labial consonant /b/. Similarly, the examples in (9d-f) have the alveolar nasal /n/ H. Abubakari et al. / Language Sciences 104 (2024) 101613 13 assimilating to the place of articulation of the following labial stops /b/ and /m/. However, it is observed in (9g-k) that the bilabial nasal stop /m/ becomes an alveolar stop /n/ as a result of the adjacent alveolar consonants /d/ and /s/. In terms of directionality, it is observed that it is the adjacent consonant at the right that undergoes the assimilatory process to become like the consonant at the left and this describes anticipatory or regressive assimilation. 5. Conclusion This study was set out to analyse the core aspects of syntax, semantics, morphology and phonology of personal names in Kusaal. Syntactically, it is revealed that Kusaal personal names can be phrasal or clausal forms where the types of phrasal forms identified are noun phrases and verb phrases and personal names that take clauses do not have overt subjects. At sentential or functional level, Kusaal personal names occur as simple sentences that take transitive or intransitive verbs as demonstrated in (5a-d). Moreover, the study finds that Kusaal personal names can have interrogative and imperative constructions. With regard to morphology, it has shown that Kusaal personal names often comprise two to three morphemes. At di-morphemic level, a nominal prefix and a free morpheme can form a personal name where the free morpheme is either a noun or a verb. At poly-morphemic level, a personal name can contain a bound morpheme (a nominal prefix) and two free morphemes or two bound morphemes and a free morpheme as observed in 3.6. In addition, it has shown that gender distinguishing personal names can be marked by suffixes such as –daug for male and -pɔka for feminine personal names. At the phonological level, the study has indicated that personal names are subjected to the phonotactic constraints of Kusaal and therefore, phonological processes such as vowel insertion, consonant deletion and assimilation are employed to ensure that personal names conform to the phonotactic requirement of the language. CRediT authorship contribution statement Hasiyatu Abubakari: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft, Validation, Supervision, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation, Conceptualization. Lawrence Sandow: Writing – review & editing, Resources, Methodology, Investigation, Data curation. Samuel Akugri Asitanga: Writing – review & editing, Validation, Investigation, Data curation. Data availability No data was used for the research described in the article. References Abdul-Mumin, A.-R.B., 2019. Dagomba Personal Names and Address Terms.. BA thesis University of Ghana-Legon. Abubakari, H., 2011. 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