Kwara State University
Olabode ABIMBOLA
Designation: Lecturer II
Department: Linguistics African and European Languages
| My Publications | ||||||||
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| S/N | Title | Abstract | Authors | Volume Numbers | Publication Type | Publication Date | Link | |
| 1 | More on the functions of “kan”: a putative demonstrative qualifier in Yorùbá |
More on the functions of “kan”: a putative demonstrative qualifier in Yorùbá Olabode Thomas ABIMBOLA olabodeabimbola9@gmail.com; olabode.abimbola@kwasu.edu.ng Department of Linguistics, African and European Languages Kwara State University, Malete Kwara State, Nigeria. Abstract There are lots of items within the nominal domain whose categories and semantic imports have not been properly investigated towards an articulated understanding of the domain. Kan is one of such items. This study investigates the functions of kan, a putative demonstrative qualifier in Yoruba language. Extant works out rightly classified kan as a demonstrative qualifier (Awobuluyi, 2013; Bamgbose, 1990). Kan may denote “singularity” of entity associated with it as in Olú bí ọmọ kan “Olu gave birth to a/one child” but not in Ọmọ kan ń bèèrè yín “a certain child is asking of you” or Àwọn àgbà kan fẹ́ rí iyín “Some certain elders want to see you”. Further investigations show that the way the item has been hitherto conceived is not totally true. This study adopted a descriptive method. Data were gathered randomly from existing literatures on the language. Our studies revels that Yoruba has more than one kan with identical morphological shape but functionally different. kan performs seven different functions in Yoruba. These are: singularity, non-familiarity, certainty/particularity, emphasis, stylistic reinforcement, intensifier, new information, and non-impressive pragmatic attitude marker. Keyword: Yorùbá, Singularity, Non-familiarity, Certainty/particularity and emphasis. | Olabode Thomas Abimbola | Vol. 10 No. 4 . | journal | 2021-07-01 | ||