Du statut des prédicatifs dits verbaux en Buamu

Abstract

This study focuses on the morphology of verbal constituents in Buamu, a Gur language spoken in Burkina Faso and Mali. It specifically questions the nature of morphemes considered as verbal markers and examines their status in the verbal system of this language. The issue raised concerns the identification and function of morphemes associated with verbs in Buamu, which are often considered verbal predicatives, while they could actually function as auxiliary verbs. The main objective of this research is to demonstrate that, contrary to the widespread idea that aspectual values of the imperfective are expressed by specific verbal markers, these values are actually expressed by auxiliary verbs. The methodology adopted is based on the analysis of a linguistic corpus, consisting of simple statements obtained from native speakers of the language. This corpus helped to highlight the morphological units involved in the expression of aspectual values. The theoretical framework of this study follows both a structuralist and functionalist approach. The structuralist approach analyzes the structure of verbal constituents, while the functionalist approach focuses on the roles of linguistic units in expressing aspectual values. The results obtained show that in Buamu, the aspectual values of the future, projective, and eventual are not expressed by verbal predicatives but by auxiliary verbs. Furthermore, the morpheme associated with the progressive is a postposition with a locative value, rather than a verbal predicative.