Adding another volume to Routledge's series of descriptive grammars, Rennison (linguistics, U. of Vienna) analyzes in detail a language spoken in the north of Burkina Faso, West Africa, which is being pushed gradually toward extinction by strong linguistic and ecological pressures. Based on what is probably more field work than conducted by any other westerner, he sheds light on many unanswered questions both about Koromfe itself and about other languages in the Gur or Voltaic group that share affinities with many of the phonological, lexical, morphological, and syntactic features he describes. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
Strong linguistic and ecological pressures are gradually pushing Koromfe, the local language spoken in the north of Burkina Faso, West Africa, towards extinction. Spoken by, at the most, 10,000 people, Koromfe has defied political and cultural domination by other local languages. Few other researchers have studied Koromfe in such detail and this is the first detailed linguistical analysis of its kind. Consequently, data is provided which sheds light on many previously unanswered questions concerning both Koromfe and genetic and general linguistic issues. The information which constitutes this Descriptive Grammar is based on field work made by the author. As a Gur or Voltic language, the author shows how Koromfe shares many phonological, lexical, morphological and syntactic affinities with other such languages.
This is the first detailed linguistic analysis of Koromfe, the local language spoken in the north of Burkina Faso, West Africa, providing data which sheds light on many previously unanswered questions about Koromfe and general linguistics.
