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This article is a contribution to the cross-linguistic discussion on causation. It proceeds on the note that causation is a significant notion, both cognitively and grammatically. I make a case that the Mabia (Gur) languages of West Africa are severely under-represented in the literature on causation. I then focus on causation in Likpakpaanl, an under-researched Mabia language spoken in Ghana and Togo in West Africa. I further present data from thirteen other related West African languages for comparative purposes. Broadly speaking, Likpakpaanl deploys all the traditional causation strategies- lexical, morphological, serialising and analytic. However, the use of nasals, especially vowel nasality as a causativisers is novel and uniquely places Likpakpaanl among its linguistic relatives. The Likpakpaanl analytic causative marker chà has a functional scope for both factitive and permissive causatives. In a sense, the source of the specialised analytic causative marker in Likpakpaanl diverges from the oft-cited cross-linguistic source of analytic causative markers. The Likpakpaanl biclausal causative is the balanced structure and, therefore, aligns well with the biclausal causative structure described for the West African linguistic area, contra the deraked structure of Indo-European languages. A thorough investigation of the constellation of causatives in Mabia promises new insights into causative typology.     

This article provides the first systematic account of relativization in Likpakpaln, an understudied Mabia (Gur) language of Ghana. Broadly speaking, Likpakpaln features two types of relative clauses: restrictive and non-restrictive. Both types of relative clauses are finite and marked by a relative pronoun as well as a clausal definite determiner. The first type is always headed by an indefinite noun. The second is invariably headed by a definite head noun, is additionally marked by a prosodic break, and is usually under focus. The relative pronoun is a composite form comprised of a noun class agreement marker and an invariant relative marker. A number of the features of relative clauses in Likpakpaln align it with other Mabia languages of the region, whereas others distinguish it from these languages. This analysis situates Likpakpaln within its genealogical and areal context while providing new typological perspectives on the Mabia languages as a whole.

The Mabia languages belong to the Niger–Congo family and are spoken primarily across the savannah and Sahelian regions of West Africa, including northern Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali. Tone plays a crucial role in these languages, shaping both lexical meaning and grammatical structure. This study is a synthesis or an overview of previously described facts about the tonal phenomena in six Mabia languages, Dagaare, Dagbani, Gurenɛ, Kusaal, Likpakpaln, and Buli—highlighting their tonal inventories, structures, and distinctive tonal processes. Dagaare and Dagbani exhibit a two-tone system (high and low), with an additional down-stepped high tone. Kusaal, Likpakpaln, and Buli employ a three-tone system (high, mid, and low), while the tonal status of Gurenɛ remains contested: some scholars describe it as a two-tone language, whereas others provide evidence for a three-tone system. The mid tone, though relatively less productive, appears to represent a later innovation within the group. The mid tone performs both lexical and grammatical functions. Notable tonal phenomena across these languages include tonal polarity, low tone spreading, and restrictions on contour tones, with Buli exhibiting particularly productive low tone spread. In all six languages, tone plays both lexical and grammatical functions. This paper explores these features and offers basic theoretical explanations for their occurrence. Overall, tone is a defining characteristic of the Mabia languages, intricately shaping their phonological and morphological structures.

This article contributes to the cross-linguistic discussion of causation in language. It proceeds on the note that causation is a significant notion, both cognitively and grammatically. The Mabia (Gur) languages of West Africa are severely under-represented in the literature on causative structure. Drawing on naturalistic data, I focus on an analysis of causatives in Likpakpaanl, an under-researched Mabia language spoken in Ghana and Togo. Secondary data from thirteen other (related) West African languages are also presented to establish the typological correlates. Likpakpaanl deploys all the traditional causativising strategies- lexical, morphological, serialising and analytic. But notably, the use of nasals, especially vowel nasality as a causativising mechanism is novel and uniquely places Likpakpaanl among its genetic and areal relatives. The Likpakpaanl analytic causative is the balanced biclausal structure and, therefore, aligns well with the biclausal causative structure described for the West African linguistic area, contra the deraked structure of Indo-European languages. A thorough investigation of the constellation of causatives in the Mabia languages promises new insights into causative typology.

This paper describes an aspect of language use in the Ghanaian academic community, specifically investigating the use of evaluative speech acts in the review language of graduate students at the University of Cape Coast (UCC). The study is situated in Hyland’s (2004) conceptual framework of evaluative language. Using a content analysis approach to corpora, the study revealed that the reviews of the graduate students contained both positive and negative evaluative speech acts as well as linguistic mitigating strategies meant to soften criticisms that were face-threatening. However, it is worthy of note that the positive speech acts or praises were recorded in a higher proportion than were the criticisms. More intriguing was the discovery that much more of both the praise and the criticism were focused on the text, rather than on the author. Overall, the pattern of evaluative language use discovered in this analysis, if generalisable, renders the academic discourse culture of the Ghanaian graduate student more akin to Asian linguistic cultures than to Western ones. Actes de Discours Evaluatif des Etudiants de Cycle Supérieur de l’University of Cape Coast, Ghana Cet article décrit un aspect de l’utilisation du langage dans la communauté académique ghanéenne, en examinant, notamment, l’utilisation des actes de discours évaluatif dans le langage des étudiants de cycle supérieur de l’University of Cape Coast (UCC). Cette étude se situe dans le cadre théorique conceptuel de Hyland (2004) relatif ? l’utilisation du langage évaluatif. En utilisant une approche pour l’analyse du contenu appliquée au corpus, l’étude a révélé que les évaluations des étudiants de cycle supérieur comprenaient ? la fois les actes de discours positif et négatif ainsi que certaines stratégies atténuantes linguistiques adoptées pour adoucir les critiques qui étaient menaçantes pour la face. Toutefois, il est important de noter que les actes de discours positif ou d’éloges étaient enregistrés dans une proportion supérieure ? celle des critiques. Il est aussi intéressant de noter que, selon la découverte faite, la plupart des éloges et des critiques étaient concentrés sur le texte, plutôt que sur l’auteur. En général, le schéma d’utilisation du langage découvert dans cette analyse, si généralisable, rend la culture de discours scolaire de l’étudiant ghanéen de cycle supérieur plus comparable aux cultures linguistiques asiatiques qu’? celles de l’Occident.

This paper describes an aspect of language use in the Ghanaian academic community, specifically investigating the use of evaluative speech acts in the review language of graduate students at the University of Cape Coast (UCC). The study is situated in Hyland’s (2004) conceptual framework of evaluative language. Using a content analysis approach to corpora, the study revealed that the reviews of the graduate students contained both positive and negative evaluative speech acts as well as linguistic mitigating strategies meant to soften criticisms that were face-threatening. However, it is worthy of note that the positive speech acts or praises were recorded in a higher proportion than were the criticisms. More intriguing was the discovery that much more of both the praise and the criticism were focused on the text, rather than on the author. Overall, the pattern of evaluative language use discovered in this analysis, if generalisable, renders the academic discourse culture of the Ghanaian graduate student more akin to Asian linguistic cultures than to Western ones. Actes de Discours Evaluatif des Etudiants de Cycle Supérieur de l’University of Cape Coast, Ghana Résumé Cet article décrit un aspect de l’utilisation du langage dans la communauté académique ghanéenne, en examinant, notamment, l’utilisation des actes de discours évaluatif dans le langage des étudiants de cycle supérieur de l’University of Cape Coast (UCC). Cette étude se situe dans le cadre théorique conceptuel de Hyland (2004) relatif à l’utilisation du langage évaluatif. En utilisant une approche pour l’analyse du contenu appliquée au corpus, l’étude a révélé que les évaluations des étudiants de cycle supérieur comprenaient à la fois les actes de discours positif et négatif ainsi que certaines stratégies atténuantes linguistiques adoptées pour adoucir les critiques qui étaient menaçantes pour la face. Toutefois, il est important de noter que les actes de discours positif ou d’éloges étaient enregistrés dans une proportion supérieure à celle des critiques. Il est aussi intéressant de noter que, selon la découverte faite, la plupart des éloges et des critiques étaient concentrés sur le texte, plutôt que sur l’auteur. En général, le schéma d’utilisation du langage découvert dans cette analyse, si généralisable, rend la culture de discours scolaire de l’étudiant ghanéen de cycle supérieur plus comparable aux cultures linguistiques asiatiques qu’à celles de l’Occident.