Читать книгу The morphology and phonology of the nominal domain in Tagbana - Yranahan Traoré - Страница 8

Preface and Acknowledgement

This book provides a morphological and a phonological analysis of the nominal domain of Fròʔò (Tagbana), an understudied language of Côte d’Ivoire, especially the phenomenon of alliterative concord in the phonology, and derivational and compound processes in morphology. It is the result of a three-year research on the language, and it would not have been realized without the help of many people.

First of all, I am indebted to the person most involved in this work, my supervisor Caroline Féry, for advising me and teaching me numerous issues in linguistics, and for always believing in me. I would like to express to you, dear professor, all my gratitude for the quality of your supervision and advice, when everything seemed so difficult for me. Thank you also for the many hours that you spent in long conversations about the work reported on in this book. You always gave me the strength to go on. Thank you so much for your patience, which makes me what I am today—a better linguist than I was before meeting you. Your academic support helped to take big steps forward in my research. I deeply appreciate working with you.

Further, I would like to thank Beata Moskal, who, in addition to my main supervisor and in spite of her numerous professional and also private tasks, accepted to make corrections and give feedbacks and comments on some aspects of this book and also to supervise my work.

Many thanks to Ahoua Firmin, my Master and D.E.A (Diplôme d´ Etudes Approndies) supervisor, for accepting to be part of my PhD committee and to be present at my defence. Thank you very much for your support and your teaching. I very much appreciate your support.

I am very grateful to Frank Kügler, Axel Fleisch and Katharina Hartmann for accepting to be a part of my thesis committee.

Thanks to Fatima Hamlaoui who in spite of her many tasks accepted to read some sections of my work. Thanks a lot for your suggestions and comments and thanks for your kindness.

I am grateful to Kirsten Brock, a professional editor. Kirsten Brock accepted to check and correct the language in all the book helping me to avoid undesirable mistakes.

I had the chance to be part of a great and dynamic group, the Research Training Group ‘Nominal modification’, ‘GK’ in German. This graduate school, located at the Goethe University of Frankfurt, Germany, was initiated by a ←7 | 8→group of linguists, directed by Prof. Féry, and funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). I would like to address my gratitude to the DFG for funding this project, which allowed me to do this work. Many thanks to the team of linguists who initiated the graduate school.

I am indebted and grateful especially to my parents, my mother Coulibaly Yogan and my father Traoré M, Bahouana, for their patience and their financial support since my first year at school. My mother’s encouragement and confidence in me gave me the strength to work. Thanks for what you have done for me and your kindness towards me, which I will never forget.

I am grateful to my brothers: M´Bahouana Tofangui, M´Bahouana Hirmine, Traore Dibonan, Traore Migayeglan Marie, Traore Gnienlgnomtchin, Traore Kimankonahan Odilon, and Traore Kiyegbo Thierry and my cousins: Traore Nagoyenan, Traore Kahoyomou, and Traore Wahowele for their encouragement, support, and help with the final version of the data and their willingness to work day and night with me. Thanks for everything you have done for me dear brothers.

I would like to express my gratitude to the Felix Houphouet Boigny University, Abidjan, Côte d´Ivoire, my origin university. Thanks specially to all the professors and the administrative members of the linguistics department for their quality of teaching, their supports, and their advices. The list is long; here are few names, and I have not forgotten those whose names are not sited here: Yago Zakaria, Joseph Bogny Yapo, Enock Krah, Pierre Adou, Kipré Blé, Kossonou Théodore, Kallet Vahoua and many others. Thanks to Tchagbalé Zakari for the kindness with which he always received me at his home when I was struggling to find out what to do after my master thesis.

If I would have to write down all the names of my fellow students and colleagues, it would be very long but here are few names: Thanks to my fellow PhD student Sarah Duong Phu who has been a dear friend. She offered me not only friendship but also helped me in administrative activities, like the translation of many letters and other things, all written in German. She also helped me find a new place to live when I had to leave the university flat at the end of my three years. I would have not found my way without your help. Merle Weicker, thank you for your cheerfulness; Eugenia Greco, thank you for sharing our office and for the academic discussions; Nicolas Lamoure, for your technical support; Carolin Reinert, thank you very much for the instructive exchange we had on adjectives. And for all those I do not mention here, I would like to thank you for your support and welcoming me.

I found many other friends in the PhD student group of Frankfurt, with whom I shared many wonderful moments and activities: walking through the city of ←8 | 9→Frankfurt in the summer nights, enjoying discussion about many things, sharing dinners among many other things. Seyna Maria, Mariam Kamarauli, Abby, Priscilla, Fena, Melanie, Lai, Astrid, Lydia, and Sanja and all the colleagues I do not mention, I would like to thank you for your support and for the great times we had together. During my two last semesters in the Research Training Group, I was so busy finishing my thesis that I easily forgot the event of the GK. I would like to thank Ruby Sleeman, a fellow PhD student sharing the same office, who always updated me. Thanks to everybody for your kindness and for being there for me when I needed help. No one would wish for better friends than you.

Thanks to Sascha Alexeyenko, Zheng Shen, and Heidi Klockmann, the successive postdocs of the graduate school for their comments and corrections. In the course of many discussions and meetings, I could improve my knowledge of many aspects of linguistics. But I would like to thank especially Heidi Klockmann, a native English speaker for her corrections, comments, and encouragements and also for her willingness to meet and work with me. Thank you for the kindness with which you always received me in your office. I appreciate working with you.

Thanks also to the teachers of the department of Linguistics for their support. Ede Zimmermann, Gerrit Kentner (who left before the end), Peter Smith among many others, thank you for your support and everything you did for me. Sebastian Bredemann, Samuel Alhassan Issah, Johaness Messerschmidt, and Dominik Thiele are other dear friends I met at the Goethe Universität. With Sebastian we did number of classes of Professor Caroline Féry, and we often exchanged on the tonal system in Fròʔò and the alliterative concord in the nominal domain I worked on. Johaness Messerschmidt was a big help with data analysing. I appreciate your friendship dear friends. Thank you for being there for me when I needed. Thanks to Nina Adam a dear friend with whom we, the graduate school students and I, made an instructive city tour. It was a pleasure meeting you. Doris Hardt, thank you very much for your support in helping to prolong my visa and your encouragements. Thanks to Julia Biskupek, a dear friend of mine for her technical support.

From the start of the process of coming to Germany, several places of the university helped me with administrative issues: first of all, the Welcome Center and the International Office, who helped me with visa and accommodation. At the Department of Linguistics, Birgit Nutz has always been very helpful with administrative issues. Thank you very much for your support and the kindness with which you always received me in your office. It was reassuring to know that you were willing to help me any time whenever I needed help, and it helped me focus better on my work.

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A wonderful aspect of being part of the GK is that it allowed me to participate in summer schools and conferences. I was at the summer institute of the LSA in Kentucky in the summer 2017. There I had the opportunity to take courses with Professor Larry Hyman, Adam Albright, Adrea Sims and also to present my work on the ‘complex word formation in Fròʔò’. In the summer 2018 I was at the Crete Linguistics School (Crete Ling) where I had classes with Professor Caroline Féry, Adam Albright, Douglas Pulleyblank, and Donca Steriade. I could also go to conferences. Some are mentioned here, Old World Conference on Phonology (OWCP) 2017 in Düsseldorf (Germany), 2nd Symposium on West African Languages Vienna (Austria), the 48th Annual conference on African Linguistics at Indiana University, and 25th Manchester Phonology Meeting (a joint paper presented by Professor Caroline Féry).

I am grateful to Sharon Rose, Larry Hyman, and Annie Rialland with whom I spent long hours of work during their stay in Frankfurt. Thanks for the comments, the clarifications, and for accepting our invitation, my supervisor and I. Thanks for the kindness with which you always received me. I appreciate working with you.

On a more personal note, during my stay in Germany for the dissertation, I have been invited to spend Christmas with the wonderful family of Caroline Féry: Ede Zimmermann, Tom, and Alain. Your company helped to forget the loneliness I struggled with every day. With you, I felt at home. Thank you for that dear Professors.

Back home in Côte d’Ivoire, I have many persons to whom I would like to express my gratitude. Many people helped me with the collection of data of Fròʔò. I am most grateful to the chief canton of the town of Fronan, M. Basil for his help with the data since my master thesis. I would like to express my gratitude to the speakers of the language and more specially to the informants who made everything possible for my data.

The list of persons to thank is very long, and I can only mention few here. But I will not forget anyone, even if I cannot mention you all here.

I would like to thank Traore Jeanne and Traore Cecile for their command of both French and Fròʔò. I am grateful to M. and Mme Naklan Moris for their help and support and their willingness to work with me. M. and Mme Koné, former president of the youth association of Fronan, thank you for your willingness to work with me since the master thesis.

To some of my friends, Assamoi N. Odile and Emmanuel Assale, Diarrassouba Isosuf, and Bada Mayé, N´guessan Okeny, I would like to express to you my gratitude. Thank you for being there for me when I needed help.

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