I
am interested in descriptive, documentary and theoretical
linguistics, especially in the domain of syntax, semantics
and pragmatics; contact linguistics; language and culture;
Kwa languages of West Africa, especially Gbe (i.e. Ewe, Gen,
Aja and Fon), Akan, and Ghana-Togo Mountain languages; and
creole studies. Lately, I have been working on the influence
of the Gbe languages on Suriname creoles and, more recently,
the description and documentation of Nyangbo, one of the Ghana-Togo
Mountain languages.
|
| Selected Publications:
1. Essegbey, J. (2007): “Cut” and “break”
verbs in Sranan. Cognitive Linguistics 18: 2, 231-239
2. Huttar, G., Essegbey, J. and Ameka, F. (2007): Gbe and other
West African sources of Suriname creole semantic structures:
implications for creole genesis. Journal of Pidgin and Creole
Languages 22:1, 57-72.
3. Essegbey, J. (2007): Intransitive verbs in Ewe and the unaccusativity
hypothesis. In M. Bowerman and P. Brown (eds). Cross-linguistic
perspectives on argument structure. New Jersey: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates, Inc. 213-230
4. Essegbey, J. (2005): The basic locative construction in Gbe
and Suriname creoles. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages
22:2, 229-267.
5. Essegbey, J. (2004): “Demystifying inherent complement
verbs in Ewe.” In A. Zribi-Hetz and P. Souzet (eds). Typologie
des langues d'Afrique et universaux de la grammaire. Paris:
L'Harmattan, 97-126.
6. Essegbey, J. (2004): Auxiliaries in serialising languages:
on COME and GO verbs in Sranan and Ewe. Lingua 114,
473-494
7. Kita, S. and Essegbey, J. (2001): Pointing left in Ghana:
how a taboo on the use of the left hand influences gestural
practices. Gesture 1 (1), 73-95
Classes
Taught:
AKA 1130 Beginning Akan 1
AKA 1131 Beginning Akan 2
AKA 2200 Intermediate Akan 1
AKA 2201 Intermediate Akan 2
SST 2501 African Elements in the Americas
SSA 4903 Africanisms in the Americas
SSA 4930 Black Englishes
Spring 2008 Syllabi:
AKA 1131 (section 0005) Beginning Akan 2
SST 2501 (section 2099) or LIT 4930 (section 7003)
African Elements in the Americas
|
