ABSTRACT

In this study we attempted to assess the differences that exist across the

Predicative systems of English and Fulfulde.      We also tried to establish

similarities. Some of the differences we found were as a result of the structural

differences that exist between English and Fulfulde. First of all, there was the

difference of grammatical exponents. While in the case of English there is a

clear distinction in the functions of words as opposed to morphemes, in the

sense that while words act as purely semantic exponents, morphemes play

word-internal functions (morphology), in Fulfulde, morphemes play a

predominant role in syntax so that the line dividing morphemes from words is

not so clear. One other difference between the two languages was around the

VAP (voice aspect polarity) suffix that is found in Fulfulde unlike in English. This

Morpheme accounts for a great deal of the difference in the behaviour of the

Fulfulde verbal which in effect is responsible for most of the differences in the

predicative system of Fulfulde, a category that does not exist in English.

In analyzing the data for this project a rather eclectic approach was taken,

leaning heavily on Dik’s (1981) framework of Functional Grammar as well as

taking a leaf here and another there from other theories especially the

Transformationalists as represented by Napoli (1989).

This work is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 is the introduction, containing

the statement of the problem of the research which raises some of the central

7

KEY TO TRANSLITERATION

In transliterating (transcribing) the corpus of Fulfulde for this research, the

doubling method was employed. By this, vowel sounds are doubled in length,

thereby using segmental means rather than prosodic means to indicate increase

in length. The following are double length vowels which are usually employed to

achieve the long syllables that are common in Fulfulde.

‘aa’ as in

‘ee’ as in

‘ii’     as in

‘oo’ as in

suudaama

fembeeki