Please join us for an afternoon Bantu Workshop, to celebrate the end of this semester’s Bobangi Field Methods class. There will be presentations by undergraduate and graduate students, our Bobangi consultant Mpoke Mimpongo (UQAM), and invited speaker Jenneke van der Wal (Harvard). All talks will take place in McGill Education Building, room 216. The schedule is below–all are welcome!
12:30–12:45 – Jiaer Tao, A Study on object asymmetry in Bobangi
12:45–1:00 – Benjamine Oldham, Object marking in Bobangi: A pronominal incorporation analysis
1:00–1:15 – Renata Masucci, Tone in Bobangi
1:15–1:30 – Paulina Elias, Object asymmetry in Bobangi
1:30–1:45 – BREAK
1:45–2:00 – Sara Carrier-Bordeleau, Verbal reduplication in Bobangi
2:00–2:15 – Jasmine Zhang, Vowel sandhi in Bobangi
2:15–2:30 – Emily Kellison-Linn, Intonation of polar questions and declarative statements in Bobangi
2:30–2:45 – Yeong Park, High boundary tone in Bobangi
2:45–3:00 – Rosie Barnes, Agent nominalizations in Bobangi
3:00–3:15 – BREAK
3:15–3:45 – Mpoke Mimpongo (UQAM), TBA
3:45–4:45 – Invited Speaker – Jenneke van der Wal (Harvard University)
Title: Investigating focus marking in Luganda and Lingala
Abstract: While it is admittedly difficult to investigate information structure in an unfamiliar language, in this talk I hope to show that there are some manageable diagnostics for focus that can be applied in elicitation. Based on data from Luganda and Lingala I show why the discoveries about focus marking in Bantu languages are crucial for understanding both the synchronic analysis and the diachronic development of focus. (full abstract)