Cardinal numerals in Akan A Construction Morphology account

Abstract

This paper presents a Construction Morphology account of complex cardinal numeral formation in Akan (Kwa, Niger-Congo). Through a detailed description of the Akan numeral system, which is decimal, we identify various ranges of cardinal numerals and show that they share structures with other constructions in the language because they are either compounds or coordinate constructions. We show that, consistent with crosslinguistic patterns, the two arithmetic operations that underpin the construction of cardinal numerals in Akan are addition and multiplication and they are formally realised differently. While multiplication is achieved mainly through compounding (and reduplication), addition is expressed mainly through compounding and coordination. The Construction Morphology framework allows us to account for the full range of Akan cardinal numerals in a consistent manner, showing how numerals relate to other constructions in the language. We posit two constructional schemas for the two arithmetic operations, with various subschemas for different instantiating constructions, including some constructional idioms in which certain recurrent forms are pre-specified.