Research Mentor(s)
Dr. Virginia Dawson
Description
WWU's Linguistics Field Methods class sought to elicit data from Asante Twi, a language spoken by 4 million people in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. My research project used 6 self-made video presentations to learn more about semantic entailment in Asante Twi. The video presentations, which displayed a cooking-related action, were shown to the Asante Twi speaker and they were asked to describe the action in their language. A total of 15 verbs were elicited and later analyzed. Follow up questions and the corresponding answers were elicited using Powerpoint Presentations. There were 2 main characteristics of these verbs: some verbs entailed the tool being used and some verbs entailed details about the object being acted upon (such details included: if the object is a liquid, if the object is fine grit, etc). Further experiments could include the production of new video presentations with more culturally relevant tools, like grills, and with culturally relevant foods, like fufu and plantains.
Document Type
Event
Start Date
May 2022
End Date
May 2022
Location
Carver Gym (Bellingham, Wash.)
Department
CHSS - Linguistics
Genre/Form
student projects; posters
Type
Image
Rights
Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Entailment in Asante Twi: A Semantic Analysis of Cooking-related Verbs
Carver Gym (Bellingham, Wash.)
WWU's Linguistics Field Methods class sought to elicit data from Asante Twi, a language spoken by 4 million people in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. My research project used 6 self-made video presentations to learn more about semantic entailment in Asante Twi. The video presentations, which displayed a cooking-related action, were shown to the Asante Twi speaker and they were asked to describe the action in their language. A total of 15 verbs were elicited and later analyzed. Follow up questions and the corresponding answers were elicited using Powerpoint Presentations. There were 2 main characteristics of these verbs: some verbs entailed the tool being used and some verbs entailed details about the object being acted upon (such details included: if the object is a liquid, if the object is fine grit, etc). Further experiments could include the production of new video presentations with more culturally relevant tools, like grills, and with culturally relevant foods, like fufu and plantains.