Manding Predicate Marker Correspondences

[coleman]

Continuing the discussion from Mandinka-Bambara Sound Changes / Syntax Changes?:

Some Predicate Markers in Manding Varieties

Marker	Bambara	Jula	Maninka	Mandinka	Examples
Incompletive	bɛ	bɛ	ye … -la	be … -la	N bɛ taa N bɛ taa N ye taala M be taala ‘I go’
Completive (transitive)	ye	ye	kà	ye	I ye baara kɛ I ye baara kɛ I kà baara kɛ I ye baaro ke ‘You worked’ (Lit. "You did work)
Injunction/Optative (Command)	ká	ká	ye	Ø	I ka kuma! I ka kuma! I ye kuma I kuma! 'You must speak!"
Negative Injunction (Prohibition)	kana	kana	ká	kana	I kana kuma! I kana kuma! I ka kuma ??? 'You mustn’t speak!"
Imperative	Ø	Ø	Ø	Ø	Kuma! “Speak!”
Negative Imperative	kana	kana	kana	kana	Kana kuma! Kana kuma! Kana kuma! ??? “Don’t speak!”
Future	bɛna	bɛna	di	be … -la	N bɛna taa N bɛna taa N di taa M be taala ‘I will go’

Notes

• Bambara = standard Malian Bambara
• Jula = standard Burkinabè Jula
• Maninka = standard Guinean Maninka
• Mandinka = standard Senegambian Mandinka

[coleman]

I ni ke, @Iterimaa ! I set up this topic as well with the initial post being a wiki post that we can collaborate on

Let me know if someone of the examples aren’t good because of the verb not being the same in Mandinka. (This is already kind of the case for Maninka; I used ka taa ‘to go’, but Maninka speakers generally prefer the synonym ka wa [which is not generally used in Bambara or Jula].)