Directional extensions in Chadic languages

Overview & Synopsis

This monograph provides the first large-scale comparative study of how verbal morphology encodes directionality across Chadic languages. Drawing on a database of 91 languages spoken in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Chad, the book analyzes ventive, itive, vertical, and boundary-crossing extensions. The quantitative study examines where directional extensions occur and what meanings they can co-express, highlighting issues of multifunctionality and efficiency in grammar, as well as providing initial insights into their grammaticalization. The study advances the descriptive foundation of the least-documented Afroasiatic language family, while also contributing to theoretical discussions of motion events, verbal morphology, and morphosyntactic typology.