Functions of verbal constructions in Looma narratives: a case of the Guinean dialects

Abstract

International audienceThe paper deals with the specificity of use of verbal constructions expressing TAM-categories in the Looma language. The analysis of the text corpora demonstrates that the main discourse function of verbal constructions in Looma is to demarcate different functional fragments, or passages, of the narrative. It is stated that the use of the verbal constructions depends on the regime of the interpretation, conversational or narrative. Moreover, the meaning of the construction itself may depend on the passage