Structure of North Atlantic Languages

The North Atlantic languages, spoken principally in Senegal, present a number of morphological and syntactic complexities. They are known for their rich systems of noun classification, concord and grammaticalized focus. The topics that will be covered in this course include noun classes, concord in nominals, verbal agreement, consonant mutation in the nominal and verbal systems, and the morpho‑syntax of focus. The theoretical challenges that these phenomena pose will be discussed for each topic.