A Descriptive Grammar of Noon

Noon is a West-Atlantic language of the Cangin subgroup, spoken by 25 000 people in central Senegal, in and around the town of Thiès. The aim of this book is to provide a full grammatical description of Noon, from phonology and morphology to syntax and discourse, since no such study has previously been published on the language. This present work is slightly adapted from a PhD thesis in 1999 at School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. The study is divided into 11 chapters, followed by a short interlinearised text sample with a free translation. All analysis is presented with language examples from data collected in the Thiès area over the years 1994-1998. Some of the features treated in this book include: a restricted regressive ATR harmony; a noun class system of 6 basic classes with extensive agreement of the determiners; a threefold locative distinction present in determined nominals, this locative distinction is further elaborated in the demonstratives; a verb system based on derivational and conjugational affixation; serial and reduplicative sentence types; a short presentation some of the major dialect differences in Noon.