Abstract:

This paper describes the structure of conditional clauses in Shupamem, a Grassfield Bantu language spoken in the West region of Cameroon. The analysis of the empirical data collected from selected Shupamem native speakers revealed that Shupamem makes use of discontinuous morphemes to mark conditional constructions. The structure of these morphemes depends on (i) the branching configuration between the conditional clause and the main clause, and (ii) the tense feature of the conditional clause’ finite verb. The structure Cond.<MC involves the discontinuous morpheme kʉ̀......mbʉ́ whereby kʉ̀ “if” is inserted between the subject and the verb of the conditional clause, while mbú “then” introduces the main clause. The tense features of the conditional clauses are marked by the corresponding tense morphemes. In the second alternative of the Cond.<MC structure, the conditional clause is introduced by à pə̀ jʉ́ə (roughly translated as “is it that”) and closed by nə́, and the main clause is introduced by mbú. In MC<Cond. structures, on the contrary, no morpheme introduces the main clause. The conditional clause displays a relative clause-like structure introduced by the morpheme mə̀ jʉə́ “if” and closed by the definitizer nə́. Finally, Shupamem conditionals are classified into three types (general truth, possible actions, and imaginary actions), based on their semantic interpretations.