Le grammaire du noon

Abstract

This book provides a

grammatical description of Noon, an Atlantic language spoken by fewer than

32,000 people in 33 villages and neighborhoods in the outskirts of Thiès.

The study, based primarily on new data collected by the author, provides an analysis on phonology, morphology, nominal classification, verbal system, ideophones, interjections and linguistic routines, syntax and divination systems. This work constitutes an important step forward in the nominal classification system. There are two nominal class systems in Noon: a Niger-Congo agreement system for modifiers that are attached to the head noun and another system for independent modifiers. The second nominal class system, based on human and diminutive semantic features, has an additional agreement singular/plural class pair for human nouns. The author also describes the divination practices in Noon by presenting an overview of divination systems in Senegal based on audio/video recordings collected in a natural setting. This empirical work, carried out in a linguistic and multimodal perspective, allows to focus first on the forms of divination of Noon, then on their meanings and expressions, and finally on some characteristic features in divination practices.