Aspects of the phonology and morphosyntax of Kyak, an Adamawa language of Nigeria

This paper provides a preliminary analysis of a few aspects of the phonology and morphosyntax of Kyak [bka], a largely undocumented Adamawa language spoken in the northern part of Taraba State in Nigeria. The paper is divided into four main sections. The first section deals with the phonology, focusing on consonant and vowel inventories, some phonetic processes, and syllable structure. The second section looks at nominal morphology, particularly nominal modifiers and possessive constructions, which show a distinction between alienable and inalienable possession. The third section describes the verbal morphosyntax, identifying the various forms that encode the expression of tense-aspect and person-number. The fourth part looks at a couple of clause/sentence level features, namely the clitic -ŋ, which is associated with the marking of assertiveness, and the use of logophoric pronouns. This is the first description of the phonological and grammatical features of the language, and one of the first for the Jen cluster. It thus adds to the knowledge of the cluster and to the evaluation of genealogical and areal hypotheses which involve languages of this region.