The (low) phylogenetic relatedness of Conative Animal Calls: The case of Oroko and Mokpe (Bantu Zone A)

Abstract

The present article is dedicated to the documentation of conative animal calls (CACs) in Mokpe and Oroko (Bantu Zone A) and the analysis of the cognancy / phylogenetic relatedness of these constructions. The examination of original data demonstrates that the CAC categories in both languages comply with synchronic and diachronic tendencies characterizing CACs in the world’s languages. Primary CACs closely match the prototype of CACs and can be regarded as its canonical instantiations; secondary CACs may violate the prototypical features, which is also regular from a typological perspective. Furthermore, the comparison of Mokpe and Oroko CACs reveals the low cognancy of CACs in the two languages. The greater similarity exhibited by primary tokens than is the case of secondary ones does not stem from shared ancestry, but is more likely due to parallel developments and the exploitation of fully motivated, typologically common strategies.