Space and time in Mmen

Abstract: This thesis provides an analysis of the linguistic expression of spatial and temporal relations in Mmen, a Niger-Congo language spoken in Bafumen, in the North West Region of Cameroon. Linguistic means of expressing spatial relations are surveyed in usage and in grammatical structure, and categorized according to the patterns found. Locative prepositions and usages are compared with directional and temporal expressions, and the use of spatial motion words and constructions to express motion and relations in time is described and discussed. The data was elicited in the field, using both pictorial stimuli (Bowerman & Pederson 1992) and translation tasks. Amongst the salient results was that tonal patterns can be the only distinction in realization of a preposition, and that the conceptualization of “front” and “back” can show the reverse pattern from that in English.