---
title: "Ideophones and verbal constructions with the verb ‘say’ in Amharic"
description: "He then defines ideophones on Amharic-internal morphosyntactic grounds. 15 references, cited by 1 paper here."
authors: ["Ronny Meyer"]
year: 2024
venue: "Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads 4"
source: "https://typologyatcrossroads.unibo.it/article/view/16466"
doi: "10.6092/issn.2785-0943/16466"
licence: "CC BY (journal licence per DOAJ; Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads)"
licence_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
summary_licence: "Elamur Cosmic License"
canonical: "https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/meyer-2024-ideophones-verbal-constructions-verb-say/"
---
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# Ideophones and verbal constructions with the verb ‘say’ in Amharic

**Authors:** [Ronny Meyer](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/ronny-meyer/) · **Year:** 2024 · **Venue:** [Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads 4](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/linguistic-typology-at-the-crossroads/) ([Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads 2024](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/linguistic-typology-at-the-crossroads/2024/)) · **Publisher:** [University of Bologna](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/publishers/university-of-bologna/) · **Licence:** [CC BY (journal licence per DOAJ; Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads)](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

**Links:** [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2785-0943/16466) · [PDF](https://typologyatcrossroads.unibo.it/article/download/16466/17880) · [DOI 10.6092/issn.2785-0943/16466](https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2785-0943/16466) · [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W6921150392)

**Citations:** 0 citations (OpenAlex, 2026-10-14) · [1](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/meyer-2024-ideophones-verbal-constructions-verb-say/cited-by/) in our library, of the 149,439 papers whose bibliographies we read

## Summary
The paper asks whether Amharic ideophones form a distinct word class and how they behave inside complex predicates. These predicates pair an uninflected coverb with an inflected light verb, most often alä 'say'. Earlier descriptions treated all such coverbs as one group. Meyer instead sorts coverbs into distinct types: besides ideophones, he identifies interjections, adverbial elements, nouns or verbs that have undergone reduplication, and quoted material. He then defines ideophones on Amharic-internal morphosyntactic grounds.

The data is a convenience corpus: printed sources (mainly Leslau's 1995 reference grammar), twenty years of observed speech, and targeted online searches. Native speakers checked all of it.

The decisive test is causal alternation. Only ideophones can switch between a noncausal reading with 'say' and a causal reading with adärrägä 'do'. Amharic can also build ideophones from verbal roots with two templates, one intensifying and one weakening the event.

A comparison across Ethiosemitic shows that languages near Amharic share its rich coverb inventory, while distant ones have fewer coverb types. The work clarifies lexical classes, verb classes and contact effects in the region.

## Key points
- Amharic has about 57 million speakers in Ethiopia, about 25 million of them second-language speakers.
- Ideophones do not inflect and carry final-syllable stress. They take the clause-final verb slot, can have direct objects, can be modified by converb clauses, and reduplicate to mark pluractionality. Some can be nominalized with -ta.
- 'Say'/'do' complex predicates are frequent enough to count as a separate inflectional verb class. They are also a productive way to absorb loanwords that resist root-and-template morphology.
- Intensive vs. attenuative ideophones are derived from the same root and contrast with a neutral inflected verb. In Tigrinya, gemination alone (sɨbbɨr vs. sɨbɨr 'break') marks the difference.
- This derivation also appears in Tigrinya, Argobba, Kistane and Harari, all in close contact with Amharic, which suggests areal spread.

## Interesting ideas
- The construction can be split into two parts: a coverb carrying the lexical meaning and a light verb carrying tense, person and causation. Analysing them separately avoids treating the light verb as the real predicate.
- A word class is defined by a language-internal test (whether it allows the noncausal/causal swap) rather than by meaning such as "sound imitation". This yields a checkable criterion instead of an intuition.
- Degree (intensified vs. attenuated) is treated as a regular derivation from one root, so "break completely" and "break somewhat" share a single event core.
- Light-verb frames serve as an entry route for words that do not fit the native morphology. This explains how unfamiliar lexemes become usable predicates.

## For Mova

How these ideas could serve Mova, our small open language model — its files, stages and tests:

- **I1** (frames): English light-verb constructions like "take a walk" or "give a shout" could get their semantic frame from the noun, with the verb supplying only grammar and agentivity.
- **I2** (tokens): Onomatopoeic items in "the balloon went pop" could be tagged by distributional diagnostics rather than by a lexicon of sound words.
- **I3** (world): Event states could store a degree attribute linked to one predicate, so "smashed" and "cracked a bit" update the same object state at different intensities.
- **I4** (tokens): Unknown verbs or nonce words inside "do a X" or "go X" patterns could get a predicate analysis from the light verb instead of failing at lemmatization.

*Our summary of the paper, in our own words — not its text. The work belongs to its authors; read it at the links above.*

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## Cite

Cite as: Ronny Meyer. 2024. Ideophones and verbal constructions with the verb ‘say’ in Amharic. Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads 4.

The paper itself, not this page. BibTeX from the library's record of the work.

```bibtex
@inproceedings{meyer2024ideophones,
  title = {{Ideophones and verbal constructions with the verb ‘say’ in Amharic}},
  author = {Ronny Meyer},
  booktitle = {Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads 4},
  year = {2024},
  doi = {10.6092/issn.2785-0943/16466},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2785-0943/16466}
}
```

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## References

15 references, 0 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet.

1. Ahland, Michael. 2010. Language death in Mesmes: a sociolinguistic and historical-comparative examination of a disappearing language. Dallas TX: SIL International. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Ahland%2C+Michael%2E+2010%2E+Language+death+in+Mesmes%3A+a+sociolinguistic+and+historical%2Dcomparative+examination+of+a+disappearing+language%2E+Dallas+TX%3A+SIL+International%2E)
2. Alemayehu Haile. 1987. Lexical stress in Amharic. Journal of Ethiopian Studies 20. 19– 43. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Alemayehu+Haile%2E+1987%2E+Lexical+stress+in+Amharic%2E+Journal+of+Ethiopian+Studies+20%2E+19%E2%80%93+43%2E)
3. Anbessa Teferra & Grover Hudson. 2007. Essentials of Amharic. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Anbessa+Teferra+%26+Grover+Hudson%2E+2007%2E+Essentials+of+Amharic%2E+K%C3%B6ln%3A+R%C3%BCdiger+K%C3%B6ppe%2E)
4. Appleyard, David. 2001. The verb ‘to say’ as a “verb recycling” device in Ethiopian languages. In Andrzej Zaborski (ed.), New data and new methods in Afroasiatic linguistics – Robert Hetzron in memoriam, 1–11. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Appleyard%2C+David%2E+2001%2E+The+verb+%E2%80%98to+say%E2%80%99+as+a+%E2%80%9Cverb+recycling%E2%80%9D+device+in+Ethiopian+languages%2E+In+Andrzej+Zaborski+%28ed%2E%29%2C+New+data+and+new+methods+in+Afroasiatic+linguistics+%E2%80%93+Robert+Hetzron+in+memori)
5. Armbruster, Carl Hubert. 1908. Initia Amharica. An introduction to spoken Amharic. Part I: grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Armbruster%2C+Carl+Hubert%2E+1908%2E+Initia+Amharica%2E+An+introduction+to+spoken+Amharic%2E+Part+I%3A+grammar%2E+Cambridge%3A+Cambridge+University+Press%2E)
6. Baye Yimam. 1999. The verb ‘to say’ in Amharic. Journal of Ethiopian Studies 32(1). 1–50. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Baye+Yimam%2E+1999%2E+The+verb+%E2%80%98to+say%E2%80%99+in+Amharic%2E+Journal+of+Ethiopian+Studies+32%281%29%2E+1%E2%80%9350%2E)
7. Baye Yimam. 2008. Jǝʔamarɨɲɲa sǝwasɨw [Amharic Grammar]. Addis Ababa: Elleni Publishing. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Baye+Yimam%2E+2008%2E+J%C7%9D%CA%94amar%C9%A8%C9%B2%C9%B2a+s%C7%9Dwas%C9%A8w+%5BAmharic+Grammar%5D%2E+Addis+Ababa%3A+Elleni+Publishing%2E)
8. Beniam Mitiku. 2013. Harari: a descriptive grammar. Doctoral dissertation, Addis Ababa University. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Beniam+Mitiku%2E+2013%2E+Harari%3A+a+descriptive+grammar%2E+Doctoral+dissertation%2C+Addis+Ababa+University%2E)
9. Bezza Tesfaw Ayalew. 2013. The submorphemic structure of Amharic: toward a phonosemantic analysis. Doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Bezza+Tesfaw+Ayalew%2E+2013%2E+The+submorphemic+structure+of+Amharic%3A+toward+a+phonosemantic+analysis%2E+Doctoral+dissertation%2C+University+of+Illinois%2C+Urbana%2DChampaign%2E)
10. Cohen, David & Marie-Claude Simeone-Senelle & Martine Vanhove. 2002. The grammaticalization of ‘say’ and ‘do’: an areal phenomenon in East Africa. In Tom Güldemann & Manfred von Roncador (eds.), Reported discourse: a meeting ground for different linguistic domains, 227–251. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Cohen%2C+David+%26+Marie%2DClaude+Simeone%2DSenelle+%26+Martine+Vanhove%2E+2002%2E+The+grammaticalization+of+%E2%80%98say%E2%80%99+and+%E2%80%98do%E2%80%99%3A+an+areal+phenomenon+in+East+Africa%2E+In+Tom+G%C3%BCldemann+%26+Manfred+von+Roncador+%28eds%2E%29%2C+Repor)
11. Cohen, Marcel. 1939. Nouvelles études d’éthiopien méridional. Paris: Ancienne Honoré Champion. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Cohen%2C+Marcel%2E+1939%2E+Nouvelles+%C3%A9tudes+d%E2%80%99%C3%A9thiopien+m%C3%A9ridional%2E+Paris%3A+Ancienne+Honor%C3%A9+Champion%2E)
12. Crass, Joachim, Barbara Dehnhard, Ronny Meyer & Andreas Wetter. 2001. Von ‘sagen’ zum Verbbildungsmorphem: Die Grammatikalisierung des Verbs ‘sagen’ einmal anders. Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere 65. 129–141. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Crass%2C+Joachim%2C+Barbara+Dehnhard%2C+Ronny+Meyer+%26+Andreas+Wetter%2E+2001%2E+Von+%E2%80%98sagen%E2%80%99+zum+Verbbildungsmorphem%3A+Die+Grammatikalisierung+des+Verbs+%E2%80%98sagen%E2%80%99+einmal+anders%2E+Afrikanistische+Arbeitspapiere+65%2E+1)
13. Crass, Joachim & Ronny Meyer. 2008. Ethiopia. In Bernd Heine & Derek Nurse (eds.), A linguistic geography of Africa, 228–249. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Crass%2C+Joachim+%26+Ronny+Meyer%2E+2008%2E+Ethiopia%2E+In+Bernd+Heine+%26+Derek+Nurse+%28eds%2E%29%2C+A+linguistic+geography+of+Africa%2C+228%E2%80%93249%2E+Cambridge%3A+Cambridge+University+Press%2E)
14. Dingemanse, Mark. 2012. Advances in the cross-linguistic stud of ideophones. Language and Linguistics Compass 6(10). 654–672. https://doi.org/10.1002/lnc3.361. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1002/lnc3.361)
15. Dingemanse, Mark. 2018. Redrawing the margins of language: lessons from research on ideophones. Glossa: [↗](https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.444)

*Updated 1 November 2026*