Mood and Modality Markers in the Zaghawa Language

Abstract

This is a descriptive/analytic study that intends to describe the mood/modality markers used in the Wegi dialect, one of the major dialects of the Zaghawa language spoken in Sudan. It distinguishes between the declarative mood types: the affirmative mood, imperative, the interrogative and modality types: the subjunctive, the conditional, and the negative. To do so, a full description of the four verb classes found in this language will be provided as well as a brief description of the aspect system in which its morphological features play an important role in determining the mood/modality markers in the language. The qualitative data collection method was used to collect the primary data for this study: a mixture of structured interviews, and elicitation. The collected data was written in IPA orthography. The method used in analyzing the data of the study is a descriptive/analytic approach following the principles of the Basic Linguistic Theory (Dixon 2010). The findings have revealed that some modality markers used in Wegi are not attested in the other varieties of the Zaghawa language.