The predicative marker 'na' in Wolof: a case of polygrammaticalization
Résumé
Most Wolof predicative constructions involve a grammatical word: the predicative marker (PM). This marker is similar in three predicative constructions: Perfect, Optative and Future. Although the relation between Perfect and Future PMs has already been described in the literature (Church, 1981; Robert, 1991), nothing has been said hitherto about their formal similarity with Optative. In this paper I will show that this similarity is due to a polygrammaticalization process (Hopper & Traugott, 2003), and that these constructions share a common origin of these constructions.