Felix Ameka
Senior University Lecturer
- Name
- Dr. F.K. Ameka
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 2243
- f.k.ameka@hum.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0001-9442-6675
Felix Ameka is a Senior University Lecturer at the Centre for Linguistics.
More information about Felix Ameka
Fields of interest
Descriptive and documentary linguistics
Semantics and Pragmatics
Linguistic typology
Anthropological linguistics
Ethnography of communication
Language contact and areal linguistics
West African languages
Research
My primary research interests are the quest for the meaning of linguistic signs and exploring their use in social interaction. I am also interested in how and why languages vary and chagne over time and space, also in the reflexice relation between language, culture and cognition. I am concerned with questions of how cultural factors and cognitive processes as well as contact shape meanings and structures of languages. I work with primary data collected using ethnographic and experimental methods. My empirical specialisation is West African languages, mainly Kwa languages and other languages of wider communication, namely, Hausa and Fulfulde. My focus is on Gbe, i.e. Ewe, Gen Aja and Fon; Ghana-Togo-Mountain languages, especially Likpe; Guang and Akanic languages.
Teaching activities
Courses I teach include: Communication in Africa
Language Use and Diversity
Words and Meaning
Anthropological Linguistics
Language, Culture and Cognition
Curriculum vitae
1980 BA (Linguistics Major), Honours 1, University of Ghana, Legon
1986 MA (Linguistics), Australian National University, Canberra
1991 Ph.D (Linguistics), Australian National University, Canberra
Senior University Lecturer
- Faculty of Humanities
- Leiden Univ Centre for Linguistics
- LUCL T&C van Afrika
- Ameka F.K. (2020), “I sh.t in your mouth”: areal invectives in the Lower Volta Basin (West Africa). In: Nassenstein N.; Storch, A. (Eds.) Swearing and cursing: contexts and practices in a critical linguistic perspective. no. 22 Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. 121-144.
- Ameka F.K. & Hill D.L. (2020), The comparative semantics of verbs of ‘opening’: West Africa vs Oceania. In: Bromhead, H.; Ye, Z. (Eds.) Meaning, Life, and Culture: In Conversation with Anna Wierzbicka.. Canberra: ANU Press. 33-59.
- Seyfeddinipur M., Ameka F., Bolton L., Blumtritt J., Carpenter B., Cruz H., Drude S., Epps P.L., Ferreira V., Galucio A.V., Hellwig B., Hinte O., Holton G., Jung D., Buddeberg I.K., Krifka M., Kung S., Monroig M., Neba A.N., Nordhoff S., Pakendorf B., Prince K . von, Rau F., Rice K., Riessler M., Szoelloesi Brenig V., Thieberger N., Trilsbeek P., Voort H. van der & Woodbury T. (2019), Public access to research data in language documentation: Challenges and possible strategies, Language Documentation & Conservation 13: 545-563.
- Ameka F.K. (2019), "The nut opens" and "Hunger ends": Verb constructions at the syntax-semantics interface. In: James Essegbey, Dalina Kallulli, Adams Bodomo (Eds.) The grammar of verbs and their arguments: a cross-linguistic perspective. no. 59 Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe. 59-84.
- Ameka F.K. & Terkourafi M. (2019), What if…? Imagining non-Western perspectives on pragmatic theory and practice, Journal of Pragmatics 145: 72-82.
- Ameka F.K. (2018), From comparative descriptive linguistic fieldwork to documentary linguistic fieldwork in Ghana, Language Documentation & Conservation 15(Special Publication): 224-239.
- Ameka F.K. (2018), Ghana-Togo-Mountain Languages: a socio-cultural, a typological or a genetic grouping?, Afrika und Uebersee 92(2015/2016): 1-12.
- Ameka F.K., Mclughlin F., Cissé I., Atintono S., Seyfeddinipur M. & Ngue Um E. (20 July 2017), Panel discussion on Documentary linguistics. Interviewed by Awuku C.(Radio Windy Bay (Ghana)) [interview].
- Ameka F.K. & Essegbey J. (2017), Divergence and convergence among the Ghana-Togo Mountain languages, STUF – Language Typology and Universals 70(2): 245-271.
- Ameka F.K. (2017), The Ghana-Togo Mountain Languages: introduction, STUF – Language Typology and Universals 70(2): 239-244.
- Ameka F.K. & Amha A. (2017), (Co-)Editor Member of editorial staff Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 38(1-2).
- Ameka F.K. (2017), In Memoriam Mary Esther Kropp Dakubu, The Journal of West African Languages 44(1): 1-5.
- Ameka F.K. (2017), Logophoricity. In: Aikhenvald A.Y., Dixon R.M.W. (Eds.) The Cambridge handbook of linguistic typology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 513-537.
- Ameka F.K. (2017), Meaning between algebra and culture: auto-antonyms in the Ewe verb lexicon. In: Reckman H., Cheng L.L.S., Hijzelendoorn M., Sybesma R. (Eds.) Crossroads semantics: computation, experiment and grammar. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 227-261.
- Ameka F.K., Essegbey J. & Mclaughlin F. (2017), Organization Summer School on Language Documentation and Data Management in West Africa (National Science Foundation). Winneba, Ghana, (University of Education). [other]
- Ameka F.K. (2017), The Ghana-Togo Mountain Languages Member of editorial staff STUF – Language Typology and Universals 70(2).
- Ameka F.K. (2016), “Child of” is a universal molecule too. Comment on Anna Wierzbicka’s Back to ‘Mother’ and ‘Father’: overcoming ethnocentricism in kinship studies through eight lexical universals., Current Anthropology 52(4): 421-422.
- Ameka F.K. & Amha A. (2016), (Co-)Editor Member of editorial staff Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 37(1-2).
- Ameka F.K. (2016), The uselessness of the useful: Language standardisation in multilingual contexts. In: Percy, C, Tieken-Boon van Ostede, I (Eds.) Prescription and Tradition in Language: Establishing Standards across Time and Space. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. 71-87.
- Ahadzie S., Ameka F.K. & Essegbey J. (2015), Language use at home and performance in English composition in multilingual Ghana, Afrikanistik-Aegyptologie-Online 2015.
- Ameka F.K. & Amha A. (2015), (Co-)Editor Member of editorial staff Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 36(1-2).
- Ameka F. K. (2015), “Hard sun, hot weather, skin pain”: The cultural semantics of temperature expressions in Ewe and Likpe (West Africa). In: Koptjesvakaja-Tamm (Ed.) The longuistics of temperature. no. 107 Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 43-72.
- Ameka F.K. (2015), Unintended consequences of methodological and practical responses to language endangerment in Africa. In: Essegbey J., Hendersen B., McLaughlin F. (Eds.) Language documentation and endangerment in Africa. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 15-35.
- Ameka F.K. & Amha A. (2014), Journal of African Languages and Linguistics Member of editorial staff Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 35(1-2).
- Ameka F. K. & Amha A. (2013), (Co-)Editor Member of editorial staff Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 34(1 and 2).
- Ameka F.K. & Amha A. (2013), Journal of African Languages and Linguistics Member of editorial staff Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 34(1 - 2).
- Huttar George K., Aboh Enoch O. & Ameka Felix K. (2013), Relative clauses in Suriname creoles and Gbe languages, Lingua 129: 96-123.
- Merolla Daniela, Ameka Felix K. & Dorvlo Kofi (2013), Researchers as griots? Reflections on multimedia fieldwork. In: Mark Turin, Claire Wheeler and Eleanor Wilkinson (Eds.) Oral literature in the digital age: archiving orality and connecting with communities. Cambridge UK: Open Book Publishers.
- Ameka F. K. & Essegbey James (2013), Serialising languages: Verb-framed, satellite-framed or neither?, Ghana Journal of Linguistics 2(1): 19-38.
- Ameka Felix K. (2013), Three place predicates in West African serializing languauage, Studies in African Linguistics 42(1): 1-32.
- Amha A., Ameka F.K. & Kossmann M.G. (2012), (Co-)Editor Member of editorial staff Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 33(1).
- Ameka F.K. (2012), Ewe: its grammatiocal constructions and illocutionary devices. Munich: LINCOM Europa.
- Ameka F.K. (2012), Posserssive constructions in Likpe (Sɛkpɛlé). In: Aikhenvald A. Y., Dixon R. M. W. (Eds.) Possession and ownership: A crosslinguistic typology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 224-242.
- Merolla D. & Ameka F.K. (2012), Reflections on Video Fieldwork: The Making of Verba Africana IV on the Ewe Hogbetsotso Festival. In: Merolla D., Jansen J., Naït-Zerrad K. (Eds.) Multimedia Research and Documentation of Oral Genres in Africa - The Step Forward. Köln: Köppe Verlag.
- Huttar G., Aboh E. O. & Ameka F.K. (2012), Relative clauses in Suriname creoles and Gbe languages, Lingua, an International Review of General Linguistics .
- Ameka F.K. (2012), Three place prediactes in West African serialising languages, Studies in African Linguistics 41(2).
- Amha A., Ameka F.K. & Kossmann M.G. (2011), (Co-)Editor Member of editorial staff Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 32(1-2).
- Ameka F.K., Duthie A.S., Essegbey J.A.B.K., Dorrvlo K., Amuzu E, Ofori K. A. G., Agbedor P, Dzameshie A & Agbetsoamedo Y (Eds.) (2011), Ewe encyclopedia dictionary of health. Legon-Accra: Department of Linguistics, University of Ghana.
- Ameka F.K. (2011), Les langues kwa. In: Bonvini E, Busuttil J, Peyraube A (Eds.) Dictionnaire des langues. Quadridge: Presse Universitaire Français. 76-78.
- Ameka F.K. (2011), L'éwé. In: Bonvini E, Busuttil J, Peyraube A (Eds.) Dictionnaire des langues. Quadridge: Presse Universitaire Français. 79-85.
- Ameka F.K., Amha A. & Kossmann M.G. (2010), Member of editorial staff Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 31(1 &2).
- Merolla D., Ameka F.K. & Dorvlo K.G.E. (2010), Hogbetsotso: celebration and songs of the Ewe migration story. Interview with Dr. Datey-Kumodzie. In: Merolla D. (Ed.) Verba Africana series - Video documentation and Digital Materials. Leiden: Leiden University.
- Ameka F.K. (2010), Information packaging constructions in Kwa: micro-variation and typology. In: Essegbey J., Aboh, E. O (Eds.) Topics in Kwa syntax. Dordrecht: Springer. 141-176.
- Ameka F.K. (2009), Access rituals in West African communities: an ethnopragmatic perspective. In: Senft G, Basso E. B. (Eds.) Ritual communication. Oxford: Berg. 127-151.
- Ameka F.K. (2009), Member of editorial staff The Journal of West African Languages 36(1&2).
- Ameka F.K., Amha A. & Kossmann M.G. (2009), Member of editorial staff Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 30(1, 2).
- Ameka F.K. (2009), Likpe. In: Dimmendaal G. J. (Ed.) Coding pparticipant marking: Construction types in twelve African languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 239-279.
- Ameka F.K. (2009), Verb extensions in Likpe (Sekpele), Journal of West African Languages 36(1-2): 139-157.
- Ameka F.K., Amha A. & Kossmann M.G. (2008), Member of editorial staff Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 29(1-2).
- Ameka F.K. (2008), Aspect and modality in Ewe: a survey. In: Ameka F.K., Dakubu M.E. Kropp (Eds.) Aspect and modality in Kwa languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 135-194.
- Ameka F.K. & Dakubu M.E.Kropp (Eds.) (2008), Aspect and modality in Kwa languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
- Ameka F.K. (2008), He died old, dying to be dead right: Transitivity and semantic shifts of ‘die’ in Ewe in crosslinguistic perspective. In: Bowerman M., Brown P. (Eds.) Crosslinguistic perspectives on argument structure: Implications for learnability. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum. 231-254.
- Ameka F.K. & Dakubu M.E.Kropp (2008), imperfective constructions: Progressive and prospective in Ewe and Dangme. In: Ameka F.K., Dakubu M.E. Kropp (Eds.) Aspect and modality in Kwa languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 215-289.
- Ameka F.K. & Dakubu M.E.Kropp (2008), Introduction. In: Ameka F.K., Dakubu M.E. Kropp (Eds.) Aspect and modality in Kwa languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 1-7.
- Ameka F.K., Amha A. & Kossmann M.G. (2007), Member of editorial staff Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 28(1-2).
- Ameka F.K. & Levinson S.C. (2007), Member of editorial staff Linguistics (Special Issue: The typology and semantics of predicates: posturals, positionals and other beasts) 45(5-6).
- Ameka F.K. & Essegbey J.A.B.K. (2007), Cut and break verbs in Ewe and the causative alternation construction, Cognitive Linguistics 18(2): 241-250.
- Essegbey J.A.B.K. & Ameka F.K. (2007), "Cut" and "break" verbs in Gbe and Sranan, Journal of Pidgins and Creoles 22(1): 37-55.
- Ameka F.K., Dorvlo K.G.E. & Merolla D. (2007), Ewe stories and storytelling. In: Merolla D. (Ed.) Verba Africana series - Video documentation and Digital Materials. Leiden: Leiden University.
- Huttar G., Essegbey J.A.B.K. & Ameka F.K. (2007), Gbe and other West African sources of Suriname creole semantic structures: implications for creole genesis, Journal of Pidgins and Creoles 22(1): 57-72.
- Ameka F.K. (2007), Grammatical borrowing in Likpe (Sekpele). In: Matras Y., Sakel J. (Eds.) Grammatical borrowing in cross-linguistic perspective. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 107-122.
- Ameka F.K. & Levinson S.C. (2007), Introduction–The typology and semantics of locative predicates: posturals, positionals and other beasts, Linguistics (Special Issue: The typology and semantics of predicates: posturals, positionals and other beasts) 45(5/6): 847-872.
- Bohnemeyer J., Enfield N.J., Essegbey J.A.B.K., Ibaetxe-Antunano I., Kita S. & Ameka F.K. (2007), Principles of event segmentation in language: the case of motion events, Language 83(3): 495-532.
- Ameka F.K. (2007), The coding of topological relations in verbs: the case of Likpe (Sekpele), Linguistics (Special Issue: The typology and semantics of predicates: posturals, positionals and other beasts) 45(5/6): 1065-1104.
- Ameka F.K. & Amha A. (2006), Member of editorial staff Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 27(1-2).
- Ameka F.K., Dench A. & Evans N. (Eds.) (2006), Catching language: The standing challenge of grammar writing. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
- Ameka F.K. & Essegbey J.A.B.K. (2006), Elements of the grammar of space in Ewe. In: Levinson S.C., Wilkins D.P. (Eds.) Grammars of space: Explorations in cognitive diversity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 359-399.
- Ameka F.K. (2006), Ewe serial verb constructions in their grammatical context. In: Aikhenvald A.Y., Dixon R.M.W. (Eds.) Serial verb constructions: a cross-linguistic typology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 124-143.
- Ameka F.K. (2006), Grammars in contact in the Volta Basin (West Africa): On cntact induced grammatical change in Likpe. In: Aikhenvald A.Y., Dixon R.M.W. (Eds.) Grammars in contact: a crosslinguistic typology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Ameka F.K. (2006), Interjections. In: Östman J.-O., Verschueren J. (Eds.) Handbook of Pragmatics 2006. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 1-22.
- Ameka F.K. (2006), Real descriptions: Reflections on native speaker and nonnative speaker descriptions of a language. In: Ameka F.K., Dench A., Evans N. (Eds.) Catching language: The standing challenge of grammar writing. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 69-112.
- Ameka F.K. (2005), "The woman is seeable" and "The woman perceives seeing": Undergoer voice constructions in Ewe and Likpe. In: Dakuba M.E. Kropp, Osam E.K. (Eds.) Studies in the Languages of the Volta Basin 3. Proceedings of the Annual Colloquium of the Legon-Trondheim Linguistics Project 18-20 January 2005. Legon-Accra: epartment of Linguistics, University of Ghana. 43-62.
- Ameka F.K., Amha A. & Mous Maarten (2005), Member of editorial staff Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 26(1-2).
- Ameka F.K. (2005), Forms of secondary predication in serialising languages: on depictives in Ewe. In: Himmelmann N.P., Schultze-Berndt E.F. (Eds.) Secondary predication and adverbial modification: The typology of depictives. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 355-378.
- Ameka F.K. (2005), Multiverb constructions on the West African littoral: microvariation and areal typology. In: Vulchanova M., Åfarli T.A. (Eds.) Grammar & beyond: essays in honour of Lars Hellan. Oslo: Novus Press. 15-42.
- Ameka F.K., Mous Maarten & Essegbey J.A.B.K. (2004), Member of editorial staff Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 25(1-2).
- Ameka F.K. & Breedveld J.O. (2004), Areal cultural scripts for social interaction in West African communities, Intercultural Pragmatics 1(2): 167-187.
- Ameka F.K. (2004), Grammar and cultural practices: The grammaticalisation of triadic communication in West African languages, Journal of West African Languages 30(2): 5-28.
- Ameka F.K., Mous Maarten & Essegbey J.A.B.K. (2003), Member of editorial staff Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 24(1-2).
- Ameka F.K. (2003), Prepositions and postpositions in Ewe(Gbe): empirical and theoretical considerations. In: Sauzet P., Zibri-Hertz A. (Eds.) Typologie des langues d¿afrique & universaux de la grammaire, Volume II Benue-kwa, Wolof. Paris: L'Harmattan. 41-67.
- Ameka F.K. (2003), "Today is far": Situational anaphors in overlapping clause constructions in Ewe. In: Dakubu M.E.K., Osam E.K. (Eds.) Studies in the languages of the Volta basin I. Legon, Accra: Dept of Linguistics, University of Ghana. 9-22.
- Ameka F.K. (2002), Constituent order and grammatical relations in Ewe in typological perspective. In: Davidse K., Lamiroy B. (Eds.) The nominative & accusative and their counterparts. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 319-352.
- Ameka F.K. (2002), Cultural scripting of body parts for emotions: On "jealousy" and related emotions in Ewe, Pragmatics and Cognition 10(1-2): 27-55.
- Ameka F.K. & Osam E.K. (Eds.) (2002), New directions in Ghanaian linguistics: essays in honour of the 3Ds. Accra: Black Mask.
- Ameka F.K. (2002), The progressive aspect in Likpe: its implications for aspect and word order in Kwa. In: Ameka F.K., Osam E.K. (Eds.) New directions in Ghanaian linguistics: essays in honour of the 3Ds. Accra: Black Mask. 85-111.
- Ameka F.K., Mous Maarten & Essegbey J.A.B.K. (2001), Member of editorial staff Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 21(1-2).
- Ameka F.K. (2001), Ewe. In: Garry J., Rubino C. (Eds.) Facts about the world's languages: An encyclopedia of the world's major languages, past and present. New York: New England Publishing Associates. 207-213.
- Ameka F.K. (2001), Ideophones and the nature of the adjective word class in Ewe. In: Voeltz E.F.K., Kilian-Hatz C. (Eds.) Ideophones. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 25-48.
- Ameka F.K., Mous Maarten & Essegbey J.A.B.K. (Eds.) (2000), Journal of African Languages and Linguisitics Journal of African Languages and Linguistics. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
- Ameka F.K., Mous Maarten & Essegbey J.A.B.K. (1999), Member of editorial staff Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 20(1-2).
- Ameka F.K. (1999), Interjections. In: Brown K., Miller J. (Eds.) Concise Encyclopedia of grammatical categories. Amsterdam: Elsevier. 213-216.
- Ameka F.K. (1999), Partir c'est mourir un peu: unversal and culture specific features of leave-taking, RASK 9-10: 257-283.
- Ameka F.K. (1999), recensie Review of: Kropp Dakubu M.E. (1999) Korle meets the sea: a sociolinguistic history of Accra, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 62: 198-199.
- Ameka F.K. (1999), Spatial information packaging in Ewe and Likpe: a comparative perspective, Frankfurter Afrikanistische Blätter 11: 7-34.
- Ameka F.K. (1999), The typology and semantics of complex nominal duplication in Ewe, Anthropological Linguistics 41(1): 75-106.
- Ameka F.K., Mous Maarten & Essegbey J.A.B.K. (1998), Member of editorial staff Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 19.
- Ameka F.K. (1998), Les particules ènonciatives en Ewe. In: Platiel S., Kabore R. (Eds.) Faits de languses: Les langues d'Afrique subsaharienne. Paris: Ophrys. 179-204.
- Ameka F.K. & Mous Maarten (1997), Member of editorial staff Journal of African Languages and Linguistics .
- Ameka F.K., Dimmendaal G.J. & Mous Maarten (1996), Member of editorial staff Journal of African Languages and Linguistics .
- Ameka F.K. (1996), Chapter 17. Semantics. In: Goebl H. (Ed.) Contact Linguistics. An international handbook of contemporary research. Berlin: NN. 130-138.
- Ameka F.K. (1995), Body parts in Ewe grammar. In: Chappell H., McGregor W. (Eds.) The Grammar of Inalienability: A typological perspective on body part terms and the part-whole relation. Berlin: NN. 783-840.
- Dimmendaal G.J. & Ameka F.K. (Eds.) (1995), Journal of African Languages and Linguistics. NN: NN.
- Ameka F.K. (1995), The linguistic construction of space in Ewe, Cognitive Linguistics 6(2/3): 139-181.
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