ABSTRACT
In one sense the grammar is formal in that it is concerned with the distribution of forms, and not with the sense of individual forms, nor with the meaning of whole sentences, nor with whether any appropriate context of use can be found for the sentence. It is concerned only with the distribution of forms. Form classes are established in terms of their distribution – items with the same distribution are placed in the same form class. In this sense ‘formal’ may be opposed to ‘notional’. A notional description would include in the same class items held to have a common element of meaning, but not necessarily with the same distribution. This chapter illustrates the distinction between a formal and a notional approach by considering the data from the African language Akan, from central and southern Ghana.
