tó

A Contracted Relative Form

Level 2

Relative tí + ó → tó.

How It Works

Relative tó is an attested contraction of high-tone tí and subject ó. Elision removes the separate i vowel, leaving one high-tone syllable. The lexical documentation writes t’ó to show the boundary; the course also attests joined modern tó, used here.

In àga tó wà níbí, “the chair that is here”, the chair supplies the subject of the location description. Compare àga tí ó wà níbí: contraction preserves the participant relation.

This analysis does not license replacing tí before an independent subject such as mo or replacing tí wọ́n with tó. Subject expression varies by relative construction; do not insert ó automatically before every aspect marker. Temporal kí … tó and lexical forms with similar spelling require their own analysis.

Examples (3)

  1. Mo fẹ́ àga tó wà níbí.

    I want the chair that is here.

    The chair is the subject of the location description.

  2. Ọmọ tó ń sùn jí.

    The child who was sleeping woke up.

    The waking event supplies the past setting.

  3. Ẹja tó wà nínú àpò náà tóbi.

    The fish that is in the bag is big.

    Location identifies the fish.

How It Connects

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tóLevel 2A Contracted Relative Form

Learn This First

Recognize relative tó as a contraction of tí plus ó.