About

Yvonne Agbetsoamedo is a Senior Lecturer and, a researcher of Linguistics, and the Deputy Senior Tutor of Mensah Sarbah Hall at the University of Ghana (UG). The focal point of her research is the documentation and description of lesser-described languages in Ghana. Currently, she is working various aspects of Sɛlɛɛ, a Ghana Togo Mountains (GTM) language spoken by the Balɛɛ in Santrokofi in the Oti Region, Ghana.

Yvonne has experience teaching in Africa, Europe, and Asia. She taught Linguistics at the department of Linguistics, Stockholm University in 2013 while pursuing her Ph.D. In 2017, She was invited to give a couple of lectures on Typology at the Graduate School of Linguistics, Philosophy and Semiotics, Institute of Estonian, and General Linguistics at the University of Tartu, Estonia. During the spring of 2024, she taught “The Art and Science of Analyzing Languages: Morphosyntax of the World's Languages” at the School of Sciences and Humanities, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan.

Besides academia, Yvonne is passionate about organic farming and agribusiness, as well as holistic health. She is the CEO of Imami Groups which has Imaami Wellbeing, Imaami Organic Farms and Gardens, and Imaami Foods as subsidiaries (www.immamifoods.com). In 2012, she was certified as a yogamassage therapist from Axelsons Gymnastiska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

Education

Ph.D., Linguistics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden (2014)
MPhil., Linguistics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway (2006)
B.A., Linguistics with French, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana (2003)

Research Interest

• Language Documentation and Description
• Language Typology
• Morphology
• Syntax
• Phonetics and Phonology
• Linguistics of Ewe Language and Culture
• Sɛlɛɛ Language
• Field work

Publications

Book Chapters

• Y. Agbetsoamedo and J. Agama (2024) Onomatopeia in Ewe. In Livia Kortvelzessz and Pavel Stekauer (eds.), Onomatopoeia in the world’s languages. Mouton de Gruyter.
• M. Bobuafor and Y. Agbetsoamedo (2024) Adposition Classes in Tafi and Sԑlԑԑ. In Essegbey James & Enoch Aboh (eds.) Predication in African languages, 99 – 127. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
• Di Garbo, F. and Agbetsoamedo, Y. (2018). Non-canonical gender in African languages. A typological survey of interactions between gender and number, and gender and evaluative morphology. In Sebastian Fedden, Jenny Audring and Greville Corbett (eds.), Non-canonical gender systems. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (42 pages).
• Agbetsoamedo, Y. and Di Garbo, F. (2015). Sɛlɛɛ. In N. Grandi & L. Kortvelyessy (Eds.), Edinburgh Handbook of Evaluative Morphology. Edinburgh University Press. 487 - 495.
• Agbetsoamedo, Y. and Agbedor, P (2015). Ewe. In N. Grandi & L. Kortvelyessy (Eds.), Edinburgh Handbook of Evaluative Morphology. Edinburgh University Press. 472 - 479.
• Agbetsoamedo, Y. and Di Garbo, F. (2015). Unravelling temperature terms in Sɛlɛɛ. In M. Koptjevskaja-Tamm (ed), Linguistics of Temperature. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 107 – 127.

Journal Article

• Agbetsoamedo, Y., Dankwa-Apawu, D., & Amuzu, E. (2024). Language Contact in Santrokofi, a Ghana-Togo Mountain Language Community: Impact on Selee. Language Matters, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/10228195.2024.2336445
• V. Owusu-Ansah and Y. Agbetsoamedo (2022). Adjectives in Esahie: A morphosyntactic study. Ghana Journal of Linguistics. 11.2: 1-19.
• Agbetsoamedo, Y. (2015/2016). Standard negation in Sɛlɛɛ. Afrika und Übersee.
• Agbetsoamedo, Y. (2014). Noun classes in Sɛlɛɛ. Journal of West African Languages. Volume XLI. Number 1, 95 – 124.