Browsing by Author "Makule, Alice Oforo"

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    The negative morpheme in Chaga language: the case of Vunjo dialect
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2006) Makule, Alice Oforo
    This study is an investigation of a negative morpheme in Kivunjo, a variety of Chaga. The language is spoken by the people who live on the slopes of Mountain Kilimanjaro a part in the North Eastern of Tanzania. The main argument of this study is that whereas the negative morpheme in kivunjo exhibits characteristics that can be found in the majority of bantu languages, some of the characteristics appear to be unique for Chaga and are shared by only a small number of Bantu languages. One of these unique characteristics include the fact that while many Bantu languages distinguish two formats of negative morphemes, these cannot appear together in a single clause structure. In Kivunjo, the two morphemes can occur in one clause structure. Second, in many Bantu languages, negative morphemes are attached on verb system. In Kivunjo, the two morphemes are attached on verb system. In Kivunjo, only one form is attached on verb structure. The other occurs at the sentence final position and it is an independent confusion among linguistics who studied the language and they end up with conflicting reports. The objectives of the study were two. First, to explain the way Vunjo marks negation in sentence. Second, it attempts to predict the occurrence and co occurrence. As one of the significant of the study, the two objectives focus on resolving the conflicting reports among linguistics studied the language. The study adopted the descriptive survey design as the method used in data collection and analysis. The method employed the following research instruments in collection data; questionnaire, participant observation and documentary review. The study is based on one of the UG principle known as the Structure Dependence Principle. It investigates the way the negative rule operates in Kivunjo so as to unfold the questionnaire, participant observation and documentary review. This study is based on one of the UG principle known as Structure Dependence Principle. It investigates the way the negative rule operates in Kivunjo so as to unfold the knowledge that is possessed by the native speaker. The finding of the study reveals that Vunjo dialect marks negation using two negative formatives`-la-` and `pfo` the occurrence of each formative depends on the structure of the affirmative and that the change of tense as well as number do not trigger changes of the negative in a given structure. The study also revealed that `pfo` marks negation in simple declarative sentences and in matrix clause and `-la`- used in the subordinate clauses as well as in questions. Further, the findings reveal that the two formatives occur simultaneously in single clause structure in command subjunctive and imperative mood.