Browsing by Author "Mallya, Aurelia Dominick"

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    Locative expressions in Kiwoso.
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2012) Mallya, Aurelia Dominick
    This is a descriptive study aimed at investigating locative expressions in Kiwoso language. The study has conceptualized different theoretical assumptions such as arguments, adjuncts, noun classes, and gender, as well as subject and object as they relate to this study. The data for the study were collected through the use of structured and unstructured interviews, participant observations, oral narratives and introspections. To generate information, the four key informants were involved in the interviews. Then content analysis approach was employed to process the collected data. The findings reveal that Kiwoso is one of the Bantu languages that use suffixes to licence locative expressions. In fact, the general suffix in this language is ni- which can achieve all shades of meaning associated with the Proto-Bantu locative prefixes. However, the locative prefix ku- triggers the agreement of nominal dependents in Kiwoso. This study has established that, locatives are nominals in this language. Akin to most Bantu languages, animate entities can be locativized in Kiwoso it has also been noted that majority of locative expressions are arguments and only certain types are adjuncts. It was observed that there is a close relationship between the semantics and the syntax of locative expressions in this language as manifested by the agreement markers of the expressions in relation to basic nouns. Whenever locative nouns occur in a construction with nominal dependents such as possessives and adjectives, the locative prefix ku- occurs in agreement. As a result a sentence or a phrase in Kiwoso acquires locative meaning and interpretations.