Compounding in Kinyakyusa

Abstract

There are a few detailed studies on compounding in Bantu languages that it is even difficult to make generalizations on the subject. This study is a step towards that direction. It aims to make thorough investigation and description of compounding process in Kinyakyusa, a language spoken in Rungwe and Kyela districts in Mbeya region.The study was conducted in Bujela ward. The respondents were adult native speakers of Kinyakyusa aged 50 and above. Primary data were obtained from interview. Secondary data were obtained from Nyakyusa-English-Swahili dictionary by Felberg (1996). The study uses headedness principle in Lexical Structure framework in which an element as small as an affix can become a head of the entire compound, thus, percolating its features to the entire structure. In this study, it is revealed that compounding with verb+noun and noun+noun are much more productive in Kinyakyusa while verb+verb and adjective+adjective are the least productive. Morphologically, compounds are categorized into the following types; synthetic, root or primary, copulative or co-ordinate, fossilized and compounds with associative. Semantically, both endocentric and exocentric compounds are attested in Kinyakyusa. More studies on compounding in Bantu languages are needed so as to find out the general features cutting across the languages.