Verb extensions in Shambala:their occurrence and co-occurrence constraints

This dissertation is an in-depth study of verbal extensions in Shambala, with a focus on derivational morphology. In it the exploration of morphology, syntax and the semantic implication of each extension, argument structure, constraints against ordering and co-occurrence are made.This study is descriptive and it has attested the following approaches: Mirror Principle (MP), LFG specifically its elaborate sub-theory Lexical Mapping Theory (LMT), Templatic morphology and Argument Structure. These approaches have been adopted in order to test their applicability in Bantu languages like Shambala. However, a conclusion is made that no single approach can account for the ordering of affixes across Bantu languages. In an attempt to meet the objectives of this study, each verb root and its extension are fragmented into appropriate formatives with the aim of seeing the patterns between particular verbal extensions. Then, all verbal extensions were identified in order to discuss their thematic roles, argument structure and co-occurrence constraints in their orderings. Finally, all verbal extension formatives were combined in an attempt to establish the possible combinations. It is revealed that the verb root can maximally accommodate up to four extensions with different semantic implications and the productivity of verbal extensions varies from one extension to another. Some extensions increase the argument structure in the case of the applicative and causative, while others decrease the argument structure like the stative, passive and reciprocal. It is also revealed that the order and co-occurrence of verb extensions in Bantu are constrained by a number of factors, such as morphological, syntactic, semantic and predicate structure. Further researches are recommended on the maximum limit of extensions to co-occur due to variations of data provided by different speakers and a theory which can fully handle cases of verbal extension orderings in Bantu languages.