The formation of relative clauses in kivunjo
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Date
2010
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Publisher
University of Dar es Salaam
Abstract
Different languages have different strategies of relative clauses construction. The present study is an investigation into relative clause construction in Kivunjo using an earlier version of TG conceptual framework. Data was collected from native speakers using a questionnaire and tape-recorded semi-structured interviews. The study has revealed that Kivunjo lacks lexical relative pronoun but uses instead verbal tone to signal relativization. The process of deriving surface relative structures from two underlying sentence structures having identical or co- referential NPs involves several transformations. Essentially, the process involves three major operations namely pronominalization, focus deletion and insertion of high tone. Other processes may also include fronting and postposition depending on the function of NP to be relativized. In relation to Keenan Accessibility Principle, the grammatical relations that could be relativized in Kivunjo are the subject, direct and indirect object and oblique. However, there is no evidence that positions below the oblique, namely the genitive and object of comparison could undergo relative transformations. Different types of relative clause formation are unveiled and they broadly include restrictive and non-restrictive. Other minor constructions are free and bound clauses, cleft and pseudo-cleft constructions and emphatic constructions which are also involved in constituent questioning. Given the complex nature of relativization in Kivunjo, there might be more aspects that are related to the phenomenon than those covered here, and this attracts further investigations, not only in Kivunjo but other languages as well.
Description
Available in print form, East Africana Collection, Dr. Wilbert Chagula Library, Class mark (THS EAF PL8110.C3K65)
Keywords
Clauses
Citation
Kombe, L.E (2010) The formation of relative clauses in kivunjo, Master dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam. Dar es Salaam.