The gikuyu noun pharse structure in NGUGI wa THIONG’O’S NOVEL caitaani Mutharabaini

This study examined the structure of the noun phrase in the Gikuyu language using data collected from a literary text, Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Caitaani mutharaba-im. In particular the study examined the elements that modify the noun, the order of these elements, how these noun phrases nt in the Bantu noun phrase Template, the restrictions on co-occurrence of the elements and the highest number of modifiers that appear in these noun phrases. A total of 2550 nouns phrases were extracted and examined. The study used the qualitative method. Respondents were selected in order to validate whether the noun phrases collected belonged to the language. Purposive sampling procedure was used to select the population to be studied and the pages of the text to be analyzed. Simple random sampling procedure was used to select the rest of the respondents. Different age groups were selected so that the responses could be indicative of the views of different levels of experience of using the language. The study used the qualitative method. Respondents were selected in order to validate whether the noun phrases collected belonged to the language. Purposive sampling procedure was used to select the population to be studied and the pages of the text to be analyzed. Simple random sampling procedure was used to select the rest of the respondents. Different age groups were selected so that the responses could be indicative of the views of different levels of experience of using the language. The findings show that the Gikuyu language has 17 noun classes or genders. The nouns can be derived or non-derived. The derived ones come from verbs, adjectives or other nouns. Borrowed words are assigned to classes on the basis of morphological shape and meaning. The elements that modify the noun were identified as: the possessive, the demonstrative, the associative, the quantifier, the adjective, numerals (both cardinal and ordinal) and the relative clause. Pre-head elements are the possessive, the demonstrative and the distributive. Post head elements are preceded by the demonstrative or possessive in most cases when they are present. The order of the other post head elements is variable. Out of a total of 2550 nouns phrases extracted, the structures identified were the head only structure, one, two and three dependants category structures. The study concluded that in classifying nouns in Gikuyu the morphological approach provides a stronger case for class membership because it helps to identify noun classes as distinct groups. The Gikuyu NP can be mapped using the Bantu NP Template and it can take a maximum of six dependants but from the data collected three seems to be the normal load. The head only noun phrase structure was the predominant one. It can, therefore be, deduced that there is a preference for a less cluttered or simpler noun phrase structure.