A morphosyntactic and semantic analysis of possessive noun phrases in Kisubi

The focus of this study is on the morphsyntactic and semantic analysis of possessive noun phrases (PNDs) in terms of their order of occurrence and co-occurrence constructions in Kisubi. The study confines itself to the nominal PNPs because, between the head noun (N_(1-)the possessee) and the dependent noun (N2-the processor), there are potential syntactic slots that can be occupied by different noun PNDs. On other hand, three wards (Nyarubungo, Nyamahanga and Runazi in Biharamulo district, Kagera region) are purposively selected for this study; where by six (6) respondents are selected using snowball sampling technique. Data –both quantitative and qualitative- are obtained using structured interview, introspection and Focus group Discussion; and are analysed in two different ways; on the one hand, quantitative data are analysed using tables and tree structure inherent in the phrase structure grammar; and on the other hand, qualitative data are analysed using content analysis and interlinear glossing techniques. Data analysis reveals that there is a maximum of five peripheral nominal dependents (PNDs) (demonstrative, adjective, quantifier, numeral and ordinal) in the Kisubi PNP. Of the five PNDs the demonstrative is designated as a determiner and the remaining elements are designated as modifiers. Furthermore, the study reveals that possessive constructions in Kisubi may exist in three broad categories: alienable, inalienable and neither-alienable-nor-inalienable. Finally, it is recommended that further studies need to be done in this area so as to establish if there are other syntactic slots in the nominal PNP besides those which have been established by the findings of this study. Similarly, there is a need of investigating in kisubi and other Bantu languages the structural configuration of pronominal PNPs in terms of the available syntactic slots, the number of PNPs that can be occupied by these slots and their order of occurrence.