Kisukuma noun phrase structure

Abstract

This study sought to investigate the structure of the Kisukuma noun phrase whereby Kimunasukuma dialect was selected for that purpose. The study employed a qualitative approach in order to gain insights and an indepth of understanding of the elements that make up the Kisukuma noun phrase structure and their occurrence possibilities and constraints. The sample included ten respondents who were selected on nonprobability basis because the population is so diverse that probability sampling could not be used. Interview schedules were used as the major data collection instruments. The findings revealed that Kisukuma noun phrase structure is made up of the head noun with or without dependents and that the dependents may range from one to as many as eight. The elements that modify the Kisukuma noun phrase structure include the possessive determiners, adjectives, demonstrative determiners, numerals, ordinals, general quantifiers, associative phrase and the relative clause. Furthermore, the distributive determiner 'bhuli "each/every", and miscellaneous modifiers angi "other" and 'cluhu" "only" also modify the Kisukuma noun phrase. Thep obsessive determiners usually occur immediately after the head noun followed by either the numerals, demonstrative determiners or the general quantifiers. The ordinals, adjectives and the associative phrases normally follow the numerals, demonstrative determiners and general quantifiers and they normally occur in that order; Ord Ad' Ass. The relative clause would normally come last. The distributive determiner `bhulf "each/every" would normally occur before the head noun and would not co-occur with the demonstrative determiners and the numerals.