MORPHO-PHONOLOGICAL EFFECTS IN GIKUYU LANGUAGE REDUPLICATION

Gerald Njuki Muriithi

Abstract


This research is indispensable as it basically studies how Gikuyu language reduplication patterns can be explained using Prosodic Morphology Theory. It looks at the various types of reduplication in Gikuyu language and seeks to establish if reduplication in Gikuyu is considered morphological reduplication or phonological copying. Word classification as well as the Gikuyu vowels and consonants have extensively been discussed in this paper as a foundation for the reduplication discussion. The study tries to find out the logic worth of reduplication, how reduplication interconnect with morphological and phonological processes, linguistic units associated with this concept and draws conclusion that reduplication in Gikuyu is considered both morphological doubling and phonological copying. The study adopts Prosodic Morphology theoretical approach in reduplication patterns analysis. Gikuyu phonemic catalogue on vowels and consonants as well as the word categorization, that is, nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives has been discussed as a foundation for the research. Reduplication is a morphological process in which there is repetition of a stem or a root of a word in Linguistics. Reduplication is important since it acts as a declension to bring out semantic roles such as lexical derivation, authentication and reinforcement to form new words. Qualitative sampling was done on the word categories and an outcome was established. There were various reduplication patterns in Gikuyu, several semantic patterns associated with it were listed, set out and reviewed. The findings have been scrutinized and analyzed for further recommendations.

Article visualizations:

Hit counter


Keywords


reduplication, morphological, scrutinize, semantic, phonological

Full Text:

PDF

References


Broselow, E. and John McCarthy (1983). A Theory of Internal Reduplication. The Ling. Review 325-89.

Crystal, D. (2003). English as a Global Language (2nd ed.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dwyer, D. (1997). A web book of African Languages: page on kikuyu; http://www.isp.msu.edu/Afrlanh/Kikuyuroot.html.

Halliday, M. A. K., Melntosh, A. & Strevens, P. (1964). The Linguistics Sciences and Language Teaching. London Longman.

Jensen, J. L. and Rodgers, R. (2005b). 'Reduplication as Morphological Doubling' MS VC Berkeley and MIT. ROA 412.

Kamau, T. G. (1996). ‘The Major Phonological Process of Ki Ndia and Gigichungu Dialects of Gikuyu: A Comparative Survey.’ (Unpublished MA Thesis, Kenyatta University).

Karega, M. (1983). Sound Changes and Classification of the Dialects of Southern Mt. Kenya (Language and Dialect Atlas of Kenya). Nairobi: Reimer Publishers.

Katamba F. (1993). Morphology, Macmillan Press Limited.

Kaufman, T. (1988). Language Contact, Creolization and Genetic Linguistics. Berkeley: University of California.

Marantz, A. (1982). Re reduplication Linguistic Inquiry, 13,435-382 University Press. Cambridge

Mathews, P. H. (1974). Morphology, 2nd Ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

McCarthy and Prince A. (1986). Prosodic Morphology. MS University of Massachusetts and Brandeis University.

Moravcsik, E. (1978). Reduplicative Constructions. In Universals of Human Language(ed.) Joseph Greenberg Vol 3 .229-334.

Mugane, J. M. (1986). 'Bantu Nominalization Structures (Gikuyu)'. Unpublished PhD Thesis University of Arizona.

Mugane, John. (1997). A Paradigmatic Grammar of Gĩkũyũ. Stanford: CSLI Publications

Ngunga, A. (2002). Phonology and Morphology of the Ciyao Verb. Los Angeles: CSL1 Publications.

Njoroge N. (2006). 'Kikuyu Deverbatives and other Nominalizations'. M.A Thesis Nairobi University.

Peng, L. (1991). The canonical Root Verb and Kikuyu Reduplication. MS: National University of Singapore.

Richard, D. & Brian D. (2003). On Language, Change and Historical Linguistics: Handbook of Historical Linguistics. Oxford Blackwell.

Sapir, E. (1921). Language as a Historical Product: Drift. New York: Harcot, Brace and World

Spencer, A. (1991). Morphological Theory. An Introduction to Word Structure in Generative Grammar. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.

Steriade, D. (1988). Reduplication and Syllable Transfer in Sanskrit. Phonology 5: 73 - 155.

Tagliamonte, S. A. (2012). Analyzing Sociolinguistics Variation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wachera, J. (2008). Tone as a Distinctive Feature in the Lexicon of Gi-Gichugu Dialect, Gikuyu Language. (Unpublished MA Thesis, University of Nairobi).

Welmers, W. E. (1973). African Languages Structure. Los Angles: University of Ngunga, A. (2002) Phonology and Morphology of the Ciyao Verb. Los Angeles:

Zwicky A. (1998). The Handbook of Morphology. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejals.v3i2.245

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The research works published in this journal are free to be accessed. They can be shared (copied and redistributed in any medium or format) and\or adapted (remixed, transformed, and built upon the material for any purpose, commercially and\or not commercially) under the following terms: attribution (appropriate credit must be given indicating original authors, research work name and publication name mentioning if changes were made) and without adding additional restrictions (without restricting others from doing anything the actual license permits). Authors retain the full copyright of their published research works and cannot revoke these freedoms as long as the license terms are followed.

Copyright © 2018-2023. European Journal of Applied Linguistics Studies (ISSN 2602 - 0254 / ISSN-L 2602 - 0254). All rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library. All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and standards formulated by Budapest Open Access Initiative (2002), the Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing (2003) and Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003) and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Copyrights of the published research works are retained by authors.