Search

This study investigates the morphology and semantics of personal nicknames in Swahili, a Bantu language of East Africa. Specifically, the study aims to discuss the meaning conveyed by nicknames and to analyse their morphological structure. The data for the study were collected through questionnaires and interviews and were analysed using the socio-onomastics theory (to account for the sociocultural aspects of Swahili nicknames) and the theory of metonymy (to address the metonymic nature of the nicknames). The findings show that, from a semantic perspective, Swahili nicknames are mainly metonymical, as they are based on certain observable features and attributes of the named person, including a person's observable physical features (e.g. body parts), behaviour and socio-economic activities. It is further established that, morphologically, Swahili nicknames display various morphological patterns, including single word patterns, two-word patterns and phrasal patterns. Common morphological processes involved in the formation of these nicknames include affixation, compounding and borrowing. It is concluded that nicknaming is an important morphological process that enriches both the lexicon and semantics of Swahili. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to examine different functions of the augment in Cigogo (G11), a Bantu language spoken in central Tanzania. The data were collected through translational questionnaires, audio-recording of oral texts, and native speakers' grammaticality judgements of Cigogo texts. The analysis is guided by Lyons' (1999) theory of definiteness. The findings establish that the augment performs various linguistic and communicative roles in Cigogo. These include signalling definiteness, specificity, and anaphoric reference. It is further established that the augment functions as a topic marker in topicalized constructions. These findings contribute to the typological literature on the functions of the augment in Bantu languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chiyao (Bantu, P21) allows animate concord and/or grammatical agreement for subject and object marking, depending on the type of noun. This article offers an initial description of the relevant patterns in Tanzanian Chiyao. We examine animacy effects in Chiyao grammar, focusing on subject and object marking. We show that the choice of animate concord over class concord is determined by a complex combination of factors, including formal grammatical features like noun class and number, semantic features of the referent such as size, and pragmatics. These findings contribute to the literature on Chiyao, our understanding of agreement systems in Bantu languages and the typological and comparative literature on animacy as a grammatical and/or pragmatic feature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the influence of verbal syntactic and semantic features on the occurrence of the object marker in Chiyao (P21), a Bantu language of Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawi. The article categorises verb stems into three main groups: those that take an obligatory object marker; those that block the occurrence of the object marker; and those that neither require nor block the object marker. The analysis shows that some monotransitive verbs denoting visual and mental perception take an obligatory object marker regardless of the syntactic context or semantic features of their respective object NPs. A similar pattern is exhibited by unextended ditransitive verbs. On the other hand, verbs in the middle voice and those occurring in cognate object constructions restrict the occurrence of the object marker. Between these two extremes are the verbs that pose no restriction to object marking as they can occur with or without the object marker depending on syntactic structure, pragmatic context and object noun features. This last category constitutes the majority of the verbs and is considered unmarked. It is concluded that verbal semantic and syntactic features are important aspects to consider in any account of the conditions for object marking in Chiyao. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a high degree of morphosyntactic microvariation with respect to the number and position of object markers found across Bantu languages. This paper examines variation in object marking in Swahili, against the backdrop of variation in object marking in Bantu more broadly. Verb forms in Standard Swahili are well-known to typically only permit one pre-stem object marker. However, here we show that there are isolated cases of post-verbal marking of objects from both a synchronic and diachronic perspective. The paper focuses on two case studies. Firstly, 'Old Swahili' - that is, the language of classical Swahili poetry - where examples of typologically unusual emphatic object marker doubling are found. Secondly, we show that post-verbal object marking is in fact also found in Standard (Modern) Swahili, namely in second person plural marking, in post-verbal locative markers and with non-verbal predication. However, we also show that the relationship between these forms, the Old Swahili paradigm of object marker doubling, and post-verbal object marking in Bantu more widely - in particular post-verbal plural addressee marking - is complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]