Instruction: Theoretical Framework

Response: In the inventory of sounds, the approach will be purely descriptive, the aim being to try to account for as many sounds as can be identified in the four dialects of Runyakitara (Runyoro-Rutooro/Runyankore-Rukiga, sometimes divided into Runyoro-Rutooro and Runyankore-Rukiga). This collection of sounds is what we have referred to as the phonetics of Runyakitara. After the inventory of the sounds, an attempt will be made to determine the 'functional' or 'distinctive' units among them; that is what we usually call 'phonemes'. This functional description of sounds is called 'phonology'. In order to identify the phonemes of Runyakitara, we shall essentially base our analysis on a 'functional/distributional' framework. In the Prague school sense of the word (Vachek, 2008), a sound is 'functional' if, in a given segment, it can help in differentiating one word from another. For instance, in Runyakitara, /k/ /k/ is a distinct phoneme from /g/ /g/ because by replacing /k/ /k/ with /g/ /g/ in a given segment, the meaning can change; e. g., kukanya (to increase) and kuganya (to be miserable). In the same manner, /t/ /t/ is said to be a distinct phoneme from /d/ /d/, for example: Such examples as obuta and kukanya are said to constitute "minimal pairs". The notion of minimal pairs, as explained by Ndoleriire (1980), is very useful in phonology for determining the distinctive features of sounds; that is, their phonemic status. Another important yardstick in determining whether a sound is a phoneme or not is to examine its distribution. By distribution, we mean the physical environment of the sound; what appears on its left and right. This often determines the physical representation of the sound itself. For instance, in a good number of Bantu languages, the sound [r] is pronounced as [d] when it is preceded by a nasal such as [n]. Thus, in Runyoro-Rutooro, oku-rora (to see) becomes n n-dora (I see). The [d] is brought about by the preceding nasal [n]. In this case, we say that [r] and [n] in the environment of ku-rora/n-dora, are not two distinct phonemes, but variants of one phoneme. Their physical representation is determined by specific environments; that is, the presence or absence of the nasal [n].


Instruction: Scope of the Study

Response: Here, we are going to analyse some aspects of the Runyakitara phonetics and phonology especially from the segmental point of view. This means that our study will not be comprehensive since Runyakitara is made up of numerous dialects and sub-dialects, not to talk of 'idiolects' or individual varieties. A comprehensive study would therefore attempt to account for the sub-systems attestable in the different dialects. This will not be the case; we shall limit ourselves to the most frequent pronunciations among the speakers of Runyoro, Rutooro, Runyankore and Rukiga. This means that, besides other Runyakitara dialects such as Ruhororo, Rutagwenda, Runyaruguru, Rusongora, Rutuku, Rugangaizi and Lubwisi, even the major dialects will not be thoroughly analysed since only the most common pronunciations will be dealt with. Since we are mainly dealing with segmental phonetics and phonology, that is, the study of the sounds that appear at the level of the basic sound itself, such as \grave{o}-m u ́-n-t u ́ (Rn/Rt) (Rn/Rt) (a person) without putting into consideration such other aspects as the pitch of each sound, e.g., o-m-u-n-t- uˉ u ˉ ; or the stress; that is, the place in a word or in a segment where muscular energy is placed; e.g. o'muntu, most energy here is placed on the syllable -muwhen pronouncing the word. We will also neither deal with the syllable structure (minimal combinations of consonants and vowels) nor vowel harmony (influence of sounds on each other). Most of these aspects are usually called 'supra-segmental' features. For Bantu languages, one of the most important supra-segmental features is the 'tone'; that is, a pitch in a word that can bring about a change in meaning (Taylor, 1959). For example, in Runyankore-Rukiga:


Instruction: Tone in Runyakitara

Response: From the research conducted, tone, which Fromkin and his colleagues (2003) describe as the vocal sound with reference to its pitch, quality, and strength, is clearly attested in Runyankore-Rukiga. It is used in providing meaning of words whose spelling is the same but vary in pronunciation. That variation is only explained by the existence of tones. Examples include: However, tone seems to be lacking in Rutooro and very few cases remain in Runyoro. It is rather surprising that Runyoro-Rutooro is in that situation. This is because most of the East African Bantu languages surrounding Runyoro-Rutooro and intimately related to it have tone. It would appear, however, that Runyoro-Rutooro must have been fully tonal at a given moment and that the process of tone levelling must have occurred over time. Moreover, although in Rutooro no lexical items are attested that can be distinguished by tone alone, some remnants of tonal distinction do exist at sentence level, indicating the presence of grammatical tone. Compare, for instance, the following sentences: One can also quote a children's play word or pun where ambiguity is supposed to bring about different meanings. When one studies the tone patterns carefully, however, the ambiguity is removed. Taata obu aba naagaba enyama naanyampa Taata obu a-ba ni-a-gaba e-nyama ni-a-nyampa 2. Taata obu aba naagaba enyama naanye ampa Taata obu aba ni-a-gaba e-nyama naanye a-mpa 3. Omukazi acumbire O-mu-kazi a-cumb-ire 4. Omukazi acumbire Father, when he is giving meat, he passes wind. When father is giving meat, he passes wind. Father, when he is giving meat, me also he gives. When father is giving meat, he gives me also. The woman who has cooked... The woman has cooked. In Runyankore-Rukiga, grammatical tone is even more pronounced as shown in the examples below: 5. Naakumanya Ni-aa-ku-many-a 6. Naakumanya Ni-a-ku-many-a 7. Naakishoma Ni-a-ki-shom-a 8. Naakishoma Ni-a-ki-shom-a I have known you He knows you I have read it He is reading it We note that in some Runyankore-Rukiga varieties we can have sentences like: 9. Twamushangayo Twamushangayo 10. Naazayo Naazayo If we find him there We have found him there I have gone there He is going there; He will go there In the first set of Runyoro-Rutooro examples, the ambiguity between the two clauses is removed by the presence of contrastive tone. The examples above show that the grammatical intonation here helps to indicate the distinction between different types of clauses. Apart from such examples, cases of typical lexical and grammatical tones do not seem to exist in Runyoro-Rutooro. This does not mean, however, that the speakers of Runyoro-Rutooro do not have lexical and grammatical tones at all. A few examples of this kind of tone seem to have been found in Runyoro, although such pronunciation is questionable: The above examples, except the first pair (omunyoro) were cited by Shigeki Kaji (2015) and he confirms that such tonal contrasts do not exist in Rutooro at lexical level. This author had already talked about the absence of lexical tone in Rutooro in an earlier publication (Kaji, 2017). Tucker (1964) is also of the opinion that there are no tones attested in RunyoroRutooro. Things are, however, different in Runyankore-Rukiga. Sentences 5 to 10 above are clear examples of grammatical tone in Runyankore-Rukiga. Although tones are fully attested both at lexical and grammatical level in Runyankore-Rukiga, it appears that there has been a process of tone levelling among the younger generations of the speakers of Runyankore-Rukiga. Runyankore-Rukiga has two basic tones, the high tone marked ( ) ), or H , and the low tone marked (), or L. As already pointed out, tones are distinctive both at lexical and grammatical levels. According to Taylor (1959, 1978), the predominant in RunyankoreRukiga lexical tones are categorised as follows, though in a modified form: Verbs Due to the tone levelling phenomenon, all the above could be pronounced with low tone by some speakers.


Instruction: Non-Verbs

Response: The above examples can be summarised as follows: (a) Verbs that are infinitive usually have only two tone classes: one characterised by low tone only, the other characterised by the presence of a high tone. (b) Nouns are also in two classes: one with low tone only, and the other by the presence of high tone appearing in different patterns with low tone.


Instruction: Methodological Approach

Response: We shall attempt to account for the major similarities and differences at phonetic and phonological levels among the major dialects of Runyakitara. In order to do this, one has of necessity to adopt a comparative approach. The different dialects will therefore be examined both individually and collectively in order to discern what unites them or separates them. The ultimate aim will be to show that despite the differences, these dialects have a common underlying system that, most likely, accounts for their mutual intelligibility. Such conclusions would, however, be partial in character since in this part we are dealing only with the phonological aspect of the language.


Instruction: The Sounds of Runyakitara

Response: In order to identify the distinctive sounds of a language, it is important to make an inventory of as many sounds as may exist in a language. From this pool of sounds, one can determine those that are more pertinent than others. As indicated earlier, we shall limit ourselves to the most common sounds produced by the speakers of Runyoro, Rutooro, Runyankore and Rukiga. This is not to do justice to a language characterized by numerous dialects; but because of various limitations, we shall limit ourselves to this. The charts below contain the most common Runyakitara sounds in the four major dialects.


Instruction: Chart 4: Rk

Response: From the four charts above, Runyankore has the highest number of consonantal sounds (26) followed by Rutooro (25), Runyoro (24) and Rukiga has the lowest number (23). We shall see, however, later, that the slightly higher number of sounds in Runyankore than in the other dialects is essentially due to the fact that in Ankore, there are two distinct social groups, the Bahima and the Bairu, with each group having some special characteristics in pronunciation. This situation does not arise among the speakers of the other three dialects. We note that sounds that are not common to all dialects are: We note here that most of the exceptions are found in Runyankore. But here, again, it is because of the two varieties of Runyankore. In fact, the sounds ts,kg ts,k g , and gg g g all belong to the Bahima. This would mean, then, that the non-Bahima are quite close to the Rukiga speakers in pronouncing their consonants. From the charts, we also note that the Rukiga speakers have the least number of exceptions in their consonants; that is, all their consonants are shared with at least one other dialect. Following is a list of examples to illustrate the utilisation of the above sounds:


Instruction: Examples with

Response: f f It is clear from these examples that, in Runyoro-Rutooro and Rukiga, f f and l l appear in complementary distribution; that is, the sounds appearing before and after l l are different from those appearing before and after f f. This can be illustrated as follows: In all the other environments, which are the majority of the cases, the production will be f f, as in i….i i….i, like omubiri (body), pronounced [omubifi] or e….e e….e, like ekikere (Rn/Rt) (Rn/Rt) (frog), pronounced [ekikefe] and many other possible environments. Note, however, that l l and f f appearing at word initial, have different conditions of appearance; for example:


Instruction: Remarks

Response: The word okulira/okurira, "to cry"," can be written exceptionally with a short or long vowel; i.e., okurra or okuurra or okura. The older generation in Rutooro tends to use okuurra rather than okurra, thus respecting the rule of vowel lengthening before rr . The younger generation tends to shorten the rr rr both in okurra and in okura (one hardly hears okuura). After all, in this other case, there is no rolled r r as such and therefore the lengthening of the vowel before rr rr need not necessarily apply although it does apply in the other cases as shown in the examples of the fifth stage. 2. It has been pointed out that Runyakitara speakers, especially from Ibanda area, also sometimes use a fricative r[r] r[r] rather than the rolled [i]. This would mean that after the fourth stage [omurro], in Runyankore, there would be a fifth stage again in Runyankore [omuro] and the Rutooro fifth stage [omuиio] would become the sixth stage, while the Runyoro sixth stage [omuиio] would become the seventh. It has, however, been noted that the pronunciation by the people of Ibanda [omu{o],] who are Rutagwenda speakers, is influenced by Rutooro and by Runyankore. In this particular case, Rutooro seems to have had the upper hand. 3. Standard Runyoro-Rutooro adopted the spelling of omurro (Rutooro) rather than omuиro (Runyoro) or omuliro (Runyoro). Among other things, the considerations here might have been the following: (a) The Runyoro pronunciation of omuuro can bring confusion with other words with different meanings (homonyms). Compare:


Instruction: Rn

Response: It is clear that the words in columns 1 and 3 in Runyoro are homonymous. (b) The other reason why the Rutooro omurro was preferred to the Runyoro omuliro or omuuro is that the first version omuliro seems to have some Luganda influence, a language not included in the Runyakitara group. Before leaving the study of the sounds l,f,rr l,f,rr and r r, it should be noted that the above sounds are pronounced as d d when preceded by the alveolar nasal n n. Examples include: Note that in the last example with rr rr, only the first r r becomes d d while the second r r remains r r. This is an exceptional case in Runyakitara where the syllable structure of the type VCVCV or CVNCV or CVCW/YV etc. now also includes the structure: CVndrC as in nindra above.


Instruction: J and 3

Response: These two sounds are very frequent in Runyankore-Rukiga but of very limited use in Runyoro-Rutooro. It should be noted first that the sound transcribed as f f is usually written a sh in Runyankore-Rukiga orthography while 3 is written as j j. To begin with, the distribution of f f is very limited in Runyoro-Rutooro although heard among older generations and 3 is non-existent there. As for


Instruction: J

Response: J, the following examples are for Runyoro-Rutooro. The original pronunciation seems to have been h h, the form used in spellings. This can be confirmed by the verb kuhya (to burn) in the following usages: In the two examples above, h h can be replaced by f f or s s by some speakers. However, if we take the form: tu-hi-ire we are burnt The only sound acceptable is h h and not f f or s s. The sounds f f and s s, therefore, only appear when h h is followed by the palatal continuant y y. Otherwise, h h is maintained. The pronunciation of hy hy in Runyoro-Rutooro is more complex than is shown in the chart above. It seems most Banyoro pronounce an hy hy, which is close to a velar fricative +y +y, something like: omuXyo (the sound often heard among some Basoga speakers, in Lumasaba or in Luluya). Others do pronounce: omuhyo; while others pronounce: omuhyo with the h h totally dropped; omufyo could also be heard among some. In Rutooro, the order seems to be as follows: omuhyo omufyo omusyo omuyo omuhya. As pointed out earlier, Banyoro and Batooro of the older generations (and some younger ones) also use / generally in the same conditions as the Banyankore and the Bakiga although the Runyoro-Rutooro / (sh) tends to be a bit softer than the Runyankore-Rukiga one. Examples include: w w and y y w w and y y may also play the role of full consonants in the CVCV syllable structure such as: From the syllabic point of view, w w here is used fully as a consonant followed by a vowel, thus respecting the usual Bantu structure of CVCV. However, such examples with w w are fairly rare in Runyakitara. Luganda has much more of such a structure, where usually in Runyakitara w w is replaced by h h. Below are some examples. On the other hand, y y falls in well with the usual structure of CVCV as shown in the following examples: Apart from the cases examined above, the sounds f f and 3 are to be found in abundance in Runyankore-Rukiga. Below is a list of some of the many words in which these sounds can be found: It should be noted that while the usual equivalent pronunciation of f f in RunyoroRutooro is s s, that of 3 is j j as shown in the following examples: As mentioned in the chapter on orthography, the letters ' zh zh ' would have better represented the sound 3 in Runyankore-Rukiga orthography than the present j j and would have corresponded to sh, which represents the unvoiced. In this case, Runyankore-Rukiga seems to have been influenced by the older Runyoro-Rutooro orthography, where the letter ' j j ' is more representative of the sound [j] [j]. c,j,ky c,j,ky and gy gy The palatal sounds c c and j j are frequent in Runyakitara. They are very distinct in RunyoroRutooro whereas, in Runyankore-Rukiga, they are often variations of the velars k k and g g. Here, we give examples of c c and j j used as distinct sounds: (a) (b) Ry/Rk Ry/Rk


Instruction: The Vowels

Response: Runyakitara vowels are, as a whole, less complex than the consonants, at least from the articulatory point of view. There are, all in all, five vowels that have a distinctive feature of length, such that every short vowel can be lengthened with a change in the meaning of a word. The following chart illustrates the Runyakitara vowels: As a general rule, all the five vowels are fairly close in pronunciation to the cardinal vowels. Examples are: Runyakitara also has a few diphthongs, the most common being: ei,oi ei,oi and ai ai for Ry/Rk Ry/Rk, and oi oi and ai for Rn/Rt Rn/Rt. Diphthongs may or may not appear at word boundaries. Examples: In Runyankore-Rukiga and sometimes Runyoro, the diphthong ei ei is often used as a class prefix, where, in Rutooro, the prefix i i is used: As seen in chapter 8 , the diphthong written as ai‾


Instruction: ai

Response: is often pronounced as ei‾


Instruction: ei

Response: : In Rutooro, the diphthong ei ei seems to be restricted to the presence of the reflexible −e −e - in the verb: The diphthong oi oi is frequent, particularly in Runyoro-Rutooro:


Instruction: The Phonemes of Runyakitara

Response: Phonetics is the study of the nature of sounds in a language while phonology concentrates on those sounds in a language that are of special significance and that enable one to differentiate one word from another or an utterance from another. We shall now look at the phonemes of Runyakitara, or those sounds that one can call distinctive. In order to do this, we shall use the notion of minimal pairs as used by the Prague school to determine which sounds are phonemes and which ones are not. We shall proceed by grouping the sounds according to their place of articulation and then analyse the sounds in each group.


Instruction: The Bilabials

Response: The bilabials to be analysed are p,b,β,m p,b,β,m and w.b w.b and β β are usually said to be variants of the same phoneme, as follows:


Instruction: i) Conditional Variants

Response: b b and β β are in complementary distribution, with b b occurring after a nasal and β β elsewhere, as shown in the following examples: In the above cases, b b and β β are conditional variants of the same phoneme, or allophones.


Instruction: ii) Free Variants

Response: b b and β β are free variants in the following areas: In loan words, one usually finds b b. One may also hear: In Runyoro-Rutooro particularly, there is also free variation between β β and b b when they appear at the beginning of a sentence, for example: It is however argued that β/b β/b can be considered as distinct phonemes because there exists at least one minimal pair: This simple example is not really convincing because, in the first place, kaba (kabba) is not only a fairly rare word but it is also foreign. There is, however, also a similar word that is quite indigenous: Unless more examples are found, it might be safer to continue considering β β and b b as conditional or full variants. p/b/p/ p/b/p/ and /b/(orβ) /b/(orβ) are usually distinct phonemes as shown below: /m/ /m/ is also a distinct phoneme as in: (ku) βamba βamba to crucify (e) mamba type of fish (eki) βuga βuga town (eki) muga disabled person /w/ /w/ This sound has a problem as far as its phonemic status is concerned. It usually appears as a semi-consonant. When it appears as a consonant, it is usually at a morphological boundary where it seems to be a variant of a vowel, for example: Minimal pairs are almost non-existent except in such farfetched examples as: Provisionally, we may therefore conclude that, despite its limited distribution, w w is a phoneme in Runyakitara .


Instruction: The Labiodentals

Response: In spite of the limited frequency and distribution of v v as seen earlier, /f/ /f/ and /v/ /v/ are phonemes of the language. Minimal pairs include: (eki)feera idiot, halfwit (aka)veera plastic bag eviini (Rn/Rt) (Rn/Rt) wine ediini religion


Instruction: Dentals and Alveolars

Response: This group has the largest number of sounds which include t,d,ts,n,l,f,rr,Y,s,z,∫ t,d,ts,n,l,f,rr,Y,s,z,∫ and 3 . To begin with, the dental t t and the alveolar t t are free variants of the same phoneme. It has already been said that the dental t t is the most common among the Runyakitara speakers while the alveolar t t is mostly restricted among the Runyoro speakers. The two are therefore regional variants. Otherwise, /t/ whether represented by the dental t t or the alveolar t t, is a distinct phoneme as exemplified by the following minimal pairs: The examples above show that both /t/ /t/ and /d/ /d/ are distinct phonemes. On the other hand, as has been pointed out earlier, ts ts is not a distinct phoneme since it occurs in free variation with s s. It is therefore, a variant of s s. However, /s/ /s/ can be a distinct phoneme as attested in the following examples: /n/ is also a distinct phoneme: (oku)siga to sow (oku)niga to strangle (as above) We have already seen that l l and r r are conditional variants and in Runyoro-Rutooro, we indicated the environments in which the two occur. We can take /r/ /r/ as the basic phoneme (with the variant l l ). This can be illustrated by the following minimal pairs. As regards /rr/ /rr/, it can be considered as a distinct phoneme. Minimal pairs for /rr/ /rr/ include (particularly in Rutooro): /s/ and /z/ are also distinct phonemes. We have already seen that ts ts is a free variant of s s, but elsewhere /s/ can be attested as a phoneme. The last two examples above show that /f/ /f/ is a distinct phoneme in RunyankoreRukiga. The next example shows that /3/ /3/ is also a distinct phoneme in Runyankore-Rukiga. We note, however, that in Runyoro-Rutooro, ∫ ∫ is a free variant of h h and s s as in omuhyo or omu§yo or omusyo (a knife). In Runyankore-Rukiga, minimal pairs where ∫ ∫ and 3 are attested to include: Although it is agreed that s s and ∫ ∫ are distinct phonemes at least in Runyankore-Rukiga, there are sometimes tendencies to use s s instead of ∫ ∫ as free variants of the same phoneme among some of the native speakers as in the following examples:


Instruction: Palatals and Velars

Response: The palatals and velars are c,j,ny,y,k,g,ky c,j,ny,y,k,g,k y and gy g y and we include here the glottal h./c/ h./c/ and /j/ /j/ are distinct phonemes in both Runyoro-Rutooro and Runyankore-Rukiga, but as we have already seen, they can also be conditional variants of k k and g g when the latter appear before i i and y y. As distinct phonemes /c/ /c/ and /j/ /j/ and n n can be found in the following minimal pairs. /n/ /n/ and /y/ /y/ are also phonemes in Runyakitara as in: The velars /k/ /k/ and /g/ /g/ are distinct phonemes in Runyakitara but, as we have already seen, among some Runyankore speakers, the conditional variants ky k y and gy g y can be used. Examples of /k/ /k/ and /g/ /g/ as distinct phonemes can be seen in the following minimal pairs: The last two examples show that /h/ /h/ is also a distinct phoneme.


Instruction: The Vowels

Response: The procedure for identifying the vowel phonemes is the same as for consonants. We have already indicated further up that length is a distinctive feature in Runyakitara vowels and have provided minimal pairs. A few examples below will suffice to show that the five basic vowels of Runyakitara are also phonemes. We should note, however, that the distinctive feature of length in vowels is often neutralised in the following environments: i) before nasal compounds, for example: In that position, vowels are always pronounced long and therefore length ceases to be a distinctive feature. ii) after w w and y y compounds; for example: iii) In Rutooro ( particularly before the rolled (rr), for example: obuterre [obuteerre] slippery ground okuturra [okutuurra] to transmit disease okuserra [okuseerra] to search okuburra [okußuurra] to open one's eyes In all the above examples, length cannot serve as a distinctive feature for vowels because it is predictable.


Instruction: Summary of Consonantal and Vocalic Phonemes

Response: By taking into account the phonemic description made of the Runyakitara sounds, one can propose the following phonological systems for the two major dialects and for Runyakitara as a whole. Chart 6: Rn/Rt Chart 7: Ry/Rk Chart 8: Runyakitara The charts above reflect the various phonemes identified in each dialect. The different free and conditional variants are therefore not indicated here. The Runyoro-Rutooro dialect has one phoneme less than Runyankore-Rukiga because, while it has one phoneme, /rr/ /rr/, which Runyankore-Rukiga does not have, the latter has two phonemes,


Instruction: /J/

Response: /J/ and /3/ /3/, which Runyoro-Rutooro does not have. The whole system is therefore made up of the total phonemes attested in the two sub-systems. As regards vowels, it is clear that Runyakitara has five long and five short vowels.


Instruction: Conclusion

Response: In this chapter, we have attempted to show what Runyakitara stands for and why its various dialects are considered as mere variations of one homogenous language. After the introduction, we presented the different sounds of Runyakitara in the four sub-systems and indicated the various free and conditional variants attested. As much as possible, we used common examples for all the dialects. Once we had made a phonetic study of the sounds, we proceeded to expose the phonemes that are present in each sub-system, the main criterion being the determination of distinctive features that can be found through minimal pairs. This was not done in detail but enough examples were given to show that the sounds that were considered as phonemes were contrastive. We then proposed two phonological sub-systems and an overall system based on the totality of phonemes identified. It is hoped that a further study of these sounds will lay more emphasis on their acoustic nature, on the supra-segmental features, and on the phonological processes such as assimilation, deletion, fortition, lenition and insertion that may exist in this language.


Instruction: References

Response: Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2003). An introduction to language (7th Edn.). Boston: Thomson Wadsworth. Ndoleriire, O. (1992). Aspects of Runyakitara Segmental Phonology. Makerere Papers in Language and Linguistics, 1(2), 24-63. Kaji, S. (2007). A Rutooro vocabulary. Research Inst. for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Kaji, S. (2015). A Rutooro vocabulary. Kyoto: Shoukadoh. Taylor, C. (1959). Runyankore-Rukiga-English and English-Runyankore-Rukiga Dictionary. Nairobi: The Eagle Press, East African Literature Bureau. Taylor, C. (1978). A teachers' handbook of Runyankore-Rukiga orthography. Kampala: Uganda Literature Bureau. Tucker, A. N. (1964). System of tone-making African languages. Bulletin of Oriental and African Studies, XXIII(3), 611. Vachek, J. (2008). Prague School of Linguistics. In Encyclopaedia of the linguistic sciences: Issues and theories.


Instruction: Morphology

Response: The term 'morphology' has been generally used in science specifically in biology where it denotes the study of the forms of plants and animals. It was first used for linguistic purposes in 1859 by the German linguist August Schleicher (Salmon, 2000) to refer to the study of the form of words. In present-day linguistics, the term 'morphology' refers to the study of the internal structure of words and of the systematic form-meaning correspondences between words (Booij, 2012). Morphology is an essential subfield of linguistics. According to Hamawand (2011), morphology generally aims to describe the structures of words and patterns of word formation in a language. Specifically, it aims to: (i) pin down the principles for relating the form and meaning of morphological expressions, (ii) explain how the morphological units are integrated and the resulting formations interpreted, and (iii) show how morphological units are organized in the lexicon in terms of similarity and contrast. The study of morphology uncovers the lexical resources of language, helps speakers to acquire the skills of using them creatively and, consequently, express their thoughts and emotions with fluency.


Instruction: Morphological Typology

Response: Languages of the world have been classified using various criteria, one of which is morphology; that is, based on their language structure. Linguistics has traditionally classified world languages based on their structure into four broad categories according to Spencer (1991): isolating, agglutinating, inflectional/fusion and polysynthetic languages. Isolating/analytic languages are languages with limited morphological processes except for compounding. Here, separate grammatical concepts tend to be conveyed by separate words and not by morphological processes. In other words, it is a language in which almost every word consists of a single morpheme. Languages such as Chinese, Vietnamese are regarded as isolating languages. Agglutinating languages are languages with many morpheme-based words and each morpheme corresponds to a single lexical meaning or grammatical function. It has been noted that most Bantu languages, including Runyakitara group, are agglutinative. Inflectional/fusion languages refer to languages where words change form because of all sorts of grammatical categories such as tense, mood, agreement, etc. Polysynthetic languages - language in which words tend to consist of several morphemes. Polysynthetic languages have a high morpheme to word ratio. Classifying languages in this manner has been criticized as inconsistent and useless. The inconsistency is such that no language has been found to exist in one category exclusively. For example, English can have isolating, inflectional and agglutinating features. Secondly, the classification is considered useless because there is nothing interesting that comes out as a result of classifying languages this way. This classification, however, is still referred to and forms a basis for understanding languages' structural behaviour. In addition, there is no better typology that has been suggested that challenges the existing one.


Instruction: Morphological Typology and Runyakitara Morphology

Response: Runyakitara has isolating features where a word expresses meaning without being split further, for example, words such as eego (yes) ngaaha (no) and busha (nothing) in Runyankore-Rukiga exhibit features of isolating morphology. Agglutination is the main morphological type of Runyakitara. Words consist of many morphemes, each adding meaning or grammatical function to a word; for example, the Runyankore-Rukiga form tukundane agglutinates as follows:  2pp-love-vf-rec-subjunctive (Let us love one another) tu,a,n tu,a,n and e e have been added to the verb root kund, each adding a meaning or grammatical function to the main verb root. Runyakitara also has features of fusion or can also find itself in inflectional categories. Take an example of the noun, omuntu (person). Mu serves two functions: it is a class marker for the People Class and it marks number, which is singular. Therefore, omuntu inflects for both class and number.


Instruction: What is a morpheme?

Response: According to Bloomfield, the father of structural linguistics (Bloomfield, 1933, pp. 161-168), a morpheme can be decribed as a minimal meaningful element of a word. The word, muhe (give him/her) in Runyankore-Rukiga, has three morphemes: mu mu, the subject pronoun "him/her", and h h, the verb root of "give", and e e is a verb end marking subjunctive. The three units making up the word form mu−h−e mu−h−e are explained in detail: a) each unit is meaningful; b) the units cannot further be sub-divided, thus indicating that they are the smallest; c) each of these units contributes meaning or grammatical function to a word. One of the facts about morphemes is that they have a physical (phonological and phonetic) form and also a meaning or function within the grammatical system (Spencer, 1991). A physical form of a morpheme is a morph or a word segment that represents a morpheme in sound and writing. Writing, for example, the word okusindika (to push), is represented by four morphs: o-ku-sindik-a, each representing a morpheme. A common example is the English past tense spelled as '-ed'. It has various morphs: It is realised as [t] after the voiceless [p] of 'jump' (cf. 'jumped'), as [d] after the voiced [l] of 'repel' (cf. 'repelled'), and as [əd] after the voiceless [t] of 'root' or the voiced [d] of 'wed' (cf. 'rooted' and 'wedded'). The various morphs mentioned here represent one morpheme called past tense. The different realisations or alternative forms of a single morpheme are called allomorphs. Allomorphs in Runyakitara are well elaborated by a causative morpheme that is realised as es in ku-reeb-es-a, or make to see; is in ku-kwat-is-a, to (make to catch/touch); y y in ku-ham-y-a, to (make firm). The appearance of one morph over another, in this case, is determined by voicing and the place of articulation of the final consonant of the verb stem.


Instruction: Identifying morphemes and morphs

Response: Morphemes are identified according to their nature/type:


Instruction: Free morphemes

Response: A free morpheme is a linguistic unit that can stand on its own and serve as a morpheme and a word. A free morpheme is also called unbound morpheme because no other morphemes are attached. Examples: The above are free morphemes which act as words as well. In each one of the above words, it is difficult to discern more than a single meaning. Such words are said to be monomorphic words.


Instruction: Bound morphemes

Response: Consider the following words from Runyoro-Rutooro and learn how morphemes can be identified: In the above words, one might find more than one morpheme, hence, meaning for example: o-mu-saija: o - represents the initial vowel, which is capable of assuming specific functions in a sentence; mu mu is the class prefix for humans as well as marking singular; saija is the root for man. In omulimi, the final - i i is to be considered as a different morph because it serves to nominalise the action of the verb kulima. The verb ku-lim-a changes into a noun o-mu-lim-i through a derivational process. We will meet derivation in the following sections. In okulindirra: We could also examine the following sentences: i) Titumumanyire. We don't know him. ii) Akatusangaho. He found us there. These can be broken down as follows: ti-tu-mu-many-ire a-ka-tu-sang-a-ho In (i), morphemes and morphs are: In the second example, the morphemes and morphs are: As can be seen from the above, bound morphemes do not have complete meanings but some "segment" of meanings. The mere fact that −a −a at the end of a verb can help in distinguishing azina, "he sings," from azine, "let him sing," shows that −a −a is a different morph from −e −e, the former expressing an indicative (or declarative) and the latter a subjunctive or an indirect order. In a language that is familiar, and more especially in a language that is unfamiliar, one proceeds by partial comparisons of word segments. Let us examine them in Runyoro-Rutooro: In examining the above word forms one can come to some conclusions. For instance, simply by working at the translations, one can suppose that -zin- or -zina seems to have the meaning of sing or to sing! This is because this segment is recurrent in all the examples and there is always sing in the translation. On the other hand, ku ku - means the infinitive to. In order to confirm this, one can look for examples from other verbs such as: With these examples, one could provisionally conclude that ku ku - stands for the infinitive. The sound n n - stands for the 1st person singular. One can compare the following verbs. In the above cases, there is always the presence of n n - with the translation of l l. One can therefore conclude that n n - is l.ka l.ka - stands for the distant past as opposed to −li −li-,- which works like the distant future whereas raa (or ra) is the near future. By comparing segments such as: One provisionally confirms that -li-, -raa- and -ka- are morphs for the distant future, near future, and distant past, respectively. Morphemes are described as having different types according to the place they occupy in a word or segment, the role they play and the forms they take.


Instruction: Roots and Affixes

Response: Runyakitara, like other Bantu languages, is classified as an agglutinating language, where a word is capable of having one root with several affixes attached to it and assuming different functions. In the following words in Runyankore-Rukiga, roots and affixes are illustrated: In the above examples, we can obtain the following roots:


Instruction: Inflectional and Derivational Affixes in Runyakitara

Response: Affixes are characterised either as inflectional or derivational. a) Inflectional Affixes: They are those which refer to aspects of grammar such as person, gender, number, tense, aspect, mood and are often called grammatical categories. are all inflectional affixes expressing person ( a− a− ), tense ( −ka− −ka− ), person ( tu− tu− ) and mood ( −a −a ). In the word o-ku-gum-is-ir-iz-a, o- and -ku- are inflectional affixes expressing the infinitive. On the other hand, -is-, -ir-, -iz- are not inflectional affixes but verb extensions. −a −a could be said to be inflectional because it also participates in expressing the infinitive mood. b) Derivational Affixes: These may modify the meaning of a word but do not refer to the grammatical categories talked about above. They may or may not change the class of a word, e.g. from noun to verb or from adjective to noun, etc. When derivational affixes change the class of words, we have instances when a verb can become a noun as indicated below: Here, the suffix −i −i is a derivational affix, which changes a verb into a noun. Other examples could be: okwombeka to build From the verb okwombeka, we can derive the following nouns: The above examples demonstrate that we can derive different nouns from the verb okwombeka. The final vowel of the verb, which is the suffix −a −a, becomes −i −i when the derived noun is an agent or doer of action. The derived nouns are assigned Class 1 and 2; that is, noun classes for human. The final −a −a becomes −o −o when the derived noun is an instrument or a place, as shown by the Runyankore-Rukiga examples below: Instrument: okukondoora (to sweep): ekikondoozo (broom) (typically Rk) Place: okushima (to learn/study): e-i-shom-er-o (a school - a place where people receive education) okuriisa (to graze): e−i e−i-riis-iz-,-o (a grazing place) Derived nouns with semantic meaning of place or location are assigned Class 5 and 6 , while the instruments are typically placed in Classes 7 and 8 (see Noun Class on p.71). Nouns derived from verbs are termed deverbal nouns. A deverbal noun can take the final vowel as −a,i−,o,−e −a,i−,o,−e depending on the meaning to be encoded. The process of deriving nouns from verbs is called nominalisation.


Instruction: Derived proper names

Response: A big percentage of family names among Banyankore-Bakiga are derived from verbs; and most of these names have a religious undertone. The process of deriving proper names is more complicated and involves pronominal forms. Take the example of the verb okukunda, to love. A number of proper names can be derived by adding or changing the pronominal forms: Rukundo (ru-kund-o) Love Kukundakwe (ku-kund-a-ku-e) His love Atukunda (a-tu-kund-a) He loves us (habitual) Naatukunda (ni-a-tu-kund-a) He loves us Tumukunde (tu-mu-kund-e) Let us love Him Nankunda (ni-a-n-kund-a) He loves me Ankunda (a-n-kund-a) He (always) loves me 8. Mukundane (mu-kund-a-n-e) Love one another Such names are usually given according to the circumstances surrounding the birth of the child (Karwemera, 1994). Most of these names are unisex. Such names are quite common among some cultures in Bantu-speaking communities, although not all. Luganda, for instance does not use such names. Among the Banyakitara, especially Banyankore and Bakiga, such names became common with the spread of Christianity because they became more inclined to accepting religious beliefs (Muranga, 1990). On the other hand, there are nouns that are derived from adjectives. The process of deriving nouns from adjectives is called adjectivisation. It is possible to derive nouns from adjectives as the following examples from Runyankore-Rukiga indicate: Notice that all the nouns derived from adjectives fall in Class 14 (see the discussion on Noun Classes). European languages have more striking examples of inflectional and derivational affixes. In English, deceived [disi:vd] is broken up as: [di-si:v-d] de-ceiv-ed in which case de- is a derivational morpheme expressing the "opposite" while -ed is an inflectional morpheme that expresses the past tense.


Instruction: Morphemes and Allomorphs

Response: Allomorphs are to morphemes as allophones are to phonemes. An allomorph represents a certain manifestation of a morpheme in determined conditions. For instance, some Runyakitara verbs show certain modifications in their roots in specific circumstances, for example ( Rn/Rt Rn/Rt ): When the above verbs are followed by the perfective -ire or the near past -irege, the roots change as follows:


Instruction: Nominal Morphology in Runyakitara

Response: Runyakitara, like other Bantu languages, has an intricate noun system. According to Demuth (2000), Noun Classes are grammatical elements rather than independent lexical items. Noun Classes are determined by the grammatical number (singular or plural) semantics (animate or inanimate) and arbitrary (Katamba, 2003; Eikenvald, 2006). In Runyakitara, we can add that where a class has no prefix to determine the grammatical number, the concord serves a basis for determining its class. Runyakitara nouns can be broken down into three major parts, namely: initial vowel, noun class prefix, and noun root. Examples are: o-mu-ntu (a person) o-mu-ti (a tree) a-ba-ana (children) e−n−te e−n−te (cow) e e-ki-tooke (bananas) e e-i-tungo/i-tungo (wealth)


Instruction: Initial Vowel

Response: Nouns in Runyakitara usually have an initial vowel. There are three main initial vowels, namely: a− as in a−ba−ntue− as in e−ki−tookeo− as in o−mu−ntu a− as in a−ba−ntu e− as in e−ki−tooke o− as in o−mu−ntu  There are certain rules that govern the occurrence of the initial vowel. i) If the Noun Class prefix has the vowel −a −a, e.g.: ba,ma ba,ma, the initial vowel will be a a. Thus: a a-ma-ta (milk) abakazi (women). ii) The initial vowel will be −e −e - if the noun class prefix has /−/ /−/ or /i/ /i/ e.g.: e e-ki-tooke, a banana bunch, e−n−te e−n−te, a cow, e−n e−n-taama, a sheep. The initial vowel will be /o/ if the Noun Class prefix has /u/. Examples are omuntu, a person, and ghuta, bow.


Instruction: Runyakitara Noun Classes

Response: The Noun Class system used in this analysis has borrowed a lot from Katamba (2003) and Taylor (1985). Katamba (2003) provides a detailed comparative analysis of different classification systems, singling out the Bleek-Meinhof system, and its revisions, as standard. This has provided important insights for the analysis of Runyakitara. To cater for the needs of Runyakitara, Taylor (1985) details a classification system of its nouns, describing 17 classes, but with few or limited sub-classes. Katushemererwe & Hanneforth (2010) devised a Noun Class system for Runyankore-Rukiga based on Katamba (2003) and Taylor (1985) classification systems. The system we describe below ( Ry/Rk Ry/Rk ) is an enhancement of the previous classification systems and has been devised for the specific needs of Runyakitara.


Instruction: Trees and Plants

Response: There are nouns in this class which will not change number, i.e. they remain in plural form and are marked by 4 a in the table e.g. e-mi-gyend-ere (the way of moving), e-mi-reeb-ere (way of seeing). Class 5 (RI/LI): This class is marked by -ri/li- prefix. Belonging to this class are hard, flat objects, some parts of human anatomy, natural objects, mass nouns, abstract nouns and names depicting time, weather or seasons. a) Parts of Human Anatomy


Instruction: - Mass Nouns

Response: Abstract Nouns a-ma-ani strength a-ma-gezi/amagyezi a-ma-rara (Rn/Rt) (Rn/Rt) pride a-ma-iru intense desire; craving for a-ma-kuru news a-ma-hano miracles It should be noted that when used with borrowed words, sometimes -ri-/-ili- disappears in the singular but -ma- is maintained in the plural. This also happens in other classes we will meet in the sections to follow: Class 7 (KI): This is a class commonly known as the things/objects class and animals. It mainly consists of animate and inanimate but also abstract objects as exemplified below: A category of nouns in this class that will not change its number, that is, will have a singular class prefix and will not change to plural includes abstract nouns. Examples: Feelings and other abstract nouns Class 8 (BI): A class marked by a class prefix -bi-, a plural form of -ki-. It includes nouns in Class 7, which change into plural plus nouns that do not change into singular. Examples are listed below: Nouns which belong to this class and do not change from plural to singular are exemplified below: Class 9/10 (N Class): This class could rightly be called the animal class as it covers most animal names. The n n - prefix usually represents both singular and plural. This class also covers nouns from other languages. Examples include: a) Animals b) Abstract nouns c) Nominalized verbs emphasizing the way an action is carried out These are usually abstract in nature as can be seen below: d) Someone doing something as a habit or a profession These nouns are usually derived from verbs as can be seen below: e) Names of cows and bananas Many names of bananas and cows (the female that have given birth) are found in this class as can be seen in the examples below from Runyoro-Rutooro:


Instruction: f) Foreign nouns

Response: Many nouns borrowed from other languages are found in this class. Some have only the initial vowel e e-, while others have neither the initial vowel nor the class prefix as can be seen below:


Instruction: Morpho-phonological Rule

Response: When n n precedes h,n h,n changes to m m and h h changes to p p. This eventually becomes a nasal compound e.g. e-n-hunu, changes to e-m-punu. Also, when n n precedes b b, it changes into m m, e.g. e-n-bwa changes to e-m-bwa. Class 11 (RU): This class is marked by -ru- in singular and covers several general things. The plural is class 10 marker -n-. Examples are: a) Insects b) Household Items c) Names of languages Note that there is normally no plural for a specific language.


Instruction: d) Names of bulls and he-goats

Response: These examples are from Runyoro-Rutooro:


Instruction: Wa and Nya Noun Prefixes

Response: This is a special type of pre-prefixing in Runyakitara. Wa- is prefixed to animals and birds in class 6 . This is used mostly in folk tales for personification. When personification is used, the nouns are like those in the class 1&2 1&2, although the nouns maintain their original noun class prefixes; for example: For example, Wante aine ihembe. Mr. Cow has a horn. Nya- is used with the Class 1 and 2 especially when the speaker does not want to reveal the name of the person she is talking about, for example:


Instruction: Aspects of the Nominalisation Process

Response: There are cases when a Runyakitara verb functions like a noun involving some morphophonological transformation. This can be seen when a verb at the infinitive, that is, beginning with the prefix ku ku-, has its final vowel −a −a transformed into another vowel, like in the examples below: The nominalising vowel suffixes are usually i i - as in o-mu-koz-i "a worker", or -o as in o-mu-kor-o "function". This vowel can also be −e −e as in o-ku-jund-a "to rote", or can remain -a like in e-n-gend-a "way of walking". It can also be −u −u in o-muf-u "dead person" from o-ku-fa "to die". We also note that it is not only the vowel suffix that can bring it about by a change in class prefix such as: From ku ku - to n−n n−n or ki ki-bi or mu−ba mu−ba etc, as in: In the above cases, the infinitive class prefix ku ku - has been transformed into class ki ki-bi or n−n n−n, a process which has brought about nominalisation. It is also worth noting that when the nominalisation suffix is vowel i i-, this sometimes brings about a modification in the verb root. This usually happens when the verb root ends with t t, d,∫,3 d,∫,3 or r r, as in the examples below for Runyankore-Rukiga. In the above examples, t t transforms into s,∫ s,∫ transforms into s s while d,3 d,3 and r r are transformed into z z. Normally, other verbs whose roots do not end with the consonants mentioned above, do not undergo any transformation, as in the following examples in Runyoro-Rutooro. The above is simply indicative of the morphological processes that occur when nominalization takes takes place. A more detailed study of this phenomenon will be undertaken later.


Instruction: The Morphology of the Pronoun in Runyakitara

Response: In traditional grammar, a pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. A pronoun can do all what a noun can do; for instance, it can be a subject, a direct object, an indirect object etc. Pronouns are used mainly to keep nouns from being repeated or when nouns are not clearly known. In Runyakitara, pronouns are categorized as follows:


Instruction: Personal Pronouns

Response: In the grammatical sense, a personal pronoun is a pronoun that is associated primarily with a particular person. In Runyakitara, personal pronouns can further be sub-divided into: (i) Independent pronouns, and (ii) Dependent pronouns. a) Independent Personal Pronouns: The personal pronouns are usually used for emphasis and can stand independently. They may function both as subjects and objects in a sentence. They include: Examples, as subjects: Nyowe ndwaire I am sick Nibanywa naitwe They are drinking with us b) Dependent Personal Pronouns: These pronouns cannot stand independently as those in a) above. They are not meaningful in their own respect. They must be attached to a verb. Each noun class has its own pronouns. Here, we shall look at the pronouns for the class 1&2 1&2. Example


Instruction: Other types of pronouns in Runyakitara

Response: (1) Demonstrative pronouns: These pronouns point out someone or something. For instance, (Ry/Rk): a) Maama ampaire ekikopo eki my mother gave me this cup b) Ninkunda eki I like this eki in (a) above is a demonstrative adjective, while in (b) is a demonstrative pronoun. Demonstrative pronouns in Runyankore-Rukiga are indicated in the table below: The sentences below could illustrate the table above: i) Ziriya zaanywa, kwonka ezi tizaanywa. (Those have drunk, but these have not.) ii) Ago nigoosya, kwonka aga gahozire. (That is hot, but this one is cold.) iii) Ebi bite aho haza biri obireete. (Put these there, and bring those here.) It should be noted that where a class is followed by (pl) or "plural', e.g. 2 (pl), the English translation should not be 'this' but 'those' or 'those here', 'those there' and 'those 'far' as the case may be. Ori and oriya tend to be used interchangeably among Banyankore-Bakiga with Banyankore tending to use 'ori' than 'oriya' to mean 'that far'. Class 14 (tu) can either be a plural (otukazi - tiny little women) or collective (otutaka - a tiny amount of soil). In the first case, 'these' or 'those' will be used while in the second case 'this' or 'that' will be used. What has been said in the previous paragraph also applies to the Runyoro-Rutooro examples below. In Runyoro-Rutooro the corresponding demonstrative pronouns would be the following:


Instruction: Noun Class

Response: (4) Cardinal Pronouns: These are cardinal numbers that can serve in the place of nouns as stand-alone pronouns. In Runyakitara, counting is done as follows:


Instruction: The Morphology of the Adjective

Response: An adjective is a word which qualifies a noun by describing its size, colour, shape etc. Although there is no universally adopted definition of an adjective, it is agreed that they are modifiers, qualifiers, and describers of nouns. Adjectives explain more about words (nouns and pronouns) by answering questions such as what kind, which one, and how many. In Bantu languages, adjectives have been labelled as 'true' adjectives, and adjectives which function in the place of other word categories especially pronouns. In this book, we have instead borrowed from Segerer (2008) the term primary adjectives as the appropriate term in relation to what we are referring to. A classical feature of the primary adjectives in Bantu languages is that they follow a noun they qualify (Segerer, 2008). A typical primary adjective in Runyakitara consists of three morphological elements. The first morpheme is the optional Initial Vowel, which, when available, has some syntactic function(s) to the noun/whole sentence. Next, is the nominal agreement prefix which is the same as the nominal class prefix of the noun. The third element is the adjective root, which contains the basic meaning of the adjective. This is exemplified as follows: From the above example, the adjective o-mu-rungi, which qualifies omwana has three segments as: o- initial vowel (IV) mu- class marker rungi-adjective root 'good' Some of the primary adjective roots in Runyakitara include: Note that these adjectives can be used to describe nouns from any noun class where applicable. The adjective concords for the above adjectives are the same as the noun class prefixes for instance: omushaija (man) muhango (big) abashaija bahango, (big men) omuserukare omudoma (the stupid soldier) An adjective can qualify (describe) two nouns belonging to the same noun class by using the plural prefix for that noun class. Examples are: Omuhyo gunu na guli mi-kooto (Rn/Rt) This knife and that one are big. Ekitabo eki na kiri ni bi-hango (Ry/Rk) This book and that one are big. However, if the nouns belong to different noun classes, then the bi-is used. For example: Enjoka n'ekikyere birwaine The snake and the frog fought. (N-class) (KI-class) (BI- prefix) Primary adjectives in Runyakitara can also stand independently and serve as nouns as follows: Omurungi tabura kamogo Even the beautiful one may have a 'scar' Omukye yaija wenka The small one has come alone Omumafu akunda okurya The lazy one enjoys eating The primary adjectives will be opposed to secondary adjectives. A good number of linguists are not convinced that this category should be called adjectives. These are in effect pronouns but which can also be considered as adjectives when they appear with a noun. For purposes of convenience, we shall consider them as secondary adjectives. The following are considered as secondary adjectives in this book: i) Demonstrative adjectives ii) Interrogative adjectives iii) Possessive adjectives iv) Cardinal adjectives v) Ordinal adjectives vi) Indefinite adjectives.


Instruction: Cardinal numbers as Adjectives in Runyakitara

Response: In most language descriptions, cardinal numbers are treated separately from adjectives. However, in other cases, as pointed out by Segerer (2008), some of the cardinal numerals show exactly the same morphological and syntactical features as the adjectives. In Runyakitara, Cardinal numerals describe the number of a noun as in the following cases: The Runyankore-Rukiga ombi'- ombi' meaning 'both' can also be used as an adjective of number. For example: abaana ba-ombi both children (children both) It is important to note that numerals can also be used independently, that is, on their own, and in this case, they serve as nouns as illustrated in the following example: Itaano yangye yaaza hi? Where is my five? Egi ni mukaaga This is six Igana ryangye rikuzire My herd/hundred is old


Instruction: Ordinal numbers as adjectives in Runyakitara

Response: Ordinal numbers which serve as adjectives show the order of the nouns being described. In Runyakitara, the ordinal adjective is introduced by the particle composed of an initial vowel, the subject pronoun of the noun in question and a possessive marker -a. Examples include: abantu abaamukaaga (people in the 6th 6 th position) Initial vowel Noun prefix Possessive a- ba- a- particle. abasaija abaikumi nababiri (Class 2) embuzi ezaamusanju (class 10) ekisembo ekyakabiri (class 7) Therefore, for any noun to be described as an ordinal number, it will have to be introduced by the possessive particle as described above.


Instruction: Demonstratives as Adjectives in Runyakitara

Response: These are adjectives that point at the person or thing to separate it from the others. In Runyoro-Rutooro, there are three main positions described, namely: this near and touchable that near but visible that far, visible or invisible. Examples


Instruction: Possessives as adjectives in Runyakitara

Response: These are words that describe ownership of something. The ownership they describe is that of a noun, therefore, they are possessive adjectives. In classes 1 and 2 (people class) they are as follows: For class 1&2 1&2, the possessive adjective takes the subject pronoun for the noun possessed. For example: ekitabu ki-ange my book etaara ya-itu our lantern/lamp Possession for the other noun classes is also marked in a similar manner. Examples are: omukira gw'ente The cow's tail otwino tw'embeba The rat's nice teeth obumanzi bw'enkoko The hen's bravery Note that the possessive marker is initially a a - (see paragraph 1 above) which is preceded by the subject pronoun of the noun that is possessed by somebody or something. The possessive marker contains the subject pronoun and the possessive marker. Example are: omukira gu-a-ente gua ente ⟶a⟶ ⟶a⟶ gu-ente ⟶ ⟶ gw'ente


Instruction: Indefinite pronouns as adjectives in Runyakitara

Response: These are the kind of adjectives that describe a noun without giving full information about it. They include the following: Examples Abantu abandi Other people 2. Omuntu ondi Another person 3. Ente endiijo Another cow 4. Boona ka baije Let all of them come 5. Ka baije bonka Let them come with nobody else 6. Abantu ni baingi omu nsi There are many people in the world 7. Buri omwe naashabwa kuha omushoro Everybody is asked to pay tax 8. Abagenyi baizirege bake The visitors have come in few numbers


Instruction: Interrogatives as Adjectives in Runyakitara

Response: Interrogative adjectives are added to a noun about which more information is sought. They include: Examples are: Kintu ki? Omwegyesa oha? Which thing? Which teacher? Abakazi baingahi? How many women? Purezidenti wa Uganda n'oha? Who is the President of Uganda? Eiguru ririmu enyonyoozi zingahi? How many stars are in the sky?


Instruction: Conclusion

Response: This chapter has shed light on the general concepts pertaining to morphology. It went on to examine the noun and those other parts of speech that are usually associated with the noun, namely, the pronoun and the adjective. Runyakitara has an elaborate noun classification system worth noting, but a simple noun structure. A simple nominal morphology centres on the fact that the majority of the nouns in Runyakitara constitute only three morphemes: the pre-prefix, the prefix, and the root. A noun suffix occurs as a nominaliser from derivation processes. A pronoun, which stands in the place of a noun, too, has a simple structure but a detailed categorisation sysyem. A simple structure in a sense that it occurs as a single morpheme, either free or bound. Detailed categorisation relates to the fact that pronouns are either personal or impersonal. Personal pronouns are classified as independent and dependent. Each noun class in Runyakitara has its own dependent pronoun either functioning as a subject or object when in combination with verbs. The next chapter will essentially deal with the verb and those other parts of speech closely related to the verb.


Instruction: References

Response: Bloomfield, L. (1933). Language. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Booij, G. (2012). The grammar of words: An introduction to linguistic morphology. London: Oxford University Press. Demuth, K. (2000). Bantu noun class systems: Loan word and acquisition evidence of semantic productivity. In G. Senft, & S. C. Levinson (Eds.). Systems of nominal classification (Vol. 4) (pp. 270-292). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Eikenvald, A. Y. (2006). Classifiers and noun classes: Semantics. In K. Brown (Ed.). encyclopedia of language and linguistics (Vol. 1) (pp. 463-471). Oxford, UK: Elsevier. Hamawand, Z. (2011). Morphology in English: Word formation in cognitive grammar. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group. Karwemera, F. (1994). Emicwe n'emigyenzo y'Abakiga. Kampala: Fountain Publishers Ltd. Katamba, F. (Ed.) (2003). Morphology: Critical concepts in linguistics. London, UK: Routledge. Katushemererwe, F. & Hanneforth, T. (2010). Finite state methods in morphological analysis of Runyakitara verbs. Nordic Journal of African Studies, 19(1), 1-22. Muranga, M. J. K. (1990). Pessimistic nomenclature in South West Uganda. Makerere Papers in Languages and Linguistics, 1, 64-87. Rubongoya, L. T. (1999). A modern Runyoro-Rutooro grammar. Cologne: Rudiger Koppe Verlag. Rugemalira, J. (2007). The structure of the Bantu noun phrase. SOAS Working Papers in Linguistics, 15, 135-148. Salmon, G. (2000). Generative morphology. London, UK: Oxford University Press. Segerer, G. (2008). Closed adjective classes and primary adjectives in African languages. Retrieved from: https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00255943. Spencer, A. (1991). Morphological theory: An introduction to word structure in generative grammar. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. Taylor, C. (1985). Croom descriptive drammars: Nkore-Kiga. London: Croom Helm.


Instruction: Footnotes

Response: 1 1 A stem can be simply defined as an extended root. In Runyakitara, when the verb final −a −a is added to the root as on -zin- "sing", it becomes a stem: zina. ↩


Instruction: Introduction

Response: This study will analyse tense and aspect as they relate to the Runyakitara language. In this particular study, the concept of tense and aspect as they relate to Runyakitara (Runyoro-Rutooro and Runyankore-Rukiga) will have the following meaning: Tense: the action of the verb seen at a given moment in time. Aspect: the internal nature of an action, i.e. the action seen at its beginning, at its end, as on-going, as completed, etc. In other words, the way the action is perceived. Guillaume (1970) defines aspect as the time of a process seen from its internal developments. Aspect as a concept could also refer to the inherent nature of an action within the verb as a lexeme. For instance, the action in the Runyakitara verb kuzina (to dance) is perceived by its own nature as having a certain duration. On the other hand, in the Runyakitara verb kunaga (to drop) one does not see this inherent duration in the action. Furthermore, in both tense and aspect, adverbs or adverbial phrases can be used to express different tenses (moments in time) or aspects (the way the action is perceived). For instance, in the Runyakitara sentence akaija ijo (he came yesterday or the day before yesterday) the moment in time is not only expressed by the tense marker ka ka but also by the adverb ijo (yesterday or the day before yesterday). In the same way, in the sentence nitubaza mpora (we are talking slowly) the way the action is perceived can be seen in the tense/aspect marker ni, the verb lexeme baza (talk), since talking always takes time, as well as the adverb mpora (slowly). In the present study, it is important to point out that tense and aspect will be analysed as they are expressed through their markers or morphemes, for example: ni - present, progressive, ka ka - far past, et cetera.


Instruction: Theoretical Approaches

Response: This study does not pretend to propound any new theory for the analysis of tense and aspect in Runyakitara. The main thrust will be the identification of morphemes or markers that can be said to express tense, aspect of both. Those morphemes normally appear in three contexts, namely: In a simple verb form, for example: ni-tu-zin-a we are dancing Where ni ni - present progressive tu-1st person plural, subject zin-verb 'dance' a a - verb final In a compound verb form, for example: tu - ka-ba ni-tu-zin-a we were dancing Where −ka− −ka− for past ba ba-auxiliary verb (to be) zin-main verb (dance) The other morphemes remain the same 3) In a simple verb form containing several markers expressing tense, aspect, negation and other concepts, for example: ni-tu-ki-a-zin-a (we are still dancing) Where −ki−a −ki−a indicates an action or process still going on 4) In a compound verb form where the main verb is like in No. 3 above, for example: tu-ka-ba ni-tu-ki-a-zin-a (we were still dancing) The approach will mainly consist of identifying the contexts in which the tense and aspect markers occur as well as the different combinations possible among these different markers, especially as far as compound verb forms are concerned. The other step in the analysis will consist in determining the roles or functions that those different markers have. The study falls therefore in the well-known areas of distributional and functional approaches.


Instruction: The Verb in Runyakitara

Response: The simplest form of the Runyakitara verb is in the imperative, for example: One notes that the simplest verb form is made up of the verb root and the verb final −a −a. The next form in simplicity is the infinitive, for example: A very complex verb form in Runyakitara could be something of the type below in Runyoro-Rutooro version: ti-tu-ka-ba-teer-a-ho-ga We have never beaten them at all 2 2 Where: A very complex and compound verb form could be: tu-ka-ba tu-ta-ka-ba-teer-a-ho-ga We had never beaten them at all Where everything remains the same as in the previous example except that the action is put in the past by the presence of the far past tense −ka −ka - and the auxiliary −ba −ba (to be). Furthermore, the negation marker shifts from first to second position and instead of ti ti - it is transformed into the allomorph -ta-. As indicated earlier, the tense and aspect markers will be examined as they appear in simple verb forms, in compound verb forms, in simple verb forms consisting of more than one tense/aspect marker or other markers (sometimes called complex verb forms) and in compound complex 'verb forms'.


Instruction: Markers in the Simple Verb Forms

Response: The tense/aspect markers in simple verb forms are sometimes the same and sometimes different in Runyoro-Rutooro and in Runyankore-Rukiga. A few of them are specific to Rukiga on the one hand and to Runyoro on the other.


Instruction: Tense Markers in Ry-Rk

Response: ka - far past 1 rya far future


Instruction: Examples in Ry-Rk

Response: tu−ka−mu−siim−a tu−ka−mu−siim−a We thanked him we fear him verb final past thank tu−rya−mu−reeb−a tu−rya−mu−reeb−a We shall see him we far him verb final future see (in the distant future) The following should be noted: Runyoro-Rutooro has four pure tenses while Runyankore-Rukiga has two. The far past -ka- in Runyoro-Rutooro refers to an action which took place approximately from 24 hours onwards in the past. In Runyankore-Rukiga it is from 48 hours onwards in the past. The main criterion for determining a pure tense marker is its capacity to combine with aspect markers or with itself. More will be said about this when we talk about compound verb forms.


Instruction: Tense/Aspect Markers

Response: There are markers which express both tense and aspect more or less in the same environment. They will again be given in Runyoro-Rutooro and in Runyankore-Rukiga.


Instruction: Runyoro-Rutooro

Response: Runyakitara Language Studies: A Guide for Advanced Learners and Teachers of Runyakitara ∅ ∅ - present, habitual Runyankore-Rukiga Examples in Runyoro-Rutooro  progressive 'We are going to read/we are going to school' a - genz - ire ku - som - a he V perf. inf V final 'He has gone to read/to school' Examples in Runyankore-Rukiga ni - tu - gyend - a ku - shom - a present we V. final inf. V final progressive We are going to read/to school. We often/usually go to school. ba - aa - ri - a they perfect verb final ba iz ire they V recent past o - bu - ro They have eaten millet. iv cl millet nyomwebazyo They came yesterday. yesterday One notes here that the perfect -ire in Runyoro-Rutooro corresponds to the recent past - ire in Runyankore-Rukiga. However, - ire is not only a tense in Runyankore-Rukiga. Just as in RunyoroRutooro, it can express what we may call the 'stative aspect' i.e. being in a certain state, for example: As we shall see in compound verb forms, -ire has the capacity to combine with itself, one form expressing tense and the other aspect, for example: Runyoro-Rutooro 'He had come' (no too long ago, some minutes ago). Runyankore-Rukiga 'He had come yesterday'. Special mention should be made here of the aspect/tense maker −a−∼−aa −a−∼−aa-. It has several functions as indicated below: As an immediate past in Runyoro-Rutooro: a−ba−ojoba−a−hik−a a−ba−ojoba−a−hik−a iv cl boys pron imm. arrive of subj past As perfect or perfective in Runyankore-Rukiga a−ba− a−ba− shaija ba−a−ij−a ba−a−ij−a iv cl man pron perf come vf subj As something on the verge of happening, something imminent, in both Runyoro-Rutooro and Runyankore-Rukiga The tree is going to hit you/is on the verge of hitting you! (So, be careful!) 4. As a past narrative in both Runyoro-Rutooro and Runyankore-Rukiga. This will be explained further at the end of this chapter.


Instruction: Runyoro

Response: −ku− −ku− present, progressive


Instruction: Rukiga

Response: −ra− −ra− present, progressive Whereas in Runyankore and in Rutooro, almost everybody uses ni ni - as the present progressive, for example: ni -mu - kor - a - ki What are you doing? present you V final what progressive Most Rukiga speakers would say: mu−ra−kor−a−ki What are you doing?  you present V final What  progressive  mu−ra−kor−a−ki What are you doing? you present V final What progressive  and most Runyoro speakers would say: mu−ku−kor−a−ki What are you doing?  you present V final what  progressive  mu−ku−kor−a−ki What are you doing? you present V final what progressive


Instruction: The Habitual in Runyakitara

Response: For most speakers in Runyoro-Rutooro, the habitual is expressed by the ∅ ∅ morpheme, as in the following examples: Ruhanga a−∅ a−∅-gonz - a aba-ntu be God loves his people. God he love cl people his a a - ba - ana ba - ∅ ∅ hurr - aa - ba -zaire Children obey parents. iv cl child they obey final iv cl parent However, in some instances, Rutooro speakers use ni ni - and Runyoro speakers −ku −ku - to express the habitual, for example: ni - tu - som - a mu siniya We go to secondary school. present we read final in Senior progressive Secondary The above sentence would mostly be heard among Rutooro speakers while Runyoro speakers would say: tu - ku - som - a mu siniya We go to Secondary School. We present read final in Senior Prog. Secondary On the other hand, Runyankore-Rukiga speakers seem to rarely use the ∅ ∅ morpheme to mark the habitual. Rather the present progressive ni ni - for Runyankore and -ra- for Rukiga are used, as in the following examples. Nyamuhanga ni - a -kund - a a-ba -ntu be God present he V final iv cl people his 'God loves his people'. The above sentence would mostly be heard in Runyankore while in Rukiga, one would most often hear: Nyamuhanga a - ra -kund - a a-ba -ntu be God loves his people. God he present. V final iv cl people his


Instruction: Aspects and Tenses in Compound Verb Forms

Response: As alluded to earlier, it is the capacity of tense and aspect morphemes to combine in compound verb forms that we have used to determine what qualifies to be a tense, an aspect, or both. A typical compound verb form in Runyakitara is presented as follows: subj. pron. + ts + ba subj. pron. + asp. + mv + vf As in the following examples in Runyoro-Rutooro. In Runyankore-Rukiga, one could have:


Instruction: Combination of Tenses and Aspects

Response: In Runyakitara compound verb forms, the following phenomena occur: Tenses always combine with aspects, the tense appearing with the auxiliary verb while the aspect appears with the main verb (Ndoleriire, 1980). Tenses can never combine with tenses; for example, the far past -ka- appearing both with the main verb and in the auxiliary verb. An aspect morpheme can combine with another aspect morpheme, since generally speaking, all aspect morphemes also express some tense. For example, in Runyankore-Rukiga -ire expresses both the recent past and the stative. In Rutooro and Runyankore, ni ni - expresses both the present and the progressive. In that case, the aspect marker that appears with the auxiliary verb essentially expresses tense while the one which appears with the main verb generally expresses aspect. Before giving examples to illustrate the above four points, let us recapitulate the tense and aspect morphemes talked about earlier: According to the table above the tense forms can never combine among themselves or with each other, e.g. −ka−+−li−,−irege+−raa− −ka−+−li−,−irege+−raa− or even −-rya- +−rya−. or even −-rya- +−rya−. On the other hand, the aspects can combine with tenses or with themselves. One example below will explain the above: −ka−+ −ka−+ -ire Rn/Rt:ba - ka - ba ba-genz-ire They had gone. pron. ts aux pron. mv perf subj. far be subj. go If we removed the auxiliary verb form, we would remain with: ba-genz-ire They have gone. The function of the auxiliary verb form, which also contains the far past tense, is to situate the perfect -ire in the far past. 2) -ire + -aa- Runyankore-Rukiga ba - ba- ire ba - aa -mar- a pron. aux. recent pron. perf. mv vf subj. be. past subj finish "They had finished (in the recent past). If I only said: ba - a - mar - a It should mean: "They have finished". (As I speak) 3) -irege + ni- Runyoro-Rutooro mu - ba - irege ni - mu - kor - a pron. aux. near past pres. pron. mv vf subj. prog. subj. work you "You were working" (in the near past). 4) - ire + - ire Runyankore-Rukiga a−ba−irea−rwa−ire a−ba−irea−rwa−ire pron. aux. recent pron. mv st (stative) subj. past subj. to be S/he sick 'S/he was sick'. If we remove the first ire appearing with the auxiliary −ba −ba and remain with a a rwa-ire, the meaning would be: S/he is sick. 5) −li+−a− −li+−a− Runyoro-Rutooro mu-li-ba mu -a- hik- a-yo pron. far aux. pron. immed. mv vf loc. subj. fut. be subj. perf. reach there you (pl.) you (pl.) You will have just reached there (any time after 24 hours) In summary, the following combinations are possible in Runyakitara Runyoro-Rutooro


Instruction: Time Adverbials and Subordinate Clauses of Time

Response: In order to bring out clearly the context in which a compound form occurs, it is important to point out that it often requires the overt or covert presence of a time adverbial or a subordinate clause of time to situate it. For instance, in the Runyoro-Rutooro sentence: The question that one would ask would be: 'when'. To have the full meaning of the sentence, one might have to say: At that hour, I had already eaten. One could also use a subordinate clause, as follows (Runyoro-Rutooro): When you arrive, we shall have finished.


Instruction: Tense and Aspect in 'Complex' Forms

Response: We saw earlier that simple forms are those that contain one tense or aspect marker, for example: Tukabura We got lost Nitumanya We know (R/Rt) We also saw that a compound form contains an auxiliary ba ba to which is attached a tense and the main verb whose form comprises the aspect, for example: Tukaba tubuzire We had got lost Tuliba nitumanya We shall be knowing (R/Rt) Complex forms on the other hand tend to look like simple forms, in the sense that they comprise a simple verb, what one would call the main verb. However, as opposed to the simple form, the complex form is characterized by several tense/aspect markers which combine to bring out one meaning. The final product is sometimes difficult to characterize as a tense or an aspect as it most often also incorporates mode and sometimes negation. The following complex markers can be enumerated. As said earlier, the above forms portray different notions which include mode (-aa-ku...ire, -kaa----ire), aspect (ti---ki---ire, ni---ki---a---), (-a---aa----ire, - a−−−−ga a−−−−ga ) and tense ( −a−−aa−ga− −a−−aa−ga −  ). These forms, taken as morphemes, are what one could partly call discontinuous morphemes. Taken in isolation, the different forms could mean something else but brought together, they convey a different meaning. For instance, in -aa-ku---ire, -aa---- alone could express the immediate perfective, −ku −ku - the infinite ire the [perfective] ( Rn/Rt) Rn/Rt). But when they are brought together, they express the conditional (or hypothetical mode) in Runyoro-Rutooro. Let us have some examples to illustrate how the above complex forms work in real sentences: (i) -aa-ku------ire mwakugenzire (mu-a-ku-genz-ire) you should go (now) bakubatiire (ba-a-ku-ba-ti-ire) (Rn/Rt) they should beat you (now) (ii) ti--ka----ire tibakaizire (ti-ba-ka-iz-ire) they have not yet come (iii) --kaa------- ire tukaamusiimire [tu-kaa-mu-siim-ire] (Ry/Rk) we should thank him (now) (iv) ni--ki-(a)----- nibakyalinda [ni-ba-ki-a-lind-a] (Rn/Rt) they are still waiting nitukishoma [ni-tu-ki-shom-a] (Ry/Rk) we are still at School (v) ti--ka----ga timukazinaga [ti-mu-ka-zin-a-ga] you have never danced (vi) -a-----ga baaraaraga mu mazina [ba-a-raar-a-ga] they used to spend the night dancing (vii) -aa-----ire naakozire [n-aa-koz-ire] I have worked enough -a-----ire Obu namurozire yairuka When I saw him, he ran away (R/Rt) Ku naamureebire yairuka When I saw him, he ran away (R/Rk) We note that the Runyankore-Rukiga form -aa----ire could have the following meanings: (1) Enough - n-aa-ri-ire pron. vp subj. eat 'I have eaten enough' (2) Recent and far past in subordinate clauses (example given in vii - When I saw him, he ran away). (3) The present perfect Very often, where the Runyoro-Rutooro speakers use -ire, RunyankoreRukiga speakers use -aa--ire as in Runyoro-Rutooro, for example: tu−li tu−li-ire 'we have eaten' Runyankore-Rukiga (i) tu-aa-ri-ire 'we have eaten' or. (ii) tu-aa-ri-a 'we have eaten' Further study should be undertaken whether Runyankore-Rukiga speakers use -aa-ire in (i) and -aa- in (ii) interchangeably or whether there are some nuances of meaning. (viii) raa----ga Oraazaaraga nosaalirwa. You will always give birth in pain (Rn/Rt) o-raa-zaar-a-ga ni-o-saal-ir-w-a (ix) -raa--------e This form is common in Runyankore-Rukiga both in subordinate and principal clauses in relative, conditional and temporal clauses, among others. Let us look at these examples: a) Relative: Abaraashashure [a-ba-raa-shashur-e], nibo [ni-bo] baraarye [ba-raa-rie] (Ry/Rk) Those who pay will be the ones to eat. b) Conditional: Ku oraamureebe, [ku o-raa-mu-reeb-e] omusiime [o-mu-siim-e] If you see him, thank him. c) Temporal: Ku baraije [ku ba-raa-ij-e], nitubaakiira [ni-tu-ba-akiir-a]. When they come, we will welcome them. d) Noobu oraakore [na-obu o-raa-kor-e], toraaheze [ti-o-raa-hez-e] Even if you work, you won't finish.


Instruction: Compound Forms Derived from Complex Forms

Response: Since complex forms sometimes have an element of tense or aspect, they can also be found in compound forms whereby an aspect is situated in time or a tense puts an aspect at a given point in time. Let us recall, for instance, that: n-aa-ku-genz-ire means 'I should go' now. This means the hypothetical form is situated in the present. And that: ni-tu-ki-a-gend-a means 'We are still going' In here the concept of aspect is very dominant, that is: an action still going on. There is, however, also a notion of tense - now. That is why, some of the above complex forms can sometimes function as tense whereas some can function as aspect, when they combine in compound forms. Let us give below a summary of what has been said: Chart 9:


Instruction: The Narrative

Response: −a∼aa− −a∼aa− and the 'imperative' −e −e We have decided to discuss these two forms separately because they do not fall in any of the categories of forms discussed above. These are forms which do not occur on the normal simple indicative and affirmative sentence. They usually occur in special types of sentences as we shall see below:


Instruction: a) The Narrative

Response: −a−∼aa− −a−∼aa− Let us remember that −a−∼aa− −a−∼aa− has already been presented as a marker that has several functions/meanings. We saw that it can express an action that has just taken place and in the case of Runyankore/Rukiga especially, the perfective aspect (where it operates in free variation with -aa----ire) and the near past (where in RunyoroRutooro one would find -ire or -irege). Apart from the above −a −a - in Runyoro-Rutooro or −aa −aa - in Runyankore-Rukiga can also function as a conditional variant of −ka −ka-, the far past. Whereas −ka −ka - is used in past events that may occur in isolation, a−∼aa a−∼aa is used where there is a succession of past events. For example: Omukama akaswera The king got married. Ebisoro bikabura The animals got lost. Amasomero gakatandika ira (Ru/Rt) (Ru/Rt) The schools opened a long time ago. Omwana waitu akazaahira mu mahanga. Our child got lost abroad. But: Abagyenyi bakaija, twabashemererwa twabakunira. (Ry/Rk) The guests came, we welcomed them warmly and we entertained them. Ku omwana yaatureebire, yairuka. (Ry/Rk) When the child saw us, he ran away. Omufumu akatandika kugamba, yaagamba ebintu bingi, yaatuhana, yaatuha obwengye. The doctor started talking; he said a lot of things, he advised us and gave us direction. (Ry/Rk) The examples in Runyoro-Rutooro portray single events while those in Runyankore-Rukiga show a succession of events. As can be seen, the event that follows another is usually expressed by using the form −a −a - rather than −ka −ka - or −aa− −aa− ire in the case of subordinate clauses. This rule applies both in Runyoro-Rutooro and in Runyankole/Rukiga; that is, a single past event is expressed by −ka −ka - while events following each other are expressed by −a−∼aa −a−∼aa. Note, however, that the first event is usually expressed by −ka −ka - and the subsequent ones by −aa−∼a− −aa−∼a−, as shown in this example in Runyoro-Rutooro. Hakaimuka omusaija, yaswera omukazi, baazaara abaana bingi, abaana baatandika kukura, baitu aho enjara yagwa nyingi. 'There was once a man; he got married to a woman, they got children, the children started growing up; but then a great famine came'. In the above example, the first is expressed by using the form −ka −ka - while the subsequent ones are expressed by −a− −a−. On the other hand, in complex sentences, the first past event is expressed by - −aa−∼−− −aa−∼−− ire ∼−a−−− ∼−a−−− ire and the next one by −a−∼−aa− −a−∼−aa− or −ka− −ka−. For eample: Obu nasingire, mukansiima. (Rn/Rt) When I succeeded, you congratulated me. Obu naasingire, mwansiima. (Ry/Rk) When I succeeded you congratulated me. Ku twamuteire, yaarira. (Rn/Rt) When we beat him, he wept. Ku twamuteire, akarira. (Ry/Rk) When we beat him, he wept.


Instruction: b) The "imperative" -e.

Response: The term "imperative" is put in inverted commas because the form -e expresses more than the imperative. The true imperative in Runyakitara is the absence of any marker, including the absence of the prominal marker. For example: The only marker one can talk of is the −a −a that is usually found at the end of a verb (verb final). What we may call the indirect order, however, is expressed by −e −e which replaces −a −a. The form −e −e is also used as a request or a polite order. In this case, intonation also has a role to play, for example: Otuhe ebyolulya byaitu bya hati (o-tu-h-e) (Rn/Rt) Give us our daily bread! The form −e −e can also be used in negative forms whereas in the affirmative the verb final is usually −a −a, for example: The examples above indicate that it is difficult to categorize −e −e as a tense or an aspect. It may be considered in the category of mode whereby it may express indirect order, desire, request, prayer, et cetera. It is also used in negative forms.


Instruction: Summary of Temporal Adverbials or Time Indicators

Response: Most tenses in Runyakitara sentences need a time indicator for an event or an action to be contextualised. Such indicators or temporal adverbials fall in three categories, that is, those situated in the present, those in the past and those in the future. The table below will highlight the most common temporal adverbials as expressed in the four major dialects of Runyakitara.


Instruction: Simple Forms

Response: i) Pure tenses −ka− −ka− far past -irege recent past -raa- near future -li - far future -rya- far future example dialect tukazina Ry/Rk Ry/Rk and Rn/Rt Rn/Rt tuzinirege Rn/Rt Rn/Rt turaazina Rn/Rt Rn/Rt tulizina Rn/Rt Rn/Rt turyazina Ry/Rk Ry/Rk ii) Tenses and Aspects


Instruction: Adverbs

Response: Adverbs in Runyakitara are words that describe a verb, an adjective or a whole sentence. There are adverbs of time, place, frequency, manner, negation, affirmative adverbs, emphatic/enclitic adverbs and interrogative adverbs.


Instruction: Adverbs of Time

Response: These are adverbs that show the time of an action and answer the question `when?' Examples include:


Instruction: Adverbs of Frequency

Response: These are words which answer the question `how often?' (kaingahi/kangahi?). Examples are:


Instruction: Adverbs of Place

Response: These are words which answer the question 'where?' Examples:


Instruction: Adverbs of Manner

Response: These are words which show how an action has been done. They answer the question `How?' (-ta?). Examples are:


Instruction: Adverbs of Negation

Response: These are words which show negation. Examples:


Instruction: Affirmative Adverbs

Response: These are adverbs of agreement. They include:


Instruction: Emphatic Adverbs

Response: These emphasise the state of something. Examples:


Instruction: Interrogative Adverbs

Response: These are questions that inquire about the time, place, manner, frequency, etc. Examples include:


Instruction: Conclusion

Response: In this chapter, the major characteristics of the verb have been presented. Emphasis, however has been on tense and aspect in Runyakitara, an area which is quite complex and which requires more research. The next chapter will introduce us to syntax; how morphemes and words combine to make sentences.


Instruction: References

Response: Guillaume, G. (1970). Temps et verbe: théorie des aspects, des modes, et des temps: suivi de L'architectonique du temps dans les langues classiques. H. Champion. Ndoleriire, O. K. (1980). Essai de recherche en linguistique contrastive sur les systmes verbaux Rutooro-Francais. (Unpublished PhD Dissertation. Paris: Sorbonne Nouvelle University.) Neveu, F. (2004). Dictionnaire des sciences de langage. Paris: Armand Colin. Nurse, D. (2008). Aspect and tense in Bantu languages. In D. Nurse, & G. Philippson (Eds.). (2008). The Bantu languages. London: Oxford University Press. Rubongoya, L. J. (1999). A modern Runyoro-Rutooro grammar. Cologne: Rudiger Koppe Verlag.


Instruction: Footnotes

Response: 2 The aspect of verbal extensions or verbal derivatives will be handled in another study (c.f. Rubongoyo, 1999, p. 187-205). ↩


Instruction: What is Syntax?

Response: A simple definition of syntax, as Fromkin and his co-authors (2003) explain, could be summed up as the rules that govern words to form phrases and sentences. A sentence will be described in the subsequent paragraphs but we can take the phrase to be something as big or bigger than a word but normally smaller than a sentence. A phrase is usually centred on a key word category, like a noun, a verb, an adverb or an adjective. Thus, we have noun phrases whose key words are a noun, verb phrases whose key word is a verb or adjectival phrases whose key word is an adjective. In English, for instance the good boy is a noun phrase, very dirty is and adjectival phrase, plays rugby is a verb phrase and to the forest is a prepositional phrase. In that regard, Brown and Miller (2002) citing Lyons, talk of the sentence as having a certain sort of unity, being grammatically complete, capable of standing on its own, independent of context and having a degree of semantic independence.


Instruction: Sentence in General

Response: It is not easy to find a satisfactory definition for the term 'Sentence'. Lyons (1968) defines sentence as "A grammatical unit between the constituent parts of which distributional limitations and dependencies can be established, but which can be put into no distribution class". On the other hand, traditional grammar emphasises the semantic aspect of the sentence. The sentence is supposed to be a group of words or a chain of words with a complete meaning. In written language it is said that, apart from complete meaning, a sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop. This type of definition has met with a lot of opposition from different linguists and grammarians. For instance, it is not clear where a 'complete meaning' starts and where it ends. If in English for instance, a sentence like: 'The father loves his children' is said to have a complete meaning, one may ask whether a sequence like: 'The father loves his children; he is right', or 'And the father who loves his children', or even, 'The father's love for his children', have complete meaning or not. In different contexts, all the above could be said to be sentences. In some cases, a sentence can be made of only one word, such as: 'Fantastic!' Or of a semi-paragraph, like in: 'The father who loves his children for the sake of parental duty and the one who loves them from the sentimental point of view are all parents with something for and against their approach in either case; in effect, each one has something that could be of great importance to the child both from the psychological and from the social point of view, the age of the child notwithstanding.' Because of this kind of disparity in what may be regarded as a sentence, some linguists have preferred describing a sentence in terms of its different attributes which include: Possession of a certain coherence between the words that constitute it. Possession of a certain internal autonomy, such that it can in most cases stand on its own. Possession of certain types of intonation patterns, either rising and falling, or falling, or falling and rising, or rising, etc. Possession of a certain type of pause both at its beginning and at its end. Possession of a certain internal structure. Possession of a certain meaning. It is the sum total of all the above which would normally determine what a sentence is. Some grammarians have summarised the above by saying that a sentence should be characterised by a certain structure and should be able to mean something at least for the native speaker. A correct internal structure should make the sentence grammatical and acceptable meaning should make it semantic. A sentence has got different degrees of grammaticality just as it has varying degrees of being semantic. This depends on the degree of language competence on the part of the speaker and on the social milieu where the language is spoken. For instance, a sentence like 'I ain't got nothing' could be said to be grammatical in some social environments but not in others. In the same manner, a sequence like, 'I beheld the weeping trees that hid behind the friendly rocks', could be quite semantic for some enlightened poet. It is the level of grammaticality and that of semanticism which together determine whether a sentence is acceptable in a language or not, that is: a sentence must have both an acceptable structure and an acceptable meaning.


Instruction: Sentence in Runyakitara

Response: If determining what a sentence is, at least in European languages, may not be very easy, it seems to be even harder for Bantu languages such as Runyakitara. Bantu languages are normally classified as agglutinative languages or at least that they tend towards agglutination. This means that these languages have a tendency in sentence formation of having a central element, usually a root, to which several affixes (prefixes, infixes and suffixes) are attached as bound morphemes. The result is often a full sentence made up of what appears in normal circumstances to be one word. This process is mostly attested in cases of pronominalisation. Compare, for instance, the following two sentences in Runyoro-Rutooro: a−ba−anaba−ngeba−li−ire a−ba−anaba−ngeba−li−ire iv cl RT cl pr cl RT pf the children may have eaten. e-bi-tooke o-mu sahaani za-itu iv pr RT iv iv cl RT cl pr the banana in the plates our My children have eaten the bananas in our plates. This fairly long sentence can be pronominalized as follows: ba-bi - ri - ri - ire - mu They have eaten them there. cl cl RT Ext pf loc subj. obj. they them eat in One can note that although the process of pronominalisation has also occurred in the English translation, the latter has five words while the former has one (that is, babiriiriremu). Apart from the above special characteristic in determining the Runyakitara (or Bantu) sentences, the above points risen for the sentence in general can also be applied to the Runyakitara sentence. For instance, a sentence in Runyakitara can also be made up of a simple word - morpheme such as: Ego (yes), just as it can be made up of a full paragraph.


Instruction: The Basic Components of a Runyakitara Sentence

Response: Just as in many other languages, in Runyakitara, the sentence is normally made up of at least a noun and a verb. For example: Omwana akazaana omupiira. The child played football. child played football The child played football. Note that in the above sentence the two indispensable elements are, Omwana akazaana (The child played). Although the noun omupiira is also important if we want to have all the basic information, its deletion is not as essential as if we deleted any of the other two words. Compare: [1] Omwana akazaana. [1] The child played. [2] Omwana omupiira. [2] The child football. [3] Akazaana omupiira. [3] He played football. The first sequence in [1] is quite acceptable although we are not told what the child played. The second sequence in [2] looks unacceptable. The third sequence is quite acceptable especially as the noun "Omwana" (child) reappears in the verb as pronoun as is usually the case in Bantu languages. Otherwise, if this pronominalisation did not take place, the sequence no. [3] would also be very wanting because of the lack of the noun subject. As things stand in Runyakitara, sequences [1] and [3] are quite acceptable while [2] is not. Generally speaking, the basic complete sentence would have the following components in Runyakitara: a subject and a predicate, or what could also be called a noun phrase and a verb phrase, as in the following sentence: omukazi akateera omwana. woman beat child The woman beat the child. In this sentence there are two basic components: Omukazi (Woman) the subject of a sentence and; akateera omwana (she beat the child); which may be called the predicate or the verb phrase. The verb phrase here is made up of two major elements, the verb and an object which is a noun (omwana - child). On a tree diagram such a sentence could be summarily represented as follows: In transformational grammar, such a sentence is arrived at after applying different transformational rules. As was said earlier, the above sentence can undergo some pronominalisation processes such that the whole sentence appears in one word usually called a verbal in Bantu linguistics: a-ka-mu-teer-a S/he beat him. she past obj. beat vf She beat him. Such a sentence can also be represented as follows on a tree diagram: