Dholuo Anaphors: An Interface Account
| dc.contributor.advisor | Henry S. Nandelenga | en_US |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Emily A. Ogutu | en_US |
| dc.contributor.author | Achieng’, Onyango Janet | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2022-08-19T09:22:05Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2022-08-19T09:22:05Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2022 | |
| dc.description | Thesis Submitted to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences in fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics of Kenyatta University, May, 2022 | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this study was to investigate Dholuo anaphors at linguistic interface of syntax, semantics and pragmatics. Dholuo anaphors (reflexives and reciprocals) are represented with the same morpheme which poses a problem in interpretation. Generative grammar focuses on syntax and semantics in interpretation of anaphors. The study included pragmatics to enrich the interpretation of Dholuo anaphors. The study aimed at answering four main research questions: how are anaphors configured in Dholuo? What is the syntactic structure of Dholuo anaphors? How does semantics and pragmatics determine the interpretation of Dholuo anaphors? How does Relevance Theory and GB Theory account for the interface of Dholuo anaphors? The study scope covered structures and meaning of sentences limited to GB Principle A. Government and Binding Theory and Relevance Theory were used with the study adopting descriptive and qualitative research designs. Rambira village, Rarieda sub-county, Siaya county was the study site. Sample size consisted of eighty-seven structures with anaphors. Purposeful sampling technique was adopted in selecting six respondents. Corpus of primary data was collected through interview and by researcher‟s intuitive knowledge verified by the respondents. Secondary data was from works of scholars and Dholuo bible. Collected data was coded, and classified to ascertain their configuration. Analysis revealed that Dholuo has lexical and non-lexical anaphors occupying the object position. Dholuo anaphors were bound to the antecedent within the IP, assigned case and theta roles. Various contexts enhanced right interpretation and euphemistic usage of utterances. This is an interesting finding that can contribute to studies in African languages | en_US |
| dc.description.sponsorship | Kenyatta University | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/24011 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Kenyatta University | en_US |
| dc.subject | Dholuo | en_US |
| dc.subject | Anaphors | en_US |
| dc.subject | Interface Account | en_US |
| dc.title | Dholuo Anaphors: An Interface Account | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |