Maina, Martin2021-02-252021-02-252020-08http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/21630A Research Project Submitted to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Arts of Kenyatta University. August, 2020This study is an analysis of the nominal group in the Gĩkũyũ language using a Systemic Functional Grammar approach. The language is spoken by the Agikuyu who live in the Central and Rift Valley regions of Kenya. The study is motivated by the need to account for the nominal group from a functional rather than a formal approach. The study looked at the different realizations of nominals in Gĩkũyũ clauses, how nominals are used to achieve reference in clauses and how the nominal group can be accounted for in Systemic Functional Grammar by applying a transactional metafunction. The data in this study was collected from written Gĩkũyũ publications, a novel and a periodical. From these were extracted clauses containing nominals of various realizations. A qualitative approach was used to analyze the data which is presented thematically. After analyzing the data, the findings prove that indeed the nominal group has various realizations: noun phrases, pronominals, nominal clauses and infinitives. It was also established that nominals can be used to mark reference in Gĩkũyũ texts, thereby achieving textual cohesion. Both endophoric and exophoric reference was attested. Following the analysis, it was established that only noun phrases could effectively be analyzed using this approach. The study, therefore, recommends that the theory, particularly the transactional metafunction, be extended to cover all the nominal realizations. The findings can be useful to curriculum and material developers as they develop teaching and learning materials in Gĩkũyũ and also Gĩkũyũ authors as they write their texts.enNominal GroupGῘkũyũSystemic Functional Grammar ApproachThesis