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Difference between revisions of "A comparative analysis of Runyankore-Rukiga and Luganda pronominal agreement"

(Runyankore-Rukiga (RR) and Luganda: an overview)
(Runyankore-Rukiga (RR) and Luganda: an overview)
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Table II showing noun classes and their concords: RR
 
Table II showing noun classes and their concords: RR
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 +
{|border="1"
 +
|Noun class number
 +
|Noun class
 +
|Subject Prefix
 +
|Direct object
 +
|Genitive
 +
|Adjective prefix
 +
|-
 +
|1
 +
|(o)-mu
 +
|n-, o-, a-
 +
| -n-, -ku-, -mu-
 +
|wa
 +
|(o)mu-
 +
|-
 +
|2
 +
|(a)-ba
 +
|tu-, mu-, ba-
 +
| -tu-, -ba, -ba-
 +
|ba
 +
|''a''ba-
 +
|-
 +
|3
 +
|(o)-mu-
 +
|gu
 +
| -gu-
 +
|gwa
 +
|''o''mu-
 +
|-
 +
|4
 +
|(e)-mi
 +
|gi-
 +
| -gi-
 +
|''e''gya
 +
|''e''mi-
 +
|-
 +
|5
 +
|(e)-ri-
 +
|ri-
 +
| -ri-
 +
|''e''rya
 +
|''e''ri-
 +
|-
 +
|6
 +
|(a)-ma-
 +
|ga-
 +
| -ga-
 +
|''a''ga
 +
|''a''ma
 +
|-
 +
|7
 +
|(e)-ki-
 +
|ki-
 +
| -ki-
 +
|''e''kya
 +
|''e''ki
 +
|-
 +
|8
 +
|(e)-bi-
 +
|bi-
 +
| -bi-
 +
|''e''bya
 +
|''e''bi-
 +
|-
 +
|9
 +
|(e)-n-
 +
|e-
 +
| -gi-
 +
|''e''ya
 +
|''e''n-
 +
|-
 +
|10
 +
|(e)-n-
 +
|zi-
 +
| -zi-
 +
|''e''za
 +
|''e''n-
 +
|-
 +
|11
 +
|(o)-ru-
 +
|ru-
 +
| -ru-
 +
|''o''rwa
 +
|''o''ru-
 +
|-
 +
|12
 +
|(a)-ka-
 +
|ka-
 +
| -ka-
 +
|''a''ka
 +
|''a''ka-
 +
|-
 +
|13
 +
|(o)-tu-
 +
|tu-
 +
| -tu-
 +
|''o''twa
 +
|''o''tu-
 +
|-
 +
|14
 +
|(o)-bu-
 +
|bu-
 +
| -bu-
 +
|''o''bwa
 +
|''o''bu-
 +
|-
 +
|15
 +
|(o)-ku-
 +
|ku
 +
| -ku-
 +
|''o''kwa
 +
|''o''ku-
 +
|-
 +
|20
 +
|(o)-gu-
 +
|gu-
 +
| -gu-
 +
|''o''gwa
 +
|''o''gu-
 +
|-
 +
|22
 +
|(a)-ga-
 +
|ga-
 +
| -ga-
 +
|''a''ga
 +
|''a''ga-
 +
|}
 +
 +
Table II showing noun classes and their concords: Luganda
  
 
{|border="1"
 
{|border="1"

Revision as of 07:44, 4 April 2011

by Medadi Erisa Ssentanda and Allen Asiimwe

THIS PAGE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION


A Comparative study of Runyankore-Rukiga and Luganda noun class system


Runyankore-Rukiga (RR) and Luganda: an overview

Runyankore-Rukiga (ISO 639-3 nyn for Runyankore and ISO 639-3 cgg for Rukiga) is a central Bantu language spoken in the South-Western part of Uganda in the Kigezi (Rukiga) and the Ankore (Runyankore) regions by four million speakers (Uganda Population and Housing Census: 2002). Earlier scholars (e.g. Ladefoged et al 1971) named these languages according to ethnic groups; but the high lexical similarity that these languages share motivated a merger into one language called Runyankore-Rukiga.

Luganda (ISO 639-3: lug) is a Bantu language which belongs to the subgroup of the Benue-Congo of the Niger-Congo language family. It is spoken in central, and some other parts of Uganda by four million native speakers and four million non-native speakers (Uganda Population and Housing Census: 2002).

Like other Bantu languages characterized by agglutination, RR and Luganda have an a noun class system that involves singular and plural patterns as well as agreement marking triggered by these noun classes. The agreement markers (or, concords) manifest on syntactic constituents like adjectives, numerals, verbs and others.

This article is centered on agreement; Luganda and RR differ in some instances in their pronominal concordial agreement marking. First we would like to give an overview of the noun class systems of both languages:

Table 1 showing a juxtaposition of noun classes in Luganda and RR.

Noun class number RR Luganda
1 (o)-mu- (o)-mu-
2 (a)-ba- (a)-ba-
3 (o)-mu- (o)-mu-
4 (e)-mi (e)-mi
5 (e)-ri- (e)-li-
6 (a)-ma- (a)-ma-
7 (e)-ki- (e)-ki-
8 (e)-bi- (e)-bi-
9 (e)-n (e)-n
10 (e)-n (e)-n
11 (o)ru- (o)lu-
12 (a)-ka- (a)-ka-
13 (o)-tu- (o)-tu-
14 (o)-bu- (o)-bu-
15 (o)-ku- (o)-ku-
16 ha- wa
17 ku- ku-
18 mu- mu-
19 - -
20 (o)-gu- (o)-gu-
21 - -
22 (a)-ga- (a)-ga-
23 - e

Table 1 shows two particular phonological differences between RR and Luganda in the noun class system. RR has class 5 as (e)-ri- while Luganda has it as (e)-li-; and RR has class 16 as wa while Luganda has it as ha. The distinction is phonological in nature. For class 5 of RR to have ‘r’ and not ‘l’ is a fact of phonology of RR and Luganda. Strictly speaking RR has no sound /l/ while Luganda has no sound /r/ (even when it is used in orthography). RR is rich in sound /h/ while Luganda has no such sound in speech except in exclamations. Wherever RR has /h/ Luganda has /w/. For instance RR, hano here, Luganda wano here.


A noun class is signalled by: - a pre-prefix and a prefix attached to the nominal stem for both singular and plural cases. - grammatical agreement elements including: subject pronouns, object pronouns, possessive pronouns, adjective prefixes , and other sentence elements.

Table II showing noun classes and their concords: RR

Noun class number Noun class Subject Prefix Direct object Genitive Adjective prefix
1 (o)-mu n-, o-, a- -n-, -ku-, -mu- wa (o)mu-
2 (a)-ba tu-, mu-, ba- -tu-, -ba, -ba- ba aba-
3 (o)-mu- gu -gu- gwa omu-
4 (e)-mi gi- -gi- egya emi-
5 (e)-ri- ri- -ri- erya eri-
6 (a)-ma- ga- -ga- aga ama
7 (e)-ki- ki- -ki- ekya eki
8 (e)-bi- bi- -bi- ebya ebi-
9 (e)-n- e- -gi- eya en-
10 (e)-n- zi- -zi- eza en-
11 (o)-ru- ru- -ru- orwa oru-
12 (a)-ka- ka- -ka- aka aka-
13 (o)-tu- tu- -tu- otwa otu-
14 (o)-bu- bu- -bu- obwa obu-
15 (o)-ku- ku -ku- okwa oku-
20 (o)-gu- gu- -gu- ogwa ogu-
22 (a)-ga- ga- -ga- aga aga-

Table II showing noun classes and their concords: Luganda

Noun class number Noun class Subject Prefix Direct object Genitive Adjective prefix
1 (o)-mu n-, o-, a- -n-, -ku-, -mu- wa (o)mu-
2 (a)-ba tu-, mu-, ba- -tu-, -ba, -ba- ba aba-
3 (o)-mu- gu -gu- gwa omu-
4 (e)-mi gi- -gi- egya emi-
5 (e)-li- li- -li- elya eli-
6 (a)-ma- ga- -ga- aga ama
7 (e)-ki- ki- -ki- ekya eki
8 (e)-bi- bi- -bi- ebya ebi-
9 (e)-n- e- -gi- eya en-
10 (e)-n- zi- -zi- eza en-
11 (o)-lu- lu- -lu- olwa olu-
12 (a)-ka- ka- -ka- aka aka-
13 (o)-tu- tu- -tu- otwa otu-
14 (o)-bu- bu- -bu- obwa obu-
15 (o)-ku- ku -ku- okwa oku-
20 (o)-gu- gu- -gu- ogwa ogu-
22 (a)-ga- ga- -ga- aga aga-