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Annotating Runyankore-Rukiga

Revision as of 22:08, 13 October 2011 by Dorothee Beermann (Talk | contribs) (Annotating the Participle form of the verb)

Runyankore-Rukiga refers to two of the four closely related languages of Uganda which form part of a new standardized language of Uganda together with Runyoro and Rutooro. Sometimes Runyakitara is used to refer to the standardized form of these four languages; see for example the following still incomplete wikipedia article .

Here we discuss questions related to the annotation of Runyankore-Rukiga texts and sentence collections in TypeCraft. The material is annotated by Allen Asiimwe who is a lecturer at Makerere University. She is a speaker of Rukiga. In addition Justus Turamyomwe and Misah Natumanya both graduate students at the Linguistic Department at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology NTNU annotate.

Annotating in TypeCraft

Annotating the Participle form of the verb

The participle form of the verb is indicated by the morpheme -riku-. Although this morpheme is complex, it should not be split into -ri- and -ku- in this case, since it is the combination of these two morphemes that marks the participle as such. --Justus Turamyomwe 11:13, 13 October 2011 (UTC)

Mbwenu omwana ku arikuhika omu kiraasi ashanga harimu omurimo ogu omushomesa yaamutebeekanisiiza ogw’okuhandiika.
“So, when the pupil enters the class, he finds work that has been prepared for him by his teacher”
Mbwenu
mbwenu
therefore
CONJ
omwana
omwana
IV1child
N
ku
ku
when
CONJS
arikuhika
arikuhika
3SGPTCParriveFV
V
omu
omu
IVin
PREP
kiraasi
kiraasi
7class
N
ashanga
ashanga
3SGfindFV
V
harimu
harimu
16beLOC
COP
omurimo
omurimo
IV3job
N
ogu
ogu
AGRwhich
REL
omushomesa
omushomesa
IV1teacher
 
yaamutebeekanisiza
yaamutebeekanisiza
3SGPASTim3SGprepareAPPLFV
V
ogw’okuhandiika
ogw’okuhandiika
IVofIVINFwriteFV
V


Hi Justus, I have seen your message about annotating and marking the participle in RR, however i have some reservations about -riku- as a marker:

1. Does it apply to all participles in RR (I.E PRESENT, PERFECT, 'ALREADY', AND 'NOT YET'? OR Is it an exclusive participle marker in RR?

2. Could it be that "-ku-" is a mere verb infinitive form used in compound structures, because "Another form of the verb often used in compound verbs is the infinitive" and -ri- is a tense marker. as suggested here; http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/morphology.html

3.Must we combine two morphemes each with its own independent meaning to mark participle, and in any case what kind of participle?

4. Do we have enough literature in Bantu languages to support this claim, because if it is indeed true, it should at least have some varriants or at least cognates in lanuages like Rotooro and Runyoro, LAGANDA and maybe Ruhaya --natumanyam 15:27, 13 October 2011 (UTC)--natumanyam 15:27, 13 October 2011 (UTC)


Dear Misah,

I have copies your above interesting comment from Justus' usepage to this page in the hope that more people see it. --Dorothee Beermann 16:09, 13 October 2011 (UTC)

The free morphemes aha and omu

The free forms aha and omu are derived from the locative classes ha- and mu- via the affixation of an initial vowel. Both forms may occur as part of a locative expression, as determiners or as pronouns. In the example below aha is categorised as a preposition. On of the projects the Runyankore-Rukiga group is working on is to develop a better understanding of the role that both elements play in the grammar of Runyankore-Rukiga.

The following two phrases taken from the TC-database represent one of the interesting phenomena that we came across while annotating Runyankore-Rukiga: (1)

In (1) the verb kugamba meaning speak carries the applicative suffix -ir. Interestingly it seems to be the applicative marker that forces a spatial interpretation of aha, since (2) below is ambiguous between a 'spatial interpretation' and a 'topic interpretation' of the prepositional phrase headed by aha: (3)

other examples of the use of aha and omu




Is there a preposition 'of' in Runyankore-Rukiga?

The following sentences taken from the TC database have in common that they contain a phrase that is translated using the English preposition of. The corresponding element in RR is sometimes a free, sometimes a bound morpheme.

Its forms are: we,gwe, bw, rwa, ka, za, bwa, ya. 

Following Taylor (1985) -a is the possessive marker while the variation derives from agreement. Should we call this formative a preposition?



Diverging noun class systems for Runyankore-Rukiga

Morris.H.F. and B.F.R. Kirwan(1972) and Taylor, C. (1985) see Bantu Bibliography feature two different noun class systems.

Table: Noun class systems Runyankore-Rukiga
noun class Morris & Kirwan Taylor Suggested system English translation
1 mu-(omuntu) Omu (omukazi) (o)-mu-ntu person
2 ba- (abantu) aba (abakazi) (a)-ba-ntu people
3 (e)-ki-ntu (o)-mu-ti (o)-mu-twe head
4 bi-(ebintu) emi (emiti) (e)-mi-twe heads
5 n- (ente) eri (eriino) (e)-ri-isho/(e)-i-baare eye/stone
6 n- (ente) ama (amaino) (a)-ma-isho/(a)-ma-baare eyes/stones
7 ku- (okutu) eki (ekitabo) (e)-ki-ntu thing
8 ma-(amatu) ebi (ebitabo) (e)-bi-ntu things
9 bu- (obuta) en (eka) e-n-te cow
10 ma- (amata) ama (amaka) (e)-n-te cows
11 ri- (eriino) oru (orura) (o)-ru-hu skin
12 ma- (amaino) ama (amara) (a)-ka-ti small stick
13 ru- (orushozi) oru (orushozi) orukuuto (o)-tu-ti small sticks
14 n- (enshozi) en (enshozi)/enkuuto (o)-bu-ro millet
15 ka- (akantu) oru (orushaza) (o)-ku-guru leg
16 bu- (obuntu) obu(obushaza) (a)-ha-() here (definate place)
17 tu- (oturo) aka (akagiiko) ()-ku-nu here (wider area than -ha-)
18 ha- (ahantu) obu (obugiiko) (o)-mu-() inside (a place)
19 mu- aka (akaato)
20 ku- otu (otwato) (o)-gu-bwa very big/frigheting dog
21 gu- (ogushaija) otu (oturo) a-ga-bwa very big/frigheting dogs