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Augmentation in Luganda

by Medadi Erisa Ssentanda


AUGMENTATION IN LUGANDA

Introduction

Augmentation is the opposite of diminution. In Luganda, augmentatino is denoted by noun class prefixes including Class 5 eli; cl 7 eki; cl 11 olu; cl 20 ogu and cl 22 aga. All classes that denote augmentation are also pejorative, particularly for the non-inherent nouns.

Class 5eli; cl 7eki and cl 11olu have inherent nouns but classes 20ogu and cl 22aga do not have inherent nouns. The semantic meaning derived here indicates intensity of size, derogatoriness and other attributes that are pejorative in nature.

Nouns inherent to cl5 eli. See the table below:

Nouns inherent to cl5 English translation
eliiso eye
elinnyo tooth
eliggwa thorn
ettama chick
eddungu desert
eppaapaali pawpaw
ekkundi ambilical cord
ekkelenda tablet

The basic prefix for class 5 is LI but this undergoes intricate phonological changes of assimilation. Almost any noun can be augmented by adding a class 5 prefix, eli- to the noun stem. It should however be noted that there may be some phonological changes to the noun stem.

Non inherent nouns to cl5 English translation
eddenzi fat boy
essajja fat/very big fat man
elyana very big bay



Class 7 Eki

All nouns in this class have eki' as the subject prefix and e as the pre-prefix. Examples of nouns inherent to this class include;

Nouns inherent to cl7 English translation
ekikopo cup
ekibiina class
ekyoto fireplace
ekisumuluzo key
ekisenge bedromm


Class 11 Olu-

Inherent nouns to class 11

Nouns inherent to cl11 English translation
oluso slasher
olulimi tongue
oluggya compound
oluku firewood
olupapula paper
olulagala banana leaf
olweyo broom
olubaawo blackboard

All nouns in class 11 have an inherent meaning of long, slimmy. From the examples given it can be noticed that all those nouns have these attributes. So, every noun augmented with olu necessary has those tributes. For the non-inherent nouns augmented with class 11, there is an added attribute of derogatoriness.


The noun omulenzi boy is augmented by replacing the noun class marker omu with olu which make the noun augmented and derogatory as well.