Vowel length in Iraqw has a high functional load in verbs. Quantity is used to distinguish third person singular masculine and third person singular feminine agreement on verbs, for example (Mous...Show moreVowel length in Iraqw has a high functional load in verbs. Quantity is used to distinguish third person singular masculine and third person singular feminine agreement on verbs, for example (Mous 1993:156). Nominal (near-)minimal pairs have illustrated that vowel length is a distinctive feature in nouns as well. However, vowel length seems to have less of a grammatical function in the nominal domain of the language. This thesis aims to give an overview of the use of vowel length in the nominal domain of Iraqw, in order to find out whether vowel length is a relevant contrastive feature in noun roots, and if so, what the scope is of vowel length as a distinctive feature. I will examine several aspects which are intertwined with the use of vowel length in the Iraqw language, such as the syllable structure, tone, vowel height, and morphophonological processes.Show less
The Yaaku people from Kenya have nowadays mostly adapted to the more dominant Maasai language and culture. Part of the community are making an effort to revive the Yaaku language, of which only few...Show moreThe Yaaku people from Kenya have nowadays mostly adapted to the more dominant Maasai language and culture. Part of the community are making an effort to revive the Yaaku language, of which only few semi-speakers are left. Study material was needed in order for them to learn their language again. This thesis provides a pedagogic grammar of Yaaku, based on Heine's (1975) "Notes on the Yaaku language". Several linguistic as well as practical issues are discussed with regard to the possibility of revitalizing the language.Show less
This thesis is about the possessive constructions in Kiroba, which is a Bantu language spoken in the Mara region in Tanzania. The attributive possessive constructions consists of the associative...Show moreThis thesis is about the possessive constructions in Kiroba, which is a Bantu language spoken in the Mara region in Tanzania. The attributive possessive constructions consists of the associative and/or the possessive pronouns. The associative forms are made by the associative stem -a and the pronominal prefixes. Possessive pronouns consists of a prefix which agrees with the possessed noun and a stem which refers to the possessor. I divided the possessive pronouns into two groups: the personal possessive pronouns and the nonpersonal possessive pronouns. I made this division because in many Bantu languages the paradigms of possessive pronouns is reduced to only the personal possessive pronouns. The predicative possessive construction consist of the possessor noun, the copula verb, the word na ‘with’, and the possessed noun. The most remarkable and uncommon feature of the possessive constructions in Kiroba is that Kiroba has the whole paradigm of possessive pronouns: the personal and nonpersonal possessive pronouns.Show less
Dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a BA degree in Taalwetenschap (Linguistics) This thesis investigates how West-African tone languages assign tones to loanwords from...Show moreDissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a BA degree in Taalwetenschap (Linguistics) This thesis investigates how West-African tone languages assign tones to loanwords from intonational languages. The languages discussed in this thesis are Yoruba and Hausa. For Yoruba the assignment of tone on English borrowings is discussed and for Hausa on English and French borrowings. The assignment of tones is based primarily on the stress patterns of the source languages.Show less
This thesis attempts to establish an adequate framework to describe question words. On the basis of this framework some universal tendencies within the constructions of question words will be...Show moreThis thesis attempts to establish an adequate framework to describe question words. On the basis of this framework some universal tendencies within the constructions of question words will be established and some new insights will be exposed. Through the analysis of the question words of several languages an implicational hierarchy of the semantic categories of question words will be postulated. Furthermore, it will become clear that general question words need to be treated differently from question words which have a specified meaning regardless of the context. When looking at the internal constructions of question words, I conclude that all question words consist of a Q-element (QE), which indicates the interrogative mood and a Semantic Indicator Element (SIE), which specifies the exact content of the interrogative mood. The order of these two elements appears to be similar to the order of the head and dependent of nominal constructions. Finally I discuss the fact that this division between QE and SIE is also to be found in sign languages, and therefore universally applicable. Also, from a historical point of view the order of QE and SIE within submorphemes can be an indication of the head and dependent order in Proto-languages.Show less
Deze scriptie gaat over de diminutief en de augmentatief in het Swahili. De derivatie van deze twee vormen is verankerd in het naamwoordklassesysteem. Ik bespreek de vormelijke en semantische...Show moreDeze scriptie gaat over de diminutief en de augmentatief in het Swahili. De derivatie van deze twee vormen is verankerd in het naamwoordklassesysteem. Ik bespreek de vormelijke en semantische eigenschappen van deze derivatie inclusief associaties die ermee verbonden zijn. Hiervoor heb ik informanten uit Nairobi, Kenia ondervraagd, via een enquëte en persoonlijke mails.Show less
Een van de vragen die actueel is in reduplicatie studies is niet hoe reduplicatie fonologisch werkt, maar wat de betekenis van reduplicatie is. Heeft het een universele betekenis? Ik heb de...Show moreEen van de vragen die actueel is in reduplicatie studies is niet hoe reduplicatie fonologisch werkt, maar wat de betekenis van reduplicatie is. Heeft het een universele betekenis? Ik heb de verschillende betekenissen die reduplicatie kan hebben in het Wolof, een Niger-Congo taal, bestudeerd en gekeken hoe ze kunnen passen binnen bestaande theorieën over de semantiek van reduplicatie. Ik heb zes betekenissen gevonden die een geredupliceerde vorm in Wolof kan hebben: gevolg of abstractie, iteratief, ideofonisch, locatief, 'doen alsof' en intensivering. Ondanks dat reduplicatie niet meer productief is in die taal heb ik gekeken of er bepaalde beperkingen zijn in wanneer het wel en niet kan plaatsvinden. Morfologisch gezien is reduplicatie in het Wolof vaak nominaliserend, maar het lijkt niet noodzakelijk te zijn om een zelfstandig naamwoord te vormen. Wanneer het niet plaatsvindt, nemen de zelfstandige naamwoorden dezelfde vorm aan als de werkwoorden en ik zal ook kort ingaan op de betekenis van werkwoorden en zelfstandige naamwoorden.Show less
