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This dissertation is a morphosyntactic study of demonstrative words in the Nyantuzu dialect of
the Sukuma language. This study had two objectives: (i) to identify and describe the forms of the
demonstratives, (ii) to describe their grammatical functions. The study was guided by Diessel’s
theory of demonstratives introduced in 1999. Data were collected by reviewing two publications.
The publications are Chenya, J.C. (1988). Imani za Jadi za Kisukuma katika Misemo Hadithi
Methali na Desturi za Maisha and TUKI (2001). English-Swahili Dictionary. A list of 200 nouns
was drawn from the two texts which were later translated to the Nyantuzu. The translated nouns
were used by the researcher to generate data on the forms and the functions of the demonstratives
since he is a native speaker of the dialect. Structured interview was used to check up the forms of
demonstratives. Purposive sampling technique was used to get the 4 informants while the data
were analysed qualitatively. The analyses revealed that the dialect has three types of
demonstratives: proximal, non-proximal and distal demonstratives. Their forms have complex
structures made up of affixes (prefixes, augments and specific deictic root). It was revealed that
the number and the distance of the referent noun have the roles in determining the forms of the
demonstratives. Regarding the functions of demonstratives, there are five functions in the dialect:
determiners, independent pronouns, verb modifiers, pointers, and relative pronoun (a function
performed only by distal demonstratives). The study suggested further studies in some linguistics
aspects which were not covered in this study. For instance, it was observed that furthers studies
are needed on the demonstratives words for the other dialects of the Sukuma in order to establish
how they differ and resemble. |
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