Morphological Doubling theory to two Bantu Languages Reduplication: A comparative perspective of Kinyarwanda and Swahili

Abstract

Reduplication is a morphological phenomenon which has attracted attention of many researchers in various fields of Linguistics using a number of theories for many languages of the globe. Among other African languages, Kinyarwanda and Swahili have been studied under various approaches each but few comparative studies were conducted on these two Bantu languages spoken in Rwanda and its neighbouring countries of East African region. The aim of this study is to have a look into reduplication-a word formation process, with specific focus on Kinyarwanda and Swahili. Basing on Morphology Doubling Theory (MDT), the researchers examined the similarities and differences between the two languages. Both bounded and unbounded reduplication-full and partial word levels were concerned. Descriptive analysis revealed that the two members of the same set inherently share reduplication features basically complete root, partial and/or syllabic repetition in word formation process.