Morpho-Syntactic Properties of Kisukuma Nouns

Abstract

The study focused on identifying the morphological properties found in Kisukuma nouns which make nouns different from other Bantu languages. The study was guided by distributed morphology theory developed by Halle and Marantz (1993). The study was purely qualitative approach whereby data were collected through questionnaires, documentation review as well as focused group discussion. Ten respondents who were the native speakers of the Kimunantunzu dialect of Kisukuma age of forty-one to eighty were chosen. The study found that the interrelation between morphology and syntax in Kisukuma nouns can be analyzed without ignoring the morpho-syntactic properties. Moreover, it was found that the agreement properties are triggered by the nouns. That is to say, nouns determine what other elements could co-occur with them and bring a meaningful sentence or phrase. Also affixes are very important in forming nouns in Kisukuma just like in other Bantu languages. The researcher recommends that more interrelation studies to be investigated on the other levels of linguistics as well as distinction among the dialects of Kisukuma.