Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics
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Browsing Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics by Subject "Bantu languages"
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Item Linguistic and Socio-Cultural Aspects in Interlacustrine Bantu Names(1998) Muzale, Henry R. T.Although naming is a natural phenomenon in all human societies, there are differences not only in the process(es) used by different societies to assign names to people, things, animals, places, or natural and supernatural phenomena, but also in what these names tend to stand for. Whereas in some societies names are either arbitrarily picked up or inherited and bear very little, if any, semantic and sociocultural significance, in many Bantu societies and Interlacustrine groups in particular, names have synchronic meanings and are intended to play a certain role in social life. This paper analyses personal names from Interlacustrine languages spoken in East Africa between Lakes Victoria, Tanganyika and Albert. Since the linguistic area referred to is extensive, the paper draws specific examples from Ruhaya and Runyambo (Rutara languages) and Kinyarwanda and Kirundi (Western Highlands languages). The basic method applied is morphological analysis, whereby names are broken into functionally meaningful morphemes (attached to roots/stems) which help to decipher the meaning of the entire name. Then, by grouping names with related forms and/or meanings, the collective sense underlying the group is determined. As a result, the paper suggests a morphological model of classifying names.Item Linguistics in the Corridor: A Review of Research on the Bantu Languages of South-West Tanzania, North-East Zambia, and North Malawi(2001) Swilla, Imani N.; Walsh, Martin T.Eastern Bantu languages spoken in the 'Corridor' between Lakes Nyasa and Tanganyika include Pimbwe, Rungwa, Fipa, Rungu, Mambwe, Wanda, Nyamwanga, Lambya, Malila, Nyiha, Safwa, Nyakyusa, Ndali and Wungu. There is a widely agreed division of Corridor languages into three basic groups: Mwika (western Corridor), Nyika (central Corridor) and Nyakyusa-Ndali (East Corridor). Wungu appears to be an isolate and its classification remains controversial. As an ethnographic and linguistic area, the Corridor straddles the border region of three different countries and includes large parts of southwest Tanzania, northeast Zambia, and the north of Malawi. Several languages are spoken across international borders and found in either all three or two of these countries. Even the better-known languages of the Corridor remain inadequately described. Lack of cooperation among researchers in different countries compounds the problem because sometimes the same variety has different names and researchers in different countries adopt different approaches in studying the same languageItem The Psychosemantic Theory and Its Application to Bantu Languages: A Case Study from Ruhaya(2008) Muzale, Henry R. T.The article attempts to apply a cognitive approach in analysing tense and aspect systems in Bantu languages, with specific focus on Ruhaya (J22). The cognitive approach applied takes a psychosemantic perspective by analysing tense and aspect (T/A) as semantic domains that are cognitively contrasted in the speaker’s mind and morphologically marked in the verbal unit. The paper analyses the functions of the various T/A formatives in Ruhaya by providing morphosemantic reasons that attribute each formative to one of the three levels of the T/A staging. It analyses the basic T/A markers for each level in order to provide their morphosemantic interpretations. Then it identifies the extended functions of the versatile markers which are used beyond their basic aspectual functions, not only in other simple constructions but also in compound forms. Ruhaya is used as the springboard from which other Bantu languages can be analysed using the same principles.