A Comparative Study of Headedness in Ruhaya Compounds
Corresponding Author(s) : Emmanuel Ilonga
Journal of Humanities & Social Science (JHSS),
Vol. 5 No. 1 (2016)
Abstract
This paper presents endocentric and exocentric compounds in Ruhaya, with specific
focus on their lexical properties, position of headwords, semantic relation between
headwords and modifiers, and the semantic classification of noun-noun compounds. It
offers a comparison between Ruhaya and other Bantu languages on these aspects, and
extends the comparison to Indo-European languages (English, Dutch and French). It was
found that Ruhaya has left-headed compounds, and words from the same and different
lexical categories can combine to make up compound words. In the case of headed
compounds, there is a kind of semantic relations through which modifiers slightly
change the meaning of headwords. With an exception of Northern Sotho, in which a
prefix of the left-most word becomes the head, the left-most word in Ruhaya, Bemba
and Kiswahili is the head. In comparison with Indo-European languages, French is left- headed in this regard, while Dutch and English are right-headed.
Keywords
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- Bauer, L. 2008. English Exocentric Compounds. Retrieved on Feb 23rd October, 2015.
- Benczes, R. 2006. Creative Compounding in English: The Semantics of Metaphorical and Metonymical
- Noun-Noun Combinations. Philadelphia: John Benjamins B.V.
- Benczes, R. 2004. On the Analyzability of English Exocentric Compounds: Jezikoslovlje 5(1): 1–21
- Booij, G. 1992. Compounding in Dutch. Rivista di Linguistica, 4(1): 37–59 —. 2005. The Grammar of Words: An Introduction to Linguistic Morphology. New York: Oxford
- University Press. —. 2009. Compounding and Construction Morphology. In R. Lieber & P. Štekauer (eds.). The
- Oxford Handbook of Compounding (pp.201–216). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Fabb, N. 2001.Compounding; In A. Spencer & A. M. Zwicky (eds). Introduction: TheHandbook of
- Morphology. Blackwell Reference Online. Retrieved from http: //202.121.96.130/ download/
- pdf on Feb 20th, 2013. pp.66–83.
- Joseph, H. 2013. Compounding in Kinyakyusa. MA dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam.
- Katamba, F. & J. Stonham. 2006.Morphology. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Kula, N. 2012. Nominal Compounding and Associative Phrases in Bemba. In M. Brenzinger A.- M.Fehn (eds.), 6th World Congress of African Linguistics. Cologne, pp. 431– 441.
- Lusekeo, A. 2014.Linguistic Morphology: A Student Guide. Dar es Salaam: E&D Vision Publishing
- Limited.
- McCarthy, A.C. 2002. An Introduction to English Morphology: Words and Their Structure. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
- Mphasha, L.E. 2006. The Compound Noun in Northern Sotho. Doctoral Thesis. University of
- Stellenbosch.
- Musehane, N. M. 2007. Morphological structure and semantic classification of Noun + Noun
- Compounds. South African Journal of African Languages, 27(1): 29–42. Muzale, H. R. T. 2006. English-Ruhaya-Swahili Dictionary: Dar es Salaam: Language of Tanzania (LOT)
- Project. —. 2006. A Dictionary of Plant Names and Functions in Haya: With English and Swahili Glosses. Dar es
- Salaam. Language of Tanzania (LOT) Project. Lexicon Series No. 18.
- Quirk, R., S. Greenbaum, G. Leech & J. Svartvik. 1985. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English
- Language. London: Longman.
- Riedel, K. 2010. Relative Clauses in Haya. ZAS Papers in Linguistics, 53: 211–225
References
Bauer, L. 2008. English Exocentric Compounds. Retrieved on Feb 23rd October, 2015.
Benczes, R. 2006. Creative Compounding in English: The Semantics of Metaphorical and Metonymical
Noun-Noun Combinations. Philadelphia: John Benjamins B.V.
Benczes, R. 2004. On the Analyzability of English Exocentric Compounds: Jezikoslovlje 5(1): 1–21
Booij, G. 1992. Compounding in Dutch. Rivista di Linguistica, 4(1): 37–59 —. 2005. The Grammar of Words: An Introduction to Linguistic Morphology. New York: Oxford
University Press. —. 2009. Compounding and Construction Morphology. In R. Lieber & P. Štekauer (eds.). The
Oxford Handbook of Compounding (pp.201–216). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Fabb, N. 2001.Compounding; In A. Spencer & A. M. Zwicky (eds). Introduction: TheHandbook of
Morphology. Blackwell Reference Online. Retrieved from http: //202.121.96.130/ download/
pdf on Feb 20th, 2013. pp.66–83.
Joseph, H. 2013. Compounding in Kinyakyusa. MA dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam.
Katamba, F. & J. Stonham. 2006.Morphology. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kula, N. 2012. Nominal Compounding and Associative Phrases in Bemba. In M. Brenzinger A.- M.Fehn (eds.), 6th World Congress of African Linguistics. Cologne, pp. 431– 441.
Lusekeo, A. 2014.Linguistic Morphology: A Student Guide. Dar es Salaam: E&D Vision Publishing
Limited.
McCarthy, A.C. 2002. An Introduction to English Morphology: Words and Their Structure. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Mphasha, L.E. 2006. The Compound Noun in Northern Sotho. Doctoral Thesis. University of
Stellenbosch.
Musehane, N. M. 2007. Morphological structure and semantic classification of Noun + Noun
Compounds. South African Journal of African Languages, 27(1): 29–42. Muzale, H. R. T. 2006. English-Ruhaya-Swahili Dictionary: Dar es Salaam: Language of Tanzania (LOT)
Project. —. 2006. A Dictionary of Plant Names and Functions in Haya: With English and Swahili Glosses. Dar es
Salaam. Language of Tanzania (LOT) Project. Lexicon Series No. 18.
Quirk, R., S. Greenbaum, G. Leech & J. Svartvik. 1985. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English
Language. London: Longman.
Riedel, K. 2010. Relative Clauses in Haya. ZAS Papers in Linguistics, 53: 211–225