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Download This PDF File ISSN: 2347-7474 International Journal Advances in Social Science and Humanities Available online at: www.ijassh.com RESEARCH ARTICLE Sketch Morphology and Syntax of Me’enit Eba Teresa Garoma*, Amanuel Raga Yadate Jimma University, Ethiopia *Corresponding Author: Email: [email protected] Abstract The purpose of this study is to briefly present the sketch morphology and syntax of Me’enit language, the south- eastern Surmic sub-family of the Eastern Sudanic branch of the Nilo-Saharan Phylum. The research method used mainly in the study is qualitative. Different linguistic data are gathered through elicitation and storytelling from native speakers, which appropriate tools for linguistic fieldwork. Descriptive accounts are made on morphology and syntax of the language. Me’enit has two major word classes: nouns and verbs. Nouns are described in terms of number, gender, nominalization and pronouns. Verbs are also discussed in line with the different tenses, aspects, verb to be/copula and verb to have. Adjectives, adverbs, ad positions, conjunctions, numerals and calendar system are also discussed in the study. Syntax is also dealt with incorporating simple declarative, interrogative, imperative and passive sentences with their illustrations. Major phrases of Me’enit, such as noun phrases and verb phrases are presented with sufficient data. Keywords: Sketch Morphology, Sketch Syntax, Me’enit, Me’en, Nilo-Saharan. Introduction Literatures in ethno-graphic and linguistics studies and neighbouring ethnic groups represent Me’enit people by various names. Some of the names are Bodi, Mekan, Me’en, Tishena, Sur, Shuro, and Daim. However, the people name themselves and their languages too “Me’enit”. Me’enit people recently inhabit in the lowlands of eastern Omo, being neighboured by the Mursi people (people speaking one of the Omotic languages in Ethiopia) in the south, and scattered in Me’enit Goldeya and Me’enit Shasha Woreds, which are found in Bench Maji Zone of Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Regional State (SNNPRS, from now onwards) in Ethiopia. Besides, they also exist to some extent in Guraferda, Decha and Selamango Woredas in Banch Maji, Kafa and Southern Omo Zones in SNNPRS. Me’enit people are mostly pastoralists, and those who live in the highlands of Bench Maji Zone are farmers. Though the lives of some members depend on agriculture, their farmlands are usually displaced to others during harvest times. Their houses are small hats which have roofs covered by grasses. The walls of the hats are easy to construct because they have very light sticks. The houses have only one door [1]. Me’enit is the Nilo-Saharan language which has two major dialects: Bodi and Tishena. Bodi is the variety spoken in southern Omo area around Arba Minch and Jinka. It is bounded by Omo River in the northern, eastern and western, and neighbored by Mursi language in south. Tishena is the variety spoken in Bench-Maji Zone, in and around Bachuma and Jemu woredas [1]. Tishena dialect is neighbored by by other pastoralists and agriculturalists of the zone who speak Bench, Sheko, Zilmamo, Dizi and Surma, all of which are categorized under East Sudanic sub-family of Nilo-Saharan phylum [2, 3]. This study focused on the description of the morphological and syntactic aspects of the two dialects, as the two dialects have little difference in their lexical except their geographical distribution. Accordingly, attempts are made to describe the sketch morphology and syntax of Me’enit. Methodology The method used in the study is qualitative because the language paradigms are described qualitatively. The subjects of the study were the native speakers of the language, both Bodi (Jinka area) and Tishena Eba Teresa Garoma et. al. | July 2015 | Vol.3 | Issue 7 |30-50 30 Available online at: www.ijassh.com (Kafa and Mizan areas) speakers. Key informants were selected using convenient sampling and snowball sampling. Swadesh wordlist is one of the tools used to gather data from key informants. Elicitation and participant observation were also dominantly used in the study. The glosses of each wordlist and paradigm were collected into a morpheme list. The function of each morpheme was analyzed based on its distribution and meaning. Since the morpheme list was utilized in glossing all new items, the analysis of individual morphemes was continuously tested against the new material already collected. Different areas within morphology, such as the case system, gender or verb inflections were described with the help of examples from the texts, and from material elicited for this and other purposes. The analysis of syntax was also based on examples from stories and semi-structured interviews and elicited examples. In many ways, the procedure repeated that of morphology. Whatever procedure was followed, care was taken that the data were presented in a way that allowed other analysis to be made. Results and Discussion With regard to the purposes/objectives of the study, the description of morphology and syntax of Me’enit language which deals with the internal structures of words in the language is the Main target. In Me’enit, there are major and minor word classes. Hence, the description of such words is presented first and followed by the discussion of each of them. With regard to syntax, Me’enit sentences often exhibit SVO (Subject-Verb-Object) word order. However, word order is not strict in the language. The following sentence types are distinguished: affirmative and negative declarative sentences, interrogatives and imperatives. Nouns and their modifier(s), and verbs and their complements are also discussed in this study. Morphology of Me’enit Nouns in Me’enit Nouns are words which describe name, replace and identify various entities such as persons, places, things, animals, etc and abstractions in the world. With regard to the focus of this study, there are nouns which are used to perform the above features. However, such nouns have uncommon forms in singular, plural and gender indication of inflectional markings, and nominal derivations in Me’enit. We can exemplify the case below. Data 1-10 reveal that singular nouns in Me’enit are made plural by using inflectional suffixes [-o] and [- o:]. As one can observe from the data, when a noun ends by vowel phoneme [i], it takes the suffix [-o:] where as when it ends by vowels other than [i] or consonants like [ŋ, n, g, g, etc], it attaches the plural suffix [-o]. Note that the hyphen in both plural form of Me’enit and plural gloss in English indicates separation of plural suffix and the base word to which the suffix is attached. Number Singular Gloss Plural Gloss 1. [lupu] <straw> [lupu-o] <straw-s> 2. [malaŋ] <leader> [malaŋ-o] <leader-s> 3. [roɓon] <rib> [roɓon-o] <rib-s> 4. [sirsir] <earring> [sirsir-o] <earring-s> 5. [itin] <joint> [itin-o] <joint-s> 6. [ɲig] <branch> [ɲig-o] <branch-es> 7. [riʃi] <shade> [riʃi-o:] <shade-s> 8. [salini] <mat> [salini-o:] <mat-s> 9. [gumdi] <antelope> [gumdi-o:] <antelope-s> 10. [warati] <paper> [warati-o:] <paper-s> The other point here is that in morpheme boundaries, vowel harmony (combination of two different vowels) is permissible in Me’enit. Nouns in Me’enit can also be pluralized by using the inflectional suffix [-a] as indicated below. In the below data (11-21), the nouns attach the inflectional suffix [-a]; they end in [ʧ, ɲ, r, ɓ, u, p, k, g and m]. As one can see the data, there is no any strict and one-to-one rule for the affixation of the plural inflectional suffix. Words listed under data 19-21 end in vowel [a] in their singular forms, and when the Eba Teresa Garoma et. al. | July 2015 | Vol.3 | Issue 7 |30- 50 31 Available online at: www.ijassh.com plural suffix is attached to these words, it changes the short vowel to long so that the length is indicated by colon (:). Thus, based on the context of the word, the native speakers use the proper forms of the nouns. Singular Gloss Plural Gloss 11. [wɔʧ] <child> [wɔʧ-a] <child-ren> 12. [wɛɲ] <jugular vien> [wɛɲ-a] <jugular vein-s> 13. [gɔl] <water place> [gɔr-a] <water place-s> 14. [ɲɛɓ] <ear> [ɲɛɓ-a] <ear-s> 15. [mal] <poor person> [malu-a] <poor person-s> 16. [solu] <mucus> [solu-a] <mucus> (pl) 17. [silpa] <mustard> [silp-a:] <mustard-s> 18. [sol:u] <injera> [sol:u-a] <injera-s> 19. [waʃka] <thread> [waʃk-a:] <thread-s> 20. [mag:a] <granary> [mag:-a:] <granar-ies> 21. [huma] <forehead> [hum-a:] <forehead-s> The third types of nouns in Me’enit are those which are pluralized using different forms; we can call these nouns irregular and the plural inflectional suffixes attached to these words are lexically conditioned suffixes. Singular Gloss Plural Gloss 22. [mɛ] <man> [mɛ’-ɛn] <men> 23. [sab] <head> [sab-i] <head-s> 24. [rɔsɔ] <dog> [rɔs-ana] <dog-s> 25. [sara] <a kind of tree> [sara-ta] <kind of trees> 26. [saj] <tanned hide> [so:to] <tanned hide-s> 27. [si] <hand> [si-na] <hand-s> 28. [ʤu] <pot> [ʤuna] <pot-s> Since the suffixes are attached based on the nature of the individual words, the name is given to them. Thus, words in data 22-28 attach different suffixes or they change their internal parts in some way to be plural forms. Nevertheless, there are nouns which do not change their forms at all to be plural forms. Such nouns are illustrated below. Singular Gloss Plural Gloss 29. [maʤa] <necklace> [maʤa] <necklace-s> 30. [guna] <small ant> [guna] <small ant-s> 31. [ɲɛɓa] <blood> [ɲɛɓa] <blood-s> 32. [wejda] <corn> [wejda] <corn-s> 33. [ruwo] <mourning> [ruwo] <mourning-s> 34. [rɔŋi] <name> [rɔŋi] <name-s> These (data 29-34) are the last types of nouns exist in Me’enit language.
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