A Morpho-Semantic Study of Anthroponymy: Turkana Personal Names
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A MORPHO-SEMANTIC STUDY OF ANTHROPONYMY: TURKANA PERSONAL NAMES BY SUSAN WANJIKU KINYUA A RESEARCH PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN LINGUISTICS, DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS AND LANGUAGES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI NOVEMBER, 2020 DECLARATION This research paper is my original work and has not been submitted for examination in any other university Signature: 12/11/2020 KINYUA SUSAN WANJIKU C50/85753/2016 This paper has been submitted for examination with my approval as the university supervisor Signature: Date: 06/11/2020 PROF. HELGA SCHROEDER Signature: Date: 13/11/2020 DR. DAVID BARASA i DEDICATION To my Loving grandparents the Late Benson Kinyua Karanja and the late Tabitha Wanjiku Kinyua. My loving father and mother and My loving uncle the Late Zachariah Githinji Warutere ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This has been a journey of new and exciting experiences that received a lot of support from my supervisors, classmates, colleagues and family. I thank my heavenly father who gave me good health and travelling journey mercies throughout my research. My sincere gratitude goes to my senior at work Dr. Muoria who made it possible for me to get flexible hours for my study, my colleagues Mutiga Mugambi and Simon Mbogo who took upon themselves to perform my duties while I was away, with special thanks going to Paul Wangai who went an extra mile to perform my office duties, read through my work, corrected and edited tirelessly. My most sincere gratitude goes to my special supervisors, Prof. Helga Schroeder and Dr. David Barasa who, when I was feeling lost, confused and almost giving up, they urged me to go on. They gave me immeasurable support and guided the writing of this work with a lot of patience and dedication. May God bless you. With a lot of love, I appreciate my family members, my parents, uncles, aunts, sisters, brothers and cousins who have always given me support so that I achieve my education dreams. My most sincere appreciation goes to my sister Sarah Nyokabi who gave me accommodation during my study, and introduced me to all my respondents. My lecturers in the department of Linguistics have been a great encouragement especially Prof. Iribe, Dr. Mukhwana and Dr. Buregeya who provoked me to research a language that was very unique to me and I took up the challenge. I thank you greatly. My classmate with whom we worked together as partners Momanyi, Halima, Tonia, Banja, Mercy, Caroline, Maureen, Henry, Douglas, Bonface, Winnie and especially Asha and Stephen who monitored me and made sure I never put my pen down. May God Bless you abundantly. Finally, I would like to thank my informants (native speakers of Turkana language) who were very patient with me and never got tired with my endless questions. Most of them took time off work to assist me with the data. My special thanks go to Francis Ethokon, Antony Lopomurie, Elizabeth Esokon, Raphael Eipa, Ekal, Susan Akiru who gave me stories behind the names, Atabo, the elder Ekiru the university student Ekamais and Lokidor and many others on their tireless contribution. You are highly appreciated and may God bless you. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ..................................................................................................................................... i DEDICATION ........................................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................ vii LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................. viii ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................................... ix DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS ............................................................................................................. xi ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Background to the Study ............................................................................................................... 1 1.3 The sociolinguistic context of the Turkana Language .................................................................. 3 1.4 Statement of the problem .............................................................................................................. 4 1.5 Research questions ........................................................................................................................ 4 1.5.1 Objectives of the study ........................................................................................................... 4 1.6 Rationale for the study .................................................................................................................. 5 1.7 Scope and Limitation. ................................................................................................................... 6 1.8 Literature review ........................................................................................................................... 6 1.8.1 Literature on naming .............................................................................................................. 6 1.8.2 Literature on Turkana and other Nilotic languages ................................................................ 8 1.9 Theoretical Frame work ................................................................................................................ 9 1.9.1 The Ad Hoc Concept............................................................................................................ 10 1.9.2 Narrowing ............................................................................................................................ 11 1.9.3 Broadening ........................................................................................................................... 12 1.10 Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 14 1.10.1 Area of Data collection ...................................................................................................... 14 1.10.2 Study Design ...................................................................................................................... 15 1.10.3 Data Collection .................................................................................................................. 15 1.10.4 Data Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 16 1.11 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 17 CHAPTER TWO: THE MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF TURKANA ANTHROPONYMY ............................................................................................................................. 18 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 18 iv 2.2 Morphology of Turkana Nouns ................................................................................................... 18 2.2.1 Number marking .................................................................................................................. 20 2.2.2 Gender in Turkana ............................................................................................................... 23 2.2.3 Locative case ........................................................................................................................ 23 2.2.4 Derivation ............................................................................................................................ 26 2.2.5 Personal names derived from nouns .................................................................................... 31 2.3 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 33 CHAPTER THREE: SEMANTIC MEANING OF PERSONAL NOUNS ......................................... 34 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 34 3.2 Personal Names from Related Flora ........................................................................................... 34 3.2.1 Unique Female Names Related to Plants ............................................................................. 35 3.2.2 Names Related to Features of Plants .................................................................................... 36 3.3 Personal names derived from Animals and insects (Fauna) ....................................................... 36 3.3.1 Gender Specific Names .......................................................................................................