KENYATTA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND LINGUISTICS A MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF BISA NOUNS: A DIALECT OF THE BEMBA LANGUAGE IN MPIKA DISTRICT, ZAMBIA BY: MWESHI JAMESON C50F/30658/2015 SUPERVISOR: DR. PHYLLIS W. MWANGI A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN ENGLISH AND LINGUISTICS OF KENYATTA UNIVERSITY JULY, 2018 DECLARATION “This dissertation is my original work and has not been presented for a degree in any other university.” Signature: ………………………….. Date: …………………….. Name: Mweshi Jameson Registration number: C50F/30658/2015 This dissertation has been submitted for review with my approval as university supervisor. Signature: …………………………….. Date: …………………….. Dr. Phyllis W. Mwangi DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND LINGUISTICS, KENYATTA UNIVERSITY ii DEDICATION This piece of work is dedicated to my wife, Elizabeth Musonda Mweshi and our children; Coster Mweshi, Joy Mweshi and Joan Mweshi. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I thank God for his grace which has seen me through in my studies at Kenyatta University. Things seemed to be difficult for me as an international student. However, he granted me an opportunity to complete my study programme. Therefore, I thank Him very much. I wish to thank my supervisor, Dr. Phyllis W. Mwangi for being very supportive and patient with me during the supervision process. I thank her for all the guidance she gave me in the course of study. I wish to thank her for ensuring that I work on my study at the right pace without delays. I also thank my family, especially my wife Elizabeth Musonda Mweshi, most sincerely for her continued support and encouragements in my studies. I thank our children, Coster Mweshi, Joy Mweshi and Joan Mweshi, together with my nephew, Mumba Peter for their understanding and patience to allow me leave them in Zambia during the time I was studying in Kenya. I also thank them for their continued well wishes that I successfully complete my study programme. I thank my in-laws, Martha Ng’andwe, Fridah Mambwe and Oliver Kaunda for taking good care of our children in Zambia during the time my wife and I were studying in Kenya. I thank them for they did a wonderful job. I thank all my friends in Zambia, especially Mr. Halima for the words of encouragements during the time I lost my laptop, power pack, flash, phone, phone chargers and some documents. All the above listed items were contained in the laptop bag which got stolen in Lusaka, Zambia. I also thank Beatrice, Ghanaian PhD candidate by then, for assisting me with a laptop to use during my research work. I thank my head teacher, Mr. Siwale and my former District Education Board Secretary (DEBS), Mr. Musomali for allowing me to take a study leave. This gave me a chance to pursue my postgraduate studies. I also thank the chairperson of the Department of English and Linguistics, Dr. Purity M. Nthiga for her continued support to me in the course of study. I thank the all Bisa speakers from whom I collected data for my research work. I most sincerely thank all my lecturers in the department in all the units I studied. I thank them because they did a fantastic job. May God bless them all abundantly. iv ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS AD : After Death (of Christ) BC : Before Christ CDC : Curriculum Development Centre DEBS : District Education Board Secretary DRC : Democratic Republic of Congo MOE : Ministry of Education NP : Noun Prefix NS : Noun Stem UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization LMBM : Lexeme-Morpheme Base Morphology v DEFINITION OF TERMS Morphological analysis of nouns: The study of the internal structure of nouns. Indigenous languages: Native languages spoken by local people in various regions. Word formation: The act of assembling elements of words together to form new words. Productivity: The rate at which the invention of new words which become a part of the language system takes place. Lexeme: The fundamental unit of the lexicon of the language. Morpheme: The minimal unit of grammatical analysis. Base: A word or part of the word to which an affix is attached. Root: A word that cannot be analyzed any further into constituent morphemes. Stem: A word or part of a word to which inflectional morphemes may be added. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION......................................................................................................... ii ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ....................................................................v DEFINITION OF TERMS........................................................................................ vi LIST OF FIGURES .....................................................................................................x LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................... xi ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER ONE ..........................................................................................................1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................1 1.0 Introduction to the section ................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background to the Study ...................................................................................... 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem ..................................................................................... 6 1.3 Objectives of the Study ........................................................................................ 7 1.4 Research Questions .............................................................................................. 7 1.5 Assumptions of the Study .................................................................................... 7 1.6 Justification and Significance of the Study .......................................................... 8 1.7 Scope and Limitations.......................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER TWO .......................................................................................................10 LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ....................10 2.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 10 2.1 Literature Review............................................................................................... 10 2.1.1 Morphology of Nouns ................................................................................. 10 2.1.2 Noun Class System ..................................................................................... 11 2.1.3 Word Formation Processes ......................................................................... 16 2.1.4 Productivity of Various Word Formation Processes .................................. 19 2.2 Theoretical Framework ...................................................................................... 20 2.2.1 The Separation Hypothesis ......................................................................... 23 2.2.2 The Unitary Grammatical Function Hypothesis ......................................... 23 2.2.3 The Base Rule Hypothesis .......................................................................... 24 CHAPTER THREE ...................................................................................................26 METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................26 3.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 26 3.1 Research Design................................................................................................. 26 vii 3.2 Site of the Study ................................................................................................. 26 3.3 Study Population ................................................................................................ 27 3.5 Sampling Techniques and Sample Size ............................................................. 27 3.6 Research Instruments ......................................................................................... 29 3.7 Data Collection Procedures................................................................................ 29 3.8 Data Analysis Procedures .................................................................................. 30 3.9 Ethical Considerations ....................................................................................... 31 CHAPTER FOUR ......................................................................................................32 DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF FINDINGS ..................................................................................................................32 4.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 32 4.1 The Noun Class System of Bisa Dialect ............................................................ 32 4.1.1: Nouns Naming People ............................................................................... 33 4.1.2: Nouns Naming Body Parts ........................................................................ 35 4.1.3 Nouns Naming