A SEMANTIC ANALYSIS OF KIKAMBA SPATIAL EXPRESSIONS USING THE COGNITIVE SEMANTICS THEORY NGINA, FLORENCE KILONZO C50/84013/2012 A RESEARCH PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN LINGUISTICS UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS 2015 DECLARATION This project is my original work and has not been submitted for a degree or any other award in any other university. Signature …………………………………. Date……………………… Name: Ngina, Florence Kilonzo C50/84013/2012 SUPERVISORS This project has been submitted for examination with our approval as university supervisors Signature……………………………… Date………………….. Dr. Helga Shroeder Signature………………………… Date…………………….. Dr Iribe Mwangi ii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ............................................................................................................................ ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... vi DEDICATION .............................................................................................................................. vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................... viii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER ONE ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Background to the study ........................................................................................................... 1 1.3 Statement of the problem .......................................................................................................... 2 1.4 Research questions .................................................................................................................... 4 1.5 Objectives ................................................................................................................................. 5 1.6 Rationale of the study ............................................................................................................... 5 1.7 Scope and limitations ................................................................................................................ 5 1.8 Literature review ....................................................................................................................... 6 1.8.1 Literature on Kikamba .................................................................................................... 6 1.8.2 Literature on spatial prepositions ................................................................................... 7 1.9 Theoretical framework .............................................................................................................. 9 1.9.1 Cognitive Semantics Theory .......................................................................................... 9 1.9.2 Frames of reference ...................................................................................................... 10 1.10 Definition of terms ................................................................................................................ 12 1.11 Research methodology .......................................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER 2: DEMONSTRATIVES USED AS SPATIAL EXPRESSIONS ....................... 15 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 15 2.2. General overview of demonstratives ..................................................................................... 15 2.3 Demonstratives in spatial perspective ..................................................................................... 16 2.4 Kikamba Spatial Adverbial Demonstratives ........................................................................... 18 2.5 Kikamba adjectival demonstratives ........................................................................................ 22 iii 2.6. Kikamba spatial demonstrative pronouns .............................................................................. 24 2.7 Summary ................................................................................................................................. 29 CHAPTER 3: SPATIAL ORIENTATION IN RELATION TO OBJECTS. ....................... 30 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 30 3.2 General overview of spatial prepositions ................................................................................ 30 3.3 Figure and ground in prepositions .......................................................................................... 31 3.4 Kikamba Spatial Prepositions ................................................................................................ 31 3.4.1 ĩũlũ wa – ( on top of/ above/ up) .................................................................................. 32 3.4.2 – ea na (down) ............................................................................................................. 34 3.4.3 – lĩngĩ - ( a/round) ........................................................................................................ 35 3.5 Summary ................................................................................................................................. 45 CHAPTER 4: BODY SIDEDNESS ORIENTATION FOR FIGURE AND GROUND ..... 46 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 46 4.2 An overview of body sidedness as a co ordinate system ........................................................ 46 4.3 Kwoko kwa aka (the left hand) ............................................................................................... 47 4.4 Kwoko kwa aume (the right hand) ......................................................................................... 49 4.5 Mbee wa – ( before/ ahead of/ in front of) .............................................................................. 52 4.6 Ĩtina wa – (behind/ at the back of/ after).............................................................................. 56 4.7 Absolute frames of reference .................................................................................................. 58 4.7.1 Mũniino wa ũsĩ (along the river bank) ......................................................................... 59 4.7.2 The Kikamba Preposition - ma syĩĩmanĩ (of the hills). ............................................... 61 4.7.3 Umiloni Wa Sua – (East) And Uthuiloni Wa Sua (West) ............................................ 62 4.7.4 Kikamba Preposition ĩũlũ yĩu – ( west/westwards) and ĩtheo yĩu – (east/ eastwards) . 63 4.8 Summary ................................................................................................................................. 65 CHAPTER 5: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...................... 67 5.1 Summary ................................................................................................................................. 67 5.2 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 67 5.3 Recommendations for further research ................................................................................... 69 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 70 iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BP – body part DEM – demonstrative FoR - Frame of Reference PERF – perfect tense PGR – progressive tense PL – plural PPT – past participle tense PREP – preposition SGL – singular SPT – simple present tense v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 adverbial demonstratives from the zero-point ................................................................ 17 Figure 2 showing kikamba spatial demonstrative adverbs in three dimensions in relation to the deictic center. ................................................................................................................. 22 Figure 3 showing the distribution of Kikamba demonstratives in their contrastive distribution. 27 Figure 4 showing the meaning of –lingĩ - (a/round). ................................................................... 36 Figure 5 showing the spatial orientation of ng‟oko (over). .......................................................... 41 Figure 6 showing the spatial orientation of mũingo (across). ..................................................... 43 Figure 7 showing across (mũkĩlo) the road. ................................................................................. 44 Figure 8 the garden F is to the left of the home G from the view point V. ................................... 48 Figure 9 the garden F is to the right of the home G from the view point V .................................. 50 Figure 10 showing the Kikamba preposition