Ateso Grammar: a Descriptive Account of an Eastern Nilotic Language

Ateso Grammar: a Descriptive Account of an Eastern Nilotic Language

Ateso Grammar: A Descriptive Account of an Eastern Nilotic Language David Barasa Thesis presented for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Linguistics UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN 15th March, 2017 Supervised by: Prof. Ana Deumert Dr. Mantoa Smouse University of Prof. Cape Gerrit Dimmendaal Town Dr. Helga Schroeder The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgementTown of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Cape Published by the University ofof Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University Declaration I declare that “Ateso Grammar: A Descriptive Account of an Eastern Nilotic Language” is my own work. Each significant contribution to, and quotation in, this thesis from the work, or works, of other people has been attributed, and has been cited and referenced. Signature: Date: 15th March, 2017 ii Abstract This study discusses the structure of Ateso, an Eastern Nilotic language. Based on interview and recorded data from fieldwork conducted in both Uganda and Kenya, where Ateso is spoken, the study provides the first comprehensive description of the phonology, morphology and syntax of the language. The main findings of this study are as follows: The key feature of Ateso’s phonological structure is that vowel alternation strategies are constrained by three harmony rules: root-control, feature-control, and, finally, mid-vowel assimilation. While Ateso shares this structure with the other Eastern Nilotic languages, it has its unique features as well. For example, while the other members of the Eastern Nilotic family have lost the vowel */ä/, Ateso has retained it phonetically. Ateso’s noun morphology has noun-inflectional affixes associated with gender- and number marking. The language employs noun prefixes for gender and uses suffixes to express number and to derive words from others. With regard to its verbal morphology, Ateso verb forms are inflected for a variety of functions. Inflectional categories such as person, number, tense, aspect and mood are marked on the verb either segmentally or supra-segmentally. Tense is expressed supra-segmentally by tone on the nucleus of verb roots, while different morphemes mark person, number, aspect and mood. The discussion of Ateso verb morphology covers verbal derivations and extensions; namely, causatives, ventives, itives, datives, iterative, passives and instrumentals. Regarding its syntactic structure, as a VS/VO language, Ateso allows for a complete clause made up of an inflected verb only, or an inflected verb followed by one or two NPs/or an NP and a pronoun. The language can also have sentence structures involving strategies such as coordination, subordination and clause chaining. iii Acknowledgements My research has been a long exciting journey which enjoyed immeasurable support from my supervisors, colleagues, family and friends. They have in different ways contributed positively in the writing of this thesis. I owe special thanks to my family who have always prayed for me, provided me with financial support and encouraged me all through this work. I am particularly grateful to my mother for being a great consultant on the Ateso language and for her support and encouragement during my study. I also appreciate the support and patience of my father, brother and our ‘daughters’ (Stacie and Maya) when all my energy and attention was taken away by this work. May all relatives and friends who have ever thought of and prayed for the completion of this study find here the deepest expression of all the gratitude they deserve. My sincere gratitude goes to all the consultants (native speakers of Ateso) for their patience in providing primary language data and perceptive comments throughout my fieldwork period. I am grateful to my main consultants: Tom Ekisa, Sylivester Ekali, Gorety Ong’ala, Stephen Omare, Evans Ogut, Letisha Amoit, John Okedi, Christine Ekutu, John Ikokonyi, Willy Ipapat and Tobias Barasa. Their unreserved volunteerism and tireless contribution are highly appreciated. Furthermore, I thank Ekisa, Okinyang’, Okedi and Ogut who provided me with extra support by verifying all the data collected and used in this study. I was lucky to have a panel of supervisors who were an incredible source of ideas, practical suggestions, comments and constructive criticism. I would like to express my gratitude to Prof. Ana Deumert (University of Cape Town), Prof. Gerrit Dimmendaal (University of Cologne), Dr. Mantoa Motinyane-Masoko (University of Cape Town) and Dr. Helga Schroeder (University of Nairobi) for their individual effort and much needed invaluable feedback. Throughout the writing of the present thesis, their constructive feedback and comments improved its quality. More importantly, I would never have had an opportunity to write this thesis at the University of Cape Town without the financial support I received from CALDi, the Centre for African Language Diversity based at the University of Cape Town. This centre was established with financial support from the AW Mellon Foundation in 2013. I am deeply indebted to CALDi for iv their support. I also appreciate the additional financial support I received from the Lestrade Scholarship. The writing of this thesis would never have been possible without the support from my teachers, colleagues and friends at the University of Nairobi, the University of Oregon, the University of Cologne and the University of Cape Town. My sincere appreciation goes to Dr. Alfred Buregeya and Dr. Jane Oduor (University of Nairobi), and Prof. Doris Payne (University of Oregon) for the useful suggestions and comments; Monika Feinen (cartographer, University of Cologne) for helping me to draw the Ateso language map; Aurelie Tabart and my post-graduate colleagues at the School of African and Gender Studies, Anthropology and Linguistics (Linguistics Section) at UCT and CALDi members whose feedback always stimulated me to work harder and explore new dimensions in the analysis and development of this grammar. Their scientific contribution and critical appraisal of my work at (and after) the post-graduate meetings in Linguistics greatly enhanced the quality of this thesis. My sincere thanks go to Terrill Schrock who collected data on the tenth vowel and offered them to me for use in this study. He started a discussion on an important component of the language that would otherwise have been overlooked in the analysis. Finally, I would like to thank the University of Cologne for providing me with an exciting two- month stay at Cologne, during which I worked with Prof. Gerrit Dimmendaal, Prof. Anne Storch, Nico Nassenstein and many other scholars. I must mention that working with Prof. Dimmendaal both during his one-month stay at UCT and during my visit to Cologne has been most exciting episode in the writing of this thesis. Prof. Dimmendaal has been the best mentor and guide that I could have had. I will forever be grateful! May God bless you all. v Table of contents Declaration ...................................................................................................................................... ii Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iv List of figures ............................................................................................................................... xiii List of tables ................................................................................................................................. xiii Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................ xv Chapter One: Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 Background to and rationale for the study ................................................................ 1 Research questions .................................................................................................... 3 Outline of the study ................................................................................................... 3 Chapter Two: The Iteso people and the Ateso language ................................................................ 5 The Iteso .................................................................................................................... 5 Origin of the Iteso and their alleged migration routes .............................................. 5 Demographic information ......................................................................................... 6 Geographical distribution .................................................................................. 6 Population size ................................................................................................... 8 Economic activities ................................................................................................... 9 General information about the Ateso language ........................................................ 9 The external variation ............................................................................................. 10 Regional variation

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