A SEMANTIC ANALYSIS OF EKEGUSII KINSHIP TERMINOLOGIES ARUNGO EUNICE KEMUNTO A RESEARCH PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER OF ARTS DEGREE IN LINGUISTICS, DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS AND LANGUAGES, UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI 2016 DECLARATION This research project is my original work and has not been submitted for examination in any other university. Signature………………………………………… Date …………………….. Arungo Eunice Kemunto C50/74457/2014 This research project has been submitted for examination with our approval as the University supervisors. Signature………………..………….………………Date ………………………. Dr. Mohammed Akidah Department of Linguistics Signature………………..………….………………Date ………………………. Dr Otiso Zipporah Department of Linguistics ii DEDICATION To my husband Lugard Mogusu Obondi You were a great source of inspiration to me. Your moral and financial support is immeasurable. To my sons Peter and Lameck. You really motivated me to soldier on. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT My sincere gratitude goes to the Almighty God for granting me good health and for bringing me this far. My heartfelt appreciation goes to my supervisors Dr Akida and Dr. Otiso for their professional guidance and devotion towards the completion of this study. Their unwavering support and constructive criticism helped to shape this piece of work. May the Almighty God bless them abundantly. Special thanks go to my course lecturers in the Department of Linguistics and Languages: Prof. Luciah Omondi, Prof. Okoth Okombo, Dr.Schroeder, Dr. Alfred Buregeya, Dr. Jane Oduor, Dr. Marete, and Dr. Michira for their contribution towards my coursework. Each one of them contributed immensely to this work. Thank you all for the academic nourishment. My appreciation also goes to my M.A linguistics classmates (2014-2016); Caro, Rose, June, Rael, Jeniffer, Liu, Michael, Shem, Veilon, Kitheka and Change. It was great knowing you and working with you. My heartfelt gratitude goes to my husband who encouraged me to enrol for my masters degree and gave me moral and financial support throughout the course. Thanks to my mum who tirelessly answered my questions. My sincere thanks to Edith for continuously typing my work. I am grateful to my sons Peter and Lameck for encouraging me and for providing a conducive environment at home. Special thanks go to my informants Osebe, Kemunto, Riogi and Ombasa, I appreciate the good work you did. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ................................................................................................................ ii DEDICATION ................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................. iv LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. ix LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................... xii DEFINITION OF KINSHIP TERMINOLOGIES........................................................... xiv ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... xvi CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background to the Study ............................................................................................... 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem .............................................................................................. 3 1.3 Research Objectives ...................................................................................................... 3 1.4 Research Hypotheses .................................................................................................... 4 1.5 Justification of the Study .............................................................................................. 4 1.6 Scope and Limitation .................................................................................................... 4 1.7 Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................. 5 1.8 Literature Review........................................................................................................ 12 1.9 Research Methodology ............................................................................................... 16 1.9.1 Data collection Techniques ........................................................................................... 16 1.9.2 Data Analysis ................................................................................................................ 16 CHAPTER TWO ............................................................................................................ 17 AN OVERVIEW OF KINSHIP TERMINOLOGIES ................................................. 17 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 17 2.2 Kinship Terminologies................................................................................................ 17 2.3 Typology of Families .................................................................................................. 18 2.3.1 The Elementary Family ................................................................................................. 18 2.3.2 The Compound Family ................................................................................................. 19 2.3.3 The Extended Family ................................................................................................... 21 2.4 Kinship Systems.......................................................................................................... 21 2.4.1 Gender ......................................................................................................................... 22 2.4.2 Relative age ................................................................................................................... 23 v 2.4.3 Generation ..................................................................................................................... 23 2.4.4 Consanguine Kin ........................................................................................................... 24 2.4.5 Affinal Kinship ............................................................................................................. 27 2.5 Types of Kinship Systems .......................................................................................... 29 2.5.1 Descriptive System of Kinship ..................................................................................... 29 2.5.2 Classificatory System of Kinship .................................................................................. 30 2.5.3 Swazi kinship system .................................................................................................... 33 2.5.4 Ekegusii patrilineal and matrilineal trees ...................................................................... 33 2.5.5 Ekegusii Partrilineal and Matrilineal Genealogical Trees ............................................ 35 2.6 Kinship Principles ....................................................................................................... 37 2.6.1 Collateral Principle ....................................................................................................... 37 2.6.2 Lineal Principle ............................................................................................................. 37 2.7 Ekegusii Kinship Relations ......................................................................................... 38 2.7.1 Husband –wife (wives) Relationships ........................................................................... 38 2.7.2 Parent –Children Relationships ..................................................................................... 39 2.7.3 Sibling relationships ...................................................................................................... 40 2.7.4 Paternal relationships .................................................................................................... 41 2.7.5 Maternal relationships ................................................................................................... 41 2.7.6 Grandparent-grandchild relations ................................................................................. 41 2.7.7 Sibling‟s children relations ........................................................................................... 42 2.7.8 Relations by marriage ................................................................................................... 42 2.7.9 Children‟s spouses ........................................................................................................ 43 2.7.10 Siblings spouses .......................................................................................................... 43 2.7.11 Parents in-law .............................................................................................................. 43 2.7.12 Great grand-parents-relations ...................................................................................... 43 2.8 Formation of ekegusii kinship