Language and Culture Archives Dinka Noun Systems and Their Impact on Learning English by Dinka Lino Kiir Kuony Jok ©2004, Lino Kiir Kuony Jok License This document is part of the SIL International Language and Culture Archives. It is shared ‘as is’ in order to make the content available under a Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivativeWorks (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). More resources are available at: www.sil.org/resources/language-culture-archives. Table of Contents Page Dedication i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii Table of Contents iv CHAPTER ONE Framework of the Research 1 1.0. Introduction 1 1.1. Statement of the problem 2 1.2. Questions of the research 2 1.3. The aims of the study 2 14. Significant of the study 3 1.5. Basic assumptions 3 1.6. Limitations 4 CHAPTER TWO Review of Literature 5 2.0. Introduction 5 2.1. Theoretical background 6 2.2. Phonemics 7 2.3. Consonant phonemes 8 2.4. Vowel phonemes 9 2.5. Tones 13 2.6. Syllables 13 2.7. Morphology 14 2.8. Dinka nouns in singular and plural 14 2.9. Dinka nouns with possessive and numeral (one) 19 CHAPTER THREE Methodology 25 3.0. Introduction 25 i 3.1. Research method 25 3.2. Setting 25 3.3. Data and Sample 26 3.4. validation 27 CHAPTER FOUR Results and discussion 29 4.0. Introduction 29 4.1. Consonant Sounds 29 4.2. Place of Articulation 30 4.3. Manner of Articulation 32 4.4. Vowel Sounds 35 4.5. Tongue height 36 4.5.1. Tongue Advancement 37 4.5.2. Lip rounding 37 4.5.3. Diphthong Vowels 40 4.5.4. Tones 41 4.5.5. syllables 42 4.6.0. Dinka noun systems 43 4.6.1. Codified Morphonemic 50 4.6.2. Nuon Classification 50 4.6.3. possessive and Quantified nouns 51 4.6.4. Summary 53 CHAPTER FIVE Summary and conclusions 56 5.0. Introduction 5.6 5.1. Summary of the study 56 5.2. Overview of the findings. 58 5.3. Pedagogical implications 59 5.4. Recommendations for further research 60 5.5. Conclusions 60 References 63 ii Dedication To the memory of my late mother Aguek Bak kuc and my late father kuony Jok kuony, and to my only two sisters for their love and patience since my childhood till now. iii Acknowledgements My thanks goes to the Almighty God for giving me this opportunity and health to study in the University of Juba. I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Dr-Lodu Lo – Wani Pitia for his guidance and encouragement. I am grateful to the Sudan Workshop Programme for sponsoring my studies in the University of Juba and to Dr.John Hollman and Pam Hollman, Dr. Leoma Gilley, Miss. Elizabeth Newport, Mrs. Pam Cope and Ustuz Protasio Dut Wol for their constructive advice and guidance in my training on writing vernacular languages and recommending sponsorship for M.A. Study. I would also like to extend my thanks and appreciation to following people: my wife and my children for their patience, understanding, encouragement and love. I would also like to extend my thanks and appreciation to the following: Peter Majwok, Dominic Thomas and Ruaf Rahamatalla for their assistance which has contributed positively to the success of this paper. iv Abstract The results obtained were assessed using the available Dinka vocabularies. The findings show that there are eight Noun system that depend heavily on vowel change process, especially the singular/plural. This process sometimes has little consistancy and that makes the establishment of rules difficult. Most of the nouns depend on the length and lowering of high vowels and vice- versa. The possessive and quantified nouns include nasalization of ending certain stops and vowel sounds. The finding of this study further indicate that the noun systems of Dinka language tend to use more length and lowering strategies more than the other six processes. However, the difficulty may be attributed to lack of proper linguistic study of Dinka morphology. The study also indicates that vowel length covers all the Dinka vowels than the other strategies. The results of the qualitative analysis of Dinka morphological nouns agreement suggest that the major problem faced by the Dinka learners of English seem to be this sharp difference between the two languages in the area of phonetics, phonology, morphology and syntax. Thus, inorder to overcome this a learner must be made aware or guided in these areas. the results of the study also suggest that there is a need for more linguistic research in Dinka to discover other hiden elements. v UNIVERSITY OF JUBA COLLEGE OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE DINKA NOUN SYSTEMS AND THEIR IMPACT ON LEARNING ENGLISH BY DINKA BY: LINO KIIR KUONY JOK SUPERVISED: BY Dr. LODU LO- WANI PITIA A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR THE REQUIREMENTS OF M.A. DEGREE IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (T.E.F.L) NOV. 2004 vi CHAPTER ONE Framework of the Research 1.0. Introduction Morphemes: are units of words or words i.e. one part of language description. Morphemes form a linguistics branch called morphology. They are termed as lexical units and lexicon is defined by dictionaries as the vocabulary of an individual speaker or total stock of morphemes or words which do not carry meanings only in isolation. Their meanings are affected by situational context, social usage. (language file.) It is an important phenomenon for both teacher and student of the language to be aware of such knowledge. Always the grammar of language relies very much on this phenomenon for its description of meanings.(language file.) The present investigation aims at identifying the areas of difficulties in the process of singular and plural and categorizes the existing Dinka nouns. However, challenges are expected to arise, since the Dinka language is still in the process of development. 1.1. Statement of the problem Dinka learner of English faces problems in English nouns systems due to differences and difficulty in pronunciation of certain sounds and formation of plurals, possessives and quantified nouns (experiences.) The problem to be investigated is the varying systems of vowel change in Dinka nouns. The influence of plural, possessive and quantitative noun cases in affecting the form of the word. It is a good exercise for a teacher and learner to see that morphological patterns of different languages are approached differently. 1. 2. The Questions of the study The questions of the study are: 1. What are the morphological systems of Dinka nouns? 2. What types of patterns are there? 3. What difficulty do they present to the learner of English as a second language? 1. 3. The aims of the study The study aims to satisfy the following objectives:- 2 1. To identify, describe and categorize the morphological elements of Dinka nouns. 2. To discover a rule that may reduce too much variation and difficulty in the use of patterns. 3. To see where consistency is possible. 4. To suggest Possible approach or method which could be used in dealing with given patterns. 1.4. Significance of the study This study attempts to explain the Dinka nouns. The results of this study may be useful to the teachers of language because morphology is a part of language study that has to be described and is a source of absorbing practical problems, (Mathew 1991). The significance of the study is that, it is providing strategies for teaching and language learning. It is contributing to the resources of developing writing and understanding Dinka Grammar. It is suggesting or high-lighting areas for future research. 1. 5. The basic assumptions 1. Always, the teachers and learners of Dinka are frightened by the complexity of Dinka morphology based on vowels. 2. Too many varied elements affect performances. 3 3. There has been no adequate morphological studies so discoveries are expected. 4. Fossilizations in the use of some consonants and vowels which exist in Dinka (i.e. th,dh, Ř Óå 1.6. Limitation of the study The study is limited to the following:- 1. Description of Dinka nouns singular and plural morphemes. 2. Nouns morphemes in possessives. 3. Nouns morphemes in numerals. 4 CHAPTER TWO Review of Literature 2.0. Introduction This chapter attempts to investigate the Dinka nouns morphology at the bases of singular and plural, possessive and numeral (one) which may require a simple introduction to the orthography. The Orthography for writing Dinka language began with the Rejaf Conference (1928).The Rejaf Conference recommended nine southern Sudanese languages to be used as media for instructions in Primary education in the southern Sudan. The Orthography for the nine languages consisted ( a,e,i,o,u ) vowel sounds. For Dinka language, other conferences and investigations were held at (!P׌ ×åO to add ( Ç Ä ǨIA ŒI )DǨMOJPH 1P H H ř M ' I N O Œ O P O ř J B G Œ I C P Œ N O Œ @ N Ǩ I A (J ? O J M ř Q Œ N ř ODř "ŒIFǨ .DJIJGJCT and recommend the use of breathy and vowel-length to solve some reading problems. But the morphological problems remain to be investigated. 5 2.1. Theoretical background. Languages can be classified according to the number and kind of morphemes that are most commonly used to form their words. Languages in which most words are formed from roots, Prefixes and suffixes are called Agglutinating languages . A Bantu language like kikuyu is one of such languages . Languages in which most words are formed from single morphemes are called Isolating languages .