A SYNTACTIC ANALYSIS OF KULUNG LANGUAGE By Isa Adamu Haliru Ph.D/Arts/02506/2008-09 B.A. (ABU) 1991. M.A. (MAKURDI) 2004 AThesis submitted to the School of Post Graduate Studies, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctorate Degree of Philosophy in African Language (Linguistics). Department of African Languages and Cultures, Faculty of Arts, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria May, 2016 i Declaration I hereby declare that the work in this thesis titled ―A Syntactic Analysis of Kulung Language‖ was performed by mein the Department of African Languages and Cultures, under the supervision of Professor Munir Mamman, Doctor B.S.Y. Al-Hassan and Professor Lawan Amin. The information derived from the literature has been duly acknowledged in the text and a list of references provided. No part of this work has been presented for another degree or diploma at any institution. __________________ ______________ Isa Adamu Haliru Date i Certification This thesis titled ―A Syntactic Analysis of Kulung Language‖ meets the regulations governing the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the Ahmadu Bello University, and is approved for its contribution to knowledge and literary presentation. Prof. Munir Mamman _________________ ______________ Chairman, Supervisory Committee Signature Date Dr. B.S.Y Al-Hassan _________________ ______________ Member, Supervisory Committee Signature Date Prof. Muhammad Lawan Amin _________________ ______________ Member, Supervisory Committee Signature Date Dr. Salisu Garba _________________ ______________ Head of Department Signature Date Prof. Kabir Bala _________________ ______________ Dean School of Postgraduate Studies Signature Date ii Dedication This thesis is dedicated to the memory of my late father Alhaji Isa Bambur (JSB) 1927-2009 may his soul rest in perfect peace, Amin. iii Acknowledgments I wish to express my special gratitude to my major supervisor Professor Munir Mamman, whose wealth of experience has come to bear on the quality of this dissertation. Another remarkable figure is Dr. S.B.Y. Al-Hassan, who initiated me into the fascinating field of syntax in both its structuralist and generativist dimensions. His influence pervades this entire dissertation. ProfessorMuhammad Lawan Amin provided the work with the fine-tuning it needed through various thematic and embellishing suggestions. I am grateful to Dr. Jonah Amodu, Department of English and Literary Studies, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria for his constructive criticism which shapes this dissertation. I also remained grateful to Professor Mohammed Mu‘azu Aminu of the Department of Languages and Linguistics, University of Maiduguri, my external examiner who providesthis study ample material which improves the quality of this dissertation. I must single out some people for special mention. They are professors Umara Shettima Bulakarima and Ahmed Baba Tela, for their various comments, which uplifted the quality of this work. Mention must be made of a number of other people especially in the Department of African Languages and Cultures, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, such as Dr. Balarabe Abdullahi, Malam Adamu Ibrahim Malumfashi, Dr. Magaji Tsoho Yakawada, MalamAbubakar Sarki Mohammad, Dr. Aliyu Muhammad Busa, Dr Salisu Garba, Malam Shua‘ibu Abdulmumini, Dr. Shua‘ibu Hassan and Malam Abdulmalik Aminu, all of whom contributed to the overall success in one way or another. I am also indebted to my colleagues who were enthusiastic in reading the draft of this dissertation. My sincere gratitude goes to Professor Tar Adejir, Dr. Aboki Sallah, Malam Aboki Muhammad Sani, Malam Surajo Ladan, Mr. Beavens Ajiduku, Mr. Ishaya Yusuf, Mr. Antonio iv Jang And Malam Nasiru A. Yahya. Additionally, I must thankfully mentionMr. Bukar Amos Hena, Mr. Martin Idris Balasa most of whom had so much to do, but found time to render helpful suggestions. Needless to say, this dissertation has drawnheavily on the works of others. I would like to believe that my indebtedness in this regard will be clear under the cover term references. Obviously, without the help of the native speakers of the Kulung Language, I could not have succeeded to a certain extend. My heart-felt appreciation goes to Mr. Gwaska Mkpakibi and Malam Yola Badugu for their brilliant contributions, and they proved to be indispensable research assistants. I am also thankful to Rev. Ayuba Ndule who provided me with the texts with which my analysis was anchored, especially Bawuri Yamba and Ngyel ye Yesu. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my wife Hajiya Fatima, and my children, Aisha, Amina, Amrat and Amin, for their patience and encouragement during this study. v ABSTRACT This study is a syntactic description of Kulung, a member of Southern Jarawa of the Bantu group of the Benue-Congo family of the Niger-Congo phylum. The study seeks to describe those grammatical categories in Kulung that permits a native speaker of Kulung to speak and be understood by the member of the speech community. The knowledge of words and their meanings and the way they are pronounced, the syntactic environment where theyco-occur and their syntactic compositions. The objective of the study, however, is the overall explication of the knowledge Kulung native speaker has in relation to his/her language. This special sort of knowledge can be represented as a set of rules or principles. The study examines the nature of the rules and the elements that make them useful for describing the syntactic competence of the Kulung native speaker. Thus intra-sentential hierarchies, i.e. phrases and clauses as lexical composites and sentential constituencies comprised part of the data for analysis. It has been observed that two types of relations exist in the structure of human language, horizontal and vertical (precedence and dominance). Horizontally, sentence is arranged in a linear sequence in terms of occurrence, the noun precedes the verb; the verb precedes the object in the data. Vertically, structures are organized in hierarchy, phrasal categories dominate lexical categories. The noun phrase for example has the noun or pronoun as its constitutional integrity. The research report employs multiple tools, interview, participant, observation and the use of secondary sources which are the printed texts available in the language. The researcher is a native speaker also part of the data is by introspection. This study sees Kulung language as having a basic canonical SUBJECT-VERB-OBJECT order throughout. That SVO is the only permissible order of the basic constituents in simple declarative sentences is confirmed by data available from this study. Kulung is both agglutinative and synthetic language. It has no gender distinction but has constraints on the morphosyntactic features of the verb which shows agreement in number and tense. In Kulung empty words such as ir:, yaba are the properties of the verb which are markers of present and future tenses. The past tense is marked by inflection. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page - - - - - - - - - - i Declaration - - - - - - - - - - ii Certification - - - - - - - - - - iii Acknowledgements - - - - - - - - - v Abstract - - - - - - - - - - vii Table of Contents - - - - - - - - - viii List of Figures - - - - - - - - - - xvii List of Tables - - - - - - - - - - xviii List of Appendix - - - - - - - - - xix Abbreviations and Definition of Operational Terms - - - - - xxx CHAPTER ONE GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study - - - - - - - 1 1.2 The Kulung Language- - - - - - - - 2 1.3 The Kulung People - - - - - - - - 7 1.4 Kulung Dialects - - - - - - - - 8 1.5 Geographical Location of Kulung Language - - - - - 9 1.7 Kulung Tone Systems - - - - - - - - 12 1.8 The Sounds of Kulung - - - - - - - 13 1.8.1 Tentative Consonants of Kulung - - - - - - 13 1.8.2 Place of Articulation - - - - - - - - 14 1.8.3 Manner of Articulation - - - - - - - 16 1.8.4 Description of Kulung Phonemes - - - - - - 19 1.8.5 Compound Letters - - - - - - - - 21 1.9 Kulung Syllables Structure - - - - - - - 21 1.10 Kulung Morphological Typology - - - - - - 25 1.11 Statement of the Problem - - - - - - - 26 1.11.1 Research Questions - - - - - - - - 26 1.11.2 Aim and Objectives of the Study - - - - - - 27 vii 1.12 Significance of the Study - - - - - - - 27 CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 2.0 Introduction - - - - - - - - - 29 2.1 Kulung Language - - - - - - - - 30 2.2.1 Bambur - - - - - - - - - 34 2.2.2 Balasa - - - - - - - - - - 35 2.2.3 Bamingun (Kwonchi) - - - - - - - - 36 2.2.4 Banyam - - - - - - - - - 38 2.3 Yoruba- - - - - - - - - - 39 2.3.1 Focus Constructions - - - - - - - - 41 2.3.4 Logophoric Constructions - - - - - - - 44 2.4 Bassa-nge - - - - - - - - - 44 2.5 Jukun - - - - - - - - - - 47 2.6 Review of Afro-Siatic - - - - - - - - 50 2.6.1 Structure of the Hausa NP - - - - - - - 51 2.7 Kilba Language - - - - - - - - 60 2.8 Miship Language - - - - - - - - 64 2.9 Pero - - - - - - - - - - 70 2.10 Za:r - - - - - - - - - - 73 2.11 Kanuri - - - - - - - - - - 79 2.11.1 Verbal Sentences - - - - - - - - 79 2.12 Grammatical Theories - - - - - - - - 83 2.12.1 Phrase Structure Grammar - - - - - - - 85 2.12.2 Its Strengths and Weaknesses - - - - - - - 87 2.12.5 The Transformational Sub-Component - - - - - 89 2.12.6 Principles and Parameters Theory (PPT) - - - - - 91 viii 2.12.7 Modular Approach - - - - - - - - 95 2.12.8 X-bar theory - - - - - - - - - 95 2.12.9 Theta theory - - - - - - - - - 97 2.12.10 Government Theory - - - - - - - - 98 1.12.11 Bounding Theory