1st Edition

The Bantu Noun Phrase Issues and Perspectives

Edited By Blasius Achiri-Taboh Copyright 2024
254 Pages 30 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

254 Pages 30 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

254 Pages 30 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This collection of original essays addresses salient issues in a range of empirical and conceptual analyses, providing detailed case studies of phenomena in Bantu languages and robust and interesting discussions on the structure of the noun phrase. This volume speaks to contemporary debates on the Bantu noun phrase, seeking to stimulate a greater understanding of the true nature of adnominal... Read more

Chapter 1. Introduction: Conceptualizing the Bantu Noun Phrase

Blasius Achiri-Taboh

Part 1: Phrase structure

Chapter 2. On the size and category of Bantu nominal expressions

Vicki Carstens

Chapter 3. Adjectives in the Ngamambo noun phrase: Issues of pre- and post-modification

Blasius Achiri-Taboh

Chapter 4. Nominal morphology and syntax of Rwa-Meru

Amani Lusekelo, Samson Sarakikya and Blasius Achiri-Taboh

Chapter 5. Nominal structure and the internal organization of the noun phrase in Nugunu

Théophile Ambadiang

Part 2: Tone in the internal structure of the NP

Chapter 6. Tonology of the Luganda Noun Phrase

Larry M. Hyman and Francis X. Katamba

Chapter 7. Morphology and Tonology of the Vocative in Basaa

Emmanuel-Moselly Makasso

Chapter 8. The augment in Shingazidja

Cédric Patin

Part 3: Anaphoric relations

Chapter 9. Content words and contextual meaning: Lexical NPs as discourse anaphora in Makhuwa and Cuwabo

Lutz Marten, Hannah Gibson, Rozenn Guérois and Teresa Poeta

Chapter 10. Aspects of referent tracking in Northern Sotho

Mampaka Lydia Mojapelo

Biography

Blasius Achiri-Taboh is Associate Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Buea, Cameroon.

‘This volume is an invaluable guide to the issues surrounding the structure and interpretation of nominal phrases in Bantu languages, but also provides an excellent source and testing ground for theories of nominal structure beyond Bantu. The empirical range of these studies in Bantu linguistics is broad, though most of the chapters address in detail the structure of nominals in a single Bantu language. Excellent chapters investigate tone, case, the structures that determine word order in nominals, relativization, definiteness and indefiniteness, anaphoricity and referentiality, all using clear criteria for classification and analysis. It is an outstanding contribution to our understanding of both Bantu syntax and semantics and nominal structure more generally.’

Ken Safir, Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at Rutgers University, USA.

'This collection of papers on the structure of the Bantu noun phrase will be of interest to all Bantuists, and to syntacticians more generally who are interested in the exploration of contemporary syntactic accounts of the NP or DP that have developed in the context of minimalism and of government and binding theory. It will also be of interest to linguists interested in the range of ways found in Bantu languages to establish and retain reference in discourse, and to phonologists interested in learning more about the complex processes that govern the realization in noun phrase tone patterns in the Bantu languages.'

John Goldsmith, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Chicago, USA.