SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The thesis is divided into seven chapters and is mainly devoted to an analysis, in formal terms, of the grammatical categories of mood, polarity, tense, person, number, transitivity and aspect that need to be set up for a synchronic description of the verbal piece in Nzema. The introductory first chapter presents a general classification of the verb as a linguistic unit in the grammar, the characteristic phonological features of the verb word and its grammatical features; and, as a convenient reference, a summary of the grammatical categories set up together with the systems of their terms is provided. Chapter 2 presents, as a necessary background, a phonetic and phonological description of the speech sounds of Nzema. The remaining chapters 3-7 contain the main body of the analysis of the grammatical categories. Chapter 3 deals with the three terms of indicative, interrogative and imperative set up within the category of Mood. Chapter 4 considers the category of Polarity in its specific relation to imperative mood clauses and treats together the two categories of Polarity and Tense as they relate to indicative and interrogative mood clauses. In the description of the various tense forms and their distinctive features, two contexts, marked by a nominal phrase or pronominal subject, are selected for the examples. Chapter 5 presents together the closely-related categories of Person and Number. Chapter 6 deals with the sets of grammatical relations between the verb and any items that may follow it in the clause by means of the seven terms; transitive, complex transitive, intransitive, complex semi-transitive, semi-transitive, ditransitive and relational within the category of Transitivity. A sub-classification of the verbs capable of occurring in each transitivity clause-type is also provided. Finally, Chapter 7 treats the tripartite distinction between normal and ingressive, dynamic and stative, and causative and non-causative within the category of Aspect.