A cartographic analysis of Kĩmũthambĩ clause structure

Abstract

Conventional analysis of the clause structure and clausal domains do not provide detailed information about the functional projections of the clausal domain, nor do they provide the architecture of constituents that appear in such constructions. In contrast, such details are apparent in the Cartography of Syntax approach as posited by Rizzi (1997) and subsequent work. This study analyzed the clause structure of Kĩmũthambĩ, a central Kenya Bantu language spoken in Tharaka-Nithi, Kenya. The study was guided by the Cartography of Syntax; an approach that provides a detailed hierarchical nature account of constituents in left periphery of the clause. The study analysed the structure of the simple clause, conditional and temporal complex sentences in Kĩmũthambĩ, with the main focus being on the structure of the left peripheries. Existing literature revealed that rarity of studies on clausal and sentential aspects of the various dialects of the Meru group. Cartographic studies of the left periphery in African languages exist but they are more concentrated on the western Africa Bantu languages and Chadic languages. Thus, this study set out to investigate how cartography of syntax can account for the mapping of constituents in a central Kenya Bantu language. The study is descriptive in approach. Data was sourced from naturally occurring and spontaneous discourse in natural settings. In addition, data was collected using a structure translation exercise administered to language consultants and the researcher’s intuition. Analysis of data was done by first analysing the structure of Kĩmũthambĩ simple clause and aspects of the left periphery. It was demonstrated that Kĩmũthambĩ left periphery has various functional projections and has the basic structure of ForceP-InterP-TopP-FocP-ModPFinP. As is cross linguistically common, complementizer ati ‘that’ has strong declarative features and kana ‘if/whether’ with strong interrogative feature. Semantically, complementizer ati is also a dubitative particle especially when it occurs with interrogative sentences. Movement of focus and topic constituents to the left periphery is as a result of the need mark [+focus] features at the Foc head position and [+topic] features at Top head position. The study concluded that syntactic elements that manifest in left periphery adhere to the cartographic analysis of the left periphery as postulated by Rizzi (1997). Furthermore, the study analyzed conditional and temporal clauses in the language and found out that they have an elaborate left periphery though not as elaborate as that of the simple clause. This research contributes to the study of Kĩmũthambĩ language which has little theoretical research attention. The study also contributes to the study of clause structure in Bantu languages which in turn adds to the body of knowledge on Bantu syntax and generally to linguistic studies in African languages.