The Kifuliiru Language, Volume 2: a Descriptive Grammar (Publications in Linguistics (Sil))

This groundbreaking study addresses all grammatical levels of Kifuliiru, a Bantu (J) language of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Together with its companion volume The Kifuliiru Language: Volume 1: Phonology, Tone, and Morphological Derivation, this is one of the most thorough Bantu grammars available, aiming to describe all grammatical features found in over 100 narrative texts, and to provide natural examples.

At the word level, this book covers nouns, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, demonstratives, locatives, ideophones and interjections. The chapter on verbs catalogues the amazing range of tenses, aspects, and moods. There is a comprehensive chapter on reduplication, and another on proverbs. At the clause level, information structure is carefully presented, including possible alternations of the default clause word order. A complete set of distinct interclausal relations is also laid out.

Of particular interest is a detailed study of narrative discourse, an area that most Bantu grammars to date do not cover. This study includes a fascinating section on tight-knit conversations. Also noted are various development markers, which demarcate two distinct levels of thematic salience. Intonation and pauses are also described, including a typical long pause between topic and comment.

Many of the discourse features described in this book are common to Bantu languages, and this volume thus invites further comparative study. The contents of this book have already provided a springboard for extensive discourse study in dozens of related languages.

This two volume set comprises "one of the most comprehensive grammars of any Bantu language."
--Derek Nurse, Research Professor in the Linguistics Department, Memorial University

The Two Volume Set (9781556712791)is available.

Table of Contents

Dedication
List of Tables
Preface
Acknowledgments
Bafuliiru Foreward
A Brief Background to Writing Grammars in Africa by Derek Nurse
Contributing to Language Revitalization and Maintenance by John Watters
Abbreviations
Maps

1 Introduction
Language name and classification
Dialects
Previous language work; contributors to the present work
Inventory of parts of speech
Conventions
Possible mismatches between Kifuliiru and other languages

2 Nouns
Constituent structure of the noun
Class agreement triggered by noun gender-number
Semantic categories typically found in various Kifuliiru noun classes

3 Pronouns and Demonstratives
Previous reference: the morpheme e / o
Verb prefix pronouns and enclitic pronouns
Personal pronouns
Interrogative pronouns
Demonstratives

4 Adjectives, Numbers, and Quantifiers

5 Adverbs

6 Ideophones, Interjections, and Greetings

7 Noun Phrases
Noun phrase structure
Augments
Associative phrases
Associative pronouns
Conjunctives used with noun phrases
Noun phrases involving mwene ownership
Noun phrases with following nouns of apposition
Multiple noun phrase embedding

8 Locative and Position Phrases

9 Verb Words and Phrases
Overview of verb form types
Detailed inventory of TAM form/meanings

10 Clauses and Information Structure

11 Dependent Clauses and Interclausal Relations
Dependent adverbial clauses
Analytic causatives
Reduced clauses indicating concomitant state
Complement clauses
Relative clauses
Relations between independent clauses
Pauses at the sentence level

12 Narrative Forms
Speech register summary
Narrative text units
Highlighting
Reporting of conversation
Participant reference

13 Proverbs and Riddles

14 Reduplication structural considerations