Classroom:The word KU in Runyankore-Rukiga

This page was created as an in-classroom exercise in LING 2208, NTNU

Author: Franciane Rocha

Author: Misah Natumanya

This page examines the grammatical function of the word "ku" in Runyankore-Rukiga. The data is the result of Typecraft's phrase search done on March 18, 2011.

KU as a word in Runyankore-Rukiga works as a conjunction:

We found 46 phrases in which Ku has the function of a conjunction. Some of them are glossed only as CONJ and others have more specific information and are glossed as CONJS and its subcategories namely COMP, REL and ADV.

In this research will be used the information about of conjunction and its subcategories provided by the Glossary of Linguistic Terms of SIL - Summer Institute of Linguistics . The relation between COnjunctions and its subcategories can be summarized in the diagram below:

Ku as only CONJ

30 of our tokens are glossed only as conjunction (CONJ) As in:

Ku naahikire ahari Butunduuzi, emotoka ereemerera obwe ku baabarareebaga emotoka ereemerera baija kureeba omufu!

“When i arrived at Butunduuzi, and then whenever the car stopped, they would come to see the dead-person.”

Ku

ku

when

CONJ

naahikire
n	aa	hik	ire
1SG	PASTrm	reach	PFV
V

ahari
a	hari
IV	atSPTL
ADJatt

Butunduuzi

butunduuzi

Np

emotoka
e	motoka
IV	car
N

ereemerera
e	ra	emerer	a
AGR	PTCP	stop	FV
V

obwe

obwe

then

CONJ

ku

ku

when

CONJ

baabarareebaga
ba	a	ba	ra	reeb	a	ga
3PL	PASTrm	3PL	PTCP	see	FV	EMPH
V

emotoka
e	motoka
IV	car
N

ereemerera
e	re	emerer	a
AGR	PTCP	stop	FV
V

baija
ba	ij	a
3PL	come	FV
V

kureeba
ku	reeba
INF	see
V

omufu!
o	mu	fu!
IV	1	the-dead

KU as a CONJS

There were 8 tokens glossed more specifically as subordinative conjunction (CONJS):

And the rest of them were glosses according to the subcategories of subordinative conjunctios as follow:

KU as a COMP

5 annotations of KU being a complementizer (COMP):

Angira ati ku turaareebe yaarugamu, na boyoofiisi agyenzire nawe, nk'oku ashangwa amutwara obundi tuzemu twihemu obusente bw'okurya.

“He told me that when we see him getting out with the officeboy, like how he normally does, perhaps we should go in and get some little money to eat.”

Angira
a	n	gir	a
3SG	1SG	tell	FV
V

ati

ati

that

CONJS

ku

ku

if

COMP

turaareebe
tu	raa	reeb	e
1PL	PRES	see	SBJV
V

yaarugamu
y	aa	rug	a	mu
	PRES	come	FV	LOC
V

na

na

with

PREP

boyoofiisi

boyoofiisi

officeboy

N

agyenzire
a	gyenz	ire
3SG	go	PFV
V

nawe
na	we
with	him
PN

nka

nka

like

PRT

oku

oku

how

ADVm

ashangwa
a	shang	w	a
3SG	find	PASS	FV
V

amutwara
a	mu	twar	a
3SGSBJ	3SGOBJ	take
V

obundi

obundi

perhaps

ADVm

tuzemu
tu	z	e	mu
1PL	go	SBJV	LOC

twihemu
tw	ih	e	mu
1PL	get	SBJV	LOC
V

obusente
o	bu	sente
IV	14	money
N

bwa

bwa

of

PREP

okurya
o	ku	ry	a
IV	INF	eat	IND

KU as REL

1 case of KU working as a relativizer (REL):

Ku naaguzire hanu naahagura miriyoni emwe n’emitwaro makumi abiri, naashuba naareeba nti ku ntaamamarwa , naashuba naaguraho ekyemitwaro 50.

“I bought here one million two hundred thousand, I was not satisfied and bought another one at five hundred thousand shillings”

Ku

ku

CONJ

REL

naaguzire
n	aa	guz	ire
1SG	PASTim	buy	PFV
V

hanu
ha	nu
16	here
DEM

naahagura
n	aa	ha	gur	a
1SG	PASTim	16	buy	FV
V

miriyoni

miriyoni

million

NUM

emwe
e	mwe
IV	one
ORD

n’emitwaro
n’	e	mi	twaro
CONJ	IV	4	ten-thousand
NUM

makumi-abiri
ma	kumi	abiri
	ten	twenty
NUM

naashuba
n	aa	shub	a
1SG	PASTim	repeat	FV
V

naareeba
n	aa	reeb	a
1SG	PASTim	see	FV
V

nti

nti

CONJ

ku

ku

REL

CONJ

ntaamarwa
n	t	aa	mar	w	a
1SG	NEG	IPFV	finish	PASS	FV
Vneg

naashuba
n	aa	shub	a
1SG	PASTim	repeat	FV
V

naaguraho
n	aa	gur	a	ho
1SG	PASTim	buy	FV	LOC
V

ekyemitwaro
e	ky	e	mi	twaro
IV	of	IV	3	ten-thousand
NUM

50

50

ORD

KU as an ADV

2 occurrences of KU glossed as an adverb (ADV)

However we are convinced that the annotator meant adverbializer as it would be the subcategory of subordinative conjunctions according to SIL's GLossary of Linguistic Terms