Classroom:The word KU in Runyankore-Rukiga

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

group of LING 2208 (Linguistics) spring 2011 missing Prof. Dorothee Beermann

Author: Franciane Rocha (Last one in the picture)

Author: Misah Natumanya (First one in the picture)

This page is about the analysis of 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.

The conjunction KU in Runyankore-Rukiga

Generalization: "KU as a word in Runyankore-Rukiga works as a conjunction".

We found 46 phrases in which Ku had the function of a conjunction. Some of them were glossed only as CONJ and others had more specific information and were glossed as subordinative conjunctions or as one of its subcategories namely complementizer, relativizer and adverbializer.

In this research we used the definitions about conjunction and its subcategories provided by the Glossary of Linguistic Terms of SIL - Summer Institute of Linguistics . The relationship between conjunctions and its subcategories found in SIL's glossary can be summarized in the table below, where the bolded elements and their disposition across the table, show the elements and the relationships we observed in our data set. It is important to point out that no examples were found of the word KU working as a coordinative conjunction or its subcategory correlativizer. This observation allowed us to draw a more specific generalisation, namely, that the word KU works as a subordinative conjunction in Runyankore-Rukiga.

Conjunction
SUBORDINATIVE			Coordinative
COMP	REL	ADVL	Correlativizer

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):

The rest of the occurrences were glosses according to the subcategories of subordinative conjunction 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)

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 addressed on the table above.

However, he/she could not find an appropriate gloss tag in Typecraft's POS list for the function of an adverbializer. This problem has been already reported to the platform and will soon be solved.

Function	NUMBER OF TOKENS
CONJ	30
CONJS	08
COMP	05
REL	01
ADV	02

Position

In our data set,the word KU appears in both initial and medial positions of a sentence, that is, starting a subordinate clause or being preceded by the subject of the clause. This statement is supported by Taylor's (1985) studies about Runyankore-Rukiga's grammar in the section about Subordination and Subordinative markers, where the author affirms that "a subordinative conjunctive particle is placed in second position in the clause where is a lexical subject or topic occupying the first position. Otherwise the particle is in first position."

KU- Medial position

Akangambira ku naija nyenkyakare

“He/she told me that he/she will come tomorrow”

Akangambira
a	ka	n	gamb	ir	a
3SG	IV	1SG	tell	APPL	IND
V

ku

ku

that

COMP

naija
na	ij	a
3SG	come	IND
V

nyenkyakare

nyenkyakare

tomorrow

ADVm

Meaning

The word KU can have at least three meanings related to English language, they are:

WHEN

Omwana ku areeba abantu omu katare baatandika kwija, we nyina ayeyongyera kuba busy aramanya ngu baakasitoma baayeyongyera,

“When the child saw every one in market starting to come, meanwhile the mother was thinking that the customers were increasing”

Omwana
o	mu	ana
IV	1	child
N

ku

ku

when

CONJ

areeba
a	reeb	a
3SG	see	FV
V

abantu
a	ba	ntu
IV	2	people
N

omu

omu

in

PREP

katare

katare

market

N

baatandika
ba	a	tandik	a
2	PASTim	begin	FV
V

kwija
kw	ij	a
INF	come	FV
V

we

we

she

PN

nyina

nyina

mother

N

ayeyongyera
a	yeyongyer	a
3SG	continue	FV
V

kuba
ku	ba
INF	be
COP

busy

busy

busy

V

aramanya
a	ra	many	a
3SG		know	FV
V

ngu

ngu

that

CONJ

mu	ena
1	all
QUANT

baakasitoma
ba	akasitoma
2	customer
N

baayeyongyera
ba	a	yeyongyer	a
2	PASTim	increase	FV
V

THAT

Akangambira ku naija nyenkyakare

“He/she told me that he/she will come tomorrow”

Akangambira
a	ka	n	gamb	ir	a
3SG	IV	1SG	tell	APPL	IND
V

ku

ku

that

COMP

naija
na	ij	a
3SG	come	IND
V

nyenkyakare

nyenkyakare

tomorrow

ADVm

IF

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

Tables

Number of tokens relative to their meaning MEANING NUMBER OF TOKENS When 36 That 06 If 01 Lack meaning 12

"KU meaning IF" POS tag NUMBER OF TOKENS COMP 01

"KU meaning WHEN" POS tag NUMBER OF TOKENS CONJ 30 COMP 03 REL 01 Lack 02

"KU meaning THAT" POS tag NUMBER OF TOKENS CONJ 04 COMP 01 ADV 01

Final comments

The generalizations drawn on this work help to understand the data got from Runyankore-Rukiga, shedding light on the structure that the word Ku belongs to in this language. The task demanded the systematization of the information that one must need to understand the function, behavior and position of this particular conjunction on Runiankore-Rukiga's linguistic structure.