Annotating Runyankore-Rukiga

Runyankore-Rukiga refers to two of the four closely related languages of Uganda which form part of a new standardized language of Uganda together with Runyoro and Rutooro. Sometimes Runyakitara is used to refer to the standardized form of these four languages; see for example the following still incomplete wikipedia article .

Here we discuss questions related to the annotation of Runyankore-Rukiga texts and sentence collections in TypeCraft. The material is annotated by Allen Asiimwe who is a lecturer at Makerere University. She is a speaker of Rukiga. In addition Justus Turamyomwe and Misah Natumanya both graduate students at the Linguistic Department at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology NTNU annotate.

Annotating in TypeCraft

The following example shows a standard TypeCraft annotation. TypeCraft uses three tiers for linguistic annotation: a translational tier, a gloss tier and a part-of-speech tier. When interlinear glosses (IG) are exported from TypeCraft the translational and the gloss tier are collapsed for presentational reasons. You need to have a login to TypeCraft in order to annotate. Simply write and e-mail using the mail address given on the [Main Page]

(1)

The free morphemes aha and omu

The free forms aha and omu are derived from the locative classes ha- and mu- via the affixation of an initial vowel. Both forms may occur as part of a locative expression, as determiners or as pronouns. In the example below aha is categorised as a preposition. On of the projects the Runyankore-Rukiga group is working on is to develop a better understanding of the role that both elements play in the grammar of Runyankore-Rukiga.

The following two phrases taken from the TC-database represent one of the interesting phenomena that we came across while annotating Runyankore-Rukiga: (1)

In (1) the verb kugamba meaning speak carries the applicative suffix -ir. Interestingly it seems to be the applicative marker that forces a spatial interpretation of aha, since (2) below is ambiguous between a 'spatial interpretation' and a 'topic interpretation' of the prepositional phrase headed by aha: (3)

other examples of the use of aha and omu

Is there a preposition 'of' in Runyankore-Rukiga?

The following sentences taken from the TC database have in common that they contain a phrase that is translated using the English preposition of. The corresponding element in RR is sometimes a free, sometimes a bound morpheme.

Its forms are: we,gwe, bw, rwa, ka, za, bwa, ya. 

Following Taylor (1985) -a is the possessive marker while the variation derives from agreement. Should we call this formative a preposition?

Diverging noun class systems for Runyankore-Rukiga

Morris.H.F. and B.F.R. Kirwan(1972) and Taylor, C. (1985) see Bantu Bibliography feature two different noun class systems.

Table: Noun class systems Runyankore-Rukiga

noun class	Morris & Kirwan	Taylor	Suggested system	English translation
1	mu-(omuntu)	Omu (omukazi)	(o)-mu-ntu	person
2	ba- (abantu)	aba (abakazi)	(a)-ba-ntu	people
3	(e)-ki-ntu	(o)-mu-ti	(o)-mu-twe	head
4	bi-(ebintu)	emi (emiti)	(e)-mi-twe	heads
5	n- (ente)	eri (eriino)	(e)-ri-isho/(e)-i-baare	eye/stone
6	n- (ente)	ama (amaino)	(a)-ma-isho/(a)-ma-baare	eyes/stones
7	ku- (okutu)	eki (ekitabo)	(e)-ki-ntu	thing
8	ma-(amatu)	ebi (ebitabo)	(e)-bi-ntu	things
9	bu- (obuta)	en (eka)	e-n-te	cow
10	ma- (amata)	ama (amaka)	(e)-n-te	cows
11	ri- (eriino)	oru (orura)	(o)-ru-hu	skin
12	ma- (amaino)	ama (amara)	(a)-ka-ti	small stick
13	ru- (orushozi)	oru (orushozi) orukuuto	(o)-tu-ti	small sticks
14	n- (enshozi)	en (enshozi)/enkuuto	(o)-bu-ro	millet
15	ka- (akantu)	oru (orushaza)	(o)-ku-guru	leg
16	bu- (obuntu)	obu(obushaza)	(a)-ha-()	here (definate place)
17	tu- (oturo)	aka (akagiiko)	()-ku-nu	here (wider area than -ha-)
18	ha- (ahantu)	obu (obugiiko)	(o)-mu-()	inside (a place)
19	mu-	aka (akaato)
20	ku-	otu (otwato)	(o)-gu-bwa	very big/frigheting dog
21	gu- (ogushaija)	otu (oturo)	a-ga-bwa	very big/frigheting dogs