Classroom:The word KU in Runyankore-Rukiga

Autor: Franciane Rocha

Autor: 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 can work as:

1. A conjunction

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

[[1]]

2. A complementizer [[2]]

3. An adverb [[3]]

Function	NUMBER OF TOKENS
CONJ	38
COMP	05
ADV	02

In Runyankore-Rukiga,the word KU appears in both initial and medial positions of a sentence.

KU- Initial position [[4]]

KU- Medial position [[5]]

The word KU can have at least three meanings, they are:

WHEN [[6]]

THAT [[7]]

IF [[8]]

MEANING	NUMBER OF TOKENS
When	36
That	06
If	01
Lack meaning	12

"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

"KU meaning IF"

POS tag	NUMBER OF TOKENS
COMP	01