International Journal of Language and Linguistics

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A Comparative Account of Possession Expression in Tugen and Kiswahili

Received: 21 January 2019    Accepted: 13 March 2019    Published: 10 April 2019
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Abstract

Ownership, kinship and whole/part relationships are possessive expressions in natural languages. Possession is distinguished between alienable and inalienable possession, depending on the semantic relationship between the possessor and possessum. Alienable possession is a contextually dependent semantic relationship, where the elements in the relationship do not show any semantic dependency, whereas inalienable possession is a permanent semantic relationship between the possessor and the possessum for example as used in the expression of body parts. Besides possession, languages also exploit possessive expressions to express non possessive relationships, for example, emotive states. This paper attempts to compare how possession is expressed in Tugen, a Southern Nilotic language of the Kalenjin macro language and Kiswahili, a Bantu language. It also seeks to show how alienable and inalienable possession is distinguished in the languages, if at all, as well as how possessive expressions are used to express other non possessive relationships in both languages. It also seeks to find out the role of definiteness in the semantic expression of possession. This paper shows that in spite of the differences in the two languages the expression of possession is somewhat similar. Tugen is a VSO language while Kiswahili is an SVO language. Tugen is a native language spoken in Baringo county of Kenya, while Kiswahili is an official and national language in Kenya.

DOI 10.11648/j.ijll.20190702.11
Published in International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 7, Issue 2, March 2019)
Page(s) 55-62
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Alienable and Inalienable Possession, Nominal Possession, Verbal Possession, Definiteness, Possessor Chains

References
[1] Roberts, J. A (2015) Inalienable Possession in Amele: A Role and Reference Account. SIL International, SIL Electronic Working papers 2015-002.
[2] Lyons, J. (1977) Semantics Vol 2. Cambridge; Cambridge University Press.
[3] Aikhenvald, A. Y (2013) Possession and Ownership- A Cross Linguistic Perspective In Aikhenvald A. Y &R. M. W. (eds) Dixon Possession and Ownership, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
[4] Rijn, V. M (2016) The grammaticalization of Possessive person marking; A Typolological Approach. Transactions of the Philological Society Vol 114:2 pp. 233-276.
[5] Republic of Kenya (2010) The Kenya Constitution. Nairobi; Government Printer.
[6] Mohamed, M. A. (2001) Modern Swahili Grammar. Nairobi, East African Educational Publishers.
[7] Jerono, P. (2012) Tugen Word order- A Minimalist Perspective, Macedonia EGALITE.
[8] Jerono, P. (2018) “Tugen Noun Classification” In Schroeder H. & P. Jerono (eds) Nilo –Saharan Issues and Perspectives Köln; Rüdiger Köppe Verlage pp 87-96.
[9] Payne, T. E (1997) Describing Morphosyntax: A Field Guide for Linguists. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
[10] Haiman, J. (1983) Iconic and Economic Motivation. In Language Vol. 59. No. 4 pp. 781-819.
[11] Haspelmath, M. (2008) Alienable vs Inalienable possessive Constructions. https//www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/conference/08…/pdf/…Haspelmanth_possessives.pdf.
[12] Heine, B. (1997) Possession: Cognitive sources, forces and grammaticalization. Cambridge; Cambridge University Press.
[13] Stassen, L. (2009) Predicative Possession. Oxford; Oxford University Press.
[14] Tham, S. W. (2013) Possession as a non verbal predication. Berkeley Linguistics Society 39: 302-316.
[15] Sikuku, J. M & J. M. Wanyonyi (2018) On the nature of possession in Keiyo. Schroeder H. & P. Jerono (eds) Nilo-Saharan Issues and Perspectives. Köln; Rüdiger Köppe Verlag pp. 135-147.
Author Information
  • Department of Kiswahili, Faculty of Arts, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya

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    Prisca Jerono. (2019). A Comparative Account of Possession Expression in Tugen and Kiswahili. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 7(2), 55-62. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20190702.11

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    Prisca Jerono. A Comparative Account of Possession Expression in Tugen and Kiswahili. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2019, 7(2), 55-62. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20190702.11

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    AMA Style

    Prisca Jerono. A Comparative Account of Possession Expression in Tugen and Kiswahili. Int J Lang Linguist. 2019;7(2):55-62. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20190702.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijll.20190702.11,
      author = {Prisca Jerono},
      title = {A Comparative Account of Possession Expression in Tugen and Kiswahili},
      journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
      volume = {7},
      number = {2},
      pages = {55-62},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20190702.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20190702.11},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20190702.11},
      abstract = {Ownership, kinship and whole/part relationships are possessive expressions in natural languages. Possession is distinguished between alienable and inalienable possession, depending on the semantic relationship between the possessor and possessum. Alienable possession is a contextually dependent semantic relationship, where the elements in the relationship do not show any semantic dependency, whereas inalienable possession is a permanent semantic relationship between the possessor and the possessum for example as used in the expression of body parts. Besides possession, languages also exploit possessive expressions to express non possessive relationships, for example, emotive states. This paper attempts to compare how possession is expressed in Tugen, a Southern Nilotic language of the Kalenjin macro language and Kiswahili, a Bantu language. It also seeks to show how alienable and inalienable possession is distinguished in the languages, if at all, as well as how possessive expressions are used to express other non possessive relationships in both languages. It also seeks to find out the role of definiteness in the semantic expression of possession. This paper shows that in spite of the differences in the two languages the expression of possession is somewhat similar. Tugen is a VSO language while Kiswahili is an SVO language. Tugen is a native language spoken in Baringo county of Kenya, while Kiswahili is an official and national language in Kenya.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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