An Account of the Morphosyntactic Structure of the Suba Language

by Open Science Repository Language and Linguistics
(December 2013)

Abstract

Describing a language in a systematic way makes it usable by the public, lends it practical value, and safeguards it for later generations. This paper offers an account of the morphosyntactic structure of the Suba language spoken in Kenya. The work is framed by Distributed Morphology, a theory that stresses that what is traditionally termed morphology is not one single component of grammar but is instead spread across several distinct components. Data were gathered on Mfangano Island, chosen because it is a homogeneous setting of Suba indigenous people. A focus group discussion was used to build a corpus of the Suba language, with elicitation employed as a backup method of data collection. The study makes a substantial contribution to linguistic scholarship, adding to the body of knowledge on linguistic description. For the Suba, the work is expected to lend a certain status to a language once regarded as of little importance, giving its speakers a sense of equality and worth.

Keywords: morphosyntax, Suba, agglutinating, noun-centric.

Full text

An Account of the Morphosyntactic Structure of the Suba Language