Browsing by Author "Ndimangwa, Elihazin Christopher"

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    The structure of Chasu noun phrase
    (The University of Dodoma, 2020) Ndimangwa, Elihazin Christopher
    This study sought to provide a critical analysis of the Structure of Chasu Noun Phrase (NP), specifically, the southern Chasu dialect spoken in Same District of Kilimanjaro Region. The study paid attention on the morph-syntactic properties of Chasu NP, the order of elements of the NP, and constraints which determine the recurrence and co-occurrence of the NP elements. Using qualitative techniques compounded by the descriptive design, data were collected through elicitation, text collection, and direct observations. Introspection was used to supplement information drawing from the researcher’s own experience as a native speaker of Chasu. The X bar Theory of Phrase Structure by Noam Chomsky (1970), and further developed by Jackendoff (1977) was used to inform the research, particularly on the internal categories of the NP. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse the data and, thereafter, followed by thick descriptions and discussions. The findings revealed that Chasu NP constitute head with or without dependents. The dependents attested are possessive, demonstrative, distributives, adjectives, associative relatives, quantifiers, numerals, and specifiers. Morover there are intensifiers which modifying adjectives in NP structure. The possessive, and distributives occupy fixed position in the NP order. Distributives occur before the head, and possessive is always placed immediately after the head. Other dependents are flexible, though in complex NP. Other elements can co-occur, except for the distributives and other determiner elements, such as demonstratives and possessives. On the other hand, distributives restrict co-occurrence with general quantifiers. This study calls for a descriptive and comparative study on NP of other undescribed Bantu languages.