Morpho-syntactic analysis of Runyankore Folk Songs

Abstract

This dissertation reports on the research that analyzed morho-syntactic aspects embedded in Runyankore folk songs. The features in the study were grammatical, that is, morphological and phrase structures. It was earlier established that morphological and phrase structure analysis of folk songs in Runyankore had not been carried out. Specifically the study compiled folk songs, analyzed morphological features and the phrases embedded in them. A descriptive study design and the qualitative approach were used. Item and Arrangement Morphology, the Phrase Structure Grammar and Theory of Constraints to Derivation were the analytical frameworks that guided the study.The study revealed that: Runyankore folk songs, like other folk songs in the world belong to overly linguistic systems as opposed to ordinary linguistic systems such as narratives. Runyankore folk songs have morphological features some of which had not been added to the body of knowledge. They include: simple and complex words, derivations, cliticization, compounding, and reduplication. Uniqueness of these structures is in the way they are presented in the folk songs. Phrases such as verb phrases, noun phrases, adjective phrases, adverb phrases and prepositional phrases were f-ound, most of them similar to ordinary linguistic structures, but there are unique phrases which can not occur in ordinary linguistic systems. According to the findings, morphological aspects and phrases that existed in the data to a large extent contain unique features from that of ordinary linguistic systems.