The morphosyntax of locative inversion in Rutooro

Abstract

‘The Morphosyntax of Locative Inversion in Rutooro’ is a study that describes the properties of locative inversion constructions in Rutooro. In locative inversion constructions, the locative phrase is inverted and functions as the grammatical subject, while the logical subject is cast in the position after the verb. As such, locative inversion involves a change in word order, which in turn affects the structure of a sentence. Locative inversion is common in many Bantu languages such as Rutooro, Runyankore-Rukiga, Luganda, Kinyarwanda, Chichewa, Otjiherero, Setswana, among others, and has been widely studied in many Bantu languages. The major aim of this study was to examine the morphosyntactic properties that characterize a locative inversion construction in Rutooro. This study is descriptive and has adopted a qualitative approach. The data in this study was collected through elicitation and observation. In elicitation, questionnaires were administered and opinions on certain constructions verbally sought. Observation was used to capture locative inversion constructions in spontaneous speeches. The study showed that agreement in a Rutooro locative inversion construction is invariably realized by the subject marker of class 16 which is prefixed to the verb, regardless of the class of the inverted locative subject. Thus, the use of any other locative subject marker leads to the ungrammaticality of the construction. Agreement on the verb is also reflected by the locative enclitic which usually bears the same class as the preposed locative phrase, and the absence of the locative enclitic makes the construction unacceptable, except in some syntactic contexts such as relative clauses with subject inversion where the enclitic has to be dropped. Locative inversion in Rutooro is possible with all predicates, except with unaccusative passive, unergative passive, transitive active, transitive passive applied and ditransitive predicates. The findings provided by the study offer a rich insight into the structural properties of locative inversion constructions in Rutooro.