Abstract
This paper presents the characteristics of a lexical category adjective in Kipangwa. The lexical category adjective is proposed to be universal, but its realisation varies across languages. This paper offers evidence to authenticate the presence of an independent lexical category adjective in Kipangwa. The study employed a qualitative approach in generating data, analysing the data and reporting the findings. The data for this study were collected through text collections, both spoken and written. Spoken texts/ sentences with adjectives were collected from 18 informants by recording them through a digital audio recorder, while written texts were collected from two (2) Bible storybooks in Kipangwa. The informants were sampled through snowball sampling, whereas the storybooks in Kipangwa were purposefully sampled. The paper reveals that, like other Bantu languages, Kipangwa has a class of adjectives that may be underived or derived. In the derived form, the lexical category nouns and verbs undergo morphological derivations to establish the adjectival category. The paper also shows that Kipangwa has adjectives of different classifications based on 13 semantic classes as proposed by Dixon (2004). It further reveals that adjectives agree in class, number, and person with the noun they modify in the noun phrase. Furthermore, the paper shows that syntactically, adjectives in Kipangwa can occur in the noun phrase’s attributive or predicative position. This paper adds knowledge and understanding of lexical category adjective in Bantu languages.
Recommended Citation
Hauli, Emmanuel; Sebonde, Rafiki; and Alphonce, Chrispina
(2023)
"A Morpho-semantic Description of Adjectives in Kipangwa,"
Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences: Vol. 12
:
No.
2
, Article 4.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.56279/jhss.v12.i2.3