Since s full appreciation of the part is not possible without an appreciation of the whole, me have considered it appropriate to supply the necessary background information to the main body of the thesis in Part I which, therefore, serves as an introduction to Part II, Part I comprises three chapters: Chapter 1 situates the dialect of Igbo being described here and gives an overview of Igbo language studies up to the present moment, pointing out their relevance to the subject of our investigation here - Noun Phrase Sentential Complementation. In chapter 2, we establish the phonological and morphosyntactic features of the dialect so as to make subsequent references to them easy, and also to draw attention to some fundanental differences between our dialect and that described by Green and Igwe (1963). The third end final chapter deals with Tone in Generative Phonology. Part II consists of six chapters, 4-9. Chapter 4 gives the theoretical orientation of the thesis, indentifies all the categories of Igbo Noun Phrase (NP) complements end argues for a deep structure generation of complementisers or the conjunctions functional in NP complementation. Chapter 5 deals with Indicative or Na complementation, the class of matrix (main clause) verbs involved, and provides syntactic evidence in justification of the factive-non-factive distinction as applied to Igbo. Chapter 6 examines the Interrogative or Ma2 complements (that is, embedded Yes/No questions) and reaches the conclusion that the Igbo equivalents of embedded English SH - Questions are not instances of NP complements, but of relative clauses. In chapter 7, we exemine Imperative or Si complofsentation and show that the possibility of embedding imperative structures as NPs is due to the fact that the complementiser in this construction type is si, a form of the verb is - 'to say.' Chapter 6 is the last of these chapters on the mechanics of complementation, and its subject is the subjunctive or Ka/Ma1 complementation; the fact that this is the only complement type that is subject to Equi - NP Deletion is an automatic consequence of the semantic features of the matrix verbs involved. The last chapter, 9, is rather discussive and speculative; its main concern is with how the description of languages such as Igbo might contribute to linguistic theory. The Bibliography gives a list of the works to which reference has been made in the course of this research. A sample lexicon as well as a chapter which argues that Igbo complementizers and function words must be verb-forms are contained in the Appendix.

The present research is the study of the Igbo verbs in general, and the Achi dialect in particular. It concentrates on the forms suid meanings of the verbs. It, therefore, makes original contributions to the linguistic study of the language from end to end, but especially in the areas of lexical and syntactic differences between the Achi dialect and the Onicha and Owere dialects, the semantic and serial classification of the infinitives and their uses, the five auxiliaries (Most works on Igbo have hitherto recognised only ga and na as the auxiliaries of the language. It is only Professor Carnochan (1966) who added ji to ga and na), the lexical structure in which is studied the polysemic and homonymous nature of the verbs on one hand, and the synonyms and antonyms on the other. The study comprises an introduction and seven chapters. The introduction sets out the peculiarities of the dialect from lexical, syntactic and semantic view points, and indicates that tone is a significant feature of the Igbo language. Chapter I provides an insight into the morphology of the verb, roots and the affixes, and the serialisation of the suffixes. Chapter II studies the finite and non-finite verb forms and meanings. It embodies the uses of the infinitives, the distributional convergence and divergence between the infinitives and the gerunds, and the tonal differences between them. Chapter III studies the auxiliaries and their uses, and shows that they can be used as full verbs. Chapter IV deals with the verbs in terms of mood and tense in positive and negative sentences and paradigms. Chapter V discusses the verb phrase in simple and complex sentences, and in special registers including idioms and "depejorativization". Chapter VI deals with the lexical structure of the verbs exemplified by polysemy and homonymy; and Chapter VII continues semantic relations in terms of synonymy and antonymy.

The first part of the work is introductory to the second part and deals briefly with the following topics; (i) Phonology: (a) the function of tones in Igbo; (b) tone perturbation; (c) tone assimilation; (d) vowel harmony; (e) vowel assimilation; (f) vowel elision; (g) consonants: (ii) Morphology: (a) the morphological processes of duplication, reduplication, and triplication; (b) classes of verbs and the structure of verbs; (iii) Syntax: (a) the major types of Independent Verbal Clauses, both Simplex and Complex, Positive and Negative; (b) discussion of 'auxiliary verbs; (c) discussion of 'participle', 'cognate object', and 'na' prefix, and their rejection. The second part deals with the grammatical and lexical uses of affixes. The grammatical use of affixes is of two types: (i) Inflexional: the representation of the following grammatical categories by affixes: (a) Tense; (b) Aspect; (c) Case; (d) Number; � Modality; (f) Anaphora; (g) Comparison; (h) Emphasis; (ii) Derivational: the use of affixes to derive from verbs (a) Non-finite verbs; (b) Nouns; (c) Adjectives; (d) Adverbs. The final chapter deals with lexical suffixes and provides lists of verbs with such suffixes.

For this analysis, the area of research was the verbal extensions of Shisa, a dialect of the Baluyia in Western Kenya. The hypothesis was two-fold; (1) There is operative a complete set of case functions in Shisa, a language having no surface case inflections, and (2) a semantic/surface-syntactic description which included the category of case would be adequate for providing the grammatical context for lexical entries. Sixty-one base verbs, as they occur in uniclause, initiating sentences (sentences which initiate conversation), were collected from informants and examined at seven levels of classification (which included number, kinds, and behavior of NP's with which a verb could be associated, plus the semantic features of animacy, inanimacy, number, and so on). The verbal extensions were then investigated according to pertinent criteria. The result; Four major types of contrastive clauses were identified; Descriptive, Agentive, Entailing, Stative, in all of which occur--co-existently--varying types of syntactic patterns and numerous semantic classifications of verbs (i.e. verbs associated with animate/inanimate, singular/plural, and so on, NP's). Altogether a set of eighteen case and ten compound-case functions operative within Shisa were identified. The grammatical component of each syntactic pattern was summarized in schematic form, and a set of symbols was arranged, providing for the indication of the grammatical context for each lexical entry. This thesis has made these contributions: (1) Fifteen verbal extensions were identified (only six were treated of in this analysis). (2) A set of eighteen case and ten compound-case functions was identified, (3) A means of identifying these case functions through observance of semantic and surface syntactic behavior, rather than by deep structure, was provided. (4) A degree of grammatical analysis adequate for the lexical entries of Shisa verbs and their extensions was attained. (5) It has provided a set of symbols for indicating the grammatical context of each lexical verb entry.

Akan, like any other language, has both regular and irregular complex nominals (CNs). However, previous studies of Akan nominals have been constructive in approach, mostly adhering to a strict form of the principle of compositionality and assuming that the morphological, phonological and semantic properties of CNs can be accounted for fully by tweaking those of their constituents. Consequently, CNs whose properties cannot be so accounted for are either ignored or forced into the mould of regular ones. In this study, I do three things. First, I present a detailed empirically-based assessment of attested CNs in Akan based on a dataset of 1000 CNs drawn from a variety of written sources. This shows that Akan CNs may be grouped into four; compounds, affix-derived CNs, those formed by tonal changes and “lexicalized” forms, which have the form of phrases but occur as CNs and are mostly only partially compositional. Secondly, I present a detailed discussion of the formal and semantic properties of all the attested compounds and a subset of the lexicalized nominals. Thirdly, on the basis of the latter discussion, I examine what the formation and structure of CNs reveal about the interaction between morphology and syntax and about the architecture of the grammar. The analyses show that the formation of CNs in Akan may at once involve morphological and syntactic structure in a way that renders untenable the view that morphology and syntax constitute two completely different modules of the grammar which may be assumed to interact only because the output of the former is the input to the latter. The present study provides support for the constructional view of the grammar.

The thesis constitutes a first description of the Joola language Kujireray. In addition to a grammatical sketch, it comprises an analysis of the noun classification system in Kujireray, including a detailed treatment of verbal nouns and their interaction with this system. The analysis takes place within a Cognitive Linguistics framework. The noun classification system is shown to be semantically motivated along such parameters as number and physical configuration. The semantic analysis is carried out at the level of the noun class paradigm, which approach is able to draw a more fine-grained picture of the structure/organization of the system. However, it is recognized that noun classification operates on three distinct but interdependent levels - the paradigm, the noun class prefix, and the agreement pattern - all of which contribute meaning. The analysis also encompasses a detailed treatment of verbal nouns, as they interact within the noun classification system. It is shown that the formation of verbal nouns in various noun class prefixes is semantically motivated just as in the nominal domain, and furthermore that analogies can be drawn between the semantic domains in the nominal domain and the verbal one. The analysis is situated within a Cognitive Linguistics framework, whereby notions of embodied experience, encyclopaedic knowledge and metaphorical thought are invoked to account for the semantic organization of noun classification system. It is shown that noun formation in Kujireray is constructional, with individual components possessing underspecified semantics which are elaborated in combination with each other. Furthermore, it is the property of underspecification which accounts for the parallels between the nominal and verbal domains.

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