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Pragmatic strategies in the use of Kiswahili demonstratives

This paper focuses on two spatial Kiswahili demontratives. In Kiswahili, demonstratives have been traditionally treated as morphosyntactic elements that modulate various elements and realize emphatic function. Demonstratives have also been studied as elements that express and facilitate cohesive relations and elements that realize deictic functions in discourse.
In this paper we look at Kiswahili demonstratives as used in the standard Kiswahili language in Nairobi city. We argue that besides the traditionally recognized functions, demonstratives in standard Kiswahili are also used to pass subtle discourse messages which can only be explained by taking into account the pragmatic strategies employed in the use of demonstratives in specific discourse settings.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa.de:bsz:15-qucosa-91112
Date14 August 2012
CreatorsOkombo, D. Okot, Habwe, John Habu
ContributorsUniversity of Nairobi, Institute of African Studies, Universität Mainz, Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien
PublisherUniversitätsbibliothek Leipzig
Source SetsHochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typedoc-type:article
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceSwahili Forum 14 (2007), S. 81-88

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