https://repository.maseno.ac.ke/handle/123456789/104 Fri, 15 May 2026 15:55:18 GMT 2026-05-15T15:55:18Z https://repository.maseno.ac.ke/handle/123456789/6233 The Syntax of Head-Marked Phrases and Head-Marking Morphemes in Lunyore Lihemo, Muhanji Leonida; Ongarora, David; Okello, Jackline A language is head-marking if the grammatical marks showing agreement tend to be placed on the heads of phrases. Lunyore like many bantu languages is agglutinating and therefore has a rich and complex morphology. The complexity is more evident in head-marking morphology. This study examines the syntax and morphology of head-marking to establish how agreement is achieved in Lunyore phrases, a dialect of Luluhyia language. The key objective is to examine the syntax of head-marked phrases and to analyze head-marking morphemes. The types of head-marked phrases include; applicatives, locatives, passives, causatives, reciprocals and instrumentals. Descriptive research design was adopted and the target population was people of Emuhaya sub county in Vihiga county. Purposive sampling technique was applied to gather head-marked phrases from churches and baraza sessions. Secondary sources of data include written texts in Lunyore hymn book and the Bible. The research instruments included conversations, written texts from Lunyore, participant and non-participant observations until saturation stage was attained. Data was analyzed through description and structural form. It was found out that each head-marked phrase had prefixes that attach to the stem. Head-marking morphemes licensed agreement in Lunyore head-marked phrases. The study therefore recommends that further research should be done on head-marking using comparative approach in bantu languages. Chomsky’s minimalist theory was relevant in the analysis of head-marked phrases and head-marking morphemes. Tue, 22 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://repository.maseno.ac.ke/handle/123456789/6233 2024-10-22T00:00:00Z https://repository.maseno.ac.ke/handle/123456789/6232 Semantic Role-Marking in Lunyore Morphology and Syntax Lihemo, Muhanji Leonida; Ongarora, David; Okello, Jackline Semantic roles denote different semantic relations that a noun phrase plays with respect to the action or state described by a predicate of a sentence. Semantic is another universal feature of language, if there is an event involving more than one participant, the speaker and the hearer care to know who is the agent, who is the patient or who is the experiencer and who is the stimulus. There seem to be some languages that, despite this obvious concern, do not mark semantic role in any consistent way. The key objective is to examine semantic role-marking in Lunyore morphology and syntax. Descriptive research design was adopted and the target population was the people of Emuhaya Sub county in Vihiga county. Purposive sampling technique was applied to gather head-marked phrases from churches, baraza sessions and Lunyore texts. The research instruments included conversations, written texts from Lunyore, participant and non-participant observations until saturation stage was attained. Data was analyzed through descriptive form. It was found that semantic role-marking was influenced by the morphological structure of the head-marked phrase. The study also found that there is a syntactic and semantic relationship in head-marked phrases. Theta theory was applicable in examining the semantic role marking in Lunyore head-marked phrases. Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://repository.maseno.ac.ke/handle/123456789/6232 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://repository.maseno.ac.ke/handle/123456789/6220 Hiatal configurations and their resolution in kinshasa lingala: evidence from songs by TPOK jazz band Macharia, Joshua Maina; Kembo-Sure, Edward; Oloo, Pamela Anyango; Omondi, Erick This paper is a constraint-based description of hiatal configurations in Kinshasa Lingala and the strategies used to resolve them in connected speech. The study is grounded in Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky, 1993/2004) from which the notion of constraint ranking was used to analyse the phonological processes elicited to resolve hiatal configurations. The data were obtained from the lyrics of 15 songs composed and performed by the TPOK Jazz Band. The findings show that hiatal configurations occur in the underlying forms of words, phrases and clauses and since they are marked in connected speech, the dialect employs the processes of glide formation, vowel deletion, glide epenthesis and vowel coalescence to resolve them. Each of these processes results from the interaction between markedness and faithfulness constraints in which the anti-hiatus markedness constraint* HIATUS dominates all faithfulness constraints to ensure that the optimal outputs of the processes do not bear hiatal configurations. As such, the output in each process must satisfy a hierarchy of the relevant constraints by satisfying the greatest number of the high-ranking constraints. The paper concludes that hiatus resolution is chiefly motivated by the need to preserve the basic syllable structures of the dialect. The paper contributes to scholarship on the nexus between music and language. Wed, 02 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://repository.maseno.ac.ke/handle/123456789/6220 2024-10-02T00:00:00Z https://repository.maseno.ac.ke/handle/123456789/6131 Multimodality in the television advertisement of Raha premium maize meal Midigo, Jackton Otieno; Kodak, Benard Otieno; Ongarora, David Ogoti; Damaris Gechemba Nyakoe, Damaris Gechemba In language and communication, multimodality refers to using various modes of signification to convey meaning. These modes transcend language to engage with audiences at multiple sensory levels. Over time, communication has evolved to reflect a paradigm shift towards a multimodal perspective. This leads to a complex interplay between different modes of shaping interpretations and constructing meaning in discourse, which has attracted little research. This paper explores the concept of multimodality as used in the television advertisement discourse of Raha premium maize meal, using the Multimodal Discourse Analysis Theory. The objective is to investigate how viewers interpret and perceive different modes of signification employed in the advertisement. A descriptive research design with a qualitative approach is used in the collection and analysis of data. The findings reveal that each mode of signification has a unique role, some of which television viewers hardly denote their meaning. Further, politics, religion, and culture influence the perception of some modes of signification used in the advertisement. We recommend that the advertisements be tailored with modes of signification that resonate with the expectations of television viewers. The findings of this paper are intended to enrich linguistic theory concerning the analysis of the representation of meaning in a text and perceptions of modes of signification used. https://doi.org/10.30574/ijsra.2024.12.2.1368 Fri, 26 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://repository.maseno.ac.ke/handle/123456789/6131 2024-07-26T00:00:00Z https://repository.maseno.ac.ke/handle/123456789/6075 Perceptions in Uhuru-Raila 9th March, 2018 handshake discourse in Kenya’s print media Abade, Jude Opiyo; Onyango, P.O; Okello, J In Kenya, the handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Orange Democratic Movement (henceforth referred to as ODM) leader, Raila Odinga, on 9th March, 2018 elicited diverse discourse on the phenomenon. The print media was replete with the discourse on the Uhuru-Raila handshake. This particular handshake ostensibly surpassed the traditional social purview of handshakes as polite greetings. Its conceptualization by Kenyans definitely eluded the precinct of handshakes as greeting occurrences hence the extensive discourse on it. The purpose of the paper was to evaluate the effect of the handshake on the perception of Kenyans by undertaking an analysis of the handshake discourse in Kenya‘s print media. The study was guided by Systemic Functional Grammar theory by Halliday (1975). The study adopted analytical research design and data was qualitatively analysed as per the tenets of the aforementioned theory. The study concluded that the Uhuru-Raila handshake had significant influence on the perception of Kenyans on socio-economic and political issues in the country. DOI: 10.36348/sijll.2022.v05i01.003 Fri, 21 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://repository.maseno.ac.ke/handle/123456789/6075 2022-01-21T00:00:00Z https://repository.maseno.ac.ke/handle/123456789/6054 Multidisciplinary Explorations of Corohysteria Caused by the COVID-2019 Pandemic Isatu Ramatu Bangura, Ishmael I Munene, Jafred Muyaka, Joseph Lansana Kormoh, Omosefe Oyekanmi, Cecy Edijala Balogun, Harrison Adewale Idowu, Gregory Obinna Ugbo, Henry Chigozie Duru, Chinwe Beatrice Ezeoke, Rosemary Oyinlola Popoola, Simon Gisege Omare, Pamela Oloo, Yakub Adams, Alie Kunda, Hadizat Audu Salihu, Osman Kabba, Henrietta Eshalomi, Emmanuel Vincent Nelson Kallon, JP Afamefuna Ifedi, Feyisitan Ijimakinwa, Rachael M Rudolph, Collence T Chisita, Nyarai P Chibanda, Cecilia T Olugbara, Moeketsi Letseka, John Idriss Lahai This multidisciplinary volume includes an international roster of contributors who explore how mass hysteria has emerged among people across the globe as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The contributors provide international perspectives on the effects of this “corohysteria” in areas such as education, healthcare, religion, psychology, mathematics, economics, media, racism, politics, etc. They argue the hysteria, angst, fear, unrest, and difficulties associated with the pandemic are exploited to foster political and social agendas and have led to the undermining of national and global responses to the virus. The aticle can be accessed in full via:https://books.google.co.ke/url?client=ca-google-print&format=googleprint&num=0&id=XpRyEAAAQBAJ&q=http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com/isbn/9781666912203&usg=AOvVaw1k-LHO-txqfPSgAZqKfZeY&source=gbs_buy_r Thu, 21 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://repository.maseno.ac.ke/handle/123456789/6054 2022-04-21T00:00:00Z https://repository.maseno.ac.ke/handle/123456789/6044 Phonemic Representation and Transcription for Speech to Text Applications for Under-resourced Indigenous African Languages: The Case of Kiswahili Awino, Ebbie; Wanzare, Lilian; Muchemi, Lawrence; Wanjawa, Barack; Ombui, Edward; Indede, Florence; McOnyango, Owen; Okal, Benard Building automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems is a challenging task, especially for underresourced languages that need to construct corpora nearly from scratch and lack sufficient training data. It has emerged that several African indigenous languages, including Kiswahili, are technologically under-resourced. ASR systems are crucial, particularly for the hearing-impaired persons who can benefit from having transcripts in their native languages. However, the absence of transcribed speech datasets has complicated efforts to develop ASR models for these indigenous languages. This paper explores the transcription process and the development of a Kiswahili speech corpus, which includes both read-out texts and spontaneous speech data from native Kiswahili speakers. The study also discusses the vowels and consonants in Kiswahili and provides an updated Kiswahili phoneme dictionary for the ASR model that was created using the CMU Sphinx speech recognition toolbox, an open-source speech recognition toolkit. The ASR model was trained using an extended phonetic set that yielded a WER and SER of 18.87% and 49.5%, respectively, an improved performance than previous similar research for under-resourced languages. Sat, 29 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://repository.maseno.ac.ke/handle/123456789/6044 2022-10-29T00:00:00Z https://repository.maseno.ac.ke/handle/123456789/5809 Politeness in nonverbal communication: a commentary on non-verbal communication in a linguistics classroom context in a selected Kenyan university ABAYA, Ruth; ONGARORA, David; MAGONYA, Lilian The aim of this article was to explain the effects of politeness as entailed in nonverbal language use in the instructional process. Non-verbal communication skills also known as silent language, include all behaviours performed in the presence of others or perceived either consciously or unconsciously. Nonverbal communication entails; facial expressions, body movements, posture, gestures, eye contact, touch, dressing, space, voice and paying attention to inconsistencies. All these are synchronized to reinforce verbal messages, clarify meaning and create a sense of the speaker’s presence and purpose. Thus, instructors in a classroom setting determine whether a message sent has been received majorly through immediate nonverbal feedback. This paper tries to substantiate the pivotal role enhanced by body language and the impression both the teacher and the student draw from using nonverbal language and the politeness issues that are accrued to such usage. The study adopted the qualitative method and used observation and the data collection procedures were observation and focus group discussions. The findings indicated that instructors/ lecturers use politeness through diverse nonverbal cues during their linguistics lessons in order to convey the relevant message to students. This enables the students to grasp the major concepts being learned and at times the use of nonverbal consciously or unconsciously posed a threat to both the negative and positive faces of lecturers and students. http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejals.v6i2.452 Wed, 05 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://repository.maseno.ac.ke/handle/123456789/5809 2023-07-05T00:00:00Z https://repository.maseno.ac.ke/handle/123456789/5808 Politeness Strategies in Computer Mediated Communication (CMC): ABAYA, Ruth; MAGONYA, Lilian; ONGARORA, David This paper examines the politeness theory in the light of Austin & Searle’s speech act theory as reflected in CMC between students and their lecturers or supervisors. Thus politeness aspects were analyzed as enacted in the five categories such as: Assertives, commisives, directives, expressives, and declaratives. The paper also examined politeness in other language aspects that are usually present in any form of communication, such as: Address phrases, meeting requests, request for reply, and adjunct phrases. The objective of this article was to shed light on the politeness strategies employed by the lecturers and students in their e-communication through Whatsapp and SMS (short messages or text messages) platforms. Fifty communications were downloaded from the lecturers’ phones through their permission and the students’, which were used as data for this study. Five lecturers and seven postgraduate students made the population of this study. The findings indicated that students seem to be comfortable using this mode of communication, and it is important to understand how students and lecturers make choices and how these choices affect the perception of the cultural appropriateness of CMCs. The results also revealed that elements of politeness greatly decrease in the follow-up messages, that is, messages that require some kind of response. From the study, lecturers adhered to formal language use as compared to the students in their communication. http://www.al-kindipublisher.com/index.php/ijllt Sun, 13 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://repository.maseno.ac.ke/handle/123456789/5808 2023-08-13T00:00:00Z https://repository.maseno.ac.ke/handle/123456789/5666 Pseudo-Reduplication in Lukisa Dialect Oyoko Amos Maina, Atieno Jackline Okelo, Ogoti David Ongarora : Reduplication is a grammatical aspect found in a wide range of African languages and it is sometimes interchangeably used with repetition. Reduplication is both a morphological and a phonological process of forming a compound word by repeating all or part of the word. Morphological reduplication involves semantic change through another word formation process while phonological reduplication is where the copying pics the closest phonological input restricted to cases of phonological necessity. Lukisa, a Luhya dialect is expected to exhibit a range of patterns in reduplication which varies from a single segment being copied to an entire phrase. Although linguistic forms of reduplication have been explored at lexical and functional levels, there is need to validate morphological doubling involving the creation of new stem type reduplication as a limitless linguistic resource, a central meaning making strategy and a naturally integrated facility in language. Therefore, the objective of this study is to establish how pseudo reduplication manifests in Lukisa reduplication. Inkelas and Zoll (2005) Morphological Doubling Theory was adopted for this study where morphology calls twice for a constituent of a given semantic description with possible phonological modification of either or both constituents. MDT is a native identity theory in the sense that the surface phonological identity between the two copies occurs as a side effect of semantic identity. DOI: 10.36349/easjhcs.2022.v04i03.002 Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://repository.maseno.ac.ke/handle/123456789/5666 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z