The Subcategorization of Derived Verbs in Kifipa

Abstract

This paper aims at investigating Subcategorizations of derived verbs in Kifipa. Kifipa is a Bantu language spoken in south-west Tanzania by the people denoted to as Wafipa. Wafipa live in a bigger area between Lake Rukwa and Lake Tanganyika. Currently, the area is located in Rukwa region. Verbs are subcategorized differently in different languages. In isolating languages, verb subcategorization is a syntactic study while in Bantu languages verb subcategorization is a morphosyntactic study. In some languages derivation does not affect the subcategorization of verbs except passive while in other languages especially Bantu, derivation (verb extension) alters the subcategorization of basic verbs. The paper focuses on three morpho-syntactic aspects of derived verbs in Kifipa. The paper is guided by the theory known as Government and Binding theory and Burzio’s Generalization Principle in particular. Burzio’s generalization is the work of a linguist known as Luigi Burzio in 1986. Burzio's generalization deals with the organization of verb harmony, and how these verbs behave towards their arguments. In his theory, Burzio came up with a general classification of verbs. Qualitative approach and explanatory research design were employed in the analysis and presentation of data. A sample of six respondents from Matai and Singiwe villages were selected using snowball sampling technique on the basis of age and language ability. Data were collected through sentence questionnaires, grammaticality judgements and extraction from written materials. The findings reveal that Kifipa has three subcategories of derived verbs including the verbs which allow only a single argument, the verbs which allow the occurrence of two or three arguments and lastly the super transitive verbs which allow the occurrence of more than three arguments which is a result of the co-occurrence of two or more extension suffixes. Extension affixes in Kifipa affects the subcategory as they increase the number of arguments these extensions are applicative and causative verb extensions. On the other hand, extensions such as passive, reciprocal, stative and reflexive decrease the number of arguments while extension such as intensive does not affect the arguments of the verb.