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Locatives in Runyankore-Rukiga
  • Dorothee Beermann,
  • Asiimwe Allen
Dorothee Beermann

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Asiimwe Allen
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Abstract

The locative expressions in Runyankore-Rukiga consist of nouns that can refer to both places and  spatial relations, whether they are inherent or derived. Instead of focusing solely on the  morphological properties and presentation of locative words, our attention is directed towards  locative phrases. These expressions resemble prepositional phrases in terms of their configuration  since the locative particle appears before the noun as a separate word. Despite describing spaces  rather than objects, these phrases function as nominal expressions and exhibit morpho-syntactic  behaviour akin to noun phrases. To support this assertion, we examine Locative Inversion, arguments  of negative verbs, and Alternate Locative Agreement patterns in detail. By utilizing type-semantic  concepts alongside structural representations, we propose a revised version of the two-layered noun  phrase approach initially proposed by Bresnan and Mchombo (1989).