RVN Webinar Series - Ihanzu Demonstrative Pronouns
Channel: Rift Valley Network
Date: 2019-11-28

Note: This talk has not gone through a process of peer review, and 
findings should therefore be treated as preliminary and subject to change.

How to cite: Beletskiy, Stanislav. 2019. Ihanzu Demonstrative Pronouns: Morphology and Semantics. Talk Given at Rift Valley Webinar Series 27/11/2019.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3555278

Abstract: 
The aim of the study is to analyse morphology and semantics of Ihanzu demonstrative pronouns. Ihanzu is a Bantu language spoken in North-Central Tanzania (Singida and Manyara regions) by 26 000 speakers. The data for this study comes from 10 fairy tales collected in Haydom town (Manyara region). The analysis involved transcription and annotation of narratives as well as interviews and elicitation sessions with Ihanzu native speakers. Ihanzu possesses four types of demonstrative pronouns: proximal, medial, distal 1, and distal 2. They all are used as dependent components of a noun phrase. Proximal demonstrative pronouns are used to refer to something that is close to both speaker and hearer. They are formed by noun class prefix reduplication (ɨmaje yaya ‘these eggs’). Medial demonstrative pronouns are used to refer to something that is not far away from both speaker and hearer. They are formed by noun class prefix reduplication attached to the root o (ɨmaje ayo ‘these eggs’). Distal demonstrative pronouns of subtype 1 are used to refer to something that is far away from both speaker and hearer. They are formed in the same way as medial but are pronounced with the hight tone on the root o (ɨmaje ayóó ‘those eggs’). Distal demonstrative pronouns of subtype 2 are used to refer to something that is not visible to both speaker and hearer. They are formed by the root ng’wanso and noun class prefix attached to it (mʉng’wanso mʉgunda ‘on that field’). Besides these special functions medial and distal demonstrative pronouns play metarepresentational and anaphoric functions (to refer to something that was previously said or to introduce something that is about to be mentioned and is supposed to be familiar to the hearer). Moreover, demonstrative pronouns exhibit morphological reduction: omission of the first consonant or glide in the first prefix (ɨmaje aya ‘these eggs’). This reduction is pragmatically conditioned.

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For more, visit Stanislav's page at: https://www.udom.ac.tz/staff/staff_profile/413/stanislav-beletskiy