A Paradigmatic Grammar of Gikuyu

This monograph grew out of a project funded by the Berkeley-Stanford Joint Centers vocabularies project. It covers a wide range of linguistic aspects of the Gĩkũyũ language, most of which is not available in existing grammars of the language. Aspects covered include: consonantal mutations, syllabification, the gender class system, types of nominalizations, the noun phrase, the verb,phrase, possess or ascension, the tense aspect paradigms. Additionally the monograph includes a short lexicon of cultural terminology relating to aspects of Gĩkũyũ life such as the rites of passage, garments and ornaments, foods, the environment.

John M. Mugane is Professor of the Practice of African Languages and Cultures and Director of the African Language Program at Harvard University. At the time of this publication, he was a doctoral candidate of linguistics at the University of Arizona. Since the frall of 1993, he had been a lecturer in the Linguistics Department and the Center for African Studies, Stanford University.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Background Phonology
Chapter 3 Nouns
Chapter 4 Nominalizations
Chapter 5 Deverbal Noun Extentions
Chapter 6 Synthetic Compounds
Chapter 7 The Associative Phrase
Chapter 8 Tense and Aspect
Chapter 9 The Sentence
Chapter 10 Cultural Notebook
References
Index

1/1/1997

A Paradigmatic Grammar of Gĩkũyũ

Contents