The ideophone in Xitsonga : A morphosemantic analysis

Abstract

This mini-research dissertation discusses the morphosemantic properties of the ideophone in Xitsonga.The ideophone is also analysed in terms of the Theta theory as proposed in the Government and Binding Theory.It is illustrated in this research paper that the ideophone can broadly be catagorised into the non-derived and the derived ideophone.It is furthermore demonstrated that it is possible for the ideophone in Xitsonga to be seen as a predicate that assigns various Theta roles to its external subject and internal complement arguement NPs in the subject and object Theta positions of linguistic expressions.It is held that whereas the predicate Theta-marks its external subject arguement NP indirectly,it assigns the Theta roles to its complement arguement NPs directly