A Morphosyntactic Analysis of Dholuo Coordinate and Subordinate Complex Sentences

Abstract

This study tests the adequacy of Chomsky’s 1993 theory of the minimalist program in analyzing the complementizer phrase (CP) in Dholuo coordinated and subordinated sentences. Chapter one contains an introductory section giving background information on Dholuo. The theoretical framework of the minimalist program is explained here in the background of the Universal Grammar (UG). Chapter two contains the preliminary information on some features of Dholuo like phonology and tense and aspect. This chapter also contains the core of the data on Dholuo coordinate and subordinate complex sentences. Chapter three has the minimalist programs application of the data contained in chapter two taking a morpho-syntactic approach to Dholuo coordinate and subordinate sentences particularly testing the adequacy of the minimalist program in accounting for the CP as a feature responsible for the linkage in complex sentences. Finally, chapter four contains the conclusions made from the analysis of the work.