The verb k’ab- in Oromo
Abstract
The verb k’ab- in Oromo is a transitive verb with the fully inflectional property; it agrees with the subject in person, number, gender, and TAM categories. In its semantic nature, the verb lexically works in possession and transitive action. It also conveys obligation occurring as an auxiliary which is hypothetically considered as the grammaticalized function of the possessive verb as in many languages of the world. A homophonous lexical item shows a transitive action of ‘holding’, ‘grabbing’ or ‘carrying’ in a different morphosyntactic structure. The verb of possession k’ab- which is homophonous with that of the non-possessive transitive action has several semantic peculiarities in the discourse specific uses. The functional distinction is understood from the syntagmatic and paradigmatic structures of the verb. Hence, this paper aims to explore morphosyntactic and semantic features of the possessive verb in Oromo along with some pragmatic grounds. Some homophonous patterns vis-à-vis the respective functional distinctions are also identified and characterized as well.
[1] This paper has been published on the 27th Annual Research Conference at Addis Ababa University, College of Humanities, Language Studies, Journalism and Communications (June 07, 2019)
[2] Corresponding author: PhD Candidate of Descriptive and Theoretical Linguistics (Addis Ababa University) Email: wakwoyaolani@yahoo.com, Mob. Tel.: +251913184524
[3] Advisor: Assistant Professor of Linguistics (PhD) at Addis Ababa University Email: dezeseze16@gmail.com, Mob. Tel.: +251953898317
[4] Advisor: Associate Professor of Linguistics (PhD), at INALCO Paris, Département Afrique et Océan indien, Faculty Member Email: Ronny.meyer@cnrs.fr
