L’expression de la modalité en Kirundi. Exploitation d’un corpus électronique

Abstract

The overall goal of this doctoral study was to investigate the different types of modal markers in Kirundi, to describe their syntactic properties and semantic values, and to establish their frequency in the corpus. To this end, we used both an onomasiological and a semasiological approach, in order to identify and describe the different modal markers. The study was based on a corpus of Kirundi, consisting of 1.9 million tokens, which was compiled according to authoritative standards in the domain, taking into account requirements in terms of balance and representativeness. The corpus comprised texts belonging to a number of different genres/topics and was made up of texts extending over a time span of nine decades. Three types of modal markers were identified. The most important is the affix oo , commonly labelled potential or conditional in Kirundi descriptions. It is the most frequent modal marker in the corpus, with the largest semantic scope and the greatest number of modal values. Therefore, it stands as the grammatical morpheme dedicated to the expression of modality in Kirundi. The second type of modal marker is a set of verbs, whose semantic values and frequency vary. Some of them have been grammaticalized to the extent that they act as auxiliaries. Others have not been grammaticalized to this extent. The third category consists of adverbs. This category expresses only one modal category: epistemic modality. This study showed the intertwining between modal and non-modal categories, by studying elements whose use overlaps with the domain of modality. On this matter, the situation is that directivity is attested as a post-modal value for markers expressing specifically deontic necessity. As regards volition, it is also a post-modal value attested on markers expressing necessity. As for evidentiality, it is closely associated with epistemic modality. This work showed also that within modal markers in Kirundi, intersubjectification and grammaticalization are linked. The study makes a contribution to the description of a semantic category that is generally under-described in Bantu languages. Moreover, through the method of corpus linguistics, it has used an original approach for a language without written tradition, i.e. the approach of studying and exemplifying linguistic phenomena by looking at natural communication, which is different from elicitation. This thesis has illustrated the advantages offered by such a method, as it allows facts to be expressed statistically. This work has also created the possibility of a diachronic analysis of the development of modal markers in Kirundi. Moreover, as this study dealt only with affirmative forms, an extension to the study of the relationship between polarity and modality in Kirundi would allow for a better understanding of the modal category in Kirundi.

Syntagmes nominaux locatifs de la classe 17 ku en kirundi (JD62)

“…La présente étude est la suite d'autres travaux récemment menés au sein de BantUGent, le Centre dʼétudes bantoues de lʼUniversité de Gand, et dont un corpus de textes en kirundi est utilisé comme une méthodologie de recherche. Il s'agit notamment de Bostoen et al (2012), Mberamihigo (2014), Lafkioui et al (2016), Mberamihigo et al (2016), , , Devos et al (2017) et Misago (2018). Ce corpus des textes de kirundi de BantUgent a été compilé en premier lieu dans le cadre du projet de thèse qui a abouti à la thèse de Mberamihigo (2014).…”

“…Bien que la grammaire du kirundi soit décrite dans de nombreuses études (VAN DER BURGT, 1902;MÉNARD, 1908;BAGEIN, 1951;MEEUSSEN, 1959;RODEGEM, 1967;NKANIRA, 1971;NDAYISHINGUJE, 1978;NDAYIRAGIJE, 1981;BIGANGARA, 1982;NKANIRA, 1984;SABIMANA, 1986;NIYONKURU, 1988;NJEJIMANA, 1990;NTAHOKAJA, 1994;BUKURU, 1998;CRISTINI, 2001;NTIHIRAGEZA, 2001;BUKURU, 2003;ZORC;NIBAGWIRE, 2007;BOSTOEN et al, 2012;MBERAMIHIGO, 2014;NIMBONA, 2014;LAFKIOUI et al, 2016;MBERAMIHIGO et al, 2016DEVOS et al, 2017;NTIRANYIBAGIRA, 2017;TUYUBAHE, 2017;MISAGO, 2018et NSHIMIRIMANA, 2018, les valeurs sémantiques des syntagmes nominaux locatifs non vrais lieux introduits par le préfixe nominal locatif de la classe 17 restent peu explorées.…”

Corpus-driven Bantu Lexicography Part 3: Mapping Meaning onto Use in Lusoga

“…The team at the University of Pretoria has since furthered the field of BCL, as may be seen in studies on Northern Sotho (Taljard 2006, de Schryver and Taljard 2007, Taljard 2012, Taljard and de Schryver 2016. Meanwhile at BantUGent (i.e., the UGent Centre for Bantu Studies), an increasing number of research articles includes aspects of BCL, as seen in studies on Lusoga (de Schryver and Nabirye 2010, Nabirye and de Schryver 2011, Nabirye 2016), on Cilubà (De Kind and Bostoen 2012, Dom et al 2015, on Kirundi (Bostoen et al 2012, Mberamihigo 2014, Lafkioui et al 2016, Mberamihigo et al 2016, Nshemezimana 2016, Devos et al 2017, Misago 2018), on Swahili (Devos and de Schryver 2013), on Kikongo (De Kind et al 2013, Bostoen and de Schryver 2015, De Kind et al 2015, and on Luganda (Kawalya et al 2014, Kawalya 2017, Kawalya et al 2018. Not all of these studies are truly corpusbased, let alone corpus-driven, as some of them are closer to being 'corpusillustrated' (Tummers et al 2005) or even tend to use their corpora as fish ponds:…”

“…In this article we wish to investigate how meaning potentials may be drawn from usages as found in a Bantu-language corpus, through an approach known as 'mapping meaning onto use' (Hanks 2002), as applied in the ongoing compilation of a new Lusoga dictionary. With this topic we are squarely dealing with a dictionary's microstructure, although the method may of course be used (and is used) in the field of Bantu corpus linguistics more generally, as may be seen from the recent PhDs of Nabirye (2016) for Lusoga, Kawalya (2017) for Luganda, and Mberamihigo (2014), Nshemezimana (2016) and Misago (2018) for Kirundi. The major reference for any corpus-based microstructural issues in Bantu lexicography is de Schryver and Prinsloo (2000).…”

Entre verbe et adverbe : Grammaticalisation et dégrammaticalisation du marqueur épistémique umeengo/umeenga en kirundi (bantou, JD62)

“…On peut citer un certain nombre d'ouvrages sur le setswana, dont l'étude de Segopolo (1992), ainsi que l'article écrit par Le Roux (2007); l'analyse menée sur le luganda au sujet des adverbes de manière mérite également d'être évoqué (Mould 1977). Dans notre étude sur la modalité en kirundi, langue parlée au Burundi, nous apportons également une contribution à ce sujet en consacrant un chapitre aux adverbes épistémiques (Mberamihigo 2014). Il s'agit sans doute de la première étude systématique de ce genre d'adverbes pour une langue bantoue.…”