Abstract:
This paper uses the Cognitive Grammar Theory to examine
the semantics of Kinyarwanda causative and applicative. The
study was motivated by the fact that Kinyarwanda verb
extensions, particularly the causative and applicative, have
multiple sociocultural interpretations of meanings, which is
a typical characteristic of Cognitive semantics. The study was
couched in the interpretivism paradigm, which looks for
culturally derived interpretations historically situated in the
surroundings of humans. A qualitative approach was used
to analyse the meanings of Kinyarwanda words used by
Nyarwanda native speakers. Data was collected from focus
group discussions involving six Kinyarwanda speakers.
Four were monolinguals; the rest were multilingual,
speaking Kiswahili, English and Kinyarwanda. The data
were presented using Leipzig glossing rules, and
illustrations were used to show more than one meaning in
the derived verbal lexemes. Thus, data analysis was used
using cognitive grammar theoretical apparatuses, which
account for multiple meanings of the derived lexemes. The
study found that the causative and applicative verb
extensions attached to the verb root have multiple senses that
line with Cognitive Grammar Theory, whose major
assumption is that words have multiple conceptualisations.
For instance, the derived verb vugisha had four meanings:
speak to, make or cause to talk, disgusting and switching on
something (such as in radio receiver or electricity). As the
presence of different meanings in the same word causes
ambiguity, further research can be carried out on
Kinyarwanda ambiguity under the contemporary theory of
Metaphor.
