Browsing by Author "Tesfaye Tekle, Girma"

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    Structure of the noun phrase in Kafi Noonoo
    (Addis Ababa Universiy, 2010-06) Tesfaye Tekle, Girma; Gensler, Professor Orin
    This thesis is an attempt to give a structural description of the Noun Phrase of Kafi Noonoo. In Kafi Noonoo words generally end in a final vowel (usually -0/00) in their lexical entry (i.e. in isolation). Constructions of Noun Phrase structure involve a change in final vowel and/or tone, reduction, or modification of stem-final vowels or consonants. The head of an NP may be a (common) noun, a pronoun, a proper name, or zero; in the last case one of the adnominal elements (demonstrative, quantifier, etc.). The NP takes optional specifiers, namely the demonstratives, genitive NPs of possession and quantifiers. Kafi Noonoo is generally headjinaZ in its NP construction. However, this order can be reversed where there is a need for emphasis on the head noun; in which case, both the head and the modifier are distinct phonological phrases. The unmarked structure of the NP consists of (Demonstrative) - (Numeral) - (Adjective) - (Genitive) - (NP).