The Form ma' in Dholuo

Abstract

The form mcfis one of the most important forms in Dholuo as evidenced by its various functions in both the pragmatic and morphological domains of the language. This work came out of the realization that it would be useful to describe some of the various functions of this form in a single work. This paper therefore investigates the variety of functions associated with md both "from a grammatical, and, where applicable, pragmatic perspective. This work is primarily of a descriptive nature. However, where applicable, a relevant syntactic theory is applied in the course of the investigation. It is obvious that the restricted scope of this work does not arrive at an exhaustive and detailed study of the form ma However, the writer hopes that this work will draw the attention of other linguists to this important and interesting element in Dholuo.