Object expression in Kîîtharaka

Abstract

Abstract

Across world languages, speakers are known to structure information in such a way that they accommodate the discourse context in which the utterances are made. In so doing they put into consideration the mental state of the hearer and also their own communication intentions (see Dooley 2020). This achieves effective communication. Such strategies in information structure are found in object expression. The data for this research was gathered from narratives collected through story telling sessions organized during the field study. Elicitation was also used to complement the data collected this way. The investigation was guided by the hypothesis that the accessibility hierarchy is the main discourse factor that determines the choice of object expression. The results are that the hypothesis holds true for most referring expression such as full lexical NP, demonstratives, and their NP combinations (though with exceptions), object markers, NP + relative clause, and zero anaphora. This notwithstanding, there are substantial cases of deviations that lay ground for discovery of complementary factors like predicate type, use of direct speech and pragmatic emphasis. It can therefore be concluded that while accessibility is key, there are other complementary factors that come into play in determining the Kîîtharaka object expression paradigm.