Investigating Valency Decreasing Verb Operational Devices: A Case Study of the Oromo Language
The purpose was to examine and analyze the mechanisms used in the Oromo language to decrease the valency (or argument structure) of verbs. Specifically, it aimed to understand how valency-decreasing operational devices are employed, their semantic motivations, and their implications for linguistic t...
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Noyam Journals
2024-12-01
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| Series: | E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences |
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| author | Ayub Ismael Jarso Giorgio Banti |
| author_facet | Ayub Ismael Jarso Giorgio Banti |
| author_sort | Ayub Ismael Jarso |
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| description | The purpose was to examine and analyze the mechanisms used in the Oromo language to decrease the valency (or argument structure) of verbs. Specifically, it aimed to understand how valency-decreasing operational devices are employed, their semantic motivations, and their implications for linguistic theory. To assess the valency-decreasing devices, the first corpus analysis was used to collect a representative corpus of Oromo texts containing valency-decreasing verbs. Next, linguistic annotation was used to involve tagging verbs, identifying their valency properties (such as transitivity), and noting any derivational devices used to decrease valency. Then, interviews with native speakers were carried out to provide valuable insights. Finally, an in-depth qualitative analysis of selected examples was conducted to only explore the semantic motivations behind specific operational devices regardless of considering cultural and pragmatic factors. The valency-decreasing operations in Oromo are the passives with -am- suffix, the anticausatives with -at- suffix, the inchoatives with -a(a)t-, -a(a)h- and -o(o)m- suffixes and the impersonal inflections of syntactic constructions. The findings revealed how these devices function in Oromo verbal operations. This study seeks to contribute to (i) providing a comprehensive analysis of valency-decreasing mechanisms in the Oromo language; (ii) identifying universal patterns or language-specific variations in valency decrease strategies; (iii) informing linguistic theories by examining how operational devices impact verb valency; (iv) offering insights for language documentation, language teaching, and natural language processing (NLP) systems. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e3f2fcd894194086a2a739f4dd6c08ac |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2720-7722 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Noyam Journals |
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| series | E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-e3f2fcd894194086a2a739f4dd6c08ac2025-01-17T12:53:39ZengNoyam JournalsE-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences2720-77222024-12-0151631033120https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.202451633Investigating Valency Decreasing Verb Operational Devices: A Case Study of the Oromo LanguageAyub Ismael Jarso0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8746-0880Giorgio Banti1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3246-8081Jimma University, EthopiaUniversity of Naples L’Orientale, ItalyThe purpose was to examine and analyze the mechanisms used in the Oromo language to decrease the valency (or argument structure) of verbs. Specifically, it aimed to understand how valency-decreasing operational devices are employed, their semantic motivations, and their implications for linguistic theory. To assess the valency-decreasing devices, the first corpus analysis was used to collect a representative corpus of Oromo texts containing valency-decreasing verbs. Next, linguistic annotation was used to involve tagging verbs, identifying their valency properties (such as transitivity), and noting any derivational devices used to decrease valency. Then, interviews with native speakers were carried out to provide valuable insights. Finally, an in-depth qualitative analysis of selected examples was conducted to only explore the semantic motivations behind specific operational devices regardless of considering cultural and pragmatic factors. The valency-decreasing operations in Oromo are the passives with -am- suffix, the anticausatives with -at- suffix, the inchoatives with -a(a)t-, -a(a)h- and -o(o)m- suffixes and the impersonal inflections of syntactic constructions. The findings revealed how these devices function in Oromo verbal operations. This study seeks to contribute to (i) providing a comprehensive analysis of valency-decreasing mechanisms in the Oromo language; (ii) identifying universal patterns or language-specific variations in valency decrease strategies; (iii) informing linguistic theories by examining how operational devices impact verb valency; (iv) offering insights for language documentation, language teaching, and natural language processing (NLP) systems.https://noyam.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/EHASS202451633.pdforomovalencyvalency-decreasing devicesbasic verbsderived verbs. |
| spellingShingle | Ayub Ismael Jarso Giorgio Banti Investigating Valency Decreasing Verb Operational Devices: A Case Study of the Oromo Language E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences oromo valency valency-decreasing devices basic verbs derived verbs. |
| title | Investigating Valency Decreasing Verb Operational Devices: A Case Study of the Oromo Language |
| title_full | Investigating Valency Decreasing Verb Operational Devices: A Case Study of the Oromo Language |
| title_fullStr | Investigating Valency Decreasing Verb Operational Devices: A Case Study of the Oromo Language |
| title_full_unstemmed | Investigating Valency Decreasing Verb Operational Devices: A Case Study of the Oromo Language |
| title_short | Investigating Valency Decreasing Verb Operational Devices: A Case Study of the Oromo Language |
| title_sort | investigating valency decreasing verb operational devices a case study of the oromo language |
| topic | oromo valency valency-decreasing devices basic verbs derived verbs. |
| url | https://noyam.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/EHASS202451633.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ayubismaeljarso investigatingvalencydecreasingverboperationaldevicesacasestudyoftheoromolanguage AT giorgiobanti investigatingvalencydecreasingverboperationaldevicesacasestudyoftheoromolanguage |