Duplication processes in Lusoga morphosyntax

Lusoga has a form of nouns and verbs involving duplication of the root. For example, there are two copies of the verb root -w- ‘give’ in the sentence a-lii-ku-w-a bu-w-e ‘he is just giving you’. The duplicated constructions of Lusoga are noteworthy in part because of their apparent complexity: the two halves of the duplicated verb have different prefixes a-lii-ku- vs. bu- and suffixes -a vs. -e. Duplication of nouns and verbs is common in Bantu languages, and this phenomenon has played an important role in the development of theories on the interaction of phonology and morphology. However, parallels to these Lusoga examples are not known in other Bantu languages. This study will provide the first in-depth description and analysis of the duplication of words, phrases and clauses in Lusoga, contributing to a better understanding of the grammar of Lusoga in particular and Bantu languages generally.

Four interconnected studies of Lusoga morphosyntax will be carried out to explain the nature of duplication and related constructions and to allow for detailed comparisons of Lusoga with other Bantu languages:

• derivational morphology, including pre- and suffixes that change the part of speech, and the formation of compounds;
• inflectional morphology, including agreement prefixes, and markers involved in the expression of tense, aspect and mood;
• the morphology of auxiliary verb constructions, dependent clauses, and other complex predicates; and
• the morphology of duplicated forms.