Spatial expressions in Gumer Gurage

Abstract

The aim of this article was to investigate spatial expressions in the Gurage variety of Gumer. The methodology used was qualitative following the structuralism approach to linguistic description. The linguistic data were obtained from six key informants selected using purposive sampling in the Gumer district. As the researcher speaks Gumer Gurage, data verification and validation were made through the introspective method. The data were transcribed phonemically and glossed following the Leipzig morpheme-by-morpheme approach, and then translated into English. It was found that Gumer expresses spatial concepts with demonstratives, lexical items, particles, and verbs. Demonstratives make a three-way distinction: proximal zɨ(h) “this”, medial hɨ(h) “that”, and distal ha(h) “that”. A different demonstrative za(h) is often used as a discourse spatial deictic. Pronominal suffixes added to the demonstratives make distinctions, which otherwise are impossible, in number and gender. The morpheme {-m-} and subject-agreement pronouns suffixed to the proximal zɨ “this” and the medial hɨ “that” express presentative. Morpheme {-k} suffixed to the demonstrative pronouns shows manner and specifies a particular place. Some spatial concepts including directions: left and right; locations: north, south, east, and west; and climatic zones, such as əgrəma “lowland” and gɨbtədɨr “semi-arid” are expressed by lexical items and particles. There are a few words expressing direction and location with semantic extensions of body parts. Spatial concepts are also expressed by dynamic motion and presentative verbs. Syntactically, it was found that vertical motion verbs tend to co-occur with other vertical motion verbs rather than combining vertical with horizontal motion verbs or vice versa.

Keywords

• deictic
• Gurage
• locative
• particles
• movement-verb