Reduplication in Kimeru: a
case study of Ki Imenti nouns–Kimeru
Dr. Regina Kanana
ABSTRACT
This paper focuses on reduplication in Ki Imenti noun. Reduplication is rather a naturally occurring aspect of Kimeru language and therefore calls for thorough analysis and understanding of the reduplicated words in the language. The study uses common Kimeru words particularly nouns in the open categories of speech. These words were taken from the Imenti dialect of Kimeru language. The study aims were to identify reduplication in Kimeru nouns; to investigate reduplication and pseudo-reduplication in Ki Imenti nouns; as one of the open categories of speech in Kimeru and finally to account for reduplication in Ki Imenti nouns using the Morphological Doubling Theory (MDT). The MDT claims that reduplication calls twice for a given constituent or sub constituent in a given semantic description with possible phonological modification. The study also found out that only full and partial reduplication are used in the reduplication of Ki Imenti nouns and that pseudoreduplication is not an aspect of reduplication in Ki imenti nouns. The study therefore, concluded that reduplication affects the semantic value of words in Ki imenti.
