A Morpho-semantic Study of Toponyms in Dholuo

Abstract

This thesis dealt with the morphology and semantics of place names in Dholuo language. The research problem was to decipher the meaning of place names by analysing individual constituents of toponyms. The analysis uses Fillmore’s Frame semantics Theory of 1982 and Bochner’s 1992 Generative morphology. The data was collected from the Kisumu South Nyanza dialect speakers in Kasipul Kabondo in Homabay County. Three objectives guide this research: determining the systems of naming places in Dholuo, classifying Dholuo toponyms according to the morphological processes, and investigating the distinctive meanings found in Dholuo toponyms. The study established a naming system for Dholuo Toponyms based on the motivation behind the identified place names. The research findings indicate that Dholuo toponyms exhibit morphological structures in their formation, with derivation as the main one and others being compounding and inflection. Thirdly the study established that Dholuo toponyms manifest denotative and cognitive meanings, including connotative and mental encyclopaedic meaning. The generative Morphology theory is used in the analysis of the morphological constituents of the identified toponyms, while Frame Theory was used to explain how the cognitive meanings of toponyms are retrieved from the mental encyclopaedic knowledge of the speakers. The toponyms morphological analysis was done using tables and the concepts that guide meaning retrieval were defined using of Frames.