Language in Africa Volume 3, Number 4 (2022)

“NARRATING THE NATION: KENYA’S PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE IN THE NOVELS OF MWENDA MBATIAH Abstract: The article analyses the vision of Kenya’s recent history, its present and its foreseeable future as presented in several novels by Mwenda Mbatiah, one of the country’s leading writers of Swahili expression. In Mbatiah’s vision, Kenyan history appears as the “chain of heritage, in which the mistakes and misdeeds of the past, such as the betrayal of the nation’s expectations in the early years of independence, have stipulated the emergence of the malfunctioning political and economic system in “Nyayo years, which in its own turn may lead to even grimmer developments in the future. At the same time, the author offers a positive alternative, which he sees in the combined constructive effort of the people – this, according to him, may even change the existing social structures for the better. ________________________________________ AN ACCOUNT OF AGENTIVE SUFFIXES IN LUGANDA Abstract: This article is situated within the theoretical context of Word-Formation and the Weak Lexicalism framework. It examines agent noun formation in Luganda, an East African Bantu language. Using an electronic journalistic corpus from a Luganda daily, this study specifically analyses the formation of de-verbal agent nouns and the corresponding morphological paradigms of suffixation. The results demonstrate, in contrast with findings made by Ferrari-Bridgers (2009), that agentive suffixes exist in Luganda, dominated by the suffix -i. DEPENDENT CLAUSES AND FOCUS PARTICLE IN KAKABE Abstract: The paper deals with the syntax of focalization in Kakabe (Mokole < Western Mande). By default, the argument focus is marked by a specialized particle lɛ following the focused constituent, which remains in situ. To mark the sentence focus, lɛ usually follows the subject. lɛ cannot appear inside adverbial and relative subordinate clauses, in infinitive constructions; it cannot follow most adverbial expressions. At the same time, it can be hosted by adverbs and postpositional phrases of time, manner and place.