Department of Foreign Languages and Literature

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    Pronominals in Tigrinya: A Morphosyntactic Analysis
    (Mekelle University, 2025-10-25) Abrhaley Brhane
    The purpose of this thesis was to describe and analyze the morphosyntactic features of pronominals in Tigrinya. Based on this, the researcher employed a descriptive research design grounded in Basic Linguistic Theory (BLT) as the main theoretical framework and Binding Theory as supporting framework. Besides, the domain of this study was morphosyntax, the conceptual framework. The data were drawn from both primary and secondary sources: the primary data consisted of the researcher‟s own linguistic intuitions as a native speaker of Tigrinya and three native speaker informants, while the secondary data were collected from written Tigrinya texts. The data were collected from the researcher‟s own linguistic intuitions, native speaker informants using elicitation and Tigrinya books and text books. The obtained data were analyzed with IPA transcription, glossing based on each morpheme and translation. Consequently, the findings revealed that free third and second person subject pronominals are formed from the pronominal base and pronominal suffixes and free object pronominals are formed from object marker, expletive morpheme, and pronominal suffixes, while independent possessive and reflexive pronominals are built from genitive markers and nominal bases combined with pronominal suffixes respectively. Moreover, bare prefixal bound nominative except first person plural in imperfective verbs need referential subject. Accusative and dative bound pronominals appear as suffixes in mono-transitive and di-transitive respectively when the object is marked. In relation to position, free pronominals occur independently: subjects in preverbal, objects are closer to verb, and possessives are prenominal while bound subject pronominals appear as post-stem suffixes in the perfective and as prefixes or circumfixes in the imperfective, while bound object pronominals are post-stem following the nominative case in both aspects. Bound possessive pronominals surface post-nominally as suffixes. Bindingly, reflexives are locally bound; personal pronouns are free in their local domain, and Rexpressions are free everywhere. To sum up, this research enhances the descriptive and theoretical understanding of pronominal morphology and syntax in Tigrinya, offering insights relevant to Morphosyntax, BLT and Binding Theory.