Sense Relations in Dholuo: A Lexical Pragmatic Approach

References

[1] Atoh FO (2002). Semantic analysis of Dholuo nouns: The semantic field approach [Unpublished M.A. dissertation]. University of Nairobi.

[2] Blutner R (1998). Lexical pragmatics. Journal of Semantics, 15(2), 115–162.

[3] Carston R (2002). Thoughts and utterances: The pragmatics of explicit communication. Blackwell.

[4] Cruse DA (1986). Lexical semantics. Cambridge University Press.

[5] Cruse DA (2000). Meaning in language: An introduction to semantics and pragmatics. Oxford University Press.

[6] Crystal D (1997). The Cambridge encyclopedia of language (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

[7] Löbner S (2002). Understanding semantics. Arnold.

[8] Lyons J (1968). Introduction to theoretical linguistics. Cambridge University Press.

[9] Lyons J (1981). Language and linguistics: An introduction. Cambridge University Press.

[10] Lyons J (1995). Linguistic semantics: An introduction. Cambridge University Press.

[11] Mugure CM (2009). A lexical pragmatic analysis of sense relations in Gikuyu [Unpublished M.A. thesis]. University of Nairobi.

[12] Murphy ML (2003). Semantic relations and the lexicon: Antonymy, synonymy and other paradigms. Cambridge University Press.

[13] Mwebia FG (2006). A lexical pragmatic analysis of sense relations in Kimeru [Unpublished M.A. thesis]. University of Nairobi.

[14] Ndlovu E (2001). Sense relations in the treatment of meaning in Isichazamazwi SesiNdebele. University of Zimbabwe.

[15] Oduol JA (1990). Dholuo dialects: Synchronic state and historical inference [Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation]. University of Nairobi.

[16] Oduor JAN (2002). A study of syllable weight and its effects in Dholuo phonology [Unpublished Ph.D. thesis]. University of Nairobi.

[17] Okombo DO (1982). Dholuo morphophonemics in a generative phonology framework. Dietrich Reimer Verlag.

[18] Omondi LN (1982). The major syntactic structures of Dholuo. Dietrich Reimer Verlag.

[19] Palmer FR (1976). Semantics: A new outline. Cambridge University Press.

[20] Palmer FR (1981). Semantics (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

[21] Saeed JI (2003). Semantics (2nd ed.). Blackwell.

[22] Stafford RL (1967). An elementary Luo grammar, with vocabularies. Oxford University Press.

[23] Sweetser E (1991). From etymology to pragmatics: Metaphorical and cultural aspects of semantic structure. Cambridge University Press.

[24] Ullmann S (1970). Semantics: An introduction to the science of meaning. Blackwell.

[25] Wilson D (2003). Relevance and lexical pragmatics. Italian Journal of Linguistics, 15(2), 273–291.

[26] Yule G (1996). The study of language (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

@article{1724145,
      author = {Nancy Achieng’ Anyim, Christine Namayi},
      title = {Sense Relations in Dholuo: A Lexical Pragmatic Approach},
      journal = {Iconic Research And Engineering Journals},
      year = {2026},
      volume = {10},
      number = {4},
      pages = {3105-3114},
      issn = {2456-8880},
      url = {https://www.irejournals.com/formatedpaper/1724145.pdf},
      abstract = {The aim of this paper is to describe the sense relations obtaining in Dholuo using a lexical pragmatic approach. Drawing on linguistic evidence from native speakers, the paper provides a descriptive analysis of sense relations in a Western Nilotic language. The research was guided by lexical pragmatic theory and adopted a descriptive research design appropriate to the interpretation of qualitative data. Informants were identified through stratified random sampling in Siaya, Kisumu and Migori counties, and the data for analysis were drawn from the open class categories of words and elicited by questionnaire. Lexical items are interconnected through semantically motivated relationships that reveal how meaning is structured within the lexicon, and these relationships provide insight into patterns of collocation, formality, dialectal variation and borrowing, illustrating how words interact with one another and with grammatical structures in actual use. The study establishes three sense relations in Dholuo: synonymy, homonymy and polysemy. It finds that borrowed lexemes come closest to absolute synonymy, that collocational restriction is the principal factor differentiating otherwise equivalent synonyms, and that the interpretation of polysemous items depends on pragmatic narrowing conditioned by complement type and register. The findings are of use to students and professionals in linguistics, particularly those working on Nilotic languages, and to lexicographers of Dholuo.},
      keywords = {collocation; Dholuo; lexical pragmatics; lexicon; Nilotic languages; sense relations},
      month = {October},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV10I4-1724145}
  }