LOCATION ENCODING ROLE OF SPATIAL PRONOUNS AND NOUNS IN SIDAAMA

This paper deals with the location encoding function of spatial pronouns and nouns in Sidaama, a Highland East Cushitic (henceforth HEC) language spoken in south-central Ethiopia. Spatial relations in Sidaama are encoded by spatial pronouns and spatial nouns, among other grammatical elements. Spatial pronouns are subdivided into free and bound forms. Both free and bound spatial pronouns have four-way gradations of distance (proximal, medial, mesiodistal, and distal) and do not exhibit gender and number distinctions. However, bound spatial pronouns (unlike their free counterpart) are inflected for case. Bound spatial pronouns can mark movement, location, and direction by encliticizing various formatives. In addition, they can also function as sentential connectors. Although spatial pronouns are categorically nominals, functionally, they are adverbs. The other grammatical device Sidaama employs to mark spatial relations (in particular projective spatial relations) is through spatial (locative) nouns that denote the Figure's location in relation to a Ground. The sources of many spatial nouns are body parts such as ʔalba ʻfaceʼ, ʔumo ʻheadʼ, baɗɗe ʻbackʼ, etc. whereby a source meaning is extended to a locative use. A body part functions as a locative only after it is grammaticalized by the suffixation of -ra ʻLOCʼ or -nni ʻABL/INSTR and the directional marker -iidi. Although spatial nouns function as locatives, categorically, they are nominals. For instance, similarly to nominals, they are marked for case. However, spatial nouns cannot be pluralized like regular nouns. Spatial nouns can express location, goal, or source of action by suffixing the locatives -nni or -ra.