M.A. Theses in Linguistics
at the University of North Dakota
(Abstracts)

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Friesen, Lisa, 2002.
Valence Change and Oroko Verb Morphology (Mbonge Dialect)

This thesis explores the valence changing processes that are indicated by Mbonge verbal morphology. Mbonge is a dialect of Oroko, an agglutinative Bantu A language of Cameroon with very rich morphology. After a brief overview of the structure of Mbonge verbs, attention is concentrated on the verbal suffixes which affect valence. Five suffixes.passive, stative, reflexive, reciprocal, and anticausative.are used to decrease valence. Five other suffixes.causative, indirect agent causative, indirect effector causative, applicative, and instrumental.are used to increase valence, as is the syntactic combination of bola 'do/make' plus another verb.

Suffixes which do not affect valence are also briefly discussed, followed by a chapter on combinations of verb suffixes. This paper also discusses the grammatical status of double objects, making the claim that Mbonge is a symmetrical object system in which both objects appear to have equal status.

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