The Noun Phrase in the Miri Language, Nuba Mountains

Abstract

Research title: The Noun Phrase in the Miri Language, Nuba Mountains Student’s name: Adam Mohamed Adam Mohamed The present research is a descriptive study of one of the Nilo-Saharan languages spoken in the Nuba Mountains – Miri. It tries to describe and analyze the structure of the noun phrase in Miri, focusing on the main grammatical categories of the noun phrase in the Miri language. The study aims at fulfilling the following objectives: to identify the different word classes that form the noun phrase in Miri, to give a preliminary description of the noun phrase in the language, to discover how the noun phrase in Miri functions and to collect information from previous studies on Miri and the data of the present research into one work, in order to provide a basis for further work in the future. The primary (linguistic) data were collected from native speakers of Miri by means of interviews and supported with relevant data from sources. A descriptive method was used in analyzing the data. The study came out with the following findings. Firstly, the noun phrase in Miri consists of a noun as its main constituent, followed by a number of modifiers. Secondly, Miri has a system of three pronouns (independent, possessive and reflexive pronouns). Thirdly, the noun phrase in Miri has different syntactic functions. The findings of this study are expected to help in designing an orthographic system for the Miri language, which will facilitate the process of documenting the Miri language and literature. In light of the above findings, the researcher recommends future research on Miri, particularly on some phonological issues related to the structure of the noun phrase and verbal syntax