Functions and informational structure of ekegusii cleft sentences

Abstract

The article investigates sentence patterns considered to be cleft sentences and where they may be situated within the structure of Ekegusii language. The motivation of the study is to find out if Ekegusii differentiates the types of cleft sentences in their informational structures. It also addresses the functions of cleft constructions within the larger sentence structure of Ekegusii. Various types of cleft patterns are produced through a set of operations on the ordinary Ekegusii sentence. Through this, certain components of a sentence are moved to more prominent positions. In some cases, the speaker or writer’s attitude can be realised. The study only focuses on one meaning; clause as exchange through which the researcher looks at the grammatical system of MOOD and the structural elements of the clause from an interpersonal perspective as outlined in Systemic Functional Grammar. The findings are explained in terms of the different structures of cleft sentences in Ekegusii.