The effect of phonetic harmony in causative morphemes in Kiswahili

Abstract

This article focuses on the causative morpheme in Kiswahili. It notes that the causative morpheme has many allomorphs. The study explains the relationship between the verb root and the causative form. It also clarifies phonetic harmony through the effect of the verb root structure of consonants and vowels on the morphological unit of the causative morpheme. Data relating to the causative case was collected from dictionaries and textbooks. The study used the analytical descriptive linguistic method. This study addresses the following questions: What is the cause of the verity of causative allomorphs in Kiswahili, and what is the relationship between the root of the verb and the morpheme of the causative form? Variation of causative allomorphs is imposed by the morphophonemic rule ‘phonetic harmony’ in Kiswahili. This study can contribute to clarifying the method of using the allomorph of causation in the word.