A Semantic Analysis of English and Kulung (Rai) Verbs

Abstract

The title of this thesis is A Semantic Analysis of English and Kulung (Rai) Verbs. The main purpose of this study was to find out the similarities and differences between the verbs of the English and Kulung languages using semantic analysis. The data for the English verbs were collected from various dictionaries and thesauruses. Similarly, the data for the Kulung verbs were collected through both structured and unstructured interviews with ten Kulung native speakers from different parts of Ilam and Sunsari districts. Books and dictionaries of the Kulung language were also consulted as the secondary sources. The data were compared and contrasted the semantic description of both languages using one to one correlation, divergence and convergence, semantic inclusion and semantic overlapping. It was found that there is complete one to one correlation in a few cases while English verbs have wider range of coverage in meaning than Kulung verbs. Furthermore, there is absence of total semantic overlapping and equivalences in the semantic system of both languages. This thesis is divided into four chapters. The first chapter contains general background, review of the related literature, objectives of the study and significance. The second chapter contains methodology in which the sources of data, sampling procedure, tools of data collection, process of data collection and limitations of the study are discussed. Similarly the third chapter contains the analysis and interpretation of the data obtained. Finally, the fourth chapter contains the findings, recommendations and pedagogical implications of the thesis.