The Syntax of Verbal and Nominal Clauses of Yem

This book presents the syntactic descriptions of simple verbal and nominal clauses of Yem in light of the minimalist program of Chomsky (1995a and 1995b). Yem is a language spoken in south-west part of Ethiopia classified under Omotic as a branch of the Kafa-Benoyem group of West Omotic. The Yem speakers (Yemma) live in the SNNP Regional State of Ethiopia. The author includes the basic assumptions in minimalist program about syntactic representation and clause derivation as a frame-work. The analysis shows the derivational operations as well as agreement, temporal and case features in verbal and nominal clauses of Yem. Also functional categories projected in IP layer, the hierarchical orders and basic word orders are described. Nominative case is checked at the spec of AgrsP where as accusative case is checked at the space of vP. However there is no temporal element in nominal clause and it is interpreted as DP not as IP. Thus, these and other descriptions presented in the study make this work important for linguists, pedagogical researchers, writers of educational materials, students of linguistics and for those who are interested in the study of Omotic languages.