Bases of words in Kinyarwanda: Ambiguity in examinations

Abstract

Considering the Questions that are prepared in the Kinyarwanda examinations and the ways of marking them, the concept of “base” is ambiguous. The question is formulated as follows: “Mention the bases of the following/underlined words.” Through this question, it is wondered if all words have “bases” and if all words have such morpheme. Additionally, in some words, such a morpheme is called “root”. Different materials differentiate the base and root of words saying that the base comes from words like nouns, mixed nouns, adjectives, and pronouns whilst the root is found on the verb and other words formed from it. In marking, when a candidate answers a base in the place of a root, he is not awarded marks, because he is supposed to know that there is a place where he must present the base, and root in the other place, depending on the type of word. For that, researchers wonder the reasons why examiners ask to mention the bases of the words when they include some words that have roots. This study “Bases of Words in Kinyarwanda: Ambiguity in Examinations”, first, discusses all words that have bases, followed by words that have roots. Further, it discusses the difference between base and root. It also presents the relationship between base and root and ends with the decision for a term that should be used in all questions related to this topic, that term may be used to help the candidates to identify if their answers should be “base or root”.