Vowel length and TMA micro-variation in Kilimanjaro Bantu (original) (raw)
Related papers
impact of the morphological alternation of subject markers on tense/aspect: the case of Swahili
ZAS Papers in Linguistics
Subject markers for the first, second and third person singular in Southern Swahili dialects display morphological variation in that specific forms are chosen with different tense-aspect markers. This paper documents this variation in the different dialects and presents a distributional chart which reveals the symmetric patterns between these subject markers and their corresponding tense-aspect formatives. The study corroborates earlier work in the manifestation of variant morphological tense-aspect formatives of the regional dialects of Swahili by Mazrui (1983).
Nicodemus and Mallya, 2021
This paper describes the morphological evolution of-ile suffix across four Bantu languages selected from the Nyasa-Tanganyika corridor. The suffix-ile which is traditionally an aspect (perfective) marker is changing and becoming amenable to different roles across Bantu languages. This poses a challenge in specifying its roles as a tense and/or an aspect marker unless attention is paid to an individual language. The findings presented in this paper indicate that in the languages under study, the suffix-ile functions as both a tense and an aspect marker. It co-occurs with pre-root formatives to mark different past tenses. In Nyakyusa, in particular, the suffix marks different categories of aspect, namely anterior, non-progressive and indefinite conditional aspect. However, in Ndali, Malila and Nyiha, the suffix-ile marks only the non-progressive aspect. In this view, this paper concludes that the-ile suffix is gradually vanishing in the forms for aspect meanwhile it extends its roles into marking different tense categories.
THE PROSODY OF TENSE MARKING IN TEKE-EBOO. A Bantu B70 language of Congo-Brazzaville
2017
Teke-Eboo is a Bantu B70 language spoken in Congo-Brazzaville, which displays complex tone melodies combining grammatical tone, subject agreement tone and lexical tone on verbs. This study of tense marking in Eboo identifies the tones which mark the recent past, general past and future tenses, and shows how the underlying high-low (H-L) contrastive tone system adds both downstepped H and mid (M) tones in surface realisations. Grammatical tone is also impacted by an intonational boundary L tone (L%), which causes lowering of grammatical tones utterance finally. Much earlier analysis of the prosodic features of neighbouring Teke-Kukuya (Paulian 1975, Hyman 1987) provides a helpful reference point for this study. According to Paulian, Kukuya has a stem-initial stress accent, which affects the distribution of segments and tones, as well as five tone melodies which spread over stems and even onto prefixes on the following word. In this study of tense in Eboo, I show that there is also segmental evidence for a possible stress accent on the stem-initial syllable, and that the same tone melodies as in Kukuya operate across stems and beyond, providing the key to understanding how grammatical tone marks tense on Eboo verbs.
A Morphological Analysis of Tense in Mambwe Language
Daengku: Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Innovation
Guthrie (1948) classifies Mambwe as M15. The language is spoken in Mbala and Senga districts in Northern Province of Zambia. Nurse and Philipson (1999) have characterized Mambwe as originating from Fipa language in Southern Tanzania. The paper outlines the rules governing tense categorization and evaluates the verbal structure of tense in Mambwe language. The study employed the qualitative approach and elicitation methodology to collect data. Using descriptive and Lexical Morphology (LM) theoretical underpinnings, the article identifies the forms or categories of tense and their respective structures in Mambwe language. The study shows that tense in Mambwe language is as attested by other Bantu languages in terms of the present, past and the future tenses with their corresponding progressive counterparts.
Comparative Tense and Aspect in the Mara Bantu Languages: towards a Linguistic History
2013
The Mara region of Tanzania is a densely populated area that contains at least 22 Bantu speech varieties in addition to the Nilotic languages Luo and Taturu (Hill et al. 2007; Mitterhofer & Robinson 2012). In Maho’s updated version of Guthrie’s geographically influenced classification system, the Bantu speech varieties of the region are divided into the JE25 and JE40 groups (Maho 2009). To a large degree this classification corresponds with the proposed genetic linguistic sub-groups of “Mara” (most of JE40) and “Suguti” (JE25), which are purportedly related to each other under the East Nyanza branch of Great Lakes (GL) Bantu based on lexical similarity in core vocabulary, shared lexical innovation/borrowing, and insight from other scientific fields like archaeology and palynology (Schoenbrun 1990). Additionally, Schoenbrun’s (1990) study on GL Bantu further subdivides “Mara” into North Mara and South Mara groups. More recent studies interested in comparative linguistics amongst the ...
Common tense-aspect markers in Bantu
Journal of African Languages and Linguistics, 2006
We have two aims here. One is to provide an inventory and typological overview of the commonest pre-stem and suffixal tense-aspect markers across Bantu. We examine geographical distribution, phonological and tonal shape, and general semantic range. The other is to ask which of these might be assigned to Proto-Bantu, some 5000 years ago. We use a database of 100 languages, comprising 85 from all Guthrie's groups (A10, A20, etc) plus another 15 from his 15 zones. The most widespread pre-stem markers are: /a/, which comes in several tonal and vowel-length variations, representing 'past' in most languages and 'non-past' (possibly older focus (Nurse 2006)) in fewer languages; zero 'general present'; /ka/ 'itive, narrative, (far) past, (far) future'; /ki/ 'persistive, participial'; /laa/ 'future' and /la/ 'focus'. The first three certainly go back to Proto-Bantu, the status of the last three is less certain. The commonest suffixes are: /a/ 'neutral'; /e/ 'subjunctive'; /ile/ 'perfect, past'; /ag/ 'imperfective'; /i/ 'positive near past'; a vowel copy suffix 'positive near past'. The first five go back to Proto-Bantu, the sixth is innovation. We propose that /ile, i, the vowel copy suffix/ are connected. Finally, we mention four widespread but derived pre-stem markers.
2014
1024x768 This paper seeks to account for the synchronic sound changes observed in joining of noun class prefixes to nouns in Swahili, Lingala, Ciluba, and Zulu. The noun class prefixes of these Bantu languages were compared with the Proto-Bantu noun class-forms to identify sound changes the languages have undergone over time. It was observed that some sound changes did not obey synchronic rules. The aim of this study was to elaborate on diachronic rules, specifically telescopic rules, to explain why some sound changes in Bantu language evolution stand out as exceptions, giving the impression of violating the neo-grammarians’ claim about the regularity of sound change. A special focus is placed on the nasal place of articulation assimilation, which in some conditioning environments, is favourable for assimilation, but fails to occur in Swahili. The findings of this paper provide robust evidence for why the nasal phoneme of some noun classes does not assimilate in place of articulatio...
A note on the present tenses in some Southern Tanzanian Bantu languages
Linguistique et Langues Africaines, 2018
In this article we discuss the shape of the present tense prefixes in a dozen Bantu languages that are spoken in a contingent area in southwestern Tanzania. All of these feature a high front vowel /i/ in at least one of their allomorphs. Comparing these present-day constructions and taking into account findings from grammaticalization theory, we propose a source structure involving a verbal periphrasis featuring a reflex of Proto-Bantu *jìkad 'dwell, be, sit'. Based on its geographic distribution, we further propose that this innovation originated in Guthrie's G60 zone.