verbal inflection and clause structure in swahili

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Verbal Inflection and Clause Structure in Swahili

Carolyn Harford (Prof.)Department of African Languages and Literature

University of SwazilandPrivate Bag 4

KwaluseniM201 Matsapha

[email protected]

August 4, 2010

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction 1

1. Introduction 1

1.1. Theoretical Perspectives 3

1.2. Swahili Noun Class System 3

Chapter 2: The Structure of the Inflected Verb in Swahili 8

2.1. Verbal Inflectional Morphemes in Swahili 8

2.2. Prosodic Structure in the Swahili Inflected Verb 10

2.2.1. Prosodic Properties 13

2.2.1.1. Epenthetic ku 14

2.2.1.2. Secondary Stress 19

2.2.1.3. Relative Morpheme o 20

2.3. Theoretical Analysis: Phrase Structure and

the Prosody-Syntax Interface 25

2.3.1. Phrase Structure 26

2.3.2. The Prosody-Syntax Interface 30

2.4. Exceptional Dual Conjunct Effects in

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the Negative Clitic Relative 36

2.5. A Diachronic Perspective on the Inflected Verb in Swahili 38

2.6. Conclusion 40

Chapter 3: Movement and Licensing in the Inflected Verb 41

3.1. The Distribution of Negative Morphemes 41

3.1.1. Conditionals 51

3.1.2. The Negative Infinitive 54

3.2. The Distribution of Final Vowels (FRS) 55

3.2.1. Comparisons to Other Bantu Languages 65

3.2.1.1. Blocking in Shona 66

3.2.1.2. Blocking in the Passive in Zulu 70

3.3. Conclusion 72

Chapter 4: the Structure of Clauses 74

4.1. Type B Structure 75

4.1.1. Verb-Subject (VS) Order in Type B Clauses 78

4.1.2. Negation in Type B Clauses 82

4.1.3. Object Topicalization in Type B Clauses 85

4.2. Type A Structure 87

4.2.1. Type A Main Clauses 88

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4.2.1.1. Subject-Verb (SV) Order in Type A Main Clauses 88

4.2.1.2. Negation in Type A Main Clauses 90

4.2.1.3. Object Topicalization in Type A Main Clauses 92

4.2.2. Type A Subordinate Clauses 94

4.2.2.1. Subject-Verb (SV) Order in Type A Subordinate Clauses 98

4.2.2.2. Negation in Type A Subordinate Clauses 100

4.2.2.3. Object Topicalization in Type A Subordinate Clauses 104

4.3. Connecting the Inflected Verb to the Clause 107

4.4. Conclusion 108

Appendix: The Swahili Noun Class System 110

Notes on Appendix 117

References 138

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Chapter 1: Introduction

This work has two goals. The first is to present a unified analysis of significant

portions of the verbal and clausal structure of Swahili, a Bantu language spoken widely in

East and Central Africa (Nurse & Hinnebusch, 1993). These portions cover the structure

of all non-compound forms in the inflectional paradigm and the structure of main,

relative and other subordinate clauses. The second goal is to explore the consequences of

the assumption that both of these areas of Swahili grammar are organized according to a

single set of syntactic principles; i.e., that there is no separate morphological component

for the inflected verb. While I refer to verbal formatives as morphemes, I propose that

they occupy syntactic terminal nodes and are subject to syntactic processes. The

arguments for this position take two basic forms. First, the patterns of morpheme

selection and distribution resemble the syntactic processes of movement and licensing as

analyzed within Principles & Parameters theory (Chomsky, 1981, 1991; Haegeman,

1994). Second, rather than the inflected verb functioning as an unanalyzed whole at the

clause level, individual morphemes interact on a par with words in determining the

constituent order of both.

The analyses resulting from this assumption also carry broader theoretical

implications. For example, although there is broad agreement that inflectional

morphology, as opposed to derivational morphology, is associated with syntax, ther is no

consensus on how this association is realized. The analyses proposed here entail that, for

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at least one type of largely agglutinative language, there is no need for a separate

morphological component for inflectional morphology, following the line of research

initiated in Pollock (1989). Also, Swahili verbal morphology is frequently cited as an

example of template morphology (Stump, 1992, 1993, 1996) and the analyses proposed

here offer a non-morphological model for this type of morphology, following the line of

inquiry in Speas (1990) and Rice (1995, 2000).

The data is drawn from secondary sources, primarily Ethel O. Ashton’s (1947)

Swahili Grammar, still the standard in the field. Barrett-Keach (1980, 1986), Hinnebusch

& Mirza (1970), Maw (1969), Johnson (1939), Perrot (1957), Whiteley (1968), Tyler

(1985) and one Swahili novel, Euphrase Kezilahabi’s Rosa Mistika have also been used.

The variety of Swahili described represents the Unguja dialect discussed by Nurse &

Hinnebusch (1993).

The remainder of the book is organized as follows. Chapter 2 proposes an X-bar

theory analysis of the inflected verb, which includes its prosodic structure. Chapter 3

develops the argument for a syntactic analysis of the inflected verb with an account of the

patterning of negative morphemes and final vowels in terms of movement and licensing.

Chapter 4 incorporates the results of Chapters 2 and 3 into an analysis of subordinate

clauses. Chapter 5 considers the implications, within a structural analysis, of the

possibility that the subject and the subject agreement morpheme of the Swahili clause

constitute a topic-comment structure. Chapter 6 examines more closely the issues

involved in analyzing template morphology syntactically. Chapter 7 concludes.

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1.1. Theoretical Perspectives

The basic theoretical framework of this work is Principles & Parameters theory

(Chomsky, 1981, 1991; Haegeman, 1994), in particular, the Split-INFL hypothesis of

Pollock (1989), the theory of Head Movement (Travis, 1984) and the theory of

Relativized Minimality (Rizzi, 1990). This theory has hitherto been applied mostly to

European languages (see, for example, Belletti (1990), Roberts (1993), Lightfoot &

Hornstein (1994), Battye & Roberts (1995), Vikner (1995), Zanuttini (1997) and, also, to

a more limited extent, to Bantu languages (Carstens, 1991; Carstens & Kinyalolo, 1989;

Demuth & Harford, 1999; Harford & Demuth, 1999; Itangaza, 1993; Kinyalolo, 1991;

Ngonyani, 1999). This work is a contribution to this line of research. The influence of

Optimality Theory (OT) (McCarthy & Prince, 1993; Prince & Smolensky, 1993;

Grimshaw, 1997) should also be apparent, although there is no analysis presented

specifically in OT terms. There are also places where I appeal to diachronic explanations

and the functional structure of Lexical-Functional Grammar (Bresnan, 1982). I assume

basic familiarity with all these theories.

1.2. Swahili Noun Class System

The topic of this work is the verbal and clausal structure of Swahili. Swahili also

has a noun class system, typical of the Bantu family, which is encountered in nearly

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every example in the book. This section provides a sketch of this system, including a

table in Appendix 1.

The gender system of a Bantu language such as Swahili is typically referred to as

a noun class system (Welmers, 1973). The noun class that a Swahili noun belongs to

determines the inflections of other inflections construed syntactically with it: two

categories of modifier (conventionally labeled adjectival and pronominal) and two series

of verbal morphemes: the subject agreement morpheme and the object agreement

morpheme, which encode the noun class of the subject and object of the verb,

respectively. These inflections take the forms of prefixes which, in a number of noun

classes, match the prefix on the controlling noun, with phonologically motivated

variation. One example of such a class is Class 8, illustrated in example (1).

(1) vi-kombe vy-a-ngu vi-kubwa

N8-cups PRO8-AP-my ADJ8-big

‘my big cups’

(Ashton, 1947, p. 56)

In example (1), the Class 8 noun vikombe ‘cups’ has the prefix vi, which also occurs on

the associative particle a ‘of’ (a modifier stem taking pronominal agreements) and the

adjectival stem kubwa ‘big’. Since the pronominal stem a ‘of’ is vowel-initial, the

preceding vowel [i] of the prefix dissimilates to [y]. Examples (2) and (3) illustrate the

subject and object agreement morphemes, respectively, of Class 8.

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(2) vi-kombe vi-me-pote-a

N8-cups SM8-COMP-be lost-FV

‘The cups are lost’

(Ashton, 1947, p. 43)

(3) U-me-vi-on-a?

SM2s-COMP-OM8-see-FV

‘Have you seen them?’

(ibid.)

In Swahili, as in other Bantu languages, the subject agreement morpheme precedes the

tense/aspect modality morpheme(s) and the object agreement morpheme precedes the

verb stem. (See example (1) in Chapter 2.)

In other noun classes, there is less similarity among the prefixes of the agreement

set. An example is Class 6, illustrated in example (4).

(4) Ma-ji y-ote ya-me-kauk-a

N6-water PRO9-all SM9-COMP-dry up-FV

‘All the water has dried up.’

(ibid.)

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In this example, the Class 6 prefix ma on the noun maji ‘water’ differs from the Class 6

subject agreement morpheme ya. The latter prefix also appears on the pronominal stem

ote ‘all, each’, with its vowel deleted or coalesced before the initial vowel of the stem.

According to Corbett (1991), a gender in a language is defined in terms of an

agreement set, the set of inflections or other modifications associated with the nouns in

the gender. This reflects the situation in Bantu noun class studies closely but not

completely. The traditional, and currently most widely used, noun class numbering

system, the Bleek-Meinhof system, was devised by Bleek (1862) and modified by

Meinhof (1932), to provide the same numbers for cognate classes throughout the Bantu

family, reflecting the reconstruction of the noun class system in Proto-Bantu. This system

results in noun classes coinciding with agreement sets overwhelmingly, but not entirely,

as when separate numbers are used for historically separate classes which share an

agreement set in the current language. An example in Swahili comes from classes 3 and

14, which currently share an agreement set but which have separate Bleek-Meinhof

numbers because they were originally separate classes. (For more discussion of these

issues, see Bennett, 1970.) Bleek-Meinhof numbering is used in this book.

Swahili has 18 agreement sets and 16 Bleek-Meinhof noun classes. Note also that

the Bleek-Meinhof system asssigns singulars and plurals to separate classes. There are

two reasons for this: the prefixes of singular and plural classes are not morphologically

related (Welmers, 1973) and there is no one-to-one correspondence between singular and

plural classes.

Appendix 1 presents a table of the Swahili noun class system, organized in terms

of agreement sets. The table is intended to summarize the system as described by Ashton

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(1947), with additional observations from Perrott (1957), Johnson (1939) and Hinnebusch

& Mirza (1979). The format is inspired by a similar chart for Gikuyu in Bennett (1970).

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Chapter 2: The Structure of the Inflected Verb in Swahili

This chapter begins the analysis of clause structure in Swahili with an analysis of

basic morpheme order and prosodically grounded conjuncts in the inflected verb. The

chapter is organized as follows. Section 2.1 presents the surface order and labelling of

verbal inflectional morphemes in Swahili. Section 2.2 describes the prosodic structure of

the Swahili inflected verb. Section 2.3 analyzes verbal inflectional structure and prosody

within the frameworks of the Split-INFL hypothesis (Pollock 1989), Grimshaw’s (1991)

theory of Extended Projections, and Prosodic Phonology (Selkirk 1986). Section 2.4

provides a diachronic perpective on the prosody-syntax connection in Swahili. Section

2.5 concludes.

2.1. Verbal Inflectional Morphemes in Swahili

The morphemes of the Swahili inflected verb may be represented in terms of a

template, given in example (1):

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(1) (NEG1)-(SM)-(NEG2)-(TAM)-(RELPC) -(OM)-VS-(Ext*)-FV- (RELPC)

1a 2a 3a 4a 5a 6 7 8 9 (PLIMP)

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(INF-(NEG3))-

1b 2b-5b

(HAB)

1c-5c

Parentheses indicate morphemes that are not required in all verb forms. The labels on the

template slots indicate the grammatical and semantic characteristics of the morphemes

which occupy the slots. The (a), (b) and (c) alternatives for slots 1-5 represent mutually

exclusive options for strings of morphemes preceding the macrostem (see section 2.3

below), the first morpheme of which is the object morpheme (OM) in Slot 6. The

hyphenated “2b-5b” and “1c-5c” indicate that the morphemes so labelled block

morphemes occurring in those slots when they are present (i.e., for example, the habitual

morpheme HAB blocks the occurrence of SM, NEG2, TAM and RELPC). The (b) series

of morphemes represents the affirmative and negative infinitives, and the (c) HAB

morpheme represents the one verb form in which only a single morpheme precedes the

macrostem. The relative and plural imperative morphemes in Slot 10 occupy the same

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slot because they are in complementary distribution, not because they represent a single

category.

There are three positions for negative (NEG) morphemes and two positions for

the relative morpheme (RELPC); the NEG morphemes are discussed below in Section

2.2 and in Chapter 3 and the positioning of the relative morpheme is discussed below in

Section 2.3.1.3.

The subject morpheme (SM) indicates the noun class of the subject, the object

morpheme (OM) the noun class of the object, and the relative morpheme (RELPC) the

noun class of the head of a relative clause. The status of these morphemes is discussed

further in Section 2.2 and the noun class system as a whole is described in Chapter 1.3.

Other morphemes are discussed in Section 2.2.

2.2. Prosodic Structure in the Swahili Inflected Verb

Prosodically, Swahili inflected verb forms fall into two categories depending on

whether they contain one or two prosodic domains, or conjuncts. The number of

conjuncts in a verb form depends in turn on whether it contains a Slot 4 TAM morpheme,

and which one it contains. The following is a table of the Slot 4 morphemes, with

designations indicating their approximate meanings drawn from Ashton (1947) or based

on her terminology. (Morpheme (9), mesha, is discussed by Hinnebusch & Mirza (1979),

but not Ashton. See note 6 below.)

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Table 1: Swahili Tense/Aspect/Modality Morphemes

Morpheme Designation Distribution

(1) na Definite Time (Ashton, 1947, p. 36) Affirmative forms only

(2) li Past Time (ibid.) Affirmative forms only

(3) ta Future Time (ibid.) Affirmative and negative

forms

(4) me Completed Action/State (ibid.) Affirmative forms only

(5) nge Suppositional (ibid., p. 187) Affirmative and negative

forms

(6) ngali Suppositional (ibid.) Affirmative and negative

forms

(7) ja “Not yet” (ibid., p. 70) Negative forms only

(8) ku1 Negative Past (ibid.) Negative forms only

(9) mesha “Already” (Hinnebusch & Mirza, 1979, p.

124)

Affirmative forms only

(10) a Indefinite Time (ibid., p. 36) Affirmative forms only

(11) nga Concessive (ibid., p. 186) Affirmative forms only

(12) ka Consecutive (ibid., p. 133) Affirmative forms only

1 Hinnebusch & Mirza (1979) point out that this is probably to be identified with theinfinitive morpheme. Ashton (1947, p. 72) identifies it as a tense morpheme. It behaveslike a TAM morpheme in that it blocks negative FV i (see Chapter 3.2 below). See Nurse& Hinnebusch (1993, pp. 335, 416) for more detail on its origins and variations in its use.

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(13) ki Continuous (ibid., p. 138) Affirmative and negative

forms

These morphemes divide the forms of the Swahili verb paradigm into two categories,

which may be labelled conjunct morphemes and non-conjunct morphemes, shown in

Table 2.

Table 2: Conjunct and Non-Conjunct TAM Morphemes

Conjunct TAM

Morphemes

Non-Conjunct TAM Morphemes

(1) na (10) a

(2) li (11) nga

(3) ta (12) ka

(4) me (13) ki

(5) nge

(6) ngali

(7) ja

(8) ku

(9) mesha

Verb forms which contain conjunct TAM morphemes, henceforth referred to as conjunct

forms, are divided into two conjuncts, the first extending from slot 1 to slot 5, referred to

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as the inflectional stem by Myers (1998), and the second extending from slot 6 to slot 8,

referred to as the macrostem by Hyman & Ngunga (1994), Mutaka (1994) and Myers

(1998). Verb forms which contain non-conjunct TAM morphemes, or no TAM

morpheme at all, henceforth referred to as non-conjunct forms, consist of a single such

domain. Conjunct and non-conjunct forms contrast with respect to three properties, which

can therefore be correlated with the presence or absence of the conjunct TAM

morphemes. These are listed in (2), and described in Section 2.2.1.

(2) i. presence or absence of epenthetic ku

ii. presence or absence of secondary stress

iii. position of the relative morpheme o (slots 5, 10)

To summarize at this point, Swahili has a category of TAM morphemes which

divide verb forms in which they appear into two conjuncts. Verb forms without these

morphemes consist of a single conjunct. Evidence for these conjuncts comes from three

prosodic properties which are described and analyzed in the next section.

2.2.1. Prosodic Properties

Properties (2i)-(2iii) are used by Barrett-Keach (1986) to argue that the first

conjunct in the Swahili verb forms a morphological constituent (Aux), and is not the

result of a successive stringing of morphemes onto the second conjunct. Her argument

responds to a wider debate about template morphology, initiated by Akmajian, Steele and

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Wasow (1979), analyzing Luiseño, and continued by Kaisse (1981) and Pullum (1981),

also on Luiseño, and by Halpern (1995), analyzing Sekani. Barrett-Keach's Aux proposal

has been recently revived by Myers (1998) on the basis of data from Shona. (For a useful

summary of the issues, see Halpern (1995), Chapter 6.) This section proposes that all

three of these properties are prosodically linked, a conclusion only partially arrived at by

previous researchers. Barrett-Keach refers to the domains as morphological, not prosodic.

Park (1995) recognizes that the TAM morphemes divide the verb into two prosodic

domains, but does not proceed to the conclusion that verb forms without TAM

morphemes form single prosodic domains. The relative pronoun (2iii) has also been

analyzed syntactically by Carstens and Kinyalolo (1989), but their analysis does not link

it to prosody.

2.2.1.1. Epenthetic ku

Epenthetic ku is a morpheme which immediately precedes monosyllabic VS in

certain verb forms. Monosyllabic verbs comprise a small, closed class2. They are referred

2 Ashton (1947, p. 142) gives the following, presumably complete, list of monosyllabicroots: ch `fear', ch `rise (sun)', chw `set', f `die', j `come', l èat', ny `drop like rain', nyw`drink', p `give', w `be, become', ish ènd', end `go'. Note that ish ènd' and end `go' aredisyllabic verbs which pattern exceptionally with the monosyllabics. This exceptionalbehavior will not be analyzed here, but note the following two points. First, these verbsare vowel-initial (Givón (1978), Nurse & Hinnebusch (1993)), a property associatedcrosslinguistically with exceptional prosodic behavior (Downing (1998)). (Ashton (p.142) notes that other vowel-initial verbs pattern the same way in some areas.) Second, interms of their semantics, they appear to be likely to become auxiliary verbs (see, forexample , Heine, Claudi and Hünnemeyer (1991)), and ish, at least, has already begun theprocess, in the mesha form of the verb, hypothesized by Hinnebusch & Mirza (1979, p.124) to be a contracted form of the perfect morpheme me and the final syllable of ish.

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to as "monosyllabic" because they form a single syllable in combination with the FV, as

in the verb l-a èat':

(3) ku-l-a

INF-eat-FV

`to eat’

Monosyllabic VS are preceded by ku in just those verb forms that contain one of the

conjunct morphemes. The following is an example:

(4) a-na-ku-l-a

SM1-DEF-INF-eat-FV

Ì am eating’ (my translation)

(Ashton, 1947, p. 142)

The same verb forms with polysyllabic VS do not take ku:

(5) ni-na-tak-a

SM1s-DEF-want-FV

Ì am wanting’

(ibid., p. 36)

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In verb forms other than those containing the conjunct morphemes, monosyllabic

verbs do not appear with ku, as also pointed out by Ashton (1947) and Park (1995).

Examples of these forms are listed in examples (6)-(12):

(6) n-a-j-a

SM1s-INDEF-come-FV

`I come’

(Ashton, 1947, p. 35)

(7) hu-l-a

HAB-eat-FV

`eat, eats’ (used for all persons and classes; my translation)

(ibid., p. 38)

(8) a-ki-l-a

SM1-CONT-eat-FV

`s/he eating’ (my translation)

(ibid., p. 142)

(9) a-ka-l-a

SM1-CONS-eat-FV

`s/he then ate’ (my translation)

(ibid., p. 142)

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(10) a-l-e

SM1-eat-FV

`let him/her eat’ (my translation)

(ibid., p. 142)

(11) a-si-l-e

SM1-NEG2-eat-FV

`let him/her not eat’ (my translation)

(ibid., p. 142)

(12) ha-wa-j-i

NEG1-SM2-come-FV

`they do not come’ (my translation)

(ibid., p. 72)

The syllable ku has been identified with the infinitive prefix (Ashton (1947), Barrett-

Keach (1986), Hinnebusch & Mirza (1979), Nurse & Hinnebusch (1993), Park (1995)), a

proposal that will figure in the diachronic analysis to be developed below. Note also that

ku is not present when the verb form has a monosyllabic VS if it also contains an OM, as

follows:

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(13) a-me-ya-l–a

SM1-COMP-OM6-eat-FV

`s/he has eaten them’

(ibid., p. 142)

This observation is an important indicator of the function of ku: it serves to add a syllable

to the domain of the VS, a function which is also served by the OM. Barrett-Keach

(1986), echoing Ashton (1947), proposes that ku acts as a stress prop, and Park (1995)

proposes that it enforces a requirement that the verb stem have at least two syllables, a

requirement that also holds more generally of all phonological words in Swahili, as well

as in other Bantu languages (Brandon (1975), Mutaka (1994), Myers (1995), Park (1995),

Harford (1996)). This disyllabicity requirement may be satisfied by any morpheme in the

verb stem, regardless of its morphological identity, as long as it provides the required

extra syllable.

These observations raise two questions. First, why do some verb forms with

monosyllabic VS require ku but not others? Second, why is ku required at all, given that

the relevant verb forms contain prestem morphemes, such as subject agreement markers

and the TAM morphemes? In other words, why can't these prestem morphemes

disyllabify the VS? The answer, as pointed out by Barrett-Keach (in slightly different

terms) and Park, is that the TAM morphemes divide the inflected verb into two prosodic

conjuncts. Without them, the inflected verb consists of one prosodic conjunct. The

minimal disyllabicity requirement holds at the level of this conjunct. Therefore, when one

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of the Conjunct morphemes is present, the VS is a prosodic domain on its own, the

prestem morphemes cannot disyllabify it, and ku is required. Otherwise, the VS forms a

prosodic domain with the prestem morphemes, and ku is neither required nor possible.

This section has shown the prosodic relevance of epenthetic ku in Swahili

inflected verb forms. The next section discusses the second prosodic property, secondary

stress.

2.2.1.2. Secondary Stress

The second property which separates verb forms with Slot 5 TAM morphemes

and those without is secondary stress. In Swahili, primary stress falls on the penultimate

syllable of a word, except for certain loanwords (Ashton, 1947, p. 5). As observed by

Barrett-Keach (1986), verb forms such as the following also have secondary stress in the

first conjunct:

(14) nì-na-ku-pénd-a

SM1s-DEF-OM2s-love-FV

`I love you’

(Barrett-Keach, 1986, p. 562)

Other verb forms, on the other hand, lack secondary stress:

(15) zi-andík-e

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OM8-write-FV

`Write them!’


According to Barrett-Keach, verb forms show secondary stress "when Tense is

phonetically realized" and don't "when Tense is not phonetically realized" (p. 562). In the

terms developed in this paper, secondary stress occurs in the verb forms containing one

of the conjunct morphemes and is absent otherwise. Barrett-Keach's analysis also carries

over to the analysis in this paper: she proposes that when a verb form contains two

"morphological units" (corresponding to AUX and V), primary stress is assigned in both

of them, with the first reduced to secondary stress. In our terms, primary stress, with

subsequent reduction, is assigned in both of the prosodic domains created by the conjunct

morphemes. Secondary stress shows precisely the same patterning as epenthetic ku.

This section has shown how secondary stress patterns with epenthetic ku in the

prosodic structure of inflected verb forms. The next section discusses the distribution of

the relative morpheme o, the third prosodic property.

2.3.1.3. Relative Morpheme o

Swahili shows three patterns for forming relative clauses, all of which use the

relative morpheme o. The use of o as a relative morpheme is one of a wide range of uses

of this morpheme, and it is most commonly referred to as the "o of reference" (Ashton

(1947)). Barrett-Keach (1986, p. 560) refers to it as an "inanimate pronominal clitic", and

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I gloss it as "RELPC" in the examples in which it is used as a relative morpheme, and

"PC" otherwise3. (In Class 1, it exceptionally takes the form ye; see example (4) in Table

2 in Chapter 3.) In its use in relatives, this morpheme shows three patterns of attachment,

exemplified in examples (16)-(18) (the RELPC is in bold):

3 See, for example, Chapter 4, example (18).

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(16) ki-su amba-ch-o ki-ta-fa-a

N7-knife which-PRO7-RELPC SM7-FUT-suit FV

`the knife which will be suitable’


(17) kazi i-li-y-o-m-fa-a

N9/work SM9-PST-PRO9-RELPC-OM1-suit-FV

`work which suited him/her’ (my translation)

(Ashton, 1947, p. 111)

(18) kazi i-tu-fa-a-y-o

N9/work SM9-OM1p-suit-FV-PRO9-RELPC

`work which suits us’

(Ashton, 1947, p. 111)

In (16), the RELPC is suffixed to the independent morpheme amba, which is separate

from the verb. In (17), it appears inside the inflected verb, between the two conjuncts. In

(18), it is suffixed to the entire verb form. The (16) amba relative may be used with any

verb form. On the other hand, the verb forms that appear in the (17) and (18) relatives are

restricted. The (17) pattern, henceforth referred to as the clitic relative, occurs only with

affirmative verb forms containing one of three of the conjunct morphemes: na, li and ta

(ta in a relative clause is realized as taka) and one negative form, which is discussed in

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Section 2.3.2 below. (The remaining conjunct morphemes use the amba relative.) The

(18) pattern occurs only with verb forms lacking TAM morphemes altogether4. Even

with these restrictions, it can be seen that the division of verb forms between the (17) and

(18) patterns falls out in the same way seen in the discussion of the first two properties:

the (17) pattern occurs when the verb consists of two prosodic domains, and the (18)

pattern occurs when it contains one. All three patterns may be analyzed prosodically.

Two observations about the RELPC are relevant. First, it is a monosyllable, and

therefore cannot stand on its own as a phonological word (Demuth & Harford (1999),

Harford & Demuth (1999), Park (1995)). Second, as demonstrated by Barrett-Keach, it is

always suffixed to its host, as illustrated by the following example (note that example

(19) illustrates a non-relative use of this morpheme):

(19) ki-tabu ki-ngine-ch-o

N7-book PRO7-same-PRO7-PC

`a book of the same sort’

(Barrett-Keach, 1986, p.560)

In this example, the Class 7 form of the PC, cho, is suffixed to its host, the adjective stem

ingine, whose meaning in this construction is `same' (Ashton (1947, p. 185)). I assume

that the PC, in its use as a relative morpheme, is base-generated in the position otherwise

identified with C0 (Demuth & Harford (1999) and Harford & Demuth (1999)). Since it is

a monosyllabic suffix, it must cliticize to an appropriate host. This appropriate host is the

4 Another restriction, the failure of Indefinite a to occur with the (17) and (18) patterns, isnot discussed here.

24

first prosodic word to its right. In the amba relative, amba is the first prosodic word

occurring to the right of the RELPC and, accordingly, serves as its host. (The amba and

clitic relative constructions in (16) and (17) will be given a more detailed syntactic

analysis below in Chapter 3.) For the clitic relative in (17), which involves the three

Conjunct morphemes, the first conjunct is the first prosodic unit, and the PC attaches to

its right edge, a process referred to by Halpern (1995) as Prosodic Inversion, in which an

element is base-generated in one position and realized in another position to resolve a

mismatch between syntactic and prosodic representations (this, in different terms, is also

Barrett-Keach's analysis). For the pattern in (18), the entire verb constitutes a prosodic

unit, and the PC is suffixed to it following the FV. In anticipation of the analysis

involving syntactically-based prosody to be developed in Section 2.2.2, these applications

of Prosodic Inversion are illustrated in terms of labelled brackettings in (20)-(22), for

(16), (17) and (18), respectively5 (phonological word boundaries are in bold):

(20) NP[ kisu CP[ cho amba ]PW IP[ ki-ta VP[ fa-a]]]]

(21) NP[ kazi CP[ yo IP[ i-li ]PW VP[ m-fa-a]]]]

(22) NP[ kazi CP[ yo IP[ i VP[ m-fa-a ]PW ]]]]

5 In Barrett-Keach's analysis, VP is a sister of I (Aux, in her terms), not its complement,as in the representations in (14).

25

One advantage of this analysis is that it explains the observation that the RELPC always

finds a host as far to the left as possible: amba when it is available; otherwise, the first

conjunct, when it is available; finally, the entire verb, when amba and a first conjunct are

lacking. Under this analysis, the RELPC originates in a position to the left of the relative

clause, from which it is forced to move to satisfy its requirements as a left-attaching

clitic. Given general considerations of economy (Chomsky (1995)), we expect it to move

only as far rightwards as is necessary to solve this problem, and this is what we see.

Given, however, that the RELPC must suffix to something, why doesn't it cliticize

to the head noun of the relative clause on its left, a move that would not require Prosodic

Inversion? In other words, why isn't the (21) structure resolved as in (23)?

(23) *kazi-y-o i-li-m-fa-a

9/work-PRO9-RELPC SM9-PST-OM1-suit-FV

Following Demuth & Harford (1999), I assume that the RELPC must cliticize within its

extended projection (Grimshaw (1991)) which, in this case, is CP-IP. Note also that if the

RELPC is suffixed to the head noun, it may be interpreted incorrectly as modifying the

noun, not the relative clause. Both of these possibilities exclude cliticization to the head

noun. The important point here is that the domain of cliticization is determined by

syntactic considerations that string adjacency cannot override.

In Section 2.2.1, I have examined three properties of Swahili inflected verbs in

which variation is prosodically determined: 1) the placement of epenthetic ku, 2) the

assignment of secondary stress and 3) the placement of the RELPC o. In each case,

26

variation correlates with the two classes of verbs discussed in Section 2.2.1; i.e., the

presence or absence in the verb form of one of the Conjunct morphemes. These

observations raise the question of why these morphemes split the verbs containing them

into two prosodic units. The next section proposes an answer to this question within the

context of a syntactic analysis of prosodic domains.

2.3. Theoretical Analysis: Phrase Structure and the Prosody-Syntax Interface

This section analyzes the structure of the Swahili inflected verb in terms of PS

and syntactically defined prosodic units.

2.3.1. Phrase Structure

The PS analysis of the structure of the inflected verb in Swahili is based on X-bar

theory, a model used in other analyses of Bantu languages by Kinyalolo (1991), Carstens

and Kinyalolo (1989), Demuth & Gruber (1995), Itangaza (1993), Demuth & Harford

(1999), Harford & Demuth (1999) and Ngonyani (1999). Of these, Demuth & Harford

(1999), Harford & Demuth (1999) and Ngonyani (1999) analyze Swahili, and Demuth &

Harford (1999) Harford & Demuth (1999) also include Shona.

In particular, I assume Pollock's (1989) Split-INFL hypothesis of inflected verb

structure, which is also applied to Swahili by Carstens and Kinyalolo (1989) and

Ngonyani (1999). According to the Split-INFL hypothesis, verbal inflectional

morphemes are the heads of hierarchically embedded X-bar theoretic maximal

27

projections, with the VP projection at the lowest level of embedding (Pollock (1989),

Roberts (1993), Travis (1984)).

The Split-INFL Hypothesis is further modified by Grimshaw (1991), who assigns

the maximal projections headed by inflections and other functional categories to a single

domain referred to as a functional projection. When the inflections are verbal, the

functional projection embeds V'', an example of a lexical projection. A functional

projection embedding a lexical projection constitutes an extended projection. In order to

ensure that lexical projections are embedded under functional projections, Grimshaw

assigns each category a number (its F(unctional) value) and specifies that a particular

category forms an extended projection only with a category with a higher F value. For

example, the functional category I has F value 1, whereas V has F value 0, so that only I-

V is a legitimate extended projection, not *V-I. When I is decomposed according to the

Split-INFL Hypothesis, each separate projection, such as AGR'', T'', etc., is assigned its

own F value according to its order with respect to other projections within the maximal

projection. This extension of the F value proposal reflects Grimshaw's assumption that

the ordering of categories within the functional projection is not determined by selection

or subcategorization, as it is in the lexical projection.

In applying these ideas to the template in (1), I first propose that the only

morphemes that head syntactic maximal projections are those that precede the OM (Slot

6)6. I assume that the morphemes of the lexical projection – the Slot 6 OM, the Slot 7 VS,

the Slot 8 verbal extensions and the Slot 9 FV, which together constitute the macrostem –

6 I consider only the (a) series of morphemes in the template in (1), since they are mostimmediately relevant to the issues discussed in this work, and because the analysis maybe extended straightforwardly to the other series of morphemes that may replace them.

28

are assembled in the lexicon and form a single V0 head in the syntax bearing the features

of its contributing morphemes7. The syntactic heads in the Swahili inflected verb are thus

RELPC, SM0, NEG0, TAM0 and V0. RELPC occupies the node usually labeled SM0, and

I will continue to use this more familiar label.

Secondly, I propose that while the template reflects the surface order of

morphemes, it does not entirely reflect the underlying order. In particular, I take the

occurrence of a single type of morpheme in more than one slot to reflect movement from

a single base-generated position, as is the case with the negative morphemes NEG1 and

NEG2 and the relative morpheme. When these instances of movement are factored out,

the underlying order of morphemes in Swahili remains as follows.

(24) (RELPC)-(SM)-(NEG)-(TAM)-(OM)-VS-FV

Movement of the relative morpheme is discussed in Section 2.3.1 below; movement of

the negative morpheme in finite clauses is discussed in Chapter 3 below.

Thirdly, it is necessary to account for the properties of template morphology

shown by the first conjunct morphemes: they are optional, yet show the same overall

relative ordering regardless of which are chosen. Here I assign a Grimshavian F value to

each maximal projection, as follows.

7 Verbal extensions carry passive, reciprocal, causative and applicative meanings, amongothers. See, among others, Hyman (1990), and references cited there, for discussion ofverbal extensions in Bantu languages, and Section 2.3 below for more on the macrostem.

29

(25) (RELPC)-(SM)-(NEG)-(TAM)-V''

F4 F3 F2 F1 F0

Following Grimshaw's theory, then, any verb form in which the morphemes bear

descending F values from left to right is legitimate (barring other non-structural

restrictions), regardless of the numerical difference between the F values of morphemes

which end up adjacent to each other. This permits any morpheme to be omitted while

ensuring that those that appear occur in the right order. I will not otherwise try to account

for the order of morphemes in the first conjunct, except to note that it matches the order

posited for Subject Agreement, Negation and Tense in other languages by Belletti (1990)

and Chomsky (1991). Pollock (1989) assumes the opposite order for Subject Agreement

and Tense.

A related issue concerns cooccurrence restrictions among the first conjunct

morphemes, which fall into two categories. The first is the partial failure of NEG

morphemes to cooccur with TAM morphemes, which will be discussed further in Section

2.3.2 below. The second is the restriction of TAM morphemes to forms which also

contain an SM8, an observation also made for Shona by Myers (1998). I will not propose

8 There are two exceptions to this generalization in Swahili. First, the consecutivemorpheme ka may appear in forms without the SM (compare examples (14i) and (13b)below).

(i) ka-kimbi-aCONS-run off-FV`and ran off’(Ashton, 1947, p. 135)

30

mechanisms to enforce these restrictions, but note only that similar cooccurrence

restrictions occur in other languages, both Bantu and non-Bantu, making it unlikely that

such language-specific mechanisms are the best way to deal with them. Otherwise, I

leave the issue open.

This section has proposed an X-bar theory analysis of Swahili verbal inflections

based on Pollock's Split-INFL hypothesis and Grimshaw's theory of Extended Projection.

The classification of heads as functional or lexical is relevant to the analysis to the

prosodic structure of the inflected verb, discussed in the next section.

2.3.2. The Prosody-Syntax Interface

An analysis of prosodic domains in the Swahili inflected verb must account for

the following observations:

(26)a. Verb forms without conjunct morphemes comprise one prosodic domain.

b. Verb forms with morphemes comprise one prosodic domain, which contains

two subdomains (conjuncts).

(ii) ka-let-eCONS-bring-FV`(go and) bring’(ibid.)

Second, Ashton (1947, p.38) analyzes habitual hu as a tense morpheme which does notappear with an SM (see Table 3, example (8) in Chapter 3 below).

31

In the analysis proposed in this section, prosodic domains are read off of the syntactic

structure proposed in Section 2.1. I illustrate the prosodic implications of the syntactic

proposal with an account of the first observation (18a), involving a verb form lacking a

conjunct morpheme.

(27) wa-ki-chez-a

SM2-CONT-play-FV

`they playing’

(Ashton, 1947, p. 138)

An X-bar tree for this verb is given in example (28)9.

9 In this tree, the SM heads its own maximal projection, following Pollock (1989) butcontrary to Carstens and Kinyalolo (1989) and Iatridou (1990). The idea that NEG headsa maximal projection is explored in detail in Pollock (1989), Zanuttini (1991), Laka(1990) and Newson (1998), and references cited in these works.

32

(28) SM''

SPEC SM'

SM0 TAM''

wa

SPEC TAM'

TAM0 V''

ki

SPEC V'

V0-FV

chez-a

The use of PS to model inflected verbs differs from its application to full sentences, in

that it is assumed that the contents of the syntactic terminals need to be assembled into a

single unit, unlike in sentences, where the contents of terminals mostly remain as

independent words. The recent literature provides two proposals for this assembly, both

of which have a role to play in the analysis of the Swahili inflected verb. The first is Head

Movement, which moves the morphemes of the inflected verb to a single syntactic

terminal. The second, part of the theory of Prosodic Phonology (Nespor & Vogel (1986),

Selkirk (1986), Hayes (1989), Inkelas & Zec (1990)), groups the verbal morphemes into

prosodic units by inserting phonological word boundaries according to the bar-level or

categorial status (lexical or functional) of each node. Head Movement is discussed in

Chapter 4. Here, I develop the Prosodic Phonology side of the analysis.

33

Selkirk (1986) forms phonological words by combining an item from a full

(lexical) category with the functional categories on either the left or the right. Functional

categories are typically closed classes of items such as inflections. Full categories are the

remainder, typically lexical categories such as Noun and Verb. Myers (1995) applies

Selkirk's approach to the problem of defining phonological words in Shona, including

inflected verbs, by adapting her ideas to an Optimality Theory (OT) analysis, following

Prince and Smolensky (1986). In Myers' account, a phonological word boundary is

placed at the right edge of the VS, a full item, combining it into a phonological word with

the verbal inflections on its left10.

Myers' analysis may be applied to the inflected verb in Swahili, whose structure

closely resembles that of its counterpart in Shona, with the result shown in the labelled

bracketting in (21), based on the tree in (20). In this structure, a phonological word is

formed from the Swahili VS plus its preceding inflections. The leftmost phonological

word bracket is the right bracket of the phonological word preceding the inflected verb,

indicating that the verbal inflections following it belong to the same phonological word

as the VS (as before, phonological word boundaries are in bold).

(29) ]PW wa ]SM'' ki ]CONT'' cheza ]V'' ]PW

In (29), the nodes between the phonological word boundaries constitute a single prosodic

domain. We therefore predict that this verb form contains one prosodic domain, with the

10 As noted by Barrett-Keach (1980, 1986), verbal clitics like je `how', which follows theverb stem, induce stress shift. See Myers (1995) for an Optimality theoretic analysis ofparallel verbal clitics in Shona in terms of nested prosodic domains.

34

empirical consequences described in the preceding sections: no epenthetic ku with

monosyllabic VS and a single primary stress. (This form does not appear in relative

clauses headed by the PC, so placement of the PC with this form is not relevant.)

This analysis by itself produces inflected verbs comprising a single prosodic

domain, both those with and without a conjunct morpheme. However, it does not account

for the conjuncts observed in verb forms with conjunct morphemes (observation (18b)). I

propose now that the conjunct morphemes have a special status. They are functional

morphemes, as implied by the fact that they constitute a small, closed class. However,

they differ from other verbal inflectional morphemes in projecting a prosodic constituent

in the same way that the lexical VS does, in that a phonological word boundary appears

at the right edge of every conjunct morpheme. The prosodic TAM morphemes are

therefore exceptional in being functional categories that project prosodic constituents.

Consider how the analysis works, with the following verb form, repeated from (5) above.

(5) ni-na-tak-a

SM1s DEF want FV

`I am wanting’

(ibid., p. 36)

The structure of example (5) may be represented by the tree in (30).

35

(30) SM''

SPEC SM'

SM0 TAM''

ni

SPEC TAM'

TAM0 V''

na

SPEC V'

V0-FV

tak-a

As for the preceding example (19), the prosodic organization of this verb form is

illustrated by a labelled bracketting, given in (23).

(31) ]PW ni ]SM'' na ]TAM'' ]PW taka ]V'' ]PW

Structurally, (23) is identical to (21), except for the additional phonological word

boundary at the right edge of the conjunct morpheme na. Note now, however, that this

proposal by itself does not produce the right result, since, under Myers' assumptions, a

phonological word is bounded on the left only by another lexical category bracket.

Therefore, the structure in (23) contains two phonological words, not a single

36

phonological word with two conjuncts, since the phonological word boundary introduced

by the conjunct morpheme becomes the left boundary of the phonological word whose

right boundary is at the right edge of the VS. To counter this problem, I add to Myers'

analysis the assumption that a phonological word boundary is added at the left edge of

the string of functional categories (verbal inflections) when the right edge boundary is

inserted, rather than relying on the right edge of the next leftward lexical category to

delimit the left edge of the phonological word. In other words, the left edge of the

inflected verb is marked actively by inserting a phonological word boundary, not by

allowing the right edge of the next leftward lexical category to mark it by default, as in

the structures in (21) and (23). The revised structures of the verb forms in (21) and (23)

are illustrated in (24) and (25). In these structures, the brackets introduced by the VS are

labelled PW1, those introduced by the conjunct morpheme na are labelled PW2 and the

right edge bracket introduced by the next leftward lexical category is labelled PW3.

(32) ]PW3 PW1[ wa ]SM'' ki ]CONT'' cheza ]V'' ]PW1

(33) ]PW3 PW1[ PW2[ ni ]SM'' na ]TAM'' ]PW2 taka ]V'' ]PW1

Note that, in (25), the first conjunct is a prosodic domain nested within the prosodic

domain comprised by the inflected verb as a whole. This situation arises because of the

dual nature of the conjunct morphemes. Recall that the pattern of phonological word

formation is for a lexical category to combine with the functional categories on its left.

37

When the lexical VS in (25) combines with the set of functional morphemes to its left,

the Conjunct morpheme is included in this set because it is a functional morpheme. At the

same time, the conjunct morpheme also projects its own prosodic constituent, which

includes the same set of functional morphemes. The result is that the second conjunct is

actually the prosodic domain corresponding to the entire inflected verb, within which the

first conjunct is embedded. We predict the empirical consequences described earlier: the

relative PC is attached at the right edge of the first conjunct, the first conjunct bears

secondary stress and a monosyllabic VS takes epenthetic ku.

This section has provided a syntactically-based analysis of the differing prosodic

domains observed in Swahili inflected verbs, in which phonological structure is

determined by a prosodic algorithm which combines a lexical category with the

functional categories on its left. The next section discusses a possible diachronic account

of the prosodic effects of the conjunct morphemes.

2.4. Exceptional Dual Conjunct Effects in the Negative Clitic Relative

As seen in example (27d), the relative morpheme o appears before the VS in the

negative clitic relative, showing the pattern described earlier in Section 2.1.3 for verb

forms with two conjuncts. The same pattern emerges when the VS is monosyllabic, as

seen by the presence of epenthetic ku in the following example.

38

(34) a-si-ye-ku-w-a

SM1 NEG3 relpc1 INF be FV

`(one) who isn't’ (my translation)

(Ashton, 1947, p. 205)

Note also from these examples that the FV in negative clitic relative forms is default FV

a, not negative FV i. These are all properties expected in verb forms which contain one of

the conjunct morphemes discussed earlier in Section 2. However, the negative clitic

relative does not contain a TAM morpheme. Why, then, does it show the same properties

as forms which do?

This situation is noted by Barrett-Keach (1980, p. 35), who refers to NEG3 si as a

"tense affix" and includes it in her set of TAM morphemes which induce these effects,

precisely on the basis of its appearance in this form. However, only the negative clitic

relative shows these effects, not any of the other forms with NEG3 si. Rather than NEG3

si being exceptional, it is the negative clitic relative construction itself which is

exceptional, showing the double conjunct structure associated with a morpheme which it

doesn't have.

One way to account for this discrepancy is to assume that the structure of the

negative clitic relative contains a maximal projection headed by a null Conjunct

morpheme which has the same prosodic and syntactic effects as Conjunct'' projections

with overt heads. This situation may arise diachronically when a morpheme disappears

before its structure is completely eliminated. The disappearance of an overt TAM

39

morpheme in this form may be attributed to a pattern in Swahili of neutralizing tense

distinctions in negative verb forms (Contini-Morava, 1989), which is also seen in the

limited number of the available TAM morphemes which occur in negative forms and in

the use of what was probably the infinitive prefix ku instead of the past tense morpheme

li in the negative past tense form (see example (26c) above, note 4, and Givón (1978)).

This pattern is part of a general crosslinguistic tendency for negative verb forms to make

fewer TAM distinctions than affirmative forms (Givón, 1978, Horn, 1989).

A similar diachronic scenario is presented by Nurse & Hinnebusch (1993). They

propose that si in this construction may be identified with the negative copula and that it

acts as an auxiliary verb, having replaced the TAM morpheme. In terms of the analysis

developed in this paper, si occupies the empty TAM head rather than occupying a slot

alongside of this empty head. In either case, the TAM structure induces the dual conjunct

effects.

This section has suggested that the exceptional dual conjunct properties of the

negative clitic relative may be attributed to a maximal projection whose head is either

empty or filled by the negative copula si. The next section discusses the exceptional

single conjunct properties associated with the TAM morpheme Indefinite Time a.

2.5. A Diachronic Perspective on the Prosody-Syntax Interface in Swahili

Why are the Conjunct morphemes exceptional? Recall the precise nature of this

exceptionality: they are functional morphemes with a lexical property, that of projecting a

prosodic constituent. The ideas concerning the structure of Swahili inflected verb

40

proposed in this chapter may be connected to longstanding suggestions about the

diachronic origins of TAM morphemes in Bantu languages, that the conjunct morphemes

were originally verbs which changed into TAM morphemes. Among those who have

argued this way for Swahili and other Bantu languages are Doke (1950), Fortune (1967),

Givón (1971), Givón (1978), Nurse & Hinnebusch (1993) and Wald (1981).

The clearest connection between a prosodic TAM morpheme and a lexical verb is

provided by the future morpheme ta, which may be identified with the verb tak `want',

which surfaces in its full form in relative clauses (see note 5). The semantic shift from

`want' to `future' is widely attested, a familiar example being the English future auxiliary

verb will, with its original meaning of `want'.

The use of the syllable ku to disyllabify a monosyllabic VS provides an indication

of the original structure from which the current verb forms containing Conjunct

morphemes derive. As mentioned above in Section 2.2.1.1, this morpheme is commonly

assumed to represent the infinitive prefix. If this assumption is correct, it suggests that

verb forms containing Conjunct morphemes were originally biclausal structures in which

the verbs which became Conjunct morphemes took infinitive complements. Evidence

from Shona dialects indicating possible stages of such a diachronic process is described

in Chapter 3, Section 3.2.1.

The idea that the Conjunct morphemes may have been lexical verbs historically

suggests a reason why they project a prosodic constituent synchronically: this property is

a remnant of their original status which was retained when they changed from lexical

verbs to functional morphemes. The idea that they were originally complement-taking

main verbs is thus linked to the hierarchical structure which I propose in this paper.

41

2.6. Conclusion

This chapter has examined the verbal inflections of Swahili and proposed a PS

analysis of this system. The analysis is X-bar theoretic, based on Pollock's (1989) Split-

INFL hypothesis and Grimshaw's (1991) theory of Extended Projection. Three prosodic

properties, epenthetic ku, secondary stress and the placement of the relative morpheme o,

are accounted for by mapping between prosodic structure and PS using Selkirk's (1986)

and Myers' (1995) theories of the prosody-syntax interface. Finally, I have proposed that

the prosodic effects of the Conjunct morphemes may be a holdover from an earlier stage

of the language at which they were lexical verbs. The next chapter extends the analysis to

account for the distribution of negative morphemes and final vowels in terms of

movement and licensing within PS.

42

Chapter 3: Movement and Licensing in the Inflected Verb

This chapter takes up the distribution of negative morphemes and final vowels

(FV)s. The first section discusses the two verbal negative morphemes ha and si in the (a)

series of morphemes preceding the macrostem in the template in example (1), Chapter 2,

which negate the non-infinitival forms of the verb. It proposes that the complementary

distribution of these two morphemes is a result of syntactic movement, conditioned by

whether the clause is declarative or non-declarative. Section 3.1.1 discusses conditionals,

a counterexample to this pattern of negation. Section 3.1.2. describes the negative

infinitive. Section 3.2 proposes that the negative FV is licensed by a cooccurring negative

morpheme subject to blocking by the TAM morphemes, which is compared to similar

blocking in other Bantu languages in subsections 3.2.1.1 and 3.2.1.2. Section 3.3

concludes.

3.1. The Distribution of Negative Morphemes

This section argues that the distribution of the verbal negative morphemes ha and

si results from syntactic movement. The (a) series of morphemes preceding the

macrostem in the template in example (1), Chapter 2, repeated here in (1), gives two

positions for negative morphemes, one immediately preceding the subject morpheme in

Slot 1, and the other immediately following it, in Slot 3, indicated in bold.

43

(1) (NEG1)-(SM)-(NEG2)-(TAM)-(RELPC)

1a 2a 3a 4a 5a

The negative morpheme preceding the subject morpheme, glossed as NEG1, takes the

form ha. Examples of verb forms in which it appears are listed in Table 1. As in Table 1

in Chapter 2, the designations in this table are drawn from Ashton (1947) or are based on

her terminology.

Table 1: Verb Forms with NEG1 ha

44

Negative Verb Form Designation

(1) ha-wa-tak-i

NEG1-SM2-want-FV

`they do not want’

(Ashton, 1947, p. 70)

(2) ha-wa-ta-imb-a

NEG1-SM2-FUT-sing-FV

they will not sing’

(ibid.)

(3) ha-wa-ku-imb-a

NEG1-SM2-PST-sing-FV

`they did not sing’

(ibid.)

(4) ha-wa-ja-imba-a

NEG1-SM2-“not yet”-sing-FV

`they have not yet sung’

(ibid.)

(5) ha-tu-nge-ju-a

NEG1-SM1p-SUP-know-FV

`if we were not to know/did not know

(ibid., p. 188)

(6) ha-tu-ngali-ju-a

NEG1- SM1p-SUP-know-FV

`if we had not known/would not have known’

(ibid.)

45

The negative morpheme following the subject morpheme, glossed as NEG2, takes the

form si. Examples of verb forms in which it appears are listed in Table 2, subject to the

same comments as for Table 1.

Table 2: Verb Forms with NEG2 si

Negative Verb Form Designation

(1) ni-si-pik-e

SM1s-NEG2-cook-FV

that I not cook’ (my translation)

(Ashton, 1947, p. 70)

(2) tu-si-nge-ju-a

SM1p-NEG2-know-FV

`if we were not to know/did not know’

(ibid.)

(3) tu-si-ngali-ju-a

SM1p-NEG2-know-FV


(ibid.)

(4) a-si-ye-som-a11

11 This relative construction also encompasses forms in which the Class 16 RELPC po isused adverbially. Ashton lists the following two examples:

46

SM1-NEG2-RELPC1-read-FV

(one) who doesn’t read’ (my translation)

(ibid.)

(5) si-end-e-ni

NEG2-go-FV-psfx

`Don’t go! (pl.)’

(ibid., p. 188)

The distribution of NEG1 ha and NEG2 si is determined by the types of clauses in

which they appear. With the exception of the conditional forms in (5) and (6) of Table 1

and the relative forms in (4) of Table 2, discussed in Section 3.1.1 and Chapter 4,

respectively, NEG1 ha appears in declarative clauses and NEG2 si in non-declarative

clauses. In addition to these observations, NEG1 ha is also used in embedded selected

clauses (example (3)) and in the amba relative (example (4)) (see discussion of the amba

relative in Section 2.2.1.3 of Chapter 2).

(i) a-si-po-som-a SM1-NEG2-RELPC16-read-FV `unless he reads’ (Ashton, 1947, p. 139)

(ii) u-ja-po-mw-ambi-a SM2s-not yet-RELPC16-OM1-tell-FV `even though you tell him’ (ibid., p. 186)

47

(2) Daktari a-li-wa-ambi-a wazi kwamba

N1/doctor SM1-PST-OM2-tell-FV clearly that

ha-wa-ta-pat-a m-toto.

NEG1-SM2-FUT-get-FV N1-child

`The doctor told them clearly that they would not have a child.’ (my translation)

(Kezilahabi, 1971, p. 25)

(3) barua amba-z-o ha-wa-ta-zi-andik-a

N10/letters which-PRO10-RELPC NEG1-SM2-FUT-OM10-write-FV

`letters which they won’t write’


Forms with NEG2 si appear in the protasis and apodosis of conditionals (examples (2)

and (3), Table 2) and in subjunctives, which serve a number of non-declarative functions,

such as imperatives (example (4)), hortatives (example (5)), questions (example (6)) and

in clauses indicating prohibition (example (7)).

(4) u-si-pik-e

SM2s-NEG2-cook-FV

`Don’t cook’

(Ashton, 1947, p. 32)

48

(5) tu-si-pik-e

SM19-NEG2-cook-FV

`let’s not cook’

(ibid., p. 32)

(6) a-si-pik-e

SM1-NEG2-cook-FV

`Is he not to cook?’

(ibid., p. 32)

(7) Simama hapa a-si-ku-on-e

stand here SM1-NEG2-see-FV

`Stand here so that he won’t see you.’

(ibid., p. 120)

The analysis turns on the different positions of NEG1 ha, preceding the SM, and

NEG3 si, following it. I propose that these different positions are determined by the

principle of NEG First, Horn’s (1989) term for Jespersen’s (1917) idea that negative

markers tend to appear as far forward in the clause as possible12. I implement this idea in

more current theoretical terms as movement between positions in a PS tree. I proposed in

Chapter 2.2 that NEG2 si heads a maximal projection intermediate between SM’’ and

12 See Contini-Morava (1989) for a discourse-oriented account of the distribution ofNEG1 ha and NEG2 si in Swahili.

49

TAM’’, according to its position in the template, illustrated in the following tree for

tusingejua (example 2, Table 2).

(8) SM’’

SPEC SM’

SM0 NEG’’

tu SPEC NEG’

NEG0 TAM’’

si SPEC TAM’

TAM0 V’’

nge SPEC V’

V0 V’

V0-FV

ju-a

In this tree, NEG2 si occupies the head NEG0 of NEG’’, in which position it follows the

SM tu, the head of SM’’ to the left of NEG’’ in the tree. NEG1 ha, preceding the SM, is

the realization of NEG0 when it moves to a position higher in the tree. There are two

ways to analyze this movement within the framework adopted here. The first is to treat

NEG0 as an operator moving to SPEC. On this view, NEG First may be regarded as one

aspect of the Optimality Theoretic constraint OpSpec (Grimshaw 1997), which requires

operators to be in specifier positions, typically necessitating movement forward in the

clause. The second is to treat NEG0 as a head which moves to a higher head position. I

50

adopt the second idea in this analysis, illustrated as follows for hatungejua (example 5,

Table 1). In the tree in (9), NEG0 moves to C0, the head of C’’, the next higher projection

in the extended projection (ibid.)

(9) C’’

SPEC C’

C0 SM’’

hai SPEC SM’

SM0 NEG’’

tu SPEC NEG’

NEG0 TAM’’

ti SPEC TAM’

TAM0 V’’

nge SPEC V’

V0 V’

V0-FV

ju-a

Why does NEG0 move in some verb forms but not others? Recall the

generalization that NEG1 ha appears in verbs in declarative clauses, whereas NEG2 si

appears in verbs in non-declarative clauses. This declarative/non-declarative distinction

resembles distinctions between clause types proposed in the literature to account for

generalizations involving movement, such as Hooper & Thompson’s (1973) proposal that

51

the root clauses of Emonds (1970, 1976) are actually clauses whose content is asserted.

More recently, Rizzi & Roberts (1989), drawing on Emonds (1976), and McCloskey

(1992), drawing on Chomsky (1986), propose that movement such as that involved in

subject inversion and adjunction is possible only in non-selected clauses, as opposed to

selected ones. Grimshaw (1997) proposes, as part of an OT analysis of syntactic

movement, a constraint, Purity of Extended Projection, one of whose clauses specifies

that “no movement takes place into the highest head of a subordinate extended

projection” (p. 394). I suggest that, in Swahili, the declarative/non-declarative distinction

plays the same role in regulating movement as the main/subordinate distinction does in

languages like English, in that movement is dispreferred in non-declarative clauses,

formulated as follows.

(10) No movement takes place into the highest head of a non-declarative extended

projection.

On OT terms, (10) outranks NEG First, thus blocking movement of NEG0 in non-

declarative clauses. Chapter 4.1.2 below presents a case where this constraint in turn is

blocked by a structural constraint.

To summarize at this point, so far I have proposed a single structure for verb

forms containing NEG2 si and NEG1 ha. NEG2 si heads a maximal projection that

appears between SM’’ and TAM’’. NEG1 ha is the negative marker that appears in the

head position of C’’ when movement occurs. Movement of NEG0 in non-declarative

52

clauses is blocked in non-declarative clauses by a principle similar to Grimshaw’s (1997)

Purity of Extended Projection.

3.1.1. Conditionals

The generalization developed in the preceding section governing the distribution

of NEG1 ha and NEG2 si is that NEG1 ha appears in declarative clauses and NEG2 si in

non-declarative clauses. One counterexample to this generalization comes from

conditional forms, forms which contain the TAM morphemes nge and ngali. These forms

take both NEG1 ha and NEG2 si, as seen in the following examples, repeated from

Tables 1 and 2 above.

(11) ha-tu-nge-ju-a

NEG1-SM1p-SUP-know-FV

`if we were not to know/did not know

(ibid., p. 188)

(12) ha-tu-ngali-ju-a

NEG1- SM1p-SUP-know-FV


(ibid.)

53

(13) tu-si-nge-ju-a

SM1p-NEG2-know-FV

`if we were not to know/did not know’

(ibid., p. 70)

(14) tu-si-ngali-ju-a

SM1p-NEG2-know-FV


(ibid.)

Under the assumption that conditionals are non-declarative, the forms in examples (11)

and (12) should not be possible, according to the analysis proposed here. Why, then, do

they exist? The fact that both NEG1 ha and NEG2 si forms exist suggests that the

grammar contains competing preferences, perhaps reflecting ongoing diachronic changes,

that have not yet been fully resolved. I propose that the NEG2 si forms exist as a

reflection of constraint (10). As for the NEG1 ha conditional forms, note that their

exceptional behavior parallels exceptional behavior of the protasis of conditionals in

English. As pointed out by Grimshaw (1997) and references cited there, the English

conditional clauses show subject inversion, unlike other adjunct clauses covered by her

Purity of Extended Projection constraint, as follows:

(15) Had I been on time, I would have caught the train. (Grimshaw, 1997, p. 402)

54

(16) *I had been on time, I would have caught the train. (ibid., p. 403)

The usual analysis of subject inversion, assumed by Grimshaw, is that the verb preceding

the subject (had in example (15) moves into C0, the same movement I have proposed for

NEG1 ha. Grimshaw’s Purity of Extended Projection constraint disprefers this movement

in subordinate clauses, just as (10), its Swahili counterpart, disprefers movement in non-

declarative extended projections. To explain the exceptional behavior of conditionals,

Grimshaw notes that the moved verb is the head of a dependent clause, and proposes a

constraint (COND) requiring such a head to c-command its extended projection, a

requirement satisfied by movement. Because of the similarity of the Swahili and English

constructions in terms of movement, I propose that the NEG1 ha alternative for the

Swahili conditional is made possible by a similar syntactic imperative, although it’s not

clear why the negative morpheme should be required to c-command the conditional

clause when this requirement is overridden in other non-declarative clauses. I leave this

issue open for now.

This section has discussed conditional forms with NEG1 ha, an exception to the

generalization that NEG1 ha appears only in declarative clauses. Without resolving the

issue fully, I have compared Swahili conditionals to English conditionals, which pose a

similar theoretical problem for Grimshaw’s (1997) OT analysis of inversion in English,

and suggested that a solution similar to Grimshaw’s may be appropriate.

55

3.1.2. The Negative Infinitive

The negation of infinitives falls outside of the system of verbal negation described

in this chapter. The infinitive is negated with a third negative morpheme, to, as follows.

(17) ku-to-fik-a

INF-NEG-arrive-FV

`to not arrive’ (my translation)

(ibid. p. 279)

It is possible for a negated infinitive to appear with two infinitive morphemes, as follows.

(18) ku-to-ku-andik-a

INF-NEG-write-FV

`not writing’

(ibid. p. 279)

According to Ashton (1947, p. 279) and Doke (1950), to originated as the verb toa `put

out’. This proposal is supported by the variant of the negative infinitive illustrated in (18),

which contains two infinitive morphemes. The second ku following to may be interpreted

as the historical residue of an earlier structure with an infinitive complement. To, unlike

NEG1 ha and NEG2 si, does not license FV i, as described in the following section. The

56

fact that the infinitive is not negated with NEG1 ha and NEG2 si suggests that the

infinitive lacks the functional structure dominating the macrostem which I have proposed

for finite verbs, but I will not pursue its structure further.

3.2. Distribution of FVs

The FV in Slot 9 in the template given in (1), Chapter 2, is a morpheme which

immediately follows VS of Bantu origin in all verb forms. Swahili has three FVs, e, i and

a. FV e occurs in all affirmative and negative subjunctive forms, as seen in the examples

in examples (19)-(21).

(19) ni-pik-e

SM1s-cook-FV

`let me cook’

(ibid., p. 31)

(20) ni-ka-nunu-e

SM1s-CONS-buy-FV

`that I may/might buy’

(ibid., p. 133)

57

(21) ni-si-pik-e

SM1s-NEG2-cook-FV

`let me not cook’

(ibid., p. 32)

FV i occurs in the form that Ashton (1947, p. 70) refers to as the General Negative,

example (1) of Table 1, repeated here.

(22) ha-wa-tak-i

NEG1-SM2-want-FV

`they do not want’

(Ashton, 1947, p. 70)

FVs e and i appear only in subjunctive and negative forms. When the form is both

subjunctive and negative, as in example (21), the subjunctive FV takes precedence.

Negative forms other than the General Negative do not take FV i, but instead take

FV a, as illustrated earlier in examples (2)-(6) of Table 1 and (2)-(4) of Table 213. FV a

also appears in affirmative forms. Examples of these forms are listed in Table 3.

Table 3: Affirmative Verb Forms With FV a

58

Affirmative Verb Form Designation

(1) ni-na-tak-a

SM1s-DEF-want-FV

Ì am wanting’

(Ashton, 1947, p. 36)

(2) ni-li-tak-a

SM1s-PST-want-FV

Ì wanted’

(ibid.)

(3) ni-ta-tak-a

SM1s-FUT-want-FV

Ì will want’

(ibid.)

(4) ni-me-tak-a

SM1s-PERF-want-FV

Ì have wanted’

(ibid.)

(5) u-nge-ki-tafut-a

SM2s-SUP-OM7-look for-FV

ìf you would look for it’

(ibid., p. 187)

(6) u-ngali-ki-tafut-a

SM2s-SUP-OM7-look for-FV

ìf you had looked for it’

(ibid.)

(7) n-a-tak-a

SM1s-INDEF-want-FV

Ì want’

(ibid., p. 36)

59

The data presented in Tables 1, 2 and 3 indicates that FV a is found in both affirmative

and negative forms. It thus contrasts with FV i, which appears only in the General

Negative (example (1), Table 1, and example (22)).

Note now the differing status of the three FVs as semantic indicators. Subjunctive

FV e is the only indicator of the subjunctive mood (and the other uses to which

subjunctive forms are put) in the forms in which it appears (examples (19)-(21) above).

On the other hand, while negative FV i signals negation, it does so only in combination

with NEG1 ha in the General Negative and does not appear in any other negative form.

The semantically most neutral of the three is FV a, which I refer to as the default FV,

following the usage of some Bantuists. This morpheme appears throughout the Bantu

family (Nurse & Hinnebusch, 1993, p. 371) and, considered comparatively, has no

semantic correlates, as, for example, in Shona (Harford, 1996). In Swahili, it signals

indicative as opposed to subjunctive, but is neutral with respect to the distinction between

affirmative and negative. The comparative distribution of negative FV i and default FV a

forms the basis of the argument in this section. The distribution of subjunctive FV e is not

liked to that of other morphemes and is not a factor in the following discussion.

The difference between the General Negative, with negative FV i, and the

remainder of the negative forms, with default FV a, is that all of the latter forms contain

one of the Slot 4a TAM morphemes intervening between the negative morpheme and the

VS. This generalization holds regardless of whether the negative morpheme is NEG1 ha

or NEG2 si. On the other hand, the General Negative has no TAM morpheme at all. Note

that this set of Slot 4a TAM morphemes include the morphemes discussed in Chapter 2

60

that divide the inflected verb into two conjuncts, as well as others that do not have this

prosodic effect.

How should the distribution of negative FV i and default FV a be accounted for?

The observation that default a is correlated with the presence of Slot 4a TAM morphemes

suggests that the relevant factor is propinquity: the negative morpheme must be close

enough to negative i, in some sense, to permit its appearance. What sense is it? There are

two relevant theoretical concepts in the literature: morphological adjacency and syntactic

locality.

Morphological adjacency is unlikely because the relevant morphemes are not

linearly adjacent to each other. It is this observation which led Stump (1991, 1992, 1996)

to describe Swahili verbal inflectional morphology as containing non-adjacent

dependencies, one of the typical characteristics of template morphology according to

Simpson & Withgott (1986). The only way to make an adjacency analysis work in this

case is by stating it in terms of morphemes organized within subgroups within the

inflected verb; i.e., by positing hierarchical structure. There is therefore no reason not to

pursue an analysis within the PS model developed so far.

I propose, rather, that the distribution of negative FV i and default FV a is

determined by syntactic locality (Chomsky, 1986; Rizzi, 1990). The basic idea is that the

negative FV i appears only when it is licensed by a negative morpheme. This licensing is

blocked by the intervening TAM morphemes, with the result that negative forms

containing these morphemes appear with the default vowel FV a. This accounts for the

observation that FV i appears only in negative forms whereas default FV a appears both

61

in the negative forms, where licensing is blocked, and in affirmative forms, where there is

no licensor at all.

One way to implement this idea is in terms of theories of government, such as

Chomsky’s (1986) Barriers theory and Rizzi’s (1990) theory of Relativized Minimality.

In these theories, syntactic elements, such as the various types of overt and empty NPs,

are licensed by an appropriate head under the relationship of government. Adapting this

idea to the distribution of FVs, I propose that negative FV i is licensed under a

relationship of head government between the negative morpheme and the VS that bears

the features of the negative FV i (see Chapter 2.3.1). An intervening TAM morpheme

interrrupts the minimality requirement that must exist for this relationship to hold.

Rizzi (1990, p. 6) defines head government as follows.

(23) Head Government: X head-governs Y iff

(i) X is a member of {A, N, P, V, Agr, T}

(ii) X m-commands Y

(iii) no barrier intervenes

(iv) Relativized Minimality is respected

Applying this definition to the present case, in which X is the negative morpheme and Y

is negative FV i, I first add NEG to the set of head governors in (23i), in line with Rizzi’s

(ibid.) proposal that some head governors are functional heads. With respect to (23ii), m-

command may be formulated as follows, adapted from Chomsky (1986, p. 8).

62

(24) m-commands iff does not dominate and every that dominates

dominates . (M-command is distinct from c-command in that may only be a

maximal projection.)

The relation of m-command between the negative morpheme and negative FV i is

illustrated in the tree in (25) for hawataki `they do not want’, the General Negative form

in example (1), Table 1, and example (22).

(25) C’’

SPEC C’

C0 SM’’

hai SPEC SM’

SM0 NEG’’

wa SPEC NEG’

NEG0 V’’

ti SPEC V’

V0 V’

V0-FV

tak-i

In the tree in (25), NEG0 does not dominate V0-FV and all maximal projections

dominating NEG0 also dominate V0-FV; hence, NEG0 m-commands V0-FV. With respect

to (23iii) and (23iv), the concepts of barriers and Relativized Minimality concern the

63

blocking of head government by an intervening maximal projection that also m-

commands the governee. Since there is no maximal projection between NEG0 and V0-FV,

as seen in the tree in (25), these criteria are vacuously satisfied in this example. I

conclude that NEG0 head-governs V0-FV.

Barriers and Relativized Minimality become relevant when there is a Slot 4a

TAM morpheme in the form, as in hawataimba `they will not sing’ (example (2) of Table

1), in which the FV is default a. The structure of this form is given in the tree in (26).

(26) C’’

SPEC C’

C0 SM’’

hai SPEC SM’

SM0 NEG’’

wa SPEC NEG’

NEG0 TAM’’

ti SPEC TAM’

TAM0 V’’

ta SPEC V’

V0 V’

V0-FV

imb-a

64

In the tree in (26), NEG0 m-commands V0-FV: it does not dominate V0-FV and all

maximal projections dominating the former also dominate the latter. The difference

between hawataki `they do not want’ and hawataimba `they will not sing’, therefore, is

not a matter of m-command. However, the Slot 4a TAM morpheme is the head of a

maximal projection intervening between NEG0 and the FV which also m-commands the

FV, and is thus a candidate to be a barrier to government (23iii) and/or a closer potential

head governor of the FV (23iv), either of which would suffice to disrupt the relationship

of head-government between NEG0 and V0-FV, and thus block NEG0 from licensing

negative FV i. The Slot 4a TAM projection qualifies as both a barrier and as a closer

potential head governor.

In the first case, Chomsky (1986, p. 14) defines a barrier as follows.

(27) is a barrier for iff (a) or (b):

(a) immediately dominates , a BC for ;

(b) is a BC for , is not IP.

(NB: BC=blocking category). A BC is defined as follows (ibid.).

(28) is a BC for iff is not L-marked and dominates . (L-marking is theta-

marking by a lexical category; i.e., a head assigning a thematic role to its

complement.)

65

TAM0 is a BC for negative FV i, since it is not IP, it is not L-marked according to the

definition in (28), and it dominates negative FV i. It is therefore a barrier to head-

government of negative FV i by NEG0 under the provisions of the definition in (27).

Turning to the second case, Rizzi (1990, p. 7) defines -government as follows.

(29) X -governs Y iff there is no Z such that

(i) Z is a typical potential -governor for Y.

(ii) Z c-commands Y and does not c-command X.

The term “ -govern” refers to either head-government or antecedent government; since

the present case is one of head-government, it is the only possibility that needs to be

considered. Under the definition in (29), NEG0 (=X) -governs negative FV i (=Y) only

if there is no intervening c-commanding Z which also governs it (see (24) above for c-

command). TAM0 is the only candidate to be Z, since it c-commands negative FV i but

not NEG0. Since T (=Tense) belongs to Rizzi’s (23i) list of head governors, it may be

considered both typical and potential. TAM0 is a closer potential head governor to the FV

than NEG0 and, therefore, the relationship between TAM0 and NEG0 fails to respect

Relativized Minimality. TAM0 disrupts the licensing of negative FV i by NEG0 under

both (23iii) and (23iv).

(23iii) and (23iv) may also be considered in light of the proposal in Chapter 2.6

that TAM morphemes originated as lexical verbs taking infinitive complements. Note

now that the C’’ in the C’’-I’’ configuration comprising the infinitive complement to a

lexical verb is one of the examples of a barrier cited by Chomsky (1986). If such a

66

configuration is the historical antecedent of the current inflected verb containing a TAM

morpheme, then the blocking of negative FV i may represent the residue in the current

verbal inflectional system of an earlier barrier, the C’’ of the infinitive complement. In

that case, the account proposed here of the complementary distribution of negative FV i

and default FV a in the Swahili verbal paradigm unifies within a single framework the

characteristics of the current system with its suggested diachronic origins.

In summary, I have argued in this section that the distribution of two of Swahili’s

three FVs is determined by syntactic locality and have proposed an account in terms of

Rizzi’s (1990) theory of Relativized Minimality. The next section compares blocking by

TAM morphemes in Swahili to blocking in other Bantu languages.

3.2.1. Comparisons to Other Bantu Languages

I have argued in the previous section that the use of semantically specific FVs

such as negative FV i may be blocked by TAM morphemes intervening between the

licensing negative morpheme and the FV. This blocking also occurs in other Bantu

languages, although there is variation with respect to both the blocking morphemes and

the blocked morphemes. The purpose of this section is to briefly survey some of this

variation.

67

3.2.1.1. Blocking in Shona

As in Swahili, TAM morphemes in Shona block the negative FV (Harford 1996),

as illustrated in the following examples.

(30) ha-ndí-tór-é14

NEG1-SM1s-fetch-FV

`I do not fetch’

(Fortune, 1984, p. 76)

(31) ha-ndí-cha-tór-á15

NEG1-SM1s-FUT-fetch-FV

`I shall not fetch’

(ibid.)

Example (30) illustrates negative FV e. In example (31), the TAM morpheme cha blocks

the negative FV in favor of default FV a. TAM morphemes also block the subjunctive

FV, as follows.

14 The negative FV is i in the Karanga and Manyika dialects of Shona, according toFortune (1984, p. 76), as in Swahili.15 According to Fortune (1967, p. 76), this form is handíchatórí, with negative FV i, inthe Karanga and Manyika dialects. In terms of the analysis developed here, the futuremorpheme cha does not block in all dialects, the only blocking morpheme which showssuch dialectal variation.

68

(32) ndí-tór-é

SM1s-fetch-FV

`(so that) I fetch’

(Fortune, 1984, p.76)

(33) vá-chí-gar-a

SM2-EXC-sit-FV

`(that) they should now sit’ (my translation)

(Fortune, 1984, p.73)

As in the previous set of examples, example (32) contains the subjunctive FV e, which is

blocked by the exclusive morpheme chi in favor of the default FV a in example (33).

The possibility that TAM morphemes block because they originated as verbs

taking infinitive complements, described in the previous section and Chapter 2.7, receives

support from another category of verbal blocking morphemes in Shona, labeled

“auxiliary verbs” or “auxiliary radicals” by Fortune. Auxiliary verbs immediately precede

the verb stem and take a separate auxiliary FV o. Example (34) illustrates the auxiliary

verb nyats-o `well’ (glossed with the adverbial meaning that it contributes to the clause).

(34) a-ka-nyats-o-berek-a

SM1s/RP-well-FV-carry-FV

`s/he carried carefully’

(Hannan, 1984, p. 484)

69

In example (34), the meaning of the auxiliary verb modifies that of the main verb.

Auxiliary verbs such as nyats-o block the negative and subjunctive FVs, as seen in

examples (35) and (36).

(35) ha-ndí-nyats-ó-taur-a

NEG1-SM1s-well-FV-speak-a

`I do not speak well’

(Fortune, 1984, p. 96)

(36) ndí-nyáts-ó-taur-a

SM1s-well-FV-speak-FV

`(so that) I may speak well’

(ibid.)

The origin of auxiliary verbs as main verbs taking infinitive complements is relatively

transparent. According to Fortune (ibid.), nyats-o also occurs as an unincorporated

auxiliary verb with an infinitive complement in the Manyika dialect of Shona. Examples

(37) and (38) are the Manyika equivalents of (35) and (36).

70

(37) ha-ndí-nyats-í kú-taur-a

NEG1-SM1s-well-FV INF-speak-FV

`I do not speak well’

(ibid.)

(38) ndí-nyáts-é kú-taur-a

SM1s-well-FV INF-speak-FV

`(so that) I may speak well’

(ibid.)

Note that, in examples (37) and (38), the unincorporated auxiliary verb nyats takes the

negative and subjunctive FVs which are blocked in examples (35) and (36). When the

Manyika forms in (37) and (38) are compared to the more standard forms in (35) and

(36), it appears plausible that the latter represent contracted forms of the former and that

the auxiliary FV o represents a fusion of FV a and the infinitive prefix ku, as suggested

by Fortune (1967, p. 67). More generally, this sort of contraction may represent a process

by which verbs evolve into TAM morphemes in Bantu languages. Auxiliary verbs in

Shona, with FVs, then, would represent an intermediate stage leading to TAM

morphemes, at which point every trace of the infinitive complement would have

disappeared, apart from default FV a.

This section has considered examples from Shona in which the negative and

subjunctive FVs are blocked by TAM morphemes. Another example of blocking in

71

Shona comes from a category of verbal auxiliaries in a construction whose derivation

from a biclausal structure with an infinitive complement is more overt. The next section

considers further variation in the pattern of blocking in Zulu.

3.2.1.2. Blocking in the Passive in Zulu

In Zulu, as in Swahili and Shona, the negative FV is correlated with a preceding

negative morpheme, as seen in example (39).

(39) a-ngi-thand-i16

NEG1-SM1s-love-FV

`I do not love’

(Doke, 1992, p. 168)

Unlike in Swahili and Shona, however, the negative FV is blocked by the passive

morpheme, as seen in example (40).

(40) a-si-shay-w-a

NEG1-SM1p-strike-PASS-FV

`we are not struck’

(Doke, 1992, p. 168)

16 Doke’s examples are not tone-marked.

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Although examples (39) and (40) both contain NEG1 a, the presence of the passive

morpheme forces the use of default FV a rather than negative FV i in (40). These Zulu

data indicate that blocking morphemes need not be TAM morphemes, thus providing

evidence against Contini-Morava’s (1989) theory which correlates selection of FVs in

Swahili negative verb forms with tense and aspect.

How does the passive morpheme block in examples such as this one? According

to the analysis developed here for Swahili, verbal extensions such as the passive

morpheme are attached in the lexicon and form part of V0 in the syntax. Blocking

morphemes such as the TAM morphemes head their own projections in the syntax. One

possible modification of this analysis is to assume that the passive morpheme in Zulu

heads its own maximal projection in the functional projection, perhaps as the final

projection before V’’. This possibility is represented in the tree in (41).

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(41) C’’

SPEC C’

C0 SM’’

ai SPEC SM’

SM0 NEG’’

si SPEC NEG’

NEG0 PASS’’

ti SPEC PASS’

PASS0 V’’

w SPEC V’

V0-FV

shay-a

According to the scenario represented by the tree in (41), the passive morpheme is

incorporated into V’’ as part of the process of Head Movement to be described below in

Chapter 4.

4. Conclusion

This chapter has expanded the PS analysis of the inflected verb presented in

Chapter 2 to include the complementary distribution of the two negative morphemes

NEG1 ha and NEG2 si and the selection of FVs in negative verb forms. The distribution

74

of the two negative morphemes is accounted for in terms of movement of a single NEG0

morpheme, and the selection of FVs in terms of licensing by this negative morpheme,

formulated in terms of the theories of barriers and Relativized Minimality of Chomsky

(1986) and Rizzi (1990). The blocking of this licensing by the TAM morphemes is

compared to blocking in Shona and Zulu. Properties of conditional forms which run

counter to the predictions of the analysis and the negative infinitive are also examined.

The following chapter expands the domain of the analysis from the inflected verb to the

clause.

75

Chapter 4: The Structure of Clauses

The previous two chapters have developed a PS analysis of the structure of the

inflected verb. This chapter turns to the structure of the clauses which contain these

verbs. The chapter has two purposes. The first is to describe and analyze two general

clause types in Swahili which, I propose, subsume all clausal constructions in this

language. The second is to provide support for the syntactic analysis of the inflected verb

by showing that it has explanatory value at the clause level.

Clauses in Swahili fall into two types, which I label Type A and Type B, the

second fortuitously coinciding with Clements’ (1984) Class B, a category of cognate

forms in Gikuyu. (Clements points out that the two clause types also occur in other Bantu

and Niger-Congo languages.) Type B consists of clitic relatives, both affirmative and

negative, with and without conjuncts (see Chapter 2.2). Type A consists of all other

clauses, both affirmative and negative. These include main clauses, the amba relative (see

Chapter 2.3.1.3) and embedded clauses such as those headed by kwamba `that’ (see

below). Type A and Type B clauses differ with respect to three properties, listed in (1):

(1)i. the position of the N’’ subject (SV or VS constituent order)

ii. the choice of negative morpheme (NEG1 ha or NEG3 si)

iii. the possibility of object topicalization.

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Variation with respect to these properties may be accounted for in terms of a single

structural contrast: Type A clauses use an extra layer of structure between SM’’, the first

projection of I’’, and the left periphery of the clause, which Type B clauses lack.

The chapter is organized as follows. Sections 4.1 and 4.3 propose structures for

Type B and Type A clauses, respectively, and use these structures to account for variation

in the three properties in (1). Section 4.3 describes how the syntactic analysis of the

inflected verb contributes to the analyses at the clause level. Section 4.4 concludes.

4.1. Type B Structure

Recall from Chapter 2 that there are two types of clitic relative, which vary

according to the placement of the RELPC o. Examples of the two types are repeated here

from Chapter 2, examples (17) and (18).

(2) kazi i-li-y-o-m-fa-a

N9/work SM9-PST-PRO9-RELPC-OM1-suit-FV

(Ashton (1947, p. 111)

`work which suited him/her’ (my translation)

(3) kazi i-tu-fa-a-y-o

N9/work SM9-OM1p-suit-FV-PRO9-RELPC9

(Ashton (1947, p. 111)

`work which suits us’

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In both types, the relative morpheme o is cliticized to the inflected verb. In (2), it is

suffixed to the first conjunct and in (3) it is suffixed to the entire inflected verb, two of

the prosodic domains described in Chapter 2.

According to the analysis of the inflected verb developed in Chapter 2, each

verbal morpheme heads a maximal projection. Maximal projections are ordered within

the functional projection as follows. (See (25) in Chapter 2.)

(4) (RELPC)-(SM)-(NEG)-(TAM)-V''

F4 F3 F2 F1 F0

The RELPC o is the head of the topmost projection in the functional projection,

occupying the position more familiarly known as C0. Recall from Chapter 2 that the

RELPC cliticizes to the first prosodic word on its right to avoid realization as a

monosyllabic word. Following Demuth & Harford (1999) and Harford & Demuth (1999),

I propose that the clitic host in the Type B clitic relative is the phonological word formed

by the syntactic device of Head Movement: the V0 head of the V’’ projection raises

through the head positions of the higher projections, combining with each head in turn

(see also Carstens & Kinyalolo, 1989, and Ngonyani, 1999). A single word results when

the verb is unified with all its inflections under a single node17. The analysis developed in

17 Another example of the use of Head Movement for a similar system is that of Rice(1995) in her PS analysis of verbal template morphology in Slave. Head Movement mayalso be invoked to account for the fact that verbal inflectional morphemes may not beseparated by full constituents, which might otherwise be expected to occupy the specifierpositions of the maximal projections (Roberts, 1994; see also van Riemsdijk, 1998, pp.

78

Chapter 2 and extended here thus provides two ways of mapping the syntactic structure

of the inflected verb onto its prosodic structure: Prosodic Phonology, which delineates

the conjuncts, and Head Movement, which forms a phonological word, providing the host

for the RELPC. Head Movement is illustrated in the following tree for example (2).

(5) N’’

SPEC N’

N0 C’’

kazi SPEC C’

C0 SM’’

yo SPEC SM’

SM0 TAM’’

i SPEC TAM’

TAM0 V’’

li V’

V0

mfaa

In this example, the VS mfaa moves from its base-generated position through the

successively higher X0 positions, picking up the contents of each, until the composite

inflected verb reaches C0, the highest maximal projection within the extended projection.

For example (3), the order of projections and the process of Head Movement are exactly

650-1 for more comments on the possibility of Head Movement in the Swahili inflectedverb).

79

the same; the differing placement of the RELPC yo in (2) and (3) is determined by the

prosodic principles set out in Chapter 2.2.1.3. Note that it makes no difference to the

structure of any of the relative clause types whether subjects or objects are relativized.

As a result of the Head Movement solution to the prosodic problem posed by the

monosyllabicity of the RELPC, the inflected verb in the Type B clitic relative occupies

C0. The next three subsections examine the consequences of this prosodically-driven

structure for the three properties.

4.1.1. Verb-Subject (VS) Order in Type B Clauses

The idea that the inflected verb in the Type B is in C0 receives support from the

positioning of an overt N’’ in this construction. When a Type B clitic relative contains an

overt N’’ subject, this subject follows the inflected verb, as follows (inverted subject is in

bold; see also Tyler, 1985, Demuth & Harford, 1999, Ngonyani, 1999).

(6) ki-tabu a-na-ch-o-ki-som-a Hamisi

N7-book SM1-DEF-PRO7-RELPC-OM7-read-FV H.

`the book which Hamisi is reading’

(Ashton, 1947, p. 112)

In this example, the word order in the relative clause is Verb-Subject (VS) rather than the

more basic Subject-Verb (SV), a phenomenon referred to as subject inversion. Note that

the verbal subject agreement morpheme (SM) agrees in noun class with the inverted

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subject Hamisi. Demuth & Harford (1999) take this agreement to indicate that the subject

occupies the specifier position of SM’’ and agrees with SM0 by virtue of SPEC-Head

agreement, a standard assumption in the Principles and Parameters framework

(Haegeman, 1994). It is also possible for SM0 to agree with a preverbal N’’ which is not

the semantic subject instead of the inverted semantic subject, as in the Locative inversion

construction, illustrated in the following example18.

(7) Nyumba-ni pa-me-fik-a m-geni w-etu.

N9/house-LOC SM16-COMP-arrive-FV N1-guest PRO1-our

Àt home has arrived out guest (my translation)’

(Whiteley, 1968, p. 13)

In this example, the N’’ mgeni wetu òur guest’ is the semantic subject of the verb fika

àrrive’, but does not control its subject agreement morpheme. (This type of construction

will be discussed in more detail below in Chapter 5.) For this construction, Demuth &

Harford (1999) propose that the subject occupies SPEC/V’’, its base-generated position

according to the VP-internal subject hypothesis (Kuroda, 1988; Kitagawa, 1986,

Sportiche, 1988, Koopman & Sportiche, 1991), not SPEC/SM’’, hence accounting for its

postverbal position and its failure to control agreement.

Within this set of assumptions, subject inversion in examples such as (6) receives

the following explanation: the inflected verb occupies C0 and the N’’ subject occupies

SPEC/SM’’ immediately to its right, resulting in VS order, as seen in the following tree.

18 The locative suffix ni creates a locative N’’ which may control the agreements of anyof the three locative noun classes 16, 17 or 18. See Appendix 1 for the locative classes.

81

(8) N’’

SPEC N’

N0 C’’

kitabu SPEC C’

C0 SM’’

anachokisomai SPEC SM’

Hamisij SM0 TAM’’

ti SPEC TAM’

TAM0 V’’

ti SPEC V’

tj V0

ti

The tree shows the inflected verb as a single word in C0 following Head Movement, with

the subject N’’ on its right in SPEC/SM’’.

According to Ashton (1947, p. 113), subject inversion is obligatory in the clitic

relative. Barrett-Keach (1980) gives examples of clitic relatives without subject

inversion, which indicates that it is not obligatory for all speakers. The following is one

of Barrett-Keach’s examples (as above, the subject is in bold)19.

19 The verb dai `claim’ in example (8) is an Arabic loanword and does not have theBantu FV. The same is true of the verb dhani in example (22) below.

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(9) wa-tu Asha a-li-o-dai kwamba ki-tabu hi-ki

N2-people A. SM1-PST-PRO2/RELPC-claim that N7-book this-PRO7

wa-li-ki-som-a

SM2-PST-OM7-read-FV

`people who Asha claimed that this book, they read it


In this example, the subject of the relative clause Asha precedes the relative verb. It is

also the case that SV order is possible when the RELPC functions as a temporal adverb,

as follows.

(10) Flora a-li-po-fik-a a-li-m-kut-a

F. SM1-PST-PRO16/RELPC-arrive-FV SM1-PST-OM1-meet-FV

Charles ...

C.

`When Flora arrived she met Charles … ‘ (my translation)

(Kezilihabi, 1971, p. 99)

In example (10), the RELPC po, inflected for Class 16, does not have an overt antecedent

but is used as a temporal phrase. The subject of the relative verb, Flora, precedes it.

Demuth & Harford (1999) propose, for an equivalent marginal construction in

Shona, that the subject occupies SPEC/C’’, placing it immediately before the inflected

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verb in C0. Examples such as (9) and (10) provide support for the analysis of the inflected

verb as occupying C0, not SM0, the head of the highest projection in I’’. Suppose that a

phrase such as example (8) were analyzed with the inflected verb in SM0 and the

preverbal subject in SPEC/SM’’. Under the assumption that subject-verb agreement

arises through SPEC-Head agreement, such an analysis would not generate example (6)

in which the inverted subject controls SM agreement, since SPEC/SM’’ could not be a

postverbal position. Given that a subject N’’ controlling agreement occupies SPEC/SM’’,

then a verb which precedes it cannot occupy SM0.

This section has argued for an analysis of subject positioning in the Type B clitic

relative that relies on the prosodically motivated assumption that the inflected verb

occupies C0. The next section makes the same argument for negation in the clitic relative.

4.1.2. Negation in Type B Clauses

The Type B clitic relative is negated with NEG2 si, as illustrated in the following

example (see also example (4), Table 2, in Chapter 3).

(11) kengele i-si-y-o-li-a

9/bell SM9-NEG2-PRO9-RELPC-ring-FV

`a bell which doesn’t ring’

(Ashton, 1947, p. 112)

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This verb form poses a counterexample to constraint (10) proposed in Chapter 3, which

entails that declarative clauses are negated with NEG1 ha, not NEG3 si. Although I have

characterized relatives as declaratives, the negative clitic relative takes NEG3 si. The

resolution of this counterexample may be linked to the structure of the clitic relative

proposed earlier.

Recall that, in Chapter 3, it was proposed that NEG1 ha and NEG3 si are

manifestations of a single NEG0 head of a maximal projection positioned between the

SM and TAM projections, and that NEG1 ha represents NEG0 when it has moved to C0.

Recall also the assumption that the inflected verb raises to C0 to provide a prosodic host

for the monosyllabic relative morpheme. I propose now that NEG0 cannot move into the

non-empty C0, so NEG1 ha is blocked in this construction, where it is otherwise

motivated20. The contents of NEG0 can end up in C0 as part of the overall instances of

Head Movement that assemble the inflected verb, but it cannot move into a filled C0 on

its own21. The appearance of NEG1 ha is thus blocked in a manner parallel to the

blocking of verb raising in subordinate clauses in Germanic languages (see Vikner, 1995,

for an overview and the references cited there). The structure of example (11) may be

represented as in (12).

20 Since relatives are declaratives, NEG1 ha in the clitic relative is not overridden byconstraint (10) in Chapter 3 dispreferring movement in non-declarative extendedprojections.21 Note that NEG1 ha, like the relative morpheme o, is a monosyllable in C0. Does thismean that Head Movement to C0 also takes place in NEG1 ha clauses? I assume thatmovement of NEG0 to C0 blocks movement of the inflected verb to C0, in the same waythat movement of the inflected verb to C0 blocks the independent movement of NEG0 toC0.

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(12) N’’

SPEC N’

N0 C’’

kengele SPEC C’

C0 SM’’

yo SPEC SM’

SM0 NEG’’

i SPEC NEG’

NEG0 TAM’’

si SPEC TAM’

TAM0 V’’

lia

In this tree, NEG0 is blocked from moving directly to C0, which is filled by the relative

morpheme o. Otherwise, Head Movement proceeds as expected, illustrated in (13).

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(13) N’’

SPEC N’

N0 C’’

kengele SPEC C’

C0 SM’’

isiyoliai SPEC SM’

SM0 NEG’’

ti SPEC NEG’

NEG0 V’’

ti SPEC V’

V0

ti

This section has proposed an account of exceptional NEG2 si in the negative clitic

relative in terms of blocking movement of NEG0 to C0. As with the analysis of subject

positioning, this account depends on Head Movement of the inflected verb to C0. In this

case, the filled C0 is crucial for blocking, not positioning. The next section takes up object

topicalization in the Type B clitic relative, or the lack thereof.

4.1.3. Object Topicalization in Type B Clauses

A Type B clitic relative clause may not contain a topicalized object, as seen in the

following example from Barrett-Keach (1980).

87

(14) *wa-tu ki-tabu hi-ki, ni-li-o-dai kuwa

N2-people N7-book this-PRO7 SM1-PST-PRO2RELPC-claim that

wa-li-ki-som-a

SM2-PST-OM7-read-FV

`people who, this book, I claim that they read it

In this example, the object of the clause embedded under the verb of the clitic relative,

kitabu hiki `this book’, occupies the position between the verb and the head noun of the

relative, resulting in ungrammaticality. Given the structure proposed for the Type B

construction argued for in the two preceding sections, this position is SPEC/C’’.

The ungrammaticality of object topicalization is not directly relevant to the

argument for Type B structure. Its importance to the discussion comes in the argument

for a different structure for Type A clauses, where it is permitted (see section 4.2.2.3

below). Here I concentrate on the reasons for its impossibility in Type B.

I propose that example (14) is ungrammatical because the fronting of N’’ shifts

the relative morpheme in C0 to second position in the sentence22. This example is one

instance of a more general constraint giving preference to leftmost positioning of a

complementizer in a clause, whether it is relative or not. This constraint may be

formulated as follows.

(15) A complementizer is the leftmost element in its clause.

22 É. Kiss (1995), p. 12, notes a number of languages in which an embedded topic mustfollow the complementizer.

88

Note that the constraint in (15) also disprefers SV order in Type B relative clauses, which

also involves movement to SPEC/C’’. Under this analysis, then, the ungrammaticality of

Object Topicalization and the marginality23 of SV order in Type B relative clauses form

a natural class of phenomena.

This section has proposed an account of the ungrammaticality of Object

Topicalization in the Type B clitic relative in terms of a constraint favoring

complementizers which appear leftmost in their clauses. It also plays a role in the

analysis of Type A clauses, to be taken up in the next section.

4.2. Type A Structure

Unlike Type B, Type A structure occurs in both main and subordinate clauses and

may contain any of the verb forms described in the preceding chapters. With respect to

the three properties in (1), Type A clauses show the opposite of Type B clauses: there is

no quasi-obligatory subject inversion (VS order), the negative morpheme is NEG1 ha,

not NEG2 si, and Object Topicalization is grammatical. As mentioned earlier, I account

for this variation with the assumption that Type A clauses differ from Type B clauses in

exploiting an extra layer of structure between SM’’ and the left periphery of the clause.

The following subsections describe first main clauses (Section 4.2.1) and then

subordinate clauses (Section 4.2.2).

23 Recall from Section 4.1.1 above that Ashton (1947, p. 113) states that (rephrased inmy terms) SV order in Type B clauses is prohibited, whereas Barrett-Keach’s (1980)examples suggest otherwise. See examples (5) and (8).

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4.2.1. Type A Main Clauses

Type A main clauses have the same C’’-SM’’ structure as Type B clauses. They

differ in that the C0 position of Type A main clauses is empty, whereas C0 in Type B

clauses contains the base-generated relative morpheme o. This difference has two

consequences. First, Head Movement to C0 is not motivated in Type A main clauses and

consequently does not proceed farther than SM0. Second, Type A main clauses are free

from the effects of constraint (15), which disfavors filling the SPEC position of a C’’

headed by a complementizer. The following subsections discuss how the variation in

each of the three properties shown by Type A main clauses arises from this essential

difference.

4.2.1.1. Subject-Verb (SV) Order in Type A Main Clauses

SV order is unexceptional in Type A main clauses, unlike in Type B clauses,

where SV order is marginal or restricted to contexts such as temporals24. The following

is an example25.

24 Free inversion is possible in Type A main clauses, as seen in the following example.

(i) Wa-rithi ha-wa jamaa. N2-inherit this/PRO2 N2/family `They inherited, this family.’ (my translation)

I set aside the analysis of free inversion as not directly related to the distinction betweenType A and Type B clauses.25 See Chapter 2 for the use of epenthetic ku with the verb enda `go’.

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(16) Rosa a-li-kw-end-a nyumba-ni.

R. SM1-PST-INF-go-FV N9/house-LOC

`Rosa went home.’ (my translation)


The structure of example (16) may be represented as follows.

(17) C’’

SPEC C’

N’’ C0 SM’’

N’ SPEC SM’

N0 SM0 TAM’’

Rosa aliikwendaj SPEC TAM’

TAM0 V’’

ti SPEC V’

V0

tj

In this structure, the morphemes of the inflected verb have been raised to SM0, and

nothing motivates further movement to C0. Note that the subject N’’, Rosa, occupies

SPEC/C’’, instead of SPEC/SM’’, the highest SPEC position in I’’ and the canonical

position for subjects in the Principles and Parameters framework. This position is

justified in Chapter 5 and assumed here and in all subsequent Type A examples in

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anticipation of proposals made there. Since the inflected verb appears in SM0, its subject

in SPEC/C’’ is on its left, yielding SV order.

This section has accounted for the positioning of the subject in Type A main

clauses with assumptions that are more or less standard within the Principles and

Parameters framework. The next section takes up negation.

4.2.1.2. Negation in Type A Main Clauses

Type A main clauses are negated with both NEG1 ha and NEG2 si, whereas Type

B clauses are negated only with NEG2 si. Examples (18) and (19) illustrate Type A

declarative and non-declarative clauses, (18) with NEG1 ha and (19) with NEG2 si26.

(18) Zakaria ha-a-ku-sem-a lo lote ...

Z. NEG1-SM1-PST-say-FV PRO5/PC PRO5/each

`Zakaria didn’t say anything ...’ (my translation)


(19) ni-si-pik-e

SM1s-NEG2-cook-FV

`let me not cook’

(Ashton, 1947, p. 32)

26 See Chapter 3.1 for the correlation of NEG1 ha and NEG2 si withdeclarative and non-declarative clauses.

92

Type A clauses thus allow both negative morphemes, whereas Type B clauses allow only

one.

Although the choice of negative morpheme is generally correlated with the

declarative/non-declarative distinction, the analysis of the negative Type B clitic relative

in Section 4.1.2 indicates that structural limitations can override this preference. The

impossibility of NEG1 ha in Type B is given a structural explanation: since C0 is the

landing site of the inflected verb, it is unavailable to host NEG1 ha. I take the presence of

NEG1 ha in Type A main clauses to indicate that C0 is unfilled in this clause type, and

hence available for the negative morpheme, a result that dovetails with the proposal of

the previous section. The following is a partial tree for example (18).

(20) C’’

SPEC C’

N’’ C0 SM’’

N’ haiajkuksemal SPEC SM’

N0 SM0 NEG’’

Zakaria tj SPEC NEG’

NEG0 TAM’’

ti SPEC TAM’’

TAM0 V’’

tk SPEC V’’

V0

tl

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Note that since the subject N’’, Zakaria, occupies SPEC/C’’, rather than SPEC/SM’’, it

correctly precedes NEG1 ha.

This section has linked the availability of both negative morphemes in Type A

main clauses to SV order in this clause type by means of a structure in which C0 is empty,

which entails both that the inflected verb follows the subject N’’ in SPEC/C’’ and that C0

is available as a landing site for the negative morpheme. The next section turns to Object

Topicalization.

4.2.1.3. Object Topicalization in Type A Main Clauses

Object Topicalization is possible in Type A main clauses, unlike in the Type B

clitic relative, as noted above in Section 4.1.3. The following is an example.

(21) Mw-anamke ma-chozi ya-li-m-tok-a.

N1-woman N6-tears SM6-PST-OM1-come out-FV

`As for the woman, the tears poured out of her.’ (my translation)


In this example, mwanamke `woman’ is the topic and machozi `tears’ is the subject. The

structure posited so far provides a position for the subject, but not for the topic preceding

it. I propose that the topic occupies the specifier position of a projection dominating C’’,

which may be labelled TOP’’. The tree for example (21) is given in (22).

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(22) TOP’’

SPEC TOP’

N’’ TOP0 C’’

N’ SPEC C’

N0 N’’ C0 SM’’

mwanamke N’ SPEC SM’

N0 SM0 TAM’’

machozi yaliimtokaj SPEC TAM’

TAM0 V’’

ti SPEC V’

V0

tj

In this tree, the topic precedes the subject by virtue of occupying a higher specifier

position. Note the effect of the empty C0 on this structure. Since C0 is empty, constraint

(15) is not in force and it does not have to be the leftmost element in its clause, freeing up

the left periphery for both the subject and the topic.

This section has concluded the analysis of Type A main clauses with an account

of Object Topicalization in terms of the structure already motivated to account for subject

positioning and the choice of negative morpheme. This structure crucially provides an

empty C0 position, with consequences for each property. When it does not contain a

complementizer, it permits the subject and topic to appear to the left of the inflected verb

without violating constraint (15). It also serves as a landing site for the negative

morpheme. The next section takes up the analysis of Type A subordinate clauses.

95

4.2.2. Type A Subordinate Clauses

In this section, I analyze two Type A subordinate clauses, the amba relative and

the kwamba embedded clause, exemplified in (23), repeated from Chapter 2, example

(16), and (24).

(23) ki-su amba-ch-o ki-ta-fa-a

N7-knife which-PRO7-RELPC SM7-FUT-suit FV

`the knife which will be suitable’

(Barrett-Keach (1986, p. 560))

(24) Charles a-li-tambu-a kwamba siku z-a-ke z-a

C. SM1-PST-recognize-FV that N10/days PRO10-AP-his PRO10-AP

ku-ka-a pale zi-li-ku-w-a zi-ki-kat-a kamba, ...

INF-live-FV PRO16-that SM10-PST-INF-be-FV SM10-CONT-cut-FV N9/cord

`Charles recognized that his days of living there were being cut short ... (my

translation)


Type A subordinate clauses are classified as such because they show the same kind of

variation with respect to the three properties as Type A main clauses: the subject precedes

the inflected verb, the negative morpheme is NEG1 ha, and Object Topicalization is

96

possible. My analysis of Type A subordinate clauses is the same as for main clauses: they

exploit a leftward layer of structure that is not available in the Type B clitic relative.

However, since amba and kwamba are markers of a relative clause and an embedded

clause, respectively, it is reasonable to assign them to the C0 category. How, then, can the

effects which I have earlier attributed to an empty C0 be accounted for when C0 is filled?

My answer to this question draws on Barrett-Keach’s (1980) analysis of the amba

relative and Grimshaw’s (1991) theory of Extended Projection, described earlier in

Chapter 2. Barrett-Keach analyzes amba as a verb, based on a proposal of Andrews

(1975), in order to unify the amba relative with the other two relative constructions as all

involving the attachment of the relative morpheme o to a verb. In support of this idea, she

points out that amba existed historically as a lexical verb meaning `say’, which survives

synchronically with the related meaning `swear’ and in its applicative form ambia `tell,

say to’ (p. 65; see also Ashton, 1947). One consequence of her proposal is, as she states,

that the amba relative has “one more embedding” than the clitic relative (p. 69). Without

assuming that amba in the current relative construction is necessarily V0, I propose that it

is a lexical category which, at the least, may have formerly been a verb. The functional

projection C’’ headed by the relative morpheme o forms an extended projection with the

lexical projection headed by amba. The complement of the amba projection is a second

C’’, a likely complement to a verb. This C’’ is the first maximal projection in the

functional projection containing the verbal inflections of the relative clause, whose final

maximal projection embeds the lexical projection V’’ to form a second extended

projection. The structure of the amba relative thus reflects the familiar pattern of

alternating functional and lexical projections. The structure of example (23) may be

97

represented in the tree in (25), which indicates the relevant functional and lexical

projections, as well as movements.

(25) N’’

SPEC N’

N0 C’’

kisui SPEC C’

C0 amba’’

ambajcho SPEC amba’

amba0 C’’

tj SPEC C’

C0 SM’’

SPEC SM’

ti SM0

ki

(cont.) TAM’’

SPEC TAM’

TAM0 V’’

ta fa-a

In this tree, the maximal projection of amba is labelled simply amba’’, since it does not

belong unambiguously to any of the familiar categories such as C or V, following

98

Grimshaw’s (1991 1997) suggestion for the treatmenet of such ambiguities. In the amba

relative, as in the clitic relative, the relative morpheme o occupies C0 and is cliticized to

the first prosodic word on its right. In the case of the amba relative, the first prosodic

word is amba, which occupies C0, the landing site of the verb plus its inflections in the

clitic relative.

This analysis may be extended to kwamba clauses. Since kwamba is the infinitive

form of amba, I assume that it shares the same structure. A tree representing the structure

of the matrix verb and the first part of the embedded clause of example (24) is given in

(26).

(26) V’’

SPEC V’

V0 C’’

... tambua SPEC C’

C0 amba’’

SPEC amba’

amba0 C’’

kwamba SPEC C’

C0 SM’’

SPEC SM’

siku zake ..

99

(cont.) SM0 TAM’’

zi SPEC TAM’

TAM0 V’’

li ku-w-a ...

The only difference between the amba relative structure and the kwamba structure is that,

in the latter, the head of the higher of the two C’’s is empty, unlike in the amba relative,

in which it is occupied by the relative morpheme o (inflected for Class 7). Otherwise, the

structures for the two constructions are the same.

This section has proposed a structure for Type A subordinate clauses, the amba

relative and the kwamba embedded clause. This structure, unlike that of the Type B clitic

relative, contains an extra C’’ projection embedded under a maximal projection headed

by amba. The next three subsections show how Type A variation in the three properties

in the amba relative and the kwamba relative clause arise by utilizing this extra C’’

projection.

4.2.2.1. Subject-Verb (SV) Order in Type A Subordinate Clauses

SV order is obligatory in the Type A amba relative, exemplified in (27) and (28).

100

(27) ki-tabu amba-ch-o m-toto a-me-ki-on-a

N7-book which-PRO7-RELPC N1-child SM1-COMP-OM7-see-FV

jana

yesterday

`the book which the child saw yesterday’

(Tyler, 1985)

(28) *ki-tabu amba-ch-o a-me-ki-on-a m-toto

N7-book which-PRO7-RELPC SM1-COMP-OM7-see-FV N1-child

jana

yesterday

(Tyler, 1985)

In the grammatical example (27), the subject of the amba relative precedes the verb. In

the ungrammatical example (28), the subject follows the verb. Since this construction is

Type A, C0 does not contain the relative morpheme and Head-to-Head movement of the

verbal morpheme is not motivated past SM0. This ensures that the inflected verb remains

to the right of the subject, which occupies SPEC/SM’’, yielding SV order. The same is

true of SV order in a clause embedded under kwamba; see example (24). Note also from

the tree in (26), representing (24), that the subject of the embedded kwamba clause

occupies the lower SPEC/C’’, to the right of kwamba. (VS order in a kwamba clause is

probably ungrammatical, but I have no data bearing on this point.)

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This section has shown how SV order in the amba relative and the kwamba

embedded clause is predicted from the structures proposed in the previous section. The

next section takes up negation.

4.2.2.2. Negation in Type A Subordinate Clauses

The amba relative and kwamba embedded clause are both negated with NEG1 ha,

as is expected with declarative clauses whose structures do not limit the movement of the

negative morpheme. The following are examples repeated from Chapter 3, examples (2)

and (3).

(29) Daktari a-li-wa-ambi-a wazi kwamba

N1/doctor SM1-PST-OM2-tell-FV clearly that

ha-wa-ta-pat-a m-toto.

NEG1-SM2-FUT-get-FV N1-child

`The doctor told them clearly that they would not have a child.’ (my translation)


(30) barua amba-z-o ha-wa-ta-zi-andik-a

N10/letters which-PRO10-RELPC NEG1-SM2-FUT-OM10-write-FV

`letters which they won’t write’


102

Since there are two C’’ projections in the structures for these clauses, rather than one, as

in the Type B clitic relative, the second C0 is available as a landing site for NEG0, which

moves in accordance with NEG First (Chapter 2). The following is the tree for example

(30).

(31) N’’

SPEC N’

N0 C’’

baruai SPEC C’

C0 amba’’

ambajzo SPEC amba’

amba0 C’’

tj SPEC C’

C0 SM’’

hak SPEC SM’

ti SM0

wa

103

(cont.) NEG’’

SPEC NEG’

NEG0 TAM’’

tk SPEC TAM’

TAM0 V’’

ta zi-andik-a

In this tree, the head noun of the relative clause, barua `letters’, is linked to the relative

clause by the trace in SPEC/SM’’. The relative morpheme o (inflected for Class 10) is

base-generated in the higher C0. The morpheme amba raises from its base-generated

position to C0 to join it. The negative morpheme moves from NEG0 to the lower C0,

where it is realized as NEG1 ha. The analysis thus links NEG1 ha in a relative clause to

the presence of amba, which embeds the second C’’, whose head is the landing site for

NEG1. The same analysis holds for example (29), in which the complementizer kwamba

also embeds C’’. The following is the tree for the matrix verb and embedded clause

(minus the object) of example (29).

104

(32) V’’

SPEC V’

V0 C’’

... ambia SPEC C’

C0 amba’’

SPEC amba’

amba0 C’’

kwamba SPEC C’

C0 SM’’

hai SPEC SM’

(cont.) SM0 NEG’’

SPEC NEG’

NEG0 TAM’’

ti SPEC TAM’

TAM0 V’’

ta pat-a

In the tree in (32), following the same pattern seen in (31), the negative morpheme moves

to the head of the C’’ embedded under the complementizer kwamba.

105

This section has linked NEG1 ha in the amba relative and kwamba embedded

clause to the presence of the second C’’ projection embedded under amba. The next

section discusses Object Topicalization.

4.2.2.3. Object Topicalization in Type A Subordinate Clauses

Object Topicalization is possible in Type A subordinate clauses, unlike in the

Type B clitic relative. The following are examples of Object Topicalization in the amba

relative and the kwamba embedded clause.

(33) ki-tabu ch-a-ngu amba-ch-o yu-le

N7-book PRO7-AP-my which-PRO7-RELPC PRO1-that

m-toto, Asha a-li-dai kwamba ni-li-m-p-a.

N1-child A. SM1-PST-claim that SM1s-PST-OM1-give-FV

`my book which that child, Asha claimed that I gave (it to him)’


(34) Asha a-li-dai kwamba ki-tabu hi-ki,

A. SM1-PST-claim that N7-book this-PRO7

ni-li-ki-som-a.

SM1s-PST-OM7-read-FV

`Asha claimed that this book, I read (it).’


106

In example (33), the object of the clause embedded within the relative clause, yule mtoto

`that child’, has been topicalized within the relative clause. In example (34), the

topicalized object is kitabu hiki `this book’. The structure of example (33), whose

relevant features are the same for example (34), is given in (35).

(35) N’’

SPEC N’

N0 C’’

kitabu changui

SPEC C’

C0 amba’’

ambajcho

SPEC amba’

amba0 C’’

tj SPEC C’

yule mtoto C0 SM’’

(cont.) SPEC SM’

Asha SM0 TAM’’

a SPEC TAM’

TAM0 V’’

li dai

107

As was the case with negation, the lower of the two C’’s in this tree provides a landing

site for the topicalized object that is to the right of the C0 containing the relative

morpheme, in accordance with constraint (15). The extra projection in Type A

subordinate clauses permits Object Topicalization without violating constraint (15).

There is additional evidence for constraint (15) from the amba relative. Note that

while Object Topicalization is possible in the amba relative, the topicalizaed object may

not precede amba, as seen in the following example.

(36) *ki-tabu ch-a-ngu yu-le m-toto, amba-ch-o

N7-book PRO7-AP-my PRO1-that N1-child which-PRO7-RELPC

Asha a-li-dai kwamba ni-li-m-p-a

A. SM1-PST-claim that SM1s-PST-OM1-give-FV

`my book which this child, Asha claimed that I gave (it to him)


As seen in the tree in (35), the higher SPEC/C’’ is available as a landing site for a

topicalized object. Nevertheless, this position is to the left of the C’’ containing the

relative morpheme o, and topicalizing to this position results in a constraint (15)

violation. Hence, example (36) is ungrammatical.

This section has correlated the possibility of Object Topicalization in this

construction with the preverbal subject and NEG1 ha by means of the Type A clause

structure containing two C’’s. It concludes the description and analysis of the Types A

108

and B clause structures, the first purpose of this chapter. The next section turns to the

second purpose, motivating the syntactic analysis of the inflected verb in terms of the

interactions of verbal structure with clausal structure.

4.3. Connecting the Inflected Verb to the Clause

The second purpose of this chapter is to argue that the analyses of Type A and B

clauses provide evidence in favor of the syntactic analysis of the inflected verb developed

in Chapters 2 and 3. One of the arguments for a morphological component separate from

syntax comes from the way polymorphemic words behave in sentences, as opaque units

whose internal structure is unconnected to the operations of the sentences containing

them (Bresnan & Mchombo, 1995). On the other hand, elements internal to words acting

on a par with syntactic constituents could be argued to be syntactic themselves.

Recall the distribution of properties between Type A and Type B clauses, listed

below in Table 1.

Table 1: Properties of Type A and B Clauses

Clause Type Type A Type B

Order of Subject and Verb SV order VS order

Object Topicalization Permitted Not permitted

Negative Morphemes NEG1 ha, NEG2 si NEG2 si only

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Two of these correlations are relevant here. First, the use of NEG1 ha in Type A

declarative clauses is correlated with the possibility of Object Topicalization. Second, the

use of NEG2 si is correlated with VS order in Type B clauses. Both of these correlations

involve variations in position: the leftward position of the topic is correlated with the

leftward NEG1 ha in Type A, and the rightward position of the subject is correlated with

the rightward NEG2 si in Type B. The analysis of NEG1 ha and NEG2 si as positional

variants of a single negative morpheme allows a structural analysis of the correlation with

these other positional properties of the two clause types. In Type A, the extra layer of

structure that permits Object Topicalization also provides a landing site for NEG1 ha. In

Type B, movement of the inflected verb to C0, which results in VS order, blocks

movement of the negative morpheme to the same position, and it is therefore realized in

situ as NEG2 si. These analyses would not be possible if the internal structure of the

inflected verb were treated as inaccessible to the syntax. Insofar as they are valid,

therefore, they provide evidence that the inflected verb has a syntactic structure which

interacts with the syntactic structure of the clause.

4.4. Conclusion

This chapter has provided a description and analysis of two clause types in

Swahili, labeled Type A and Type B. Type A and Type B clauses vary with respect to

three properties: position of the subject, choice of negative morpheme, and the possibility

of Object Topicalization. Type A clauses have typically SV order, are negated with

NEG1 ha or NEG2 si, and permit Object Topicalization. Type B clauses, clitic relatives,

110

have typically VS order, are negated with NEG2 si only, and do not permit Object

Topicalization. These differences are accounted for structurally. Type B clauses are

relative clauses with a single C’’ projection. Head-to-Head Movement of the inflected

verb to C0, forced by the prosodic requirements of the relative morpheme o, places the

verb before the subject, resulting in VS order, and blocks the movement of the negative

morpheme to the same position, resulting in its realization as NEG2 si. Topicalization of

the object to SPEC/C’’ is disfavored by constraint (15), which gives preference to a

complementizer which is leftmost in its clause. With respect to Type A, main clauses

have an unfilled C0, with no monosyllabic morphemes; hence, the inflected verb does not

move, resulting in SV order and freeing up C0 for NEG1 ha in declarative clauses. Object

Topicalization is also possible, since there is no complementizer and constraint (15) is not

in force. In Type A subordinate clauses, in which there is a filled complementizer, Type

A effects are achieved with an additional C’’ embedded under C0, motivated as the

complement to the verb from which the complementizer is derived. This lower C’’

provides landing sites for NEG1 ha and the object topic, which, as before, cannot precede

the complementizer. Finally, I have argued that these analyses provide support for the

syntactic analysis of the inflected verb insofar as the word-internal negative morphemes

interact on a par with clausal constituents. The next chapter explores the consequences of

assuming that the verbal subject agreement morpheme (SM) is a pronoun as well as an

agreement marker.

111

Appendices

Appendix 1: The Swahili Noun Class System

The table is organized as follows. There are 18 rows displaying the 18 agreement

sets, beginning with the 3rd person classes and ending with the 1st and 2nd person classes.

Each row has 5 columns. The first column shows the Bleek-Meinhof numbers associated

with each agreement set, presented in singles, doubles and triples, separated by slashes.

The first number in each series is the Bleek-Meinhof number of the class that controls the

agreement set. Where there is a second number, it represents the corresponding singular

or plural class. Where there is a third number, it represents an alternative plural form of

the noun. A single number indicates no corresponding singular or plural class. The

second column contains a noun list illustrating variation in prefix-stem morphology and

singular-plural pairings for the nouns belonging to the class. The remaining three

columns illustrate variation in prefix-stem morphology for 3 categories of agreement

morphemes: adjectival, pronominal and the verbal subject and object morphemes. Class

morphemes are capitalized and bolded, and each item within an agreement set is

numbered with a lower-case Roman numeral. Following the table is a set of notes

explaining the reason for the inclusion of each item. Numbers in parentheses are page

numbers in Ashton (1947). Numbers prefixed with P are page numbers in Perrott (1957),

and similarly for J (Johnson, 1939) and HM (Hinnebusch & Mirza, 1979).

112

# Noun Adjective Pronominal Subject/Object

Morphemes

1/2

1/2

1/2

1/2

1/2

1/2

1/2

1/2

1

(i) Mtu ‘person’

(ii) MWana ‘child’

(iii) MWashi ‘mason’

(iv) mtume ‘apostle’

(v) bwana ‘master’

(vi) kipofu ‘blind person’

(vii) ndovu ‘elephant’

(viii) mama ‘mother’

(ix) Rosa `Rosa”

(x) Mzuri ‘beautiful’

(xi) MWanana ‘gentle’

(xii) MWekundu ‘red’

(xiii) MWingine ‘other’

(xiv) MWororo ‘mild’

(xv) Mume ‘male’

(xvi) YUle ‘that’

(xvii) Wa ‘of’

(xviii) Ameanguka

‘s/he has fallen’

(xix) aliMpiga ‘s/he

hit him/her’

(xx) aliMWona ‘s/he

saw him/her’

2/1

2/1

2/1

2/1

2/1

2/1

2/1

2/1

(i) WAtu ‘people’

(ii) WAna ‘children’

(iii) WAshi ‘masons’

(iv) mitume ‘apostles’

(v) mabwana ‘masters’

(vi) vipofu ‘blind people’

(vii) ndovu ‘elephants’

(viii) mama ‘mothers’

(ix) WAzuri ‘beautiful’

(x) WAanana ‘gentle’

(xi) Wekundu ‘red’

(xii) Wengine ‘others’

(xiii) WAororo ‘other’

(xiv) WAume ‘male’

(xv) WAle ‘those’

(xvi) Wa ‘of’

(xvii) WAmeanguka

‘they have fallen’

(xviii) aliWApiga

‘s/he hit them’

3/4

3/4

3/4

3/4

3/4

3/4

11/10

(i) Mti ‘tree’

(ii) MWaka ‘year’

(iii) Moto ‘fire’

(iv) Mundu ‘cutlass’

(v) MUhogo ‘cassava’

(vi) MUwa ‘sugarcane’

(vii) Ukuta ‘wall’

(xix) Mzuri ‘beautiful’

(xx) MWekundu ‘red’

(xxi) MWingine ‘other’

(xxii) MWororo ‘soft’

(xxiii) Ule ‘that’

(xxiv) Wa ‘of’

(xxv) Umeanguka ‘it

has fallen’

(xxvi) Wataka ‘it

wants’

(xxvii) aliUcheka

‘s/he cut it’

113

11/10

11/10

11/10

11/10

11/6

11/6

11

14

14

14

14

(viii) Ulimi ‘tongue’

(ix) Wembe ‘razor’

(x) Uso ‘face’

(xi) Unyasi ‘grass’

(xii) Ugomvi ‘quarrel’

(xiii) Uji ‘porridge’

(xiv) Wali ‘cooked rice’

(xv) Uzuri ‘beauty’

(xvi) Wema ‘goodness’

(xvii) Uombi ‘intercession’

(xviii) UWongo ‘falsehood’

4/3

4/3

4/3

4/3

4/3

4/3

(i) MIti ‘trees’

(ii) MIaka ‘years’

(iii) MIoto ‘fires’

(iv) MIundu ‘cutlasses’

(v) MIhogo ‘cassava’

(vi) MIwa ‘sugarcane’

(vii) MIzuri ‘beautiful’

(viii) MYekundu ‘red’

(ix) Mingine ‘others’

(x) MYororo ‘soft’

(xi) Ile ‘those’

(xii) Ya ‘of’

(xiii) Imeanguka


(xiv) Yataka ‘they

want’

(xv) aliIcheka ‘s/he

has cut them’

5/6

5/6

5/6

5/6

5/6

5/6

5/6

5/6

5/6

(i) tawi ‘branch’

(ii) JIwe ‘stone’

(iii) Jino ‘tooth’

(iv) onyo ‘warning’

(v) JItu ‘giant’

(vi) JIvuli ‘large shadow’

(vii) Joka ‘large snake’

(viii) paka ‘big cat’

(ix) buzi ‘large goat’

(x) refu ‘long’

(xi) JIpya ‘new’

(xii) Jema ‘good’

(xiii) Jingine ‘other’

(xiv) JIke ‘female’

(xv) Dume ‘male’

(xvi) LIle ‘that’

(xvii) La ‘of’

(xviii) LImevunjika

‘it is broken’

(xix) Lataka ‘it

wants’

(xx) nimeLIona ‘I

have seen it’

6/5

6/5

(i) MAtawi ‘branches’

(ii) MAwe ‘stones’

(xv) MArefu ‘long’

(xvi) MApya ‘new’

(xxi) YAle ‘those’

(xxii) Ya ‘of’

(xxiii) YAmeanguka


114

6/5

6/5

6/5

6/5

6/5

6/5

6/5

6

6/9/10

6/11

6/11/1

6/10

(iii) Meno ‘teeth’

(iv) MAonyo ‘warnings’

(v) MAJItu ‘giants’

(vi) MAJIvuli ‘large

shadows’

(vii) MAJoka ‘large

snakes’

(viii) MApaka ‘large cats’

(ix) MAbuzi ‘large goats’

(x) MAji ‘water’

(xi) MApesa ‘small

change’

(xii) MAgomvi ‘quarrels’

(xiii) MAnyasi ‘grasses’

(xiv) MAisha ‘life’

(xvii) Mema ‘good’

(xviii) Mengine ‘other’

(xix) MAJIke ‘female’

(xx) MAume ‘male’

(xxiv) Yataka ‘they

want’

(xxv) nimeYAona ‘I

have seen them’

7/8

7/8

7/8

7/8

7/8

7/8

7/8

7/8

7/8

7/8

7/8

7/8

7/8

(i) KItu ‘thing’

(ii) KIatu ‘shoe’

(iii) CHambo ‘bait’

(iv) KIembe ‘grain’

(v) CHeo ‘measure’

(vi) KIini ‘yolk’

(vii) KIoo ‘mirror’

(viii) CHombo ‘vessel’

(ix) KIuno ‘waist’

(x) CHumba ‘room’

(xi) KItoto ‘baby’

(xii) KIJItu ‘dwarf’

(xiii) KIJoka ‘small snake’

(xv) KIzuri ‘beautiful’

(xvi) CHeupe ‘white’

(xvii) Kingine ‘other’

(xviii) CHororo ‘soft’

(xix) KIume ‘male’

(xx) KIle ‘that’

(xxi) CHa ‘of’

(xxii) KImevunjika

‘it is broken’

(xxiii) CHataka ‘it

wants’

(xxiv) uliKIvunja

‘you broke it’

115

7/8 (xiv) KIJItoto ‘very small

baby’

8/7

8/7

8/7

8/7

8/7

8/7

8/7

8/7

8/7

8/7

8/7

8/7

8/7

8/7

(i) VItu ‘things’

(ii) KIatu ‘shoes’

(iii) VYambo ‘baits’

(iv) VIembe ‘grains’

(v) VYeo ‘measures’

(vi) VIini ‘yolks’

(vii) VIoo ‘mirrors’

(viii) VYombo ‘vessels’

(ix) VIuno ‘waists’

(x) VYumba ‘rooms’

(xi) VItoto ‘infants’

(xii) VIJItu ‘dwarves’

(xiii) VIJoka ‘small

snakes’

(xiv) VIJItoto ‘very small

infants’

(xv) VIzuri ‘beautiful’

(xvi) VYeupe ‘white’

(xvii) Vingine ‘other’

(xviii) VYororo ‘soft’

(xix) VIume ‘male’

(xx) VIle ‘those’

(xxi) VYa ‘of’

(xxii) VImeanguka


(xxiii) VYataka ‘they

want’

(xxiv) aliVIvunja

‘s/he broke them’

9/10

9/10

9/10

9/10

9/10/6

(i) Mbegu ‘seed’

(ii) NYumba ‘house’

(iii) Nchi ‘country’

(iv) kuku ‘chicken’

(v) pesa ‘pice’

(vi) Nzuri ‘beautiful’

(vii) NYeupe ‘white’

(viii) Mpya ‘new’

(ix) fupi ‘short’

(x) Ndefu ‘long’

(xi) Mbivu ‘jealous’

(xii) Dume ‘male’

(xiii) NJema ‘good’

(xiv) Ile ‘that’

(xv) Ya ‘of’

(xvi) Imevunjika ‘it is

broken’

(xvii) Yataka ‘it

wants’

(xviii) nimeIona ‘I

have seen it’

10/9

10/9

(i) Mbegu ‘seeds’

(ii) NYumba ‘houses’

(xii) Nzuri ‘beautiful’

(xiii) NYeupe ‘white’

(xx) ZIle ‘those’

(xxi) Za ‘of’

(xxi) ZImevunjika

‘they are broken’

116

10/9

10/9

10/9/6

10/11

6

10/11

10/11

10/11

10/11

(iii) Nchi ‘countries’

(iv) kuku ‘chickens’

(v) pesa ‘pice’

(vi) NYasi ‘grass’

(vii) maisha ‘lives’

(viii) kuta ‘walls’

(ix) NYembe ‘razors’

(x) Ndimi ‘tongues’

(xi) NYuso ‘faces’

(xiv) Mpya ‘new’

(xv) fupi ‘short’

(xvi) Ndefu ‘long’

(xvii) Mbivu ‘jealous’

(xviii) Dume ‘male’

(xix) NJema ‘good’

(xxii) Zataka ‘they

want’

(xxiii) nimeZIona ‘I

have seen them’

15 (i) KUimba ‘to sing’

(ii) KWenda ‘to go’

(iii) KUzuri ‘beautiful’

(iv) KWema ‘good’

(v) KUle ‘there’

(vi) KWa ‘of’

(vii) KUmekwisha ‘it

is finished’

(viii) KWataka ‘it

needs’

(ix) unaKUsikia ‘you

hear it’

16 (i) mahali ‘place

(ii) mlangoNI ‘at the door’

(iii) juu ya kioo ‘above the

mirror’

(iv) PAzuri ‘beautiful’

(v) Pema ‘good’

(vi) PAle ‘there’

(vii) Pa ‘of’

(viii) PAmekufa

‘there has died’

(ix) Pataka ‘there

needs

(x) siPAoni ‘I do not

see it’

17 (i) mjiNI ‘at the town’

(ii) nje ‘outside’

(iii) KUzuri ‘beautiful’

(iv) KWingine ‘other’

(v) KUle ‘there’

(vi) KWa ‘of’

(vii) KUmekufa

‘there has died’

(viii) KWataka ‘there

needs’

(ix) hutaKUona ‘you

will not see there’

18 (i) mwituNI ‘in the forest’ (iii) MUzuri ‘beautiful’ (v) Mle ‘there’ (vii) Mmelala ‘there

117

(ii) ndani ya shimo ‘in a pit’ (iv) MWingine ‘other’ (vi) MWa ‘of’ has slept’

1s (i) mimi ‘I’ (ii) NImeanguka ‘I

have fallen’

(iii) Nataka ‘I want’

(iv) uliNIona ‘you

saw me’

2s (i) wewe ‘you’ (ii) Umeanguka ‘you

have fallen’

(iii) Wataka ‘you

want’

(iv) niliKUona ‘I saw

you’

1p (i) sisi ‘we’ (ii) WAwili ‘two’ (iii) Sote ‘all of

us’

(iv) TUmeanguka

‘we have fallen’

(v) TWataka ‘we

want’

(vi) mliTUona ‘you

saw us’

2p (i) ninyi ‘you’ (ii) WAwili ‘two’ (iii) NYote ‘you

all’

(iv) Mlianguka ‘you

fell’

(v) MWataka ‘you

want’

(vi) niliWAona ‘I

saw you’

118

Notes on Appendix 1

1/2 (i) Mtu ‘person’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial noun stem (28).

1/2 (ii) MWana `child’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial noun stem (28).

1/2 (iii) MWashi `mason’ is a noun whose pattern is regular in the singular and irregular

in the plural (2/1 (iii)) (29).

1/2 (iv) mtume `apostle’ is a noun with 3/4 noun morphology which controls the 1/2

agreement set because it denotes an animate being. Its 3/4 prefix is not highlighted

because it is not connected to the noun’s control of this agreement set (89).

1/2 (v) bwana `master’ is a noun with 5/6 noun morphology which controls the 1/2

agreement set because it denotes an animate being. Its noun morphology belongs to the

Class 5 (i) category, which lacks a prefix (66). Some members of this category control

Class 9 agreement with possessive stems (bibi yangu `my madam’ (90)).

1/2 (vi) kipofu `blind person’ is a noun with 7/8 noun morphology which controls the 1/2



1/2 (vii) ndovu `elephant’ is a noun with 9/10 noun morphology which controls the 1/2



1/2 (viii) mama `mother’ is a noun without a noun prefix which controls the 1/2

agreement set because it denotes an animate being. Some members of this category

119

control Class 9 agreement with possessive stems (baba yangu `my father’, rafiki yangu

`my friend’ (90)).

1 (ix) Rosa `Rosa’ is a noun without a noun prefix which controls the 1 agreement set

because it refers to an animate being.

1/2 (x) Mzuri `beautiful’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial adjective stem

(47).

1/2 (xi) MWanana `gentle’ illustrates a unique pattern with an [a]-initial adjective stem

(48).

1/2 (xii) MWekundu `red’ illustrates the regular pattern with an [e]-initial adjective stem.

1/2 (xiii) MWingine `other’ illustrates the regular pattern with an [i]-initial adjective stem

(47).

1/2 (xiv) MWororo `mild’ illustrates the pattern with an [o]-initial adjective stem (48).

1/2 (xv) Mume `male’ illustrates a unique pattern with an [u]-initial adjective stem (48).

1/2 (xvi) YUle `that’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial pronominal stem (42).

1/2 (xvii) Wa `of’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial pronominal stem (55).

1/2 (xviii) Ameanguka `s/he has fallen’ illustrates the subject morpheme (28).

1/2 (xix) aliMpiga `s/he hit him/her’ illustrates the regular pattern when the object

morpheme precedes C (28).

1/2 (xx) aliMWona `s/he saw him/her’ illustrates the regular pattern when the object

morpheme precedes V (42).

2/1 (i) WAtu ‘people’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial noun stem (28).

2/1 (ii) Wana `children’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial noun stem (28).

120

2/1 (iii) WAashi `masons’ is a noun whose prefix retains its vowel before a V-initial stem

derived from a verb (29).

2/1 (iv) mitume àpostle’ is a noun with 4/3 noun morphology which controls the 2/1

agreement set because it denotes animate beings. Its 4/3 prefix is not highlighted because

it is not connected to the noun’s control of this agreement set (89).

2/1 (v) MAbwana `masters’ is a noun with 6/5 noun morphology which controls the 2/1


it is not connected to the noun’s control of this agreement set (66). Some members of this

category control Class 10 agreement with possessive stems (mabwana zetu òur masters

(90)).

2/1 (vi) vipofu `blind people’ is a noun with 8/7 noun morphology which controls the 2/1


it is not connected to the noun’s control of this agreement set (89).

2/1 (vii) ndovu èlephants’ is a noun with 10/9 noun morphology which controls the 2/1

agreement set because it denotes animate beings. Its 10/9 prefix is not highlighted

because it is not connected to the noun’s control of this agreement set (89). Some

members of this category control Class 10 agreement with possessive stems (ng ombe

zangu `my cattle’ (90)).

2/1 (viii) mama `mothers’ is a noun without a noun prefix which controls the 2/1

agreement set because it denotes animate beings. Some members of this category control

Class 10 agreement with possessive stems (baba zetu òur fathers’, rafiki zetu òur

friends’ (89, 90)).

121

2/1 (ix) WAzuri `beautiful’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial adjective stem

(47).

2/1 (x) WAanana `gentle’ illustrates the regular pattern with an [a]-initial adjective stem

(48).

2/1 (xi) Wekundu `red’ illustrates the regular pattern with an [e]-initial adjective stem.

2/1 (xii) Wengine `other’ illustrates the regular pattern with an [i]-initial adjective stem

(47).

2/1 (xiii) WAororo `mild’ illustrates the pattern with an [o]-initial adjective stem (48).

2/1 (xiv) WAume `male’ illustrates a unique pattern with an [u]-initial adjective stem

(48).

2/1 (xv) WAle `those’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial pronominal stem (28).

2/1 (xvi) Wa `of’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial pronominal stem (55).

2/1 (xvii) WAmeanguka `they have fallen’ illustrates the subject morpheme (42).

2/1 (xviii) aliWApiga `s/he has beaten them’ illustrates the object morpheme (42).

3/4 (i) Mti ‘tree’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial noun stem (23).

3/4 (ii) MWaka ‘year’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial noun stem (22).

3/4 (iii) Moto ‘fire’ illustrates the regular pattern with an [o]-initial noun stem (23).

3/4 (iv) Mundu ‘cutlass’ illustrates the regular pattern with a [u]-initial noun stem (P10).

3/4 (v) MUhogo ‘cassava’ illustrates the regular pattern with an [h]-initial noun stem

(P10).

3/4 (vi) MUwa ‘sugarcane’ illustrates the regular pattern with a [w]-initial noun stem

(P10).

122

11/10 (vii) Ukuta `wall’ represents a set of nouns with C-initial stems controlling Class 3

agreements, which originally belonged to Bleek-Meinhof Class 11, whose plurals are in

Class 10 (105).

11/10 (viii) Ulimi `tongue’ is a noun with an [l]-initial stem which changes in the Class

10 plural (11/10 (x)) (106).

11/10 (ix) Wembe `razor’ represents a set of nouns with V-initial stems controlling Class

3 agreements, which originally belonged to Bleek-Meinhof Class 11, whose plurals are in

Class 10 (106).

11/10 (x) Uso `face’ originally belonged to Bleek-Meinhof Class 11 and now controls

Class 3 agreements. Its u prefix is retained in the plural (10/11 (xi)) with its monosyllabic

stem (106).

11/10 (xi) Unyasi `grass’ originally belonged to Bleek-Meinhof Class 11 and now

controls Class 3 agreements. It has a plural in Class 6 (6/11 (xiii)) (67, 298).

11/10 (xii) Ugomvi `quarrel’ has the u prefix of Bleek-Meinhof Class 11 and a plural in

Class 6 (6/11 (xii)) (67).

11 (xiii) Uji `porridge’ represents a set of nouns with C-initial stems controlling Class 3

agreements, which originally belonged to Bleek-Meinhof Class 11, with no plurals (105).

11 (xiv) Wali `cooked rice’ represents a set of nouns with V-initial stems controlling

Class 3 agreements, which originally belonged to Bleek-Meinhof Class 11, with no

plurals (105).

14 (xv) Uzuri `beauty’ represents a set of nouns with C-initial stems controlling Class 3

agreements, which originally belonged to Bleek-Meinhof Class 14, with no plurals (104).

123

14 (xvi) Wema `goodness’ represents a set of nouns with V-initial stems controlling Class

3 agreements, which originally belonged to Bleek-Meinhof Class 14, with no plurals

(104).

14 (xvii) Uombi ìntercession’ originally belonged to Bleek-Meinhof Class 14 and now

controls Class 3 agreements. Its u prefix exceptionally does not dissimilate before a V-

initial stem (104).

14 (xviii) UWongo `falsehood’ originally belonged to Bleek-Meinhof Class 14 and now

controls Class 3 agreements. It has an exceptional uw prefix before a V-initial stem (104).

3/10/14/4 (xix) Mzuri `beautiful’ represents the regular pattern with a C-initial adjective

stem (46); the Class 14 remnant uzuri is also possible for former Class 14 nouns (108).

3/10/14/4 (xx) MWekundu `red’ illustrates the regular pattern with an [e]-initial adjective

stem.

3/10/14/4 (xxi) MWingine òther’ illustrates the regular pattern with an [i]-initial

adjective stem (47).

3/10/14/4 (xxii) MWororo `soft’ illustrates the pattern with an [o]-initial adjective stem

(48).

3/10/14/4 (xxiii) Ule `that’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial pronominal stem

(58).

3/10/14/4 (xxiv) Wa òf’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial pronominal stem

(55).

3/10/14/4 (xxv) Umeanguka ìt has fallen’ illustrates the subject morpheme preceding C

(43).

124

3/10/14/4 (xxvi) Wataka ìt wants’ illustrates the subject morpheme preceding the V-

initial tense morpheme (36).

3/10/14/4 (xxvi) aliUcheka `s/he cut it’ illustrates the object morpheme (43).

4/3 (i) MIti ‘trees’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial noun stem (23).

4/3 (ii) MIaka ‘years’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial noun stem (22).

4/3 (iii) MIoto ‘fires’ illustrates the regular pattern with an [o]-initial noun stem (23).

4/3 (iv) MIundu ‘cutlasses’ illustrates the regular pattern with a [u]-initial noun stem

(P10).

4/3 (v) MIhogo ‘cassava’ illustrates the regular pattern with an [h]-initial noun stem

(P10).

4/3 (vi) MIwa ‘sugarcane’ illustrates the regular pattern with a [w]-initial noun stem

(P10).

4/3 (vii) MIzuri `beautiful’ represents the regular pattern with a C-initial adjective stem

(46).

4/3 (viii) MYekundu `red’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial adjective stem

(47).

4/3 (ix) Mingine òther’ illustrates the regular pattern with an [i]-initial adjective stem

(47).

4/3 (x) MYororo `soft’ illustrates the pattern with an [o]-initial adjective stem (48).

4/3 (xi) Ile `those’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial pronominal stem (58).

4/3 (xii) Ya òf’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial pronominal stem (55).

125

4/3 (xiii) Imeanguka `they have fallen’ illustrates the subject morpheme preceding C

(43).

4/3 (xiv) Yataka `they want’ illustrates the subject morpheme preceding the V-initial

tense morpheme (36).

4/3 (xv) aliIcheka `s/he cut it’ illustrates the object morpheme (43).

5/6 (i) tawi `branch’ illustrates the regular pattern in which no prefix is used with a

polysyllabic C-initial noun stem (64).

5/6 (ii) JIwe `stone’ illustrates the regular pattern with a monosyllabic noun stem (64).

5/6 (iii) Jino `tooth’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial noun stem (64).

5/6 (iv) onyo `warning’ illustrates a pattern in which no prefix is used with a V-initial

noun stem derived from a verb (64).

5/6 (v) JItu `giant’ illustrates the augmentative use of the Class 5 prefix ji with a

monosyllabic noun stem (296).

5/6 (vi) JIvuli `large shadow’ illustrates a rare augmentative use of the Class 5 prefix ji

with a disyllabic noun stem (297).

5/6 (vii) Joka `large snake’ illustrates the augmentative use of the Class 5 prefix ji with a

V-initial noun stem (297).

5/6 (viii) paka `large cat’ illustrates a pattern in which augmentative Class 5 is marked by

non-aspiration of the initial stop, unlike in the Class 9 equivalent of this noun (297).

5/6 (ix) buzi `large goat’ illustrates a pattern in which augmentative Class 5 is marked by

an implosive initial stop, unlike in the Class 9 equivalent of this noun (297).

126

5/6 (x) refu `long’ illustrates the regular pattern in which no prefix is used with a C-initial

adjective stem (68).

5/6 (xi) JIpya `new’ illustrates the regular pattern with a monosyllabic adjective stem

(68).

5/6 (xii) Jema `good’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial adjective stem (68).

5/6 (xiii) Jingine òther’ has an alternative form Lingine (68).

5/6 (xiv) JIke `female’ is a regular singular with an irregular plural (6/5 (xix)) (68).

5/6 (xv) Dume `male’ has an irregular adjective prefix (68).

5/6 (xvi) LIle `that’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial pronominal stem (69).

5/6 (xvii) La òf’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial pronominal stem (69).

5/6 (xviii) LImevunjika ìt is broken’ illustrates the subject morpheme preceding C (65).

5/6 (xix) Lataka ìt wants’ illustrates the subject morpheme preceding the V-initial tense

morpheme.

5/6 (xx) nimeLIona Ì saw it’ illustrates the object morpheme (69).

6/5 (i) MAtawi `branches’ illustrates the regular pattern with a polysyllabic C-initial noun

stem (64).

6/5 (ii) MAwe `stones’ illustrates the regular pattern with a monosyllabic noun stem (64).

6/5 (iii) Meno `teeth’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial noun stem (64).

6/5 (iv) MAonyo `warnings’ illustrates a pattern with a V-initial noun stem derived from

a verb (64).

127

6/5 (v) MAJItu `giants’ illustrates the augmentative use of Class 6 with a monosyllabic

noun stem; note retention of the singular prefix ji in the plural; there is also an alternative

form MIJItu (296).

6/5 (vi) MAJIvuli `large shadows’ illustrates a rare augmentative use of Class in which

the singular prefix ji is retained with a C-initial disyllabic noun stem (297).

6/5 (vii) MAJoka `large snakes’ illustrates the augmentative use of Class 6 with a V-

initial noun stem; note retention of the singular prefix ji in the plural (297).

6/5 (viii) MApaka `large cats’ illustrates an augmentative use of Class 6 (297).

6/5 (ix) MAbuzi `large goats’ illustrates an augmentative use of Class 6 (297).

6/5 (x) MAji `water’ has no singular (67).

6/5 (xi) MApesa `small change’ is a Class 6 plural of pesa `pice’, a 9/10/6 (v) noun (67)

6/14 (xii) MAnyasi `grasses and weeds’ is a Class 6 plural of nyasi `grass’ a 10/11 (vi)

noun (Class 3 agreement set) (67).

6/14 (xiii) MAgomvi `quarrels’ is the Class 6 plural of a 11/6 (xii) noun (67).

6/10 (xiv) MAisha `life’ is pluralized in Class 10 when used as a count noun (67).

6/5 (xv) MArefu `long’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial adjective stem (68).

6/5 (xvi) MApya `new’ illustrates the regular pattern with a monosyllabic adjective stem

(68).

6/5 (xvii) Mema `good’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial adjective stem (68).

6/5 (xviii) Mengine `other’ is the plural of jingine and lingine (5/6 (xiii)) (68).

6/5 (xix) MAJIke `female’ irregularly retains the ji prefix in the plural (compare 6/5 (v)

and (vi)) (68).

128

5/6 (xx) MAume `male’ is the plural of dume (5/6 (xv)); there is also an irregular plural

MADume retaining the d prefix (68).

6/5 (xxi) YAle `those’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial pronominal stem (69).

6/5 (xxii) Ya `of’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial pronominal stem (69).

6/5 (xxiii) YAmeanguka `they have fallen’ illustrates the subject morpheme preceding C

(69).

6/5 (xxiv) Yataka `they want’ illustrates the subject morpheme preceding the V-initial

tense morpheme.

6/5 (xxv) nimeYAona `I have seen them’ illustrates the object morpheme (69).

7/8 (i) KItu `thing’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial noun stem (14).

7/8 (ii) KIazi `potato’ illustrates a pattern with an [a]-initial noun stem (14).

7/8 (iii) CHambo `bait’ illustrates another pattern with an [a]-initial noun stem (J48).

7/8 (iv) KIembe `grain’ illustrates a pattern with an [e]-initial noun stem (J189).

7/8 (v) CHeo `measure’ illustrates another pattern with an [e]-initial noun stem (J54).

7/8 (vi) KIini `yolk, kernel’ illustrates the pattern with an [i]-initial noun stem (14).

7/8 (vii) KIoo `mirror’ illustrates a pattern with an [o]-initial noun stem (14).

7/8 (viii) CHombo `vessel’ illustrates another pattern with an [o]-initial noun stem (14).

7/8 (ix) KIuno `waist’ illustrates a pattern with an [u]-initial noun stem (J212).

7/8 (x) CHumba `room’ illustrates another pattern with an [u]-initial noun stem (14).

7/8 (xi) KItoto `baby’ illustrates the diminutive use of Class 7 (295).

7/8 (xii) KIJItu `dwarf’ illustrates the diminutive use of Class 7 ki prefixed to Class 5 ji

used with a monosyllabic stem (295).

129

7/8 (xiii) KIJoka `small snake’ illustrates the diminutive use of Class 7 ki prefixed to

Class 5 ji used with a V-initial stem (295).

7/8 (xiv) KIJItoto `very small baby’ illustrates Class 7 ki and Class 5 ji used used

together as a double diminutive (296).

7/8 (xv) KIzuri `beautiful’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial adjective stem

(46).

7/8 (xvi) CHeupe `white’ illustrates the regular pattern with an [e]-initial adjective stem

(47).

7/8 (xvii) Kingine òther’ illustrates the regular pattern with an [i]-initial adjective stem

(47).

7/8 (xviii) CHororo `soft’ illustrates the pattern with an [o]-initial adjective stem (48).

7/8 (xix) KIume `male’ illustrates the pattern with an [u]-initial adjective stem (48).

7/8 (xx) KIle `that’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial pronominal stem (59).

7/8 (xxi) CHa òf’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial pronominal stem (55).

7/8 (xxii) KImevunjika ìt is broken’ illustrates the subject morpheme preceding C (43).

7/8 (xxiii) CHataka ìt wants’ illustrates the subject morpheme preceding the V-initial


7/8 (xxiv) uliKIvunja `you broke it’ illustrates the object morpheme.

8/7 (i) VItu `things’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial noun stem (14).

8/7 (ii) KIatu `shoes’ illustrates a pattern with an [a]-initial noun stem (14).

8/7 (iii) VYambo `baits’ illustrates another pattern with an [a]-initial noun stem (J48).

8/7 (iv) VIembe `grain’ illustrates a pattern with an [e]-initial noun stem (J189).

130

8/7 (v) VYeo `measures’ illustrates another pattern with an [e]-initial noun stem (J54).

8/7 (vi) VIini `yolks, kernels’ illustrates the pattern with an [i]-initial noun stem (14).

8/7 (vii) VIoo `mirror’ illustrates a pattern with an [o]-initial noun stem (14).

8/7 (viii) VYombo `vessel’ illustrates another pattern with an [o]-initial noun stem (14).

8/7 (ix) VIuno `waists’ illustrates a pattern with an [u]-initial noun stem (J212).

8/7 (x) VYumba `rooms’ illustrates another pattern with an [u]-initial noun stem (14).

8/7 (xi) VItoto `baby’ illustrates the diminutive use of Class 8 (295).

8/7 (xii) VIJItu `dwarfs’ illustrates the diminutive use of Class 8 vi prefixed to Class 5 ji

used with a monosyllabic stem (295).

8/7 (xiii) VIJoka `small snakes’ illustrates the diminutive use of Class 8 vi prefixed to

Class 5 ji used with a V-initial stem (295).

8/7 (xiv) VIJItoto `very small babies’ illustrates Class 8 vi and Class 5 ji used used

together as a double diminutive (296).

8/7 (xv) VIzuri `beautiful’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial adjective stem

(46).

8/7 (xvi) VYeupe `white’ illustrates the regular pattern with an [e]-initial adjective stem

(47).

8/7 (xvii) Vingine `other’ illustrates the regular pattern with an [i]-initial adjective stem

(47).

8/7 (xviii) CHororo `soft’ illustrates the pattern with an [o]-initial adjective stem (48).

8/7 (xix) VIume `male’ illustrates the pattern with an [u]-initial adjective stem (48).

8/7 (xx) VIle `those’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial pronominal stem (58).

8/7 (xxi) VYa `of’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial pronominal stem (55).

131

8/7 (xxii) VImevunjika `they are broken’ illustrates the subject morpheme preceding C

(43).

8/7 (xxiii) VYataka `they want’ illustrates the subject morpheme preceding the V-initial


8/7 (xxiv) aliVIvunja `s/he broke them’ illustrates the object morpheme (43).

9/10 (i) Mbegu `seed’ illustrates the regular pattern in which the Class 9 prefix is realized

as a homorganic nasal prefixed to polysyllabic [b, d, g, j, v, z]-initial noun stems (83).

9/10 (ii) NYumba `house’ illustrates the regular pattern in which the Class 9 prefix is

realized as a palatal nasal prefixed to V-initial noun stems (83).

9/10 (iii) Nchi `country’ illustrates the regular pattern in which the Class 9 prefix is

realized as a homorganic nasal prefixed to all monosyllabic noun stems (83).

9/10 (iv) kuku `chicken’ illustrates the regular pattern in which there is no prefix with [f,

k, m, n, , p, s, t, t ]-initial noun polysyllabic stems; [k, p, t, t ] are aspirated (83).

9/10 (v) pesa `pice’ has plurals in Class 6/9 (xi) and Class 10/9/6 (v) (67, 84).

9/10 (vi) Nzuri `beautiful’ illustrates the regular pattern in which the Class 9 prefix is

realized as a homorganic nasal prefixed to polysyllabic [b, d, g, j, v, z]-initial adjective

stems (85).

9/10 (vii) NYeupe `white’ illustrates the regular pattern in which the Class 9 prefix is

realized as a palatal nasal prefixed to V-initial adjective stems (85).

9/10 (viii) Mpya `new’ illustrates the regular pattern in which the Class 9 prefix is

realized as a homorganic nasal prefixed to all monosyllabic adjective stems (83).

132

9/10 (ix) fupi `short’ illustrates the regular pattern in which there is no prefix with [f, k,

m, n, , p, s, t, t ]-initial adjective polysyllabic stems; [k, p, t, t ] are aspirated (85).

9/10 (x) Ndefu `long’ illustrates the stem change with the [r]-initial adjective stem (85).

Perrott (1957), p. 16, cites another form mrefu, used only with nyoka `snake’.

9/10 (xi) Mbivu `jealous’ illustrates the pattern with a [w]-initial adjective stem (85).

9/10 (xii) Dume `male’ illustrates the unique pattern with a [u]-initial adjective stem (85).

9/10 (xiii) NJema `good’ illustrates an irregular prefix with this adjective stem (85).

9/10 (xiv) Ile `that’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial pronominal stem (85).

9/10 (xv) Ya òf’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial pronominal stem (85).

9/10 (xvi) Imevunjika ìt is broken’ illustrates the subject morpheme preceding C (86).

9/10 (xvii) Yataka ìt wants’ illustrates the subject morpheme preceding the V-initial


9/10 (xviii) nimeIona Ì have seen it’ illustrates the object morpheme (86).

10/9 (i) Mbegu `seeds’ illustrates the regular pattern in which the Class 10 prefix is

realized as a homorganic nasal prefixed to polysyllabic [b, d, g, j, v, z]-initial noun stems

(83).

10/9 (ii) NYumba `houses’ illustrates the regular pattern in which the Class 10 prefix is

realized as a palatal nasal prefixed to V-initial noun stems (83).

10/9 (iii) Nchi `countries’ illustrates the regular pattern in which the Class 10 prefix is

realized as a homorganic nasal prefixed to all monosyllabic noun stems (83).

10/9 (iv) kuku `chickens’ illustrates the regular pattern in which there is no prefix with [f,

k, m, n, , p, s, t, t ]-initial noun polysyllabic stems; [k, p, t, t ] are aspirated (83).

133

10/9 (v) pesa `pice’ has plurals in Class 6/9 (xi) and Class 10/9/6 (v) (67, 84).

10/6/11 (vi) NYasi `grass’ also has a plural in Class 6/11/10 (xiii) (67, 298).

10/6 (vii) MAisha `lives’ is pluralized in Class 10 when used as a count noun (67).

10/11 (viii) kuta `walls’ represents a set of nouns with C-initial stems whose singulars

(11/10 (vii)) originally belonged to Class 11 and now control Class 3 agreements; stem-

initial [t] and [k] are aspirated (105).

10/11 (ix) Ndimi `tongues’ is a noun whose [l]-initial stem changes in Class 10 (106).

10/11 (x) NYembe `razors’ represents a set of nouns with V-initial stems whose singulars

(11/10 (ix)) originally belonged to Class 11 and now control Class 3 agreements (106).

10/11 (xi) NYuso `faces’ represents a set of nouns with monosyllabic stems whose

singulars (11/10 (x)) originally belonged to Class 11 and now control Class 3 agreements.

Its u prefix is retained in the plural with its monosyllabic stem (106).

10/9 (xii) Nzuri `beautiful’ illustrates the regular pattern in which the Class 10 prefix is

realized as a homorganic nasal prefixed to polysyllabic [b, d, g, j, v, z]-initial adjective

stems (85).

10/9 (xiii) NYeupe `white’ illustrates the regular pattern in which the Class 10 prefix is

realized as a palatal nasal prefixed to V-initial adjective stems (85).

10/9 (xiv) Mpya `new’ illustrates the regular pattern in which the Class 10 prefix is

realized as a homorganic nasal prefixed to all monosyllabic adjective stems (83).

10/9 (xv) fupi `short’ illustrates the regular pattern in which there is no prefix with [f, k,

m, n, , p, s, t, t ]-initial adjective polysyllabic stems; [k, p, t, t ] are aspirated (85).

10/9 (xvi) Ndefu `long’ illustrates the stem change with the [r]-initial adjective stem (85).

Perrott (1957), p. 16, cites another form mrefu, used only with nyoka `snake’.

134

10/9 (xvii) Mbivu `jealous’ illustrates the pattern with a [w]-initial adjective stem (85).

10/9 (xviii) Dume `male’ illustrates the unique pattern with a [u]-initial adjective stem

(85).

10/9 (xix) NJema `good’ illustrates an irregular prefix with this adjective stem (85).

10/9 (xx) ZIle `those’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial pronominal stem (85).

10/9 (xxi) Za òf’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial pronominal stem (85).

10/9 (xxii) ZImevunjika `they are broken’ illustrates the subject morpheme preceding C

(86).

10/9 (xxiii) Zataka `they want’ illustrates the subject morpheme preceding the V-initial


10/9 (xxiv) nimeZIona Ì have seen them’ illustrates the object morpheme (86).

15 (i) KUimba `to sing’ illustrates the regular pattern with C-initial verb stems (123).

15 (ii) KWenda `to go’ illustrates the regular pattern with V-initial verb stems (123).

15 (iii) KUzuri `beautiful’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial adjective stem

(123).

15 (iv) KWema `good’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial adjective stem (123).

15 (v) KUle `there’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial pronominal stem (124).

15 (vi) KWa òf’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial pronominal stem (124).

15 (vii) KUmekwisha ìt is finished’ illustrates the subject morpheme preceding C (123).

15 (viii) KWataka ìt needs’ illustrates illustrates the subject morpheme preceding the V-

initial tense morpheme (123).

15 (ix) unaKUsikia `you hear it’ illustrates the object morpheme (124).

135

16 (i) mlangoNI àt the door’ illustrates the pattern in which the locative suffix ni creates

a noun (which functions adverbially) controlling locative class 16, 17, 18 agreements

(160).

16 (ii) juu ya kioo àbove the mirror’ represents the category of nouns (which function

adverbially) controlling locative class 16, 17, 18 agreements (128).

16 (iii) mahali `place’ is the only noun in this category (125).

16 (iv) PAzuri `beautiful’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial adjective stem

(125).

16 (v) Pema `good’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial adjective stem (125).

16 (vi) PAle `there’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial pronominal stem (127,

159).

16 (vii) Pa òf’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial pronominal stem (P24).

16 (viii) PAmekufa `there has died’ illustrates the subject morpheme preceding C (128).

16 (vix) Pataka `there needs’ illustrates illustrates the subject morpheme preceding the

V-initial tense morpheme (125).

16 (x) siPAoni Ì do not see it’ illustrates the object morpheme (125).

17 (i) mjiNI àt the town’ illustrates the pattern in which the locative suffix ni creates a

noun (which functions adverbially) controlling locative class 16, 17, 18 agreements

(130).

17 (ii) nje àbove the mirror’ represents the category of nouns (which function


136

17 (iii) KUzuri `beautiful’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial adjective stem

(130).

17 (iv) KWingine òther’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial adjective stem

(160).

17 (v) KUle `there’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial pronominal stem (159).

17 (vi) KWa òf’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial pronominal stem (P24).

17 (vii) KUmekufa `there has died’ illustrates the subject morpheme preceding C (128).

17 (viii) KWataka `there needs’ illustrates illustrates the subject morpheme preceding the

V-initial tense morpheme (125).

17 (ix) hutaKUona `you will not see there’ illustrates the object morpheme (160).

18 (i) mwituNI ìn the forest’ illustrates the pattern in which the locative suffix ni creates

a noun (which functions adverbially) controlling locative class 16, 17, 18 agreements

(127).

18 (ii) ndani ya shimo ìn a pit’ represents the category of nouns (which function


18 (iii) MUzuri `beautiful’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial adjective stem

(HM 236).

18 (iv) MWingine òther’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial adjective stem

(159).

18 (v) Mle `there’ illustrates the regular pattern with a C-initial pronominal stem (J 290).

18 (vi) MWa òf’ illustrates the regular pattern with a V-initial pronominal stem (P25).

18 (vii) Mmelala `there has slept’ illustrates the subject morpheme preceding C.

137

1s (i) mimi Ì’ is the 1st person singular personal pronoun (42).

1s (ii) NImeanguka Ì have fallen’ illustrates the subject morpheme before C (42).

1s (iii) Nataka Ì want’ illustrates the subject morpheme before the V-initial tense

morpheme (36).

1s (iv) uliNIona `you saw me’ illustrates the object morpheme (42).

2s (i) wewe `you’ is the 2nd person singular personal pronoun (42).

2s (ii) Umeanguka `you have fallen’ illustrates the subject morpheme before C (42).

2s (iii) Wataka `you want’ illustrates the subject morpheme before the V-initial tense

morpheme (42).

2s (iv) niliKUona Ì saw you’ illustrates the object morpheme (42).

1p (i) sisi `we’ is the 1st person plural personal pronoun (42).

1p (ii) WAwili `two’ represents the Class 2 forms used when the personal pronoun is

construed with an adjective (62).

1p (iii) Sote àll of us’ is the unique inflecting of this pronominal stem for a personal

class (62).

1p (iv) TUmeanguka `we have fallen’ illustrates the subject morpheme before C (42).

1p (v) TWataka `we want’ illustrates the subject morpheme before the V-initial tense

morpheme (36).

1p (vi) mliTUona `you saw us’ illustrates the object morpheme (42).

138

2p (i) ninyi `you’ is the 2nd person plural personal pronoun (42).

2p (ii) WAwili `two’ represents the Class 2 forms used when the personal pronoun is

construed with an adjective (62).

2p (iii) NYote `you all’ is the unique inflecting of this pronominal stem for a personal

class (62).

2p (iv) Mlianguka `you fell’ illustrates the subject morpheme before C (42).

2p (v) MWataka `you want’ illustrates the subject morpheme before the V-initial tense

morpheme (36).

2p (vi) niliWAona `I saw you’ illustrates the object morpheme (42).

139

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