Common tense-aspect markers in Bantu

Abstract

Résumé We have two aims here. One is to provide an inventory and typological overview of the commonest pre-stem and suffixal tense-aspect markers across Bantu. We examine geographical distribution, phonological and tonal shape, and general semantic range. The other is to ask which of these might be assigned to Proto-Bantu, some 5000 years ago. We use a database of 100 languages, comprising 85 from all Guthrie's groups (A10, A20, etc) plus another 15 from his 15 zones. The most widespread pre-stem markers are: /a/, which comes in several tonal and vowel-length variations, representing ‘past’ in most languages and ‘non-past’ (possibly older focus (Nurse 2006)) in fewer languages; zero ‘general present’; /ka/ ‘itive, narrative, (far) past, (far) future’; /ki/ ‘persistive, participial’; /laa/ ‘future’ and /la/ ‘focus’. The first three certainly go back to Proto-Bantu, the status of the last three is less certain. The commonest suffixes are: /a/ ‘neutral’; /e/ ‘subjunctive’; /ile/ ‘perfect, past’; /ag/ ‘imperfective’; /i/ ‘positive near past’; a vowel copy suffix ‘positive near past’. The first five go back to Proto-Bantu, the sixth is innovation. We propose that /ile, i, the vowel copy suffix/ are connected. Finally, we mention four widespread but derived pre-stem markers.

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