Monosyllabic verbs

With monosyllabic verbs, -ileis suffixed. The general rules of vowel juxtaposition apply (§2.2.1.4). Defective tɪ (§10.3) yieldstile, which is often reduced to [tʰi ̯ɛ].

Likewise, jileis often heard as [ɟi ̯ɛ]. In both cases, stress remains on the stem syllable.

(7) pa ‘give’ >peele ja ‘be(come)’ >jile tɪ ‘say’ >tile

4Berger himself recognizes the limits of his corpus and that the transcription of some of his second-hand data is rather dubious. Nevertheless, his work is a valuable point of departure.

Apart from Berger (1938), the forms cited in Felberg (1996) have been taken as an indication of where to look for regularity and variation. All forms stemming from those sources that were felt to be suspicious have been checked in elicitation.

fwa ‘die’ >fwile

gwa ‘fall’ >gwile

kwa ‘pay dowry’ >kwile lwa ‘fight’ >lwile mwa‘shave’ >mwile nwa‘drink’ >nwile swa ‘spit; forgive’ >swile twa ‘be plenty (esp. fish)’ >twile kya ‘dawn; cease to rain’ >kiile

lya ‘eat’ >liile

nia ‘defecate’ >niile pya ‘be(come) burnt’ >piile sya ‘grind’ >siile 6.4.2.2 Disyllabic verbs

Disyllabic verbs show by far the most complex variation. Suffixation of -ilecan be considered the default case:

(8) goga ‘kill’ >gogile keeta ‘watch’ >keetile konga ‘follow’ >kongile ʊla ‘buy’ >ʊlile

With disyllabic applicatives (that is, applicatives of monosyllabic roots) -iile, with a long morpheme-initial vowel, is suffixed.

(9) peela ‘give off’ >peeliile jɪɪla ‘be in a condition’ >jɪɪliile lɪɪla ‘eat with/at/for’ >lɪɪliile niela ‘defecate with/at/for’ >nieliile syela ‘grind with/at/for’ >syeliile gwɪla ‘fall with/to/for’ >gwɪliile nwela ‘drink with/at/for’ >nweliile

With disyllabic fossilized passives (§4.2.8), -il- is infixed before the glide and -e is suffixed (10). These verbs thus occupy an intermediate position between suffixing and imbrication in the strict sense.⁵ The same holds for one of the perfective stem variants oflɪɪgwa‘be eaten’ (11).

5Schumann (1899) and Berger (1938) note that these verbs form their perfective stem with long -iilwe. This could not be confirmed and might be due to diatopic variation or due to confusion

with their applicativized forms.

6.4 Morphophonology of common TMA suffixes (10) babwa ‘be in pain’ >babilwe

gogwa ‘dream’ >gogilwe milwa ‘drown’ >mililwe nyonywa ‘desire’ >nyonyilwe syʊkwa ‘miss sadly’ >syʊkilwe tolwa ‘be burdened’ >tolilwe

(11) lɪɪgwa ‘be eaten’ >lɪɪgilwe(alsolɪɪgiigwe, see below)

Verbs of the shapes CGal and CGan induce imbrication (12). One exception to this rule is attested (13). The unusual sequence /ŋw/ indicates that the verb ng’wala might be a Ndali loan.⁶ Berger (1938) further lists nywama>nyweme, thus CGam. Of the speakers consulted, several did not know this verb at all.

Those familiar with it unanimously gavenywamile as their first answer. Some acceptednywemeas a variant perfective stem, whereas it was rejected by others (14). The only other verb of the shape in question iskwama‘be(come) stuck’, an obvious loan from Swahili, which has the perfective stemkwamile not *kweme.

As the examples in (15) illustrate, other CGaC shapes do not induce imbrication.

(12) fwala ‘wear; receive salary’ >fwele syala ‘remain’ >syele fwana ‘resemble; be enough’ >fwene lwana ‘quarrel’ >lwene

(13) ng’wala ‘scratch with claws’ >ng’walile(not *ng’wele) (14) nywama ‘enlarge (intr.); chase’ >nywamile(alsonyweme) (15) fyata ‘fasten’ >fyatile(not *fyete)

kwaba ‘take’ >kwabile(not *kwebe)

The verbbaala‘increase, thrive’ shows variation between an imbricating and a suffixing form (16). This must be considered an idiosyncrasy, as no other verb of the shape /Caal/ has an imbricating perfective stem (17).

(16) baala ‘increase; thrive’ >beele/baalile (17) gaala ‘get drunk, be drunk’ >gaalile (not *geele)

paala ‘invite’ >paalile (not *peele) saala ‘be(come) happy’ >saalile (not *seele)

6Cf. pairs such as Nyakyusanwa, Ndaliŋwa‘drink’ < PB *ɲwó.

Two further disyllabic verbs must be considered irregular:manya‘know’ and bona‘see’. These trigger imbrication although no other regularity can account for this. Further,bonadoes not yield *bwineas would be expected from the rules of vowel coalescence.

(18) manya ‘know’ >meenye bona ‘see’ >bwene

Disyllabic causatives trigger copying, yielding (C)(G)Vsiisye if the base ends in /sy/ and (C)(G)Vfiifye if the base ends in /fy/. This holds for causatives of monosyllabic roots formed with the long causative2-ɪsi(19), as well as for those causatives formed with the short causative₁-ion disyllabic verbs (20); see §4.2.4 for a discussion of the two causatives. Causatives with base-final nasals also have a perfective stem of the shape (C)VNiisye(21), which shows that synchronically speaking this is not a rule of reduplication, as it might appear at first sight. A his-toric scenario for this alternation is provided by Hyman (2003). He argues that its origin most probably lies in imbrication plus a cyclic application of spirantiza-tion through the causative₁-i(§4.2.2), thus yielding (C)(G)Vsiisyefor base-final spirantizing oral linguals. This then came to be re-analysed as a process of redu-plication, yielding (C)(G)Vfiifyewith base-final oral labials. Lastly, this turned into a phonological pattern requirement for disyllabic causative stems to end in -ii{s,f}ye, hence the extension to final nasals (and causatives of monosyllabic verbs, which are not discussed by Hyman).

Note that disyllabic causatives derived from the verbs of the shape CGa{l,n}

discussed above are excluded from this process. As with their underlying bases, imbrication takes place (22). The causative ofbaala,baasya‘increase (tr.)’ shows variation just like its underlying root, and is attested with both imbricating and copying forms (23).

(19) Causatives of monosyllabic roots:

lw-ɪsi-a ‘make fight’ >lwɪsiisye gw-ɪsi-a ‘overturn; throw down’ >gwɪsiisye (20) Disyllabic causatives with -i:

bosya (°bol-i-a) ‘cause to rot’ >bosiisye pyʊfya (°pyʊp-i-a) ‘warm, heat up’ >pyʊfiifye (21) Disyllabic causatives with final nasal:

pon-i-a ‘greet; visit’ >poniisye

an-i-a ‘ask’ >aniisye

sim-y-a ‘put out, switch off’ >simiisye taam-y-a ‘trouble, persecute’ >taamiisye

6.4 Morphophonology of common TMA suffixes (22) Disyllabic causatives CGa{l, n}-i:

lwasya (°lwal-i-a) ‘nurse the sick, care for’ >lwesye syasya (°syal-i-a) ‘leave over’ >syesye fwania (°fwan-i-a) ‘match; reconcile’ >fwenie lwania (°lwan-i-a) ‘confront; make quarrel’ >lwenie (23) Causative ofbaala:

baasya (°baal-i-a) ‘increase (tr.)’ >beesye/baasiisye

Some other verbs of the shape (C)VCG form their perfective stems by copying (C1)VC2G→(C1)VC2-ii-C2G-e.⁷

(24) bɪfwa ‘ripen’ >bɪfiifwe

ibwa ‘forget’ >ibiibwe

ikya ‘be(come) confident’ >ikiikye okya ‘grill, burn’ >okiikye

lɪɪgwa ‘be eaten’ >lɪɪgiigwe(alsolɪɪgilwe; see above) peegwa ‘be given’ >peegiigwe