3 Structure of the verb
3.3 Linear morphological structure of the finite verb
3.3.4 The pre-radical slot
The pre-radical slot is the locus of object-marking. In the following subsections the object prefixes will be described, beginning with those of the discourse par-ticipants (§3.3.4.1), followed by the object prefixes of the noun classes (third per-sons) (§3.3.4.1) and the reflexive object prefix (§3.3.4.3). The focus lies mainly on the shape of the prefixes and a number of morphophonological particularities.
Concerning the syntactic and discourse-pragmatic factors licensing the ob-ject prefixes, some first observations are found in Lusekelo (2012). As observed therein and as previously noted by Schumann (1899: 20f) and Endemann (1914:
17–20), Nyakyusa allows for only a single object to be marked in pre-radical posi-tion. In the typology of Bantu languages put forward by Bearth (2003), Nyakyusa thus classifies as an OM-1 language. This characteristic is shared by the surround-ing languages Nyika M23, Malila M24, Safwa M25 (Helen Eaton, p.c.), Ksurround-inga G65 (Wolff 1905), Vwanji G66 (Helen Eaton, p.c.), and Kisi G67 (Gray n.d.).
3.3.4.1 Participant object prefixes
Table 3.4 lists the object prefixes for the discourse participants.
Table 3.4: Participant object prefixes
Participant Object prefix
1sg
ny-2sg
kʊ-1pl
tʊ-2pl
ba-The object prefix of the first person singular displays some morphophonemic peculiarities. Before a vowel it surfaces asny-. In this case, both the vowel of the preceding prefix and the following stem-initial vowel are long (16).
(16) ikʊʊnyiitɪka (°i-kʊ-ny-itɪk-a) ‘s/he believes me’
muunyootile (°mu-ny-ot-ile) ‘you (pl.) have invited me’
baanyaagile (°ba-ny-ag-ile) ‘they have found me’
syalɪɪnyaagile (°si-alɪ-ny-ag-ile) ‘they (class 10) found me’
ʊkaanyʊʊlɪle (°ʊ-ka-ny-ʊl-ɪl-e) ‘go buy for me’
3.3 Linear morphological structure of the finite verb Preceding a plosive or an approximant, the first person singular object prefix follows the general phonological rules and triggers prenasalization. Note that prenasalization induces lengthening of the preceding vowel (see §2.2.2.3), which, as it is predictable, is not indicated in the practical orthography.
(17) bambinyile (°ba-ny-piny-ile) ‘they have bound me’
bambʊʊlile (°ba-ny-bʊʊl-ile) ‘they have told me’
bandaagile (°ba-ny-taag-ile) ‘they have thrown me’
bandobile (°ba-ny-log-ile) ‘they have bewitched me’
banjobile (°ba-ny-job-ile) ‘they have spoken to me’
bangeetile (°ba-ny-keet-ile) ‘they have watched me’
bangogile (°ba-ny-gog-ile) ‘they have killed me’
There is one exception: in the imperative (§9.2), when a monosyllabic root con-tains an initial plosive or an approximant and wehre prenasalization would thus result in a monosyllabic word, the first person singular object prefix surfaces as a syllabic nasal (18). Accordingly, in the imperfective imperative and with post-final clitics (§3.3.8), the first person singular object prefix surfaces as pre-nasalization (19). This behaviour is shared with the first person singular subject prefix in the subjunctive mood; see §3.3.2.1.
(18) n̩dya (°ny-ly-a) ‘Eat me!’
n̩gwa (°ny-kw-a) ‘Pay me dowry!’
m̩ba (°ny-p-a) ‘Give me!’
(19) ndyaga (°ny-ly-aga) ‘Be eating me!’
ngwaga (°ny-kw-aga) ‘Be paying me dowry!’
mbaga (°ny-p-aga) ‘Be giving me!’
mbako (°ny-p-a=ko) ‘Give to me!’
When the object prefix of the first person singular stands between a prefix and a stem-initial nasal or fricative, it has no segmental realization. However, it is discernible through the length of the preceding vowel (20). To summarize, any word-internal vowel preceding or following the first person singular object prefix is phonetically realized as long.7
7Interestingly, the same holds for the noun class 9/10 noun prefix, which also has the underlying shapeny-.
(20) a. Deletion of object prefix 1sg in simple present:
ikʊʊmeta (°i-kʊ-ny-met-a) ‘s/he shaves me’
ikʊʊnangɪsya (°i-kʊ-ny-nangɪsi-a) ‘s/he shows me’
ikʊʊnyomosya (°i-kʊ-ny-nyomosi-a) ‘s/he frightens me’
ikʊʊng’amula (°i-kʊ-ny-ng’amul-a) ‘s/he recognizes me’
ikʊʊfwɪma (°i-kʊ-ny-fwɪm-a) ‘s/he hunts me’
ikʊʊhobosya (°i-kʊ-ny-hobosi-a) ‘s/he makes me happy’
ikʊʊsala (°i-kʊ-ny-sal-a) ‘s/he chooses me’
b. Deletion of object prefix 1sg in other paradigms:
aafwɪmile (°a-ny-fwɪm-ile) ‘s/he has hunted me’
aalɪɪfwɪmile (°a-alɪ-ny-fwɪm-ile) ‘s/he hunted me’
aametile (°a-ny-met-ile) ‘s/he has shaved me’
aalɪɪmetile (°a-alɪ-ny-met-ile) ‘s/he shaved me’
(g)ʊʊsalile (°ʊ-ny-sal-ile) ‘you have chosen me’
ʊngaasyobaga (°ʊ-nga-ny-syob-aga) ‘don’t cheat on me’
3.3.4.2 Noun class object prefixes
Table 3.5 lists the object prefixes for the noun classes. These are identical to the pronominal prefixes, except for class 1, the object prefix of which is identical to the nominal prefix (§2.3.1).
Table 3.5: Noun class object prefixes
Noun class Object prefix Noun class Object prefix
1 mu- 10
si-2 ba- 11
lʊ-3 gʊ- 12
ka-4 gɪ- 13 tʊ
-5 lɪ- 14
bʊ-6 ga- 15
kʊ-7 kɪ- 16
pa-8 fi- 17
kʊ-9 jɪ- 18
mu-3.3 Linear morphological structure of the finite verb The object prefix of noun class 1 becomes a syllabic nasal before a consonant (21) and thus triggers shortening of a preceding vowel (22).8
(21) bikʊmpinya (°bi-kʊ-mu-piny-a) ‘they bind him/her’
bikʊm̩bʊʊla (°bi-kʊ-mu-bʊʊl-a) ‘they tell him/her’
bikʊn̩joba (°bi-kʊ-mu-job-a) ‘they speak to him/her’
bikʊnsala (°bi-kʊ-mu-sal-a) ‘they choose him/her’
bikʊmmeta (°bi-kʊ-mu-met-a) ‘they shave him/her’
(22) bampinyaga (°ba-a-mu-piny-aga) ‘they were binding him/her’
bam̩bʊʊlaga (°ba-a-mu-bʊʊl-aga) ‘they were telling him/her’
ban̩jobaga (°ba-a-mu-job-aga) ‘they were speaking to him/her’
bansalaga (°ba-a-mu-sal-aga) ‘they were choosing him/her’
bammetaga (°ba-a-mu-met-aga) ‘they were shaving him/her’
When a following vowel induces glide formation or vowel coalescence (see
§2.2.1.4), the nasal segment of the noun class 1 object prefix is realized with a longer phonetic duration and also triggers vowel shortening (23), which is ortho-graphically indicated by <mm> in these cases. The nasal in these cases, however, does not constitute a syllable of its own. In summary, any vowel preceding the noun class 1 object prefix surfaces as short.
(23) bammwega [β̝a.ˈmːʷɛˑ.ɰa] ‘they (then) took him/her’
bammʊʊlɪlaga [β̞a.mːʊː.lɪ.ˈla.ɰa] ‘they were buying for him/her’
bammootaga [β̞a.mːɔː.ˈtʰa.ɰa] ‘they were inviting him/her’
Unlike its class 1 counterpart, the noun class 18 object prefixmu- does not become a syllabic nasal before a consonant. The nasal segment is neither realized with a longer duration, nor does it trigger vowel shortening:
(24) amumeenye (°a-mu-many-ile) ‘s/he knows it inside’
aamumeenye (°a-a-mu-many-ile) ‘s/he knew it inside’
ikʊmwinogona (°i-kʊ-mu-inogon-a) ‘s/he considers the inside’
Note that locative object prefixes are extremely rare in the text corpus, whereas enclitic forms of locative substitutives (§3.3.8.1) occur frequently. A similar dis-tribution is also attested in languages such as Kiluba L33, Ruund L53, and Luvale K14; see Persohn & Devos (2017) for an overview.
8The vowel of the noun class 1 prefix is given as /u/, as the process of reduction and syllabifi-cation is shared with the nominal concords of classes 1, 3 and 18, which have the shapemu-.
Due to the rules of hiatus resolution for verbal prefixes (§2.2.1.4) and the fact that the prefix surfaces as a mere consonantal segment preceding another consonant, the quality of the vowel cannot be directly observed.
3.3.4.3 Reflexive object prefix
The reflexive object prefix has the shapei- before consonants (25) andij- preced-ing vowels. Stem-initial vowels followpreced-ing the reflexive are always long (26).
(25) koma ‘hit’ >ikoma ‘hit oneself’
nyomosya ‘frighten’ >inyomosya ‘frighten o.s.’
joba ‘speak’ >ijoba ‘speak about o.s.’
baaja ‘kick’ >ibaaja ‘kick o.s.’
fisa ‘hide’ >ifisa ‘hide o.s.’
(26) ima ‘not give; deprive’ >ij-iima ‘abstain from’
ɪmika ‘erect; respect’ >ij-ɪɪmika ‘stand o.s. up; praise o.s.’
elʊsya ‘clean; rinse’ >ij-eelʊsya ‘cleanse o.s.’
abʊla ‘help; open, release’ >ij-aabʊla ‘make o.s. free’
onanga ‘destroy’ >ij-oonanga ‘destroy, spoil o.s.’
ʊbatɪla ‘embrace’ >ij-ʊʊbatɪla ‘embrace o.s.’
With some verbs the reflexive gives an idiosyncratic meaning:
(27) i-kanyanga ‘talk nonsense’ <kanyanga ‘trample’
i-bona ‘consider o.s. different’ <bona ‘see’
i-bɪɪka ‘pretend’ <bɪɪka ‘put, store’
i-gana ‘like, prefer’ <gana ‘like, love’
i-pɪlɪka ‘act arrogantly’ <pɪlɪka ‘hear’
i-pʊʊla ‘actively seek’ <pʊʊla ‘thresh’
i-puuta ‘pray, worship’ <puuta ‘blow out (in prayer)’
i-kasya ‘bear; try one’s best’ <kasya ‘encourage; fasten’
i-kinya ‘knock, bump (loc)’ <kinya ‘hit’
Given an adequate context, at least some of the verbs with idiosyncratic mean-ing with the reflexive allow for a second object prefix, includmean-ing a second instance of the reflexive (28). The examples in (29, 30) show that two object prefixes in the same verb are otherwise not licensed. See Marlo (2014) for a discussion of object marking exceptionalities involving the reflexive in several Bantu languages.
(28) k-ii-gana ‘like it (class 7)’ (not all speakers) ij-ii-gana ‘like oneself; be vain’
ny-ii-puut-ɪl-a ‘pray for/with (appl) me’
mmw-i-puut-ɪl-a ‘pray for/with (appl) him/her’
ij-ii-puut-ɪl-a ‘pray for/with (appl) oneself’
3.3 Linear morphological structure of the finite verb (29) a. * bi-kʊ-si-m-p-a
2-prs-10-1-give-fv
ʊ-n̩-dʊmyana aug-1-boy
ɪɪ-heela
aug-money(10) b. * bi-kʊ-n-si-p-a
2-prs-1-10-give-fv
ʊ-n̩-dʊmyana aug-1-boy
ɪɪ-heela
aug-money(10) (intended: They give the boy money.’)
(30) a. * ʊ-n̩-dʊmyana aug-1-boy
i-kʊ-si-i-p-a
1-prs-10-refl-give-fv
ɪɪ-heela
aug-money(10) b. * ʊ-n̩-dʊmyana
aug-1-boy
i-kw-i-si-p-a
1-prs-refl-10-give-fv
ɪɪ-heela
aug-money(10) (intended: ‘The boy gives himself money.’)
At least with the following two verbs, the reflexive has an intransitivizing or middle function:
(31) i-kola ‘be(come) caught, stuck’ <kola ‘grasp, hold’
i-kyela ‘consent; be pleased’ <kyela ‘please’
Lastly, at least the following verbs exist only as reflexives:
(32) i-fun-a ‘boast’ no *funaattested ij-eekel-a ‘be in privacy’ no *ekelaattested