- 1 Research on Limba was supported by an Oswalt Endangered Language Grant, University of California, B (...)
1In this paper we provide a comprehensive description of the verb stem in Thɔnkɔ /t̪ɔ́ŋkɔ́/ dialect of Limba, an understudied Niger-Congo language of Sierra Leone.1 As seen in Figure 1, Limba occupies a boomerang-shaped area in Northwest Sierra Leone, spilling over slightly into Guinée. Although Finnegan (1965: 144) estimates “13 or more” dialects, these cluster into three groups: Biriwa-Safrɔkɔ in the South, on which most of the previous work has been done, Wara Wara in the North, and Thɔnkɔ-Sɛla in the West.
Figure 1 — Ethnolinguistic map of Sierra Leone
(Source: Amitchell125 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45570056)
2Besides Finnegan’s ethnographic study, the major linguistic work on Limba is Clarke’s (1922) Biriwa-Safrɔkɔ dictionary containing more than 4,000 entries, including slightly over 1,300 verbs. Almost all of the later published works have been based on Clarke’s dictionary including several studies of the noun class system (Thomas 1920; Berry 1958; Pichl n.d.), a short note on voice and aspect (Berry 1960), and an attempt to establish Limba sound correspondences with Proto-Bantu (Mukarovsky 1962/63). A Limba primer has more recently appeared (Conteh 2017). Finally, although our study is on Thɔnkɔ dialect, we gratefully acknowledge the access we have had to field notes from Nicholas Rolle on Wara Wara dialect and Valentin Vydrin on Guinée Limba, the only materials that mark tone. While both the noun class system and the verb extension system (§4) are typologically similar to languages in Greenberg’s (1963) original Atlantic subgroup of Niger-Congo, Pozdniakov et al. (2019) consider Limba to be an isolate within Niger-Congo.
3In this paper we present the first analysis of the Limba-Thɔnkɔ verb stem, which maximally consists of the following three constituents:
| (1) |
Root – Extension(s) – Final Vowel (FV) |
- 2 All of the material presented in this paper were obtained through elicitation based on the speech o (...)
4As in other Niger-Congo languages, a verb root may be followed by one or more derivational suffix or “extension” (causative, applicative etc.). In addition, the verb potentially ends in a FV spell-out of either a derivational suffix, e.g. passive /-o/, an inflectional suffix, e.g. progressive /-a/, or epenthetic -i (see below). The only prefix that can be added to the verb stem is the infinitive marker /a-/. In most cases, however, tense-aspect-mood (TAM) and negation are expressed by independent markers which precede or follow the verb (see §6). The tone of the verb stem is determined by the underlying H(igh) vs. L(ow) tone contrast of roots, verb suffixes, and the different TAMs in which they occur. For example, the roots /bog/ ‘bemoan’ and /lóg/ ‘wash’ contrast in underlying tone, as do the passive /-o/ and instrumental /-é/ extensions. As we shall see in §5, six stem tone patterns result from the interaction between the tones of the root, the verb extension(s) and the TAM.2 Table 1 presents the consonant and vowel system of the language.
Table 1 — The consonant and vowel systems of Limba-Thɔnkɔ
| p |
th [t̪] |
t |
|
k |
gb [kp] |
|
|
i |
|
u |
| b |
|
d |
|
g |
|
|
|
e |
|
o |
|
|
s |
|
|
|
h |
|
ɛ |
|
ɔ |
| w |
|
l, r |
y |
|
|
|
|
|
a |
|
| m |
|
n |
|
ŋ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
5All of the above symbols follow the IPA values except y = [j] and, following Limba orthography, th = an unaspirated dental stop [t̪], and gb is voiceless [kp] (vs. [gb] in other dialects). Both /p/ and /k/ are also unaspirated, while alveolar /t/ is aspirated (and affricated in certain other dialects). As indicated, Limba contrasts seven vowels, with only a marginal vowel length contrast limited to stem-initial word-penultimate position, e.g. mɛti [mɛthi] ‘town’, mɛɛti [mɛ:thi] ‘salt’ (cf. the verbal examples in (5b)).
- 3 We have found two cases of an ns sequence (ba-gbensɛ ‘dried rice’, bɔnsɔ ‘family’). The [ŋf] cluste (...)
- 4 In the infinitive the verb appears in what we will refer to as stem1. In progressive tenses and the (...)
- 5 Another harmony rule tenses /ɛ/ to [e] when followed by /e/ or /o/ and /ɔ/ to [o] when followed by (...)
6Turning to syllable structure, consonant clusters consist either of a homorganic nasal (N) plus stop, which we write as m before p and b, and n before th, t, k and d, e.g. kampa ‘elephant’, banka [baŋka] ‘house’, or a consonant followed by /w/, e.g. mɛswɛ ‘thin’.3 The only word-final consonants are /y/, e.g. hoy ‘swim’, and /m/, /n/ and /ŋ/, which merge as [ŋ] stem-finally. Thus, the verb roots /dam/ ‘hunt’, /man/ ‘visit’ and /haŋ/ ‘hit’ are pronounced a-daŋ, a-maŋ and a-haŋ in the infinitive vs. dam-a, man-a and haŋ-a in the imperative.4 Verb roots that would end in other coda consonants are realized with an epenthetic ‑i suffix which becomes [u] by rounding harmony, e.g. a-dɛth-i ‘to look at’, a-kut-u ‘to see’ (see §2.2).5
- 6 As discussed in Hyman & Kamara (2025), there is a marginal /L/ vs. Ø contrast in the language. Alth (...)
7Concerning the tone system, Limba-Thɔnkɔ contrasts H and L, as well as a derived downstep (ꜜ) occurring before some instances of H. H is marked by an acute accent, while L is unmarked, e.g. H-L kóma ‘grandson’.6 In citing examples, we use phonemic slashes / / when a point is being made about an underlying form, and phonetic brackets [ ] when a point is being made about the phonetics. However, we mostly cite forms in italics, showing how words and phrases appear before pause. Since there is a rule that lowers a H or sequence of Hs to L before pause (Hyman & Kamara 2025), phonemic slashes will sometimes be needed to show underlying tones, e.g. the underlying /L-H/ of /banká/ ‘house’, which has the L-L output banka [baŋka] before pause (cf. banká baŋ ‘the house’). There is an additional complication in the case of verb roots, which contrast /H/ vs. /L/ tone, but where the /H/ is realized on the final vowel. Thus, the underlying /H/ of the verb root /lóg/ ‘wash’ is realized on the epenthetic FV -i in a-log-í paga ‘to wash rice’ but deleted before pause (a-log-i ‘to wash’). As we discuss in §5, most verb roots are /L/. Thus, compare a-dɛth-i paga ‘to look at rice’, where the FV -i is realized L.
8With the above preliminaries established we are now ready to analyze the verb stem in Limba-Thɔnkɔ. In §2 we present stem1 verb forms arranged by the number and shape of syllables. In §3 we discuss stem2 formation. In §4 we turn to verb extensions. This is followed by §5, which discusses tone, and §6, which expands on the TAM verb paradigm. §7 concludes with a brief summary and comparison of Limba verb extensions with those found in Atlantic-group languages further to the North.
9In Limba most (unextended) verbs have two stem forms, which we refer to as stem1 vs. stem2. Thus, the verb root /tot-/ ‘cook’ appears as tot-i in stem1 and tot-a in stem2. Stem1 appears in the infinitive and most verb tenses and is considered basic, while stem2 is derived, most commonly by substituting or adding an /-a/ final vowel (FV) suffix. stem2 is largely associated with progressive aspect but also occurs as the imperative (tot-a ‘cook!’). It is in fact a nominalized form of the verb that can be modified with class 5 hu-/ha- agreement (tot-a hu-nɛnɛ ‘bad cooking’, tot-a ha-ŋ ‘the/this cooking’). In this section our focus is on stem1 forms, although we will also cite stem2 forms which often help interpret stem1 forms, particularly the underlying forms of CVŋ roots. We postpone a more systematic treatment of stem2 to §3.
- 7 /L/ verbs are all L in the infinitive. /H/ tone verbs such as /a-lóg-i/ ‘to wash’ are realized with (...)
10Although stem1 appears in a number of (non-progressive) TAMs, we will exemplify stem1 forms preceded by the infinitive prefix /a-/.7 In this and the next section we restrict ourselves to stems which do not have an identifiable derivational suffix (causative, applicative etc.). We first discuss monosyllabic verb stems and then turn to bisyllabic and longer verb stems.
11Of the 290 verb stems in our current lexicon, the following thirteen have the monosyllabic shape CV or NCV, where N is a non-syllabic homorganic nasal, which we write as m before labials, n elsewhere (2).
| (2) |
|
Stem1 |
Stem2 |
|
|
a. |
a-ni |
‘to do, make, act’ |
ni-a |
|
|
a-thi |
‘to call, put’ |
thi-a |
|
|
a-thu |
‘to plant’ |
thu-a |
|
|
a-du |
‘to return, come/go back’ |
du-a |
|
b. |
a-mpu |
‘to give birth’ |
mp-a |
|
|
a-nki |
‘to give’ |
nk-a |
|
c. |
a-the |
‘to borrow (sth. that is returned)’ |
the |
|
|
a-twe |
‘to steal’ |
twe |
|
d. |
a-se |
‘to come’ |
sa |
|
|
a-ke |
‘to go’ |
ka |
|
e. |
a-ŋɔ |
‘to lie down’ |
ŋɔ |
|
|
a-kɔ |
‘to stand’ |
kɔ |
|
|
a-thɔ |
‘to enter, penetrate, puncture’ |
thɔ |
- 8 It is likely that the two verbs had a preceding V or CV that has fallen out, which would make nki r (...)
12In (2a) the root has a high vowel /i/ or /u/. While there is no overt -i suffix in stem1, as on longer stems (§2.2), this could be due either to assimilation or to the absence of -i after a vowel. (A hypothetical underlying representation /du-i/ would be realized [du], since /i/ regularly assimilates in rounding to a preceding /u/, as we shall see in clearer examples below.) The verbs in (2b) are the only two verbs we have found which begin with a NC sequence.8 As seen, they too have a high vowel which in this case is replaced by the /-a/ suffix in stem2.
- 9 /-i/ also doesn’t occur after longer verbs that end with /ɔ/ in the infinitive but take /-i/ in the (...)
13In (2c) and (2d) we have separated two pairs of verbs that have the vowel [e]. The two verbs in (2c) end with an /e/ that remains in stem2 contexts, e.g. in the present progressive: ndɛ kiŋ ka thê ‘s/he is borrowing’, ndɛ kiŋ ka twê ‘s/he is stealing’ (ndɛ ‘cl1.sbj’ kiŋ ‘be’ ga ‘at’ thê/twê ‘borrowing/stealing’). There is however some question about how to interpret the two verbs in (2d), which have the vowel /e/, but which appear with /a/ in stem2: ndɛ kiŋ ka sa ‘s/he is coming’, ndɛ kiŋ ka ka ‘s/he is going’ (lit. s/he is at coming/going). One possibility is that [se] and [ke] involve a fusion of /a/ with the -i suffix that will be discussed below, i.e. /sa-i/, /ka-i/. This is supported by the forms a-sa-ege ‘to come alone’ and a-ka-ege ‘to go alone’, where /-egé/ is the exclusive verb extension (§4.6). The related verbs a-kande ‘to walk about’ and a-kayɔgɔ ‘to walk’ also suggest that the root of ‘go’ is /ka/ (see §4.3 and §4.7 for discussion of reciprocal -ande and reflexive -ɔgɔ, respectively). However, in the infinitive the -i suffix normally occurs only after (non-nasal) consonants (see (5) below). Corresponding with this, -i does not occur with the three /Cɔ/ verbs in (2e) nor is -a added in stem2: ndɛ kiŋ ka ŋɔ ‘s/he is lying down’, ndɛ kiŋ ka kɔ̂ ‘s/he is standing’ (lit. s/he is at lying down/standing’).9
- 10 The two verbs diverge, however, when the applicative suffix /-i-/ and FV /-e/ are added: a-ka-y-e m (...)
14A second hypothesis is that the roots are /se/ and /ke/, and that the [a] is from the stem2 suffix /-a/. Thus, compare ndɛ thi ‘s/he called’ vs. ndɛ kiŋ ka thi-a ‘s/he is calling’. However, as seen in (2c), and as we will further see in (9), verbs that end in [e] generally do not replace the [e] with /-a/ in stem2 (i-mase ‘to help’, ndɛ kiŋ ka mase ‘s/he is helping’). We therefore will tentatively interpret [se] and [ke] as /sa-i/ and /ka-i/, which exceptionally maintain the historical *-i suffix that has been lost after other vowels.10
15In addition to the CV verbs in (2), the ten verbs in (3) have been found with the shape CVy.
| (3) |
Stem1 |
Stem2 |
|
|
a-boy |
‘to buy’ |
boy-a |
|
a-hoy |
‘to swim’ |
hoy-a |
|
a-mɛy |
‘to reply, answer’ |
mɛy-a |
|
a-ŋay |
‘to stand up’ |
ŋay-a |
|
a-pɛy |
‘to leave’ |
pɛy-a |
|
a-puy |
‘to heal, cure’ |
puy-a |
|
a-tay |
‘to lay’ |
tay-a |
|
a-thay |
‘to dry (intr.)’ |
thay-a |
|
a-thoy |
‘to build’ |
thoy-a |
|
a-thɔy |
‘to know how’ |
thɔy-a |
16Initially we wrote the verb stems in (3) with a final i, e.g. a-hoi ‘to swim’, a-pui ‘to heal’, to match the -i ending that appears on longer stems in the infinitive and elsewhere. However, unlike these latter, the y of CVy stems is not replaced by other suffixes, e.g. the -a of stem2 forms. Thus, while the verb a-dɛth-i ‘to look (at)’ has the stem2 form dɛth-a, the stem2 form of a-puy ‘to heal’ is puy-a, not *pu-a.
- 11 The verb a-yaw ‘to ask for’ is an exception. Its form in Biriwa dialect is a-lawi (Clarke 1922: 30)
17The remaining monosyllabic verb stems all end with the velar nasal ŋ, the only other consonant that occurs word-finally besides y.11 29 such verbs occur in our lexicon presented in (4a-c), with their stem2 counterparts indicated on the right. (The auxiliary verb kiŋ ‘be, have’ in (4d) does not have an infinitive or stem2 form.)
| (4) |
|
Stem1 |
|
Stem2 |
|
a. |
a-daŋ |
‘to hunt’ |
dam-a |
|
|
a-dɔŋ |
‘to say’ |
dɔm-a |
|
|
a-hɛŋ |
‘to breath’ |
hɛm-a |
|
|
a-kaŋ |
‘to dance’ |
kam-a |
|
|
a-paŋ |
‘to chase, drive away’ |
pam-a |
|
|
a-thɛŋ |
‘to cut’ |
thɛm-a |
|
|
a-thɔŋ |
‘to eat’ |
thɔm-a |
|
|
a-yeŋ |
‘to run after, follow’ |
yem-a |
|
b. |
a-maŋ |
‘to visit’ |
man-a |
|
|
a-ŋoŋ |
‘to harvest (rice)’ |
ŋon-a |
|
|
a-ŋuŋ |
‘to swallow’ |
ŋun-a |
|
|
a-poŋ |
‘to cook, boil’ |
pon-a |
|
|
a-tɛŋ |
‘to be enough’ |
tɛn-a |
|
|
a-thɛŋ |
‘to shiver’ |
thɛn-a |
|
c. |
a-daŋ |
‘to groan’ |
daŋ-a |
|
|
a-gbɛŋ |
‘to crack (shell)’ |
gbɛŋ-a |
|
|
a-gbiŋ |
‘to swear’ |
gbiŋ-a |
|
|
a-haŋ |
‘to hit, beat’ |
haŋ-a |
|
|
a-hɔŋ |
‘to blow nose’ |
hɔŋ-a |
|
|
a-huŋ |
‘to exit, depart’ |
huŋ-a |
|
|
a-keŋ |
‘to fly’ |
keŋ-a |
|
|
a-lɔŋ |
‘to close, lock’ |
lɔŋ-a |
|
|
a-ŋeŋ |
‘to shake (tr.)’ |
ŋeŋ-a |
|
|
a-sɔŋ |
‘to sing’ |
sɔŋ-a |
|
|
a-thiŋ |
‘to swell’ |
thiŋ-a |
|
|
a-thuŋ |
‘to kick’ |
thuŋ-a |
|
|
a-toŋ |
‘to drop’ |
toŋ-a |
|
|
a-tɔŋ |
‘to contribute’ |
tɔŋ-a |
|
|
a-yɔŋ |
‘to pound’ |
yɔŋ-a |
|
d. |
kiŋ |
‘be, have’ |
|
18As seen, when the stem2 suffix -a is added, the underlying /m/, /n/ or /ŋ/ appears intervocalically. Before another consonant, nasals must be homorganic: a-yumb-u ‘to wait’, a-kɔntɔŋ ‘to count’, a-penk-i [apeŋki] ‘to meet’.
- 12 Since a-dɛɛth-i ‘to look for’ is clearly related to a-dɛth-i ‘to look at’, this suggests that such (...)
19Of the 228 bisyllabic and longer verb stems in our lexicon, 118 end in an -i suffix. 90 of these are bisyllabic. Examples are given in (5a, b), where the nine in (5b) have a long vowel and a corresponding stem2 ending in -wa rather than the more common -a.12 22 are trisyllabic, of which six are shown in (5c), arranged by their (necessarily coronal) third consonant.
| (5) |
|
Stem1 |
|
Stem2 |
|
a. |
a-ŋind-i |
‘to send (sth.)’ |
ŋind-a |
|
|
a-dɛth-i |
‘to look (at)’ |
dɛth-a |
|
|
a-yɛl-i |
‘to throw’ |
yɛl-a |
|
|
a-hɛth-i |
‘to laugh (at)’ |
hɛth-a |
|
|
a-log-i |
‘to wash (sth.)’ |
log-wa |
|
|
a-ŋɔt-i |
‘to fall’ |
ŋɔt-a |
|
|
a-gbal-i |
‘to write’ |
gbal-a |
|
b. |
a-siiy-i |
‘to think’ |
sii-wa |
|
|
a-tɔɔg-i |
‘to burn (intr.)’ |
tɔɔg-wa |
|
|
a-thɔɔg-i |
‘to be tall’ |
thɔɔg-wa |
|
|
a-sɛɛs-i |
‘to start’ |
sɛsi-wa |
|
|
a-pɛɛg-i |
‘to untie’ |
pɛgi-wa |
|
|
a-dɛɛth-i |
‘to look for’ |
dɛth-wa |
|
|
a-pooth-i |
‘to get dirty’ |
pooth-wa |
|
|
a-ŋaat-i |
‘to itch’ |
ŋath-wa |
|
|
a-kɔɔy-i |
‘to be soft’ |
kɔɔy-wa |
|
c. |
a-gbɔgɔl-i |
‘to grind’ |
gbɔgil-a |
|
|
a-kɔyɔn-i |
‘to soften’ |
kɔyin-a |
|
|
a-dahath-i |
‘to chew’ |
dahith-a |
|
|
a-sɛgɛth-i |
‘to take’ |
sɛgith-a |
|
|
a-ŋɔgɔt-i |
‘to push’ |
ŋɔgit-a |
|
|
a-tɔŋɔt-i |
‘to send (sth.)’ |
tɔŋit-a |
20As seen, the two vowels of the trisyllabic stems in (5c) are identical when occurring with the -i suffix. The corresponding stem2 forms to the right exemplify the general rule that a stem-internal vowel occurring after the first stem syllable is [i] when followed by a FV other than -i. As will be seen when we treat verb extensions in §4, we consider the stem-internal /i/ to be underlying, hence /gbɔgil/ ‘grind’, /sɛgith/ ‘take’, /ŋɔgit/ ‘push’, etc.
- 13 Note that the verbs in (6) do not require the FV -i for phonological reasons. If absent, the /n/ co (...)
21A potentially important fact is that only one verb (a-lɛm-i ‘to sharpen’) and no nouns have been found that end with [mi] and no words end with [ŋi]. The four bisyllabic verbs ending in [ni] in (6a) have been noted, all of which take -wa in their stem2. All nine trisyllabic verbs which end in [ni] in (6b) are morphologically complex. As seen in the corresponding basic verb forms to their right, these consist of a verb root + the /-ín/ causative extension + the final -i suffix, which may be epenthetic (see §4.1).13
| (6) |
|
Stem1 |
|
Stem2 |
|
|
a. |
a-min-i |
‘to lick’ |
min-wa |
|
|
|
a-than-i |
‘to learn’ |
than-wa |
|
|
|
a-thɔn-i |
‘to get wet’ |
thɔn-wa |
|
|
|
a-tɔn-i |
‘to burn’ |
tɔn-wa |
|
|
b. |
Causative verb |
|
basic verb |
|
|
|
a-bɔl-ɔn-i |
‘to blacken (tr.)’ |
a-bɔlɔ |
‘to be black’ |
|
|
a-kah-an-i |
‘to strengthen’ |
a-kah-i |
‘to become strong’ |
|
|
a-kɔy-ɔn-i |
‘to soften (tr.)’ |
a-kɔɔy-i |
‘to be soft’ |
|
|
a-payɔ-n-i |
‘to scare’ |
a-payɔ |
‘to fear’ |
|
|
a-poth-on-i |
‘to dirty’ |
a-póoth-i |
‘to get dirty’ |
|
|
a-sah-an-i |
‘to clear bush’ |
a-sah-i |
‘to clear bush’ |
|
|
a-say-an-i |
‘to tear (tr. & intr.)’ |
a-sainɔ(i) |
‘to tear (intr.)’ |
|
|
a-than-an-i |
‘to teach’ |
a-than-i |
‘to learn’ |
|
|
a-thɔn-ɔn-i |
‘to wet’ |
a-thɔn-i |
‘to get wet’ |
- 14 This includes the following alternates of the -ni verbs in (6b): a-kahaŋ ‘to strengthen’, a-kɔyɔŋ ‘ (...)
22On the other hand, 44 bisyllabic and trisyllabic verbs end in -ŋ.14 These fall into two groups represented in (7). Those in (7a) can be identified as causatives on the basis of the corresponding intransitives given to the right, while those in (7b), cannot be, although some may have historically been causatives as well.
| (7) |
|
Causative verb |
|
Basic verb |
|
|
a. |
a-mɛth-ɛŋ |
‘to clean’ |
a-mɛth-i |
‘to become clean, to be clear’ |
|
|
a-ŋay-aŋ |
‘to wake (tr.)’ |
a-ŋáye |
‘to wake (intr.), rise’ |
|
|
a-ŋay-aŋ |
‘to hide (tr.)’ |
(a-nunɔgɔ) |
‘to hide (self)’ |
|
|
a-thiŋ-iŋ |
‘to fill’ |
thínɛ |
‘full’ (adj.) |
|
|
a-pir-iŋ |
‘to lose’ |
a-piriginɔ |
‘to get lost’ |
|
|
a-thank-aŋ |
‘to finish (tr.)’ |
a-thank-i |
‘to finish (intr.)’ |
|
|
a-thim-iŋ |
‘to make love’ |
a-thimo |
‘to love’ |
|
|
a-thith-iŋ |
‘to dry (tr.)’ |
a-thith-i |
‘to get dry’ |
|
|
a-thɔh-ɔŋ |
‘to lend’ |
a-thɔh-i |
‘to borrow’ |
|
|
a-thɔm-ɔŋ |
‘to feed’ |
a-thɔŋ |
‘to eat’ |
|
|
a-tɔŋ-ɔŋ |
‘to show’ |
a-tɔŋ |
‘to contribute’ |
|
b. |
Stem1 |
|
Stem2 |
|
|
|
a-bereŋ |
‘to cry’ |
berin-a |
|
|
|
a-dunkuŋ |
‘to give’ |
dunkun-a |
|
|
|
a-kɔnthɔŋ |
‘to count’ |
kɔnthin-a |
|
|
|
a-kupuŋ |
‘to uncover’ |
kupun-a |
|
|
|
a-pigiŋ |
‘to pass gas’ |
pigin-a |
|
|
|
a-pithiŋ |
‘to sweep’ |
pithin-wa |
|
|
|
a-thɔnthɔŋɔŋ |
‘to ask’ |
thɔnthigin-a |
|
|
|
a-tɛntɛŋɛŋ |
‘to change’ |
tɛntiŋin-a |
|
|
|
a-yupuŋ |
‘to bend, kneel’ |
yupun-a |
|
- 15 Another possible argument that -i is epenthetic is that it is the only vowel that changes in stem2. (...)
- 16 The stem2 form thɔnthigin-a of ‘to ask’ is irregular, as is the [ɛ] of the penultimate syllable of (...)
23As seen in (7b), all of the ŋ-final verbs are pronounced [n] before /-a/ in stem2, where the preceding vowel is realized [i] or [u] (see below for the rounding harmony of /i/ to [u]). Again, our analysis is that the last syllable is /in/, identifiable as the causative extension /-ín/ in (7a). While it is conceivable that ŋ-final verbs once had an -i suffix, a possible synchronic analysis is that the final -i on verb roots that end in a non-nasal consonant is epenthetic, inserted to avoid a final consonant that is not licensed in coda position. Note for example that when the verb ends in ŋ, the vowels are identical exactly like when a verb ends in ‑i. If the -i were epenthetic, then the vowel agreement of /i/ in the stem1 forms in (5c) above could be attributed to the latter being in a closed syllable, as in (6b) and (7), assuming that the epenthetic -i is invisible or is inserted after vowel assimilation.15 The verb a-payɔ-ŋ ‘to scare’ and the two trisyllabic verbs a-thɔnthɔŋɔŋ ‘to ask’ and a-tɛntɛŋɛŋ ‘to change’ in (7b) would be exceptional, although the latter two appear to involve reduplication, and realize the internal /i/ in their stem2.16
24Also missing from the verb stems ending in -i are verbs that have /u/ as their root vowel. As seen in (8), this gap is filled by the following sixteen bisyllabic and five trisyllabic verbs in our lexicon that have /u/ as their root vowel and also end in -u.
| (8) |
|
Stem1 |
|
Stem2 |
|
a. |
a-bul-u |
‘to flow’ |
bul-a |
|
|
a-dut-u |
‘to return (tr.)’ |
dut-(w)a |
|
|
a-gbus-u |
‘to dig, hoe, harvest yams’ |
gbus-a |
|
|
a-hug-u |
‘to fan’ |
hug-a |
|
|
a-hut-u |
‘to fold’ |
hut-a |
|
|
a-kump-u |
‘to peel’ |
kump-wa |
|
|
a-kut-u |
‘to see, find, discover’ |
kut-a |
|
|
a-punk-u |
‘to be able’ |
punk-a |
|
|
a-punt-u |
‘to hop’ |
punt-a |
|
|
a-thuh-u |
‘to descend’ |
thuh-a |
|
|
a-thur-u |
‘to roast, grill’ |
thur-wa |
|
|
a-thuth-u |
‘to spit’ |
thuth-a |
|
|
a-tug-u |
‘to die’ |
tug-a |
|
|
a-tun-u |
‘to rot’ |
tun-wa |
|
|
a-yug-u |
‘to tie’ |
yug-a |
|
|
a-yumb-u |
‘to wait’ |
yumb-a |
|
b. |
a-huŋut-u |
‘to take out, remove’ |
huŋut-a |
|
|
a-hutut-u |
‘to fold, bend’ |
hutut-wa |
|
|
a-putut-u |
‘to cover’ |
putut-a |
|
|
a-yugut-u |
‘to carry’ |
yugut-a |
|
|
a-tun-un-u |
‘to make rotten’ |
tun-un-wa (cf. tun-u ‘to rot’) |
- 17 The fact that the final y of the verb a-puy ‘to cure, heal’ from (3a) and nouns such as ba-puy doct (...)
- 18 Of the 33 trisyllabic verbs in our lexicon (excluding those which end with -ande, -ege or -ɔgɔ, whi (...)
25The above exemplify the general rule of rounding harmony which changes /i/ to [u] after /u/.17 Particularly intriguing is the fact that the four of the five trisyllabic verbs in (8b) have /t/ as their root-final consonant, suggesting that they may contain a frozen dative /-ít-/ extension (§4.5).18 We also note that a-dut-u ‘to return (tr.)’ in (8a) is related to a-du ‘to return (intr.)’, and thus likely derives from /du-it-i/.
26Of the 47 bisyllabic and longer verb stems that do not end in either ŋ, -i, or -u, many contain a recognizable verb extension, even if the corresponding non-extended verb stem does not exist. Examples include 26 polysyllabic verbs that end in e, 36 which end in ɔ, and two that end in o. Those ending in e fall into the following groups.
| (9) |
|
Stem1 |
|
Stem2 |
|
a. |
a-yentheg-e |
‘to lift, raise’ |
yenthig-in-a |
|
|
a-yuy-e |
‘to hear’ |
yuy-a |
|
b. |
a-deg-e |
‘to fight’ |
degy-a < /dege-a/ |
|
c. |
a-biye |
‘to bathe’ |
|
|
|
a-ŋaye |
‘to stand up’ |
|
|
|
a-thaye |
‘to catch’ |
|
|
|
a-thanthiye |
‘to refuse’ |
|
|
|
a-thiye |
‘to drink’ |
|
|
d. |
a-biyande |
‘to enter’ |
|
|
|
a-daŋande |
‘to pass’ |
|
|
|
a-kande |
‘to walk about’ |
(cf. a-kayɔgɔ ‘to walk’; kâ ‘go stem2’) |
|
|
a-pankinwande |
‘to scatter (tr., intr.)’ |
|
|
|
a-paŋitinwande |
‘to scatter (intr.)’ |
|
|
|
a-thɛtande |
‘to break, shatter (intr.)’ |
|
|
|
a-thɛtinande |
‘to break, shatter (tr.)’ |
|
|
|
a-thinkinande |
‘to break, snap (tr.)’ |
|
|
e. |
a-bohege |
‘to touch’ |
|
|
|
a-thetege |
‘to beg (s.o.)’ |
|
|
|
a-yenthege |
‘to raise, lift’ |
|
|
f. |
a-mase |
‘to help’ |
|
|
|
a-muhe |
‘to sweat, perspire’ |
|
|
|
a-nine |
‘to sleep’ |
|
- 19 Transitive a-think-in-ande ‘to break (by snapping)’ also has the variant a-think-i and a correspond (...)
27The two verbs in (9a) appear to end in an /-e/ FV since, as seen to the right, they alone of the e-final verbs have a distinct stem2 form where the /-e/ does not appear. The verb in (9b) appears exceptionally to keep its final e, which glides to [y] when adding -a in stem2. The final ye verbs in (9c), on the other hand, keep their final e in stem2 without adding -a, as do the verbs in (9d-f). The verbs in (9d) all end in ande, which is identical to the reciprocal extension: a-dɛth-i ‘to look at’, a-dɛth-ande ‘to look at each other’ (cf. §4.3). As seen, the first five verbs involve motion, while the last three are verbs of breaking. Although something other than reciprocity is involved, a-thɛtinande ‘to break by shattering (tr.)’ is clearly related to its intransitive counterpart a-thɛtande by the presence of the causative extension /-ín/ (§4.1). We thus are justified in segmenting the transitive verb as a-thɛt-in-ande.19 Additional evidence that ande is a frozen suffix is that the pluractional extension -w- (§4.9) precedes it: bindɛ thɛ́th-ín-ánde kɔ́pu ‘they broke a cup’ vs. bindɛ thɛ́th-ín-w-ánde tha-kɔ́pu ‘they broke cups’. Pluractional -w- is preferred in a-pankin-w-ande ‘to scatter’, which normally requires multiple actions.
28Turning to (9e), the final ege on these three verbs resembles the exclusive /-egé/ verb extension which indicates doing something aside, alone, or in secret, e.g. a-thɔŋ ‘to eat’, a-thom-ege ‘to eat in secret, alone, not wanting to share’. Evidence for ege being a frozen suffix comes from the fact that the applicative suffix /-i-/ precedes it: ndɛ thétege ‘s/he begged’, ndɛ thét-í-égé ma ‘s/he begged for me’. Finally, the verbs in (9f) simply end in e, which remains e in stem2. It might thus appear that they end in an [e] that is not an independent FV the way epenthetic -i and stem2 -a have been seen to be. However, applicative /-i-/ precedes the final [e]: ndɛ más-í-é ma ‘s/he helped for me’, ndɛ nín-í-é ma ‘s/he slept for me’. Unless we propose that this is infixation, -e may also be a lexicalized suffix, an earlier extension.
29To complete our survey, there are two verbs that end in o and 36 verbs which end in ɔ in our lexicon. These can be grouped as follows.
| (10) |
|
Stem1 |
|
Stem2 |
|
a. |
a-thambo |
‘to hate’ |
|
|
|
a-thimo |
‘to love’ |
|
|
b. |
a-dɔŋɔ |
‘to sit’ |
|
|
|
a-dunkɔ |
‘to rise, ascend’ |
|
|
|
a-kɔthɔ |
‘to know’ |
|
|
|
a-payɔ |
‘to fear, be afraid’ |
|
|
|
a-hɛŋɔ |
‘to faint’ |
|
|
|
a-thinkɔ |
‘to break, snap (intr.)’ |
|
|
|
a-sɛtwɔ |
‘to miscarry’ |
|
|
c. |
a-thur-ɔ |
‘to be short’ |
thur-wa |
|
|
a-nɛn-ɔ |
‘to be bad’ |
(cf. nɛn-ɛ ‘bad’) |
|
|
a-thiŋ-ɔ |
‘to be full’ |
(cf. thiŋ-ɛ ‘full’) |
|
|
a-bɔl-ɔ |
‘to be black’ |
(cf. bɔl-ɛ ‘black’) |
|
d. |
a-nunɔgɔ |
‘to hide (intr.)’ |
|
|
|
a-yugɔgɔ |
‘to dress formally’ |
|
|
|
a-kayɔgɔ |
‘to walk’ |
|
|
|
a-sigiyɔgɔ |
‘to go around’ |
|
|
|
a-tutɔgɔ |
‘to carry on head’ |
|
|
e. |
a-gbonkoy |
‘to speak’ |
gbonki-a |
|
|
a-thonoy |
‘to be sick’ |
|
- 20 One pair might suggest that -ɔ was once a reversive: a-hɛŋ ‘to breathe’, a-hɛŋɔ ‘to faint’ (unbreat (...)
- 21 Some adjectives ending in ɛ correspond to verbs taking (epenthetic) -i: a-thɛb-i ‘to be cold’ (thɛb (...)
30All of the verbs in (10) have the same stem2 except for the two indicated above. The final [o] of the two verbs in (10a) resembles the passive extension, e.g. a-deth-o ‘to be looked at’ (from a-dɛth-i ‘to look (at)’). The final [ɔ] in (10b) looks like what Berry (1960) identifies as a “neuter” ending occurring on verbs which do not take an agentive subject. As seen, many of these verbs are stative (cf. §4.10).20 Three of the four verbs in (10c) are clearly related to adjectives ending in ɛ, suggesting that ɔ, ɛ or both are suffixes.21 The ɔgɔ ending on the verbs in (10d) clearly resembles the reflexive extension, e.g. a-dɛth-ɔgɔ ‘to look at oneself’ (§4.7). We can thus interpret these as inherently reflexive verbs, thus meaning ‘to hide oneself’, ‘to dress oneself’, ‘to walk oneself’ (cf. French se promener) and ‘to move oneself around’. This is supported by the fact that applicative -i- precedes the ɔgɔ ending on these verbs: a-nun-i-ɔ́gɔ́ niŋ ‘to hide for him/her’. Finally, note the two exceptional verbs in (10e) which we analyze as ending in oy rather than o-i, since the y of thonoy remains in all TAMs, and the y of gbonkoy remains in all TAMs that take stem1.
31In the preceding sections, we have mostly focused on verbs in their stem1 form as they appear with surface L tones in the infinitive, e.g. a-gbal-i ‘to write’. We saw however that many have a stem2 form which occurs in progressive tenses and the imperative. Thus, one can contrast stem1 gbal-i in ndɛ gbal-i ‘s/he wrote’ vs. stem2 gbal-a in ndɛ kiŋ ka gbal-a ‘s/he is writing’ and gbal-a ‘write!’. As we pointed out earlier, the stem2 forms are nominalizations which can be modified (gbal-a haŋ ‘the writing’) and appear in TAMs which use the prepositions ga ‘at’ (→ ka after a nasal) and ba ‘for’. Thus, the present progressive example above literally means ‘s/he is at writing’, where kiŋ ‘be’ independently occurs in various contexts in the language, e.g. ndɛ kiŋ ka bánká baŋ ‘s/he is at the house’. In this section we will be concerned only with the different stem2 forms. Treatment of the TAM system is postponed to §6.
- 22 As seen earlier in (9), out of 26 polysyllabic verb stems ending in /e/ in our lexicon, we have fou (...)
32The first observation to be made is that not all verbs have a distinct stem2, the same stem1 form being used in the progressive tenses and the imperatives: a-thanthiye ‘to refuse’, ndɛ kiŋ ka thánthiye ‘s/he is refusing’, thanthiye ‘refuse!’. Verbs which end in /ɔ/, including reflexive /-ɔgɔ/, do not have a stem2, nor do verbs ending in /e/, including applicative /-i-e/, reciprocal /-ande/, dative /-ít-e/ and exclusive /‑egé/.22 In most cases, the stem2 tone is the same as stem1, while in other cases there is a change, although much depends on the TAM (see §6). In what follows we will start with the most general markers of stem2 and then turn to less common formations.
33The most common stem2 formation process is by suffixation of /-a/. In the examples in (11), /-a/ is added to the stem1 form.
| (11) |
|
Stem1 |
Stem2 |
|
|
|
|
a. |
a-ni |
ni-a |
‘to do’ |
|
|
|
|
a-thu |
thu-a |
‘to plant’ |
|
|
|
|
a-thi |
thi-a |
‘to call’ |
|
|
|
b. |
a-thɔŋ |
thɔm-a |
‘to eat’ |
|
|
|
|
a-maŋ |
man-a |
‘to visit’ |
|
|
|
|
a-haŋ |
haŋ-a |
‘to hit’ |
|
|
|
c. |
a-hoy |
hoy-a |
‘to swim’ |
|
|
|
|
a-mey |
mey-a |
‘to reply’ |
|
|
|
|
a-pɛy |
pɛy-a |
‘to leave’ |
|
|
|
|
a-tay |
tay-a |
‘to lay’ |
|
|
|
d. |
a-bereŋ |
berin-a |
‘to cry’ |
|
|
|
|
a-kɔntɔŋ |
kɔntin-a |
‘to count’ |
|
|
|
|
a-dunkuŋ |
dunkun-a |
‘to give’ |
|
|
|
e. |
a-thɔm-ɔŋ |
thɔm-in-a |
‘to feed’ |
cf. a-thɔŋ |
‘to eat’ |
|
|
a-thank-aŋ |
thank-in-a |
‘to finish (tr.)’ |
cf. a-thank-i |
‘to finish (intr.)’ |
|
|
a-thɔh-ɔŋ |
thɔh-in-a |
‘to loan’ |
cf. a-thɔh-i |
‘to borrow |
34As before, we exemplify stem1 with the infinitive prefix /a-/, and stem2 forms are cited with the prepausal tones they have in the future progressive and the imperative, e.g. ndɛ bóheŋ bá berin-a ‘s/he will be crying’ (lit. s/he fut.prog with crying), berin-a! ‘cry!’. In (11a) we see that CV stems generally add /-a/, as do all CVC verb stems in (11b, c) and all longer stems ending in a nasal consonant (11d), including those with a causative /-ín/ extension in (11e). Exceptions are shown in (12).
| (12) |
|
Stem1 |
Stem2 |
|
|
|
a. |
a-ke |
ka |
‘to go’ |
/a-ka-i/ |
|
|
a-se |
sa |
‘to come’ |
/a-sa-i/ |
|
b. |
a-nki |
nk-a |
‘to give, offer’ |
|
|
|
a-mpu |
mp-a |
‘to give birth’ |
|
|
c. |
a-ŋay |
ŋa-in-ɔgɔ |
‘to stand up’ |
~ ŋay-a |
35We have already discussed the two verbs in (12a), where there is reason to believe that the roots are /ka/ and /sa/, and that [ke] and [se] have a fused /-i/ suffix, which is replaced by /-a/ as a general rule (see 13c, d). In (12b) the stem2 /-a/ suffix replaces the final vowel. The [i] of nki ‘to give’ may be a root vowel (cf. note 8), or a suffix -i (cf. the past form nk-e). In (12c), the verb a-ŋay ‘to stand up’ has an irregular stem2 ŋa-in-ɔgɔ which takes a causative plus reflexive sequence -in-ɔgɔ with the literal meaning ‘cause to stand oneself up’. As shown, the regular stem2 ŋay-a is also acceptable.
36Turning to consonant-final verbs and verbs that end in an -i suffix (whether analyzed as underlying or epenthetic, as we have suggested), the most common pattern of stem2 formation is for the /-a/ suffix to be added, replacing the -i (~ -u). All 40 CVC stem1 verbs in our lexicon take -a in stem2, as representative examples show in (13a, b).
| (13) |
|
Stem1 |
Stem2 |
|
|
|
a. |
a-kaŋ |
kam-a |
‘to dance’ |
|
|
|
a-maŋ |
man-a |
‘to visit’ |
|
|
|
a-haŋ |
haŋ-a |
‘to hit’ |
|
|
b. |
a-hoy |
hoy-a |
‘to swim’ |
|
|
|
a-thay |
thay-a |
‘to dry (tr.)’ |
|
|
|
a-puy |
puy-a |
‘to cure, heal’ |
|
|
c. |
a-ŋind-i |
ŋind-a |
‘to send (s.o.)’ |
|
|
|
a-penk-i |
penk-a |
‘to meet’ |
|
|
|
a-hɛth-i |
hɛth-a |
‘to laugh’ |
|
|
|
a-gbus-u |
gbus-a |
‘to dig’ |
< /a-gbus-i/ |
|
|
a-toh-i |
toh-a |
‘to sew’ |
|
|
|
a-kɔr-i |
kɔr-a |
‘to kill’ |
|
|
|
a-gbal-i |
gbal-a |
‘to write’ |
|
|
d. |
a-sigbit-i |
sigbit-a |
‘to pierce, stab’ |
|
|
|
a-sɛgɛth-i |
sɛgith-a |
‘to take’ |
|
|
|
a-putut-u |
putut-a |
‘to cover’ |
< /a-putut-i/ |
|
|
a-gbɔgɔl-i |
gbɔgil-a |
‘to grind’ |
|
|
|
a-tɔŋɔt-i |
tɔŋit-a |
‘to send (sth.)’ |
|
|
|
a-dahath-i |
dahith-a |
‘to chew’ |
|
|
|
a-kaŋat-i |
kaŋit-a |
‘to puncture’ |
|
37Of the 146 verbs with stem1 final -i or -u in our lexicon, 85 replace the -i with -a in stem2. Representative bisyllabic and trisyllabic examples are given in (13c, d). In (13d), except for /i/ and /u/, the vowel of the second stem syllable is also different in stem1 (where it assimilates to the preceding vowel) vs. stem2, where the underlying /i/ is realized (→ [u] after /u/).
38While (13) represents the general pattern for stem1 i-final verbs, there is a second pattern. 50 verbs in our lexicon form their stem2 with the suffix -wa instead of -a. 43 of these have a stem1 ending with /i/ (→ [u]) as in (14a-c), the remaining eight ending with ŋ, as in (14d).
| (14) |
|
Stem1 |
Stem2 |
|
|
|
a. |
a-thel-i |
thel-wa |
‘to hoe’ |
|
|
|
a-thɔn-i |
thɔɔn-wa |
‘to get wet’ |
|
|
|
a-min-i |
min-wa |
‘to lick’ |
|
|
|
a-thith-i |
thith-wa |
‘to fish with net’ |
|
|
|
a-kas-i |
kas-wa |
‘to vomit’ |
|
|
|
a-kah-i |
kah-wa |
‘to become strong’ |
|
|
|
a-log-i |
log-wa |
‘to wash (sth.)’ |
|
|
|
a-sas-i |
sas-wa |
‘to pour’ |
|
|
|
a-yoh-i |
yoh-wa |
‘to urinate’ |
|
|
b. |
a-pooth-i |
poth-wa |
‘to get dirty’ |
|
|
|
a-ŋaath-i |
ŋathwa |
‘to itch’ |
|
|
|
a-dɛɛth-i |
dɛth-wa |
‘to look for’ |
|
|
|
a-sɛɛs-i |
sɛs-wa |
‘to start’ |
|
|
|
a-pɛɛg-i |
pɛg-wa |
‘to untie’ |
|
|
|
a-siiy-i |
si-wa |
‘to think’ |
|
|
|
a-tɔɔgi |
tɔɔg-wa |
‘to burn (intr.)’ |
~ tɔg-a |
|
c. |
a-thɔn-ɔn-i |
thɔn-in-wa |
‘to wet (tr.)’ |
cf. a-thɔn-i ‘to get wet’ |
|
|
a-poth-on-i |
poth-in-wa |
‘to dirty (tr.)’ |
cf. a-pooth-i ‘to get dirty’ |
|
|
a-kah-an-i |
kah-in-wa |
‘to strengthen (tr.)’ |
cf. a-kah-i ‘to become strong’ |
|
|
a-bɔl-ɔn-i |
bɔl-in-wa |
‘to blacken (tr.)’ |
cf. bɔlɛ ‘black’ |
|
|
a-than-an-i |
than-in-wa |
‘to teach’ |
cf. a-than-i ‘to learn’ |
|
d. |
a-thith-iŋ |
thith-in-wa |
‘to dry (tr.)’ |
cf. a-thith-i ‘to become dry’ |
|
|
a-pɛpɛŋ |
pɛpin-wa |
‘to unfold, spread out’ |
|
|
|
a-pithiŋ |
pithin-wa |
‘to sweep’ |
|
39To compare, 62 CVC-i stem1 verbs take -a in stem2 vs. 32 which take -wa, as in (14a). On the other hand, all seven of the CVVC-i stem1 verbs in our lexicon in (14b) take -wa in their stem2 form, although a-tɔɔg-i ‘to burn (intr.)’ also has the alternative tɔg-a. (14c) shows that verbs that contain the causative suffix /-ín/ plus the FV /-i/ all take -wa in stem2. While most verbs that end in /in/ without the FV -i form their stem2 with -a, e.g. stem1 a-thɔm-ɔŋ ‘to feed’, stem2 thɔm-in-a, a few take -wa, as in (14d). In §4.4 we will see that verbs that take -wa in their stem also mark their passive with -wo rather than -o. Although there is a pluractional extension /-w-/ treated in §4.9, it is hard to relate the stem2 and passive [w] to it.
40Recall that some stem1 verbs that end in a vowel other than -i (~ -u) do not have a distinct stem2 form. While those that do show one of the above two patterns, it does not appear to be possible to predict which verbs will form their stem2 with -a vs. -wa. In addition, the following six verbs have been found to have irregularities in their stem2 formation.
| (15) |
|
Stem1 |
Stem2 |
|
|
|
a. |
a-yenthege |
yenthigin-a |
‘to lift, raise’ |
|
|
b. |
a-thigit-i |
titigin-a |
‘to (ex)change’ |
|
|
c. |
a-piriŋ |
pirigin-a |
‘to lose’ |
|
|
|
a-thɔnthɔŋɔŋ |
thɔnthigin-a |
‘to ask’ |
|
|
d. |
a-gbonkoy |
gbonk-ia |
‘to speak’ |
|
|
e. |
a-hɔŋɔt-i |
hɔnkit-a |
‘to blow (through mouth)’ |
|
- 23 A reviewer has suggested that the identical stem2 marking of progressive aspect and the imperative (...)
41In (15a), a-yenthege adds [in] to form its stem2, as also in (15b), which also involves a change of initial thi to titi. (A regular stem2 thigit-a is also possible.) The two verbs in (15c) add an extra [ig] in stem2. In (15d) the final /oy/ of a-gbonkoy ‘to speak’ is replaced by -ia, the -i- possibly being the applicative extension. In (15e), an exceptional [k] is inserted after the nasal in hɔnkit-a. These six stem2 forms simply have to be listed in the lexicon.23
42This completes our brief survey of stem2 forms. In §6 we will further explore the contexts within the inflectional verb paradigm in which stem1 vs. stem2 is used. We turn first to verb extensions in §4 and then tone in §5.
43Limba verbs support a wide range of derivational suffixes known as extensions. We have already referred to some of these in the preceding sections. In this section we will first examine the extensions that have been identified and then turn to combinations of two or more extensions. In (16) we present a summary of the extension system, where UR = underlying representation and V represents a copy of the preceding root vowel.
| (16) |
Extension |
UR |
Allomorphs |
Notes |
|
Causative |
/-ín/ |
-Vŋ finally, -Vn before /i/
-in- before other vowels
|
not rare, but lexically restricted |
|
Applicative |
/-i-/ |
-i-e (active), -i-o (passive), cannot occur word-finally |
productive with benefactive
or circumstantial meaning ‘for’
|
|
Reciprocal |
/-ande/ |
-ande |
productive with ‘each other’ meaning; also lexicalized cases |
|
Passive |
/-o/ |
-o (general), -a (restricted) |
productive |
|
Dative |
/-ít-/ |
Vt before /i/, -it- before other vowels |
not rare, but lexically restricted, recipient ‘to’, ablative ‘from’, malefactive |
|
Exclusive |
/-egé/ |
-ege, passive -ogo |
productive, idea of doing sth. in exclusion, apart, alone; lexicalized cases |
|
Reflexive |
/-ɔgɔ/ |
-ɔgɔ |
productive, also lexicalized cases |
|
Instrumental |
/-é/ |
-e |
restricted, allows unmarked instrument |
|
Pluractional |
/-w-/ |
-w- |
productive, plural participants, actions |
|
Intensive |
/-k´-/ |
-k- |
only occurs after some CVŋ roots |
|
Stative |
/-ɔ/ |
-ɔ |
stative and adjectival verbs |
44We treat each of these now in turn.
45The causative suffix /-ín/ has an underlying /n/, which becomes [ŋ] at the end of the word. As seen in the following examples, the V of -Vŋ is an exact copy of the root vowel. When the -a suffix is added in the stem2 form, the underlying /i/ is realized (→ [u] by rounding harmony).
| (17) |
Basic stem1 |
Causative stem1 |
Stem2 |
|
a-thith-i |
‘to be dry’ |
a-thith-iŋ |
‘to dry (tr.)’ |
thith-in-wa |
|
a-keŋ |
‘to fly’ |
a-keŋ-eŋ |
‘to fly (tr.)’ |
keŋ-in-a |
|
a-mɛth-i |
‘be clear’ |
a-mɛth-ɛŋ |
‘to clean, clear’ |
mɛth-in-a |
|
a-thuh-u |
‘to descend’ |
a-thuh-uŋ |
‘to lower’ |
thuh-un-a |
|
a-hoy |
‘to swim’ |
a-hoy-oŋ |
‘to swim (tr.)’ |
ho-in-a |
|
a-thɔŋ |
‘to eat’ |
a-thɔm-ɔŋ |
‘to feed’ |
thom-in-a |
|
a-ŋay |
‘to stand up’ |
a-ŋay-aŋ |
‘to stand sth. up’ |
ŋa-in-a |
46While the above pairs show that there is a recognizable causative extension, not all verbs can be causativized. First, all of the inputs to causativization except a-thɔŋ ‘to eat’ are intransitive verbs. It is in fact difficult to derive a causative of a transitive verb. In the rare cases where this occurs, the result does not involve an increase in valence. Thus, ndɛ thɛ́ŋ bára and ndɛ thɛ́mɛ́ŋ bára both mean ‘s/he cut meat’. Similarly, both ndɛ sáhí thála and ndɛ sáhání thála both mean ‘s/he cleared elephant grass’. (We have not found any semantic nuance between the two forms.) Of the causative verbs in (17), they are likely all lexicalized except for a-keŋ-eŋ ‘to fly (tr.)’ and a-hoy-oŋ ‘to swim (tr.)’, found to be acceptable in sentences like ndɛ kéŋ-éŋ bɛ́tíŋ beŋ ‘s/he flew the birds’ and ndɛ hoy-oŋ mpati beŋ ‘s/he swam the children’. However, many intransitive verbs cannot be causativized, e.g. a-hɛŋ ‘to breathe’ (*a-hɛmɛŋ), a-huŋ ‘to exit, depart’ (*a-huŋ-uŋ), a-thar-i ‘to run’ (*a-thar-aŋ).
47While most of the causative verbs end in -Vŋ, a few end in -Vn-i (see also (6b) above).
| (18) |
Basic stem1 |
Causative stem1 |
Stem2 |
|
a-kah-i |
‘to be strong’ |
a-kah-an-i |
‘to strengthen’ |
kah-in-wa |
|
a-than-i |
‘to learn’ |
a-than-an-i |
‘to teach’ |
than-in-wa |
|
a-pooth-i |
‘to get dirty’ |
a-poth-on-i |
‘to dirty’ |
poth-in-wa |
|
a-thɔn-i |
‘to get wet’ |
a-thɔn-ɔn-i |
‘to wet (tr.)’ |
thɔn-in-wa |
|
a-ŋɔt-i |
‘to fall’ |
a-ŋɔt-ɔn-i |
‘to fell’ |
ŋɔt-in-wa |
48As seen, the vowel of -Vn-i is again a copy of the root vowel. As in English, the last example was accepted only with a tree as the object: ndɛ ŋɔ́t-ɔ́n-í kú-yéŋ koŋ ‘s/he felled the tree’ and cannot be used with the meaning ‘make fall’ in general. In the examples in (18), it looks as though the -i suffix of the base verb carries forward into the causative. A similar observation concerns the verb a-nin-e ‘to sleep’, which carries its final e forward to produce the causative a-nin-in-e ‘to sleep (tr.)’: ndɛ nin-in-e mpati oŋ ‘s/he slept the children’. Note in this context that a few verbs take either form: a-thith-iŋ ~ a-thith-in-i ‘to dry (tr.)’, derived from a-thith-i ‘to become dry’; a-kɔy-ɔŋ ~ a-kɔy-ɔn-i ‘to tear (tr.)’, derived from a-kɔɔy-i ‘to tear (intr.)’. Like the /-in-i/ causative verbs seen earlier in (14c), these all form their stem2 with -wa.
49In addition to the above, there are cases of verb forms that end in -Vŋ, but which are not transparently causative. (All verbs ending with -Vn-i have a corresponding non-causative base.) Such verbs as the following in (19) have a causative phonological form, but do not have a corresponding non-derived basic verb stem.
- 24 The verb a-dunkɔ ‘to rise, go up’ is not likely related, unless ‘make rise (to)’ can shift to mean (...)
| (19) |
Basic stem1 |
Stem2 |
|
|
a-bereŋ |
‘to cry’ |
berin-a |
*a-ber-i |
|
a-digiŋ |
‘to set a trap’ |
digin-a |
*a-dig-i |
|
a-dunkuŋ |
‘to give’ |
dunkun-a |
*a-dunk-i24 |
|
a-kɔntɔŋ |
‘to count’ |
kɔntin-a |
*a-kɔnt-i |
|
a-pithiŋ |
‘to sweep’ |
pithin-wa |
*a-pith-i |
|
a-yeheŋ |
‘to fix, repair’ |
yeh-in-a |
*a-yeh-i |
- 25 There is also a corresponding noun payɔ ‘fear’ that might have served as the base for both a-payɔ ‘ (...)
50There are three arguments that the final Vŋ in such verbs is a frozen causative: (i) except for a-bereŋ ‘to cry’, they are all transitive; (ii) they show the same vowel realizations as the causative; (iii) they have an underlying /n/, as seen in the stem2 forms. Although we saw in (4) that the ŋ of monosyllabic CVŋ verbs can be underlyingly /m/, /n/ or /ŋ/, the final nasal of longer verbs is always /n/. Thus, there are no verb stems having the shape CVCVm-i or CVCVŋ-i. Finally, we have found only one case where the vowel that precedes this nasal is not identical to the root vowel: a-payɔ-n-i ‘scare’ (cf. a-payɔ ‘to fear’), which may have derived from an earlier a-payɔ-ɔn-i which would automatically undergo vowel shortening.25
51Although not ending in -Vŋ in their base forms, we also have noted two verbs that inexplicably acquire an -in- suffix in stem2, one of which changes dental th to alveolar t in the stem2 -in- allomorph (20).
| (20) |
Stem1 |
|
Stem2 |
|
a-thigit-i |
‘to (ex)change’ |
titig-in-a ~ thigit-a |
|
a-yenthege |
‘to lift, raise’ |
yenthig-in-a |
- 26 In the case of verbs like a-dunkuŋ ‘to give’ in (19), we assume that the second [u] is a copy vowel (...)
- 27 As of this writing, here are the counts of final nasal and final n-i in our lexicon: CVŋ (29), CVn- (...)
52To summarize thus far, we have treated the /-ín/ causative with an underlying /i/ which is realized as a copy of the root vowel before final ŋ or -i, and as -in- (→ -un- by rounding harmony) when followed by a vowel other than -i.26 (We will see in §4.5 that the /i/ of the dative extension /-ít-/ has the same realizations.) While we feel that the vowel of the causative is underlyingly /i/, and the extension was likely *-ín historically, one might also consider /-án/, which is also attested in Atlantic languages and is in fact reconstructed by Doneux (1975). Starting with either /-ín/ or /-án/, we would need a rule that assimilates the vowel to the preceding root vowel when the verb ends with ŋ or n-i. While this may seem a strange pair of environments, recall that we considered the possibility that the FV -i is epenthetic. If -i were not present, or if it is marked off as extrametrical (invisible), the pre-nasal vowel would be in a closed syllable. In this case the generalizations would be: (i) the /i/ of /-ín/ assimilates to the preceding root vowel when it is in a closed syllable; (ii) the /i/ of /-ín/ remains [i] (→ [u] by rounding harmony) in an open syllable, i.e. when the vowel following /-ín/ is other than -i. In fact, we can generalize further: with very few exceptions, post-root vowels are always /i/ in bisyllabic and trisyllabic verbs. This would also apply to verbs such as in (19), which are not synchronically causative. The verb stem of a-bereŋ ‘to cry’ would be underlyingly /berin/, and its stem2 form berin-a would be /berin-a/. The remaining unexplained issue, however, is why some verbs end with ŋ, others with n-i.27
- 28 An even more interesting possibility is that the vowel of internal post-root syllables was itself h (...)
53The alternative representation /-án/ has been mentioned mostly because the vowel /a/ is also very common in causative extensions in Atlantic languages. Although many Niger-Congo languages assimilate affixal /a/ to a mid root vowel /e/, /ɛ/, /o/ or /ɔ/, it is less common for affixal /a/ to assimilate to /i/ or /u/. If we did start with /-án/, we would have to treat the [i] of -in- and other post-root syllables as a reduction, rather than a retention of underlying /i/. A potential complication, however, concerns the reciprocal extension /-ande/, which does not assimilate to the preceding root vowel: a-dɛth-ande ‘to look at each other’. Note that if we assumed that it is /a/ rather than /i/ that assimilates, the /a/ of -ande should assimilate, since it is in a closed syllable, where a copy vowel is expected. In fact, treating the causative and similar post-root vowels as /i/ fills in a gap: Besides the /a/ of /-ande/, the remaining internal suffixal vowels are /e/ and /ɔ/, which also do not assimilate to the root vowel: a-thɔm-ege ‘to eat alone’, a-dɛth-ɔgɔ ‘to look at oneself’. Instead, both vowels of the exclusive extension /-egé/ and the reflexive extension /-ɔgɔ/ remain identical to each other independent of the nature of the root vowel (see §4.6 and §4.7). We are thus left with the four internal post-root vowels /i/, /e/, /ɔ/ and /a/, with only /i/ becoming a copy of the root vowel. We will see more evidence for underlying /i/ as we consider other verb extensions.28
- 29 We analyze /-i-e/ as two morphemes, since /-i-/ can occur without /-e/ when combining with another (...)
54Limba is rather rich in having three applicatives, which are used with different functions. The first of these is applicative /-i-/, which most commonly licenses a benefactive object. (As will be seen in §4.5 and §4.8, we refer to the other two as dative /-ít-/ and instrumental /-é/.) Unlike causative /-ín/, the applicative /-i-/ extension is never final. When stem1 occurs in the active voice without another extension, /-i-/ is followed by the FV /-e/.29 As seen in (21), its major function is to license a benefactive object. Verbs ending in applicative /-i-e/ do not change in stem2 contexts.
- 30 While we expect a-mey-i-e, the -i- is “absorbed” into the preceding [y]. The -e FV also tenses the (...)
| (21) |
|
Base verb |
|
Applicative |
|
|
a. |
a-kaŋ |
‘to dance’ |
a-kam-i-e |
‘to dance for s.o.’ |
|
|
a-sɔŋ |
‘to sing’ |
a-soŋ-i-e |
‘to sing for s.o.’ |
|
|
a-gbonkoy |
‘to speak’ |
a-gbonk-i-e |
‘to speak for s.o.’ |
|
|
a-mɛy |
‘to answer’ |
a-mey-e30 |
‘to answer for s.o.’ |
|
b. |
a-poŋ |
‘to cook, boil’ |
a-pon-i-e |
‘to cook for s.o.’ |
|
|
a-ŋind-i |
‘to send’ |
a-ŋind-i-e |
‘to send for s.o.’ |
|
|
a-yug-u |
‘to tie’ |
a-yug-i-e |
‘to tie for s.o.’ |
|
|
a-gbal-i |
‘to write’ |
a-gbal-i-e |
‘to write for s.o.’ |
55The verbs in (21a) are often used with only the beneficiary expressed, e.g. a-kam-i-e ma ‘to dance for me’, while those in (21b) often also have a lexical object, e.g. a-pon-i-é má paga ‘to cook rice for me’. The applicative extension -i- is required to license an additional benefactive object. Thus, the verbs in (22a) become transitive and those in (22b) become ditransitive. The sentences to the right would be ungrammatical without the applicative -i- extension.
- 31 Note that the -i- of yúg-í-é does not harmonize to [u]. This may provide an incentive to transcribe (...)
| (22) |
|
Without applicative |
|
With applicative object |
|
a. |
ndɛ gbonkoy |
‘s/he spoke’ |
ndɛ gbónk-í-é ma |
‘… for me’ |
|
|
ndɛ kaŋ |
‘s/he danced’ |
ndɛ káŋ-í-é ma |
‘… for me’ |
|
|
ndɛ sɔŋ |
‘s/he sang’ |
ndɛ sɔ́ŋ-í-é ma |
‘… for me’ |
|
|
ndɛ mɛy |
‘s/he answered’ |
ndɛ méy-é ma |
‘… for me’ |
|
b. |
ndɛ póŋ pága |
‘s/he cooked rice’ |
ndɛ pón-í-é má paga |
‘… for me’ |
|
|
ndɛ ŋind-i hati |
‘s/he sent a child’ |
ndɛ ŋínd-í-é má hati |
‘… for me’ |
|
|
ndɛ yúg-ú bára |
‘s/he tied meat’ |
ndɛ yúg-í-é má bara31 |
‘… for me’ |
|
|
ndɛ gbal-i ku-thagba |
‘s/he wrote a letter’ |
ndɛ gbal-í-é má ku-thagba |
‘… for me’ |
56Recall from the previous section that a-thɔŋ ‘to eat’ is a rare transitive verb that can be causativized as a‑thɔm-ɔŋ ‘to feed’, which licenses two objects occurring in the same order as in English: ndɛ thɔ́mꜜ-ɔ́ŋ bíndɛ́ paga ‘s/he fed them rice’. Although otherwise rare in the language, when applicativized, a third object is possible: ndɛ thɔ́m-ín-í-é má bindɛ paga ‘s/he fed them rice for me’. As seen, the causative extension -in- precedes applicative -i-, as expected from the scope relation (see §4.12 for the treatment of extension ordering). It should be noted that the applicative expresses both senses of English ‘for’. The sentence ndɛ pón-í-é yɛ́rɛmɛ oŋ paga ‘s/he cooked rice for the woman’ can mean that s/he cooked either ‘for the woman’s benefit’ or ‘in the woman’s place’.
- 32 Although the second author originally offered ndɛ pón-éŋ bá-wálíŋ paga ‘s/he cooked rice for farmer (...)
57As an alternative to applicative marking with -i-, the preposition ba ‘for’ can be used. This produces equivalent sentences such as those in (23).32
| (23) |
a. |
ndɛ gbonk-i-e hati oŋ |
‘s/he spoke for the child’ (hati ‘child’, oŋ ‘the’) |
|
|
ndɛ gbónkóy bá hati oŋ |
(idem) |
|
b. |
ndɛ pón-í-é hátí óŋ paga |
‘s/he cooked rice for the child’ |
|
|
ndɛ póŋ pága ba hati oŋ |
(idem) |
|
c. |
ndɛ kám-í-é kɔ́bírî |
‘s/he danced for money’ |
|
|
ndɛ káŋ bá kɔbiri |
(idem) |
- 33 Both a benefactive and a circumstance can become the subject of the passive: hati oŋ pon-i-o ‘the c (...)
58The pairs of sentences in (23) appear to be completely synonymous. Either the applicative is used, as in the first example of each pair, or the preposition ba is used. The two are mutually exclusive, e.g. *ndɛ gbónk-í-é bá hati oŋ (s/he spoke-appl-fv for child det). The examples in (23b) show that there is a word order difference between the two sentences, as in English: ‘s/he cooked the child rice’ vs. ‘s/he cooked rice for the child’. Finally, (23c) shows that the same two options are possible with a circumstance (e.g. ‘money’), which also can be licensed by the applicative extension. Compare ndɛ pón-í-é máthóŋ maŋ ~ ndɛ póŋ bá mathoŋ maŋ ‘s/he cooked for the traditional dance’ (mathoŋ maŋ ‘traditional dance’ + ‘the’).33 Finally, note in (24a) that the applicative can be used for a benefited possessor.
| (24) |
a. |
ndɛ lóg-í-é má thɛnkɔ |
‘s/he washed my hands’ (s/he washed-appl-fv me hands) |
|
b. |
ndɛ lóg-í thɛ́nkɔ́ nîŋ thaŋ |
(idem) (lit. s/he washed hands my the) |
|
c. |
ndɛ lóg-í-é má yaba |
‘s/he washed my clothes’, ‘s/he washed clothes for me’ |
|
|
|
(s/he washed-appl-fv me clothes) |
59(24a) is equivalent to (24b), where the verb lacks the applicative extension when the possessive pronoun nîŋ ‘my’ occurs. While (24a, b) concern a body part, when an external object is substituted as in (24c), the result is ambiguous between a benefactive and a possessive reading. In the reading ‘s/he washed clothes for me’, the clothes do not necessarily have to belong to me.
- 34 While both forms are acceptable on most verbs, e.g. a-pam-(w)-ande ‘to chase each other’, and certa (...)
60The reciprocal extension /-ande/ is completely productive. It can be added to any transitive verb whenever a reciprocal ‘each other’ meaning is felicitous. Verbs that end in -ande do not have a distinct stem2 form. As seen in (25), reciprocals have two realizations. Those in (25a) have the simple reciprocal suffix -ande. Those in (25b) have -w-ande with an extra pluractional suffix -w- (see §4.9). Reciprocals necessarily involve at least two participants and two actions.34
- 35 While /-ande/ has underlying /L/ tone, when the verb root is /H/, a H is realized on the penult. Th (...)
| (25) |
|
Base verb |
|
Applicative |
|
|
a. |
a-paŋ |
‘to chase’ |
a-pam-ande |
‘to chase each other’ |
|
|
a-dɛth-i |
‘to look at’ |
a-dɛth-ande |
‘to look at each other’ |
|
|
a-ŋind-i |
‘to send’ |
a-ŋind-ande |
‘to send each other’ |
|
|
a-ŋɔgɔt-i |
‘to push’ |
a-ŋɔgit-ande |
‘to push each other’ |
|
|
a-biye |
‘to bathe’ |
a-biy-ande |
‘to bathe each other’ |
|
b. |
a-yɛth-i |
‘to choose’ |
a-yɛth-w-ande |
‘to choose each other’ |
|
|
a-maŋ |
‘to visit’ |
a-man-w-ánde35 |
‘to visit each other’ |
|
|
a-mɛy |
‘to answer’ |
a-mɛy-w-ande |
‘to answer each other’ |
|
|
a-yug-u |
‘to tie’ |
a-yug-w-ande |
‘to tie each other’ |
|
|
a-kɔth-ɔ |
‘to know’ |
a-kɔth-w-ánde |
‘to know each other’ |
61In addition, two cases have been found that add the causative suffix -in- when reciprocalized: a-thetig-in-w-ánde ‘to beg each other’ (a-thetege ‘to beg’) and a-ŋɔgit-in-w-ánde ‘to push each other’ (a-ŋɔgɔt-i ‘to push’), the second being a variant of a-ŋɔgit-ande seen in (25a).
- 36 Two other lexicalized cases of ande are a-thɔiwánde ‘to resemble’, whose reciprocity is transparent (...)
62As already seen in (9d), there are verbs of motion, scattering and breaking with an ande ending. The following eight such verbs have been found, which do not change in stem2.36
| (26) |
a. |
a-kande /ka-ande/ |
‘to walk about’ |
|
|
|
(cf. a-kayɔgɔ ‘to walk’; a-ke ‘to go’ /a-ka-i/) |
|
|
a-daŋ-ande |
‘to pass’ |
|
|
a-biy-ande |
‘to enter’ |
|
b. |
a-pank-in-w-ande |
‘to scatter (tr.)’ |
|
|
a-paŋit-in-w-ande |
‘to scatter (tr., intr.)’ |
|
c. |
a-thɛt-ande |
‘to break, shatter (intr.)’ |
|
|
a-thɛt-in-ande |
‘to break, shatter (tr.)’ |
|
|
a-think-in-ande |
‘to break, snap (tr.)’ |
- 37 It is tempting to see semantic relationships among some of these verbs. Thus, in (26b) scattering i (...)
63While none of the above verbs have a sense of mutuality, there is good reason to identify -ande as the reciprocal suffix. Besides the segmental resemblance, the most convincing argument is the fact that applicative -i- comes before it: a-daŋ-i-ándé ma ‘to pass for me’, a-thɛt-in-i-ándé ma ‘to break for me’. The same argument is available with passive /-o/, which replaces the final [e] of -ande. Thus, in bindɛ ŋínd-í-ánd-o ‘they were sent for each other’, applicative -i- precedes and passive -o follows the reciprocal suffix, replacing its final [e].37
64The passive extension /-o/ is completely productive and can be added to any transitive or transitivized verb base. Passivized verb stems do not have a distinct stem2 form. Examples are given in (27).
| (27) |
|
Base verb |
|
Passive |
|
|
a. |
a-thi |
‘to call’ |
a-thi-o |
‘to be called’ |
|
|
a-ni |
‘to do’ |
a-ni-o |
‘to be done’ |
|
|
a-nki |
‘to give’ |
a-nk-o |
‘to be given’ |
|
|
a-the |
‘to borrow’ |
a-the-o |
‘to be borrowed’ |
|
b. |
a-thɔŋ |
‘to eat’ |
a-thom-o |
‘to be eaten’ |
|
|
a-maŋ |
‘to visit’ |
a-man-o |
‘to be visited’ |
|
|
a-lɔŋ |
‘to close, lock’ |
a-loŋ-o |
‘to be closed, locked’ |
|
|
a-thoy |
‘to build’ |
a-thoy-o |
‘to be built’ |
|
c. |
a-dɛth-i |
‘to look at’ |
a-deth-o |
‘to be looked at’ |
|
|
a-ŋind-i |
‘to send’ |
a-ŋind-o |
‘to be sent’ |
|
|
a-ŋɔgɔt-i |
‘to push’ |
a-ŋogit-o |
‘to be pushed’ |
|
|
a-thigit-i |
‘to (exchange)’ |
a-thigit-o |
‘to be (ex)changed’ |
|
d. |
a-biye |
‘to bathe’ |
a-biy-o |
‘to be bathed’ |
|
|
a-bohege |
‘to touch’ |
a-bohog-o |
‘to be touched’ |
|
|
a-kɔthɔ |
‘to know’ |
a-koth-o |
‘to be known’ |
|
|
a-payɔ |
‘to fear’ |
a-pay-o |
‘to be feared’ |
|
|
a-kutu |
‘to see’ |
a-kut-o |
‘to be seen’ |
- 38 A phonological effect that is seen in several passive examples is that base /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ become [e] (...)
65The monosyllabic verbs in (28a, b) show that the -o is simply added.38 In (28c), -o occurs in the same FV “slot” as -i. Since we suggested that this -i is epenthetic this might also be a case of simple addition of /‑o/ to the verb root. The verbs in (28d), however, show that the non-epenthetic FVs e and ɔ are in fact replaced. In a-bohog-o ‘to be touched’, both vowels of the -ege ending become [o]. There is no distinct stem2 form.
66The above shows passivization of an underived verb base. It is also possible to passivize a derived verb. The examples in (28) show the two allomorphs -o and -wo when lexicalized and derived causative verbs are passivized.
| (28) |
|
Base verb |
Passive |
|
Stem2 |
|
a. |
a-sayan-i |
‘to tear’ |
a-sain-o |
‘to be torn’ |
sain-a |
|
|
a-tɔŋɔŋ |
‘to show’ |
a-toŋin-o |
‘to be shown’ |
tɔŋin-a |
|
|
a-thɔm-ɔŋ |
‘to feed’ |
a-thom-in-o |
‘to be fed’ |
tɔm-in-a |
|
b. |
a-kɔntɔŋ |
‘to count’ |
a-kɔntin-wo |
‘to be counted’ |
kɔnt-in-a |
|
|
a-mɛth-ɛŋ |
‘to clean’ |
a-mɛthin-wo |
‘to be cleaned’ |
mɛthin-a |
|
|
a-yupuŋ |
‘to bend (tr.)’ |
a-yupun-wo |
‘to be bent |
yupun-a |
|
c. |
a-than-an-i |
‘to teach’ |
a-than-in-wo |
‘to be taught’ |
than-in-wa |
|
|
a-tɔn-ɔn-i |
‘to wet’ |
a-ton-in-wo |
‘to be made wet’ |
tɔn-in-wa |
|
|
a-bɔl-ɔn-i |
‘to blacken’ |
a-bol-in-wo |
‘to be blackened’ |
bɔl-in-wa |
|
d. |
a-dunkuŋ |
‘to give’ |
a-dunkun-(w)o |
‘to be given’ |
dunkun-a |
|
|
a-ŋayaŋ |
‘to hide (tr.)’ |
a-ŋain-(w)o |
‘to be hidden’ |
ŋain-a |
67As seen, the passive is formed by the general -o in (28a), but an extra [w] appears in the passive forms in (28b, c). The causative group in (28c) also takes an extra [w] in its stem2, shown in the last column. The two verbs in (28d) are acceptable both with and without [w], suggesting that there may be more variation.
68In addition, -wo appears not only after bisyllabic verb bases ending in /in/, but also on the four transitive CVVC-i verbs in our lexicon in (29).
| (29) |
Base verb |
|
Passive |
|
Stem2 |
|
a-dɛɛth-i |
‘to look for’ |
a-dɛth-wo |
‘to be looked for’ |
dɛth-wa |
|
a-pɛɛg-i |
‘to untie |
a-pɛg-wo |
‘to be untied’ |
pɛg-wa |
|
a-sɛɛs-i |
‘to start’ |
a-sɛɛs-wo |
‘to be started’ |
sɛs-wa |
|
a-siiy-i |
‘to think’ |
a-sii-wo |
‘to be thought’ |
sii-wa |
69One unmistakable generalization is that verbs whose stem2 is marked by the -wa suffix also mark their passive with -wo.
| (30) |
Active |
Passive |
|
Stem2 |
|
a-tet-i |
‘to destroy’ |
a-tet-wo |
‘to be destroyed’ |
tet-wa |
|
a-hut-u |
‘to fold’ |
a-hut-wo |
‘to be folded’ |
hut-wa |
|
a-tɔn-i |
‘to burn (tr.)’ |
a-tɔn-wo |
‘to be burned’ |
tɔn-wa |
|
a-log-i |
‘to wash’ |
a-log-wo |
‘to be washed’ |
log-wa |
|
a-sas-i |
‘to pour’ |
a-sas-wo |
‘to be poured’ |
sas-wa |
|
a-toh-i |
‘to sew’ |
a-toh-wo |
‘to be sewed’ |
toh-wa |
70Since the passive is marked by an -o FV, we need to say something about verbs whose active forms end in o or ɔ. First, we have noted the following irregularities in (31).
| (31) |
|
Base verb |
|
Passive |
|
|
a. |
a-thimo |
‘to love’ |
a-thim-i-ô |
‘to be loved’ |
|
|
a-thambo |
‘to hate’ |
a-thamb-i-ô |
‘to be hated’ |
|
b. |
a-kɔthɔ |
‘to know’ |
a-koth-ô ~
a-koth-i-ô
|
‘to be known’ |
|
c. |
a-payɔ |
‘to fear’ |
a-pay-ô |
‘to be feared’ |
|
|
a-sɛthwɔ |
‘to miscarry’ |
a-seth-w-ô |
‘to be miscarried’ |
- 39 The exceptional final HL falling tone presumably has something to do with the stative construction (...)
71In (31a), the two transitive verbs ending in -o add applicative -i- in the passive and end in a HL falling tone, e.g. (bindɛ) bi thim-i-ô ‘they are/were loved’, which looks like it should mean ‘they are/were loved for’.39 Turning to (31b), a-kɔth-ɔ ‘to know’ is one of only four transitive verbs we have found that end in the stative FV /-ɔ/ (§4.10). As seen, there are two different passive forms. When the subject is inanimate, -i- is optional, e.g. nɔ́ndi baŋ koth-(i)-ô ‘the truth was known’, while it is required when the subject is animate: yaŋ ndo koth-i-ô ‘I am known’ (*koth-ô). The two verbs in (31c) change their FV /-ɔ́/ to HL -ô.
72The previous four extensions have been relatively straightforward both in form and in function. This was true, for instance, of the applicative /-i-/, which licenses a benefactive or circumstance, both of which can alternatively be expressed with the preposition ba ‘for’. The next extension, which we are calling dative /-ít-/, although similar to the applicative in increasing the valence of the verb, occurs with several different effects. The examples in (32) show /-ít-/ licensing a recipient object.
- 40 Recall from note 11 that yaw is the only verb stem that ends with [w]. Its dative stem also lacks t (...)
- 41 The literal meaning of a-ni gboŋ is ‘to do a sale’. The dative stem presumable derives from ni-it-e(...)
| (32) |
|
Base verb |
|
Dative |
|
Stem2 |
|
a. |
a-gbal-i |
‘to write’ |
a-gbal-it-e
a-gbal-at-i
|
‘to write to (s.o.)’ |
gbal-it-e
gbal-it-a
|
|
b. |
a-sɔŋ |
‘to sing’ |
a-soŋ-it-e
a-sɔŋ-ɔt-i
|
‘to sing to (s.o.)’ |
soŋ-it-e
soŋ-it-a
|
|
c. |
a-yaw40 |
‘to ask for’ |
a-yaw-t-e |
‘to ask (s.o.) for’ |
yaw-t-e |
|
d. |
a-ni gboŋ41 |
‘to sell’ |
a-ni-t-e gboŋ |
‘to sell to (s.o.)’ |
ni-t-e gboŋ |
73As seen in (32a, b), if /-ít-/ would otherwise be final in the verb stem, it requires a FV which in the active voice can be -e, like the applicative, or (epenthetic) -i, the latter conditioning a vowel change: a-gbal-it-é mína ~ a-gbal-at-í mína ‘to write to us’. As seen in the stem2 forms in the last column, the respective corresponding FVs are also different: the final -e of stem1 remains, while -i is replaced by -a.
74While both increase the valence, the functions of the applicative and dative are quite distinct. Thus compare the sentences in (33a), where applicative -i- licenses a beneficiary, and (33b), where dative -it- licenses a recipient. The base verbs are a-gbal-i ‘to write’ and a-sɔŋ ‘to sing’.
| (33) |
a. |
ndɛ gbál-í-é hátí óŋ ku-thagba |
‘s/he wrote a letter for the child’ |
|
|
ndɛ sóŋ-í-é hátí óŋ kwiŋa |
‘s/he sang a song for the child’ |
|
b. |
ndɛ gbál-ít-é hátí óŋ ku-thagba |
‘s/he wrote a letter to the child’ |
|
|
ndɛ sóŋ-ít-é hátí óŋ kwiŋa |
‘s/he sang a song to the child’ |
|
c. |
ndɛ gbál-í kú-thágba ba hati oŋ |
‘s/he wrote a letter for the child’ |
|
|
ndɛ sóŋ kwíŋá ba hati oŋ |
‘s/he sang a song for the child’ |
|
d. |
ndɛ gbál-í kú-thágba ga hati oŋ |
‘s/he wrote a letter to the child’ |
|
|
ndɛ sóŋ kwíŋá ga hati oŋ |
‘s/he sang a song to the child’ |
75The sentences in (33c) show that a beneficiary can instead be marked by the preposition ba ‘for’, as we also saw in (23). The sentences in (33d) show that a recipient can alternatively be marked by the preposition ga ‘to, at’. Neither applicative -i- nor dative -it- can cooccur with the corresponding preposition.
- 42 Although obscured by the all H tone of the aorist in (33), like the /H/ of roots, the H of /-ít-/ i (...)
76In most of the forms cited thus far, the dative realizes its underlying representation /-ít-/.42 Recall from the discussion of causative /-ín/ in §4.1 that an /i/ internal vowel will become a copy of the root vowel if the /n/ is final, pronounced [ŋ], or if it is followed by -i. The same is true of /-ít-/ when it is followed by -i. In (34) the meaning shifts to one of malefactive. Thus, compare the following two pairs of sentences, where the forms on the right indicate the different FVs in stem2.
| (34) |
a. |
ndɛ sóŋ-ít-é má kwiŋa |
‘s/he sang a song to me’ |
soŋ-it-e |
|
b. |
ndɛ sɔ́ŋ-ɔ́t-í má kwiŋa |
‘s/he sang a song against me’ |
sɔŋ-it-a |
|
c. |
?ndɛ lɔ́ŋ-ít-é má biyó haŋ |
‘s/he closed the door to me’ |
lɔŋ-it-e |
|
d. |
ndɛ lɔ́ŋ-ɔ́t-í má biyó haŋ |
‘s/he closed the door on me’ |
lɔŋ-it-a |
77Whereas the recipient meaning is neutral in (34a), (34b) implies that s/he sang disparagingly at or about me. (34c) is only marginally acceptable, since the intended recipient meaning is not quite right, while (34d) is well-formed with the malefactive meaning ‘on, against’. The meaning of ‘against’ arises in other examples as well (35).
| (35) |
a. |
ndɛ kaŋ |
‘s/he danced’ |
kam-a |
|
b. |
ndɛ kám-í-é ma |
‘s/he danced for me’ |
kam-i-e |
|
c. |
ndɛ kám-ít-é ma |
‘s/he danced against me’ |
kam-it-e |
|
d. |
ndɛ kám-át-í ma |
(idem) |
kam-it-a |
- 43 One can see how there could be crucial “pivot” cases where a recipient is viewed as a malefactive. (...)
78While (35b) is clearly benefactive, both (35c) and (35d) indicate a negative effect on me, i.e. the dancing got directed at me, perhaps bumping into me. As was seen in (34a, b), in some cases the -it-e and -Vt-i spell-outs of the dative seem to have the same meaning, as do causative -in-i and -Vŋ, whereas in other cases they differ.43 Again, the stem2 forms are provided in the last column.
79The dative suffix comes up in Conteh’s (2017: 35) list of extensions that can be added to the verb /thɔm/ ‘eat’. The corresponding Thɔnkɔ forms are given in (36a), the stem2 forms in the last column.
| (36) |
a. |
ndɛ thɔm-ɔt-i |
‘s/he ate uninvited, bad effect’ |
thɔm-it-a |
|
b. |
ndɛ thóm-ít-é ma |
‘he ate from me, from my food’ |
thom-it-e |
|
c. |
bindɛ thɔ́m-ít-ánde |
‘they ate from each other’ |
thɔm-it-ande |
80As seen, a negative effect accompanies the eating. Conteh glosses thɔm-ɔt-i as ‘eat uninvited, eat someone’s food, to cheat’, thus taking from someone’s food without their permission. The idea of eating from someone’s food is seen also in (36b, c). More examples are given in (37).
| (37) |
a. |
ndɛ thɔ́m-ɔ́t-í má paga |
‘he ate rice from me’ |
|
b. |
ndɛ thóm-ít-é má paga |
(idem) |
|
c. |
ndɛ thóm-ít-í-é má paga |
(idem) |
|
d. |
ndɛ thóm-ít-é kúmpa |
‘he ate with a spoon’ (i.e. from a spoon) |
- 44 The following examples further exemplify the ablative function of /-ít-/, realized -t-: ndɛ twé-t-é (...)
81While (37a, b) correspond to (36a, b) with the object paga ‘rice’ expressed, it is also possible with the same meaning to add the applicative -i- extension, as in (37c). This ablative function naturally lends itself to an instrumental use, as seen in (37d), although Limba also has a separate instrumental extension /-é/ (§4.8).44 The use of a combined -it-i- sequence with an ablative meaning needs to be further examined. The two suffixes can also co-occur when each licenses a separate object (38).
| (38) |
a. |
ndɛ sóŋ-ít-í-é má Kabá na kwíŋa |
‘s/he sang a song to Kaba for me’ |
|
b. |
ndɛ thóh-ít-í-é má Kabá na kɔbiri |
‘s/he borrowed money from Kaba for me’ |
|
|
(s/he sang/borrowed-dat-appl-fv me Kaba foc song/money) |
82To summarize, /-ít-/ has a number of usages perhaps in a semantic chain ranging from recipient to malefactive to ablative to instrumental. While these meanings all seem related to us, another interpretation is that applicative /-i-/ which licenses benefactive and circumstance objects, leaves /-ít-/ open to take on the range of complementary interpretations we have seen, i.e. involvement of a recipient or otherwise affected participant other than a beneficiary.
83While /-ít-/ is quite productive, there also are some lexicalized cases. One is the verb a-tɔŋɔt-i ‘to send (sth.)’ exemplified in the equivalent sentences in (39a, b).
| (39) |
a. |
ndɛ tóŋít-é hátí óŋ bara |
‘s/he sent the child meat’ |
|
b. |
ndɛ tɔ́ŋɔ́t-í hátí óŋ bara |
(idem) |
|
c. |
*ndɛ tóŋít-é bára ga hati oŋ |
(lit. s/he sent.dat meat to child the) |
84As seen, ‘send’ takes two objects, as one would expect if it were analytically /tóŋ-ít-é/. In addition, the corresponding sentence with one object and a prepositional phrase in (39c) is ungrammatical, which we would predict from the presence of dative /-ít-/. While lexicalized with the meaning of ‘send’, a-tɔŋɔt-i is likely related to the verbs a-tɔŋ ‘to contribute’ and a-tɔŋɔŋ ‘to show’, the latter presumably having a frozen causative suffix.
85Another likely lexicalized case is a-yugut-u ‘to carry (on the back)’. This form is identical to the dative of the verb a-yug-u ‘to tie’. Thus consider the sentences in (40).
| (40) |
a. |
ndɛ yúg-ú bára |
‘s/he tied meat’ |
|
|
ndɛ yúgút-ú bára |
‘s/he carried meat’ |
|
b. |
ndɛ yúgú bárá ba Kabâ |
‘s/he tied meat for Kaba’ |
|
|
ndɛ yúgút-ú bárá ba Kabâ |
‘s/he carried meat for Kaba’ |
|
c. |
ndɛ yúg-út-é Káꜜbá na bara |
‘s/he tied meat for Kaba’ ~ ‘s/he carried meat for Kaba’ |
|
d. |
ndɛ yúg-út-í-é Káꜜbá na bara |
(idem) |
86(40a) shows the verbs ‘tie’ and ‘carry’ with a single object. (40b) shows the same with the benefactive object ‘for Kaba’ expressed as a prepositional phrase. In (40c), where na is a focus marker, we see that the same verb form followed by two objects is ambiguous between ‘tie for’ and ‘carry for’. In (40d) the verb also has the applicative suffix -i- and is ambiguous in the same way as (40c).
87The seven additional CVCVt- verb bases we have found are listed in (41). As indicated in the first column, they can mostly, if not all, be potentially related to the different meanings of /-ít-/. However, none of these can take two unmarked object NPs.
| (41) |
a. |
‘from’: |
a-huŋut-u |
‘to take out, remove’ |
(cf. a-huŋ ‘to exit, to depart’) |
|
|
|
a-thigit-i |
‘to change, exchange’ |
(cf. thiga ‘wrapper’) |
|
|
|
a-hɔŋɔt-i |
‘to blow (from the mouth)’ |
(cf. a-hɔŋ ‘to blow nose’) |
|
b. |
‘away’: |
a-ŋɔgɔt-i |
‘to push’ |
|
|
c. |
‘into’: |
a-sigbit-i |
‘to pierce, stab’ |
|
|
|
|
a-kaŋat-i |
‘to puncture, burst’ |
|
|
d. |
‘onto’: |
a-putut-i |
‘to cover’ |
|
88Finally, we turn to the verb ‘to give’, which takes two objects, one of which is the recipient. There are in fact two such verbs in Limba. The first is a-nki which has the unusual property of starting with a complex nasal onset. It becomes [nké] in the aorist, identical to its past tense (42).
| (42) |
a. |
ndɛ nké bára |
‘s/he gave meat (to s.o.)’ |
|
b. |
ndɛ nké ma |
‘s/he gave me (sth.)’ |
|
c. |
ndɛ nké má bara |
‘s/he gave me meat’ |
89The second is a-dunkuŋ, which, like other CVCVŋ verbs, including causatives, uses the FV -e without the dative /-ít-/ extension to express a recipient (43).
| (43) |
a. |
ndɛ dúnkúŋ bára |
‘s/he gave meat (to s.o.)’ |
|
b. |
ndɛ dúnkún-é ma |
‘s/he gave me (sth.)’ |
|
c. |
ndɛ dúnkún-é má bara |
‘s/he gave me meat’ |
|
d. |
ndɛ kiŋ ka dúnkun-é má bara |
‘s/he is giving me meat’ |
- 45 One problem with this hypothesis, however, is that /a-dunkun/ does not have an underlying /H/ on it (...)
- 46 Another possibility is that it is related to the instrumental extension /-é/ (§4.8).
90As we pointed out in (19), this second verb ‘to give’ possibly has a frozen causative suffix, and may thus have historically been *dunk-in.45 What we propose is that the final -é is the same /-e/ that accompanies applicative -i- and dative -it-, but acquires its H tone from the unexpressed dative /-ít-/.46 This /-e/ is required to express a recipient object in all TAMs in the active voice, hence blocking a stem2 -a spell-out of the progressive in (43d) (cf. ndɛ kiŋ ka dúnkun-á bára ‘s/he is giving meat’ where -a appears in the absence of a recipient). In fact, CVCVŋ verbs have been found to express a dative in two different ways. In (44a, b) the verbs a-tɔŋɔŋ ‘to show’ and a-kɔth-ɔŋ ‘to make known’ add /-é/ to express a dative, while in (44c) two different verbs ‘to hide’ add /-ít-/, which is realized -t- after /in/. Finally, a three-way contrast was found with the verb a-bereŋ ‘to cry’ in (44d).
| (44) |
a. |
ndɛ tɔ́ŋɔ́ŋ bára |
‘s/he showed meat (to s.o.)’ |
|
|
ndɛ tɔ́ŋín-é ma |
‘s/he showed me (sth.)’ |
|
|
ndɛ tɔ́ŋín-é má bara |
‘s/he showed me meat’ |
|
b. |
ndɛ kɔ́ꜜth-ɔ́ŋ yɛ́rɛmɛ oŋ |
‘s/he made the woman known’ (a-kɔth-ɔ ‘to know’) |
|
|
ndɛ kɔ́th-in-é ma |
‘s/he made (sth.) known to me’ |
|
|
ndɛ kɔ́th-in-é má yɛrɛmɛ oŋ |
‘s/he made the woman known to me’ |
|
c. |
ndɛ ŋáyán-t-í má muthɔma |
‘s/he hid food from me’ (a-ŋayaŋ ‘to hide (tr.)’) |
|
|
ndɛ núnún-t-ú má kɔbiri |
‘s/he hid money from me’ (a-nunuŋ ‘to hide (tr.)’) |
|
d. |
ndɛ bérín-é ma |
‘s/he cried to me’ |
|
|
ndɛ bérén-t-í ma |
‘s/he cried against/on me’ |
|
|
ndɛ bérín-t-é ma |
‘s/he cried over/about me’ |
91Sorting out such verb-specific subtleties is beyond the scope of the present study. We hope that additional research will clarify the division of labor between these suffixes, for example, whether /-ín/ and /-e/ are valence augmenters, and applicative /-i-/ and dative /-ít-/ provide semantic roles for the licensed object. An alternative is that /-e/ is an active voice marker which stands in opposition with passive /-o/: ndɛ dúnkún-ó bára ‘s/he was given meat’.
- 47 The final H of /egé/ is subject to lowering before pause (cf. ndɛ thom-egé ga banka ‘s/he alone at (...)
92For want of a better name, we are calling the next extension exclusive /-egé/, since it marks that an action is done by an animate subject in exclusion, alone, aside, apart, by oneself. A sentence such as (45a) can mean simply that the person ate alone, a neutral observation, or by implication that they took their food away from others, perhaps in secret, so as not have to share.47
| (45) |
a. |
ndɛ thom-ege |
‘s/he ate alone’ |
|
b. |
ndɛ thóm-égé bára baŋ |
‘s/he ate the meat alone’ |
|
c. |
ndɛ thom-it-ege |
‘s/he ate slowly alone’ |
- 48 Since /-egé/ only refers to an animate subject, a sentence like *búgú oŋ ŋot-ege ‘the book fell alo (...)
93In (45b) the meaning is that the subject alone ate the meat (i.e. without others) and not that s/he ate only the meat. Thus, in the corresponding passive bara baŋ thom-ogo ‘the meat was eaten alone’, the reference is to someone eating alone, not to only the meat being eaten.48 When combined with dative /-ít-/ as in (45c), there is a nuance of eating slowly, as if ‘s/he ate from (sth.) alone’, which makes sense, given the ablative (partitive?) use of /-ít-/ seen in the preceding section. Other examples are shown in the infinitives in (46), arranged by stem shape.
| (46) |
|
Base verb |
|
Exclusive |
|
|
a. |
a-se /-sa-i/ |
‘to come’ |
a-sa-ege |
‘to come alone’ |
|
|
a-ke /-ka-i/ |
‘to go |
a-ka-ege |
‘to go alone’ |
|
|
a-kɔ |
‘to stand’ |
a-kɔ-ege |
‘to stand alone’ |
|
b. |
a-kaŋ |
‘to dance’ |
a-kam-ege |
‘to dance alone’ |
|
|
a-daŋ |
‘to hunt’ |
a-dam-ege |
‘to hunt alone’ |
|
|
a-hoy |
‘to swim’ |
a-hoy-ege |
‘to swim alone’ |
|
c. |
a-hɛth-i |
‘to laugh’ |
a-heth-ege |
‘to laugh alone’ |
|
|
a-mah-i |
‘to farm’ |
a-mah-ege |
‘to farm alone’ |
|
|
a-sɔs-i |
‘to smoke’ |
a-sos-ege |
‘to smoke alone’ |
|
|
a-thith-i |
‘to fish’ |
a-thith-ege |
‘to fish alone’ |
|
d. |
a-biye |
‘to bathe’ |
a-biy-ege |
‘to bathe alone’ |
|
|
a-thiye |
‘to drink’ |
a-thiy-ege |
‘to drink alone’ |
|
|
a-nine |
‘to sleep’ |
a-nin-ege |
‘to sleep alone’ |
|
e. |
a-hɛŋɔ |
‘to faint’ |
a-heŋ-ege |
‘to faint alone’ |
|
|
a-dɔŋɔ |
‘to sit’ |
a-doŋ-ege |
‘to sit alone’ |
|
|
a-dunkɔ |
‘to rise’ |
a-dunk-ege |
‘to rise alone’ |
94In some cases, when used with dative /-ít-/, the exclusionary nature of /-egé/ can be interpreted as a reflexive, as in (47).
- 49 ‘To read’ consists of /a-ni/ ‘to do’ + /karâŋ/ ‘reading’.
| (47) |
a. |
ndɛ soŋ-it-ege |
‘s/he sang unto him-/herself’ |
|
|
ndɛ ní-t-égé káraŋ49 |
‘s/he read unto him-/herself’ |
|
b. |
ndɛ sɔŋ-it-ɔgɔ |
‘s/he sang to him-/herself’ |
|
|
ndɛ ní-t-ɔ́gɔ́ káraŋ |
‘s/he read to him-/herself’ |
|
c. |
ndɛ sóŋ-égé kwíŋa |
‘s/he sang a song alone’ |
95As seen, there is an idea of ‘unto oneself’, perhaps more ‘at oneself’. However, as in (47b), Limba also has a reflexive extension /-ɔgɔ/ (§4.7), which is in fact preferred over /-egé/ in such cases. An important difference between the two extensions is that /-egé/ does not decrease the valence, as seen in (45b) and (47c). The reflexive, on the other hand, fills an object position (see next section).
96In our lexicon we have found the following three verbs with lexicalized -ege.
| (48) |
a. |
a-bohege |
‘to touch’ |
cf. a-boh-i ‘to seize, grasp, hold’ |
|
b. |
a-yenthege |
‘to lift, to raise’ |
|
|
c. |
a-thetege |
‘to beg (s.o.)’ |
|
97While none of the three appear to have anything to do with self-exclusion, it is clear that they still have the complex structures /boh-ege/, /yenth-ege/ and /thet-ege/. Thus compare the sentences in (49a) and (49b).
| (49) |
a. |
ndɛ bóhégé bára baŋ |
‘s/he touched the meat’ |
|
|
ndɛ yénthégé bára baŋ |
‘s/he lifted the meat’ |
|
|
ndɛ thétégé yɛ́rɛmɛ oŋ |
‘s/he begged the woman’ |
|
b. |
ndɛ bóh-í-égé má bara baŋ |
‘s/he touched the meat for me’ |
|
|
ndɛ yénth-í-égé má bara baŋ |
‘s/he lifted the meat for me’ |
|
|
ndɛ thét-í-égé má yɛrɛmɛ oŋ |
‘s/he begged the woman for me’ |
98The sentences in (49a) show the three verb stems followed by a direct object. Interestingly, when a benefactive ‘for me’ is added in (49b), the applicative extension -i- occurs before -ege, exactly as it would before the productive exclusive -ege extension: ndɛ thóm-í-égé ma ‘s/he ate alone for me’. Unless the pre-ege positioning of -i- is due to analogy, we can assume that the three verbs have a historically lexicalized -ege suffix.
- 50 Some of the verbs in (45) show tonal variation between H-L and L-L on /-ɔgɔ/, which we discuss in § (...)
99As already seen in (47b), there is a reflexive extension of the shape /-ɔgɔ/. Virtually any transitive verb can take this extension, as long as it makes semantic sense. The forms in (50) are arranged by stem ending.50
| (50) |
|
Base verb |
|
Reflexive |
|
|
a. |
a-thi |
‘to call’ |
a-thi-ɔgɔ |
‘to call oneself’ |
|
|
a-nki |
‘to give’ |
a-nki-ɔgɔ |
‘to give oneself’ |
|
b. |
a-haŋ |
‘to hit, beat’ |
a-haŋ-ɔgɔ |
‘to hit oneself’ |
|
|
a-thuŋ |
‘to kick’ |
a-thuŋ-ɔgɔ |
‘to kick oneself’ |
|
|
a-thɔm-ɔŋ |
‘to feed’ |
a-thɔm-in-ɔ́gɔ |
‘to feed oneself’ |
|
|
a-puy |
‘to cure’ |
a-pu-in-ɔ́gɔ |
‘to cure oneself |
|
|
a-mɛy |
‘to answer’ |
a-mɛy-ɔ́gɔ |
‘to answer oneself’ |
|
c. |
a-dɛth-i |
‘to look at’ |
a-dɛth-ɔgɔ |
‘to look at oneself’ |
|
|
a-log-i |
‘to wash’ |
a-log-ɔ́gɔ |
‘to wash oneself’ |
|
|
a-hɛth-i |
‘to laugh’ |
a-hɛth-ɔgɔ |
‘to laugh at oneself’ |
|
|
a-hug-u |
‘to fan’ |
a-hug-ɔgɔ |
‘to fan oneself’ |
|
|
a-than-an-i |
‘to teach’ |
a-than-in-ɔ́gɔ |
‘to teach oneself’ |
|
d. |
a-biye |
‘to bathe’ |
a-biy-ɔ́gɔ |
‘to bathe oneself’ |
|
|
a-mase |
‘to help |
a-masy-ɔ́gɔ |
‘to help oneself’ |
|
|
a-yuye |
‘to hear’ |
a-yuy-ɔ́gɔ |
‘to hear oneself’ |
|
e. |
a-kɔthɔ |
‘to know’ |
a-kɔth-i-ɔ́gɔ |
‘to know oneself’ |
|
|
a-payɔ |
‘to fear’ |
a-pay-ɔgɔ |
‘to fear oneself’ |
|
|
a-thimo |
‘to love’ |
a-thim-i-ɔ́gɔ |
‘to love oneself’ |
100While /-ɔgɔ/ is usually added directly to the base verb, the forms a-pu-in-ɔ́gɔ ‘to cure oneself’ and a-thim-in-ɔ́gɔ ‘to love oneself’ add an intervening causative /-ín/ extension. The reflexive can also be added to derived verb forms: a-thɔm-in-ɔ́gɔ ‘to feed oneself’, a-tot-i-ɔ́gɔ ‘to cook for oneself’, a-gboŋk-it-ɔ́gɔ ‘to speak to oneself’. We have also found fourteen lexicalized reflexive verbs (51).
| (51) |
a. |
a-kayɔ́gɔ |
‘to walk’ |
cf. a-ke ‘to go’ < /a-ka-i/ |
|
|
a-yugɔ́gɔ |
‘to dress formally’ |
cf. a-yug-u ‘to tie’ |
|
|
a-kutɔ́gɔ |
‘to feel, sense’ |
cf. a-kut-u ‘to see’ |
|
|
a-nunɔ́gɔ |
‘to hide (intr.)’ |
cf. a-nun-uŋ ‘to hide (tr.)’ |
|
|
a-silɔ́gɔ |
‘to turn back’ |
cf. a-sili ‘to turn, rotate (sth.)’ |
|
b. |
a-danɔ́gɔ |
‘to quiet down’ |
|
|
|
a-diginɔ́gɔ |
‘to lean (intr.)’ |
|
|
|
a-gbanthɔ́gɔ |
‘to swing (intr.)’ |
|
|
|
a-gbonɔ́gɔ |
‘to advance’ |
|
|
|
a-papiɔ́gɔ |
‘to change (intr.)’ |
|
|
|
a-sigiyɔ́gɔ |
‘to go around’ |
|
|
|
a-thurɔ́gɔ |
‘to play’ |
|
|
c. |
a-bɔlɔgɔ |
‘to crawl’ |
|
|
|
a-tutɔgɔ |
‘to carry (on head)’ |
|
101As seen, most of these verbs are intransitive. Those in (51a) have related base verbs shown to the right. Thus, ‘to walk’ = ‘to go oneself’ and ‘to dress formally’ is literally ‘to tie oneself’. Those in (51b, c) do not have a corresponding basic stem. All of the infinitives in (51a, b) have a penultimate H, while the two verb stems in (51c) are all L.
102An interesting property of both lexicalized and productively created reflexive verbs, as well as intransitive verbs ending in -ɔ, is that they take an -i suffix in the aorist tense (52).
| (52) |
a. |
ndɛ kayɔgɔ-i |
‘s/he walked’ |
cf. ndɛ goŋ káyɔ́gɔ ‘s/he will walk’ |
|
|
ndɛ nunɔgɔ-i |
‘s/he hid’ |
|
|
b. |
ndɛ dɛth-ɔgɔ-i |
‘s/he looked at self’ |
cf. ndɛ goŋ dɛ́th-ɔ́gɔ ‘s/he will look at self’ |
|
|
ndɛ hɛth-ɔgɔ-i |
‘s/he laughed at self’ |
|
|
c. |
ndɛ payɔ-i |
‘s/he fears, feared’ |
cf. ndɛ goŋ pay-ɔ ‘s/he will fear’ |
|
|
ndɛ kɔthɔ-i |
‘s/he knows, knew’ |
|
103As seen to the right, -i fails to appear in the future tense. This differs from other verbs which keep their -i unless replaced by an extension or other final vowel. While a verb like a-dɛth-i ‘to look (at)’ needs to keep the -i for phonological reasons, hence ndɛ dɛth-i ‘s/he looked’, ndɛ goŋ dɛth-i ‘s/he will look’, there is no phonological reason for the /-i/ to occur after -ɔgɔ or simple -ɔ, as in (52c). Consider in this context the verbs a-tutɔgɔ ‘to carry (on the head)’ and a-kat-i ‘to carry’in (53).
| (53) |
a. |
ndɛ tutɔgɔ(-i) |
‘s/he carried (on the head)’ |
|
b. |
ndɛ tútɔ́gɔ́(-í) búgúîŋ |
‘s/he carried books (on the head)’ |
|
c. |
ndɛ kat-i |
‘s/he carried’ |
|
d. |
ndɛ kát-í búgúîŋ |
‘s/he carried books’ |
|
e. |
ndɛ kát-í-ɔ́gɔ́ búgúîŋ |
‘s/he carried books for him-/herself’ |
104Since a-tutɔgɔ ‘to carry’ is transitive, it appears at first not to be a lexicalized reflexive. As seen in (53a, b), it optionally takes the -i suffix in the aorist tense, whether an object follows or not. Since it cannot express a recipient (‘carry on the head to s.o.’), it may better be interpreted as static, as in ‘support/balance sth. on the head’. The verb a-kat-i ‘to carry’ is shown in (53c, d), alone and with an object. It occurs with an applicative and reflexive suffix in (53e).
105Before leaving the reflexive, it is interesting to speculate about the /g/ in both exclusive /-egé/ and reflexive /-ɔgɔ/. Since both extensions refer back to the subject (‘alone’ vs. ‘self’), it is tempting to see a relationship and to separate the -Vg- from the FV. An interesting piece of evidence for such a relationship concerns certain intransitive verbs that can take both extensions with very close meanings (54).
| (54) |
a. |
a-hoy |
‘to swim’ |
a-hoy-ege |
‘to swim alone |
a-hoy-ɔgɔ |
‘to swim by oneself’ |
|
b. |
a-thari |
‘to run’ |
a-thar-ege |
‘to run alone’ |
a-thar-ɔgɔ |
‘to run by oneself’ |
|
c. |
a-ke |
‘to go’ |
a-ka-ege |
‘to go alone’ |
a-kay-ɔgɔ |
‘to go by oneself’ |
|
d. |
a-tugu |
‘to die’ |
a-tug-ege |
‘to die alone’ |
a-tug-ɔgɔ |
‘to die by oneself’ |
106While (54) identifies the meaning of /-egé/ as ‘alone’, it could also mean ‘aside, away from others, in secret’, as we pointed out in §4.6. We have chosen to translate the reflexive examples with a very similar meaning ‘by oneself’. The question, therefore, is whether the reflexive could once have been *-Vg-ɔ, in which case the exclusive may have been *-Vg-é. A possible phonological argument is that the underspecified V of -Vg- copies the FV, including when /-egé/ is passivized to -ogo (§4.4). As we saw in (10b, c) and will see again in §4.10, /-ɔ/ is a non-agentive or stative suffix, while /-é/ is an instrumental extension, to which we now turn.
- 51 In §5.1 we analyze the /-e/ which occurs with the applicative as underlyingly /L/. Since instrument (...)
107In §4.2 and §4.5 we saw examples of the (benefactive) applicative /-i-/ and the dative/ablative /-ít-/, both of which occur with a FV /-e/ in the active voice. It turns out that a /H/ tone /-é/ can be used alone to express an instrument (55). Instrumental forms remain the same in stem2.51
| (55) |
|
Base verb |
|
Instrumental |
|
|
a. |
a-thɔŋ |
‘to eat’ |
a-thom-e |
‘to eat with (sth.)’ |
|
b. |
a-haŋ |
‘to hit, beat’ |
a-haŋ-e |
‘to hit with (sth.)’ |
|
c. |
a-gbal-i |
‘to write’ |
a-gbal-e |
‘to write with (sth.)’ |
108Fuller examples are given in (56a).
| (56) |
a. |
ndɛ thóm-é kúmpa / yɔ́nkɔ |
‘s/he ate with a spoon / with a hand’ |
|
|
ndɛ háŋ-é má ku-yeŋ |
‘s/he hit me with a stick’ |
|
|
ndɛ gbál-é gu-pɛ́ni |
‘s/he wrote with a pen’ |
|
b. |
ndɛ thóŋ íŋ kúmpa / íŋ yɔ́nkɔ |
‘s/he ate with a spoon / with a hand’ |
|
|
ndɛ háŋ má íŋ kú-yêŋ |
‘s/he hit me with a stick’ |
|
|
ndɛ gbál-í íŋ gu-pɛ́ni |
‘s/he wrote with a pen’ |
109As seen in the synonymous sentences in (56b), it is instead possible to express an instrument with the preposition /íŋ/ ‘with, by’, in which case the verb occurs without the /-é/ instrumental extension.
110Although instrumental /-é/ is relatively productive, a recurrent problem is detecting it on verb forms that otherwise end with /e/, as in (57).
| (57) |
a. |
ndɛ gbal-i |
‘s/he wrote/has written/writes’ |
|
|
ndɛ gbal-e |
‘s/he wrote’ |
|
b. |
ndɛ gbál-é kú-thágba |
‘s/he wrote a letter’ |
|
c. |
ndɛ gbál-é kú-yêŋ |
‘s/he wrote with a stick’ |
|
d. |
ndɛ thóm-égé bára |
‘s/he ate meat alone’ |
|
e. |
ndɛ thóm-égé kúmpa |
‘s/he ate alone with a spoon’ |
|
f. |
bindɛ háŋ-ánde |
‘they hit each other’ |
|
g. |
bindɛ háŋ-ándé tete |
‘they hit each other now’ |
|
h. |
bindɛ háŋ-ánde kú-yêŋ |
‘they hit each other with a stick’ |
- 52 The -i aorist form is variably interpreted as past, present perfect or present, while the -e form i (...)
- 53 The difference between (57g) and (57h) cannot be due to the fact that tete ‘now’ is an adverb and / (...)
111As seen in (57a), in addition to the aorist, here ending in -i, some verbs have a past tense form marked by the FV -e.52 Compare also ndɛ hɛth-i ~ ndɛ heth-e ‘s/he laughed’, ndɛ mah-i ~ ndɛ mah-e ‘s/he farmed’. As seen in (57b), the e-final past form is pronounced with an all H tone pattern medially, which spreads onto the following all /L/ tone noun /ku-thagba/ ‘letter’. Since H tone spreading would occur onto all L /ku-yeŋ/ ‘stick’ anyway, we cannot tell in (57c) if the instrumental suffix /-é/ is present or not. We similarly can’t tell in (57d), whether it is the H tone of the exclusive extension /-egé/ or of the TAM which spreads onto all L /bara/ ‘meat’, or if it could be the H of instrumental /-é/ that spreads onto all L /kumpa/ ‘spoon’ in (57e). In (57f) we see that the H of the aorist only reaches the first vowel of the reciprocal suffix /‑ande/. When the all L adverb /tete/ ‘now, soon’ is added in (57g), the H reaches the FV of /-ande/ but not the following word. However, in (57h), where the all L instrument /ku-yeŋ/ ‘stick’ follows, the penultimate H fails to reach the FV, but the noun undergoes H tone spreading to become [kú-yêŋ]. Our interpretation is that /-é/ is present in (57h), with the intermediate representation bindɛ háŋ-ánde-é + ku-yeŋ. To derive bindɛ háŋ-ánde kú-yêŋ, the LH e-é sequence is shorted and the H is assigned to /ku-yeŋ/.53
112We saw in (37d) in §4.5 that the dative /-ít-/ suffix sometimes licenses an instrumental object. When /-ít-/ appears in a passivized verb, the passive FV /-o/ necessarily blocks the appearance of instrumental /-é/ (see also note 60). Examples are seen in (58), derived from the verbs /a-thom/ [a-thoŋ] ‘to eat’ and /a-yug-i/ [a-yug-u] ‘to tie’.
| (58) |
a. |
a-thom-it-ó kúmpa |
‘to be eaten with a spoon’ |
|
b. |
a-yug-ut-ó nkála |
‘to be tied with a rope’ |
113In these examples the final H of -ó could derive from dative /-ít-/ or from instrumental /-é/, if it is underlyingly present. As a potential parallel, recall from (43) and (44) that the recipient form of CVCVŋ verbs is also expressed by H tone /-é/ without -it-. While dative /-ít-/ has different functions, instrumental /-é/ can only license an instrument and not other obliques that can be translated by ‘with’ in English. Although it has been difficult to produce an adverbial manner such as ‘with intelligence’, (59a) shows that the preposition /iŋ/ ‘with’ is required to express manner of motion.
| (59) |
a. |
ndɛ ké ꜜíŋ báiki |
‘s/he went by bicycle’ |
|
|
ndɛ ké ꜜíŋ lɔ́ri |
‘s/he went by car’ |
|
b. |
ndɛ dú ꜜíŋ Kába |
‘s/he returned with Kaba’ |
|
|
ndɛ thóŋ ꜜíŋ Kába |
‘s/he ate with Kaba’ |
114(59b) shows that /íŋ/ is also required to express a comitative noun phrase. Thus, ndɛ thóm-é Kába cannot mean ‘s/he ate with Kaba’, rather ‘s/he ate Kaba’.
115In this section we treat two somewhat overlapping extensions. We have already seen the pluractional extension /-w-/ in our discussion of reciprocal /-w-ande/ (§4.3). A common usage of this extension is as a frequentative marking multiple actions, in which case it can occur with both singular and plural participants. We translate this with ‘repeatedly’ in (60).
| (60) |
a. |
ndɛ kiŋ ka hɛth-a |
‘s/he is laughing’ |
|
|
bindɛ kiŋ ka hɛth-a |
‘they are laughing’ |
|
b. |
ndɛ kiŋ ka hɛth-w-a |
‘s/he is laughing repeatedly’ |
|
|
bindɛ kiŋ ka hɛth-w-a |
‘they are laughing repeatedly’ |
- 54 The verb a-mpu ‘to give birth’ has an exceptional form a-mpuyu, as in bindɛ mpuyu ‘they gave birth (...)
- 55 There are otherwise no occurrences of [wi] in our lexicon and only one stem with [wu], wuli ‘thousa (...)
116Since a verb cannot end in [w], /-w-/ cannot occur on unextended stem1 verb roots of the shapes CV or CVC.54 -w- also cannot occur on verbs ending in -i (and rounded -u). While this effectively avoids the sequences [wi] and [wu] which are disallowed in the language, [wi] does occur when /-w-/ precedes applicative -i- (61).55
| (61) |
a. |
bindɛ pón-í-é mína |
‘they cooked for us’ |
|
b. |
bindɛ pón-w-í-é mína |
‘they cooked for us repeatedly’ |
117Our interpretation of (61b) is that underlying /-w-i-/ is allowed to surface, while the [wi] sequence that would be produced from epenthetic -i is blocked. To produce, say, *bindɛ hɛth-w-i ‘they laughed repeatedly’, the first stage of the derivation would be hɛth-w- which cannot surface as *hɛth-w-i. On the other hand, /-w-/ can appear in stem1 before the three other FVs, e.g. before stem2 /-a/ in (60b) above, and passive /-o/ and instrumental /-e/ in (62).
| (62) |
a. |
bindɛ heth-o |
‘they were laughed at’ |
|
|
bindɛ heth-w-o |
‘they were laughed at repeatedly’ |
|
b. |
bindɛ thóm-é kúmpa |
‘they ate with a spoon’ |
|
|
bindɛ thóm-w-é kúmpa |
‘they ate with a spoon repeatedly’ |
118In the above, we have emphasized the “frequentative” nature of the pluractional marker. We did not find cases where /-w-/ simply marks the involvement of plural participants, and /-w-/ is never required. As we saw in (60), a plural participant is not required, although when present, /-w-/ has an individuating effect, as seen in (63).
| (63) |
a. |
bindɛ kɔr-ande |
‘they killed each other’ |
(one group, one event) |
|
b. |
bindɛ kɔr-w-ande |
‘they killed each other’ |
(multiple groups, multiple events) |
119While largely productive, /-w-/ cannot be directly suffixed to all verbs. As seen in (64b), one such verb is a-sɔŋ ‘to sing’.
| (64) |
a. |
bindɛ kiŋ ka sɔŋ-a |
‘they are singing’ |
|
b. |
*bindɛ kiŋ ka sɔŋ-w-a |
(intended: ‘they are singing repeatedly’) |
|
c. |
bindɛ kiŋ ka sɔŋ-k-a |
‘they are singing a long time’ |
|
d. |
bindɛ kiŋ ka sɔŋ-k-w-a |
‘they are singing (long and repeatedly)’ |
|
e. |
bindɛ sɔŋ |
‘they sang’ |
|
f. |
bindɛ sɔŋ-k-i |
‘they sang a long time’ |
|
g. |
a-sɔŋ ka banka |
‘to sing at home’ |
|
h. |
a-sɔŋ-k-í ga banka |
‘to sing at home a long time’ |
120There does not seem to be any phonological or semantic reason why /-w-/ cannot occur in (64b). As seen in (64c), /sɔŋ/ ‘sing’ allows the possibility of a H tone intensive /-k´-/ extension which introduces the durative meaning of laughing over a long period. (64d) shows that /-w-/ can now be added, the result combining durative and frequentative meanings. The verbs in (64a-d) are in stem2. The stem1 form is seen in (64e), and in (64f), where it is marked by the intensive /-k´-/ and final -i. The infinitive in (64g) shows that /sɔŋ/ is a /L/ tone verb, which means that the final H tone on the verb in (64h) must be attributed to /-k´-/.
- 56 We tested and found no cases of /-k´-/ on CV and longer verbs, including CVCVŋ stems. Since [k] and (...)
121While most verbs can take /-w-/, /-k´-/ is acceptable only on a subset of monosyllabic CVŋ verbs.56 Of 29 CVN verbs, 10 accept -k-. Of these some allow the -k-w- sequence seen in (64d). Only three CVŋ verbs independently accept both /-w-/ and /-k´-/ (65).
| (65) |
a. |
bindɛ kiŋ ka dam-w-a |
‘they are hunting repeatedly’ |
|
|
bindɛ kiŋ ka daŋ-k-a |
‘they are hunting a long time’ |
|
b. |
bindɛ kiŋ ka gbiŋ-w-a |
‘they are swearing repeatedly’ |
|
|
bindɛ kiŋ ka gbiŋ-k-a |
‘they are swearing a long time’ |
|
c. |
bindɛ kiŋ ka haŋ-w-a |
‘they are hitting repeatedly’ |
|
|
bindɛ kiŋ ka haŋ-k-a |
‘they are hitting a long time’ |
122Our hypothesis is that /-k´-/ used to be more widespread but dropped out except after a subset of monosyllabic CVŋ stems.
123In §2, we pointed out that a number of stative and other verbs that do not have an agentive subject end in -ɔ. Although this doesn’t cover all of these verbs, we will refer to /-ɔ/ as the stative extension. In (66) we provide the complete list of 25 verbs from our lexicon. Verbs ending with /-ɔ/ do not have a distinct stem2.
| (66) |
a. |
a-kɔ |
‘to stand’ |
|
|
|
a-ŋɔ |
‘to sit’ |
|
|
|
a-thɔ |
‘to enter’ |
|
|
b. |
a-dɔŋɔ |
‘to sit’ |
|
|
|
a-dunkɔ |
‘to rise, ascend’ |
|
|
|
a-hɛŋɔ |
‘to faint’ |
|
|
|
a-dɔŋɔ |
‘to sit down’ |
|
|
|
a-thinkɔ |
‘to break, snap (intr.)’ |
|
|
|
a-piriginɔ |
‘to get lost’ |
cf. a-piriŋ ‘to lose’ |
|
|
a-thɛlɔ |
‘to choke on something’ |
|
|
|
a-yantɔ |
‘to hang (intr.)’ |
|
|
|
a-sainɔ |
‘to tear (intr.)’ |
|
|
c. |
a-bɔl-ɔ |
‘to be black’ |
cf. bɔl-ɛ ‘black’ |
|
|
a-dim-ɔ |
‘to be heavy’ |
|
|
|
a-nɛn-ɔ |
‘to be bad’ |
cf. nɛn-ɛ ‘bad’ |
|
|
a-ŋal-ɔ |
‘to be bitter’ |
|
|
|
a-pɛth-ɔ |
‘to be well’ |
|
|
|
a-thim-ɔ |
‘to be sweet’ |
|
|
|
a-thiŋ-ɔ |
‘to be full’ |
cf. thiŋ-ɛ ‘full’ |
|
|
a-thur-ɔ |
‘to be short’ |
|
|
|
a-yɔh-ɔ |
‘to be good, beautiful’ |
|
|
d. |
a-ni-ɔ |
‘to happen’ |
cf. a-ni ‘to do (tr.)’ |
|
e. |
a-kɔthɔ |
‘to know’ |
|
|
|
a-payɔ |
‘to fear’ |
|
|
|
a-sɛtwɔ |
‘to miscarry’ |
|
- 57 Recall that we also speculated that -Vg- may be the same morph found in the /-egé/ exclusive suffix (...)
124In (66a), it is significant that the only Cɔ monosyllabic stems we have found are all intransitive, raising the question of whether they originally had the structure CV-ɔ or C-ɔ. The bisyllabic verb stems in (66b) have (or had) the structure CVC-ɔ and are also intransitive. It is likely that -ɔ was once productive, perhaps as a de-adjectival verbalizer as in (66c) or as an anti-causative, as in the case of a-ni-ɔ ‘to happen’ in (66d), which is clearly derived from the transitive verb a-ni ‘to do’. Finally, although the three verbs in (66e) are transitive, their subject NP is not agentive. Since reflexive -ɔgɔ decreases the valence of the verb, detransitivizing a transitive verb, its FV may be the same -ɔ, hence likely from -Vg-ɔ, as we hypothesized in §4.6.57
- 58 Merrill (2023: 200) reports -oot ‘V[erb] by one’s self’ in the Cangin language Saafi, which he says (...)
125We have seen that Limba has eleven verb extensions all being at least semi-productive except intensive /‑k´-/ and stative /-ɔ/. This places it towards the higher end of Niger-Congo languages with extensions. While there is some originality to the system (we do not know of any other language that has an “exclusive” suffix equivalent to Limba /-egé/, for instance), Limba extensions do not cover everything found in related languages.58 Thus, there is no locative extension or requirement to use an extension when a locative is expressed. Instead, the preposition /ga/ ‘to, at’ must be used. The sentences in (67a, b) show that there also is no special marking to distinguish between a locative setting and a locative participant:
| (67) |
a. |
ndɛ póŋ páꜜgá báŋ ka banka |
‘s/he cooked the rice at home’ |
|
b. |
ndɛ póŋ páꜜgá báŋ ka sómba haŋ |
‘s/he cooked the rice in the pot’ |
|
c. |
ndɛ yéŋ mpátí béŋ ka banka |
‘she chased the children in(to) the house’ |
|
d. |
ndɛ kánthí mpátí béŋ ka banka |
‘s/he chased the children out of the house’ |
126In (67c) the unextended verb a-yeŋ ‘to chase’ is used both to express a location (‘in house’) and a locative goal (‘into house’). Both the setting/participant and location/goal distinctions are often distinguished in Bantu languages by use of the applicative extension. Although we saw a limited ablative interpretation of dative /-ít-/, this does not generalize to a ventive function. (67d) shows that /ga/ is also used to express a locative source with the verb a-kanti ‘to drive away, chase out’. Although found in Atlantic languages, there are no ventive, itive, or distal extensions. There also is no reversive extension. Reversive relations are expressed lexically: a-yug-u ‘to tie’, a-pɛɛg-i ‘to untie’; a-putut-u ‘to cover’, a-kupuŋ ‘to uncover’.
127While we have introduced each extension independently, we have also provided occasional examples combining two extensions. In fact, it is (at least marginally) possible for the verb to have up to four extensions. The table in (68) summarizes the possible extension combinations.
| (68) |
|
Caus |
Dat |
Plur |
Appl |
Recip |
Excl |
Refl |
Pass |
Instr |
|
Caus |
* |
-ín-t- |
-ín-w- |
-ín-i- |
-ín-ande |
-ín-egé |
-ín-ɔgɔ |
-in-o |
-in-é |
|
Dat |
* |
* |
-it-w |
-ít-i |
-ít-ande |
-it-egé |
-ít-ɔgɔ |
-ít-o |
-ít-é? |
|
Plur |
* |
* |
* |
-w-i- |
-w-ande |
-w-egé |
-w-ɔgɔ |
-w-o |
-w-é |
|
Appl |
* |
* |
* |
* |
-i-ande |
-i-egé |
-i-ɔgɔ |
-i-o |
-i-é? |
|
Recip |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
(-and-o) |
-ande-é? |
|
Excl |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
-og-o |
-égé-é? |
|
Refl |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
|
Pass |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
-ó |
|
Instr |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
128As seen, we have reordered the extensions to reveal the following generalizations.
| (69) |
a. |
The causative suffix /-ín/ must come first. |
|
b. |
The dative suffix /-ít-/ can only be preceded by the causative, in which case the expected sequence -in-it-e is instead realized as -in-t- (ablative) or -in-e (recipient). |
|
c. |
The passive suffix /-o/ must come last. |
|
d. |
The instrumental suffix /-é/ must come last. |
|
e. |
The exclusive suffix /-egé/ and the reflexive suffix /-ɔgɔ/ are mutually exclusive. |
- 59 The stative extension /-ɔ/, not included in (68), also has a V shape and must also come last. Also (...)
- 60 Although instrumental -é is overridden by passive -o, there is evidence that its H tone is still pr (...)
- 61 The reflexive can also not be followed by instrumental /-é/. Instead, the preposition -íŋ ‘with’ mu (...)
129As indicated in (69a, b) the two extensions of the shape VC must come first and second, while as indicated in (69c, d), the two extensions of the shape V must come last.59 Because of this last restriction, the vowels of the passive and instrumental extensions are mutually exclusive.60 One other generalization in (69e) concerns the exclusive and reflexive suffixes which cannot occur together. In fact, the exclusive can only be followed by the passive. The reflexive does not occur with the passive, which would produce -ogo, identical to the passive of exclusive /-egé/.61 The resulting order of extensions is summarized in (70).
| (70) |
Caus |
Dat |
Plur |
Appl |
Recip |
Excl/Refl |
Pass/Instr |
|
-ín- |
-ít- |
-w- |
-i- |
-ande- |
-egé/-ɔ́gɔ |
-o/-e |
130While the order reciprocal-applicative was originally felt to be marginal at first, the final judgment was that it is unacceptable, as seen in (71b, c).
| (71) |
a. |
bindɛ yɛ́th-í-ánde bara |
‘they chose meat for each other’ |
|
b. |
*bindɛ yɛ́th-ánd-í-é bára |
(idem) |
|
c. |
*bindɛ yɛ́th-í-ánd-í-é bára |
(idem) |
131The same facts are observed when the reciprocal expresses the direct object of the verb (72).
| (72) |
a. |
bindɛ yɛ́th-í-ándé ma |
‘they chose each other for me’ |
|
b. |
*bindɛ yɛ́th-ánd-í-é ma |
|
132Returning to the table in (68), it will be seen that a number of forms in the instrumental column have question marks after them. These refer to the difficulty mentioned in §4.8 of determining if the instrumental suffix /-é/ is present in verb forms that independently end in [e], i.e. those with applicative /‑i-e/, reciprocal /‑ande/, dative /-ít-e/ and exclusive /-egé/. This leaves the attested extension combinations in (73), where we follow Conteh’s (2017: 35) choice of illustrating extensions with the verb /thɔm/ ‘eat’ where possible: ndɛ thɔŋ ‘s/he ate’, ndɛ thɔm-ɔŋ ‘s/he fed’ etc.
- 62 Recall that a final -i is required after -ɔgɔ in the aorist.
| (73) |
CA |
ndɛ thóm-ín-í-é má hati oŋ |
‘s/he fed the child for me’ |
|
CD |
ndɛ thɔ́h-ín-é má kɔ́bírî |
‘s/he lent money to me’ |
|
CPl |
ndɛ kiŋ ka thɔ́m-ín-w-á ma |
‘s/he is feeding me repeatedly’ |
|
CR |
bindɛ thɔ́m-ín-w-ánde |
‘they fed each other’ |
|
CP |
ndɛ thom-in-o |
‘s/he was fed’ |
|
CE |
ndɛ thom-in-ege |
‘s/he fed alone’ |
|
CF |
ndɛ thɔm-in-ɔgɔ-i62 |
‘s/he fed him-/herself’ |
|
CI |
ndɛ thóm-ín-é má yɔnkɔ |
‘s/he fed me by hand’ |
|
DPl |
ndɛ thɔ́m-ít-w-é ma |
‘s/he ate from me repeatedly’ |
|
DA |
ndɛ thóm-ít-í-é má *(ga) Kabâ |
‘s/he ate from Kaba for me’ |
|
DR |
bindɛ thɔ́m-ít-ánde |
‘they ate from each other(’s food)’ |
|
DP |
ndɛ thom-it-o |
‘s/he was eaten from (one’s food)’ |
|
DE |
ndɛ thom-it-ege |
‘s/he ate alone from it (slowly)’ |
|
DF |
ndɛ thɔm-it-ɔgɔ-i |
‘s/he ate from him-/herself’ |
|
PlA |
bindɛ pón-w-í-é mína |
‘they cooked for us repeatedly’ |
|
PlR |
bindɛ hɛ́th-w-ánde |
‘they laughed at each other repeatedly’ |
|
PlP |
bindɛ heth-w-o |
‘they were laughed at repeatedly’ |
|
PlE |
bindɛ heth-w-ege |
‘they laughed alone repeatedly’ |
|
PlF |
bindɛ hɛ́th-w-ɔ́gɔ |
‘they laughed at themselves repeatedly’ |
|
PlI |
bindɛ thóm-w-é kúmpa |
‘they ate with a spoon repeatedly’ |
|
AR |
bindɛ thɔ́m-í-ánde |
‘they ate for each other’ |
|
AP |
ndɛ pon-i-o |
‘s/he was cooked for’ |
|
AE |
ndɛ thóm-í-égé ma |
‘s/he ate alone for me’ |
|
AF |
ndɛ thɔm-i-ɔgɔ-i |
‘s/he ate for him-/herself’ |
|
RI |
bindɛ háŋ-ánde kúyêŋ |
‘they hit each other with a stick’ |
|
EP |
pagá thom-og-o |
‘rice was eaten alone’ |
|
C = causative, D = dative, Pl = pluractional, A = applicative, R = reciprocal, E = exclusive, F = reflexive, P = passive, I = instrumental |
133The above are the sequences that can be easily segmented. The others indicated by the question mark in the last column of (68) are not so clear. For example, ndɛ kiŋ ka thóm-égé kúmpa ‘s/he is eating alone with a spoon’ clearly has both the meaning of the exclusive extension /-egé/, but also an unmarked instrument ‘spoon’. Since ndɛ thɔ́ŋ kúmpa can only mean ‘s/he ate a spoon’ and not ‘s/he ate with a spoon’, it is possible that the above example contains a sequence of the exclusive and instrumental suffixes, i.e. /‑egé-é/.
134The reflexive raises a different issue. While it is logically possible for instrumental /-é/ to replace the final vowel of reflexive /-ɔgɔ/, we have not found any forms with -og-e, indicating that a reflexive-instrumental combination is not possible. Instead, the preposition íŋ is required, as in (74a, b), whereas (74c, d) are ungrammatical.
| (74) |
a. |
ndɛ thɔ́m-ín-ɔ́gɔ́-í íŋ yɔ́nkɔ |
‘s/he fed him-/herself by hand’ |
|
b. |
ndɛ thɔ́m-ín-ɔ́gɔ́-í íŋ kúmpa |
‘s/he fed him-/herself with a spoon’ |
|
c. |
*ndɛ thɔ́m-ín-ɔ́gɔ́-í yɔ́nkɔ |
|
|
d. |
*ndɛ thɔ́m-ín-ɔ́gɔ́-í kúmpa |
|
135One other combination we haven’t yet considered is reciprocal + passive -and-o, which was placed in parentheses in (68). An active sentence such as bindɛ mán-ánde ‘they visited each other’ cannot have a corresponding passive *bindɛ mán-ánd-o. However, it is possible to passivize a reciprocal verb whose valence is licensed by the applicative or dative, hence the applicative-reciprocal-passive and dative-reciprocal-passive sequences in (75), where we have also provided a few other examples containing verbs with three extensions.
| (75) |
ARP |
bindɛ ŋínd-í-ánd-o |
‘they were sent for each other’ |
|
DRP |
bindɛ ŋínd-ít-ánd-o |
‘they were sent to each other’ |
|
DEP |
kumpa goŋ thom-it-og-o |
‘the spoon was eaten alone with’ |
|
CAR |
bindɛ thɔ́m-ín-í-ándé paga |
‘they fed rice for each other’ |
|
CAP |
ndɛ thóm-ín-í-ó yɛ́rɛmɛ oŋ |
‘they were fed for the woman’ |
|
CAE |
ndɛ thóm-ín-í-égé má hati oŋ |
‘s/he alone fed the child for me’ |
|
CAF |
ndɛ thɔm-in-i-ɔgɔ-i |
‘s/he was fed for him-/herself’ |
|
CEP |
ndɛ thom-in-og-o |
‘s/he alone was fed’ |
|
DAE |
ndɛ thóm-ít-í-égé má kumpa |
‘s/he alone ate with a spoon for me’ |
|
DAF |
ndɛ thóm-ít-í-ɔ́gɔ́ kumpa |
‘s/he ate with a spoon for him-/herself’ |
|
DEP |
kumpa goŋ thom-it-og-o |
‘the spoon was eaten alone with’ |
- 63 The CARP order is widespread in Bantu (Hyman 2003; 2025a).
136Looking back at (70), we see that it should in principle be possible to get four, even five extensions in a row. In (76), we attempt to get a causative-applicative-reciprocal-passive order with four extensions.63
| (76) |
a. |
CARP |
?*bindɛ thóm-ín-í-ánd-o |
‘they were fed for each other’ |
|
b. |
CARP |
gíŋ thínk-ín-í-ánd-ó ma |
‘it was broken for me’ |
|
c. |
CAREP |
yaŋ thínk-ín-í-ánd-óg-ó ntha |
‘for me alone something was broken’
(lit. I alone was broken something for)
|
137As seen, the CARP order in (76a) is either ungrammatical or borderline. On the other hand, the CARP order in (76b), based on a-think-in-ánde ‘to break (tr.)’, is totally grammatical, since lexicalized ‑ande is not semantically reciprocal (cf. a-thinkɔ ‘to break (intr.)’). Getting five extensions in a row is even harder, although (76c) is grammatical, again with lexicalized -ande.
138In the preceding sections, we have surveyed the form of the extensions, their interpretation and their interaction with each other. Although we have repeatedly referred to the “licensing” property of some extensions, it is clear that they have syntactic consequences (and limitations). As in Bantu (Schadeberg & Bostoen 2019), we can divide the suffixes into the following three sets.
| (77) |
a. |
Causative, Applicative, Dative, Instrumental |
(increase the valence of the verb) |
|
b. |
Reciprocal, Passive, Reflexive, Stative |
(decrease the valence of the verb) |
|
c. |
Exclusive, Pluractional, Intensive |
(no effect on valence of the verb) |
139The first set consists of the indicated four extensions which increase the valence of the verb, thereby making it possible for an intransitive verb to take an object and a transitive verb to take two objects. In the second set, the passive and stative clearly decrease the valence of the verb, as do the reciprocal and reflexive extensions, which incorporate the object into the verb. The exclusive, pluractional and intensive extensions are neutral in not affecting the valence of the verb. Of course, when multiple extensions are present, one may increase the valence and the other subtract from the valence, as in ndɛ pón-í-ó pága ‘s/he was cooked rice (for)’, where the applicative -i- increases the valence of the transitive verb /pon/ ‘cook’, and the passive -o subtracts from the valence. If we look at the order of the extensions in (70), we see that three of the four valence-increasing extensions (causative, dative, applicative) come earlier than the valence-decreasing extensions (reciprocal, reflexive, passive, stative). The one exception is the instrumental extension which comes last.
140In the preceding sections we have cited stem1 verbs as they appear in the infinitive, where almost all verbs have an all surface L tone pattern before pause. We also cited stem2 forms with all L tone, as they appear in the imperative. This has allowed us to postpone discussion of the underlying tones that clearly contrast on verb forms. The output tone of a verb stem depends on three factors (78).
| (78) |
a. |
a right-edge H tone from a /H/ verb root |
|
b. |
a right-edge H tone from a /H/ verb extension |
|
c. |
a left-edge H tone from a /H/ TAM |
141As we have pointed out above, any H tones that appear before pause are subject to a general rule of Final High Lowering (FHL). What this means is that the right-edge H tones of (78a, b) will not be realized in this context. Thus consider the following verb tones in the infinitive, which do not assign a left-edge H.
| (79) |
|
Before pause |
Internally |
|
|
a. |
a-haŋ |
a-haŋ mina |
‘to hit (us)’ |
|
|
a-dɛthi |
a-dɛthi mina |
‘to look (at us)’ |
|
|
a-ŋɔgɔti |
a-ŋɔgɔti mina |
‘to push (us)’ |
|
b. |
a-maŋ |
a-máŋ mína |
‘to visit (us)’ |
|
|
a-mase |
a-masé mína |
‘to help (us)’ |
|
|
a-thetege |
a-thetegé mína |
‘to beg (us)’ |
142In (79a), the verbs /haŋ/ ‘hit’, /dɛthi/ ‘look (at)’ and /ŋɔgɔti/ ‘push’ are L tone roots. As a result, the infinitive maintains an all L surface pattern whether the verb is final or is followed by something, here /mina/ ‘us’. In (79b), the verbs /mán/ ‘visit’, /máse/ ‘help’ and /thétege/ ‘beg’ have an underlyingly /H/ tone which we mark on the first vowel of the root in underlying representations. This /H/ is realized finally when something follows but undergoes FHL before pause. As seen, the first syllable of /mina/ ‘us’ is realized H by a rule of H tone spreading.
143Let us now compare the same verbs in the aorist, which is one of the TAMs that assigns a H tone at the left edge of the stem (80).
| (80) |
|
Before pause |
Internally |
|
|
a. |
ndɛ haŋ |
ndɛ háŋ mína |
‘s/he hit (us)’ |
|
|
ndɛ dɛthi |
ndɛ dɛ́thí mína |
‘s/he looked (at us)’ |
|
|
ndɛ ŋɔgɔti |
ndɛ ŋɔ́gɔ́tí mína |
‘s/he pushed (us)’ |
|
b. |
ndɛ maŋ |
ndɛ máŋ mína |
‘s/he visited (us)’ |
|
|
ndɛ máse |
ndɛ máꜜsé mína |
‘s/he helped (us)’ |
|
|
ndɛ thétege |
ndɛ thétegé mína |
‘s/he begged (us)’ |
144In (80a) the /L/ tone verbs are realized all L before pause. However, when something follows, they are realized with all H tone. In (80b), we see something quite different. If we first look at the trisyllabic verb /thétege/, we see that it is realized H-L-L before pause, and H-L-H when something follows. The first H is from the aorist, while the final H is the underlying /H/ of the verb. The H-ꜜH realization máꜜsé ‘help’ realizes the same /HLH/ pattern, where the L floats as a trigger of downstep between the two Hs. The verb /mán/ ‘visit’ is the only monosyllabic root that we have found with a /H/ tone. As seen, a single H is realized when the verb is not before pause. While we can’t tell whether this is the root /H/ or the /H/ assigned by the aorist, or whether the two fuse, the H triggers High Tone Spreading (HTS) onto /mina/, as it does in all of the examples in (80). There is no downstep (*ndɛ máŋ ꜜmína).
145To summarize, we have observed four general tone patterns on verb stems which are schematized in (81), where the asterisk means “one or more”.
| (81) |
TAM Input |
Stem Input |
Internal Output |
Prepausal Output |
|
L |
L |
L* |
L* |
|
L |
H |
L*H |
L* |
|
H |
L |
H* |
L* |
|
H |
H |
HL*H |
HL* |
- 64 Although we represent the non-/H/ TAMs as having a /L/ tone, it would work equally well to view the (...)
146As seen above, the tone of a verb stem depends on several factors, including whether the stem and TAM are /H/ or /L/.64 Note that when a /L/ verb stem occurs in a H TAM category, the H spreads onto all of the syllables of the stem. On the other hand, when a /H/ verb stem occurs in a H TAM category, a HL*H pattern occurs. Something is keeping the TAM H from spreading up to the (final) stem H. In §5.1 and §5.2 we address the tonal properties of verb extensions and the tonal effects of the stem1-stem2 distinction. We then in §6 address the segmental and tonal properties of different inflectional features of tense, aspect, mood, negation, and main vs. relative clauses.
147As seen in the preceding, verb roots can either be underlyingly /H/ or /L/. The latter is more common. In fact, the ratio is roughly two to one: In our lexicon of 290 verbs, 178 are /L/, while 90 are /H/. The remaining verbs end with reciprocal -ande or reflexive -ɔgɔ, including stems on which they are frozen. These have a unique tonal effect which is addressed below.
148In §4 we presented the underlying segmental representations of eleven verb extensions but postponed a discussion of their tone. In (82), which involves /L/ verb roots, we see that in the infinitive, verb stems containing an extension are realized all L before pause. However, one sees evidence of an underlying /H/ on certain extensions when something follows the verb stem. (ga b. abbreviates ga banka ‘at home’.)
| (82) |
|
|
|
Before pause |
Internally |
|
|
a. |
appl |
/-i-e/ |
a-deth-i-e |
a-deth-i-e mina |
‘to look for (us)’ |
|
|
recip |
/-ande/ |
a-dɛth-ande |
a-dɛth-ande ga b. |
‘to look at each other (at home)’ |
|
|
pass |
/-o/ |
a-deth-o |
a-deth-o ga b. |
‘to be looked at (at home)’ |
|
|
refl |
/-ɔgɔ/ |
a-dɛth-ɔgɔ |
a-dɛth-ɔgɔ ga b. |
‘to look at oneself (at home)’ |
|
|
plur |
/-w-/ |
a-hɛth-w-a |
a-hɛth-w-a mina |
‘to laugh repeatedly at us’ |
|
|
stat |
/-ɔ/ |
a-dɔŋ-ɔ |
a-dɔŋ-ɔ ga b. |
‘to sit (at home)’ |
|
b. |
caus |
/-ín/ |
a-thɔm-ɔŋ |
a-thɔm-ɔ́ŋ mína |
‘to feed (us)’ |
|
|
dat |
/-ít-e/ |
a-gbal-it-e |
a-gbal-it-é mína |
‘to write to (us)’ |
|
|
excl |
/-egé/ |
a-gbal-ege |
a-gbal-egé ga b. |
‘to write alone (at home)’ |
|
|
instr |
/-é/ |
a-thom-e |
a-thom-é kúmpa |
‘to eat with (a spoon)’ |
|
|
intens |
/-k´-/ |
a-sɔŋ-k-i |
a-sɔŋ-k-í ga b. |
‘to sing a long time (at home)’ |
149In (82) we have placed the eleven extensions into two groups: those in (82a) which are toneless vs. those in (82b) which have an underlying /H/. As seen, both groups of infinitives are all L before pause. Those in (82a) are realized all L when /mina/ ‘us’ or /ga banká/ ‘at home’ is added, while those in (82b) have a H tone on their FV. It should be noted that the /H/ of the extensions in (82b) is maintained when followed by a toneless extension, e.g. passive /-o/: a-gbal-it-ó mína ‘to be written to us’ (from /-ít-/ + /-o/), a-gbal-ogó ‘to be written (while) alone’ (from /-egé/ + /-o/).
150When appearing with the aorist H tone, extended /L/ verb stems divide into two different groups (again, ga b. stands for ga banka ‘at home’) (83).
- 65 As will be more fully exemplified in (103) below, the reflexive usually appears with a final -i in (...)
| (83) |
|
|
Before pause |
Internally |
|
|
a. |
caus |
ndɛ thɔm-ɔŋ |
ndɛ thɔ́m-ɔ́ŋ mína |
‘s/he fed (us)’ |
|
|
appl |
ndɛ gbal-i-e |
ndɛ gbál-í-é mína |
‘s/he wrote for (us)’ |
|
|
pass |
ntha gbal-o |
ntha gbál-ó ga b. |
‘something was written (at home)’ |
|
|
dat |
ndɛ gbal-it-e |
ndɛ gbál-ít-é mína |
‘s/he wrote to (us)’ |
|
|
excl |
ndɛ gbal-ege |
ndɛ gbál-égé ga b. |
‘s/he wrote alone (at home)’ |
|
|
instr |
ndɛ thom-e |
ndɛ thóm-é kúmpa |
‘s/he ate with (a spoon)’ |
|
|
plur |
ndɛ biy-w-e |
ndɛ bíy-w-é ga b. |
‘s/he bathed repeatedly (at home)’ |
|
|
intens |
ndɛ sɔŋ-k-i |
ndɛ sɔ́ŋ-k-í ga b. |
‘s/he sang a long time (at home)’ |
|
|
stat |
ndɛ dɔŋ-ɔ |
ndɛ dɔ́ŋ-ɔ́ ga b. |
‘s/he sat (at home)’ |
|
b. |
recip |
bindɛ dɛ́th-ánde |
bindɛ dɛ́th-ándé ga b. |
‘they looked at each other (at home)’ |
|
|
refl |
ndɛ gɔŋ dɛ́th-ɔ́gɔ65 |
ndɛ gɔŋ dɛ́th-ɔ́gɔ́ ga b. |
‘s/he will look at self (at home)’ |
151The stems of the majority group in (83a) are realized with an all H pattern internally, which undergoes FHL before pause. In (83b), when the reciprocal /-ande/ or reflexive /-ɔgɔ/ extension occurs before pause, the H of the aorist is realized, but only reaches the penultimate vowel. Internally, the H spreads to the FV.
152One question we haven’t addressed is what happens if both the root and the extension have a /H/ tone. While there is some evidence that more than one final /H/ is assigned, the situation is slightly complicated. The examples in (84) show the /H/ verbs /thíye/ ‘drink’ and /tɔ́g/ ‘be hot’ as they are realized medially in the infinitive, a /L/ TAM.
| (84) |
Base verb |
a-thiyé mándi |
‘to drink water’ |
|
|
a-tɔg-í ga banka |
‘to become hot at home’ |
|
caus |
/-ín/ |
a-tɔg-ɔ́ŋ bára |
‘to heat meat’ |
|
dat |
/-ít-e/ |
a-tog-it-é mína |
‘to be hot against us’ |
|
excl |
/-egé/ |
a-thiy-égé mándi |
‘to drink water alone’ |
|
|
|
a-tog-égé ga banka |
‘to be hot alone at home’ |
|
instr |
/-é/ |
a-thiy-é yɔ́nkɔ |
‘to drink with the hand’ |
153As seen, even when a /H/ tone extension is added, there is a single final H on FV except for /-egé/, which is realized -égé. While the two Hs may reflect the root H followed by the extension H, we note that /-egé/ is also realized H-H with /L/ verb roots if at least two stem syllables precede it: a-gbɔgil-égé bára ‘to grind meat alone’, a-dahith-égé bára ‘to chew meat alone’.
154The sentences in (85) show how the same /H/ verb roots + /H/ extensions are realized in the /H/ aorist.
| (85) |
Base verb |
ndɛ thíꜜyé mándi |
‘s/he drank water’ |
|
|
ntha tóꜜg-í ga banka |
‘something heated at home’ |
|
caus |
/-ín/ |
ndɛ tóꜜg-óŋ mína |
‘s/he made us hot’ |
|
dat |
/-it-é/ |
ndɛ thíyé-t-é mína |
‘s/he drank from us (from our drink)’ |
|
excl |
/-egé/ |
ndɛ thíy-egé mándi |
‘s/he drank water alone’ |
|
instr |
/-é/ |
ntha tóꜜg-é bû |
‘something heated with fire’ |
155As seen, a /HLH/ pattern occurs except for the all H pattern of dative /-ít-e/ whose H appears to fuse with the root H. Similar facts are noted when more than one /H/ extension occur in sequence.
| (86) |
Base verb |
a-thɔŋ bara |
‘to eat meat’ |
|
caus-excl |
/-ín-egé/ |
a-thɔm-in-égé mína |
‘to feed us alone’ |
|
caus-instr |
/-ín-é/ |
a-thɔm-in-é mína kuyeŋ |
‘to feed us with a spoon’ |
| (87) |
Base verb |
ndɛ thɔ́ŋ bára |
‘to eat meat’ |
|
caus-excl |
/-ín-egé/ |
ndɛ thɔ́m-in-égé mína |
‘s/he fed us alone’ |
|
caus-instr |
/-ín-é/ |
ndɛ thɔ́m-in-é mína kuyeŋ |
‘s/he fed us with a spoon’ |
156While the same final H and HLH patterns are seen in (86) and (87), /-egé/ again has a H tone on both vowels since it is preceded by two stem syllables.
- 66 For the reflexive we have switched to the H future tense, marked by goŋ, since the aorist requires (...)
157Before leaving extensions, it is necessary to comment on the other two -VCV extensions. Both reciprocal -ande and reflexive -ɔgɔ show considerable variation, suggesting that there may be tonal changes in progress. With both H and L verbs, they end with a H-L sequence before pause in H TAMs such as the aorist. This is seen with the verbs /dɛthi/ ‘look (at)’ and /máse/ ‘help’ in (88).66
| (88) |
|
Before pause |
Internally |
|
|
a. |
bindɛ dɛ́th-ánde |
bindɛ dɛ́th-ándé ga banka |
‘they looked at each other (at home)’ |
|
|
ndɛ goŋ dɛ́th-ɔ́gɔ |
ndɛ goŋ dɛ́th-ɔ́gɔ́ ga banka |
‘s/he will look at self (at home)’ |
|
b. |
bindɛ másy-ánde |
bindɛ másy-ándé ga banka |
‘they helped each other (at home)’ |
|
|
ndɛ goŋ másy-ɔ́gɔ |
bindɛ goŋ másy-ɔ́gɔ́ ga banka |
‘s/he will help self (at home)’ |
158As seen, when followed by something, the H spreads onto the FV. If the aorist H had directly mapped up to the FV, all of the Hs would have been lowered before pause, as we have seen in previous examples. One way this could be avoided is to mark off the FV as extrametrical (invisible), hence not able to be targeted by HTS. Another is to assume that these two suffixes have an underlying penultimate /H/, i.e. /‑ánde/, /-ɔ́gɔ/. In other grammatical contexts HTS fails to apply onto a final syllable before pause, e.g. sómba ‘pot’ vs. sómbá hu- nthe ‘one pot’, so this is motivated. It is in fact rather remarkable that /H/ and /L/ verbs merge as the penultimate H pattern in the aorist.
159It is not possible to cover all of the tonal properties of the verb stem. However, we want to make clear why these two suffixes have been problematic. The first issue is to determine whether they are underlyingly /L/, i.e. /-ande/ and /-ɔgɔ/, or whether they have an underlying initial H, i.e. /-ánde/ and /‑ɔ́gɔ/. The problem is particularly acute in the /L/ TAMs, e.g. the infinitive. In looking at a wide range of verbs we first discovered that several /L/ verbs take the L-L allomorphs consistently, and several /H/ verbs consistently take the H-L allomorphs (89).
| (89) |
|
Before pause |
Internally |
|
|
/L/ |
a-dɛth-ande |
a-dɛth-ande ga banka |
‘to look at each other (at home)’ |
|
|
a-dɛth-ɔgɔ |
a-dɛth-ɔgɔ ga banka |
‘to look at oneself (at home)’ |
|
/H/ |
a masy-ánde |
a-masy-ándé ga banka |
‘to help each other (at home)’ |
|
|
a-masy-ɔ́gɔ |
a-masy-ɔ́gɔ́ ga banka |
‘to help oneself’ (at home)’ |
160If this were consistent for all /L/ and /H/ verbs, we would conclude that the two extensions are /L/ and that the H on -ánde and -ɔ́gɔ above is from the verb root. However, there are variations and inconsistencies. Concerning the reciprocal, all of the /L/ verbs consistently had all L tone before pause. However, as seen in (90), they differ internally. Some stay L, some acquire a final H, and some end H-H.
- 67 At one point we considered whether the /-w-/ of -w-ande also contributes a H, but that did not work (...)
| (90) |
|
Before pause |
Internally |
|
|
a. |
a-dagb-w-ande |
a-dagb-w-ande ga banka |
‘to beat each other (at home)’ |
|
|
a-hɛth-ande |
a-hɛth-ande ga banka |
‘to laugh at each other (at home)’ |
|
b. |
a-dam-ande |
a-dam-andé ga banka |
‘to hunt each other (at home)’ |
|
|
a-haŋ-ande ~ |
a-haŋ-andé ga banka |
‘to hit each other (at home)’ |
|
c. |
a-haŋ-w-ande |
a-haŋ-w-ándé ga banka67 |
‘to hit each other (at home)’ |
|
|
a-bog-w-ande |
a-bog-w-ándé ga banka |
‘to bemoan each other (at home)’ |
161In the case of /H/ verbs, some end H-L before pause, as expected, while others end L-L (91).
| (91) |
|
Before pause |
Internally |
|
|
a. |
a-man-w-ánde |
a-man-w-ándé ga banka |
‘to visit each other (at home)’ |
|
|
a-yugut-w-ánde |
a-yugut-w-ándé ga banka |
‘to carry each other (at home)’ |
|
b. |
a-minw-ande |
a-min-w-ándé ga banka |
‘to lick each other (at home)’ |
|
|
a-thanthi-w-ande |
a-thanthi-w-ándé ga banka |
‘to refuse each other (at home)’ |
|
c. |
a-thay-ande |
a-thay-ande ga banka |
‘to catch each other (at home)’ |
|
|
|
a-thay-ándé ga banka |
(idem) |
|
|
a-yugut-ande |
a-yugut-ande ga banka |
‘to hit each other (at home)’ |
|
|
|
a-yugut-ándé ga banka |
(idem) |
162Those that end H-L become H-H internally, as in (91a), while those which end L-L are also realized H-H internally, as in (91b), or variably remain L-L, as in (91c).
163The reflexive extension usually shows the same tones as the reciprocal, but not always. Thus, the /H/ verb /lógi/ ‘wash’ is realized with final L-L with the reciprocal extension, but H-L with the reflexive suffix (92).
| (92) |
|
Before pause |
Internally |
|
|
a. |
a-log-w-ande |
a-log- w-ánd-é ga banka |
‘to wash each other (at home)’ |
|
b. |
a-log-ɔ́gɔ |
a-log-ɔ́gɔ́ ga banka |
‘to wash oneself (at home)’ |
- 68 One other inconsistency worthy of note concerns the FV -e of applicative -i-e and passive -o. As ex (...)
164Since 12 out of the 14 verbs with final lexicalized -ɔgɔ show the H-L pattern in the infinitive, our suspicion is that the reflexive extension was historically H-L, but is becoming L-L, with some /H/ verb bases resisting. On the other hand, eight of the ten verbs with lexicalized -ande show the L-L pattern. It will take more work with more speakers to determine the full range of variation.68
165We have established that both verb roots and verb extensions exhibit a /H/ vs. /L/ contrast. In this section we consider the effect of the stem1-stem2 distinction on tone. In order to investigate this, we systematically examined all 290 verbs in our lexicon in the following four contexts (C1-C4).
| (93) |
|
TAM tone |
Stem form |
TAMs |
|
C1 |
L |
stem1 |
infinitive a- |
|
C2 |
H |
stem1 |
aorist, present ndo, future goŋ |
|
C3 |
L |
stem2 |
imperative, future progressive bóheŋ bá |
|
C4 |
H |
stem2 |
present progressive kiŋ ka, past progressive kiŋ nde |
166The above define six tone patterns which we schematize on an internal trisyllabic stem in (94).
| (94) |
|
Trisyllabic stem |
TAM tone |
Root+extension tone |
|
1 |
L-L-L |
L |
L |
|
2 |
H-H-H |
H |
L |
|
3 |
L-L-H |
L |
H |
|
4 |
H-L-H |
H |
H |
|
5 |
L-H-L |
L |
H-L |
|
6 |
H-H-L |
H |
H-L |
167As can be seen, the six tone patterns can be viewed as three pairs 1/2, 3/4 and 5/6, depending on whether they involve a L or a H TAM: 1/2 verbs are those which do not have a /H/ in their stem, while 3/4 verbs are those verbs which have either a /H/ verb root or extension (or both). 5/6 verbs exclusively end with either the reciprocal -ande or reflexive -ɔgɔ ending. As just discussed, these sometimes impose a final H‑L pattern that is otherwise not attested on verb forms. As seen below, in a count of 267 of the verbs in our lexicon 205 fall into one of the three tone pairings in (95a).
| (95) |
|
Stem1-stem2 |
# |
Example |
|
Comments |
|
a. |
12-12 |
134 |
gbali |
‘write’ |
|
|
|
34-34 |
59 |
mase |
‘help’ |
|
|
|
56-56 |
12 |
kayɔgɔ |
‘walk’ |
all end in -ande or -ɔgɔ |
|
b. |
16-16 |
7 |
daŋande |
‘pass’ |
5 end in -ande, one in -ɔgɔ |
|
c. |
12-34 |
18 |
sasi |
‘pour’ |
7 of the 9 i-final verbs take -wa in stem2 |
|
|
34-12 |
8 |
kasi |
‘vomit’ |
4 are causative |
|
d. |
12-32 |
2 |
ŋagi |
‘bite’ |
|
|
|
12-36 |
1 |
suŋɔ |
‘be deep’ |
|
|
e. |
12-14 |
3 |
biye |
‘bathe’ |
|
|
|
12-16 |
5 |
bɔlɔgɔ |
‘crawl’ |
2 end in -ande, 3 in -(ɔg)ɔ |
|
f. |
32-34 |
14 |
logi |
‘wash’ |
6 end in -ɔ |
|
g. |
14-12 |
1 |
ŋaathi |
‘itch’ |
|
|
|
34-16 |
1 |
digiŋ |
‘set a trap’ |
|
|
|
36-12 |
1 |
ŋayaŋ |
‘wake (tr.)’ |
|
|
|
56-16 |
1 |
gbɔnɔgɔ |
‘advance’ |
|
168In (95), the numbers in the stem1-stem2 column refer to the tone patterns in (94). The hyphen separates the stem1 and stem2 tones. On each side of the hyphen, the first number refers to /L/ TAMs and the second one to /H/ TAMs. Identical numbers on both sides of the hyphen indicate that these 205 verbs do not change their tones in stem1 vs. stem2: 12-12 /L/ stems, 34-34 /H/ stems and the 56-56 final H-L verbs maintain the same tone patterns in both stem1 and stem2. Although (95b) involves an exceptional pairing, the 16-16 tones remain the same in stem1 and stem2.
169The remaining verbs show tonal differences between stem1 and stem2. The two patterns in (95c) involve a shift from one of the main pairings to the other: 12-34 verbs are /L/ in stem1, but /H/ in stem2, while 34-12 verbs are /H/ in stem1 and /L/ in stem2. The two patterns in (95d) show a similar shift from a /L/ to a /H/ in stem2, but only in /L/ TAMs. 12-32 maintains the L pattern in /H/ TAMs, while 12-16 changes to the final H-L patterned associated with -ande and -ɔgɔ. The two patterns in (95e) show the opposite: the L pattern remains in stem2 /L/ TAMs, while 12-14 changes to a /H/, and 12-16 to a final H-L. The verbs in (95f) are quite curious: In stem2 they are clearly /H/, while in stem1 they are /H/ in /L/ TAMs, but /L/ in /H/ TAMs. The remaining four patterns in (95g) are quite exceptional, having one example each.
170The conclusion of the above is that there is a strong tendency for verb stems to have the same tones in stem1 and stem2, which can be predicted from their root tones. As seen in the comments in the last column of (95), some of the irregularities are imposed by certain endings resembling verb extensions. In any case, everything except for the patterns in (95a) has to be entered as lexically exceptional, hence the need to look at all four contexts in the verb paradigm: stem1 vs. stem2, /L/ vs. /H/ TAM. There are a few other verbs that are idiosyncratic in the tonal paradigm, and in some cases, there is either uncertainty or variation of the tone. We will not develop this further, rather move on to address both segmental and tonal properties of the inflectional verb paradigm.
171In the previous sections we saw that different TAM categories take different tone patterns and require either stem1 or stem2. Examples we have provided of stem1 include the /L/ infinitive TAM and the /H/ aorist TAM, while stem2 forms have been exemplified in the /H/ present progressive, /L/ future progressive and in the /L/ imperative. These are again exemplified in (96), where the /L/ verb ‘look (at)’ is realized dɛth-i in stem1, dɛth-a in stem2.
| (96) |
|
Before pause |
Internally |
|
|
a. |
a-dɛth-i |
a-dɛth-i yɛrɛmɛ |
‘to look (at a woman)’ |
|
b. |
ndɛ dɛth-i |
ndɛ dɛ́th-í yɛ́rɛmɛ |
‘s/he looked (at a woman)’ |
|
c. |
ndɛ kiŋ ka dɛth-a |
ndɛ kiŋ ka dɛ́th-á yɛ́rɛmɛ |
‘s/he is looking (at a woman)’ |
|
d. |
ndɛ bóheŋ bá dɛth-a |
ndɛ bóheŋ bá dɛth-a yɛrɛmɛ |
‘s/he will be looking (at a woman)’ |
|
e. |
dɛth-a |
dɛth-a yɛrɛmɛ |
‘look (at a woman)!’ |
172Concerning the tone patterns, the infinitive stem1, future progressive stem2 and imperative stem2 in (96a, d, e) are realized L-L both before pause and internally, while the aorist stem1 and present progressive stem2 in (96b, c) are also realized L-L before pause, but as H-H when something follows.
173Although in the general case stem1 and stem2 end in -i and -a, respectively, we have seen that certain extensions require the FV to be other vowels. Of the seven vowels of Limba, /i, e, ɛ, u, o, ɔ, a/, all can contrastively occur stem-finally except /u/. (Cases of final [u] involve rounding harmony of -i to [u] triggered by a root /u/). The examples in (97) provide an example of each FV.
| (97) |
/-i/ |
|
aorist |
|
ndɛ dɛth-i |
|
‘s/he looks’ |
|
/-e/ |
|
past |
|
ndɛ deth-e |
|
‘s/he looked’ |
|
/-ɛ/ |
|
WH past |
|
mbɛ́ o dɛth-ɛ |
|
‘who looked?’ |
|
/-o/ |
|
passive |
|
ndɛ deth-o |
|
‘s/he was looked at’ |
|
/-ɔ/ |
|
stative |
|
ndɛ kɔth-ɔ |
|
‘s/he knows’ |
|
/-a/ |
|
imperative |
|
dɛth-a |
|
‘look!’ |
|
/-ɛŋ/ |
|
hortative |
|
miŋ dɛ́th-ɛ̂ŋ |
|
‘let’s look!’ |
174As seen in the last example, we have added the hortative, which ends in /-ɛŋ/. Of the above, all of the endings mark inflectional distinctions except the passive suffix -o and stative -ɔ, which are derivational verb extensions. The others mark parts of the inflectional verbal paradigm.
- 69 Another marker we have found is the anterior marker nda, as in ndɛ ŋót-é nda ‘s/he has already fall (...)
175As of this writing we have investigated the major TAM forms but have not done an exhaustive study of some of the semantic distinctions. For example, what we are calling the aorist expresses present vs. past time and what we have identified below as a present tense marked by ndo has sometimes referred to future time. With these caveats, what we have thus far established is presented in the table in (98), showing the main clause affirmative and negative markers. (The infinitive doesn’t have a corresponding negative.)69
| (98) |
|
Main Clause Affirmative |
Main Clause Negative |
|
Tense |
Segmentals |
Stem |
Tone |
Segmentals |
Stem |
Tone |
|
Infinitive |
a- |
1 |
L |
|
|
|
|
Aorist |
Ø |
1 |
H |
thá ` |
1 |
L*H |
|
Present |
(ndo) |
1 |
H |
Ø -e ta |
1 |
H |
|
Future |
goŋ ~ koŋ |
1 |
H |
sá |
1 |
H |
|
Pres. Prog. |
kiŋ ka |
2 |
H |
ká gá |
2 |
H |
|
Past Prog. |
kiŋ nde ga |
2 |
H |
Ø -e ta nde |
1 |
H |
|
Fut. Prog. |
(ndo) bóheŋ bá |
2 |
L |
bóheŋ ta bá |
2 |
L |
|
Imperative |
Ø |
2 |
L |
ba |
1 |
H/L |
|
Hortative |
Ø |
-ɛŋ |
HF |
bɛ̂ŋ |
1 |
H |
176The affirmative TAM categories are exemplified in (99), where “…” indicates that something follows the verb.
| (99) |
a. |
Infinitive |
a-ŋɔt-i |
‘to fall’ |
|
|
|
a-ŋɔt-i … |
|
|
|
Aorist |
ndɛ ŋɔt-i |
‘s/he fell’ |
|
|
|
ndɛ ŋɔ́t-í … |
|
|
|
Present |
yaŋ ndo ŋɔt-i |
‘I fall, am falling’ |
|
|
|
yaŋ ndo ŋɔ́t-í … |
|
|
|
Future |
ndɛ goŋ ŋɔt-i |
‘s/he will fall’ |
|
|
|
yaŋ goŋ ŋɔ́t-í … |
|
|
b. |
Pres. Prog. |
ndɛ kiŋ ka ŋɔt-a |
‘s/he is falling’ |
|
|
|
ndɛ kiŋ ka ŋɔ́t-á … |
|
|
|
Past Prog. |
ndɛ kiŋ nde ga ŋɔt-a |
‘s/he was falling’ [kinde ga] |
|
|
|
ndɛ kiŋ nde ga ŋɔ́t-á … |
|
|
|
Fut. Prog. |
yaŋ (ndo) bóheŋ bá ŋɔt-a |
‘I will be falling’ |
|
|
|
yaŋ (ndo) bóheŋ bá ŋɔt-a … |
|
|
|
Imperative |
ŋɔt-a |
‘fall!’ |
|
|
|
ŋɔt-a … |
|
|
c. |
Hortative |
miŋ ŋɔ́t-ɛ̂ŋ |
‘let’s fall!’ |
|
|
|
miŋ ŋɔ́t-ɛ́ŋ … |
|
177As seen, those TAMs in (99a) take stem1, while those in (99b) take stem2. The hortative ends with /-ɛ̂ŋ/ in (99c). In (99), we have written the TAM markers as separate words, several of which are in fact identifiable: /kiŋ/ ‘be’, /ga/ (→ka postnasally) ‘at, to’, /nde/ ‘past’, /ba/ ‘for’. The future progressive marker bóheŋ appears related to the verb a-boh-i ‘to hold, grasp’. Recall that stem2 is a nominal form, such that the present progressive kiŋ ka and past progressive kiŋ nde ga literally mean ‘is/are with falling’ and ‘was/were with falling’, and the future progressive bóheŋ bá may derive from ‘hold for falling’ (where /ba/ receives a H tone). We have illustrated the present and future progressive above with yaŋ ‘I’, since ndo is used only with first and second person subjects (optionally in the future progressive).
178When we turn to the negative, we find the following. (There is no negative infinitive.)
- 70 Unlike the affirmative, ndo is not used with first and second person subjects in the future progres (...)
| (100) |
a. |
Aorist |
ndɛ thá ŋɔt-i |
‘s/he didn’t fall’ |
|
|
|
ndɛ thá ŋɔt-í … |
|
|
|
Present |
ndɛ ŋot-e ta |
‘s/he doesn’t fall, isn’t falling’ |
|
|
|
ndɛ ŋót-é tá … |
|
|
|
Future |
ndɛ sa ŋɔt-i |
‘s/he will not fall’ |
|
|
|
ndɛ sa ŋɔ́t-í … |
|
|
b. |
Pres. Prog. |
ndɛ ká gá ŋɔt-a |
‘s/he isn’t falling’ |
|
|
|
ndɛ ká gá ŋɔ́t-á … |
|
|
|
Past Prog. |
ndɛ ŋot-e ta nde |
‘s/he wasn’t falling’ |
|
|
|
ndɛ ŋɔ́t-é tá ndé … |
|
|
|
Fut. Pro. |
ndɛ bóheŋ ta bá ŋɔt-a |
‘s/he will not be falling’70 |
|
|
|
ndɛ bóheŋ ta bá ŋɔt-a … |
|
|
|
Imperative |
ba ŋɔ́t-i |
‘don’t fall!’ |
|
|
|
ba ŋɔ́t-í … |
|
|
c. |
Hortative |
miŋ bɛ̂ŋ ŋɔt-i |
‘let’s not fall!’ |
|
|
|
miŋ bɛ̂ŋ ŋɔ́t-í … |
|
- 71 An alternative is ndɛ ká ndé gá ŋɔt-a ‘s/he wasn’t falling’, which is formed by adding nde to the p (...)
179As seen, the suffix -e is used in the present tense and in the past progressive, and the negative imperative has the stem1 -i suffix. This makes sense in the case of the past progressive, which is formed from the stem1 present negative by adding the past marker nde.71 The imperative also switches to stem1, as does the hortative.
180As seen in the non-final forms marked by “…” in (100) and as indicated in the table in (98), most of the negative TAMs are /H/ except for the future progressive. Two of the negative TAMs are exceptional and require comment. First, the negative of the aorist marked by a preposed /thá`/ shows some rather unique tonal alternations. As seen in (101), the verb stems are realized all L before pause, but L*H internally:
| (101) |
a. |
ndɛ thá thoŋ |
ndɛ thâ thóŋ bara |
‘s/he didn’t eat (meat)’ |
|
|
ndɛ thá boy |
ndɛ thâ bóy bára |
‘s/he didn’t buy (meat)’ |
|
|
ndɛ thá dɛthi |
ndɛ thá dɛthí bára |
‘s/he didn’t look (at meat)’ |
|
|
ndɛ thá hɛthi |
ndɛ thá hɛthí ga banka |
‘s/he didn’t laugh (at home)’ |
|
|
ndɛ thá bogi |
ndɛ thá bogí mína |
‘s/he didn’t bemoan (us)’ |
|
|
ndɛ thá ŋindi |
ndɛ thá ŋindí mína |
‘s/he didn’t send (us)’ |
|
|
ndɛ thá ŋɔgɔti |
ndɛ thá ŋɔgɔtí mína |
‘s/he didn’t push (us’ |
|
b. |
ndɛ thá maŋ |
ndɛ thâ máŋ mína |
‘s/he didn’t visit (us)’ |
|
|
ndɛ thá logi |
ndɛ thá logí bára |
‘s/he didn’t wash (meat)’ |
|
|
ndɛ thá mase |
ndɛ thá masé mína |
‘s/he didn’t help (us)’ |
|
|
ndɛ thá bereŋ |
ndɛ thá bɛríŋ ga banka |
‘s/he didn’t cry (at home)’ |
|
|
ndɛ thá yugutu |
ndɛ thá yugutú bára |
‘s/he didn’t carry (meat)’ |
|
|
ndɛ thá thanthiye |
ndɛ thá thanthiyé bára |
‘s/he didn’t refuse (meat)’ |
|
|
ndɛ thá thetege |
ndɛ thá thetegé mína |
‘s/he didn’t beg (us)’ |
|
c. |
ndɛ thá thɔm-ɔŋ |
ndɛ thá thɔm-ɔ́ŋ bára |
‘s/he didn’t feed (meat)’ |
|
|
ndɛ thá thom-it-e |
ndɛ thá thom-it-é mína |
‘s/he didn’t eat from (us)’ |
|
|
ndɛ thá thom-ege |
ndɛ thá thom-egé ga b. |
‘s/he didn’t eat alone (at home)’ |
|
|
ndɛ thá thom-e |
ndɛ thá thom-é kúmpa |
‘s/he didn’t eat with (a spoon)’ |
|
d. |
ndɛ thá tot-i-e |
ndɛ thá tot-i-é mína |
‘s/he didn’t cook for (us)’ |
|
|
ndɛ thá deth-o |
ndɛ thá deth-ó ga banka |
‘s/he wasn’t looked at (at home)’ |
|
|
bindɛ thá dɛth-ande |
bindɛ thá dɛth-andé ga b. |
‘they didn’t look (at each other)’ |
|
|
ndɛ thá dɛth-ɔgɔ |
ndɛ thá dɛth-ɔgɔ́ ga b. |
‘s/he didn’t look at self (at home)’ |
181The verb roots in (101a) are /L/, while those in (101b) are /H/. As seen, both sets acquire the L*H tone pattern. While the /H/ extensions in (101c) would be expected to have a H on their FV internally, the /L/ extensions in (101d) also exhibit a H FV. It thus appears that this TAM is /L/, but that all stems have a /H/ which is realized on the FV. In this case we posit a floating L tone in the negative marker /thá `/ which, as seen, is realized on the marker itself when the verb stem is monosyllabic: ndɛ thâ bóy bára ‘s/he didn’t buy meat’.
182The tone of the negative imperative is more complex, as seen in (102).
| (102) |
a. |
ba thôŋ |
ba thóŋ bara |
‘don’t eat (meat)!’ |
|
|
ba bôy |
ba bóy bara |
‘don’t buy (meat)!’ |
|
|
ba dɛ́thi |
ba dɛ́thí bara |
‘don’t look (at meat)!’ |
|
|
ba hɛ́thi |
ba hɛ́thí mina |
‘don’t laugh (at us)!’ |
|
|
ba bógi |
ba bógí mina |
‘don’t bemoan (us)!’ |
|
|
ba ŋíndi |
ba ŋíndí mina |
‘don’t send (us)!’ |
|
b. |
ba ŋɔgɔti |
ba ŋɔ́gɔ́tí mína |
‘don’t push (us)!’ |
|
|
ba sɛgɛti |
ba sɛ́gɛ́tí bára |
‘don’t take (meat)!’ |
|
|
ba gbɔgɔli |
ba gbɔ́gɔ́lí bára |
‘don’t grind (meat)’ |
|
c. |
ba maŋ |
ba máŋ mína |
‘don’t visit (a hunter)!’ |
|
|
ba logi |
ba lógí bára |
‘don’t wash (meat)!’ |
|
|
ba mase |
ba másé mína |
‘don’t help (us)!’ |
|
|
ba bereŋ |
ba béréŋ ka banka |
‘don’t cry (at home)!’ |
|
|
ba yugutu |
ba yúgútú bára |
‘don’t carry (meat)!’ |
|
|
ba thanthiye |
ba thánthíyé bára |
‘don’t refuse (meat)!’ |
|
|
ba thetege |
ba thétégé mína |
‘don’t beg (us)!’ |
183The verb roots in (102a, b) have /L/ tone. As seen, those in (102a) are realized with a HL tone finally. While these verbs become all H internally, HTS does not apply onto the following word. The longer /L/ verbs in (102b) have the same tone pattern as the /H/ verbs in (102c): They are all L finally and all H internally, this time allowing HTS to apply onto the following word. These forms thus show an exceptional merger of trisyllabic /L/ and /H/ verbs. Even if we assume that ‘push’ and ‘take’ have a frozen /H/ tone dative /-ít-/ suffix, in other TAMs they have the 12-12 tone pattern, not 34-34. Since the verb /gbɔgɔli/ ‘grind’ does not have an identifiable frozen extension, it may simply be that trisyllabic verbs merge their tone patterns in the negative imperative.
184One last curious fact that we referred to in (52) concerns verbs that end in -ɔ, including reflexive /‑ɔgɔ/. As seen in (103), such verbs take an additional -i suffix in the aorist and hortative, but not in other TAM categories.
| (103) |
|
Aorist |
yaŋ thɔm-in-ɔgɔ-i |
‘I fed myself (meat)’ |
|
|
|
yaŋ thɔ́m-ín-ɔ́gɔ́-í bára |
|
|
|
Present |
yaŋ ndo thóm-in-ɔ́gɔ |
‘I feed myself (meat)’ |
|
|
|
yaŋ ndo thóm-in-ɔ́gɔ́ bara |
|
|
|
Future |
yaŋ kóŋ thóm-in-ɔ́gɔ |
‘I will feed myself (meat)’ |
|
|
|
yaŋ kóŋ thóm-in-ɔ́gɔ́ bara |
|
|
|
Pres. Prog. |
yaŋ kíŋ ka thóm-in-ɔ́gɔ |
‘I am feeding myself (meat)’ |
|
|
|
yaŋ kíŋ thóm-in-ɔ́gɔ́ bara |
|
|
|
Past Prog. |
yaŋ kínde ga thóm-in-ɔ́gɔ |
‘I was feeding myself (meat)’ |
|
|
|
yaŋ kínde ga thóm-in-ɔ́gɔ́ bara |
|
|
|
Fut. Prog. |
yaŋ ndo bóheŋ bá thom-in-ɔ́gɔ |
‘I will be feeding myself (meat)’ |
|
|
|
yaŋ ndo bóheŋ bá thom-in-ɔ́gɔ́ bara |
|
|
|
Imperative |
thom-in-ɔ́gɔ |
‘feed yourself (meat)!’ |
|
|
|
thom-in-ɔ́gɔ́ bara |
|
|
|
Hortative |
miŋ thóm-ín-ɔ́gɔ́-i |
‘let’s feed ourselves (meat)’ |
|
|
|
miŋ thóm-ín-ɔ́gɔ́-í bara |
|
185In the above forms /thɔm/ ‘eat’ is a /L/ root, while /thɔm-ín/ ‘feed’ acquires a H tone from the causative extension. In the /H/ TAMs we expect a HLH tone pattern, where the second H reaches the first vowel of the /L/ extension /-ɔgɔ/. This is seen in the present, future, present progressive and past progressive. However, as seen in the aorist, an all H tone melody is imposed by -i which is realized all L before pause. Thus /bara/ ‘meat’ becomes bára by HTS only in the aorist. In the other TAM categories, that /H/ of /‑ɔ́gɔ/ spreads onto the following syllable, but no further. HTS does not reach the /-i/ suffix in the hortative, this /-i/ occurring instead of the affirmative /-ɛ̂ŋ/. While we have considered the FV -i to be epenthetic in other cases, it is hard to maintain this view when the verb ends in /ɔ/ (cf. also yaŋ payɔ-i ‘I was afraid’ vs. yaŋ kíŋ ka payɔ ‘I am afraid’).
186Interestingly, in the corresponding negative TAM categories, only the present requires -i. This is not surprising since the present negative is based on the aorist affirmative, to which the negative marker /ta/ is added, while the aorist negative requires a preposed negative marker /thá/.
| (104) |
Aorist |
yaŋ thá thom-in-ɔgɔ |
‘I didn’t feed myself’ |
|
|
|
yaŋ thá thom-in-ɔgɔ … |
|
|
|
Present |
yaŋ thɔm-in-ɔgɔ-i ta |
‘I do not feed/am not feeding myself’ |
|
|
|
yaŋ thɔ́m-ín-ɔ́gɔ́-í tá … |
|
|
|
Future |
yaŋ sá thɔm-in-ɔgɔ |
‘I will not feed myself’ |
|
|
|
yaŋ sá thɔ́m-ín-ɔ́gɔ́ … |
|
|
|
Pres. Prog. |
yaŋ ká gá thom-ín-ɔgɔ |
‘I am not feeding myself’ |
|
|
|
yaŋ ká gá thom-ín-ɔ́gɔ́ … |
|
|
|
Past Prog. |
yaŋ thɔm-ín-ɔ́gɔ ta nde |
‘I wasn’t feeding myself’ |
|
|
|
yaŋ thɔ́m-ín-ɔ́gɔ ta nde … |
|
|
|
Fut. Prog. |
yaŋ bóheŋ ta bá thom-in-ɔ́gɔ |
‘I will not be feeding myself’ |
|
|
|
yaŋ bóheŋ ta bá thom-in-ɔ́gɔ́ … |
|
|
|
Imperative |
ba thɔ́m-ín-ɔ́gɔ |
‘don’t feed yourself!’ |
|
|
|
ba thɔ́m-ín-ɔ́gɔ́ … |
|
|
|
Hortative |
miŋ bɛ̂ŋ thɔm-ín-ɔ́gɔ |
‘let’s not feed ourselves!’ |
|
|
|
miŋ bɛ̂ŋ thɔm-ín-ɔ́gɔ́ … |
|
|
- 72 Since it is followed by stem1, we do not think that the ba in a sentence like ndɛ thímó yáŋ ba thɔŋ(...)
187Other than the /-i/ that occurs after final /ɔ/, the main effects of the TAM system on stem structure concerns the choice of stem1 vs. stem2, as well as potential tonal changes. We can in fact explain why the verb shifts to stem2 in the progressive. We pointed out earlier that stem2 is a nominalized form (recall gbal-a haŋ ‘the writing’). It is therefore appropriate that it appears after the preposition /ga/ ‘at, to’ in the present and past progressive and after the preposition /ba/ ‘for’, which appears with H tone in the future progressive.72 Why the nominalized stem2 should be used in the imperative is not clear.
188This completes our survey of the TAM categories as we understand them to date.
189In the previous sections we have in turn considered the phonological and morphological structure of the verb stem. Taken together, the phonology and the morphology account for the interesting restrictions on syllable and word structure, consonant and vowel distributions, and phonological alternations, including tone. It was shown that most verbs have two forms, which we labeled stem1 and stem2, and that the choice between them depends on the TAM category in which the verb occurs. A major part of understanding the verb stem concerned the numerous verb extensions that can be added to the verb root and to each other. Although their phonological and morphological structure was examined in great detail, we only indirectly saw some of the the syntactic properties of the extended verb and its arguments. Although not explicitly addressed in this report, in Thɔnkɔ, both arguments of a ditransitive verb are eligible to become the subject of the corresponding passive: hati oŋ pón-í-ó pága ‘the child was cooked rice (for)’, pagá pón-í-ó hátí ôŋ ‘rice was cooked for the child’. But since our focus was on phonological and morphological form, we end with a few words about how the Limba verb extension system fits into wider Niger-Congo.
- 73 Mel is a subbranch of Niger-Congo, formerly included in Greenberg’s (1963) Atlantic subgroup, and i (...)
- 74 The Atlantic forms are from Becher (2002: 31), except for Bijogo from Segerer (2002: 211–226), Band (...)
190Recall from our introduction that Pozdniakov et al. (2019) consider Limba to be an isolate within Niger-Congo. As Pozdniakov & Segerer (2024: 22) put it, “[a] careful look at the potential cognates shows that there is no good reason to think that Limba would be closer to Atlantic (or to Mel) than to any other N[iger]C[ongo] family.” The question is whether the extension system we have presented can help us locate Limba within Niger-Congo. Although most branches of Niger-Congo have verb extensions (Williamson 1989; Williamson & Blench 2000; Hyman 2007; 2014; Creissels 2019, among others), the Limba extension system most closely resembles certain languages in the Atlantic subgroup.73 We present a comparison of Limba verb extensions with Atlantic and Mel languages in Table 2, where the bold horizontal lines separate subgroups and families.74
Table 2 — Comparison of Limba extensions with Atlantic and Mel languages
- 75 Within Niger-Congo an -n causative is found outside Atlantic and Limba only in certain Adamawa lang (...)
- 76 While these may look like Proto-Bantu *-an (Meeussen 1967: 118), the addition of an alveolar t or d(...)
- 77 This extension also resembles Proto-Bantu *-ʊ (Meeussen 1967: 118).
- 78 This suffix likely developed from the preposition íŋ ‘with’ which was seen with instruments in (56) (...)
191In Table 2, the Limba forms in the last row are bolded as are potential cognate forms. The most striking resemblance is the -n found in the causative. Both Limba and Atlantic languages lack the more general Niger-Congo -i and -s causatives. Bijogo alone has -i, while -s is attested in the Mel language Temne.75 The other striking resemblance occurs in the reciprocal, where Limba -ande corresponds to forms like Wolof -ante and Balante -ndi.76 Finally, Limba passive -o resembles Bandiaranke -o: and less so the -u(s) of Palor, Ndut and Noon, which also functions as a marker of a plural subject (Merrill 2023: 192–198).77 While these resemblances do not point to a particular language or subgroup as closest to Limba, another striking overlap with Atlantic is the suffix /-ín/ which marks the plural of certain nouns classes, e.g. class 1/2 bahu ‘goat’, bahu-iŋ ‘goats’ (Hyman & Kamara 2025).78 Unfortunately, whether these resemblances represent a common inheritance or contact is not clear. We therefore have to conclude that despite similarities with Atlantic verb extensions, Limba must still be tentatively treated as an isolate within Niger-Congo.
| appl |
applicative |
| caus |
causative |
| C |
consonant |
| cl |
(noun) class |
| dat |
dative |
| excl |
exclusive |
| fut |
future |
| FV |
final vowel |
| H |
high tone |
| HTS |
high tone spreading |
| instr |
instrumental |
| intens |
intensive |
| L |
low tone |
| loc |
locative |
| pass |
passive |
| plur |
plural |
| pres |
present |
| prog |
progressive |
| recip |
reciprocal |
| refl |
reflexive |
| s.o. |
someone |
| stat |
stative |
| sth. |
something |
| TAM |
tense-aspect-mood |
| V |
vowel |