Present and perfect in Bantu: The case of Lingála

Brisard, Frank; Meeuwis, Michael

doi:10.1515/jall.2009.003

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…7 Within the KLC, it is the most frequent TA marker having 17 attestations. In line with Brisard & Meeuwis' (2009) analysis of the FV -i in Lingala, this circumfix seems to express the present perfect with focus on the end state in Kikongo, as shown in (6). When combined with stative verbs, such as -tonga 'be tired' in (7), the marker thus focuses on the present state of the subject.…”

Section: -ø-B-idisupporting

confidence: 67%

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Examining variation in the expression of tense/aspect to classify the Kikongo Language Cluster

Dom¹,

Bostoen²

2015

aflin

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In this article we examine variation in the expression of tense and aspect (TA) in 23 modern and two historical Bantu language varieties belonging to Guthrie's B40, H10 and H30 groups in order to shed light on the internal classification of the Kikongo Language Cluster (KLC). We apply the Comparative Method to this specific set of morphological data to test a recent phylogenetic classification of the KLC. We identify eight widespread TA markers as shared retentions dating back to the period before the internal fragmentation of the KLC. Six of these are inherited from Proto-Bantu. Two other markers go back to Proto-Kikongoid and Proto-Kikongo. They confirm that the KLC constitutes a discrete clade within West-Coastal Bantu. We furthermore distinguish fourteen shared innovations that took place after the break-up of the last common ancestor of the KLC. These innovations provide corroborating evidence for three phylogenetic subgroups within the KLC, namely East, South and West, and for the fact that the latter subgroup falls apart in two discrete genealogical subunits. They furthermore testify to the horizontal transmission of TA features between subgroups. Such language convergence often correlates with relatively recent historical developments within the Lower Congo region and contributed to the multilayered constitution of the KLC.

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Section: -ø-B-idisupporting

confidence: 67%

“…Such a final vowel is also found e.g. in Lingála as a reflex of * -ide (Brisard & Meeuwis 2009). One could wonder whether final -i in Yipunu is therefore related to the Proto-Bantu *-ide suffix.…”

Section: Shift In Past Tense Paradigmmentioning

confidence: 60%

Examining variation in the expression of tense/aspect to classify the Kikongo Language Cluster

Dom¹,

Bostoen²

2015

aflin

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“…Perfective/perfect (Lingala, Kirundi): the two Bantu languages in our sample make use of a construction that is variously analyzed as a present perfect (see, e.g., Brisard & Meeuwis, 2009) or a present perfective (De Wit, 2017, on Lingala; cf. also Brisard and Meeuwis, 2009, pp. 23–27, for an elaborate overview of the various analyses proposed for the relevant suffix in Lingala and related languages).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…5, for a more detailed analysis of the aspectual ambiguity of the French simple present, which is similar to its Catalan equivalent in this respect). (iii) Perfective/perfect (Lingala, Kirundi): the two Bantu languages in our sample make use of a construction that is variously analyzed as a present perfect (see, e.g., Brisard & Meeuwis, 2009) or a present perfective (De Wit, 2017, on Lingala; cf. also Brisard and Meeuwis, 2009, pp.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The epistemic import of aspectual constructions: the case of performatives

2018

Self Cite

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In this study we chart the aspectual characteristics of performative utterances in a cross-linguistic sample of sixteen languages on the basis of native-speaker elicitations. We conclude that there is not one single aspectual type (e.g., perfectives) that is systematically reserved for performative contexts. Instead, the aspectual form of performative utterances in a given language is epistemically motivated, in the sense that the language will turn to that aspectual construction which it generally selects to refer to situations that are fully and instantly identifiable as an instance of a given situation type at the time of speaking. We use the method of Multidimensional Scaling to demonstrate this: whatever the exact value of a given aspectual marker, if it is used to mark performatives, then it also commonly features in the expression of states and habits, which have the subinterval property (they can be fully verified based on a random segment), demonstrations, and other special contexts featuring more or less predictable and therefore instantly identifiable events. On the other hand, our study shows that performative contexts do not normally feature progressive aspect, which is dedicated to the expression of events that are not fully and instantly identifiable.

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“…This analysis leads, inter alia, to the conclusions that (a) the terms perfect and imperfect 'tense' should be done away with by replacing them with past tense and present tense respectively… Brisard and Meeuwis (2009:25) strongly criticise the inappropriate use of the term 'perfect' with reference to tense as used by Poulos and Bosch and Poulos and Msimang. They say:…”

Section: Distinguishing Between the Two Past Tense Forms Of Isizulu And Naming These Tense Formsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A critique of ‘A re-evaluation of tense in isiZulu’

Posthumus

2016

Literator

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This article is a response to Groenewald’s 2014 article, ‘A re-evaluation of tense in isiZulu’. Sub-themes identified in Groenewald’s article and explored in this exposé in the light of an array of recently published research on the topic of tense are: the suitability of the distinction between absolute and relative tense and the use of the term ‘absolute tense’; the appropriateness of defining tense in terms of deixis; the remoteness distinctions in terms of past and future tenses generally distinguished in the Bantu languages with particular reference to isiZulu; the semantic significance of the use of the so-called short and long forms of the present and past tenses of isiZulu and the naming of the individual tenses.

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Present and perfect in Bantu: The case of Lingála

Cited by 7 publications

References 1 publication

Examining variation in the expression of tense/aspect to classify the Kikongo Language Cluster

Examining variation in the expression of tense/aspect to classify the Kikongo Language Cluster

The epistemic import of aspectual constructions: the case of performatives

A critique of ‘A re-evaluation of tense in isiZulu’

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