on the “atypical” imperative conjugation in manda (bantu n.11)...on the “atypical”...
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ON THE “ATYPICAL” IMPERATIVE CONJUGATION IN MANDA (BANTU N.11)
RASMUS BERNANDER PHD STUDENT IN AFRICAN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES, UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG / GÖTEBORGS UNIVERSITET BOX 200, 405 30 GÖTEBORG (GOTHENBURG) PHONE: +46-(0)31-7864477 EMAIL: [email protected]
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Introduction - Manda
• Small and poorly documented language (cf. Maho & Sands 2003:178)
• ~ 30 000 speakers
• At the north-eastern shores of Lake Nyasa (or lake Malawi) in Southern Tanzania
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…Introduction - Manda • Coded as N.11 in N.10 group
(Guthrie 1948, 1967-71, Maho 2009)
• Together with e.g. (Tanzanian) Ngoni and Matengo
• Messy genealogy: Manda originally Southern Highland (~G.60) (Nurse 1982, 1988, 1999)???
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Introduction - the Imperative in Manda
• Odd-looking! (1) pʊmʊIíláyi! pʊmʊIɪl-áyi rest-DIR ‘rest!’ (2) hɪ́nu lɪ́ndáyi! hɪnu lɪnd-ayi! now wait-DIR ‘now, wait!’ (3) kungísáyi nyényénye! kung-is-ayi nyényénye fasten-caus-DIR IDPH ‘fasten it tightly!’
• The aim of this talk: -To account for this atypical feature found in Manda -To reconstruct the diachronic functional and formal pathway of change leading up to this synchronic state
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Imperatives and other directives
• Mauri & Sansò (2011; see also Auwera et al 2003, 2005): Imperative = sub-category of (positive) directives (in the imperative-hortative paradigm)
• Directives = express the wish of the speaker about an event to hold true, conveyed as an appeal to the addressee(s) to make it true (expecting an immediate realization) > Imperative = directive with the second person (addressee(s)) as the sole performer
• “go to bed!” vs. (co-hortative) ‘let’s go to bed’
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Canonical Bantu directives
• The “morphologically specialized” Imperative conjugation (Devos & Van Olmen 2013, Devos f.c.)
• Extremely common cross-Bantu: 97% (Nurse 2007) • Even reconstructed for Proto-Bantu by Meeussen (1962 [2014]) • Reduced formally/morphologically
(cf. Aikhenvald 2010:89 “segmental idiosyncracy”) (4) *B-a [+ polar tones]
• Imperative stand in some complementary distribution with the Subjunctive conjugation: (5) *SM[H]-B-é
• also reconstructed by Meeussen, also super-common cross-Bantu
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Division of labor Imperative vs Subjunctive
• TYPICALLY: • Subjunctive:
i. used for expressing directives towards other persons than 2nd pers (sg/pl) = (6b) ii. Used as a milder, more polite, face-saving directive (Nurse 2008:28, Devos f.c.), “weaker manipulation” (Ngonyani 2013) = (6c)
• Example from Swahili (G.42) (6a) kimbi-a run-FV run b) tu-kimbi-e SM1pl-run-SBJ ‘let’s run’ c) u-kimbi-e SM2sg-run-SBJ ‘(please), run’
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But this is not the case in Manda! • Manda lacks a (direct) reflex of the Imperative • Instead a conjugation with a suffix -ayi (7) tyesemúláyi! tyesemʊl-ayi sneeze-DIR ‘sneeze!’ (8) vɪ́káyi ntyímbu ápa, niwúyúli vɪk-ayi mu-tyimbu apa ni-wuyul-i put-DIR NCP3.calabash PROX.DEM16 SM1SG-clean-SBJ ‘put the calabash here, so I can clean (it)’
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The directive conjugation (SM)-B-ayi in Manda
• All kind of directives are expressed (by most speakers) in this way in Manda
• but with a SM
(9) ting’kómila’ ngéne ʊyʊ ti-mu-kom-ɪl-ayi mu-gene ʊyʊ SM1PL-OM3SG-beat.to.death.APPL-DIR NCP1-guestPROX.DEM1 ‘let us kill (him) that guest!’
• Note!: the Subjunctive reflex in (8) and the formal pecularities
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Hypothesis
• The -ayi suffix < “imperfective” morpheme *-ag- • At a certain point in time: became conventionalized and an
obligatory part of imperative (and other directive) expressions in Manda
• Go through the facts suggestive of such a scenario:
i. Functional indications ii. Formal indications • But first: The background of *-ag-
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Etymology of morpheme *-ag- • Reconstructed for Proto-Bantu *-ag- (~ *-a(n)g-)
• Syntagmatic characterization: occurs in a “pre-final” position in the verbal morphotaxis (10)*SM-B-ag-FV (Meeussen 1967; Nurse 2008:31, 40)
• Suggests (SM)-B-ayi in Manda < º(SM)-B-ag-FV
• Originates from a “repetitive” derivational extension (Schadeberg 2003) but typically refers to a “range of imperfective aspectual meanings” (Nurse & Philippson 2006:190)
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*-ag- in directives
• Common cross-Bantu pattern: *-ag- co-occur with the Imperative (or the Subjunctive) and modifies directive expressions
• Typical pragmatic overtones: “heightened sense of urgency” (Rose et al 2002:40, 41), “intensity”, “exclamatory suffix” (Miehe 1989:30), “reinforcer” (Meinhof 1906 [1948:101], Sebasoni 1967)
(11) vuχ-ag-a go-IPFV-IMP ‘Go, then!’ (Sangu (G.61); Meinhof 1948:101; see also Devos & Van Olmen 2013:12) • In accord with cross-linguistic tendencies (Mauri & Sansò 2011; Aikhenvald
2010:104) • Mauri and Sansó (2011): The motivation to involve imperfective markers in
commands is to create overtones of urgency and imminence Event marked as ongoing ⊃ expectation of an imminent actualization
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*-ag- in directives
• Imperfective markers reanalyzed and conventionalized as new, dedicated directives cross-linguistically (Mauri & Sansó 2011)
• Along a recurrent pattern: emphatic markers tend to get diluted
• Also in Bantu: (Rare) cases where a directive with an *-ag- reflex functions as the dedicated Imperative
(12) kel-áká ‘do!’ (Lokele (C.55) Meeuseen 1962 [2014:30-31]; Devos f.c.)
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Functional reconstruction
• Diachronic pathway of change in three stages: Stage I: : The Original (morphologically specialized) Imperative only (and the Subjunctive) Stage II: *-ag- is incorporated in the Original Imperative to reinforce the expression => Complementary distribution with the Original Imperative Stage III: The specialized (more emphatic) reading of the conjugation with *-ag- bleaches (neutralizes) =>the conjugation with a reflex of *-ag- becomes the regular directive marker => the original Imperative disappears
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Functional reconstruction Indications from internal (variating) Manda data i. Retentions of the original “morphologically specialized” Imperative in archaisms (stage I~II) Ex.: a) The collocation lól-a Bámbu “behold the Lord” -without a subject marker, final vowel -a - **lólá’ (~lóláyi) i.e. ≠ truncated, different tone pattern b). (Traditional) children’s game vɪ́lɪ́ng-a, kwát-a ‘turn & seize’ -**vɪlíngá’, i.e. ≠ truncated -different tone pattern -no raising of the second vowel
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Functional reconstruction Indications from internal (variating) Manda data ii. Synchronic variation which suggest a less neutral usage of -ayi (stage II) Limited group of speakers [+old +coastal variety]: Both (SM)-B-ayi and the Subjunctive SM-B-i as directives > persistence in meaning with -ayi: i. more expressive ii. iterative~continuative reading with a verb like ‘kiss’ (13) u-ni-núm-áyi SM2SG-OM1SG-kiss-DIR ‘kiss me (over and over~for a long time)’ (14) u-ni-núm-i SM2SG-OM1SG-kiss-SBJ ‘give me a kiss’
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Functional reconstruction Comparative indications
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Language Code Original
Imp. Meaning of Imperative + *-ag- Source
IPFV Emph. Other Neutral
Nyakusa M.31 yes yes yes yes no Nurse (1979), Persohn (2016:212ff)
Kisi G.67 yes no yes (?) yes no Gray (f.c.:116), Ngonyani (2011:131)
Ngoni N.12 yes no yes no no Ebner (1939:27); Moser (1983:108); Ngonyani (2003:63)
Pangwa G.64 yes no yes no no Stirnimann (1983:116-118)
Matengo N.13 yes (?) no yes yes no Kayuni (pers. comm.), Yoneda (2000, 2016:429)
Mpoto N.14 no no no no yes (?) Makwaya (p.c), Botne (p.c)
Manda N.11 no no no no yes -
• Comparative data corroborate the suggested direction of development (Stage I-II-III)
• Implicational hierarchy
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Formal reconstruction Internal indications i. there is a formally identical morpheme used with an imperfective meaning in Manda
(15) tayogíláyi mumáchi ti-a-yog-ɪl-ayi mu-ma-chi SM1pl-PST2-bathe-APPL-PST.IPFV LOC18-NCP6-water ‘we used to bathe in the water’ ii. /g/ often weakened in inter-vowel contexts in Manda: e.g vagéni ~vayéni ‘guests’, maghéya ~mayéya ‘lies’ etc
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Formal reconstruction Comparative indications • Suggests a contiguous velar weakening
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Language Code Directives with *-ag-
Reflex of */ag/
Source
Pangwa G.64 SM-B-ake /ak/ Stirnimann (1983:116-118) Nyakusa M.31 B-aga,
SM-B-ege /ag/ Nurse (1979),
Persohn (2016:212, 214) Kisi G.67 B-agha,
SM-B-aghe ~SM-B-aye
/agh/ Gray (f.c.:116; Ngonyani 2011:106, 130)
Ngoni N.12 (SM)-B-age ~(SM)-B-aye ~(SM)-B-ayi
/ag~ay/ Ebner (1939:27), Moser (1983:108), Ngonyani (2003:63)
Matengo N.13 (SM)-B-aje /aj/ Kayuni (p.c.), Yoneda (2016:429), Zimmer (n.d.12)
Mpoto N.14 (SM)-B-ayi /ay/ Makwaya (p. c.), Botne (p. c.)
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Formal reconstruction the question of the final vowel • The /i/ of -ayi i in Manda:
from Imperative (default) -a or the Subjunctive -e??? • Still a bit unclear… Both actually possible • Most likely it stems from the forming of a Subjunctive-Imperative
hybrid (Devos & Van Olmen 2013:17-18) • the Imperative-Subjunctive formal division conflate
as the Subjunctive gets increasingly Imperative-like formally • e.g. with SM omission as in Ndamba • ly-e!
ly-SBJ ‘eat!’ (Ndamba G.52; Edelsten & Lijongwa 2010:86)
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Summary & Conlusions
• The “atypical” Imperative conjugation perhaps not so atypical after all! • Originates from a specialization of the original Imperative with the addition of a
pre-final morpheme *-ag- • This specialization became semantically neutralized and phonetically opaque • Based on the formal and functional indicia found both language-internally and -
externally this pathway of change could be reconstructed • The seemingly atypical Manda data more easily interpretable once the
synchronic state is seen in the light of historical processes • Internal reconstruction and the comparative approach constitute useful
methodological tools for a deeper understanding of the synchronic status of the form and functional range of a TAM category in a previously understudied language.
• The non-existence of an expected grammatical form~conjugation can also be interesting and deserves an explanation!
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MUSÉNGWÍLI! AHSANTE! THANKS!
TACK!
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RASMUS BERNANDER PhD student in African languages
Department of Languages and Literatures, University of Gothenburg / Göteborgs universitet
Email: [email protected]