44 unusual behavior in situations of vowel hiatus. A subject agreement prefix always
precedes these TA prefixes, but the initial a of the TA prefixes never causes glide formation of the preceding subject prefix. If the initial vowel of the TA prefix was really
a, we would expect glide formation of preceding non-low vowels, since this process occurs when these same vowels meet at other morpheme boundaries.
25
Instead, the vowel of the subject prefix is always lengthened, so it appears that the initial vowel of the TA
prefix always conforms to the preceding vowel. This suggests that the initial vowel of the IMPF, NAR and INCP prefixes is likely unspecified, or an “empty mora” see Nurse and
Muzale 1999, quoting Hyman and Katamba 1999. Nonetheless, for simplicity I will use a to represent the initial vowel.
2.2.3 Verbal extensions
The previous section focused on inflectional affixes, but there are a number of derivational affixes affecting verbs as well. It is common in Bantu languages for
derivational suffixes usually called extensions to be affixed to the verb root, and the verb root in combination with all derivational suffixes forms the verb stem.
26
Most of the extensions are listed in 21 below with examples using two different verb roots. The
[-ATR] root t - ‘trap’ and the [+ATR] root em- ‘cultivate’ show the surface forms of suffixes which alternate as a result of vowel harmony, particularly the applicative and
stative extensions.
25
When a occurs stem-initially, non-low prefixes become glides. For example see the verbs [kw-a ga] ‘deny,’ [kw-a
ka] ‘build,’ [ w-ati] ‘cut open’ and the nouns [omw-áme] ‘rich man,’ [omw-átani] ‘neighbor,’ and [ekj-á o] ‘village.’
26
See Schadeberg 2003 for an overview of derivational morphology in Bantu. Common types of derivation include changes between verbs, nouns, and adjectives. Bantu languages also have a rich set of
affixes which apply to verbs, most typically affecting a verb’s valency and argument types. They are thus considered to be derivational, even though they do not change words from one grammatical class to
another.
45 21
Derivational Extensions
[-ATR] root [+ATR] root
Basic Form
2 8
.
Causative
. 2
8 .
.
Passive
- 22 8
- .
Applicative
2 8
.
Stative
8888 - 22
8 8888
- .
Reciprocal
2 .
8 .
The extensions above are quite productive, with the exception of the stative, which
occurs with only a limited number of verbs and is thus discussed very little in this thesis. Note also that the passive and causative extensions affect the quality of [-ATR] root
vowels, changing them to [+ATR] vowels. These root vowel alternations are discussed extensively in §6.4 below.
Another interesting point to note concerns the atypical forms of the causative and passive stems. In most Mara languages, and in Bantu languages in general, the causative
[-i] and passive [-u] verbal extensions are followed by the final vowel [-a], resulting in glide formation of the vowels of the extensions. In Ikoma, however, the final vowel does
not occur following the causative or passive suffix, so glide formation does not take place. Additional examples of this phenomenon are in 22 below.
46 22
Causative and Passive Verbs C .
C . C .
C . 8
8 8
2 8
8 8
2 : .
: 8 8
8 8 8 8
22 : The only other languages known to exhibit this same process of final vowel
elision are Ngoreme, Nata and Isenye, which are Ikoma’s closest neighbors. The table in 23 below compares some of these forms data taken from Smith et al. 2008 and
personal field notes. 23
Final vowel replacement .
- - -
C . C .
C . C .
- J8
J8 J8
J8 89
8 89
8 89
8 A
A A
A 8
8 8
8 8
8 J
: J
: J
: J
: 8
8 8
8 8
8 A
A A
A 89
8 89
8 89
8 The verb roots vary somewhat from one language variety to another, but in all instances
the FV is replaced or deleted when the causative or passive extensions are affixed to the root.
The inversive -o and inversive stative -ok extensions are much less productive than the extensions above, and they cannot be used with all verb stems. Most often the
extensions seem to have been lexicalized, and in only a few cases can the derived forms be clearly seen to correspond in both form and meaning with a more basic stem. See 24
below for some of the clearest examples.
47 24
Inversive and inversive stative extensions J
J J
J C .
C . C .
C . 8 F
. 8 F
. 9
2 9
. For both examples in 24, there is clearly an inversive or “undoing” component which is
added to the meaning of the original form. There are also a number of pairs of verbs which have both the inversive and
inversive-stative counterparts, but the bare stem is no longer present in the language. Some of these examples are in 25 below.
27
25 Lexicalized inversive forms
Inversive forms Gloss
a. ‘return’
8 ‘be returned’
b. ‘be straight’
8 ‘be straight’
c. 8
‘unfold’ 8
8 ‘come from’
- 8 ‘sprout’
The pair in a are the inversive and inversive stative counterparts of the same root, but there is not a clear corresponding underived root. The same applies for those in b. The
examples in c are forms without a counterpart, and they, too, lack a clear underived root synchronically.
Vowel harmony processes involving these extensions are discussed more fully in Chapter 6 below. Some of the most interesting points of discussion concern the different
behaviors of applicative and subjunctive suffix vowels, the three-way alternations of the
27
Note that these glosses are only approximate, since the distinctions between inversive and inversive- stative are not easily translated into English.
48 inversive extensions, and the somewhat surprising [+ATR] spreading from i u which
affects the quality of some root vowels but not others.
2.3 Consonant inventory
