Browsing by Author "Hyman, Larry"

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    Common Bantoid Verb Extensions
    (2018-07-18) Hyman, Larry
    In this paper I survey verb extensions within different Bantoid languages and sub-groups, comparing them to Cameroonian Bantu zone A. Extending my survey of Niger-Congo extensions (Hyman 2007), I show that there is a band of contiguous languages in the Grassfields area where a number of contrastive verb extensions have relative productivity (cf. the studies in Idiata & Mba 2003). Interestingly, the languages in question belong to several subgroups: Limbum (NE Eastern Grassfields Bantu), Noni (Beboid), Kom and Babanki (Ring Western Grassfields Bantu), Bafut and Mankon (Ngemba Eastern Grassfields Bantu). Other languages in these same subgroups are not in this geographical band and have very few extensions. The above-mentioned languages allow a possible reconstruction of *CV extensions with *s, *t, *n, *l, *k, and *m. A major property of Bantoid extensions is the relative frequency of aspectual-type extensions, especially marking different types of pluractionality (iterative, frequentative, distributive, repetitive), diminutive (attenuation of action), and intensive (augmentation of action) semantics. In many languages the same suffix form covers two or more of these functions. The hypothesis is that the original system was more like Proto-Bantu, with extensions being more valence-related, but over time these very same extensions became reinterpreted as aspectual. However, the great variety of extensions in and outside of Bantoid suggests that there may have been more extensions at a pre-Proto-Bantu stage.
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    In Search Of Prosodic Domains In Lusoga
    (2020-08-05) Hyman, Larry
    In this paper I raise the question of whether Lusoga, a Bantu language of Uganda, recognizes syntactically determined prosodic domains, which have been extensively described in near-mutually intelligible Luganda. I first briefly recapitulate the syntactic constructions that give rise to the tone group (TG) and tone phrase (TP) domains in Luganda and then consider the same constructions in Lusoga. Whereas the expectation is that pre-verbal constituents will be treated prosodically differently than post-verbal constituents in SVO Bantu languages, Lusoga treats both pre- and post-verbal constituents the same, including both left- and right-dislocations. While certain clitics do form a TG with the preceding word, perhaps forming a recursive phonological word, there is nothing corresponding to the multiword TG or TP of Luganda. Lusoga either fails to distinguish phonological phrases or if they do exist in the language (as universally claimed), Lusoga fails to mark them. I conclude that linguistic typology should not only determine how universal linguistic properties can be reflected in the grammar of a language, but also in how well a grammar can get along without signaling them at all.
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    More Reflections On The Nasal Classes In Bantu
    (2018-07-18) Hyman, Larry
    Although long considered to be a Bantu innovation, Miehe (1991) proposed that the nasal consonants present in Bantu noun classes 1, 3, 4, 6, 9 and 10 should be reconstructed in pre-Proto-Bantu, even possibly at the Proto-Niger-Congo stage. Since there has been no comprehensive response to Miehe, the two of us organized a workshop to look at the question in more detail. In this paper I update the problem from Hyman (1980b) and Miehe (1991), expanding the coverage and considering various scenarios that could have led to innovation (or loss). While there have been three hypothetical reconstructions (nasal consonants, nasalized vowels, no nasal consonants), we have not yet arrived at a “solution” that answers the relevant questions discussed in this paper.
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    Multiple Argument Marking In Bantoid: From Syntheticity To Analyticity
    (2017-07-05) Hyman, Larry
    This paper addresses the mechanisms of change that lead from syntheticity to analyticity in the Bantoid languages of the Nigeria-Cameroon borderland area. I address the different strategies that are adopted as these languages lose applicative “verb extensions” found elsewhere in Bantu and Niger-Congo. I show that although historical recipient, benefactive, and instrumental applicative marking on verbs allowed multiple object noun phrases (send-APPL chief letter, cook-APPL child rice, cut-APPL knife meat), they have been replaced by adpositional phrases and/or serial verb constructions in all branches of Bantoid. I map out the different analytic strategies that have been adopted and reconstruct the original verbal, nominal and pronominal sources of the different grammaticalization processes. Of particular interest is the development of a recipient/benefactive preposition ‘to, for’ from the word for ‘hand’ and a comitative/instrumental preposition ‘with’ from a third person plural pronoun.
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    Multiple Exponence In The Lusoga Verb Stem
    (2017-04-06) Hyman, Larry; Inkelas, Sharon; Jenga, Fred
    In this paper we address an unusual pattern of multiple exponence in Lusoga, a Bantu language spoken in Uganda, which bears on the questions of whether affix order is reducible to syntactic structure, whether derivation is always ordered before inflection, and what motivates multiple exponence in the first place. In Lusoga, both derivational and inflectional categories may be multiply exponed. The trigger of multiple exponence is the reciprocal suffix, which optionally triggers the doubling both of preceding derivational suffixes and of following inflectional suffixes. In these cases, each of the doubled affixes appear both before (closer to the root) and after the reciprocal. We attribute this pattern to restructuring, arguing that the inherited Bantu stem consisting of a root + suffixes has been reanalyzed as a compound-like structure with two internal constituents, the second headed by the reciprocal morpheme, each potentially undergoing parallel derivation and inflection.
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    Number And Animacy In The Teke Noun Class System
    (2019-10-28) Hyman, Larry; Lionnet, Florian; Ngolele, Christophère
    In this paper, we trace the development of Proto-Bantu noun classes into Teke (Bantu B71, Ewo dialect), showing that formal reflexes of classes 1, 2, 5–9, and 14 are detectable. We further show that animacy, abstractness, and number allow us to determine the fate of classes 3, 4, 10, 11 and identify the following singular/plural genders: 1/2 (animate 9 merger), 7/8 (
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    Third Person Pronouns in Grassfields Bantu
    (2018-07-18) Hyman, Larry
    In this paper I have two goals. First, I propose a reconstruction of the pronoun system of Grassfields Bantu, direct reflexes of which are found in Eastern Grassfields, with a close look at the pronoun systems, as reflected across this varied group. Second, I document and seek the origin of innovative third person pronouns in Western Grassfields. While EGB languages have basic pronouns in all persons, both the Momo and Ring subgroups of WGB have innovated new third person (non-subject) pronouns from demonstratives or perhaps the noun 'body'. However, these languages show evidence of the original third person pronouns which have been restricted to a logophoric function. I end with a comparison of the Grassfields pronouns with nearby Bantoid and Northwest Bantu languages as well as Proto-Bantu.