Verbal inflection in
Hehe Language
by
Simile Okoa
Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics
Abstract
This paper deals with the basic verbal inflectional
properties in Hehe language. It is evidenced that Hehe
has a complex agglutinative system composed of eleven slots occupied by
different affixes both inflectional and derivational. The inflectional elements
negation, subject markers, the object markers, tense, aspect, mood, and
relative markers, reflexive are not all necessarily present in a given
verb form but exist in a fixed order. Among other things the paper offers a
detailed description of these inflectional affixes their function and behavior.
Generally this paper provides a
descriptive analysis of Hehe verb
Inflection as a contribution in the field of Bantu linguistics. This is because
a lot has been done in Bantu languages concerning verbal inflection but the way
this phenomenon is manifested in individual languages is still not yet well
known. The completion of this study is therefore, a contribution to this
undertaking.
1. Introduction
Hehe a
Bantu is spoken in Iringa Region. Its speakers are scattered around Kilolo and
Mufindi districts in South-central Tanzania. Being a Bantu language with an augment (preprefix) in its
nouns, the language is called ‘ikihehe’ (i= augment, ki-noun prefix and hehe-
the root).The speakers are therefore called ‘avahehe’. For the sake of
consistency, this study adopts the name Hehe as used in most existing
literature about the language. Among speakers, there are phonetic, semantic and
lexical differences; such differences are more noticeable in especially the
dialect spoken by other people living around the Udzungwa Mountains: slight
different in accent is also felt among speakers from Mufindi and Iringa town,
Kalenga and some places of Iringa rural.
Hehe
language is classified in zone G60: Bena-Kinga group in which Hehe it is assigned
as G62, other languages in this group
include Bena (G63), Sangu (G61), Wanji (G66), Kinga (G65), and Kisi (G67)
(Guthrie (1970). Hehe is close to Bena, and the two languages are sometimes
treated as forming a dialect continuum (Priebusch, 1935). This study, although it deals with all
varieties, considers dialect spoken in Rural Iringa district and some areas of
the Lower lands of Kilolo district to be the central dialect because it is
spoken around the historical homeland of Hehe chiefs.
Various scholars have written a lot
about verbal morphology in Bantu languages. Nurse and Philippson (2003),
Mkanganwi (2002), Ngunga (2000), Dunham (2002). Many
of these scholars made generalizations on how verbal inflections operate
particularly on G60: Bena-Kinga group where Hehe is classified as G62. The
amount of data examined in this group depends on the source, the author’s
knowledge of how language works, how much data is presented and the theoretical
approach (Nurse 2003:90). So far, little attention has been paid to in-depth
investigation of individual languages in order to see how they behave.
Therefore, this study aims to provide a descriptive analysis of verbal inflection
in Hehe, as an attempt to contribute to the existing knowledge of Bantu
inflectional morphology.
The study examines the ideal structure
of the verb in Hehe, it also discusses the concept of inflection and how it is
encoded in Hehe. In order to achieve its objectives the researcher sets out to
answer the following question:
i.
What are
the inflectional properties of the verb in Hehe language?
2.
Literature Review
2.1. Inflection and
Derivation (Bantu General)
The verbal inflectional morphology in
Bantu languages has been the subject of many previous comparative and
descriptive studies (Kiango 2000), Ngunga (2000), (Mchombo 2006), Nurse (2003).
Inflectional morphology deals with syntactically determined affixation
processes while derivational morphology is used to create new lexical items.
However, in practice, there is always no unanimity in the classification of
processes as inflection or derivation. Scholars working on the same language
may not agree as to which processes are to be treated as inflectional and which
ones are to be regarded as derivational. Across languages, there can be even
greater confusion. A process classified as inflectional in one language may be
analogous to the process regarded as derivation in another language (Katamba,
1993:205).
As an attempt to separate inflection from
derivation, Anderson (1988:167) pointed out four kinds of morphological
properties that characterize inflection. These are: configuration properties,
agreement properties, inherent properties and phrasal properties. In
configuration properties, the choice of a particular inflection is determined
by the place occupied by a word in a syntactic configuration, agreement
properties are determined by the characteristics of other words in the same
construction, inherent properties such as, the gender of the noun are accessed
by agreement rules and phrasal properties belonging to an entire syntactic
phrase, but they are morphologically realized in one of the words of that
phrase. Katamba (1993) went further; whether a particular process is viewed as
derivational or inflectional, it must be determined by the purely syntactic
processes”.
Haspelmath, and Sims (2010:81-83),
differentiate the two morphological processes (derivational and inflection) by
using the concept of inflection value and derivational meaning. Inflectional value
often does not have a clear identifiable meaning, but a syntactic function
while a derivational meaning has change of meaning and word category.
Booij (2005) views inflection as the
morphological marking of properties on a lexeme resulting in a number of forms
for that lexeme, as a set of grammatical words. Inflectional dimensions are
referred to as morphosyntactic
categories (e.g. nouns’ dimensions are numbered, gender and case) because
they may play a role in both morphology and syntax. And for each dimension or
category, there is more than one value. For example, number: singular and
plural, gender: masculine, feminine and neuter, and so forth. These values are
referred as morphosyntactic features.
Furthermore, Spencer (2003:193) maintained
that the nature of inflectional morphology is one of the problematic areas of
morphological theory and one on which there is perhaps more disagreement than
any other aspects. He adds that inflection is traditionally regarded as a
change in grammatical or morphosyntactic form of the word (or lexeme) as
opposed to derivation which is the formation of new lexemes from other lexemes.
Therefore derivation typically changes the syntactic class membership of the
word, such as, adjective to noun, noun to verb, verb to adverb etc. while
inflection does not change the word class here. This argument seems to fit in
the description of Indo European language better but not really in Bantu
languages (Hehe in particular). This is because in Bantu languages derivation
may involve only the semantic change and not necessarily the change of word
category.
Kiango, (2000:138) explains that that
inflection does not induce the change in grammatical category but manifests
different inflectional category, regular paradigms, semantic regularity and
finally morphological irregularity. Hehe languages inflections exhibit similar
behaviors by most of its verbal constructions in which what changes are
inflectional categories, regular paradigms, especially intense and aspect
system. In that case inflection should therefore be understood as a
morphological process just like derivation. But, whereas derivation forms new
words (lexemes) and/or new meaning, inflection does not; rather it encodes only
grammatical functions.
2.2.
Verbal inflection
Mkanganwi, (2002:175) in his
explanation on verbal derivation in Shona argues that inflectional affixes are
those that mark such things as number, gender/class, tense, aspect and mood. While
that is true with Shona, Hehe language seem to have more element such as
negation, subject makers, tense aspect and mood, object markers.
Booij, (2005) identifies verbal
inflection dimensions as tense, aspect, mood, and voice. He stated that there
are three important categories of inherent inflection of verb; tense, mood and
aspect. Many languages have overt marking for these categories, and in language
description one usually finds a description of the Tense-Mood-Aspect system (TAM).
In addition there is the category voice (such as active versus passive forms)
that is sometimes considered as part of verbal inflection.
Another discussion that
has to be addressed is the number of affixes that a verb may accomodate.
Languages differ significantly on the number of these affixes. Dunham (2002:2)
for example identifies that Langi a Bantu language from Kondoa region has up to
seven verbal elements each one occupying its own position in the slot system of
the language.
Mkanganwi,
(2002), also presents seven elements where he comments that suffixes are
derivational, while all inflectional affixes in Shona are prefixal and vice
versa. While that is true
with Shona and Langi, Kuria has eighteen,
(Cammenga 2004), Runyambo thirteen, (Rugemalira
2005), Rutara eight slots (Muzale 1998),
and Kiswahili has ten slots (Lindfors
2003). Generally there is variation across languages on the number of elements
in the slot system of the verbal elements; the same difference will be
reflected in Hehe language.
2.3.
Review of
Verbal Morphology in Hehe
Studies that
have been conducted about Hehe language exist in scarce; such studies are like,
Crema (1987), Syllable Structure in
Kihehe (Odden1996), Mateene,
et al (Eds.) (1979), Bena-Hehe-Grammatik.
(Priebusch 1935), Tense
and Aspect in Ikihehe (Mtavangu 2008) and Noun Classification in Kihehe, (Msigwa 2008). Of all
these studies none has made an in-depth analysis of the verb structure. Such
gap of knowledge is a compelling force for this study.
3.
Methodology
In this the study primary data was
collected from twelve Hehe native speakers’ aged 25 to 40 years. A list of
Swahili sentences with various verbal constructions was presented to them to
translate in Hehe. Also the researcher used introspection because of the
knowledge he has on the language. Moreover, the researcher applied documentary
review of the existing literatures about Hehe language. Data which were
collected from all these sources were analyzed to see what is really contained
in the verbal structure in terms of inflectional affixes, (their behavior and
order) in the light of Bantu inflectional morphology.
3.1. Methods
of Data analysis
Following
the fact that this study will be analyzing a complex structure of the verbs
which are agglutinative in nature, this requires fragmentation methods by using
hyphens, coding system and tabulation. All these are used to simplify the
interpretation of data and to avoid verbalism in data analysis.
4. Data
analysis, Findings and Discussion
4.1. Verb Structure
From the data analyzed the verb form in
Hehe seems to have a complex agglutinative system composed of eleven slots
occupied by different affixes both inflectional and derivational. These
elements are not all necessarily present in a given verb form, but always
appear in a fixed order. Therefore the Hehe verbal structure can be presented
as follows:
Table 1 Verbal
slots matrix
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
|
REL
|
NEG
|
SM
|
NEG
|
TAM
|
OM/REF
|
ROOT
|
EXT
|
PEF
|
FV
|
CLITICS
|
|
|
si-
|
-tu-
|
|
-ku-
|
-mu-
|
iuk
|
|
|
a
|
|
|
|
NEG
|
SM
|
|
Prs
|
OM
|
remember
|
|
|
FV
|
|
|
‘we are not remembering him/her’
|
||||||||||
|
ve-
|
si-
|
va-
|
|
-ka-
|
-mu-
|
-tof-
|
|
-il-
|
-e
|
|
|
REL
|
NEG
|
SM
|
|
P2
|
SM
|
beat
|
|
PEF
|
|
|
|
‘the one who did not beat him/her’
|
||||||||||
|
|
|
-u-
|
-la-
|
|
-va-
|
-wop-
|
-el-
|
|
-a-
|
-ga
|
|
|
|
SM
|
NEG
|
|
OM
|
tie
|
APPL
|
|
FV
|
HAB
|
|
‘do not get used of tieying for them’
|
||||||||||
|
we-
|
|
-mw-
|
|
-a-
|
-kwi-
|
-mog-
|
-el-
|
|
-a
|
|
|
REL
|
|
SM
|
|
Prs
|
REF
|
shave
|
APPL
|
|
FV
|
|
|
‘which you usually shave with’
|
||||||||||
|
|
|
a-
|
-la-
|
|
-va-
|
-kin-
|
-is-
|
|
-a
|
-ga
|
|
|
|
SM
|
NEG
|
|
OM
|
-play-
|
CAUS
|
|
FV
|
HAB
|
|
‘he/she should not cause them to
play’
|
||||||||||
|
|
si-
|
A
|
|
|
va-
|
-hek-
|
|
-it-
|
-e
|
|
|
|
NEG
|
SM
|
|
|
OM
|
laugh
|
|
PEF
|
|
|
|
‘he/she did not laugh at them’
|
||||||||||
The root constitutes
the morphological and semantic core of the verb. It is the most basic form of
the verb to which affixes may be added. The structure constitutes two groups of
verbal elements, the pre-root
elements and the post-root elements. In
Hehe language both pre-root and post-root position may constitute derivational
or inflectional affixes. This study confines itself to whatever is inflectional
that is found in the morphology of the Hehe verb as per definition of
inflection in the literature review. Basing on the verbal structure given in Table1 above, Hehe verbal stem can be
inflected for negation, subject of the
verb, the object of the verb, tense, aspect, mood, relative, reflexive all
of which exists in a fixed order. These inflectional markers are described here
below.
4.2.
Inflectional Morphology
4.2.1. Relative
Inflection
In Hehe language there is no
distinction in relative marking depending on whether or not the object or
subject is relativized. The relative marker is the vowel {–e} in the pre-initial position of the verbal matrix which is
prefixed by the class prefix of a noun subjected to relativization. Consider
the following examples:
i.
u-munu ye-a-ly-e ‘the person who has eaten’
Ppx-person REL-SM-eat-FV
ii.
umunu yet-u-ku-m-keme-la ‘the person who we are calling’
Ppx-person REL-SM-PROG-OM-call-FV
4.2.2. Negation
inflection
The data analyzed shows that Hehe
language has got a complex system of negation. There is a morphological
negation and lexical negation. Morphological negation is marked by using a
prefix {si-} which occupy slot 2 in
the verbal template and {–la-} which
is attached to the position immediately after the subject marker in slot 4. Consider
the following examples.
iii.
Umwana si-i-ly-a ichakulya ‘the child is not eating food’
Child NEG-SM-eat-FV food
iv.
Avana ve-si-vi-bit-a kusule si-va-faul-a-nda ‘children who don’t go to school won’t
Children
REL-NEG-SM-go-FV school NEG-SM-pass-FV.
v.
Si-ndi-bit-a kunega ululenga nda! ‘I don’t go to fetch water’
NEG-SM-go-FV
to fetch water
vi.
Yuvetu Telesa si-a-ká-fw-i
idaha ndaa.
Our
mother Theresia NEG-SM-P2-die-FV long time
vii.
Milau si-wi-bit-a ‘tomorrow
you are not going’
Tomorrow-NEG-SM-go-FV
viii.
Avana wa-la-bit-a kumakabuli ‘children
should not go to the cemetery’
Children
SM-NEG-go-FV to the cemetery
ix.
Ndi-la-nyw-a ululenga? ‘Should I not drink?’
SM-NEG-drink-FV
water
The distribution of negative markers {si-} and {–la-} is morphologically determined. The verb takes a negative
marker {si-} after relative marker (iv) and before the SM in the indicative
mood, interrogative mood and command to show prohibition. On the other hand the
verb takes {–la-} in the position immediately after the SM interrogatives as in
(viii), and imperative, or order. The REL and NEG occupying initial slots
may co-occur. The negative marker {si-} and {-la-} are multually exclusive, meaning
that when one of the marker occur the other one does not occur.
Lexical negation in Hehe is expressed
by a lexical verb lem-a-‘shindwa’
which express the idea of inability to,
not being able to, or, should not do. This
verb is always formed by a SM, a verb stem and followed by a formative {–ag-}
and a vowel {–e} or {–a} which alternate depending on the
mood. Consider the following examples:
i.
Umwana a-lemw-ag-e ukubita kunega ululenga ‘a child should not go
to fetch water’
Child SM-NEG- Clitic-FV to go
to fetch water
ii.
Ndi-lemw-ag-e ukunywa nda? ‘Should I not drink?
SM-NEG-Clitic-FV
Both morphological and lexical negation
can be optionally accompanied by the word –nda!
as a marker for insisting the sense of negativity as it is the case for
Kiswahili katu. (See examples above).
While the morphological markers of negation {si-} and {-la-} are mutually
exclusive, the negative marker {la-} and the lexeme {lem-a} are in
complementally distribution.
4.2.3. Subject and Object Inflection
The subject and object inflectional
markers encode person, number or class on the verb. The
SM occupies stot 3 while the OM occupies slot 6 (cf Table 1). In the
indicative the subject is obligatory for all finite verb forms. Subject and
Object markers are identical with the Agreement Class Prefix (ACP) of the noun
in all class.
For example:
x.
Avahinza va-kin-it-e imangala
‘girls has danced mangala’
Girls SM-dance-PF-FV mangala
xi.
Umwana a-ndi-tof-il-e ‘the child has beat me’
Child SM-OM-beat-PF-FV
xii.
Umukwamisi
a-ndi-s-il-e ‘the
boy has insulted me’
Boy
SM-OM-insult-PF-FV
xiii.
Nene ndi-bit-a
kuchanya ‘I am going to heaven’
I SM-go-FV to heaven
xiv.
Veve u-ly-a pambele ‘you
will eat later’
You SM-eat-FV later
4.2.4. Multiple
Objects
Hehe is an OM1 language similar to Kiswahili, Xhosa and Chewa, (Nurse and Philippson 2003:124)
and Kagulu (Verlag 2000). Even if
there will be more than one objects in the clause it allow maximally one object
marker inside the verb. Unlike Chaga, Haya, Rwanda, and Tswana which multiple
objects may be expressed by object markers (Nurse and Philippson 2003:124). It
is always the case that the kind of object which is marked in the verb is the
indirect object. The animate object is what is coded on the verb if several
objects appear in the phrase.
4.2.5.
kwi-/ki- reflexive
and reciprocal
In the OM slot, the reflexive and
reciprocal may occur.
For example:
xv.
U-mu-hinza a-kwi-bak-a mafuta “the girl is smearing herself with oil’
Ppx-1-girl
SM1-REFL-smear-FV oil
xvi.
A-va-hinza va-ki-bak-ite mafuta ‘girls smeared
themselves with oil’
Ppx-2-girl SM-REFL-smear-PF oil
xvii.
Avana va-kwi-tov-a ‘children
are beating each other’
Children
SM-REC-beat-FV
xviii.
Avanafunzi va-kwi-nonel-a ‘students
are kissing each other’
Students SM-REC-kiss-FV
The OM and REFL/REC are mutually exclusive.
4.2.3.
Tense,
Mood and Aspect (TAM) inflection
The other element in the slot system of
the verb is the Tense, Mood and Aspect (TAM). Hehe possess a rich TAM
system that exhibits a great diversity of forms. Tense is the representation of
the time that contains an event. Aspect refers to how an event or action is to
be viewed with respect to time, rather than to its actual location in time. Tense and aspect encoding involves the
combination of three main components: inflection of verbs and tone. These may
optionally be supported by the use of temporal adverbials and periphrastic
expressions with respect to discourse of conversation.
Tense
The findings show that Hehe language
marks tense in verbs. Basically there are three tenses; present tense, past
tense and future tense which are further divided into subcategories. Thus in
past tense there is far past, middle past and recent past where as in future
tense there is near future and far future respectively. These are discussed
here bellow as follows.
4.2.3.1. Far Past
Far past tense expresses the events
that took place or occurred many years ago. This is marked by a morpheme {a:}
or {i} which is accompanied by the perfective morphemes {é-ílè–ítè/-,- ike-‘ise}. Together
with those morphological markers far past is usually associated with adverbs
which express the notion of far past and high tone in the perfective vowel.
Consider the following examples
xix.
Umamangu a:-lw-ík-e pa filo fya nzala
My
brother P1-born-PF-FV
during famine season
xx.
Imyaka jila tw-a:-pat-ít-e fyakulya fyolofu
Those years SM-P1-get-PF-FV food plenty
xxi.
Pamtalo tw-a:-gus-ís-e hilo masebele
Long ago
SM-P1-sell-PF-FV very much maize
xxii.
Pa wana tw-i-tof-íl-e hilo
During child
hood SM-P1-beat-PF-FV very much
xxiii.
Mkwava a:-tem-íl-e iyinyi wunofu
Mkwawa P1-rule-PF-FV kingdom nicely
4.2.3.2.
Middle Past
The Middle past is the category in the
past tense that describes that the event or action took place or happened yesterday
or a few days ago, away from the time of the speech. It is marked by a morpheme
{–ka:}
or {–ki-}
and sometimes by a high tone in the final vowel without an overt marking then accompanied with the perfective maker as in
the far past (optionally with an adverb). Consider the following examples:
xxiv.
Isusi nda-ká-chel-iw-e kubita kusule
The day before yesterdays-P2-late-PF-FV to go to
school
xxv.
A-ká-kam-it-e lisiva
igloo pamihye
SM-P2-milk-PF-FV
milk yesterday evening
xxvi.
Va-kí-tof-il-e
peviwene
SM-P2-beat-PF-F
V when they met
xxvii.
Tu-ká-tem-it-e uwulaasi
SM-P2-tape-PF-FV
bamboo juice
xxviii.
Yuvet Telesa si-a-ká-fw-i
idaha ndaa.
Our
mother Theresia NEG-SM-P2-die-FV long time
xxix.
Avagenzi va-hel-é
Guests SM-left-FV
4.2.4.
Present tense
There is no
any distinctive morphological element which is used to mark present tense,
instead, speakers tend to use aspectual markers such as progressive
{-kιι-}/{-i-} to refer to actions or events which occur at present. This means
that, present tense exists only by virtue of association with some
aspects such as progressive and retrospective forms. See examples below.
xxx.
Tw-í-tov-a avayetu ‘we are
hitting our friends’
SM-PROG-hit-FV
our friends
xxxi.
Tu-ku-mw-iwuk-a uyuvetu
Telesa
‘we are remembering our Mother Theresa’
SM-PROG-OM-remember-FV
our mother Theresa
xxxii.
Tu-ku-ibat-a avana ‘we are
catching children’
SM-Prs-catch-FV
4.2.5. Future Tense
Hehe language divides future tense into
the near future and far future.
4.2.5.1. Near future
Near future has no overt morphological
marker. It is marked by a rising tone in the final vowel for short verbs and rising
tone of the root vowel in the multisyllabic verbs. In non-deictic expressions
it is accompanied by an adverbial. Consider the following examples.
xxxiii.
Tubíta milawu
We will
go tomorrow
xxxiv.
Ndilyá pambele
I will
eat later
xxxv.
Ng’imbíla
pendimuwene
I will
run when I see him
xxxvi.
Avagenzi volofu vása
pambele
Many
guests will come later
4.2.5.2.
Far Future
The data examined so far indicates that
there is slight different between far future and near future. One of the main differences
is the contextual use of statements expressing far future time and that
expressing near future. Far future will be in most cases marked by using the
rising tone of the root vowel as in the near future and adverbials of time that
shows that the event will take place in the very remote future. i.e kumwaka ‘next year’, Consider the following examples.
xxxvii.
Ndi-mu-sindík-a kusule
kumwaka ‘ I will send him/her to school next year’
SM- OM-
send-FV to school next year
xxxviii. Inguluvi peyiwendite
túsa kumwaka ‘God if
wish we will come next year’
Both far future and near future may be expressed optionally
by a pre-clitic {saa-}which does not fit in the pre-initial position of
the verbal matrix.
xliv.
Saa-ndi-mu-sindík-a
kusule ‘ I will send him/her to school year’
Clitic-SM- OM- send-FV to school next year
xlv.
Inguluvi peyiwendite
saa-tú-s-a ‘God if wish we will come next year’
God if wish CLITIC-SM-come-FV
In Hehe language, tone plays a very
great role as a grammatical aspect as it marks the contrast in various tenses.
Moreover temporal adverbial plays a very important role in expressing events in
the future times.
4.2.6.
Aspect inflection
As already defined above, aspects are
different representations of the time within the event. Nurse and Philippson
(2003) assert that aspects appear to be more basic than tense across Bantu.
That is, the same few aspect- categories occur constantly, with relatively
little variation, while the tenses vary more. Even when their morphological
exponent is destroyed or recycled, aspects are often maintained in a new guise.
The data analyzed show that Hehe has five aspects: Progressive, Habitual, Perfective, Anterior, and Persisitive
4.2.6.1. Progressive:
In Hehe the progressive
indicates a process which is ongoing at the time of the speech. It is often
used to signify that one is in the middle of doing something and therefore
unable to respond to a demand. It
is found in all tenses with some changes in tone. Also the progressive aspect
can be morphologically marked by the morpheme {ku-}. Consider the following
examples:
xlvi.
Tu-ku-mw-iuk-a Teresa “we are remembering Teresa”
SM-Prog-OM-remember-FV
Teresa
4.2.6.2.
Habitual
Habitual is an aspect which
expresses actions that take place habitually or repeatedly. It does not refer
to any particular event, and is therefore not about any particular event-time.
Consequently, it lacks one of the crucial features of tense and gets its
treatment as an imperfective aspect (Givón 2001:286). Habitual in Hehe is
marked by the morpheme {-aí-} for present
and {-ag-} with its variant {-ig-} which change with respect to
past tense.
xlvii.
Vana v-ai-tov-w-a kukaye
Children SM-HAB-beat -PASS- FVat
home
‘children get beaten often at home’
xlviii.
ingoma s -ai-
kuv-w-a kusule
Drums SM-HAB-beat-PASS-FV
‘drums get beaten to school’
xlix.
vana v-ai-tov-an-a-ga
Children SM-HAB-tov-RECPL-FV-HAB
‘children do beat each other’
l.
v-ai- hig-an-a-ga kwa balosi
SM-HAB-judge-REC-FV-HAB to the ten-cell
leader
‘they do judge each other to the ten-
cell leader’
4.2.6.3.
The
Perfective
Hehe marks perfective by the perfective
morphemes such as {–ile/-ite/-e/-ise}. These forms are realized differently
depending on the type of verb. It is in this aspect where imbrications process finds its highest expression. However
this process will not be dealt with in this paper hence its discussion will
require a complete separate study. Consider the following examples:
li.
umwana i-im-íte
pamulyango The
child stood at the door
child SM-stand-PF at the door
lii.
A-hudik-e inzagala he/she has tightened fire
woods
SM-tighten-PF
firewood
liii.
A-gus-ise amasebele
he/she has old maize
SM-sell-PF maize
liv.
A-fw-e-ete ikilatu ‘he/she
has worn shoes
SM-wear-PF
shoes
lv.
A-s-íle igolo ‘He/she
came yesterday’
SM-come-PF
yesterday
4.2.6.4.
Persisitive
In Hehe persistive is expressed by an
auxiliary {‘pe:-}. Consider the examples:
lvi.
pe: va-nywa ‘they are still
drinking’
lvii.
pe: a-vasa ‘s/he is still sleeping’
Table 4: the summary of Tense and
Aspect Formatives in Hehe
|
Pre-Initial
|
|
In
|
Pre-Root
Formatives
|
Verbal Base
|
Final
|
Final
|
Temporal Adverbial
|
|
|
PreIn
|
T/A
|
SM
|
T/A
4
|
VB
|
PF
|
HAB
|
FV
(-a/-ɛ)
|
ADV
|
|
|
P3
|
tu
|
-ø-
|
- lim-
|
-it-
|
-e
|
pamilau
|
|
|
|
|
SM
|
P3
|
Cultivate
|
PF
|
FV
|
morning
|
|
|
|
P2
|
tu-
|
-ká-
|
- lim-
|
-it
|
-e
|
igloo
|
|
|
|
|
SM
|
P2
|
Cultivate
|
PF
|
FV
|
yesterday
|
|
|
|
P1
|
tu-
|
-a-
|
-lim-
|
-it
|
-e
|
idaha
|
|
|
|
|
SM
|
P1
|
Cultivate
|
PF
|
FV
|
long ago
|
|
|
|
Prs
|
tu-
|
-í-/-kú-
|
-lim-
|
|
|
-a
|
|
|
|
|
SM
|
Prs
|
Cultivate
|
|
|
FV
|
|
|
|
F1
|
tu
|
-ø-
|
-lím-
|
|
|
-a
|
milao
|
|
|
|
SM
|
F1
|
Cultivate
|
|
|
FV
|
tomorrow
|
|
|
F2
|
tu
|
-ø-
|
-lím-
|
|
|
-a
|
kumwaka
|
|
|
|
SM
|
F1
|
Cultivate
|
|
|
FV
|
next year
|
|
|
Prog
|
tu-
|
-kú-, -i-
|
-lim-
|
-a
|
|||
|
|
|
SM
|
Prog
|
Cultivate
|
FV
|
|||
|
|
Pf
|
tu-
|
-ø-
|
-lim-
|
-íte
|
-e
|
-
|
|
|
|
|
SM
|
Cultivate
|
PF
|
FV
|
|||
|
|
HAB
|
tu-
|
-ai-
|
-lim-
|
|
-ag
|
-a
|
kila siku
|
|
|
|
SM
|
HAB
|
Cultivate
|
|
|
FV
|
daily
|
|
Pe
|
Persis
|
tu
|
-ø-
|
-lim-
|
-a
|
-
|
||
|
Persis
|
|
SM
|
Cultivate
|
FV
|
||||
The
sentences in table 4 above are listed below.
lviii.
1. tu-lím-ite
‘we have cultivated in the morning’ (Immediate past)
lix.
2. tu-ká-lim-ite igloo ‘we cultivated yesterday (Middle
past)
lx.
3. tu-a-lim-ite idaha (tw-aa-lim-ite) ‘we had cultivated long time ago’ (far
past)
lxi.
4. tu-ø-lím-a milao ‘we shall cultivate tomorrow’ (Future
tense)
lxii.
5. tu-i-lim-a inodee ‘we are cultivating now’ (progressive
aspect)
lxiii.
6. tu-ø-lim-íte ‘we have cultivated’ (perfective
aspect)
lxiv.
7. tu-a-i-lim-ag-a kila siku ‘we
frequently cultivate’ (habitual aspect)
lxv.
8. pe-tu-lim-a ‘we are still cultivating’ (persisitive
aspect)
4.2.7.
Mood inflection
Hehe language as many other Bantu languages
may also inflect for mood that encodes the different senses of the verb that
reflect the attitude of the speaker. The following moods are admissible in Hehe language: infinitive mood, the indicative mood, the
imperative mood and the subjunctive mood
4.2.7.1.
The
infinitive mood
Mood expresses the action of the verb
in an unlimited way and does not make a distinction of tense, subject, number
and person Kiango (2000:173). Hehe infinitive mood is inflected by the
infinitive marker {ku-}. Consider infinitive verbs like:
lxvi.
ku-kina ‘to play’
lxvii.
ku-gima ‘to dig’
lxviii. ku-fyula ‘to sharpen’
4.2.7.2.
The
Indicative mood
Expresses statements and questions,
they constitute the most common clause type in the language.
i.
Umwana ahele kusule ‘the child has gone to school’
ii.
Avana vabita kukaye milau ‘children
will go home tomorrow’
iii.
Nzusa lusiku ‘I will come
one day’
4.2.7.3.
The
Imperative mood
Expresses order or command in both affirmative and negative
sentences. The verbal form can allow the indication of number, person and the
object. In Hehe language the final vowel for imperative mood is morphologically
shown by {–e} for affirmative and
{-a} for negative. Moreover
the imperative consist of verbal stem with a vowel ---e
in present tense and ---a in future tense. Consider the
examples below:
lxix.
Telek-e ‘cook’
lxx.
m-tegul-e ‘you(pl.) take
lxxi.
Bit-e ‘go’
lxxii.
u-ka-va- pel-e ‘go
and give them’
lxxiii. Avana wa-la-bit-a
kumakabuli ‘children
should not go to the cemetery’
lxxiv.
Lim-e! ‘cultivate’
lxxv.
Bite ukavategul-e! ‘go and pick them’
lxxvi.
U-ly-a! ‘you will
4.2.7.4.
Subjunctive Mood
It is formed with SM or OM, the verb root and
final vowel –a in future tense and –e in present
For example
lxxvii. Lasima ndi-ly-a ‘I must eat (future)’
lxxviii. Lasima ndi-ly-e ‘I must eat (Present)’
Concluding remarks
This article has addressed different issues
concerning the basics of verbal inflection in Hehe. The findings indicate that
the order of verbal inflectional affixes in the verb template is fixed. However
this study has confined itself to what is so basic about verbal inflection;
further studies should be done on the in-depth behavior of the described
aspects of inflections in the languages. For example this study has revealed
that tone plays a big role in marking tense (future tense) there for the tonal
aspect here calls for further research.
Moreover this study has analyzed one of the aspects of
verbal morphology (inflection). Further studies should be done on derivation in
Hehe language that will help to see how the two morphological processes
operate.
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comments contributed a lot in improving this article.
