Non-culmination in two Bantu languages
This paper describes an exploratory approach to two related aspectual phenomena, non-culminating accomplishments
and non-culminating construals of implied-result verbs, in the Bantu languages Xhosa and Nyakyusa. While documented for a diverse
array of languages, leading to the identification of some cross-linguistic commonalities and axes of variation, these phenomena
have so far not been studied for any continental African language. Both Xhosa and Nyakyusa license non-culminating accomplishments
but differ regarding the felicity of such construals with different sub-types of accomplishments in relation to event progress, a
decisive factor being that Nyakyusa possesses verbal partitive morphology. Concerning the non-culmination of implied-result verbs,
both languages show such readings and support prior cross-linguistic findings that zero change readings are more readily available
with agentive subjects. The data further point to the potential role of causative morphology as a parameter of variation to be
considered in further comparative research on these verbs.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 1.1Non-culmination
- 1.2Non-culmination cross-linguistically, and in the African context
- 1.3Goal and scope of the present study
- 1.4Definitions
- 2.The languages under study
- 2.1Geographic, demographic and genetic background
- 2.2Morphosyntactic profile and the structure of the verb
- 2.3Outline of tense-aspect systems
- 2.4The Nyakyusa partitive
- 3.Data collection
- 4.Non-culminating accomplishments
- 4.1Delimiting NCAs
- 4.2NCAs in Xhosa and Nyakyusa: A first look
- 4.3Cross-linguistic axes of variation
- 4.4Predicates examined
- 4.5Culmination vs. termination
- 4.6Felicity depending on event progress and predicate class
- 4.6.1Non-motion verbs
- 4.6.2Motion verbs
- 4.7Numerical plural objects
- 4.8NCAs and the Xhosa conjoint-disjoint alternation
- 4.9Intermediate summary
- 5.Non-culminating readings of implied-result verbs
- 5.1Defining implied-result verbs
- 5.2Implied-result verbs in Xhosa and Nyakyusa: A first look
- 5.3Cross-linguistic observations on implied-result verbs
- 5.4Predicates examined
- 5.5Morphological causatives and non-culminating readings
- 5.6The role of subject agency
- 5.7Implied-result verbs and the Xhosa conjoint/disjoint alternation
- 5.8Intermediate summary
- 6.Conclusion and outlook
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
- Abbreviations
-
References
References (82)
Alexiadou, Artemis, Fabienne Martin & Florian Schäfer
2017 Optionally
causative manner verbs: When implied results get entailed. Available at:
[URL] (last
access 16 February
2021).
Arche, María J.
2017 Perfective but incomplete
accomplishments. Available at
[URL] (last
access 16 February
2021).
Asiimwe, Allen
2014 Definiteness
and specificity in
Runyankore-Rukiga. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University PhD dissertation.
Bar-el, Leora
2015 Documenting
and identifying aspectual classes across languages. In
M. Ryan Bochnak &
Lisa Matthewson (eds.),
Methodologies
in semantic
fieldwork, 75–109. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bar-el, Leora, Henry Davis & Lisa Matthewson
2005 On
non-culminating accomplishments. In
Leah Bateman &
Cherlon Ussery (eds.),
Proceedings
of the 35th annual meeting of the North East Linguistics
Society, 87–102. Amherst: GSLA Publications.
Bastin, Yvonne
1983 La
finale verbale -ide et l’imbrication en
bantou. Tervuren: Musee Royale de l’Afrique Centrale.
Boyd, Jeremy K. & Adele E. Goldberg
2011 Learning
what NOT to say: the role of statistical preemption and categorization in a-adjective
production.
Language 87(1). 55–83.
Budd, Peter
2014 Partitives
in Oceanic languages. In
Silvia Luraghi &
Thomas Huumo (eds.),
Partitive
cases and related
categories, 523–561. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Carstens, Vicki & Loyiso Mlethse
2019 (In-)definiteness
without articles in two Bantu languages. Available at
[URL] (last
access 16 February
2021).
Chen, Sihwei
2017 Initial
stages of events: the Atayal unmarked predicates. In
Aaron Kaplan,
Abby Kaplan,
Miranda K. McCarvel &
Edward J. Rubin (eds.),
Proceedings
of the 34th West Coast Conference on Formal
Linguistics, 107–114. Somerville: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
Civardi, Eugenio & Pier Marco Bertinetto
2015 The
semantics of degree verbs and the telicity issue.
Borealis – An International Journal of
Hispanic
Linguistics 40(1). 57–77.
Crane, Thera & Bastian Persohn
2019a What’s
in a Bantu verb? Actionality in Bantu languages.
Linguistic
Typology 23(2). 303–345.
Crane, Thera & Bastian Persohn
2019b A
model-theoretic discussion of Bantu actionality.
Africana
Linguistica 251. 27–63.
Creissels, Denis, Gerrit J. Dimmendaal, Zygmunt Frajzingier & Christa König
2008 Africa
as a morphosyntactic area. In
Bernd Heine &
Derek Nurse (eds.),
A
linguistic geography of
Africa, 105–150. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Demirdache, Hamida & Fabienne Martin
Dixon, Robert M. W.
1982 Where have all the adjectives
gone? Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Doke, Clemens Martyn
1954 The Southern Bantu
languages. London: Oxford University Press.
Filip, Hana
1999 Aspect,
eventuality types, and nominal reference. New York: Routledge.
Goddard, Cliff
2001 Lexico-semantic
universals: a critical overview.
Linguistic
Typology 51. 1–65.
Gowlett, Derek
2003 Zone
S. In
Derek Nurse &
Gérard Philippson (eds.),
The
Bantu
languages, 609–638. London: Routledge.
Grégoire, Claire
1975 Les
locatifs en bantou. Tervuren: Musée royal de l’Afrique centrale.
Guéron, Jacqueline & Svetlana Vogeleer
2019 Non-culminating
accomplishments: subject, speaker and syntactic structure. Unpublished
manuscript.
Guthrie, Malcolm
1971 Comparative
Bantu: An introduction to the comparative linguistics and prehistory of the Bantu languages. Vol. 2: Bantu prehistory,
inventory and indexes. London: Gregg International.
Güldemann, Tom
1999 The
genesis of verbal negation in Bantu and its dependency on functional features of clause
types. In
Jean-Marie Hombert &
Larry M. Hyman (eds.),
Bantu
historical
linguistics, 545–587. Stanford: Centre for the Study of Language and Information.
Gyamarthy, Zsófia & Daniel Gordonn Altshuler
2020 (Non)culmination
by
abduction.
Linguistics 58(5). 1373–1411.
Haspelmath, Martin
2010 Comparative
concepts and descriptive categories in crosslinguistic
studies.
Language 86(3). 663–687.
Hay, Jennifer, Christopher Kennedy & Beth Levin
1999 Scalar
structure underlies telicity in “degree achievements”.
Semantics and Linguistic
Theory 91.127–144.
Koenig, Jean-Pierre & Lian-Cheng Chief
2008 Scalarity
and state-changes in Mandarin (and other languages).
Empirical Issues in Syntax and
Semantics 71. 241–262.
Koenig, Jean-Pierre & Nuttantart Muansuwan
2000 How
to end without ever finishing: Thai semi-perfectivity.
Journal of
Semantics 171. 147–184.
Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria, Martine Vanhove & Peter Koch
2007 Typological
appraoches to lexical semantics.
Linguistic
Typology 11(1). 159–185.
Levin, Beth & Malka Rappaport Hovav
2005 Argument
realization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lin, Jimmy
2004 Event
structure and the encoding of arguments: The syntax of the Mandarin and English verb
phrase. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology doctoral dissertation.
Maho, Jouni Filip
2009 NUGL Online: The online
version of the new updated Guthrie list, a referential classification of the Bantu
languages. Available at
[URL] (last
access 16 February
2021).
Martin, Fabienne
2019 Non-culminating
accomplishments.
Language and Linguistics
Compass 13(8). e12346.
Martin, Fabienne & Florian Schäfer
2012 The
modality of ‘offer’ and other defeasible causatives. In
Nathan Arnett &
Ryan Bennett (eds.),
Proceedings
of the 30th West Coast Conference on Formal
Linguistics, 248–258. Somerville: Cascadilla Procedings Project.
Martin, Fabienne & Florian Schäfer
2013 On
the argument structure of of verbs with bi- and mono-eventive
uses. In
Stefan Keine &
Shayne Slogget (eds.),
Proceedings
of the 42nd Meeting of the North East Linguistic
Society, 297–308. Amherst: GLSA.
Martin, Fabienne & Florian Schäfer
2017 Sublexical
modality in defeasible causative verbs. In
Ana Arregui,
María Luisa Rivero &
Andrés Salanova (eds.),
Modality
across syntactic
categories, 97–108. Oxford: Oxford University press.
Martin, Fabienne & Hamida Demirdache
2020 Partitive
accomplishments across
languages.
Linguistics 58(5). 1192–1232.
Martin, Fabienne, Margaret Grant, Florian Schäfer & Christopher Piñón
2019 Non-culminating
telic path descriptions. Paper presented at the Workshop on Event
Semantics, Humboldt University of Berlin, November 1, 2019.
Martin, Fabienne, Zsófia Gyamarthy & Károly Varasdi
2016 On
non-culminating interpretations of telic predicates. Fall School on Tense, Mood, and Aspect. Paris
5 &
7 November 2016.
Matthewson, Lisa
2004 On
the methodology of semantic fieldwork.
International Journal of American
Linguists 70(4). 369–415.
McLaren, James
1936 A
Xhosa
grammar. London: Longmans.
Meeussen, A. E.
1967 Bantu
lexical reconstructions.
Africana
Linguistica 31. 80–122.
Mous, Maarten
2007 Language
documentation as a challenge to description. Available at
[URL] (last
access 17 February
2021).
Muzale, Henry R. T. & Josephat M. Rugemalira
2008 Researching
and documenting the languages of Tanzania.
Language Documentation &
Conservation 2(1). 68–108.
Nakazawa, Tsuneko
2006 Motion
event and decitic motion verbs as path-conflating verbs. In
Stefan Müller (ed.),
Proceedings
of the 13th International Conference on Head Driven Phrase Structure
Grammar, 284–304. Stanford: Centre for the Study of Language and Information.
Nurse, Derek
2008 Tense
and aspect in Bantu. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Oehrle, Richard Thomas
1976 The grammatical status of
the English dative
alternation. Cambridge: Massachussetes Institute of Technology doctoral dissertation.
Ogiela, Diane, Cristina Schmitt & Michael Casby
2014 Interpretation
of verb phrase telicity: Sensitivity to verb type and determiner type.
Journal of Speech,
Language, and Hearing
Research 3(57). 865–875.
Oosthuysen, Jacobus Christian
2016 The grammar of
isiXhosa. Stellenbosch: African Sun Media.
Pan South African Language
Board
2008 Spelling and orthography rules for
isiXhosa.
Paul, Ileana, Baholisa Simone Ralalaoherivony & Henriette de Swart
2015 Aspect
and modality in Malagasy maha. In
Santa Vinerte (ed.),
Proceedings
of the 2015 Annual Conference of the Canadian Linguistic
Association. Ottawa: Canadian Linguistics Society.
Paul, Ileana, Baholisa Simone Ralalaoherivony & Henriette de Swart
2016 Malagasy
maha at the crossroads of voice, causation and modality. In
Emily Clem,
Virginia Dawson,
Alice Shen,
Amalia Skilton,
Geoff Bacon,
Andrew Cheng &
Erik Maier (eds.),
Proceedings
of the 42nd meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics
Society, 353–368. Berkeley: Berkeley Linguistics Society, University of California.
Paul, Ileana, Baholisa Simone Ralalaoherivony & Henriette de Swart
2020 Culminating
and non-culminating accomplishments in
Malagasy.
Linguistics 58(5). 1285–1322.
Pederson, Eric
2008 Event
realization in Tamil. In
Melissa Bowerman &
Penelope Brown (eds.),
Crosslinguistic
perspectives on argument structure: implications for
learnability, 331–355. Mahwah: Erlbaum.
Persohn, Bastian
2017a The
verb in Nyakyusa: A focus on tense, aspect, and
modality. Berlin: Language Science Press.
Persohn, Bastian
2017b Locative
and extra-locative clitics in Nyakyusa.
Africana
Linguistica 231. 151–165.
Persohn, Bastian & Maud Devos
2017 Post-final
locatives in Bantu: Axes of variation and non-locative functions.
Africana
Linguistica 231. 3–46.
Piñón, Christopher
2008 Verbs
of creation. In
Johannes Dölling,
Tatjana Heyde-Zybatow, and
Martin Schäfer (eds.),
Event
structures in linguistic form and
interpretation, 493–521. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Plessis, Jacobus A. du & Marianna Visser
1992 Xhosa
syntax. Pretoria: Via Afrika.
Rappaport Hovav, Malka & Beth Levin
1998 Building
verb meanings. In
Miriam Butt &
Wilhelm Geuder (eds.),
The
projection of arguments: lexical and compositional
factors, 97–134. Stanford: Centre for the Study of Language and Information.
Ryle, Gilbert
1949 The
concept of mind. New York: Barnes & Nobles.
Samarin, William J.
1971 Survey of Bantu
ideophones.
African Language
Studies 121. 130–168.
Sasse, Hans-Jürgen
2002 Recent
activity in the theory of aspect: Accomplishments, achievements, or just non-progressive
state? Linguistic
Typology 6(2). 199–271.
Savić, Stefan
2020 Tense
and aspect in Xhosa. Makhanda: Rhodes University PhD dissertation.
Savić, Stefan
2017 The
perfective and imperfective aspects in Xhosa.
Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics
Plus 521. 45–72.
Simons, Gary F. & Charles D. Fenning
(eds.) 2017 Ethnologue:
Languages of the world. 22nd
edn. Dallas: SIL International.
Singh, Mona
1994 Perfectivity,
definiteness and specificity: A classification of verbal predicates in
Hindi. Austin: University of Texas PhD dissertation.
Singh, Mona
1998 On
the semantics of the perfective aspect.
Natural Language
Semantics 61. 171–199.
Smith, Carlota S.
1997 The parameter of
aspect. 2nd
edn. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Soh, Hooi Ling & Jenny Yi-Chun Kuo
2005 Perfective
aspect and accomplishment situations in Mandarin Chinese. In
Henk Verkuyl,
Henriette de Swart &
Angeliek van Hout (eds.),
Perspectives
on
aspect, 199–216. Berlin: Springer.
Talmy, Leonard
1991 Path
to realization: a typology of event conflation. In
Laurel A. Sutton,
Christopher Johnson &
Ruth Shields (eds.),
Proceedings
of the 17th annual meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics
Society, 480–519. Berkeley: Berkeley Linguistics Society, University of California.
Talmy, Leonard
2000 Towards
a cognitive semantics. Vol. 2: Typology and process in concept
structuring. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Tatevosov, Sergei
2020 On
the temporal structure of non-culminating
accomplishments.
Linguistics 58(5). 1323–1371.
Tatevosov, Sergei & Mikhail Ivanov
Thepkanjana, Kingkarn & Satoshi Uehara
2009 Resultative
constructions with “implied-result” and “entailed-result” verbs in Thai and English: a contrastive
study.
Linguistics 47(3). 590–618.
Trąba, Kamil
2019 The
notion of completion in Modern Greek: An analysis of aspectively adversative
sentences. Poznań: Adam Mickiewicz University PhD dissertation.
Travis, Lisa
2010 Inner
aspect. The articulation of
VP. Amsterdam: Springer.
Travis, Lisa
2015 Agents
and causes in Malagasy and Tagalog. In
Nomi Erteschik-Schir &
Tova Rapoport (eds.),
The
syntax of aspect: Deriving thematic and aspectual
interpretation, 174–189. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Van de Velde, Mark, Koen Bostoen, Derek Nurse & Gérard Phillippson
(eds) 2019 The
Bantu languages. 2nd
edn. London: Routledge.
Van der Wal, Jenneke
2017 What
is the conjoint/disjoint alternation? Parameters of crosslinguistic
variation. In
Van der Wal, Jenneke &
Larry M. Hyman (eds.),
The
conjoint/disjoint alternation in
Bantu, 14–60. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Vendler, Zeno
1957 Verbs
and times. The Philosophical
Review 661. 143–160.
Cited by (2)
Cited by 2 other publications
Crane, Thera Marie, Remah Lubambo, M Petrus Mabena, Cordelia Nkwinika, Muhle Sibisi & Onelisa Slater
Kasher, Natasha & Aviya Hacohen
2023.
A star is drawn: Testing the culmination inferences of Russian perfective accomplishments.
Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 8:1
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.