Tense, Aspect and information structure in isiXhose

Stefan Savić

Abstract:

The predominantly agglutinating Bantu languages are known for their elaborate tense and aspect systems. Their rich verb templates do not only rely on the multiple slots for expressing temporal and aspectual relations, but also on auxiliary verb constructions. IsiXhosa, a Southern Bantu language spoken in South Africa is no exception in this respect; It has two past and two future tenses in addition to the perfective, imperfective, anterior and prospective aspects. In this talk, I discuss the functions of the temporally, aspectually and modally marked simplex and complex verb forms occurring in three isiXhosa corpora, focusing on how their meaning interacts with the concrete context in which they are used.

The data shows that isiXhosa exhibits several morphologically marked verb forms specialised for specific syntactic environments, e.g. for relative and adverbial subordinate clauses. Furthermore, the two past and two future tenses express different levels of similarity in the temporal and spatial similarity with the surrounding predicate, as well as the moment of speech. Finally, the choice of aspect reflexes the information structure of the utterance. Hence, the perfective aspect directs the focus on the phases that precede and follow the denoted event in its immediate discourse, whereas the imperfective aspect focuses its internal phases and/or the event participants.

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