here - 5th International Conference on Bantu Languages

Can’t express ‘3 days ago’ anymore! Loss of P3 in Bemba
Nancy C. Kula, University of Essex, nckula@essex.ac.uk
Sharman (1956) describes Bemba as having 4 pasts and 3 future tenses as follows: P1
for an immediate past; P2 for a past of today; P3 for a recent past of within a few days
ago; and P4 for a remote past. The future is almost similarly symmetrical but lacks the
equivalent of P3 and instead distinguishes an F1 for immediate future, F2 for a future
of today and F3 for a future after today. This paper discusses the loss of P3 within this
system. The table below shows the morphological markers including conjoint and
disjoint forms w<strong>here</strong> relevant.
TENSE CONJ DISJ CONJ/DISJ
P1 -á- -a -áa- -a F1 -alaa- -a
P2 -ácí- -a F2 -lée- -a/-lee- -a
P3
P4
-á-
-a-
-ile
-ile
-álii-
-alí-
-a
-ile
F3 -ka- -a
The Bemba tense system is currently undergoing a change that is resulting the loss of
P3 which is now hardly used by speakers both in the Copperbelt and the Northern
Provinces. P3 was used to refer to a past beyond today but less than a week ago i.e. a
recent past beyond today. One notable fact about P3 is its similarity in morphological
form with P4 with the only difference in the conjoint form being one of tone w<strong>here</strong>as
the disjoint form also differs in its ending. One explanation for the loss of P3 is in this
respect as the result of tonal neutralisation rendering P3 and P4 indistinct. With a
high-toned verb and subject marker, for example, P3 and P4 are only distinguished by
a downstep which with downdrift in P3 is further neutralised: P3: bá-á-lásh-ílé [2SM-
P3-throw-P3] vs. P4: bá -á-!lásh-ílé [2SM-P4-throw-P4] for ‘they threw (at)’.
Seen from the Botne (2012) cognitive perspective, the Bemba tense system
can be analysed as having P1 and P2 (as well as F1 and F2) in the P-Domain with
P3/P4 and F3 on different D-domains. This reasoning is motivated by the fact that P1
and P2 both refer to a past of within today, parallel with F1 and F2 referring to futures
within today. The time domain of today is contrasted with time after today. For the
future this coincides with one form (F3) while for the past this coincides with two
forms that are minimally distinct both in terms of form and function. Thus in usage it
is noted that P4 can be used for all events after today and in this sense has begun to
overlap with P3 with which it is adjacent in the same domain. This then creates a
parallel representation with F3 which only has one form for after today. This provides
an explanation for why P3 is being lost. Furthermore the disjoint form of P3 is also
being partially lost, at least its tonal aspect so that an alternative P4 (disjoint) form is
now also used: -alí- -a, i.e. with an -a ending. This means that while the specific
function of P3 has been lost the forms of P4 have been expanded from two to three
retaining the unique ending of the lost P3. P4 is thus now expressed by -a- -ile; -alí- -
ile; and -alí- -a. These changes are clearly intertwined with the now phonologized
conjoint-disjoint system and this paper will demonstrate that Botne’s (2012) model
provides sufficient insight to capture the interaction between phonological change,
paradigm uniformity and tense-aspect evolution in Bemba that explains the function
merger seen between P3 and P4 with some form retention of P3. Although P1/P2 and
F1/F2 reside on the same domain owing to their shared general time span (with
adjacent time regions in the same domain) no merger is observed in these cases as
their distribution in the model creates a parallelism between the pasts and futures.
Sharman, J.C. 1956. The tabulation of tenses in Bantu languages (Bemba: Northern Rhodesia). Africa
26: 29-46.
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