here - 5th International Conference on Bantu Languages

The impact of sociolinguistic factors on the usage of the pre-prefix in some G-languages
Malin Petzell, University of Gothenburg, malin.petzell@african.gu.se
Lotta Aunio, Helsinki University, Lotta.Aunio@helsinki.fi
Kami (G36) is an under-described and endangered language in Tanzania. It is spoken by approximately
5000 people according to the Languages of Tanzania project (2009), but we believe that t<strong>here</strong> are
significantly fewer speakers left, and only a few hundred fluent speakers. Luguru (G35), on the other
hand, is the major language in the region with slightly over 400,000 speakers (Languages of Tanzania
Project 2009).
The nouns in both languages can take 2 different sets of prefixes; the obligatory nominal class prefixes
and the non-obligatory pre-prefixes 1 (PPs), see examples 0 and 0. In many G-languages, the PP is
disappearing, see for instance Morrison (2011) and Petzell (2008). When it does occur, the usage varies
widely from language to language, cf. de Blois (1970).
1. ng’anda íla 2. ayo imunu
ng’anda i- la a- yo i- mu- nu
house:9 9- DEM 1- DEM PP- 1- person:1/2
‘that house’ (Kami) ‘this person’ (Luguru 2 )
In Luguru, the PP is more frequently used when the noun phrase is not in the scope of focus, i.e. it is used
for given information, and “determined by the vague concept of presupposition” (Mkude 1974:108). It is
more probable that a noun carries a pre-prefix the greater its referentiality and topicality is.
In Kami, the PP is virtually non-existent, while in Luguru the usage is surprisingly enough increasing. In
Luguru, the PP was used by mostly older speakers in the 1970s (Mkude 1974 and Mkude p.c.), while
today (according to the authors’ recent field work), young people are using the PP more and more, and in
contexts w<strong>here</strong> it used to be disallowed. These opposing standpoints ̶ hardly any PP-usage in Kami vs.
increasing usage in Luguru ̶ are remarkable for such closely related languages. We propose that the
wide-spread use in contemporary Luguru may have started out as some form of hypercorrection, but that
the PP has now become grammaticalized as a topic marker (cf. Greenberg (1978)). The very slight usage
in Kami can partly be explained by historical factors, but also the fact that t<strong>here</strong> is no PP in the
dominating language Swahili. In the multilingual contact situation that characterizes the area, a vulnerable
language like Kami is more prone to losing area specific features than Luguru.
References
de Blois, K. F. (1970). The augment in Bantu languages I: Africana linguistica IV: 85-165.
Greenberg, J. H. (1978). How does a language acquire gender markers? I: Universals of human language. Vol. 3:
word structure. Stanford University Press: 47-82.
Languages of Tanzania Project (2009). Atlasi ya Lugha za Tanzania. Mradi wa Lugha za Tanzania, Chuo Kikuu cha
Dar es Salaam.
Mkude, D. J. (1974). A study of Kiluguru syntax with special reference to the transformational history of sentences
with permuted subject and object. Series, University of London: 335.
Morrison, M. (2011). A Reference Grammar of Bena. Series, Rice University. PhD thesis: 542.
Petzell, M. (2008). The Kagulu language of Tanzania: grammar, texts and vocabulary. Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
1 Also referred to as initial vowel or augment.
2 T<strong>here</strong> is no tone marking in Luguru, see for instance Mkude 1974.
GS