Beyond Time - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley

Although all non-verb-final orderings are possible, when the verb comes first and the
subject and object are not disambiguated by agreement marking on the verb, the default
interpretation is VSO. However, both VSO and VOS readings can be obtained. This is
illustrated in (82). The same applies for SVO / OVS – both are possible, but SVO is the
default interpretation outside of context. Word order, which like tense and aspect marking
is an information structuring device, does not appear to interact significantly with tense
and aspect marking in Totela. For example, word order was not found to be significantly
predictive of tense/aspect inflection in narrative (see 7.6.1).
(82) àtòbèlá Jacky Lenya
a-tobel-a Jacky Lenya
3sg-seek-fv Jacky Lenya
default interpretation: ‘Jacky is looking for Lenya’
also possible: ‘Lenya is looking for Jacky’ (ZT2009Elic143)
As is typical for Bantu, both the subject and the object can be dropped, provided the
subject and object are marked on the verb (83).
(83) àlábàtòbèlà
à-lá-bà-tòbèl`-a
3sg-noncmpl-3pl-seek-fv
‘he’s looking for them’
In fact, as will be evident in the excerpts from narratives, no object marking whatsoever is
required within context, although subject marking is obligatory with inflected verbs.
The most extreme case of lack of participant marking is narrative morphology, derived
from infinitive marking. With narrative morphology, as in (84), neither subject nor object
must be marked (subjects cannot be marked; object-marking is optional).
(84) Kúkwààtà kùnènsà kùnènsà.
ku-kwaat-a ku-nens-a ku-nens-a
narr-grab-fv narr-beat-fv narr-beat-fv
‘[then she] caught [him and] beat [him and] beat [him]’ (ZT2009NarrA15.VB.41,
Kañandu)
The ordering of direct and indirect objects is similarly flexible, although the default
ordering is IO-DO; this is typically the only possible reading when both DO and IO are
equal in animacy (85c).
(85) a. ndápà bàmáámà íntàlàbàndà (S)-V-IO-DO
nda-p-a
1sg.cmpl-give-fv
ba-maama
cl2a-my.mother
‘I gave my mother cooked greens’
intalabanda
cl9.greens
102