Beyond Time - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley

verbs, the pathways of development from -a- to pasts, anteriors, perfectives, and presents,
might all fall in line with the cross-linguistic generalizations in table 3.7.
It is worth noting that Totela is not unique in its attention to situation completion or
culmination. Kershner (2002) reports similar reference to completion in Chisukwa (M.202,
Malawi), although the tense/aspect morphemes involved differ. Lusaamia (JE.34) and
Luwanga (JE.32), discussed in 3.2.3, also have a marker -ire that pays crucial attention
to nuclear completion (Botne 2010). Completion semantics also seem likely to be at play
in other Bantu languages where “anterior” marking is associated with vagueness or ambiguity
between past situations and present states. The stability of the categories, despite
constantly evolving means of morphological expression, suggests that the notion of nucleus
completion is basic to Bantu tense and aspect; this is likely closely related to the prevalence
of change-of-state verbs.
In any case, the Bantu situation is complex. Even the segmentally identical -a- markers
in Totela and its close relatives Ila and Tonga (see 3.4.1 below) – although all have a flavor
of hodiernality – have varying functions, interactions with situation type, and co-occurrence
possibilities with various aspectual markers. As elsewhere in Bantu (see e.g. Nurse 2008),
there is a fair amount of volatility in the semantic and pragmatic development of TAM
markers. What they all appear to have in common is varying interpretations of past, present,
or future according to situation type and context. The Ila and Tonga forms, and the puzzles
they pose, are discussed briefly in the next sections.
3.4.1 -a- in related languages
3.4.1.1 Tonga (M.64)
Hopgood (1940:7) labels Tonga -a- as “tense” but gives it a definition matching that typically
given for the perfect/anterior:
This commonly denotes an action completed but with a definite bearing on the
present. If for example I ask “Where is So-and-so?” the answer may be Waya,
i.e. He has gone, he is no longer here (Hopgood 1940:7).
Tonga -a-has temporal interpretations common for Bantu anteriors: present with changeof-state
verbs (158)–(159) and most stative-like verbs (160)–(161); and past (with present
relevance) otherwise (162). Note that more frequently than in Totela, -a- is used with statives
and perception verbs with a present-state meaning: ndabona (in Totela, typically ‘I saw/I
have seen’) means both ‘I have seen’ and ‘I see’ (Hopgood 1940:11). 28
28 Although the present stative reading is obtainable with state verbs in Totela, as in 114) and (115), when
the state is viewed as inceptive/expressing a change, other forms such as -ite and -la- are more commonly
used when expressing present statives. Examples in Hopgood (1940) show that this is at least sometimes
the case in Tonga, as well. For example, ‘my head hurts’ is mutwe ulacisa, with present-tense marking.
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