Beyond Time - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley

(158) bu-ta bwa-ngu bwa-bola
bow of-me it-rot
‘my bow is rotten’ (Hopgood 1940:16) 29
(159) in-kuku
fowl
ya-kwe
of-him
ya-kumba
it-sit/brood
‘his fowl is sitting’ (Hopgood 1940:23)
(160) ma!
mother!
wa-lema mu-kuli
it-is-heavy load
‘good gracious! the load is heavy’ (Hopgood 1940:9)
(161) mwa-bonwa ba-kwesu.
you-are-seen clansmen,
Ee, twa-bonwa
Yes we-are-seen
‘You are seen, brothers. Yes, we are seen’ (common greeting) (Hopgood 1940:5)
(162) bantu ba-ya kale ku-masuku
people they-go already to-masuku
‘the people have already gone to gather masuku fruit’ (Hopgood 1940:5)
Like in Totela, -a- may apparently be used in Tonga with contexts where the action is
as good as finished:
(163) sena ulyaya kukusakwida zipopwe? ee, ndaya
‘are you going to weed the maize? yes, I am going’ Hopgood (1940:69-73, translation
exercise) 30
3.4.1.2 Ila (M.63)
Both Smith (1964) and Fowler (2000) label Ila -a- the “aorist”. Smith (1964) notes that
. . . in Ila it does not always denote what is absolutely past. In fact, with slight
changes in accent, it may express anything, past, present, or future.
1. It sometimes answers to the English perfect, expressing an action accomplished,
thus: Wa ya, he has gone, i.e. and is still away.
2. Hence it is commonly used with a present meaning. Nda bona, I see.
3. It is used as a historical past and in narratives follows the preterite or
imperfect; e.g. Nda ka mu funa, nda mu yovwa, I loved him, I helped him.
29 Glosses are given as in Hopgood (1940).
30 It may be meaningful that all of the typical examples of “as-good-as-finished” -a- constructions involve
motion verbs of coming or going. It may be possible that verbs in this case have an inceptive reading, i.e.
the process of coming or going has been put into motion and is inexorably heading toward completion. This
possibility is discussed with regard to Totela in 3.2.5. In Kwanyama (R.21) similar uses with ‘go’ and ‘come’
are common (personal fieldnotes). Further study of this topic may prove fruitful.
153