Beyond Time - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley

and have continued in their support ever since. Kate de Luna and her husband Sean, whom
I happened to put up a tent next to when I first arrived in the Caprivi in 2006, gave me
excellent advice, shared data and wordlists, and helped me to make my first trip into Zambia
to investigate the Totela variety there. (While on the subject of the campsite, I should also
mention my gratitude to the innumerable travelers who, taking pity on a lone camper in a
miniature tent, invited me over to share their meals and evening conversations.)
I first became interested in Bantu languages as a Peace Corps volunteer in northern
Namibia. I am so grateful to the hilarious and vibrant Meme Sylvia “Mboshela” Uahengo
of Onanghulo who housed me, fed me, taught me – mostly through mockery, but with great
patience nonetheless – to farm and cook, and spoke Oshikwanyama with me night and day.
She shares the dedication of this dissertation as a small sign of my gratitude. I am also
thankful for the rest of my family there, including Shaalu, Me’ Foibe, Johanna, Rebecca,
and many others, and for my other Kwanyama language teachers, including my dear friend
Esther. Thanks also go to the Hasheela family, who adopted me into their home during Peace
Corps training and are perhaps the most remarkable family I have ever come across, full of
unassuming, kind, delightful people who also happen to be brilliant scholars with far-flung
interests. (My host sister Victoria (“Katuli”) for example, recently finished her MA degree in
information technology, and at age 26 has already published a novel and a volume of poetry.
Her screenplay has been accepted for production by a Namibian filmmaker.) Fellow Peace
Corps volunteers Andy Wingo and Karl Lindgren-Streicher allowed me to be part of their
language-manual writing team, an endeavor which ultimately led me to graduate school in
linguistics.
In Namibia, I also cannot fail to mention Jobst and Bettina Duwe, who have been like
second parents to me since I first went to Namibia in 2002. Friends from Germany who
happened to move to Namibia at the same time I did, they took care of me when I was sick,
celebrated holidays with me, and always opened their house to me for as long as I needed to
stay there. Their home will forever be my model of hospitality.
Funding for my research was provided by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research
Fellowship (any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this
publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National
Science Foundation), the Harvey Fellows program, and by grants from the UC Berkeley
Graduate Division and the Andrew and Mary Thompson Rocca Summer Pre-Dissertation
Research Award in African Studies (UC Berkeley). Research in Zambia was conducted with
assistance of the University of Zambia (UNZA), with which I held a research association.
Research in Namibia was likewise assisted by an affiliation with the University of Namibia
(UNAM).
Back in Berkeley, I was helped and encouraged by members of my cohort, including
Russell Lee-Goldman, Shira Katseff, Hannah Haynie, Dominic Yu, Donna Fenton, and Ruth
Rouvier, all of whom have been great friends and partners in commiseration. Other departmental
friends who have helped me to maintain my sanity (at least some of the time) include
Yuni Kim and Lindsey Newbold, and my many kind officemates over the years, including
John Sylak, Tammy Stark, Gabi Caballero, and others too numerous to name. Becca Cover
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