Zulu Newspaper Reader - Dunwoody Press

A comparison of the above forms reveals that the A and B forms
belong to one tense – the one we call ‘past tense, disjoint and
conjoint 2 ,’ respectively – while the C forms belong to another – the
one that we call ‘stative,’ in which there is no distinction between
disjoint and conjoint forms.
2.2.2. Past + Perfect/Stative
In line with the discussion above, and our use of the term ‘remote
past’ for P-M’s ‘past,’ we make a distinction between a ‘remote past
past’ and a ‘remote past stative.’
2.2.3. Perfect + Perfect/Stative
In line with our analysis of the “perfect/stative,” we label these ‘past
past’ and ‘past stative.’
2.2.4. Past Tense Negative
P-M say (p.271): “Two formatives are used to indicate the negative
past tense and these are the very ones which are used for the negative
perfect.” In other words, there is no case for making a distinction
between two different tenses. The fact of the matter is that in the
positive, Zulu distinguishes a remote from a recent past, while in the
negative, it does not. We thus label the negatives of both tenses as
past negative.
2.3. Additional Material on Conjunctions
The use of conjunctions in Zulu can be fairly complex for non-native
learners of the language. This is partially because of their varying
significances and partially because of the way they affect (or do not
affect) a following verb or copulative. Differences in the structure of
Zulu and the structure of English can be problematic too. The
conjunction may be embedded within a larger structure in which it is
less easily recognizable. In some cases, there is an additional
problem in that the conjunction is identical to another form from
which it derives, which is not a conjunction. Cope (1984) is a useful
reference for conjunctions.
2 Loosely, disjoint forms are those where the verb is not syntactically
closely linked to what follows, or where nothing follows, whereas conjoint
forms are those in which the verb forms a syntactic unit with what follows.
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