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Reconstructing the origins of the Luganda (JE15) modal auxiliaries -sóból- and -yînz-: A historical-comparative study across the West Nyanza Bantu cluster

Deo Kawalya (UGent) , Gilles-Maurice de Schryver (UGent) and Koen Bostoen (UGent)
(2018) SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF AFRICAN LANGUAGES. 38(1). p.13-25
Author
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Abstract
In this article, a comparison is made of the expression of possibility in West Nyanza Bantu languages in order to reconstruct the origins of Luganda's two most frequent possibility markers, viz. the near-synonymous auxiliaries -sobol- and -yinz-. Earlier Luganda diachronic corpus-driven analyses showed that -yinz- has been involved in expressing all possibility categories since the 1890s, which is when Luganda was first reduced to writing, while -sobol- acquired deontic possibility as a meaning only in the 1950s. Although this would suggest that -yinz- is the possibility marker with the greatest time depth in Luganda and across West Nyanza, with -sobol- a relative newcomer, the comparative data which is presented in this article indicates the opposite. It is shown that while -yinz- only exists in some West Nyanza languages (namely in the subgroup which includes Luganda, Lusoga and Lugwere), -sobol- is attested in all West Nyanza languages as well as in other Great Lakes Bantu languages outside West Nyanza. The fact that the cognates of -sobol- in all Great Lakes Bantu languages carry a dynamic modal meaning 'be able' suggests that its modal usage is older in any of the individual languages considered here than what language-internal Luganda data seems to suggest.
Keywords
modality, Luganda, Nyanza, Bantu, grammaticalisation

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MLA
Kawalya, Deo, et al. “Reconstructing the Origins of the Luganda (JE15) Modal Auxiliaries -Sóból- and -Yînz-: A Historical-Comparative Study across the West Nyanza Bantu Cluster.” SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF AFRICAN LANGUAGES, vol. 38, no. 1, Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2018, pp. 13–25, doi:10.1080/02572117.2018.1429855.
APA
Kawalya, D., de Schryver, G.-M., & Bostoen, K. (2018). Reconstructing the origins of the Luganda (JE15) modal auxiliaries -sóból- and -yînz-: A historical-comparative study across the West Nyanza Bantu cluster. SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF AFRICAN LANGUAGES, 38(1), 13–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/02572117.2018.1429855
Chicago author-date
Kawalya, Deo, Gilles-Maurice de Schryver, and Koen Bostoen. 2018. “Reconstructing the Origins of the Luganda (JE15) Modal Auxiliaries -Sóból- and -Yînz-: A Historical-Comparative Study across the West Nyanza Bantu Cluster.” SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF AFRICAN LANGUAGES 38 (1): 13–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/02572117.2018.1429855.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
Kawalya, Deo, Gilles-Maurice de Schryver, and Koen Bostoen. 2018. “Reconstructing the Origins of the Luganda (JE15) Modal Auxiliaries -Sóból- and -Yînz-: A Historical-Comparative Study across the West Nyanza Bantu Cluster.” SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF AFRICAN LANGUAGES 38 (1): 13–25. doi:10.1080/02572117.2018.1429855.
Vancouver
1.
Kawalya D, de Schryver G-M, Bostoen K. Reconstructing the origins of the Luganda (JE15) modal auxiliaries -sóból- and -yînz-: A historical-comparative study across the West Nyanza Bantu cluster. SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF AFRICAN LANGUAGES. 2018;38(1):13–25.
IEEE
[1]
D. Kawalya, G.-M. de Schryver, and K. Bostoen, “Reconstructing the origins of the Luganda (JE15) modal auxiliaries -sóból- and -yînz-: A historical-comparative study across the West Nyanza Bantu cluster,” SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF AFRICAN LANGUAGES, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 13–25, 2018.
@article{8560068,
  abstract     = {{In this article, a comparison is made of the expression of possibility in West Nyanza Bantu languages in order to reconstruct the origins of Luganda's two most frequent possibility markers, viz. the near-synonymous auxiliaries -sobol- and -yinz-. Earlier Luganda diachronic corpus-driven analyses showed that -yinz- has been involved in expressing all possibility categories since the 1890s, which is when Luganda was first reduced to writing, while -sobol- acquired deontic possibility as a meaning only in the 1950s. Although this would suggest that -yinz- is the possibility marker with the greatest time depth in Luganda and across West Nyanza, with -sobol- a relative newcomer, the comparative data which is presented in this article indicates the opposite. It is shown that while -yinz- only exists in some West Nyanza languages (namely in the subgroup which includes Luganda, Lusoga and Lugwere), -sobol- is attested in all West Nyanza languages as well as in other Great Lakes Bantu languages outside West Nyanza. The fact that the cognates of -sobol- in all Great Lakes Bantu languages carry a dynamic modal meaning 'be able' suggests that its modal usage is older in any of the individual languages considered here than what language-internal Luganda data seems to suggest.}},
  author       = {{Kawalya, Deo and de Schryver, Gilles-Maurice and Bostoen, Koen}},
  issn         = {{0257-2117}},
  journal      = {{SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF AFRICAN LANGUAGES}},
  keywords     = {{modality,Luganda,Nyanza,Bantu,grammaticalisation}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{13--25}},
  publisher    = {{Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd}},
  title        = {{Reconstructing the origins of the Luganda (JE15) modal auxiliaries -sóból- and -yînz-: A historical-comparative study across the West Nyanza Bantu cluster}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.1080/02572117.2018.1429855}},
  volume       = {{38}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}
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