Kisikongo (Bantu, H16a) present-future isomorphism
- Author
- Sebasian Dom, Gilles-Maurice de Schryver (UGent) and Koen Bostoen (UGent)
- Organization
- Project
-
- KONGOKING (Political centralization, economic integration and language evolution in Central Africa: An interdisciplinary approach to the early history of the Kongo kingdom)
- Abstract
- The North-Angolan Bantu language Kisikongo has a present tense (O-Rang- a; R=root) that is morphologically more marked than the future tense (O-R-a). We reconstruct how this typologically uncommon tense-marking feature came about by drawing on both historical and comparative evidence. Our diachronic corpus covers four centuries that can be subdivided in three periods, viz. (1) mid-17th, (2) late-19th/early-20th, and (3) late-20th/ early-21st centuries. The comparative data stem from several present-day languages of the “Kikongo Language Cluster.” We show that mid-17th century Kisikongo had three distinct constructions: O-R-a (with present progressive, habitual and generic meaning), O-R-ang-a (with present habitual meaning), and ku-R-a (with future meaning). By the end of the 19th century the last construction is no longer attested, and both present and future time reference are expressed by a segmentally identical construction, namely O- R-a. We argue that two seemingly independent but possibly interacting diachronic evolutions conspired towards such present-future isomorphism: (1) the semantic extension of an original present-tense construction from present to future leading to polysemy, and (2) the loss of the future prefix ku-, as part of a broader phenomenon of prefix reduction, inducing homonymy. To resolve the ambiguity, the O-R-ang-a construction evolved into the main present-tense construction.
- Keywords
- KIKONGO, TONE, Bantu, Kikongo Language Cluster, Kisikongo, historical corpus, linguistics, tense-aspect, present-future isomorphism
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8765918
- MLA
- Dom, Sebasian, et al. “Kisikongo (Bantu, H16a) Present-Future Isomorphism.” Development of Tense and Aspect Systems, edited by Jadranka Gvozdanović, vol. 123, John Benjamins, 2022, pp. 105–41.
- APA
- Dom, S., de Schryver, G.-M., & Bostoen, K. (2022). Kisikongo (Bantu, H16a) present-future isomorphism. In J. Gvozdanović (Ed.), Development of tense and aspect systems (Vol. 123, pp. 105–141). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
- Chicago author-date
- Dom, Sebasian, Gilles-Maurice de Schryver, and Koen Bostoen. 2022. “Kisikongo (Bantu, H16a) Present-Future Isomorphism.” In Development of Tense and Aspect Systems, edited by Jadranka Gvozdanović, 123:105–41. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Dom, Sebasian, Gilles-Maurice de Schryver, and Koen Bostoen. 2022. “Kisikongo (Bantu, H16a) Present-Future Isomorphism.” In Development of Tense and Aspect Systems, ed by. Jadranka Gvozdanović, 123:105–141. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
- Vancouver
- 1.Dom S, de Schryver G-M, Bostoen K. Kisikongo (Bantu, H16a) present-future isomorphism. In: Gvozdanović J, editor. Development of tense and aspect systems. Amsterdam: John Benjamins; 2022. p. 105–41.
- IEEE
- [1]S. Dom, G.-M. de Schryver, and K. Bostoen, “Kisikongo (Bantu, H16a) present-future isomorphism,” in Development of tense and aspect systems, vol. 123, J. Gvozdanović, Ed. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2022, pp. 105–141.
@incollection{8765918,
abstract = {{The North-Angolan Bantu language Kisikongo has a present tense (O-Rang- a; R=root) that is morphologically more marked than the future tense (O-R-a). We reconstruct how this typologically uncommon tense-marking feature came about by drawing on both historical and comparative evidence. Our diachronic corpus covers four centuries that can be subdivided in three periods, viz. (1) mid-17th, (2) late-19th/early-20th, and (3) late-20th/ early-21st centuries. The comparative data stem from several present-day languages of the “Kikongo Language Cluster.” We show that mid-17th century Kisikongo had three distinct constructions: O-R-a (with present progressive, habitual and generic meaning), O-R-ang-a (with present habitual meaning), and ku-R-a (with future meaning). By the end of the 19th century the last construction is no longer attested, and both present and future time reference are expressed by a segmentally identical construction, namely O- R-a. We argue that two seemingly independent but possibly interacting diachronic evolutions conspired towards such present-future isomorphism: (1) the semantic extension of an original present-tense construction from present to future leading to polysemy, and (2) the loss of the future prefix ku-, as part of a broader phenomenon of prefix reduction, inducing homonymy. To resolve the ambiguity, the O-R-ang-a construction evolved into the main present-tense construction.}},
author = {{Dom, Sebasian and de Schryver, Gilles-Maurice and Bostoen, Koen}},
booktitle = {{Development of tense and aspect systems}},
editor = {{Gvozdanović, Jadranka}},
isbn = {{9789027213402}},
issn = {{1874-0081}},
keywords = {{KIKONGO,TONE,Bantu,Kikongo Language Cluster,Kisikongo,historical corpus,linguistics,tense-aspect,present-future isomorphism}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{105--141}},
publisher = {{John Benjamins}},
series = {{Benjamins current topics}},
title = {{Kisikongo (Bantu, H16a) present-future isomorphism}},
url = {{https://benjamins.com/catalog/bct.123.04dom}},
volume = {{123}},
year = {{2022}},
}