The functional properties of a cognate morpheme often vary between languages or dialects. The prefix me- in the Swahili dialects, derived from Proto-Sabaki *-mala ‘finish’ (Proto-Bantu *-màd-), is one such case. In this article, I discuss the functional differences and similarities of this prefix between Kimakunduchi, the dialect spoken in the southern part of Unguja, and Kiunguja, the prestigious dialect of Swahili originally spoken in Zanzibar Town and environs. Me- has been labelled both ‘perfect’ and ‘perfective’. I maintain, however, that the former should be assigned to Kimakunduchi me-, the latter to Kiunguja me-, based on the contexts in which they are used. This contrast not only sheds light on the difference in the TA (tense-aspect) system for anterior reference between the dialects, but also suggests that me- in the Swahili dialects has taken a diachronic path from perfect to perfective, a cross-linguistically observable tendency. The process of diachronic functional change can be shown more clearly with the me-cognate ma- in the Kitumbatu dialect spoken on Tumbatu island off the northwest tip of Unguja. Kitumbatu ma- occurs almost in the same contexts as Kimakunduchi me-, but differs in co-occurrence with hodiernal temporal adverbials, which supports the claim that the restriction on temporal closeness relaxes in parallel with the change from perfect to perfective.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:70964 |
| Date | 15 June 2020 |
| Creators | Furumoto, Makoto |
| Contributors | Universität Leipzig |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 1614-2373, urn:nbn:de:bsz:15-qucosa2-709585, qucosa:70958 |
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