SWAHILI VERBS:
ADDING AND REMOVING PARTICIPANT ROLES (Short)

To Long Version

by Robert Port, Oct 16. 2000. For L103, Fall 2000

SIMPLE VERB

0) Basic Verb: Subj.Agrmt + Tense + (Obj.Agrmt) + VerbStem

1) Mtoto a-na-penda chakula
child he/she-Present-love food
The child likes food.

2) Mtoto a-na-ki-penda chakula
child he/she-Pres-it-love food
The child likes the food

IMPLIED ROLES FOR VERBS

• Each verb has a `DOER' role: eg, -lala `fall sleep'
• Some have a Patient too: eg, -vunja `break',
• For most event schemas: Doing-To, Doing, Happening, Experiencing, Moving and Transferring
• But not, in fact, the states Being or Having.

CAUSATIVE SUFFIX

• The causative suffix is -isha or -esha.
• Completely productive
• -isha/-esha = `An additional role is played that CAUSES the DOER to act'.
• The Causer has priority over the Doer to become the Subject

Verb-Final -a.

• All these verbs end in -a that means Declarative or Indicative
• So the verb stem is actually -andik-, but I usually won't separate them

3) Juma a-li-andik-a barua (basic 2-participant action verb)
Juma he-past-write-Decltv letter
Juma wrote a letter

4) Juma a-li-ni-andik-ish-a barua (causative)
Juma he-Past-me-write-Add.Causer.Role-Decltv letter
Juma made me write a letter/ had me write a letter

5)Watoto wa-me-lala (typical 1-participant experience verb)
children they-Compltd-fall.asleep
The children are sleeping/ have fallen asleep

6) Mama a-li-wa-lal-isha watoto (2-participant action)
mother she-past-them-sleep-AddCauserRole children
The mother put the children to sleep

Translate into idiomatic English:

7) Ni-li-m-jul-isha Juma habari za kwetu
I-Past-him-know-Add.Causer.Role Juma news of home

8) Mimi hu-oga kila siku
I Habitl-bathe each day

9) Mama hu-og-esha watoto kila wiki
mothers habitually-bathe-Add.Causer.Role children each week

PASSIVE

10) Chakula ki-na-pend-w-a (na mtoto huyu)
food it-Pres-like-Subj.Not.Doer-Decltv (by child this)
Food is liked (by this child)

• w = "the Subject is not the Doer (or Causer)".
• That is, the strongest precipitator of the event is out of the focus of attention.
• Could NOT mean `The food is likable' or `the food is generally liked' (as in English).
• Can be combined with the Causative:

11) Watoto wa-me-lal-ish-wa (na mama wao)
children they-Compltd-sleep-Add.Causer.Role-Subj.Not.Causer (by mother their)
The children have been put to bed (by their mother)

Translate into idiomatic English:

12) ni-me-jul-ish-wa habari za kwetu
I-Compltd-know-Add.Causer.Role-Subj.Not.Causer news of home

STATIVE SUFFIX

• completely productive suffix
• "the action does not have a Doer role".
• has two different forms - either -ika, or -eka. (Can you figure out the pattern?)

13) Chakula hiki ki-na-pend-eka
food this it-Pres-like-No.Doer.Role
This food is likeable /is liked (in general)

• "liking" in which there is no agent.
• the inference is that the food plays an `object-like' role -- it `gets liked'.
• but by noone in particular.
• In contrast, ki-na-pend-wa implies an agent role is being played.

14) Ni-li-vunja kikombe (basic 2-participant use)
I-Past-break cup
I broke the cup/a cup

15) Kikombe ki-me-vunj-wa
cup it-Completed-break-Subj.Not.Doer
The cup has been broken (by someone)

16) Kikombe ki-me-vunj-ika
cup it-Completed-break-No.Doer.Role
The cup got broken/ is broken (but it is still not a state)

17) Kikombe ki-na-vunj-ika
cup it-Present-break-No.Doer.Role
The cup is breakable/ is fragile/ The cup breaks (easily)

• Note the effect of changing the tense
• Despite the traditional label, these really describe actions or events, not states!

Translate into idiomatic English:

17a) Kitabu hiki ki-me-kat-ika kabisa
book this it-Compltd-cut-No.Doer.Role completely

17b) Ngoma yake i-me-komb-eka kabisa
drum his it-Compltd-hollow.out-No.Doer.Role completely

17c) Nyumba yake i-na-on-eka kutoka hapa
house his it-Pres-see-No.Doer.Role from here

Contrast this explicitness about whether an agent is involved with English.

18) I broke the cup (typical transitive use, an agent and a patient)

19) The cup broke the window (less typical transitive, an instrument and a patient)

20) These cups break (intransitive usage, present tense )

21) Those cups broke (intransitive, past tense)

• the verb tense has the same effect in English as in Swahili: `breakable' vs. `broken'!
• But 21 is ambiguous in a way that Swahili 15 and 16 are not:

22) These cups broke when I dropped them.

23) *Vikombe vi-li-vunj-ika ni-li-po-vi-angusha }
cups they-Past-break-No.Doer.Role I-past-when-them-drop
*The cups broke-NoAgent when I dropped them.

[The star * means `impossible, ungrammatical or incoherent utterance']

• You would have to use the Passive for this sentence,

24) Vikombe vi-li-vunj-wa ni-li-po-vi-angusha.
cups they-past-break-Subj.Not.Doer I-Past-when-them-drop
The cups broke when I dropped them.

APPLIED SUFFIX

• either -ia or or -ea (depending on the context).
• if speakers need a `recipient or goal', they must explicitly use the Applied Suffix.

25) Mtoto a-li-ni-vunj-ia mkate kidogo
child he-Past-me-break-AddlRole bread a-little-bit
The child has broken me off a little piece of bread/ broke off some bread for me

26) Mama a-li-m-kat-ia mtoto nyama
woman/mother she-Past-him-cut-AddlRole child meat
The woman cut the child (some) meat/cut some meat for her child.

27) Juma a-na-m-pend-ea Hadija macho yake
Juma he-Pres-her-love-AddlRole Hadija eyes her
Juma loves Hadija for her eyes

28) Babake a-me-m-f-ia Juma
His-father he-Compltd-him-die-AddlRole Juma
Juma's father died on him.

[ The Applied and the Passive can be combined to get the affected party into subject position:

29) Juma a-me-f-i-wa na babake
Juma he-Completd-die-AddlRole-Subj.Not.Doer by his-father
Juma has been `died-on' by his father/ Juma's father died (on him)/
Juma is in mourning for his father

Even a place can be a kind of instrument:

30) Juma a-li-f-ia bahari-ni
Juma he-past-die-AddlRole sea-place
Juma perished at sea/ died at sea

Sometimes, the additional role can be ambiguous. Look at -iba, `steal':

31) Mzee a-li-wa-ib-ia chakula
Old-man he-Past-them-steal-AddlRole
a) The old man stole food from them (affected party)
b) The old man stole food for them (beneficiary) ]

What do these mean?

32) wa-na-omb-ea Mungu kwa mvua
they-Pres-ask.of-AddlRole God for rain

33) wanawake hu-pik-ia jiko-ni
women Habitually-cook-AddlRole kitchen-place

34) simba wa-li-m-l-ia karibu na kambi (example from a book)
lion(s) they-Past-him-eat-AddlRole near to camp

The two suffixes, Applied and Causative, do not contradict each other, you can add BOTH roles.

So translate this into English.

35) Mama a-li-mw-andik-ish-ia mtoto barua kwa skuli
woman she-Past-him-write-Add.Causer.Role-Add.Intermediate.Role child letter for school