TENSE AND ASPECT IN SESOTHO ' Balillo ncrolocg B. A,, uriversity of Botswana Lesotho and Swaziland A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL PULP ILLXENT OF THE REQUTRERFNTS FOR THE DEGREE OF HASTER OF ARTS in the Departmlnt of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics STHON PRASER UNIVERSITY All riqhts reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in who12 cr in part, by photocopy or other means, without permissionof the author. APPROVAL Name : Malillo Morolong Degree : Master of Arts Title of Thesis: Tense and Aspect in Sesotho Examining Coounittee: Chairman: R. C. DeArmond B. E. Newton Senior Supervisor 4( ]w Knowles P. Stiser External Examiner Associate Professor Simon Fraser University Date Approved: Sept. 11, 1978 PARTIAL COPYRIGHT UCENSE I hereby grant to Simon Fraser University the right to lend my thesis or dissertation (the title of which is shown below) to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. I further agree that permission for multiple copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Author ! (signature ) (name ) (date) ABSTRACT TENSE AND ASPECT IN SESOTHO In this thesis ar. analysis of Tens2 and Aspect ir. Sesotho is undertaken, The framework adopted is tbe one introduced by Reicfienbach (1947) In g&gmsnt~ of Svmbo1ic_ Loqic- with subsaqu~nt modifications and elaborations in Hornstein 11 377) and Smith (1978). chaptes 1 is i~troductory. It contains background information about Sesothc morphology; scope of the study and definitions. Chapter 2 presents an aralysis of the ~tgg+ile. It is suqgested that this fcrm should be reqardsd as an immediate p3st tense instead of 'perfect ', This reclassification provid2s a solution to the problem of interaction with present and past time adverbials. chapter 3 deals with ths analysis of the hletsteg. This tense is regardea as a retgcte tens?. Cooccurrence restrictions involving this tense and the imm2diate tenses are outliznd, Chaptcr 4 contains an analysis of the ne+stem tense, The claim made is that this is the past tense correspondirg tc the present tenss. Distinctioas are made between this tense and iii other tenses, Chapter 5 examines coGccurrence r~strictions between aspectual markers and different tenses, Tests are proposed in order to determine aspectual implications inherant in different tenses. The final chapter examines the a2pficability of the Reichenbach/Hornstein analysis to Sesotho, The conclusion made is that the imediate/remote distiction plays an important role in the Sesotho tense system and that this must be incorporated into any theory of tense which may adequately account for Sesotho tenses, The thesis cculd form the basis for encoding into appropriate formalisms the semantic and syntactic facts of Sesotho tenses. ACKNOHLEDGEMENTS I wLsh to express my gratitude to ?he members of my supervisory Coinmi ttee, my senior supervisor, Professor Brian Neut~n for suqgesting ths topic and providing the biblioqraphy,end for many hours of discussior and patiect suparvision. I am thankful to Professor John Kaowles fcr his comments and ancouraqement. Ply qratitude also goes to Professor Alfredo Hurtado for his insiqhtful comments and sugqestions. I am thankful to all my friends for their encouragement. I atn mostly indebted to Ma tseliso Moletsane, Victor Ketso,and Thabang Ramotete for their invaluable assistance in checking my sentences. 1 am greatly indebted to th? National University of Lesotho for granting me study lzave for the duration of my study, and tha Canadiao International Dedvelopment Aqency for financFal support. Finally I would lika to say "thanks" to Matseliso for typing the thesis and EC Chondoma for his brains behind FMT. TABLE OP COYTBNTS Abstract .................................................. iii ~cknouledgements.......................................... v List of Tables ..............................me........m..ix CHhPTER 1 ............................................ a..*oI INTRODUCTION ~~~~~~~~~m~~~~~~*~*m*~~~~~m*~~e*~~~~~e~~~~~~~~1 1.0 Background Information ................................1 1.1 Orthography ........................................... 1 1.2.0 8orphology .......................................... 5 1.2.1 Tense- aspect- modal narkers ........................ 6 1.2.2 Tense ............................................... 7 1.2.3 aspect ..............................................8 1.2.4 Modal ...............................................8 1.2.5 Derivational Suffixes ...............................9 1.2.6 Inflexional Suffix .................................. 10 1.3 Problem and Purpose ................................... 10 1.4 Choice of Framework ................................... 10 1.5 Scope of the Study .................................... 13 1.6.0 Definitions .........................................14 1.6.1 Notations used with SRE .............................15 1.6.2 SRE Hodifications ................................... 15 1-7 Tenporal adverbs ...................................... 17 Tense And Aspect .......................................... 20 CHAPTER 2 ............................................ o.ooo23 2.0 Introduction .............*..........................*.23 2.1 Previous Studies on perfect in sesotho ............. -24 vi 2.2 Comparison betweer, -ila acd non -if9 pressnt .......... 27 2.3 The Use O•’ -ile with Tezporal Adverbs .................31 2.3.1 -il~as Grammaticalizsd Sta tive .....................33 2.3.2 -i10 As Perfectivs .................................. 35 2.3.4.1 -il~as Immediate Past ............................ 36 2.3.4.2 Distirction between tsca and -il2 tenses ..........39 CHAPTER 3 ............................................... 0.49 3.1 Semote Past Tense: Iletstem ........................... 49 3.2.0 SCme Cooccurrence Rsstric %ions Betweer S tem+ile And Ile+sten Tenses ........................................56 3.2.1 The Proqressive Sa Still ........................... -56 3.2.2 Immediate And Relnote Tecsss In Compleloent Seotences -58 CHAPTE2 4 ................................................. 62 4.1.0 Ne+verb Tense .......................................62 4.1.1 Is Ne Asp~ctualOr Tense Warker? ................... -64 4.1.2 Some Correspondences Between the Present Tense and Ne+stem Tense .......................................... 67 4.1.3 Differences/similarities Betvaen Ne+stem And Other Past Tenses ............................................71 4.2.0 Ns+past Tenses ...................................... 77 4.2.1 Netpast In elation To Haaning And Cooccurrence Restrictions Of Simple Past Tensos ..................... 79 . CHAPTER 5 ................................................. 86 5.1.0 Aspect .............................................. 86 5.1 .1 Perfective/'Imperfect Ive Oppcsit icn .................. 87 5.1.2 Durativt Vs Nondura tive Oppositian ..................90 vii 5.1.3 Stative Vs Nonstative Opposition .................... 95 5.2.0 Aspectual narkers ................................... 33 5.2.1 Sa still .......................................... I00 5.2.2. Sa+tsoa+stem .......................................100 5.2.3 Sa+stem+ile ......................................... 100 5.2.4 Sa+ile+stem ......................................... 101 5.2.5.1 Ne+sa+stem ........................................ 102 5.2.5.2 Ne+sa+tsoa+stern ................................... 102 5.2.5.3 Ne+sa+stem+ile .................................... 102 5.2.5.4 *ne+sa+ile+stem ................................... 103 5.3.1 Se Already ........................................103 5.3.2 *se+tsoa+stem ....................................... 704 . 5.3.3. Se+stem+ile ........................................lo4 CHAPTER 6 .............................. 6.1.0 Gn The Applicability of Reichenbach/Hcrnst+in Analysis tc Sesotho ....................................I08 6.1.2 On the Interaction Retween Tense and Temporal Adverbs 6.1.3 On Aspect ........................................... 115 6.2 Conclusion ............................................ 116 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................*.............117 viii List 6f Tables able I .Sesothc Phcnemes ................................ ..2 able I1 - Tenses in relation to aspectual features .........106 Sesotho is a Southern Bantu language spoksn by over 3 nillion people in Lesotho and parts of South Africa. In literature the language is often referred to as Southerc Sotho in order to distinguish it from Pedi {Horthtrn Sctho) s~oken in Northern ~ransvaal and Tsvana (Western Sotho) spoken in Botswana, The present thesis is an examination of Xense and Aspect in spoken Sesotho. Our data does not depend on written materials such as samples from newspapers, novels, plays etc., by Sesotho writers, The analysis may, however, be applied to the written language. 1.1 Qsthoqravhy Since the present thesis will be mostiy useful to language learners rather than linguists, practical orthography, as aqainst phonetic transcription, will be used. Following is 'the table of Sesotho segments in phonetic transcription acd a short list of the orthographic correspondences, CONSONANTS : STOPS NASALS FRICATIVES NON- FRICATIVES AFRICATES FRICTION- CONTINUENTS TABLE I - Sesotho Phonemes TABLE I - Sesotho Phonemes (cont,)