Comparative morphosyntax

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Comparative morphosyntax
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Parts of the Pan-Bantu Slot System (PBSS)
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The trapping of medials
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DI Wide geographical distribution, though
slightly biased towards the east and
south. Both auxiliaries and inflections. Many
separate functions.
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NI/NA Wide geograhical distribution. (Slight
misleading emptiness in the north-east, as there
are several NI/NA initials there.) Most (all?)
are inflectional. Many separate
functions. (Could be a wrongly
identified cognate set. Perhaps its two?)
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KI,CA Heavily biased distribution, largely
concentrated in the east and south. Virtually
all are inflections. Mostly a persistive marker,
but some variation does exist.
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E,I Widely but sparsely distributed, though
lacking in the south. All are inflections. Widel
y varied functions considering the low number
of languages involved. (But, many difficulties
in finding clear-cut labels for the
markers.) Also, the status of this set is not
proven, only suggestive.
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PBSS suggests E/I - KI - NI/NA -
DI The brief survey of typo-facts is less
consistent. If E/I is a genuine cognate set,
then it does indeed look like an archaism
(widely scattered traces, only inflections,
difficult to label). KI seems to have undergone
less changes than DI and NI/NA (restricted
distribution and functional set), which
presumably translates into a more recent
grammaticalization. If M1-M6 represent
Proto-Bantu, as I believe, then M2/3 to M6 likely
had auxiliary status, kept it for a long time,
and later some of them grammaticalized only
regionally (and were lost entirely in some parts).
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From iteratives to something else
Adapted from Bybee et al. (1994)
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Proto-Bantu proposal
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Distribution of sampled languages
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Summary (sort of)

• PBSS is first and foremost a typological
  statement
• as such it is valid and predictive
• it is useful for those who think such things are
  useful
• it does not solve all queries about the Bantu
  verb
• it can certainly be enhanced, bettered, e.g.
  forking out
• many languages/items need more thorough analysis
• some methodological issues need to be refined
• the historical interpretation rests on an
  assumption
• the diachronic reading of the linear ordering
• it is reasonable, though not necessarily proofed