A Morphosyntactic Verb Inflection for Tense and Aspect in Bemba

Abstract

This study sets out to analyze the Bemba verb inflection for tense and aspect. It employs Basic Linguistic Theory and Nurse’s Conceptual Frame Work in the analysis of the distribution and interaction of tense and aspect on the verb phrase in Bemba. The background to the Bemba language of Zambia and to the study is given. The tenets of the Basic linguistic theory and Nurse’s Conceptual Framework and their pivotal role in the morphosyntactic analysis of verb inflection for tense and aspect are also highlighted. It further provides the structure of the Bantu verb. The study further analyses the morphological structure of the Bemba verb by looking at the inflectional features of the verb. The verb is composed of features such as the root and prefixes and suffixes, the final vowel, subject marker and object marker. It further gives the basic syntactic structure in a Bemba sentence. The Bemba tense system includes the past, present and the future. The study further shows that tense marking is realized through affixation. It demonstrates how tense and aspect overlap. The distribution of aspect and its morphological realization in the Bemba verb phrase is discussed. The overlapping of tense and aspect is further established. Basic Linguistic Theory and Nurse’s Conceptual Framework are employed in analyzing the data. The findings of the research have been summarized and conclusions are made by taking into account the research problem, questions and objectives. It reflects on the observations made in the body of the research project. Finally, recommendations for further research are given.