Tense and aspect marking in Bantu languages of the Morogoro region, Tanzania

A review of the verbal morphology of several Bantu languages of the Morogoro region, Tanzania, reveals surprising diversity in both their distribution and meaning. Bantu languages are renowned for their rich verbal morphology, including remoteness distinctions in the tenses. However, some Bantu languages of the region have essentially only two tenses (past and non-past), limited aspectual distinctions, and some have no negative tense/aspect markers. This chapter summarises our current knowledge of the tense/aspect systems of five Bantu languages of the Morogoro region: Kagulu (G12), Luguru (G35), Kami (G36), Ndamba (G52) and Pogoro (G51). In particular, the chapter reviews the distribution and meaning of these morphological distinctions, the abundance versus scarcity of specific tense/aspect markers, and the methods of expressing negation.