An Overview of Verbal Morphology of Ihanzu (Bantu, Tanzania)

This study presents the outcomes of a short linguistic fieldwork on a Bantu lect Ihanzu (F31B) that is spoken in the north central Tanzania. According to the Ethnologue database Isanzu is a threatened language (6b) because of the relatively small number of speakers (26 000) and the low intergenerational transmission. Data collection aimed at basic description of phonetics and morphology. Method used to achieve this goal consists of translational elicitation of the 207-item Swadesh list, H. Batibo’s questionnaire on Bantu morphosyntax as well as of recording and transcribing narratives (fairy tales and “Pear story”). The analyses of data show that Isanzu possess typical for Eastern Bantu languages verbal morphology that includes the following slots (with encoding morphemes) within verbal phrase: 1) negation [sha/shanga]; 2) subject marker [n, u, o, k, m, a/e, noun class markers]; 3) tense-aspect-mood marker 1 [e ‘present’, a ‘past’, ka ‘narrative past’, o ‘future’]; 4) extension 1 [(k)i ‘reflexive/reciprocal’]; 5) object marker [ni, ko, mo, ke, wa, wa, nominal markers]; 6) root; 7) extension 2 [i ‘applicative’, w ‘passive’, z ‘causative’, ag ‘durative’, ek/ik ‘stative’]; 8) tense-aspect-mood marker 2 [ire ‘perfective’]; 9) final vowel [a ‘indicative’, e ‘subjunctive / optative / perfective’]. -Note: This talk has not gone through a process of peer review, and findings should therefore be treated as preliminary and subject to change. -Acknowledgement and citation: Beletskiy, Stanislav. 2022. An Overview of Verbal Morphology of Ihanzu (Bantu, Tanzania). Talk Given at Rift Valley Webinar Series 30/11/2022.