Doctoral Dissertation Research: The structure of complex verbal expression in Ndebele

语言描述动作或事件发生的时间（例如，过去或现在的“时态”）和事件发生的不同方式（“时态”）。一些分析?语言通过添加单词来表达这一点，就像英语中使用两个动词一样，一个是主动词，像“eat”或“see”，另一个是附加的助动词，时态（?）我吃了吗？)我吃过了？)信息消失了。其他合成?语言通过叠加前缀或后缀来用更复杂的动词来构建这些表达。然而，虽然语言通常可以被描述为分析或合成，但这些表达模式有时会以我们尚未理解的方式相互作用，但这将通过本论文项目通过检查它们在特定语言中的使用来阐明。本论文研究了词形的本质，重点研究了津巴布韦恩德贝莱语中动词屈折意义的编码方式。这项研究将在津巴布韦的两个地点进行，涉及从母语人士那里提取语言数据。它的目的是通过调查对比单动词和多动词结构在北恩德贝勒语中有助于理解调节合成和迂回关系的机制。恩德贝勒语动词表现出高度的综合，例如，英语“It will be given”的恩德贝勒语对应的三个动词元素用一个动词词“Kuzaphiwa”来表达。与此同时，汉语在包含一系列助动词或轻动词的各种多词结构中大量使用了迂回短语。轻动词是类似助动词的，表达在其他语言中的前缀或后缀中发现的信息，甚至作为副词。因此，恩德贝勒提供了一个有趣而重要的角度来研究构词法，因为在一种语言中有大量的合成形式和迂回形式。本文将在语言允许的词内部复杂性的限制下研究这种跨语言变异的轨迹。

Languages describe when actions or events happened (e.g., past or present "tense") and different ways events can occur ("aspect"). Some ?analytic? languages express this by adding words as in English by using two verbs, a main verb like 'eat' or 'see' and an additional auxiliary verb where the tense (?I did eat?) and aspect (?I have eaten?) information goes. Other, ?synthetic? languages build these expressions with more complex verbs by stacking prefixes or suffixes. However while languages can generally be described as analytic or synthetic, these modes of expression sometimes interact in ways we do not yet understand, but which will be illuminated by this dissertation project by examining their use in a particular language.This dissertation project investigates the nature of word formation, focusing on the way verbs encode inflectional meanings in Ndebele, a language of Zimbabwe. This research will be conducted at two locations in Zimbabwe and involve elicitation of linguistic data from native speakers. It aims to contribute to the understanding of mechanisms that regulate the relationship between synthesis and periphrasis by investigating contrasting single verb and multi-verb constructions in Northern Ndebele. Ndebele verbs exhibit a high level of synthesis, e.g. the Ndebele counterpart of English "It will be given" with three verbal elements is expressed by a single verb word "Kuzaphiwa." At the same time, the language makes considerable use of periphrasis, in various types of multi-verbal constructions involving a series of auxiliaries or light verbs. Light verbs are auxiliary-like, expressing information found in verbal prefixes or suffixes, or even as adverbs in other languages. As such, Ndebele offers an interesting and important perspective on the study of word formation due to the abundance of both synthetic and periphrastic forms within a single language. The dissertation will investigate this locus of cross-linguistic variation in the limits of word-internal complexity that languages allow.