Actionality in Bantu languages: an empirical and typological approach

方面的语言范畴描述了事态的内部构成。它不同于时态，时态将事件的状态定位在时间上。方面通常被理解为双向的：词汇和短语维度（行动性）编码事件的组成阶段，语法维度的手段从中选择特定的阶段（Sasse 2002）。因此，为了理解方面，了解操作性的语言规范、实例化是必要的。然而，对非欧洲语言的声音分析仍然是一个理想的选择（Tatevosov 2002; Bar-el2015）。班图语提供了特别相关的见解。在目前关于班图语系的研究中，一个广受欢迎的模型假设班图语将复杂的事态词汇化为一个动词（Botne & Kershner 2000等），例如“处于愤怒的地步-变得愤怒-变得愤怒”。然而，更常见的方面理论在先验的基础上排除了这种相位配置。另一方面，所谓普遍的简单状态变化（成就）似乎是用班图语进行的。然而，对更大数据样本的分析却缺失了。此外，很少发现诊断测试-例如，如果结果状态实际上是语义编码的，则通常仍然不清楚。因此，这个研究项目的主要目标是用两种班图语：尼亚库萨语（坦桑尼亚）和科萨语（南非）对行动性进行不同的描述。对于Nyakyusa，申请人已经进行了初步研究。选择科萨语是因为它的遗传、类型学和地理距离以及可用的文本语料库。在第一步，将开发诊断测试，以提供对词汇化阶段配置的见解。这些测试的设计将考虑到它们在班图语中的适用性，主要包括评估给定动词或动词短语与特定的方面屈折、相动词（“开始”、“停止”、“结束”）和时间状语的兼容性和可能的解读。在这些试验的基础上，得到了近似的运动特性。学习尼亚库萨语和科萨语的100个动词和短语。数据将通过评估现有语料库中已证实的话语和实地调查来收集。主要方法将是有针对性的启发，结合最近关于语义田野调查的方法论讨论中描述的技术（matthewson & Bochnak 2015年的贡献）。收集到的数据将最终导致对最近方面理论的核心假设进行基于经验的评估。因此，它将有助于我们理解事态是如何在人类语言中概念化的。研究结果将在同行评议的期刊上发表。

The linguistic category of aspect describes the internal composition ofstates-of-affairs. It differs from tense, which localizes states-of-affairsin time. Aspect is commonly understood as bi-dimensional: the lexicaland phrasal dimension (actionality) encodes the constituent phases ofa state-of-affairs, from which the devices of the grammaticaldimension select specific phases (Sasse 2002). In order tounderstand aspect, it is thus essential to know about languagespecificinstantiations of actionality. Sound analyses of non-Europeanlanguages, however, remain a desideratum (Tatevosov 2002; Bar-el2015). Bantu languages promise insights of particular relevance. Amodel well-received in current research on this language familyassumes that Bantu languages lexicalize complex state-of-affairs in asingle verb (Botne & Kershner 2000, among others), for instance ‘tobe at the point of anger – become angry – be angry’. The morecommon theories of aspect, however, exclude such phaseconfigurations on an a priori base. Allegedly universal simplechanges-of-state (achievements), on the other hand, appear to berare in Bantu languages. Yet analyses of bigger data samples aremissing. Moreover, few diagnostic tests are found – it often remainsunclear if, for example, a resultant state is in fact semanticallyencoded. The primary goal of this research project is thus adifferentiated description of actionality in two Bantu languages:Nyakyusa (Tanzania) and Xhosa (South Africa). For Nyakyusa,preliminary research has been performed by the applicant. Xhosa hasbeen chosen for its genetical, typological and geographical distanceand for the text corpora available. In a first step, diagnostic tests willbe developed to provide insights into the lexicalized phaseconfigurations. These tests, which will be devised with their applicability across Bantu languages in mind, will primarily consist inevaluating the compatibility and possible readings of a given verb orverb phrase with specific aspectual inflections, with phasal verbs (‘tobegin’, ‘to stop’, ‘to finish’) and with temporal adverbials. On the basisof these tests, the actional characteristics of approx. 100 verbs andverb phrases in Nyakyusa and Xhosa will be described. Data will becollected through a combination of evaluating attested utterances inthe available corpora and through fieldwork. The main method will betargeted elicitation, incorporating the techniques described in therecent methodology discussion on semantic fieldwork (contributions inMatthewson & Bochnak 2015). The collected data will ultimately leadto an empirically based evaluation of the core assumptions of recenttheories of aspect. It will thereby contribute to our understanding of how states-of-affairs are conceptualized in human language. Theresults will be made available through articles in peer-reviewedjournals.