THE MORPHOPHONOLOGY OF THE PAST TENSE IN CIYAAWO1

by
Armindo Ngunga
Center for African Studies
Eduardo Mondlane University
Maputo, Mozambique

Abstract

While time is a philosophical category that humans use to partition the succession of
units such as hours, days, weeks, years, centuries, etc., tense is the language resource
that humans use to express time reference. According to their culture, humans
interpret the time phenomenon in a diversity of ways which are reflected in linguistic
expression of time. This diversity explains why, according to Comrie (1985) there are
languages which have three basic tenses (past, present and future), other languages
have one tense (past) and the other tenses are said to be not tense (non-past). Still
other languages distinguish different types of past and future in such a way that,
having the tense corresponding to the present time, or the time of speech, as the
reference tense, and the other tenses as those expressing events which happen before
the present (past) or happen after the present (future), may distinguish recent past
from remote past, or near future from distant future. In agglutinative languages, all
these tense distinctions are marked in different ways in the verb structure be it
segmentally or suprasegmentally.
Based on Lexical Phonology and Morphology (Kiparsky 1982, 1985, Mohanan 1982,
and others), the present paper aims at describing the morphophonology of the past
tense in Ciyaawo, a Bantu (P21 in Guthrie 1967-71’s classification) language spoken
mainly in Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.
The paper is organized as follows. After the introduction, it presents the literature
review on the topic including the theoretical frameworks adopted; then it describes
the past tense markers and the ways they are affixed to the verbs of different root
structures. Lastly, it presents the final remarks.

Key-words: Bantu languages, morpheme, past tense, morphophonology.

1. Introduction

Time is a philosophical category humans use to partition the succession of

units such as hours, days, weeks, years, centuries, etc., tense is the language
1
Paper first presented at XIV LASU Conference at Chancellor College, University of
Malawi. September 14, 2017. I thank all participants who attended the presentation for their
valuable contributions many of which were incorporated in this version.

1
resource humans use to express time reference. According to their culture,
humans interpret the natural phenomena regarding time in a diversity of ways
which are reflected in linguistic expression of time called tense. This diversity
explains why, according to Comrie (1985), there are languages which have
three basic tenses (past, present and future), others have one tense (past) and
the other tenses are said to be not tense (non-past). Still other languages
distinguish different types of past and future in such a way that, having the
tense corresponding to the present time, or the time of speech, as the reference
tense, and the other tenses as those expressing events which happen before the
present (past) or happen after the present (future), may distinguish recent past
from remote past, or near future from distant future. In agglutinative
languages, such as Bantu languages to which Ciyaawo belongs, all these tense
distinctions are marked in different ways in the verb structure be it segmentally
or suprasegmentally.
Based on the Lexical Phonology and Morphology (MOHANAN 1982;
KIPARSKY 1982, 1985; and others), the present paper aims at describing the
morphophonology of the past tense in Ciyaawo, a Bantu language (P21 in
GUTHRIE’s 1967-71 classification) spoken mainly in Malawi, Mozambique,
Tanzania.
The paper is organized as follows. After this brief introduction, it presents the
literature review on the topic including the theoretical frameworks adopted;
then it describes the past tense markers and the ways they are affixed to the
verbs of different root structures. Lastly, it presents the final remarks.

2. A short literature review

The study of tense is part of the study of the verb, a grammatical category
whose studies, in Bantu languages, involve all areas of linguistics form both
formal and non-formal. In Bantu languages, verb is regarded as the most
variable of the variable words in Bantu (NGUNGA 2004, 2014). In these
languages, all other grammatical information such as tense, aspect, polarity,
subject marker, object marker, is expressed through what is known as bound
morphemes which are attached to verb root. The study of these morphemes is
called inflectional morphology (SPENCER 1991). Apart from these
inflectional morphemes which express grammatical information, new verbs
can derive from existing verbs adding derivational morphemes called verb
extensions (GUTHRIE 1967, LANGA 2007, SCHADEBERG 2003, LODHI
2002, just to mention a few) or simply extensions. In Ciyaawo, verb tense has
been studied by different authors (SANDERSON 1922, 1954; WHITELY
1966; NGUNGA 1997, 1998, 2000, 2014a, 2014b) as part of grammatical
studies of the language.

2
3. Theoretical frameworks

To analyze the data, in this study, we will resort to the Lexical Phonology and
Morphology (KIPARSKY 1982, 1985, MOHANAN 1982, ODDEN 1993) a
theory of interaction between Phonology and Morphology. Hyman (1995a,
1995b) and Ngunga (1997, 2000, 2014b) applied this theory the study of the
Cibemba verb morphology and morphology and phonology of Ciyaawo,
respectively.

4. Ciyaawo Verb structure

Ciyaawo verb structure is typically Bantu (BLEEK 1962, MEINHOF 1932,

GUTHRIE 1970, 1967-70, MEEUSSEN 1967). The basic structure of the
infinitive form of the Ciyaawo verb comprises a class 15 prefix (ku-), a verb
root typically -CVC-, with some possibility of occurrence of shorter or longer
roots due to a variety of reasons. It is around the root or within it where the
inflectional and or derivational materials are attached to. In the far end of the
structure, a suffix, usually known as a final vowel (-a), occurs. Thus,
considering all situations, the verb structure can be represented as follows:

1. The verb structure in Bantu (NGUNGA 2000:87)

Verb

Pre-Stem Macro-Stem

I-Stem

D-Stem

Prefs [[PI-SM-PS] OM Root Suffs [Exts] FV/I-Suff

Where: I-Stem: Inflectional Stem; D-Stema: Derivational Stem; SM: Subject

Marker; PS: Post-Subject; PI: Pre-Initial; OM: Object Marker; Exts: (Verbal)
Extensions; FV: Final Vowel: I-Suff: Inflectional Suffix.

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As is seen, the verb structure comprises a pre-stem and a macro-stem. The
macro-stem comprises the OM and an I-Stem which in turn comprises the
derived stem and the final vowel or final suffix. It is important to note that the
derived stem comprises a root and derivational suffixes which do not occur in
underived verb forms. The root is the lexical morpheme which is the core of
the verb form. The structure of the root varies from simple single segment
roots to the more complex ones, as illustrated below:
2.a) -V-
b) -C-
c) -VC-
d) -CV-
e) -VCV-
f) -CVC-
g) -VCVC-
h) -VCVCV-
i) -CVCVC-
j) -VCVCVC-
k) -VCVCVV-
l) -CVCVCVCVC-
Where: V = V or VV; C = C, NC, CG, NCG.

See some examples illustrating the different types of the structure of the root:

3.a) -V- -u- (kuwa) ‘die’

b) -C- -c- (kuca) ‘dawn; end (raining)’
-j- (kuja) ‘go’
-ny- [ɲ] (kunya) ‘defecate’
-p- (kupa) ‘give’
-t- (kuta) ‘name’
-v- (kuva) ‘be’
c) -VC- -al- (kwaala) ‘lay in order, side by side’
-as- (kwaasa) ‘lose; throw away; bury (a dead person)’
-eng- (kweenga) ‘make oil’ (esp. castor oil)
-is- (kwiisa) ‘come’
-it- (kwiita) ‘pour out; throw out (liquid)’
-og- (kooga) ‘bathe; have a bath’
-uv- (kuuva) ‘hide oneself; shelter from (e.g. rain)’
d) -CV- -di- (kudya) ‘eat’
-gu- (kugwa) ‘fall’

4
 -mu- (mwa2) ‘drink’
-pi- (kupya) ‘burn’
-su- (kuswa) ‘begin to grow dark’
-tu- (kutwa) ‘pound in a mortar’
e) -VCV- -esi- (kweesya) ‘trade’
f) -CVC- -lam- (kulama) ‘survive; revive; recover; live; prosper’
-pat- (kupata) ‘get; obtain’
g) -VCVC- -anik- (kwaanika) ‘put to dry’
-egam-(kweegama) ‘lean on’
-ipip- (kwiipipa) ‘be or become short’
h) -VCVCV- -asasi- (kwaasasya) ‘spread (of flour) to dry’
-CVCVC- -tawun- (kutawuna) ‘chew’
i) -VCVCVC- -osopal- (koosopala) ‘be worried or afraid; be preoccupied’
j) -CVCVCVC- -gwiindimal- (kugwiindimala) ‘be short and stout’
k) -VCVCVV- -embecei- (kweembeceya) ‘await; have patience’
l) -CVCVCVCVC- -tuunguluvil- (kutuunguluvila) ‘be about to ripe’

As is seen in parenthesis, the vowels in both root initial and root final positions
may participate in phonological processes such as glide formation, vowel
deletion, vowel lengthening, depending on quality of the vowel preceding or
following it. Consider the following examples:

4.a) -V- /-u-/ kuwa ‘die’

b) -VC- /-as-/ kwaasa ‘lose; throw away; bury (a dead person)’
/-eng-/ kweenga ‘make oil’ (esp. castor oil)
/-is-/ kwiisa ‘come’
c) /-og-/ kooga ‘bathe; have a bath’
/-uv-/ kuuva ‘hide oneself; shelter from (e.g. rain)’
d) -CV- /-di-/ kudya ‘eat’
/-gu-/ kugwa ‘fall’

As is seen in (4), the final vowel turns the root vowel (/i/ or /u/) into a glide
(4a, d) while the unrounded ([-round]) root initial vowel turns the vowel of the
infinitive marker ku- into a glide (4b) or, if the initial root vowel is rounded
([+round]) it deletes the preceding prefix vowel (4c). It is important to note
that vowel gliding, in non-final position (4b), and vowel deletion (4c) may be
followed by vowel lengthening.

2
Also -ng’wa (Mozambican dialect).

5
The degree of complexity of the root structure dictates the way how the
different verb affixes are attached to the root, as we will show later.

5. The morphophonology of the past tense in Ciyaawo

As we talk about verb conjugation, it is important to bring the polarity issue,
that is, we have to decide whether we are going to talk about the affirmative
or negative forms since the two have different morphologies. In this case, we
are going to talk about both. Affirmative and negative forms. Another thing
we need to say in advance is whether we are going to talk about basic
underived verb forms only or if we are going to include the derived verb forms.
Again we are going to talk about both, underived and derived forms.
5.1. Underived affirmative past tense verb forms
In Ciyaawo, the underived affirmative past tense is morphologically expressed
by adding a morpheme to the verb structure, usually a reflex of the Proto-
Bantu past tense suffix is *-id-e (BASTIN 1986). In Ciyaawo, this suffix
which we refer to as TM (tense marker) is -il-e, as illustrated in the following
examples:
5. /-lum-/ ‘bite’ cf. tulumíle ‘we bit’
tu-lum-il-e
SM-bite-TM
/-pat-/ ‘get, obtain’ cf. tupatíle ‘we got; we obtained’
tu-pat-il-e
SM-get-TM
/-suum-/ ‘buy’ cf. tusuumíle ‘we bought’
tu-suum-il-e
SM-buy-TM
/-tem-/ ‘brake’ cf. tutemíle ‘we broke’
tu-tem-il-e
SM-break-TM

Where: SM = subject marker; TM = tense marker.

As is seen above, the affixation of the -il-e indicates that the verb is in past
tense. However, it should be added that the situation is not always as
straightforward as it may seem. This simple affixation of past tense morpheme
to the verb root has to do with the nature of the verb root, on the one hand and,
on the other hand, it has to do with whether we are referring to recent or remote
past or, still, if we are referring to negative or affirmative forms. That is, when
it is the remote past, there is an additional element to the verb form as in the
following examples:

6
6. /-lum-/ ‘bite’ cf. twaalúmilé ‘we bit’
tu-a-lum-il-e
SM-TM-bite-TM
/-pat-/ ‘get, obtain’ cf. twaapátilé ‘we got; obtained’
tu-a-pat-il-e
SM-TM-bite-TM
/-suum-/ ‘buy’ cf. twaasúúmilé ‘we bought’
tu-a-suum-il-e
SM-TM-buy-TM
/-tem-/ ‘break’ cf. twaatémilé ‘we broke’
tu-a-tem-il-e
SM-TM-buy-TM

The addition of the prefix -a- to the verb form in the past tense turns the verb
into remote past form. In other words, in Ciyaawo, -il-e is the recent past tense
marker, while the remote past is a discontinuous morpheme -a- -il-e. So far,
with -CVC- roots, this is what we get and this what is true. Let us look at what
happens with different types of root structure, considering the following
examples:
7. Recent past
a) -V- /-u-/ ‘die’ cf. mitéélá jíwiíle ‘the trees died’
miteela ji-w-il-e
trees SM-die-TM
b) -VC- /-it-/ ‘pour out’ cf. vaanaáce ajiitíle ‘the children poured out’
vaanace a-jiit-il-e
children SM-pour out-TM
c) -CV- /-di-/ ‘eat’ cf. ngúkú jidiíle ‘the chicken ate’
nguku ji-di-il-e
chicken SM-eat-TM
8. Remote past
a) -V- /-u-/ ‘die’ cf. mitéélá jááwiíle ‘the trees died’
miteela ji-a-w-il-e
trees SM-TM-die-TM
b) -VC- /-it-/ ‘pour out’ cf. vaanáce vaajíítilé ‘the children poured out’
vaanace v-a-jiit-il-e
children SM-TM-pour out-TM
c) -CV- /-di-/ ‘eat’ cf. nguku jáádiíle ‘the chicken ate’
nguku ji-a-di-il-e
chicken SM-TM-eat-TM

7
The examples in (7) and (8) show the same pattern as seen when we had the -
CVC- root, also known as the canonical form of the verb root in Bantu, where
the past tense marker (-il-e) is added to the verb root to express the recent past,
while the discontinuous morpheme (-a- -il-e) is affixed to the root to express
the remote past. In Ciyaawo, the recent past refers to events which take place
the day and time of speech. Therefore, it can be termed as the “past of today”
anytime or recent past. Remote past refers to events which take place the day
previous to the one of speech or any time before the day of speech. In this
case, remote past is said to be the “past of before today” any time, day, week,
month, year, etc. Let us now move on the more complex verb roots.

9. Recent past
a) -VCVC- /-anik-/ cf. tujaaníice mbwáanda ‘we put beans to dry’
tu-jaan-iic-e mbwaanda
SM-dry-TM beans
/-egam-/ cf. tujeegéeme mwiipúpa ‘we leaned on the wall’
tu-jeeg-eem-e mwiipupa
SM-lean on-TM on wall
/-ipip-/ cf. n’naási wujiipíipe ‘the bamboo shortened’
n’naasi wu-jiip-iip-e
bamboo SM-shorten-TM
/-ongol-/ cf. tujoongwééle cisyáánó ‘we straightened the
iron’
tu-joongw-eel-e cisyaano
SM-straighten-TM iron
/-umul-/ cf. n’naási wujuumwíile ‘the bamboo dried’
n’naasi wu-juumw-iil-e
bamboo SM-dry-TM
b) -VCVCV- /-asasi-/ cf. tujaaséésye wutaándi ‘we spread the flour’
tu-jaas-éésy-e wutaándi
SM-spread-TM flour
c) -CVCVC- /-tawun-/ cf. tutawíine dinaangwá ‘we chewed cassava’
tu-taw-iin-e dinaangwá
SM-chew-TM cassava
d) -VCVCVC- /-osopal-/ cf. jujoosópeele n’tímá ‘he became
preoccupied’
ju-joosop-eel-e n’timá
SM-preoccupy-TM heart
e) -CVCVCVC- /-gwiindimal-/ cf. jugwiindímeele ‘he became short
and stout’
ju-gwiindim-eel-e
SM-short and stout-TM
f) -VCVCVV- /-embecei-/ cf. jujeembéceeye ‘s/he awaited’

8
 ju-jeembec-eeye
SM-await-TM
g) -CVCVCVCVC- /-tuunguluvil-/ cf. ngujú sítuungúluviile ‘figs are
about to ripe’
nguju si-tuunguluv-iil-e
figs SM-about to ripe-TM
10. Remote past
a) -VCVC- /-anik-/ cf. twaajáániicé mbwáanda ‘we put beans to dry’
tu-a-jaan-iic-e mbwaanda
SM-TM-dry-TM beans
/-egam-/ cf. twaajéégeéme mwiipúpa ‘we leaned on’
tu-a-jeeg-eem-e mwiipupa
SM-TM-lean on-TM on wall
/-ipip-/ cf. n’naasí waajíípiípe ‘the bamboo shortened’
n’naasi wu-a-jiip-iip-e
bamboo SM-TM-shorten-TM
/-ongol-/ cf. twaajóóngweelé cisyáánó ‘we straightened the
iron’
tu-a-joongw-eel-e cisyaano
SM-TM- straighten-TM iron
/-umul-/ cf. n’naasí waajúúmwiíle ‘the bamboo dried’
n’naasi wu-a-juumw-iil-e
bamboo SM-TM-dry-TM
b) -VCVCV- /-asasi-/ cf. twaajááseesye wutáandi ‘we spread the flour’
tu-a-jaas-eesy-e wutaandi
SM-TM-spread-TM flour
c) -CVCVC- /-tawun-/ cf. twaatáwiiné dinaangwá ‘we chewed cassava’
tu-a-taw-iin-e
SM-TM-chew-TM
d) -VCVCVC- /-osopal-/ cf. jwaajóósopeelé n’tímá ‘he became
preoccupied’
ju-a-joosop-eel-e
SM-TM-preoccupy-TM
e) -CVCVCVC- /-gwiindimal-/ cf. jwaagwííndimeéle ‘he became
short and stout’
ju-a-gwiindim-eel-e
SM-TM-short and stout-TM
f) -VCVCVV- /-embecei-/ cf. jwaajéémbecéeye ‘s/he awaited’
ju-a-jeembec-eeye
SM-TM-await-TM
g) -CVCVCVCVC- /-tuunguluvil-/ cf. ngujú syáátúúnguluviíle ‘figs were
about to ripe’
nguju si-a-tuunguluv-iil-e
figs SM-TM-dry-TM

9
Different from what we saw earlier about the past tense morpheme, in (9) and
(10) we are having a situation which deserves an explanation. Instead of
having a linear affixation of -il-e to the root, we are witnessing what is called
imbrication (BASTIN 1986; HYMAN 1995a, 1995b; NGUNGA 1998, 2000,
just to mention a few). As is seen, when the verb root has at least two syllables,
that is, when it is -VCVC-, -CVCVC- or longer, the past tense marker is
imbricated (BASTIN 1986) into the verb root. We will resort the Lexical
Phonology and Morphology Theory (KIPARSKY 1982, 1985; MOHANAN
1982, ODDEN 1993) to analyze the data. For practical purposes, we will only
consider the verb stem and ignore what precedes it as shown below:

11.a) Vowel initial long roots: -VCVCV- or longer

Input: /-anik-/ /-egam-/ /-ipip-/ /-ongol-/ /-umul-/
Morphology: -jaanik-il-e -jeegam-il-e -jiipip-il-e -joongol-il-e -
juumul-ile
Phonology 1: -jaaniilk-e -jeegailm-e -jiipiilp-e -joongoill-e -
juumuill-e
Phonology 2: -jaaniik-e -jeegaim-e -jiipiip-e -joongoil-e -
juumuil-e
i) Coalescence: NA -jeegem-e NA NA NA
ii) [-high] assim. NA NA NA -joongoel-e NA
iii) Gliding: NA NA NA -joongwel-e -juumwil-e
iv) V. length: NA -jeegeem-e NA -joongweel-e -juumwiil-e
Phonology 4: -jaaniic-e NA NA NA NA
Output: -jaaníic-e -jeegéem-e -jiipíip-e -joongwéel-e -juumwíil-e

Looking at the data analysis, we get the following reading:

- Morphology: /j/ and -il-e affixation;
- Phonology 1: -il-e insertion between the last vowel of the root and the
final consonant;
- Phonology 2: /l/ of -il-e deletion;
- Phonology 3: hiatus resolution
i) Coalescence
ii) [-high] assimilation
iii) Gliding
iv) Vowel lengthening
- Phonology 4: Other phonological processes: Palatalization

10
This reading is basically repeated below, where we have consonant initial
roots and the morphological behavior of the material is the same as that found
in stems of vowel initial roots. Thus,

b) Consonant initial long roots: -CVCVC- or longer

Input: /-tawun-/ /-gwiindimal-/ /-tuunguluvil-/
Morphology: -tawunil-e -gwiindimalil- /-tuunguluvilil-
Phonology 1: -tawuiln-e -gwiindimaill-e -tuunguluviill-e
Phonology 2: -tawuin-e -gwiindimail-e -tuunguluviil-e
Phonology 3: -tawwin-e -gwiindimel-e -tuunguluviil-e
Phonology 4: -tawin-e NA NA
Phonology 5: -tawiin-e -gwiindimeel-e NA
Output: -tawíin-e -gwiindímeel-e -tuungúluviil-e

As is seen, since the major morphological phenomena take place on the right
side of the verb root, everything that we saw in (9a) repeats here except that,
in (9b), Phonology 4 introduces degemination of /ww/ created by hiatus
resolution which makes us postpone the output after Phonology 5.

What (10) and (11) suggest is that long roots, those which are at least two
syllables long, allow imbrication instead of linear affixation of the past tense
suffix. After looking at the short root where we found the linear affixation of
the past tense morpheme, and the longer roots, regardless of whether there is
a vowel or a consonant in the root-initial position where the past tense
morpheme is imbricated, it is time to see if there are no exceptions to this
grouping. Consider the following examples:

12. /-ng’-/ ‘drink’ cf. tung’weéle ‘we drank’

tu-ng’w-a-il-e
SM-drink-FV-TM
/-ny-/ ‘defecate cf. sinyeéle ‘they defecated’
tu-ny-a-il-e
SM-drink-FV-TM
/-p- ‘give’ cf. atupéele ‘they gave us’
tu-pa-a-il-e
SM-drink-FV-TM
/-t-/ ‘name’ cf. an’téele ‘they named him/her’
tu-t-a-il-e

11
 SM-drink-FV-TM
/-tw-/ ‘pound’ cf. tutweéle ‘we pounded’
tu-tw-a-il-e
SM-drink-TM
/-v-/ ‘be, become’ cf. aveéle cisiilu ‘s/he became stupid’
tu-v-a-il-e stupid
SM-drink-FV-TM

These examples show that although they belong to the short roots group, they
do not behave like short roots. Ngunga (2000) suggests that probably these
roots are not -C- roots. They are probably -CV- roots where V equals /a/ and
the addition of the past tense marker -il-e triggers coalescence (a+i=e). Just
like these exceptional short roots which behave as long roots, there are long
roots where imbrication is applied to. Consider the following examples:

13. /-wuluwuumb-/ ‘roll on the ground’ cf. tuwulúwúúmbile ‘we rolled on’
/-amiil-/ ‘shout; scream’ cf. tujaamíísile ‘we shouted’
/-soongoon-/ ‘whisper’ cf. soongóónile ‘whispered’
/-teeteeka-/ ‘appease, quieten’ cf. tuteetéécile ‘we appeased’
/-pulupuut-/ ‘wriggle about’ cf. jipulupúútile ‘wriggled about’

The data in (13) show long roots which behave morphologically like regular
short (-CVC-) roots. That is, in the past tense, the TM is linearly affixed to the
verb root the same way as it does when the roots are short. As we observe
them closely, we discover that they have in common the fact the root last
vowel is long. Therefore, it can be inferred that the imbrication is blocked by
the presence of long vowel in the place where a short vowel would “meet’
with the /i/ of the past tense marker -il-e. Let us look at what happens with the
long verb root when derivational suffixes are attached to them next.

5.2. Derived affirmative past tense verb forms

When derivational suffixes are added to the long verb root which behave like
the short canonical -CVC- the last long vowel of the root becomes penultimate
vowel of the root, since the short vowel of the suffix become the last vowel of
the extended stem, as illustrated in the following examples:

12
14. /-wuluwuumb-il-/ ‘roll on towards for’ cf. tuwulúwúúmbiile ‘we rolled on
for’
/-amiil-an-/ ‘shout at each other’ cf. tujaamíleene ‘we shouted e.o.’
/-soongoon-el-/ ‘whisper at’ cf. tusóóngóneele ‘whispered at’
/-teeteek-an-/ ‘appease each other’ cf. tuteetéékeene ‘we appeased at
e.o.’
/-pulupuut-is-/ ‘be able to wriggle a lot’ cf. sipulúpúútiisye ‘wriggled
about a lot’

As is seen above, after the removal of the long vowel from the last vowel of
the root to preceding position, the formerly forbidden form can now accept
imbrication of the past tense marker, since the imbrication local is now
monomoraic. The phonological consequences of the application of the
imbrication apply also here.
Before we move into another topic, let us go back and pay attention to what
appear here as an epenthetic /j/ (7b, d; 8b, d; 9a, b, d, f; 10a, b, d, f;) that is
inserted to the verbs with vowel initial roots at the same time that the remote
past tense marker is affixed. Therefore, this /j/ should not be confused with
that which is part of the lexicon, that is, the lexical /j/ is never deleted, it
appears both in the infinitive and whenever the verb is conjugated, as is shown
in the following examples:

15.a) /-jajaval-/ ‘float’ cf. tujajávéele ‘we floated’

/-jejem-/ ‘strain at a stool’ cf. tujejéeme ‘we strained at stool’
/-jidima ‘trickle; flow’ cf. meesí gájidíime ‘the water trickled’
/-jogoj-/ ‘talk noisily’ cf. tujogwéeje ‘we talked noisily’
/-jiim-/3 ‘to not give’ cf. twaajíímile ‘we did not give to them’
/-jub-/ ‘sign up (daily job)’ cf. tujubile ‘we signed up’

The example in (15) intend to illustrate the difference between the epenthetic
/j/, mophophonologically inserted, and the lexical /j/ which is always present
in all verb forms. That is why we suggest the epenthetic /j/ be called

3Cf. /-im-/ ‘stop; stand up’ cf. tujiími ‘we stopped’

Future: caacííma ‘they will give’
ci-a-ci-im-a
TM-SM-stop-FV
Cf. /-jim-/
Future: caacíjiima cf. tujiimíle ‘we did not give’
ci-a-ci-jiim-a
TM-SM-TM-not to give-FV

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grammatical /j/ which is different from the constant /j/ which we suggest it to
be called lexical /j/. The former occurs only in past tenses and never occurs in
non-past tenses. It is important to recall that this distinction refers to vowel
initial roots only. In verbs with consonant initial roots there is no space for
grammatical /j/.

5.3. Negative past tense forms

So far we have seen that being an agglutinative language, Ciyaawo
affirmative past tense verb forms are constructed by linearly affixing the
morphological tense markers to the verb structure as has been found in many
studies (MEEUSSEN 1967, SCHADEBERG 2003). The negative past tense
forms, are constructed in a different ways as illustrated below:

16.a) nganiindya ‘I did not eat’ (remote past)

ngani-n-dy-a
NM-SM-eat-FV
b). nganitudya ‘we did not eat’ (remote past)
ngani-tu-dya
NM-SM-eat-FV
17.a) nganíindya ‘I did not eat’ (recent past)
ngani-n-dy-a
NM-SM-eat-FV
b) nganítúdya ‘we did not eat’ (recent past)
ngani-tu-dya
NM-SM-eat-FV
18.a) nganííndyá ‘I will not eat’ (future)
ngani-n-dy-a
NM-SM-eat-FV
b) nganítúdyá ‘we will not eat’ (future)
ngani-tu-dya
NM-SM-eat-FV
19.a) ngánííndya ‘(so that) I won’t eat’ (subjunctive future)
ngani-n-dy-a
NM-SM-eat-FV
b) ngánítúdya ‘(so that) we won’t eat’ (subjunctive future)
ngani-tu-dya
NM-SM-eat-FV

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In the examples (16-21), it is possible to see that in the past form, the first
person (singular and plural) negative marker (NM) is segmentally ngani-
which occurs in all verb forms. However, as we look at the two past tense
forms, we realize that while segmentally the examples are all equal, tonally
they are different. That is, in (16), all morae in the remote past forms are
toneless, while the recent past forms (17) bear high tone on the second mora
in the first person singular and on the second and third morae in the first person
plural. These past tense forms contrast with future (18) and subjunctive (19)
forms, which were brought here to show the role of the tone in Ciyaawo
grammar, only because of the position of the morae that bear tones. That is,
we want to show that in this language, tone is used not only to express past
tense forms, but it also distinguishes recent from remote past as well the two
past tense forms from future and subjunctive forms. Because tense and mood
are grammatical categories, the which expresses tense, mood and other
grammatical categories is said to perform grammatical function. Thus, such a
tone is called grammatical tone itself.

6. Final remarks
The present paper has described the past tense in Ciyaawo. In so doing, it has
demonstrated that this language distinguishes recent from remote past both
segmentally, in affirmative constructions, and suprasegmentally (through
tone) in negative constructions. It has also noted that in the affirmative form,
the affixation of the segmental past tense marker can be linear, whereby the
past tense morpheme is attached to the verb root as a suffix (-il-e) in the recent
past, and as a circumfix (-a- -il-e) in the remote past. In the negative form, the
past tense is marked by tone whereby the remote past forms are toneless while
the recent past forms bear high tone on second mora in first person singular or
on second and third morae in first person plural. Finally, it has also been shown
that in this language, tone plays an important grammatical role.

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