1 5 th International Conference on Bantu Languages Paris, June 12-15, 2013 A comparison of narrative verb forms in Bena, Nyakyusa, Malila and Nyiha Helen Eaton, SIL International (helen_eaton@sil.org) 1. Introduction • Longacre (1990: 109) distinguishes between a consecutive, which requires a preceding establishing tense, and a narrative, which does not. Both carry the primary event line of a story. 2. Formal features Table 1. Narrative verb forms Bena (G63) Nyakyusa (M31) Malila (M24) Nyiha (M23) vifikága balɨnkʉfika bhakháfikha vhaháfiha va-i-fik-ag-a ba-lɨ-mu-kʉ-fik-a bha-kha-fikh-a vha-ha-fih-a 3PL-PRS-arrive-IPFV-FV 3PL-be-18-15-arrive-FV 3PL-NAR-arrive-FV 3PL-NAR-arrive-FV Table 2. kha(a)- in Malila and ha(a)- in Nyiha Malila Nyiha Far past imperfective bhakhafíkhaga vhahafíhaga ‘they were arriving’ bha-kha-fikh-ag-a vha-ha-fih-ag-a 3PL-NAR-arrive-IPFV-FV 3PL-NAR-arrive-IPFV-FV Subjunctive itive bhakháalaje vhaháalaje ‘they should go and say goodbye’ bha-khaa-lag-e vha-haa-lag-e 3PL-ITV-say_goodbye-FV 3PL-ITV-say_goodbye-FV Far future (affirmative) bhakháyífikha kwê vhaháafishe ‘they will arrive’ bha-khaa-yɨ-fikh-a kwe vha-haa-fih-e 3PL-ITV-F 2 -arrive-FV F 2 3PL-ITV-arrive-FV Far future (negative) tê bhakháafishe tê vhaháafishe ‘they will not arrive’ te bha-khaa-fikh-e te vha-haa-fih-e NEG 3PL-ITV-arrive-FV NEG 3PL-ITV-arrive-FV • Narrative kha- in far past imperfective, c.f. itive khaa-. Table 3. Narrative verb forms and ka(a)- in Bena and Nyakyusa Bena Nyakyusa Present viífika bikʉfika ‘they arrive’ va-i-fik-a ba-ikʉ-fik-a 3PL-PRS-arrive-FV 3PL-PRS-arrive-FV Present progressive vali mu kúfika balɨ pa kʉfika ‘they are arriving’ va-li mu ku-fik-a ba-lɨ pa kʉ-fik-a 3PL-be 18 15-arrive-FV 3PL-be 16 15-arrive-FV Subjunctive itive 1 vakálole bakabone ‘they should go and see’ va-ka-lol-e ba-ka-bon-e 3PL-ITV-see-FV 3PL-ITV-see-FV Near past (affirmative) vakalongíle ‘they spoke’ va-kaa-long-ile 3PL-P 2 -speak-ANT Past (negative) bakaajobile ‘they did not speak’ ba-ka-a-job-ile 3PL-NEG-PST-speak-ANT 1 An alternative itive morpheme dzi- has also been attested in the text corpus.