suffixes with different meanings), e.g. longa (pack) > longoloka (come unpacked), longolọla (unpack), and longolosya (cause to be in an unpacked state).
Extensive (indicating an action extended in time or space, various suffixes), e.g. pama (strike) > pamala (beat).
Perfective (of action carried to completion or perfection, various suffixes), e.g. leka (leave) > lekelela (leave quite alone).
Stative (state, condition, or posture, in -ama ).
Contactive (indicating contact, touch, in -ata ).
Frequentative (by reduplicating the stem), e.g. -ya (go) > -yayaya (go on and on and on).
A few other forms occur sporadically:
Excessive (in -asika ) , e.g. pema (breathe) > pemasika (pant).
Contrary ( in -ngana ) , e.g. selengana (be in confusion).
Reference to displacement, violent movement (- muka and various other suffixes), e.g. cilimuka (rush off).
Reference to extension, spreading out (suffix -alala ) , e.g. andalala (spread out at work) (Doke 1948: 290–2).
Lamba is perhaps particularly rich in these verbal derivatives, but similar formations could be cited for each of the Bantu languages. In the rather different case of Mongo, for instance, Hulstaert lists eighty different forms of the verb in his table of verbal ‘conjugation’, each with its characteristic format and meaning (Hulstaert 1965: table at end of vol., also chs 5–6). Madan sums up the ‘extraordinary richness’ of the Bantu verb when he writes:
Any verb stem … can as a rule be made the base of some twenty or thirty others, all reflecting the root idea in various lights, sometimes curiously limited by usage to a particular aspect and limited significance, mostly quite free and unrestrained in growth, and each again bearing the whole luxuriant super-growth of voices, moods, tenses, and person-forms, to the utmost limits of its powers of logical extension
(Madan 1911: 53).
In this way, then, a constant and fertile resource was at hand on which composers could draw according to their wishes and skill.
A second subtle linguistic instrument is provided by the system of nouns and noun-formation. The basic structure is built up on a kind of grammatical class-gender, with concordial agreement. In Bantu languages, that is, there are a number of different classes, varying from twelve or thirteen to as many as twenty-two (in Luganda), into one or other of which all nouns fall. Each class has a typical prefix which, in one or another form, is repeated throughout the sentence in which the noun occurs (concordial agreement). A simple example will make this clear. The Zulu term for horses, amahhashi, is characterized by the prefix ama - which must reappear in various fixed forms ( a-, ama -) in the relevant phrase. Thus ‘his big horses ran away’ must be expressed as ‘horses they-his they-big they-ran-away’ ( amah hashi akhe amak hulu abalekile (Doke 1948: 289). The precision of reference achieved through this grammatical form dispels the vagueness and ambiguity sometimes inherent in equivalent English forms, and at the same time provides possibilities—which are exploited—for alliteration and balance in literary formulations.
Each of these noun classes tends to cover one main type of referent, though there are variations between different languages. In general terms we can say that names of people tend to predominate in classes 1 and 2, names of trees in classes 3 and 4, names of animals in classes 9 and 10 abstract terms in class 14, verb infinitives in class 15, and locatives in classes 16, 17, and 18 (Doke 1948: 289) There are effective ways of using this system. Sometimes by changing the prefix (and thus class) of a particular word it is possible to put it into a new class and so change its meaning or connotation. In Tswana, for instance, mo/nna, man (class 1) takes on new meaning when transferred to other classes, as se/nna, manliness, bojnna, manhood; while in Venda we have tshi/thu, thing, ku/thu, tiny thing, and di/thu, huge thing (Doke 1948:
Extensive (indicating an action extended in time or space, various suffixes), e.g. pama (strike) > pamala (beat).
Perfective (of action carried to completion or perfection, various suffixes), e.g. leka (leave) > lekelela (leave quite alone).
Stative (state, condition, or posture, in -ama ).
Contactive (indicating contact, touch, in -ata ).
Frequentative (by reduplicating the stem), e.g. -ya (go) > -yayaya (go on and on and on).
A few other forms occur sporadically:
Excessive (in -asika ) , e.g. pema (breathe) > pemasika (pant).
Contrary ( in -ngana ) , e.g. selengana (be in confusion).
Reference to displacement, violent movement (- muka and various other suffixes), e.g. cilimuka (rush off).
Reference to extension, spreading out (suffix -alala ) , e.g. andalala (spread out at work) (Doke 1948: 290–2).
Lamba is perhaps particularly rich in these verbal derivatives, but similar formations could be cited for each of the Bantu languages. In the rather different case of Mongo, for instance, Hulstaert lists eighty different forms of the verb in his table of verbal ‘conjugation’, each with its characteristic format and meaning (Hulstaert 1965: table at end of vol., also chs 5–6). Madan sums up the ‘extraordinary richness’ of the Bantu verb when he writes:
Any verb stem … can as a rule be made the base of some twenty or thirty others, all reflecting the root idea in various lights, sometimes curiously limited by usage to a particular aspect and limited significance, mostly quite free and unrestrained in growth, and each again bearing the whole luxuriant super-growth of voices, moods, tenses, and person-forms, to the utmost limits of its powers of logical extension
(Madan 1911: 53).
In this way, then, a constant and fertile resource was at hand on which composers could draw according to their wishes and skill.
A second subtle linguistic instrument is provided by the system of nouns and noun-formation. The basic structure is built up on a kind of grammatical class-gender, with concordial agreement. In Bantu languages, that is, there are a number of different classes, varying from twelve or thirteen to as many as twenty-two (in Luganda), into one or other of which all nouns fall. Each class has a typical prefix which, in one or another form, is repeated throughout the sentence in which the noun occurs (concordial agreement). A simple example will make this clear. The Zulu term for horses, amahhashi, is characterized by the prefix ama - which must reappear in various fixed forms ( a-, ama -) in the relevant phrase. Thus ‘his big horses ran away’ must be expressed as ‘horses they-his they-big they-ran-away’ ( amah hashi akhe amak hulu abalekile (Doke 1948: 289). The precision of reference achieved through this grammatical form dispels the vagueness and ambiguity sometimes inherent in equivalent English forms, and at the same time provides possibilities—which are exploited—for alliteration and balance in literary formulations.
Each of these noun classes tends to cover one main type of referent, though there are variations between different languages. In general terms we can say that names of people tend to predominate in classes 1 and 2, names of trees in classes 3 and 4, names of animals in classes 9 and 10 abstract terms in class 14, verb infinitives in class 15, and locatives in classes 16, 17, and 18 (Doke 1948: 289) There are effective ways of using this system. Sometimes by changing the prefix (and thus class) of a particular word it is possible to put it into a new class and so change its meaning or connotation. In Tswana, for instance, mo/nna, man (class 1) takes on new meaning when transferred to other classes, as se/nna, manliness, bojnna, manhood; while in Venda we have tshi/thu, thing, ku/thu, tiny thing, and di/thu, huge thing (Doke 1948:
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