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Tone assignment on Nata deverbal nouns*
Dayanqi Si
University of British Columbia
Abstract: This paper gives an overview of Nata deverbal nouns’ high tone positions.
Five types of deverbal nouns are discussed: (i) eventive deverbal nouns, (ii) agentive
deverbal nouns, (iii) passivized agentive deverbal nouns, (iv) instrumental deverbal nouns,
(v) passivized instrumental deverbal nouns. I compared the high tone position on
deverbal nouns with the high tone position on the verb stems from which they are derived.
Several patterns emerge: all of the verb stems, passivized and non-passivized, have a high
tone on the first syllable from the left edge; all of the infinitive forms of verbs, passivized
and non-passivized, and all of the non-passivized agentive and instrumental deverbal
nouns have a high tone on the second syllable from the left edge; all of the eventive
deverbal nouns have a high tone on the third syllable from the left edge; and all of the
passivized deverbal nouns have a high tone on either the second syllable or the third
syllable from the left edge.
1
Introduction
Nata is an endangered eastern Bantu language spoken in Tanzania and it is a tone language that
has one and only one high tone assigned to each prosodic word. This paper focuses on tone
assignment on Nata deverbal nouns. Both tone positions and tone locations will be discussed. I
use tone positions to refer to the syllable number counting from the left edge and I use tone
locations to refer to the exact element that the tone is on. For instance, the high tone position of
ku-h-á ‘to give’, C15-VROOT-FV, is the second syllable from the left edge and its tone location is
on the final vowel (FV).
The paper is constructed with six main sections: (1) introduction, (2) research method,
(3) Nata verbs, (4) Nata infinitive forms of verbs, (5) deverbal Nouns, (6) conclusion. The
following five types of deverbal nouns will be analyzed in detail: (i) eventive deverbal nouns,
(ii) agentive deverbal nouns, (iii) passivized agentive deverbal nouns, (iv) instrumental deverbal
nouns, (v) passivized instrumental deverbal nouns. Among the five types of deverbal nouns, there
are three non-passivized types, (i), (ii) and (iv), and two passivized types, (iii) and (v). That is to
say, their base forms include both non-passivized verbs and passivized verbs, which will be
presented in the section of Nata verbs.
2
Research method
All of the Nata data that are used in this paper were elicited from a single native Nata speaker,
Joash Gambarage, at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Elicitation sessions
were thirty-minute long and they were scheduled once a week for a period of six months. All of
*
This research was the outgrowth of the UBC field methods courses held in 2012–2013 with J. Gambarage
as language consultant and R.-M. Déchaine as facilitator.

Contact info: [email protected]
In proceedings of Northwest Linguistics Conference 29,
University of British Columbia Working Papers in Linguistics 38,
Zoe Lam and Natalie Weber (eds.), 2014.
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the elicited forms were written down on a whiteboard during the sessions as a form of feedback
between the language consultant and the elicitor. All of the forms were recorded after each
elicitation session.
3
Nata verbs
There are two relevant types of Nata verbs: a) non-passivized verbs and b) passivized verbs. The
template of non-passivized verbs is VROOT-FV and the template of passivized verbs is
VROOT-(FV)-PASS. Morphologically, they only differ in suffixal morphology.
3.1 Non-passivized verbs
The FV that non-passivized verbs take is mostly -a, which indicates active voice as in (1a)
and (1b). Some verbs are inherently causative, such as (1c) é ̣ẹk-i ‘burn’. Inherently causative
verbs always take -i, instead of -a, as a FV. According to the language consultant, Joash Johannes,
(1c) is considered an inherently causative verb because Nata speakers think that people have to
cause fire to burn objects. This shows that speakers’ concepts play an important role in word
formation1.
(1) a. READ
sọ́ m-a
VROOT-FV
‘read’
b. GIVE
h-á
VROOT-FV
‘give’
c. BURN
éẹk-i
VROOT-FV
‘burn’
3.2 Passivized verbs
The passive suffix (PASS) that passivized verbs take is mostly -u and this suffix replaces the final
vowel of a verb stem in most cases. For instance, (1a) sọ̣́m-a ‘read’ becomes (2a) sọ̣́m-u ‘be read’.
Nevertheless, there are two cases where the final vowels are retained and another allomorph, -bhu,
is used instead. The first case is when the verb root only has one single consonant, as in
(2b) h-áa-bhu ‘be given’. The second case is when the verb root is inherently causative, as in
(2c) é ̣é ̣k-i-bhu ‘get burned’. The -u and -bhu alternation is phonologically conditioned.
Morpheme -u becomes -bhu when it is preceded by a vowel. Both -u and -bhu create forms with
no vowel clusters, which are disfavoured in Nata.
1
Abbreviations include: APPL = applicative; C or CM = class marker; FV = final vowel; PASS = passive; PPF =
pre-prefix; VROOT = verb root. Examples in this paper are given using the following orthographic
conventions: bh = /β/; gh = /ɣ/; y = /j/; ọ = /ɔ/; ẹ = /ɛ/.
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(2) a. READ
sọ́ m-u
VROOT-PASS
‘be read’
(c.f. sọ́ m-a
VROOT-FV
‘read’)
b. GIVE
h-áa-bhu
VROOT-FV-PASS
‘be given’
(c.f. h-a
VROOT-FV
‘give’)
c. BURN
éék-i-bhu
VROOT-FV-PASS
‘get burned’
(c.f. éẹk-i
VROOT-FV
‘burn’)
3.3 Tone assignment on Nata verbs
Both non-passivized and passivized verbs have a high tone on the first syllable from the left edge.
They share both tone positions and tone locations. However, the first syllable from the left edge
does not necessarily correspond with the verb roots. As can be seen from the previous two data
sets, there are verb roots that do not have vowels and Nata high tones can only be placed on
vowels. For example, the high tone of (1a) h-á ‘give’ is on the final vowel, but it is still the first
syllable from the left edge.
4
Nata infinitive forms of verbs
The template of infinitive forms of non-passivized verbs is C15-VROOT-FV and the template of
infinitive forms of passivized verbs is C15-VROOT-(FV)-PASS. The status of infinitive forms of
verbs is controversial. Class markers are nominal morphology and final vowels are verbal
morphology. As infinitive forms of verbs require both of the two elements to work, it is not clear
whether infinitive forms should be categorized as nouns or verbs. In terms of class marker, both
Nata and Gĩkũyũ infinitives take C15, which is used for both infinitives and gerundives. This can
be shown from examples (5) and (6).
4.1 Infinitive forms of non-passivized verbs
(3) a. READ
ghu-sọ́ m-a
C15-VROOT-FV
‘to read’
(c.f. sọ́ m-a
VROOT-FV
‘read’)
b. GIVE
ku-h-á
C15-VROOT-FV
‘to give’
(c.f. h-á
VROOT-FV
‘give’)
c. BURN
ghw-ẹẹk-í
C15-VROOT-FV
‘to burn’
(c.f. éẹk-i
VROOT-FV
‘burn’)
4.2 Infinitive forms of passivized verbs
(4) a. READ
b. GIVE
ghu-sọ́ m-u
‘to be read’
C15-VROOT-PASS
(c.f. sọ́ m-u
‘be read’)
VROOT-PASS
ku-h-áa-bhu
‘to be given’
C15-VROOT-FV-PASS
(c.f. h-áa-bhu
‘be given’)
VROOT-FV-PASS
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c. BURN
ghw-ẹẹk-í-bhu
‘to get burned’
C15-VROOT-FV-PASS
(c.f. éék-i-bhu ‘get burned’)
VROOT-FV-PASS
4.3 Tone assignment on infinitive forms of Nata verbs
By contrasting verb stems on the right with their infinitive forms on the left, it can be seen that
not only do they differ from each other morphologically, but they also differ from each other in
tone assignment. As mentioned in the previous section, both non-passivized verb stems and
passivized verb stems have a high tone on the first syllable from the left edge. The data in (3)
and (4) show that both infinitive forms of non-passivized verbs and infinitive forms of passivized
verbs have a high tone on the second syllable from the left edge and they are not necessarily on
the verb roots.
It is worth noting that infinitive forms of consonant-initial verbs pattern differently from
infinitive forms of vowel-initial verbs in terms of tone locations. For example, (4a) ghu-sọ̣́m-u ‘to
be read’ is an infinitive form of a consonant-initial verb root and (4c) ghw-ẹẹk-í-bhu ‘to get
burned’ is an infinitive form of a vowel-initial verb root. The second syllable from the left edge is
the first syllable on the verb root in (4a), but the second syllable from the left edge is the final
vowel in (4c). Examples (3c) ghw-ẹẹk-í ‘to burn’ and (4c) ghw-ẹẹk-í-bhu ‘to get burned’, which
have vowel-initial roots, are the only ones that do not share high tone locations with their bases.
The verb stems, é ̣ẹk-i ‘burn’ and é ̣é ̣k-i-bhu ‘get burned’, have a high tone on the verb root;
whereas, the infinitive forms of verbs, (3c) ghw-ẹẹk-í ‘to burn’ and (4c) ghw-ẹẹk-í-bhu ‘to get
burned’, have high tones on the causative -i suffix. This is because the vowel in the class marker
ghu- undergoes glide formation when it is followed by a vowel. The underlying class marker of
(3c) ghw-ẹẹk-í ‘to burn’ and (4c) ghw-ẹẹk-í-bhu ‘to get burned’ is ghu-. If the vowels in the class
markers did not become glides, the forms would be expected to be ghu-é ̣ẹk-i ‘to burn’ and
ghu-é ̣é ̣k-i-bhu ‘to get burned’, which have high tones on the verb roots.
5
Deverbal nouns
In “The Ki-nata Noun Structure”, Joash Gambarage Johannes says that most Nata nouns are
derived from verbs (Johannes 2007: 99). Deverbal nouns may retain some features of verbs and
gain some features of nouns during derivational processes. This is the theory of mixed categories
that Bresnan and Mugane (2006) discuss in “Agentive Nominalizations in Gĩkũyũ and the Theory
of Mixed Categories”. They say that “mixed categories are constructions which combine the
syntactic and morphological properties of two distinct categories, such as noun and verb”
(Bresnan & Mugane 2006: 1). A typical template of a Nata non-passivized deverbal noun is
PPF-CM-VROOT-(APPL)-FV. The FV is an obligatory feature of Nata verbs and (PPF-)CM is an
obligatory feature of Nata nouns. Deverbal nouns are in the grey in-between area, which require
both (PPF-)CM and FV to form. This paper discusses the tone position and location of eventive
deverbal nouns (Section 5.1), non-passivized and passivized agentive deverbal nouns
(Section 5.2), and non-passivized and passivized instrumental deverbal nouns (Section 5.3). For
other types of Nata deverbal nouns that are not discussed in this paper, please see Déchaine, Si &
Gambarage, in preparation.
5.1 Eventive deverbal nouns
The template of eventive deverbal nouns is PPF-C15-VROOT-FV. For example, o-ghu-sọ̣́m-a
‘reading’ is an eventive deverbal noun. Nata eventive deverbal nouns are translated by English
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gerunds, such as ‘(the) reading’ and ‘(the) giving’. Also like English gerunds, there are no passive
equivalents such as '*(the) be reading’ or ‘*(the) be giving’. The only difference between the
template of eventive deverbal nouns, PPF-C15-VROOT-FV, and the template of infinitive forms of
non-passivized verbs, C15-VROOT-FV, is that the former has PPF and the latter does not have PPF.
This makes Nata different from Gĩkũyũ. Gĩkũyũ infinitives and gerundives share the same form.
(5) kũrĩa mĩanga
15eat 4cassava
‘to eat cassava / eating cassava’
(6) kũrĩa
15eat
‘to eat / eating’
(Mugane 1996: 38)
All of the eventive deverbal nouns have a high tone on the third syllable from the left edge
and all of them share the same high tone locations with the infinitive forms of verbs. However,
the third syllable from the left edge can be located on either verb roots or final vowels. It depends
on the characteristics of the verb roots (consonant-initial or vowel-initial).
Table 1 Tone of eventive deverbal nouns compared to verb stems and infinitives
C-initial
VROOT
V-initial
VROOT
Verb stems
Infinitives
Eventive deverbal nouns
VROOT-FV
C15-VROOT-FV
PPF-C15-VROOT-FV
sọ́ m-a
‘read’
ghu-sọ́ m-a
‘to read’
o-ghu-sọ́ m-a
‘reading’
h-á
‘give’
ku-h-á
‘to give’
o-ku-h-á
‘giving’
éẹk-i
‘burn’
ghw-ẹẹk-í
‘to burn’
u-ghw-ẹẹk-í
‘burning’
5.2 Agentive deverbal nouns
The template of non-passivized agentive deverbal nouns is PPF-C1/C2-VROOT-FV and the
template of passivized agentive deverbal nouns is PPF-C1/C2-VROOT-(FV)-PASS. For example,
o-mú-haan-i ‘a giver’ is a non-passivized agentive deverbal noun and o-mu-háan-u ‘a person who
is given away’ is a passivized agentive deverbal noun. Both non-passivized and passivized
agentive deverbal nouns take C1 or C2 as class markers, which are class markers that indicate
human beings. C1 encodes singularity and C2 encodes plurality. The only difference between the
two templates is the presence or absence of the passive suffix. When the passive suffix is present,
FV becomes optional.
5.2.1
Non-passivized agentive deverbal noun
Stegen shows that the Rangi agentive deverbal nouns share the same tone assignments with their
corresponding verbs. This can be shown by his following Rangi data set:
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(7) a. mʊʨúundi
b. mʊkɪ̣́ɪndi
c. mʊʨáandi
d. mʊsákaati
e. mʊlɔ̣́ɔli
f. mwiívi
‘moral teacher’
‘sorcerer’
‘blacksmith’
‘hunter’
‘bridegroom’
‘thief’
(cf. -ʨúunda
(cf. -kɪ̣́ɪnda
(cf. -tçáana
(cf. -sákaata
(cf. -lɔ̣́ɔla
(cf. -íva
‘teach morals’)
‘bewitch’)
‘forge’)
‘hunt’)
‘marry’)
‘steal’)
(Stegen 2002: 146)
Since Rangi is also a Bantu language, similarities between Rangi and Nata are expected.
Nonetheless, the same argument that Stegen (2002) proposed for Rangi does not hold true in Nata.
Nata agentive deverbal nouns that are derived from consonant-initial verb roots do not share the
same tone locations with their corresponding verbs; whereas, Nata agentive deverbal nouns that
are derived from vowel-initial verb roots do. This can be shown by Table 2. Tone locations in
column #1 can be compared with that in columns #4 and #5. As sọ̣́m ‘read’ and háan ‘give away’
are both consonant-initial verb roots, tone locations differ between the words in column #1 and
the words in columns #4 and #5. In contrast, as é ̣ẹk ‘burn’ is a vowel-initial verb root, tone
location remains on the verb root in both column #1 vs. columns #4 and #5.
Table 2 Tone of agentive deverbal nouns compared to verb stems and infinitives
Verb stems Infinitives
C-initial
VROOT
V-initial
VROOT
Agentive deverbal
nouns (SG)
Agentive deverbal
nouns (PL)
VROOT-FV C15-VROOT-FV PPF-C1-VROOT-FV
PPF-C2-VROOT-FV
sọ́ m-a
‘read’
ghu-sọ́ m-a
‘to read’
h-á
‘give’
ku-h-á
‘to give’
o-mú-sọm-i
a-bhá-sọm-i
‘person who reads’ /
‘people who read’ /
‘super educated person’ ‘super educated people’
háan-a
ku-háan-a
‘give away’ ‘to give away’
o-mú-haan-i
‘giver’
a-bhá-haan-i
‘givers’
éẹk-i
‘burn’
o-mw-éẹk-i
‘person who burns’
a-bh-éẹk-i
‘people who burn’
ghw-ẹẹk-í
‘to burn’
Note: There are no agentive deverbal nouns which can be derived from the verb stem h-á ‘give’.
This is because the expected meaning ‘giver’ and ‘givers’ are assigned to the agentive deverbal
nouns that are derived from the verb stem háan-a ‘give away’.
All of the non-passivized agentive deverbal nouns have a high tone on the second syllable
from the left edge, but the second syllable from the left edge does not correspond to the first
syllable of the verb root unless the verb root is vowel-initial. Because the class marker does not
undergo glide formation before consonant-initial verb roots, the second syllable from the left edge
always corresponds with the class marker itself.
5.2.2
Passivized agentive deverbal nouns
The passivized agentive deverbal nouns, which are derived from consonant-initial verb roots,
shown in Table 3, have high tones on the third syllable from the left edge. The passivized
agentive deverbal nouns, which are derived from vowel-initial verb roots, have high tones on the
136
second syllable from the left edge. All of the passivized agentive deverbal nouns share the same
tone locations with their corresponding verb stems.
Table 3 Tone of passivized agentive deverbal nouns compared to C-initial verb stems and infinitives
Passivized stems Infinitives (PASS)
Agentive (PASS) deverbal
nouns (SG)
Agentive (PASS) deverbal
nouns (PL)
VROOT-(FV)-PASS C15-VROOT-(FV)-PASS PPF-C1 -VROOT-(FV)-PASS
PPF-C2-VROOT-(FV)-PASS
sọ́ m-u
‘be read’
ghu-sọ́ m-u
‘to be read’
*o-mu-sọ́ m-u
‘person who is read’
*a-bha-sọ́ m-u
‘people who are read’
h-áa-bhu
‘be given’
ku-h-áa-bhu
‘to be given’
o-mu-h-áa-bhu
‘recipient (animate)’
a-bha-h-áa-bhu
‘recipients (animate)’
háan-u
‘be given away’
ku-háan-u
‘to be given away’
o-mu-háan-u
‘person who is given away’
a-bha-háan-u
‘people who are given away’
Table 4 Tone of passivized agentive deverbal nouns compared to V-initial verb stems and infinitives
Passivized stems Infinitives (PASS)
Agentive (PASS) deverbal
nouns (SG)
VROOT-(FV)-PASS C15-VROOT-(FV)-PASS PPF-C1 -VROOT-(FV)-PASS
Agentive (PASS) deverbal
nouns (PL)
PPF-C2-VROOT-(FV)-PASS
éẹk-i-bhu
‘be burned’
ghw-ẹẹk-í-bhu
‘to be burned’
u-mw-éẹk-i-bhu
a-bh-éẹk-i-bhu
‘person who is burned by
‘people who are burned by
others (not by himself/herself)’ others (not by themselves)’
éemb-u
‘be sang’
kw-eemb-ú
‘to be sang’
*u-mw-éemb-u
‘person who is sang’
*a-bh-éemb-u
‘people who are sang’
íbh-u
‘be stolen’
kw-iibh-ú
‘to be stolen’
o-mw-íibh-u
‘person who is stolen’
a-bh-íibh-u
‘people who are stolen’
5.3 Instrumental deverbal nouns
The template of non-passivized instrumental deverbal nouns is PPF-C7/C8-VROOT-APPL-FV and
the template of passivized instrumental deverbal nouns is PPF-C7/C8-VROOT-(FV)-PASS. For
example, e-ghí-sọm-ẹr-ọ ‘the thing that you use read (e.g. e-reader)’ is a non-passivized
instrumental deverbal noun and e-ghi-sọ̣́m-u ‘the thing that is read’ is a passivized instrumental
deverbal noun. The instrumental deverbal nouns take C7 and C8, which are class markers for
inanimate entities. C7 encodes singularity and C8 encodes plurality. The non-passivized
instrumental deverbal nouns cannot work without applicative suffixes placed before the final
vowels.
5.3.1
Non-passivized instrumental deverbal nouns
Non-passivized instrumental deverbal nouns have a high tone on the second syllable from the left
edge. This corresponds to the class markers of instrumental deverbal nouns derived from
consonant-initial verb roots and the first syllable of the verb roots of instrumental deverbal nouns
derived from vowel-initial verb roots. Thus, the high tone of instrumental deverbal nouns derived
from consonant-initial roots, shown in columns #4 and #5 of Table 4, does not correspond to the
high tone position of the verb stem it is derived from. Only the non-passivized instrumental
137
deverbal nouns that are derived from vowel-initial verb roots share the same tone locations with
their corresponding verbs. This is the same for non-passivized agentive deverbal nouns.
Table 5 Tone of instrumental deverbal nouns compared to C-initial verb stems and infinitives
Verb stems Infinitives
Instrumental deverbal nouns (SG) Instrumental deverbal nouns (PL)
VROOT-FV
C15-VROOT-FV PPF-C7-VROOT-APPL-FV
PPF-C8-VROOT-APPL-FV
sọ́ m-a
‘read’
ghu-sọ́ m-a
‘to read’
e-ghí-sọm-ẹr-ọ
‘thing that you use to read
(e.g. e-reader)’
e-bhí-sọm-ẹr-ọ
‘things that you use to read
(e.g. e-readers)’
h-á
‘give’
ku-h-á
‘to give’
*e-ghí-h-ẹr-ọ
‘thing that you use to give’
*e-bhí-h-ẹr-ọ
‘things that you use to give’
*e-kí-haan-ẹr-ọ
‘thing that you use to give away’
*e-bhí-haan-ẹr-ọ
‘things that you use to give away’
háan-a
ku-háan-a
‘give away’ ‘to give away’
Table 6 Tone of instrumental deverbal nouns compared to V-initial verb stems and infinitives
Verb stems Infinitives
Instrumental deverbal nouns (SG) Instrumental deverbal nouns (PL)
VROOT-FV
C15-VROOT-FV PPF-C7-VROOT-APPL-FV
PPF-C8-VROOT-APPL-FV
éẹk-i
‘burn’
ghw-ẹẹk-í
‘to burn’
*i-ghy-éẹk-ẹr-ọ
‘thing that you use to burn’
*i-bhy-éẹk-ẹr-ọ
‘things that you use to burn’
éemb-a
‘sing’
kw-eemb-á
‘to sing’
i-ky-éemb-ẹr-ọ
‘thing that you use to sing’
i-bhy-éemb-ẹr-ọ
‘things that you use to sing’
5.3.2
Passivized instrumental deverbal nouns
All of the passivized instrumental deverbal nouns have high tones on the third syllable from the
left edge, except for the ones that are derived from vowel-initial, monosyllabic and non-causative
verb roots. For instance, i-ky-éemb-u ‘thing that is sang’ and i-bhy-éemb-u ‘things that are sang’
have a high tone on the second syllable from the left edge and they share the same verb root eemb,
which is vowel-initial, monosyllabic and non-causative. In contrast, i-ghy-ẹẹk-í-bhu ‘thing that is
burned’ and i-bhy-ẹẹk-í-bhu ‘things that are burned’ have high tones on the third syllable from the
left edge and the verb root of them, ẹẹk, is monosyllabic and inherently causative. All of the
passivized instrumental deverbal nouns that are not derive from vowel-initial, monosyllabic, noncausative verb roots share the same high tone locations with the infinitive forms of verbs.
Table 7 Tone of passivized instrumental deverbal nouns compared to C-initial verb stems and infinitives
Passivized stems
Infinitives (PASS)
Passivized instrumental
deverbal nouns (SG)
Passivized instrumental
deverbal nouns (PL)
VROOT-(FV)-PASS C15-VROOT-(FV)-PASS PPF-C7-VROOT-(FV)-PASS
PPF-C8-VROOT-(FV)-PASS
sọ́ m-u
‘be read’
ghu-sọ́ m-u
‘to be read’
e-ghi-sọ́ m-u
‘thing that is read’
e-bhi-sọ́ m-u
‘things that are read’
h-áa-bhu
‘be given’
ku-h-áa-bhu
‘to be given’
*i-ki-h-áa-bhu
‘recipient (inanimate)’
*i-bhi-h-áa-bhu
‘recipients (inanimate)’
háan-u
‘be given away’
ku-háan-u
‘to be given away’
e-ki-háan-u
‘thing that is given away’
e-bhi-háan-u
‘things that are given away’
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Table 8 Tone of passivized instrumental deverbal nouns compared to V-initial verb stems and infinitives
Passivized stems
Infinitives (PASS)
Passivized instrumental
deverbal nouns (SG)
Passivized instrumental
deverbal nouns (PL)
VROOT-(FV)-PASS C15-VROOT-(FV)-PASS PPF-C7-VROOT-(FV)-PASS
PPF-C8-VROOT-(FV)-PASS
éẹk-i-bhu
‘be burned’
ghw-ẹẹk-í-bhu
‘to be burned’
i-ghy-ẹẹk-í-bhu
‘thing that is burned’
i-bhy-ẹẹk-í-bhu
‘things that are burned’
éemb-u
‘be sang’
kw-eemb-ú
‘to be sang’
i-ky-éemb-u
i-bhy-éemb-u
‘thing that is sang (e.g. song, ‘things that are sang (e.g.
poem)’
songs, poems)’
íbh-u
‘be stolen’
kw-iibh-ú
‘to be stolen’
e-ky-íibh-u
‘thing that is stolen’
6
e-bhy-íibh-u
‘things that are stolen’
Conclusion
6.1 High Tone positions
Both non-passivized and passivized verb stems have high tones on the first syllable from the left
edge. Infinitive forms of verbs, including non-passivized and passivized verbs, have a high tone
on the second syllable from the left edge. All of the non-passivized agentive and instrumental
deverbal nouns have a high tone on the second syllable from the left edge. All of the eventive
deverbal nouns have a high tone on the third syllable from the left edge. These generalizations are
shown in Table 6.
The high tone positions of passivized agentive and instrumental deverbal nouns, as shown in
Table 7, are more complex than the high tone positions of the non-passivized ones. The
passivized agentive deverbal nouns that are derived from consonant-initial (C-initial) verb roots
have a high tone on the third syllable from the left edge and the passivized agentive deverbal
nouns that are derived from vowel-initial (V-initial) verb roots have a high tone on the second
syllable from the left edge. The passivized instrumental deverbal nouns that are derived from
consonant-initial (C-initial) verb roots have a high tone on the third syllable from the left edge.
The passivized instrumental deverbal that are derived from vowel-initial (V-initial) verb roots
have two divisions. The ones that are not derived from vowel-initial, monosyllabic, non-causative
verb roots have a high tone on the third syllable from the left edge and the other ones that are
derived from vowel-initial, monosyllabic, non-causative verb roots have a high tone on the
second syllable from the left edge.
Table 9 Summary of tone positions on verb stems, infinitives and non-passivized deverbal nouns
Verb Stems Infinitives
Agentive
Instrumental
deverbal nouns deverbal nouns
Eventive
deverbal nouns
C-initial VROOT 1st syllable
2nd syllable
3rd syllable
V-initial VROOT 1st syllable
2nd syllable
3rd syllable
139
Table 10 Summary of tone positions on passivized deverbal nouns
Passived agentive
deverbal nouns
Passivized instrumental deverbal nouns
3rd syllable
C-initial VROOT
V-initial VROOT
2nd syllable
2nd or 3rd syllable
6.2 High tone locations
Only the infinitive forms of verbs that are derived from consonant-initial verb roots share the
same high tone locations with verb stems. All of the eventive deverbal nouns share tone locations
with infinitive forms of verbs. The agentive deverbal nouns that are derived from vowel-initial
verb roots share the same tone locations with verb stems and all of the passivized agentive
deverbal nouns share tone locations with verb stems. The instrumental deverbal nouns that are
derived from vowel-initial verb roots share the same tone locations with verb stems, and the
passivized deverbal nouns that are derived from vowel-initial, monosyllabic and non-causative
verb roots share the same tone locations with verb stems. The details are shown in Table 8.
Table 11 Verb root types that share tone locations across paradigms
Verb Stems
Verb Stems
Infinitives
Passivized Verb Stems
Infinitive Forms of Passivized Verbs
Eventive deverbal nouns
Agentive deverbal nouns
Passivized agentive deverbal nouns
Instrumental deverbal nouns
Passivized instrumental deverbal nouns
Infinitives
C-initial
C-initial
C-initial & V-initial
C-initial
C-initial
C-initial & V-initial
C-initial
C-initial & V-initial
V-initial
None
C-initial & V-initial
C-initial
V-initial
None
V-initial, monosyllabic, All roots except V-initial,
non-causative verb roots monosyllabic, noncausative verb roots
References
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Déchaine, R.-M., Si, D. & Gambarage, J. (2014). Nata Deverbal Nominalizations, University of
British Columbia. Draft dated 13 March, 2014.
Johannes, J. G. (2007). The Ki-Nata noun structure. (Unpublished MA thesis). University of Der
es Salaam.
Mugane, J. M. (1996). Bantu nominalization structures. (Doctoral dissertation). The Universiy of
Arizona. Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. (Order No. 9729475).
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