Verbal Reduplication in Some Bantu Languages: A Diachronic Approach

Abstract

This paper is devoted to providing an analysis on verbal reduplication in five Bantu languages, such as Chichewa, Kihehe, Siswati, Southern Sesotho, and Kinande, from the perspective of comparative linguistics. Chichewa and Kihehe are characterized as total reduplication, whereas Siswati and Southern Sesotho as a bisyllabic template for reduplication. Kinande seems to be in the transition from the Proto-pattern to the new one since this language shows total reduplication as well as bisyllabic reduplication. In opposition to the accepted assumption by Steriade (1988) and Hyman, Inkelas, and Sibanda (1998), this paper tries to posit that bisyllabic reduplication is the original reduplicative pattern, by examining two possible explanations for the Proto-pattern in Bantu verbal reduplication. This suggestion relies on the following evidence: diachronic evidence, the high frequency of bisyllabic reduplication in other languages, perceptibility/learnibility, and markedness.