The Structure of two Declarative Verb Forms in Bayso

Abstract

 

This article analyses the declarative verb forms in one of the typologically important but not yet fairely described Cushitic language under Omo-Tana group named Bayso. The main objective of the study is to investigate the internal structure of the verbal inflections employing Basic Linguistic Theory.The data elicited from the native speakers of the language is cross checked against the secondary data on the language. As to the analysis made the verbs in the declarative mood are found to have two main forms operationally referred to as simple and complex verbs. The verbs gir- ‘exist’, ʔab-, ‘posses’, and the grammaticalized verb leʔ- ‘become’ are important in forming complex verbs among which the verb gir- ‘exist’ is the most important and frequent one. First, second and third persons are distinguished of which first person plural and second person (both singular & plural) are morphologically marked; three gender values: masculine, feminine and neuter of which masculine is unmarked; two tenses: past tense and non-past tense are there in the verbs of the language. Simple verb forms are there only in the past tense, while the complex verbs are both in the past tense and non-past tense. Tense and aspect markers are separately marked in complex verbs but conflate in simple verbs.

Keywords: [simple verb, complex verb, auxiliary verb, main verb, tense/aspect]