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Browsing African Studies Program by Author "Botne, Robert D."

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    La sémantique du temps en KinyaRwanda
    (Société d’études linguistiques et anthropologiques de France (SELAF), 1983) Botne, Robert D.
    In this study the author endeavors to differentiate and describe the temporal functions of various verbal prefixes in KinyaRwanda. These morphemes are shown to constitute diverse semantic (temporal) systems—vector and segmental—which, when juxtaposed, determine the particular tense relations in any verbal expression. Of particular significance, the analysis demonstrates that verbal morphemes do not, in all cases, have a unique, absolute meaning or function, but shift according to the semantic context in which they are used.
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    On the notion “inchoative verb” in KinyaRwanda
    (Société d’études linguistiques et anthropologiques de France (SELAF), 1983) Botne, Robert D.
    Certain verbs in KinyaRwanda—kú-rwáàrà “to be(come) sick” and gú-túùrà “to live/reside,” for example—have been considered by many linguists (cf. Coupez 1980, Overdulve 1976, Kimenyi 1973) to be stative verbs. The present analysis suggests that it would be better to consider them as “inchoative verbs,” of which three sub-classes can be defined according to linguistic evidence proper to KinyaRwanda itself. The significant aspect of the characterization of inchoatives is the punctual nature attributed to the nucleus of the events named by these verbs; a phenomenon which determines to a great extent their observed linguistic behaviour.