Lexicalization of motion events in Kiswahili and Kinyakyusa

Abstract

The lexicalization patterns of the motion events in t he Bantu languages Kiswahili and Kinyakyusa are scrutinized in this paper. The tripartite clustering of the world languages (Slobin 2004) puts Bantu languages into verb-framed cluster (Schaefer & Gaines 1997). The data point out that the proposed verb-framedness in these languages fits partly in their patterns, for example, both path and manner are conflated in bare motion verbs. But there are other features that are specific to Kiswahili and Kinyakyusa, for example, in complex sentences manner and path can appear in the main and subordinate clauses and vice versa.