Michael R. Marlo 4/30/04 LING 520: Lexicon & Lexicography Professor Jeff Heath

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The expression of motion in Bukusu and Tswana

This paper describes and analyzes the expression of motion in Bukusu, a Bantu

language of the Luyia group spoken in western Kenya (J.31c). Of particular interest are the patterns for the lexicalization of motion in verbs.

In the Luyia group, Bukusu is one of the better documented languages, with three monographs written on Bukusu phonology, morphology and syntax (Austen 1974, De Blois 1975, Mutonyi 2000). In addition, two Bukusu word-lists, one with approxi-mately 1000 lexical items and the other with approximately 6000 items, are available from the Comparative Bantu On-Line Dictionary (CBOLD), a collaborative project begun at the University of California, Berkeley for comparative lexicographic research in Bantu languages: http://www.cbold.ddl.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/. Despite this previous research, how-ever, very little is known about the Bukusu lexicon (and numerous other aspects of the language). The present study seeks to fill a small part of the descriptive gap and to pro-vide empirical data for typological comparison and theoretical analysis. Moreover, since I have not worked on Bukusu, and since there is the possibility for further research with native speakers of the language, a secondary goal of the present study is for it to serve as a crash course in Bukusu grammar and a basis for future work.

Data were collected initially from two native speakers of Bukusu, Eric Sifuna and Aggrey Wasike, via a written questionnaire with approximately 100 English sentences. These sentences were adapted from Schaefer (1985), a study of the patterns for lexicali-zation of motion in Tswana (S.31, South Africa and Botswana). The speakers translated each of the English sentences into Bukusu. In many cases, because of inherent ambigui-ty in the contextless examples in the questionnaire, the two speakers naturally inter-preted the English examples slightly differently, resulting in distinct Bukusu forms. The written responses were then discussed in detail with one of the speakers, Eric Sifuna, and each of the Bukusu sentences was translated back into English. Further elicitation provided additional sentences, resulting in a total corpus of around 200 Bukusu sen-tences.

This study adopts Talmy’s (1985, 2003) theoretical tools for analyzing motion events, which Talmy describes as consisting of one object (the figure) moving or located with respect to another object (the ground). Talmy also employs two other components in describing motion events: motion and path. Motion, as one might expect, simply refers to the presence of motion or locatedness in an event. Path refers to the path followed or the site occupied by the figure with respect to the ground. In more complex motion events, two other important concepts may play a role: manner and cause. As pointed out by Schaefer, summarizing Talmy, these elements specify that a motion event is carried out in a particular manner or is the result of another causal event.

In analyzing motion events, an important goal is to determine how the semantic components of the motion event (motion, figure, ground, path, manner, and/or cause) are distributed across a sentence. It is important to identify which semantic elements are

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incorporated along with motion into the verb and which are expressed by independent morphemes in the sentence. The logical possibilities for semantic incorporation include: figure+motion, motion+path, motion+cause, motion+manner and motion+ground. Talmy claims that typologically four of these five patterns are attested as characteristic patterns for some language—all but motion+ground.

Talmy groups motion+cause with motion+manner as a single type of characteris-tic lexicalization pattern. Examples of this type from English are given in ((1)) and ((2)). In ((1)), the verb blew expresses the motion and the cause of the movement, namely, the (unexpressed) wind. In ((2)), the verb rolled expresses both the fact that movement oc-curred and the manner in which the motion took place, namely, by rolling.

(1) The bottle blew down the hill. motion+cause (2) The bottle rolled down the hill. motion+manner

The Spanish example in ((3)) shows Talmy’s second lexicalization type: mo-

tion+path. The verb cruzó indicates the movement and the path (across) with respect to the ground (the canal). The manner in which the motion takes place, floating, is ex-pressed in an optional (and stylistically awkward) participle.

(3) La botella cruzó el canal (flotando). motion+path

the bottle move-across the canal floating. The bottle floated across the canal. Example ((4)), from Atsugcwi, shows the third lexicalization pattern: fig-

ure+motion. In this example, the verb root st’aq’ expresses the movement of a runny material, in this case ‘guts’. Lexical incorporations of this type are rare in English, but they do occur, as the verbs spit and rain refer to the movement of the figure objects spit and rain, respectively.

(4) w -ca -st’aq’ -ict’a figure+motion

3sg -blow -guts.move -into.creek The guts blew into the creek. Although motion+ground is not attested as a characteristic pattern of lexicaliza-

tion, Talmy points out that it can be seen in a handful of examples, such as the English verb deplane, which expresses movement with respect to the ground object plane.

Given that all of the present data are derived from Schaefer’s (1985) examples, Schaefer’s article therefore serves as an important starting point for the present paper. Since Bukusu and Tswana are related languages, their lexicalization patterns can be compared to investigate the extent of micro-variation among the Bantu languages in lexicalization strategies for motion. In the following paragraphs, I will summarize and compare the results of Schaefer (1985) and the present study.

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Schaefer presents data showing that Tswana evidences two of the three charac-teristic lexicalization patterns: motion+manner/cause and motion+path. Schaefer lists the Tswana motion+manner verbs and the motion+cause verbs in ((5)). He also presents a set of motion+path verbs in ((6)).

(5) motion+manner verbs motion+cause verbs

tábóg ‘run’ góg ‘pull’ kíbítl ‘run with heavy footfall’ lȩr ‘bring’ gágáb ‘crawl’ bȩlȩg ‘push’ gwáǹt ‘walk in long strides’ rágòg ‘bolt’ sháp ‘swim’ kgókókòg ‘roll’ kokorog ‘walk in a proud fashion’ gogob ‘walk dragging the feet’ tótob ‘walk in a tottering fashion’ kgópóg ‘walk quickly’ kokob ‘to walk gingerly’ sí ‘flee’, síán ‘run’ fóf ‘fly’ pálám ‘ride’ tshàb ‘flee’ ȩl ‘flow’

(6) motion+path verbs y ‘go to’ tsw ‘move out’ rálálȩl ‘move through’ tshél ‘move across’ potólòg ‘move around’ tlóg-ȩl ‘move away from’ tlól ‘move over’ pálán ‘move up’ págólòg ‘move down’ tsȩn ‘move into’

Schaefer identifies three types of motion events—location-confined, location-

directed and directional—that interact with the lexical semantics of the mo-tion+manner/cause and motion+path verbs to produce distinct morphological and syn-tactic effects. Within the set of Motion+manner/cause verbs, the morphology distin-guishes location-confined events and location-directed events. The examples in ((7)) – ((9)) show typical examples cited by Schaefer for motion+manner/cause verbs in loca-tion-confined events. In these sentences, the figure is specified by mò-símàné ‘boy’, and

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the ground is specified by thàbà ‘mountain’. The verb root tábóg ‘run’ incorporates both the motion and the manner. The path in which the figure’s motion is confined is ex-pressed by gòdímò ‘top’ for ((7)) and ((8)) and pèlè ‘front’ for ((9)).1 (7) mò-símàné ó-tábóg-à fá-gòdímò gá-thàbà

1-boy he-run-FV nearby-top LOC-mountain The boy is running on top of the mountain.

(8) mò-símàné ó-góg-à kòlóí fá-gòdímò gá-thàbà 1-boy he-pull-FV cart nearby-top LOC-mountain The boy is pulling the cart on top of the mountain.

(9) mò-símàné ó-tábóg-à fá-pèlè gá-ǹ-tlò

1-boy he-run-FV nearby-front LOC-9-house The boy is running in front of the house.

In contrast to their behavior in location-confined events, motion+manner/cause

verbs obligatorily take the applicative suffix -ȩl in location-directed events, as shown by the examples in ((10)) – ((12)). Schaefer claims that the suffix -ȩl contributes the mean-ing ‘to-ness’; in other words, it specifies the path along which the motion takes place. In fact, Schaefer analyzes such sentences as having two path markers, the applicative suf-fix -ȩl–the primary path marker—and gòdímò ‘top’ for ((10)) and ((11)) and pèlè ‘front’ for ((12))—the secondary path marker. Schaefer cites an example from Talmy (1985), given in ((13)), showing that multiple path markers are in fact not unusual. (10) mò-símàné ó-tábóg-ȩl-à kwá-gòdímò gá-thàbà

1-boy he-run-to-FV distant-top LOC-mountain The boy is running to the top of the mountain.

(11) mò-símàné ó-góg-ȩl-à kòlóí kwá-gòdímò gá-thàbà 1-boy he-pull-to-FV cart distant-top LOC-mountain The boy is pulling the cart to the top of the mountain.

(12) mò-símàné ó-tábóg-ȩl-à fá-pèlè gá-ǹ-tlò 1-boy he-run-to-FV nearby-front LOC-9-house The boy is running to the front of the house.

1 I do not know why Schaefer analyzes ‘the top’ as the path element separate from the ground element ‘the mountain.’ My intuition for examples of this sort is that the ground element is the whole NP ‘the top of the mountain’, and there is no path element per se. (In the examples to follow of the sort ‘The boy is running to the top of the mountain’, only ‘to’ would encode the path.) It seems plausible to think of the examples where direction is not specified as lacking a path element. I do not know if Talmy has some theoretical or empirical reason to think otherwise.

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(13) Come right back down from up there.

As with motion+manner verbs, motion+path verbs can occur in location-directed structures; examples are given in ((14)) and ((15)). There is a crucial difference, howev-er, between these forms and those in ((10)) – ((11)) for motion+manner verbs. Mo-tion+path verbs do not and cannot take the applicative suffix -ȩl; their primary path specification is incorporated into the lexical semantics of the verb root itself. As a result, the motion+path verbs are semantically incompatible with a location-confined interpre-tation. Examples ((14)) and ((15)) cannot be interpreted as meaning ‘The boy is going on top of the mountain’ or ‘The boy is going at the front of the house’. It is not known if such interpretations are possible in Tswana with some other construction or if a mo-tion+manner verb must be used to indicate motion in a location-confined event. (14) mò-símàné ó-y-à kwá-gòdímò gá-thàbà

1-boy he-go.to-FV distant-top LOC-mountain The boy is going to the top of the mountain.

(15) mò-símàné ó-y-à fá-pèlè gá-ǹ-tlò 1-boy he-go.to-FV nearby-front LOC-9-house The boy is going to the front of the house.

A further asymmetry exists between motion+manner/cause verbs and mo-

tion+path verbs in directional events in Tswana. In such examples, both sets of verbs are used, but they are in complementary distribution. Only motion+path verbs can oc-cur as matrix verbs in sentences with directional events; motion+manner/cause verbs can only occur as a participial in a subordinate clause. The examples in ((16)) and ((17)) show motion+path verbs in simple directional events, in which the manner/cause element is not specified. (16) mò-símàné ó-pálán-à thàbà

1-boy he-move.up-FV mountain The boy is moving up the mountain.

(17) mò-símàné ó-pálólòg-à thàbà

1-boy he-move.down-FV mountain The boy is moving down the mountain.

Examples ((18)) – ((20)) show complex motion events in which both directional

motion and manner are expressed. In such examples, the directional motion is captured by a motion+path matrix verb, with the motion+manner verb expressed in a subordi-nate clause.

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(18) mò-símàné ó-pálán-à thàbà á-tábóg-à 1-boy he-move.up-FV mountain he-run-FV The boy is running up the mountain. = ‘The boy is moving up the mountain running.’

(19) mò-símàné ó-pálán-à thàbà á-góg-à kòlóí

1-boy he-move.up-FV mountain he-pull-FV cart The boy is pulling the cart up the mountain. = ‘The boy is moving up the mountain pulling the cart.’

(20) mò-símàné ó-pálólòg-à thàbà á-tábóg-à

1-boy he-move.down-FV mountain he-run-FV The boy is running down the mountain. = ‘The boy is moving down the mountain running.’

As the example in ((21)) illustrates, switching the position of the mo-

tion+manner verb and the motion+path verb such that the motion+manner verb is in the matrix clause and the motion+path verb is the subordinate participial is ungram-matical. Example ((22)) shows that adjoining a motion+path verb to a matrix mo-tion+manner verb having the applicative suffix is similarly ungrammatical. (21) *mò-símàné ó-tábóg-à gá-thàbà á-pálán-à

1-boy he-run-FV LOC-mountain he-move.up-FV The boy is running up the mountain. = ‘The boy is running on the mountain moving up.’

(22) *mò-símàné ó-tábóg-ȩl-à kwá-gòdímò gá-thàbà á-pálán-à

1-boy he-run-to-FV distant-top LOC-mountain he-move.up-FV The boy is running to the top of the mountain. = ‘The boy is running to the top of the mountain moving up.’

The grammar of Bukusu manifests many similarities to those described and ana-

lyzed by Schaefer for Tswana. As in Tswana, Bukusu has two characteristic lexicaliza-tion patterns: motion+manner/cause and motion+path. In addition, Bukusu shares the property with Tswana that these verb classes behave differently in the syntactic expres-sion of location-contained, location-directed and directional motion events. Neverthe-less, while the overall patterns are similar, there are some differences between the lan-guages in the details.

Examples ((23)) – ((25)) show the Bukusu parallels to the Tswana examples in ((7)) – ((9)) above, in which motion+manner/cause verbs are expressed in a location-confined event. In these examples, there are no substantive differences between the Bukusu and Tswana examples; the figure, ground, motion, path, and manner/cause ele-

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ments are all specified by parallel lexical items. Relevant here is the fact that the motion and the manner/cause are incorporated into the verb roots tima ‘run’ and xweesa ‘pull’.

(23) Omusooleeli axaatima xuungaaki xwelukulu.

omusooleeli a-xaa-tima xu-ngaaki xu-e-lukulu boy he-PROG-run 17.LOC-top 17-of-mountain The boy is running on top of the mountain.

(24) Omusooleeli axaaxweesa ekorokocho xuungaki xwelukulu.

Omusooleeli a-xaa-xweesa ekorokocho xu-ngaki xu-e-lukulu boy he-PROG-pull cart 17.LOC-top 17-of-mountain The boy is pulling the cart on top of the mountain.

(25) Omusooleeli axaatima ebweeni weenju.

Omusooleeli a-xaa-tima e-bweeni w-e-nju boy he-PROG-run 25.LOC-front 25-of-house The boy is running in front of the house.

We begin to see differences between Bukusu and Tswana when we look at the

motion+manner/cause verbs in location-directed events. Recall that Tswana encodes the primary path element ‘to-ness’ with the applicative suffix -ȩl, as seen in ((10)) – ((12)) above. In Bukusu, however, the expression of directed motion is not achieved morpho-logically. Typically, as seen in ((26)) and ((27)) for the motion+manner verb tima ‘run’, location-directed motion in Bukusu is indicated by adjoining a subordinate clause with a directional motion+path verb in a participial form; the motion+manner verb remains in the matrix clause. Note that this example already contradicts the Tswana generaliza-tion that the motion+path verb occurs in the matrix position while the motion+manner verb occurs in the subordinate clause when they co-occur, as in the complex motion events in ((18)) – ((20)) above. In the Bukusu examples in ((26)) and ((27)), participial motion+path verb specifies the path along which the motion is directed. Therefore, a natural English gloss of naacha in these examples is simply ‘to’. (26) Omusooleeli axaatima naacha xuungaki xwelukulu.

Omusooleeli a-xaa-tima ne-a-cha xu-ngaki xw-e-lukulu. boy he-PROG-run while-he-go.to 17.LOC-top 17-of-mountain The boy is running to the top of the mountain. = ‘The boy is running going to the top of the mountain.’

(27) Omusooleeli axaatima naacha ebweeni weenju.

Omusooleeli a-xaa-tima ne-a-cha e-bweeni w-e-nju boy he-PROG-run while-he-go.to 25.LOC-front 25-of-house The boy is running to the front of the house. = ‘The boy is running going to the front of the house.’

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The example in ((28)) shows the same pattern for a motion+cause verb, such as xweesa ‘pull’, which occurs in the matrix clause. The subordinate, participial mo-tion+path verb ila ‘take.to’ signals that the cart is being pulled in a particular direction, namely, to the top of the mountain. (28) Omusooleeli axaaxweesa ekorokocho naakiila xuungaki xwelukulu.

Omusooleeli a-xaa-xweesa ekorokocho ne-a-ki-ila xu-ngaki boy he-PROG-pull 9.cart while-he-9-take.to 17.LOC-top xu-e-lukulu 17-of-mountain The boy is pulling the cart to the top of the mountain. = “The boy is pulling the cart while taking it to the top of the mountain.”

Examples ((29)) and ((30)) indicate that there are restrictions on the position of the subordinate clause. Note in ((29)) that the subordinate participial clause is gram-matical in the position immediately following the verb. However, if this element is moved to sentence-final position, as in ((30)), the sentence takes on a bizarre, unac-ceptable reading. It means that the speaker is stomping on top of the mountain and (then) going up. When asked about this example, the consultant’s reaction was, “He’s already at the top; now where’s he going?” The affix introducing the subordinate clause ne- is glossed as ‘while’, and ‘while’ is the gloss that the consultant spontaneously gave to it. It is worth noting, though, that this form is likely related to the elements neende and nee, both of which can be translated as ‘with’ but which are also used as conjunc-tions. For this reason, it is not surprising that ne- might impose certain temporal order-ing restrictions. Therefore, if the temporal ordering is logically impossible, the sentence itself will be judged as unacceptable. Further research is required to determine precisely the nature of the temporal interpretation produced by ne-. (29) Omusooleeli axaatula naaniina xuungaki xwelukulu.

Omusooleeli a-xaa-tula ne-a-niina xu-ngaki xu-e-lukulu boy he-PROG-stomp while-he-go.up 17.LOC-top 17-of-mountain The boy is stomping to the top of the mountain. = ‘The boy is stomping while going up to the top of the mountain.’

(30) ??Omusooleeli axaatula xuungaki xwelukulu naaniina.

Omusooleeli a-xaa-tula xu-ngaki xu-e-lukulu ne-a-niina boy he-PROG-stomp 17.LOC-top 17-of-mountain while-he-go.up The boy is stomping at the top of the mountain and going up.

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In addition to the example given in ((26)) above, the English location-directed sentence The boy is running to the top of the mountain has a natural Bukusu translation employing a motion+path verb as the lone matrix verb with the manner element indi-cated by an adverb or ideophone in final position. (It is unknown if Tswana has similar constructions.) As shown in ((31)), the main verb is the motion+path verb niina ‘go up’, and the manner element is expressed by the final word chiimbilo, which was translated as ‘running’ and as ‘racing’. (This was the spontaneous production by one of the speak-ers for the prompt ‘The boy is running to the top of the mountain’.) The examples in ((32)) and ((33)) are provided for comparison with two contrastive sentences that ex-press the same figure, motion, path and ground elements, only with different manner ele-ments. (31) Omusooleeli axaaniina xuungaki xwelukulu chiimbilo.

Omusooleeli a-xaa-niina xu-ngaki xu-e-lukulu chiimbilo boy he-PROG-go.up 17.LOC-top 17-of-mountain running/racing The boy is running to the top of the mountain. = ‘The boy is going up to the top of the mountain running.’

(32) Omusooleeli axaaniina xuungaki xwelukulu kalaa.

Omusooleeli a-xaa-niina xu-ngaki xu-e-lukulu kalaa boy he-PROG-go.up 17.LOC-top 17-of-mountain slowly The boy is going up to the top of the mountain slowly.

(33) Omusooleeli axaaniina xuungaki xwelukulu xaangu.

Omusooleeli a-xaa-niina xu-ngaki xu-e-lukulu xaangu boy he-PROG-go.up 17.LOC-top 17-of-mountain quickly The boy is going up to the top of the mountain quickly.

Similar constructions are regularly used in describing directional events with

matrix motion+path verbs in Bukusu, as shown in ((34)) and ((35)). In these examples, the matrix verb expresses the fact that the figure is in motion and that the motion is in a particular direction, namely, down the mountain. The final element in the sentence, chiimbilo in ((34)) and butima in ((35)), indicates the manner in which the motion takes place. In both of these cases, the manner is ‘running’ or ‘in a running way’. It is worth noting that butima is morphologically decomposable into the class 14 noun class prefix bu-, which generally indicates ‘abstractness’, and the stem tima, which is identical to the verbal stem meaning ‘run’.

(34) Omusooleeli axaa(k)eexa lukulu chiimbilo.

Omusooleeli a-xaa-ixa lukulu chiimbilo boy he-PROG-go.down mountain running The boy is running down the mountain. = ‘The boy is going down the mountain running.’

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(35) Omusooleeli axaa(k)eexa lukulu butima.

Omusooleeli a-xaa-ixa lukulu butima boy he-PROG-go.down mountain way.of.running The boy is running down the mountain. = ‘The boy is going down the mountain running (in a running way).’

The expression of motion+manner/cause verbs in directional events in Bukusu

manifests a nearly opposite pattern to the one displayed by Tswana. As shown by the examples in ((36)) – ((38)), and anticipated by several of the examples already present-ed, both a motion+manner/cause verb and a motion+path verb are recruited. The mo-tion+manner/cause verb occurs as the main verb of the matrix clause while the mo-tion+path verb occurs in a participial, subordinate form following the verb phrase (it follows the object ekorokocho ‘cart’ in ((37))). Recall that in complex motion events in Tswana with both a motion+manner/cause verb and a motion+path verb, the mo-tion+path verb must occur as the matrix verb, and the motion+manner/cause verb must occur as the subordinate. (36) Omusooleeli axaatima naaniina lukulu.

Omusooleeli a-xaa-tima ne-a-niina lukulu boy he-PROG-run while-he-go.up mountain The boy is running up the mountain. = ‘The boy is running while climbing the mountain.’

(37) Omusooleeli axaaxweesa ekorokocho naakiniinya xulukulu.

Omusooleeli a-xaa-xweesa ekorokocho ne-a-ki-niin-y-a boy he-PROG-pull 9.cart while-he-9-go.up-CAUS-FV xu-lukulu 17.LOC-mountain The boy is pulling the cart up the mountain. = ‘The boy pulled the cart while making it go up the mountain.’

(38) Omusooleeli axaatima naacha asi welukulu. Omusooleeli a-xaa-tima ne-a-cha a-si w-e-lukulu boy he-PROG-run while-he-go.to 16.down 16-of-mountain The boy is running down the mountain.

= ‘The boy is running while going down the mountain.’ As in Tswana, Bukusu motion+path verbs are impossible in location-contained events. The basic motion terms in ((39)) – ((42)) therefore can only have a location-directed interpretation. They are ungrammatical with location-contained readings. The

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motion+path verbs, unlike the motion+manner/cause verbs, do not require a second, participial verb to express the path because this semantic element is incorporated in the semantics of the lexical item itself. (39) Omusooleeli axaacha xulukulu.

Omusooleeli a-xaa-cha xu-lukulu boy he-PROG-go.to 17.LOC-mountain The boy is going to (on) the mountain.

(40) Omusooleeli axeecha xulukulu.

Omusooleeli a-xaa-icha xu-lukulu boy he-PROG-come.to 17.LOC-mountain The boy is coming to (on) the mountain.

(41) Omusooleeli axaacha xuungaki xwelukulu.

Omusooleeli a-xaa-cha xu-ngaki xu-e-lukulu boy he-PROG-go.to 17.LOC-top 17-of-mountain The boy is going to the top of the mountain.

(42) Omusooleeli axaacha ebweeni weenju.

Omusooleeli a-xaa-cha e-bweeni w-e-nju boy he-PROG-go.to 25.LOC-front 25-of-house The boy is going to the front of the house.

Similarly, purely directional events are relatively simply expressed with mo-tion+path verbs. Unlike motion+manner/cause verbs, which require a motion+path verb in a subordinate clause, a motion+path verb alone is sufficient to express direc-tional events, as shown by the examples in ((43)) and ((44)). Example ((43)) expresses motion up the mountain with the motion+path verb niina ‘go up’, while example ((44)) expresses motion down the mountain wit the motion+path verb ixa ‘go down’. (43) Omusooleeli axaaniina xulukulu.

Omusooleeli a-xaa-niina xu-lukulu boy he-PROG-go.up 17.LOC-mountain The boy is going (straight) up the mountain.

(44) Omusooleeli axaa(k)eexa lukulu.

Omusooleeli a-xaa-ixa lukulu boy he-PROG-go.down mountain The boy is going down the mountain.

An interesting side note regarding these examples concerns the presence or ab-

sence of a locative marker. The spontaneously produced form for ((43)) included a loca-

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tive marker, and the form for ((44)) did not, just as they are reproduced above. Further elicitation revealed, however, that the sentence in ((43)) is possible without a locative, as shown in ((45)), and the sentence in ((44)) is possible with a locative, as shown in ((46)). The pair of sentences in ((43)) and ((45)) shows that for the verb niina ‘go up’, the locative marker is not required on ‘mountain’, but without it, the movement is not necessarily straight up the mountain. In other words, the speaker does not necessarily expect the boy to reach the top. On the other hand, when the locative is present, it is assumed that the boy is going straight up the mountain to the top. The pair of sentences in ((44)) and ((46)) illustrates that for the verb ixa ‘go down’ without the locative the motion is directed down the mountain, but there is no target destination specified, and the boy could perfectly well stay on the mountain. All that is expressed is that he is go-ing down it. On the other hand, with the locative, it is emphasized that some point on the mountain is being left and the direction is down the mountain. It is expected that the boy will eventually go off of the mountain. These examples reveal that subtle inter-actions exist between the lexical semantics of the motion+path verbs and the locative system in influencing the ultimate interpretation of a sentence. Detailed semantic study, as in Botne (1998), will help better understand these phenomena. However, their un-derstanding is beyond the scope of the present investigation. (45) Omusooleeli axaaniina lukulu.

Omusooleeli a-xaa-niina lukulu boy he-PROG-go.up mountain The boy is going up the mountain (but not necessarily straight up).

(46) Omusooleeli axaa(k)eexa xuxwaama xulukulu.

Omusooleeli a-xaa-ixa xuxwaama xu-lukulu boy he-PROG-go.down to.come.from 17.LOC-mountain The boy is going down from the mountain. (The speaker expects the speaker to go off of the mountain.)

As a final note before concluding, I would like to point out an additional finding

that came up during my elicitation sessions with the Bukusu informant. It appears that the verb sereengexa ‘go down easily’ incorporates all three of the semantic elements mo-tion+path+manner. The few examples involving this verb have so far not revealed any systematic differences in its syntactic behavior compared with either the other mo-tion+path or motion+manner verbs (although at first glance it appears to function more as a motion+path verb than a motion+manner verb), so it remains to be seen if ‘easily’ constitutes the same kind of manner as does ‘running’ and if so if it triggers unexpected syntactic behavior.

In sum, the present paper has documented the lexicalization patterns of motion in Bukusu and has compared these patterns with those in Tswana, as described by Schaefer (1985). In general, it was revealed that in general the two languages share the same lexicalization strategies in encoding motion events. Specifically, there are two sets

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of verb roots: one that incorporates motion+manner and a second that incorporates mo-tion+path. In each of the languages studied, motion+manner verbs easily encode loca-tion-contained events. In addition, in each of the languages, motion+path verbs are in-capable of expressing location-contained events, presumably because of an inherent se-mantic conflict in the underlying semantics of the motion+path verbs and the semantics of location-contained events. Similarly, motion+path verbs are naturally tailored for the expression of location-directed events, and both languages express these events in similar ways.

In spite of these similarities, Tswana and Bukusu differ in how motion+manner verbs express motion-directed events. In Tswana, a suffix is required on the verb stem to express the primary path element. In Bukusu, however, a complex sentence is construct-ed involving a subordinate participial clause with a motion+path verb to indicate the path. Moreover, the two languages are nearly mirror images of each other with respect to how they handle complex motion events incorporating both manner and path ele-ments. In Tswana, the motion+path verb occupies the position of the main verb in the sentence while the motion+manner verb is a subordinate participial. Bukusu is the exact opposite, in which the motion+manner verb is the main verb and the motion+path verb is the subordinate, participial. It will be interesting to review in future research whether these mirror-image patterns might be deduced from more pervasive syntactic properties in the languages.

References Austen, Cheryl. 1974. Aspects of Bukusu Syntax and Phonology, Department of Linguis-

tics, Indiana University: Ph.D. dissertation. Botne, Robert. 1998. Cognitive schemas and motion verbs: COMING and GOING in

Chindali (Eastern Bantu). Paper presented at 29th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, Yale University.

De Blois, Keis. 1975. Bukusu Generative Phonology and Aspects of Bantu Structure. Tervuren, België: koninklijk Museum voor midden Afrika.

Mutonyi, Nasiombe. 2000. Aspects of Bukusu Morphology and Phonology, The Ohio State University: Ph.D. dissertation.

Schaefer, Ronald P. 1985. Motion in Tswana and its characteristic lexicalization. Studies in African Linguistics, 16.57-87.

Talmy, Leonard. 1985. Lexicalization patterns: Semantic structure in lexical forms. Lan-guage typology and syntactic description: Grammatical categories and the lexi-con, ed. by Timothy Shopin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

—. 2003. Lexicalization patterns. Toward a Cognitive Semantics: Typology and Process in Concept Structuring, ed. by Leonard Talmy, 21-146. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.