Zambezi* (1979), VII (i).A SYNTACTIC CLASSIFICATION OFNON-AUXILIARY VERBS IN SHONA*N. C. DEMBETEMBEDepartment of African Languages, University of RhodesiaTHE CLASSIFICATION WHICH follows is based on the simple verb only. By asimple verb is meant any of the following three types of verb: primitive,derived and adoptive verbs. A primitive verb is one which is indigenous toShona, is underived and consists of a verb root and a terminal vowel; e.g.(1) -nwd (drink) (2) -cheka (cut)(Verbs are cited with a dash before them because they usually occur in aninflected form in sentences.)Simple verbs which have, as their base, morphemes that are not verbal incharacter are what are referred to here as derived verbs. These verbs consistof at least three morphemes, e.g.(3) -tsakat-ik-a (get lost, vanish) cp. tsakata (of vanishing)(4) -paru-r-a (tear) cp. paru (of tearing)(5) -tete-p-a (be thin) cp. -tete (thin)Then there are simple verbs which Shona has acquired from other languagesby adoption. Such verbs are what are called here adoptive verbs. Normallythese adoptive verbs are derived from verbs in the foreign language, but itis not uncommon to come across an adoptive verb which is derived fromother parts of speech in that foreign language. When a verb is imported froma foreign language it usually undergoes morphological as well as phonologicalchanges. Examples of adoptive verbs are the following:(6) -foira (fail) cp. fail (English)(7) -rafura (be rough) cp. rough (English)(8) -dhura (be expensive) cp. duur (Afrikaans)The extended verb and the reduplicated verb are not considered in thisclassification. The reason for this is the generally accepted fact that, given asyntactic classification of simple verbs, the behaviour of the simple verbs ofeach class with verbal extensions is to a very large extent predictable, andthat almost any simple verb in Shona can be reduplicated; if, then, extendedverbs and reduplicated verbs were used in a syntactic classification of verbs,these important linguistic generalizations would not be captured, and con-sequently this would result in a weak grammar. In the rest of this study,Ł This article is a revised version of Chapter Three in my 'Verbal Constructions inKorelore' (Univ. of London, unpuhl. M.Phil, thesis, 1970).4950 NON-AUXILIARY VERBS IN SHONAunless otherwise stated, simple verbs will be referred to simply as 'verbs'for the sake of convenience.Syntactically verbs in Shona may be divided broadly into auxiliary andnon-auxiliary verbs. Briefly an auxiliary verb is one which is necessarilyfollowed by an embedded sentence as its complement, e.g.(9) Vanu vakaramba vachitamba (The children kept on playingbhora. football:)(10) Shamwari yangu ichanguno (My friend is still having hiskudya. . meal.)These verbs form a closed set and are few in number as conipared with thenon-auxiliary verbs. Auxiliary verbs will not be discussed any further asthis study is not concerned with them, but with the non-auxiliary verbs.1.1 The non-auxiliary verbs may be classified in terms of the type of objectcomplement by which they are followed. By object complement here is meanta noun phrase functioning neither in a locative nor in an adverbial capacity.An illustration of this is:(II)Subject ' Inflected Object Complement . AdjunctŁ I Verb | 1 IMudzidzisi : arova . mwctna maoko ' neshamhuI ; L_ L_ ; 1 __Jj _ ; _ . jŁ Locative Adverbial Complements of .. Complement « 'I I Time [Frequency! Reason/Manner II :Š: I 1 ' jkuchikoro I masikati I kairi \ zvatisiririsa kwazvoI I I j j( lit.: The teacher beat a child on its hands with a stick at school in the after-noon twice in a way which filled us with pity.)The term 'complement' refers in this study to any noun phrase which is notin a subject relationship in a clause. Note that a noun clause belongs to oneof the noun classes in Shona and can control concordial agreement in a clause.Complements are divided into three groups, namely, object complements,locative complements and adverbial complements. Object complements areas a rule more closely tied up with the verbs they follow than either of theother two which can occur with almost any verb. Because of their looseaffinity with verbs it is doubtful whether locative and adverbial complementscould be of any help in classifying verbs. For this reason attention is drawnto the object complement.N. C. DEMBETEMBE 811.2. The sentence in (11), namely, Mudzidzisi arova mwana maoko neshamhukuchikoro masikati kairi zvatisiririsa kwazvo consists of a subject: mudzidzisi,and a predicate: arova mwana maoko neshamhu kuchikoro masikati kairizvatisiririsa kwazvo. The predicate in turn is made up of two immediateconstituents, namely, the inflecting mechanism1 : /a... a/, and the verbphrase: -rov- maoko neshamhu kuchikoro masikati kairi zvatisiririsakwazvo. Complements and adjuncts are part of the verb phrase, that is,the inflected part in a clause. Adjuncts differ from complements in that theycannot be assigned to noun classes nor can they control concordial agreementin a sentence. They too, like locative and adverbial complements, are of littleuse in classifying verbs. In the verb phrase given above the object com-plements are : mwana (class 1) and maoko (class 6); the adjunct is : nesha-mhu; the locative complement is : kuchikoro (class 17): and the adverbialcomplements are : masikati (class 6), kairi (class 12) and zvatisiririsi kwazvo(a relative clause with a subject concord of class 8).2.0. The Basis of the Classification2.1. As has already been stated above the classification which is discussedin this study is based on the type of object complement that a verb takes.Object complements may be divided into those that are primary and thosethat are secondary. Object complements are said to be primary if they canhave an object concord or object substitute as a co-referent,2 and if theycannot have an object substitute they are secondary. In the examples belowand in the rest of this paper, object complements and object concords areprinted in bold.(12) a. Sekuru vanwa hwahwa. (Uncle drank beer.)b. Sekuru vahunwa. (Uncle drank it.)(13) Mupwere uyu akakura (This child is grown in respect ofmusoro chete. its head only, i.e. it is only its headwhich is big.)(14) a. Mombe yatsika mukoma (The ox trod on my elder brother'swangu gumbo. foot.)b. Mombe yamatsika gumbo, (The ox trod on his foot.)(15) a. Warova Matiyenga ziso. (You hit Matiyenga on the eye).b. Wamurova ziso. (You hit him on the eye.)(16) Mukomana uyu anoshinha (This boy is very mischievous.)kwazvo.(17) Murume uyo aneta. (That man is tired.)1 Inflecting morphemes here include, among other things, subject concords andtense signs.2 I am indebted to M. Guthrie for the terms 'object substitute' and co-referent',Journal of African Languages (1962), I, 202-20.52NON-AUXILIARY VERBS IN SHONANote that the object complement musoro in (13), gumbo in (14), and ziso in(15) do not have object substitutes in these sentences, and that sentences(16) and (17) do not have any object complements.22 Furthermore, the division of object complements into primary and second-ary is confirmed by the applicability, or lack of it, of the passive transforma-tion in sentences in which they occur. A sentence in which there is a primaryobject complement can be passivized by interchanging that primary objectcomplement with the subject across the verb, whereas this is not possiblewith a sentence in which there is a secondary object complement, e.g.(18) Hwahwa hwanwiwa nasekuru.but not(19) Musoro chete wakakuriwanemupwere uyu.(The beer has been drunk by uncle.)cp. (12) a. above.cp. (13) above.2.3 Notice that the verbs which can support object complements, eitherprimary or secondary, can be used in questions with the interrogative pro-form ani (who? whom?) for human nouns, or -yi (what? for non-humannouns. In such questions these pro-forms represent object complements andare regarded as such here, e.g.(20) Waoneyi?(What have you seen?)(21) Uri kureva ani?(Who do you mean?)(22) Vakamwovereyi?cp. Ndaona ndege.(I have seen an aeroplane.)cp. Ndiri kureva iwe.(I mean you.)cp. Vakamurovera zviito zvake.(They beat him up on account ofhis behaviour.)Ndati ndaityora gumbo.cp(I said I broke its leg.)(23) Wati waityorey'rt(What part of its body didyou say you broke?)These two interrogative pro-forms cannot be used to represent either locativeor adverbial complements.There are other transformational processes in the language which willconfirm the division of object complements into primary and secondary ob-ject complements but these will not be discussed nor will they be used inthe classification which follows. Nothing is lost by not employing them.Some verbs in Shona will take primary object complements only, otherswill take secondary object complements only, others both, and still othersnone at all. For the sake of convenience labels will be employed for eachclass of verb. I propose in a rather arbitrary manner to classify verbs asfollows: Class 1 for verbs that do not allow any object complement, class 2for verbs that take a secondary object complement only, class 3 for verbs thattake one primary object complement only, class 4 for verbs that take oneprimary and one secondary object complement, and class 5 for verbs thatN. C. DEMBETEMBE 53take two primary object complements. No verb has been found which tooktwo secondary object complements or two primary and one secondary objectcomplement.3.0. The Verb Classes3.1. Syntactic Class 1:These are verbs which do not take any object complement. Some verbs thatbelong to this class are:(24) -boira (blink) -fanza (boil)-jam (be happy) -gwadaira (walk on knees)-naka (look or taste good) -neta (get tired)-penya (shine) -popota (complain; scold)-shinga (show determination) -shinha (be mischievous)-tirim (endure) -tsvinda (be clean)-vhaira (show off) -uya (come)Examples in sentences:(25) Mvura yaipenya necheku- (There was lightning in the directionGoromonzi manheru. of Goromonzi last night.)(26) Muchinda uyu akatsvinda (This gentleman is very smart.)kwazvo.3.1.1. Among the verbs in Class 1 there is a sub-class to which locativessuggest themselves more readily than adverbial complements. Examples ofsuch verbs are:(27) -uya (come) -dzoka (return)-mira (stand) -svika (arrive)-kohomara (sit like a baboon) -chonjomara (squat)The sentences in (28) and (29) below are examples of such verbs insentences.(28) Uya kuno iye zvinol (Come here immediately!)Mwedzi akakohomara pado- (Mwedzi is sitting like a baboon onmbo kudanga. a stone at the cattle-pen.)A few of these verbs like -svika and -mira can take what looks like objectcomplements, e.g.(30) Muchenje akasvika nzvimbo (Muchenje got to many places.)zhinji.(31) Mira nzvimbo yangu! (Stand in my place!)It should be realized, however, that these seemingly object complements referto location and that in their stead the locatives kunzvimbo and panzvimborespectively may be used without prejudice to the meaning of these comple-ments.The rest of the verbs in Class 1 usually employ one or more of theadverbial complements. This in no way implies that these verbs do not takelocative complements.54NON-AUXILIARY VERBS IN SHONA3.1.2. These verbs cannot allow the passive extension except perhaps with theimpersonal subject prefix Jku-/, e.g.(32) Kwauyiwa nemunhu uye.(33) Kuri kumirwa pamuti uyo.(34) Kwadzokwa karel Mhoti angaaenda kunovhima?(That person has now come.)People are to stand under that tree.)(He has returned already! Had hegone hunting really?)3.1.3. The tests which involve object concords and the interrogative pro-forms do not apply here because by their very nature these verbs do not allowobject complements.3.2. Syntactic Class 2:There is quite a number of verbs which take secondary objects only. Thefollowing are some examples:(35) -bva (come off) -chena (be white)-fa (die) -kura (grow)-kuvara (get injured) -paruka (get torn)-saro (remain) -svauka (get peeled off)-tsva (burn) -tsvuka (be red)-wa (fall down) -woma (dry up)For examples in sentences, see (36)-(41) below.3.2.1. The verbs in this class take object complements which are incapableof having object concords as co-referents, and which are also in the majorityof cases considered as constituting an inalienable part of the subject of theclause, e.g.(36) Mombe yedu yakafa ziso.(37) Chikochikari chabva vhiri.(38)(39)(40)(41)Kana aka kasara mabondochete.Mukuyu uye wawa bazi.Uchatsva tsoka mizvozvo.Vasekukru vachena musorozvino.(Our cow had an eye damaged.)(One of the wheels of the scotchcartcame off.)(Only a skeleton is left as far as thislittle child is concerned.)(One of the branches of that fig-tree has fallen down.)(You will burn your feet becauseof that.)(Grandfather is now grey-haired.)These verbs cannot be used with the passive extension except perhapswith locative subject eoacords. When so used these verbs retain their objectcomplements, e.g.(42) Kwachenwa musoro zvino cp. (41) above.navasekuru.Note that the use of the passive, even with the impersonal subject prefixJku-/, is not common with these verbs.N. C. DEMBETEMBESS3.2.3. According to the interrogative pro-form test the strings which arein bold type in (36)-(41) above are confirmed as object noun phrases, e.g.(43) Chikochikari chabveyi?' (What part of the scotch-cart came(The answer is (37) above). off?)3.2.4. Note that the object complement of these verbs may nonetheless betransposed from the object-relationship to the subject-relationship. Whenthis is done the original subject becomes a possessive phrase, or a locative ifthe original subject referred to a place, and no change is effected in the verb.With this transformation these verbs then seemingly behave like those inClass 1 above:(44) Ziso remombe yedu rakafa. (Our cow's eye was damaged.)cp. (36)(45). Vhiri rechikochikari rabva. (The scotch-cart's wheel came off.)cp. (37)(46) Bazi remukuyu uye rawa. (A branch from that fig-tree felldown.)cp. (39)(47) Musoro wavasekuru wachena (Grandfather's hair is now grey.)zvino. cp. (41)3.3. Syntactic Class 3:The third class consists of verbs which take one primary object complementonly. This is a fairly big class. Some examples are:(48) -junga (think of) -guta (be satisfied)-ramba (refuse, object) -rima (plough)-tenga (buy) -tsvaga (look for)-tuka (scold) -tya (fear, be afraid of)-wana (find, obtain) -zvara (beget)Some examples in sentences:(49) Murume akatenga mombeidzo.(50) Gunje acharima munda wakomangwana.(51) Sara atuka Toko kuchikoro.(The man bought those cows.)(Gunje will plough your fieldtomorrow.)(Sara scolded Toko at school.)Notice that a number of verbs of this class may be used quite freely withoutobject complements. What happens in such cases is that the logical objectwill have been deleted by the operation known as Object Deletion.Examples:(52) Mwana uyu anotya kwazvo. (This child is very timid.)(53) Mukomana uyo anoteerera. (That boy is obedient.)(54) Mukoma wangu anonwa. (My elder brother drinks [beer].)56NON-AUXILIARY VERBS IN SHONA3.3.1. The interrogative pro-form test will confirm the strings in (49)-(5l) asobject noun phrases, e.g.(55) Murume akatengeyi? (What did the man buy?)(answer is (49))(56) Sara akatuka ani kuchikoro?(answer is (51) )3.3.2. The verbs in this class are distinguished from other classes in that theyall take only one object complement which may have an object prefix as aco-referent, e.g.(57) a. Maidei anotya imbwa yako.b. Maideyi anoitya.(58) a. Mudzimai uyu aguta hwa-hwa.b. Mudzimai uyu ahaguta.(Maidei is afraid of your dog.)(Maidei is afraid of it.)(59) a. Vadzitateguru vedu vairimaminda nechifengu.b. Vadzitateguru vedu vaiiri-ma nechifengu.(This woman has had enoughbeer.)(This woman has had enough ofit.)(Our forefathers used to till theirfields with a bent hoe.)(Our fathers used to till them witha bent hoe.)3.3.3. It is a common feature of these verbs that they can all be used withthe passive extension. When this is occasioned the object complement istransposed to the subject position and the logical subject becomes an adjunct.The examples below are passive transformations of sentences that have alreadyoccurred elsewhere above.(Your dog is feared by Maidei.)cp. (57)(A lot of beer has been drunk bythis woman.)cp. (58)(Toko was scolded at school bySara.)(60)(61)(62)Imbwa yako inotyiwa na-Maidei.Hawhwa hwagutwa nemu-dzimai uyu.Toko akatukwa kuchikoro na-Sara.cp. (51)34. Syntactic Class 4:The verbs in this group may be followed each by one primary and one second-ary object complement. They include the following:(63) -bata (catch, hold) -baya (pierce)-cheka (cut) -dumura (break into pieces)-dya (eat) -dzimba (injure)-kuya (grind) -pfura (shoot)-rova (hit) -tema (cut, chop)-vaka (build) -vhura (open)Examples in sentences:(64) Taura mazwi anovaka mwana (Speak words that help to buildhunhu ttwake. up this child's character.)N. C. DEMBETEMBE 57(65) Vavhimi vapjura nzou gumbo. (The hunters shot an elephant inthe leg.)(66) Wadzimba amai ruoko rwavo. (You hurt mother's hand.)(67) Mukomana akarova mombe (The boy hit the ox on one of itsnyanga. horns.)The sequence of these two complements after the verb is fixed, the primarycomplement comes before the secondary complement. The secondary com-plement nearly always constitutes an inalienable part of, or is closely relatedto, the primary complement.3.4.1. That the strings in bold type in (64)--(67) are object complements iseasily demonstrated by employing the interrogative pro-form test. Taking (65)and (66) we obtain the following questions which are well-formed.(68) a. Vavhimi Vakapfureyi gu- (What did the hunters shoot onmbo? the leg?)(answer: nzou)b. Vavhimi vakapjura nzou (What part of the elephant didchiyi? the hunters shoot?)(answer: gumbo)(69) a. Wadzimba ani ruoko? (Who did you hurt on the hand?)(answer: amai)b. Wadzimba amai chiyi? (What part of mother did you(answer: ruoko rwavo) hurt?)3.42. As was pointed out earlier only the primary object complement mayhave an object prefix, e.g.(70) Taura mazwi anomavaka hu- Speak words that help to buildnhu hwake. up his character.)cp. (64) .(71) Wavadzimba ruoko rwavo. (You hurt her on the hand.)cp. (66)(72) Mukomana akairova nyanga. (The boy hit it on one of itshorns.)cp. (67)3.4.3. Like the verbs in Class 3, these verbs may be used with the passiveextension. When the primary object complement is transposed to the subjectposition, the secondary object complement is retained and the logical sub-ject becomes an adjunct. The subject and the object complement in thispassive sentence now bear a relationship somewhat akin to that which obtainswith Class 2 verbs (see 3.2.1. above), e.g.(73) Nzou yapfurwa gumbo nova- (An elephant was shot in the legvhimi. by the hunters.)cp. (65)(74) Amai vadzimbwa ruoko rwavo (Mother was hurt on her hand bynewe. you.)cp. (66)58NON-AUXILIARY VERBS IN SHONA(75) -Eg*-*" "w * SS. 5 S « »of *With this class of verbs secondary object complements mayto the sumer.t nnoi+Jnn ;« — Ł_— __ . , , . Jbut(76) Gumbo renzou rakapfurwanavavhimi.cp. (73)(77) Ruoko rwaamai rwadzimbiwanewe.cp. (74)(78) Nyanga yemombe yakarohwanemukomana.cp. (75)(An elephant's leg was shot by thehunters.)(Mother's hand was hurt by you.)(One of the horns of the ox washit by the boy.),. Š made in 3.3. above about the free use of verbsobject complements applies equally to this class of verbs, e.g.(79) Gunje anorova, haatambe. (Gunje beats hard, he does notplay.)(My niece is an expert at thegrinding stone.)(That goat has run away again.)(His head was aching yesterday.)(80) Muzukuru wangu anokuyachaizvo.(81) Mbudzi iye yatiza zvakare.(82) Musoro wake waidzimbanezuro.3-5 Syntactic Class 5:This is by far the smallest class of verbs, of which the following are themam examples:(83) -dzika (setup, plant) -kanda (throw at)-kwereta (borrow) .nyima (stint)r/W L -rakidza (show)Ł*«« (take burden down) -udza (tell)-ita (do, perform)nrim' Theu ^^^guishing feature of this class of verbs is the presence of twoprimary object complements, e.g.(84) a. Mai Muzavazi vakapa ]b. Mai Murnvazi vakay&pa(85)c.'(Mrs Muzavazi offered MrShereni some beer.) !(Mr Muzavazi offered him somebeer.)(Mrs Muzavazi offered it to MrShereni.)(Tigere stints his dog's food).N. C. DEMBETEMBE 59b. Tigere ano&zmyima sadza. (Tigere stints them food.)Tigere anorinyima imbwa (Tigere does not give his dogsdzake. enough of it.)(86) a. Handichaudza Magwenya (I shall not tell Magwenya thenyaya yandanzwa. news I have collected.)b. Handichcaaaudza nyaya (I shall not tell him the news Iyandanzwa. have collected.)c. Handichaiudza Magwenya. (I shall not tell it to Magwenya.)Although the order of the complements with these verbs is flexible, wherehuman beings are involved these seem to take first position, and animatethings tend to come before the inanimate.3.5.2. These verbs may be used happily with the passive extension. Whenone of the two object complements is transposed to the subject positionthe other is retained, i.e. it remains in its position after the verb, e.g.(87) a. VaShereni vakapihwa (Mr Shereni was offered somehwahwa naMai Muzavazi. beer by Mrs Muzavazi.)cp. (84)b. Hwahwa hwakapihwa (Some beer was offered to MrVaShereni naMai Shereni by Mrs Muzavazi.)Muzavazi.(88) a. Imbwa dzinonyimwa sadza (The dogs are stinted food bynaTigere. Tigere.)cp. (85)Sadza rinonyimwa imbwa (Food is refused the dogs bynaTigere. Tigrer.)CONCLUSIONAs was pointed out in preceding paragraphs, verbs are not restrictedto one of these classes only. Many verbs in Classes 2 to 5 may be used quitefreely without an object complement in surface structure. Verbs in Class 4are not infrequently found with a primary object complement only, that is,with the secondary object complement wanting. These classes rather markin ascending order the maximum number of object complements verbs maysupport. Thus a verb in Class 2 may not support object complements of thetype that are permitted by verbs in Class 3 or Class 4 or Class 5, but it mayfunction as a verb in Class 1; a verb in Class 4 may not be used as a verbin Class 5, but it may be used as one in Class 3 or Class 1. Note, however,that verbs in Classes 3, 4 and 5 may not function as verbs in Class 2 at all.This classification does not pretend to be an exhaustive treatment ofthe problem of transitivity in Shona. It is only a tentative approach to theproblem.