Earl W. Stevick

Name: Adapting and Writing Language Lessons — Appendix O: Part of a Learners Synopsis of Kirundi Structure
Author: Earl W. Stevick

Adapting and Writing Language Lessons… (1971)

Summary

“Adapting and Writing Language Lessons — Appendix O: Part of a Learners Synopsis of Kirundi Structure”, published in 1971, is a work by Earl W. Stevick. It explores elements such as subject prefix, Kirundi and verb.

Quotes from Adapting and Writing Language Lessons… (Earl W. Stevick)

Earl W. Stevick, Adapting and Writing Language Lessons… (1971)

“ The object prefix follows the subject prefix and stands immediately before the stem: The most striking difference in the use of subject and object prefixes is that the subject prefix must be used whether or not there is an explicit noun subject, while the object prefix is not often used unless the noun object itself is omitted. In this respect the object prefix of a Bantu verb is similar to the object pronouns of many European languages. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Earl W. Stevick, Adapting and Writing Language Lessons… (1971)

“ The forms /-duug-/ and /-geend—/ may thus be identified with approximately the same meanings as those for which 'climb' and 'go' are used in English. Further investigation of Kirundi would disclose no basis for recognizing any more divisions within either of these forms; they are therefore what the linguist calls ROOTS. Every language has a large stock of roots.
What is the root in each of these verb forms:
Each Kirundi verb form has one and only one root. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Earl W. Stevick, Adapting and Writing Language Lessons… (1971)

“ The intersection of these six dimensions with one another accounts for over 90 per cent of the forms of any Kirundi verb. There are however a few sets of forms which lie outside this framework. Most important are the subjunctive, the infinitive, and the imperative. These are differentiated for Dimension 1 (affirmative vs. negative) , and the infinitive shows the tone Class of a verb (Dimension 5) , but they are not marked for mood, tense, aspect, or linkage. These sets need not be discussed further in a brief synopsis. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Earl W. Stevick, Adapting and Writing Language Lessons… (1971)

“ But these six prefixes are used only when the subject is personal. For nonpersonal third person subjects (and for some personal ones) Kirundi uses other subject prefixes. Just which one is chosen depends on the identity of the noun that is the subject:
For this reason, it will be necessary in this discussion of verb forms, to glance briefly at the nouns of the language.
In some, but not all cases, the student will soon learn to perceive an alliterative relationship between the subject prefix of a verb and the prefix that begins the noun subject of that verb. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Earl W. Stevick, Adapting and Writing Language Lessons… (1971)

“ Perfective forms are used when the action is regarded as being complete, imperfectives are used for actions in progress, or actions mentioned without regard to completeness, but the English translation is not a reliable guide as to which actions are 'considered complete' in Kirundi. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Earl W. Stevick, Adapting and Writing Language Lessons… (1971)

“ The BASE of a Kirundi verb is defined as the root plus all suffixes except the final suffix.
Most kinds of Kirundi verb forms must contain, in addition to the stem, a subject prefix:
It will be noted that the subject prefixes stand for combinations of person (first, second, third) and number (singular, plural) :
If /asoma/ is translated 'he, she reads', what is the translation of
If /bageenda/ is one translation is equivalent of 'they go' write the corresponding translation equivalent of:
Differentiation of person and number are familiar from the study of non—Bantu languages. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Earl W. Stevick, Adapting and Writing Language Lessons… (1971)

“ The two books in this series which are concerned with Swahili and Lingala set out the grammar of those languages in the form of a series of individual notes, distributed throughout the units of the course. ”

Earl W. Stevick

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