The Anterior-Passive Portmanteau Suffix in Tiania

Abstract

In this brief paper we show that the Bantu language Tiania (a variety of Kimeru spoken in Kenya) has a curious gap in the expression of the passive. In the anterior tenses that take an /-eet-ɛ/ inflectional ending, it is not possible to use the otherwise general -w passive suffix (*-eet-w-ɛ). Instead, the inflectional final vowel /-i/ occurs as an anterior-passive “portmanteau”. We decribe and exemplify this gap in the verb system and speculate that *-i was originally a stative that was extended as a “rule of referral” to the passive function it now has with transitive verbs.