Previous studies have been inconsistent in describing tense and/or aspect (T/A) systems in Luguru language and do not satisfactorily explain the differences of the morphological norms that mark T/A in the language. This study aims to describe the T/A system of Luguru as it is used in the verb system, particularly in the Morogoro Region of Tanzania. The study applied the Linear Approach in the analysis of T/A. In this approach, tenses are considered as expression of the relationship between speech time and another interval of interest called reference time and event time and Also tense meaning is represented as a sequence of the three time points namely; past, present and future time. Group discussions , questionnaire and interview were employed to collect primary data, from adult native speakers of the language in Matombo and Mgeta wards of Morogoro Rural District. The tools were employed because they correspond to the linear approach and that they are benched in the attitude of the language users. Data were analyzed by the identification of various T/A formatives so as to describe the distinction between them and the classification of morphological forms of tense and aspect in Luguru constructions which was done using linear approach. The study revealed four tense categories marked in the verbal morphology (i.e. remote past, recent past, present and future tenses) and four aspect categories , namely habitual, progressive, perfect and persistent. However, some T/A formatives depend on the three auxiliaries tsaa, maa and-gh'ali to complete their meaning. The study also reveals the prevalence of the difference between absolute and relative perfect marking and a high degree of interaction between tense and aspect.

Abstract Tense and aspect marking in Bantu languages is morphological. This means that on the agglutinated verb certain morphemes are affixed to denote different temporal and aspectual dimensions. The forms of these morphemes vary from language to language. This paper seeks to analyze the morphemes that mark tense and aspect on the Kĩmwĩmbĩ verb, a Kenyan Bantu language. The data has been presented in the light of of the Principles and Parameters theory. Data was obtained through subjecting respondents to a structure generations exercise geared towards production of verbs in various tense and aspect dimensions. Data analysis was meant to identify the tense and aspect distinctions in Kĩmwĩmbĩ and the corresponding morphological marking on the agglutinated verb. Key words- Morpheme, perfect, perfective, mood, deixis.

The diachronic and synchronic approach to language study was first introduced by Ferdinand de Saussure, a Swiss scholar considered by many as the father of modern linguistics, to refer to two possible approaches to the study of any language. While the diachronic approach refers to the study of a language in its evolution over time, the synchronic addresses the study of that language at a particular point in time, usually in the present. In this paper, we aim to undertake a 1 E 0 5 1 E C B synchronic study of the Kala ar language, a West African language spoken in the southern part of Nigeria, with particular reference to markers which express the concept of time through tense markers that indicate the past, the present and the future. A specific area of interest is to observe 1 E 0 5 1 E C B how speakers of Kala ar , an ijoid language of the Niger-Congo family whose basic word order is Subject-Object-Verb (Harry, 2004: p. 15) express this concept in relation to English, a germanic language of the Indo-European family with a basic word order of Subject-Verb-Object (Finegan, 1987: p. 78) and to note any influences arising from it. This is of interest because 1 E 0 5 1 E C B English is the official language of Nigeria and every Kala ar speaker is expected to acquire it to be able to communicate effectively with the wider world. 1 E 0 5 1 E C B

This paper revisits four clitics of Pagu (a West-Papuan language spoken in North Halmahera, Indonesia) those that have been described as Tense and Aspect markers (Wimbish 1991): -oka, -ou -osi, and -uli. The first one is considered a tense marker for ‘non-future’ time, while the other three are aspect markers for ‘perfective’, ‘imperfective’, and ‘repetitive’ respectively. Following a metatypy approach (Ross 2006; 2001), I argue that while these clitics have the tense-aspect functions, at the same time under a unified analysis, each should have an extended function vis. a ‘locational marker of space and time’, ‘confirmative’, ‘durative’, and ‘repetitive presupposition marker’, respectively. These meanings and functions are based on the speakers’ interpretation of them in the local lingua franca (a variety of the North Maluku Malay). This supports Bowden’s (2012) argument that the indigenous languages of North Halmahera (Papuan) have influenced the present varieties of Malay spoken a...

This paper describes some of the tense, aspect and mood (TAM) subsystems in Dela-Oenale (D-O), a language spoken in western Rote, Nusa Tenggara Timur province, in eastern Indonesia. The description is mainly based on the theoretical discussion of TAM reviewed from the work of Givón (1984), Comrie (1976), Palmer (1988) Chung and Timberlake (1985) and Payne (1997). The analysis of DO TAM subsystems suggested that DO does not have a grammaticalized tense system. It expresses its tense through lexical time reference. Timeframe is marked at the sentence and discourse level and disambiguated by the context of an utterance. DO aspect, on the other hand, is expressed through a number of types of perfective and imperfective aspectual markers, including: ena (perfective), basa (completive), basa…ena (perfect), fee…ena (perfective), serial verbs; nala and hendi (perfective), verbal prefixes-ma-and-mba-(progressive), and various reduplications; V-reduplication, CV-reduplication and full reduplication (progressive and iterative). Meanwhile mood in DO is classified into realis and irrealis mood. The sense of realis mood is apparent in the perfective events, while irrealis mood is expressed through a number of auxiliaries, including: nae, nae'a (irrealis), musi (obligation), bisa, nala, bole, (habilitative), negated bole and afi' (prohibitions), ne'o and mbei ma (probability) and mete ma (conditional).