A Comparative Study of Causatives in Bantu

Abstract

This study will investigate causative formation in three major Bantu languages; KiSwahili, Kikuyu and Lingala. These three languages are from different subgroups of Bantu, and thus one would expect to find differences between them in the ways in which causatives are formed, as well as finding similarities common to all. KiSwahili and Kikuyu are more closely linked to each other than to Lingala, and the author will research whether this is reflected in the similarities and differences in the ways causatives are formed. Even within the most well-studied of the Bantu languages, KiSwahili, there are some questions regarding causative formation which seem to remain unanswered, such as why one verb root may take more than one type of causative suffix, but others may not. The author will seek to provide explanations for some of these questions, as well as investigating whether they are widespread, and reflected in the other Bantu languages studied here, or restricted to KiSwahili only. Comparative studies such as these have their place in Bible Translation. With the implementation of the SIL initiative Vision 2025, which seeks to have a Bible translation started in every language of the world which needs one by the year 2025, there is a need for far greater teamwork than has existed before in translation work. Groups are forming which aim to work together on related languages, pool resources, and help each other in their respective translations. One such group is the Bantu Initiative. A current target of this group is to provide a grammar template, helping linguists to know what they can expect from a Bantu language in each area of the grammar whilst at the same time illustrating the types of differences which exist. The author hopes to be able to provide a basis for this Bantu grammar template in the area of causatives, using the three languages studied to provide examples.