Abstract:
The object of this paper is to introduce the nature of tense, aspect, and mode (TAM)
in Lugwere, a Bantu language spoken in Eastern Uganda. Basic emphasis is on the
morpho syntax relevant to the encoding of TAM notions and their basic meanings. As a
way of verifying the findings herein, the paper sources its illustrative material from four
discourse genres (texts), the examples of which are given verbatim as in the texts except
for the numbering. Where the feature under description is nonexistent in the texts, the
paper uses individual grammatical strings formulated with native-speaker intuition, and
given in a systematic numerical progression at times alongside the discourse examples.
I am also aware that it is one thing to describe the internal structure of the grammar
of a language and another thing to know when, and where in a discourse should one
use a given form, and not another. Thus, I also review the distribution and role of TAM
in discourse as a tool in establishing the motivation for the use of the TAM categories.
In conclusion, observations of immediate linguistic value are made and further
research proposed.
