Date of Award

12-1-2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Linguistics

First Advisor

James S. Roberts

Abstract

This thesis is an analysis of the verb system of Mubi, an Eastern Chadic language spoken in central Chad. Previous brief analyses of the Mubi verb system have been used to demonstrate and reconstruct the Proto-Chadic verb system. However, these analyses are based on a very limited amount of data and information on the language. This thesis provides more complete data on the verb system of Mubi in order to attain a more comprehensive description and analysis, as well as to evaluate the previous claims that have been made regarding the verb system.

Chapter 1 gives a general introduction to the Mubi people and language, which is followed by an overview of the phonology in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 discusses the morphology of the basic verb forms. Chapter 4 discusses the verb morphology beyond the perfective and imperfective verb forms such as pluractional verbs, imperatives, and suffixes. This chapter also demonstrates the phonological processes of vowel assimilation, devoicing, nasal assimilation, and consonant epenthesis.

The Mubi verb appears in three forms: the infinitive, perfective, and imperfective. This thesis shows that verbs follow regular patterns for the formation of these forms based on the number of consonants and quality of the one root vowel. The morphophonology of Mubi shows that consonants bear the main semantic load, while vowels generally have a more grammatical function. The infinitive, perfective, and imperfective are all formed by the root consonants and root vowel, which fill in a verb template and undergo specific phonological processes for each verb form.

Included in

Linguistics Commons

Share

COinS