PhD S. Dom - Bantu verbal derivation and TA from a historical-comparative perspective

Faculty of Arts and Philosophy
Bantu verbal derivation and
tense/aspect from a historical-
comparative perspective
The Kikongo Language Cluster and beyond
Sebastian Dom
Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor in African Languages and Cultures
Supervisor Prof. dr. Koen Bostoen
Department of Languages and Cultures
Co-supervisor Prof. dr. Gilles-Maurice de Schryver
Department of Languages and Cultures
Dean Prof. dr. Gita Deneckere
Rector Prof. dr. Rik Van de Walle
November 2018

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Acknowledgements
I first and foremost want to express my deepest and sincerest gratitude to the supervisors
of this PhD project, prof. Koen Bostoen and prof. Gilles-Maurice de Schryver. Thank you
so much for your unconditional belief and support that you have always shown towards
me. For a long time now—from when I was a sixth-grader in high school, over the years
at the university as a BA, MA and PhD student, up until the last hours of the finalization
of this PhD thesis—they have guided me on this journey, and I cannot ever repay them. If
by any means I have become a (better) linguist, it is thanks to them.
I am thankful to all the wonderful people I met during my stays in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. Most of all, I want to thank Zephirin Pinzi. His eternal enthusiasm
during the many hours working on Ciwoyo has ignited the special fondness I have come
to feel for the language. May he guard and cherish my promise to him to write a Ciwoyo
grammar, and forever hold me accountable to keep on exploring this beautiful language
further. A special note of thanks goes to the Redemptorist missionary Michel Makizolela
Mezidi, who has become one of my dearest friends. I will never forget our walks together
through Luozi, our deep philosophical as well as trivial conversations, the victory of the
Congolese football team in the 2015 Africa Cup which we watched and celebrated
together, and the evenings viewing a movie or listening to Stromae, Céline Dion and
Luciano Pavarotti. Thanks also to Isidore, who has driven me through large parts of the
Kongo-Central province and, despite his sometimes worryingly aggressive driving style,
has always brought me safely to the destination. To all the Bakongo that I have had the
pleasure of working with, I say mfyawukidi!
I further wish to thank all the colleagues of the African languages and cultures section
at Ghent University with which I regularly talked about academic and non-academic
topics (in alphabetical order of the given name): Annelies Verdoolaege, Bernard-Olivier
Clist, Deo Kawalya, Dirk Seidensticker, Emelien Devos, Enock Mbiling’i, Ernest
Nshemezimana, Ferdinand Mberamihigo, Hannelore Vandenbergen, Heidi Goes, Hilde
Gunnink, Hugo DeBlock, Igor Matonda Sakala, Inge Brinkman, Jasper De Kind, Jean-
Pierre Donzo Bunza Yugia, Joseph Koni Muluwa, Jutta De Nul, Katharina Jungnickel,
Koen Stroeken, Maaike Goethals, Mandela Kaumba, Manoah-Joël Misago, Margot

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Luyckfasseel, Maud Devos, Michael Meeuwis, Michel Onokoko Onyumbe, Minah
Nabirye, Rozenn Guérois, Sara Pacchiarotti, Sifra Van Acker, and Vicky Van Bockhaven.
Thanks also to UGent colleagues from outside the department of Languages and Cultures,
especially Leonid Kulikov but also Jóhanna Bardðal, Miriam Bouzouita and Timothy
Colleman.
During my PhD I have met many Africanists, several of whom have become good
friends. I am grateful and glad to have been welcomed into the Bantuist community,
without a doubt one of the warmest and kindest groups of (linguistic) academics. Many of
these international colleagues have contributed to the ideas presented in this work through
discussions and comments, for which I am grateful. A special thanks to Robert Botne,
member of my doctoral advisory committee; to Rasmus Bernander, Thera Crane and
especially Bastian Persohn for discussions on all matters tense and aspect; to Laura
Downing for having organized a private afternoon session on tone in Bantu during my
stay in Gothenburg; and to Michael Marlo, for helping me and being available at once one
night during my fieldwork when I was having a hard time with my first-ever collection of
tone data.
I thank the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) for funding this PhD project
through a fellowship, as well as Ghent University for providing a working environment
and access to all its facilities.
I am evidently grateful to Olga, my partner, for her loving support throughout the
years. There is no other person I would want to have next to me while going through the
struggles of academic research.
Finally, I am indebted to my mom for all the selfless sacrifices she has made as a single
mother so that I could enjoy the education that I received. Words cannot describe the
extent of my gratitude and love. Therefore, this work is dedicated to her.

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Preamble
Composition of the PhD thesis
The present work is a ‘cumulative PhD thesis’, meaning that the six main chapters are a
collection of co-authored articles (in various stages of publication), preceded by a general
introduction and followed by a general conclusion. Chapters 2, 5 and 6 are published
articles, Chapters 3 and 4 are accepted for publication and Chapter 7 has been submitted
for publication.
Apart from minor changes to optimize consistency and uniformity across the various
chapters, the core text of the articles is maintained as published. Some ideas and
hypotheses presented in especially Chapter 5, published earlier on during the PhD project,
have evolved. Rather than updating the contents, we have chosen to discuss these
advances in the general conclusion.
Authorship protocol
The authorship protocol of the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy at Ghent University for a
cumulative PhD thesis was strictly adhered to, and for transparency the contributions of
each of the authors is outlined here.
Sebastian Dom
As the first author of all six articles I had a leading role in the conceptualization and
development of the research. This involved more specifically carrying out literature
studies, working out the main theoretical frameworks, developing research ideas and
hypotheses, and collecting and analysing different types of data. I furthermore had a
leading role in the production of the majority of the articles, i.e. Chapters 2, 5, 6 and 7,
meaning that I myself drafted all the first versions. In Chapters 3 and 4 the writing of the
first drafts was divided among the different authors, where I took responsibility for the
sections on Bantu in Chapter 3 and on the multiple logistic regression analysis (MLRA) in
Chapter 4.
Koen Bostoen
As co-author of all six articles and supervisor of the PhD project, professor Bostoen
discussed research ideas and hypotheses, provided feedback, and was involved in the
editing of all articles. He was furthermore responsible for the sections on the
reconstruction of the complex reciprocal marker in Kikongo in the drafts of Chapter 4.