1

Chapter ##

PLURACTIONAL VERBS

luractional verbs, first given this designation in Newman (1980), indicate “multiple,
iterative, frequentative, distributive, or extensive action” (Newman 2000:423). The
table below presents the range of contexts typical of pluractional verbs. This table,

as well as much of the description in this chapter, draws from Gimba (2000:Chapter 10):

NON

-

PLURACTIONAL

PLURACTIONAL

1. One subject repeatedly
doing the same action

næ duru-woæ
‘I jumped’

næ du-duru-woæ
‘I repeatedly jumped’

2. One subject repeatedly
doing the same action to the
same object

ita bìna-k kuæfia
‘she washed the pot’

ita bì-bìna-k kuæfia kala

kut-tu¥ bìneæ
‘she washed the pot over
and over, but it would not
get clean’

3. One subject acting
iteratively

on

several

objects

oæn-su go\roæ!
‘give them a kola!’
keære uwwaæ!
‘slaughter goats!’
koæni da\ndeæ!
‘take the children!’

oæ-&oæn-su go\roæ!
‘give each of them a kola!’
keærre uwwaæ!
‘slaughter each goat!’
koæ-gì-ni da\ndeæ!
‘take each of the children!’

4. Several subjects acting
one by one

uwwa peæte-n ko ga¥ boænoæ
‘goats came out of the
house (as a group)’
maæte ma-n boænoæ
‘they went back home’

uwwa peætte-n ko ga¥ boænoæ
‘goats came out of the
house one after another’
maæte maæ-maæ-&&an boænoæ
‘they went back home one
after another’

5. Several subjects acting
iteratively on the same
object

yaæbbi aæ jÏ doæ∫∫aæ têtokì
‘the chickens are pecking
the bug’
yaæbbi sa-n aæmma
‘the chickens drank water’

yaæbbi aæ jÏ doæ-doæ∫∫aæ têtokì
‘the chickens kept pecking
the bug’
yaæbbi saæ-&&-an aæmma
‘the chickens repeatedly
drank water’

6. Several subjects acting
iteratively

on

several

objects

maæte koæna-n kuælinshe
‘they picked up calabashes
(in a bunch)’

maæte koæ-koæ-gì-na-n

kuælinshe
‘they picked up calabashes
in turn’

Comparison of the pluractional verbs with their non-pluractional counterparts in the

table reveals that Bole has three types of pluractional verb morphology. The most
productive type reduplicates the initial CV- of the verb (§1). Of the less productive types,
one infixes –gi- (§2) and the other geminates the second consonant of the verb (§3). Bole

P

Pluractional verbs

2

also has many verbs that appear to be pluractional in form but which are no longer
associated with existing simple verbs and/or no longer have a meaning that obviously fits
the pragmatic contexts listed in the table above. We discuss these “frozen pluractionals”
in Chapter (##).

1. Reduplicated CV- Pluractionals
1.1. Structure of reduplicated CV- pluractional verbs. The most productive method
of pluractional verb formation is reduplication of the intial CV of the verb stem. If the
first vowel of the stem is long, its short counterpart appears in the reduplicated syllable.
The CV reduplication process is available for all Class A1 and A2 verbs and for at least
transitive Class B verbs. It is available only for selected Class C and D verbs. Examples
in the table below are in the completive masculine singular subject form, with the
completive affix –wo\ and, for transitive verbs, the Ø object marker, -yi. See §1.2 for
discussion of the forms pluractional verbs take in other TAMs.

Class

Simple form

Pluractional

A1

si∫uwo¥yi

sisi∫uwo¥yi

‘leap up, start’

tupuwo¥yi

tutupuwo¥yi

‘spit’

leyuwo¥yi

leleyuwo¥yi

‘give birth, procreate’

&yoruwoæ

&yo&yoruwoæ

‘stand, come to a stop’

gashuwo¥yi

gagashuwo¥yi

‘jerk away’

onuwo¥yi

o*onuwo¥yi

‘give’

ngoruwo¥yi

ngongoruwo¥yi

‘tie’

A2

dÏruwo¥yi

dìdÏruwo¥yi

‘thresh’

ku¥puwo¥yi

kuæku¥puwo¥yi

‘embrace’

re¥tuwo¥yi

reære¥tuwo¥yi

‘split, separate’

so¥ruwo¥yi

soæso¥ruwo¥yi

‘fall’

da¥&yuwo¥yi

daæda¥&yuwo¥yi

‘step on’

zìrfiuwo¥yi

zìzìrfiuwo¥yi

‘tighten’

gaænduwoæ

gaægaænduwo¥yi

‘lie down’

fioæppuwo¥yi

fioæfioæppuwo¥yi

‘follow’

wuæn&yuæluwo¥yi

wuæwuæn&yuæluwo¥yi

‘sway’

boængìruwo¥yi

boæboængìruwo¥yi

‘turn’

te¥tìyuwo¥yi

teæte¥tìyuwo¥yi

‘try hard’

da¥rìtuwo¥yi

daæda¥rìtuwo¥yi

‘heal’

uæmbuæluwo¥yi

uæ&uæmbuæluwo¥yi

‘throw at, launch’

nja¥∫ìluwo¥yi

njaænja¥∫ìluwo¥yi

‘dabble in food’

B

pìta\wo¥yi

pìpìta\wo¥yi

‘sprinkle’

buæla\wo¥yi

buæbuæla\wo¥yi

‘dig up’

baæsa\wo¥yi

baæbaæsa\wo¥yi

‘shoot’

zìnga\wo¥yi

zìzìnga\wo¥yi

‘peek, peer’

aæla\wo¥yi

aæ&aæla\wo¥yi

‘carry, transport’

ndìra\wo¥yi

ndìndìra\wo¥yi

‘dig with hands or claws’

C

têwo¥yi

titêwo¥yi

‘eat (otto)’

êwo¥yi

i&êwo¥yi

‘do’

Pluractional verbs

3

D

sa\wo¥yi

sasa\wo¥yi

‘drink’

ka\wo¥yi

kaka\wo¥yi

‘implant’

The CV reduplicated syllable always copies the first vowel of the verb stem. For

most verbs, the same vowel will appear in all the verb’s pluractional forms. Roots for
Class C and D verbs, however, each comprise only a single consonant, with stem vowels
determined by TAM and/or subject agreement. The vowel in Class C and D pluractional
forms thus varies from form to form, e.g. compare the forms of the Class C verb tê- ‘eat’
in the table with tango¥yi ‘they ate’, pluractional tatango¥yi and the forms of the Class D
verb sa\- ‘drink’ in the table with næ se\sho¥yi ‘I drink’ (habitual TAM), pluractional
næ"!sese\sho¥yi. Likewise, when Class B verbs assimilate a root vowel -a- to -e- in forms
where the stem final vowel becomes -e- (see ## for forms with stem final -e-), the
reduplicated CV syllable in pluractional verbs copies this -e-, e.g. compare the Class B
verb baæsa\- in the table with beæsengo¥yi ‘he shot and brought’ (completive ventive),
pluractional beæbeæsengo¥yi.

Bole does not permit onsetless syllables (##). Thus, syllables that would otherwise

begin in a vowel have glottal stop as the default onset. This applies to pluractional
reduplication of vowel initial verbs, e.g. onuwo¥yi ‘he gave’, pluractional o&onuwo¥yi
[

/o/onuwo~…yi].

Verbs that begin in prenasalized consonants reduplicate the entire prenasalized onset,

e.g. ngoruwo¥yi ‘he tied’, pluractional ngongoruwo¥yi ‘he repeatedly tied’. A morpheme
boundary separates the reduplicated syllable from the stem, and this morpheme boundary
corresponds to a syllable boundary, i.e. ngo.ngo.ru-, not *ngon.go.ru-. NC sequences
within a root are syllabified with the N forming the coda of the preceding syllable, e.g.
zòn.ge ‘hyena’. At the moment, we have only native speaker intuition as evidence that
the boundary falls after vowel of the reduplicated syllable, but a possible test would come
from metrics if the initial syllable of a reduplicated pluractional like ngongoru- were to
fall in a position requiring a light syllable for proper scansion. See ## for evidence that a
morpheme boundary corresponds to a syllable boundary in internal N+C sequences.

Gimba (2000:157) notes that although transitive Class B verbs freely use

CV- reduplicated pluractionals, reduplicated Class B intransitive verbs such
as ??paæpaæta\woæ ‘he repeatedly went out’ (< paæta\woæ) sound “awkward”. These verbs
prefer geminate pluractionals (§2), i.e. paættangoæ, etc. However, such geminate
pluractional can, themselves, be reduplicated when a plural subject is involved (§4), e.g.

paæpaættangoæ ‘they repeatedly went out’.

Gimba (2000:157-158) notes that some verbs in Class C and Class D, the classes with

a single root consonant, do not allow reduplicated CV- pluractional formation. The table
below lists all Bole Class C and D verbs in CV- pluractionalized form (completive,
masculine singular subject) with the judgments from Gimba (2000) on acceptability.

Pluractional verbs

4

Class

CV- plac. OK

CV- plac.

NOT

OK

1

C

i&êwo¥yi

‘do’

•jijêwoæ

‘run’

titêwo¥yi

‘eat (otto)’

•ninêwoæ

‘ripen’

yiyêwo¥yi

‘stab’

•ndindêwoæ

‘go’

•rirêwoæ

‘enter’

D

baba\wo¥yi

‘pound in’

•gaga\wo¥yi

‘cut grass’

fiafia\woæ

‘mount’

•nzanza\wo¥yi

‘bind’

kaka\wo¥yi

‘transplant’

•wawa\wo¥yi

‘get’

mama\woæ

‘return, go back’

•&ya&ya\wo¥yi

‘exceed, surpass’

nganga\wo¥yi

‘prevent’

papa\wo¥yi

‘close’

sasa\wo¥yi

‘drink’

zaza\wo¥yi

‘put away’

In Class C, only transitive verbs allow CV- pluractional formation and only

intransitives disallow it. This jibes with the judgments for Class B verbs. Class D verbs,
however, do not fit any obvious pattern of this type. Some of the Class C and D verbs
that disallow CV- reduplication form their pluractionals on the geminate pattern (§3).
Others appear to have no serviceable pluractional form.

1.2. Reduplicated CV- pluractionals and TAM forms. The basis for dividing Bole
verbs into five classes (A1, A2, B, C, D) is the fact that verbs of the five classes differ in
form, primarily tone and final vowel, in the five basic Bole TAMs (##). Verbs with CV
pluractional reduplication behave in somewhat unexpected ways in the respective TAMs.
The base forms for classes A1 and B all have CVC- root shape and classes C and D have
roots comprising a single consonant. Addition of the CV- syllable in reduplicated
pluractionals thus creates verb stems that do not fit the canonical patterns for the
respective classes. These pluractionals run counter to correlations of stem shape and verb
class by following the TAM patterns of the corresponding non-pluractional stems.
Glosses are those of the non-pluractional form.

Class

TAM

Non-pluractional

Pluractional

A1

Completive

ngoruwo¥yi

ngongoruwo¥yi

‘he tied’

Subjunctive

ngoærê}

ngoængoærê}

‘that he tie’

Imperative

ngoærê}

ngoængoærê}

‘tie!’ (sing.)

Future

aæ ngoæra\yi

aæ ngoængoæra\yi

‘he will tie’

Habitual

aæ ngoro¥yi

aæ ngongoro¥yi

‘he ties’

A2

Completive

fioæppuwo¥yi

fioæfioæppuwo¥yi

‘he followed’

Subjunctive

fioæppe\}

fioæfioæppe\}

‘that he follow’

Imperative

fioæppê}

fioæfioæppê}

‘follow!’ (sing.)

1

Gimba (2000:157, fn. 2) notes that the three Class C motion verbs, jê- ‘run’, ndê- ‘go’, rê- ‘enter’ disallow

CV- pluractional formation in the completive, subjunctive, and imperative, but do allow it in future and
habitual, e.g. aæ rirênaæ ‘he will repeatedly enter’. The verb nê- ‘ripen’ disallows CV- reduplication across
the board.

Pluractional verbs

5

Future

aæ fioæppa¥yi

aæ fioæfioæppa¥yi

‘he will follow’

Habitual

aæ fioppo¥yi

aæ fiofioppo¥yi

‘he follows’

B

Completive

baæsa\wo¥yi

baæbaæsa\wo¥yi

‘he shot’

Subjunctive

beæse\}

beæbeæse\}

‘that he shoot’

Imperative

beæse\}

beæbeæse\}

‘shoot!’ (sing.)

Future

aæ beæse¥yi

aæ beæbeæse¥yi

‘he will shoot’

Habitual

aæ bese¥yi

aæ bebese¥yi

‘he shoots’

C

Completive

têwo¥yi

titêwo¥yi

‘he ate (otto)’

Subjunctive

taæyyi

taætaæyyi

‘that he eat’

Imperative

tikko¥yi

titê}

‘eat!’ (masc. sing.)

Future

aæ têna¥yi

aæ titêna¥yi

‘he will eat’

Habitual

aæ têsho¥yi

aæ titêsho¥yi

‘he eats’

D

Completive

sa\wo¥yi

sasa\wo¥yi

‘he drank’

Subjunctive

saæyyi

saæsaæyyi

‘that he drink’

Imperative

sekko¥yi

sese\}

‘drink!’ (masc. sing.)

Future

aæ se\na¥yi

aæ sese\na¥yi

‘he will drink’

Habitual

aæ se\sho¥yi

aæ sese\sho¥yi

‘he drinks’

Note, in particular, the following:
• Completive tone: Class A1, C, D verbs bear H tone on the root in the completive

whereas Class A2 and Class B verbs bear L. Addition of the CV- syllable makes
class A1 verbs syllabically identical to class A2 and class D verbs identical to B, yet
they retain all H tone on the stems.

2

• Subjunctive stem final vowel: Subjunctive Class A1 verbs have final –i, Class A2

verbs have final -e. Reduplicated pluractional A1 verbs retain –i in the subjunctive.
Class C and D verbs have a special subjunctive stem for ending in -ay (or -ai—the
forms in the table have a Ø object affix -yi to which the suffix assimilates).
Pluractional C and D verbs retain this subjunctive form even though it is otherwise
restricted to monoconsonantal roots.

• Future tone of A1 verbs: Class A1 verbs have LH tones on the future stem, in contrast

to verbs of Classes A2 and B, which have all L. Reduplicated pluractional A1 verbs
retain the LH pattern in the future.

• Future form of C and D verbs: Class C verbs have a future form Cênaæ and Class D

verbs have Ce\naæ. Pluractional verbs of these classes retain future forms ending in -na¥,
even though this suffix is otherwise restricted to monoconsonantal roots.

• Polysyllabic Class B verbs: Basic Bole Class B verbs are all disyllabic. Pluractional

reduplication creates otherwise anomalous trisyllabic Class B verbs, which, in all
respects, have TAM forms identical to disyllabic Class B verbs.

2

This is reminiscent of reduplicated Grade 3 verbs in Hausa. Two syllable Grade 3 verbs have LH tones,

e.g. fìta ‘go out’, three syllable Grade 3 verbs have LHL tones, e.g. za¥buraæ ‘leap up’. When two syllable
verbs are reduplicated, they retain the LH pattern (assigning tones right to left) even though they are
formally identical to basic three syllable verbs, e.g. fìrfìta ‘repeatedly go out’.

Pluractional verbs

6

These

NON

-effects on TAM forms is particular to pluractional reduplication. Other

inflectional and derivational process do affect TAM forms. When the subject of a
completive verb is plural or feminine singular, an -aC- syllable is added to the stem (##),
giving an additional mora. A1 completive forms with plural or feminine singular subjects
have LH tones characteristic of Class A2 and Class B verbs, each of which have at least
one more stem mora than A1 verbs, e.g. ngoærango¥yi ‘they tied’, ngoærakko¥yi ‘she tied’.
The same facts hold for addition of the completive ventive extension, consisting of a
syllable -un- for Class A1 and A2 verbs (##), e.g. ngoærungo¥yi ‘he will tie (and bring)’
(LH tones on an A1 ventive verb). When a -t- dervational affix (##) is added to an A1
root, creating a stem with an additional mora, the derived verb takes A2 TAM forms, e.g.

∫olwoæ

‘it (e.g. a stick) broke’ (A1 with H tone on stem), ∫oæltuwo¥yi ‘he broke (it, e.g. a

stick)’ (A2 with LH on stem). Finally, formation of pluractionals by infixation or
gemination (§§2-3)

DOES

cause a shift in verb class.

1.3. Reduplicated CV- pluractionals and verbal extensions. Reduplicated
pluractionals show no special properties with verbal extension (##) beyond those
described in §1.2 for TAM forms. Compare the non-pluractional and pluractional forms
of the A1 verb ‘tied’ in the completive with each extension.

Extension

Non-pluractional

Pluractional

(no extensions)

ngorwo¥yi

ngongorwo¥yi

‘he tied’

Totality

ngortuæwo

ngongortuæwo

‘he tied completely’

Additive

ngorduæwo

ngongorduæwo

‘he tied again’

Ventive

ngoærungo¥yi

ngoængoærungo¥yi

‘he tied and brought’

Gimba (2000:159) notes that with the Intransitive Copy Pronoun (ICP—##), the

counterpart of the totality extension for intransitive verbs, pluractional verbs require a
plural subject, e.g. so¥ru\jÏnì ‘he fell’, so¥ranjÏsu ‘they fell’, soæso¥ranjÏsu ‘they fell one by
one, they fell repeatedly’, but *soæso¥ru\jÏnì ‘he fell repeatedly’. This quasi-agreement
pattern also applies to certain infixed and geminate pluractional—see §§1.2-1.3.

2. “Active” but Non-Productive Pluractionals: Infixation and Gemination

In addition to the productive CV- reduplication method of pluractional formation

described in §1, Bole has two other methods of pluractional formation. They are not
productive in that they are restricted to specific verbs and would probably no longer be
extended to additional verbs. They are “active” in the sense that they bear a transparent
morphological relation to the base verb and in certain pragmatic and/or grammatical
contexts, they are required in place of the base verb. Infixed pluractionals, described and
illustrated in §2.1, infix the syllable -gi- in the Fika dialect. Geminate pluractionals,
described and illustrated in §2.2, geminate the second root consonant.

Infixed and geminate pluractionals are available only for Class A1 and Class B verbs,

the classes whose root structure is C

V

¨C-, and only for a minority of those. From our

current list of about 700 verbs the following figures emerge with respect to infixed
pluractionals and geminate pluractionals (discussed in §3).

Pluractional verbs

7

Class

#!of!verbs!in!class Infixed!plac.

Geminate!plac.

Both!inf.!&!gem.

A1

119

23 (19.3%)

16 (13.4%)

1

B

64

3 (.5%)

12 (18.8%)

1

A2

(C

V

|C-) only

109

1

0

0

2.1. Pluractionals with infixed -gi-. As noted immediately above, infixed pluractionals
are available only for verbs of Classes A1 and B, those classes with C

V

¨C- root structure,

and one known case of a Class A2 verb of root structure C

V

|C-, da¥&yu- ‘step on’. In the

Fika dialect, infixed pluractionals insert a syllable -gi- after the first CV- of the root. In
the Gadaka dialect, where the infixed pluractional rather than CV- reduplication is the
productive form for Class A1 and B verbs, the pluractional infix is -ki-/-ku-/-k- (see
below for a sidebar on the Gadaka dialect). The one Class A2 verb in Fika with an
infixed pluractional has -ki-, and the Fika dialect also has what appears to be frozen
pluractionals of the infixed type with -ki- (##). These facts suggest that the pluractional
infix was originally -ki-.

In addition to being restricted to a subset of Class A1 and B verbs, infixed

pluractionals in the Fika further require that C

2

of the verb root be a sonorant consonant

or fi, though not all verbs meeting this description have infixed pluractionals, e.g.
tonuwo¥yi ‘sharpen a blade’ but no *toægìnuwo¥yi, guæra\wo¥yi ‘hoe up’ but no •guægìra\wo¥yi.

Class

Simple form

Infixed pluractional

A1

konuwo¥yi

koægìnuwo¥yi

‘pick up’

lumuwo¥yi

luægìmuwo¥yi

‘plug a hole’

ngoruwo¥yi

ngoægìruwo¥yi

‘tie’

ngaluwo¥yi

ngaægìluwo¥yi

‘collect, gather’

gowuwo¥yi

goægìwuwo¥yi

‘hit, beat’

ngafiuwo¥yi

ngaægìfiuwo¥yi

‘eat (meat), chew’

&yoruwoæ

&yoægìruwoæ

‘come to a stop’

B

kaæra\wo¥yi

kaægìra\wo¥yi

‘slaughter’

aæwa\wo¥yi

aægìwa\wo¥yi

‘open’

aæla\wo¥yi

aægìla\wo¥yi

‘carry, transport’

A2

da¥&yuwo¥yi

daækìyuwo¥yi

3

‘step on’

Addition of a syllable through infixation shifts Class A1 verbs to Class A2. This is in

contrast to addition of a syllable through pluractional CV- reduplication (§1.2). Thus, the
tone of the verb stem in the completive, as in the table above, is H in the simple form but
LH in the pluractional form.

Likewise, the final vowel of the subjunctive for simple A1

verbs is -i, but for infixed pluractionals, it is -e, e.g. koænê} ‘he should take it’ (simple form)
but koægìne\yì ‘they should take several’ (pluractional). Class B infixed pluractionals, on
the other hand, retain properties otherwise associated only with C

V

C- roots, including the

stem vowel -a\- in the completive (see examples in the table) and a verbal noun with final

3

Note that the vowel in the root syllable is short in the pluractional, a feature shared with CV- reduplicated

pluractionals, where the vowel of the reduplicated syllable is short regardless of root vowel length.

Pluractional verbs

8

vowel and initial root vowel shifted to -e-, e.g. kèrè ‘slaughtering’, kègìrè ‘repeated
slaughtering’.

Note on the Gadaka dialect (Schuh 1983): As noted above, -k(V)- (vowel or its
absence depends on environment) infixation is the productive pluractional process for
Classes A1 and B in the Gadaka dialect, e.g. koækuænu\ buæku ‘he picked up bags’ (< A1
konu), baæksango¥yi ‘they each shot’ (< B baæsa\), maæte aæ eækeæweæ bo¥ bìn ‘they will open
doors’ (< B aæwa\). The Gadaka dialect uses a similar process for Class C and D verbs,
e.g. raækyanjÏsu ‘they entered’ (< C rê), maæte aæ tikina paæte-paæte ‘they will eat pate-pate
pudding’ (< C tê), maækaæyanjÏsu ‘they each returned’ (< D ma\), næ ndolu¥ næ saækìye aæreæ
fiinkiya ‘I want to drink many cups of water’ (< D sa\). This use of the -k- infix is
probably a result of Ngamo influence. Gadaka was originally an Ngamo speaking town
and in fact is the seat of the Emirate of Mai Gudi, the traditional ruler of the Ngamos,
though Bole has now replaced Ngamo, even in the court of Mai Gudi. In the Yaya
dialect of Ngamo, pluractionals for classes other than A2 infix a copy of C

1

, e.g. Ngamo

Class A1 nì duædgok koæsaæsaæ ‘I killed mice’ (< dug-), Class C nì tuætyok wo;toæ ‘I
repeatedly ate woto’ (< tu-). However, for vowel and h initial verbs, which have what
amounts to an onsetless first syllable, the default infixed consonant is -k-, e.g. Class A1

aæktina\" ‘he repeatedly bit me’ (< at-), Class C nì ìkyo rùta ‘I did several jobs’ (< i-). The
fact that Ngamo and Bole both form certain pluractionals by infixation of -Ki- makes it
likely that this is an old feature, inherited into the two languages from at least the time of
their common ancestor. However, because the incursion of Bole into Gadaka is relatively
recent, the pervasiveness of the method of pluractional formation in the Bole of Gadaka
must but be an innovation, or perhaps better, a reintroduction, of the general use of
-Ki- infixation in Bole.

2.2. Pluractionals with Geminate C

2

. A subset of verb of Classes A1 and B, the classes

with C

V

¨C- root structure, have active pluractionals marked by gemination of C

2

. There

are no apparent phonological restrictions on what C

2

may be, in contrast to infixed

pluractionals, where C

2

must be a sonorant or fi. Also in contrast to active infixed

pluractionals, where most tokens are from Class A1, geminate pluractionals are about
equally divided between Classes A1 and B (see figures at the end of §2). The intransitive
verbs are given in plural subject form of the completive—see §2.3.

Class

Simple form

Geminate pluractional

A1

fioluwo¥yi

fioælluwo¥yi

‘swallow’

lotuwo¥yi

loættuwo¥yi

‘chip off’

motuwoæ

moættangoæ

‘die’

njiluwo¥yi

njìlluwo¥yi

‘pinch a piece off’

rupuwo¥yi

ruæppuwo¥yi

‘crush with teeth’

washuwo¥yi

waæccuwo¥yi

‘nip off’ (simple);
‘trim’ (pluractional)

B

gaæfia\woæ

gaæfifiangoæ

‘pass by’

paæta\woæ

paættangoæ

‘go out’

buæla\wo¥yi

buælla\wo¥yi

‘dig out of the ground’

Pluractional verbs

9

bìfia\wo¥yi

bìfifia\wo¥yi

‘untie’ (simple)
‘untangle’ (pluractional)

kaæwa\woæ

kaæbba\woæ

‘be sated; swell’ (simple)
‘swell locally’ (pluractional)

Gemination of C

2

shifts Class A1 verbs to Class A2. Thus, in the table above, the

tone of the simple A1 stem is H in the completive, but LH in the pluractional form. The
final vowel of the subjunctive is -i in the subjunctive of the simple form, but it is -e- in
the pluractional, e.g. fioælê} ‘he should swallow’ but fioælle\yì ‘they should swallow’. Class
B geminated pluractionals, on the other hand, retain properties otherwise associated only
with C

V

C- roots, including the stem vowel -a\- in the completive (see examples in the

table) and a verbal noun with both final vowel and root vowel shifted to -e-, e.g. geæfieæ
‘passing’, geæfifieæ ‘repeated passing’.

In the Fika dialect most Class C and D verbs have geminate pluractionals. Verbs in

these classes have only a single consonant. To form geminate pluractionals, they insert a
geminate glottal stop. According to Gimba (2000:165-166), geminate pluractionals of
Class C and D verbs require a plural subject and, for transitive verbs, the object must be
singular.

4

The examples in the table, which are in the completive, thus have the plural

subject agreement form. With the simple form, the plural subjects would act as a group.
With the pluractional form, the several subjects would be acting as individuals.

Class

Simple form

Geminate pluractional

C

rangoæ

raæ&&angoæ

‘enter’

ndanjÏsu (with ICP) ndaæ&&anjÏsu (with ICP)

‘go’

tango¥yi

taæ&&ango¥yi

‘eat otto’

D

fiangoæ

fiaæ&&angoæ

‘climb’

manjÏsu (with ICP)

maæ&&anjÏsu (with ICP_

‘return, go back’

sango¥yi

saæ&&ango¥yi

‘drink’

pango¥yi

paæ&&ango¥yi

‘cover, close’

In the same way that some, but not all Class C and D verbs allow pluractional

formations by CV- reduplication (§1.1), not all Class C and D verbs allow geminate
pluractional formation, e.g. ango¥yi ‘they did (it)’ but no •aæ&&ango¥yi (Class C ê-),
ngango¥yi ‘they prevented (it)’ but no •\ngaæ&&ango¥yi (Class D nga\-).

As implied in the discusson above, there are no TAM restrictions on Class A1 and B

geminate pluractionals, though Class A1 verbs shift to Class A2 in TAM forms. Class C
and D geminate pluractionals also shift to Class A2 in terms of TAM form. Gimba
(2000:166) points out that geminate Class C and D pluractionals can only be used in
completive, subjunctive, and imperative, e.g.

4

A possible reason for the restriction of object to singular form is the fact that geminate pluractionals

incorporate a meaning of action distributed over several individuals, not repeated action involving a single
individual (§2.3). A pluractional verb would imply subject-object pairings, each subject acting on its
respective object. A plural object would pair each subject with several objects. Such a pairing would
require a “repeated action” reading, which is compatible only with CV- reduplicated pluractionals.

Pluractional verbs

10

Class

TAM

Non-pluractional

Pluractional

C

Completive

rangoæ

raæ&&angoæ

‘they entered’

Subjunctive

raæi

raæ&&e

‘that they enter’

Imperative

ra\}

raæ&&a\}

‘enter!’ (plural)

Completive

tango¥yi

taæ&&ango¥yi

‘they ate otto’

Subjunctive

taæyyi

taæ&&e\yì

‘that they eat otto’

Imperative

ta\}

taæ&&a\}

‘eat otto!’ (plural)

D

Completive

mangoæ

maæ&&angoæ

‘they returned’

Subjunctive

maæi

maæ&&e

‘that they return’

Imperative

ma\}

maæ&&a\{

‘return!’ (plural)

Completive

pango¥yi

paæ&&ango¥yi

‘they covered’

Subjunctive

paæyyi

paæ&&e\yì

‘that they cover’

Imperative

pa\}

paæ&&a\}

‘cover!’ (plural)

Class C and D geminate pluractionals do not appear in the future or habitual. This

may be a result of the fact that for Classes C and D, the future and habitual verb forms are
based on nominalized verbs with suffixes -ênà/-e\naæ and -êsho¶-e\sho respectively. These
suffixes generally cooccur with verbs having only one stem consonant. Thus, a future
form such as *rì&&ênaæ ‘will enter’ or a habitual form such as *maæ&&e\sho ‘returns’ would be
anomalous, combining a suffix that is incompatible with its host verb stem. This
explanation is problematic, however, since it would seem that these verbs could use
future and habitual forms characteristic of A2 verbs, as they do in other TAMs.

2.3. Infixed and geminate pluractionals as quasi-plural agreement marking. Infixed
and geminate pluractionals have a referential restriction that does not apply to
CV- reduplicated pluractionals. Whereas CV- reduplicated pluractionals may express
any type of plural action—many individuals acting, repeated action by one individual,
etc.—active infixation and active gemination indicate only action distributed across a set
of individuals. For this reason, active infixed and geminate pluractional forms constitute
quasi-plural agreement in that they must have at least one plural argument. If the verb is
intransitive, the subject must be plural because it is the only argument. A transitive verb
must have a plural subject and/or the action must apply to several referents. Typically,
such referents would be a plural direct object, but it could also be plural indirect objects,
plural locations, or the like.

Intransitive verb or transitive verb with plural subject and singular direct object

Base verb: paæta\ (B) ‘go out’
uwwa peættengoæ

‘goats came out’

*o¥shi peættengoæ

(‘the goat kept coming out’)

o¥shi peæpeætengoæ

‘the goat kept coming out’

Pluractional verbs

11

Base verb: gaæfia\ (B) ‘pass by’
mo\taæ goædon aæ jÏ geæfifieæ

‘many cars are going by’

5

*mo\taæn daæi aæ jÏ geæfifieæ

(‘a red car keeps going by’)

mo\taæn daæi aæ jÏ geægeæfieæ

‘a red car keeps going by’

Base verb: ’yoru (A1) ‘come to a stop’
mu &yogìraæ gaæ masêdì

‘we will stop at the mosque’

*næ &yoægìraæ gaæ masêdì

(‘I will repeatedly stop at the mosque’)

næ &yoæ&yoæra gaæ masêdì

‘I will repeatedly stop at the mosque’

Base verb: sa\ (D) ‘drink’
uwwa aæ seæ&&e\na aæmma

‘the goats will drink water’

*o¥shi aæ seæ&&e\na aæmma

(‘the goat will repeatedly drink water’)

o¥shi aæ sese\na aæmma

‘the goat will repeatedly drink water’

Singular subject with plural direct objects or other referents over which action can be
distributed (plural subjects are also acceptable)

Base verb: fiolu (A1) ‘swallow’

fioællu\ gucceæ

‘he swallowed stones’ (completive verb fioællu-
has singular subject form (##), i.e. the subject
could not be plural)

plural subject: fioællan guæcce

‘they swallowed stones’

fioællan gu¥sho

‘they each swallowed a stone’

*fioællu\ gu¥sho

(‘he kept swallowing the stone’)

fioæfioælu\ gu¥sho

‘he kept swallowing the stone’

Base verb: aæwa\ (B) ‘open, uncover’
eægìwe kufiinshe ye]!

‘uncover (sing. imper.) the pots!’

*eægìwe kufia ye]

(‘keep uncovering the pot!’)

eæ&eæwe kufia ye]!

‘keep uncovering (sing. imper.) the pot!’

Base verb: ’yoru (A1) ‘come to a stop’

næ &yoægìru\ gaæ goærinshe goædoΩ

‘I stopped in many towns’

*næ &yoægìru\ gaæ Pataskuæmoæ

(‘I stopped here and there in Potiskum’)

næ &yo&yoru\ gaæ Pataskuæmoæ

‘I stopped here and there in Potiskum’

Base verb: onu (A1) ‘give’

oægìna& &otto n; da\ndeæ

‘she gave otto to the children’

5

Many nouns in Bole have no morphological plural form (##), e.g. mo\taæ ‘car(s)’. However, if context,

such as that provided here by goædoΩ ‘many’, makes it clear that plural referents are involved, a distributive
pluractional verb form is acceptable.

Pluractional verbs

12

*oægìna& &otto l: la\woæ

(‘she repeatedly gave food to the child’)

oæ&oæna& ott l: la\woæ

‘she repeatedly gave food to the child’

Base verb: zowu (A1) ‘put, put on, place’
næ zoægìwu\ se¥fii gaæ ga¥ ko¥rinshe

‘I put fertilizer on my farms’

*næ zoægìwu\ se¥fii gaæ ga¥ ko¥rìno

(‘I put fertilizer here and there on my farm’)

næ zozowu\ se¥fii gaæ ga¥ ko¥rìno

‘I put fertilizer here and there on my farm’

The following paradigm from Gimba (2000:162) summarizes the facts, using the base

verb ngoru ‘tie up’ and pronominal subject and object:

Infixed pluractional

6

CV- reduplicated plurac.

Sing. subject, Sing. object

*ishi ngoægìri-na\-wo

(‘he repeatedly tied me’)

ishi ngongor-na\-wo

‘he repeatedly tied me’

Sing. subject, Plural object

ishi ngoægìri-su\-wo

‘he tied them one by one’

ishi ngongor-su\-wo

‘he repeatedly tied them’

Plural subject, Sing. object

maæte ngoægìran-na-ngo

‘they each tied me’

maæte ngoængoæran-na-ngo

‘they repeatedly tied me’

Plural subject, Plural object

maæte ngoægìran-su-ngo

‘they each tied them’ or
‘they tied them one by one’

maæte ngoængoæran-su-ngo

‘they repeatedly tied them’

3. “Stacked” Pluractionals

Pluractional formation through CV- reduplication and pluractional formation through

-Ki- infixation or gemination may be combined. Reduplicative CV- pluractional
formation, which is the only type available for many verb stems, can indicate either
repeated action by an individual, action distributed across several individuals, or both
(see the table at the beginning of this chapter). When combined with an infixed
pluractional or a geminate pluractional, however, the meaning must be that the action is
repeated by or to several individuals, i.e. as explained in §2.3, the infixed and geminated
types express distribution over individuals, and hence addition of the CV- reduplication
adds the only pluractional function left to add, viz. repetition.

The following sets of examples from Gimba (2000:163,!167) give an infixed or

geminate pluractional together with the same pluractional combined with reduplication,
showing the different meanngs.

Infixed or geminate pluractional alone

CV- reduplication + infix or gemination

maæte ngoægìran-na-ngo

‘they each tied me’

maæte ngoængoægìran-na-ngo

‘they each tied me repeatedly’

maæte kaægìral lo (< kaæra\)

‘they each sliced meat’

maæte kaækaægìral lo

‘they each repeatedly sliced meat’

poæfifian yaæbbi (< pofiu)

‘they each removed chickens’

poæpoæfifian yaæbbi

‘they each repeatedly removed chickens’

6

The same facts would hold for a geminate pluractional.