gram placV 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
P
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 nć duru-woć nć du-duru-woć
doing the same action  I jumped  I repeatedly jumped
2. One subject repeatedly ita bna-k kućfia ita b-bna-k kućfia kala
doing the same action to the  she washed the pot kut-tuĄ bneć
same object  she washed the pot over
and over, but it would not
get clean
3. One subject acting oćn-su go\roć! oć-&oćn-su go\roć!
iteratively on several  give them a kola!  give each of them a kola!
objects
kećre uwwać! kećrre uwwać!
 slaughter goats!  slaughter each goat!
koćni da\ndeć! koć-g-ni da\ndeć!
 take the children!  take each of the children!
4. Several subjects acting uwwa pećte-n ko gaĄ boćnoć uwwa pećtte-n ko gaĄ boćnoć
one by one  goats came out of the  goats came out of the
house (as a group) house one after another
maćte ma-n boćnoć maćte mać-mać-&&an boćnoć
 they went back home  they went back home one
after another
5. Several subjects acting yaćbbi ać j doć+"+"ać tętok yaćbbi ać j doć-doć+"+"ać tętok
iteratively on the same  the chickens are pecking  the chickens kept pecking
object the bug the bug
yaćbbi sa-n aćmma yaćbbi sać-&&-an aćmma
 the chickens drank water  the chickens repeatedly
drank water
6. Several subjects acting maćte koćna-n kućlinshe maćte koć-koć-g-na-n
iteratively on several  they picked up calabashes kućlinshe
objects (in a bunch)  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 (ż1). Of the less productive types,
one infixes  gi- (ż2) and the other geminates the second consonant of the verb (ż3). Bole
1
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 object marker, -yi. See ż1.2 for
discussion of the forms pluractional verbs take in other TAMs.
Class Simple form Pluractional
A1 si+"uwoĄyi sisi+"uwoĄyi  leap up, start
tupuwoĄyi tutupuwoĄyi  spit
leyuwoĄyi leleyuwoĄyi  give birth, procreate
&yoruwoć &yo&yoruwoć  stand, come to a stop
gashuwoĄyi gagashuwoĄyi  jerk away
onuwoĄyi o*onuwoĄyi  give
ngoruwoĄyi ngongoruwoĄyi  tie
A2 druwoĄyi ddruwoĄyi  thresh
kuĄpuwoĄyi kućkuĄpuwoĄyi  embrace
reĄtuwoĄyi rećreĄtuwoĄyi  split, separate
soĄruwoĄyi soćsoĄruwoĄyi  fall
daĄ&yuwoĄyi daćdaĄ&yuwoĄyi  step on
zrfiuwoĄyi zzrfiuwoĄyi  tighten
gaćnduwoć gaćgaćnduwoĄyi  lie down
fioćppuwoĄyi fioćfioćppuwoĄyi  follow
wućn&yućluwoĄyi wućwućn&yućluwoĄyi  sway
boćngruwoĄyi boćboćngruwoĄyi  turn
teĄtyuwoĄyi tećteĄtyuwoĄyi  try hard
daĄrtuwoĄyi daćdaĄrtuwoĄyi  heal
ućmbućluwoĄyi uć&ućmbućluwoĄyi  throw at, launch
njaĄ+"luwoĄyi njaćnjaĄ+"luwoĄyi  dabble in food
B pta\woĄyi ppta\woĄyi  sprinkle
bućla\woĄyi bućbućla\woĄyi  dig up
baćsa\woĄyi baćbaćsa\woĄyi  shoot
znga\woĄyi zznga\woĄyi  peek, peer
aćla\woĄyi ać&aćla\woĄyi  carry, transport
ndra\woĄyi ndndra\woĄyi  dig with hands or claws
C tęwoĄyi titęwoĄyi  eat (otto)
ęwoĄyi i&ęwoĄyi  do
Pluractional verbs 3
D sa\woĄyi sasa\woĄyi  drink
ka\woĄyi kaka\woĄyi  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 tę-  eat
in the table with tangoĄyi  they ate , pluractional tatangoĄyi and the forms of the Class D
verb sa\-  drink in the table with nć se\shoĄyi  I drink (habitual TAM), pluractional
nć sese\shoĄyi. 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 baćsa\- in the table with bećsengoĄyi  he shot and brought (completive ventive),
pluractional bećbećsengoĄyi.
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. onuwoĄyi  he gave , pluractional o&onuwoĄyi
[/o/onuwo~& yi].
Verbs that begin in prenasalized consonants reduplicate the entire prenasalized onset,
e.g. ngoruwoĄyi  he tied , pluractional ngongoruwoĄyi  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.
zn.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 ??paćpaćta\woć  he repeatedly went out (< paćta\woć) sound  awkward . These verbs
prefer geminate pluractionals (ż2), i.e. paćttangoć, etc. However, such geminate
pluractional can, themselves, be reduplicated when a plural subject is involved (ż4), e.g.
paćpaćttangoć  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 OK1
C  do  run
i&ęwoĄyi " jijęwoć
 eat (otto)  ripen
titęwoĄyi " ninęwoć
 stab  go
yiyęwoĄyi " ndindęwoć
 enter
" riręwoć
D  pound in  cut grass
baba\woĄyi " gaga\woĄyi
 mount  bind
fiafia\woć " nzanza\woĄyi
 transplant  get
kaka\woĄyi " wawa\woĄyi
 return, go back  exceed, surpass
mama\woć " &ya&ya\woĄyi
 prevent
nganga\woĄyi
 close
papa\woĄyi
 drink
sasa\woĄyi
 put away
zaza\woĄyi
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 (ż3).
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  he tied
ngoruwoĄyi ngongoruwoĄyi
Subjunctive  that he tie
ngoćrę} ngoćngoćrę}
Imperative  tie! (sing.)
ngoćrę} ngoćngoćrę}
Future  he will tie
ać ngoćra\yi ać ngoćngoćra\yi
Habitual  he ties
ać ngoroĄyi ać ngongoroĄyi
A2 Completive  he followed
fioćppuwoĄyi fioćfioćppuwoĄyi
Subjunctive  that he follow
fioćppe\} fioćfioćppe\}
Imperative  follow! (sing.)
fioćppę} fioćfioćppę}
1
Gimba (2000:157, fn. 2) notes that the three Class C motion verbs, ję-  run , ndę-  go , rę-  enter disallow
CV- pluractional formation in the completive, subjunctive, and imperative, but do allow it in future and
habitual, e.g. ać riręnać  he will repeatedly enter . The verb nę-  ripen disallows CV- reduplication across
the board.
Pluractional verbs 5
Future  he will follow
ać fioćppaĄyi ać fioćfioćppaĄyi
Habitual  he follows
ać fioppoĄyi ać fiofioppoĄyi
B Completive  he shot
baćsa\woĄyi baćbaćsa\woĄyi
Subjunctive  that he shoot
bećse\} bećbećse\}
Imperative  shoot! (sing.)
bećse\} bećbećse\}
Future  he will shoot
ać bećseĄyi ać bećbećseĄyi
Habitual  he shoots
ać beseĄyi ać bebeseĄyi
C Completive  he ate (otto)
tęwoĄyi titęwoĄyi
Subjunctive  that he eat
taćyyi taćtaćyyi
Imperative  eat! (masc. sing.)
tikkoĄyi titę}
Future  he will eat
ać tęnaĄyi ać titęnaĄyi
Habitual  he eats
ać tęshoĄyi ać titęshoĄyi
D Completive  he drank
sa\woĄyi sasa\woĄyi
Subjunctive  that he drink
saćyyi saćsaćyyi
Imperative  drink! (masc. sing.)
sekkoĄyi sese\}
Future  he will drink
ać se\naĄyi ać sese\naĄyi
Habitual  he drinks
ać se\shoĄyi ać sese\shoĄyi
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 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 Cęnać and Class D
verbs have Ce\nać. Pluractional verbs of these classes retain future forms ending in -naĄ,
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. fta  go out , three syllable Grade 3 verbs have LHL tones, e.g. zaĄburać  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. frfta  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. ngoćrangoĄyi  they tied , ngoćrakkoĄyi  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. ngoćrungoĄyi  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.
+"olwoć  it (e.g. a stick) broke (A1 with H tone on stem), +"oćltuwoĄyi  he broke (it, e.g. a
stick) (A2 with LH on stem). Finally, formation of pluractionals by infixation or
gemination (żż2-3) 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 ż1.2 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)  he tied
ngorwoĄyi ngongorwoĄyi
Totality  he tied completely
ngortućwo ngongortućwo
Additive  he tied again
ngordućwo ngongordućwo
Ventive  he tied and brought
ngoćrungoĄyi ngoćngoćrungoĄyi
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. soĄru\jn  he fell , soĄranjsu  they fell , soćsoĄranjsu  they fell one by
one, they fell repeatedly , but *soćsoĄru\jn  he fell repeatedly . This quasi-agreement
pattern also applies to certain infixed and geminate pluractional see żż1.2-1.3.
2.  Active but Non-Productive Pluractionals: Infixation and Gemination
In addition to the productive CV- reduplication method of pluractional formation
described in ż1, 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 ż2.1, infix the syllable -gi- in the Fika dialect. Geminate pluractionals,
described and illustrated in ż2.2, 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 CVC-, 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 ż3).
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 109 1 0 0
(CV|C-) only
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 CVC- root structure,
and one known case of a Class A2 verb of root structure CV|C-, daĄ&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 C2 of the verb root be a sonorant consonant
or fi, though not all verbs meeting this description have infixed pluractionals, e.g.
tonuwoĄyi  sharpen a blade but no *toćgnuwoĄyi, gućra\woĄyi  hoe up but no " gućgra\woĄyi.
Class Simple form Infixed pluractional
A1 konuwoĄyi koćgnuwoĄyi  pick up
lumuwoĄyi lućgmuwoĄyi  plug a hole
ngoruwoĄyi ngoćgruwoĄyi  tie
ngaluwoĄyi ngaćgluwoĄyi  collect, gather
gowuwoĄyi goćgwuwoĄyi  hit, beat
ngafiuwoĄyi ngaćgfiuwoĄyi  eat (meat), chew
&yoruwoć &yoćgruwoć  come to a stop
B kaćra\woĄyi kaćgra\woĄyi  slaughter
aćwa\woĄyi aćgwa\woĄyi  open
aćla\woĄyi aćgla\woĄyi  carry, transport
A2 daĄ&yuwoĄyi daćkyuwoĄyi3  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 (ż1.2). 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. koćnę}  he should take it (simple form)
but koćgne\y  they should take several (pluractional). Class B infixed pluractionals, on
the other hand, retain properties otherwise associated only with CVC- 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. kŁrŁ  slaughtering , kŁgrŁ  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. koćkućnu\ bućku  he picked up bags (< A1
konu), baćksangoĄyi  they each shot (< B baćsa\), maćte ać ećkećweć boĄ bn  they will open
doors (< B aćwa\). The Gadaka dialect uses a similar process for Class C and D verbs,
e.g. raćkyanjsu  they entered (< C rę), maćte ać tikina paćte-paćte  they will eat pate-pate
pudding (< C tę), maćkaćyanjsu  they each returned (< D ma\), nć ndoluĄ nć saćkye aćreć
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 C1, e.g. Ngamo
Class A1 n dućdgok koćsaćsać  I killed mice (< dug-), Class C n tućtyok wo;toć  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
aćktina\  he repeatedly bit me (< at-), Class C n kyo rłta  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 C2. A subset of verb of Classes A1 and B, the classes
with CVC- root structure, have active pluractionals marked by gemination of C2. There
are no apparent phonological restrictions on what C2 may be, in contrast to infixed
pluractionals, where C2 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 ż2). The intransitive
verbs are given in plural subject form of the completive see ż2.3.
Class Simple form Geminate pluractional
A1 fioluwoĄyi fioćlluwoĄyi  swallow
lotuwoĄyi loćttuwoĄyi  chip off
motuwoć moćttangoć  die
njiluwoĄyi njlluwoĄyi  pinch a piece off
rupuwoĄyi rućppuwoĄyi  crush with teeth
washuwoĄyi waćccuwoĄyi  nip off (simple);
 trim (pluractional)
B gaćfia\woć gaćfifiangoć  pass by
paćta\woć paćttangoć  go out
bućla\woĄyi bućlla\woĄyi  dig out of the ground
Pluractional verbs 9
bfia\woĄyi bfifia\woĄyi  untie (simple)
 untangle (pluractional)
kaćwa\woć kaćbba\woć  be sated; swell (simple)
 swell locally (pluractional)
Gemination of C2 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. fioćlę}  he should swallow but fioćlle\y  they should swallow . Class
B geminated pluractionals, on the other hand, retain properties otherwise associated only
with CVC- 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. gećfieć
 passing , gećfifieć  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 rangoć rać&&angoć  enter
ndanjsu (with ICP) ndać&&anjsu (with ICP)  go
tangoĄyi tać&&angoĄyi  eat otto
D fiangoć fiać&&angoć  climb
manjsu (with ICP) mać&&anjsu (with ICP_  return, go back
sangoĄyi sać&&angoĄyi  drink
pangoĄyi pać&&angoĄyi  cover, close
In the same way that some, but not all Class C and D verbs allow pluractional
formations by CV- reduplication (ż1.1), not all Class C and D verbs allow geminate
pluractional formation, e.g. angoĄyi  they did (it) but no " ać&&angoĄyi (Class C ę-),
ngangoĄyi  they prevented (it) but no " \ngać&&angoĄyi (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 (ż2.3). 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  they entered
rangoć rać&&angoć
Subjunctive  that they enter
raći rać&&e
Imperative  enter! (plural)
ra\} rać&&a\}
Completive  they ate otto
tangoĄyi tać&&angoĄyi
Subjunctive  that they eat otto
taćyyi tać&&e\y
Imperative  eat otto! (plural)
ta\} tać&&a\}
D Completive  they returned
mangoć mać&&angoć
Subjunctive  that they return
maći mać&&e
Imperative  return! (plural)
ma\} mać&&a\{
Completive  they covered
pangoĄyi pać&&angoĄyi
Subjunctive  that they cover
paćyyi pać&&e\y
Imperative  cover! (plural)
pa\} pać&&a\}
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 -ęną/-e\nać and -ęshoś-e\sho respectively. These
suffixes generally cooccur with verbs having only one stem consonant. Thus, a future
form such as *r&&ęnać  will enter or a habitual form such as *mać&&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: paćta\ (B)  go out
uwwa pećttengoć  goats came out
*oĄshi pećttengoć ( the goat kept coming out )
oĄshi pećpećtengoć  the goat kept coming out
Pluractional verbs 11
Base verb: gaćfia\ (B)  pass by
mo\tać goćdon ać j gećfifieć  many cars are going by 5
*mo\taćn daći ać j gećfifieć ( a red car keeps going by )
mo\taćn daći ać j gećgećfieć  a red car keeps going by
Base verb:  yoru (A1)  come to a stop
mu &yograć gać masęd  we will stop at the mosque
*nć &yoćgrać gać masęd ( I will repeatedly stop at the mosque )
nć &yoć&yoćra gać masęd  I will repeatedly stop at the mosque
Base verb: sa\ (D)  drink
uwwa ać seć&&e\na aćmma  the goats will drink water
*oĄshi ać seć&&e\na aćmma ( the goat will repeatedly drink water )
oĄshi ać sese\na aćmma  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
fioćllu\ gucceć  he swallowed stones (completive verb fioćllu-
has singular subject form (##), i.e. the subject
could not be plural)
plural subject: fioćllan gućcce  they swallowed stones
fioćllan guĄsho  they each swallowed a stone
*fioćllu\ guĄsho ( he kept swallowing the stone )
fioćfioćlu\ guĄsho  he kept swallowing the stone
Base verb: aćwa\ (B)  open, uncover
ećgwe kufiinshe ye]!  uncover (sing. imper.) the pots!
*ećgwe kufia ye] ( keep uncovering the pot! )
eć&ećwe kufia ye]!  keep uncovering (sing. imper.) the pot!
Base verb:  yoru (A1)  come to a stop
nć &yoćgru\ gać goćrinshe goćdo&!  I stopped in many towns
*nć &yoćgru\ gać Pataskućmoć ( I stopped here and there in Potiskum )
nć &yo&yoru\ gać Pataskućmoć  I stopped here and there in Potiskum
Base verb: onu (A1)  give
oćgna& &otto n; da\ndeć  she gave otto to the children
5
Many nouns in Bole have no morphological plural form (##), e.g. mo\tać  car(s) . However, if context,
such as that provided here by goćdo&!  many , makes it clear that plural referents are involved, a distributive
pluractional verb form is acceptable.
Pluractional verbs 12
*oćgna& &otto l: la\woć ( she repeatedly gave food to the child )
oć&oćna& ott l: la\woć  she repeatedly gave food to the child
Base verb: zowu (A1)  put, put on, place
nć zoćgwu\ seĄfii gać gaĄ koĄrinshe  I put fertilizer on my farms
*nć zoćgwu\ seĄfii gać gaĄ koĄrno ( I put fertilizer here and there on my farm )
nć zozowu\ seĄfii gać gaĄ koĄrno  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 pluractional6 CV- reduplicated plurac.
Sing. subject, Sing. object
*ishi ngoćgri-na\-wo ishi ngongor-na\-wo
( he repeatedly tied me )  he repeatedly tied me
Sing. subject, Plural object
ishi ngoćgri-su\-wo ishi ngongor-su\-wo
 he tied them one by one  he repeatedly tied them
Plural subject, Sing. object
maćte ngoćgran-na-ngo maćte ngoćngoćran-na-ngo
 they each tied me  they repeatedly tied me
Plural subject, Plural object
maćte ngoćgran-su-ngo maćte ngoćngoćran-su-ngo
 they each tied them or  they repeatedly tied them
 they tied them one by one
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 ż2.3, 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
maćte ngoćgran-na-ngo maćte ngoćngoćgran-na-ngo
 they each tied me  they each tied me repeatedly
maćte kaćgral lo (< kaćra\) maćte kaćkaćgral lo
 they each sliced meat  they each repeatedly sliced meat
poćfifian yaćbbi (< pofiu) poćpoćfifian yaćbbi
 they each removed chickens  they each repeatedly removed chickens
6
The same facts would hold for a geminate pluractional.


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