Tense

5.2 Grammatical acquisition in isiXhosa-speaking toddlers

5.2.11 Verb forms

5.2.11.2 Tense

Recent past tense/perfect tense:

The CDI has three questions about the perfect tense. The first is a yes/no question from Section A of the grammar section of the CDI, which asks whether the child has started to speak about events in the past:

• “When we want to talk about something which has happened, we change the sound ‘a’ to be

‘-ile’, for example, ndiyahamba àndihambile ‘I went’. Has your child started to do this?”

131 The second appears on Section B of the grammar section and considers the disjunctive form. It asks which of the following three options (a, b or c – from least to most complex) sounds most like the child’s speech when they want to talk about something which has happened:

a. khabi b. khabile

c. ndikhabile ‘I kicked’

Where (a) misses the full perfect tense disjunctive suffix -ile and the subject marker, (b) misses the subject marker only, and (c) is the full form.

The third and final question, also on Section B of the grammar section, is with regard to the perfect tense conjunctive and assesses whether this form is overgeneralised to cases in which the disjunctive should be used.

Spontaneous speech shows four instances of option (b) from the second question type above, with the first being made by a boy aged 3, and the remaining three all made by a boy aged 2:

• Gqibile vs. ndigqibile ‘I’m finished’.

• Tatile vs. ndithathile ‘I took’.

• Phelile vs. iphelile ‘it’s finished’.

• Hambiyi vs. ihambile ‘it’s gone’ (error made twice).

It appears this latter boy has difficulty with the ‘l’ sound, sometimes producing it correctly, other times producing it as an ‘y’. This is the same boy who uses ‘l’ when he should use ‘y’ for possessive pronouns.

There is one instance in which he produces the form of option (a) from the second question above, suggesting that although it may appear that the suffix -ile is largely acquired by the age of 2, it is not wholly consistent.

Results of the first question in Table 5-32 below show that 13 caregivers reported that their child does not yet speak about events in the past, whilst seven do. One of the youngest children aged 1;5 does, whilst the eldest two do not. Results of the second question (Table 5-33) should theoretically mirror these, although they are likely to differ based on whether caregivers mentally code being able to

132 produce a partial perfect tense as being able to speak about past events or not. Results of this question (Table 5-33) show interesting trends with regard to age and the various forms produced.

Table 5-32 Perfect tense production, CDI data

Age (months) No Yes

17 [1;5] 2 1

18 [1;6] 2 0

21 [1;9] 1 1

22 [1;10] 1 1

23 [1;11] 2 0

24 [2;0] 0 1

25 [2;1] 1 0

26 [2;2] 1 0

27 [2;3] 0 1

28 [2;4] 1 1

29 [2;5] 0 1

30 [2;6] 2 0

TOTAL 13 7

Table 5-33 Perfect tense production by form, CDI data

Age (months) khabi khabile ndikhabile

17 [1;5] 3 0 0

18 [1;6] 1 1 0

21 [1;9] 0 2 0

22 [1;10] 1 1 0

23 [1;11] 1 1 0

24 [2;0] 0 1 0

25 [2;1] 1 0 0

26 [2;2] 0 1 0

27 [2;3] 0 1 0

28 [2;4] 1 0 1

29 [2;5] 0 0 1

30 [2;6] 0 1 1

TOTAL 8 9 3

Firstly, comparing results to the first and second CDI questions in tables 5-32 and 5-33, it is apparent that the caregiver of the child aged 1;5 who answered ‘yes’ to the first question, was basing it off a very incomplete form produced by the child. Upon further analysis, she is once again the most educated mother, so it is not likely that misreporting is due to low maternal education in this instance.

There is evidence in Table 5-33 that other caregivers answered ‘yes’ in Table 5-32 when their child

133 produces the perfect tense suffix only, option (b), -khabile (e.g. the child aged 2;3), whilst others reported ‘no’ if their child is not producing the complete full form, which includes subject marking (e.g.

the children aged 1;11 – compare tables 5-32 and 5-33). It thus appears that children may indeed attempt to use this form as early as 1;5, although in a very incomplete way (e.g. khabi), and the full form of the suffix, ile-, is likely to emerge around the age of 1;6. The perfect tense, in a completely grammatically appropriate form, is acquired around the age of 2;4 in isiXhosa, although not by all children at this age

The CDI data regarding the third question shows that the conjunctive is inappropriately used in place of the disjunctive by 13 of the children. There is no clear trend with regard to age for this type of error, although the eldest three children (2;5; and 2;6) do not appear to make it (but neither does a child as young as 1;9). Lastly, although a girl as old as 3;9 from the spontaneous speech sample produces an overgeneralised conjunctive form, it appears she may have been confused by her subject postponement: ulahleke umntwana instead of ulahlekile umntwana ‘the child is lost’.

Future tense

The CDI asks caregivers to state which of the following forms of the future tense, from least to most complex, sounds most like their child’s speech:

a. hlala apha b. wohlala apha

c. ndizohlala apha ‘I will sit here’

where (a) has no future marking, (b) has a partial form of the future tense as observed in spontaneous speech but with no subject marking, and (c) is the full form.⁶⁵

The spontaneous speech reveals three cases in which both subject marking and future marking is missing as in (a), and two instances in which there is partial future marking but no subject marking as in (b). The former is exclusively made by a girl aged 2;10, whilst the latter is expressed by a boy aged 2 and a girl aged 2;10. This suggests that the future is unlikely to be consistently used in its full form even by 2;10.

65 By full form, I mean full form as tested on the CDI. As acknowledged earlier, this is in fact a contraction of the future formative in isiXhosa, -za ku-.

134 Table 5-34 below highlights that from the CDI data, the majority of the toddler cohort is not using any future marking (15 in total), whilst four are, and one produces a partial form. It is not clear, however, whether the form of this partial option (e.g. -wo-) prevented caregivers from choosing this option if their child used a slightly different partial form, for example, -wa- or -za-. In this case, they may have picked the least complex option instead. Results suggest that the future acquisition is relatively delayed compared to the other verb forms already discussed, with the eldest two children not producing any future form at 2;6, although some younger children are able to do so.

Table 5-34 Future tense production by form, CDI data

Age (months) hlala apha wohlala apaha ndizohlala apha

17 [1;5] 3 0 0

18 [1;6] 2 0 0

21 [1;9] 0 0 2

22 [1;10] 2 0 0

23 [1;11] 1 0 1

24 [2;0] 1 0 0

25 [2;1] 1 0 0

26 [2;2] 0 1 0

27 [2;3] 1 0 0

28 [2;4] 2 0 0

29 [2;5] 0 0 1

30 [2;6] 2 0 0

TOTAL 15 1 4

There are six instances in the spontaneous speech data (all from the boy aged 2 who made the perfect tense errors in the previous section) of the future tense used without a subject marker, for example, zobethwa instead of uzobethwa ‘you will be hit’. There are two cases in spontaneous speech in which a subject marker is used but the future tense is missing, said by two boys aged 2 and 3, for example, sibethwa ngumama instead of siza kubethwa ngumama (or sizobethwa) ‘we will be hit my mom’.

Findings on tense are broadly in line with findings in the existing literature, although like other isiXhosa grammatical forms, tense shows relatively early emergence.