The fronted-infinitive construction in Fwe

Abstract

This paper discusses the form and functions of the fronted-infinitive construction in Fwe, an understudied Bantu language of Zambia and Namibia. The fronted-infinitive construction consists of an inflected verb preceded by an infinitive copy of the same verb, and is used to mark verb focus or progressive aspect. This paper argues for an analysis of this construction in Fwe as a type of cleft construction, which accounts both for its deviant formal properties, such as its relative clause tone pattern and its unexpected order of infinitive auxiliary, and its use as a marker of verb focus. Although this paper focuses on the fronted-infinitive in a single language, the cleft analysis of the fronted-infinitive in Fwe raises interesting questions about the structure and diachronic development of similar constructions in other Bantu languages, as well as about the time depth of this construction in the Bantu family.