Aspectual forms in Lutsotso

Abstract

This paper analyses the inflectional category of aspect in Lutsotso, a dialect of the Oluluhya macro-language. Using descriptive approach, the paper establishes that there are a number of inflectional morphemes affixed on the verb root to express, e.g. person, number, tense, aspect and mood. Among these affixes, tense and aspect categories interact largely, hence, it is difficult to study one category without referring to the other. While tense and aspect are profoundly connected in Lutsotso, this paper only identifies and describes the inflectional form of aspect. Generally, aspect in Lutsotso relates to the grammatical viewpoints such as the perfective, imperfective and iterative forms. This includes the temporal properties of situations and the situation types as well. Aspect just like other grammatical categories such as tense, mood, person, agreement and number are important in understanding the grammar of Lutsotso.