Abstract Bantu languages employ a combination of simple and compound verb forms to encode tense-aspect-mood distinctions. Compound constructions typically involve an auxiliary form followed by an inflected main verb. However, the six East African Bantu languages under examination in this paper exhibit a word order in which the auxiliary appears after the verb. This order is typologically unusual for languages with SVO word order and comparatively unusual in the context of the Bantu languages. This paper presents a synchronic description of this word order and develops an account of its possible origins. It is proposed that the verb-auxiliary order originated from a verb-fronting construction which was used historically to convey predication focus. The account further corroborates the claim that the progressive aspect is an inherently focal category in Bantu and, from a wider perspective, shows the interplay between the encoding of information structure and tense-aspect information.

中文翻译：

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东非班图语动词助序的语法化

摘要 班图语言采用简单和复合动词形式的组合来编码时态-方面-情绪的区别。复合结构通常包括一个辅助形式，后跟一个屈折的主要动词。然而，本文所考察的六种东非班图语呈现出一种词序，即助动词出现在动词之后。这种顺序对于具有 SVO 词序的语言在类型上是不寻常的，而在班图语的上下文中则相对不寻常。本文介绍了这种词序的共时描述，并对其可能的起源进行了说明。有人提出，动词辅助顺序起源于动词前置结构，该结构在历史上用于传达谓词焦点。