The syntactic status of the reciprocal and the reflexive affixes in Bantu

Abstract

Bantu languages express reciprocity and reflexivity by use of affixes. The question which this paper seeks to answer is whether the reciprocal and the reflexive affixes in Bantu are pronominal, and therefore arguments of the verbs to which they are affixed or rather derivational affixes which derive verbs with argument structures different from those of the ‘unextended verbs’. Drawing examples from Kikamba, a Central Kenya Bantu Language, we will subject each of the affixes to a number of linguistic tests to determine its syntactic status.