Abstract:
This paper provides novel documentation and description of the verbal modal system in Great Lakes
Bantu languages. Runyambo (E21/JE21) is compared with Luguru (G35). The paper builds on Bostoen
et al. (2012) and Kawalya et al. (2014, 2018) to revisit Runyambo data and add data from Luguru to reexamine
findings in the Great Lakes Bantu Languages. This study is the first to discuss necessity modality
in Rutara languages and the very first description of modality in Luguru. The study was conducted in
Karagwe and Kyerwa Districts of Kagera Region and Morogoro Rural and Mvomero Districts in
Morogoro Region. The field work that involved 10 informants included collection of written texts and
in-depth dialogues and interviews for collecting oral texts. The study presents the modal baas- ‘be able’
as the only modal verb for expressing possibility in Runyambo language. Moreover, the modal baas- in
Runyambo as opposed to dah- ‘be able/capable/permitted’ in Luguru, has both modal and lexical
functions. We demonstrate further that the modal verb teekw- ‘must/ought to’ is used to express both
weak and strong necessity in Runyambo. The modal teekw- modifies all verb types and it requires the
auxiliary verb to either refer to the past or future. The modal verbs dah- ‘be able/capable/permitted’ and
bamigw- ‘must/ought to’ in Luguru express possibility and necessity respectively. It is fascinating to
identify that in both languages the modal verb for necessity requires both progressive formative and
subjunctive form of the immediate verb. Lastly, we demonstrate that in the two languages the modal
verbs interact with different tense and aspect formatives.
