Journal of Pragmatics 7 (1983) 31 l-324 North-Holland

311

THE PRAGMATICS OF REALITY AND UNREALITY CONDITIONAL SENTENCES IN SWAHILI

Sukari SALONk *

Conditional sentences in Swahili, and probably in other Bantu languages, too, contribute to an increasing awareness of the importance of being able to make pragmatic information accessible to the syntactic rules. This paper is concerned with both reality and non-reality conditional sentences, with respect to how information such as speaker beliefs about the possible realization of the event plays a role in the choice of syntactic forms.

Abbreviations

adv. adverb assoc. associative marker fut. future imperf. imperfective inf. infinitive lot. locative neg. negative 0.p. object pronoun pass. passive suffix

prep. pres. pst. recipr. refl. rel. S.P.

subj. unr.

prepositional suffix present past reciprocal reflexive relative pronoun subject pronoun subjunctive unreality

Introduction

The role that pragmatic information plays in syntactic-semantic systems is nowhere more apparent than in conditional sentences. In this area, both philosophers and linguists have been compelled to concern themselves, in one way or another, with speaker beliefs, assumptions, and presuppositions. Whereas in some areas of the grammar, linguists have been able to exercise an

* Author’s address: S. Salone, Ohio State University, Dept. of Black Studies, 486 University Hall, 230 N. Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.

0378-2166/83/$3.00 0 1983. Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (North-Holland)

312 S. Salon& / The pragmaric.~ oJ condirionals in Swahili

option as to whether or not to include pragmatic information, the study of conditional sentences often has not allowed such an option. My discussion here is about just such a case.

While investigating the syntax and semantics of conditional sentences in Swahili [I] (a Bantu language of Eastern Africa), the futility of attempting to do a pragmaticless study became apparent. The Swahili data provide two examples in which pragmatic information governs syntactic contrasts. Here, I will discuss data from both reality and non-reality conditional sentences [2].

1. Reality conditionals

Reality conditionals in Swahili are generally introduced by conjunctions. The situation is made complicated by the presence of three different conjunctions: ikiwa, iwapo, kama. Two are historically derived from the verb ku-wa ‘to be’. In one case, the class 9 [3] subject pronoun (-i-) and the imperfective -ki- are prefixed to -wa (ikiwa). Literally, this might be translated as ‘if it be’ or ‘it being’. The second conjunction prefixes the class 9 subject pronoun to the verb root -wa and suffixes to it the relative marker of time -po- (iwapo). This might be translated as ‘when it be’. The third conjunction kama was borrowed from Arabic, having the meaning ‘if’ or ‘as’ in Swahili.

Traditional grammars generally ignored ikiwa and iwapo, citing only exam- ples with kama and -ki-. -ki- is an imperfective marker which occurs frequently on verbs in antecedents of kama-introduced conditionals. The deletion of kama gives rise to the -ki-conjunctionless conditional sentence-type. Examples of these reality conditional types are given below:

(I) kama u-na-ni-penda n-a-ku-penda wewe if you-pres-me-like I-pres-o.p.-like you If you like me, then I like you.

[I] The data and some of the conclusions drawn in this paper are taken from chs. 2 and 3 of my forthcoming dissertation on Conditional Sentences in Swahili. I should like to acknowledge the support and extremely helpful comments made on these two chapters by my committee members, Drs. Thomas Hinnebusch. Paul Schachter, and Sandra Thompson. I collected the data for this project in Tanzania, East Africa from 1978 to 1980. The dialect represented here is that of Zanzibar. I have checked my findings against first-language speakers of Mombasa. Kenya. and have found no significant differences. The newspaper data were taken from the Swahili-medium newspaper Uhuru during the period of my stay in Tanzania. [2] In English. reality conditionals are conditionals which are formed without special tense markers:

If I go, I will tell him. If it rang, I didn’t hear it. If it’s raining, the children are probably getting tired.

Non-reality or unreality conditionals are primarily hypotheticals and counterfactuals. (31 Nouns in Swahili arc divided into I8 semantic classes.

S. SalonP / The pragmarks of condttionals rn Swahili 313

(2) ni-ki-mw-ona ni-ta-mw-ambia I-imperf.-him-see I-fut.-him-tell If I see him, I will tell him.

(3) ikiwa mfalme a-ta-jiuzulu wote wa-ta-furahi if king s.p.-fut.-abdicate all s.p.-fut.-be-happy If the King abdicates, all will be happy.

(4) iwapo Mary a-ta-pika ni-ta-ku-la if s.p.-fut-cook I-fut.-inf.-eat If Mary cooks, I will eat.

To summarize, there are four strategies for marking reality conditional sentences, as illustrated below:

Antecedent is introduced by: In antecedent. 1. kama any tense-aspect marker 2. ikiwa any tense-aspect marker (except -ki-) 3. iwapo any tense-aspect marker 4. D -ki-

Although native speakers generally report that these strategies are stylistic variants of each other, careful examination shows that they are systematically distinguished in usage. My research has shown that it is not enough to signal that a given sentence is conditional versus, say, indicative. One must also indicate the degree of likelihood of fulfillment or realization. Speakers select a marking for reality conditions on the basis of their perceptions and beliefs about the chances of the condition to be fulfilled. If the speaker believes and wishes to convey that there is a high degree of uncertainty that the condition will be fulfilled, or that it is very unlikely that it will be fulfilled, he uses either iwupo or ikiwa as conditional introducers. If, on the other hand, he feels that there is a high degree of likelihood that the condition will be realized, he uses the -ki- conjunctionless marking. The marking of the conditional antecedent with kama marks it as being neutral with respect to this contrast.

In the following section, I will present a condensed version of the arguments made in Salone (forthcoming) to substantiate the claims made above. The first set of examples come from the Tanzanian daily newspaper, Uhuru. The interpretive comments, which were made by my language consultants regard- ing the choice of a conditional marker, are given below, beginning with examples of the ikiwa / iwqo conditional:

(5) Smith (Ian Smith) a-li-jibu, ikiwa walowezi s.p.-pst.-answer if settlers

wote wa-na-fikir-ia hivyo, ni-ta-jiuzulu all s.p.-pres-think-prep. this way I-fut.-abdicate

314 S. SalonP / The pragmarics 01 conditionals m Swahili

kesho lakini yeye yu-ko katika kundi la tomorrow but he s.p.-lot. in group assoc. wachache few Smith answered. “If all of the settlers (Whites) think this way, I will abdicate tomorrow, but he is in the minority”.

In this sentence, Smith apparently does not believe that all of the settlers think a certain way, therefore he is putting his position on the line to show that he is confident in his position and of their agreement with him. He further shows his doubt by his final statement, “. . . but he is in the minority”.

Example (6) below is a response to a question which was asked by someone who apparently favors the enrollment of Tanzanian children in schools which were designed for foreigners. The respondent answered as follows:

(6) Hata hivyo, wizara ya elimu ya taifa even so ministry assoc. education assoc. nations ha-i-m-zui-i mzazi ku-m-peleka mtoto neg.-s.p.-o.p.-prevent-neg. parent to-o.p.-send child wake katika shule zi-Ii-zo-teng-wa his in schools s.p.-pst.-rel.-set aside-pass. ku-fundisha watoto wa mataifa ya to-teach children assoc. nations assoc. kigeni iwapo a-na uwezo wa ku-mudu foreign if he-has ability assoc. to-afford ada na gharama nyingine-zo, Ndugu X fees and costs other-such Brother X a-li-ongeza s.p.-pst.-add “Even so, the National Ministry of Education does not prevent a parent from sending his child to schools set aside to teach children of foreign nations, if he can afford the fees and other such costs”? Mr. X added.

Native Swahili speakers prefer iwupo or ikiwa, as the respondent is expressing his doubt that a Tanzanian can pay the required fees of these schools. Neither kama nor -ki-conjunctionless-type sentences would be acceptable for (5) and (6) above.

We turn now to those simple conditionals of Swahili which I have called neutral or unmarked (i.e. kumu clauses).

(7) Jambo la ku-zingatia ni kwamba Ujamaa na matter assoc. to-remember is that Socialism and

S. Salonb / The pragmarics of condiiionuls in Swahili 315

ku-ji-tegemea ku-nawezekana tu kama inf.-refl.-rely s.p.-pres.-possible only if tu-na-zalisha zana na vitu vya we-pres.-produce products and things assoc. ku-kidhi mahitaji yetu wenyewe to-satisfy needs our own Something to bear in mind is that Socialism and self-reliance are only possible if we produce products and the things that we need ourselves.

(8) Generali Zia a-li-sema kuwa ha-wez-i s.p.-pst.-say that neg. s.p.-able-neg.

ku-toa uamizu wa mwisho ku-husu adhabu hiyo to-give decision assoc. final to-pertain to punishment kama mahakama ya rufaa ya if courts assoc. appeal assoc. nchi hiyo i-ta-i-kataa rufaa ya Bhutto country this s.p.-fut.-o.p.-refuse appeal assoc. General Zia said that he cannot make a final decision about this punish- ment if the appeals court of this country refuses Bhutto’s appeal.

-&marked conjunctionless sentences express the highest degree of probabil- ity about the fulfillment of the proposition. The -ki-clause in (9) below indicates that Obote is fairly certain of returning to Uganda:

(9) a-ki-jibu swali, kama a-ta-rejea he-imperf.-answer question if he-fut.-return Uganda mara Amin na utawala wake

immediately and rule his u-taka-po-tokomez-wa ndugu Obote s.p.-fut.-when-disappear-pass. Brother a-li-sema: “ndiyo ni-ta-rejea na ni-ki-wa s.p.-pst-say yes I-fut.-return and I-imperf.-be nchi-ni Uganda ni-ta-jumuika na wenz-angu country-in I-fut.-join with countrymen-my katika ku-i-jenga upya n chi kadri in to-o.p.-build anew country amount afya i-taka-vyo-ni-ruhusu health s.p.-fut.-adv.-me-allow Answering the question, if he will return to Uganda when Amin and his rule is obliterated, Comrade Obote said, “Yes, I will return and {if/when I am being} in the country of Uganda, I will join with my fellow country- ment in building anew the country to the extent that health will allow it”.

In example (10) below, the clause is -ki-marked because there is not much

316 S. Salons! / The pragntarics of conditionals in Swahili

doubt that a slave wants his shackles removed. The conditional form is used to point a contrast.

(10) Mtumwa a-ki-taka ku ondoka-na na slave s.p.-imperf.-want to-leave-recipro. with minyororo ya unyonyaji na ukandamizaji shackles assoc. exploitation and oppression ili a-pet-e uhuru halisi in order to he-get-subj. freedom real i-na-m-lazimu a-fany-e mapambano s.p.-pres.-o.p.-be necessary he-do-subj. struggles If a slave wants to rid himself of his shackles of exploitation and oppression in order to get real freedom, he must struggle.

The sentence which follows was uttered by a colleague in Dar-es-Salaam, as I stood in his office. We were preparing to leave when the telephone rang. The person at the other end apparently made a request of him, as he said:

(11) Ngoja, ni-na-kwenda sasa hivi darasa-ni wait I-pres.-go now class-prep. ni-ki-rudi, ni-ta-weza ku-ku-saidia I-fut.-return I-fut.-be able to-you-help

Wait, I’m going now to class. When I return Returning

I will be able to help you.

I immediately queried him about this sentence, asking if it would have been possible to use iwupo. He told me that he couldn’t have used iwupo because he was certain of returning to his office after his class. If he had used iwupo, the person to whom he was speaking would have either thought that he probably would not return to his office, or that he was being nasty and didn’t want to help him. His summary nicely shows what I am claiming about -ki.

It is interesting for comparative purposes to note that English marks the highly unlikely if-clauses by stress, as shown below:

(12) I really doubt that I’ll go to the conference but, paper on relative clauses.

( T: 2) I’ll give my ,

This contrasts with the more certain sentence, which is the unmarked version as shown below:

(13) Yeah, I’ll probably go to the conference and if I do, I’ll give my puper on relative clauses [ 41

[4] In English the contrasts seems to be between ‘highly unlikely’ and ‘neutral’. In Swahili, there is a three-way contrast between ‘highly unlikely’, ‘neutral’ and ‘likely’.

S. Salon4 / The prugmarics of condirionals m Swahili 317

Table I

Conjunction TAM in antecedent clause Percentage of occurrence

Free speech dam iwapo

ikiwa

kama

Newspaper data iwapo

ikiwa

kama

la (fut.) na (pres.) nge (unrealily) me (pcrf.) ta (fut.) na (pres.) Ii (past)

me (perf) nge (unreality) me (perf.) Ii (past)

la (future) 82 na (pres.) 9 nge (unreality) 9 ta (fut.) 65 na (pres.) 23.5

me (perf) II.5 ta (fut) 45 nge (unreality) 36 na (pres.) IO me (perf.) 9

56% 28 I2 4

56 22 I1 II 55 36

9

Interestingly, as I was eliciting the unlikely sentences, a few speakers wanted to turn them into unreality conditionals, which shows that this sentence-type in English is semantically distinct from what I have called unmarked if-sentences.

Another type of evidence which was used to support my analysis was syntactic. Tables were provided which represented the frequency of occurrence of tense-aspect markers in the various antecedent-types. This was done to see if any significant differences between the antecedent-types could be ascertained from such information. The results were as shown in table 1.

Generalizations: 1. Ikiwa and iwupo antecedents contain future markers more often than kuma

antecedents. 2. Kuma antecedents have a higher occurrence of nge than either of the other

two.

The first generalization is pertinent to the discussion of the semantic signifi- cance of ikiwa and hwpo. It is generally agreed that future as a tense marker

318 S. Salon6 / The pragmatics o/conditionals in Swahili

differs from the past and the present in expressing a type of unreality. This interpretation of the future stems from the fact that future time marks events or states which are uncertain or which are predicted. The fact that ikiwa and iwapo are so often used to mark future if-clauses follows from the high degree of uncertainty about events in future time. The future marker in ikiwa and iwupo clauses provides syntactic evidence for the characterization given earlier of ikiwa/iwupo clauses as expressing more doubt.

The second generalization is not entirely relevant to this discussion as it has to do with unreality conditionals. It appears that the unmarked marker kumu is the conjunction which is favored to mark unreal clauses (i.e. hypotheticals and counterfactuals).

Finally, contextual data were used to support my analysis. As a test to confirm my hypothesis, I elicited the following sentences by first giving the appropriate context, including that which is underlined in each example, and then giving the speaker a choice of the four different conditional sentence-types. The hypothesis predicts that doubt verbs or expressions and negative markers in the context would yield ikiwu and iwupo clauses. It conversely predicts that certainty verbs or expressions would yield -ki- conjunctionless conditional clauses. The following examples were obtained:

( 14) si-tegemei ku-enda lakini iwapo ni-ta-kwenda neg.-expect to-go but if I-fut.-go ni-ta-ku-nunu-lia mchele I-fut.-you-buy-prep. rice I don’t expect to go but, if I go, I will buy rice for you.

( 15) si-ku-panga ku-hudhuria mkutano. Iwapo/ikiwa neg.-pst.-plan to-attend meeting. n-a-amua ku-hudhuria, ni-ta-ku-kuta mbele ya I-pres.-decide to-attend, I-fut.-you-meet front of ukumbi wa mkutano saa moja usiku hall of meeting hour 7 night I didn’t plan to attend the meeting. If I do decide to attend, I will meet you in front of the meeting hall at 7 o’clock p.m.

(16) ni-na mashaka kuwa John a-ta-kuja lakini I-have doubts that s.p.-fut.-come but ikiwa a-ta-kuja ni-ta-mw-ambia if he-fut.-come I-fut.-him-tell I have doubts that John will come but, if he comes, I will tell him.

( 17) n-a-dhani ni-ta-mw-ona Monica kesho chuo-ni na I-pres.-think I-fut-o.p.-see tomorrow school-prep.

S. Salon4 / The pragmaricx of conditionals in Swahili 319

ni-ki-mw-ona ni-ta-m-pa ujumbe I-imperf.-her-see I-fut.-her-give message I think I will see Monica tomorrow at school and if I see her, I’ll give her the message.

( 18) n-a-tarajia ku-mw-ona Monica kesho na ni-ki-mw-ona I-pres.-expect to-o.p.-see tomorrow and I-fut.-her-see ni-ta-m-pa ujumbe I-fut.-her-give message

I expect to see Monica tomorrow and

the message.

if I see her seeing her

when I see her 1 , I will give her

Notice that in (19) below, the speaker is certain of seeing Monica and can use -ki-:

(19) ni-na uhakika kwamba ni-ta-mw-ona Monica kesho na I-have certainty that I-fut.-o.p.-see tomorrow and ni-ki-mw-ona ni-ta-m-pa ujumbe I-imperf.-her-see I-fut.-her-give message.

I am certain that I’ll see Monica tomorrow and when I see her seeing her

, I will

give her the message.

Finally, the non-conditional usage of -ki- lends support to my analysis of it as a more certain conditional marker. In addition to marking conditional clauses, -ki- marks participial clauses, as shown below:

(20) ni-ki-mw-ona, ni-li-shangaa I-imperf.-her-see I-pst.-be-surprised Seeing her, I was surprised.

Compare this with:

(21) ni-ki-mw-ona, ni-ta-mw-ambia I-imperf.-him-see I-fut.-him-tell If I see him, I will tell him.

Yet another fact that supports the more certain analysis is that conditional -ki- cannot only express logical conditions, but also temporal ones:

320 S. Salonk / The pragmatics of condttloncris rn Swahdi

(22) wakati ni-ki-mw-ona ni-ta-mw-ambia time I-imperf-him-see I-fut.-him-tell When I see him, I will tell him.

In the absence of wakati, -ki- is often ambiguously interpretable as if or ~+zm:

(23) ni-ki-mw-ona ni-ta-mw-ambia ( When

\ If i I see him. I will tell him.

The when interpretation is not possible with the other conditional clause markers (iwupo, ikiwu and kumu).

In the above, I have discussed data from Swahili which show that semantic and pragmatic information is basic to the generation of reality conditional sentences. The relevant parameter has to do with the speaker’s beliefs about the possible realization or fulfillment of the condition. If he or she believes that the condition is likely to be realized, he or she will use the -ki-conjunctionless conditional marker. If it is believed that the condition will not be realized, or that it is unlikely that it will be realized, then either ikiwu or iwupo are used. Otherwise, kumu is used. In the section which follows, I discuss unreality conditionals (i.e. hypotheticals and counterfactuals), to show again that prag- matic information determines the choice of syntactic forms.

Unreality sentences

All of the traditional grammars maintain that there are two unreality markers in Swahili, nge and nguli, which correspond to the present and past subjunctive [5] in English, as shown below:

(24)

(25)

kama ni-nge-kuwa tajiri ni-nge-jenga nyumba if I-unr.-be rich I-vnr.-build house nzuri kando ya bahari nice side of ocean If I were rich, I would build a nice house along the seashore. (present subjunctive)

kama niquli-kuwa tajiri ni-nguli-jenga nyumba nzuri kando ya bahari If I hud been rich, I would huce built a nice house along the seashore.

[S] I am using the terms ‘present’ and ‘past subjunctive’ as does Jacquelyn Schachter (1971). She uses the term ‘past subjunctive’ for those conditionals which. in English, generally contain had + V in the if-clause and would hove + V in the then-clause. She uses the term ‘present subjunctive’ for those conditionals wshich contain a simple past verb form in the i/-clause and would + V in the then-clause.

S. Solon~! / The pragmurics of conditionals m Sw,ahili 321

Steere’s explanation of these markers typifies those given in traditional gram- mars (1884: 55):

(present contingent) This tense is formed by the prefix -nge-, and puts a condition and its result as conceivable. It necessarily implies that neither are in existence.

(past contingent) This tense is made with the prefix -nga/i- (now usually -ngelr- in Zanzibar itself). It supposes something at a past time, and concludes that something else would then have happened, also at a past time. It represents the English, If rhis hod happened, rhar would hate happened. It supposes that neither condition nor result did ever in fact occur.

Ashton describes these markers similarly (1944: 187):

These tenses are used in a suppositional condition. When the supposition is possible of realization the -nge- tense is used both in the protasis (condition of a sentence) and in the apodosis (consequence). The protasis is sometimes introduced by kama.

If the supposition is regarded as not having been realized, the -ngali- tense is used - both in the protasis and the apodosis. (Fn: In actual practice there is considerable laxity in the use of -nge- and ngali-.)

Various recent grammars by native speakers are consistent in pointing out that ngali and nge as tense-aspect markers are not distinguishable as was alleged by traditional grammarians. Ali Jahadmy (1969: 54) says the following about the suppositionals:

The supposirional. The English ‘If I.. . ’ or ‘Had I been.. . ’ are expressed in Swahili by the use of ‘nge’ followed by another ‘nge’ or ‘ngali’ followed by another ‘ngali’. The use of these expressions is pretty well indiscriminate although old grammar text books tried to make a distinction between them. The less suppositional ‘If I came I would’ they said found its equivalent in ‘nge’ and ‘had I . ’ in ‘ngali’. These distinctions are not clear in the speech nor in the writings of the Waswahili.

S. Zawawi’s (1971) account of unreal sentences coincides with that of Jahadmy:

In this unit all the three forms -ngcli-, -ngali-, and -nge- are considered variants of the same morpheme and therefore have the same meaning. Their function is to indicate a hypothetical condition with no reference IO a particular moment. Since the idea is hypothetical it is assumed that the event has not been proved to have occurred and so a time distinction is not necessary.

We thus have conflicting accounts of the unreality markers. On the one hand, traditional grammars reported a dichotomy among suppositionals in Swahili, which more or less parallels that which is found in English (i.e. present versus past subjunctive). On the other hand, Jahadmy and Zawawi, both native Swahili speakers, claim that this distinction doesn’t exist. Both claim that there is no semantic or syntactic difference between the two unreality forms. This type of analysis is suspect, as much linguistic data support the unusualness of finding two structurally distinct forms having identical meanings, unless one is

322 S. SalonP / The pragmalics of conditronals rn Swahili

unstable, which would suggest that one is being lost. In Salone (forthcoming), I put forth another analysis of nge and nguli which differed from those above by including pragmatic information about speaker beliefs and assumptions.

The problem can be seen as follows. There are two unreality markers, nge and ngdi. Nge occurs more frequently in all types of data than ngoli, and is not associated with any particular tense. It may mark hypothetical or contrary-to- fact sentences. Data from Swahili literature, newspapers and speech confirm this, and both first and second-language speakers agree. By contrast, intuitions about nguli differ. First-language speakers generally distinguish nge and ngali, while second-language speakers vary from those who make the same distinc- tions as first-language speakers, on the one hand, to those who use the two indiscriminately, or use only one, on the other. The generalizations that I will make regarding ngufi are based on first-language speech.

Usage of nguli is clearly seen to be more restricted than nge. One example of this is that while nge-sentences can unquestionably refer to any unreal sentence, nguli-sentences are understood either to be contrary-to-fact, or to suggest a low likelihood of fulfillment. The following examples show the distinction between nge and nguli sentences in this regard:

(26) ni-nge-enda soko-ni ni-nge-nunua viazi I-unr.-go market-lot. I-unr.-buy potatoes If I were to go to the market, I would buy potatoes. or: If I had gone to the market, I would have bought potatoes. (assumption: I didn’t go.)

(27) ni-ngeli-enda soko-ni ni-ngeli-nunua viazi unr. unr. If I were to go to the market, I would buy potatoes. (assumption: I probably won’t go.) or: If I had gone to the market, I would have bought potatoes. (assumption: I didn’t go.)

(28) ni-nge-kuwa malkia ni-nge-badilisha siasa I-unr.-be queen I-unr.-change policies If 1 were the Queen, I would change the policies. (purely hypothetical)

(29) ni-ngeli-kuwa malkia ni-ngeli-badilisha siasa. If I were the Queen, I would change the policies. (assumption: I’m not the Queen.) or: If I had been the Queen, I would have changed the policies. (assumption: 1 wasn’t the Queen.)

A related difference is that nguli favors the past time interpretation.

S. SalonP / The prqmurrcs a/ condrrionds in S>cahrli 323

1 further devised a set of test-sentences in English, the Swahili translation of which would help to make clear the semantic difference between nge and ngali. Since nguli renders the sentence either highly unlikely to occur or contrary-to- fact? it follows that sentences which cxprcss absurdities or near absurdities would be frequently marked by rrCqali. I created a set of such sentences (which I called /&tztrrs~ics) in English, as well as the opposite type, non-funtastics, and sought the Swahili translation. &low, I cite a sample of the sentences used:

Funtastics I. We will attend the circus tomorrow and I am looking forward to seeing

many wondrous things. But. if I should see a winged horse, I would be shocked.

2. If his twins had been born with tails, the entire village would have been in a turmoil.

3. If a dog had wings. it could fly.

Non-fantustics

I. If I had gone to the supermarket yesterday. I would have bought flour. 2. If I were to just get a passing grade on the exam, I would be satisfied. 3. If they had helped us with that work. we would have finished earlier.

The non-fantastics are unreality sentences which express actions. events or states as unreal, which are perceived as having had or as having a future possibility of occurring in the world. The fantastics, on the other hand, express “ fantasy”, in that the actualization of the predicate is or appears impossible. The results were as follows:

I. For all of the fantastic sentences, ngeli or ngali was the favored marker (i.e. nguli marks real-world “absurdities”)

2. For the non-fantastic% either nge or ngeli were possible, depending on the perceiced possibility or impossibility of actualization, with n~e occurring more frequently.

The presentation of the data here is admittedly sketchy. by comparison to the same in Salone (forthcoming), but I hope that it has served to show that the contrast which is found between ngeand ngali in Swahili is quite different from the present/past subjunctive distinction which is found in English. In English, present subjunctives are largely hypotheticals, but arc not exclusively so, as examples can be found of present subjunctives with a counterfactual interpre- tation:

(30) If I were a cat, 1 would have nine lives (assumption: I am not a cat (i.e. cats do not talk and hence cannot assume the role of first person)).

324 S. Salonti / The prugmattcs of conditionals in Swahili

Past subjunctives, however, are only counterfactual. Swahili contrasts in an interesting way, in that the nge/nguli contrast is not

temporal. It hinges purely on the speaker’s beliefs about the possibility of fulfillment. The two markers do overlap in their function as unreality markers. which overlap probably accounts for the mistaken notion that they are identical in meaning.

The Swahili language has provided examples of both reality and non-reality conditionals, in which pragmatic information governs the choice of syntactic markers. We recall that among the reality conditional sentences? the choice of a conditional marker was dependent on the speaker’s belief about the likelihood or non-likelihood that the condition would be fulfilled. In the latter section, we have seen that the choice of nguli as an unreality marker presupposes the negation of the antecedent or the belief; on the part of the speaker, that there is little likelihood, or no likelihood of fulfillment. Both of these phenomena provide clear examples of the need to be able to incorporate pragmatic information, and to make it acccssiblc to the syntactic rules.

References

Ashton. E.O. 1944. Swahili grammar (including intonation). London: Longmans. Jahadmy. Ali, 1969. Swahili made easy. Madison. WI: College Printing and Typing Cornpan). SalonC, Sukari, 1979. Typology of conditionals and conditionals in Ilaya. Studies in African

Linguistics 10: 65-80. Salon& Sukari, 1983. Conditional scntenccs in Swahili. UCLA dissertation. Schachter, Jacquelyn C., 1971. Presupposition and counterfactual conditional sentences. UCLA

dissertation. Stecre. Edward, 1884. A handbook of the Swahili language as spoken at Zanzibar, edited for the

Universities Mission IO Central Africa. London: London Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

Zawawi, S., 1971. Kiswahili kwa kitendo. New York: Harper & Row,.

Sukari Salon& is Assistant Professor in the Department of Black Studies and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the Ohio State University. She is a doctoral candidate at the University of California. Los Angeles. in the Department of Linguistics.

MUJO’ research interests: syntax and pragmatics, acquisition of tone and noun classes. Iacr,~guoge area: Africa (Niger-Congo).

Keleoont puhlicatrm (in addition to the works mentioned in the list of references): 1977. ‘Conditionals’. In: E.R. Hyarushcngo, A. Duranti and I..M. Hyman. eds. Haya grammatical

structure. pp. 149- 159. (Southern California Occasional Papers in Linguistics. 6)