How many Auxiliary Verbs are there in Kiswahili Bantu?

Kiswahili Bantu makes a distinction between primary (lexical) and secondary predicate verbs. In linguistics, a sequence of verb of the type finite secondary predicate verb plus non-finite primary (lexical) predicate verb is called an auxiliary verb plus a main verb. Halliday (1985) takes a different view. Namely, a finite verb is not an auxiliary verb. A major difficulty is that the definitions given in linguistics are based on patterns in Indo-European languages. As a result, when we turn to African languages, we do not often find a formal definition of what an auxiliary verb is supposed to be in these languages. We have argued elsewhere that there are language internal features of auxiliary plus main verb patterns in Kiswahili Bantu that differ from those in Indo-European languages, both in terms of type, variety, and system of patterning (see Amidu 2014). Our question, therefore, is this: How many auxiliary verbs does Kiswahili Bantu have? This question is important because, as far as we know, the issue has not been investigated in any detail. This study reveals that a Kiswahili Bantu internal definition of auxiliary plus main verb relationship, centred on transitive and intransitive patterns, uncovers quite a large number of auxiliary verbs in the language than is found in other languages. Reference: Amidu, A. A. 2014. 'Where are the auxiliary verbs of Kiswahili Bantu?' Paper presented at the 44th Colloquium on African Languages and Linguistics. Leiden University, Department of African Language and Cultures, 25th-28th August. Halliday, M. A. K. 1985. An introduction to functional grammar. London: Edward Arnold.