Where are the double or multiple locative complements of Kiswahili predication-sentences

The paper argues that when one reads Kiswahili language descriptions one finds descriptions of the following type of predication-sentence (Pn-S) (1) Juma alikukimbia nyumbani 'Juma ran away from home'. The complement of the verb is a locative NP nyumbani 'home, from home'. Some linguists argue that the complement is an object in view of its object marker (OM) {ku}, while others insist it is an adverbial or adjunct. Furthermore when they describe a Pn-S like (2) Juma alifika nyumbani asubuhi 'Juma arrived home in the morning', they claim that both nyumbani and asubuhi 'morning' are adverbial or adjunct complements (Abdulaziz 1996: 84). The paper points out that the adverbial claim is the result of descriptions based on translations in Indo-European languages. The adverbial or adjunct hypothesis ignores the fact that each NP, nyumbani or asubuhi, may function as subject of its predicate verb in an inversion operation as in (3) Nyumbani pamefika asubuhi mpishi 'at home arrived the cook in the morning', and (4) Asubuhi pamefika nyumbani mpishi 'in the morning arrived the cook home'. Several verbs can participate in this type of pattern in Kiswahili, f. ex. (5) enda 'go', anguka 'fall, etc. and (6) panda 'climb', pika 'cook', etc. Verbs like panda and pika also allow locatives to be subjects of their passive verbs. Enda and anguka are described as intransitive verbs, while panda and pika are described as transitives in the literature. The paradox is that the locative NPs cannot be adverbial for both groups of verbs. In addition, it is meaningless to say a verb is intransitive when its complement functions as the subject of its verb following entailment. The traditional approach is unfortunate for Kiswahili description and research since the hypotheses about locative NPs are circular in nature. The paper concludes by stressing that there is a need to recognize that Kiswahili has its own verb typology and this may not always coincide with what is found in other languages, e.g. Indo-European languages.