Bentley in Kongo, 1887, and Doke in Zulu, 1931, showed that it is the context or the Verb which indicates whether rest at or direction to or from a place is being described and is not expressed by a Locative Prefix. The principle that pa-, ku- or mu- describe the type of place at which the action takes place, originates, finishes or is directed in any particular Bantu language has not been universally or always completely understood. There are no Prepositions in Bantu and various devices to compensate for their absence are illustrated by examples from Ganda and Swahili. No conclusive evidence appears available at present to determine the origin of Locative -ni, though its connection with Class (9) seems probable and further research is necessary. The Locative Initial Vowel e- in Ganda (i- in Gishu) is derived from the Preprefix gi-, but whether a Locative gi- occured in Ur-Bantu is uncertain, because the use of gi-, Class (9), as a Locative may be of independent origin in the Nyanza basin. A brief survey is given and the use of Locative e-, in Ganda described.
Journal description