M.A. Theses in Linguisticsat the University of North Dakota (Abstracts)

---

Prickett, Davis 2012
The phonology and morphology of verb forms in Mubi

This thesis is an analysis of the verb system of Mubi, an Eastern Chadic language
spoken in central Chad. Previous brief analyses of the Mubi verb system have been used
to demonstrate and reconstruct the Proto-Chadic verb system. However, these analyses
are based on a very limited amount of data and information on the language. This thesis
provides more complete data on the verb system of Mubi in order to attain a more
comprehensive description and analysis, as well as to evaluate the previous claims that
have been made regarding the verb system.

Chapter 1 gives a general introduction to the Mubi people and language, which is
followed by an overview of the phonology in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 discusses the
morphology of the basic verb forms. Chapter 4 discusses the verb morphology beyond
the perfective and imperfective verb forms such as pluractional verbs, imperatives, and
suffixes. This chapter also demonstrates the phonological processes of vowel
assimilation, devoicing, nasal assimilation, and consonant epenthesis.

The Mubi verb appears in three forms: the infinitive, perfective, and imperfective.
This thesis shows that verbs follow regular patterns for the formation of these forms
based on the number of consonants and quality of the one root vowel. The
morphophonology of Mubi shows that consonants bear the main semantic load, while
vowels generally have a more grammatical function. The infinitive, perfective, and
imperfective are all formed by the root consonants and root vowel, which fill in a verb
template and undergo specific phonological processes for each verb form.

Download thesis from http://arts-sciences.und.edu/summer-institute-of-linguistics/theses/_files/docs/2012-prickett-davis.pdf