The lexicalization of concepts of time in naming sequences of days in Tanzanian Bantu

Abstract

The conceptualization of time-frames in African societies was presumed to bear elaborate abstract past that connects to ancestors and short future that links to the present time. I argue against this claim and establish that both pasts and futures are elaborate at least in 26 Tanzanian Bantu languages. I used names of sequences of days which discretisize the actual events into eight time-frames, equally four on both sides beyond speech time. These lexical entries are either a retention of proto-Bantu forms or innovations from cosmological bodies (STAR or SUN) and existing lexical entries. I offer evidence to substantiate that points C and D on both sides of the Reichenbach linear model involve retention and innovation of names of days.

Keywords

• names of days
• lexicalization
• innovation
• linear model
• time-frame
• Tanzanian Bantu