---
title: "Ama Verbs in Comparative Perspective"
author: "Russell Norton"
abstract: "Ama verbs are comparable with Nubian and other related languages in their clause-final syntax, CVC root shape, and some affixes. However, there is also considerable innovation in adjoined relative clauses, a shift from number to aspect marking traced by *T/K* morphology, and other changes in the order and meaning of affixes. These developments show a unique trend of concretization of core clause constituents, and internal growth in the complexity of verbs in isolation from other languages. On the other hand, Ama’s stable distributive pluractional represents a wider Eastern Sudanic category. The late loss of pronominal subject marking supports a hypothesis that the Ama language was used for inter-group communication with Kordofan Nubians."
keywords: "Ama, Northern East Sudanic, comparative linguistics, Nilo-Saharan, Nyimang, Afitti"
---

# Preliminaries

Ama is a North Eastern Sudanic language spoken in villages to the west and north-west of Dilling, near to where Kordofan Nubian languages are spoken in the north-western Nuba Mountains. “Ama” (*ámá* “people”) is the self-designated name of the language community identified by the ISO639-3 code [nyi] and replaces the name “Nyimang” in older sources,[^1] as “Ama” is the name used in local literature in the language created over the last three decades. Nyimang is an altered form of “Nyima,” one of the mountains in the Ama homeland, which is now used as the name of the branch of Eastern Sudanic consisting of Ama [nyi] and Afitti [aft]. I will assume that Nyima is one of a group of four extant northern branches of the Eastern Sudanic family, the others being Nubian, the Nara language, and Taman.[^2]

[^1]: Stevenson, *Grammar of the Nyimang Language* and “A survey of the phonetics and grammatical structure of the Nuba Mountain languages with particular reference to Otoro, Katcha and Nyimaŋ,” 40: p. 107.
[^2]: Rilly, *Le méroïtique et sa famille linguistique,* §4.

Ama examples unless otherwise stated are from the author’s fieldwork verified with leading Ama writers who oversee literacy in the language. For vowels, I distinguish five –ATR brassy vowels ɪɛaɔʊ and five +ATR breathy vowels *ieəou,* as represented fluently by Ama writers using five vowel letters {aeiou} and a saltillo {ꞌ} in breathy words. For tone, Ama’s nearest relative Afitti has been described as having two contrastive tone levels,[^3] but Ama has three levels, which play a role in the verb system as well as the wider lexicon as shown in **table 1**.

[^3]: de Voogt, “A Sketch of Afitti Phonology,” p. 47.

|     |                  |    |                                   |     |                  |
|-----|------------------|----|-----------------------------------|-----|------------------|
| kɛ́r | woman            | nɪ́ | kill (factative)                  | ɕɪ́ɛ̄ | do (transitive)  |
| kɛ̄r | crane (bird sp.) | nɪ̄ | kill (progressive 3rd person)     | ɕɪ̄ɛ̄ | say              |
| kɛ̀r | around           | nɪ̀ | kill (progressive 1st/2nd person) | ɕɪ̀ɛ̄ | do (intransitive)|

**Table 1: Level tone contrasts in Ama**

A brief overview of Ama morphosyntax can be gained by locating it in the typology of Heine and Vossen,[^4] which assesses African languages on the presence of nominal classification, nominal case, and verbal derivation. In Ama, the role of nominal classification is limited due to a remarkable lack of nominal number affixes, although there is some differentiated grammatical behavior of rational nominals.[^5] However, case is extensive in Ama,[^6] as is typical of Nilo-Saharan verb-final languages,[^7] and likewise verbal derivation is extensive.

[^4]: Heine & Vossen, “Sprachtypologie,” cited in Kröger, “Typology Put to Practical Use,” p. 159.
[^5]: Norton, “Number in Ama verbs,” pp. 75⁠–⁠76, 85; Stevenson, “A Survey of the Phonetics and Grammatical Structure of the Nuba Mountain Languages,” 41: pp. 175⁠–⁠76.
[^6]: Stevenson, *Grammar of the Nyimang Language,* §§2–⁠10.
[^7]: Dimmendaal, “Africa’s Verb-final Languages,” §9.2.3.


|    | Feature                | Presence  | Categories                                        |
|----|------------------------|-----------|---------------------------------------------------|
| 1. | Nominal classification | limited   | rational                                          |
| 2. | Nominal case           | extensive | accusative, dative, genitive, ablative, locatives |
| 3. | Verbal derivation      | extensive | causative, applicative, reciprocal, directional   |

**Table 2. Ama morphosyntax**

# The Syntax of Ama Verbs

Ama verbs follow a syntax that is partly familiar from other Nilo-Saharan languages. It has SOV word order, although as we shall see, Ama is not strictly verb-final. It also has coverbs that occur with an inflecting light verb. As in Tama,[^8] most Ama verbs take their own inflections but coverbs are also seen quite frequently. Many Ama coverbs fit Stevenson’s characterization that the coverb occurs before the light verb stem *ɕɪɛ* “do/say” and is either an ideophone (with marked phonology such as reduplication or non-mid tone) or a word marked by the suffix *-ɛ̄n* (typically a borrowed verb).[^9] The form of the Ama coverb suffix *-ɛ̄n* matches the Fur co-verb suffix *-ɛn* ~ *-ɛŋ*.[^10] The transitivity of the predicate is distinguished in Ama by the tone on the light verb *ɕɪ̀ɛ̄/ɕɪ́ɛ̄*.

[^8]:	Dimmendaal, “Introduction” to *Coding Participant Marking,* pp. 6–7.
[^9]: Stevenson, “A Survey of the Phonetics and Grammatical Structure of the Nuba Mountain Languages,” 41: p. 174.
[^10]: Waag, *The Fur Verb and Its Context*, p. 49; low tone is unmarked in the Fur two-tone system.

| Intransitive coverbs |               | Transitive coverbs |      |
| ---                  | ---           | ---                | ---  |
| nʊ̄nʊ̄ɲ ɕɪ̀ɛ̄            | hop           | díɟí ɕɪ́ɛ̄           | work |
| ɟɪ̀ɟɪ̀ɡ ɕɪ̀ɛ̄            | speak angrily | ɟɛ̀rɟɛ̀r ɕɪ́ɛ̄         | scatter |
| àɽɪ̀mɛ̀ ɕɪ̀ɛ̄            | be angry      | t̪úūl ɕɪ́ɛ̄           | destroy |
| ōlɡ-ēn ɕɪ̀ɛ̄           | cry           | dɪ́ɡl-ɛ̄n ɕɪ́ɛ̄        | gather (Kordofan Nubian *ɖigil)[^11] |
| tɔ̄ɡl-ɛ̄n ɕɪ̀ɛ̄          | tie oneself   | fɔ̄ɟ-ɛ̄n ɕɪ́ɛ̄         | make suffer |
| sɛ̀ɡ-ɛ̄n ɕɪ̀ɛ̄           | complain      | tɪ̄m-ɛ̄n ɕɪ́ɛ̄         | finish |
|                      |               | kɔ̄w-ɛ̄n ɕɪ́ɛ̄         | iron (Sudanese Arabic *kowa*) |
|                      |               | rɛ̄kb-ɛ̄n ɕɪ́ɛ̄        | ride (Sudanese Arabic *rikib*) |
|                      |               | mɪ̄skɪ̄l-ɛ̄n ɕɪ́ɛ̄      | give someone a missed call (S. Arabic *miskil*) |

**Table 3. Ama coverbs**

[^11]: Jakobi, *Kordofan Nubian,* p. 159. Her data from Kordofan Nubian varieties shows high tone.

While Ama’s verb-final word order and use of coverbs are reminiscent of other Nilo-Saharan languages, relative clauses in Ama are of a globally rare type. Ama uses adjoined relative clauses at the end of the main clause, and these modify the last noun of the main clause.[^12][^13]

[^12]: Stevenson, *Grammar of the Nyimang Language,* p. 178, shows cleft constructions with a similar core+adjoined structure, *wadang nɔ a nɛ [a meo tolun]* "This is the man [I saw yesterday].”
[^13]: Glossing abbreviations: 1, 2, 3 – 1st, 2nd, 3rd person; acc – accusative; decl – declarative; dir – directional; distr – distributive; du – dual; ev – event; fact – factative; gen – genitive; imp – imperative; loc – locative; med – mediopassive; medcaus – mediocausative; pass – passive; pct – punctual; pl – plural; prog – progressive; pst – past; ptcp – participle; sg – singular; th – theme; top – topic; tr. – transitive; ven – ventive; ver – veridical.

(1)

(2)

The adjoined relative clause strategy means that verbs tend not to occur in noun phrases in Ama, although for completeness we should observe that they are not entirely excluded. Since it is impossible to modify the subject of a transitive clause by an adjoined relative clause, as it is separated by another object or oblique noun, speakers consulted confirmed that it is grammatically acceptable to modify a subject noun by a progressive verb within the noun phrase as in (3), although they felt this is not used much, and I have not found examples in texts. However, verb participles marked by the suffix *-ɔ̀* (or *-ò* by vowel harmony) also occur in noun phrases, including in texts as in (4) and (5).

(3)

(4)

(5)

Nevertheless, the adjoined relative clause strategy is an innovative feature of Ama that tends to place information about participants outside the noun phrase where they are mentioned. A similar distribution applies to the expression of number. Within the noun phrase, there are no number affixes, although there is a plural specifier *ŋɪ̄* or *ɡɪ̄* that can be used with rational nouns as seen in (6). Speakers consulted assess this specifier the same way as unmarked relative clauses within the noun phrase: acceptable, but not used much. However, Ama also has a post-verbal quantifier *ɡàɪ̀* that can be used when there is a plural participant in the clause, as shown in (7).[^14]

[^14]: 	Stevenson, *Grammar of the Nyimang Language,* p. 176, claims that “GAI gives the idea of completion, going on till an act is finished,” although all his examples involve a plural subject "they” His claim suggests that this quantifier may have a collective function, over all participants and/or over all the stages in the completion of the event. It can nevertheless appear in the same clause as distributive marking *-ɪ́d̪,* as in an example shown in Norton, “Number in Ama verbs,” p. 83, *wùd̪ēŋ bā dɔ̄rɛ̄ŋ t̪ɛ̀l-ɪ́d̪-ɛ̄ ɡàɪ̀* "the child saw each of the children [until she had seen them all].”

(6)

(7)

We will return to this tendency to express relative clauses and number late in the clause after considering other evidence from verb stems.

# Ama Verb Stems

Stevenson discovered the existence of two stems of each Ama verb.[^15] The forms of the two stems are not fully predictable from each other in general, and their usage depends on aspect.

[^15]: Stevenson, “A Survey of the Phonetics and Grammatical Structure of the Nuba Mountain Languages,” 41: p. 177.

## The Factative–Progressive Distinction

The aspectual functions of the two stems were described by Stevenson as definite and indefinite aspect, and relabeled as perfective and imperfective by more recent authors. However, the usage of the former stem meets the definition of “factative,”[^16] such that it has a past perfective reading when used for an active verb like “eat,” but a present continuous reading when used for a stative verb like “know.” The other stem has a present progressive reading, which is marginal for stative verbs where the meaning contribution of progressive to an already continuous verb is highly marked.[^17] The factative–progressive analysis is helpful when we consider the history of these stems below.

[^16]: 	Welmers, *African Language Structures,* pp. 346, 348.
[^17]: 	Compare Mufwene, “Stativity and the Progressive,” where it is argued that progressive is a stativizing category in a number of European and Bantu languages, although progressive verb forms typically have a more transient interpretation, and lexical statives a more permanent interpretation.

|                        | active verb                 | stative verb |
| ---                    | ---                         | ---          |
| **factative aspect**   | t̪àl “ate” (past perfective) | t̪ʊ̄-máɪ́ “know” (present continuous) |
| **progressive aspect** | tām “is eating”             | ?máɪ́ “is knowing” |

**Table 4. Verb stems of active and stative verbs**

## Stem Formation and the Verb Root

Although factative aspect is broader in meaning and more heavily used in text, the progressive stem is generally more basic in form, often consisting only of the bare root. However, neither the factative stem nor the progressive stem is predictable from the other in general because: (i) factative stems belong to various theme vowel classes, and some belong to a class taking a formative prefix *t̪V-*; (ii) in some verbs the two stems have two different suppletive roots; and (iii) the progressive stems of some verbs require certain obligatory incorporated affixes. When the root is extracted from any additional formatives, CVC is the most frequent verb root shape.

| factative  | progressive | gloss       | morphology other than factative theme vowel |
| ---        | ---         | ---         | --- |
| sāŋ-ɔ̄      | sāŋ         | search      | |
| kɪ̄r-ɛ̄      | kɪ̄r         | cut         | |
| wāɡ-ā      | wʊ̄ɔ̄         | keep        | suppletive roots |
| t̪ī-ə̀       | túŋ         | sleep       | suppletive roots |
| t̪áw-ɔ̄      | ɡēd̪-ì       | cook        | suppletive roots, final *-i* required after *d̪* |
| ɟɛ́ɡ-ɛ̄      | ɟēɡ-īn      | leave s.th. | applicative *-(ī)n* |
| á-bɪ̄ɽ-ɪ̄ŋ-ɔ̄ | á-bɪ̄ɽ-ɪ̄ŋ    | invent      | causative *á-* and inchoative *-ɪ̄ŋ* |
| t̪ī-ŋīl-ē   | ŋɪ̄l         | laugh       | factative *t̪V-* |
| t̪ū-mūs-ò   | mús-èɡ      | run         | factative *t̪V-* ~ directional *-èɡ* |
| t̪ɪ́-ɡɛ̄l-ɛ̄   | á-ɡɛ̄l       | wash        | causative-factative *t̪V́-* ~ causative *á-* |
| ɕɪ̀-ɛ̄       | á-ɕɪ̄        | do (intr.)  | causative *á-* |

**Table 5. Examples of verb stems**

The CVC shape of verb roots is characteristic across Eastern Sudanic languages. In Gaahmg, for example, at least 90% of verb roots are CVC, whereas nouns are much more varied in shape.[^18] CVC is also the predominant shape in the following comparative data for verbs across Northern branches of Eastern Sudanic.[^19]

[^18]: Stirtz, *A Grammar of Gaahmg,* p. 40.
[^19]: Rilly, *Le méroïtique et sa famille linguistique,* annex.

| gloss      | Nubian                  | Nara          | Taman            | Nyima            | Proto-NES |
| ---        | ---                     | ---           | ---              | ---              | --- |
| be         | \*-a(n)/\*-a-ɡV         | ne-/ge- (pl.) | \*an-/\*aɡ-      | \*nV             | \*(a)n/\*(a)ɡ (pl.) |
| burn       | \*urr                   | kál, war      | \*wer            | \*wul "boil"     | \*wul [\*wel?] |
| buy        | \*jaan                  | tol ~ dol     | -                | \*tar            | \*tol |
| come       | \*taar                  | til           | \*or, pf. \*kun  | \*t̪ar/\*kud̪      | \*tar, [\*kud?] |
| cut        | \*mer                   | ked           | \*kid            | - (Ama /kɪr)     | \*kɛd |
| dance      | \*baan                  | bàl, bàr      | -                | \*bal/fal        | \*bal |
| drink      | \*nii                   | l-, líí-      | \*li             | - (Ama /li)      | \*li |
| eat        | \*kal                   | kal           | \*ŋan            | \*t̪al/\*tam      | \*kal/\*kamb (pl.) |
| give       | \*tir (2/3), \*deen (1) | nin           | \*ti(n)          | \*t̪Vɡ, \*t̪ɔ́ŋ (1) | \*te(n) [final C?], \*den |
| look       | \*ɡuuɲ                  | -             | \*ɡun, pf. \*ɡud | \*t̪iɡol          | *guɲ [final C?] |
| love, want | \*doll, \*oon           | sol           | - (Tama tar)     | - (Ama /war)     | *tor |
| sit        | \*ti(i)g/\*te(e)g       | dengi, daŋŋi "wait" | \*juk      | \*dɔɲ            | \*daŋ |
| take, carry | \*aar                  | -             | \*ar-i           | \*-ur            | \*ar |
| take, gather | \*dumm                | nem           | - (Tama tɔ-mɔɽ)  | - (Ama dum-)     | *dɔm |
| take, raise | \*eɲ                   | hind          | *eɲ              | - (Ama ɲɔn "carry") | \*meɲ ~ \*ɲeɲ |

**Table 6. Verbs across Northern East Sudanic (NES)**

## T/K Morphology for Factative/Progressive

An alternation between *t̪-* and *k-* cuts into the characteristic CVC shape in one class of Ama verbs as a marker of aspect along with the theme vowel.

| factative stem | progressive stem | gloss |
| ---            | ---              | ---   |
| t̪-ùɡ-è         | k-ūɡ             | build |
| t̪-īw-ò         | k-íw             | dig   |
| t̪-ūɕ-ē         | k-úɕ-ín          | light (fire) |

**Table 7. T/K marking on Ama verbs**

A longer list of examples of this alternation shown in table 8 was documented by Stevenson, Rottland, and Jakobi, albeit with a different standard of transcription; they also detected the alternation in Afitti (*tosù/kosìl* “suckle,” *tòsù/kosìl* “light fire”).[^20]

[^20]: 	Stevenson, Rottland & Jakobi, “The Verb in Nyimang and Dinik,” p. 16. By convention, *t* is dental and mid tone is left unmarked in their data. Pertinent to the present alternation, I question the phonemic status of the *w* in *t/kw* alternations before rounded vowels.

| factative stem | progressive stem | gloss |
| ---            | ---              | --- |
| tuɡɛ̀           | kwò              | build |
| tàiɔ̀           | kaì              | chop |
| tìwò           | kìù              | dig |
| tìwò           | kèù              | fall (of rain) |
| twɛ̀            | kwài             | rear, bring up |
| twèr           | kweàɡ            | grow (v.i.) |
| tɔwɛ̀           | kwɔ̀i             | grow (v.t.) |
| tuwɛlɛ̀         | kwɛlì            | guard |
| tuɡudò         | kwoɡidì          | mix up, tell lies |
| toromɔ̀         | kwòròm           | gnaw |
| toso           | kwoʃì            | suck (milk, of baby) |
| tɔʃìɡ          | kwɔʃìɡ           | suckle |
| tosùn          | kwosùn           | burn (v.i.) |
| tuʃè           | kwuʃìn           | light fire |
| tɛ̀nɛ̀           | kɛndìr           | climb |
| tɛnìɡ          | kɛndɛ̀ɡ           | mount |

**Table 8. More verbs with T/K marking**

T and K are well-known markers of singular and plural in Nilo-Saharan languages,[^21] but in Ama and Afitti where there is no T/K morphology on the noun, essentially the same alternation (*\*t* becomes dental in the Nyima branch)[^22] is found on the verb. It also cuts into the characteristic CVC verb root shape, implying that it is an innovation on the verb. I therefore propose that this class of verbs attests the Nyima cognate of the wider Nilo-Saharan T/K alternation. This entails a chain of events in which the T/K alternation first moved from the noun (singular/plural) to the verb (singulactional/pluractional), and then shifted in meaning from verbal number to verbal aspect (factative/progressive).

[^21]: 	Greenberg, *The Languages of Africa,* pp. 115, 132; Bryan, “The T/K Languages"; Gilley, “Katcha Noun Morphology,” §2.5, §3, §4.
[^22]: 	Rilly, *Le méroïtique et sa famille linguistique,* p. 299.

Both steps in this proposed chain are indeed plausible cross-linguistically. As to the first step, the possibility of nominal plural markers being extended to verbal pluractionals is familiar from Chadic languages, where the same formal strategies such as first-syllable reduplication or *a*-infixation may be found in plural nouns and pluractional verbs.[^23] In the Nyima languages, the productive innovation at this step appears to have been the extension of singulative T to a verbal singulactional marker. This is seen in the fact that *t̪-* alternates with other consonants as well as *k* in Ama (*t̪ān-ɛ̄/wɛ̄n* “talk,” *t̪ɛ̀l-ɛ̄/wɛ̄ɛ́n* “see,” *t̪àl/tām* “eat”), or is prefixed in front of the root (*t̪ʊ́-wár-ɔ̄/wār* “want,” *t̪ī-ŋīl-ē/ŋɪ̄l* “laugh,” *t̪ì-fìl-è/fɪ̄l* “dance,” *t̪ū-mūs-ò/mús-èɡ* “run,” *t̪ʊ̄-máɪ́/máɪ́* “know,” *t̪-īlm-ò/ɪ́lɪ́m* “milk”). There is also external evidence from Nubian and Nara cited in **table 6** above that *\*k* is the original initial consonant in *\*kal* “eat” replaced by *t̪-* in Ama and Afitti.

[^23]: 	Frajzyngier, “The Plural in Chadic"; Wolff, “Patterns in Chadic (and Afroasiatic?) Verb Base Formations.”

As to the second step, the prospect of verbal number shifting to verbal aspect is supported by semantic affinity between pluractional and progressive. Progressive aspect often entails that a process that is iterated ("is coughing," "is milking") over the interval concerned.[^24] In Leggbo,[^25] a Niger-Congo language, the progressive form can have a pluractional reading in some verbs, and conversely, verbs that fail to form the regular progressive *C# → CC-i* because they already end in *CCi* can use the pluractional suffix *-azi* instead to express progressive aspect. In Spanish,[^26] a Romance language, there is a periphrastic paradigm between progressive (*estar* “be” + gerund), frequentative pluractional (*andar* “walk” + gerund), and incremental pluractional (*ir* “go” + gerund). The two Spanish pluractionals have been called “pseudo-progressives,” but conversely one could think of progressive aspect as pseudo-pluractional. What is somewhat surprising in Ama is that progressive stems, being morphologically more basic (see **table 5**), lack any devoted progressive affixes that would have formerly served as pluractional markers.[^27] However, some progressive marking is found in irregular alternations that reveal former pluractional stems.

[^24]: Newman, “Pluractional Verbs” notes a separate affinity between pluractional and habitual aspect found in Niger-Congo and Chadic languages. Smits, *A Grammar of Lumun,* §13, identifies habitual pluractionals in a Niger-Congo language of the Nuba Mountains.
[^25]: Hyman & Udoh, “Progressive Formation in Leggbo.”
[^26]: Laca, “Progressives, Pluractionals and the Domains of Aspect.”
[^27]: See, however, §4.2 below which purports to recover the missing extension.

In *t̪àl/tām* “eat,” the final *l/m* alternation is unique to this item in available word lists, although *l/n* occurs elsewhere (*kɪ́l/kín* “hear,” *t̪ɛ̀l-ɛ̄/wɛ̄ɛ́n* “see”). The final *l/m* alternation is nevertheless also found in Afitti (*t̪ə̀lɔ̀/tə̀m* “eat”) and in Kordofan Nubian (*\*kol ~ kel/\*kam* “eat”).[^28] Kordofan Nubian *\*kam* is used with a plural object, a pluractional function, so in the Nyima branch the proposed shift pluractional → progressive derives the progressive function of final m found in Ama, just as it does for the initial *k* in *t̪/k* alternations or the *t* in *t̪àl/tām* “eat.” Furthermore, a final plosive in Old Nubian (ⲕⲁⲡ-; Nobiin *kab-*)[^29] suggests that the unique *m* in “eat” arose by assimilation of the final nasal (realized as *n* in the other Ama verbs mentioned) to a following *\*b*, that was fully assimilated or incorporated in Old Nubian.

[^28]: Rilly, *Le méroïtique et sa famille linguistique,* p. 478.
[^29]: Ibid; Old Nubian also attests the lateral in a hapax form κⲁⲗ-.
