Discourse functions of tense and aspect in Setswana narrative texts

Abstract

The main aim of this thesis is to examine discourse functions of tense and aspect in Setswana narrative texts. We are going to show that tense and aspect have distinct but related roles to play in Setswana in general and in narrative in particular and that this distinction and relationship become crystal clear in discourse in general. The field of tense and aspect has not yet been fully explored in Setswana let alone in the Bantu languages south of the Sahara. Moreover, the function of tense and aspect in discourse appears to be taboo in grammatical studies. If successfully carried out, this thesis would therefore be a contribution to the existing research in Bantu languages and theoretical issues in general. In realizing this aim, this work is structured in the following way. The first chapter provides the aim and scope of the investigation, chapter 2 reviews literature on tense and aspect with a view to showing the need for and to delimiting the topic. Chapter 3 provides the theoretical framework and chapter 4 and 5 are concerned with the application of data from D. P. S. Monyaise’s narrative texts. Chapter 6 provides the concluding remarks.