In Maasai, there occurred linguistic changes over time, which resulted into development of dialects. The Arusa dialect has developed some distinct features in the verb systems that do not conform to all verb properties in terms of morphophonological and morphosyntactic aspects of the Maasai grammar. For that reason, a knowledge gap has developed; hence, justifying the need to investigate how Arusa verbs differ from popular or standard Maasai verbs. To examine this, a description of Arusa main and auxiliary verbs was undertaken. A qualitative research methodology was employed during data collection and analysis. Guided interviews, informal discussions and stories were recorded and analysed for discussion. The CV structure of main verbs has been illustrated, and forms and functions of auxiliary verbs were investigated. In addition, a few more auxiliary verbs were added to the previously identified ones in the lexicon. Moreover, different shapes and conjugations of irregular verbs were discussed. The findings suggest that the Arusa dialect varies morphosyntactically from other dialects, for example, in verb stems, morphemes, tone placement and verb extensions. Further studies are called for in order to examine the syntactic implications of verb extensions, verb arguments and constraints on the number of arguments licensed by various verbal suffixes.
Languages of Tanzania Project, SIDA SAREC,
University of Dar es Salaam