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This talk explores issues involved in investigating dialectal variation in Swahili. We report on a new collaborative project ���Grammatical variation in Swahili: contact, change and identity��� which seeks to explore factors involved in present-day variation in Swahili. Dialectal variation in Swahili, particularly in relation to phonology and morphology, has long been noted (e.g. Bakari 1985, Stigand 1915). However, there has been little attention paid to structural variation. We are also interested in investigating the relationship between dialectal variation and language contact to better understand how multilingualism and language use affect variation in present-day Swahili. This project is set against the backdrop of existing syntax dialect projects and microvariation projects on a range of other languages (e.g. Scots - Smith et al. 2019, Dutch - Barbiers et al. 2005, isiXhosa - Bloom Str��m 2017, etc.). The talk will explore how we may be able to draw on these projects and their methodologies, as well as the challenges specific to the Swahili context., Note: This talk has not gone through a process of peer review, and findings should therefore be treated as preliminary and subject to change. Acknowledgement and citation: Taji, Julius and Hannah Gibson. 2022. Investigating Grammatical Variation in Swahili. Talk given at the Rift Valley Network Webinar Series. 09/02/2022.

This paper seeks to investigate the discourse roles of particles in Chiyao along with their environment of occurrence and scope of interpretation. The analysis is based on the data collected through audio-recording of traditional narratives which were later transcribed to identify utterances with particles. The findings establish that particles in Chiyao can occur in three major types of environment, namely within the NP as is the case with question particles, demonstrativeparticles, and exclusive particles; within the VP as is the case with question particles, exclusive particles, and negative particles; and in pre-sentential position (e.g. emotional particles, additive particles, and contrast particles). Concerning the scope of interpretation, the analysis indicates that particles that occur within the NP have their scope of interpretation limited to the NP, while the meaning of those that occur as part of the VP or in pre-sentential position applies to the entire sentence. As for the discourse roles, it is shown that the Chiyao particle performs different significant roles, including emphatic roles, such as emphasising negation; and exclusive roles, that is, to single out some elements within a clause from the rest of a clause in order to show focus. It is further shown that particles are used to signal interrogation, and for anaphoric purposes. Moreover, particles in Chiyao indicate deixis as well as emotions such as surprise,anger, disapproval and shock. Finally, particles indicate contrast and addition. These findings lead to a conclusion that the use of particles represents an important communicative strategy in Chiyao.

There is a high degree of morphosyntactic microvariation with respect to the number and position of object markers found across Bantu languages. This paper examines variation in object marking in Swahili, against the backdrop of variation in object marking in Bantu more broadly. Verb forms in Standard Swahili are well-known to typically only permit one pre-stem object marker. However, here we show that there are isolated cases of post-verbal marking of objects from both a synchronic and diachronic perspective. The paper focuses on two case studies. Firstly, ‘Old Swahili’ – that is, the language of classical Swahili poetry – where examples of typologically unusual emphatic object marker doubling are found. Secondly, we show that post-verbal object marking is in fact also found in Standard (Modern) Swahili, namely in second person plural marking, in post-verbal locative markers and with non-verbal predication. However, we also show that the relationship between these forms, the Old Swahili paradigm of object marker doubling, and post-verbal object marking in Bantu more widely – in particular post-verbal plural addressee marking – is complex.