Like many Bantu languages, nouns in Kinyakyusa typically have a so-called ‘augment’, an initial vowel preceding the noun class prefix (glossed as aug).
u-mu-ndu
(aug-1-person)
‘a/the person’
a-ma-bifu
(aug-6-banana)
‘(the) bananas’
Interestingly, in addition to the V augment, Kinyakyusa also features what has been called a CV augment (glossed as the noun class number).
ju-mu-ndu
(1-1-person)
‘only a person’
ga-ma-bifu
(6-6-banana)
‘only bananas’
In this talk we show that the so-called CV “augment” is not actually an augment, but rather a marker of exhaustivity, as shown in various tests.