The Pragmatic Functions of the Auxiliary Verbs za ‘come’ and ya ‘go’ in isiXhosa

This study focuses on the syntactic and pragmatic functions of the isiXhosa auxiliary verbs za ‘come’ and ya ‘go’ when followed by subjunctive or past consecutive lexical verbs. Analysis of the auxiliaries’ occurrence in a 60,000-word database reveals that both auxiliaries introduce new predicates into the discourse. Za links a new predicate to a discourse old predicate in coordinated clauses. By contrast, ya introduces new predicates involving discourse old constituents. The study presents new insights into the grammaticalization paths of itive and ventive semantics of verbs of movement within the area of information structure.