Preverbal clitic complexes in the Tanzanian Rift Valley Area

A seminal chapter by Kießling et al. (2008) identified a concentration of preverbal clitic clusters in the Tanzanian Rift Valley Area. Crucially they noted that preverbal clitic placement is neither a prominent feature of Nilotic nor the Bantu languages of the area and as such, they considered preverbal clitic clusters to represent an areal feature reflecting the sustained history of language contact in the area. The present paper builds on the foundation laid out by Kießling et al. (2008) and expands to include a broader range of languages, allowing for more detailed discussion and the inclusion of additional data.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: Gibson, Hannah, Andrew Harvey, and Richard Griscom. 2021. Preverbal clitic complexes in the Tanzanian Rift Valley Area. Talk given at the Rift Valley Network Webinar Series. 08/09/2021