Nata Deverbal Nominalizations

In Nata, an endangered Eastern Bantu language (E45) spoken in the Mara region of Tanzania, deverbal nominalizations present certain properties. Morphologically, they consist of four morphemes, ordered left to right: (i) a phonologically predictable pre-prefix; (ii) an N-Class prefix; (iii) a verb stem; (iv) a harmonic final vowel (FV) suffix. Semantically, Nata nominalizations fall into three classes: entity-denoting, state-denoting, and event-denoting. Syntactically, (i) entity Ns have a singular/plural distinction, but event Ns are number-neutral; (ii) entity Ns cannot be modified by an adverb, but event Ns can be; (iii) entity Ns optionally introduce an internal argument, while event Ns do so obligatorily. It is proposed that Nata nominalization construal arises compositionally via features introduced by the final vowel (ACTOR, THEME, EVENT), and features introduced by the N-class prefix (HUMAN, NON-HUMAN). Nata confirms the relevance of proto-roles and event arguments and shows that the event/entity partition is derived compositionally.