An analysis of the status of the secondary noun prefixes in Ndebele

Dube, Progress; Ndebele, Lickel; Ndlovu, Mbulisi

doi:10.1080/02572117.2014.997050

Cited by 2 publications

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“…In the Kîîtharaka system, class 12/13 can be used to express diminutive meaning, class 5/6 can express augmentative meaning while pejorative meaning is associated with class 7/8. Prefixes used with this more overtly derivational function are sometimes referred to as secondary noun class prefixes (see e.g., Fortune 1970;Dembetembe 1995;Harjula 2006;Dube et al 2014;Déchaine et al 2014;Di Garbo 2014;Taraldsen et al 2018: and others), or as multifunctional morphemes whose particular meaning is dependent on context (as in Di Garbo 2014; Msaka 2019). In many Bantu languages the primary nominal prefixes for the noun classes with loose semantics (i.e., classes which appear to contain nouns from diverse semantic domains), like class 5/6, and 7/8, have apparently been "recycled" to express evaluative meaning (Di Garbo 2014;Déchaine et al 2014;Msaka 2019).…”

Section: Gender Agreement Class Traditional Class Prefixes Number Pairsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Semantic and morphophonological productivity of Kîîtharaka gender system

Kanampiu,

Martin,

Culbertson

2024

Preprint

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In nominal classification systems, both form (i.e., morphology, phonology or both) and meaning often interact to determine the class or gender of the noun. In Bantu languages in particular, linguistic analysis has often put the emphasis on meaning, both inherent and evaluative (e.g., diminutive). However, recent quantitative studies have argued that both meaning and morphophonology — the ubiquitous nominal prefixes — serve as cues to class in Bantu, with their robustness and specific aspects potentially differing across individual languages. Here, we conducted an experimental study aimed at establishing whether speakers of Kîîtharaka (Bantu, E54) are sensitive to both semantics and morphophonology when classify- ing novel Kîîtharaka nouns. The results of two wug-task-style experiments show that speakers are sensitive to two inherent features Human and Fruit, and evaluative features like Augmentative, Pejorative and Diminutive. On the other hand, they are robustly sensitive to all morphophonological features tested when classifying novel nouns. Our results suggest that se- mantic features are generally less productive than morphophonology in the Kîîtharaka nominal classification system.

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Section: Gender Agreement Class Traditional Class Prefixes Number Pairsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Semantic and morphophonological productivity of Kîîtharaka gender system

Kanampiu,

Martin,

Culbertson

2024

Preprint

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Noun classes, variation, and creativity in youth language practices in Zimbabwe and Tanzania

Hollington

2024

Linguistics Vanguard

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While classical accounts of Bantu linguistics often depict noun classes as an inherent feature of nouns, more recent studies show there is greater variation in the use of noun classes, especially in terms of their discursive and pragmatic context. Youth language practices, often characterized by creativity and conscious changes, are of particular interest in this regard. This paper explores whether Bantu youth language practices exhibit conscious variation in their noun class systems and agreement. I discuss data from Bantu-based youth language practices in Southern and Eastern Africa, especially Lugha ya mtaani (Tanzania) and S’ncamtho (Zimbabwe), looking at noun classes and agreement. The paper features a short discussion of variation in noun class usage in Bantu languages in general, including insights into relevant aspects such as information structure, the use of loan words, noun classes in multilingual or translanguaging situations, and semantics. The latter is particularly important, as speakers can make conscious use of noun classes as part of contextualized meaning making processes that reflect semantic nuances and stylistic choices. The objective of this contribution is to highlight the role of semantics and conscious meaning making in the choice of grammatical devices and the manifestations of microvariation in youth language practices.

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An analysis of the status of the secondary noun prefixes in Ndebele

Cited by 2 publications

References 1 publication

Semantic and morphophonological productivity of Kîîtharaka gender system

Semantic and morphophonological productivity of Kîîtharaka gender system

Noun classes, variation, and creativity in youth language practices in Zimbabwe and Tanzania

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