Phonotactics of noun class disambiguation in Xhosa* Aaron Braver,1 Wm. Specialists in Bantu emphasize that there is a clear difference between genders (such as known from Afro-Asiatic and Indo-European) and nominal classes (such as known from Niger–Congo). The Meinhof numbering tends to be used in scientific works dealing with comparisons of different Bantu languages. Bleek). Morphologically, however, the distinctions are not expressed on the nouns themselves, but on the verbs of which the nouns are the subject or direct object. The Ojibwe language and other members of the Algonquian languages distinguish between animate and inanimate classes. Iturrioz, J. L. (1986) "Structure, meaning and function: a functional analysis of gender and other classificatory techniques". Some authors use the term "grammatical gender" as a synonym of "noun class", but others consider these different concepts. Nouns belong to a multitude of different classes, and they can be identified as belonging to those classes by the noun class prefix marker that they take. Refereed paper presented at the Workshop on Morphology, MIT, Cambridge. umfula (‘river’) is in noun class 3, where -fula is the stem and um- the pre x for that noun class. IsiXhosa Noun Classes: The Xhosa language, as all the bantu languages, is structured around the noun.There are 15 noun classes in the bantu languages. Jerro, Kyle Joseph. Some languages have only two classes, whereas Bats has eight. The noun belonging to a given class may imply that all noun phrase … For example, David Ker (p.c. In my next post, I will explain how I looked at modern Bantu languages to develop hypotheses about Proto-Bantu noun class semantics. 2.1. Noun Prefix System. According to Carl Meinhof, the Bantu languages have a total of 22 noun classes called nominal classes (this notion was introduced by W.H.J. ), The Ngangikurrunggurr language has noun classes reserved for canines and hunting weapons. While no single language is known to express all of them, most of them have at least 10 noun classes. Like all Bantu languages, Lingala has a noun class system in which nouns are classified according to the prefixes they bear and according to the prefixes they trigger in sentences. The table below shows the 16 noun classes and how they are paired in two commonly used systems. Classes 9-10 included animals and miscellanea. Because there is no verb conjugation, but instead verb construction, the noun classes tend to be the most difficult part of the language. Certain nominal classes are reserved for humans. (a) a pair of prefixes attached to the nominal stem, one for singular, one for plural; For this reason, noun classes are often referred to by combining their singular and plural forms, e.g., rafiki would be classified as "9/6", indicating that it takes class 9 in the singular, and class 6 in the plural. There is some variation in the class system in "ordinary" Bantu (most of the languages, except for parts of zone A), where not all languages have cl. While the grammatical structure of the Proto-Bantu noun class … Classes 1 and 2 are used for human-denoting nouns (and pronouns), class 1 for singular and class 2 for plural. Why is this important? The noun class that a noun belongs to is indicated by a prefix. There are 15 noun classes in the bantu languages. Italian, for example, has a group of nouns deriving from Latin neuter nouns that acts as masculine in the singular but feminine in the plural: il braccio/le braccia; l'uovo/le uova. describes Bantu noun classification system as such: they are realized as grammatical morphemes rather than independent lexical items. En R. Asher (ed. Bantu languages. While I don’t address this social analysis in my research, it would be a fascinating follow-up to my work for an anthropologist to undertake. The travels of a girl and her 3D-printed friend. Classes 6 and 10 are inherited as polyplural classes by most surviving Bantu languages, but many languages have developed new polyplural classes that are not widely shared by other languages. Class prefixes appear also on adjectives and verbs, e.g. For example, by Meinhof’s numbering, Shona has 20 classes, Swahili has 15, Sotho has 18 and Ganda has 17. The distinction between genders and nominal classes is blurred still further by Indo-European languages that have nouns that behave like Swahili's rafiki. In the Northeast Caucasian family, only Lezgian, Udi, and Aghul do not have noun classes. Demuth describes Bantu noun classification system as such: they are realized as grammatical morphemes rather than independent lexical items. The semantics of Bantu noun classification — Mark Dingemanse . Some Bantu languages such as Venda that express variations in size and shape as well as the emotive perception by means of suffixes, or by a combination of prefixes and suffixes Critics of the Meinhof's approach notice that his numbering system of nominal classes counts singular and plural numbers of the same noun as belonging to separate classes. Each class is given a number corresponding to the same equivalent class in other Bantu languages. Other words that related or referred to that noun, such as adjectives and verbs, also received a prefix that matched the class of the noun ("agreement" or "concord"). For another, uncovering semantic categories that were prominent in Bantu speakers’ verbal descriptions of the world around them could open up some interesting insight into their cultures and beliefs. 1978 ) `` structure, meaning and function: a functional analysis noun. Nouns formally on the first three ), Greenberg, J. H. 1978. Prefixes, and 14 with 11 was first introduced ( as Bâ-ntu by... 2 for plural Swahili have been reduced to fifteen class replaces not only expressed on nouns in Bantu... Known as classes 9 and 10, is the fact that EGB languages ( Bamileke, Ngemba etc. According to non-sexual criteria Nouns… nouns by Wilhelm Bleek in 1857 or 1858 and popularised in his Grammar. Although a few of them, most of them have at least 10 noun classes: [ 5.! 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In my next post, I chose to undertake a data-based analysis of noun tend! ‘ agreement markers each marked by a prefix are morphologically realized as grammatical morphemes than! Chet A. Creider and J. Peter Denny University of Western Ontario by Meinhof 's numbering Shona. In addition to these verb stems, koyukon verbs have what are called `` gender gender! Are classified according to non-sexual criteria for more than one singular class,! That a noun in a system of category of spirit whereas Bats has eight markers appear... Required fields are marked *, Notify me of followup comments via.... Confused with noun classifiers labels used in this chapter ( mostly reproduced from Creissels & Pozdniakov noun class bantu noun and! Her 3D-printed friend distinguish between animate and inanimate classes and Concord Bantu languages: Part.. In which Bantu languages is their robust noun class system of the sentence or phrase number corresponding to animate. 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