Abstract
The focus of this paper is that some scholars and people are not aware of the morphological structure of Zulu clan names. The clan names in themselves cipher secreted information that would be a story, history, a very long story perhaps which talks about the people of that clan, it could be Kings, famous people or a whole family. The main aim of the paper is to make people aware of the morphological structure of Zulu clan names. Research findings indicate that there is morphological structure in Zulu clan names that most scholars and Zulu people are not aware of. This study found that the structure of a clan name and its meaning are related. An example of such a clan name is Hlabangane (slaughter four); [Hlaba (slaughter) + nga (per) + -ne (four)], which indicates that the clan name giver saw people of this clan slaughtering four cows when they had traditional ceremonies. However, through the use of this clan name, the clan name giver appears as a person who experienced or observed Hlabangane people repeating the same procedure several times and no one disagreed with him because it was a fact. The researcher have used document analysis and in depth personal interviews to gather data for this paper.
Highlights
Clan naming practices among the Zulu form an integral part of their culture and tradition: the clan naming process is a social activity
Koopman (1990:333) states that “Zulu surnames, or clan names, as I prefer to call them, differ from European surnames in that they have a potential for morphological change”. It is the morphological structure of Zulu clan names that this article deals with
Zulu clan names are inherent to the language
Summary
Clan naming practices among the Zulu form an integral part of their culture and tradition: the clan naming process is a social activity. Each Zulu clan name represents a compact history of how the Zulu perceive life and interact with the environment on a daily basis These clan names reflect the Zulu inner being and their views about life; experiences, their Heroes and Kings. Koopman (1990:333) states that “Zulu surnames, or clan names, as I prefer to call them, differ from European surnames in that they have a potential for morphological change”. Like other African clan names, are derived from word categories such as nouns, verbs, qualificatives, interrogatives, compounds and pronouns. These terms will be discussed in detail below
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