Noun Prefixes Research Articles

Avatime noun classes and concord

Avatime is one of 14 "Central-Togo" (or "Togo Remnant") languages, spoken in Ghana, Togo, and Benin. These languages differ from their nearest Kwa group relatives in that they have active systems of noun classes and concord. Avatime has 13 noun classes, each with a distinct nominal prefix. Prefixes (as well as most other affixes) agree in [ATR] vowel harmony with the host noun root. Some classes impose invariable low tone on the prefix while prefix tone of other classes may be any of three lexically determined tones. Definiteness is marked by a set of suffixes. The ultimate segmental shapes and tones of these suffixes depend on the interaction of the respective class prefix shapes and coalescence phenomena with stem final vowels. There are correlations between noun class and nominal semantics, and nominal derivation is done in part through class choice. A number of attributive modifiers show class concord with the head noun. In the variety of Avatime studied here, such concord is only though vocalic prefixes on attributive modifiers, not by full CV prefixes as is typical of Bantu languages. Some attributives also have "tonal concord", which is not class concord per se, but refers to the tone of the head noun's prefix. Not all attributive modifiers have overt concord marking.

Secondary noun prefixes taken further with special reference to Shona

In this article, the study of reassigned or secondary noun prefixes in Shona is taken further. First the present position is critically examined and then the focus is placed on the types of these secondary noun prefixes, their morphological sequencing in nouns and their cumulative semantic effect.

Phonological words and syntactic constituents in XiTsonga

The distinction between phonological and syntactic words, most evident in cases of discord between the domain of the Dokean phonological word and constituent structure, is considered. The integrity of the unit noun class prefix + stem, a central concept in Bantu morphosyntax, is questioned. It is argued that the class prefix is sister not to a following noun but to the whole of the NP (noun prefix). Support for this claim derives from limitations on High Tone Spread, a tonological process sensitive to syntactic brackening within an object NP. The analysis, offered in the framework of autosegmental phonology, also provides an explanation for the so-called ‘neutral tone’ prefixes of Tsonga, previously described by reference to dissimilation.

Subclasses of Zulu nouns

The evolution of isiZulu requires the coinage of new words or the borrowing of foreign words to express new concepts and ideas. Two noun classes have become prominent tools in the borrowing process. A number of nouns arc borrowed by means of what was traditionally known as Subclass la, but non-personal nouns arc inflected according to the syntactic pattern of Class 3 rather than that of Class 1. Such nouns should therefore be classified as Subclass 3a. A considerable number of nouns are also borrowed by simply prefixing them with the nasal-less noun prefix /i-/ and make their plural in /ama-/. The syntactic behaviour of their singular forms, however, follows in the main the pattern of Class 9 nouns. It is therefore necessary to classify them as Subclass 9a.

Proclitic bo of Northern Sotho

In most publications on the Sotho languages the morpheme bo- which is used with nouns of Class 1a is regarded as a noun prefix constituting a subclass of Class 2 (or an independent class). The underlying assumptions are that it is a true noun class prefix and that there is, in principle, a one-to-one correspondence between Class 1a and Class 2a. In this article bo- is analyzed semantically, phonologically, and grammatically and its use discussed in detail. It is shown that it lacks most of the characteristics of true class prefixes, but that it can be used as a pluralizer and a nominalizer with an almost unlimited range of nouns, other parts of speech, phrases, and sentences. It is concluded that bo- is a specialized proclitic variant of the absolute pronoun of Class 2, bona, which has undergone partial rank-shifting towards a class prefix.

The references of primary and secondary noun prefixes in Zezuru

The references of primary and secondary noun prefixes in Zezuru