scholarly journals Classifiers

Linguistics ◽  
2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Numeral Classifiers ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Large Sets ◽  
Noun Classes ◽  
Possessive Constructions ◽  
Locative Expression ◽  
Individual Classifier ◽  
Verbal Classifiers

Classifiers and noun classes are basic kinds of noun categorization devices. They fall into several subtypes depending on the morphosyntactic context of their realization; for instance, numeral classifiers appear in numerical expressions, possessive classifiers in possessive constructions, noun classifiers within a noun phrase, verbal classifiers on a verb or a predicate, and locative classifiers within a locative expression. They are restricted to constructions that require the presence of a particular kind of classifier morpheme whose choice is dictated by the semantic characteristics of the referent. The continuum of noun categorization devices is broad: from large sets of lexical numeral classifiers in the languages of Southeast Asia to the highly grammaticalized systems of noun classes in Bantu languages and of genders in Indo-European languages (see Genders and Noun Classes). They have a similar semantic basis, and one can develop from the other. A considerable amount of literature has appeared over the years on individual classifier types, especially numeral classifiers, with a focus on languages of Southeast Asia, and on noun classes, with less attention paid to other types.

Noun categorization devices

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald
Keyword(s):  
African Languages ◽  
Number Words ◽  
Large Sets ◽  
Noun Classes ◽  
Possessive Constructions ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Verbal Classifiers ◽  
And Function ◽  
Asian Languages

A noun may refer to a man, a woman, an animal, or an inanimate object of varied shape, size, and function, or have abstract reference. Noun categorization devices vary in their expression, and the contexts in which they occur. Large sets of numeral classifiers in South-East Asian languages occur with number words and quantifying expressions. Small highly grammaticalized noun classes and gender systems in Indo-European and African languages, and the languages of the Americas are expressed with agreement markers on adjectives, demonstratives, and also on the noun itself. Further means include noun classifiers, classifiers in possessive constructions, verbal classifiers, and two lesser-known types: locative and deictic classifiers. This introductory chapter offers a general typological background, focusing on issues in noun categorization devices particularly relevant for this volume.

scholarly journals Germanising Oshiwambo language

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-40
Author(s):  
Johannes Uushona ◽  
Petrus Mbenzi
Keyword(s):  
Daily Life ◽  
Higher Learning ◽  
Linguistic Study ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Languages In Contact ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Learning ◽  
Phonological Rules

Oshiwambo, a Bantu language spoken in Northern Namibia and Southern Angola, like other languages in contact, has adopted foreign words from other languages to meet the needs of its daily life vocabularies and activities. This paper identified and described the phonological changes which the loanwords from German go through to fit into Oshiwambo speech system and established the phonological rules that account for these changes. The paper is based on the hypothesis that words borrowed from other languages, especially European languages, into Oshiwambo, are phonologically modified to fit the Oshiwambo speech system because little information is available on the phonological wambonisation of German words. The data were collected from school textbooks, daily conversations and personal vocabularies of the researcher. The loanwords were transcribed for phonological analysis. The paper investigated how Oshiwambo borrowed words from German yet the two languages differ widely in terms of phonemic inventories and phonotactics. It has become evident that there are several vowel and consonant changes in the process of borrowing. The paper contributes to the linguistic study in the area of Oshiwambo in particular and Bantu languages in general. The knowledge acquired could be utilized by the institutions of higher learning too.

Missionary Contributions to Bantu Languages in Tanzania: James Thomas Last (1850–1933) and the Vidunda language

2009 ◽  
Vol 36 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 393-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karsten Legere
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Sole Source ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Linguistic Data ◽  
Noun Classes ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Insight Into

This paper deals with linguistic work by the lay missionary James Thomas Last (1850–1933), who was among the first Europeans to live up-country in what is now Tanzania. In the course of a seven-year stay he was exposed to African languages which have only partly been known outside Africa. Last collected linguistic data that culminated 1885 in the publication of the Polyglotta Africana Orientalis. This book is a collection of 210 lexical items and sentences elicited in or translated into 48 African languages, and supplemented by entries for some other languages. In order to demonstrate the relevance as well as the inconsistencies of this missionary’s contribution, special attention is paid to the book section on the Vidunda language currently spoken by approximately 10,000 people in Central Tanzania. It turns out that approximately 75 per cent of the Vidunda entries are still acceptable today. The data even provides insight into the grammatical set-up of Vidunda (e.g., the noun classes and constituents of the noun phrase). Less relevant are the verbal paradigms. In a nutshell, Last produced material which had for many years been the sole source of lexical and grammatical information about the Vidunda language.

Language and Ethnobotany

2020 ◽  
pp. 731-749
Author(s):  
Karsten Legère
Keyword(s):  
Central African Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Folk Taxonomy ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Noun Classes ◽  
Plant Names ◽  
Plant Habitat

This chapter deals with ethnobotany, folk taxonomy, and African languages. In its first part people’s structuring of the plant kingdom with particular reference to life forms, and generic and specific taxa is discussed. Reference is made to relevant folk taxonomic terms and plant names in Bantu languages from East Africa, especially Tanzania, Namibia, to some extent also from the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. It is interesting to note that on top of widespread taxa like TREE or PLANT habitat-related life forms were traced in various languages such as CLIMBER, VINE in Vidunda or BUSH, SHRUB in Kwangali, and THORN TREE in Ndonga, as well as other specific taxa. In this respect sub-life forms were also recorded and examples given. The second part of the chapter focuses on folk conceptualization and the system of Bantu noun classes.

scholarly journals Phonotactics of noun class disambiguation in Xhosa

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Braver ◽  
Wm. G. Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Semantic Context ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Noun Classes ◽  
Noun Class ◽  
Semantic Domains

Bantu languages are noted for their noun class systems.  These noun classes tend to connect to semantic domains: e.g., humans are prototypically in classes 1 and 2.  We present an experiment in which native speakers of Xhosa were shown singular nonce nouns with no semantic context, and were asked to provide the plural forms.  These nouns were shown with the singular class prefix –i, which is ambiguous between class 5 and class 9.  Historically, class 9 had a nasal prefix which triggered post-nasal alternations in stem-initial consonants.  Since class 5 did not historically have a nasal, no such alternations occurred in class 5 nouns.  Because of this, stems beginning with a segment that might have been the output of the historical post-nasal alternation may be interpreted as class 9, while stems beginning with segments that might have been inputs to these alternations may be interpreted as class 5.  We show that speakers follow this pattern: roots beginning with post-nasal outputs were more likely to be assigned the plural corresponding to class 9 (i.e., class 10), and roots beginning with post-nasal inputs were more likely to be assigned to the plural corresponding to class 5 (i.e., class 6).

Genders and Classifiers

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Wide Spread ◽  
Classifier Systems ◽  
Numeral Classifiers ◽  
Number Words ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
Verbal Classifiers ◽  
And Function ◽  
Semantic Properties ◽  
High Diversity

Every language has some means of categorizing objects into humans, or animates, or by their shape, form, size, and function. The most wide-spread are linguistic genders—grammatical classes of nouns based on core semantic properties such as sex (female and male), animacy, humanness, and also shape and size. Classifiers of several types also serve to categorize entities. Numeral classifiers occur with number words, possessive classifiers appear in the expressions of possession, and verbal classifiers are used on a verb, categorizing its argument. Genders and classifiers of varied types can occur together. Their meanings reflect beliefs and traditions, and in many ways mirror the ways in which speakers view the ever-changing reality. This volume elaborates on the expression, usage, history, and meanings of noun categorization devices, exploring their various facets across the languages of South America and Asia, known for the diversity of their noun categorization. The volume starts with a typological introduction outlining the types of noun categorization devices, their expression, scope, and functions, in addition to the socio-cultural aspects of their use, and their development. It is followed by revised versions of eight papers focussing on gender and classifier systems in two areas of high diversity—South America (with a focus on Amazonia) and Asia.

Agreement with locatives in Kinyarwanda: a comparative analysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jochen Zeller ◽  
J. Paul Ngoboka
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Syntactic Analysis ◽  
Feature Location ◽  
Relevant Difference ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Noun Classes ◽  
Noun Class ◽  
Invariant Class ◽  
Marker Class

AbstractIn Bantu languages such as Chichewa or Herero, locatives can function as subjects and show noun class agreement (in class 16, 17 or 18) with predicates and modifiers. In contrast, (preverbal) locatives in Sotho-Tswana and Nguni have been analysed as prepositional adjuncts, which cannot agree. Our paper compares locatives in Kinyarwanda (JD61) with locatives in these other Bantu languages and demonstrates that the Kinyarwanda locative system is essentially of the Chichewa/Herero type. We show that Kinyarwanda locatives are nominal in nature, can act as subjects, and agree with predicates and modifiers. However, even though Kinyarwanda has four locative noun classes (16, 17, 18 and 25), there is only one locative agreement marker (class 16ha-), which indiscriminately appears with all locatives, regardless of their noun class. We explain this fact by arguing that noun class features in Kinyarwanda do not participate in locative agreement; instead, the invariant class 16 marker expresses agreement with a generic feature [location] associated with all locatives. We offer a syntactic analysis of this peculiar aspect of Kinyarwanda locative agreement, and we propose a parameter that accounts for the relevant difference between Kinyarwanda and Chichewa/Herero-type Bantu languages.

Missionary Contributions to Bantu Languages in Tanzania

2009 ◽  
Vol 36 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 393-406
Author(s):  
Karsten Legère
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Sole Source ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Linguistic Data ◽  
Noun Classes ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Insight Into

Summary This paper deals with linguistic work by the lay missionary James Thomas Last (1850–1933), who was among the first Europeans to live up-country in what is now Tanzania. In the course of a seven-year stay he was exposed to African languages which have only partly been known outside Africa. Last collected linguistic data that culminated 1885 in the publication of the Polyglotta Africana Orientalis. This book is a collection of 210 lexical items and sentences elicited in or translated into 48 African languages, and supplemented by entries for some other languages. In order to demonstrate the relevance as well as the inconsistencies of this missionary’s contribution, special attention is paid to the book section on the Vidunda language currently spoken by approximately 10,000 people in Central Tanzania. It turns out that approximately 75 per cent of the Vidunda entries are still acceptable today. The data even provides insight into the grammatical set-up of Vidunda (e.g., the noun classes and constituents of the noun phrase). Less relevant are the verbal paradigms. In a nutshell, Last produced material which had for many years been the sole source of lexical and grammatical information about the Vidunda language.

scholarly journals Predicative possession in the Novgorod Birch Bark documents in the Ural-Altaic context

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (97) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chingduang Yurayong
Keyword(s):  
Contact Zone ◽  
Comparative Investigation ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Northern Eurasia ◽  
Birch Bark ◽  
Slavic Languages ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Possessive Constructions ◽  
Historical Comparative

This paper discusses predicative possessive constructions in the East Slavic languages, with a particular focus on the Old Novgorod Slavic dialect, in connection to the neighbouring Ural-Altaic languages. An areal-typological investigation shows that the East Slavic languages prefer the use of a locational possessive (mihi est), while the rest of Slavic and Europe’s Indo-European languages primarily use a have-possessive (habeo). Serving as primary data for this study, the dialect written in the Novgorod Birch Bark documents confirms a preference of the locational possessive over the have -possessive. The current study also evaluates three hypotheses on the origin of the East Slavic locational possessive, proposed in earlier studies: 1) a Uralic substrate, 2) a Slavic archaism and 3) a Northern Eurasian areal pattern. Given the typological survey as well as the empirical and historical comparative investigation, the locational possessive can be considered a preferred areal pattern across Northern Eurasia. Being a part of the macro contact zone of Northern Eurasia, the choice of locational possessive in the East Slavic languages is reinforced by the areal diffusion, especially from the close neighbouring languages, Uralic and Turkic.

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