Relative clause formation in the Bantu languages of South Africa

AbstractIn several Bantu languages in the regions where Kikongo and Lingala are spoken, we encounter sentences where the word ‘person’ can appear after the subject of a canonical SVO sentence, resulting in a focused interpretation of the subject. Synchronically, we analyze this as a monoclausal focus construction with moto ‘person’ as a focus marker. Diachronically, we argue, the construction derives from a biclausal cleft, where moto functioned as the head noun of the relative clause. This is a crosslinguistically rare but plausible development. The different languages studied in this paper show variation in the properties indicative of the status of the ‘moto construction’, which reflects the different stages of grammaticalization. Finally, we show how contact-induced grammaticalization is a likely factor in the development of moto as a focus marker.

Download Full-text

The Moon as a Symbol of Life and Fertility in Sandawe Thought

Africa ◽

10.2307/1157948 ◽

1969 ◽

Vol 39 (1) ◽

pp. 24-53 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Eric Ten Raa

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Material Culture ◽

Religious Beliefs ◽

The Other ◽

Central Position ◽

The Sun ◽

The Moon ◽

Bantu Languages ◽

Opening Paragraph ◽

Good And Evil

Opening ParagraphThe Sandawe of central Tanzania speak a click language which shows no relationship with the languages of their Bantu-speaking neighbours, nor with any of the other non-Bantu languages in the neighbourhood; rather, it may be remotely related to the Khoisan languages of South Africa, in particular to Nama Hottentot. Physically the Sandawe differ to a degree from their neighbours, and their closest affinities may again be with Hottentot peoples. Sandawe material culture also differs to a degree from the cultures of their neighbours; like them, the Sandawe have an economy which largely depends on cattle-keeping and horticulture, but it is less sophisticated and their reliance on food-gathering and hunting is still considerably greater. Considering this difference in background it would be not at all surprising if their system of beliefs also showed differences. Comparisons cannot yet be profitably made, however, because little has so far been published about Sandawe religion, except a paper by van de Kimmenade and some details which can be found in the writings of Dempwolff and Bagshawe. In his ethnographic survey Huntingford draws our attention to the lack of knowledge of Sandawe religious beliefs, pointing out that these have been imperfectly recorded; yet he recognizes that the moon (láb′so or !áoso) and the sun (//′akásu) occupy a central position in Sandawe religion, which he summarizes as follows:It appears that the sun and the moon are regarded as supreme beings, and that propitiatory sacrifices are made to the ancestral spirits who can do both good and evil to mankind.

Download Full-text

Introduction

ZAS Papers in Linguistics ◽

10.21248/zaspil.53.2010.389 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 53 ◽

pp. 1-6

Author(s):

Laura J. Downing ◽

Annie Rialland ◽

Cédric Patin ◽

Kristina Riedel

Keyword(s):

Relative Clause ◽

Syntactic Structure ◽

Direct Reference ◽

Research Teams ◽

Bantu Languages ◽

Seminal Work ◽

Syntactic Information ◽

Cooperative Project ◽

Phonological Phrase ◽

Indirect Reference

The papers in this volume were originally presented at the Bantu Relative Clause workshop held in Paris on 8-9 January 2010, which was organized by the French-German cooperative project on the Phonology/Syntax Interface in Bantu Languages (BANTU PSYN). This project, which is funded by the ANR and the DFG, comprises three research teams, based in Berlin, Paris and Lyon. [...] This range of expertise is essential to realizing the goals of our project. Because Bantu languages have a rich phrasal phonology, they have played a central role in the development of theories of the phonology-syntax interface ever since the seminal work from the 1970s on Chimwiini (Kisseberth & Abasheikh 1974) and Haya (Byarushengo et al. 1976). Indeed, half the papers in Inkelas & Zec’s (1990) collection of papers on the phonology-syntax interface deal with Bantu languages. They have naturally played an important role in current debates comparing indirect and direct reference theories of the phonology-syntax interface. Indirect reference theories (e.g., Nespor & Vogel 1986; Selkirk 1986, 1995, 2000, 2009; Kanerva 1990; Truckenbrodt 1995, 1999, 2005, 2007) propose that phonology is not directly conditioned by syntactic information. Rather, the interface is mediated by phrasal prosodic constituents like Phonological Phrase and Intonation Phrase, which need not match any syntactic constituent. In contrast, direct reference theories (e.g., Kaisse 1985; Odden 1995, 1996; Pak 2008; Seidl 2001) argue that phrasal prosodic constituents are superfluous, as phonology can – indeed, must – refer directly to syntactic structure.

Download Full-text

Art. III.—On the Bearing of the Study of the Bántu Languages of South Africa on the Aryan Family of Languages

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland ◽

10.1017/s0035869x0001902x ◽

1885 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 38-56

Author(s):

F. W. Kolbe

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Indian Languages ◽

Bantu Languages ◽

Asiatic Society ◽

Comparative Philology

In 1784, just a century ago, the Asiatic Society was founded at Calcutta, and since then a great movement has been going on, leading to the discovery and study of Sanskrit and other Indian languages, and resulting in what is called Comparative Philology or the Science of Language.

Download Full-text

European and Bantu Languages in South Africa

Africa ◽

10.2307/1155381 ◽

1939 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 308-319

Author(s):

C. M. Doke

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

The Other ◽

Bantu Languages ◽

Cultural Aspects ◽

The Future ◽

The Subject ◽

Opening Paragraph

Opening ParagraphThe future of the Bantu languages in South Africa is a question often discussed both by Europeans interested in them and by thinking Natives who use them. The ideas and views expressed on this question are extremely varied, for the subject has its economic and political aspects as well as its natural and cultural aspects, and to-day there is a tendency, particularly among the educated and semi-educated Natives, to stress the economic and political at the expense of the other aspects.

Download Full-text

Fanagalo and the Bantu languages in South Africa

African Studies ◽

10.1080/00020185308706894 ◽

1953 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 1-9 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

D. T. Cole

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Bantu Languages

Download Full-text

Notes on actionality in two Nguni languages of South Africa

Studies in African Linguistics ◽

10.32473/sal.v50i2.123680 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 50 (2) ◽

pp. 227-284

Author(s):

Thera Marie Crane ◽

Bastian Persohn

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Relative Importance ◽

Bantu Languages ◽

Lexical Items

This paper presents some key findings of studies of actionality and the verbal grammar–lexicon interface in two Nguni Bantu languages of South Africa, Xhosa and Southern Ndebele. We describe interactions between grammatical tense marking (and other sentential bounding elements) and lexical verb types, arguing for the salience of inchoative verbs, which lexically encode a resultant state, and, in particular, a sub-class of inchoative verbs, biphasal verbs, which encode both a resultant state and the “coming-to-be” phase leading up to that state. We further discuss other important features of actional classes in Xhosa and Southern Ndebele, including topics such as the role of participant structure and the relative importance of cross-linguistically prominent distinctions such as that between Vendlerian activities and accomplishments. Although differences between Xhosa and Southern Ndebele are evident both in the behaviour of individual tense-aspect forms and in the interpretive possibilities of specific verbs, the general patterns are quite similar. This similarity suggests that the patterns are likely to extend to other Nguni languages, as well, and that cross-linguistic comparison of particular lexical items across these languages are both feasible and likely to bear fruit.

Download Full-text

Papers from the workshop on Bantu relative clauses

ZAS Papers in Linguistics ◽

10.21248/zaspil.53.2010.388 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 53 ◽

pp. 261

Author(s):

Laura Downing ◽

Annie Rialland ◽

Jean-Marc Beltzung ◽

Sophie Manus ◽

Cédric Patin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Comparative Study ◽

Relative Clause ◽

Relative Clauses ◽

The Other ◽

Bantu Languages ◽

Bantu Language ◽

Wide Range ◽

Western Uganda ◽

Restrictive Relatives

All of the papers in the volume except one (Kaji) take up some aspect of relative clause construction in some Bantu language. Kaji’s paper aims to account for how Tooro (J12; western Uganda) lost phonological tone through a comparative study of the tone systems of other western Uganda Bantu languages. The other papers examine a range of ways of forming relative clauses, often including non-restrictive relatives and clefts, in a wide range of languages representing a variety of prosodic systems.

Download Full-text

Linguistic and Sociolinguistic Aspects of Variation in the Eastern Cape: Complexities of Xhosa Language Use

Studia Orientalia Electronica ◽

10.23993/store.75138 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

pp. 90-120

Author(s):

Eva-Marie Bloom Ström

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Regional Variation ◽

Language Use ◽

Linguistic Diversity ◽

Spontaneous Speech ◽

Eastern Cape ◽

Linguistic Identity ◽

Syntactic Variation ◽

Personal Mobility ◽

Bantu Languages

This paper presents the results of a micro-variation project in which linguistic diversity of the Eastern Cape of South Africa is examined. It shows that regional variation in the Xhosa dialect cluster is minimal and that many older forms and sounds that have previously been reported on are no longer in use. With a specific focus on morpho-syntactic variation, the paper gives examples from a corpus of recorded, transcribed and glossed speech collected across the Eastern Cape. It is argued that spontaneous speech is crucial in analysing morpho-syntactic variation when it is on a fine, intralinguistic level. The paper gives a detailed overview of previous publications on the dialects of the area and relates this to current findings based on the recordings. It is shown that the presumed decline in dialectal differences is not paired with a decrease in linguistic identity which is connected to separate clans and kingdoms. The dwindling use of regional variables is explained by a longstanding situation of personal mobility, standardization and schooling. This paper contributes to our understanding of the linguistic complexities of the Nguni subgroup of Bantu languages. It concludes that any experienced differences between standard Xhosa and the language spoken at home is not due to regional variation, and that their causes should be sought elsewhere.

Download Full-text

Speech Acquisition in Monolingual Children Acquiring isiZulu in Rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Journal of Monolingual and Bilingual Speech ◽

10.1558/jmbs.11082 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Michelle Pascoe ◽

Zenia Jeggo

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Speech Sound ◽

Age Groups ◽

Speech Sound Disorders ◽

Language Therapy ◽

Speech Acquisition ◽

Phonological Processes ◽

Bantu Languages ◽

Kwazulu Natal ◽

Children's Speech

In South Africa, isiZulu is the most widely spoken home language. However, research on children’s speech acquisition in isiZulu is minimal and there are no published speech assessments that speech-language therapists can use to identify children with speech sound disorders acquiring this language. In our research we aimed to document speech sound acquisition of 32 isiZulu-speaking children aged two years, six months to six years, five months in rural KwaZulu- Natal, South Africa. An isiZulu speech assessment was developed and used to assess the children’s speech in terms of phonetic acquisition, word shape and phonological processes. In the study, the implosive, plosives, nasals, affricates and vowels were mastered by the youngest children. The click /!ɡ/, approximant /l/ and fricative /ɦ/ may be among the last consonants to develop: they had not been mastered by the oldest group. Two-syllable structures were mastered early while structures of four/five syllables were still developing at 6;5. Participants in the older age groups could produce target words more accurately and used fewer phonological processes. The findings are discussed in relation to normative data from other Bantu languages. Knowledge of isiZulu speech sound development will assist clinicians working with isiZulu-speaking children in assessing and managing their speech difficulties: an important step towards ensuring that speech-language therapy services are relevant to all children in South Africa.

Download Full-text