Orphan Classes, Chameleon Stems, Ghost Controllers, Adverbial Classes, and Versatile Relativizers in Jóola Fóoñi (Atlantic)

The traditional approach to Niger-Congo gender systems conflates the number markers of nouns and the gender-number markers of adnominals and pronouns into a single category of ‘class markers’. Using Jóola Fóoñi as an illustration, this paper discusses several types of phenomena commonly found in these systems that are problematic for the traditional notion of noun class and support the necessity of a revision of the conceptual and terminological framework commonly used in the description of Niger-Congo gender systems.

The evolution of the noun class system of Ngwi (West-Coastal Bantu, B861, DRC)

In this paper we offer a first systematic account of the noun class system of Ngwi, a West-Coastal Bantu language spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. First, we describe the synchronic system of noun class prefixes and the agreement patterns they trigger on constituents of the noun phrase and the verb. Second, we provide a diachronic analysis of the innovations the synchronic Ngwi noun class system underwent with respect to the noun class system reconstructed for the most recent common ancestor of all Narrow Bantu languages. Finally, we compare the morphological innovations found in the Ngwi noun class system with those identified in the noun class systems of other West-Coastal Bantu varieties and assess whether some of these could be diagnostic for internal classification within this western Bantu branch.

Noun Class System in Ikhin, an Edoid Language

This paper examines the noun class system in Ikhin, an Edoid language in South-South, Nigeria. Unlike other related Edoid languages examined and investigated by various scholars, nothing has been said on the noun class system in Ikhin. The paper establishes noun prefixes and concord prefixes in modifiers such as demonstrative and possessive pronouns. Although inherited, this paper confirms that majority of the nouns are inflected for number by means of prefix vowel alternation. The study also confirms that the language maintains most of the noun class distinctions in Edoid languages. The paper examines morphological alternations and their implications for phonology. It is argued that vestiges of vowel harmony appear in the patterning of vowels in nouns and in the way vowels alternate in prefixes. Vestigial evidence of concord which is normally the hallmark of a noun class system in Edoid languages was discovered in modifiers such as demonstrative and possessive pronouns.

Le système de classes nominales du minyanka

This paper is a description of the noun class system of the Minyanka dialect (Senufo, Gur) spoken in the Penesso village (Segou region, southeastern Mali). It describes the noun class markers and the agreement classes of this dialect. A comparison with other Minyanka dialects already described displays that the dialect spoken in Penesso has undergone a reduction of its agreement classes.

A Typological Sketch of Kamsá, a Language Isolate of Colombia

Kamsá is a language isolate spoken in the Sibundoy Valley in the Putumayo department of southern Colombia. Its speech community lives on the eastern slopes of the Andes Mountains, between the linguistic areas of the Andes and the Amazon. This paper presents various grammatical features of Kamsá, including its phonology, nominal morphology (especially noun class and case marking), verbal morphology (especially person/number marking for core arguments and evidentiality), morphosyntactic alignment, and syntax (including discussion of causatives, comparatives, and subordinate clauses). In doing so, the paper places Kamsá within its typological and geographical context, between the Amazon and the Andes.

On pronominal locative and temporal adverbs in Dabida (Bantu)

The paper describes linguistic properties of the Dabida pronominal demonstrative adverbs of space and time formed from the demonstrative pronouns in noun class 16 (locative) agreement through the conversion. The language data has been obtained from two Kenyan informants who were native speakers of the Mbololo dialect of Dabida studying in Moscow

On pronominal locative and temporal adverbs in Dabida (Bantu)

The paper describes linguistic properties of the Dabida pronominal demonstrative adverbs of space and time formed from the demonstrative pronouns in noun class 16 (locative) agreement through the conversion. The language data has been obtained from two Kenyan informants who were native speakers of the Mbololo dialect of Dabida studying in Moscow.

Noun Classes and Plurality in Bantu Languages

Noun classes are a prominent grammatical feature of Bantu languages where typically each noun (or noun stem) is assigned to one of between fifteen and eighteen noun classes. Noun classes are often analysed as a form of nominal classification system and seen as belonging to the same domain as grammatical gender systems. Number in Bantu languages is mediated by the noun class system and the intricate interaction between noun class and number in Bantu has given rise to different theoretical analyses. The chapter focuses on three approaches to analysing grammatical number in Bantu languages—approaches based on an inflectional notion of number, those which analyse number as a derivational relation, and approaches adopting notions of polysemy and paradigms for analysing Bantu noun class systems.