Structure
Except for class 1a (which has a "null prefix"), nouns are composed of a noun prefix and a stem (which may in turn be derived from other parts of speech; see below under Derivation). Each noun belongs to one of several noun classes and the knowledge of noun classes and their concords is pivotal to composing coherent sentences.
Usually, the noun's class can be discerned by simply looking for the prefix, but there are many instances where this can become very complicated:
- The syllabic nasal prefix of class 9 is more often than not invisible
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Classes 1, 3, and 18 have similar prefixes but differing concords
- Classes 2a and 14 have similar looking prefixes, differing in the vowel's quality and tone
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Classes 15 and 17 have similar looking prefixes, differing only in tone
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Many class 1 and 3 nouns have stems beginning with vowels, often causing the m to velarize to ng
- mo + -ana ⇒ ngwana child, cf Swahili mwana (Proto-Bantu *-jana)
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Similarly, many class 14 nouns with stems beginning with vowels cause the prefix to palatalize to j
- bo + -ang ⇒ jwang grass (Proto-Bantu *-janî)
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Often if the stem of a class 1 or 3 noun is derived from a verb beginning with b the b is absorbed by the m (the vowel is elided) to become mm
- -busa govern ⇒ mmuso government
There are further complications caused by stems that begin with vowels when the vowels interact causing the quality and tone of the prefix vowel to change (this never happens if the stem comes from a vowel verb); in these cases it is often simply a matter of memorising the correct class and plural for each individual word.
Noun stems can range in length from monosyllabic as in motho (person), to very long stems formed either by duplication (e.g. kgodumodumo great and fearsome thing, the swallowing monster) or derived from long and complex verbs (e.g. the 7 syllable phuparollelano the act of mutual giving and receiving, derived from a verb which is in turn idiomatically and recursively — through 4 distinct steps — derived from the verb fupara to close ones hand suddenly).
Read more about this topic: Sotho Nouns
Famous quotes containing the word structure:
“Women over fifty already form one of the largest groups in the population structure of the western world. As long as they like themselves, they will not be an oppressed minority. In order to like themselves they must reject trivialization by others of who and what they are. A grown woman should not have to masquerade as a girl in order to remain in the land of the living.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)
“The question is still asked of women: “How do you propose to answer the need for child care?” That is an obvious attempt to structure conflict in the old terms. The questions are rather: “If we as a human community want children, how does the total society propose to provide for them?””
—Jean Baker Miller (20th century)
“One theme links together these new proposals for family policy—the idea that the family is exceedingly durable. Changes in structure and function and individual roles are not to be confused with the collapse of the family. Families remain more important in the lives of children than other institutions. Family ties are stronger and more vital than many of us imagine in the perennial atmosphere of crisis surrounding the subject.”
—Joseph Featherstone (20th century)