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Grammatical Description in Setswana : an Overview

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Grammatical Description in Setswana : an Overview COPYRIGHT AND CITATION CONSIDERATIONS FOR THIS THESIS/ DISSERTATION o Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. o NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes. o ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original. How to cite this thesis Surname, Initial(s). (2012) Title of the thesis or dissertation. PhD. (Chemistry)/ M.Sc. (Physics)/ M.A. (Philosophy)/M.Com. (Finance) etc. [Unpublished]: University of Johannesburg. Retrieved from: https://ujdigispace.uj.ac.za (Accessed: Date). RANDSE AFRIKAANSE UNIVERSITEIT UNIVERSITEITSBIBLIOTEEK .A- U Tel. 489-2165 T1R%TAI DATUM 2238 I II Ill HI I HI H 1 00 j 1 RAU BIB GRANNATICAL DESCRIPTION IN SETSWANA: AN OVERVIEW by LUCY HLOHANI MOYANE submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in AFRICAN LANGUAGES at the RAND AFRIKAANS UNIVERSITY Johannesburg SUPERVISOR: Prof E B Van Wyk FEBRUARY 1995 (i) ACXNOWLEDGNENTS I wish to extend my sincere appreciation and deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Prof E B van Wyk, for his unselfish, and excellent guidance, his motivation and encouragement. HIS constructive comments and advice have enabled me to complete this study. My sincere thanks go to my friends and family, my colleagues in the Department of African Languages of Daveyton College of Education, Judith Nel for typing this work, and to Monky Gabashane for her moral support and encouragement. A special word of thanks and sincere appreciation is extended to my beloved husband, Gicks Moyane, for the interest he has taken in my studies. Through his support, encouragement and understanding I have been able to make it. Finally, to God be the honour and glory. This work I dedicate to my husband Gicks. OPSOMMING Hierdie studie gee 'n deurlopende oorsig ocr die grammatiese beskrywing van Setswana vanaf 1837 tot en met 1994. As gevoig van verskille en weersprekings in gepubliseerde werke van Setswana Grammatika skrywers is bogenoemde oorsig noodsaaklik. Die verskille wat voorkom by woordverdeling word ondersoek, asook die probleme met 'konjunktivisme' of 'disjunktivisme'. Kiasse woorde, soos geldentifiseer deur verskillende skrywers word bestudeer. Daar word na elke kias afsonderlik gekyk, hoe elke skrywer dit probeer definieer het en na waar verskille voorkom in die skrywers se beskrywings. Met hierdie studie is gepoog om te bewys dat die Grammatiese beskrywing van Setswana nie ooreenstem met die ontwikkelings in linguistieke Wetenskap nie. Die publikasies na Cole (1955) dui nie op 'n verandering van die Dokaanse benadering nie. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 AIM OF STUDY 1.2 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF THE GRAMMATICAL DESCRIPTION OF BANTU LANGUAGES 1.2.1 The traditional period/pre-Dokeian era 1.2.2 The functional/Dokeian era 1.2.3 The structural/Van Wyk era 1.2.4 The transformational-generative period/ modern period 1.3 KOSCH'S ANALYSIS OF NORTHERN SOTHO GRAMMATICAL DESCRIPTION 1.4 HISTORY OF SETSWANA GRAMMATICAL DESCRIPTION 1.4.1 The traditional period/pre-Dokeian period 1.4.2 The functional period/Dokeian period 1.4.3 The structural period/Van Wyk era 1.4.4 The modern period 1.5 PRESENTATION CHAPTER 2: WORD DIVISION 2.1 INTRODUCTION 2.2 AUTHORS USING A DISJUNCTIVE APPROACH 2.2.1 Wookey, A J 2.2.2 Sandilands, A 2.2.3 Setshedi, J E 2.2.4 Harman, F J N 2.2.5 Other writers 2.3 AUTHORS USING A CONJUNCTIVE APPROACH 2.3.1 Cole, D T 2.3.2 Malepe, A T (iv) 2.3.3 Lesele, F N et al 2.3.4 Malao, J et al 2.3.5 Snyman, J W et al 2.3.6 Ntsime, J N and Kruger, C J H 2.4 CONCLUSION CHAPTER 3: WORD CLASSES 3.1 INTRODUCTION 3.2 WORD CLASSES AS IDENTIFIED BY DIFFERENT WRITERS 3.2.1 Archbell, J 3.2.2 Wookey, A J 3.2.3 Sandilands, A 3.2.4 Cole, D T 3.2.5 Malepe, A T 3.2.6 Snyman, J W and Mothoagae, N K 3.2.7 Setshedi, J E 3.3 CONCLUSION CHAPTER 4: THE NOUN 4.1 THE NOUN CLASSES 4.1.1 Archbell, J 4.1.2 Wookey, A J 4.1.3 Sandilands, A 4.1.4 Cole, D T 4.1.5 Ferreira, J A and Malepe, A T 4.1.6 Kopane, P K 4.2 DERIVATIONS 4.3 LOCATIVES 4.3.1 The use of particles 4.3.2 Locative nouns (v) 4.3.3 Locativised nouns 4.4 CONCLUSION CHAPTER 5: THE PRONOUN 5.1 INTRODUCTION 5.2 THE ABSOLUTE PRONOUN 5.3 THE DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN 5.4 QUALIFICATIVE PRONOUNS 5.4.1 The adjectival pronoun 5.4.2 The enumerative pronoun 5.4.3 The relative pronoun 5.4.4 The quantitative pronoun 5.4.5 The possessive pronoun 5.5 OTHER PRONOUNS 5.6 CONCLUSION CHAPTER 6: QUALIFICATIVES 6.1 INTRODUCTION 6.2 THE ADJECTIVE 6.3 THE RELATIVE 6.3.1 The verbal relative 6.3.2 The nominal relative 6.3.3 The enumerative relative 6.3.4 Other relatives 6.4 QUANTITATIVE CHAPTER 7: THE VERB: VERBAL EXTENSIONS 7.1 INTRODUCTION 7.2 VERBAL EXTENSIONS 7.2.1 Neuter (vi) 7 . 2 . 2- Apulied 7.2.3 Reciprocal 7.2.4 Reversive 7.2.5 Causative 7.2.6 Perfect 7.2.7 Passive 7.2.8 Denominative 7.2.9 Positional 7.2.10 Intensive/Extensive 7.2.11 Other extensions CHAPTER 8: THE VERB: MOODS AND TENSES 8.1 MOODS 8.1.1 The infinitive 8.1.2 The imperative 8.1.3 The subjunctive 8.1.4 The indicative mood 8.1.5 The participial mood 8.1.6 The habitual mood 8.1.7 The potential mood 8.1.8 Consective mood (narrative) 8.1.9 The optative mood 8.1.10 Other moods 8.2 TENSES 8.2.1 The present tense 8.2.2 The past tense (pakaphethi) 8.2.3 The future tense (pakatlang) 8.2.4 The perfect tense 8.2.5 Compound tenses 8.2.6 The consecutive tense (vii) 8 . 2 . 7 The narrative tense 8.2.8 The habitual tense CHAPTER 9: OTHER WORD CATEGORIES 9.1 ADVERBS 9.2 THE IDEOPHONE 9.3 THE CONJUNCTION 9.4 THE PREPOSITION 9.5 THE INTERJECTION CHAPTER 10: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS BIOBLIOGRAPHY CHAPTER 1 INTRCDUCTION 1.1 AIN OF THE STUDY The aim of this study is to give an overview of Setswana grammatical description since 1837 when the first Setswana grammar was published by James Archbell. This study will investigate the various approaches used by linguists to describe Setswana grammar, and the word classes that resulted from these approaches. This thesis will only focus on published grammar books and school handbooks. 1.2 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF THE GRAMMATICAL DESCRIPTION OF BANTU LANGUAGES The study of the Bantu languages started with the missionaries that wanted to teach people to read the Bible. As they worked amongst the Bantu people they learnt the language and developed an interest in Bantu linguistics. According to Von Staden (1979:5) as cited by Kosch (1991:1) the study of Bantu languages can be divided into six periods: The impressionistic period The Latinistic orientated period The early European orientated period The Dokeian or functional period The structural period, and 1 6. The modern period. The first two periods did not produce any Setswana records, and therefore are insignificant. Wilkes (1978) distinguishes and bases his study on the last four. 1.2.1 THE TRADITIONAL PERIOD / PRE-DOKEIAN ERA This period is also referred to as the classical period (Kosch, 1991:20). During this period European Languages were used as the basis of description. According to Wilkes (as quoted by Kosch, 1991:20) the first linguistic publication on a South African Bantu Language appeared in this era in 1826 by J Bennie entitled Systematic vocabulary of the Kaffrarian language in two parts: to which is prefixed an introduction to Kaffrarian grammar. During this era Bantu languages were treated as parallels of European languages, and European grammatical classifications and conceptions were used to describe Bantu languages. 1.2.2 THE FUNCTIONAL / DOKEIAN ERA This era started in 1927 with Doke publishing The Textbook of Zulu Grammar, and prevailed until the late fifties. Doke's approach was based on conjunctivism. This era saw a rise of South African Bantuists. According to 2 Kosch (1991: 39) there is no clear boundary as to when this period ended because even during the structural period publications were based on this framework, but decided on 1958 as the beginning of the new era. 1.2.3 THE STRUCTURAL / VAN WYK ERA This era started in South African Bantu Linguistics with European structuralism and American structuralism. In 1958 E B van Wyk completed his doctoral thesis entitled Woord verdeling in Noord Sotho en Zoeioe based on linguistic theories and methods of Prof A Reichling. In it he developed his own method of word division based on the divisibility, reversibility, isolatability and replaceability of a word. This led him to develop the semi-conjunctive writing system to eliminate deficiencies of disjunctivism and conjunc- tivism. This theory led to a new classification of word classes based on morphological and syntactical characteristics as the basic criteria, and phonological and semantic characteristics as additional criteria. During this era van Wyk's views dominated the scene of Bantu linguistics.
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