An Open-Source Morphological Zulu Corpus
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Here Referred to As Class 18A (See Hyman 1980:187)
WS1 Remarks on the nasal classes in Mungbam and Naki Mungbam and Naki are two non-Grassfields Bantoid languages spoken along the northwest frontier of the Grassfields area to the north of the Ring languages. Until recently, they were poorly described, but new data reveals them to show significant nasal noun class patterns, some of which do not appear to have been previously noted for Bantoid. The key patterns are: 1. Like many other languages of their region (see Good et al. 2011), they make productive use of a mysterious diminutive plural prefix with a form like mu-, with associated concords in m, here referred to as Class 18a (see Hyman 1980:187). 2. The five dialects of Mungbam show a level of variation in their nasal classes that one might normally expect of distinct languages. a. Two dialects show no evidence for nasals in Class 6. Two other dialects, Munken and Ngun, show a Class 6 prefix on nouns of form a- but nasal concords. In Munken Class 6, this nasal is n, clearly distinct from an m associated with 6a; in Ngun, both 6 and 6a are associated with m concords. The Abar dialect shows a different pattern, with Class 6 nasal concords in m and nasal prefixes on some Class 6 nouns. b. The Abar, Biya, and Ngun dialects show a Class 18a prefix with form mN-, rather than the more regionally common mu-. This reduction is presumably connected to perseveratory nasalization attested throughout the languages of the region with a diachronic pathway along the lines of mu- > mũ- > mN- perhaps providing a partial example for the development of Bantu Class 9/10. -
Verbal Extensions in Bantoid Languages and Their Relation to Bantu
VERBAL EXTENSIONS IN BANTOID LANGUAGES AND THEIR RELATION TO BANTU Roger Blench Paper prepared for circulation at the Conference on: Reconstructing Proto-Bantu Grammar University of Ghent, 19-23rd November, 2018 DRAFT ONLY: NOT TO BE QUOTED WITHOUT PERMISSION Roger Blench McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research University of Cambridge Correspondence to: 8, Guest Road Cambridge CB1 2AL United Kingdom Voice/ Ans (00-44)-(0)1223-560687 Mobile worldwide (00-44)-(0)7847-495590 E-mail [email protected] http://www.rogerblench.info/RBOP.htm Cambridge, 08 November 2018 Verbal extensions in Bantoid languages Roger Blench Draft TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction................................................................................................................................................. 1 2. The genetic classification of Bantoid ......................................................................................................... 2 2.1 Bantoid vs. Bantu.................................................................................................................................... 2 2.2 Bantoid within [East] Benue-Congo ....................................................................................................... 3 2.3 The membership of Bantoid.................................................................................................................... 4 3. Bantoid verbal extensions.......................................................................................................................... -
Some Features of the Zulu Nouns A.C
a? SOME FEATURES OF THE ZULU NOUNS A.C. Nkabinde 1. INTRODUCTION Analyses of the phonological and morphological variations of the noun coupled with the different positions in which the noun occurs in the Zulu sentence have been somewhat circuitous and incomplete. The failure of the grammarians to take cognisance of the fact that the semantic structure1 of the predicate (the verb or copulative) largely determines the nature of a following noun has led to inconclusive description. This article attempts to demonstrate that the use of the noun in the three main types of sentence2, the exploration of case relations, and the transposition of the noun in the sentence could be used to good advantage to determine the nature of Zulu nouns. 2. THE STRUCTURE OF THE PRIMARY NOUN Zulu primary nouns are made up of a regular morphological and tonal structure. They have a disyllabic class prefix and a monosyllabic or polysyllabic stem. The class prefix has a VCV combination of phones, whereas the stem mainly has a CV combination. As a rule, the tonal structure of the class prefix has a /HH sequence of tones. We recognise the following tone patterns of Zulu noun stems identified by Cope (1970:120-121): /LL/; /LH/; /HL/; and /FL/. The primary noun occurs mainly in the subject “slot” of a declarative sentence in Zulu.3 It also occurs less regularly in the object “slot”. However, in its secondary function, the primary noun undergoes morphological, semantic, 377 tonological or phonological modification. The changes to primary nouns predominantly occur at the beginning and/or end of the word.4 The structural changes of the primary noun in its secondary function appear to be attributable to the following factors: • the nature of sentence in which the noun is used • the relationship of the verb with the noun; case relation • the relationship of the noun with another word with which it is juxtaposed. -
Swahili and the Dilemma of Ugandan Language Policy*
ASIAN AND AFRICAN STUDIES, 5, 1996, 2, 158170 SWAHILI AND THE DILEMMA OF UGANDAN LANGUAGE POLICY* Viera PAWLIKOVÁ-VILHANOVÁ Institute of Oriental and African Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovakia The language situation in East Africa is characterized by the widespread use of Swahili. While both in Tanzania and Kenya Swahili has been systematically promoted in all spheres of everyday life, Uganda has lacked a coherent government policy on language development and the position of Swahili in Uganda has always been very ambiguous. The continued vacil- lation over language policy and the Luganda/Swahili opposition threatening to carve the country into two major camps of language choice which is characteristic of the Ugandan lan- guage situation suggests that the language issue is not likely to be solved in the near future. Africa probably has the most complex and varied language situation in the world. It is a well known fact that the national boundaries of African countries drawn arbitrarily by the colonial powers at conferences in Europe during the time of the imperial partition of the African continent, pay little regard to the historical, cultural and linguistic affinity of the Africans. Few African states are known for their linguistic homogeneity.1 Given a very complex language situa- tion in Africa south of the Sahara with African languages co-existing and com- peting with European languages as well as with various lingua francas, Pidgins and Creoles, multilinguism and hence multilingualism is a feature of most Afri- can countries and it seems that it will remain the norm for a long time to come. -
Page 806 to 831 References.Lwp
References Adisasmito, Niken, & Simon Donnelly (1993a). Grammatical High Tone Assignment in Rwanda Negatives. Handout from Linguistics Summer Institute Phonology Workshop, 21 July 1993, Ohio State University . Adisasmito, Niken, & Simon Donnelly (1993b). Grammatical High Tone Assignment in Rwanda. Handout from 24th Annual Conference on African Linguistics. Columbus, Ohio. 23 July 1993. Ambrose, David (2004). Sephuthi language and literature. Lesotho Annotated Bibliography , section 129. Lesotho: House 9 Publications. Anttila, Arto (2002). Morphologically conditioned phonological alternations. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 20:1-42. Archangeli, Diana (1988). Aspects of underspecification theory. Phonology 5: 183-208. Archangeli, Diana, & Douglas Pulleyblank (1986). The content and structure of phonological representations. MS , University of Arizona and University of British Columbia. Archangeli, Diana, & Douglas Pulleyblank (1994). Grounded Phonology . Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. Bao, Zhiming (1999). The Structure of Tone . Oxford: Oxford University Press. Bastin, Yvonne (1983). La finale -IDE et l’imbrication en bantou . Tervuren: Annales du Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale. Baumbach, Erdmann J. M. (1987). Analytical Tsonga Grammar . Pretoria: University of South Africa. Beach, Douglas M. (1924). The science of tonetics and its application to Bantu languages. Bantu Studies 2: 75-106. Beckman, Jill N. (1995). Shona height harmony: Markedness and positional identity. In University of Massachusetts Occasional Papers in Linguistics 18: Papers in Optimality Theory, ed. by Jill N. Beckman, Laura Walsh Dickey & Suzanne Urbanczyk, 53–75. Amherst: GLSA. Beckman, Jill N. (1997). Positional faithfulness, positional neutralization and Shona height harmony. Phonology 14.1: 1-46. 806 Beckman, Jill N. (1998). Positional faithfulness . Doctoral dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. http://roa.rutgers.edu/files/234-1297/234-1297-BECKMAN- 6-0.PDF (12 December 2007). -
Non-Situational Functions of Demonstrative Noun Phrases in Lingala (Bantu)
Pragmatics 22:1.147-166 (2012) International Pragmatics Association NON-SITUATIONAL FUNCTIONS OF DEMONSTRATIVE NOUN PHRASES IN LINGALA (BANTU) Michael Meeuwis and Koen Stroeken Abstract This paper examines the non-situational (i.e., non-exophoric) pragmatic functions of the three adnominal demonstratives, óyo, wâná, and yangó in the Bantu language Lingala. An examination of natural language corpora reveals that, although native-speaker intuitions sanction the use of óyo as an anaphor in demonstrative NPs, this demonstrative is hardly ever used in that role. It also reveals that wâná, which has both situational and discourse-referential capacities, is used more frequently than the exclusively anaphoric demonstrative yangó. It is explained that wâná appears in a wide range of non-coreferential expression types, in coreferential expression types involving low-salience referents, and in coreferential expression types that both involve highly salient referents and include the speaker’s desire to signal a shift in the mental representation of the referent towards a pejorative reading. The use of yangó, on the other hand, is only licensed in cases of coreferentiality involving highly salient referents and implying continuation of the same mental representation of the referent. A specific section is devoted to charting the possible grammaticalization paths followed by the demonstratives. Conclusions are drawn for pragmatic theory formation in terms of the relation between form (yangó vs. wâná) and function (coreferentiality vs. non-coreferentiality). Keywords: Demonstratives; Anaphora; Deixis; Bantu languages; Grammaticalization. 1. Introduction1 Lingala, a Bantu language spoken in Central Africa and classified under Bantu zone C, has three demonstratives, óyo, wâná, and yangó (Meeuwis 2010, in press).2 Like other 1 This article is based on talks delivered at “Bantu 3: Third International Conference on Bantu Languages” (March 2009, Tervuren, Belgium) and the “5th Łódź Symposium: New Developments in Linguistic Pragmatics” (May 2010, Łódź, Poland). -
Classification of the Languages of Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea on the Basis of Lexicostatistics and Mutual Intelligibility
African Study Monographs, 28(4): 181-204, December 2007 181 CLASSIFICATION OF THE LANGUAGES OF CAMEROON AND EQUATORIAL GUINEA ON THE BASIS OF LEXICOSTATISTICS AND MUTUAL INTELLIGIBILITY S. Beban Chumbow University of Yaounde I Gratien G. Atindogbe University of Buea Engelbert Domche University of Dschang Dieudonne Martin Luther Bot University of Douala ABSTRACT This work clusters genetically related speech forms in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, and determines to which speech forms within these clusters are sufficiently and mutually intelligible to be grouped together in order to ease harmonization and standardization. The analysis of the linguistic situation in the two countries revealed that while clustering the speech forms on the basis of genetic relations via lexicostatistics has been quite fruitful, clustering on the basis of mutual intelligibility of at least 85% does not seem to significantly reduce the number of speech forms. Intelligibility surveys and testing have not been carried out in many of the clusters. However, it is important to continue the exercise in order to ascertain the exact situation. Key Words: Cameroon; Equatorial Guinea; Classification; Lexicostatistics; Genetic relation; mutual intelligibility. INTRODUCTION This work is carried out within the context of the project on “Harmonization and Standardization of African Languages” initiated by the Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society (CASAS), Cape Town, South Africa. The overall objective of the CASAS research project is “to cluster African speech forms into sets which display an 85% level of intercomprehension” as a first step to the development, based on the economics of scale, of large literate communi- ties. More specifically, CASAS is of the view that given evidence of a high level of mutual intelligibility between several speech forms, it should be possi- ble to harmonize the standardization of those languages, i.e. -
Against the Predp Theory of Small Clauses Ora Matushansky
Against the PredP Theory of Small Clauses Ora Matushansky Since Bowers 1993, it has been accepted that nonverbal small clauses are headed by a functional head, Pred0, whose function is to obligato- rily mediate all nonverbal predication. I argue against this hypothesis by critically reanalyzing the original syntactic arguments for PredP, examining possible semantic support for mediated predication, and reviewing the putative crosslinguistic evidence for overt equivalence of Pred0. I first demonstrate that the facts originally taken as motivating a functional head in small clauses can now be accounted for by inde- pendently needed assumptions. I then show that standard Montagovian semantics treating NPs, APs, and PPs as unsaturated functions requires no mediating projection and that suggested alternative meanings for Pred0 either fail or cannot be used as motivation for its existence. Finally, I provide evidence that the syntax of copular particles and other “overt predicators” is different from that expected of Pred0 in such ways that they cannot be taken as prima facie evidence for it either. I sketch an alternative theory linking the use of predicative particles to nominal predication and provide evidence for it from cross- linguistic lexicalization patterns of copular particles. In sum, neither theoretical nor empirical considerations require a mediating functional head in small clauses, and therefore the PredP hypothesis should be abandoned. Keywords: small clause, PredP, copular particles, predication, copulas 1 The Structure of the Small Clause: An Introduction Since Williams 1975 and Stowell 1981, 1983, it has been assumed that predication is possible in the absence of a verb in examples like (1a–c), but also those like (2a–b). -
The Emergence of Tense in Early Bantu
The Emergence of Tense in Early Bantu Derek Nurse Memorial University of Newfoundland “One can speculate that the perfective versus imperfective distinction was, historically, the fundamental distinction in the language, and that a complex tense system is in process of being superimposed on this basic aspectual distinction … there are many signs that the tense system is still evolving.” (Parker 1991: 185, talking of the Grassfields language Mundani). 1. Introduction 1.1. Purpose Examination of a set of non-Bantu Niger-Congo languages shows that most are aspect-prominent languages, that is, they either do not encode tense —the majority case— or, as the quotation indicates, there is reason to think that some have added tense to an original aspectual base. Comparative consideration of tense-aspect categories and morphology suggests that early and Proto-Niger-Congo were aspect-prominent. In contrast, all Bantu languages today encode both aspect and tense. The conclusion therefore is that, along with but independently of a few other Niger-Congo families, Bantu innovated tense at an early point in its development. While it has been known for some time that individual aspects turn into tenses, and not vice versa, it is being proposed here is that a whole aspect- based system added tense distinctions and become a tense-aspect system. 1.2. Definitions Readers will be familiar with the concept of tense. I follow Comrie’s (1985: 9) by now well known definition of tense: “Tense is grammaticalised expression of location in time”. That is, it is an inflectional category that locates a situation (action, state, event, process) relative to some other point in time, to a deictic centre. -
Morphological and Phonological Structure in Zulu Reduplication
University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2013 Morphological and Phonological Structure in Zulu Reduplication Toni Cook University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Linguistics Commons Recommended Citation Cook, Toni, "Morphological and Phonological Structure in Zulu Reduplication" (2013). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 745. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/745 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/745 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Morphological and Phonological Structure in Zulu Reduplication Abstract This dissertation provides an account of Zulu reduplication within the derivational framework of Distributed Morphology (DM). New Zulu data challenge the idea of reified domains like the D(erivational)- Stem and Macrostem as relevant constituents for reduplication (Downing 1997, Hyman, Inkelas, and Sibanda 2009). Instead, a crucial distinction is made between morphemes that fall within the scope of reduplication, and those that are outside of it. Reduplication is assumed to be an operation that copies segmental material to a bare disyllabic template, and only has indirect access to morphosyntactic structure through phonological operations. I claim that reduplication can take place as soon as the RED morpheme undergoes Vocabulary Insertion and Linearization, or at a later point in the derivation. Chapter 1 introduces the material, and chapter 2 presents an argument that the variation between the default Bantu verbal final vowel -a and the vowel from an extension suffix iselated r to the presence of two v heads in the structure. I show that the variation in the final owelv is absent with lexicalized causatives. -
Chapter 6 Third Person Pronouns in Grassfields Bantu Larry M
Chapter 6 Third person pronouns in Grassfields Bantu Larry M. Hyman University of California, Berkeley “In linguistic theory, the 3rd person has had bad luck.” (Pozdniakov n.d.: 5) In this paper I have two goals. First, I propose a reconstruction of the pronoun system of Grassfields Bantu, direct reflexes of which are found in Eastern Grass- fields, with a close look at the pronoun systems, as reflected across thisvaried group. Second, I document and seek the origin of innovative third person pro- nouns in Western Grassfields. While EGB languages have basic pronouns inall persons, both the Momo and Ring subgroups of WGB have innovated new third person (non-subject) pronouns from demonstratives or perhaps the noun ‘body’. However, these languages show evidence of the original third person pronouns which have been restricted to a logophoric function. I end with a comparison of the Grassfields pronouns with nearby Bantoid and Northwest Bantu languages as well as Proto-Bantu. 1 The problem While Eastern Grassfields Bantu, like Narrow Bantu, has an old and consistent paradigm of pronouns, Western Grassfields Bantu has innovated new third per- son forms, often keeping the original forms as logophoric pronouns. The major questions I address in this chapter are: (i) Where do these new third person pro- nouns come from? (ii) Why were they innovated? (iii) What is the relation, if any, Larry M. Hyman. Third person pronouns in Grassfields Bantu. In JohnR. Watters (ed.), East Benue-Congo: Nouns, pronouns, and verbs, 199–221. Berlin: Language Science Press. DOI:10.5281/zenodo.1314329 Larry M. Hyman to logophoricity? In the following sections I first briefly introduce the subgroup- ing of Grassfields Bantu that I will be assuming, then successively treat thirdper- son pronouns in the different subgroups: Eastern Grassfields, Ring Grassfields, and Momo Grassfields. -
The Origins of Kituba and Lingala.Pdf
Volume 12, Number 1 (1990/1991) September 1991 JOURNAL OF AFRICAN LANGUAGËS AND LINGUISTICS" Edited by Gerrit J. Dimmendaal CONTENTS WILLIAM J. SAMARIN, The origins of Kituba and Lingala 47 Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 12: 47—77 This paper is dedicated to the memoiy of Fr. Gustaaf Hulstaert, doyen of the linguistics of central equatorial Africa, who died at Bamanya, Zaire, on 12 February 1990, after having given his whole life not only to the people of Zaire, but also to the study of its history and languages. After his demise there was sent to me a copy of his work (1989) that is complementaiy to (and can in some places almost be inter-calated with) the present one. Independently, we came to believe that (1) there was no need for a lingua franca in the equatorial region of the Zaire River in the nineteenth centuiy, (2) foreign black workers were the first persons to contribute to the creation of Lingala, and (3) the basis of the new language was most importantly Lobangi. The Origins of Kituba and Lingala WILLIAM J. SAMARIN Considered here is the relationship between the nature of more-or-less pidginized Kituba and Lingala and their function as lingua francos in equatorial central Africa. It is argued that although they may have been preceded by widely known ethnic languages, it seems more probable that their pidginization and creation as lingua francos took place in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. JALL Vol. 12 (1990/1991) 47- 77, 0167 - 6164/90/91 12 - 47/$ 02.75 Copyright © by Walter de Gruyter, Berlin ore e 3 O zw g o 50 »M Z » Kl O o Z ore e 3 w zë g o00 c Kl 50 Z * w o o z v•po» 50 1.