Browsing by Author "Mngadi, Nomusa Esther"

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    The adjective in isiZulu
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1999-12) Mngadi, Nomusa Esther; Du Plessis, J. A.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African Languages.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: This study deals with the syntax as well as the semantics of the adjective in isiZulu. The categories with the meaning of an adjective which may be used to modify a noun are identified. It is seen that the adjectival stems in isiZulu are very few. The need of the adjective is therefore also supplied by other categories such as the nominal relative, the copulative with na, the copulative with NP, the stative verb and the descriptive possessive. An overview is given in Chapter 2 of the views of earlier linguists such as Bhat, Dixon, Gross, Jones, Radford, Quirk, Doke, Du Plessis and Mabaso on the category: adjective. Dixon's prototypes are used in the classification of the semantic types of the above mentioned categories. The detailed account of the adjective, the nominal relative as well as the descriptive possessive is given. The semantic features and the distribution of these types in a phrase are looked at in depth. Nominal relatives have a descripting meaning like adjectives although they can be distinguished from adjectives in that they always have inflection and secondly a relative does not have a prescribed number of stems from which it can be formed but it can be formed by the use of stems from other categories such as Noun (N). Chapter 5 gives an exposition of the descriptive possessive. It is seen that noun phrases may appear as complements of nouns. The possessive [a] in descriptive possessive constructions has no possessive meaning, instead it has a descriptive meaning. This [a] can be treated in the same way as the English of.