Nominal marking in Northern Tshwa (Kalahari Khoe)
Date
2017
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch University, Department of Linguistics
Abstract
Languages of the Khoe family have a complex pronominal system that distinguishes three categories each for person, gender, and number. However, while languages of the Khoekhoe branch and the western subgroup of Kalahari Khoe obligatorily or optionally mark nouns and nominal classifiers for gender and number, the nominal marking system in eastern Kalahari Khoe appears to be undergoing serious reduction. This article discusses data on personal pronouns and nominal gender-number marking in four little-known Northern Tshwa varieties, including data from Tjwao, a severely endangered language spoken by fewer than ten individuals in western Zimbabwe. We analyse personal pronoun use, case distinctions and nominal marking, focussing on characterising features and commonalities shared across the cluster. Our findings show a high degree of uniformity within Northern Tshwa, and at the same time suggest a more complex nominal marking system than was previously assumed for varieties of the Eastern Kalahari Khoe subgroup.
Description
CITATION: Fehn, A. M. & Phiri, A. 2017. Nominal marking in Northern Tshwa (Kalahari Khoe). Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics, 48:105-122, doi:10.5774/48-0-284.
The original publication is available at http://spil.journals.ac.za
The original publication is available at http://spil.journals.ac.za
Keywords
Khoisan languages -- Nominals, Linguistics -- Africa, Southern, Africa, Southern -- Languages, Tso language -- Grammar, Grammar, Comparative and general -- Nominals, Grammar, Comparative and general -- Person, Grammar, Comparative and general -- Morphology
Citation
Fehn, A. M. & Phiri, A. 2017. Nominal marking in Northern Tshwa (Kalahari Khoe). Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics, 48:105-122, doi:10.5774/48-0-284