Revisiting isiZulu noun classes
A lexicalist approach
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21491014 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nhlanhla Mathonsi (0000-0001-7845-780X, University of KwaZulu-Natal, corresponding author), Maleshoane Rapeane-Mathonsi (0000-0002-6150-8188, Durban University of Technology) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 43 |
| Issue | sup1 |
| Pages | 327-333 |
| Publication date | 2023-09-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | South African Journal of African Languages (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0257-2117 • E-ISSN: 2305-1159 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/02572117.2023.2294652 |
| OpenAlex | W4392634268 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 9 |
This article seeks to question the lexical integrity (lexicality) of isiZulu noun classes. A noun is a lexical category, hence it would be expected that a noun classifier be a lexical or derivational affixal morpheme. We view noun classes as grammatical words or forms (noun phrases). We regard initial vowels of the existing isiZulu noun classes as the first layer of nominal inflection, as they repeat the vowel of the basic prefix. Since the ‘plural’ is generally considered an inflectional element, the conclusion we reach is that it cannot be used for noun classification either. Hence, the need to revisit the three systems of Bantu classification and reclassify the nouns according to singular basic prefixes
Languages of Africa · Linguistics · Noun · Noun phrase · History · Language Development and Disorders · Linguistic Studies and Language Acquisition · Natural Language Processing Techniques · Philosophy
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |