The canar-yi in the coal mine

The loss of yi in Zulu reduplication

Bibliographic Data

ID7868645
AuthorsToni Cook (Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science , 2529 Pomona College , 185 E. 6th Street, Edmunds 213 , Claremont , CA 91711 , USA, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume46
Issue2
Pages267-291
Publication date2025-10-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of African Languages and Linguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0167-6164 • E-ISSN: 1613-3811
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/jall-2025-0006
OpenAlexW4412059842
LanguageEN
References cited38

This paper describes the loss of -yi- in Zulu reduplication and suggests a possible connection between the loss of -yi- and the potential for obsolescence of reduplication. The data presented are collected from 79 speakers, and clearly demonstrate the loss of -yi- is stratified along sociolinguistic lines. The absence of -yi- in reduplication is categorical among urban speakers, while it is beginning to be lost among younger rural speakers. Furthermore, some urban speakers are wholly unfamiliar with reduplication, exhibiting no knowledge of the process as a morphophonological phenomenon, nor with the semantic change it effects on the verb. While Zulu is far from being an endangered language, it is unsurprising that urban and rural varieties should show structural differences, and the phenomenon discussed here constitutes one such example

Linguistics · Reduplication · Zulu · History · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Philosophy

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