Feb 26, 2007 i am doing a phonological research paper on the alternations between the class 9 morpheme im versus in and the class 10 morpheme izim versu class 9 and 10 example words dictionary forum. Loanword and acquisition evidence of semantic productivity 1. Except for class 1a which has a null prefix, nouns are composed of a noun prefix and a stem which may in turn be derived from other parts of speech. To get your score, simply click on the score exercise button and it will appear. A grammar of the bemba language as spoken in northeast rhodesia.
There are 16 classes of swahili nouns, each distinguished by the prefix that is attached to the stems of every noun in that classevery noun in a. A grammar of the bemba language as spoken in northeast rhodesia schoeffer. Class 9 and 10 example words class 9 and 10 example words. For a list of wiktionary entries for nouns in this class, see category. You will most commonly use these with nouns like shambani or nyumbani, or the locative demonstratives hapa, huko, kule, etc.
Wiesemann for providing the initial stimulus for writing this paper, to stephen c. The nouns of bantu origin are also quite diverse, designating among other things various kinds of. If you just want to look up words, there are free online dictionaries such as the one at. There are a significant number of human and animate nouns e. Swahili noun classes ultimate cheat sheet discover. Nearly all of these classes can be broken into singularplural pairs. It is a southern bantu language with typical bantu agglutinative morphology which includes a noun class system commanding agreement at the nominal, pronominal and verbal levels. Swahili nouns are, like those in other bantu languages, noted for a system of semantically based classing, which affects not only nouns but also their modifiers adjectives, numbers, demonstratives and verbs. Inspection of table 1 shows that noun class cannot be determined solely from the form of the noun. Swahili noun classes noun classes ngeli za kiswahili nouns in kiswahili are grouped into various noun classes because of two main reasons. Anderson for detailed comments, and to my wife for.
May 27, 20 every swahili noun belongs to a class, which determines how that noun modifies verbs, adjectives, and other grammatical entities. There are 16 classes of swahili nouns, each distinguished by the prefix that is attached to the stems of every noun in that classevery noun in a given class takes the same prefix. This is a swahili noun class cheat sheet, a brief summary of one of the hardest parts of swahili grammar and how to use them in building sentences. Click on the black start button to begin the exercise. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate noun class marker that is missing. However, for classes 5 and 910 an overt prefix occurs only in certain morphophonemic contexts. Noun class as number in swahili ellen continimorava. The noun class that a noun belongs to is indicated by a prefix. It is a southern bantu language with typical bantu agglutinative morphology which includes a nounclass system commanding agreement at the nominal, pronominal and verbal levels. A grammar of the bemba language as spoken in northeast. That is, speaking the first two words below would release a burst of air that would rustle a sheet of paper held in front of the speakers mouth.
First, noun classes tend to be realized as grammatical morphemes rather than independent lexical items. The nouns of bantu origin are also quite diverse, designating among other things various kinds of fruit, names of animals, and objects in everyday use. Swahili grammar for introductory and intermediate levels. Swahili, also known by its native name kiswahili, is a bantu language and the first language of the swahili people. It is a lingua franca of the african great lakes region and other parts of eastern and southeastern africa, including kenya, tanzania, uganda, rwanda, burundi, some parts of malawi, somalia, zambia, mozambique and the democratic republic of the congo drc. About half of the swahili noun classes are meaningful semantic groupsthe nouns within those classes all have a lot in common e. All the rules of prefixing n to a noun stem apply when creating such plurals. This class is also known as class ix in the singular and class x in the plural. To get your score, simply click on the score exercise. A simple cheat sheet for understanding the hardest part of swahili grammar swahili noun classes. Galatians sermons covenant united reformed church 247 church home group jessicaknows tajweed2005albaqara2 sunday sermons 2008 gaurav gera scandalism. It is used to refer to a wide variety of items, both animate and inanimate, including most names of animals and kinship terms.
Oswald almasi was born in tanzania and educated at the university of daressalaam. Nouns are divided somewhat arbitrarily between these classes, although a few of them contain nouns which mostly fall into clear categories. Noun classes ngeli za kiswahili nouns in kiswahili are grouped into various noun classes because of two main reasons. Each noun belongs to one of several noun classes and the knowledge of noun classes and their concords is pivotal to composing coherent sentences usually, the nouns class can be discerned by simply. Free shipping get free shipping free 58 day shipping within the. Kiswahilis vowel harmony there are 9 noun classes in kiswahili. Search our database of thousands of names, by selecting from a number of options. Aug 11, 2019 all the class object concords are the same as for the subject, except class 1 is m. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Zulu is the mother tongue of the zulu people, souths africa largest ethnic group, who created an empire in the 19th century.
Evidence includes differences in singularplural patterns and in. Apr 21, 2014 that is, speaking the first two words below would release a burst of air that would rustle a sheet of paper held in front of the speakers mouth. Dec 20, 2006 most swahili noun class prefixes are overt, e. Generally, initial p, t, and k of class 910 nominal are aspirated in contrast to initial p, t, and k of class 5 nominal.
Michael david fallon graduated from the university of toronto as an african studies. For example, all class 1 nouns are humans and verbal agents, most class 1a nouns are proper names and kinship terms, etc. Parents have the choice of having children taught aboriginal languages or german for lote and at this stage there are 8 students who identify as aboriginal studying german in a class of 25 year 78 students. He has been an educator for more than 40 years, in the last 17 years as a professor of swahili at the university of toronto and also at york university since 2005. Certain of the blanks may not require an overt noun class marker and should be left blank. This dictionary doesnt tell you the noun classes of nouns, which is a severe shortcoming.
Each noun class has both a singular and a plural form, to make 18 total. Studies in african linguistics 12, number 3, pronouns in. This is the first year that aboriginal languages has been taught at walgett high as a lote subject. Introduction bantu noun class systems can be roughly characterized in the following typological terms. Even though the demonstratives hapa or hapo actually refer to noun class 16, swahili speakers almost always use the noun class 17 prefix to form possessives and associatives for them. Two other ways of expressing this exist, using the suffix eni with either the secondperson singular or the secondperson plural object concord.
Just as gender accord is required in many indoeuropean languages e. I am doing a phonological research paper on the alternations between the class 9 morpheme im versus in and the class 10 morpheme izim versu dictionary forum. Classes 9 10 have the largest number of foreign words of any noun class in swahili, thus making the total vocabulary very large and very diverse as to content. Every swahili noun belongs to a class, which determines how that noun modifies verbs, adjectives, and other grammatical entities. However, this is the other class, for words which dont fit in well elsewhere, and about half of the class 910 nouns are foreign loanwords. Full text of an englishnyanja dictionary of the nyanja.
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