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Sotho Grammar
This article presents a brief overview of the grammar of the Sesotho and provides links to more detailed articles. Typology The Sesotho language may be described in several ways depending on the aspect being considered. *It is an agglutinative language. It constructs whole words by joining discrete roots and morphemes with specific meanings, and may also modify words by similar processes. *Its basic word order is SVO. However, because the verb is marked with the subject and sometimes the object, this order may be changed to emphasise certain parts of the predicate. *It is a tonal language; more specifically, a complex grammatical tone language. See Sotho tonology. *It has no grammatical case marking on the noun. Nominal roles are indicated by a combination of word order and agreement markers on the verb, with no change to the nouns themselves. *It has a complex grammatical gender system, but this does not include natural gender. See Sotho nouns. *It has head-first order, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rules, a subject that includes phonology, morphology (linguistics), morphology, and syntax, together with phonetics, semantics, and pragmatics. There are, broadly speaking, two different ways to study grammar: traditional grammar and #Theoretical frameworks, theoretical grammar. Fluency in a particular language variety involves a speaker internalizing these rules, many or most of which are language acquisition, acquired by observing other speakers, as opposed to intentional study or language teaching, instruction. Much of this internalization occurs during early childhood; learning a language later in life usually involves more direct instruction. The term ''grammar'' can also describe the linguistic behaviour of groups of speakers and writer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ubuntu (ideology)
Ubuntu (; meaning in some Bantu languages, such as Zulu) describes a set of closely related Bantu African-origin value systems that emphasize the interconnectedness of individuals with their surrounding societal and physical worlds. "Ubuntu" is sometimes translated as "I am because we are" (also "I am because you are"), or "humanity towards others" ( Zulu '). In Xhosa, the latter term is used, but is often meant in a more philosophical sense to mean "the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity". Different names in other Bantu languages Although the most popular term referring to the philosophy today is "ubuntu" (Zulu language, South Africa), the philosophy is believed to stretch back to the beginning of proto-Bantu language and has many other names in other Bantu languages. Definitions There are various definitions of the word "Ubuntu". The most recent definition was provided by the ''African Journal of Social Work'' (''AJSW''). The journal defined ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penult
''Penult'' is a linguistics term for the second-to-last syllable of a word. It is an abbreviation of ''penultimate'', which describes the next-to-last item in a series. The penult follows the antepenult and precedes the ultima. For example, the main stress falls on the penult in such English words as ''banána'', and ''Mississíppi'', and just about all words ending in ''-ic'' such as ''músic'', ''frántic'', and ''phonétic''. Occasionally, "penult" refers to the last word but one of a sentence. The terms are often used in reference to languages like Latin and Ancient Greek, whose position of the pitch accent or stress of a word falls only on one of the last three syllables, and sometimes in discussing poetic meter. In certain languages, such as Welsh and Polish, stress is always on the penult. in the World A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enclitic
In morphology and syntax, a clitic ( , backformed from Greek "leaning" or "enclitic"Crystal, David. ''A First Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics''. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1980. Print.) is a morpheme that has syntactic characteristics of a word, but depends phonologically on another word or phrase. In this sense, it is syntactically independent but phonologically dependent—always attached to a host.SIL International (2003). SIL Glossary of Linguistic Terms: What is a clitic? "This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003." Retrieved from . A clitic is pronounced like an affix, but plays a syntactic role at the phrase level. In other words, clitics have the ''form'' of affixes, but the distribution of function words. Clitics can belong to any grammatical category, although they are commonly pronouns, determiners, or adpositions. Note that orthography is not always a good guide for distinguishing clitics ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sotho Deficient Verbs
In the Sotho language, the deficient verbs are a special subset of Sesotho verbs that require a subordinate or complementary verb to complete their action, and which are used to form many tenses and to impart certain shades of meaning to the Predicate (grammar), predicate. These verbs form part of ''multi-verbal conjugations'' comprising a string of verbs (each with its own Sesotho concords#con subjectival, subjectival concord) and Sesotho grammar#gf verbal auxiliary, verbal auxiliaries. Deficient verbs, being "deficient", are never used alone. Many of them are irregular in form and have irregular inflexions. Many of these verbs seem radical in nature, while others (especially those with complex implications) are obviously derived from certain extant normal verbs (but are used with slightly different meanings). What distinguishes the deficient usage of these normal verbs is the fact that they are followed by another verb and affect its meaning (and only the main verb may carry an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
