Notes:
|
Bantu languages are often said to have sentences which are "centred around the noun" due to the striking nature of the noun concordance system. In Sesotho, pronouns, verbs, copulatives, adjectives, relatives, enumeratives, and possessives all need to agree with the noun(s) associated with them.
Except for class 1a (which has a "null prefix"), nouns are composed of a noun prefix[1] and a stem (which may in turn be derived from other parts of speech; see below under Derivation). 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 noun's class can be discerned by simply looking for the prefix, but there are many instances where this can become very complicated:
pronounced as /[mʊ]/ Sotho, Southern: mo + pronounced as /[ɑnɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -ana → pronounced as /[ŋʷɑnɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: ngwana ('child' c.f. Swahili Swahili: mwana; Proto-Bantu *-jana)
pronounced as /[bʊ]/ Sotho, Southern: bo + pronounced as /[ɑŋ̩]/ Sotho, Southern: -ang → pronounced as /[ʒʷɑŋ̩]/ Sotho, Southern: jwang ('grass' c.f. Proto-Bantu *-janî)
pronounced as /[busɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -busa ('govern') → pronounced as /[m̩musɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: mmuso ('government')
There are further complications caused by stems that begin with vowels when the vowels interact causing the quality and tone of the prefix vowel to change (this never happens if the stem comes from a vowel verb); in these cases it is often simply a matter of memorising the correct class and plural for each individual word.
Noun stems can range in length from monosyllabic as in pronounced as /[mʊtʰʊ]/ Sotho, Southern: motho ('person'), to very long stems formed either by duplication (e.g. pronounced as /[xodumodumo]/ Sotho, Southern: kgodumodumo ('great and fearsome thing', the swallowing monster) or derived from long and complex verbs, such as the seven-syllable pronounced as /[pʰupʼɑʀʊl̩lɛlɑnɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: phuparollelano ('the act of mutual giving and receiving'), derived from a verb which is in turn idiomatically and recursively and comes through four distinct steps - derived from the verb pronounced as /[fupʼɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: fupara ('to close one's hand suddenly').
Sesotho, like all other Bantu languages, uses a set of "noun classes" and each noun belongs to one of the classes. The noun class that a noun belongs to is indicated by a prefix.[2]
Nouns are divided somewhat arbitrarily between these classes, although a few of them contain nouns which mostly fall into clear categories. For example, all class 1 nouns are humans and verbal agents, most class 1a nouns are proper names and kinship terms, etc.
The noun classes and their respective prefixes are as follows:
| Prefix | Spelling | Example(s) | Notes | |
| 1. | pronounced as /[mʊ]/ | Sotho, Southern: mo- | pronounced as /[mʊtʰʊ]/ Sotho, Southern: motho ('person') | human nouns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2. | pronounced as /[bɑ]/ | Sotho, Southern: ba- | pronounced as /[bɑtʰʊ]/ Sotho, Southern: batho ('people') | |
| 1a. | - | pronounced as /[n̩tʼɑtʼe]/ Sotho, Southern: ntate ('father') | mostly human nouns including nouns of kinship. The Sotho, Southern: bo- is high tone | |
| 2a. | pronounced as /[bo]/ | Sotho, Southern: bo- | pronounced as /[bon̩tʼɑtʼe]/ Sotho, Southern: bontate ('fathers') | |
| 3. | pronounced as /[mʊ]/ | Sotho, Southern: mo- | pronounced as /[mʊnʷɑnɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: monwana ('finger') | mostly non-human nouns |
| 4. | pronounced as /[mɪ]/ | Sotho, Southern: me- | pronounced as /[mɪnʷɑnɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: menwana ('fingers') | |
| 5. | pronounced as /[lɪ]/ | Sotho, Southern: le- | pronounced as /[lɪt͡sʼɑt͡sʼi]/ Sotho, Southern: letsatsi ('day') | both human and non-human |
| 6. | pronounced as /[mɑ]/ | Sotho, Southern: ma- | pronounced as /[mɑt͡sʼɑt͡sʼi]/ Sotho, Southern: matsatsi ('days') | |
| 7. | pronounced as /[sɪ]/ | Sotho, Southern: se- | pronounced as /[siˌpʰiʀi]/ Sotho, Southern: sephiri ('secret') | human and non-human |
| 8. | pronounced as /[di]/ | Sotho, Southern: di- | pronounced as /[dipʰiʀi]/ Sotho, Southern: diphiri ('secrets') | |
| 9. | [N]- | (variable) | pronounced as /[n̩tʰɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: ntho ('thing') | miscellaneous |
| pronounced as /[tʰɑpʼɛlɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: thapelo ('prayer') | ||||
| 10. | pronounced as /[di]/ | di[N]- | pronounced as /[din̩tʰɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: dintho ('things') | |
| pronounced as /[ditʰɑpʼɛlɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: dithapelo ('prayers') | ||||
| 14. | pronounced as /[bʊ]/ | Sotho, Southern: bo- | pronounced as /[bʊhɔbɛ]/ Sotho, Southern: bohobe ('bread') | abstract nouns belong here, therefore most class 14 words have no plural |
| pronounced as /[bʊbɪ]/ Sotho, Southern: bobe ('ugliness') | ||||
| 15. | pronounced as /[hʊ]/ | Sotho, Southern: ho- | pronounced as /[hʊt͡sʼɑmɑjɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: ho tsamaya ('to go') | infinitives and gerunds belong here |
| 16. | pronounced as /[fɑ]/ | Sotho, Southern: fa- | pronounced as /[fɑt͡sʰɪ]/ Sotho, Southern: fatshe ('down') | this is the only word in this class |
| 17. | pronounced as /[hʊ]/ | Sotho, Southern: ho- | pronounced as /[hʊlɛ]/ Sotho, Southern: hole ('far away') | |
| pronounced as /[hʊsɑnɪ]/ Sotho, Southern: hosane ('tomorrow') | ||||
| 18. | pronounced as /[mʊ]/ | Sotho, Southern: mo- | pronounced as /[moʀɑhʊ]/ Sotho, Southern: moraho ('behind') | |
| pronounced as /[mʊse]/ Sotho, Southern: mose ('overseas') | ||||
Notes:
Each basic noun in Sesotho has an inherent prefix (even if that prefix is a null prefix: segmentally empty). The speaker's mental lexicon includes the entire word, including the class prefix, which is usually enough to determine the class and therefore the concords as well.
pronounced as /[sɪfɑtʼɛ]/ Sotho, Southern: sefate ('tree') has prefix pronounced as /[sɪ]/ Sotho, Southern: se-, which is of class 7, therefore its plural must be pronounced as /[difɑtʼɛ]/ Sotho, Southern: difate
Up until class 10, the plural class for class n is class n + 1 (where n is odd).[3] Most languages have these first ten classes, though there are many where some of the classes 1 to 10 are missing.
Though class membership is ultimately determined by morphology (the class prefix and the noun's concords) and not semantics, it is obvious from comparing the class contents of various languages that there are some tentative semantic trends. The strongest trend (which is basically a rule) is that all class 1 nouns are human, and non-human nouns that begin with the Sotho, Southern: mo- prefix are therefore in class 3 (in fact, there are no human class 3 nouns in Sesotho). In many other languages, however, class 1 contains "animate" nouns, and may therefore also contain some non-human nouns.
pronounced as /[mʊt͡sʼʷɑl̩lɛ]/ Sotho, Southern: Motswalle ('friend'), in class 1, has an irregular plural in class 4 - pronounced as /[mɪt͡sʼʷɑl̩lɛ]/ Sotho, Southern: metswalle. Also, pronounced as /[mʊʀɛnɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: morena ('king'), has a plural in class 6. Many class 1 words have a tendency of misbehaving, but we know that they belong to class 1 because of their concords. Quite a substantial number of class 1 words have their plurals in class 6.
All these irregularities with the plurals naturally lead to a system where each class is treated as a separate gender, instead of alternatives where the first twelve classes are grouped into six genders.
Often, when the prefix of a noun whose stem begins with a vowel (and is not derived from a vowel verb stem) is obscured by various phonological processes, prefix compounding may occur (instead of the usual prefix substitution) when forming plurals, or even in the singular itself. Some words may even end up in a different class
pronounced as /[ʒʷɑŋ̩]/ Sotho, Southern: jwang ('grass') in class 14 is often heard as pronounced as /[bʊʒʷɑŋ̩]/ Sotho, Southern: bojwang and has plural pronounced as /[mɑʒʷɑŋ̩]/ Sotho, Southern: majwang, both instances of prefix compounding since the Sotho, Southern: jwa- is the palatalized class 14 prefix Sotho, Southern: bo-.
pronounced as /[ŋʷet͡sʼi]/ Sotho, Southern: ngwetsi ('daughter-in-law') was originally a class 1 word, whose prefix is velarized and is now treated as a class 9 noun with plural pronounced as /[diŋʷet͡sʼi]/ Sotho, Southern: dingwetsi. In Setswana, however, it is still treated as a class 1 noun with plural Sotho, Southern: betsi
In idiomatic speech, the Sotho, Southern: le- of class 5, the Sotho, Southern: se- of class 7, and the Sotho, Southern: di- of classes 8 and 10 are sometimes not rendered when the noun is followed by the appropriate concords.[4] Some historical words, such as pronounced as /[liˌt͡sʼi'e]/ Sotho, Southern: [[Letsie III of Lesotho|letsie]] ('locust'), have completely lost their singular prefixes (and, in the case of pronounced as /[t͡sʼi'e]/ Sotho, Southern: tsie, ended up in class 9). Others, such as pronounced as /[lɪlɑpʼɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: lelapa ('family') are often rendered without the prefix even when not followed by any prefixes ("at my/the home" is always pronounced as /[lɑpʼeŋ̩]/ Sotho, Southern: lapeng). The class 5 noun pronounced as /[isɑ'ʊ]/ Sotho, Southern: isao ('next year') has completely lost its prefix, and has plural pronounced as /[mɑ'isɑ'ʊ]/ Sotho, Southern: maisao.
What follows is a brief outline of the contents and functionings of the various classes.----Class 1 (the "animate/human" class[5]) contains most human nouns and is the default class for verbal agents (actors), which end in the vowel (i).[6]
The class prefix is Sotho, Southern: mo- and comes from original Proto-Bantu *mu-. In standard Sesotho, the prefix appears as Sotho, Southern: mm- before stems beginning with Sotho, Southern: b.
pronounced as /[mʊɬɑn̩kʼɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: mohlanka ('servant')
pronounced as /[mʊʀɛnɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: morena ('king')
pronounced as /[mʊt͡sʼʷɑl̩lɛ]/ Sotho, Southern: motswalle ('friend')
pronounced as /[lekʼʊlɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -lekola ('investigate') → pronounced as /[mʊlekʼuˌdi]/ Sotho, Southern: molekodi ('investigator')
pronounced as /[bu'ɛlɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -buella ('speak on behalf of') → pronounced as /[m̩mu'el̩li]/ Sotho, Southern: mmuelli ('advocate')----Class 1a (the "kin" class) has exactly the same concords as class 1, but differs from it in the lack of prefix. It contains proper names of people, kinship terms, as well as the names of some animals and plants.
The proper names and kinship terms generally have miscellaneous forms, but the names of animals, plants (possibly personifications), and some humans in this class begin with a Sotho, Southern: mma- or Sotho, Southern: ma- prefix.
Names of mothers, fathers, married women and men (in a system of pronounced as /[hʊɬɔnɪpʰɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: ho hlonepha prohibiting the use of nouns sounding like the names of certain family members), and initiated boys and girls may be formed from other nouns and proper names with the prefixes Sotho, Southern: mma- (or just Sotho, Southern: ma-) and Sotho, Southern: ra- meaning "mother of" and "father of" respectively (though initiates often get prefixes of the opposite sex, Sotho, Southern: ma- for boys and Sotho, Southern: ra- for girls).
pronounced as /[mɑlʊmɛ]/ Sotho, Southern: malome ('elder uncle' literally "male mother" - the only Sesotho instance of the Bantu male suffix *-dume)
pronounced as /[ʀɑtʼɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -rata ('desire') → pronounced as /[tʰɑtʼɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: thato will (of God) (class 9) → pronounced as /[tʰɑtʼɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: Thato (proper name)
pronounced as /[tʰɑtʼɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: Thato (proper name) → pronounced as /[m̩mɑtʰɑtʼɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: Mmathato Thato's mother, and pronounced as /[ʀɑtʰɑtʼɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: Rathato ('Thato's father')
pronounced as /[m̩mɑmʊlɑŋʷɑnɪ]/ Sotho, Southern: mmamolangwane (' secretary bird ')----Class 2 is the plural class for class 1. There are, however, many class 1 nouns which have their plural in class 6 instead.
The class prefix is Sotho, Southern: ba- and comes from original Proto-Bantu *ba-.
pronounced as /[bɑɬɑn̩kʼɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: bahlanka ('servants')----Class 2a is the plural class for class 1a. When used with human nouns it sometimes has the meaning of "X and them" or "the people/followers/kin of X." It uses exactly the same concords as class 2.
The class prefix is a high tone Sotho, Southern: bo- and comes from original Proto-Bantu *bo-.
pronounced as /[bom̩mɑtʰɑtʼɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: Bo-Mmathato ('Mmathato and them')
pronounced as /[bom̩mɑmʊlɑŋʷɑnɪ]/ Sotho, Southern: bommamolangwane ('secretary birds')
In informal speech, the "X and them" meaning is often extended, with the prefix being compounded upon nouns in other classes to create words meaning "X and such."
pronounced as /[dibɑtʼɑkʼiˌdipʰɔ'ɔfɔlɔt͡sʼet͡sʼʷɑnɑŋ̩lɪboditʼɑ'ulebomɑŋɑ'uʒʷɑloʒʷɑlo]/ Sotho, Southern: dibata ke diphoofolo tse tshwanang le bo-ditau le bo-mangau, jwalo-jwalo ('predators are animals such as lions and cheetahs and such, et cetera')----Class 3 (the "tree" class) has miscellaneous content. Some nouns in this class also come from verbs, but are non-personal and usually end in the vowel (o).
The class prefix is exactly the same as that of class 1, but the two classes use different concords. Like class 1 the prefix appears as Sotho, Southern: mm- before stems beginning with (b) in standard Sesotho.
pronounced as /[muˌʀu]/ Sotho, Southern: moru ('forest')
pronounced as /[dumɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -duma ('resound') → pronounced as /[muˌdumɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: modumo ('noise')
pronounced as /[m̩mɑlɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: mmala ('colour') stem pronounced as /[bɑlɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -bala)----Class 4 contains the plurals of class 3 nouns.
The class prefix is Sotho, Southern: me- and comes from original Proto-Bantu *mi-.
pronounced as /[mɪbɑlɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: mebala ('colours')----Class 5 (the "natural phenomena" class) is very homogeneous in content. It has many terms of body parts which appear in pairs, natural phenomena, and certain special classes of people.
The class prefix is Sotho, Southern: le- and comes from original Proto-Bantu *di- as well as Proto-Bantu *du- (class 11, the "long-thin" class).
pronounced as /[liˌfubɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: lefuba ('tuberculosis')
pronounced as /[xɛtʰɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -kgetha ('choose') → pronounced as /[lɪxɛtʰɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: lekgetho ('election')
pronounced as /[lɪ'ʊtʼʊ]/ Sotho, Southern: leoto ('leg')
pronounced as /[lɪɬɑkʼɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: lehlaka ('reed') originally from class 11----Class 6 (the "liquid masses" class) contains the plurals of class 5 nouns as well as the plurals of many class 1 nouns, class 9 nouns ("quantitive plurals"), and all class 14 nouns which may assume plurals. It also contains the names of some liquids which only appear in the plural.
The class prefix is Sotho, Southern: ma- and comes from original Proto-Bantu *ma-.
pronounced as /[mɑ'ʊtʼʊ]/ Sotho, Southern: maoto ('legs')
pronounced as /[mɑdi]/ Sotho, Southern: madi ('blood')
pronounced as /[mɑxomʊ]/ Sotho, Southern: makgomo ('herds of cattle') quantitative plural of class 9 pronounced as /[xomʊ]/ Sotho, Southern: kgomo
pronounced as /[mɑʀɛnɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: marena ('kings') plural of class 1 pronounced as /[mʊʀɛnɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: morena
pronounced as /[mɑhɑdi]/ Sotho, Southern: mahadi ('lobolo') plural of class 14 pronounced as /[bʊhɑdi]/ Sotho, Southern: bohadi----Class 7 (the "special quality" class) is fairly homogeneous in content and also contains the names of the languages or cultures of various societies. This class also contains many abstract nouns derived from nouns in other classes.
The class prefix is Sotho, Southern: se- and comes from original Proto-Bantu *ki-.
pronounced as /[sɪfofu]/ Sotho, Southern: sefofu ('blind person')
pronounced as /[sɪfɑtʼɛ]/ Sotho, Southern: sefate ('tree')
pronounced as /[sɪfʊʀɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: Sefora ('French')
pronounced as /[sɪt͡sʼʷɑl̩lɛ]/ Sotho, Southern: setswalle ('friendship') abstract noun from class 1 pronounced as /[mʊt͡sʼʷɑl̩lɛ]/ Sotho, Southern: motswalle----Class 8 contains the plurals of class 7 nouns. Note that language and culture names, as well as abstract nouns, do not have plurals.
The class prefix is Sotho, Southern: di- (without nasalization) and comes from original Proto-Bantu *bî-.
pronounced as /[difɑtʼɛ]/ Sotho, Southern: difate ('trees')----Class 9 (the "inanimate/animal" class) is rather miscellaneous in content. Most foreign acquisitions end up here (it is the "default class"[7]).
The class prefix is [N]- and comes from either original Proto-Bantu *N- or *ni-. Note that for almost all nouns with stems of two or more syllables the syllabic nasal does not appear but the stem is still nasalized.
pronounced as /[n̩t͡sʰi]/ Sotho, Southern: ntshi ('eyelash')
pronounced as /[binɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -bina ('sing → pronounced as /[pʼinɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: pina ('song')
pronounced as /[xomʊ]/ Sotho, Southern: kgomo ('cow')
pronounced as /[n̩nɪtʼɪ]/ Sotho, Southern: nnete ('truth') the nasal is retained though the stem is two syllables long
pronounced as /[m̩pʼɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: mpa ('stomach') the high tone syllabic pronounced as //m// suggests that it's not part of the prefix, but rather part of the stem
This class also contains a curious set of nouns formed by the action of a class 1, 3, or 18 prefix losing its vowel and thus becoming a syllabic nasal. However, since this process often happens when constructing first names of people, the resulting noun then appears in class 1a.
pronounced as /[si'uwɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -siuwa ('be left behind') → pronounced as /[muˌsi'uwɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: mosiuwa (class 1) ('the one left behind') → pronounced as /[n̩t͡sʰi'uwɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: ntshiuwa (class 9) → pronounced as /[n̩t͡sʰi'uwɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: ntshiuwa (class 1a) ('the one left behind [due to being born shortly after a relative's death]')
pronounced as /[huˌsuɲɑhɑʀɪ]/ Sotho, Southern: ho sunya hare ('to forcefully insert') → pronounced as /[n̩t͡sʰuɲɑxɑʀɪ]/ Sotho, Southern: ntshunyakgare (compound class 9 noun) ('intruder')
pronounced as /[mʊʀɑ'ʊ]/ Sotho, Southern: morao (class 18) ('behind') → pronounced as /[n̩tʰɑ'ʊ]/ Sotho, Southern: nthao (quaint or technical way of saying 'behind')
When deriving non-personal nouns from monosyllabic verb stems, two strategies may be used. The first form creates objects, and simply nasalizes the verb stem, replaces the final vowel with (o), and affixes the syllabic nasal. The second strategy is much less common and creates nouns indicating actions by first replacing the final vowel with pronounced as /[ɪ'ɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: -eo before applying the nasalization.
pronounced as /[fɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -fa ('give') → pronounced as /[m̩pʰɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: mpho ('gift')
pronounced as /[ʒɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -ja ('eat') → pronounced as /[t͡ʃʼɪ'ɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: tjeo ('expense')
For non-monosyllabic stems the meaning obtained by replacing the final vowel with (o) and applying nasalization is generally only that of the action.
pronounced as /[lɪbɛl̩lɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -lebella ('expect') → pronounced as /[tʼɪbɛl̩lɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: tebello ('expectation')----Class 10 contains the plurals of class 9 nouns as well as the plurals of some class 5 nouns (from Proto-Bantu class 11).
The prefix is formed by adding Sotho, Southern: di- to the full class 9 noun or adding di[N]- to the class 5 noun stem. Since the noun is formed by modifying the already modified class 9 stem (with the addition of Proto-Bantu prefix *dî-) this class is sometimes called 9a instead.
pronounced as /[din̩t͡sʰi]/ Sotho, Southern: dintshi ('eyelashes')
pronounced as /[dipʼinɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: dipina ('songs')
pronounced as /[dit͡ɬʰɑkʼɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: ditlhaka (musical instrument made from reeds) plural of class 5 pronounced as /[lɪɬɑkʼɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: lehlaka----Class 14 is the default class for abstract nouns, but it also contains some non-abstract nouns. Abstract nouns may be regularly formed from other nouns and from certain qualificatives (adjectives, relatives, and enumeratives). This class also contains many nouns which may be used as relatives (though nominal relatives do exist in almost all the noun classes).
The class prefix is Sotho, Southern: bo- and comes from original Proto-Bantu *bu-.
pronounced as /[buˌdutʼu]/ Sotho, Southern: bodutu ('loneliness')
pronounced as /[bʊʀɛnɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: borena ('state of being a king') from the class 1 noun pronounced as /[mʊʀɛnɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: morena
pronounced as /[bɪ]/ Sotho, Southern: -be ('ugly') → pronounced as /[bʊbɪ]/ Sotho, Southern: bobe ('ugliness')
pronounced as /[bʊɬʊkʼʊ]/ Sotho, Southern: bohloko ('pain')
pronounced as /[bʊhɑdi]/ Sotho, Southern: bohadi ('lobolo' non-abstract)----Class 15 exclusively contains verb infinitives and gerunds.[8] These may be used syntactically as normal nouns with abstract meanings. Like English gerunds and infinitives, they may take direct objects and be inflected as other verbs, but they cannot be predicates (they do not complete a sentence like verbs and copulatives).
The class prefix is Sotho, Southern: ho- and comes from original Proto-Bantu *ku-. This is prefixed to the verbal complex without the subjectival concord or certain verbal auxiliary infixes. Infinitives denoting a negative meaning are formed by inserting an infix[9] Sotho, Southern: -se- after the prefix and changing the final vowel to (e).
pronounced as /[t͡sʼʊfɑlɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -tsofala ('grow old') → pronounced as /[hʊt͡sʼʊfɑlɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: ho tsofala ('to grow old') → pronounced as /[hʊsɪt͡sʼʊfɑlɪ]/ Sotho, Southern: ho se tsofale ('to not grow old')
pronounced as /[bɔnɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -bona ('see') → pronounced as /[hʊm̩mɔnɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: ho mmona ('to see her') → pronounced as /[hʊm̩mɔnɑmʊlɑtʼʊ]/ Sotho, Southern: ho mmona molato ('to find her guilty' literally, 'to see her guilt'; this idiom preserves the archaic meaning "find" of pronounced as /[bɔnɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -bona, which is still present in Setswana)----Class 16 in Sesotho is a locative class containing only one member - pronounced as /[fɑt͡sʰɪ]/ Sotho, Southern: fatshe ('down') (Proto-Bantu *pa-ci, plus an irregular nasalization of the stem; it appears as the unnasalized Sotho, Southern: fase in Setswana) - used almost exclusively as an adverb. In many other Bantu languages, including Setswana,[10] this class is productive, but this is no longer the case in Sesotho.
The class prefix is Sotho, Southern: fa-[11] and comes from original Proto-Bantu *pa- (denoting near positions). It uses exactly the same concords as those of class 15.
Note that the class 5 noun pronounced as /[lɪfɑt͡sʰɪ]/ Sotho, Southern: lefatshe ('earth') is formed from this noun through prefix compounding.
----Class 17 is a locative class containing few actual nouns (which are often used as adverbs). In many other Bantu languages, including Setswana, this class is productive, but this is no longer the case in Sesotho.
The class prefix is Sotho, Southern: ho- and comes from original Proto-Bantu *ku- (denoting remote positions). It uses exactly the same concords as those of class 15.
The class 5 noun pronounced as /[lɪhuˌdimʊ]/ Sotho, Southern: lehodimo ('heaven') is formed from one of the nouns in this class (pronounced as /[huˌdimʊ]/ Sotho, Southern: hodimo 'above') through prefix compounding.
pronounced as /[hʊsɑnɪ]/ Sotho, Southern: hosane ('tomorrow')
pronounced as /[hʊlɛ]/ Sotho, Southern: hole ('far away')[12] ----Class 18 is a locative class containing a limited number of nouns (which are often used as adverbs). In many other Bantu languages, including Setswana, this class is productive, but this is no longer the case in Sesotho.
The class prefix is Sotho, Southern: mo- and comes from Proto-Bantu *mu- (denoting close or internal positions). It is distinguished from other Sotho, Southern: mo- classes (1 and 3) by its concords (it uses exactly the same concords as those of class 15).
pronounced as /[mʊse]/ Sotho, Southern: mose ('overseas') this is a contraction of pronounced as /[mʊsehʊlɪwɑt͡ɬʼɛ]/ Sotho, Southern: mose ho lewatle ('on the other side of the sea') an instance of the adverbial use
The Sesotho locative adverbs of place are the demonstrative pronouns of this class. Note that in this case the pronouns correspond to a Sotho, Southern: mo- class prefix, instead of the class 15 concords which this class usually uses.
See main article: Sesotho concords. Every part of speech in Sesotho which is somehow connected with a noun (either by qualifying it, associating it with an action or state, or standing in its place in an utterance) needs to be brought into agreement with the noun. This is done by a set of concords whose forms loosely resemble the noun prefixes. The concords are attached to the front of the parts of speech and result in utterances which sound mildly alliterative.
See main article: Sesotho tonology. Except for class 2a, the prefixes of the non-locative classes are null ("low") toned, while the set of possible tone patterns for the stem is large and obviously dependent on its length.
When certain high toned formatives (the conjunctive le-, the locative ho-, the possessive concord, and the subjectival concord for noun classes when forming positive copulatives) are prefixed to a noun with tonal pattern [''' _ _ '''] for the first two syllables including the noun prefix, the noun prefix's tone becomes high giving pattern [''' ¯ ¯ _ ''']. This does not happen if the second syllable of the noun is high. With monosyllabic stems the tone of the stem is raised as well.
pronounced as /[mʊʀɛnɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: morena [''' _ _ _ '''] ('king') → pronounced as /[wɑmʊʀɛnɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: wa morena [''' ¯ ¯ _ _ '''] of (class 1 or 3 possessive concord) ('the king'), pronounced as /[lɪmʊʀɛnɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: le morena [''' ¯ ¯ _ _ '''] ('and the king')
pronounced as /[mʊt͡sʼɪ]/ Sotho, Southern: motse [''' _ _ '''] ('village') → pronounced as /[hʊmʊt͡sʼɪ]/ Sotho, Southern: ho motse [''' ¯ ¯ ¯ '''] ('to the village')
In the Bantu languages, nouns form an open class with new nouns regularly and actively being created from nouns and other parts of speech through predictable methods.
Many nouns can be derived from other nouns, usually through the use of suffixes.
pronounced as /[mʊsɑdi]/ Sotho, Southern: mosadi ('woman') → pronounced as /[bʊsɑdi]/ Sotho, Southern: bosadi ('femininity')
pronounced as /[tʰebe]/ Sotho, Southern: thebe *('shield') → pronounced as /[tʰeʒɑnɪ]/ Sotho, Southern: thejane ('small shield')
pronounced as /[xosi]/ Sotho, Southern: kgosi ('king') → pronounced as /[xosihɑdi]/ Sotho, Southern: kgosihadi ('queen')
pronounced as /[dixomʊ]/ Sotho, Southern: dikgomo ('cows') → pronounced as /[dixomʊxomʊ]/ Sotho, Southern: dikgomo-kgomo ('herds of cattle')
pronounced as /[bu'ɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -bua ('speak') → pronounced as /[pʼu'o]/ Sotho, Southern: puo language → pronounced as /[sɪkʼɑpu'o]/ Sotho, Southern: sekapuo ('idiomatic speech')
Qualificatives can be used to derive abstract nouns in class 14 by prefixing Sotho, Southern: bo-.
Adjective pronounced as /[ŋɑtʼɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -ngata ('many') → pronounced as /[bʊŋɑtʼɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: bongata ('quantity')
Relative pronounced as /[tʰɑtʼɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -thata ('hard') → pronounced as /[bʊtʰɑtʼɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: bothata ('difficulty')
Enumerative pronounced as /[sɪlɪ]/ Sotho, Southern: -sele ('other') → pronounced as /[bʊsɪlɪ]/ Sotho, Southern: bosele ('otherness')
Some nouns are irregularly (and often idiomatically) derived from ideophones by reduplication:
pronounced as /[mɛt͡ɬʼɛ]/ Sotho, Southern: metle ('of striking') → pronounced as /[sɪmɛt͡ɬʼɛmɛt͡ɬʼɛ]/ Sotho, Southern: semetle-metle ('big news')
Nouns of most classes are very actively and regularly derived from verbs. What follows is only a brief and incomplete overview.
pronounced as /[ʀɑtʼɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -rata ('love') →
Note that:
pronounced as /[xɑn̩nɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -kganna drive → pronounced as /[mʊxɑn̩ni]/ Sotho, Southern: mokganni driver and pronounced as /[sɪxɑn̩ni]/ Sotho, Southern: sekganni professional driver
Generally, agents are formed in classes 1 and 7 by adding the prefix and changing the final vowel to pronounced as //i// Sotho, Southern: i, while impersonal nouns are formed in several classes by adding the prefix and changing the final vowel to pronounced as //ɔ// Sotho, Southern: o:
pronounced as /[ʀu'ɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -rua ('be rich') → class 1 pronounced as /[muˌʀu'i]/ Sotho, Southern: morui rich person, and class 3 pronounced as /[muˌʀu'ɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: moruo ('wealth')
There are, however, some impersonal nouns which end with Sotho, Southern: i. Even if they begin with the ambiguous class prefix Sotho, Southern: mo-, nouns denoting non-human entities cannot be in class 1.
pronounced as /[ɛlɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -ela flow → pronounced as /[mʊ'ɛlɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: moela ('stream'), and pronounced as /[mʊ'edi]/ Sotho, Southern: moedi ('waterway') both in class 3
Agents derived from passive verbs often use the full passive suffix Sotho, Southern: -uwa, and never change the final vowel:
pronounced as /[ʀɑtʼɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -rata ('love') → pronounced as /[ʀɑtʼuwɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -ratuwa / pronounced as /[ʀɑtʼʷɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -ratwa ('be loved') → pronounced as /[mʊʀɑtʼuwɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: moratuwa ('beloved')
A rich source of nouns are nominal compounds formed (somewhat irregularly) from other parts of speech and even complete sentences. Note that the use of dashes to separate their parts is also irregular and usually based on the popularity and utility of the noun, and the Lesotho and South African orthographies tend to differ (with the Lesotho orthography tending to prefer dashes more).
pronounced as /[bʊɬɑɲɑbɑpʼɛʀɛ]/ Sotho, Southern: bohlanya ba pere ('horse madness') → pronounced as /[bʊɬɑɲɑbɑpʼɛʀɛ]/ Sotho, Southern: bohlanya-ba-pere Aristida Burkei ('grass')
pronounced as /[hʊʒɑdit͡ɬʰɑpʼi]/ Sotho, Southern: ho ja ditlhapi ('to eat fish' traditionally considered taboo) → pronounced as /[mʊʒɑt͡ɬʰɑpʼi]/ Sotho, Southern: Mojatlhapi ('English person' derisive)
pronounced as /[huˌdulɑsiˌtʼulo]/ Sotho, Southern: ho dula setulo ('to sit in a chair') → pronounced as /[muˌdulɑsiˌtʼulo]/ Sotho, Southern: modulasetulo ('chairperson')
pronounced as /[hʊjɑlɪmɔjɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: ho ya le moya ('to be carried by the wind') → pronounced as /[sɪjɑlɪmɔjɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: seyalemoya ('radio receiver')
pronounced as /[kʼɪ'ɑt͡sʼɪbɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: ke a tseba ('I know') → class 2a pronounced as /[bokʼɪ'ɑt͡sʼɪbɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: bokeatseba ('doctors')
pronounced as /[lɪ'emedi]/ Sotho, Southern: leemedi ('pronoun') (c.f. pronounced as /[ɛmɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -ema 'stand' → pronounced as /[ɛmɛlɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: -emela 'stand for') + pronounced as /[ǃʰɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: qho! ('ideophone of being absolute') → pronounced as /[le'emediǃʰɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: lemediqho ('absolute pronoun')
As in many other languages, compounds indicating possession (genitive compounds) may be formed by following the possessee with the possessor ("X of Y" become "X-Y" - the English equivalent is "Y's X" or "Y-X"). This may also be done with the descriptive possessive.
pronounced as /[mʊlɑ'ɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: molao ('law') + pronounced as /[mʊtʰɛ'ɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: motheo ('foundation') → pronounced as /[mʊlɑ'ɔwɑmʊtʰɛ'ɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: molao wa motheo ('founding law') → pronounced as /[mʊlɑ'ɔtʰɛ'ɔ]/ Sotho, Southern: molaotheo ('constitution')
pronounced as /[siˌsi'u]/ Sotho, Southern: sesiu ('grain basket') + pronounced as /[lɪsedi]/ Sotho, Southern: lesedi ('sunshine') → pronounced as /[siˌsi'usedi]/ Sotho, Southern: sesiu-sedi ('database')
Many Sesotho nouns (and other parts of speech) stem from contact with speakers of Indo-European languages, primarily French missionaries, Orange Free State Afrikaners, and, in modern times, English people. The very alien phonetics and phonologies of these languages mean that words are to be imported rather irregularly with varying phonetic transformations.
French French: [[bonbon]] → pronounced as /[dipʼom̩pʼoŋ̩]/ Sotho, Southern: dipompong ('sweets')
English heathen → class 1 pronounced as /[mʊhetʼenɪ]/ Sotho, Southern: mohetene ('heathen')
Afrikaans Afrikaans: [[Boer]] → class 5 pronounced as /[liˌbuʀu]/ Sotho, Southern: Leburu ('Afrikaner')
English teacher → class 9 pronounced as /[tit͡ʃʰɛʀɛ]/ Sotho, Southern: titjhere ('male teacher') note that the English "silent r" is rendered
Afrikaans Afrikaans: venster ('window' c.f. Latin Latin: fenestra) → class 9 pronounced as /[fɛstʼɛʀɛ]/ Sotho, Southern: festere (note the consonant cluster)
English speaker → class 7 pronounced as /[spʼikʼɑʀɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: spikara ('loudspeaker') with class 8 plural pronounced as /[dipʼikʼɑʀɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: dipikara as if the cluster (sp) was a contraction of Sotho, Southern: sep-
Impolite
A hypothetical example using English words follows:
Imagine that, in some exotic language which inexplicably uses familiar English words, all nouns denoting persons are, for some or other reason not immediately important to us, indicated with the "pre-word" "person." So a farmer would be indicated with the name "person farmer." Over time, the "person" pre-word might be shortened to "per" and cliticised, and eventually made into a valid prefix ("per-"), thus a farmer would be "perfarmer."
To indicate languages, the pre-word "language" might have been used, which eventually became the prefix "lang-." A noun indicating persons of some ethnic group (with a very familiar name) might have historically been "people french," which eventually became "peopfrench." Thus their language name would naturally be rendered as "langfrench." This way the prefix system would be productive - actively creating new words and not just appearing on some historical words (as is now the case with some non-Bantu Niger–Congo languages which have many Bantu-like nouns but with no productive processes to create more).
Eventually, an agreement system would have developed (either with or after the noun prefix system), and "The French people speak the French language" would appear as (in SVO order):
peopfrench peoplangspeak langfrenchthe "poep-" and "lang-" prefixes on the verb agreeing with the subject and object respectively.
The order of the agreement markings on the verb diminishes any possible ambiguity in determining the subject and object, and so the language need not necessarily use SVO, and may change the word order for emphasis (as is indeed the case in the Bantu languages; being tonal, Bantu languages cannot simply use intonation for emphasis as English does):
langfrench peoplangspeak peopfrench "French people speak the French language"
peoplangspeak langfrench peopfrench "French people speak the French language"
In Sesotho, the three example sentences are (using the standard disjunctive Sesotho orthography):
pronounced as /[bɑfʊʀɑbɑ'ɑsiˌbu'ɑsɪfʊʀɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: Bafora ba a se bua Sefora
pronounced as /[sɪfʊʀɑbɑ'ɑsiˌbu'ɑbɑfʊʀɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: Sefora ba a se bua Bafora
pronounced as /[bɑ'ɑsiˌbu'ɑsɪfʊʀɑbɑfʊʀɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: Ba a se bua Sefora Bafora
Proto-Bantu root *-jedî ('moon') → class 3 *muedî (Sesotho pronounced as /[ŋʷedi]/ Sotho, Southern: ngwedi 'moonlight'), class 15 *kuedî + class 9 prefix (compounding) → class 9 *ŋkuedî (Sesotho pronounced as /[xʷedi]/ Sotho, Southern: kgwedi 'moon')
Proto-Bantu root *-giɲja ('hot season') → class 15 *kuiɲja + class 5 prefix (compounding) → Sesotho class 5 pronounced as /[lɪhʷɪt͡ɬʼɑ]/ Sotho, Southern: Lehwetla ('Autumn')Note that if these nouns still existed in the non-compounded forms then they could just as easily have been interpreted as class 17 nouns, but comparison with other languages reveals their true class membership (15).
| Class | Setswana | (Sesotho) | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16. | Sotho, Southern: Fa setlhareng | pronounced as /[sɪfɑtʼeŋ̩]/ Sotho, Southern: sefateng | 'by the tree' | |
| 17. | Sotho, Southern: Kwa nokeng | pronounced as /[nʊkʼeŋ̩]/ Sotho, Southern: nokeng | 'at the river' | |
| 18. | Sotho, Southern: Mo sedibeng | pronounced as /[siˌdibeŋ̩]/ Sotho, Southern: sedibeng | 'n the pool' |