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"Bantu languages Case."
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The Conjoint/Disjoint Alternation in Bantu
The series publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks as well as studies that provide new insights by building bridges to neighbouring fields such as neuroscience and cognitive science. The series considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language.
eBook
Licensing with Case
This paper examines alternations in demonstrative ordering in Kikuyu, a Bantu language spoken primarily in Kenya. An interesting effect is found: direct objects may not have prenominal demonstratives in transitive constructions, but may have prenominal demonstratives in a number of ditransitive constructions. I argue that this alternation is tied to Case. It is shown that these alternations can be accounted for using a theory of dependent Case in which Case has a licensing function. In Kikuyu, direct objects and subjects are too distant in the structure for the former to be assigned Case, and therefore the N head of the direct object must be adjacent to the verbal complex at the surface in order to be licensed (Levin 2015). However, the presence of a medial argument allows direct objects to be assigned Case since the two are sufficiently local, thus obviating the requirement for N-V adjacency.
Journal Article
The coming apart of case and focus in Bantu
The paper presents an argument for structural case in a Bantu language, Ndebele. Bantu languages notoriously lack typical signs of case licensing, which has led to the proposal that they lack case altogether. A recent claim to the contrary, put forth in Halpert (
2012
,
2015
), has been challenged by Carstens and Mletshe (
2016
), who argue that the patterns Halpert describes fall under the umbrella of focus licensing, thus undermining the need for an independent case licensing mechanism. Ndebele data invalidate this challenge, revealing a purely syntactic nature of the phenomenon in question.
Journal Article
Ethnolinguistic vitality in Thulamela Local Municipality: A case of Xitsonga
The use and status of a language in a given speech community can reveal the prospects of its elevation or lack thereof. Furthermore, one can determine whether a language will be elevated or undermined in a community by exploring the perceptions of its speakers towards its status and use. Hence, this article investigated the status and use of Xitsonga at the Thulamela Local Municipality (TLM) in the Limpopo province of South Africa, with particular interest in the Vatsonga's perceptions of the ethnolinguistic vitality of Xitsonga in the TLM. Guided by the Ethnolinguistic Vitality Theory, this article probed the demographics of Xitsonga in the TLM, explored the role played by the TLM authorities in promoting Xitsonga as a language, and highlighted the implications of the perceived ethnolinguistic vitality of Xitsonga in the TLM. The study employed a qualitative method to collect data through face-to-face semi-structured interviews from 13 Xitsonga L1 speakers who participated in the study. It was found that Xitsonga speakers preferred to be addressed in their language during the municipality's formal gatherings - a courtesy they believe is both effective in and necessary for the preservation and promotion of Xitsonga at the TLM. Also noteworthy, despite Xitsonga being dominated by Tshivenḓa in the TLM, Xitsonga speakers nevertheless maintained positive perceptions towards their language. This is commendable, considering that the TLM is located in Ṱhohoyanḓou, the economic hub of Vhembe District, where there is a university, malls and shopping complexes - spheres that encourage acculturation and language shift.
Journal Article
Licensing with Case
This paper examines alternations in demonstrative ordering in Kikuyu, a Bantu language spoken primarily in Kenya. An interesting effect is found: direct objects may not have prenominal demonstratives in transitive constructions, but may have prenominal demonstratives in a number of ditransitive constructions. I argue that this alternation is tied to Case. It is shown that these alternations can be accounted for using a theory of dependent Case in which Case has a licensing function. In Kikuyu, direct objects and subjects are too distant in the structure for the former to be assigned Case, and therefore the N head of the direct object must be adjacent to the verbal complex at the surface in order to be licensed (Levin
2015
). However, the presence of a medial argument allows direct objects to be assigned Case since the two are sufficiently local, thus obviating the requirement for N-V adjacency.
Journal Article
The Power of Language and the Language of Power: Sociolinguistic Methods and Social Histories of Language and Political Power in Mobutu’s Congo-Zaire (1965–1997)
This article argues for the potential of sociolinguistic methods to write post-colonial African history using a case study of the Mobutu regime’s use of Lingala as its language of power (langue du pouvoir) in order to rule Congo-Zaire. Oral history interviews conducted in DRC from 2019 to 2021, corroborated by sociolinguistic and political science analyses from the period under study, reveal how the Mobutu regime’s use of Lingala contributed to the privatization of the Zairian state, and the fracturing of Zairian society, but also the strengthening of Zairian and later Congolese national identity.
Journal Article
A linguistic analysis of spelling errors in Grade 3 isiXhosa home-language learners
Abstract only
Journal Article
Radical Defectivity: Implications of Xhosa Expletive Constructions
In Xhosa VSO clauses, subject agreement exhibits default features, objects cannot be pronominalized, a subject focus reading is obligatory, and experiencer verbs with two DP arguments are precluded. We argue that impoverished versions of T and v* in VSO clauses lack the probe features involved in subject agreement, EPP, object shift, and nominative/accusative valuation within Xhosa SVO sentences. Only an unusual focus-linked strategy can Case-license full DPs in VSO clauses, but this is incompatible with inherent Cases borne by arguments of experiencer verbs. We show that CPs and augmentless NPs appear in positions where DPs cannot surface because uCase is a feature of D. Given the striking evidence for abstract Case in Xhosa, we propose Case-friendly analyses for Bantu Case-theoretic anomalies that Xhosa shares.
Journal Article
Nominal licensing in caseless languages
This paper provides evidence for a kind of nominal licensing (Vergnaud licensing) in a number of morphologically caseless languages. Recent work on Bantu languages has suggested that abstract Case or nominal licensing should be parameterised (Diercks 2012, Van der Wal 2015a). With this is mind, we critically discuss the status of Vergnaud licensing in six languages lacking morphological case. While Luganda appears to systematically lack a Vergnaud licensing requirement, Makhuwa more consistently displays evidence in favour of it, as do all of the analytic languages that we survey (Mandarin, Yoruba, Jamaican Creole and Thai). We conclude that, while it seems increasingly problematic to characterise nominal licensing in terms of uninterpretable/abstract Case features, we nonetheless need to retain a (possibly universal) notion of nominal licensing, the explanation for which remains opaque.
Journal Article