Like all Bantu languages, Venda has a very well-developed system of Noun Classes which involves multiple classes and all nouns in every context (i.e. it is not restricted to, for instance, when a noun is modified by a numeral). Noun Classes are assigned numbers which are conventionally used for all the Bantu languages; not all languages have all classes, so, for instance, there are some gaps in the Venda numbering system. Also, Noun Classes are found in pairs, with one class referring to the singular and the other to the plural. The classes seem to have some basic semantic basis, but there are many exceptions in every class, so although Noun Classes can be predicted for many nouns, many have to be learned/memorized.
There are several types of Noun Classes in Venda:
(a) Noun Classes with singular, plural pairs: (1/2, 1a/2b, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8, 9/10)
(b) Noun Classes with singular forms with plural forms from another Noun Class Pair: (11, 14)
(c) Noun Classes without plurals (15, 16, 17, 18)
(d) Noun Classes which are strictly attributive which can have plural forms from
another Noun Class Pair: (20, 21)
The first group of Noun Classes conforms with the standard expectations for a noun
class: (most) members of these classes inherently belong to one of these classes, and
each class has a singular and plural form. All NC descriptions are very general; all have
many nouns which belong to that NC but do not fall into the described categories:
Class 1/2 (mu-/vha-): persons
Class 1a/2b (O/-/vho-): kin, proper names
Class 3/4 (mu-/mi-): plants, natural phenomena
Class 5/6 (li-/ma-): one of a pair, fruit, collectives (NC6)
Class7/8 (tshi-/zwi-): language and culture, instruments
Class 9/10 (n-/dzin-): animals, abstracts
The second group of Noun Classes has members which belong inherently to the class (examples1, 6, 8) and some which acquire membership through the attributive nature of the Noun Class Prefix for (examples 2, 5). Plural Noun Class counterparts (when applicable) use one of the plural classes from the standard group of Noun Classes (see examples 3, 4, 7, 9).
Class 11 (lu-): long thin objects, people, languages
(Plural: NC 6, 10, 14)
Class 14 (vhu-): abstracts, plural form of certain nouns in NC11
(Plural: NC 6)
(1) lu-fhanga
NC11-knife
'knife' (ZWM 1981, 30)
(2) lu-kegulu
NC11-old woman
'tall and thin old woman' (ZWM 1981, 31)
(3) O/-phanga
NC10-knife
'knives' (ZWM 1981, 30)
(4) vhu-kegulu
NC14-old woman
'tall and thin old women' (ZWM 1981, 31)
(5) vhu-thu
NC14-thing/being
'humanity' (ZWM 1981, 33)
(6) vhu-tungu
NC14-pain
'pain' (ZWM 1981, 33)
(7) ma-tungu
NC6-pain
'pain' (plural) (ZWM 1981, 33)
(8) vhu-se
NC14-rice
'rice' (ZWM 1981, 33)
(9) ma-se
NC6-rice
'kinds of rice' (ZWM 1981, 33)
Noun Classes in the third group are actually derivative; NC 15 transforms a verb into an infinitive or a "nominalized phrase" similar to a gerund in English, and NC 16, 17, 18 are nominalized locatives. Noun Class 15 is very productive but NC 16, 17, and 18 include a very small number of members. As mentioned above, none of these have plurals.
(19) u-shuma
NC15-work
'to work, working' (Poulos 1990, 58)
(20) fha-si
NC16-ground
'down, below, on the ground' (Poulos 1990, 61)
(21) ku-le
NC17-?
'far' (Poulos 1990, 61)
(22) mu-rahu
NC18- kick backwards
'behind, at the back' (Poulos 1990, 61)
The fourth group of Noun Classes are entirely attributive, whose members are all derived from other Noun Classes or verb roots. The NC20 prefix can denote either a diminutive meaning or a characteristic way of doing something (when affixed to a verb root).
(23) ku-tukana
NC20-boy (boy is normally NC1)
'a small boy'
(24) zwi-tukana
NC8-boy (plural boy is normally NC2)
'small boys' (Poulos 1990, 64)
(25) ku-tshimbil-el-e
NC20-walk-BEN-VS
'a characteristic way of walking' (Poulos 1990, 63)
(26) ma-tshimbil-el-e
NC6-walk-BEN-VS
'characteristic ways of walking' (Poulos 1990, 64)
The plurals of the diminutive are formed with NC8 prefixes while the plurals of nouns from the verbal roots are formed with NC6 prefixes.
Similarly, Noun Class 21 is also attributive and derivative, formed from nouns from other noun classes. It is an augmentative, with possible derogatory meaning depending on the context. Interestingly, the plurals are formed by affixing the NC6 prefix on to the NC21 prefix.
(27) di-kolomo
NC21-head of cattle ('kholomo' is normally NC9)
'a large beast'
(28) ma-di-kolomo
NC6-NC21-head of cattle
'large beasts' (Poulos 1990, 66)
Although Noun Classes 1 through 11 have been described as "inherent" Noun Classes whose members belong to the NC based on their inherent nature, many of these Noun Class suffixes can behave like "derivative" Noun Classes which modify the nouns in some way. For instance, nouns from other classes can be brought into NC5 and take on the meaning of bigness:
(29) li-thavha
NC5-mountain ("thavha" is normally NC9)
'a big mountain'
(30) ma-tavha
NC6-mountain
'big mountains' (Poulos 1990, 67)
Similarly, a noun can be brought into NC7 and acquire the added meaning of "way of behaving" (31) or "smallness" (32):
(31) tshi-sadzi
NC7-woman ("musadzi" is normally NC1)
'a woman's way of behaving' (Poulos 1990, 68)
(32) tshi-vhunda
NC7-hill ("mu-vhunda" is normally NC3)
'a small hill' (Poulos 1990, 68)
Noun Class 9 can also be derivative, taking nouns from other other classes and modifying or adding meaning:
(33) O/-thapfa
NC9-a kind of shrub ("murapfa" is normally NC3)
'fruit of the murapfa' (Poulos 1990, 68)
To sum up nouns derived from other classes, Noun Classes 5, 7, 9, in addition to 11 and 14 (discussed previously) may take nouns from other noun classes and alter the meaning of a noun. Members of Noun Classes 20 and 21 are all derived from other Noun Classes.
Nouns can also be derived from other word categories, such as verbs (34, 35) or adjectives (36, 37).
(34): mu-funz-i
NC1-V-teach-VS
'missionary' (Poulos 1990, 69)
(35): tshi-end-a
NC7-V-travel-VS
'shoe, boot' (Poulos 1990, 69)
(36) tshi-vhi
NC7-bad
'badness' (Poulos 1990, 72)
(37) lu-vhili
NC11-two
'twice' (Poulos 1990, 72)
When terms are adopted or borrowed from other languages, they may come with their own Noun Classes (from other Bantu languages), or they may be adopted into a Noun Class for semantic reasons. However, there are some other strategie which are applied for assigning new noun words to a word class. Quite often, if an adopted word begins with a sound that is similar to a NC prefix, then it is placed in that class. For example:
(38) mu-tshini
NC1
'machine' (from English)
(39) vhu-rotho
NC14
'bread' (from Afrikaans "brood" - the word initial stop has been
lenited to a fricative, there has been epenthesis of a
labial/rounded vowel between the fricative and the
liquid "r" for syllabic reasons, and the alveolar stop lenited to a
dental fricative)
Correspondingly, the plural, then for "vhurotho" is the NC6, which is what is usually used for the plural forms of NC14 (note that the root form is the singular form minus the "pseudo Noun Class prefix"):
(40) ma-rotho
NC6-
'loaves of bread' (Poulos 1990, 79)
Additionally, borrowed words are often "assigned" or adopted into NC5 or NC9 because these Noun Classes often do not have overt prefixes in the singular:
(41) O/-bada
NC9-staff
'staff' (from Afrikaans "pad")
(42) O/-hesi
NC9-jersey
'jersey' (from English "jersey")
(43) O/-lebula
NC5-spoon
'spoon' (from Afrikaans "lepel") (Poulos 1990, 79)
All of these strategies for inclusion of a word in a Noun Class (derivation from other Noun Classes and other word categories, adoption because of sound similarities, or the null prefixe of certain Noun Classes), offer many reasons for the heterogeneous nature of most of the Noun Classes.
They also present a dilemma which is: is the Noun Class determined by the noun or does the Noun Class determine the Noun Class of the noun. Certainly there are both kinds of Noun Classes and there are those that seem to do both (NC 5, 7, 9, 11, 14).
NOUN CLASSES AND CONCORDS
An integral part of Noun Classes in Bantu languages is the system of concords, or
agreement clitics which are found on verbs, adjectives, possessives, relative clauses, and
consecutives (among other phrases). It is this system of concords which is the common
thread through all of the different kinds of Noun Classes described above. Any noun
which is the argument of a verb has an agreement clitic which is uniquely determined
by its Noun Class which is then affixed to the verb (obligatory for Subjects, optional for
Objects). Generally the Noun Class Prefix, Subject Concord, Object Concord, Adjective
Concord, and Relative Concords are the same within each Noun Class, with the Adjective
Concords identical to the Noun Class Prefix and the others identical except for an initial
consonant deletion (NC 1, 1a, 4, 6, 9, 10). The Consecutive Concord and the Possessive
Concords are identical and the Perfective Concord follows the pattern of the Consecutive
and Possessive Concord except for a different vowel ([o] instead of [a]).
1. mu- mu- u-/a mu- a- a- wa- o-
2. vha- vha- vha- vha- vha- vha- vha- vho-
3. mu- mu- u- u- u- wa- wa- wo-
4. mi- mi- i- i- i- ya- ya- yo-
5. li/0/ li- li- li- li- la- la- lo-
6. ma- ma- a- a- a- a- a- o-
7. tshi- tshi- tshi- tshi- tshi- tsha- tsha- tsho-
8. zwi- zwi- zwi- zwi- zwi- zwa- zwa- zwo-
9. n/0/ n- i- i- i- ya- ya- yo-
10. dzin- dzin- dzi- dzi- dzi- dza- dza- dzo-
11. lu- lu- lu- lu- lu- lwa- lwa- lwo-
14. vhu- vhu- vhu- vhu- vhu- ha- ha- ho
15. u- hu- hu- hu- hu- ha- ha- ho-
16. fha- hu- hu- hu- hu- ha- ha- ho-
17. ku- hu- hu- hu- hu- ha- ha- ho-
18. mu- hu- hu- hu- hu- ha- ha- ho-
20. ku- ku- ku- ku- ku- kwa- kwa- kwo-
21. di- li- li- li- li- la- la- lo-
(Adopted from ZWM 1981, 159)
(Note: Noun Class 1a has the same concords as NC1 and NC 2b has the same concords as NC2. Also, the concords for NC 1 do not follow the pattern of concords as consistently as the concords for the other Noun Classes. There is also a very prolific system of demonstrative concords (16 demonstratives, with a concord for each Noun Class). Additionally, there are NC prefixes and a truncated system of concords for first and second person, singular and plural.)
Venda's system of Noun Classes and Concords seems to affect every structure in the language; not only are all nouns classified and referenced, but infinitives, a number of locatives, and a number of adjectival concepts are nominalized and incorporated into the NC/Concord system. Interestingly, Noun Classes based on gender which are so prevalent in Indo-European languages are not found in Venda at all.
ABBREVIATIONS:
NC - Noun Class (NC1 = Noun Class 1)
SC - Subject Concord
OC - Object Concord
PC - Possessive Concord
AC - Adjective Concord
RC Relative Concord
CC - Consecutive Concord
PFC - Perfective Concord
PL - Plural
BEN - Benefactive
VS - Verb Suffix
V - Verb Root
O/ - Null affix
References:
Poulos, George. 1990 A Linguistic Analysis of Venda. Pretoria: Via Afrika Limited.
Van Warmelo, N. 1989. Venda Dictionary Tshivenda-English. Pretori. Government Printer.
Ziervogel, D., P.J. Wentzel, and T.N. Makuya 1981. A Handbook of the Venda Language. Pretoria: University of South Africa.
(I have used the abbreviation "ZWM" for "Ziervogel, Wentzel, and Makuya.")
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Revised April 20, 1999