Talk:Zulu grammar

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Removal of information

What is wrong with the information that is being removed? CodeCat (talk) 08:50, 30 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps you might care to comment on these elements:

"The Zulu noun consists of two essential parts, the prefix and the stem, though the prefix can be analysed further. Using the prefixes, nouns can be grouped into noun classes, which are numbered consecutively, to ease comparison with other Bantu languages."

"though the prefix can be analysed further" - "though"? though what? what does this mean? And of course the prefix can be analysed further - anything can.
"noun classes, which are numbered consecutively", meaning what? should we skip a couple of number in between just for fun?
"to ease comparison with other Bantu languages" is that so? okay, so how do compare Zulu with Bakongo and Herero? Show me the "umu/ aba" class in those languages.

When you have adequaltely addressed those issues, based on linuistic prnciples, please feel free to revert. Rui ''Gabriel'' Correia (talk) 09:03, 30 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

There is indeed a numbering for all Bantu languages. The numbers are chosen so that the same number corresponds to the same class in all languages. So Zulu classes 1/2 will be the same as Bakongo/Herero classes 1/2, at least in the common Bantu number scheme. This explains why there are several gaps in the numbers for Zulu. There are no classes 12 and 13 in Zulu for example, and class 16 is also missing, as are 18 and above. In Zulu, those classes disappeared and merged with other classes, while they still exist in some other Bantu languages (Swahili has class 12 for example, while Luganda has classes 12, 13, 20 and 22). Some languages may also have their own language-specific numbering, or some other kind of scheme (Luganda uses I to X according to its article). But in Zulu, the most common categorisation is the Bantuist numbering.

The prefix is analysed as consisting of the basic prefix and an extra initial vowel called the "augment" or simply "initial vowel". The augment can be dropped in certain grammatical forms, such as vocatives (Baba! "Father!" compared to ubaba "father"). The augment is generally a copy of the vowel that follows the consonant in the prefix, and can normally only be U, I or A, so that the possible types of prefix are uCu-, iCi- or aCa-. Because of sound changes that occurred in the history of Zulu, not all prefixes neatly follow this pattern anymore, though. CodeCat (talk) 11:14, 30 May 2014 (UTC)c[reply]