288) Besides such straightforward and accepted instances, the transference of noun class is sometimes exploited in a vivid and less predictable way in the actual delivery of an oral piece. We can cite the instance of a Nilyamba story about the hare’s wicked exploits which ends up with the narrator vividly and economically drawing his conclusion by putting the hare no longer in his own noun class but, by a mere change of prefix, into that normally used for monsters! (Johnson 1931: 330)
Besides the basic noun class system, there is the further possibility of building up a whole series of different noun formations to express exact shades of meaning—humour, appraisement, relationships, and so on. This system is far too complex to be treated briefly, but a few instances may serve to show the kind of rich flexibility available to the speaker.
There are special forms which by the use of suffixes or prefixes transform the root noun into a diminutive, into a masculine or feminine form, or into a term meaning the in-law, the father, the mother, the daughter, and so on of the referent. Personification is particularly popular. It can be economically effected by transferring an ordinary noun from its usual class to that of persons. Thus in Zulu, for instance, we have the personified form uNtaba (Mountain) from the common noun for mountain, intaba ; and uSikhotha, from the ordinary isikhotha, long grass (Doke 1948: 295). This is a type of personification sometimes found in stories where the name of an animal is transferred to the personal class and thus, as it were, invested with human character. A further way of achieving personification is by a series of special formations based, among other things, on special prefixes, derivations from verbs or ideophones, reduplication, or the rich resources of compounding.
Several of these bases are also used to form special impersonal nouns. Such nouns built up on verbal roots include instances like, say, a verb stem modified by a class 4 prefix to indicate ‘method of action’ (e.g. the Kikuyu muthiire, manner of walking, from thii, walk), or by a class 7 prefix suggesting an action done carelessly or badly (e.g. Lamba icendeende, aimless walking about, from enda, walk; or Lulua tshiakulakula, gibberish, from akula, talk), and many others (Doke 1948: 296). Reduplication is also often used in noun formation. In Zulu we have the ordinary form izinhlobo, kinds, becoming izinhlobonhlobo, variety of species, and imimoya, winds, reduplicated to give imimoyamoya with the meaning of ‘constantly changing winds’.
Compound nouns above all exhibit the great variety of expression open to the speaker of a Bantu language. These are usually built up on various combinations of verbs (compounded with e.g. subject, object, or descriptive) or nouns (compounded with other nouns, with a qualitative, or with an ideophone). Thus we get the Lamba umwenda-nandu, a deep ford (lit. ‘where the crocodile travels’), icikoka-mabwe, the klipspringer antelope (lit. ‘rock-blunter’); the Xhosa indlulamthi, giraffe (lit. ‘surpasser of trees’), or amabona-ndenzile, attempts (lit. ‘see what I have done’); or, finally, the Ila name for the Deity, Ipaokubozha, with the literal meaning ‘He that gives and rots’ (Doke 1948: 297–8). To these must be added the special ‘praise names’ described later which add yet a further figurative aspect to those already mentioned.
In these various formations and derivatives of noun and verb, Bantu languages thus have a subtle and variable means of expression on which the eloquent speaker and composer can draw at will. In addition there is the different question of style and syntax as well as the actual collocation of the vocabulary used, all of which vary with the particular literary genre chosen by the speaker. In general, apart from the rhetorical praise poems of the southern areas, Bantu syntax gives the impression of being relatively simple and direct. This
Besides the basic noun class system, there is the further possibility of building up a whole series of different noun formations to express exact shades of meaning—humour, appraisement, relationships, and so on. This system is far too complex to be treated briefly, but a few instances may serve to show the kind of rich flexibility available to the speaker.
There are special forms which by the use of suffixes or prefixes transform the root noun into a diminutive, into a masculine or feminine form, or into a term meaning the in-law, the father, the mother, the daughter, and so on of the referent. Personification is particularly popular. It can be economically effected by transferring an ordinary noun from its usual class to that of persons. Thus in Zulu, for instance, we have the personified form uNtaba (Mountain) from the common noun for mountain, intaba ; and uSikhotha, from the ordinary isikhotha, long grass (Doke 1948: 295). This is a type of personification sometimes found in stories where the name of an animal is transferred to the personal class and thus, as it were, invested with human character. A further way of achieving personification is by a series of special formations based, among other things, on special prefixes, derivations from verbs or ideophones, reduplication, or the rich resources of compounding.
Several of these bases are also used to form special impersonal nouns. Such nouns built up on verbal roots include instances like, say, a verb stem modified by a class 4 prefix to indicate ‘method of action’ (e.g. the Kikuyu muthiire, manner of walking, from thii, walk), or by a class 7 prefix suggesting an action done carelessly or badly (e.g. Lamba icendeende, aimless walking about, from enda, walk; or Lulua tshiakulakula, gibberish, from akula, talk), and many others (Doke 1948: 296). Reduplication is also often used in noun formation. In Zulu we have the ordinary form izinhlobo, kinds, becoming izinhlobonhlobo, variety of species, and imimoya, winds, reduplicated to give imimoyamoya with the meaning of ‘constantly changing winds’.
Compound nouns above all exhibit the great variety of expression open to the speaker of a Bantu language. These are usually built up on various combinations of verbs (compounded with e.g. subject, object, or descriptive) or nouns (compounded with other nouns, with a qualitative, or with an ideophone). Thus we get the Lamba umwenda-nandu, a deep ford (lit. ‘where the crocodile travels’), icikoka-mabwe, the klipspringer antelope (lit. ‘rock-blunter’); the Xhosa indlulamthi, giraffe (lit. ‘surpasser of trees’), or amabona-ndenzile, attempts (lit. ‘see what I have done’); or, finally, the Ila name for the Deity, Ipaokubozha, with the literal meaning ‘He that gives and rots’ (Doke 1948: 297–8). To these must be added the special ‘praise names’ described later which add yet a further figurative aspect to those already mentioned.
In these various formations and derivatives of noun and verb, Bantu languages thus have a subtle and variable means of expression on which the eloquent speaker and composer can draw at will. In addition there is the different question of style and syntax as well as the actual collocation of the vocabulary used, all of which vary with the particular literary genre chosen by the speaker. In general, apart from the rhetorical praise poems of the southern areas, Bantu syntax gives the impression of being relatively simple and direct. This
Similar Books
