Sesotho nouns
Encyclopedia
Sesotho nouns signify concrete or abstract concepts in the language, but are distinct from the Sesotho pronouns.
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.
es 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:
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 (person), to very long stems formed either by duplication (e.g. great and fearsome thing, the swallowing monster) or derived from long and complex verbs (e.g. the 7 syllable the act of mutual giving and receiving, derived from a verb which is in turn idiomatically and recursively — through 4 distinct steps — derived from the verb
to close ones hand suddenly).
es" and each noun belongs to one of the classes. The noun class that a noun belongs to is indicated by a prefix.
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:
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.
Up until class 10, the plural class for class n is class n + 1 (where n is odd). 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 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.
(friend), in class 1, has an irregular plural in class 4 — . Also, (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
In idiomatic speech, the of class 5, the of class 7, and the of classes 8 and 10 are sometimes not rendered when the noun is followed by the appropriate concords. Some historical words, such as (locust), have completely lost their singular prefixes (and, in the case of , ended up in class 9). Others, such as (family/home) are often rendered without the prefix even when not followed by any prefixes ("at my/the home" is always ). The class 5 noun (next year) has completely lost its prefix, and has plural .
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.
When certain high toned formatives (the conjunctive , the locative , 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.
with new nouns regularly and actively being created from nouns and other parts of speech through predictable methods.
love, desire ⇒
Note that:
Generally, agents are formed in classes 1 and 7 by adding the prefix and changing the final vowel to , while impersonal nouns are formed in several classes by adding the prefix and changing the final vowel to :
There are, however, some impersonal nouns which end with . Even if they begin with the ambiguous class prefix , nouns denoting non-human entities cannot be in class 1.
Agents derived from passive verbs often use the full passive suffix , and never change the final vowel:
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.
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.
Bantu languages
Bantu languages
The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...
are often said to have sentences which are "centred around the noun" due to the striking nature of the noun concordance system
Sesotho concords
Just as the Sesotho sentence centres around the Sesotho noun, the noun is made to "concòrd" with the verbs, pronouns, and qualificatives describing it by a set of Sesotho noun concords....
. In Sesotho, pronouns, verbs
Sesotho verbs
Sesotho verbs are words in the language which signify the action or state of a substantive, and are brought into agreement with it using the subjectival concord...
, copulatives, adjectives, relatives, enumeratives, and possessives all need to agree with the noun(s) associated with them.
Structure
Except for class 1a (which has a "null prefix"), nouns are composed of a noun prefix 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 classNoun class
In linguistics, the term noun class refers to a system of categorizing nouns. A noun may belong to a given class because of characteristic features of its referent, such as sex, animacy, shape, but counting a given noun among nouns of such or another class is often clearly conventional...
es and the knowledge of noun classes and their concords
Sesotho concords
Just as the Sesotho sentence centres around the Sesotho noun, the noun is made to "concòrd" with the verbs, pronouns, and qualificatives describing it by a set of Sesotho noun 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:
The syllabic nasal prefix of class 9 is more often than not invisible
Classes 1, 3, and 18 have similar prefixes but differing concords
- Classes 2a and 14 have similar looking prefixes, differing in the vowel's quality and tone
Classes 15 and 17 have similar looking prefixes, differing only in tone
Many class 1 and 3 nouns have stems beginning with vowels, often causing the m to velarize to ng- + ⇒ child, cf SwahiliSwahili languageSwahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...
mwana (Proto-Bantu *-jana)
- + ⇒ child, cf Swahili
Similarly, many class 14 nouns with stems beginning with vowels cause the prefix to palatalize to- + ⇒ grass (Proto-Bantu *-janî)
Often if the stem of a class 1 or 3 noun is derived from a verb beginning with b the b is absorbed by the m (the vowel is elided) to become mm- govern ⇒ 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 (person), to very long stems formed either by duplication (e.g. great and fearsome thing, the swallowing monster) or derived from long and complex verbs (e.g. the 7 syllable the act of mutual giving and receiving, derived from a verb which is in turn idiomatically and recursively — through 4 distinct steps — derived from the verb
Sesotho verbs
Sesotho verbs are words in the language which signify the action or state of a substantive, and are brought into agreement with it using the subjectival concord...
to close ones hand suddenly).
Noun prefix system
Sesotho, like all other Bantu languages, uses a set of "noun classNoun class
In linguistics, the term noun class refers to a system of categorizing nouns. A noun may belong to a given class because of characteristic features of its referent, such as sex, animacy, shape, but counting a given noun among nouns of such or another class is often clearly conventional...
es" and each noun belongs to one of the classes. The noun class that a noun belongs to is indicated by a prefix.
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:
| Class | Prefix | Example(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | person | human nouns | |
| 2. | people | ||
| 1a. | — | father | mostly human nouns including nouns of kinship. The is high tone |
| 2a. | fathers | ||
| 3. | finger | mostly non-human nouns | |
| 4. | fingers | ||
| 5. | day/sun | both human and non-human | |
| 6. | days | ||
| 7. | secret | human and non-human | |
| 8. | secrets | ||
| 9. | [N]- | thing | miscellaneous |
| prayer | |||
| 10. | things | ||
| prayers | |||
| 14. | bread | abstract nouns belong here, therefore most class 14 words have no plural |
|
| ugliness | |||
| 15. | to go | infinitives and gerund Gerund In linguistics* As applied to English, it refers to the usage of a verb as a noun .... s belong here |
|
| 16. | down | this is the only word in this class | |
| 17. | far away | ||
| tomorrow | |||
| 18. | behind | ||
| overseas/river-bank |
Notes:
- [N] means that nasalization will occur to the following consonant.
- Many class 5 words in Sesotho come from the original Proto-Bantu *du- class 11, whose plural is class 10 *dîN-, which is why some class 5 nouns may have two distinct plurals: one in class 6, and one in class 10. However, the plural does not apply to all class 5 words, and when it does the meaning might be changed slightly ( (tongues), (flattery)). For example, Setswana uses lorato for Sesotho (love), as this class still exists in the language.
- Classes 16, 17, and 18 are the locative classes. They are no longer productive in Sesotho (they cannot accept new nouns) but they are productive in many other Bantu languages.
- Noun Classes 11 to 13, and 19 to 23 do not occur in Sesotho, but do occur in other Bantu languages (isiZulu has class 11, SiloziLozi languageLozi, also known as siLozi and Rozi, is a Bantu language of the Niger–Congo language family within the Sotho languages branch of Zone S , that is spoken by the Lozi people, primarily in southwestern Zambia and in surrounding countries...
has Classes 11, 12, and 13, etc.).
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.
- (tree) has prefix , which is of class 7, therefore its plural must be
Up until class 10, the plural class for class n is class n + 1 (where n is odd). 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 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.
(friend), in class 1, has an irregular plural in class 4 — . Also, (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
- (grass) in class 14 is often heard as and has plural , both instances of prefix compounding since the is the palatalized class 14 prefix .
- (daughter-in-law) was originally a class 1 word, whose prefix is velarized and is now treated as a class 9 noun with plural . In Setswana, however, it is still treated as a class 1 noun with plural betsi
In idiomatic speech, the of class 5, the of class 7, and the of classes 8 and 10 are sometimes not rendered when the noun is followed by the appropriate concords. Some historical words, such as (locust), have completely lost their singular prefixes (and, in the case of , ended up in class 9). Others, such as (family/home) are often rendered without the prefix even when not followed by any prefixes ("at my/the home" is always ). The class 5 noun (next year) has completely lost its prefix, and has plural .
Class contents
What follows is a brief outline of the contents and functionings of the various classes.- Class 1 (the "animate/human" class) contains most human nouns and is the default class for verbal agents (actors), which end in the vowel .
The class prefix is and comes from original Proto-Bantu *mu-. In standard Sesotho, the prefix appears as before stems beginning with .
- servant
- king
- friend
- investigate ⇒ investigator
- speak on behalf of ⇒ 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 or prefix.
Names of mothers, fathers, married women and men (in a system of 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 (or just ) and meaning "mother of" and "father of" respectively (though initiates often get prefixes of the opposite sex, for boys and for girls).
- elder uncle (literally "male mother" — the only Sesotho instance of the Bantu male suffix *-dume)
- desire ⇒ will (of God) (class 9) ⇒ (proper name)
- (proper name) ⇒ Thato's mother, and Thato's father
- secretary birdSecretary BirdThe Secretarybird or Secretary Bird is a large, mostly terrestrial bird of prey. Endemic to Africa, it is usually found in the open grasslands and savannah of the sub-Sahara...
- 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 and comes from original Proto-Bantu *ba-.
- 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 and comes from original Proto-Bantu *bo-.
- Mmathato and them
- 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."- 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 .
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 before stems beginning with in standard Sesotho.
- forest
- resound ⇒ noise, sound
- colour (stem )
- Class 4 contains the plurals of class 3 nouns.
The class prefix is and comes from original Proto-Bantu *mi-.
- 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 and comes from original Proto-Bantu *di- as well as Proto-Bantu *du- (class 11, the "long-thin" class).
- tuberculosis
- choose ⇒ tax
- leg
- 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 and comes from original Proto-Bantu *ma-.
- legs
- blood
- herds of cattle (quantitative plural of class 9 )
- kings (plural of class 1 )
- loboloLoboloLobolo or Lobola in Zulu, Xhosa and Ndebele; is sometimes translated as bride price) is a traditional Southern African custom whereby the man pays the family of his fiancée for her hand in marriage...
(plural of class 14 )
- 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 and comes from original Proto-Bantu *ki-.
- blind person
- tree
- French language, culture, and manners
- friendship (abstract noun from class 1 )
- 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 (without nasalization) and comes from original Proto-Bantu *bî-.
- trees
- Class 9 (the "inanimate/animal" class) is rather miscellaneous in content. Most foreign acquisitions end up here (it is the "default class").
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.
- eyelash
- sing ⇒ song
- cow
- truth (the nasal is retained though the stem is two syllables long)
- stomach (the high tone syllabic suggests that it's not part of the prefix, but 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.- be left behind ⇒ (class 1) the one left behind ⇒ (class 9) ⇒ (class 1a) the one left behind (due to being born shortly after a relative's death)
- to forcefully insert ⇒ (compound class 9 noun) intruder
- (class 18) behind ⇒ quaint/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 , and affixes the syllabic nasal. The second strategy is much less common and creates nouns indicating actions by first replacing the final vowel with before applying the nasalization.- give ⇒ gift
- eat ⇒ expense/consumption
For non-monosyllabic stems the meaning obtained by replacing the final vowel with and applying nasalization is generally only that of the action.- expect ⇒ expectation/the act of expecting
- 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 to the full class 9 noun or adding 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.
- eyelashes
- songs
- musical instrument made from reeds (plural of class 5 )
- 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 and comes from original Proto-Bantu *bu-.
- loneliness/lonely
- state of being a king (from the class 1 noun )
- ugly ⇒ ugliness, evil
- pain/painful
- lobolo (non-abstract)
- Class 15 exclusively contains verbSesotho verbsSesotho verbs are words in the language which signify the action or state of a substantive, and are brought into agreement with it using the subjectival concord...
infinitives and gerunds. 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 predicatePredicate (grammar)There are two competing notions of the predicate in theories of grammar. Traditional grammar tends to view a predicate as one of two main parts of a sentence, the other being the subject, which the predicate modifies. The other understanding of predicates is inspired from work in predicate calculus...
s (they do not complete a sentence like verbs and copulatives).
The class prefix is 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 after the prefix and changing the final vowel to .
- grow old ⇒ to grow old/growing old ⇒ to not grow old
- see ⇒ to see her ⇒ to find her guilty (lit. to see her guilt; this idiom preserves the archaic meaning "find" of , which is still present in Setswana)
- Class 16 in Sesotho is a locative class containing only one member — down/below (Proto-Bantu *pa-ci, plus an irregular nasalization of the stem; it appears as the unnasalized fase in Setswana) — used almost exclusively as an adverb. In many other Bantu languages, including Setswana, this class is productive, but this is no longer the case in Sesotho.
The class prefix is 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 (country/world/earth/ground) 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 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 (heaven) is formed from one of the nouns in this class ( above) through prefix compounding.
- tomorrow
- far away
- 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 and comes from Proto-Bantu *mu- (denoting close or internal positions). It is distinguished from other classes (1 and 3) by its concords (it uses exactly the same concords as those of class 15).
- overseas/river-bank (this is a contraction of 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 class prefix, instead of the class 15 concords which this class usually uses.
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 agreementAgreement (linguistics)
In languages, agreement or concord is a form of cross-reference between different parts of a sentence or phrase. Agreement happens when a word changes form depending on the other words to which it relates....
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.
Tones
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 , the locative , 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.
- [ _ _ _ ] king ⇒ [ ¯ ¯ _ _ ] of (class 1 or 3 possessive concord) the king, [ ¯ ¯ _ _ ] and the king
- [ _ _ ] village ⇒ [ ¯ ¯ ¯ ] to the village
Derivation
In the Bantu languages, nouns form an open classOpen class (linguistics)
In linguistics, a word class may be either an open class or a closed class. Open classes accept the addition of new morphemes , through such processes as compounding, derivation, inflection, coining, and borrowing; closed classes generally do not....
with new nouns regularly and actively being created from nouns and other parts of speech through predictable methods.
From nouns
Many nouns can be derived from other nouns, usually through the use of suffixes.- Most abstract nouns can be created by substituting for the prefix:
- woman ⇒ femininity
- Proper names based on nouns belong to class 1a, no matter what the original class was
- Often parents assume the names of their children by prefixing the name with (for the father; note the Setswana Rra- and the Setswana noun rre father) or (for the mother; this is more often than not simply shortened to ). Also, a married woman may assume a name based on the prefix and her husbands surname/praise name.
- Most nouns can form new nouns with the diminutive suffixes (sometimes ), , and . Often stems ending in the high vowels undergo various phonetic changes (palatalization, alveolarization, and velarization) due to the initial vowel in the suffixes:
- shield ⇒ small shield
- The suffix is often used to create the feminine of some nouns and the augmentative of some other others:
- king ⇒ queen
- Sometimes the last 2 syllables of a noun may be repeated to indicate quantity, irregularity, or repetition:
- cows ⇒ herds of cattle
- A curious formation exists in Sesotho which creates nouns with the meaning of "pseudo-x" by employing the prefix (which also has the effect of placing the noun in class 5). The same prefix is also used in slightly non-standard speech to create simileSimileA simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two different things, usually by employing the words "like", "as". Even though both similes and metaphors are forms of comparison, similes indirectly compare the two ideas and allow them to remain distinct in spite of their similarities, whereas...
s.- speak ⇒ language ⇒ idiomatic speech
From qualificatives
Qualificatives can be used to derive abstract nouns in class 14 by prefixing .- Adjective many ⇒ quantity
- Relative hard ⇒ difficulty
- Enumerative other ⇒ difference/otherness
From ideophones
Some nouns are irregularly (and often idiomatically) derived from ideophones by reduplication:- of striking ⇒ big news
From verbs
Nouns of most classes are very actively and regularly derived from verbs. What follows is only a brief and incomplete overview.love, desire ⇒
- (and class 2 plural) lover
- (and class 6 plural) love
- (and class 7 plural) lover
- (and class 10 plural) desire, will
- state of one who loves
- to love, desire; loving, desiring
Note that:
- The noun stem, with a few idiomatic exceptions, fossilizes the tone pattern of the infinitive of the verb (in this example it is [ ¯ _ ], giving [ _ ¯ _ ] for the complete noun including the prefix)
- Infinitives are strictly class 15 nouns (gerundGerundIn linguistics* As applied to English, it refers to the usage of a verb as a noun ....
s) derived from verb stems
- Class 14 nouns are almost always derived from other nouns, not from the verb directly
- With personal nouns, the difference between classes 1 and 7 is often that the class 7 agent performs the action habitually or with proficiency:
- drive ⇒ driver and professional driver
Generally, agents are formed in classes 1 and 7 by adding the prefix and changing the final vowel to , while impersonal nouns are formed in several classes by adding the prefix and changing the final vowel to :
- be/come rich, own/breed livestock ⇒ class 1 rich person, and class 3 wealth
There are, however, some impersonal nouns which end with . Even if they begin with the ambiguous class prefix , nouns denoting non-human entities cannot be in class 1.
- flow ⇒ stream, and waterway (both in class 3)
Agents derived from passive verbs often use the full passive suffix , and never change the final vowel:
- love ⇒ / be loved ⇒ beloved
Compound nouns
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).- horse madness ⇒ Aristida Burkei grass
- to eat fish (traditionally considered taboo) ⇒ English person (derisivePejorativePejoratives , including name slurs, are words or grammatical forms that connote negativity and express contempt or distaste. A term can be regarded as pejorative in some social groups but not in others, e.g., hacker is a term used for computer criminals as well as quick and clever computer experts...
) - to sit (in) a chair ⇒ chairperson
- to be carried by (go with) the wind ⇒ radio receiver
- I know ⇒ class 2a doctors
- pronoun ( stand ⇒ stand for) + ideophone of being absolute/certain ⇒ 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.
- law + foundation ⇒ founding law ⇒ constitutionConstitutionA constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
- grain basket + sunshine/data ⇒ database
Foreign (non-Bantu nor Khoisan) acquisitions
Many Sesotho nouns (and other parts of speech) stem from contact with speakers of Indo-European languages, primarily French missionaries, Orange Free StateOrange Free State
The Orange Free State was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province...
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 bonbonBonbonThe name bonbon refers to any of several types of sweets, especially small candies enrobed in chocolate.The first reports of bonbons come from the 17th century, when they were made at the French royal court. Their name arose from infantile reduplication of the word bon, meaning 'good'...
⇒ sweets - English "heathen" ⇒ class 1
- AfrikaansAfrikaansAfrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
"BoerBoerBoer is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for farmer, which came to denote the descendants of the Dutch-speaking settlers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century, as well as those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in the Orange Free State,...
" ⇒ class 5 Afrikaner - English "teacher" ⇒ class 9 male teacher (note that the English "silent r" is rendered)
- Afrikaans "venster" window (cf LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
fenestra) ⇒ class 9 (note the consonant clusterConsonant clusterIn linguistics, a consonant cluster is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word splits....
) - English "speaker" ⇒ class 7 loudspeakerLoudspeakerA loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that produces sound in response to an electrical audio signal input. Non-electrical loudspeakers were developed as accessories to telephone systems, but electronic amplification by vacuum tube made loudspeakers more generally useful...
(with class 8 plural as if the cluster "sp" was a contraction of )