The Zulu Language
Fall 2005
John Goldsmith, Gretta Buthelezi
We will meet three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 10:30 to 11:20). The Friday meetings will be language classes, based on Teach Yourself Zulu.
The purpose of this course:
This course will be an attempt to combine a lot of different activities that make up the working day of the linguist. There will be language learning: each Friday will be a language class, with instruction by Gretta Buthelezi, a native speaker of Zulu. We will learn about Zulu life and culture from her as well, and she will teach us to sing some songs in Zulu. At the same time, we will be reading linguistic literature on Zulu--both traditional descriptive grammars (and here Doke's is the classic grammar to consult) and contemporary syntactic theory that applies current formal syntactic theory to Zulu and, more broadly, to Bantu with the hope of better understanding our theory and better understanding Zulu. But unlike the usual situation that faces the theoretical linguist reading a paper about a non-European language, we will not have to simply accept the facts as they are given to us in the papers: we will be able to check the data, and go beyond the published data to better understand the phenomena being analyzed. I realize that much of the theory in the papers that we will read will be unfamiliar to most of us, but that too is part of the everyday life of the working linguist, and we'll do our best to understand the theory (theories) as we encounter them.
The grade will be based on:
Undergraduates: One third based on quizzes based on language-learning (Friday sessions, TYZ book); two third based on two papers (7 to 8 pages in length), one paper on nouns and noun phrases, the other on verbs and sentences. Each paper should be a concise description of the system (noun, verb) in Zulu, intended for linguists who know nothing about Zulu. Draft of one paper due Week 7, one in Week 8; final drafts due the first day of Exam Week.
Graduate students: A research paper.
Ethnologue: Languages of South Africa.
Songs: Thina simunye (by Gretta Buthelezi). Notes on Lizobuya and Unomathemba
Check out a very nice Zulu learning page at http://www.newt.clara.co.uk/isizulu/index.htm
Week 1
1.1.Introduction to the course: overview. A greeting or two in Zulu. Overview of the languages of Africa. Map of Africa.
Link to a beautiful Bantu languages map": very large! Maho's maps of theories of Bantu expansion. 1 2 These are from J. F. Maho. 1999. A comparative study of Bantu noun classes. Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis.
Assignment for next class:
1.2 The Bantu languages: what properties define a Bantu language? The Bantu expansion; the Nguni family. Noun classes, and agreement. Guthrie classification of Bantu languages (map). Bantu linguistic studies.
Assignment for next class: Read TYZ (Teach Yourself Zulu) Chapter 1, "Greetings".
1.3 Language class 1: greetings.
Reading assignment for next week:
Week 2
2.1 Sounds of Zulu, and how it is spelled: consonants, vowels. Sounds from isiZulu.net.
2.2Language situation in South Africa. Guest class by Salikoko Mufwene.
For next class, please read TYZ, Chapter 2: "Wena ungubani? Who are you?"
2.3 Language 2
Nkosi, Siza kuwe, by Gretta Buthelezi
Created /by Mark Dingemanse 23 september 2004, released under CC-by-2.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Reading assignment for next week:
Week 3
3.1 Overview of Zulu syntax. Discuss Buell, Chapter 1; Bearth, pp. 121-130. Subject markers (SMs), Object Markers (OMs). Verbal extensions modifying argument structure. Word order and affix order.
3.2 Nouns: basic information. Noun classes: Noun class chart 1. Noun class chart 2.
For next class, please read TYZ Chapter 3.
3.3 Language 3
Reading assignment for next week:
Reread Syntax; by T. Bearth.
Week 4
4.1 Verbs: the basic factors. Today's notes from class.
Verbs
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2 non-finite:
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infinitive
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imperative
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5 moods:
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indicative
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subjunctive
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participial
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potential
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contingent
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Implications:
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Simple
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ngiyathanda
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Progressive
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ngisathanda
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Exclusive
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sengithanda
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Aspect
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||
Indefinite
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ngihlala
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I sit
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Continuous
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ngiyahlala
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I am getting into sitting...
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Perfect (stative verbs)
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ngihlezi
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I am seated
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Time
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Remote past
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Recent past
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Present
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Immediate future
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Remote future
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4.2 Verbal agreement ("concord"): Subject, object markers and concord. Time permitting: perfect stem formation; perfect of semantically perfective verbs, perfect of other verbs. Morphophonology of perfect stem formation.
For next class, please read TYZ, Chapter 4:
4.3 Language 4
Reading assignment for next week:
Week 5
5.1 Pronouns. Doke Chapter 5. Class notes from today.
Type of pronoun
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Head
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absolute
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roughly: -na
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demonstrative
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very roughly: la + CV; la + CV + o;
la + CV + ya:
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quantitative
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-nke, -dwa;
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qualitative
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empty noun head?
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.Tables of inflectional morphemes in paradigms.
5.2 Things that "modify" or "qualify" a noun.
These follow the head noun, and have a prefixal concord marker; but they have slightly different concord systems, phono-morphologically. How can we express naturally the syntactic generalization about realization of class/number concord?
Type
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Concord system used
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Used with:
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adjectives
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a + very full nominal concord prefix; vowel
coalescence.
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relative
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a + non-nasal concord prefix; vowel coalescence
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enumerative
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"conservative" prefix system
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-nye, -phi, -ni, -mbe
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possessive
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non-nasal prefix
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-o
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For next class, please read TYZ, Chapter 6
5.3 Language 5
Reading assignment for next week:
read Interaction between discourse functions and agreement in Setswana, by Katherine Demuth and Mark Johnson. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 11: 22-35. Zulu equivalents for their data. This paper responds to: Topic, pronoun, and agreement in Chichewa.J. Bresnan and S. Mchumbo. Language 63(4): 741-782.Available online from our chalk.uchicago.edu site.. I've changed my mind: do read this paper, to understand what the nature of the arguments are; the facts are similar in important ways to what we find in Zulu.
For next class, read Constraining XP Sequences, pp. 1-20. Katherine Demuth and Jeffrey Gruber. Assignment: in your own words, explain the paragraph above (4) on page 5, in about 2 pages. Be sure to write an explicit phrase-structure rule for any structure you use.
Week 6
6.1 Are Subject Markers and Object Markers pronouns or not? Zulu equivalents of Chichewa Notes from class.
6.2 Continuing the discussion of complex morpheme order and syntax. Discussion of Demuth and Gruber, first part of paper.
For next class, please read TYZ, Chapter 7: "Awugcwalise"
6.3 Language 6
Assignment for next week:
Week 7
7.1 Further discussion of status of Object Markers and Subject Markers
7.2 Compound tenses. -- Notes on Kirundi poetry metrics (work with Jeanine Ntahirageza).
For next class, please read TYZ, Chapter 8:
7.3 Language 7
For next class: read TYZ Chapter 8.
Week 8
8.1 Relative clauses and questions. Notes from class.
Also of interest on relative clauses and questions.
Wh-question formation in Nguni. Joachim Sabel and Jochen Zeller
For next class, please read Left dislocation in Zulu. Jochen Zeller. 2004 and handout on long/short forms in Zulu by Leston Buell, available on Chalk site.
8.2 Long and short versions of verbs; focus. We will discuss Buell's "Zulu long and short verb forms: focus or constituency?"
Other paper you might look at: Tom Güldemann "Present progressive vis-à-vis predication focus in Bantu" Studies in Language 2003, vol. 27(2) 323-60. Available on-line from U of Chicago computers.
For next class, please read TYZ, Chapter 9:
8.3 Language 8
Reading assignment for next week:
Week 9 (Thanksgiving)
9.1 Relative clauses and questions. Discussion of Demuth and Harford 1999.
For next class, please read TYZ, Chapter 11:
9.2 Language 9
Reading assignment for next week:
The initial vowel of the noun in Zulu. P. M. S. von Staden. African Studies 32(3):163-181. 1973.
Week 10
10.1 Augment (preprefix).
10.2 Final class: Zulu party? what do you think?
Class
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Noun prefix
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Subject marker
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Object marker
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Adjectival concord:
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= a + augment + Noun Prefix |
Relative
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= a + augment + Subject Marker
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Enumerative
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= Pre-Nguni forms: no 1a/2a; no -n-
in class 9/10.
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|||
1 2
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mu
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ba
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u
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ba
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mu
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ba
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omu
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aba
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o
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aba
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mu
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ba
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1a 2a
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u
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o
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u
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ba
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mu
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ba
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omu
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aba
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o
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aba
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mu
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ba
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3 4
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mu
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mi
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u
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i
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wu
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yi
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omu
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emi
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o
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e
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mu
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mi
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5 6
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(l)i
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ma
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li
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a
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li
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wa
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eli
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ama
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eli
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a
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li
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ma
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7 8
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si
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zi
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si
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zi
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si
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zi
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esi
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ezin
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esi
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ezi
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si
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zi
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9 10
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in
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izin
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i
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zi
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yi
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zi
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en
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ezin
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e
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ezi
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i
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zi
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11
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(lu)
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lu
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lu
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olu
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olu
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lu
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||||||
14
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bu
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bu
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bu
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obu
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obu
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bu
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||||||
15
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ku
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ku
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ku
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oku
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oku
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ku
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Subject agreement and locative inversion:
Nouns, class marking, and the augment
Nurse, D. and G. Philippson (2003). The Bantu languages. London; New York: Routledge.
J. F. Maho. 1999. A comparative study of Bantu noun classes. Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis.
Zulu links on the internet
African languages.com (Zulu)
Web resources : (these are quite extraordinary!)
http://www.mongabay.com/indigenous_ethnicities/languages/languages/Zulu.html
Two nice pages with maps and brief discussion:
Zulu proverbs: http://www.antiquarian.co.za/Zulu%20Proverbs.htm
Remarks on a few "polyplural" classes in Bantu. Jouni Maho. Africa and Asia, No. 3. 2003. pp. 161-84.
Bantu languages FAQ!
Ideophones
Kinyarwanda: Alexandre Kimenyi. Iconicity of ideophones in Kinyarwanda: Form, function, content and context.
Reduplication
Morphosyntactic correspondence in Bantu reduplication. Larry Hyman, Sharon Inkelas, and Galen Sibanda. 1998. ROA 437.
Bukusu
reduplication. Laura Jo Downing. In Trends in African Linguistics 5, ed.
by C. Githiora, H. Littlefield, and V. Manfredi. Lawrenceville NJ: Africa
World Press, 73-84.
6.2
8.1 Tone
Rycroft, David. Nguni Tonal Typology and Common Bantu. Journal of African Languages.
Cope, A. T. Zulu Tonal Morphology.
8.2 Tone
Clark, Mary M. 1988. An accentual analysis of the Zulu noun. In H. van der Hulst and N. Smith (eds.), Autosegmental Studies on Pitch Accent, pp. 51-79. Dordrecht: Foris.
Clements, G. N. and John Goldsmith. 1984. Introduction to Autosegmental Studies in Bantu Tone.
** Cope, A.T. 1970. Zulu Tonal Morphology, Journal of African Linguistics, 9: 111-152.
Downing, Laura. 1990. Local and metrical tone shift in Nguni. SAL 21, 261-317.
Downing, Laura. 2001. How ambiguity of analysis motivates stem tone change in Durban Zulu.
Khumalo, James. 1987. An autosegmental account of Zulu phonology. PhD dissertation, University of Witswatersrand.
Laughren, Mary 1981. An Autosegmental Account of Tone in Zulu, in G.N. Clements, ed, Harvard Studies in Phonology, Vol. 2, distributed by Indiana University Linguistics Club: 218-310.
Depression in Zulu: tonal effects of segmental features http://strazny.com/writing/depressor/toc.htm
For next class, please read TYZ, Chapter 9: "Usebenzani James?"
8.3 Language