 | Chapter 5 - The Nominal Classes |
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In swahili, as in any other Bantu languages, substantives are not divided into genders of the masculine / feminine / neutral types, but in nominal classes. Swahili includes 13 nominal classes, plus three extra classes called the locative classes.
In order to rationalize the study of the nominal classes, these can be grouped into 7 "genders" (or categories) that each include 2 classes : one class for the singular and another class for the plural.
The 6th "gender" doesn't possess any specific plural but borrows its plurals from the other classes. The 7th "gender" is made of substantivated verbs and has no plural.
These 7 "genders" loosely correspond to more or less extended semantic categories.
The different nominal classes are recognized and definable by their prefixes, that is to say the first syllable of the noun, which will cause in turn a series of agreements through prefixes (and infixes) on the adjectives, pronouns, demonstratives, possessives, verbs, etc... in the sentence.
Swahili doesn't differentiate between definite or indefinite nouns, and neither does it distinguish between masculine or feminine for names of people.
| GENDERS / CLASSES |
NOMINAL PREFIXES |
EXAMPLES | SEMANTIC CATEGORIES |
|---|---|---|---|
| M-/WA- Cl 1 Singular Cl 2 Plural |
M-, MW- WA-, W- |
(person) MTU WATU |
Names of human beings exclusively, + 2 names of animals. No object. |
| M-/MI- Cl 3 Singular Cl 4 Plural |
M-, MW- MI-, M- |
(tree) MTI MITI |
Names of trees, plants, nature, parts of the human body, human activities. |
| JI-/MA- Cl 5 Singular Cl 6 Plural |
Ø- or JI- MA- |
(fruit) TUNDA MATUNDA |
Names of fruits, uncountables, everyday life objects, persons, augmentatives, nouns of Arabic origin, etc... |
| KI-/VI- Cl 7 Singular Cl 8 Plural |
KI-, CH- VI-, VY- |
(chair) KITI VITI |
Everyday objects, animals, parts of the human body, persons, diminutives, languages. |
| N- Cl 9 Singular Cl 10 Plural |
Ø- or N- Ø- or N- |
(cloth) NGUO NGUO |
Abstract and concrete things, persons, animals, natural elements, nouns of foreign origin, etc... |
| U- Cl. 11, 14 Cl 10 Plural |
U-, W- Ø- or N- |
(face) USO NYUSO |
Nouns of objects (Cl. 11), Singular abstract nouns (Cl. 14). |
| KU- Cl. 15 |
KU-, KW- |
(reading) KUSOMA |
Substantivated verbs. |
| Cl. Locatives Cl. 16, 17, 18 |
PA-, KU-, M- |
(place) MAHALI |
A single noun. They are present in class agreements. |
NOTES :
The concept of "gender", which remains controversial in the description of Bantu languages, was introduced here for two main reasons :
- Facilitate the study of the nominal classes by grouping them two by two, each "gender" including, in most cases, a singular and a plural.
- Avoid the use of the same word of "class" to designate at the same time the whole and its parts. Thus we won't say "M-/WA- Class" but "M-/WA- Gender" or "Classes 1 / 2".
The concept of "gender" far from substituting itself to that of "class", superposes upon it and completes it.
The numbers attributed to the different nominal classes in the above table are conventional class numbers, valid for all the Bantu languages.
The U- gender actually includes 2 distinct classes of nouns in singular : Classes 11 and 14.
Only the nouns of class 11 possess a plural which is borrowed from class 10, like all the nouns of the N- gender.
Classes 12 and 13 do not exist in swahili.
As for the locative classes, they include 3 classes : Class 16 (prefix PA-), Class 17 (prefix KU-) and Class 18 (prefix M-), but
they possess only one noun : MAHALI. Since they can't be put in the traditional categories of singular and plural, it is difficult to consider them as fully-fledged "nominal" genders.
That's why we have chosen not to include them in the different tables of nominal agreements of this work, but to study them separately.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF TODAY'S SWAHILI :
In order to adapt itself to the realities of the modern world, Swahili has to forge new vocables everyday.
For almost two centuries Swahili speakers naturally borrowed their words from Arabic (which was the cultural, religious and commercial language), then later to English (which was the colonial, cultural, educative, scientific and technical language).
For several years now, a Tanzanian committee has been regularly publishing lists of new scientific and technical vocables, built from Bantu, English or Arabic roots (the latter being often deemed as more "authentic").
Nevertheless, the system of nominal classes has been preserved, for all these new words are assimilated into the existing genders.
DEFINITIONS
All along this work, we shall use the following terminology to define the different word parts :
| RADICAL : | It's the part of the word that remains unchanged during the different word derivations, be it a noun, an adjective or a verb. Example : SAFARI (= a journey, journeys), mSAFIRI (= a traveller), waSAFIRI (= travellers), uSAFIRI (= to travel). |
| PREFIX : | It's a letter, or a syllable, placed before a noun, a verb or an adjective. The prefix often marks the agreement (class, person, number, etc...)
Example : Mzungu (= a European), WAzungu (= Europeans). KUsoma (= to read), Usome (= read !). |
| INFIX : | It's a letter, or a syllable, placed in the middle of a word, usually between the prefix and the radical of a verb.
Example : naKUambia (= I tell you), aliMpiga (= he hit him). |
| SUFFIX : | It's a letter, or a syllable, added at the end of a word. Sometimes, only the final vowell of the word changes.
Example : ananunuA (= he buys), anunuE (= let him buy). |
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