This thesis examines the argument structures of applicative and causative verbs in Sesotho, and proposes conditions which they must comply with. It is argued that the two conditions in question are in fact general conditions on argument structure rather than restrictions specific to the individual suffixes. The first, the Thematic Hierarchy Condition, which accounts for the unacceptability of unaccusative verbs and experiencer verbs with a Benefactive argument, follows from a universal tendency to have the highest thematic role as the external argument. The second, the Internal Argument Principle, which accounts for the unacceptability of the applicative and causative suffixes with verbs that take two obligatory internal arguments, follows from the fact that basic verbs across languages take no more than two internal arguments. It is argued that this second principle does not follow from Case Theory or Theta Theory. / This thesis also demonstrates that the distinction between structural and inherent Case plays an important role in morphology. It accounts for certain differences between causatives and applicatives, including the unacceptability of causative verbs with an S$ sp prime$ complement and the order in which the applicative and causative suffixes appear.

M.A. (African Languages) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

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Thesis (M.A. (Translation Studies and Linguistics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / The prime goal of this study is to explore, form and analyse the semantic content of compound words in Sepedi. The study used the qualitative method. Data were collected using participant observations from various written sources and it was analysed through Content Analysis. The Theory of Construction Morphology was tested on endocentric, exocentric, and copulative compound words to locate the headedness of Sepedi compound words. The study revealed that the head of compound words can be located on the nominal prefix, left-hand side, right-hand side, on both nominal prefixes and it can be determined outside of the compound word for metaphoric exocentric nominal compounds. Furthermore, because of the role noun class prefixes play on determining the head of compound words, the study found that Sepedi compound words are nominals. The formation of Sepedi compound words involves the combination of different word aspects such as objects concords, deverbatives, verbal roots, stems, suffixal endings, and lexical categories such as nouns, Adjectives, and verbs. The resultant compound word of these combinations always results in a compound noun. It was recommended that future researchers should investigate the semantic content of exocentric compound words in African languages, especially the Sepedi language. The study further highlighted that there is still a need for a study that looks at the influences of nominal prefixes on the headedness of compound words in Sepedi. Furthermore, the study recommended that to alleviate the gap of shortage of literature in Sepedi, future studies should focus on word formation processes in Sepedi. / Feenix Crowdfunding and C Track Fleet Management Solutions Pty Ltd