M.A. (African Languages) / In this dissertation the copulative in Tsonga is analyzed in all its aspects. The treatment of copulatives in literature on Tsonga is discussed in detail and views of authors on other South African languages compared with it. A theoretical framework for the description of copulatives is offered, including such aspects as the definition of the word, the verb categories of the language, and the terminology needed for the subject. A principled basis for the classification of types of copulatives is then given, after which the identification, descriptive, stative and inchoative copulatives of Tsonga are analyzed in detail.