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Descriptive nominal modifiers in Setswana

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
The study focused on three descriptive nominal modifiers which specify the attributes of
nouns, i.e. the morphological adjective, the relative clause and the descriptive possessive.
The morphological adjective appears in an adjectival phrase, which has to consist of a
determiner and an adjective. The adjective must have agreement with the head noun in
an NP. The adjective root may appear with nominal suffixes such as -ana and -gadi, it can
be reduplicated, it may be transposed to other categories and it may even be
compounded. The AP may also occur in predicative position as well as in comparative
clauses.
The relative clause may have the same semantic properties as the adjective. The relative
clause in Setswana consists of a determiner in the position of the complementizer followed
by an lP. Such an lP may have a copulative or non-copulative verb. Attention in this study
has focused on the nominal relative, which appears as a complement of a copulative verb.
These nominal relative stems have been divided into two sections, i.e. a section in which
the nominal relative stems may not appear in a descriptive possessive construction and a
second section where these stems may also appear as a complement of the possessive
[a]. The semantic features of these nominal relative stems have been isolated and it is
clear that they show a wide variety of semantic features. This type of relative clause
represents the most prolific category, which specifies the attributes of nouns.
The third category, which displays the semantic feature of an attribute of a noun, is the
descriptive possessive construction. The syntactic and semantic structure of this type of
phrase has been investigated. A wide variety of complements of the possessive [a] have
been isolated in Setswana and some semantic features have received specific attention,
i.e. group nouns and partitives. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING:
Die studie fokus op drie deskriptiewe nominale bepalers wat die attribute van naamwoorde
spesifiseer nl. die morfologiese adjektief, die relatief en die deskriptiewe possessief.
Die morfologiese adjektief kom voor in 'n adjektieffrase wat bestaan uit 'n bepaler en 'n
adjektief. Die adjektief moet klasooreenstemming hê met die kernnaamwoord in 'n
naamwoordfrase. Die adjektiefstam kan voorkom met nominale suffikse soos ana en gadi,
dit kan geredupliseer word, oorgeplaas word na ander kategorieë en selfs samestellings
vorm. Die adjektieffrase kan ook voorkom in 'n predikatiewe posisie sowel as in
vergelykings.
Die relatief kan dieselfde semantiese eienskappe hê as die adjektief. Die relatief in
Setswana bestaan uit 'n bepaler in die posisie van die komplementeerder gevolg deur 'n
infleksiefrase. So 'n infleksiefrase kan 'n kopulatiewe of nie-kopulatiewe werkwoord bevat.
Die aandag in hierdie studie het gekonsentreer op die nominale relatief wat voorkom as 'n
komplement van 'n kopulatiewe werkwoord. Hierdie nominale relatiewe stamme is verdeel
in twee afdelings nl. 'n afdeling waarin die nominale relatiewe stamme nie kan voorkom in
'n deskriptiewe possessiewe konstruksie en 'n tweede afdeling waar hierdie stamme ook
kan voorkom as 'n komplement van die possessiewe [a]. Die semantiese kenmerke van
hierdie nominale relatiewe stamme is geïsoleer en dit is duidelik dat hulle 'n wye
verskeidenheid van semantiese kenmerke het. Hierdie tipe relatief verteenwoordig In baie
wye keuse t.o.v. die attribute van naamwoorde.
Die derde kategorie wat die semantiese kenmerk van 'n attribuut van 'n naamwoord
vertoon, is die deskriptiewe possessiewe konstruksie. Die sintaktiese en semantiese
struktuur van hierdie tipe frase is nagegaan. 'n Groot verskeidenheid komplemente van die
possessiewe [a] is geïsoleer in Setswana en sommige semantiese kenmerke het
spesifieke aandag gekry nl. groepnaamwoorde en partitiiewe.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/52755
Date12 1900
CreatorsTheledi, Kgomotso Mothokhumo Ambitious
ContributorsVisser, M. W., Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African Languages.
PublisherStellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
Languageen_ZA
Detected LanguageUnknown
TypeThesis
Format357 p.
RightsStellenbosch University

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