Word-level and phrase-level prefixes in Zulu

Zeller, Jochen (2003) Word-level and phrase-level prefixes in Zulu. Acta Linguistica Hungarica, 50 (1-2). pp. 227-244. ISSN 1216-8076

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Abstract

This article investigates two strategies of relative clause formation in Zulu, a Bantu language spoken in South Africa. The standard way of forming a relative clause in Zulu involves a prefix (a so-called 'relative concord') which is attached to the predicate of the relative clause. In this strategy, the relative concord expresses agreement with the subject of the relative clause. In a second strategy, the relative concord seems to be prefixed to the first word of the relative clause; in this position, it agrees with the head noun. The main claim of this article is that the second strategy of relative clause formation in Zulu is an example of phrasal affixation. I show that the relative concord does not merge morphologically with the first word of the relative clause, but is attached to the whole relative clause. Following Anderson (1992), I analyse this kind of phrasal affixation as an inflectional process; the relative clause is a predicate, and the relative concord in the second strategy expresses agreement between this phrasal predicate and the head noun.

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