The CALL of Zulu: reflections on the development of a computer-assisted language learning package

Figures & data

Table 1. The constructions conveying ‘be’ in Zulu.

English	Zulu	The ‘be’
I am a woman	Ngingumfazi	Implied by ‘-ngu-’
I am a police officer	Ngiyiphoyisa	Implied by the ‘-yi-’
I am happy	Ngiyajabula	Included in the verb ‘jabula’ meaning ‘be happy’
I am in the garden	Ngisengadini	Implied by the joining of ‘Ngi-’ (I) and ‘engadini’ (in the garden). The ‘s’ does not carry meaning; it is a ‘buffer’ between two vowels
I am … years old	Ngineminyaka …	There is no equivalent to ‘be’ here; the ‘-ne-’ following ‘Ngi-’ implies ‘have’, so the best translation would be ‘I have years …’

Table 2. The construction of ‘bangiyihlabela’ with translations and explanations.

ba-	-ngi-	-yi-	-hlab-	-ela
they	me	it — referring back to the goat	Stem of the verb ‘slaughter’	Ending (verb extension) implying adding a ‘for’ to the verb stem

Table 3. Examples of simple sentences where the verb prefix varies with the noun class of the subject noun.

Umfana udlala ibhola.	The boy plays ball (soccer).
Intombazana idlala ibhola.	The girl plays ball.
Abafana badlala ibhola.	The boys play ball.
Ikati lidlala ibhola.	The cat plays ball.
Izimbuzi zidlala ibhola.	The goats play ball.
Amaphoyisa adlala ibhola.	The police officers play ball.
Ufudu ludlala ibhola.	The tortoise plays ball.
Isikhuphashe sidlala ibhola.	The crayfish plays ball.

Figure 1. The visuals for the ‘ranks’ of the second game.

Figure 2. An example of learner feedback for the ‘matching game’.

Figure 3. The Zulu word monopoly game.

Figure 4. The verb morpheme scheme.