- The so-called clicks are not given here as they do not feature in the adaptation of E. and A. sounds. The SS. heterorganic consonant-combinations are also excluded for the same reason.
- With this and all following sounds, it must be assumed that, unless otherwise stated, the derivation described covers all positions (initial, medial, and final) of the occurrence of the sound in the language of origin.
- A. d is, in certain situations—notably when occurring finally—pronounced t in A. itself.
- It is interesting to note that “some (Afrikaans) speakers replace [c] in the diminutive suffix with the voiceless velar explosive [k], in other words, [ci] to them becomes [ki]…” (T. H. le Roux and P. de V. Pienaar, Afrikaanse Fonetiek, Juta & Co., Johannesburg, 1927 (?), §463 (my translation).
- Spelt Davida.
- [x] is being used more and more in place of [kxh], especially by the Sotho speakers in town and on White-owned farms outside of Basutoland. The words [xalasi] and [xarafu] are thus heard often in place of their versions quoted in the above examples.
- [ɦ] is used here on the analogy of the correspondence of Tswana [x] to SS. [ɦ]. It is interesting to note, however, that according to J. F. Swanepoel (in The Sounds of Afrikaans, Longmans, 1927, p. 66), “The Englishman usually converts it (i.e. [x]) into [h]”.
- As in duidelik, onmiddellik. The phonetic representation is that of le Roux and de V. Peinnaar, op. cit.
- In the case of suffix [əx], Afrikaans itself tends to substitute [α] for [ə] (Swanepoel, op. cit., p. 25).
- From the material analysed, it would seem that in all cases where [ə] occurs with the suffix [lək] in A., the substitution is always A. [ə] SS. [ε].
- Some A. speakers unround the [y] and pronounce i instead, (le Roux and de V. Pienaar, op. cit., §272.
- Le Roux and de V. Pienaar, op. cit., §281, and Swanepoel, op. cit., p. 32 remark about the tendency of Afrikaans speakers to unround this round vowel and pronounce [e] instead.
- Swanepoel, op. cit. (p. 41) remarks that Afrikaans speakers sometimes say fooi tog [fo: itəx] instead of foei tog [fuitəx].
- Cf. 4 I A(h) above.
- Normally l never occurs before i and u, its place being taken by d in those circumstances. Here, however, the l is retained.
- In the corresponding verb stems têmpa ‘affix a stamp’ and tôpa ‘stop’ only t can occur, never th. The reason is that this t is felt to be medial because of the elided se in each case.
- The corresponding verb stem kôra ‘score’ never has kh since it is felt to be medial Cf. fn. 16, above. Also note the word SS. sekhêthê(> E. skirt) where kh and th occur non-initially.
- Of late, E. [g] tends to be retained, giving [geit?i], [gεlε].
- Singular in SS.; pl. disakarêtshê.
- Singular in SS.; pl. ditêntshê.
- No substitution of d for l, in spite of a following u. See fn. 15, p. 356 above.
- Often in silent -r words also.
- C. Ward says that “in some types of South African speech I (my [ι]) is a close variety, approaching i” (The Phonetics of English, Heffer & Sons, Ltd., Cambridge, 4th edition, 1958 reprint, §131).
- Ward, op. cit., remarks that there is a tendency “in some types of Scottish town speech” for this vowel to be pronounced [ε] (§141).
- Ward, op. cit., §168, says, “in Scotland, words which in English are pronounced with u: have a short u sound”.
- This sequence defies the rule that in SS. [ǝ] never occurs before a vowel higher than itself. In such situations [o] is normally substituted for [ǝ].
- As indicated in §24 below, where an acquired verb begins with sp, st, sk, spr, sir, skr, the s is dropped when such verb undergoes the various processes of Sothoization, which include consonant-separation. Where, however, no consonant-separation is applied to the combinations mentioned, initial s of the word is retained. This probably means that the word is still felt to be partly non-Sotho, even though appreciably Sothoized in other respects.
- Combinations comprising voiceless alveolar fricative s followed by an explosive consonant appear to be less difficult for the Sotho speaker. The reason is that voluntary elision of vowels in speech often results in the temporary existence of such combinations as in Ska bua for Se kê wa bua ‘Do not speak’, Stabolê for Se tabolê ‘Tear it’. There are even such temporary combinations as stl, sts, stsh resulting from such elision, e.g. Stlisê kwano for Se tlise kwano ‘bring it here’, O a stseba? for O a se tseba?' ‘Do you know it?’, Ke a stshaba for Ke a se tshaba ‘I'm afraid of it’. But it must be emphasized that in such cases the speaker continues to be aware of the temporarily elided vowel.
- Here too voluntary vowel elision sometimes results in this combination being realized in speech, e.g. Mplêllê for Mpolêllê ‘Tell me’.
- Note the unique cases sepêkêtêrê > E. inspector, and setereke E. district, where in- is left out in the first derivation, and di- and -t in the second.
- See §22 below.
- In strengthening, the sounds affected and the sounds resulting are:
- The form kontanse mêlêkê is also found.
- Adjectives in SS. are, in their syntax relation with the qualified substantive, preceded by a relative connective, the resulting sequence being a relative qualificative clause. The simple connectives—so called because they comprise only one element and have short length and static tone—are used with “strong” adjectives, i.e. those which take an adjectival prefix identical with the prefix of the class of the qualified substantive. The compound connectives—so called because they have evolved from the merging of a simple connective and a following subject concord, and have long length and dynamic tone—are used with “weak” adjectives, i.e. those which do not take an adjectival prefix, and most of which are derived from other grammatical forms, notably nouns. In the following examples, the relative connective is underlined. In examples incorporating “strong” adjectives, the noun prefix and the corresponding adjectival prefix are also underlined.
- See 7sect;9 above.
- These are also used adjectivally, as they are also in the original language.
- For the benefit of the reader who is only now making his first acquaintance with the term ideophone, I append a list of the books he might consult: For S. Sotho, C. M. Doke and S. M. Mofokeng: Textbook of Southern Sotho Grammar (Longmans, 1957), p. 3'37. For Tswana (also of the Sotho group), D. T. Cole: Introduction to Tswana Grammar (Longmans, 1955), Chapter 16. For Zulu, C. M. Doke: Textbook of Zulu Grammar (Longmans, 1950), p. 255. For Shona, G. Fortune: Ideophones in Shona, Oxford University Press, 1962. General, C. M. Doke: Bantu Linguistic Terminology (Longmans, 1935), p. 118.
- After the root, but not necessarily immediately after it.
- See strengthening, note 33.
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