Towards the marking of noun class 8 and its agreement morpheme in Xitsonga

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the noun class associated with the generic agreement morpheme in Xitsonga and to unpack whether the noun class and its agreement morpheme can be discussed in terms of the theory of markedness. The study is underpinned by the autoethnography narrative research design, which allows the use of self as a source of data and a subsequent reflective account of engaging with the research process. The study found that the generic agreement morpheme is the dominion of noun class 8. Regarding function, the agreement morpheme is generally used with plural subjects belonging to various classes, as well as to assert everyday utterances. In conclusion, it can be argued that the study has theoretical implications for Bantu languages in general, particularly in respect to linguistic phenomena that can be described in terms of either opposition or hyponymy. In addition, the study has specific implications for subfields such as lexicography, semantics, syntax and language teaching.
Contribution: Further research is recommended to better understand the origins of general agreement morphology in Bantu languages. This study contributes significantly to the morphosyntactic analysis of Bantu languages, emphasising the insights provided by the theory of markedness in examining linguistic phenomena related to opposition or hyponymy.