-So- and -No-: Aged parents in new garb

Abstract

In this article the use of the formatives -so- and -no- is investigated in words like usokhaya ‘head of the household’ (< ikhaya ‘home’), uSobantu ‘Father of the people’ (< abantu ‘people’), uNomkhubulwane ‘Princess of the rain/harvest’ (< khubula ‘to rereap, resow’), and unompempe ‘referee’ (< impempe ‘whistle’). I also look at the way in which these formatives have been treated by scholars, debate their status as compound nouns, and examine the relationship between marking for sex and noun classes 1(a) and 3(a). The specific use of these morphemes in the formation of personal names and clan-names, as opposed to common nouns, is also investigated. Finally, I look at the productivity of these formatives in the developing Zulu language, particularly in relationship to adopting words from other languages.