The semantics of ergative constructions in Zulu and Xhosa

Abstract

In the African languages the nominative/accusative system is dominant, but these languages also exhibit an ergative case pattern. Both unaccusative and ergative constructions appear in a significant number of verbs in Xhosa and Zulu, as well as in other African languages like Venda and Sotho. This paper investigates these verbs with regard to their predicate argument structure and lexical conceptual structure.