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LESSON 3. THE CLASSIFICATION OF SWAHILI NOUNS
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PART ONE 7 LESSON 3 THE CLASSIFICATION OF SWAHILI NOUNS Swahili is one of the African languages known as Bantu. One of the characteristics of these languages is the division of nouns into classes, and not into masculine, feminine and neuter genders. The noun classes are distinguished by their nominal prefixes. Swahili nouns, therefore, consist of a root of the word and a prefix, as follows: From the stem -tu, and the prefix m we get mtu, “a person”, “a human being”. Likewise, from the root tu and the prefix ki we get kitu, “a thing”, “something”. The plurals of these two words are formed from the same root with the prefixes wa and vi respectively; thus: watu, “people”; vitu “things”. For the sake of classification we count mtu, watu, as one class, and kitu, vitu as another class. In the following pages we are going to deal with each class separately.There are eight classes but most of the nouns are found in the first five classes, as will be seen below. THE M-WA CLASS In this class the nouns begin with m in the singular and wa in the plural.They usually denote human beings.They are: Mtu, man, person watu, people, persons mke, wife wake, wives mume, husband waume, husbands mgeni, guest, stranger wageni, guests, strangers 8 SWAHILI MADE EASY mtoto, child watoto, children mpishi, cook wapishi, cooks mganga, doctor waganga, doctors mzee11 , old man wazee, old men mgonjwa, sick person wagonjwa, sick persons mlevi, drunkard walevi, drunkards mkulima, farmer wakulima, farmers mkurugenzi, director wakurugenzi, directors mvulana, boy wavulana, boys msichana, girl wasichana, girls Mzungu, European Wazungu, Europeans Mhindi, Indian Wahindi, Indians mtumishi, servant watumishi, servants Two nouns which do not denote human beings are: mdudu, insect wadudu, insects mnyama, animal wanyama, animals Whenever the root of a noun belonging to this class begins with a vowel, w is inserted between the root and the prefix m, e.g. - alimu becomes mwalimu; - ana becomes mwana, etc. The following are among the commonest nouns of this kind: mwalimu, teacher walimu, teachers mwanamke, woman wanawake, women mwanamume, man wanaume, men mwana, one’s own child wana, one’s own children mwanadamu, human being wanadamu, human beings 1 mzee is not only an old man, but also a wise, honourable man. [54.221.159.188] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 10:11 GMT) PART ONE 9 mwanafunzi, student wanafunzi, students mwenzi, companion wenzi, companions mwenyewe, oneself wenyewe, themselves mwenyeji, inhabitant wenyeji. (inhabitants inatives, local persons) mwizi/mwivi, thief wezi (wevi)2 , thieves mwongo, liar waongo, liars EXERClSE 2 Translate the following words into English: 1. Wanafunzi, wezi, wanawake, wenzi, mgeni, mtumishi. 2. Mlevi, mke, mume, mkurugenzi, mpishi, mzee, mwongo. 3. Mtu, mwana, mgonjwa, msichana, mvulana, mtoto, mwizi. Change into the plural: 4. Mwongo, mwizi, mwenzi, mwanamke, mwanamume, mume, mwalimu. 5. Msichana, mwanadamu, mzee, mwanafunzi, mtoto, mgeni. The following nouns denote human relationships: baba, father baba, fathers mama, mother mama, mothers dada, sister dada, sisters babu, grandfather mababu, grandfathers 2 wezi and wevi, are formed from waizi and waivi. In cases like this one the ai changes into e. 10 SWAHILI MADE EASY bibi3 , grandmother bibi, grandmothers shangazi, aunt shangazi, aunts rafiki 4 , friend marafiki, friends adui, enemy maadui, enemies ndugu, relative ndugu, relatives kaka, elder brother kaka, elder brothers bwana, master bwana5 , masters The following nouns denote disabled persons: Kipofu6 , a blind person vipofu, blind persons kiziwi, a deaf person viziwi, deaf persons kiwete, a lame person viwete, lame persons Two nouns beginning with ki- which show no disability are: kijana, a young person vijana, young persons kiongozi, a leader viongozi, leaders 3 bibi, means also lady, and has mabibi for plural. 4 marafiki is often heard as the plural of rafiki. 5 mabwana is also used to mean masters, lords. 6 The prefix ki (plural vi) is usually used for things. It is beyond the scope of this work to grapple with the ethnolinguistic problem as to why the Swahili use these prefixes to denote disabled persons. This is something you can discuss with your teacher. ...