Sotho nouns signify concrete or abstract concepts in the language, but are distinct from the Sotho pronouns. Sotho (Sesotho, Southern Sotho or Southern Sesotho[1]) is a Bantu language spoken primarily in South Africa, where it is one of the 11 official languages, and in Lesotho, where it is the national language. ... Not to be confused with the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... The Sotho-speaking people have lived in southern Africa since around 15th century. ...

Bantu languages are often said to have sentences which are "centred around the noun" due to the striking nature of the noun concordance system. In Sotho, pronouns, verbs, copulatives, adjectives, relatives, enumeratives, and possessives all need to agree with the noun(s) associated with them. Map showing the approximate distribution of Bantu vs. ...

Structure

Except for class 1a (which has a "null prefix"), nouns are composed of a noun prefix and a stem (which may in turn be derived from other parts of speech; see below under Derivation). Each noun belongs to one of several noun classes and the knowledge of noun classes and their concords is pivotal to composing coherent sentences. In linguistics, the term noun class refers to a system of categorizing nouns. ...

Usually the noun's class can be discerned by simply looking for the prefix, but there are many instances where this can become very complicated:

1. The syllabic nasal prefix of class 9 is more often than not invisible

2. Classes 1, 3, and 18 have similar prefixes but differing concords

3. Classes 2a and 14 have similar looking prefixes, differing in the vowel's quality and tone

4. Classes 15 and 17 have similar looking prefixes, differing only in tone

5. Many class 1 and 3 nouns have stems beginning with vowels, often causing the m to velarize to ng

   mo + -ana ⇒ ngwana child, cf Kiswahili mwana

6. Similarly, many class 14 nouns with stems beginning with vowels cause the prefix to palatalize to j Kiswahili is an alternative name for the Swahili language, derived from the expression lugha ya Kiswahili, which is what speakers of Swahili call their language. ...

   bo + -ang ⇒ jwang grass

7. Often if the stem of a class 1 or 3 noun is derived from a verb beginning with b the b is absorbed by the m (the vowel is elided) to become mm

   -busa govern ⇒ mmuso government

There are further complications caused by stems that begin with vowels when the vowels interact causing the quality and tone of the prefix vowel to change (this never happens if the stem comes from a vowel verb); in these cases it is often simply a matter of memorizing the correct class and plural for each individual word.

Noun stems can range in length from monosyllabic as in motho (person), to very long stems formed either by duplication (eg kgodumodumo great and fearsome thing, the swallowing monster) or derived from long and complex verbs (eg the 7 syllable phuparollelano the act of mutual giving and receiving, derived from a verb which is in turn idiomatically and recursively — through 5 distinct steps — derived from the ideophone fupa of closing ones hand suddenly).

Noun prefix system

Sotho, like all other Bantu languages, uses a set of "noun classes" and each noun belongs to one of the classes. The noun class that a noun belongs to is indicated by a prefix.^[1] In linguistics, the term noun class refers to a system of categorizing nouns. ...

Nouns are divided somewhat arbitrarily between these classes, although a few of them contain nouns which mostly fall into clear categories. For example, all class 1 nouns are humans and verbal agents, most class 1a nouns are proper names and kinship terms, etc.

The noun classes and their respective prefixes are as follows:

Noun Classes 11 to 13, and 19 to 23 do not occur in Sotho, but do occur in other Bantu languages (Zulu has Class 11, Silozi has Classes 11, 12, and 13, etc). In linguistics, a gerund is a kind of verbal noun that exists in some languages. ... Languages Zulu Religions Christian, Animist Related ethnic groups Bantu Nguni Basotho Xhosa Swazi Matabele Khoisan The Zulu (South African English and isiZulu: amaZulu) are a South African ethnic group of about 10 million people who live mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. ... Lozi, also known as Silozi and Rozi, is a Bantu language (of the Niger-Congo language family) that is spoken by the Lozi people primarily in southwestern Zambia and also, to a lesser extent, in surrounding countries. ...

Each basic noun in Sotho has an inherent prefix (even if that prefix is a null prefix: segmentally empty). If you can remember a word off by heart, and you know the full list of prefixes, you can (perhaps 90% of the time) determine the class of that particular word. Knowing the class, first, allows one to know what the plural of the word is (for singular words), e.g:

sefate (tree) has prefix se-, which is of Class 7, therefore its plural must be difate

Up until Class 10, the plural class for Class n is Class n + 1 (where n is odd). Another example:

lemati (door) has prefix le-, which is Class 5, so its plural is mamati.

Problems start occurring with words like monyako (door) — is it in Class 3 or 1?

You will observe in the above table that the note next to group 1 says "mostly human nouns" and that group 3 says "mostly non-human nouns." Since doors are not human, we can therefore conclude that monyako is probably in Class 3, so its plural is in Class 4, menyako.

Motsoalle (friend), in Class 1, has an irregular plural in Class 4 — metsoalle. Also, morena (king), has a plural in Class 6. Many Class 1 words have a tendency of misbehaving, but we know that they belong to Class 1 because of their concords. Quite a substantial number of Class 1 words have their plurals in Class 6.

Often, when the prefix of a noun whose stem begins with a vowel (and is not derived from a vowel verb stem) is obscured by various phonological processes, prefix compounding may occur (instead of the usual prefix substitution) when forming plurals, or even in the singular itself. Some words may even end up in a different class

jwang grass in class 14 is often heard as bojwang and has plural majwang, both instances of prefix compounding since the jwa- is the palatalized class 14 prefix bo-.

ngwetsi was originally a class 1 word, whose prefix is velarized and is now treated as a class 9 noun with plural dingwetsi. In Tswana, however, it is still treated as a class 1 noun with plural betsi

In idiomatic speech, the le- of class 5, the se- of class 7, and the di- of class 10 are sometimes not rendered when the noun is followed by the appropriate concords.^[2] Some historical words, such as letsie (locust), have completely lost their singular prefixes (and, in the case of tsie, ended up in class 9). Others, such as lelapa (family, home) are often rendered without the prefix even when not followed by any prefixes ("at the home" is always lapeng). The class 5 noun isao (next year) has completely lost its prefix, and has plural maisao. Tswana (Motswana, plural Batswana) is the name of a Southern African people. ... Letsie III (original name David Mohato Bereng Seeiso) (born July 17, 1963) is the king of Lesotho. ...

Notes:

1. [N] means that nasalization will occur to the following consonant.
2. Many Class 5 words in Sotho come from the original Bantu *lu- class 11, whose plural has been argued by Meinhof (in his hypothetical Ur-Bantu) to be *lî- (an augment to Class 10), which is why some Class 5 nouns may have two distinct plurals: one in Class 6, and one in Class 10. However, the di[N]- plural does not apply to all Class 5 words, and when it does the meaning might be changed slightly (maleme tongues, diteme flattery). For example, Twana uses lorato for Sotho lerato (love), as this class still exists in the language. When in doubt, do not use the di[N]- form.
3. Classes 16, 17, and 18 are the locative classes. They are no longer productive in Sotho (they cannot accept new nouns) but they are productive in many other Bantu languages.

Carl Friedrich Michael Meinhof (July 23, 1857 — February 11, 1944) was a German linguist known as one of the first linguists to study African languages. ...

Class contents

• Class 1 contains most human nouns and is the default class for verbal agents (actors), which end in the vowel -i.
  
  The class prefix is mo- and comes from original Ur-Bantu *mu-. The prefix appears as mm- before stems beginning with b.
  

  mohlanka servant

  -lekola investigate ⇒ molekodi investigator

  -buella speak on behalf of ⇒ mmuelli advocate

  
  
• Class 1a has the exact same concords as class 1, but differs from it in the lack of prefix. It contains proper names of people, kinship terms, as well as the names of some animals and plants.
  
  The proper names and kinship terms generally have miscellaneous forms, but the names of animals, plants (possibly personifications), and some humans in this class begin with a mma- or ma- prefix.
  
  Names of mothers, fathers, married women and men (in a system of ho hlonepha prohibiting the use of nouns sounding like the names of certain family members), and initiated boys and girls may be formed from other nouns and proper names with the prefixes Mma- (or just Ma-) and Ra- meaning "mother of" and "father of" respectively (though initiates often get prefixes of the opposite sex, Ma- for boys and Ra- for girls).
  

  malome elder uncle (literally "male mother" — the only Sotho instance of the Bantu male suffix *-lume)

  -rata desire ⇒ thato will (of God) (class 9) ⇒ Thato (proper name)

  Thato (proper name) ⇒ Mmathato Thato's mother, and Rathato Thato's father

  mmamolangwane secretary bird

  
  
• Class 2 is the plural class for class 1. There are, however, many class 1 nouns which have their plural in class 6 instead.
  
  The class prefix is ba- and comes from original Ur-Bantu *βa-.
  

  bahlanka servants

  
  
• Class 2a is the plural class for class 1a. When used with human nouns it sometimes has the meaning of "X and them" or "the people/followers/kin of X." It uses the exact same concords as class 2.
  
  The class prefix is a high tone bo- and comes from original Ur-Bantu *βo-.
  

  Bo-Mmathato Mmathato and them

  bommamolangwane secretary birds

  
  
• Class 3 has miscellaneous content. Some nouns in this class also come from verbs, but are non-personal and usually end in the vowel -o.
  
  The class prefix is exactly the same as that of class 1, but the two classes use different concords. Like class 1 the prefix appears as mm- before stems beginning with b.
  

  moru forest

  -duma resound ⇒ modumo noise, sound

  mmala colour (stem -bala)

  
  
• Class 4 contains the plurals of class 3 nouns.
  
  The class prefix is me- and comes from original Ur-Bantu *mi-.
  

  mebala colours

  
  
• Class 5 is very homogeneous in content. It has many terms of body parts which appear in pairs, natural phenomena, and certain special classes of people.
  
  The class prefix is le- and comes from original Ur-Bantu *li- as well as Ur-Bantu *lu- (class 11).
  

  lefuba tuberculosis

  -kgetha choose ⇒ lekgetho tax

  leoto leg

  
  
• Class 6 contains the plurals of class 5 nouns as well as the plurals of many class 1, 5 ("quantitive plurals") nouns, and all class 14 nouns which may assume plurals. It also contains the names of some liquids which only appear in the plural.
  
  The class prefix is ma- and comes from original Ur-Bantu *ma-.
  

  maoto legs

  madi blood

  kgomo cow (class 9) ⇒ makgomo herds of cattle

  
  
• Class 7 is fairly homogeneous in content and also contains the names of the languages or cultures of various societies.
  
  The class prefix is se- and comes from original Ur-Bantu *ki-.
  

  sefofu blind person

  sefate tree

  Sefora French language, culture, and manners

  
  
• Class 8 contains the plurals of class 7 nouns. Note that language and culture names do not have plurals.
  
  The class prefix is di- (without nasalization) and comes from original Ur-Bantu *βî-.
  

  difate trees

  
  
• Class 9 is rather miscellaneous in content. Most foreign acquisitions end up here (it is the "default class"^[3]).
  
  The class prefix is [N]- and comes from either original Ur-Bantu *N- or *ni- (which corresponds to syllabic, nasalization causing, ng in Sotho). Note that for almost all nouns with stems of two or more syllables the syllabic nasal does not appear but the stem is still nasalized.
  

  ntshi eyelash

  tlou elephant

  -bina sing ⇒ pina song

  nnete truth (the nasal is retained though the stem is two syllables long)

  mpa stomach (the high tone syllabic m suggests that it's not part of the prefix, but part of the stem)

  
  
• Class 10 contains the plurals of class 9 nouns as well as the plurals of some class 5 nouns (those from Ur-Bantu class 11).
  
  The prefix is formed by adding di- to the full class 9 noun or adding di[N]- to the class 5 noun stem. Since the noun is formed by modifying the already modified class 9 stem (with the addition of Ur-Bantu prefix *lî-) this class is sometimes called 9a instead.
  

  dintshi eyelashes

  dipina songs

  
  
• Class 14 is the default class for abstract nouns, but it also contains some non-abstract nouns. Abstract nouns may be regularly formed from other nouns and from adjectives. This class also contains many nouns which may be used as relatives (though nominal relatives do exist in almost all the noun classes).
  
  The class prefix is bo- and comes from original Ur-Bantu *βu-.
  

  bodutu loneliness/lonely

  morena king (class 1) ⇒ borena state of being a king

  -be ugly ⇒ bobe ugliness, evil

  bohloko pain/painful

  bohadi lobolo (non-abstract)

  
  
• Class 15 exclusively contains verb infinitives and gerunds. These may be used as normal nouns with abstract meanings. Like English gerunds and infinitives, they may take direct objects and be inflected as other verbs, but they cannot be predicates (they do not complete a sentence like verbs and copulatives).
  
  The class prefix is ho- and comes from original Ur-Bantu *ku-. This is prefixed to the verbal complex without the pre-initial morpheme, the subjectival concord, or the tense/aspect marker. Infinitives denoting a negative meaning are formed by inserting an infix -se- after the prefix.
  

  -tsofala grow old ⇒ ho tsofala to grow old/growing old ⇒ ho se tsofale

  -bona see ⇒ ho mmona to see her ⇒ ho mmona molato to find her guilty (lit. to see her guilt; in Tswana the verb -bona means both "see" and "find")

  
  
• Class 16 in Sotho is a locative class containing only one member — fatshe down/below (Ur-Bantu *pa-ki, plus an irregular nasalization of the stem) — used almost exclusively as an adverb. In many other Bantu languages, including Sestswana,^[4] this class is productive, but this is no longer the case in Sotho.
  
  The class prefix is fa- and comes from original Ur-Bantu *pa- (denoting near positions). It uses the exact same concords as those of class 15.
  
  Note that the class 5 noun lefatshe country/world/earth/ground is formed from this noun through prefix compounding.
  
• Class 17 is a locative class containing few actual nouns (which are often used as adverbs). In many other Bantu languages, including Sestswana,^[4] this class is productive, but this is no longer the case in Sotho.
  
  The class prefix is a (usually) high toned ho- and comes from original Ur-Bantu *ku- (denoting remote positions). It uses the exact same concords as those of class 15.
  
  The class 5 noun lehodimo heaven is formed from one of the nouns in this class (hodimo above) through prefix compounding.
  

  hosane tomorrow

  hole far away^[5]

  
  
• Class 18 is a locative class containing a limited number of nouns (which are often used as adverbs). In many other Bantu languages, including Sestswana,^[4] this class is productive, but this is no longer the case in Sotho.
  
  The class prefix is mo- and comes from Ur-Bantu *mu- (denoting close positions). It is distinguished from other mo- classes (1 and 3) by its concords (it uses the exact same concords as those of class 15).
  

  mose overseas/river-bank (this is a contraction of mose ho lewatle on the other side of the sea — an instance of the adverbial use)

  
  
  The Sotho locative adverbs of place are the demonstrative pronouns of this class. Note that in this case the pronouns correspond to a mo- class prefix, instead of the class 15 concords which this class usually uses.

Binomial name Sagittarius serpentarius (Miller,JF, 1779) The Secretary Bird, Sagittarius serpentarius, is an extraordinary member of the bird of prey family. ... Lobolo or Lobola (Mahadi in Sesotho; sometimes translated as Bride-price) is a traditional southern African dowry custom whereby the man pays the family of his fiance for her hand in marriage. ... In mathematics, a predicate is a relation. ...

Concords

Main article: Sotho concords

Tones

Main article: Sotho tonology

Except for classes 2a and 17, the prefixes are null ("low") toned, while the set of possible tone patterns for the stem is large and obviously dependent on its length.

When certain formatives are prefixed to a noun with a null/low tone for the first syllable of the stem, the prefix is assigned a high tone. With monosyllabic stems the tone of the stem is raised as well.

morena [ _ _ _ ] king ⇒ wa morena [ ¯ ¯ _ _ ] of (class 1 or 3 possessive concord) the king, le morena [ ¯ ¯ _ _ ] and the king

motse [ _ _ ] village ⇒ ho motse [ ¯ ¯ ¯ ] to the village

Derivation

In the Bantu languages, nouns form an open class with new nouns regularly and actively created from nouns and other parts of speech through predictable methods. In linguistics, an open class (or open word class) is a word class that accepts the addition of new items, through such processes as compounding, derivation, coining, borrowing, etc. ...

From nouns

Many nouns can be derived from other nouns usually through the use of suffixes.

• Abstract nouns can be created by substituting bo- for the prefix:

mosadi woman ⇒ bosadi femininity

• Proper names based on nouns belong to class 1a, no matter what the original class was
• Often parents assume the names of their children by prefixing the name with Ra- (for the father; note the Tswana Rra- and the Tswana noun rre father) or Mma- (for the mother; this is more often than not simply shortened to Ma-). Also, a married woman may assume a name based on the Mma- prefix and her husbands praise name/surname.
• Most nouns can form new nouns with the diminutive suffixes -ana (sometimes -ane), -anyane, and -nyana. Often stems ending in the high vowels undergo various phonetic changes (palatalization, alveolarization, and velarization) due to the initial vowel in the suffixes:

thebe shield ⇒ thejane small shield

• The suffix -hadi is often used to create the feminine of some nouns and the augmentative of some other others:

kgosi king ⇒ kgosihadi queen

• Sometimes the last 2 syllables of a noun may be repeated to indicate quantity, irregularity, or repetition:

dikgomo cows ⇒ dikgomo-kgomo herds of cattle

From qualificatives

Qualificatives can be used to derive abstract nouns in class 14 by prefixing bo-.

Adjective -ngata many ⇒ bongata quantity

Relative -thata hard ⇒ bothata difficulty

Enumerative -sele other ⇒ bosele difference

From ideophones

Some nouns are irregularly (and often idiomatically) derived from ideophones by reduplication:

metle of striking ⇒ semetle-metle big news

From verbs

Nouns of most classes are very actively and regularly derived from verbs. What follows is only a brief and incomplete overview.

-rata love, desire ⇒

1. morati (and class 2 plural) lover
5. lerato (and class 6 plural) love
7. serati (and class 7 plural) lover
9. thato (and class 10 plural) desire, will
14. borati state of one who loves
15. ho rata to love, desire; loving, desiring

Note that:

• The noun stem, with a few idiomatic exceptions, fossilizes the tone pattern of the infinitive of the verb (in this example it is [ ¯ _ ], giving [ _ ¯ _ ] for the complete noun including the prefix)
• Infinitives are strictly class 15 nouns (gerunds) derived from verb stems
• Class 14 nouns are almost always derived from other nouns, not from the verb directly
• With personal nouns, the difference between classes 1 and 7 is often that the class 7 agent performs the action habitually or with proficiency:

-kganna drive ⇒ mokganni driver and sekganni professional driver

Generally, agents are formed in classes 1 and 7 by adding the prefix and changing the final vowel to i, while impersonal nouns are formed in several classes by adding the prefix and changing the final vowel to o: In linguistics, a gerund is a kind of verbal noun that exists in some languages. ...

-rua become rich, own livestock ⇒ morui rich person, moruo wealth

Agents derived from passive verbs retain the final -uwa:

-rata love ⇒ -ratuwa/-ratwa be loved ⇒ moratuwa beloved

Compound nouns

A rich source of nouns are nominal compounds formed (somewhat irregularly) from other parts of speech and even complete sentences. Note that the use of dashes to separate their parts is also irregular and usually based on the popularity and utility of the noun, and the Lesotho and South African orthographies tend to differ (with the Lesotho orthography tending to prefer dashes more). A compound is a word composed of more than one free morphemes. ...

bohlanya ba pere horse madness ⇒ bohlanya-ba-pere Aristida Burkei grass

ho ja ditlhapi to eat fish (traditionally considered taboo) ⇒ Mojatlhapi English person (derisive)

ho dula setulo to sit (in) a chair ⇒ modulasetulo chairperson

ho ya le moya to be carried by (go with) the wind ⇒ seyalemoya radio receiver

ke a tseba I know ⇒ class 2a bokeatseba doctors

leemedi pronoun (-ema stand ⇒ -emela stand for) + qho! ideophone of being absolute/certain ⇒ lemediqho absolute pronoun

As in many other languages, compounds indicating possession (genitive compounds) may be formed by following the possessee with the possessor ("X of Y" become "X-Y" — the English equivalent is "Y's X" or "Y-X"). This may also be done with the descriptive possessive. The three-awns are a genus Aristida of grasses distinguished by having three awns (bristles) on each lemma of each floret. ... A word or phrase is pejorative if it implies contempt or disapproval. ...

molao law (derived from the extinct root of the verb -laola rule) + motheo foundation (derived from the verb -thea establish) ⇒ molao wa motheo founding law ⇒ molaotheo constitution

sesiu grain basket + lesedi sunshine/data ⇒ sesiu-sedi database

Foreign (non-Bantu or Khoisan) acquisitions

Many Sotho nouns (and other parts of speech) stem from contact with speakers of Indo-European languages, primarily French missionaries, Orange Free State Afrikaners, and, in modern times, English people. The very alien phonetics and phonologies of these languages mean that words are to be imported rather irregularly with varying phonetic transformations. Flag of the Orange Free State Capital Bloemfontein Language(s) Afrikaans, English Religion Dutch Reformed Church Government Republic President  - 1854 - 1855 Josias P. Hoffman  - 1855 - 1859 Jacobus Nicolaas Boshoff  - 1859 - 1863 Marthinus Wessel Pretorius (also President of the South African Republic from 1857 to 1871). ... Afrikaners (sometimes known as Boers) are white South Africans, predominantly of Calvinist German, French Huguenot, Friesian and Walloons descent who speak Afrikaans. ...

French bonbon ⇒ dipompong sweets

English "heathen" ⇒ class 1 mohetene

Afrikaans "Boer" ⇒ class 5 Leburu Afrikaner

English "teacher" ⇒ class 9 titjhere male teacher (note that the English "silent r" is rendered)

Afrikaans "venster" window (cf Latin fenestra) ⇒ class 9 festere (note the consonant cluster)

English "speaker" ⇒ class 7 spikara loudspeaker (with class 8 plural dipikara as if the cluster "sp" was a contraction of sep-)

A bonbon is a kind of cookie (North American), or biscuit (British). ... Look up Wiktionary:Swadesh lists for Afrikaans and Dutch in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about the Boer people (Boerevolk). ... English pronunciation is divided into two main accent groups, the rhotic and the non-rhotic, depending on when the letter r (equivalent to Greek rho) is pronounced. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... In linguistics, a consonant cluster is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. ... “Loudspeaker” redirects here. ...

Notes

1. ^ It is possible that in some pre-Proto-/Ur-Bantu language, the prefixes where full words which became shortened and cliticised. A hypothetical example using English words follows: Imagine that, in some exotic language which inexplicably uses familiar English words, all nouns denoting persons are, for some or other reason not immediately important to us, indicated with the "pre-word" "person." So a farmer would be indicated with the name "person farmer." Over time, the "person" pre-word might be shortened to "per" and cliticised, and eventually made into a valid prefix ("per-"), thus a farmer would be "perfarmer." To indicate languages, the pre-word "language" might have been used, which eventually became the prefix "lang-." A noun indicating persons of some ethnic group (with a very familiar name) might have historically been "people french," which eventually became "peopfrench." Thus their language name would naturally be rendered as "langfrench." This way the prefix system would be productive — actively creating new words and not just appearing on some historical words (as is now the case with some non-Bantu Niger-Congo languages which have many Bantu-like nouns but with no productive processes to create more). Eventually, an agreement system would have developed (either with or after the noun prefix system), and "The French people speak the French language" would appear as (in SVO order):

   peopfrench peoplangspeak langfrench

   the "poep-" and "lang-" prefixes on the verb agreeing with the subject and object respectively. The agreement markings on the verb diminish any possible ambiguity in determining the subject and object, and so the language need not necessarily use SVO, and may change the word order for emphasis (as is indeed the case in the Bantu languages):

   langfrench peoplangspeak peopfrench "French people speak the French language"

   peoplangspeak langfrench peopfrench "French people speak the French language"

   In Sotho, the three example sentences are (using the standard disjunctive Sotho orthography):

   Bafora ba a se bua Sefora

   Sefora ba a se bua Bafora

   Ba a se bua sefora Bafora

2. ^ A related phenomenon exists in Kiswahili where class 10 nouns look exactly the same as class 9 nouns but are used with different concords (corresponding to a zi- prefix).
3. ^ This is simply due to the shapes of the words (most class 9 Sotho words do not show an overt prefix) and not because of semantics. Note that in Zulu the "default class" is class 5 since most native polysallabic class 5 words in that language have no prefix (just the pre-prefix/augment i- without following -li-). When foreign words are put in this class the noun is not nasalized.
4. ^ ^{a b c} Compare the following words in Sotho and Tswana:

   Class	Tswana	(Sotho)	Gloss
   16.	Fa setlhareng	Sefateng	By the tree
   17.	Ko nokeng	Nokeng	At the river
   18.	Mo sedibeng	Sedibeng	In the well/pool

5. ^ This is probably from the same root as the adjective -lelele. Note the Zulu adjective -de and the class 17 noun kude

In linguistics, a clitic is an element that has some of the properties of an independent word and some more typical of a bound morpheme. ... In linguistic typology, subject-verb-object (SVO) is the sequence subject verb object in neutral expressions: Sam ate oranges. ... Sotho (Sesotho, Southern Sotho or Southern Sesotho[1]) is a Bantu language spoken primarily in South Africa, where it is one of the 11 official languages, and in Lesotho, where it is the national language. ... Kiswahili is an alternative name for the Swahili language, derived from the expression lugha ya Kiswahili, which is what speakers of Swahili call their language. ...

References

• Demuth, K. 2000. Bantu noun class systems: Loan word and acquisition evidence of

semantic productivity. In G. Senft (ed.), Classification Systems. Cambridge University Press. pp. 270-292.

• Doke, C. M., and Mofokeng, S. M. 1974. Textbook of Southern Sotho Grammar. Cape Town: Longman Southern Africa, 3rd. impression. ISBN 0 582 61700 6.