15.214, Qs: Bantu Gender/Concord

[LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List:  Vol-15-214. Wed Jan 21 2004. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 15.214, Qs: Bantu Gender/Concord

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1)
Date:  Wed, 21 Jan 2004 08:33:10 -0500 (EST)
From:  Daniel Robertson <Dan.Robertson at stir.ac.uk>
Subject:  Gender and concord in Bantu languages

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Wed, 21 Jan 2004 08:33:10 -0500 (EST)
From:  Daniel Robertson <Dan.Robertson at stir.ac.uk>
Subject:  Gender and concord in Bantu languages

This is a question about noun classification and concord in the noun
phrase in Bantu languages.

According to Brown and Miller (1980), it is a feature of many Bantu
languages that (i) nouns and adjectives have the following structure:
prefix + stem, (ii) the prefix carries information about gender (or,
more generally, the noun class) and number and (iii) there is concord
between the head noun and adjectives and demonstratives (if these
exist).  Brown and Miller (1980:282) give the following as examples
from Luganda:

(1)  Noun class 1

     a.  Oku-kazi omu-lungi o-no
         woman    pretty    this
        'this pretty woman'

     b.  Aba-kazi aba-lunig ba-no aba-satu
         woman    pretty    this  three
        'these three pretty women'

(2)  Noun class 2

     a.  En-jovu  en-kadde ey-o
         elephant old      that
        'that old elephant'

     b.  En-jovu  en-kadde ez-o es-satu
         elephant old      that three
        'those three old elephants'

My question is about Idoma, a Bantu language spoken in Benue State in
Nigeria.  I have done an extensive search for published information
about the morphosyntax of Idoma, but there appears to be very little
published research on this language, if any.

Essentially, I'd like to know (i) whether nouns in Idoma have the
prefix + stem structure of other Bantu language, (ii) if so, whether
the prefix carries information about noun classes, and (iii) if the
phenomenon of noun concord (as described above in relation to Luganda)
exists in Idoma.

I'm working on this with a native speaker informant who has supplied
the following data:

(3)  a.  ole-a
         house-DEF
        'the house'

     b.  ole   alewa
         house ?DEF.PL
        'the houses'

     c.  ole   nya
         house this
        'this house'

     d.  ole   nenche nya
         house old    this
        'this old house'

     e.  ole   nenche alewa
         house old    these
        'these old houses'

It would appear from these data (admittedly limited) that noun concord
does not exist in Idoma.  But I would like confirmation from someone
who knows.  More generally, can anybody give advice about criteria or
discovery procedures one might use to determine whether Idoma is a
noun concord language or not?  I will post a summary of replies.

Reference

Brown, K. and Miller, J. 1980. Syntax: a linguistic introduction to
sentence structure.  London: Hutchinson.

Subject-Language: North Idoma;Idoma Nokwu;Idoma;Idoma Central;Idoma
South;Idoma West; Code: ALA Language-Family: Niger-Congo; Code: NC

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