BANTU NOUN CLASSES

The Bantu languages employ noun class systems (grammatical gender). In contrast to most European languages, where we find two or three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter, etc.), in Bantu languages, we find up to 20 separate so-called noun classes.

Bantu noun classes are morphologically realized as prefixes on nouns and as agreement markers (concords) on other syntactic constituents, like adjectives, numerals, verbs, etc. For instance, the Swahili noun kitabu 'book' is composed of a noun prefix ki (indicating noun class belonging, just like le and la indicate gender belonging in French) and a nominal root tabu. Furthermore, in the phrase kitabu kidogo 'small book', we find an adjective kidogo 'small', which is composed of an agreement marker ki and an adjectival root dogo.

The noun classes indicate more than just set membership (noun class belonging). They usually also convey information about grammatical number, meaning that singular and plural forms of a noun are classified in different noun classes. In fact, grammatical genders in Bantu language are commonly made up of pairs of noun classes, one singular, one plural. For instance, the plural of Swahili kitabu 'book' is vitabu, bearing a different noun prefix, vi. Thus we can say that kitabu belongs to the ki/vi-gender, as do many other Swahili nouns such as kifua 'chest', plural vifua. Other nouns belong to other genders, e.g. mti 'tree' with plural miti 'trees', which bear the prefixes m (sing.) and mi (plur.), respectively, and hence belong to the m/mi-gender. Most Bantu languages exhibit 15 or 16 noun classes, while some have more than 20. These normally group into 10 or more singular/plural pairings.

THE BM (BLEEK-MEINHOF) NUMBERS

Individual noun classes are customarily referred to with a numbering system originally devised by Wilhelm Bleek during the 19th century. It was later expanded by Carl Meinhof (and others). It is sometimes referred to as the Bleek-Meinhof system.

In Swahili, the above-exemplified noun classes are usually referred to as classes 7 (ki), 8 (vi), 3 (m), and 4 (mi). The major advantage with this numbering system is that it allows us to compare noun class systems in different Bantu languages with considerable ease. Hence a noun class labelled 7 in one Bantu language is (or should be) etymologically related to noun classes labelled 7 in any other Bantu language, irrespective of their phonological forms.

NOUN CLASS BELONGING, GRAMMATICAL NUMBER, ANIMACY

Noun class belonging and grammatical number are the two most important features relevant to Bantu noun classes. In a number of languages, however, there is also a third important feature, namely animacy, that is, whether or not the thing referred to by the noun is a human being, an animal, or a non-living thing like a knife or a stone. Hence each noun class marker gives us two or three pieces of grammatical information: noun class belonging (or, set membership), grammatical number (singular, plural), and, in some languages, degree of animacy (human, animal, inanimate).

These three features are often employed differently with noun prefixes and concords, respectively. In some languages, the noun prefix and the agreement marker do not always refer to the same noun class, as you would expect them to do. For instance, the Swahili phrase mafundi wabaya 'bad craftsmen' includes such a mismatch.

The noun bears a prefix ma of class 6, while the adjective bears the agreement marker wa of class 2. In Swahili, as well as in several other Bantu languages, this is due to the fact that animate nouns regularly take agreement markers of classes 1 (sing.) and 2 (plur.) irrespective of the noun class belonging of the noun itself.

A TYPOLOGY OF BANTU NOUN CLASS SYSTEMS

When we look more closely at the semantic distinctions made in the noun prefixes and the agreement markers, respectively, we can use this in order to devise a typology of Bantu noun class systems. The semantic distinctions that are of main importance here are the three already mentioned above, i.e. noun class belonging, grammatical number, animacy.

The systems of noun prefixes (i.e. the markers appearing on the nouns) can be divided into six separate categories depending on how the above-mentioned three features are distinguished and/or marked:

Looking at the systems of agreement markers, we can make similar distinctions:

From the above, we can devise the following typological matrix (with names of languages exemplifying the different types, where attested):

The above-suggested typology can also be elaborated into a diachronic model which explains, or even predicts to some extent, how Bantu noun class systems change over time (cfr Maho 1999:137ff, 2003b).

Jouni F. Maho. 1999. A comparative study of Bantu noun classes. Orientalia et africana gothoburgensia, n. 13. Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis. Pp xvi+388.

Jouni F. Maho. 2003. Remarks on a few 'polyplural' classes in Bantu. Africa & Asia: Göteborg working papers on Asian and African languages and literatures, n. 3, p. 161-184.
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Jouni F. Maho. 2003b. A tentative model for the diachrony of grammatical gender in Bantu languages. In: Actes du 3e congrès mondial de linguistique africaine Lomé 2000, p. 281-295. Edited by Kézié Koyenzi Lébikaza. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.