Towards a morphological analyser for past tense forms in Northern Sotho: verb stems with final ‘m' and ‘n'

Abstract

Investigations into past tense1 formation in Northern Sotho revealed that descriptions of the realisations of the past tense suffix in the case of stems with ‘m' and ‘n' in the final stem syllable, as contained in published grammars, are inadequate. A sample from the Comprehensive Northern Sotho Dictionary (Ziervogel & Mokgokong, 1985) was used to analyse the formation of tense forms in verb stems with final ‘m' and ‘n'. The research findings show that stems with final ‘m' and ‘n' are not governed by the same rules, as purported by some grammars, and that the realisation of the past tense suffix is determined by the number of syllables in such verb stems. In the case of polysyllabic verb stems with final ‘m' and ‘n', a further determining factor is the quality of the vowel preceding the nasal.

Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 2005, 23(3): 245–258