Lekau Eleazar Mphasha

Adjectives in Northern Sotho: a Critical Overview of the Aspects on Theoretical Syntax, Morphology and Lexical Semantics of Words Which Modify Substantives Lekau Eleazar Mphasha

This study explores the classification and form of adjectives in Northern Sotho. Adjectives form a very closed system and are morphologically marked with a noun class prefix. They show morphosyntactic and semantic characteristics which differentiate them from nouns, verbs and adverbs respectively when they are used in the modifying function. The property that an adjective denotes is of crucial importance in its functioning as a modifier in that it must be expressed without any vagueness or indecision. Morphology of the determiner and the adjective, distribution and comparison of the adjective also receive attention. Adjectives which function both attributively and predicatively are central to the class of adjectives. There are some adjectives that are like round because they have no identifying shape. Adjectives occurring in nominal compounds cannot take degree modifies, whereas the ones occurring in noun phrases can. The ones occurring in nominal compounds tend to be shorter in form than the ones occurring in noun phrases. This is meant for tertiary education