Particles and particle phrases

Setswana has various particles that are included as heads in phrases. No prepositions are distinguished for Setswana, but the so-called particles are used to express the various meanings that are related to prepositions. Possessive, qualificative, instrumental, temporal, locative, agentative, associative, comparative, hortative particles and interrogative particles are distinguished. These particles are head words and are used as introductory members in various phrases and must for that reason be followed by a complement. The complement is a compulsory addition to a head word which cannot function on its own. To form a valid structure, the head word is syntactically and semantically dependent on a complementary phrase (Louwrens, 1994: 27-28; Krüger, 2013a: 38). The internal syntax of the various particles phrases is concerned with the construction of this phrase in a well-formed manner. In this topic, an exposition of the Setswana particle phrases is presented regarding its possible constituents and the word order followed. Where applicable the agreement phenomena that govern a specific syntactic structure is also indicated. The use of the particle phrases in larger constructions is the focus of the external syntax.

To follow a brief characterisation of the possessive, qualificative, instrumental, temporal, locative, agentative, associative, comparative, hortative and interrogative particles is presented. The internal structure and the syntactic functions of the possessive particle phrase, qualificative particle phrase, instrumental particle phrase, locative particle phrases, agentative particle phrase, associative particle phrase, comparative particle phrase, hortative particle phrase and interrogative particle phrase is also explained.

Possessive, qualificative, instrumental, temporal, locative, agentative, associative, comparative, hortative and interrogative particles are distinguished. In this section only a brief overview of these particles is presented as a thorough exposition is already presented in Syntax as linguistic discipline.

The possessive particle

The possessive particle is always class bound as each noun class takes its own possessive particle. It has a meaning of ‘of’ (Cole, 1955: 160).

The qualificative particle

The qualificative particle is always class bound as each noun class takes its own qualificative particle. It has a meaning that indicates ‘which is/are’ or ‘that is/are’: (Krüger, 2006: 157).

The instrumental particle

The instrumental particle ka has the meaning of ‘with’, ‘by means of’ or ‘on’ (Poulos & Louwrens, 1994: 328).

The temporal particle

The temporal particle ka has the meaning of ‘by’, ‘in’, ‘at’, ‘during’ or ‘per’ (Poulos & Louwrens, 1994: 329).

The locative particles

Six locative particles are distinguished (Examples 5 to 10)

The agentative particle

In passive sentences an agentative particle ke is included to convey the meaning of ‘by’ (Lombard et al., 1985: 173).

The associative particle

The associative particle is le and has a meaning of ‘with’ (Krüger, 2006: 27 & 154).

The comparative particle

The comparative particle jaaka has a meaning of ‘like’ or ‘similar to’ (Krüger, 2006: 149).

The hortative particle

The hortative particle A has a meaning of ‘let’ (Krüger, 2013b: 115).

The interrogative particle

The interrogative particle A is used in interrogative sentences where the focus of the question is on the predicate itself (Krüger, 2013b: 331, 350).

The particle phrases consist of a particle as head and each type of head is followed by specific complements.

The possessive particle phrase (POSSPARTP)

The POSSPARTP consists of a possessive particle as head, and it is followed by one of the following complements:

• demonstrative pronoun
• possessive pronoun
• a quantitative pronoun (inclusive, exclusive, selective, separative, interrogative)
• noun phrase (NP)
• adverb phrase (ADVP)
• qualificative particle phrase (QUALPARTP).

The complement provides the particulars with which the possessive particle activates a relation with the preceding modified word (qualificative or antecedent). The possessive particle and the preceding modified noun shows noun class agreement. In (16) the POSSPARTP is ya me ‘of mine’. The complement of the possessive particle ya ‘of’ is the possessive pronoun me ‘mine, me’. The possessive particle has the same class information as the possessor mentioned in the preceding modified word i.e., the NP consisting of the noun koloi ‘car’.

Kinship nouns, proper names and the interrogatives mang? ‘who? – singular’ and bomang? ‘who? – plural’ are divided into noun classes 1a and 2a. If the possessor indicates noun class 1a or 2a information, the complement of the possessive particle is another POSSPARTP (Cole, 1955: 161; Krüger, 2013a: 111). In the example below, the POSSPARTP ya ga Pule ‘of Pule’s’ consists of a possessive particle ya ‘of’ and another POSSPARTP ga Pule ‘of Pule’. This phrase consists of the possessive particle ga ‘of’ and the proper name Pule(cf. Krüger, 2013a: 107-117; Berg, 2018: 110-112).

The qualification particle phrase (QUALPARTP)

The QUALPARTP consists of a qualificative particle as head and is followed by one of the following complements:

• adjective
• verb phrase (VP) - in relative
• identifying copulative verb phrase (VPIDCOPV) – in relative
• describing copulative verb phrase (VPDESCOPV) – in relative
• associative copulative verb phrase (VPASSCOPV) – in relative
• ADVP

The qualificative particle and the preceding modified noun agree as they must show the same noun class information. If the complement of the qualificative particle is a changeable adjective the class prefix of this adjective root must show the same noun class information as that of the qualificative particle and the modified noun. In the example below the QUALPARTP is se sentle ‘that is nice’. The complement of the qualificative particle se is the adjective sentle ‘nice’. This adjective consists of the class prefix se- and the root -ntle ‘nice’. The noun class of the adjective, qualificative particle and the modified noun setulo ‘chair’ is the same as they must all have the same noun class information.

The instrumental particle phrase (INSTRPARTP)

The INSTRPARTP consist of the instrumental particle ka ‘with’ as head and is followed by one of the following complements:

• interrogative eng? ‘what?’
• AdvP
• NP
• PROP
• POSSPARTP
• QUALPARTP

In the example below the complement of the instrumental particle ka ‘with’ is a noun koloi ‘car’:

The temporal particle phrase (TEMPPARTP)

The TEMPPARTP consists of the temporal particle ka ‘at’ or ‘during’ as head and is followed by an NP as complement:

The locative particle phrase (LOCPARTP)

The LOCPARTP is headed by the locative particles go, ga, ka, fa, mo or kwa. The locative particles go ‘with someone personally’, ‘to someone personally’ and ga ‘at someone’s place’ is followed by a PROP or an NP as complement as long as the NP consists of a noun in noun class 1a or 2a (cf. Krüger, 2013a: 206-207)

The locative particle ka ‘goes through’, ‘goes over’, ‘goes out of’, ‘goes into’ is followed by an NP or a LOCPARTP with fa ‘at’, ‘here at’, mo ‘in’, ‘on’, ‘here in’, ‘here on’ or kwa ‘in’, ‘to’, ‘there in’, ‘there to’ as head.

The locative particle ka ‘into’ is followed by a noun toropo ‘town’:

The locative particles fa, mo and kwa is followed by a locative noun phrase (LOCNP), a locative class noun phrase (LOCCLNP) or a LOCPARTP with go or ga as heads.

The locative particle mo ‘in’ is followed by the locative noun lebenkeleng ‘shop’ “locality”:

The agentative particle phrase (AGPARTP)

The AgPartP consists of the agentative particle ke ‘by’ as head, followed by one of the following complements:

• NP
• PROP
• AdvP
• QUALPARTP

In the example the complement of the agentative particle ke is an NP consisting of the noun mosadi ‘woman’:

The associative particle phrase (ASSPARTP)

The ASSPARTP consists of an associative particle le ‘with’ as head, followed by one of the following complements:

• NP
• Pr2oP
• AdvP
• POSSPARTP
• QUALPARTP
• InstrPartP
• LOCPARTP

In the ASSPARTP example below, the complement of the associative particle le ‘with’ is the NP ditsala tsa rona ‘our friends’:

The comparative particle phrase

The COMPPARTP consists of the comparative particle jaaka ‘similar to’ as head, followed by one of the following complements:

• NP
• PROP
• AdvP
• POSSPARTP
• QUALPARTP
• InstrPartP
• LOCPARTP

The comparative particle jaaka ‘like’ is followed by an NP consisting of the noun ntate ‘father’:

The hortative particle phrase (HORTPARTP)

A HORTPARTP consists of the hortative particle A and the complement is the auxiliary ke:

The interrogative particle phrase (INTPARTP)

The INTPARTP consists of only the interrogative particle A and is used to form an interrogative sentence where the focus of the question is on the predicate itself:

The external syntax of the particle phrases is concerned with the use and function of a specific particle phrase in larger constructions. To follow an exposition is presented of the use and function of particle phrases in larger constructions.

The possessive particle phrase (POSSPARTP)

A POSSPARTP functions as a modifier (29), a subject (30), an object (31), a complement of the associative particle le, the instrumental particle ka, the locative particle go ‘to’ or the comparative particle jaaka ‘like, similar’, the conjunction kgotsa (kampô, kapa, gongwê, kana) ‘or’, an identifying copulative verb, a describing copulative verb or an associative copulative verb (32). It also functions as an adjunct (descriptive) in a sentence to indicate the place where the process or action mentioned in the verb is executed (33).

The qualificative particle phrase (QUALPARTP)

A QUALPARTP functions as a modifier (34), a subject (35), an object (36) or a complement of a possessive particle, the associative particle le ‘and’, the instrumental particle ka ‘with’, the locative particle go ‘to’, the comparative particle jaaka ‘like, similar’, the conjunction kgotsa (kampô, kapa, gongwê, kana) ‘or’, an identifying copulative verb, a describing copulative verb or an associative copulative verb (37).

The instrumental particle phrase (INSTRPARTP)

The InstrPartP functions as an adjunct (descriptive) in a sentence and indicates the instrument with what the process or action of the verb is executed (38).

The temporal particle phrase (TEMPPARTP)

The TempPartP functions as an adjunct (descriptive) in a sentence and indicates the time when the process or action of the verb is executed (39).

The locative particle phrase (LOCPARTP)

The LOCPARTP functions as an adjunct (descriptive) in a sentence (40) and indicates the place where the process or action of the verb is executed. It also functions as the complement of the associative particle le or the comparative particle jaaka.

The agentative particle phrase (AGPARTP)

The AGPARTP has an adjunct function (descriptive) in a passive sentence (41).

The associative particle phrase (ASSPARTP)

The ASSPARTP functions as the complement of the associative copulative verb in the positive (42) or it is a second member in a coordinate structure (43). It also functions as an adjunct (descriptive) in a sentence by indicating with whom or what the process or action of the verb is executed (44)

The comparative particle phrase (COMPPARTP)

The COMPPARTP functions as an adjunct (descriptive) in a sentence by indicating a comparison in as sentence (45). It also functions as a complement of the identifying copulative verb and the describing copulative verb.

The hortative particle phrase (HORTPARTP)

The HORTPARTP functions as an introductory member of a VP in a sentence (46).

The interrogative particle phrase (INTPARTP)

The interrogative particle phrase consists of only the interrogative particle A and is used to change a declarative sentence (47) into an interrogative sentence or question (48):

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Cole, D. T. (1955) An introduction to Tswana grammar. Cape Town: Longman.

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Krüger, C. J. H. (2013a) Setswana syntax: a survey of word group structures. Vol 1. München: Lincom.

Krüger, C. J. H. (2013b) Setswana syntax: a survey of word group structures. Vol 2. München: Lincom.

Lombard, D., Van Wyk, E. B. & Mokgokong, P. C. (1985) Introduction to the grammar of Northern Sotho. Pretoria: Van Schaik

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