The morphology of the pronoun

A distinction is made between personal and absolute pronouns of noun classes 1 - 20. Refer to Krüger (2006: 129-130).

Cole (1975: 128) includes the syntactic variant nyena as typical of Kgalagadi, however it is also prevalent in Hurutshe.

Note that the pronoun gônê is used for all locative nouns (Cole, 1975: 128).

Morphological composition of absolute pronouns

Absolute pronouns apart from the first and second person and noun class 1 consist of an agreement morpheme, which assimilates to the root -e-/-ô- and an ending -nê/-na or a phonological variant thereof. Krüger (2006: 131) gives more detail on phonological processes in the assimilation of prefixes and stems.

The regional morphological variants rona/rena for the first person and lona/lena/nyena for second person and jônê/jôna for noun class 14 are mentioned by Krüger (2006: 131-132) and Cole (1975: 128).

When absolute pronouns are used as complements of the associative particle na with variant form le the final syllable is idiomatically not included. In the orthography the associative particle na and the shortened variant of the pronoun are written conjunctively:

As no grammatical value/meaning can be attached to na in the full form or shortened form of the pronoun, Krüger (2006: 132) regards the deletion of na as a mere phonological phenomenon. Cole (1975: 128) regards -na as a suffixal element which functions as a stabilizer while Lombard et al. (1985: 85-86) and Paulos & Louwrens (1994: 73) regard it as a suffix.

The meaning and function of absolute pronouns

Absolute pronouns are primarily emphatic in significance and are often used for purposes of contrast, which is why they have often been referred to as emphatic pronouns (Cole (1975: 127). As they refer to the noun, they are used as a qualification (determiner) and to stress and contrast the antecedent:

Absolute pronouns can also be used to refer back to items mentioned earlier/previously, thus anaphorically:

Demonstrative pronouns are divided into three groups indicating (demonstrating) the distance that an object is away from the speaker. Distance 1 indicates close proximity also referred to as proximal position ‘this’/ ‘these’, distance 2 indicates a relatively distant object also referred to as distal position ‘that’/ ‘those’ while distance 3 indicates a relatively remote distance also referred to as post distal position ‘that’/ ‘those yonder’. Krüger (2006: 134) and Cole (1975: 131) identify another demonstrative to indicate close proximity, referring to it as distance 1b for demonstratives indicating “things immediately next to the speaker”. Cole (1975: 131) mentions that the use of these pronouns might fall into disuse, however they are still used. Note that demonstrative pronouns are not available for personal pronouns. Louwrens (1994: 48) refers to distance 1, 2 and 3 as position 1, 2 and 3.

Morphological composition of demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns start with an agreement morpheme that is similar to the noun class prefixes but nasals are omitted/deleted. (Refer to Krüger (2006: 135) for an explanation of phonological changes. All distance 1 (first position) demonstratives are monosyllabic representing the agreement morpheme. The suffix -no/-na is added to distance 1 to form distance 1a. A root ê, ô or a is assimilated onto the agreement morpheme to constitute distance. (Krüger (2006: 135) explains the origin and phonological changes for roots. The suffix -o is suffixed to distance 1 to constitute distance 2, while the suffix -le/-la is suffixed to distance 1 to constitute distance 3. Based on the meaning that these suffixes inflect they are referred to as positional morphemes by Krüger (2006: 135).

Demonstrative pronouns of the locative noun classes

The following phenomena prevail in the derivation of the demonstratives of the locative noun classes (noun classes 16 – 20). Refer to Krüger (2006: 135-136) for more detail on the valence of demonstratives.

• The nasal in the agreement morpheme mo- is retained, the demonstrative is thus mô.
• The demonstrative of noun class 17 go- is used less frequently than those of fa- and mo-.
  Example 16

  golô gô/gôo/gôlê

  this/that/yonder place (area)

  Would rather be:

  Example 17

  golô fa/fao/falê

  this/that/yonder place (area)

  Example 18

  golô mô/kwa/kôô/kwalê

  this/that/yonder place (the place over there)

The meaning and function of demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns have a referential meaning about the distance or remoteness of an object from the speaker or addressee. The remoteness could relate to space and time. If the object/referent is abstract, the demonstrative refers to the relative time lapse between the first time that the speaker mentions the object and the last time that he/she mentions it.

Five types of quantitative pronouns are identified in Setswana. They are inclusive, exclusive, selective, separative and interrogative pronouns (Further reading Berg 2018: 51; Cole, 1955: 154-158; Krüger: 2006: 137–139):

• Inclusive quantitative pronouns denote a meaning of ‘all’ or ‘the whole’.
• Exclusive quantitative pronouns denote the meaning of ‘no/t one’ or ‘none’.
• Selective quantitative pronouns denote the meaning of ‘only’.
• Separative quantitative pronouns denote the meaning of a ‘different one’/ ‘another’.
• Interrogative quantitative pronouns denote the interrogative meaning of ‘which one’.

All meanings are related to the nouns that they modify.

(Abbreviations: Inc. = Inclusive; Sel. = Selective; Sep. = Separative; Exc. = Exclusive; Int. = Interrogative)

Morphological composition of quantitative pronouns

Quantitative pronouns include agreement morphemes and roots. The agreement morphemes are identical with those shown for the absolute and demonstrative pronouns. Phonological variants may appear before the roots -ôtlhê and -ôsi but occur unaltered with the roots -sele, -pê and -fe as shown in Table 4. The following roots appear with the different quantitative pronouns:

• Inclusive quantitative root: -ôtlhe Cole (1975: 155, 156) regards ô as part of the form of the agreement morpheme and acknowledges the roots -tlhê and -si. Morphological and semantic evidence prove that the roots should be -ôtlhe and -esi (Krüger, 2006: 138).
• Selective quantitative root: -esi
• Separative quantitative root: -sele
• Exclusive quantitative root: -pe
• Interrogative quantitative root: -fe

The variants nôsi and êsi of the selective quantitative pronouns do not show agreement to their antecedents. Some speakers use nosi/esi interchangeable. These pronouns are commonly used as complements of the descriptive copulative verb followed by -le in the participial mood.

Possessive pronouns are used as the complement of the possessive particle. They refer to the possessor:

The possessive particle shows noun class (gender) agreement with the possession, money in this case, which is a noun in noun class 6. Further reading for a more detailed discussion (Cole, 1975: 159-166).

The possessive pronouns of the first person (singular and plural), second person (singular and plural) as well as the third person (singular) differ from their absolute pronouns. All other absolute pronouns are the same as the possessive pronouns. (Further reading on the distinction between absolute and possessive pronouns Krüger, 2006: 146).

Note that individual and family possession is only relevant to the plural forms of the personal pronouns. Note also that third person singular is the same as noun class 1 and third person plural is the same as noun class 2.

Possessive pronouns of personal pronouns as possessors

The pronouns me and ka of the first person singular are regional variants (Cole 1975: 162):

ka could also be represented as aka. Some speakers contract the possessive particle and the possessive pronoun and lengthen tsaaka. It is an indication of its historical form.

The form kê occurs when the possessed (antecedent) is a noun expressing kinship:

The form ka is used as a discourse variant when the person is addressed:

Note that the possessive particle is omitted in the contracted forms. The omission is marked by length.

Second person pronouns

The pronouns gago and -ago are monomorphemic and are used to indicate possession for second person singular. The pronoun gago indicates non-kinship possessions:

The pronoun -ago is used in contracted forms. Cole (1975: 164) refers to such contracted forms of the second and third person as enclitic forms:

The pronoun for second person plural is lona and is not used in contracted form:

(Further reading Cole, 1975: 161; Krüger, 2006: 142) Krüger (2006: 142) also mentions a contracted form -o for second person singular possessors.

Third person

The third person singular and plural is treated as noun class 1 and 2 in Krüger (2006: 144). For the third person singular the pronoun gagwê, and contracted forms -agwê, -wê, and -ê are used:

• gagwe

  Example 45

  mosadi wa gagwe

  his wife

  Example 46

  ditlhako tsa gagwe

  his/her shoes

  Example 47

  bana ba gagwe

  his/her children

• -agwe
  Example 48

  rraagwe

  rra (wa) (g)agwe

  his/her father

  Example 49

  mmaagwe

  mma (wa) (g)agwe

  his/her mother

  Example 50

  malomaagwe

  malome (wa) (g)agwe

  his/her uncle

• -we

  Example 51

  monnawe

  monna (wa) gagwe

  his/her younger brothers/sisters

  Example 52

  mogolowe

  mogolo (wa) gagwe

  his/her elder brothers/sisters

• -ê

  Example 53

  kgaitsadiê

  kgaitsadi (wa gagw)ê

  his sister

  Example 54

  morwadiê

  morwadi (wa gagw)ê

  his/her daughter

  Example 55

  mogatsê

  mogatsa (wa gagw)ê

  his/her son

For the third person plural the pronoun bônê/bona of noun class 2 is used:

Pronouns indicating family and communal possession

Communal possession expresses the idea that a community (mainly a family) owns something (Cole, 1955: 163-164). The possessive pronouns etsho (getsho), eno (ga eno) and -abo (gabo) indicate communal possession. They do not indicate individual possession as the possessive pronouns of the persons do.

These pronouns occur in plural form only:

• etsho (getsho) - first person plural
  Example 59

  dipudi tsetsho / dipudi tsa etsho

  the goats of our family

• A possessive locative particle -ga may follow the standard possessive particle to indicate a communal possession of ‘our place’. eno (ga eno) - second person plural
  Example 60

  dipudi tsa getsho / dipudi tsa ga etsho

  the goats of our place/village

  Example 61

  bana beno / bana ba eno

  children of your family

  Example 62

  bana ba ga eno

  children of your place/village

• This is not to be confused with the unrelated form bana ba lona ‘your children’. abo (gabo) - third person plural
  Example 63

  dipitse tsaabo

  horses belonging to his/their family

  Example 64

  mmaabo

  their mother

  Example 65

  dipitse tsagagabo

  horses from their village/place

Possessive pronouns of noun classes 2-18

The possessive pronouns of noun classes 2 - 18 consist of a prefix which is the basic agreement morpheme followed by the root -ôna/-ônê as indicated in the table above. Krüger (2006: 146) and Cole (1975: 164) indicate a shortened form -ô as variant when used as compounds with kinship terms such as mma ‘mother’ and rra ‘father’:

The possessive construction is sometimes used to describe an object. “Descriptive possessives denote some quality, function, feature or other characteristic of the antecedent” Cole (1975: 167). The possessor, which is the complement of the possessive particle, does not own/have the antecedent but describes it:

Berg, A. (2018) Computational syntactic analysis of Setswana. Doctoral thesis. North-West University, South Africa.

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

Cole, D. T. (1975) Introduction to Tswana grammar, 2nd impression. Cape Town: Longman.

Krüger, C. J. H. (2006) Introduction to the morphology of Setswana. München: Lincom.

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

Louwrens. L. J. (1994) A linguistic analysis of Northern Sotho. Pretoria: Via Afrika.

Poulos, G. & Louwrens, L. J. (1994) A linguistic analysis of Northern Sotho. Goodwood: Via Africa.