Subject agreement with denominal copulatives in Zulu.

Abstract

Subject agreement with denominal copulatives appears not to be compulsory, as is the case with verbs.Zulu grammarians are not,however,of one mind regarding the usage of the subject concord in denominal copulative constructions. The purpose of this article is to investigate subject agreement with denominal copulatives in a discourse framework, as certain discourse strategies such as pronominalization and focus may influence the employment of concordial agreement. The findings concerning subject agreement with denominal copulatives in discourse are discussed in the light of problems arising from the views of traditional grammarians. Onderwerpskongruensie met denominale kopulatiewe blyk nie verpligtend te wees soos in die geval van werkwoorde nie. Onder Zulu-grammatici heers egter nie eenstemmigheid wat die gebruik van die onderwerpskakel in denominale kopulatiewe betref nie. Die doel van hierdie artikel is om ondersoek na onderwerpskongruensie met denominale kopulatiewe in 'n diskoersverband in te stel, aangesien sekere diskoerstrategiee soos bv. pronominalisasie en fokus die gebruik van onderwerpskakels mag beinvloed. Die bevindige aangaande onderwerpskongruensie met denominale kopulatiewe in diskoers word in die lig van probleme wat uit die beskouinge van tradisionele grammatici voortspruit, beskou.