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Learning how to license null noun-class prefixes in Sesotho

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2026

Katherine Demuth ,
Malillo Machobane  and
Francina Moloi
Katherine Demuth*
Affiliation:
Brown University
Malillo Machobane*
Affiliation:
National University of Lesotho
Francina Moloi*
Affiliation:
National University of Lesotho
*
Demuth, Department of Cognitive and Linguistic Science, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912 [Katherine_Demuth@brown.edu]
Moloi and Machobane, National University of Lesotho, P.O. Box Roma 180, Lesotho [em.machobane@nul.ls]
[fl.moloi@nul.ls]
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Abstract

Noun-class prefixes are obligatory in most Bantu languages. However, the Sotho languages (Sesotho, Setswana, Sepedi) permit a subset of prefixes to be realized as null at the intersection of ‘unmarked’ phonological, syntactic, and discourse conditions. This raises the question of how and when the licensing of null prefixes is learned. Using longitudinal data from three Sesotho-speaking children, this article shows that the conditions needed to license null prefixes have been learned before the age of three, suggesting early abilities for grammatical generalization even at the intersection of different levels of linguistic structure. The implications for learnability theory and Bantu linguistic structure more generally are discussed.

Keywords

SesothoBantu languagesnoun-class prefixesnominal agreementlanguage acquisitionlearnability

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 85 , Issue 4 , December 2009 , pp. 864 - 883
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 by Linguistic Society of America

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