‘Shona (derivational) Morphology: An Observation in Search of a Theory’

Abstract

This article concerns a traditional analysis of Shona morphology, which is based on a (positional) classification of affix morphemes into prefixes and suffixes. It posits the hypothesis that the distinction supports the other traditional (but more controversial) distinction between inflectional and derivational affixes, a distinction which is seen by many scholars in the literature as not being a sharp one. What, however, seems to be the case for Shona, and possibly for Bantu as well, is that the distinction is in fact quite sharp, and is based on the simple positional distinction between prefix and suffix. All Shona affixes fall into three classes, namely inflectional, derivational and clitical. The data seems to support the hypothesis.