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Sesotho nouns signify concrete or abstract concepts in the language, but are distinct from the Sesotho pronouns. Bantu languages are often said to have sentences which are "centred around the noun" due to the striking nature of the noun concordance system. In Sesotho, pronouns, verbs, copulatives, adjectives, relatives, enumeratives, and possessives all need to agree with the noun(s) associated with them. ==Structure== Except for class 1a (which has a "null prefix"), nouns are composed of a noun prefix〔It is interesting to note that the Sotho–Tswana languages lack the high toned pre-prefix/augment that appears in the nouns of many other languages. Generally, the augments harmonise with the (inherent) vowel in the prefix (e.g. class 1 *ú-mu-, class 2 *á-ba-, class 4 *í-mi-, class 9 *í-N- etc.) though there are some languages in which the vowel of the augment is weakened (lowered), thus resulting in forms such as class 1 ''ó-mu-'', class 2 ''á-ba-'', class 4 ''é-mi-'', class 9 ''é-N-'' etc. Note that, at least in the isiZulu, the augments of classes 1a and 2a are ''ú-'' and ''á-'' respectively, suggesting that the class 1a and 2a prefixes have the exact same inherent vowels as classes 1 and 2.〕 and a stem (which may in turn be derived from other parts of speech; see below under Derivation). Each noun belongs to one of several noun classes and the knowledge of noun classes and their concords is pivotal to composing coherent sentences. Usually, the noun's class can be discerned by simply looking for the prefix, but there are many instances where this can become very complicated: *The syllabic nasal prefix of class 9 is more often than not invisible *Classes 1, 3, and 18 have similar prefixes but differing concords *Classes 2a and 14 have similar looking prefixes, differing in the vowel's quality and tone *Classes 15 and 17 have similar looking prefixes, differing only in tone *Many class 1 and 3 nouns have stems beginning with vowels, often causing the to velarize to *: ''mo'' + ''-ana'' → ''ngwana'' ('child' c.f. Swahili ''mwana''; Proto-Bantu *-jana) *Similarly, many class 14 nouns with stems beginning with vowels cause the prefix to palatalize to *: ''bo'' + ''-ang'' → ''jwang'' ('grass' c.f. Proto-Bantu *-janî) *Often if the stem of a class 1 or 3 noun is derived from a verb beginning with , the is absorbed by the (the vowel is elided) to become *: ''-busa'' ('govern') → ''mmuso'' ('government') There are further complications caused by stems that begin with vowels when the vowels interact causing the quality and tone of the prefix vowel to change (this never happens if the stem comes from a vowel verb); in these cases it is often simply a matter of memorising the correct class and plural for each individual word. Noun stems can range in length from monosyllabic as in ''motho'' ('person'), to very long stems formed either by duplication (e.g. ''kgodumodumo'' ('great and fearsome thing', the swallowing monster) or derived from long and complex verbs, such as the seven-syllable ''phuparollelano'' ('the act of mutual giving and receiving'), derived from a verb which is in turn idiomatically and recursively and comes through four distinct steps — derived from the verb ''fupara'' ('to close ones hand suddenly'). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sotho nouns」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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