Linguistics: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) by Matthews P. H

Author:Matthews, P. H. [Matthews, P. H.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2003-04-23T21:00:00+00:00

In the southern half of Africa the largest clearly established family is BANTU, roughly from the Equator southwards. Swahili, in East Africa, is its largest member and is still spreading.

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What do languages distinguish?

One feature of English, for example, is a grammatical distinction between ‘singular’ and ‘plural’. Words like boy (singular) or woman (singular) are in a form used in referring to a single individual: one boy, or one woman, only. Forms like boys (plural) or women (plural) are used instead in reference to two or more individuals. A similar distinction, between ‘one’ and ‘more than one’, is familiar in other European languages: Spanish la mujer ‘the woman’, but las mujeres ‘the women’; French la femme (phonetically [la fam]), but les femmes ([le fam]); and so on.

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