These are, once again, a commonly tested part of the grammar of isiZulu. If you’re South African, and either speak Afrikaans or studied it at school, these are the isiNtu version of verkleinwoorde. And, just like the verkleinwoorde, there are many many rules for how to form them!
This section is not going to look very much at the implied meaning of a diminutive, but rather at how they are made. For anyone who doesn’t know what a diminutive is, here is a short definition:
a diminutive (isinciphiso) is the altered form of a noun (ibizo) so that the resulting noun represents a version of the original that is smaller in size, status, volume or significance.
The basic addition that stands out when talking about izinciphiso is the suffix -ANA. It is so prevalent in the discourse of South Africa that we have phrases like ‘smallanyana’ popping up in memes and other public media.
This suffix, –ANA, is mostly harmless and has little effect on the noun it alters. It is in the exceptions, however, that the pain comes for any and all students of the language. The main source of the problem is that every noun in isiZulu ends in a vowel (umuntU, izintO, amanzI, umlenzE, amangA). And that activates one of the most primal rules:
NO TWO VOWELS CAN EXIST NEXT TO ONE ANOTHER!
So, then. How do we respond to this violation of the rule? This is where isiZulu gets a little more funky than it actually has to be. Do you remember what happens with this problem in Ondaweni (aka Locatives)? Well, this is kinda like that, but with added levels.
Firstly, you have to consider that somehow the consonant before the last vowel also gets involved. Don’t ask me how, it just does. Once you have accepted this, you must consider what kind of consonant it is:
| consonant sounds you make with both your lips bilabial consonants | B, BH, M, MB, MP, P, PH |
| consonant sounds you make involving your teeth in some way dental / linguodental consonants | D, L, T, TH, N, ND, NT |
| all other consonants | C, CH, F, G, GC, GQ, GX, H, J, K, KH, Q, QH, R, S, SH, V, W, X, XH, Y, Z |
Unlike what happens with locatives, where the crazy sound changes occur only if a word ends in one of the bilabial consonants and -O or -U, when it comes to diminutives the sound changes occur with all nouns involving bilabial consonants and dental consonants (with some exceptions, marked with an * in the table below). If any word has an -O or -U after it, then a –W– is inserted before the -ANA ending. The following table probably explains this better:
| words ending with bilabial consonants intaBa inguBo isiguBHu isikhwaMa inkoMo ikhaMBa ithuMBu uhaMBo insweMPe ikoPi umtaPo iphePHa impuPHu | sound change, then -ana intaTSHANA inguTSHANA isiguJANA isikhwaNYANA inkoNYANA ikhaNJANA ithuNJANA uhaNJWANA insweNTSHANA ikoTSHANA umtaTSHANA ipheSHANA impuSHANA |
| words ending with dental or linguo-dental consonants incwaDi indoDa* imaLi umfuLa uvaLo umfaNa inyoNi ikhaNDa umlaNDo umkhoNTo isikhaTHi ikaTi | sound change, then -ana incwaJANA indoJANA / indoDANA imaDLANA umfuDLANA uvaDLWANA umfaNYANA inyoNYANA ikhaNJANA umlaNJANA umkhoNTSHWANA isikhaSHANA ikaTSHANA |
| words ending with all other consonants and -O or -U umuntU* izintO* imotO* indlU insO ingxoxO inkukhU | insert a W, then -ana um(u)NTWANA iziNTWANA imoTWANA indlWANA insWANA ingxoxWANA inkukhWANA |
| words ending with all other consonants and -A, -E, or -I amangA umlenzE umuzI | -ana replaces the final vowel amangANA umlenzANA um(u)zANA |
These rules are ones that probably just need to be memorised, although they are at least quite logical and consistent.
If there is something that doesn’t make sense here, let Mabhengwane know. Or you can book a lesson to practise them in more depth.
btw, Mabhengwane’s name has a diminutive ending (in a different dialect from standard isiZulu). The name is a diminutive of Mabhengu. 🙂