| Abstract: | In his reconstruction of the noun class prefixes of the Bantu languages Carl Meinhof postulated 23 series for Ur-Bantu (Grundzüge einer vergleichenden Grammatik der Bantusprachen). His numbering of the prefixes was based on that established by W.H.I. Bleek in his 'Comparative Grammar of South-African Languages'. To this system several modifications have been proposed and adopted to a greater or less extent: the validity of some of Meinhof's postulations, e.g. that of Cl.22, has been questioned; the inclusion in the series of additional noun classes and prefixes, e.g. C1.1a and 2a, has been proposed; and common practice is now to reverse the order of Cl-.12 and Cl.15. This paper's objective is not to debate these modifications, nor to consider Meinhof's difficulties in Cl.3, 4 and 8, but it is concerned essentially with Meinhof's Cl.10 prefix, although the discussion involves certain others of these prefixes, notably Cl.7, 8, 9 and 11. References; notes. |
AfricaBib 
Periodical article
Leiden University catalogue
WorldCat
