Editing Noun class (section)

=== Atlantic–Congo languages ===
[[Atlantic–Congo languages]] can have ten or more noun classes, defined according to non-sexual criteria. Certain nominal classes are reserved for humans. The [[Fula language]] has about 26 noun classes (the exact number varies slightly by dialect).

==== Bantu languages ====
According to [[Carl Meinhof]], the [[Bantu languages]] have a total of 22 noun classes called '''nominal classes''' (this notion was introduced by [[Wilhelm Bleek|W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;I. Bleek]]). While no single language is known to express all of them, most of them have at least 10 noun classes. For example, by Meinhof's numbering, [[Shona language|Shona]] has 20 classes, [[Swahili language#Noun classes|Swahili]] has 15, [[Sesotho nouns#Noun prefix system|Sotho]] has 18 and [[Luganda#Noun classes|Ganda]] has 17.

Additionally, there are '''polyplural noun classes'''. A polyplural noun class is a plural class for more than one singular class.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.african.gu.se/aa/pdfs/aa03161.pdf|title=Remarks on a few "polyplural" classes in Bantu|access-date=2014-03-06|archive-date=2009-12-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091211012440/http://www.african.gu.se/aa/pdfs/aa03161.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> For example, [[Proto-Bantu language|Proto-Bantu]] class 10 contains plurals of class 9 nouns and class 11 nouns, while class 6 contains plurals of class 5 nouns and class 15 nouns. Classes 6 and 10 are inherited as polyplural classes by most surviving Bantu languages, but many languages have developed new polyplural classes that are not widely shared by other languages.

Specialists in Bantu emphasize that there is a clear difference between genders (such as known from [[Afro-Asiatic languages|Afro-Asiatic]] and [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]]) and nominal classes (such as known from Niger–Congo). Languages with nominal classes divide nouns formally on the base of [[Hyponymy|hyperonymic]] meanings. The category of nominal class replaces not only the category of gender, but also the categories of [[number]] and [[Grammatical case|case]].

Critics of Meinhof's approach notice that his numbering system of nominal classes counts singular and plural numbers of the same noun as belonging to separate classes. This seems to them to be inconsistent with the way other languages are traditionally considered, where number is orthogonal to gender (according to the critics, a Meinhof-style analysis would give [[Ancient Greek]] 9 genders). If one follows broader linguistic tradition and counts singular and plural as belonging to the same class, then Swahili has 8 or 9 noun classes, Sotho has 11 and Ganda has 10.

The Meinhof numbering tends to be used in scientific works dealing with comparisons of different Bantu languages. For instance, in [[Swahili language|Swahili]] the word {{lang|sw|rafiki}} 'friend' belongs to the class 9 and its "plural form" is {{lang|sw|marafiki}} of the class 6, even if most nouns of the 9 class have the plural of the class 10.  For this reason, noun classes are often referred to by combining their singular and plural forms, e.g., {{lang|sw|rafiki}} would be classified as "9/6", indicating that it takes class 9 in the singular, and class 6 in the plural.

However not all Bantu languages have these exceptions. In [[Luganda|Ganda]] each singular class has a corresponding plural class (apart from one class which has no singular–plural distinction; also some plural classes correspond to more than one singular class) and there are no exceptions as there are in Swahili. For this reason Ganda linguists use the orthogonal numbering system when discussing Ganda grammar (other than in the context of [[Bantu language|Bantu]] [[comparative linguistics]]), giving the 10 traditional noun classes of that language.

The distinction between genders and nominal classes is blurred still further by Indo-European languages that have nouns that behave like Swahili's {{lang|sw|rafiki}}. [[Italian language|Italian]], for example, has a group of nouns deriving from [[Latin language|Latin]] neuter nouns that acts as masculine in the singular but feminine in the plural: {{lang|it|il braccio}}/{{lang|it|le braccia}}; {{lang|it|l'uovo}}/{{lang|it|le uova}}. (These nouns are still placed in a neuter gender of their own by some grammarians.)

===== Nominal classes in Swahili =====

{{main|Swahili language#Noun classes}}

{| class="wikitable"
!Class number!!Prefix!!Typical meaning
|-
|1||{{lang|sw|m-, mw-, mu-}}||singular: persons
|-
|2||{{lang|sw|wa-, w-}}||plural: persons (a plural counterpart of class 1)
|-
|3||{{lang|sw|m-, mw-, mu-}}||singular: plants
|-
|4||{{lang|sw|mi-, my-}}||plural: plants (a plural counterpart of class 3)
|-
|5||{{lang|sw|ji-, j-,}} Ø-||singular: fruits
|-
|6||{{lang|sw|ma-, m-}}||plural: fruits (a plural counterpart of class 5, 9, 11, seldom 1)
|-
|7||{{lang|sw|ki-, ch-}}||singular: things
|-
|8||{{lang|sw|vi-, vy-}}||plural: things (a plural counterpart of class 7)
|-
|9||{{lang|sw|n-, ny-, m-,}} Ø-||singular: animals, things
|-
|10||{{lang|sw|n-, ny-, m-,}} Ø-||plural: animals, things (a plural counterpart of class 9 and 11)
|-
|11, 14||{{lang|sw|u-, w-, uw-}}||singular: no clear semantics
|-
|15||{{lang|sw|ku-, kw-}}||verbal nouns
|-
|16||{{lang|sw|pa-}}||locative meanings: close to something
|-
|17||{{lang|sw|ku-}}||indefinite locative or directive meaning
|-
|18||{{lang|sw|mu-, m-}}||locative meanings: inside something
|}

"Ø-" means [[Null morpheme|no prefix]]. Some classes are [[homonym]]ous (esp. 9 and 10). The Proto-Bantu class 12 disappeared in Swahili, class 13 merged with 7, and 14 with 11.

Class prefixes appear also on adjectives and verbs, e.g.:
{{interlinear|indent=3| lang = sw
|'''Ki'''tabu '''ki'''kubwa '''ki'''naanguka.
|CL7-book CL7-big CL7-PRS-fall
|'The big book falls.'}}

The [[Marker (linguistics)|class markers]] which appear on the adjectives and verbs may differ from the noun prefixes: 
{{interlinear|indent=3| lang = sw
|'''M'''toto '''wa'''ngu '''a'''linunua '''ki'''tabu.
|CL1-child CL1-my CL1-PST-CL7-buy CL7-book
|'My child bought a book.'}}

In this example, the verbal prefix '''{{lang|sw|a-}}''' and the pronominal prefix '''{{lang|sw|wa-}}''' are in concordance with the noun prefix '''{{lang|sw|m-}}''': they all express class 1 despite their different forms.

==== Zande ====
The [[Zande language]] distinguishes four noun classes:{{sfn|Corbett|1991|p=14}}

{| class="wikitable"
!Criterion!!Example!!Translation
|-
|human (male)||kumba||man
|-
|human (female)||dia||wife
|-
|animate||nya||beast
|-
|other||bambu||house
|}

There are about 80 inanimate nouns which are in the animate class, including nouns denoting heavenly objects (moon, rainbow), metal objects (hammer, ring), edible plants (sweet potato, pea), and non-metallic objects (whistle, ball). Many of the exceptions have a round shape, and some can be explained by the role they play in Zande mythology.