(What) do noun class markers mean?

L2 learners' sensitivity to semantic and morphophonological information on Swahili nouns

“…Based on Carstens (1991Carstens ( , 1993Carstens ( , 2000Carstens ( , 2005 and Contini-Morava (2002), every noun root in Swahili is a member of one of six genders 3 , which are traditionally labeled with numbers. Each noun root takes one set of agreements for singular marking and a different set for plural marking.…”

“…This view is reflected in textbooks for Swahili, which often provide generalizations for each gender but note that a large number of nouns fail to fit the pattern (see, e.g., Wilson 1985). Contini-Morava's (2002) careful analysis of the Swahili gender system demonstrates that some nouns adhere to a few central semantic principles and others are more "peripheral," related to the center through chains of metaphor or metonymy that may not be readily apparent. For instance, one of the central semantic properties of gender 3/4 is trees; the words for 'tree' (mti) and 'banana tree' (mgomba) are in this gender.…”

“…Morphophonologically canonical nouns have the prefix that is typically associated with gender 1/2 (m/wa), while morphophonologically noncanonical nouns have prefixes that are typically associated with different genders (no prefix, ki-/vi-, etc.). In order to investigate research question 2, regarding semantic information about gender, we included nouns from gender 3/4, because it has a consistent noun prefix (m) and has a clear semantic center as outlined in Contini-Morava (2002), but also contains a large number of nouns that do not appear to adhere to that semantic principle. Semantically canonical nouns adhere to the central principle of gender 3/4 as outlined by Contini-Morava (2002), (tree or active body part), while semantically noncanonical nouns do not.…”

“…The nonce nouns were designed to have either congruent or incongruent morphophonological and semantic information regarding to gender. An example of a congruent noun is kisemi 'clasp,' which has the typical prefix of gender 7/8 (ki-) and the typical meaning of a gender 7/8 noun: utilitarian object small enough to hold in hand (Contini-Morava 2002). An example of an incongruent noun is mname 'paring knife,' which has a typical prefix of gender 1/2 or 3/4 (m), but the typical meaning of a gender 7/8 noun.…”

Physical properties and culture-specific factors as principles of semantic categorisation of the Gújjolaay Eegimaa noun class system

“…In the last few decades, studies on Niger-Congo nominal classification systems have increasingly proposed, generally using cognitive semantics as a basis (Breedveld 1995, Contini-Morava 1997, 2002, P. J. Denny & Creider 1986, Moxley 1998, Spitulnik 1989, that these noun class systems are overt manifestations of speakers" mental categorisation of their experience.…”