Demonstratives
The demonstrative attributes of Hiechware are e ‘this’, a ‘that’, and ho ‘that yonder’; they are invariable, that is, they precede the noun they determine irrespective of gender, number, or other properties that the noun may have, e.g.
(1)
The situation is more complex in Kxoe. Köhler (1973:67) recorded altogether nine demonstrative forms, which are n/né ‘this’, n/nè’é ‘this here’, n/né’e ‘this there’, n//nàá ‘that’, n/nín ‘that over there’, n/ní’e ‘that far over there’, and xàá, ’á (M), and ’í (F), the last three being called “distance-neutral” demonstratives by Köhler. Pgn’s have become an obligatory part of demonstratives in their masculine singular and common plural forms; an example is found in (2a). Since the relevant pgn’s (mà or m, 3masc.sg and-nà or n,3c.pl) are the only ones beginning with a nasal consonant, Köhler (1973:67a) refers to the pgn use on demonstrative attributes in Kxoe as “nasal concord”. When neither of these two nasal-initial pgn’s is involved, no pgn’s are used on demonstrative attributes, as illustrated in (2b).
(2)
Naro has a number of demonstratives. The following forms have been recorded: né, ni, nné, nà, nnà, xa, and ‘ì-sí-hà. The overall range of demonstrative categories and their exact functions are unclear (cf. Bleek 1928:56; Vossen 1997:231–2). Vossen (1997:232) observes: “Auf Konkordanz zwischen Demon strativ und regierendem Nomen wird von der Mehrzahl der Sprecher Wert gelegt; dennochkanndasDemonstrativpronomenGenus-Numerus-unmarkiertsein”.That the use of pgn’s on demonstrative attributes is in fact the expected case is suggested by the text examples found in Bleek (1928), as e.g. in (3a) and (3b). Nevertheless, there are also examples where no pgn is found, like (3c).
(3)
To conclude, pgn’s are not found on demonstrative attributes in Hiechware, they occur in specific contexts but not in others in Kxoe, while in Naro they appear to be used in most contexts.
