NORNA-RAPPORTER 88 Binamn. Uppkomst, bildning, terminologi ...

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32 Bertie Neethling Names, however, cannot be ‘diminuated’ in this way, and this strengthens the argument that personal names deserve special treatment regarding word class status. Xhosa speakers, however, probably under the influence of English and/ or Afrikaans, feel the desire to diminuate first names and then partly according to the same system applicable to Afrikaans and English, i.e. by using suffixes like -i, -ie, and -y. Landman (1986:167) refers to the tolerance regarding borrowing from English and Afrikaans nicknames. Xhosa appears to share the same kind of tolerance. Examples: Andile ‘they have increased’ > Andy Nombulelo ‘gratitude’ > Buli Sandisiwe ‘we have been added to’ > Sandy Nonkululeko ‘freedom’ > Nkuli Wandisile ‘he has been added’ > Wandy Solomzi ‘eye/guardian of the home’ > Solly Mpumelelo ‘success’ > Mpumi Zoliswa ‘one who calms’> Zolie Noluthando ‘love’> Thandi Zukiswa ‘one to be praised’ > Zukie As with the shortened forms in categories 1 and 2 (above), the meaning is sacrificed in the shortened forms. The semivowel -y- [j] in the Xhosa names is now clearly the English suffix [i], hence borrowing it certainly is. The bynames ending on -ie also appear strange because vowels in Xhosa are never juxtaposed unless they are the same vowel, so this is probably due to influence from Afrikaans where -ie is a common diminutive suffix in common and proper nouns. In a multilingual country such as South Africa, this is not surprising. 4. Affective diminuation (of surnames) This is a small category in the current data. Chetty > Chets Sayster > Says La Moer > Lammie Flowers > Blommie (blom = ‘flower’ in Afrikaans) Baatjes > Jackets (baadjies = ‘jackets’ in Afrikaans) In the last two examples, one can clearly see the interplay between Afrikaans and English through lexical transfer. Many of these students might be Afrikaans speaking at home but often also speak English with friends on and off campus. It appears as if emotivity plays a significant role in the so-called diminutive forms (and even in all the other typological formations of bynames). Respondents always remark that these bynames are used by those who love them, i.e. close relatives, intimate friends and loved ones. Semantic values such as affec-
Bynames as an expression of identity 33 tion, affinity, endearment, love, closeness, and friendship play a major role here. Combrink (1987:45) rightly states that the so-called diminutive suffix in Afrikaans does not always indicate that the referent is small, but that this suffix is rather emotive than cerebral, and hence he groups the diminutive suffixes with other emotive suffixes under the heading ‘emotive derivations’. It is probably fair to say that the diminutive suffixes in categories 3 and 4 above should then also rather be seen as emotive suffixes despite the correlation with diminutive forms. The comment by Fokker (1960:274) in a dated work clearly shows that name scholars had their hands full 50 years ago when dealing with this aspect: Any attempt to exactly delimitate and classify all the subtle emotional shades conveyed by the different expressive formations we have found would be a hazardous undertaking. Expressive-affective elements like these, fluctuating and elusive as they are, resist attempts at rigid classification. 5. Other (vague) derivations There are a great number of bynames that can only vaguely be traced back to the original first name. Only remnants of the first name such as a syllable, or sometimes even a sound or letter might feature in the byname. Initials are also sometimes used. Respondents could often not throw light on these bynames and why they were coined. This category will not receive attention here. It is, however, important to note that these bynames, despite the difficulty in linking them to the given first name, are clearly seen as components in the identity kit of students. Innovation and creativity abound. One name deserves to be mentioned: Simcelile: This Xhosa name means ‘We asked for him’, suggesting that the parents involved a Supernatural Being like the Christian God, or the traditional Qamata, or even the forefathers by asking to be blessed with a child, in this case a male one (which they might have preferred). This very ‘noble’ name, strongly embedded in the Xhosa culture, loses all the revered connotations once fellow students get hold of it. About 8 years ago a new cellphone company starting doing business in South Africa, operating under the name Cell C (they were the third mobile phone company) and is well entrenched in South Africa today. From the name Simcelile, fellow students coined the following bynames for the name carrier, all linked to the mobile phone company: Sim, Simc, Simitjie, Sim-card, Sms, Cell-C. Nothing now remains of the perfectly honourable and respectful cultural name he was endowed with. It is unlikely that his parents would appreciate this. This is then clearly a case of derivation through a coincidental external connotation that is in no way connected with the original motivation for the first name he carries. Although this might be an extreme example (and very interesting from a morphological angle), there are many others where the morphological link is not as clear. Van Langendonck (2007:33) refers to these as ‘purely expressive formations’. These will not be dealt with.
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Oppsummering 183 Oppsummering Av To
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