Qualitative trace of the analysis process for part-whole relations and Zulu language and culture

formalisation questions (skipping the two W->P relations enziwe and akhiwe). Subsequent email exchange not recorded.

isiZulu

shorthand

temporal to define it?

how part comes about needed?

POS

dictionary item in English

linguist & ontologist notes

Questions resulting from trying to formalise

-xubene na-

stuffs

may be + or -?

component

IZ.net: be blended; be compounded; be mixed together; be fused; be mingled, be coalesced

-yimvithimvithi

part

in pieces

imvithimvithi. Example: the pieces when the glass shattered. So the act of creating the parts has happened, and this is about a state of affairs

state of affairs of the piece w.r.t. the proken whole? No

pieces broken from a whole: whole no longer recognizable

amangcozu

involved in

N pl 5

sections

(btw, can't exist in the singular?). It is a static part. If you are doing something, you're doing it bit by bit. Subtype of involved in??? A sequence of subactivities that are part of the larger activity. Like the activity of typing a word as part of the activity of typing a sentence.

is it really different from involved-in (relating process to sub-process)? In our INLG16 paper, we lumped involved-in tgether with ingxenye

Always in plural = amanconzu meaning a small part of a big whole or part of an entire process = latest comment often used in repetition of the final stem = amanconzuncozu

fumbatha

contain (hand/fist only)

contain

added. See cell D85. enclosed in the hand/fist

similar question as for mumatha: always properly enclosed, or can it be sticking out of the enclosed hand, like a spear or knife does?

Always enclosed/closed

hlanganyela

done (collective/group participation)

take part

hlanganyela and hlanganyele are more like variants, so either ok. entry merged with the infiinitive ukuhlanganyela

to confirm: lump hlanganyele (of INLG16 paper) and hlanganyela together, or do we need to say something about the difference?

I think we can state the suttle difference brought about by the past perfect tense -el-e. The infinitive for ukuhlanganyela is most appropriate.

ilunga

part (for anatomy)

N sg 5

member (one of a group)

part of a body/joint = a finger is part of a hand = also take the other senses of 'ilungu'

then why not ingxenye here? Or can be both, but ilunga is somehow 'better'/more precise?

Yes, more precise

ilungu

member (human organisation, not flocks etc)

N sg 5

member (of council)

of parliament/community/family/organization/etc = of being part of an institution or group

ingqikithi

essential and immutable part

N sg

the essential part……

indeed as our KR08 understandig of essential parthood and also includes immutable part.

ingxenye

done

N sg 9

part

part, but is also listed under portion in the dictionary. merged ingxenyana with it

iqatha

scattered portion (meat only)

N sg 5

piece of meat

(or chunk or lump, according to IZ.net)

temporal because it must come from a larger piece of meat

Yes

given the comment on isiqephu, this is always a scattered portion, no? i.e., physically separated form the whole piece of meat?

isabelo

regions

may be + or -?

N sg 7

portion

synonym of isigaba. IZ.net: allocation; grant; portion; quota; share

there are all sorts of different things here. Needs clarification

Isabelo is allocation in the sense of a budget. But isigaba is a section.

isichibi

scattered portion (cloth only)

N sg 7?

piece of cloth

given the comment on isiqephu, this is always a scattered portion, no? i.e., physically separated form the whole piece of cloth?

isigaba

located in (regions sensu geographic entities)

N sg 7

section

for privinces/districts etc.. Geographical entities/regions. listed for portion and seciton, 3 times. Merged here. see also https://isizulu.net/?isigaba for more approximations

what about those broader meanings beyond geography?

there are other words like isiqephu etc.

to confirm: I will reduce this to 2D (geographical) entities only, and align it to located-in

agreed.

isigamu

scattered portion

N sg 7?

portion, piece

piece chopped off or cut off, anything cut short, according to the blue dictionary. listed for piece and portion. Merged here. Not in IZ.net

isihlephu

scattered part

N sg 7

piece

piece broken off, but not clear whether that piece will have a function once broken off. IZ.net: fragment; piece; portion

the piece is a self-contained thingie, like, say, the ear of a cup, the seating of a chair? Or could alos be just a chip of the cup (the piece does not have 'identity' as a thing of itself)

The main sense is that isihlephu is a piece that does have an identity (or use) on its own.

isijuqu

part

N sg 7?

part, piece

also listed in 'part of'. as it's the part that remains, it's not the piece. the remainder that stays behind when tearing something off. Has something to do with size as well. Example ilunga yisijuqu semfe. a bunch of ilunga are the subsections of the stem of the sugar cane (imfe), and the top ilunga gets torn off, and the larger remainder of the cane remains. and therefore isijuqu, not ingxenye. listed twice. Is part, not section

so, the 'torn off part of' was part of the whole? Traditionally, parthood does not consider *how* the parts come about, though.

Yes. A part that remains.

isinqamu

scattered portion

N sg 7?

portion…..

example if you break a couple of pages from a larger number of pages. It's not ingxenye, because you have removed it. like in breaking bread. So it is a scattered part (portion). was listed 3 times, with portion mianly, merged here.

isiqephu

done. Portion of solid objects

N sg 7

part, piece

was listed twice, under part and under piece

chapter;episode;seciton in IZ.net

the solid stuff, is that always a mixture (as with the blood example) or can it also be so-called 'pure' stuff (not a mixture)? E.g., a portion of the sugar from the pot of sugar on the table, a sliver of the gold that came from the bar of gold, a handful of cashew nuts from the amount of cashew nuts in the bag. and is it always 'scattered', i.e., a separate thingie that's not attached to the whole, as the bloodsample example is, or can it be 'contiguous' as well, like the left-half of the whole cake or the top 3cm of all the pap in the pot? it is part of a solid stuff, and not necessarily scattered.

it is part of a solid stuff, not necessarily scattered

isiqinti

moved to part

N sg 7

piece of land

has some inherent locative aspect, more as a part of a place, rather than piece. Let's move to parts list

how does it related to the whole?

It is a piece of land that is a small part of a big whole.

isithako

subquantity

may be + or -?

N sg 7

ingredient, subquantity

"OK" as what? As in 'butter is an ingredient of cake'? And is it always food-related? Can it be used also for, say, 'solvent is an ingredient of paint'? Is it for human-made substances only, or for any substances, like 'sand is an ingredient of mud'? And does it relate only mass nouns, or does it extend also to objects [like: one apple is an ingredient of an apple pie]? also: supposedly 'prescription' https://isizulu.net/?isithako

same questions still, see cell G30

It is an ingredient that has been used to derive a new substance. Food, medicine, paint, chemical, etc.

always *humanmade* substances? (three of the four examples are, chemical not necessarily, and I suppose you mean with 'chemical' not one of the elements, but it has to be a mixture, like gasoline for the car)

so?

isitho

part (body parts)

N sg 7

member

(limb). Ok = a body part. Can also mean a big leg (singular) izitho (big legs plural)

then why not ingxenye here? Or can be both,? Nad what about ilunga which one is somehow 'better'/more precise, how?

isitho is used in relation to body parts. It means parts of a human body. The second sense is used metaphorically to refer to big/fat legs. It is used more precisely to refer to parts of human body.

izingxenye ezakhayo

structural parthoog

N pl 10

component parts

with a long list at: https://isizulu.net/?izingxenye+ezakhayo: building parts, constructing parts, producing parts, manufacturing parts, building sections, constructing sections, producing sections, manufacturing sections, building halves, constructing halves, producing halves, manufacturing halves

mumatha

contain (mouth only)

contain

example: 'the mouth contains saliva'. Always has to do with something *in* the mouth.

always properly contained in, like the saliva and teeth, or can the object stick out as well, like a lollipop?

yes, must be properly contained in.

qukatha

containment

contain

can be used for both the physical containment (like laptop in bag) and conceptual containment like in 'your story contains lies', a book contains words. IZ.net: contain; hold, comprise; include

ucezu

part

may be + or -?

maybe +?

N sg 11

part broken off

IZ.net: bit; fragment; piece, chip; slice

udengezi

part, with extras

N sg

piece

shard. piece of the broken vase/clay pot, and that piece assumed another function

no idea how to handle that formally

This is the antonymy of isiqephu. While isiqephu has no identiy/or use, udengezi assumes new identity and use as a result of breaking from a whole.

umhlanganyeli

refined participation?

N sg 1

participant

? If Ok = used as in those participarting in an act of assault = -hlanganyela 'to come together to execute something/doing something together'. IZ.net also says just 'participant'

I don't know if it's ok; this is what my dictionary listed :). So umhlanganyeli is more for, 'x participates in robbery/stabbing/rape/...'?, or, because it's a noun, the umhlanganyeli is the role that the participants play in the assualt (the 'x' in the previous sentence)?

It is the participant x in (commiting) an action y

umqobelo

portion/piece

N sg 3

ingredient

-qoba = cut into small pieces. IZ.net also says ingredient

from the verb -qoba = extended verb -qob + el (APPLICATIVE) -a

ah, but is this then, now as noun, still more of a verb-word (the cuting process) or more of a noun-word (the small pieces)? How would it be used in a sentence? N SC-y-umqobelo PC-N?

It can be used with the copulative. Utamatisi umqobelo wesaladi. "Tomatoes are part of a vegetable salad".

so, the object

umunxa

spatial' portion

N sg 3

with my understanding now, it messes up the hierachy, so let me see if I can refine this a bit. There are the two examples on fireplace and the kitchen utensils. Does umunxa also apply to, say, the bottom 1/3 of the whiskey glass where the whiskey is, the area of the garbage bin that still can be filled up, the north-east quarter of a circle, a corner area of a cube, the yonder part of the sky, the deserted part of the province?

No. It's extending too far and the most preferred or commonly used one would be 'ingxenye' in these instances.

hmmm. This doesn't help me specifying the distinguishing characteristic. I don't see the difference between the kitchen utensils example and, say, a corner area of a cube. Could you try to explain what's the difference between the two?

akhiwe

done

enziwe

done