Co-ordination and the subjunctive in Xhosa

Abstract

Two main types of co-ordination in Xhosa are considered, where the distinguishing factor for determining these two types relates to a temporal condition associated with the preceding clause. The main emphasis in this article is on temporal co-ordination. When the second conjoined clause is in the subjunctive mood, the occurrence of such a clause must be triggered by the grammatical feature [-past] in the first conjoined clause. The conjoined subjunctive clause will then have the semantic feature [consecutive]. Negative clauses and subordinated clauses may result in ambiguity in the interpretation of the subjunctive clause.