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Abstract
Names of rivers contribute a very important part of the language of that society. They are sometimes preserving words and elements no longer current in that language. They comprise a major part of helping vocabulary on that society. Although the river names commonly originate in a specific language, they are used by speakers of other languages as well and become part of the vocabulary of the receiving and adopting language, notwithstanding sometimes in a modified phonological orthographic system of that language. Rivers cannot continue to meet society's needs, or the needs of living things, if the society continue to regard the river management as a purely political challenge. Flow of rivers is a part of greater flow, the planet's cycle, which sustains not only the flow of water but the entire web of life. River secures livelihoods, health and nutrition, good social relations, science, and education mental health and spiritual satisfaction. This research aims at examining names of rivers in Nkomazi Municipality in Mpumalanga. This research study is guided by onomastics approach. The discussion focuses on the meaning of names of rivers and their relationship with historical events.
Keywords: Current language. Indigenous people. Language development. Name. Onomastics theory. River. Vocabulary.
Introduction
The Nkomazi Region is situated in the southern east corner of the Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, and is boarded in the south and east by Eswatini and Mozambique respectively. The area is characterized by numerous rural and per-urban settlement, high population densities and low level of income. However, dry land farming is practiced. Here, not residential areas and settlements are utilized for animal grazing. Mlumati, Nkomazi and various tributaries that join the two main rivers provide necessary water for irrigation and clean water to the area (Lubisi, 2002).
Names in Bantu languages are nouns, as in other languages, and to understand this Bantu language river and place names, is very crucial to take knowledge of the structure of the nouns and the noun class system (Summers, 2002: 227). Each noun consists of the stem and a prefix or class marker. The stem conveys the meaning of the word, while the prefix indicates numbers (singular or plural), concord or subject marker (which set on the noncordial agreement should employ for agreement with other...