Catalan to Setswana: recovering an object means recovering its noun class
A Catalan object’s gender does not supply the Setswana pronoun
CPNL distinguishes Catalan direct-object clitics el, la, els, and les, with gender and number linked to their antecedents. Setswana pronouns instead draw on a noun-class agreement system. SADiLaR describes their composition through a class agreement element and a pronominal root.
A Catalan feminine singular object therefore does not automatically select one universal feminine Setswana pronoun. The translated noun’s class matters. If a conversation mentions a bag and a document, choosing their target references merely from the source forms la and el could ignore the agreement categories of the actual Setswana nouns. Translate the antecedent before deciding how to recover it.
A shorter expression can still refer to the same shoes
SADiLaR contrasts Re na le tsôna, with shoes as the supplied antecedent, and the contracted Re na natsô. Both mean that we have them. The shortened written form does not imply fewer shoes, a different owner, or an omitted part of the original supply.
A Catalan reply saying that the speakers have the previously mentioned shoes may likewise recover the object with a weak pronoun. But it does not follow that the target must contain exactly one independently written pronoun in the same position. In the documented Setswana construction, contraction affects the written expression while preserving its reference. Judge whether the shoes and possessors remain correctly identified rather than counting target words against the source clitic.
Quantity reference differs from recovery of an identified object
CPNL’s en tinc dues gives a quantity while recovering the noun from an earlier question. By contrast, a determined-object clitic identifies something already established. The source en also has other uses, including origin with de, so it cannot be assigned one invariant Setswana equivalent.
For an original exchange about available pairs of shoes, the answer that two remain is different from confirming possession of the particular pair a customer reserved. A target reference to them can sound fluent while losing the source quantity or making the supply more definite than intended. Include the question that establishes what is counted, and retain the distinction between available items and the specific items already discussed.
Locative reference has its own target agreement pattern
SADiLaR notes gônê for the locative noun classes in its pronoun account. Catalan hi can instead recover a destination, as in hi vaig a peu. The source form’s brevity does not establish that it refers to an ordinary object rather than a place.
An exchange can move from possessing the shoes to walking to the shop. If the Catalan writer then uses hi, carrying over the previous target object pronoun simply because both expressions avoid repeating a noun would conflate shoes with destination. Resolve the source reference as a place or object first. Setswana class-based reference must follow the intended antecedent, even when several Catalan clitics appear in a compact series of replies.
Language references