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Umoya Wamagama (The Spirit of the Words)

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Umoya Wamagama (The Spirit of the Words) UMOYA WAMAGAMA (THE SPIRIT OF THE WORDS) BY Jean-Bertrand Aristide UMOYA WAMAGAMA (THE SPIRIT OF THE WORD) by JEAN-BERTRAND ARISTIDE submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY in the subject AFRICAN LANGUAGES at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA PROMOTER: PROF N SAULE NOVEMBER 2006 i Student number: 4171-398-2 I declare that UMOYA WAMAGAMA (THE SPIRIT OF THE WORDS) is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. __________________________ _____________________ (PROF J B ARISTIDE) DATE ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am very grateful to Prof Ncedile Saule for promoting this research and for keeping alive, at its center, the spirit of Ubuntu. Linguistic explanations become a compelling experience whenever scholars are empowered by the values of Ubuntu. Indeed, I will never forget that first meeting at the office of the Deputy Dean, Prof Rosemarie Moeketsi. It was so kind of her to introduce me to Prof Saule. Very intelligent people put the right man in at the right position. I wish to also learn Sesotho in order to tell Prof Moeketsi more than: Ke ya leboha ka pelo yame yohle. From the very first meetings with Vice Chancellor Prof B Pityana, the Executive Dean of the College of Humanities Prof M Makhanya, and Prof TS Maluleke, I had the pleasure to discover their commitment to academic research. Today, I am delighted to express my gratitude to them for their continued support. For all the academic debates and lectures which brought much to this linguistic field of research, I would like to thank the Director of the Centre for African Renaissance Studies Prof Shadrack B O Gutto; the Head of the Department of Missiology Prof N Botha; the Head of the Department of African Languages Dr Thabazi Ntshinga; and all the colleagues with whom I have had the honor to interact. Many thanks to King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu for his precious time and insights on Zulu culture. Ngingambonga ngani uDanisile Ntuli? Hhaibo! Usifundisa isiZulu ngenhliziyo yakhe yonke. My thanks to Joyce T Mafumo for the administrative assistance provided to this study. Special thanks for a special contribution to a special person: My wife Mildred Aristide, Esq. May our daughters Christine and Michaëlle find here seeds of love and a source of inspiration for further academic research. Inyanga ayizelaphi. Ukwanda kwaliwa umthakathi! iii Abstract This thesis entitled Umoya Wamagama endeavors to establish the nature of the relationship between IsiZulu and Haitian Kreyòl. As a member of the Nguni group, IsiZulu is spoken by Africans. On the other side, Kreyòl is spoken by African descendants of Haiti, the world’s first Black independent Republic. Viewed from a multidisciplinary perspective, these two languages exhibit a significant relationship, hence this important observation: IsiZulu- Haitian Krèyol: So Close, Yet So Far! In other words, they are far from a linguistic point of view but close from a psycho-theological perspective. • So Far: Comparative linguistics shows that Kreyòl is genetically related to French and Latin. • So Close: Born in Haiti during the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade, Kreyòl keeps alive the spirit of the African ancestors and still contains linguistic roots of ancestral languages. Vital and vibrant is this historical relatedness linking the two languages. While Haitian Kreyòl is genetically related to French and Latin, it shares with IsiZulu an ancestral psychodynamic and theological paradigms deeply rooted in Ubuntu. Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu. These words crystallize the essence of Ubuntu. Its psychological and theological study transcends the literal language. In that regard Umoya Wamagama refers to both literal and figurative linguistic expressions. The emphasis however is more on the words which connote additional layers of meaning rather than those which simply denote their meanings. iv The method used in this thesis is comparative, descriptive, investigative, analytic and exegetic when necessary. Providing evidence of linguistic relationships, the comparative and analytic approach then embraces the semantic field of IsiZulu-Kreyòl as a significant psycholexicology where explanations puts an emphasis on the meaning and the spirit of the words. Siye ngomoya wamagama. Hence, the core question of addressing the psychological and theological dimensions of this research which is based on a multidisciplinary approach. After 500 years, in the wake of European colonial expansion, the Spirit of the African slaves is still alive in the psyche and the language of the Haitian people. As we said above: Yize isiKreyòl saseHaiti sifuze nesiFulentshi nesiLatini, sabelana nesiZulu ngokwemisuka nangokwezimiso zezinkolelo okunezimpande ezijulile emfundisweni yobuntu. IsiZulu and Kreyòl are related through an ancestral psychodynamic and theological paradigms rooted in Ubuntu. v CONTENTS Declaration i Acknowledgement ii Abstract iii Chapter One Introduction 1.1. Background and purpose of the study 1 1.2. Aim and approach to the study 2 1.3. Scope of the study 3 PART I: Historical and Genetic Relationships Chapter Two Historical Roots - Linguistic Roots A. Historical and Linguistic Roots 7 2.1. Historical roots of the first inhabitants of Haiti 7 2.2. Linguistic roots of the first inhabitants of Haiti 10 2.3. Social changes and sociolinguistic factors 13 2.4. Language contact, language loss 14 vi B. From African Roots to Kreyòl Roots 16 2.5. African roots of Haitian Kreyòl 16 2.6. Less Amerindians, more African or future Kreyòl speakers 22 2.7. Conclusion 26 Chapter Three Bantu Languages, IsiZulu’s Family 3.1. W.H. Bleek and Bantu languages 28 3.2. Tracing isiZulu roots through African languages 30 3.2.1. Afro-Asiatic languages 30 3.2.2. Nilo-Saharan languages 31 3.2.3. Khoisan languages 31 3.2.4. Niger-Congo 32 3.2.5. Joseph Greenberg’s classification 34 3.2.6. Guthrie’s definition of Bantu languages 38 A. Principal criteria B. Subsidiary criteria 3.2.7. Guthrie’s classification of Bantu languages 40 3.3. Bantu expansion 44 3.4. Comparative roots: IsiZulu – Haitian Kreyòl 47 3.5 Conclusion 51 vii Chapter Four Genetically Related: Kreyòl - French – Latin A. Kreyòl and Creoles 53 4.1. Kreyòl between two revolutions 56 4.1.1. Kreyòl ngomoya wamagama 58 4.1.2. The Haitian Constitution of 1801 (English) 59 4.1.3. Toussaint’s letter to Napoléon regarding the 1801Constitution 60 4.1.4. Napoléon’s letter to Toussaint Louverture (1801) 61 4.1.5. The Proclamation of Saint-Domingue by Leclerc (1802) 63 4.1.5.1.Napoléon’s special Kreyòl 65 4.1.6. Letter by the French Minister of the Marine to the Fort de Joux Commandant (1802) 67 4.1.7. Act of Independence 68 B. French-Latin: Historic Roots 71 4.2. Gaulish language 73 4.3. Celtic languages 75 4.4. Oïl languages 76 4.5. Old French 77 4.6. From Old French to Modern French: Nouns and Verbs 79 4.7. The influence of the Frankish language 81 4.8. French, the product of linguistic evolution 83 C. Comparative Method 84 4.9. Cognate list (Kreyòl-French- Latin) 85 4.10. Conclusion 96 viii PART II: IsiZulu-Haitian Kreyòl Chapter Five Comparative Linguistic Features and Translations (IsiZulu – Haitian Kreyòl) 5.1. Transmuting isiZulu into writing 98 5.2. Noun class system: IsiZulu-Haitian Kreyòl 100 5.3. Subject concord: IsiZulu and Haitian Kreyòl 105 5.4. The verbs: IsiZulu and Haitian Kreyòl 107 5.5. Translation 112 5.5.1. Sociolinguistic challenges related to translation 116 5.5.2. Izinkondlo nezisho 118 5.5.3. Vocabulary and phrasebook 142 5.5.4. Iziphicaphicwano 210 5.5.5. Izaga 212 5.5.6. Izisho 217 5.6. Conclusion 220 ix PART III: So far yet so close: IsiZulu-Haitian Kreyòl Chapter Six So far yet so close, ngomoya wobuntu (A psychological explanation) 6.1. Ubuntu and psycho-sociolinguistics 222 6.2. Psychology of Ubuntu 223 6.3. Double meanings and sociolinguistic consequences 229 6.4. True meaning of words 233 6.5. Ubuntu and psychological empowerment 234 6.6. So far yet so close ngomoya wokhokho wase-Afrika: An ancestral psychodynamic 242 6.6.1. An evolutionary perspective 243 6.6.2. Natural selection: Linguistic diversity 245 6.6.3. Savage selection and pathological language 246 6.6.4. Ancestral psychodynamic 248 6.6.4.1.Experimental knowledge 252 6.6.4.2 Psychohistory 254 6.6.4.3.Ancestral languages 255 6.7. Conclusion 257 x Chapter Seven So far yet so close ngomoya wamagama woNkulunkulu (A theological explanation) 7.1. The Logos? “In the beginning was the word.” 260 7.2. A linguistic choice, a theological option 262 7.3. Amagama akhe eTanakh 264 266 יהוה :The Tetragrammaton .7.3.1 7.4. Amagama akhe ngesiZulu 270 7.4.1. Metaphysical and theological explanation 271 7.4.2. Existential subject 272 7.4.3. Linguistic case: A difference of form, not substance 273 7.4.4. Beyond Ipsum ens (the being in and of itself) 273 7.4.5. Ntu: Linguistic and philosophical 273 7.5. Amagama akhe ngesiKreyòl 275 7.5.1. From mythology to theology 276 7.5.2. The world’s first illustrated book: The writings of the pyramids 279 7.6. African names through deep communion 280 7.6.1. Izibongo 281 7.6.2. African words found in traditional songs 311 7.7. Igama likaNkulunkulu uluthando 337 7.7.1. Love: A word, a semantic field, a theology of love 338 7.7.2. Real love transcending religion 342 7.8. Conclusion 347 xi Chapter Eight General Conclusion General Conclusion 349 Bibliography 356 Appendix A Guthrie’s classification of Bantu languages 371 B Evolution of verbs from Old to Modern French 377 C Cognate List (Remainder) 384 D IsiZulu and Kreyòl verbs 404 E English translation of izinkondlo nezisho 422 F Izinkulumo (Interviews) 433 G Excerpts from first illustrated book 451 Chapter One Introduction 1.1.
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