Zaspil Nr. 55 – September 2011 Questions in Bantu Languages
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
5 Phonology Florian Lionnet and Larry M
5 Phonology Florian Lionnet and Larry M. Hyman 5.1. Introduction The historical relation between African and general phonology has been a mutu- ally beneficial one: the languages of the African continent provide some of the most interesting and, at times, unusual phonological phenomena, which have con- tributed to the development of phonology in quite central ways. This has been made possible by the careful descriptive work that has been done on African lan- guages, by linguists and non-linguists, and by Africanists and non-Africanists who have peeked in from time to time. Except for the click consonants of the Khoisan languages (which spill over onto some neighboring Bantu languages that have “borrowed” them), the phonological phenomena found in African languages are usually duplicated elsewhere on the globe, though not always in as concen- trated a fashion. The vast majority of African languages are tonal, and many also have vowel harmony (especially vowel height harmony and advanced tongue root [ATR] harmony). Not surprisingly, then, African languages have figured dispro- portionately in theoretical treatments of these two phenomena. On the other hand, if there is a phonological property where African languages are underrepresented, it would have to be stress systems – which rarely, if ever, achieve the complexity found in other (mostly non-tonal) languages. However, it should be noted that the languages of Africa have contributed significantly to virtually every other aspect of general phonology, and that the various developments of phonological theory have in turn often greatly contributed to a better understanding of the phonologies of African languages. Given the considerable diversity of the properties found in different parts of the continent, as well as in different genetic groups or areas, it will not be possible to provide a complete account of the phonological phenomena typically found in African languages, overviews of which are available in such works as Creissels (1994) and Clements (2000). -
Reglas De Congo: Palo Monte Mayombe) a Book by Lydia Cabrera an English Translation from the Spanish
THE KONGO RULE: THE PALO MONTE MAYOMBE WISDOM SOCIETY (REGLAS DE CONGO: PALO MONTE MAYOMBE) A BOOK BY LYDIA CABRERA AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION FROM THE SPANISH Donato Fhunsu A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of English and Comparative Literature (Comparative Literature). Chapel Hill 2016 Approved by: Inger S. B. Brodey Todd Ramón Ochoa Marsha S. Collins Tanya L. Shields Madeline G. Levine © 2016 Donato Fhunsu ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Donato Fhunsu: The Kongo Rule: The Palo Monte Mayombe Wisdom Society (Reglas de Congo: Palo Monte Mayombe) A Book by Lydia Cabrera An English Translation from the Spanish (Under the direction of Inger S. B. Brodey and Todd Ramón Ochoa) This dissertation is a critical analysis and annotated translation, from Spanish into English, of the book Reglas de Congo: Palo Monte Mayombe, by the Cuban anthropologist, artist, and writer Lydia Cabrera (1899-1991). Cabrera’s text is a hybrid ethnographic book of religion, slave narratives (oral history), and folklore (songs, poetry) that she devoted to a group of Afro-Cubans known as “los Congos de Cuba,” descendants of the Africans who were brought to the Caribbean island of Cuba during the trans-Atlantic Ocean African slave trade from the former Kongo Kingdom, which occupied the present-day southwestern part of Congo-Kinshasa, Congo-Brazzaville, Cabinda, and northern Angola. The Kongo Kingdom had formal contact with Christianity through the Kingdom of Portugal as early as the 1490s. -
The Oxford Guide to the Bantu Languages
submitted for The Oxford Guide to the Bantu Languages Bantu languages: Typology and variation Denis Creissels (3rd draft, August 12 2019) 1. Introduction With over 400 languages, the Bantu family provides an excellent empirical base for typological and comparative studies, and is particularly well suited to the study of microvariation (cf. Bloom & Petzell (this volume), Marlo (this volume)). This chapter provides an overview of the broad typological profile of Bantu languages, and of the major patterns and parameters of variation within the family. Inheritance from Proto-Bantu and uninterrupted contact between Bantu languages are certainly responsible for their relative typological homogeneity. It is however remarkable that the departures from the basic phonological and morphosyntactic structure inherited from Proto-Bantu are not equally distributed across the Bantu area. They are typically found in zone A, and to a lesser degree in (part of) zones B to D, resulting in a relatively high degree of typological diversity in this part of the Bantu area (often referred to as ‘Forest Bantu’), as opposed to the relative uniformity observed elsewhere (‘Savanna Bantu’). Typologically, Forest Bantu can be roughly characterized as intermediate between Savanna Bantu and the languages grouped with Narrow Bantu into the Southern Bantoid branch of Benue-Congo. Kiessling (this volume) provides an introduction to the West Ring languages of the Grassfields Bantu group, the closest relative of Narrow Bantu. Departures from the predominant typological profile -
A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Nyiha and Nyika Language Communities in Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi
A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Nyiha and Nyika Language Communities in Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi Anna-Lena Lindfors, Mark Woodward and Louise Nagler Revised by Susanne Krüger SIL International 2009 SIL Electronic Survey Report 2009-012, September 2009 Copyright © 2009 Anna-Lena Lindfors, Mark Woodward, Louise Nagler, Susanne Krüger, and SIL International All rights reserved ABSTRACT This paper presents the findings of a sociolinguistic survey among the Nyiha and Nyika language communities in south-western Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia. The main purpose of the research was to clarify the extent of any dialect differences between the varieties that could impact the ongoing language development process in the Nyiha of Mbozi variety (Tanzania). The research was conducted in August, September and November 2004. The survey identified five different ethnic groups called Nyiha or Nyika in Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi. Research findings suggest that the Nyiha of Malawi/Zambia could possibly use written materials in the Nyiha of Mbozi variety. The Nyika of Malawi and the Nyiha of Sumbawanga (Tanzania) were found to speak varieties different enough to warrant their own language development efforts. The language variety spoken by the Nyika of Rungwe (Tanzania) was found to be not a variety of Nyiha or Nyika at all and was not further investigated. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 The organisation of this paper 1.2 Acknowledgements 2 BACKGROUND INFORMATION 2.1 Language classification 2.2 Language areas and surrounding languages 2.3 Population -
Southern Africa As a Phonological Area
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology/Linguistics "Speaking (of) Khoisan" A symposium reviewing African prehistory 16/05/2015 Southern Africa as a phonological area Christfried Naumann & Hans-Jörg Bibiko [email protected] Quelle: Clements & Rialland ( 2008 : 37 ) Contents 1. Introduction 3-15 2. Procedure 16-19 3. Results: Kalahari Basin 20-28 4. Results: Southeastern Bantu 29-42 5. Results: Southern Africa 43-54 (6. Local and dependent features - excluded) 55-61 7. MDS and k-means 62-68 8. Summary 69 (9. Contact scenarios) 70-74 Acknowledgements 75 References 76-77 2 "Speaking (of) Khoisan", 16/05/2015 Southern Africa as a phonological area 1. Introduction Phonological similarities • large consonantal inventory (45 c.) • clicks • aspirated and ejective stops • dorsal affricate 3 "Speaking (of) Khoisan", 16/05/2015 Southern Africa as a phonological area 1. Introduction Phonological similarities • large consonantal inventory (50 c.) • clicks • aspirated, slack voiced, ejective and imploisve stops •(dorsal affricate) lateral obstruents • 4 "Speaking (of) Khoisan", 16/05/2015 Southern Africa as a phonological area 1. Introduction Phonological similarities • large consonantal inventory (68 c.) • (clicks) • aspirated, breathy and implosive stops • lateral obstruents 5 "Speaking (of) Khoisan", 16/05/2015 Southern Africa as a phonological area 1. Introduction Example: Distribution of ejectives/glottalized consonants Clements & Rialland (2008: 62) Maddieson (2013) 6 "Speaking (of) Khoisan", 16/05/2015 Southern Africa -
Syntactic and Phonological Phrasing in Bemba Relatives
Syntactic and phonological phrasing in Bemba Relatives Lisa Cheng Leiden University Nancy C. Kula Leiden University (LUCL) Tone as a distinctive feature used to differentiate not only words but also clause types, is a characteristic feature of Bantu languages. In this paper we show that Bemba relatives can be marked with a low tone in place of a segmental relative marker. This low tone strategy of relativization, which imposes a restrictive reading of relatives, manifests a specific phonological phrasing that can be differentiated from that of non-restrictives. The paper shows that the resultant phonological phrasing favours a head-raising analysis of relativization. In this sense, phonology can be shown to inform syntactic analyses. 1 Introduction Relative clauses in Bantu have been a part of continued research dating back to Meeussen (1971). Various typologies and analyses that aim to capture the dependencies expressed in this clause type have been proposed (Givón 1972, Nsuka 1982, Walusimbi 1996). Despite the fact that there is overwhelming evidence of relative clauses formed by tone in various Bantu languages (Luganda, Kinyarwanda, Nsenga, Chichewa, Umbundu, Luba) hardly any analyses try to associate this fact to the syntactic analyses and generalisations proposed, but see Kamwangamalu (1988) for Luba. This paper investigates (syntactic) analyses of relative clauses in Bantu, with particular reference to Bemba, that take recourse to phonological phrasing. We begin by outlining the strategies for relative clause formation in Bemba in section 2 for both subject and object relatives. In section 3 we look at the limitations of the tonal marking strategy as opposed to relatives marked with segmental relative markers. -
The Structure of the Nyiha Noun Phrase
The University of Dodoma University of Dodoma Institutional Repository http://repository.udom.ac.tz Humanities Master Dissertations 2012 The structure of the Nyiha noun phrase Bukuku, Josphat D The University of Dodoma Bukuku, J.D. (2012). The structure of the Nyiha noun phrase. Dodoma: The University of Dodoma. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12661/1295 Downloaded from UDOM Institutional Repository at The University of Dodoma, an open access institutional repository. THE STRUCTURE OF THE NYIHA NOUN PHRASE By Josphat Dougras Bukuku A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for Award of the Degree of Masters of Arts (Linguistics) of the University of Dodoma The University of Dodoma September 2012 CERTIFICATION The undersigned certify that she has read and hereby recommend for the acceptance by the University of Dodoma the dissertation entitled: The Structure of the Nyiha Noun Phrase, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters of Arts (Linguistics) of the University of Dodoma. …………………………………………. Dr. Rose Upor (Supervisor) Date ……………………………. i DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT I, BUKUKU, Josphat Dougras, declare that this thesis is my own origin work and that it has not been presented and will not be presented to any other University for a similar or any other degree award. Signature…………………………………………… This Dirssertation is a copyright material protected under Berne Convention, the copyright Act of 1999 and other international and national enactments, in that behalf, on intellectual property; No part of this dissertation may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the author or the University of Dodoma. -
The Effects of Duration and Sonority on Contour Tone Distribution— Typological Survey and Formal Analysis
The Effects of Duration and Sonority on Contour Tone Distribution— Typological Survey and Formal Analysis Jie Zhang For my family Table of Contents Acknowledgments xi 1 Background 3 1.1 Two Examples of Contour Tone Distribution 3 1.1.1 Contour Tones on Long Vowels Only 3 1.1.2 Contour Tones on Stressed Syllables Only 8 1.2 Questions Raised by the Examples 9 1.3 How This Work Evaluates The Different Predictions 11 1.3.1 A Survey of Contour Tone Distribution 11 1.3.2 Instrumental Case Studies 11 1.4 Putting Contour Tone Distribution in a Bigger Picture 13 1.4.1 Phonetically-Driven Phonology 13 1.4.2 Positional Prominence 14 1.4.3 Competing Approaches to Positional Prominence 16 1.5 Outline 20 2 The Phonetics of Contour Tones 23 2.1 Overview 23 2.2 The Importance of Sonority for Contour Tone Bearing 23 2.3 The Importance of Duration for Contour Tone Bearing 24 2.4 The Irrelevance of Onsets to Contour Tone Bearing 26 2.5 Local Conclusion 27 3 Empirical Predictions of Different Approaches 29 3.1 Overview 29 3.2 Defining CCONTOUR and Tonal Complexity 29 3.3 Phonological Factors That Influence Duration and Sonority of the Rime 32 3.4 Predictions of Contour Tone Distribution by Different Approaches 34 3.4.1 The Direct Approach 34 3.4.2 Contrast-Specific Positional Markedness 38 3.4.3 General-Purpose Positional Markedness 41 vii viii Table of Contents 3.4.4 The Moraic Approach 42 3.5 Local Conclusion 43 4 The Role of Contrast-Specific Phonetics in Contour Tone Distribution: A Survey 45 4.1 Overview of the Survey 45 4.2 Segmental Composition 48 -
The Emergence of Tense in Early Bantu
The Emergence of Tense in Early Bantu Derek Nurse Memorial University of Newfoundland “One can speculate that the perfective versus imperfective distinction was, historically, the fundamental distinction in the language, and that a complex tense system is in process of being superimposed on this basic aspectual distinction … there are many signs that the tense system is still evolving.” (Parker 1991: 185, talking of the Grassfields language Mundani). 1. Introduction 1.1. Purpose Examination of a set of non-Bantu Niger-Congo languages shows that most are aspect-prominent languages, that is, they either do not encode tense —the majority case— or, as the quotation indicates, there is reason to think that some have added tense to an original aspectual base. Comparative consideration of tense-aspect categories and morphology suggests that early and Proto-Niger-Congo were aspect-prominent. In contrast, all Bantu languages today encode both aspect and tense. The conclusion therefore is that, along with but independently of a few other Niger-Congo families, Bantu innovated tense at an early point in its development. While it has been known for some time that individual aspects turn into tenses, and not vice versa, it is being proposed here is that a whole aspect- based system added tense distinctions and become a tense-aspect system. 1.2. Definitions Readers will be familiar with the concept of tense. I follow Comrie’s (1985: 9) by now well known definition of tense: “Tense is grammaticalised expression of location in time”. That is, it is an inflectional category that locates a situation (action, state, event, process) relative to some other point in time, to a deictic centre. -
Democratic Republic of the Congo
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: Worsening humanitarian crisis as internal displacement escalates in the east A profile of the internal displacement situation 29 November, 2007 This Internal Displacement Profile is automatically generated from the online IDP database of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). It includes an overview of the internal displacement situation in the country prepared by the IDMC, followed by a compilation of excerpts from relevant reports by a variety of different sources. All headlines as well as the bullet point summaries at the beginning of each chapter were added by the IDMC to facilitate navigation through the Profile. Where dates in brackets are added to headlines, they indicate the publication date of the most recent source used in the respective chapter. The views expressed in the reports compiled in this Profile are not necessarily shared by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. The Profile is also available online at www.internal-displacement.org. About the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, established in 1998 by the Norwegian Refugee Council, is the leading international body monitoring conflict-induced internal displacement worldwide. Through its work, the Centre contributes to improving national and international capacities to protect and assist the millions of people around the globe who have been displaced within their own country as a result of conflicts or human rights violations. At the request of the United Nations, the Geneva-based Centre runs an online database providing comprehensive information and analysis on internal displacement in some 50 countries. Based on its monitoring and data collection activities, the Centre advocates for durable solutions to the plight of the internally displaced in line with international standards. -
Yearbook 1995
YEARBOOK 1995 A Directory of The General Conference, World Divisions, Union and Local Conferences and Missions, Educational Institutions, Food Industries, Health-Care Institutions, Media Centers, Publishing Houses, Periodicals, and Denominational Workers Printed in the U.S.A. by the REVIEW AND HERALD PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION HAGERSTOWN, MD 21740 For the Office of Archives and Statistics GENERAL CONFERENCE OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS 12501 OLD COLUMBIA PIKE SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND 20904-6600 Contents Preface and Statistics 4 Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists 5 Constitution and Bylaws 9 General Conference and Departments 15 Divisions: Africa-Indian Ocean 33 Eastern Africa 57 Euro-Africa 77 Euro-Asia 101 Far Eastern 111 Inter-American 153 North American 189 Healthcare Corporations 250 South American 255 South Pacific 287 Southern Asia 307 Trans-European 319 East Asia Association 337 Middle East Union 337 Southern Africa Union 340 China 347 Presidents, Secretaries, and Treasurers of G.C. 348 Institutions: Educational Institutions 349 Food Industries 457 Healthcare Institutions 463 Clinics and Dispensaries 494 Nursing Homes and Retirement Centers 500 Orphanages and Children's Homes 502 Media Centers 503 Publishing Houses 507 Periodicals 519 Necrology 532 List of Countries With Their Organizational Locations 535 Postal Abbreviations 538 Index of Institutional Workers 539 Directory of Workers 617 General Index 991 3 Preface to the 1995 Edition Scope of the Yearbook went in 1886. On October 20, 1890, the schooner A world directory of the Seventh-day Adventist Pitcairn was launched at San Francisco and was soon Church is given in the following pages. It includes the engaged in carrying missionaries to the Pacific islands. -
The Classification of the Bantu Languages of Tanzania
i lIMFORIVIATION TO USERS This material was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document. While the most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this document h^i(^|eeh used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the qriginal submitted. ■ The following explanation of techniques is provided to help you understand markings or patterns which may appear on this reproduction. I.The sign or "target" for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is "Mining Page(s)". IfJt was'possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are^spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting thru an image and duplicating adjacent pages to insure you'complete continuity. 2. When an.image.on the film is obliterated with li large round black mark, it . is an if}dication that the photographer suspected that the copy may have moved during, exposure and thus cause a blurred image. You will find a good image of the page in the adjacent frame. 3. When a map, drawing' or chart, etc., was part of the material being V- photographed the photographer ' followed a definite method in "sectioning" the material. It is customary to begin photoing at the upper left hand corner of a large sheet and to .continue photoing fronTleft to right in equal sections with a small overlap. If necessary, sectioning is continued, again — beginning below the first row and continuing on until . complete. " - 4. The majority of usefs indicate that the textual content is, of greatest value, ■however, a somewhat higher quality reproduction could be made from .'"photographs" if essential to the understanding of the dissertation.