BAGA TSHI-TEM DICTIONARY (GUINEA) (revised June 2021) PO-LOKULOKU PӘ TSHӘ-BAKA TSHI-TEM Frederick John Lamp (c. 3000 Baga words) FREDERICK JOHN LAMP Frederick John Lamp is retired as The Frances & Benjamin Benenson Foundation Curator of African Art at the Yale University Art Gallery, 2004-2014. From 1981 to 2003, he was a curator at The Baltimore Museum of Art. He has taught African art at Yale University, The Johns Hopkins University, the Maryland Institute College of Art, Georgetown University, George Washington University, and Catholic University of America. He holds a Ph.D. in the History of Art from Yale University, 1982. He has conducted field research in Sierra Leone and Guinea, with fellowships from the Fulbright Scholar Award, the Smithsonian Institution, National Endowment for the Humanities, and others. His publications include Ancestors in Search of Descendants: Stone Effigies of the Ancient Sapi (2018); Continuing Life Histories of African Art: The Collection of Charles B. Benenson at the Yale University Art Gallery (co-authored), 2012; Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin: African Art at Yale (ed., special issue) 2005; See the Music, Hear the Dance: Rethinking Africa at The Baltimore Museum of Art, (ed.) 2004; Art of the Baga: A Drama of Cultural Reinvention, 1996; La Guinée et ses Heritages Culturels, 1992; with contributions to several books; and articles in African Arts, The Drama Review, and The Art Bulletin, among many others. IPA ORTHOGRAPHY -- Baga Vocabulary, Frederick John Lamp -- revised May 2019 *We choose not to use the character c authorized by the Universal Alphabet Africa because it confuses general readers. It is a Latin character that already has a recognized sound (s or k) that readers expect, and therefore is misleading. The characters tʃ follow the IPA standard. BAGA TSHI-TEM DICTIONARY (GUINEA) (revised June 2021) PO-LOKULOKU PӘ TSHӘ-BAKA TSHI-TEM Frederick John Lamp (c. 3000 Baga words) This dictionary is my best effort as an art historian who lived with the Baga tsh-Tem for an aggregate of three years, studying their art, culture, and language. I also lived briefly with the four other Baga dialect groups, and with the linguistically related Kokoli (Landuma) and Tshapi in Guinea. I have had no formal linguistic training other than my extensive readings of linguists on West African languages.1 In general, I follow the example set by the linguist David T. Dalby,2 the most prolific writer on the Temne language, which I also spoke conversationally in my four aggregate years among the Temne, and is closely related to the Baga dialects, under the Temne Language Group. I welcome any comments from linguists and others working in this area. Key to Linguistic Abbreviations Vocabulary of Baga tshi-Tem (Sitem/Sitemu) descent group dialects are noted as follows: Bst-So = Somtup group (villages of Kamsar, Katako, Tshalbonto, Kaklentsh, Mare, K'fen, Kalktshe, B'kor): a-Samanthɔr / a-Mantuŋ = villages of K'fen, Kalktshe, B'kor a-Tako = villages of Kamsar, Katako, Tshalbonto, Kaklentsh, Mare Bst-Bɔ = Bɔgləntsh group (villages of Tolkotsh, Kawass, Katongoro) (also includes Pukur, but not linguistically): a-Bunu = village of Tolkotsh a-Tfǝn = villages of Kawass, Katongoro Included in this dictionary are selected words from the other four Baga dialect groups (M’ndor, Kakissa, Koba, and Kalum), for the reason that no dictionaries exist for these dialects. I have made no concentrated effort to collect a full vocabulary among these groups. These words are marked with the abbreviations listed below: Bst = Baga tshi-Tem. All entries are in Bst unless noted otherwise. Bmn = Baga M’ndor (Mandori) Bkk = Baga Kakisa (Sobané) Bkb = Baga Koba Bkl = Baga Kalum 1 I have read all existing dictionaries on all languages of Sierra Leone and Guinea, from cover to cover, for example, searching for cognates to Temne and Baga, and for the meanings of terms of art and culture found throughout the area. 2 See his published and unpublished works in the list of references for this dictionary. Some words are included from neighboring groups that share the Baga culture, and are used or may be recognized by the Baga: PUK, BLS, NAL, KOK, TEM: Pukur (Baga Mbotteni or Baga Binari), Bɔlɔŋits (Baga Foré), Nalu, Kokoli (Landuma), or Temne, respectively Derivitive words from outside the Baga culture are attributed as follows: Ar = Arabic Ma = Maninka Su = Susu Engl = English Pu= Pular Fr = French Port = Portuguese If a “<” appears before the culture abbreviation, it indicates that the word is derived and has been fully incorporated into the Baga language. If not, the word is simply known and borrowed by Baga speakers as a foreign word. The distinction, however, is not always clear. Alphabetization Like-sounding characters are grouped together alphabetically (just as they are in dictionaries of English or French—é is not alphabetized separately from è), so the reader can find them more easily. These discrepancies may be due to our own perceptions, or to variability in the spoken language by dialect group, descent group, village, age group, or even personal preference and physiological glottal structure. There is no “standard Baga.” Filed Together (as if the same): Filed in Sequence: Transformations a, ʌ, ə s, sh (ʃ) b, then gb (voiced labial- filed separately: e, ε t, th (θ), ts, tsh (ʧ) velar plosive) d→r (check both) i, I n, then ŋ o, ɔ N.B.: the IPA symbol ɔ sometimes gets downloaded wrong as a small square or large Ø. There may be other mis-transferrals from downloading. Note that there are no other special symbols used here other than what is listed above, and if they occur, they are a mistake in digital transfer. We choose not to use the character “c” authorized by the Universal Alphabet Africa (1928), even though it is standard in Manding orthography, because it confuses general readers enormously. It is a Latin character that already has a recognized sound (s or k) in English that readers expect, and therefore the readers will not consult the pronunciation guide, and will pronounce it as “s” or “k”. The equivalent characters “tʃ “follow the standard International Phonetic Alphabet. General readers will recognize this and the other IPA characters used here (ǝ, ɛ, ɪ, ɔ, ŋ) as non-English, and will consult the pronunciation guide. Coastal Guinean languages, such as Baga, are not Manding languages, and are largely not published heretofore, so it is an opportunity to begin anew, using the globally-recognized International Phonetic Alphabet, following the standard already set by David Dalby for Mel languages, specifically the Temne family, of which Baga is a part.3 Let’s be reader-friendly and consistent. In this draft manuscript, we render “ʃ” as “sh,” “ʧ” here as “tsh”, and “θ” as “th”, as the IPA characters are sometimes scrambled in email transmission. Please replace with the IPA characters for printing. IPA symbols filed together will follow the order given above if all else is equal, i.e., long vowel, then short (open) vowel; consonents alphabetically – e.g.: asop tempe temp ʌsop Tempε themp əsop tεmpe tsemp atar temta tshemp Verbs: Filed by the root word (preceded by the infinitive prefix in parenthesis—to distinguish it from the noun prefix). In order to form the Baga infinitive, the prefix kə-/kɛ-/ki-/ku- (comparable to the English infinitive “to”) is added. The prefix vowel follows the first vowel of the stem, loosely, and is somewhat interchangeable--thus (kǝ)gbal, (kε)gbεyεnε, but (kǝ)bɔtǝs, (kε)gbiti, but never (ki)gbal. Other writers have alphabetized all verbs by the prefix, but this puts all verbs in the “Ks.” I include the infinitive prefix because the Baga have advised that they do not recognize the stem alone without the prefix. But I alphabetize the verb by the stem, because one usually hears it spoken with a pronoun rather than the prefix, for example: in gbal, I throw mǝn gbal, you throw sǝn gbal, we throw etc. Nouns: Nouns are alphabetized by the root word (stem), preceded by the singular prefix with hyphen, and followed by the plural prefix in parenthesis (following David Dalby for the related Temne). If the plural has no prefix, but only the stem, the word is followed by a simple hyphen in parenthesis (-). If the prefix is inseparable, the word is alphabetized by the prefix, and the complete plural follows in parenthesis.4 Although other authors of Baga vocabularies alphabetize nouns by the prefix, this is misleading, because each noun prefix can change circumstantially, depending not only upon singular and plural, but also upon its position as subject or object, and 3 Unfortunately, Dalby’s Temne dictionary remains unpublished. 4 Note:some nouns appear in the list without their prefixes – research needed. In some cases this author is not sure whether the prefix is separable or inseparable – again, research needed. Mea culpa. Question:Is there really such a thing as an inseparable prefix, or should such nouns be considered as contractions (as nouns said to have inseparable prefixes always have a vowel following the prefix consonant), eliminating the vowel in the prefix? I.e., all “separable prefixes” preceed root words beginning in consonants, and all “inseparable prefixes” preceed vowels. Thus should kola (tshola) really be k’ola (tsh’ola), and alphabetized under “O” rather than “K”? upon its size, among many variations. So one would have to list the word repetitively for each variation. For example: ki-rir, mortar tshi-rir, mortars pe-rir, a huge mortar te-rir, a small mortar do-bɔlu do-rir, the height of the mortar de-lip de-rir, the demise of the mortar etc.5 Intonation The accent generally falls on the initial syllable, although often there is no accent distinguishable.