Kinyamwezi (pronunciation: kɪɲaŋwɛ́ɛzi) is the language of the Nyamwezi people of Northwest central Tanzania. It can be classified as a being from the Bantu family of languages; belonging to Zone F22 [1], according to Guthrie’s referential system of Bantu languages.
It is the mother-tongue of over one million people, 73% of whom live in the traditional area [2].
The major town in the Kinyamwezi region is Tabora.
Linguistically, there is a dialect continuum with no strict border separating Kinyamwezi from its Northern neighbour Kisukuma. However, speakers recognize Kinyamwezi and Kisukuma as different languages belonging to two distinct people groups, each with their own ethnic identity [3] .
Kinyamwezi has three dialects, listed as Nyanyembe, Takama (Garaganza) and Mweri (Sumbwa, Konongo, Kiya).
Language use is described by the ethnologue as ‘vigorous’.
Phonology
Kinyamwezi has the following seven vowels according to Maganga and Schadeberg [4] ( IPA transcription follows in square brackets where the symbol differs from those used by the authors).
- i, ɪ, e [ɛ], a, o [ɔ], ʊ, u
There are two degrees of phonologically distinctive vowel length for each vowel. Long vowels are transcribed by repeating the vowel, for exampleː
- kʊtʊlá 'to hit' kʊtʊʊ́la 'to put' [5]
The consonants can be listed as follows
[6]:
| p | t | ch [t͡ʃ] | k |
| f | s | sh [ʃ] | h |
| b | d | j [d͡ʒ]} | g |
| β | l | y | w |
| v | z | ||
| m | n | ɲ | ŋ |
| mb | nd | nj [ɲd͡ʒ] | ng [ŋg] |
| mv [ɱv] | nz | ||
| mh [m̥] | nh [n̥] | ɲh [ɲ̥] | ŋh [ŋ̥] |
| nch [ɲ̥t͡ʃ]} | |||
| mf [ɱ̥f] | ns | nsh [ɲ̥ʃ] |
Stems with initial voiceless stops p, t and k, alternate with mh, nh, ŋh respectively when
prenasalized.
Dahl’s rule applies to the following consonants: p, t, k, f, h, mh, nh, ŋh.
Tone: there are three basic surface tones, low, high and rising. In the text sample listed below, a high tone is marked with ́ whereas low tone goes unmarked. Rising tone is only found on long vowels and thus is marked by ́ on the second vowel.
Grammar
Kinyamwezi exhibits many of the expected Bantu typological characteristics [7] such as 18 nouns classes (out of a possible 22), agglutination, derived and non-derived nouns, open syllable structure and Noun+Adjective, Noun+Demonstrative word order.
There is no dominant order for Subject, Verb (V) and Object (O) overall, but VO order is typical for Verb and Object
[8].
Sample of Kinyamwezi text, the opening of an old Taborian song
[9]:
| milɪmo tʊlékaánílé. | We all have different works. |
| βaángɪ́ βásʊlʊ́zyá ná-βaángɪ́ | Some sell, and some |
| βáβaamba masyeelo, | make boxes from bark, |
| βasuúngá míziinga, | some put up beehives |
| na-βazuβaa nsoómba kʊ́-moongo | and catch fish in the river; |
| kɪ́la mweéne kásʊʊ́mbɪ́lé káámwéé… | each one as he was created.” |
External links
World Atlas of Language Structures online - WALS
References
- ^ Lewis, M. Paul (ed.), 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=nym
- ^ Lewis, M. Paul (ed.), 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=nym
- ^ Maganga, C and Schadeberg, T.C. 1992, Kinyamwezi: Grammar, Texts, Vocabulary Koln; Rudiger Koppe Verlag, page 11.
- ^ Maganga, C and Schadeberg, T.C. 1992, Kinyamwezi: Grammar, Texts, Vocabulary Koln; Rudiger Koppe Verlag, page 26.
- ^ Maganga, C and Schadeberg, T.C. 1992, Kinyamwezi: Grammar, Texts, Vocabulary Koln; Rudiger Koppe Verlag, page 29.
- ^ Maganga, C and Schadeberg, T.C. 1992, Kinyamwezi: Grammar, Texts, Vocabulary Koln; Rudiger Koppe Verlag, page 15.
- ^ Nurse and Philippson, 2003, The Bantu Languages, Routledge Language Family Series, page 8
- ^ Dryer, Matthew S. and the WALS author team. 2011. Language page for Nyamwezi. In: Dryer, Matthew S. & Haspelmath, Martin (eds.) The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Munich: Max Planck Digital Library. Available online at http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_nym Accessed on 2012-02-18.
- ^ Maganga, Clement and Thilo C. Schadeberg, 1992. Kinyamwezi: Grammar, Texts, Vocabulary Koln; Rudiger Koppe Verlag, pages 215, 221.
Kinyamwezi (pronunciation: kɪɲaŋwɛ́ɛzi) is the language of the Nyamwezi people of Northwest central Tanzania. It can be classified as a being from the Bantu family of languages; belonging to Zone F22 [1], according to Guthrie’s referential system of Bantu languages.
It is the mother-tongue of over one million people, 73% of whom live in the traditional area [2].
The major town in the Kinyamwezi region is Tabora.
Linguistically, there is a dialect continuum with no strict border separating Kinyamwezi from its Northern neighbour Kisukuma. However, speakers recognize Kinyamwezi and Kisukuma as different languages belonging to two distinct people groups, each with their own ethnic identity [3] .
Kinyamwezi has three dialects, listed as Nyanyembe, Takama (Garaganza) and Mweri (Sumbwa, Konongo, Kiya).
Language use is described by the ethnologue as ‘vigorous’.
Phonology
Kinyamwezi has the following seven vowels according to Maganga and Schadeberg [4] ( IPA transcription follows in square brackets where the symbol differs from those used by the authors).
- i, ɪ, e [ɛ], a, o [ɔ], ʊ, u
There are two degrees of phonologically distinctive vowel length for each vowel. Long vowels are transcribed by repeating the vowel, for exampleː
- kʊtʊlá 'to hit' kʊtʊʊ́la 'to put' [5]
The consonants can be listed as follows
[6]:
| p | t | ch [t͡ʃ] | k |
| f | s | sh [ʃ] | h |
| b | d | j [d͡ʒ]} | g |
| β | l | y | w |
| v | z | ||
| m | n | ɲ | ŋ |
| mb | nd | nj [ɲd͡ʒ] | ng [ŋg] |
| mv [ɱv] | nz | ||
| mh [m̥] | nh [n̥] | ɲh [ɲ̥] | ŋh [ŋ̥] |
| nch [ɲ̥t͡ʃ]} | |||
| mf [ɱ̥f] | ns | nsh [ɲ̥ʃ] |
Stems with initial voiceless stops p, t and k, alternate with mh, nh, ŋh respectively when
prenasalized.
Dahl’s rule applies to the following consonants: p, t, k, f, h, mh, nh, ŋh.
Tone: there are three basic surface tones, low, high and rising. In the text sample listed below, a high tone is marked with ́ whereas low tone goes unmarked. Rising tone is only found on long vowels and thus is marked by ́ on the second vowel.
Grammar
Kinyamwezi exhibits many of the expected Bantu typological characteristics [7] such as 18 nouns classes (out of a possible 22), agglutination, derived and non-derived nouns, open syllable structure and Noun+Adjective, Noun+Demonstrative word order.
There is no dominant order for Subject, Verb (V) and Object (O) overall, but VO order is typical for Verb and Object
[8].
Sample of Kinyamwezi text, the opening of an old Taborian song
[9]:
| milɪmo tʊlékaánílé. | We all have different works. |
| βaángɪ́ βásʊlʊ́zyá ná-βaángɪ́ | Some sell, and some |
| βáβaamba masyeelo, | make boxes from bark, |
| βasuúngá míziinga, | some put up beehives |
| na-βazuβaa nsoómba kʊ́-moongo | and catch fish in the river; |
| kɪ́la mweéne kásʊʊ́mbɪ́lé káámwéé… | each one as he was created.” |
External links
World Atlas of Language Structures online - WALS
References
- ^ Lewis, M. Paul (ed.), 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=nym
- ^ Lewis, M. Paul (ed.), 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=nym
- ^ Maganga, C and Schadeberg, T.C. 1992, Kinyamwezi: Grammar, Texts, Vocabulary Koln; Rudiger Koppe Verlag, page 11.
- ^ Maganga, C and Schadeberg, T.C. 1992, Kinyamwezi: Grammar, Texts, Vocabulary Koln; Rudiger Koppe Verlag, page 26.
- ^ Maganga, C and Schadeberg, T.C. 1992, Kinyamwezi: Grammar, Texts, Vocabulary Koln; Rudiger Koppe Verlag, page 29.
- ^ Maganga, C and Schadeberg, T.C. 1992, Kinyamwezi: Grammar, Texts, Vocabulary Koln; Rudiger Koppe Verlag, page 15.
- ^ Nurse and Philippson, 2003, The Bantu Languages, Routledge Language Family Series, page 8
- ^ Dryer, Matthew S. and the WALS author team. 2011. Language page for Nyamwezi. In: Dryer, Matthew S. & Haspelmath, Martin (eds.) The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Munich: Max Planck Digital Library. Available online at http://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_nym Accessed on 2012-02-18.
- ^ Maganga, Clement and Thilo C. Schadeberg, 1992. Kinyamwezi: Grammar, Texts, Vocabulary Koln; Rudiger Koppe Verlag, pages 215, 221.