This chapter examines the Lowland East Cushitic language of the Afroasiatic phylum spoken in southwest Ethiopia: Konso. It emphasizes that the Konso call themselves Xonsitta and their language Afaa... Show moreThis chapter examines the Lowland East Cushitic language of the Afroasiatic phylum spoken in southwest Ethiopia: Konso. It emphasizes that the Konso call themselves Xonsitta and their language Afaa Xonso. The chapter also displays the four dialects of Konso: Faashe, Karatte, Tuuro, and Xolme. The Konso are organized in nine exogamous clans, each with their own chief. They are predominantly farmers who are known for their indigenous terracing system. This chapter also stresses that the majority of the Konso people are monolingual. It then investigates the rate of bilingualism in Konso and Amharic, and argues that monolingualism in Amharic in the Konso zonal town of Karatte is beginning to show up among children born of native Konso. Ultimately, this chapter details the early studies of Konso phonology and morphology. It also looks at the Konso syntax, grammar, and ideophones Show less
This paper presents a new analysis of a pattern of vowel copy in Iraqw verbal derivation. The main claim is that velar stops, which have previously been analyzed as transparent, are in fact opaque.... Show moreThis paper presents a new analysis of a pattern of vowel copy in Iraqw verbal derivation. The main claim is that velar stops, which have previously been analyzed as transparent, are in fact opaque. The resulting pattern is cross-linguistically less marked, since the class of transparent consonants is now restricted to gutturals, i.e. laryngeals, pharyngeals, uvulars, and a series of back fricatives, whose realization is post-velar rather than velar. Show less
Gibson, H.; Marten, L.; Mous, M.P.G.M.; Riedel, K. 2022
This chapter examines apparent competing functions of applicatives, prepositions and locative-marked phrases in a number of Bantu languages, focus-sing on the interaction of these types of... Show moreThis chapter examines apparent competing functions of applicatives, prepositions and locative-marked phrases in a number of Bantu languages, focus-sing on the interaction of these types of categories in various applicative construc-tions. We show that in a number of Bantu languages, prepositional constructions compete with applicatives. The interaction between the two construction types revolves around valency (the licensing of an additional object) and saliency (the encoding of pragmatic effects), two hallmarks of applicative constructions more widely. Evidence from this interaction, we propose, helps to better understand the diachronic development of applicatives. We further observe a diachronic rea-nalysis of the applicative marker from expressing both syntactic and pragmatic effects to a pure pragmatic marker of saliency, in the context of functionally and structurally ambiguous locative phrases. Show less
The paper provides an overview of blessings and curses in verbal art and in daily life among the Iraqw (Cushitic) of Tanzania. Blessings and curses are common in the verbal art and these seem to be... Show moreThe paper provides an overview of blessings and curses in verbal art and in daily life among the Iraqw (Cushitic) of Tanzania. Blessings and curses are common in the verbal art and these seem to be formally different from how traditionally in daily life people would intentionally bless and curse.The fiiro traditional prayer (literally requesting) is interspersed with blessings/curses or strong wishes which are clearly set apart from by a high speed of speech, high pitch and loud voice for a whole sentence upon which the audience waves the hands in the air or towards the ground. The slufay poetry which follows the fiiro can be seen as one long blessing, using subordinate verb forms and other archais elements but not containing these formally marked utterances of the fiiro (Beck and Mous 2014).In daily life cursing is done sometimes standing on a hillock wishing bad fortune on ones opponent but the actual words nor the way they are performed seem to be essential (Kamera 1986). Lifting the curse is a major event however. This can easily take up a whole day of discussing, singing, drinking and eating and the ceremony needs to be performed with the families of the two opponents and other people from the area present and with text emphasizing peace, good wishes and community spirit. The anthropological literature discusses the societal functions of curses (Hagborg 2001, Lawi 2000, Rekdal 1999, Snyder 2005, Thornton 1980).Blessing is often done by putting a piece of grass, barsi, above the door of the house between the cross bar above thr door opening and the roof. This can but need not be accompanied with speech. Show less
Cushitic languages have a number of interesting properties in the category of number. None of these are valid for all Cushitic languages. Number is not obligatorily expressed in various Cushitic... Show moreCushitic languages have a number of interesting properties in the category of number. None of these are valid for all Cushitic languages. Number is not obligatorily expressed in various Cushitic languages which have a general number form that is unspeci^ed for number. Nonetheless morphological number marking in the noun is often complex in two ways: there are many competing lexically determined morphological markers and many di^erent constellations of derived singular and derived plurals.Number and gender show complex interactions in Cushitic. Number formatives impose gender and hence di^erent gender values for di^erent number forms in the same lexeme, sometimes apparent gender polarity (singular and plural having opposite values for gender). A theoretically challenging property of some languages is that that there is a third gender, here labelled ‘plural’ because it takes the agreement morphology of 3PL pronouns. Show less
Swahili has transformed the noun mpaka ‘boundary, border’ into a function word ‘until’, which has successfully spread to many other East African languages with locative and temporal readings. The... Show moreSwahili has transformed the noun mpaka ‘boundary, border’ into a function word ‘until’, which has successfully spread to many other East African languages with locative and temporal readings. The grammaticalisation originated in a N-N construction without an associative ‘of’ interpreted as limiting the action adverbially. The main function is in the time interpretation of ‘until’. I provide an overview of this transfer in East Africa by looking at a large number of languages and argue that parallel independent grammaticalisation is not what is at stake but rather transfer of the function word and the preposition-like function. Show less
Language is one of the strongest expressions of group identity. Many communities in East Africa are multilingual and for some of the smaller communities this leads to language loss and for others... Show moreLanguage is one of the strongest expressions of group identity. Many communities in East Africa are multilingual and for some of the smaller communities this leads to language loss and for others to language revival. The article shows how different groups in similar circumstances opt for different linguistic behaviour and how these choices can swiftly change in the light of external circumstances including economic need. The article examines the linguistic attitude of groups such as the Yaaku, Aasa, Akiek, Ma’á/Mbugu from East Africa and compares them among each other and with other former hunter-gatherers such as the Bakola/Bagyele pygmies in Cameroon and the agricultural Mbugwe from Tanzania who are equally small in numbers. Show less
Language is one of the strongest expressions of group identity. Many communities in East Africa are multilingual and for some of the smaller communities this leads to language loss and for others... Show moreLanguage is one of the strongest expressions of group identity. Many communities in East Africa are multilingual and for some of the smaller communities this leads to language loss and for others to language revival. The article shows how different groups in similar circumstances opt for different linguistic behaviour and how these choices can swiftly change in the light of external circumstances including economic need. The article examines the linguistic attitude of groups such as the Yaaku, Aasa, Akiek, Ma’á/Mbugu from East Africa and compares them among each other and with other former hunter-gatherers such as the Bakola/Bagyele pygmies in Cameroon and the agricultural Mbugwe from Tanzania who are equally small in numbers. Show less
