Bemba | |
---|---|
Chibemba | |
Native to | Zambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania |
Ethnicity | Bemba, Bangweulu Batwa |
Native speakers | 4.1 million (2000–2010 census) [1] |
Niger–Congo?
| |
Dialects | |
Latin (Bemba alphabet) Bemba Braille | |
Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-2 | bem |
ISO 639-3 | bem |
Glottolog | bemb1257 |
M.42 [2] | |
Linguasphere | 99-AUR-r ichiBemba + ichiLamba incl. 24 inner languages 99-AUR-ra...-rx + varieties 99-AUR-rca...-rsb |
Person | MuBemba |
---|---|
People | BaBemba, Awemba, BaWemba |
Language | ChiBemba |
Country | Bembaland |
Bemba, ChiBemba (also Cibemba, Ichibemba, Icibemba and Chiwemba), is a Bantu language spoken primarily in north-eastern Zambia by the Bemba people and as a lingua franca by about 18 related ethnic groups.
Bemba is one of the spoken languages in Zambia, spoken by many people who live in urban areas, and is one of Zambia's seven recognized regional languages. Zambia's first president, Kenneth Kaunda, though Malawian by descent, was raised in a Bemba-speaking community, and two of the four Zambian presidents since have been Bemba-speakers. The third president, Levy Mwanawasa, was a Lenje/Lamba, Lamba people from the Copperbelt Province and Lenje from central province, Lenjes belong to the Bantu Botatwe (“three people”) ethnic grouping that comprises the Tonga-Lenje-Ila peoples. The Fourth President, Rupiah Bwezani Banda was a Chewa from the Eastern Province. In the years after the MMD took power in 1991, it was accused numerous times of promoting Bemba over other regional languages in the country. [3] Although the lingua franca of the Zambian capital Lusaka is a dialect of Bantu Botatwe.
Bemba has several dialects, many being varieties of Bemba spoken by other tribes which have historically fallen under Bemba influence. [4] They include Chishinga, Lomotwa, Ngoma, Nwesi, Lala, Luunda, Mukulu, Ng’umbo, and Unga, which is spoken by Twa pygmies and sometimes considered a separate language (Nurse 2003). The Twa of Bangweulu speak another dialect of Bemba.
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
Plosive/ Affricate | plain | p | t | t͡ʃ | k | |
prenasal | voiceless | ᵐp | ⁿt | ⁿt͡ʃ | ᵑk | |
voiced | ᵐb | ⁿd | ⁿd͡ʒ | ᵑɡ | ||
Fricative | plain | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | |
voiced | β | |||||
prenasal | ᶬf | ⁿs | ⁿʃ | |||
Lateral | l | |||||
Approximant | ( β ) | j | w |
Front | Central | Back | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
short | long | short | long | short | long | |
High | i | iː | u | uː | ||
Mid | e | eː | o | oː | ||
Low | a | aː |
The orthographical system in common use, originally introduced by Edward Steere, is quite phonetic. Its letters, with their approximate phonetic values, are given below.
Letter: | A | B | C/Ch | D | E | F | G | I | J | K | L | M | N | Ng' | Ny | O | P | S | Sh | T | U | W | Y |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Value: [6] | a | b, β | tʃ | d | e | f | ɡ | i | dʒ | k | l | m | n | ŋ | ɲ | o | p | s | ʃ | t | u | w | j |
It has become increasingly common to use 'c' in place of 'ch'. In common with other Bantu languages, as affixes are added, combinations of vowels may contract and consonants may change. For example, 'aa' changes to a long 'a', 'ae' and 'ai' change to 'e', and 'ao' and 'au' change to 'o' (in other cases, a 'y' is often used to separate other combinations of vowels). The nasal 'n' changes to 'm' before 'b' or 'p', and is pronounced ŋ before 'k' or 'g'; after 'n', 'l' changes to 'd'. These rules will all be implicit in the tables given below.
Like many Bantu languages, Bemba is tonal, with two tones. However, tone has limited effect on meaning as the number of words that would otherwise be confused is small. Stress tends to fall on the prefix, when it exists, and can lead to subtle differences of meaning (see the verb forms below).
Many of the main features of Bemba grammar are fairly typical of Bantu languages: it is agglutinative, depends mainly on prefixes, has a system of several noun classes, a large set of verbal aspects and tenses, very few actual adjectives, and, like English, has a word order that is subject-verb-object. Most of the classification here is taken from that given by Schoeffer, Sheane and Cornwallis. [7]
Bemba nouns are divided into several partially-semantic classes. They are indicated by their prefixes and are generally similar but not always identical to the concord prefixes, attached to verbs they govern, adjectives qualifying them, and pronouns standing for them. By one convention, based on the plural, they are arranged as follows (most alternate forms are caused by phonetic considerations):
Class | Singular prefix | Concord prefix (singular) | Plural prefix | Concord prefix (plural) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | mu-, mw-, m- | a (verbs), mu (adjectives), u/w (pronouns) | ba- | ba- | persons, and several inanimate nouns |
2 | mu- | u- (sometimes mu- for adjectives) | mi- | i- (sometimes mi- for adjectives) | generally inanimate nouns, and most trees and fruit |
3 | n-, lu- | i (sometimes n- for adjectives), lu- | n- | shi- | generally not human nouns |
4 | chi-/ch- (ichi-) | chi-/ch- | fi-/fy-/f- (ifi-) | fi-/fy-/f- | augmentatives, kinds, languages |
5 | li-, ku-, bu-, lu- | same as noun prefix | ma- | ya- (sometimes ma- for adjectives) | Plural can be used for singulars of class 3 to emphasise larger number or size |
6 | ka- | ka | tu- | tu- | diminutives |
7 | bu- | bu- | none | none | abstract nouns |
8 | ku- | ku- | none | none | infinitives |
9 | ku-, mu-, pa- | same as noun prefix | not strictly a noun class (see below) |
The prefixes in class 9 essentially indicate case: 'ku-' corresponds to 'to' or 'from', 'mu-' to 'in', 'into', or 'out of', and 'pa-' to 'at'.
As is common in Bantu languages, adjectives follow the words they qualify, and take the adjectival concord prefixes, but there are not many of them in the strictest sense. Adverbs, relative clauses, or 'descriptors', often fulfil their function instead. Descriptors are placed after the noun, with the particle '-a', and the relevant pronoun prefix between them: chintu cha nomba, 'new thing'.
The numbers from 1 to 10 are:
English: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bemba: | -mo | -bili | -tatu | -ne | -sano | -mutanda | -cine lubali | -cine konse konse | -pabula | -ikumi |
The numerals 1-5 take adjectival concord prefixes (except for class 1 singular: muntu umo, 'one person'). The numerals 6-10 are left unchanged. 'Ikumi' has the plural 'makumi', which can be used as a noun with 'na' (and, with) to form all numbers up to 99: for example, makumi yatatu na pabula, 'thirty nine'. 100 is 'mwanda', with plural 'myanda'.
The class-independent personal pronouns are: 'ine' (1st person sg.), 'iwe' (2nd person sg.), 'ifwe' (1st person pl.), 'imwe' (2nd person pl.). These are absolute, in the sense that they stand alone, and cannot appear as subjects or objects as they are. There are separate possessive pronouns, and the third person pronouns depend on class. There are also demonstrative pronouns, divided both by class and into three kinds by deixis ('this one, that one, and that one over there'), and relative pronouns are formed from these.
Verbs have simple forms, usually ending in '-a' (everything before the 'a' being the 'stem', 'root' or 'radical'), and are agglutinated according to person, number and class of subject and object, tense, mood, voice, aspect and whether they are affirmative or negative. Further, their stems change to indicate various other shades of meaning. The following rules can all be combined in a mostly straightforward manner, Bemba being agglutinative and not inflective, but there are still some exceptions.
The subject and object prefixes for the personal pronouns are given below. These can vary slightly according to mood, and the subject prefixes change for negative verbs. Where they are different, object prefixes are given in brackets.
Affirmative | Negative | ||
---|---|---|---|
1st person | singular | n- | nshi-, shi- |
plural | tu- | tatu- | |
2nd person | singular | u- (ku-) | tau- |
plural | mu- | tamu- | |
3rd person | singular | a- (mu-) | taa-, ta- |
plural | ba- | taba- |
The subject prefix is placed first, and then the object prefix. When the subject or object is a specific noun in a given class, the verbal concord prefix of this class is used, and the negative form adds the prefix 'ta-' before this.
The classification given here is that presented by Schoeffer.
Some of these require a modified stem, changing final 'a' to 'ile' if the preceding vowel is 'a', 'i' or 'u', and to 'ele' if it is 'e' or 'o', or, if the last consonant is nasal, changing the 'a' to 'ine' or 'ene' accordingly. There are irregularities in several verbs.
The tense prefixes are given below. They come after the subject and object prefixes, and before the verb stem, except for the recent, completed or historic past in 'na-', which appears at the very beginning. Stress is marked with an acute (´) accent.
Tense/aspect | Prefix | Stem | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Present continuative | le | unmodified | Used for verbs of action to indicate a progressive action; can be used adjectivally, and even as an immediate future (especially when used with verbs of state). |
Present definite | a | unmodified | Used for verbs of state, and intransitive verbs |
Stative, necessary habitual | Ordinary form; no prefix | unmodified | Indicates a state that is always true, or a habitual action; connotes necessity of the action |
Voluntary habitual | la | unmodified | For habitual actions, connoting that they are voluntary, or may otherwise not be necessary; used only for verbs of state; can be used in subordinate clauses |
Immediate past | a | unmodified | For actions occurring 'today', or 'nowadays' |
Recent, completed or historic past | na- (prefix) | unmodified | For actions completed today; can be used in a historic sense, but does not emphasise a distant past |
Specific past | (no prefix) | modified | Also used for actions done 'today' or 'nowadays', but emphasising more distance in time than the previous two; used in relative clauses |
Simple past of yesterday (1) | ali | unmodified | The stress must not be on the 'a' of the prefix |
Simple past of yesterday (2) | a | modified | The stress must not be on the prefix |
Remote past simple | á | modified | |
Remote past of duration | ali | modified | For remote actions whose effects are still present, or for states established in the remote past which have not changed |
Remote past definite, past perfect | áli | unmodified | A remote past further distant than some other relevant time |
Past imperfect or habitual | ale | unmodified | Used for actions once, but no longer, habitual |
Immediate future | ala | unmodified | |
Immediate progressive or habitual future | akula | unmodified | |
Proximal future | le | unmodified | For future states and conditions to be established shortly, but not necessarily immediately |
Future indefinite | ka | unmodified | For actions and states at some unknown time in the future |
Future indefinite habitual | kala | unmodified | For habitual actions and states at some unknown time in the future |
The moods correspond closely to the Bantu norms.
The simple singular imperative is identical to the 'dictionary' form of the verb consisting of the stem and the suffix '-a', changing to an '-e' if an object prefix is used - there is no subject prefix. The simple plural imperative changes '-a' to '-eni'. Prefixing 'aku-' or 'uka-', adds a sense of instruction to resume or continue an action. An emphatic form can be given by using the subject pronoun prefix (generally of class 1) and following this by the prefix '-inda-'.
The subjunctive is used hypothetically, as an indirect imperative, in exhortations, and in subordinate clauses, similarly but not identically to the subjunctive of many European languages. The common feature is a change of the final '-a' of the verb to '-e'. Its forms are given below. Here V stands for the verb stem, and P for any pronoun prefixes. The usual phonological rules apply.
Tense/aspect | Prefix | Notes |
---|---|---|
Simple present | P-V-e | Used for the present and for verbs for which time is not specified |
Present of movement | ka-P-V-e | Expresses a change in position, state or mental attitude |
Present of insistence, exhortative | na-P-V-e | Similar to a first-person plural imperative |
Future immediate | P-le-V-a | Same as the indicative |
Future immediate of insistence | na-P-le-V-a | Also used as an exhortative, or indirect imperative; can take plural in -eni when used imperatively |
Future remote momentary | P-ka-V-e | Used for a single action in the remote future |
Future remote continuous | P-kale-V-a | Used for a progressive or habitual action in the remote future |
Future remote of insistence | shina-P-V-e | Used as an indirect imperative for some unknown remote future time |
The infinitive, strictly a verbal noun, has two forms. The simple form has prefix 'ku-' added to the simple form, as mentioned above, and the habitual infinitive has prefix 'kula-'.
The passive is formed by placing the suffix '-w-' before the last vowel of the verb, but it is not frequently used. A 'neutral' voice can be formed by using '-ik-' instead if the preceding vowel is a, i or u, and '-ek-' if the preceding vowel is e or o. This form is differs in meaning from the passive in that it emphasises the state resulting from an action rather than the action itself (cf. English 'the pot is broken', as opposed to 'the ball is kicked').
Generally, the indicative prefixes 'ta-' to the subject prefix except for the first person singular which changes to 'nshi' or 'shi'. Generally, the subjunctive adds 'i' after the pronoun prefixes and in most cases changes a final 'e' to 'a'. The infinitive occasionally uses the negative 'te'. However, the precise rules are more complex, and the forms depend more finely on tense, aspect and mood. When the negative is used with the imperfect 'le', it is often in the sense of action not yet done, and is referred to by Schoeffer as a separate 'deferred tense'.
There are several other verb forms which change the stem by adding an extra syllable before the final 'a'. These are given below.
Tense/aspect | Form | Notes |
---|---|---|
Applied | The modified stem, with 'a' (instead of 'e' for the specific past). | Used to make an object indirect, usually translated by adding a preposition like 'for' after the verb |
Completive | Doubles vowel-consonant pair of the applied stem (e.g., fikila becomes fikilila, from fika, 'to arrive') | Expresses completion or finality of an action |
Reciprocal | V-na (or V-nya if V ends in y) | Expressing actions done to 'each other' |
Causative | Softens the last consonant accordingly: 'ba', 'pa' to 'fya'; 'nda', 'ka' 'la', 'sa', 'ta', to 'shya' or 'ishya', 'ushya'; adds 'y' before the 'a' of 'ema', 'ima', 'uma', 'ana'; adds 'ik' before the 'a' of 'ala', 'ama', 'ana' | Several exceptions exist; 'ishya' and 'ushya' is particularly common for verbs of colour |
Intensive | Changes 'a' to 'ishya' if preceding vowel is 'a', 'i', 'u'; changes 'a' to 'eshya' if 'e', 'o' | Adds emphasis or a sense of energy to the verb |
Reversive | Changes 'a' to 'ula' or 'ulula' if preceding vowel is 'a', 'i', 'u'; changes 'a' to 'ola' or 'olola' if 'e', 'o' | Expresses a reversal of an action (cf. English 'do', 'undo') |
Frequentative | Changes 'a' to 'ula' | Expresses frequent repetition of an action; translatable by the adverb 'repeatedly' |
Reflexive | Prefixes 'i' to the verb stem | Expresses doing 'to oneself' |
There are also several compound tenses, many using the copula 'kuli' and 'kuba'.
These are used to introduce coordinating or subordinate clauses, similarly to their use in English.
There is a sizeable amount of literature in Bemba. There are narratives, poems and plays. Some of the notable writers in Bemba include Stephen Mpashi, Chongo Kasonkomona, Chishimba, Paul Mushindo, Bwalya Chilangwa, Mwila Launshi and Kambole.
A lot of the novels and narratives in Bemba were written between the period 1950 and 1980. Recently, very few creative works are published in Zambia mainly due to two reasons: the readership is generally poor and secondly, because of the first reason, publishers tend to hesitate to publish creative works in Bemba, especially novels of substantial length, for financial reasons due to the likely low levels of readership and thus profit. Instead, there are many short stories and novellas in Bemba literature.
Despite these hiccups, such as poor readership and lack of publishing, the quality of the works that are published in Bemba is often high. Moreover, there seem to be many talented writers who would like to write in this language but could not because of the reasons that have been given above and others[ clarification needed ] that are related.
In terms of literary criticism, a lot of the works in Bemba have not been reviewed and critiqued. This is because there are very few literary critics in Bemba, though the interest is slowly growing. Some of these include Lutato and Shadreck Kondala, [8] among others. Classic Bemba books include Uwauma Nafyala, Pano Calo and Imilimo ya bena Kale.
Abantu bonse bafyalwa abalubuka nokulingana mu mucinshi nensambu. Balikwata amano nokutontonkanya, eico bafwile ukulacita ifintu ku banabo mu mutima wa bwananyina.
Translation
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link), with supplementary sound recordings.Ganda or Luganda is a Bantu language spoken in the African Great Lakes region. It is one of the major languages in Uganda and is spoken by more than 5.56 million Baganda and other people principally in central Uganda, including the country's capital, Kampala. Typologically, it is an agglutinative, tonal language with subject–verb–object word order and nominative–accusative morphosyntactic alignment.
Chewa is a Bantu language spoken in Malawi and a recognised minority in Zambia and Mozambique. The noun class prefix chi- is used for languages, so the language is usually called Chichewa and Chinyanja. In Malawi, the name was officially changed from Chinyanja to Chichewa in 1968 at the insistence of President Hastings Kamuzu Banda, and this is still the name most commonly used in Malawi today. In Zambia, the language is generally known as Nyanja or Cinyanja/Chinyanja '(language) of the lake'.
Kikuyu or Gikuyu is a Bantu language spoken by the Gĩkũyũ (Agĩkũyũ) of Kenya. Kikuyu is mainly spoken in the area between Nyeri, Nairobi and Nakuru. The Kikuyu people usually identify their lands by the surrounding mountain ranges in Central Kenya, including Mount Kenya, which they call Kĩrĩnyaga.
The Tagoi language is a Kordofanian language, closely related to Tegali, spoken near the town of Rashad in southern Kordofan in Sudan, about 12 N, 31 E. Unlike Tegali, it has a complex noun class system, which appears to have been borrowed from more typical Niger–Congo languages. It has several dialects, including Umali (Tumale), Goy, Moreb, and Orig. Villages are Moreb, Tagoi, Tukum, Tuling, Tumale, Turjok, and Turum.
Persian grammar is the grammar of the Persian language, whose dialectal variants are spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Caucasus, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. It is similar to that of many other Indo-European languages. The language became a more analytic language around the time of Middle Persian, with fewer cases and discarding grammatical gender. The innovations remain in Modern Persian, which is one of the few Indo-European languages to lack grammatical gender, even in pronouns.
Bengali grammar is the study of the morphology and syntax of Bengali, an Indo-European language spoken in the Indian subcontinent. Given that Bengali has two forms, Bengali: চলিত ভাষা and Bengali: সাধু ভাষা, it is important to note that the grammar discussed below applies fully only to the Bengali: চলিত (cholito) form. Shadhu bhasha is generally considered outdated and no longer used either in writing or in normal conversation. Although Bengali is typically written in the Bengali script, a romanization scheme is also used here to suggest the pronunciation.
The grammar of Modern Greek, as spoken in present-day Greece and Cyprus, is essentially that of Demotic Greek, but it has also assimilated certain elements of Katharevousa, the archaic, learned variety of Greek imitating Classical Greek forms, which used to be the official language of Greece through much of the 19th and 20th centuries. Modern Greek grammar has preserved many features of Ancient Greek, but has also undergone changes in a similar direction as many other modern Indo-European languages, from more synthetic to more analytic structures.
The Yimas language is spoken by the Yimas people, who populate the Sepik River Basin region of Papua New Guinea. It is spoken primarily in Yimas village, Karawari Rural LLG, East Sepik Province. It is a member of the Lower-Sepik language family. All 250-300 speakers of Yimas live in two villages along the lower reaches of the Arafundi River, which stems from a tributary of the Sepik River known as the Karawari River.
Ukrainian grammar is complex and characterised by a high degree of inflection; moreover, it has a relatively free word order, although the dominant arrangement is subject–verb–object (SVO). Ukrainian grammar describes its phonological, morphological, and syntactic rules. Ukrainian has seven grammatical cases and two numbers for its nominal declension and two aspects, three tenses, three moods, and two voices for its verbal conjugation. Adjectives agree in number, gender, and case with their nouns.
Sesotho nouns signify concrete or abstract concepts in the language, but are distinct from the Sesotho pronouns.
Just as the Sesotho sentence centres on the Sesotho noun, the noun is made to "concòrd" ("agree") with the verbs, pronouns, and qualificatives describing it by a set of Sesotho noun concords.
The Sesotho parts of speech convey the most basic meanings and functions of the words in the language, which may be modified in largely predictable ways by affixes and other regular morphological devices. Each complete word in the Sesotho language must comprise some "part of speech."
This article presents a brief overview of the grammar of the Sesotho and provides links to more detailed articles.
Yao is a Bantu language in Africa with approximately two million speakers in Malawi, and half a million each in Tanzania and Mozambique. There are also some speakers in Zambia. In Malawi, the main dialect is Mangochi, mostly spoken around Lake Malawi. In Mozambique, the main dialects are Makale and Massaninga. The language has also gone by several other names in English, including chiYao or ciYao, Achawa, Adsawa, Adsoa, Ajawa, Ayawa, Ayo, Ayao, Djao, Haiao, Hiao, Hyao, Jao, Veiao, and waJao.
Dirasha is a member of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. It is spoken in the Omo region of Ethiopia, in the hills west of Lake Chamo, around the town of Gidole.
Fuliiru, or Kifuliiru, is a Great Lakes Bantu language spoken by the Fuliiru people (Bafuliiru), also known as the Fuliru, who live north and west of the town of Uvira in Uvira Territory, South Kivu Province in the far eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It is closely related to Kinyindu.
Moro is a Kordofanian language spoken in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan, Sudan. It is part of the Western group of West Central Heiban Kordofonian languages and belongs to the Niger-Congo phylum. In 1982 there were an estimated 30,000 Moro-speakers. This was before the second Sudan civil war and therefore the recent number of speakers might differ. There can be noted an influence of Arabic and it is suspected that today approximately a fourth of all Moro vocabulary has a relation or an origin in the Arabic language.
Zulu grammar is the way in which meanings are encoded into wordings in the Zulu language. Zulu grammar is typical for Bantu languages, bearing all the hallmarks of this language family. These include agglutinativity, a rich array of noun classes, extensive inflection for person, tense and aspect, and a subject–verb–object word order.
The Otoro language is a Heiban language which belongs to the Kordofanian Languages and therefore it is a part of the Niger-Congo language family. In a smaller view the Otoro is a segment of the "central branch“ from the so-called Koalib-Moro Group of the languages which are spoken in the Nuba Mountains. The Otoro language is spoken within the geographical regions encompassing Kuartal, Zayd and Kauda in Sudan. The precise number of Otoro speakers is unknown, though current evaluates suggest it to be exceeding 17,000 people.
Swahili is a Bantu language which is native to or mainly spoken in the East African region. It has a grammatical structure that is typical for Bantu languages, bearing all the hallmarks of this language family. These include agglutinativity, a rich array of noun classes, extensive inflection for person, tense, aspect and mood, and generally a subject–verb–object word order.