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A. E. Meeussen
Achille Emile Meeussen, also spelled Achiel Emiel Meeussen,Swiggers (2009).Universiteit Leiden website or simply A.E. Meeussen (as he generally signed his articles) (19121978) was a distinguished Belgian specialist in Bantu languages, particularly those of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Belgian Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. Together with the British scholar Malcolm Guthrie (19031972) he is regarded as one of the two leading experts in Bantu languages in the second half of the 20th century.Bostoen & Bastin (2016). Meeussen was born at Jette, Sint-Pieters-Jette, Belgium on April 6, 1912, and died at Louvain, Belgium, Louvain on February 8, 1978, at the age of 65. Education and career A. E. Meeussen studied classical philology at the Catholic University of L ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bantu Languages
The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀) are a large family of languages spoken by the Bantu people of Central, Southern, Eastern africa and Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages. The total number of Bantu languages ranges in the hundreds, depending on the definition of "language" versus "dialect", and is estimated at between 440 and 680 distinct languages."Guthrie (1967-71) names some 440 Bantu 'varieties', Grimes (2000) has 501 (minus a few 'extinct' or 'almost extinct'), Bastin ''et al.'' (1999) have 542, Maho (this volume) has some 660, and Mann ''et al.'' (1987) have ''c.'' 680." Derek Nurse, 2006, "Bantu Languages", in the ''Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics'', p. 2:Ethnologue report for Southern Bantoid" lists a total of 535 languages. The count includes 13 Mbam languages, which are not always included under "Narrow Bantu". For Bantuic, Linguasphere has 260 outer languages (which are equivalent to languages ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kirundi
Kirundi, also known as Rundi, is a Bantu language spoken by some 9 million people in Burundi and adjacent parts of Rwanda, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, as well as in Kenya. It is the official language of Burundi. Kirundi is mutually intelligible with Kinyarwanda, an official language of Rwanda, and the two form part of the wider dialect continuum known as Rwanda-Rundi.Ethnologue, 15th ed. Kirundi is natively spoken by the Hutu, including Bakiga and other related ethnicities, as well as Tutsi, Twa and Hima among others have adopted the language. Neighbouring dialects of Kirundi are mutually intelligible with Ha, a language spoken in western Tanzania. Kirundi is one of the languages where Meeussen's rule, a rule describing a certain pattern of tonal change in Bantu languages, is active. In 2020, the Rundi Academy was established to help standardize and promote Kirundi. Phonology Consonants Although the literature on Rundi agrees on 5 v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tone (linguistics)
Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning – that is, to distinguish or to inflect words. All verbal languages use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information and to convey emphasis, contrast and other such features in what is called intonation, but not all languages use tones to distinguish words or their inflections, analogously to consonants and vowels. Languages that have this feature are called tonal languages; the distinctive tone patterns of such a language are sometimes called tonemes, by analogy with '' phoneme''. Tonal languages are common in East and Southeast Asia, Africa, the Americas and the Pacific. Tonal languages are different from pitch-accent languages in that tonal languages can have each syllable with an independent tone whilst pitch-accent languages may have one syllable in a word or morpheme that is more prominent than the others. Mechanics Most languages use pitch as intonation to conv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cree Language
Cree (also known as Cree– Montagnais– Naskapi) is a dialect continuum of Algonquian languages spoken by approximately 117,000 people across Canada, from the Northwest Territories to Alberta to Labrador. If considered one language, it is the aboriginal language with the highest number of speakers in Canada. The only region where Cree has any official status is in the Northwest Territories, alongside eight other aboriginal languages. There, Cree is spoken mainly in Fort Smith and Hay River. Names Endonyms are: * (Plains Cree) * (Woods Cree) * (Western Swampy Cree) * (Eastern Swampy Cree) * (Moose Cree) * (Southern East Cree) * (Northern East Cree) * (Atikamekw) * (Western Montagnais, Piyekwâkamî dialect) * (Western Montagnais, Betsiamites dialect) * (Eastern Montagnais) Origin and diffusion Cree is believed to have begun as a dialect of the Proto-Algonquian language spoken between 2,500 and 3,000 years ago in the original Algonquian homeland, an un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cheyenne Language
The Cheyenne language (, ) (informal spelling Tsisinstsistots), is the Native American language spoken by the Cheyenne people, predominantly in present-day Montana and Oklahoma, in the United States. It is part of the Algonquian language family. Like all other Algonquian languages, it has complex agglutinative polysynthetic morphology. This language is considered endangered, at different levels, in both states. Classification Cheyenne is one of the Algonquian languages, which is a sub-category of the Algic languages. Specifically, it is a Plains Algonquian language. However, Plains Algonquian, which also includes Arapaho and Blackfoot, is an areal rather than genetic subgrouping. Geographic distribution Cheyenne is spoken on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana and in Oklahoma. On the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in March 2013 there were approximately 10,050 enrolled tribal members, of which about 4,939 resided on the reservation; slightly more ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maniema
Maniema is one of 26 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its capital is Kindu. Toponymy Henry Morton Stanley explored the area, calling it Manyema.Stanley, H.M., 1899, Through the Dark Continent, London: G. Newnes, Vol. One , Vol. Two Geography Maniema borders the provinces of Sankuru to the west, Tshopo to the north, North Kivu and South Kivu to the east, and Lomami and Tanganyika to the south. Maniema province has 7 territories, which are: # Kabambare # Kailo # Kasongo # Kibombo # Lubutu # Pangi # Punia Political divisions Maniema consists of the city of Kindu and seven territories: Punia, Pangi, Lubutu, Kibombo, Kasongo, Kailo and Kabambare. The city of Kindu has the communes of Alunguli, Kasuku and Mikelenge Economy Mining is the main industry in the province and diamonds, copper, gold and cobalt are mined outside of Kindu. Kailo Territory is home to open pit wolframite and Cassiterite mines. Education * University of Kindu See also * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yao Language
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 (the prefixed form), Achawa, Adsawa, Adsoa, Ajawa, Ayawa, Ayo, Ayao, Djao, Haiao, Hiao, Hyao, Jao, Veiao, and waJao. In Malawi, most Yao speakers live in the Southern Region near the southeast tip of Lake Malawi and bordering Mozambique to the east. In Mozambique most speakers live in Niassa Province from the eastern shore of Lake Malawi () to the Lugenda River up to where it meets the Rovuma River. In Tanzania most speakers live in the south central, Mtwara Region, Masasi district and in the Ruvuma Region, Tunduru district, east of Lake Malawi along the Mozambican border. In common ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tonga Language (Zambia And Zimbabwe)
Tonga (''Chitonga''), also known as ''Zambezi'', is a Bantu language primarily spoken by the Tonga people (''Batonga'') who live mainly in the Southern province, Lusaka province Central Province and Western province of Zambia, and in northern Zimbabwe, with a few in Mozambique. The language is also spoken by the Iwe, Toka and Leya people, and perhaps by the Kafwe Twa (if they are not Ila), as well as many bilingual Zambians and Zimbabweans. In Zambia tonga is taught in schools as first language in the whole of Southern Province, Lusaka and Central Provinces. It is one of the major lingua francas in Zambia, together with Bemba, Lozi and Nyanja. The Tonga of Malawi, which is classified by Guthrie as belonging to zone N15, is not particularly close to Zambian Tonga, which is classified as zone M64, and can be considered a separate language. The Tonga-speaking inhabitants are the oldest Bantu settlers, with the Tumbuka, a small ethnic group in the east, in what is now known ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lega Language
Lega is a Bantu language, or dialect cluster, of the Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in .... There are two major varieties, Shabunda Lega and Mwenga Lega; Mwenga Lega, with about 10% of speakers, finds Shabunda difficult to understand. ''Kanu'' has been assigned a separate ISO code but is a dialect of Shabunda, and no more divergent than other dialects. Variant spellings of 'Lega' are ''Rega, Leka, Ileka, Kilega, Kirega.'' Shabunda is also known as ''Igonzabale'', and Mwenga as ''Shile'' or ''Ishile''. Gengele is reported to be a Shabunda-based creole. According to ''Ethnologue'', Bembe is part of the same dialect continuum. Nyindu is a dialect of Shi that has been heavily influenced by Lega. References Lega-Binja languag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sotho Language
Sotho () or Sesotho () or Southern Sotho is a Southern Bantu language of the Sotho–Tswana ("S.30") group, spoken primarily by the Basotho in Lesotho, where it is the national and official language; South Africa (particularly the Free State), where it is one of the 11 official languages; and in Zimbabwe where it is one of 16 official languages. Like all Bantu languages, Sesotho is an agglutinative language, which uses numerous affixes and derivational and inflexional rules to build complete words. Classification Sotho is a Southern Bantu language, belonging to the Niger–Congo language family within the Sotho-Tswana branch of Zone S (S.30). Although Southern Sotho shares the name ''Sotho'' with Northern Sotho, the two groups have less in common with each other than they have with Setswana. "Sotho" is also the name given to the entire Sotho-Tswana group, in which case Sesotho proper is called "Southern Sotho". Within the Sotho-Tswana group, Southern Sotho is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shambala Language
Shambala or Shambaa is a Bantu language of Tanzania. Overview Shambala, also Kishambala, (ki)Sambaa, (ki)Shambaa is spoken by the Shambaa in the Usambara mountains in the Lushoto District and Muheza District, Tanga Region, of northern Tanzania. Some dialectal variation exists between the language as spoken in the area around Lushoto Lushoto is a town in the Usambara Mountains of Tanzania. It is the capital of Lushoto District, Tanga Region. The 2012 national census estimated the population of Lushoto ward at 28,190. The Irente School for the Blind Girls is located in Lus ... and the areas around Mlalo and Mtae, possibly also between the Shambaa of the Western Usambara Mountains and the Eastern Usambara Mountains. Phonology Vowels Five vowels are noted as , ɛ, a, ɔ, u Consonants The diacritics within prenasal voiceless plosives are devoiced as ��̥ ⁿ̥ ᵑ̊ References External links Shambaa Information Languages of Tanzania Northeast Coast Bant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luganda
The Ganda language 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 10 million Baganda and other people principally in central Uganda including the capital Kampala of Uganda. Typologically, it is an agglutinative, tonal language with subject–verb–object word order and nominative–accusative morphosyntactic alignment. With at least more than 16 million first-language speakers in the Buganda region and 5 million others fluent elsewhere in different regions especially in major urban areas like Mbale, Tororo, Jinja, Gulu, Mbarara, Hoima, Kasese etc. Luganda is Uganda's defacto language of national identity as it's the most widely spoken Ugandan language used mostly in trade in urban areas, the language is also the most unofficial spoken language in Rwanda's capital Kigali. As a second language, it follows English and precedes Swahili in Uganda. Luganda is used in s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
