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Dahl's Law
Dahl's law ( German: ''das Dahlsche Gesetz'') is a sound rule in some of the Northeast Bantu languages that illustrates a case of voicing dissimilation. In the history of these languages, a voiceless stop, such as , became voiced () when immediately followed by a syllable with another voiceless stop. For example, Nyamwezi has ''-datu'' "three" where Swahili, a Bantu language that did not undergo Dahl's law, has ''-tatu'', and Shambala has ''mgate'' "bread" where Swahili has ''mkate''. Dahl's law is the reason for the name Gikuyu when the language prefix normally found in that language is ''ki-'' . The law was named in 1903 by Carl Meinhof in his paper "Das Dahlsche Gesetz": in the paper, Meinhof explains that he named the rule after his pupil, the Moravian missionary Edmund Dahl, who reported it in 1897 when visiting the Wanyamwezi tribe in Urambo. It is productive in Sukuma, in the Nyanyembe dialect of Nyamwezi, most E50 languages (such as Kikuyu, Embu and Meru) and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German (language)
German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It is also an official language of Luxembourg, Belgium and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol, as well as a recognized national language in Namibia. There are also notable German-speaking communities in other parts of Europe, including: Poland ( Upper Silesia), the Czech Republic ( North Bohemia), Denmark ( North Schleswig), Slovakia ( Krahule), Romania, Hungary (Sopron), and France (Alsace). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in the Americas. German is one of the major languages of the world, with nearly 80 million native speakers and over 130 million total speakers as of 2024. It is the most spoken native language within the European Union. German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language, after En ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meru Language
Meru is a Bantu language spoken by the Meru people (''Ameru'') who live on the Eastern and Northern slopes of Mount Kenya and on the Nyambene ranges. They settled in this area after centuries of migration from the north. The Meru people are a fairly homogeneous community and all share a common ancestry. They speak the same language, ''Kimeru'', with slight regional differences in accent and local words. The community comprises the following subdivisions, from the north to south: *Igembe *Tigania (Tiania) (culture close to neighbouring Cushitic and Nilotic communities) *Imenti *Tharaka (Saraka) *Igoji *Mwimbi–Muthambi *Chuka (Gicuka) As the Meru language is similar to its surrounding neighbors, the Kikuyu and Embu could have possibly adopted parts of Meru. Sample phrases I want a cassava, , Ndũmia mũanga/mĩanga Dialects Kimeru has seven main mutually intelligible dialects. The dialects include Kiimenti widely used by the Imenti section of the Ameru, Tiania/gitiania used ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Katupha's Law
Grassmann's law, named after its discoverer Hermann Grassmann, is a dissimilatory phonological process in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit which states that if an aspirated consonant is followed by another aspirated consonant in the next syllable, the first one loses the aspiration. The descriptive version was given for Sanskrit by Pāṇini. Here are some examples in Greek of the effects of Grassmann's law: * 'I sacrifice (an animal)'; 'it was sacrificed' * 'hair'; 'hairs' * 'to bury (present)'; 'a grave' In reduplication, which forms the perfect tense in both Greek and Sanskrit, if the initial consonant is aspirated, the prepended consonant is unaspirated by Grassmann's law. For instance 'I grow' : 'I have grown'. The fact that deaspiration in Greek took place after the change of Proto-Indo-European to (PIE ''*bʰn̥ǵʰús'' > (''pakhús'') not ''bakhús'' but Sanskrit (''bahú'')) and the fact that all other Indo-European languages do not apply Grassmann's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Makhuwa Language
Makhuwa (''Emakhuwa''; also spelled Makua and Macua) is the primary Bantu language of northern Mozambique. It is spoken by roughly 5.8 million Makua people, who live north of the Zambezi River, particularly in Nampula Province, which is virtually entirely ethnically Makua.''Relatório do I Seminário sobre a Padronização da Ortografia de Línguas Moçambicanas''. NELIMO, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, 1989. It is the most widely spoken indigenous language of Mozambique. Apart from the languages in the same group, eMakhuwa is distinguished from other Bantu languages by the loss of consonant + vowel prefixes in favour of ''e''; compare ''epula'', "rain", with Tswana ''pula''. Long and short vowels distinguish five vowel qualities /i e a o u/, which is unusually sparse for a Bantu language: *''omala'' - to finish *''omaala'' - to paste, stick *''omela'' - to sprout, bud *''omeela'' - to share out The consonants are more complex: postalveolar ''tt'' and ''tth'' exist, both ''p'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aspiration (phonetics)
In phonetics, aspiration is a strong burst of breath that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. In English, aspirated consonants are allophones in complementary distribution with their unaspirated counterparts, but in some other languages, notably most South Asian languages and East Asian languages, the difference is contrastive. Transcription In the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), aspirated consonants are written using the symbols for voiceless consonants followed by the aspiration modifier letter , a superscript form of the symbol for the voiceless glottal fricative . For instance, represents the voiceless bilabial stop, and represents the aspirated bilabial stop. Voiced consonants are seldom actually aspirated. Symbols for voiced consonants followed by , such as , typically represent consonants with murmured voiced release (see below). In the grammatical tradition of Sanskrit, aspirated co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indo-European Languages
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e.g., Tajikistan and Afghanistan), Armenia, and areas of southern India. Historically, Indo-European languages were also spoken in Anatolia. Some European languages of this family—English language, English, French language, French, Portuguese language, Portuguese, Russian language, Russian, Spanish language, Spanish, and Dutch language, Dutch—have expanded through colonialism in the modern period and are now spoken across several continents. The Indo-European family is divided into several branches or sub-families, including Albanian language, Albanian, Armenian language, Armenian, Balto-Slavic, Celtic languages, Celtic, Germanic languages, Germanic, Hellenic languages, Hellenic, Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian, and Italic languages, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grassmann's Law
Grassmann's law, named after its discoverer Hermann Grassmann, is a dissimilatory phonological process in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit which states that if an Aspiration (phonetics), aspirated consonant is followed by another aspirated consonant in the next syllable, the first one loses the aspiration. The descriptive linguistics, descriptive version was given for Sanskrit by Pāṇini. Here are some examples in Greek of the effects of Grassmann's law: * 'I sacrifice (an animal)'; 'it was sacrificed' * 'hair'; 'hairs' * 'to bury (present)'; 'a grave' In reduplication, which forms the perfect tense in both Greek and Sanskrit, if the initial consonant is aspirated, the prepended consonant is unaspirated by Grassmann's law. For instance 'I grow' : 'I have grown'. The fact that deaspiration in Greek took place after the change of Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European to (PIE ''*bʰn̥ǵʰús'' > (''pakhús'') not ''bakhús'' but Sanskrit (''bahú'') ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Logooli Language
Logooli (alternate names: Lugooli, Llugule, Llogole, Luragoli, Uluragooli, Maragooli, Maragoli, or Ragoli; native name: ''Lulogooli'') is a Bantu language The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu language, Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀), or Ntu languages are a language family of about 600 languages of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern, East Africa, Eastern and Southeast Africa, South ... spoken in Kenya. See also * Great Lakes Bantu languages References Languages of Kenya Luhya language {{Narrow Bantu languages (Zones J–M) Great Lakes Bantu languages ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luhya Language
Luhya (; also Luyia, Oluluyia, Luhia or Luhiya) is a Bantu language of western Kenya. Dialects The various Luhya tribes speak several related languages and dialects, though some of them are no closer to each other than they are to neighboring non-Luhya languages. For example, the Bukusu people are ethnically Luhya, but the Bukusu dialect is a variety of Masaba. (See Luhya people for details.) However, there is a core of mutually intelligible dialects that comprise Luhya proper: *Wanga *Tsotso *Marama *Kisa *Kabras *East Nyala All Luhya subtribes # Banyala # Bukusu #Gisu people The Gisu people, or ''Bamasaba'' people of Elgon, are a Bantu peoples, Bantu tribe and Bantu-speaking ethnic group of the Masaba people in eastern Uganda, closely related to the Bukusu people of Kenya. Bamasaba live mainly in the Mbale District of ... # Idakho # Isukha # Kabras # Khayo # Kisa tribe # Marachi # Maragoli # Marama # Masaaba # Nyole # Samia # Tachoni # Tiriki # Tsotso # Wanga Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taveta Language
Taveta or Tubeta is a Northeast Coast Bantu language spoken by the Taveta people of Kenya. It is closely related to Pare (called Chasu by speakers). Taveta was confused with Dawida by Jouni Maho in his (2009) classification. Oral literature In 1910 Alfred Claud Hollis published a collection of appx. 100 Taveta proverbs collected from speakers in what was then the southern part of the British East Africa Protectorate. Here are some of those proverbs: *"''Esikie mbeho niye esongeria moto.''" "It is he who feels cold that approaches the fire (i.e. a person does not do a thing for no reason at all)." (#4) *"''Ukakoma nyoka, mhome na kamwe.''" "If you kill a snake, kill it entirely." (#6) *"''Ibau liiya na lisiiya, iwiwi ni lisiiya.''" "Of the hyena that howls and that does not howl, the bad one is the one that does not howl (i.e. it is better to fight a brave and straightforward enemy than one that is cowardly and underhand)." (#8) *"''Ideghe imwe likaremwa kuiya teheshigha kucha. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kamba Language
Kamba, or Kikamba, is a Bantu language spoken by millions of Kamba people, primarily in Kenya, as well as thousands of people in Uganda, Tanzania, and elsewhere. In Kenya, Kamba is generally spoken in four counties: Machakos, Kitui, Makueni, and Kwale. The Machakos dialect is considered the standard variety and has been used in translation. The other major dialect is Kitui. Kamba has lexical similarities to other Bantu languages such as Kikuyu, Meru, and Embu, of whom together they form the GEMA community. The Swedish Museum of World Culture The National Museum of World Culture opened in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2004. It is a part of the public authority Swedish National Museums of World Cultures and builds on the collections of the former Göteborgs Etnografiska Museum that closed d ... holds field recordings of the Kamba language made by Swedish ethnographer Gerhard Lindblom in 1911–12. Lindblom used phonograph cylinders to record songs along with other means ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taita Language
Taita is a Bantu language spoken in the Taita Hills of Kenya. It is closely related to the Chaga languages of Kenya and Tanzania. The Saghala (Northern Sagala, Sagalla) variety is distinct enough to be considered a language separate from the Daw'ida and Kasigau dialects. Daw'ida and Saghala contain loanword A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...s from two different South Cushitic languages, called Taita Cushitic, which are now extinct. It is likely that the Cushitic speakers were assimilated fairly recently, since lateral obstruents in the loanwords were still pronounced as such within living memory. However, those consonants have now been replaced by Bantu sounds. The Taveta language was mistaken for Daw'ida by Jouni Maho in his (2009) classification of Bantu lan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
