[Dissertation] A Descriptive Grammar of Ikyaushi

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© Copyright by Troy Edward Spier, 2020. All Rights Reserved.

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Acknowledgements

Apatile akantu [once upon a time], I was under the impression that completing a dissertation would be an insurmountable, impossible task—and for one person, it certainly is. As such, there are many individuals who deserve recognition for their personal and professional support along the way. First, I must extend my extreme gratitude to the broader Aushi community in and around Mansa, Zambia, specifically the consultants who worked tirelessly with me. Second, I would like to thank Barnabas Chabala and Rose Chibwe, two local primary school teachers who dedicated a few very intense days to working with me on the preliminary translations of the Aushi texts. Third, I would be remiss for not thanking Jessica Maslen, who offered me a place to stay during my first fieldwork trip; and Mulenga Evaristo, who served initially as my local guide and who later killed a cobra not ten feet from where I slept, thus preventing it from entering the house. Fourth, the staff at Radio Yangeni and the Archdiocese of Mansa seemed never to tire of my daily presence and always engaged me in interesting conversations while we awaited my consultants’ arrival. Finally, I must offer my gratitude to the staff members who made my archival research all the more pleasant, particularly at the Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika in Tevuren, Belgium; the Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin, Germany; and the University of Zambia Library in Lusaka, Zambia.

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Additionally, the three members of my doctoral committee have contributed quite formatively to my growth since my entrance into our program: Dr. Judith M. Maxwell, Dr. Ọlanikẹ Ọla Orie, and Dr. Charles A. Mignot. I began my studies at Tulane University as a trained middle school and high school English teacher who had an interest in linguistics; however, these three individuals forced me to defend my every position, especially when it was unsteady or even downright incorrect. I hope to have such a lasting intellectual impact on my students as these three have had on me. Furthermore, numerous grants supported and made this work possible, including the Franklin Fellowship, the School of Liberal Arts Summer Merit Fellowship, and an exchange fellowship at Freie Universität Berlin. Additional funding arrived through a Fulbright Research/Study Fellowship to Zambia; unfortunately, this was declined due to the untimely passing of my father. Furthermore, there are a few other educators and colleagues without whose support and encouragement I would never have even applied to, let alone considered, doctoral programs. They each contributed in varying ways toward my ultimate success over the years and are listed here alphabetically: Kenneth A. Bagenstose Jr., Ellesia Blaque, Linda Cullum, K. David Harrison, Mwango Maranga, Elaine Reed, Angelo Rodríguez, Christine A. Saidi, and Yuri Yerastov. Each of these individuals supported and motivated me in his or her own way, and any success I have had since graduating is also attributable to them. Finally, I must acknowledge the unwavering support of my loving wife, María Beatriz. Despite never actually understanding what it was that this dissertation proposed or accomplished, she has always encouraged me to continue pushing forward—sometimes with sweet words, sometimes with logic, and sometimes with threats. Pues, supongo que la vida es así si te casas con una quiteña. Te amo por y para siempre.

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Dedication “To a devoted father, of rugged strength of character, and, withal, pre-eminently a man of peace, and to a loving mother, ever tender and serene of soul— To these twin moulders of the hearthside, who have ever been anxious that their children should contribute naught but what is good to the world, this volume is most affectionately dedicated by their son.” Sutton E. Griggs (1905)

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Table of Contents Acknowledgements --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ii Dedication ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- iv Table of Contents ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- v List of Figures --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- x List of Tables---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- xi List of Abbreviations ------------------------------------------------------------------------------xii Chapter 1: The Cultural and Sociolinguistic Context of the Language ----------------- 1 1.0 Chapter Overview-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 1.1 Description of the Present Study -------------------------------------------------------------- 1 1.1.1 Nature of the Research ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 1.1.2 Theoretical Framework ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 1.1.3 Data Collection and Equipment ------------------------------------------------------------- 7 1.2 Name of the Language and People ------------------------------------------------------------ 9 1.3 Previous Research ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9 1.3.1 Earliest Sources ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 1.3.2 Anthropological Sources -------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 1.3.3 Linguistic Sources ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14 1.3.4 Other Sources --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 1.4 Demography ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 1.5 Genetic and Areal Affiliations ---------------------------------------------------------------- 18 1.6 Sociolinguistic Situation ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 1.7 Chapter Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21 Chapter 2: Phonetics and Phonology ---------------------------------------------------------- 22 2.0 Chapter Overview ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 22 2.1 Orthography ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22 2.2 Phonemic Inventory ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 23 2.2.1 Consonants ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 23 v

2.2.2 Vowels ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24 2.3 Phonetics ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 26 2.3.1 Consonants ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 26 2.3.1.1 Plosives -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 26 2.3.1.2 Affricates ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 27 2.3.1.3 Fricatives ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 28 2.3.1.4 Nasals ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 28 2.3.1.5 Laterals -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 29 2.3.1.6 Approximants ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 30 2.3.2 Discussion of /k/ and /t͡ʃ/ -------------------------------------------------------------------- 30 2.3.3 Vowels ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 33 2.4 Syllable Structure ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 34 2.5 Major Phonological and Morphophonemic Processes ------------------------------------ 36 2.5.1 Nasal Assimilation --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 36 2.5.2 Palatalization ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 37 2.5.3 Vowel Hiatus Resolution -------------------------------------------------------------------- 38 2.5.4 Minor Processes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 40 2.6 Chapter Summary------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 41 Chapter 3: Morphology -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 43 3.0 Chapter Overview ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 43 3.1 Lexical Categories ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 43 3.2 Nouns ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 44 3.2.1 Classes 1/2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 45 3.2.2 Classes 3/4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 47 3.2.3 Classes 5/6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 47 3.2.4 Classes 7/8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 48 3.2.5 Classes 9/10 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 49 3.2.6 Class 11 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 49 3.2.7 Class 12 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 50 3.2.8 Class 13 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 51 3.2.9 Class 14 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 52 3.2.10 Class 15--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 52 vi

3.2.11 Classes 16/17/18 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 53 3.2.12 Singular-Plural Pairings -------------------------------------------------------------------- 53 3.3 Pronouns ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 54 3.3.1 Personal Pronouns ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 55 3.3.2 Possessive Pronouns ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 57 3.3.3 Demonstrative Pronouns -------------------------------------------------------------------- 59 3.3.4 Relative Pronouns ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 60 3.4 Verbs ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 62 3.4.1 Structure of the Single-Word Verb -------------------------------------------------------- 63 3.4.1.1 Pre-Subject Marker (Pre-SM) ------------------------------------------------------------ 64 3.4.1.2 Subject Marker (SM) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 64 3.4.1.3 Secondary Negator (Neg2) --------------------------------------------------------------- 65 3.4.1.4 Tense/Aspect Markers (T/A) ------------------------------------------------------------- 66 3.4.1.5 Object Marker (OM) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 66 3.4.1.6 Root ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 67 3.4.1.7 Verbal Extensions (EXT) ----------------------------------------------------------------- 68 3.4.1.8 Final Vowels (FV) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 68 3.4.2 Tense ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 68 3.4.3 Aspect ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 73 3.4.4 Mood ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 77 3.5 Adjectives ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 81 3.5.1 Quantifiers ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 83 3.5.1.1 Numeral Quantifiers ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 84 3.5.1.2 Non-Numeral Quantifiers ----------------------------------------------------------------- 85 3.6 Adverbs ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 86 3.7 Interrogatives ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 89 3.8 Prepositions -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 90 3.9 Conjunctions------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 92 3.10 Ideophones ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 93 3.11 Derivation -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 94 3.11.1 Verbal Extensions --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 95 3.11.2 Other Derivation ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 99 vii

3.12 Chapter Summary --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 100 Chapter 4: Syntax-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 102 4.0 Chapter Overview ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 102 4.1 Basic Constituent Ordering------------------------------------------------------------------ 102 4.2 Types of Phrases and Phrase Structure ---------------------------------------------------- 104 4.2.1 Nominal Phrases ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 105 4.2.2 Verbal Phrases ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 109 4.2.3 Associative Phrases ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 112 4.2.4 Adjectival Phrases -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 114 4.2.5 Adverbial Phrases -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 116 4.2.6 Prepositional Phrases ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 117 4.2.7 Determiner Phrases ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 118 4.3 Types of Sentences and Sentence Structure ---------------------------------------------- 119 4.4 Benefactive Constructions ------------------------------------------------------------------- 123 4.5 Copular Constructions ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 124 4.6 Relative Pronoun Constructions ------------------------------------------------------------ 126 4.7 Comparative and Superlative Constructions ---------------------------------------------- 129 4.8 Conditional Constructions ------------------------------------------------------------------- 130 4.9 Focus Constructions -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 132 4.10 Negation -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 134 4.11 Reported Speech ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 137 4.12 Chapter Summary --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 139 Chapter 5: Conclusion -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 141 5.1 Contributions and Limitations of the Present Study ------------------------------------- 141 5.2 Areas for Future Research ------------------------------------------------------------------- 144 Appendix 1: Positioning Aushi in M.40 ----------------------------------------------------- 146 Appendix 2: Basic Phrases --------------------------------------------------------------------- 161 Appendix 3: Comparing Word Lists of Aushi --------------------------------------------- 162 Appendix 4: "Umunobe"----------------------------------------------------------------------- 165 Appendix 5A: Dictionary (Aushi – English) ----------------------------------------------- 166 Appendix 5B: Dictionary (English – Aushi)------------------------------------------------ 176 Appendix 6: Texts ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 186 viii

A. Fictional Narratives -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 189 1. In the Chiefdom of Bakalasa ----------------------------------------------------------------- 189 2. Parents Like Snakes ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 202 3. Chief Lion, Rabbit, and the Kilundu--------------------------------------------------------- 205 4. Rabbit Destroys a Friendship ----------------------------------------------------------------- 209 5. Dirty Water, Tortoise, and the End of Rabbit ---------------------------------------------- 212 6. Rabbit and the Clay Pot ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 220 7. Rabbit, the Leaking Well, and a Marriage -------------------------------------------------- 221 B. Informational Texts -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 222 1. Crossing the Lwapula River (History) ------------------------------------------------------ 222 2. Brideprice, Part #1 (Insalamu) --------------------------------------------------------------- 226 3. Brideprice, Part #2 (Insalamu) --------------------------------------------------------------- 228 4. Female Initiation (Ikisuungu) ----------------------------------------------------------------- 229 5. Traditional Knowledge (Imbusa) ------------------------------------------------------------ 232 6. Engagement and Marriage, Part #1 (Ukushikula) ----------------------------------------- 235 7. Engagement and Marriage, Part #2 (Ukushikula) ----------------------------------------- 236 References ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 241 Biography------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 246

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List of Figures Figure 1.1, Map of the Republic of Zambia.........................................................................2 Figure 1.2, Map of Consultants’ Locations in Zambia ........................................................4 Figure 1.3, Map of Linguistic Groups in Zambia ..............................................................17 Figure 1.4, Map of the Linguistic Groups of Zambia ........................................................17 Figure 2.1, Structure of the Syllable ..................................................................................35 Figure 3.1, Singular-Plural Noun Pairings .........................................................................54 Figure 3.2, Structure of the Single-Word Verb..................................................................63 Figure 3.3, Animacy Hierarchy for Object Marking .........................................................67

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List of Tables Table 1.1, List of Consultants and Metadata .......................................................................3 Table 1.2, Lexical Similarity of Aushi to Other Linguistic Varieties ................................16 Table 1.3, Linguistic Classification of Aushi ....................................................................18 Table 2.1, Phonemic Inventory (Consonants)....................................................................25 Table 2.2, Phonemic Inventory (Vowels) ..........................................................................25 Table 2.3, Phonemic Status of /k/~/t͡ʃ/ ...............................................................................32 Table 2.4, Syllable Structure ..............................................................................................35 Table 3.1, Nominal Classes in Aushi and Proto-Bantu .....................................................45 Table 3.2, Independent Personal Pronouns ........................................................................56 Table 3.3, Possessive Pronouns .........................................................................................58 Table 3.4, Demonstrative Pronouns ...................................................................................61 Table 3.5, Verbal Subject Markers ....................................................................................65 Table 3.6, Verbal Object Markers......................................................................................66 Table 3.7, Attested Verbal Roots .......................................................................................67 Table 3.8, Cardinal Numbers .............................................................................................84 Table 4.1, Phrase Structure Rules ....................................................................................105 Table 4.2, Elements of the Nominal Phrase .....................................................................108

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List of Abbreviations 1 2 3 ADJ ADV APPL ASSOC AUX BEN CAUS CL COMP COMPL COND COP DEM DET DIST FEM FUT1 FUT2 FUT3 HON IMP IND INF

first-person second-person third-person adjective adverb(ial) applicative associative auxiliary benefactive causative nominal class complementizer completive conditional copula demonstrative determiner distal feminine immediate future near future remote/distant future honorific imperative indicative infinitive

INTR IPFV LOC MASC MED NEG OBJ P PASS POSS PRES1 PRES2 PRF PRFV PROX PST1 PST2 PST3 Q RECP REFL REL S SBJV TR VOC

intransitive imperfective locative masculine medial negation/negative object plural passive possessive simple present present progressive perfect perfective proximal immediate past recent past remote/distant past question particle/marker reciprocal reflexive relative singular subjunctive transitive vocative

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Chapter 1: The Cultural and Sociolinguistic Context of the Language 1.0 Chapter Overview This chapter introduces the present study, outlines in detail the fieldwork sites and consultants, describes the methodology employed in collecting and analyzing data, and considers previously published linguistic and extralinguistic sources that inform this dissertation.

1.1 Description of the Present Study This study focuses primarily on the Aushi of the Republic of Zambia, a country described as having seventy-three ethnic groups that are officially reduced to seven larger (regional) language clusters. In particular, this study documents the Aushi linguistic variety that belongs to the Bemba cluster. The following three sections describe the nature of this research project, the theoretical framework employed, and the fieldwork methodology with reference to data collection and specific equipment used for recording, transcribing, and analyzing.

1.1.1

Nature of the Research

The present study took place during the summers of 2018 and 2019 in Mansa, the capital city of the Luapula Province of northern Zambia, and in a few select surrounding villages (Matanda, Kabunda, and Mabumba). This area is widely considered to be the heartland of the Aushi since their migration in the nineteenth century from the Luba-Lunda Empire in

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(what is now) the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Consequently, it is unsurprising that the literature indicates that the Aushi can also be found in the neighboring Katanga Province.

Figure 1.1, Map of the Republic of Zambia Nevertheless, upon arrival in Lusaka I proceeded to reach out to my contacts in the capital and in the Luapula Province. I stayed in Lusaka for the first few days to consult the resources at both the University of Zambia’s (UNZA) Main Library and the Faith and Encounter Centre Zambia (FENZA). Some of the resources found at UNZA provided additional anthropological or historical contexts for the group, though all of the resources available at FENZA that described the Aushi were previously consulted before my arrival in Zambia. Nevertheless, spending some time in Lusaka allotted me the opportunity to meet with Victoria Phiri, Director of the Lusaka National Museum, and uncover an insider’s perspective of the ethnolinguistic situation in Zambia. After this point, I took a ten-hour bus from Lusaka to Mansa, where I would ultimately spend the rest of my fieldwork eliciting data from speakers of Aushi. More specifically, I worked with a total of eight different speakers whose narratives serve as the primary corpus for this dissertation. 2

Table 1.1: List of Consultants and Metadata Name Martin Kunda Leonard J. Mumba

Location Mansa Matanda

Age 37 59

Gender Male Male

Clan Nkalamu Mbwa

David Kalobwe Maluba Agnes Kaunda Chiwamine Rosemary Mushota

Matanda

60

Male

Muumba

Narratives — A1, A3, A4, A5 B1

Mabumba/ Copperbelt Mabumba

58

Female

Muumba

A2, B2

67

Female

Mbao

Scolastica Kalengule Chiwamine Exildah Mwansa Musoka Sarah Mweba

Mabumba/ Copperbelt Mabumba

57

Female

Muumba

A6, B4, B5 B3, B7

60

Female

Kani

A7

Mabumba

60

Female

Ng’ulube

B6

Although the speakers range in age from fifty-seven to sixty-seven, both the median and mean age is sixty, roughly corresponding to the grandparental generation for most of their families. Additionally, three of these consultants were men, and five were women. Finally, each consultant is a native speaker of Aushi and was raised either in Matunda or Mabumba, both towns believed to present the “true Ushi.” The selection of consultants, thus, was deliberate and intended to limit geographic or age-based variation while also accounting for the possibility of any gendered speech variation. The first male consultant did not not provide any narratives, but he did serve as the primary consultant during the duration of both fieldwork trips for the initial lexical and grammatical elicitation sessions and also for the final confirmation of data. Additionally, he was the youngest of the consultants and spent the entirety of his life in Mansa interacting with speakers of Aushi and Bemba; thus, it was decided that his speech might reflect more accurately “Town Aushi” and not the perceptually “purest” form of Aushi if narratives were recorded with him. On the other hand, the other two male speakers provided 3

unprompted narratives arriving in the form of a short fictional story, trickster tales, and a short history of the people. Both were born and raised in Matanda, which is closer to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. All five of the women provided narratives on a variety of topics of cultural salience, including ikisuungu (female initiation), insalamu (brideprice), ukushikula (part of the engagement process), and imbusa (traditional lessons). Additionally, they provided three other trickster tales. Two of the women were born to Aushi families in the Copperbelt Province, but they moved to Mabumba; the remaining three were born and raised in Mabumba.

Figure 1.2, Map of Consultants’ Locations in Zambia For the recording of many of these narratives, up to half a dozen other speakers were also present as passive observers due to the excitement surrounding the activity. These were then transcribed with the assistance of a bilingual consultant, a practice commonly employed in fieldwork settings (see e.g. Harris and Voegelin 1953 and Chelliah 2012).

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1.1.2

Theoretical Framework

Dixon (2010:2) reminds us that any linguistic description is inextricably connected to and informed by linguistic theory, i.e. there is no fieldwork undertaken that is atheoretical in its goals, methodology, or presentation of data (cf. Dryer 2006). Despite this fact, Newman (2000:34) cautions such researchers to limit the extent to which they ascribe to and incorporate a given theory, as “Similarly, one should avoid current theoretical debates as much as possible. Ten years from now, the reader won’t have the slightest idea what so perturbed you about the obligatory contour principle, why you went on at such length about this type of rule ordering versus that, or why you adopted such a polemic tone in arguing for a particular principle of feature geometry as opposed to some other.” (Newman 2000:34) Consequently, this dissertation utilizes Basic Linguistic Theory (Dixon 1997, 2010a, 2010b, 2012; Dryer 2006) in an attempt to present and explain the new puzzles, new categories, and new structures—to borrow Haspelmath’s (2008) terminology—of the Aushi language on its own terms; thus, even the basic nomenclature used to identify and/or describe lexical or grammatical categories is determined on the basis of their relevant functions in Aushi without recourse to related or unrelated languages. Furthermore, the typical descriptive grammar written within this framework strives to be more understandable and accessible to a wide audience due to its primary emphasis upon description (as opposed to explanation, prediction, and evaluation). Even though many theoretical linguists believe that such an approach is potentially lacking or unnecessarily limiting, the reader is urged to recall not only that descriptive grammars should be accessible to native speakers, but also the following consideration:

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“A grammatical description of a language is thus not deficient or inadequate if it leaves out explanations for why the language is the way it is. In fact, in so far as grammars exist independently of explanation, there is a need for description independent of explanation.” (Dryer 2006:213) Still, the actual presentation of data and its analysis is oftentimes complicated by the theoretical framework used; however, this dissertation is informed by Payne’s (2014) article “Toward a Balanced Grammatical Description.” As a result, the presentation of the data in this dissertation attempts to balance four major issues: Comprehensiveness vs. Usefulness, Technical Accuracy vs. Understandability, Universality vs. Specificity, and a Form-Driven vs. Function-Driven Approach. To this end, the reader is advised (a) that this dissertation aims to be readily consultable and not an unequivocally exhaustive account of every aspect of the language, and (b) that this dissertation utilizes exemplars from a corpus of culturally significant narratives while also utilizing clearly defined linguistic terminology, in order to ensure that the results meet the needs of science and humanity. Thus, understanding that every grammatical description is necessarily incomplete, this dissertation strives to be useful to a wide range of potential readers, e.g. native speakers interested in learning more about the structure of their language, scholars interested in classifying or potentially refining the pre-existing classification of the language, etc. As such, each narrative and a brief dictionary are included in appendices. Additionally, all abbreviated forms used in glosses are explained in the preface, and superfluous examples will not be provided in the body of the text; as such, additional exemplars will be found in the appended narratives. Furthermore, every linguistic term utilized in the discussion at hand is defined within the chapter itself, i.e. an assumption will not be made that a nominal in a given language shares the same membership criteria (morphological, syntactic, and

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semantic) as in another language, and an assumption will similarly not be made that all readers are working with the same definition of e.g. an adjectival. Finally, the descriptive analysis is delineated into three chapters that address phonology and phonetics, morphology, and syntax—with the understanding that languages are modular systems with separate, though intersecting, components.

1.1.3

Data Collection and Equipment

In descriptive linguistic fieldwork of this nature, there is frequently a lack of transparency on the part of the researcher in explaining which type of equipment was used and how that may have positively or negatively impacted the quality of the data acquired. As a result, this section presents specifications of the equipment and software utilized throughout the fieldwork expedition. First, all recordings were made with a Zoom H4nPro Handy Recorder and saved initially on SanDisk Ultra-High Speed 32 GB SDHC cards and later backed up on a laptop. Although this recorder contains a stereo X/Y microphone, two separate Movo LV4 lavalier microphones with windshields were used to enhance the quality of the recording by attempting to eliminate background noise and by situating the microphone physically closer to the linguist consultants. One of these lavalier microphones was omnidirectional, while the other was cardioid. Their employment varied depending on the goal for or the number of consultants engaged in a particular session. Additionally, a JJC SR-RC4 Remote Commander was connected to the recorder to avoid adding any unnecessary background noise as a result of movement to initiate or pause recording. Finally, a pair of LyxPro HAS10 Professional Monitoring Headphones was used in evaluating and analyzing audio data.

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Nevertheless, due to the nature of this research, this goal was frequently not the reality. As word spread about my presence in the area, my ability to speak Swahili, and my interest in recording stories in Aushi, my consultants oftentimes wanted to work in the most comfortable location for them, which also happened to be the most accessible to others. For instance, although the majority of the narratives were recorded inside small buildings that offered comfort to the consultants, these buildings did not always offer the most conducive recording space. During the first fieldwork trip, for example, background noise from an echo and other speakers who meandered into the school is reflected in the recordings; during the second fieldwork trip, on the other hand, a Catholic Mass was taking place in the church next to us, and some of the womens’ singing voices can be heard. Nevertheless, the recordings remain intact and analyzable for documentation purposes. Second, a variety of software was necessary at various phases of the project. During the initial phases of the research, it was especially necessary to analyze phonetic data, and this was done using Praat 6.0.4 (Boersma and Weenink 2018) and also Speech Analyzer 3.1.0 (SIL International 2012). The latter seemed more straightforwardly useful for recognizing tonal variation in the language, while the former was generally used more frequently for all other phonetic tasks. As a result, any images pertaining to phonetic or phonological phenomena come directly from screenshots in these programs and are marked as such in this dissertation. Additionally, as the lexicon and the collection of texts grew, it became necessary to store these in a single, convenient location for analysis. This was accomplished by organizing lexical and grammatical data from sessions into a database using the Field Linguist’s Toolbox 1.6.3 (SIL International 2018). The lexicon included at the end of this dissertation, for instance, is the direct result of the aforementioned database.

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1.2 Name of the Language and People For the sake of clarity, the language and ethnic group under investigation are referred to in this dissertation simply as Aushi; these are differentiated from one another using the relevant prepositions, e.g. “in Aushi [language]” and “among the Aushi [people].” Nevertheless, a variety of other terms have been used historically and interchangeably for both the language and people, including the following: Avaushi, Aushi, Avaushi, Bahushi, Bahusi, Baousi, Baoussi, Batushi, Ba-Usi, Umwausi, Ushi, Usi, Uzhil, Vouaoussi, , Wauzhi, Waushi, and Wa-Usi. As will become more apparent in §2.1 and §2.5, some of these terms are clearly influenced by the phonology of Aushi (e.g. the orthographically represented palatalization in Ushi), the morphology of Aushi (e.g. the nominal class prefix in Avaushi), the adopted orthographies of other Bantu languages (e.g. Batushi and Ba-Usi) or non-Bantu languages (e.g. Vouaousi), etc. Still, it is important to note that all of the terms that begin with A-, Ava-, Ba-, or Wa- refer specifically to the ethnic group as a whole, as this marker indicates plural number for human or human-role nominals.

1.3 Previous Research Previous literature on the Aushi language and culture is limited almost entirely to approximately half a dozen sources from many decades (or even a century) ago. Given the scarcity of literature, each of the historical, anthropological, and linguistic sources is discussed in detail. The earliest references are discussed in §1.3.1. Despite the fact that it is sometimes difficult to delineate clearly between anthropological and linguistic sources of the past, those that are explicitly anthropological in their goals and methodology are

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discussed in §1.3.2 (e.g. ethnographies and musical collections), while those that are explicitly linguistic in their goals and methodology are discussed in §1.3.3 (e.g. word lists).

1.3.1

Earliest Sources

Perhaps the earliest reference is found in personal journals from exploration of the continent by Europeans during the mid-nineteenth century, particularly from Victor Giraud, whose characterization of the +Aushi was far from complimentary. Shortly after the description below, he remarks on a conversation with the Aushi in which he was encouraged to pay a bribe to continue his journey through the Lwapula Province. “J’ordonnai donné d’accoster la rive, une plage sablonneuse, couronnée d’un petit escarpement couvert de buissons, et nous attendîmes. En moins d’un quart d’heure la bande hurlante des Vouaoussi était sur nous, au nombre de trois cent cinquante ou quatre cents, vingt-cinq étaient armes de mauvais fusils, le reste de flèches. Sans autre préambule, les bandits entamèrent leurs danses de guerre, ce pas africain bien connu, qui grise mieux que le meilleur alcool, et consiste surtout à soulever avec les pieds des nuages de poussière, pendant que les bras se tordent en mille contorsions et que le gosier pousse ses notes les plus sauvages.” 1 Giraud (1890:303) Hereafter, the other earliest references are found in the administrative records of Tanganyika Concessions Ltd. and the British South Africa Company, two companies established to exploit the mineral wealth of the erstwhile Rhodesia. In particular, these arrive from the British South Africa Company (1899) and Chesnaye (1901), both of which are short enough to be reproduced here in their entirety. The former contains a collection of reports that list departmental officials, outline governmental procedures, and describes

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“I gave the order to dock at the shore, a sandy beach, crowned by a small escarpment covered with bushes, and we waited. In less than a quarter of an hour, the screaming band of Aushi were upon us, [numbering] three hundred and fifty or four hundred. Twenty-five were armed with bad rifles, and the rest [had] arrows. Without any other preamble, the bandits began their war dances, a well-known African [movement] that is more intoxicating than the best alcohol and consists, above all, of raising clouds of dust with one's feet while his arms twist in a thousand contortions [directions] and his throat releases the wildest notes [sounds].”

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indigenous groups in Zambia, one of which is the following brief characterization of the Aushi: “The Wa-Usi, who inhabit the country between the Luapula and Lake Bangweolo [sic], are ruled by two important Chiefs, Mieri-Mieri and Chinama. They are a numerous tribe, docile and intelligent, but have come into very little contact with Europeans.” (British South Africa Company 1899:70) The latter, written by a manager of the Tanganyaika Concessions Limited, contains a slightly longer remark that similarly describes the personal characteristics of the Aushi but also summarizes briefly the flora and fauna in the environment—with particular reference to the everyday diet of the people. “The Ba-Usi people are shy, but perfectly friendly. They have no cattle, but a few goats and a large number of fowls. Their crops are manioc, malezi [millet], and sweet potatoes. In all the rivers an inexhaustible supply of fish provides the principal article of diet. On the Luapula large flotillas of canoes are always to be seen fishing, and hunting the hippopotamus. Crocodiles infest every stream and river, and it is unsafe to cross the smallest except in canoes. The country is gently undulating, and water lies in almost every open plain. The timber is small and of recent growth, seldom more than 20 feet high.” (Chesnaye 1901: 46-47) It is only after this point that additional sources begin to mention the Aushi in greater detail. Barnes (1926), for instance, provides a treatment of iron smelting practices among the Aushi and describes the process of establishing and using the kilns. Interestingly, he explains to the reader the nomenclature (in Aushi) used for each part of the kiln and stage of the smelting process. Most of this terminology could not be validated among the consultants for this dissertation, as it seems that a great deal of the knowledge has been lost. Philpot (1936) discusses the tribal deity Makumba, presenting both a preliminary timeline for the succession in tribal leadership and also the list of taboos and rituals associated with religious practices. Additionally, he speculates through such a discussion when the Aushi arrived in the Luapula Province. Nonetheless, consultants were adamant 11

in their disavowal of his claims, as they insisted that Makumba was never a deity and certainly never had a physical presence as the one that Philpot (1936) presents. Instead, they argue that Makumba is a spirit that is associated with earthquakes: “It’s a spirit that perhaps [occurs] just once or twice in a year, but what I know about that is that, so, when there’s an earth tremor, the belief is that it’s Makumba—that the spirit is moving to Congo or something like that. They say it’s more intense on the water.” (Unnamed Consultant, 2019) Finally, Chimba (1949) provides a Bemba-language historical account of the group, specifically upon the succession of ten chiefdoms (from Cabala-Muwe to CilyapaMilambo III). Consultants consistently agreed that this account was the most accurate, though they themselves did not all seem to recall the succession; instead, they believe that individual clan identity surpasses (ethnic) tribal identity in importance. This is not so far fetched a claim when one recalls how difficult it is to differentiate along ethnolinguistic lines, especially given the history of colonization that frequently created arbitrary differences or expanded otherwise minute differences. 1.3.2

Anthropological Sources

Whiteley (1951), for example, presents an ethnographic account of the major ethnic groups in Northern Rhodesia. One of the chapters is entitled “The Bemba and Related Peoples,” and it is here that he promulgates the (now) widely accepted position that the Aushi are a subgroup of the Bemba. As a result, it is unsurprising that these people are collapsed into a single group in discussions of agriculture, hunting, and fishing; age-sets; and political organization. Most important, however, is the fact that Whiteley remarks for the reader that the Aushi are a matrilineal group that practices matrilocal marriage and female initiation.

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Building upon the prominence of Whiteley’s text, Kay (1964) describes the economic structure of the village of Chief Kalaba, providing quantitative and qualitative data that characterize activities related to agriculture, fishing, hunting, and domestic activities. In fact, he is so complete in his description that sources of income are accounted for in detail, sometimes even going as far providing the name of a road where most produce was sold. Finally, a few musical recordings with lyrics (Lushi 1957; Tracey 1974, 1986, 1992) also exist, none of which are easily acquirable or accompanied by transcriptions or detailed commentaries. Additionally, some of the songs are specifically identified as not being in the Aushi language, i.e. instead being representative of a different ethnic group. Similarly, four collections of printed song lyrics have been published that at various points reference the Aushi, including lullabies (Verbeek 2007a), communal work songs (Verbeek 2007b), hunting songs (Verbeek 2007c), and funerary songs (Verbeek 2004). Although these musical recordings and collected lyrics explicitly mention the Aushi, it remains unclear at this point whether these are simply versions of songs in Bemba from the territory in which the Aushi live or whether these are legitimately Aushi songs. Verbeek (2007a, 2007b) make reference to songs from certain individuals and specify their ethnic affiliation as Aushi. On the other hand, Verbeek (2007c) has a chapter entitled Chants en langue Aushi; Verbeek (2004), a chapter entitled Mélopées des Baushi. At the very least, they are certainly relevant when one recognizes the connections made between these songs and the earlier research. For instance, Verbeek (2004:15) mentions the close contact that ethnic groups have on both sides of the Luapula River, leading some to question the true extent

13

of language and cultural contact—or possibly coalescence. Moreover, Verbeek’s (2004:28) references the spiritual significance of Makumba previously addressed in Philpot (1936).

1.3.3

Linguistic Sources

The aforementioned sources paint a historical picture of the economic, religious, and social practices of the Aushi; however, scholars are much more limited when it comes to the linguistic situation, as there exist only two word lists and a single thesis that focus specifically on the Aushi. Consequently, there is no descriptive grammar, no dictionary, and no collection of texts, i.e. not a single component of the Boasian Trinity. Doke (1933), in an attempt to fill an encyclopedic reference to this ethnic group, collected a list of words in consultation with two young native speakers of Aushi. As a result of the brevity of his trip, there are some shortcomings present in the text. The tonology of the language remains unknown, no interlinear glosses are provided for the brief narrative he elicited, no attention is paid to morphological or morphophonological processes, some of the lexical items elicited are not accurate, and the very short narrative transcribed does not seem to pass grammatical judgment tests by native speakers, though it was generally understood (and immediately corrected). On the other hand, Kankomba and Twilingiyimana (1986) collected an even shorter list for the Royal Museum for Central Africa that contains only ninety-three lexical items in Aushi, as the collected word lists were intended to be used for widescale lexicostatistical comparisons. The English gloss is provided alongside the word in Aushi, which is segmented in some (but not all) instances according to the nominal class prefix and lexical root, e.g. imi-toyi for ‘ashes.’ Additionally, while it seemed likely even before engaging in

14

fieldwork that Aushi, based on based on analogy to geographically proximal languages, would exhibit a high-low tonal contrast, this is unclearly defined and represented when one realizes that acute and grave accents are marked inconsistently on fewer than one-fifth of the lexical items. There are forty-four lexical items that appear in both sources, nineteen of which are completely identical. The remaining lexical items differ according to (1) orthographic choices, (2) noun class prefixes, (3) separate elicited forms, or (4) variations in transcription. A comprehensive chart demonstrating these differences is available in Appendix 1. Nevertheless, the data from Kankomba and Twilingiyimana (1986)—and not those of their predecessor—were included in the comparative lexicostatistical study by Bastin et al. (1999), in their attempt to reconsider the currently accepted genetic relationship among several hundred Bantu languages. As Table 1.2 indicates below, they ultimately concluded that Aushi (listed as M.43 in their study) shares eighty-seven percent of its lexicon with Bemba, a promising figure when one realizes that at least thirteen percent of the most basic lexical items are dissimilar, which poses a challenge to the typical subsumption by Bemba as described below (cf. to the anthropological correlate in §1.3.2). Perhaps more interesting, however, are the figures given for Ng’umbo and Taabwa, since both of these have been variously considered as subgroups of the Aushi or Bemba—despite limited documentation for Ng’umbo and Aushi.

15

Table 1.2: Lexical Similarity of Aushi to Other Linguistic Varieties (adapted from Bastin, Coupez, and Mann (1999:103)) Classification Language Name Location 2 Lexical Similarity L40Ng Ng’umbo Luapula Province, RZ 91% M41/2 Taabwa Northern Province, RZ 91% M42 Bemba Muchunta, RZ 87% M54 Lamba Copperbelt Province, RZ 81% M50 Temba Shaba, DRC 79% L35 Sanga Shaba, DRC 60% Finally, Kafituka (1994) presents the first and singular account of verbal morphology of Aushi as spoken in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The account he presents is generally similarly to that which is found here; however, little attention is paid to differentiating tense and aspect, and every exemplar used in his thesis is decontextualized and consists strictly of the primary verb of the relevant verb phrase. As a result, one understands well how certain temporal distinctions are indicated but never sees how this functions in any non-theoretical (i.e. practical) sense.

1.3.4

Other Sources

A few other sources do make passing references to the existence of the ethnic group and a separate linguistic variety, including Ohadike and Tesfaghiorghis (1975), Reimer (1999), Sanyu Consultants (2011), Hofsten (2012), Hazl (2014), and Kabimbi (2014). The final of these sources, however, is perhaps the most interesting for the present study, as three of four respondents indicated Aushi, ChaUshi, or ichaUshi in response to the following question: “Apart from ciLunda, what other language/s do people at Mwanasombwe and Luundaland speak; state which one do they speak fluently?” Consequently, it is clear that

2

The Republic of Zambia is abbreviated as RZ, and the Democratic Republic of Congo is abbreviated as DRC, itself replacing ‘Zaire’ found in the original.

16

Aushi is spoken and recognized as a distinct linguistic variety at least by some speakers across multiple generations.

1.4 Demography The Aushi of Zambia were historically slash-and-burn agriculturalists who would later become involved in the copper mining industry. Their total population, however, remains essentially unknown. In fact, Whiteley (1951:7, citing Thomson 1934) presents the figure of 28,958, oddly specific given his belief that the Aushi were simply a subgroup of the Bemba with whom he never truly engaged. On the other end of the spectrum, Olson (1996:44) would later estimate that there were at least 200,000. Both figures would be contested by the oddly contradictory numbers put forth by the 2010 and 2014 Zambian censuses, respectively estimating the total population of the Aushi at 100,000 and 224,000; however, it should be noted that it is unclear whether respondents claimed Aushi affiliation on the basis of ethnicity, clan, and/or language usage (either as L1 or L2). The two figures below reflect their historical distribution within Zambia.

Figure 1.3: Map of Linguistic Groups in Zambia Van Binsbergen (2009) [1981] on left. Figure 1.4: Map of Linguistic Groups in Zambia Afrika-Studiecentrum Leiden (1968) on right. 17

1.5 Genetic and Areal Affiliations According to Maho (2001), there are three major classifications used for Bantu languages. The first and most widespread was introduced by Guthrie (1971), who proposed a classification that overwhelmingly emphasized geographical proximity at the expense of typological structures. Two other approaches, which focus more heavily upon the linguistic-genetic relationships among languages, arrive from scholars at Tervuren (Bastin et. al 1999) and SIL (Grimes 1996). While these three classifications frequently contradict one another, they fortunately all position Aushi as a member of the M.40 language family. Table 1.3: Linguistic Classification of Aushi Niger-Congo Atlantic-Congo Volta-Congo Benue-Congo Bantoid, Southern Narrow Bantu Central, M.40 Bwile (M.401) Aushi (M.402) Taabwa (M.41) Bemba (M.42) Beyond this point, however, is when the disagreement begins. For example, Marten and Kula (2008:293-295) suggest that the entire M subfamily simply constitutes a dialect continuum, i.e. without any significant, salient (linguistic) differences that would prevent mutual intelligibility. Kashoki (1978:22) makes this claim even more explicitly by arguing that there are linguistic clusters within this grouping and that mutual intelligibility between one pair of clusters (or potentially individual dialects) is greater than between another pair, existing perhaps on a cline of mutual intelligibility. Ohannessian and Kashoki (1978:11), on the other hand, specifically remark that “[t]he resultant groupings of immigrants from the Congo into more or less distinct language groups include […] the Aushi, Lunda and

18

Ng’umbo of the Luapula Province (but not the Twa of the Bangweulu swamps) […],” which they later position alongside—and not beneath—Bemba as a separate language (1819). Finally, Olson (1996) cites the work of Grotpeter (1979) and Kaplan (1978) when he says that, “[i]ncluded in the Aushi cluster of peoples are the Ushis, Ngumbos, Mukulus, Ungas, and Kabendes.” This is all to say that there is a great deal of uncertainty over the ethnolinguistic positionality of the Aushi within the Luapula Province and the M.40 language family, likely as a lingering result of the distinctions made among groups by external powers during the colonial period.

1.6 Sociolinguistic Situation Defining the sociolinguistic situation within Zambia broadly and the Lwapula Province more generally is quite difficult. Kashoki (1978:11) revisits the notion that there are seventy-two languages spoken in Zambia that correspond roughly to the same number of ethnic groups, despite there being only one official language (English) but seven other languages with governmentally conferred regional status (Bemba, Kaonde, Lozi, Lunda, Luvale, Nyanja, Tonga). This regional status, as such, facilitates the development of materials and access to educational opportunities in these languages. Nonetheless, frequently the perceived ethnic distance coupled with inequitable representation and a demonstrable power differential, especially in governmental contexts, results in actualized linguistic distance. Consequently, in recurring conversations at Radio Yangeni with speakers of a variety of linguistic varieties from Lwapula Province, it became clear that much of this difficulty originates in the perceived ethnic difference but is not always bidirectional.

19

Those who identified as speakers of Bemba, for instance, frequently insisted that such difficulty in understanding is simply implausible given such close historical, cultural, and linguistic connections to Bemba. “The differences are there, but I think they are minor. Bembas will tell you that the Aushi are a subgrouping of the Bemba people. They [the Bemba] came from Congo and crossed the river into Lwapula on the way to Northern Province. Along the way they left a small grouping behind, and they are the Aushi. These people then developed their own language of communication, which is basically Bemba dialect.” (Unnamed Consultant, 2018) “I do not understand. I just do not see any significance to [this dissertation]. Nsenga, Bemba, Ushi, it is the same language.” (Unnamed Consultant, 2019) On the contrary, when asked about her ability to understand the speech of others residing in Mansa, a young Aushi speaker reported difficulty with a variety of linguistically related varieties. Similarly, a speaker of Bemba reported his inability to understand completely statements uttered in Aushi. Both views are represented below and were repeated regularly. “Taabwa is not as friendly as you may want [it] to [be]. You may get one or two of the words, but you can’t [understand completely]. Unga is a little bit opposite of Ushi. You feel that this is Ushi or Bemba that they’re speaking, but getting the concept, you find difficulties in getting what they’re talking about.” (Unnamed Consultant, 2019) “There are certain words that are just like Bemba, but also again there are [sic] a number of them that will just take you off. As a Bemba-speaking person, I can get the [gist] of what they’re talking about, but there are [sic] also a number of words that I wouldn’t understand.” (Unnamed Consultant, 2019) Furthermore, as a result of the proximity of the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, it is similarly unsurprising to find French- or Swahili-speaking Congolese in the vicinity. Additionally, many residents have also studied English, as this is the official language of the country; nevertheless, even those who do not speak English

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fluently still have a tendency to utilize particular lexical items (e.g. numeral quantifiers) in English as opposed to their native language(s). Finally, such plurilingual societies have resulted in a great deal of language contact.

1.7 Chapter Summary This chapter has outlined the overarching objectives of this dissertation. To this end, it begins by introducing the linguistic variety and locations where fieldwork was undertaken in the Lwapula Province of the Republic of Zambia. Next, the methodology and equipment employed are defined in detail before a thorough engagement of the previous linguistic and extralinguistic literature on the Aushi as an ethnic, linguistic, or ethnolinguistic group. Finally, the broader demographic data and sociolinguistic situation are described.

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Chapter 2: Phonetics and Phonology 2.0 Chapter Overview This chapter proposes an orthography based on phonemic analysis, presents the phonemic inventory of consonants and vowels, and discusses the most common morphophonological processes attested in the narratives, including palatalization, nasal assimilation, and vowel hiatus resolution. 2.1 Orthography The orthographic conventions used in this dissertation are informed primarily by the current legislated practices for the official languages of Zambia (cf. Chimuka 2005) and the most commonly utilized conventions for Bantu languages generally (cf. Schroeder 2010). In particular, phonemes are to be represented by their most frequently used correlates in the Latin script, and any distinctions in the vocalic inventory are to be made through the doubling of vowels and/or the use of grave and acute accent marks. It should be noted, however, that Chimuka (2005) recommends with reference to vowels that only length distinctions be represented orthographically; as such, both high and low tones remain unmarked except where necessary to indicate a particularly contrastive feature. Nonetheless, listed below are all the graphemes employed in the reduction of Aushi to writing in this dissertation. The relevant phonemic and/or phonetic status of each is addressed in the following subsections.

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a

b

ch

d

e

f

g

i

j

k

l

m

n

ng’

ny

o

p

s

sh

t

u

w

y

2.2 Phonemic Inventory This section introduces the consonant and vowel inventories of Aushi, discusses the phonemic and phonetic status of each, and attempts to shed light on the most frequently occurring factors of morphophonological processes. 2.2.1 Consonants Consonants in Aushi are produced only using the pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism, and they are distinguished according to three primary elements: five (or potentially six) places of articulation, eight manners of articulation, and voicing. This results in a total of ninety-six possible articulated consonants; however, only three of these places of articulation (bilabial, alveolar, velar) are actively, productively used. Nevertheless, all three points of differentiation are reflected in Table 2.1. Although phonological descriptions of other Bantu languages inconsistently refer to the status of prenasalized consonants, they are treated here not as a monophonemic unit but rather as a N+C sequence for three reasons. First, non-prenasalized minimal pairs are unattested in the data that could account for their treatment as a unit. Second, when the nominal class augment is unpronounced but the nominal class prefix remains, the word is resyllabified so that the nasal becomes syllabic. Third, arguing for the existence of prenasalized consonants with phonemic status (as opposed to phonetic) seems incompatible given that nasals in nominal class prefixes are underlyingly placeless. 23

2.2.2 Vowels Vocalic segments are maximally contrastive in Aushi, as there is a canonical five-vowel system at the segmental level; however, these segments are ultimately distinguished according to three places of articulation (front, central, and back), three heights (high, mid, and low), two lengths (short and long), and two phonemically level tones (high and low). These are segmentally represented in Table 2.2.

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Table 2.1: Phonemic Inventory (Consonants) Bilabial Plosive

Labiodental

Alveolar

p

Alveopalatal

Palatal

t

Velar kg

(t͡ʃ) (d͡ʒ)

Affricate Fricative

β

Nasal

m

f

s n

Lateral

ɲ

ŋ

j

w

l

Approximant

Table 2.2: Phonemic Inventory (Vowels) Front

Central

Back

High

i

ii

u

uu

Mid

e

ee

o

oo

Low

a

aa

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2.3 Phonetics 2.3.1 Consonants 2.3.1.1 Plosives There are four phonemic oral plosives in Aushi that are distinguished at three places of articulation: bilabial, alveolar, and velar. There does exist a dissymmetry in that only one of these three contains both a voiced and voiceless counterpart; however, the voiced bilabial and alveolar counterparts arise as conditioned phonetic variants of two different phonemes (see §2.2.1.3 and §2.2.1.5, respectively). /p/ is [p], a voiceless bilabial plosive, and occurs in onset position, intervocalically, and also in conjunction with the bilabial nasal (though underlyingly unspecified). It is represented by p orthographically. (1) pantu akapoondo akamponda ichipamba

‘because’ ‘criminal/gangster’ ‘basket’ ‘rhinoceros’

/t/ is [t], a voiceless alveolar plosive, and occurs in onset position, intervocalically, and also in conjunction with the alveolar nasal (though underlyingly unspecified). It is represented by t orthographically. (2) taata ifintu umuti mutanda

‘father’ ‘things’ ‘medicine’ ‘six’

/k/ is [k], a voiceless velar plosive, and occurs in onset position, intervocalically, and also in conjunction with the velar nasal (though underlyingly unspecified). It is represented by k orthographically. (3) -kulu kabalwe

‘big, great, important’ ‘horse, donkey’ 26

ukunwa inkonde

‘to drink’ ‘banana’

/g/ is [g], a voiced velar plosive, and only occurs after nasal plosives. It is represented by g orthographically. (4) batunga impanga ingulube nga

‘a kind of bush rat’ ‘forest’ ‘wild pig, boar’ ‘if, when, while’

2.3.1.2 Affricates /t͡ʃ/ is [t͡ʃ], a voiceless alveopalatal affricate, and occurs in onset position, intervocalically, and also in conjunction with the velar nasal. It is represented by ch orthographically and frequently, though not exclusively, occurs before the high-front vowel. Additionally, there seems to exist free variation for some speakers between [t͡ʃ] and [k]~[kj], e.g. kitemene vs. chitemene and ikyalo vs. ichalo. Nonetheless, this seems to be an indicator or marker of extensive contact with speakers of Bemba and arises among speakers of “Town Aushi.” This is examined in greater detail in §2.3.2. (5) chitemene chofwe ichalo inchinga

‘shifting cultivation’ ‘hippopotomus’ ‘world’ ‘bicycle’

/d͡ʒ/ is [d͡ʒ], a voiced alveopalatal affricate, and occurs only in a single lexical item. It is represented by j orthographically and occurs after the alveolar nasal; thus, it seems likely that this is conditioned by the nasal as described in more specifically in §2.5.2. (6) njili

‘pig’

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2.3.1.3 Fricatives /β/ is [β], a voiced bilabial fricative, and occurs in onset position and intervocalically. When in onset position, it is followed by a vowel or an approximant. It is represented by b orthographically. (7)

bashikulu ibuumba ibwe ubwali

‘grandfather’ ‘clay’ ‘stone’ ‘nshima’

/f/ is [f], a voiceless labiodental fricative, and occurs in onset position and intervocalically. When in onset position, it is followed by a vowel or an approximant. It is represented by f orthographically. (8)

amafi fyonse fweebo ukukimfya

‘excrement, feces’ ‘everything, all things’ ‘we’ ‘to win, defeat, succeed’

/s/ is [s], a voiceless alveolar fricative, and occurs in onset position and intervocalically. When in onset position, it remains [s] before every vocalic segment excluding /i/, before which it undergoes palatalization and arises as [ʃ]. It is represented by s and sh, respectively. (9)

saawe sukulu shinkwa ichisuka

‘male goat’ ‘school’ ‘bread’ ‘tail’

2.3.1.4 Nasals /m/ is [m], a voiced bilabial nasal, and occurs in onset position, intervocalically, and also in conjunction with the voiced and voiceless bilabial plosives. It is represented by m orthographically.

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(10) mailo nomba pompwe ulufumo

‘yesterday, tomorrow’ ‘now’ ‘thief’ ‘belly’

/n/ is [n], a voiced alveolar nasal, and most frequently, though not exclusively, occurs intervocalically. It is represented by n orthographically. (11) -noono nguni impuno pantu

‘little, small (amount)’ ‘bird’ ‘nose’ ‘because’

/ɲ/ is [ɲ], a voiced palatal nasal, and occurs intervocalically and in onset position. It is represented by ny orthographically. (12) nyina inyang’ge kanyau ukutekanya

‘mother’ ‘grains’ ‘cat’ ‘to wait patiently’

/ŋ/ is [ŋ], a voiced velar nasal, occurs phonemically in intervocalic position and phonetically before the velar plosive. It is represented by ng’ orthographically in the former and as n in the latter. (13) umunyang’u ing’anda ing’ang’a impongolo

‘ant’ ‘house, home’ ‘(traditional) doctor’ ‘doorway’

2.3.1.5 Laterals /l/ is [l], a voiced alveolar lateral, and occurs in onset position and intervocalically. It is represented by l orthographically. Oftentimes this is articulated as the voiced alveolar approximant /r/, especially due to the influence of loanwords and the intermixing of languages in daily usage. (14) lwisa leelo

‘when’ ‘today’ 29

malinso inkoli

‘lizard’ ‘walking stick, police baton’

2.3.1.6 Approximants /j/ is [j], a voiced palatal approximant, and occurs phonemically in onset position and intervocalically, but it also arises at boundaries due to glide formation. It is represented by y orthographically. (15) mayo imyaka yakwe yama

‘mother’ ‘years’ ‘his, her, its’ ‘uncle’

/w/ is [w], a voiced velar approximant, and occurs in onset position and intervocalically. It is represented by w orthographically. (16) wandì bomfwa awe umwana

‘my’ ‘bread’ ‘no’ ‘child’

2.3.2 Discussion of /k/ and /t͡ʃ/ There seems to be relatively free variation among many younger Aushi speakers between /k/~/ ͡tʃ/, especially within the context of Mansa where extensive language mixing is witnessed. Nonetheless, every informal and formal language consultant, whether inside and outside of Lwapula Province and whether a native speaker of Aushi or a different language, consistently remarked that /k/ is such a salient phoneme that it serves as a distinctive marker of Aushi speech (in contradistinction to Bemba, for instance). In fact, the data analyzed from the narratives collected for this dissertation do seem to confirm the belief that /k/ is more common. Nevertheless, although most Bemba speakers of Mansa argue that /k/ is employed in Aushi in every context where /t͡ʃ/ would arise in Bemba, this is not supported by the data. 30

In fact, from the corpus of almost seven thousand words, there are over three thousand tokens of either /k/ or /t͡ʃ/ as illustrated by Table 2.3. The former constitutes 92.46% of the sample (3104); the latter, 7.54% (253). This indicates at the very least that there is certainly a clear preference to use /k/ and provides a statistical rationale for the impressionistic understanding that native speakers have. However, one also needs to consider whether this usage is phonologically conditioned, dependent upon the particular lexical item or lexical category, or influenced by extralinguistic factors of the interlocutor. First, even though /k/ has greater distribution, both /k/ or /t͡ʃ/ occur intervocalically with all five vowels (see §2.3.3), word-initially, and syllable-initially (particularly in verbal subjects and augmentless nominal class prefixes). Although palatalization of /k/ might be reasonably expected after the high-front vowel and does account for a great number of the attested forms, this cannot be the only factor influencing the presence of /t͡ʃ/ due to its occurrence with vowels at different heights and places of articulation. One notable distinction in distribution, however, is that /t͡ʃ/ is never found preceded by a nasal or in juxtaposition with complex vowel sequences, specifically those that result in glide formation as below in (17). (17)

a. /ukuikala/ b. /abamuipikilapo/

[ukwikala] [abamwipikilapo]

c. /mukuai/ d. /ikiauʃi/ e. /ikio/ f. /fiʃinkua/ g. /atontonkania/

[mukwai] [ikjauʃi] [ikjo] [fiʃiŋkwa] [atontoŋkanja]

‘to stay, to live’ ‘those who when they cooked for him’ ‘sir, madam’ ‘Aushi language’ ‘that which’ ‘bread(s)’ ‘s/he thought’

Second, the corpus is large enough and the presence of /t͡ʃ/ significantly manageable to determine whether particular lexical items or lexical categories are more susceptible to this variation. Nevertheless, this similarly cannot account for the data, as both /k/ and /t͡ʃ/ occur 31

in nouns, verbal subjects, verbal infinitives, and adjectives. In fact, enough of the lexical items in question arise in the narratives as both, sometimes by different speakers and sometimes by the same speaker. (18)

a. ukut͡ʃinta b. ukut͡ʃita c. ku ͡tʃisankano d. it͡ʃjakutila e. it͡ʃipuba ͡tʃjalikonka f. pa ͡tʃing’anda it͡ʃikulu it͡ʃisuma

‘to pull’ ‘to do’ ‘at the meeting place’ ‘that which in order to …’ ‘[the] insane person followed’ ‘at a nice, big house’

Finally, the remaining rationale that seems far more likely to account for this variation is extralinguistic, specifically the age of the interlocutor and the extent to which he or she has engaged with speakers of Bemba. The consultant from whom initial data were elicited is under the age of forty, works daily with Bemba speakers, and spent the entirety of his life in Mansa, arguably the center of Lwapula Province. Moreover, throughout the duration of the fieldwork, such extensive usage of /t͡ʃ/ was more commonly attested among speakers of the aforementioned generation and/or those who have spent significant time with Bemba speakers. Table 2.3: Phonemic Status of /k/~/t͡ʃ/ Story A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7

/k/ 98.58% 67.82% 97.13% 87.15% 99.18% 70.59% 88.09%

/t͡ʃ/ 1.42% 32.18% 2.87% 12.85% 0.82% 29.41% 11.90%

Story B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7

/k/ 94.47% 87.50% 88.57% 83.24% 87.80% 92.00% 83.66%

/t͡ʃ/ 5.53% 12.50% 11.43% 16.76% 12.19% 8.00% 16.34%

The two male consultants who shared five narratives are fifty-nine and sixty years of age, and both were born and raised in Matanda before ultimately moving to Mansa. Their exposure to monolingual Bemba speakers was far lower; consequently, their almost

32

unequivocal reliance on /k/ is unsurprising. In fact, only in a single story does such usage of /t͡ʃ/ increase to levels comparable to the female speakers—with the primary distinction being that he treated many of these utterances as false starts before resorting to /k/. This can be explained by the presence of the Bemba-speaking individual who initiated our first meeting. On the other hand, the five female consultants who shared an additional nine narratives range in age from fifty-seven to sixty-seven. All five are from Mabumba, though two of them were born and spent significant time in the Copperbelt Province among monolingual Bemba speakers. Additionally, it is crosslinguistically more common for females to rely less often on conservative linguistic forms; thus, the difference in usage is readily explained.

2.3.3 Vowels The five plain vowels are canonical in Aushi, all of which are oral and distinguished segmentally according to vowel height and backness; and suprasegmentally according to vowel length and tone. Although nasal vowels do arise phonetically, nasality does not serve a phonemic role. The contrastive nature of vowels is illustrated in the minimal pairs below according to height and place of articulation in (19) and vowel length in (20). (19)

a. umutande (‘sequence’) b. kapoli (‘pig’) c. inuma (‘back’) d. ikyula (‘frog’) e. umwanda (‘one hundred’)

umutende (‘peace’) kapolo (‘beggar’) inama (‘animal’) ikyulu (‘anthill’) umwando (‘rope’)

(20)

a. ukupala (‘to peel’) b. amala (‘lungs’) c. ukutola (‘to be stunted’)

ukupaala (‘to bless’) amaala (‘nails’) ukutoola (‘to pick’)

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d. ukubola (‘to rot’) e. ukubeya (‘to cut hair’) f. ukupela (‘to reach the end’) g. ninshi (‘why’) h. icungwa (‘foolish person’) i. ibumba (‘group’)

ukuboola (‘to hit’) ukubeeya (‘shoulder’) ukupeela (‘to give’) niinshi (‘then’) icuungwa (‘orange’) ibuumba (‘clay’)

Additionally, Aushi retains from Proto-Bantu a binary tonal contrast between high and low register tones, which Pike (1948:3) defines as “[…] significant, contrastive, but relative pitch on each syllable.” This contrast carries functional weight at both the level of lexicon and grammar. The former differentiates lexical items with otherwise the same segmental skeleton, and the latter can differentiate one construction from another, especially as those that concern tense and aspectual distinctions. While contour tones do arise phonetically at boundaries, viz. to resolve hiatus, they are treated here as a sequence of independent tones unified under a single vocalic segment. Although three examples are offered below in (21), transcriptions in this dissertation remain at the segmental level, as the environments in which the recordings were made were not ideal for tonological analyses. (21)

a. úkúlúkà (‘to vomit’) b. ùkwììmbá (to dig) c. umweenshi (‘entrance’)

ùkùlùkà (‘to plait hair’) ùkwíímbá (to sing) umweenshi (‘moon, month’)

2.4 Syllable Structure The syllable is understood here, following Zec (2007:161), to be a “constituent that represents phonologically significant groupings of segments.” Furthermore, these groupings are recognized as hierarchical and branching, thus constituting the syllable (σ) that splits into the onset (ω) and rhyme (ρ), the latter which comprises the nucleus (ν) and the coda (κ). The most sonorant position is that of the nucleus, the least restrictive is the onset, and the coda remains unfilled.

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Figure 2.1: Structure of the Syllable The two most basic syllable structures in Aushi are V and CV, which reflects broadly the tendency and preference of Bantu languages to use open syllables more frequently. However, the syllable skeleton can be more broadly schematized as [(C3)(C2)(C1)V1(V2)], as expansion on both sides of V1 is possible and gives rise to both light and heavy syllables (cf. Katamba 1996:176-177). In fact, the onset can arise as a complex cluster of consonants involving prenasalization and glide formation. Nevertheless, there do appear based on the data to be restrictions on which types of consonants can occur in each of the pre-V1 slots: A nasal can occur in C1, C2, or C3, whereas a glide can only occur in C3. On the other hand, V1 and V2 can only coexist if they are identical; otherwise, vowel hiatus must be resolved in one of several ways. If syllable structures containing a nasal and/or glide are distinguished from those with other consonants, nine such possible groupings are attested among mono-, bi-, tri-, and tetrasyllabic words. Syllable Type V CV CVV NV NVV NCV NCVV CGV CGVV NCGV

Table 2.4: Syllable Structure Examples umwanakashi (‘woman’) ichiwa (‘ghost’) ichitabo (‘book’) sukulu (‘school’) bakeemba (‘choir’) ichuungwa (‘orange’) ichani (‘grass’) ifishimu (‘caterpillars’) ameenshi (‘water’) akanoono (‘a little thing’) imbalala (‘ground nuts’) ŋkalamu (‘lion’) ntiinti (‘small’) ikyalo (‘world’) kwesu (‘our home’) bwiino (‘well’) ikyuungwa (‘orange’) ichimbwi (‘hyena’) imbushi (‘goat’) 35

The least restrictive position in the phonology of Aushi is the onset. As such, almost every consonant can appear in this position, and the onset is typically occupied by a singular consonant, including /p t k ͡tʃ β f s m n ɲ ŋ l j w/. However, this is not exclusively the domain of light consonants and can also contain complex consonant clusters. The voiced alveopalatal affricate (d͡ʒ), however, has a very restricted distribution (as discussed in 2.2.1.2) and does not appear in this position. Syllable nuclei are restricted to vocalic segments, which can be long or short. Although almost always occurring in conjunction with a preceding onset, the nucleus may consist of a single vowel, e.g. in the case of the nominal class prefixes. Finally, although not uncommon for Bantu languages, the syllable structure of Aushi is characteristically open; as a result, it does not appear possible for a consonant to arise in coda position.

2.5 Major Phonological and Morphophonemic Processes There are seven readily apparent morphophonological processes in Aushi that arise at morphological and lexical boundaries, including nasal assimilation, palatalization, glide formation, final vowel elision, vowel gemination, vowel coalescence, and epenthesis. Each of these is discussed further in turn.

2.5.1 Nasal Assimilation Although nasal assimilation has been widely considered in a variety of Bantu languages (e.g. Ganda in Katamba 1977, Ruanda in Kimenyi 1979, Bemba in 1999, Meru in Mberia 2002, Gusii in Choti 2015), it is necessary to discuss this frequently occurring process in Aushi, specifically the role of the homorganic nasal that is underlyingly unspecified for place. As such, the most common is anticipatory in nature and relates immediately to the 36

consonant that follows. Consequently, the data in (22) demonstrate that the nasal of the nominal class prefix /iN/ is directly affected by the bilabial and velar plosives; on the other hand, both the voiceless alveolar plosive and fricative remain unaltered. (22)

a. /iN/ + /panga/ b. /iN/ + /fumu/ c. /iN/ + /βalala/ d. /iN/ + /sofu/ e. /iN/ + /ʃita/ f. /iN/ + /tambo/ g. /iN/ + /kalamu/

→ → → → → → →

[impaŋga] (‘forest’) [imfumu] (‘chief’) [imbalala] (‘groundnuts’) [insofu] (‘elephant’) [inʃita] (‘time, occasion’) [intambo] (‘rope’) [iŋkalamu] (‘lion’)

This nasal assimilation also arises at the level of non-nominal morphology, particularly when it comes to the first-person singular subject and object marker in contact with the bilabial plosive. This assimilation is clearly anticipatory in (23a) and affects the place of articulation of the nasal. On the other hand, the place of articulation for both the nasal and the plosive are assimilated in (23b), as only a singular change would result in ungrammaticality due to a prohibition of geminate consonants (*ulemmona) and due to the confusion arising from underspecification (*ulemona). (23)

a. /n/ + /ba/ + /kute/ b. /u/ + /lee/ + /n/ + /mona/

→ →

[mbakute] (‘let me call them’) [ulembona] (‘you see me’)

2.5.2 Palatalization As previously discussed, the voiceless alveolar fricative (/s/) arises phonetically as the voiceless postalveolar fricative (/ʃ/) in contexts where it precedes the high-front vowel. Additionally, the voiced and voiceless alveopalatal affricates (/t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/) can also arise phonetically in utterances by Aushi speakers who have spent extensive time with Bemba speakers. (24)

a. /iki/ + /ntu/ b. /iki/ + /lundu/ c. /ubu/ + /siku/

→ → →

[it͡ʃintu]~[ikintu] (‘thing’) [it͡ʃilundu]~[ikilundu] (‘cloth’) [ubuʃiku] (‘day’) 37

d. /iNsita/ + /insi/ e. /iN/ + /gili/3

→ →

[inʃitanʃi] (‘what time’) [ind͡ʒili] (‘pig’)

2.5.3 Vowel Hiatus Resolution In morphological or syntactic environments where more than one vocalic segment arises in a singular sequence, especially in a language like Aushi where the preferred (and basic) syllable structure is CV, there are a variety of strategies employed to ensure that all phonetic sequences are syllabified appropriately. As described by Casali (1996), these strategies can result in the retention of both vowels, the addition of an epenthetic consonant, the deletion of a vowel syllable- or word-finally, the assimilation in manner of articulation in one vowel, or the retention of both vowels through coalescence. In Aushi, however, only glide formation, vowel elision, and vowel gemination are productively used, as (a) hetersyllabification results at lexical boundaries—except in careful, formal speech—in agrammatical utterances, (b) diphthongs do not arise in Aushi, and (c) consonant epenthesis is unnecessary due to syllable-initial clusters only arising in instances of prenasalization. Vowel gemination is perhaps the most straightforward of these processes to describe, as it occurs only at morphological boundaries where two identical vocalic segments exist, as in (25) below where the nominal class prefix fuses with the lexical root. Although outside the scope of this dissertation, there does additionally exist a difference in duration between phonetic and phonemic long vowels, such that the former is shorter but noticeably (perceptually) longer than either of its constituent parts. (25)

a. /aβa/ + /ana/ b. /ama/ + /ato/

→ →

[aβaːna] (‘children’) [ama:to] (‘canoes’)

3

The underlying representation (UR) offered here begins with the Proto-Bantu Root offered in Guthrie (1970:216), viz. *[gili]. In order for the the underlyingly placeness /N/ to arise as the alveolar nasal (and not as the velar nasal, resulting in the agrammatical *iŋd͡ʒili), the root-initial voiced velar nasal must have first been palatalized to the voiced alveopalatal affricate.

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c. /ama/ + /ala/ d. /uku/ + /ufimba/ e. /uku/ + /ulu/ f. /ili/ + /ino/ g. /ili/ + /inso/

→ → → → →

[ama:la] (‘nails’) [uku:fimba] (‘to swell’) [uku:lu] (‘leg’) [ili:no] (‘tooth’) [ili:nso] (‘eye’)

Glide formation occurs primarily at morphological boundaries (V1-V2) and follows the patterns typical of other Bantu languages. As such, one finds that the formation of a glide in V1 position can be accounted for on the basis of two principal tendencies. First, if V1 is the high-front vowel (/i/) and appears before any non-identical vowel, V 1 will become /j/ while V2 remains unchanged; otherwise, vowel gemination will result. Second, if V 1 is the high-back vowel (/u/) and appears before any non-back vowel, V 1 will become /w/ while V2 remains unchanged; otherwise, V1 will be elided while V2 will remain intact. Examples of this glide formation can be found in (26). In all other instances, vowel gemination or vowel elision will arise. (26)

a. /umu/ + /enʃi/ b. /ku/ + /ipaja/ c. /umuntu/ + /uandi/ d. /tu/ + /aja/ e. /bamutamfia/ f. /milianga milianga/

→ → → → → →

[umwe:nʃi] (‘moon’) [kwipaja] (‘to hunt’) [umuntu wandi] (‘my person’) [twaja] (‘we are going’) [bamutamfja] (‘they chased him’) [miljaŋga miljaŋga] (‘all over the place’)

Casali (1997) argues that V1 elision is more commonly attested cross-linguistically than V 2 elision, although its realization is oftentimes conditioned by the environment in which two different vocalic segments appear next to one another at morphological or lexical boundaries. The four environments are at the boundary of two lexical words, the boundary between a lexical word and a function word, the boundary between a minimally CV prefix and a root, and the boundary between a root and a suffix. The first environment results always in elision of V1, the second and third environments more frequently result in elision

39

of V1, and only the final environment can result in elision of either V 1 or V2. Consequently, it is unsurprising that V1 elision is the preferred means of resolving vowel hiatus when gemination or glide formation is not possible. Examples (27a-c) demonstrate elision at the boundary between prefix and root; (27d-f) at the boundary between a lexical word and a function word; and (27g-h) at the boundary between two lexical words. (27)

a. /iki/ + /auʃi/ b. /ifi/ + /umbu/ c. /ba/ + /ebele/ d. /na/ + /omukaʃi/ e. /na/ + /ukulima/ f. /mu/ + /ubuauʃi/ g. /it͡ʃilanga umulilo/

→ → → → → → →

h. /na inkoko baipaja/

→

[ikjauʃi] (‘Aushi language’) [ifjuumbu] (‘sweet potatoes’) [bebele] (‘they said’) [nomukaʃi] (‘with [his] wife’) [nokulima] (‘and farming’) [mubwauʃi] (‘in Aushi land’) [it͡ʃilangomulilo] (‘different types of food’) [neŋkoko baipaja] (‘and they killed a chicken’)

2.5.4 Minor Processes There are two other morphophonological processes that have a far less active role in Aushi, but which are similarly worth description: vowel epenthesis and nasal deletion. The former is most commonly found in loanword adaptation to resolve ungrammatical syllable structures. Although all of the five vowels are attested in loanwords, the most common epenthetic vowels are the back vowels /u/ and /o/, and /i/ arises most frequently in wordfinal position. Nonetheless, the resulting structure approximates as closely as possible the preferred CV sequences. Listed below in (28) are examples of monosyllabic and bisyllabic words from English that have been adapted to the phonotactics of Aushi. (28)

a. twelufu (‘twelve’) b. koloko (‘clock’) c. sopu (‘soap’) d. sukulu (‘school’) e. boyi (‘boy’) f. sebeni (‘seven’)

.CGVCC .CCVC .CVC .CVC .CVV .CV.CVC

→ → → → → →

.CGV.CV.CV .CV.CV.CV .CV.CV .CV.CV.CV .CV.CV .CV.CV.CV 40

g. buteni (‘button’) h. maliketi (‘blankets’)

.CV.CVC .CVCCVC

→ →

.CV.CV.CV .CV.CV.CV.CV

On the other hand, there is a peculiar tendency among some speakers to delete the alveolar nasal. It seems to be an environmentally conditioned change, as it occurs only after the high-front vowel and before the voiceless alveolar fricative as in (29a-d). Interestingly, minimal pairs were not always found for every lexical item in this environment (29e) or in the same environment but involving different manners of articulation. For instance, one of the lexical items that commonly indicates typological membership among Bantu languages is the term employed for “fish” (cf. sabi vs. sabaki). Aushi references a generic fish as isabi, but, while it is possible not to pronounce the nominal class augment but instead to retain the nominal class prefix, the reverse is not possible; consequently, *insabi is not attested in the data, but *i-∅-sabi is ungrammatical based on the nominal class system proposed here. Thus, without enough data to substantiate an assumed earlier form that lost the alveolar nasal through frequency of use, it seems far more likely that this is an idiolectal feature of this particular set of interlocutors. (29)

a. insambu/isambu (‘approval’) b. insalamu/isalamu (‘brideprice’) c. indalama/idalama (‘money’) d. insoka/isoka (‘snake’) e. *insabi/isabi (‘fish’)

2.6 Chapter Summary This chapter has presented an initial account of the major aspects of phonetics and phonology of the Aushi language. It began by presenting the consonantal segmental inventory with examples for their distribution, and then it continued with the vocalic segmental inventory with a brief discussion of suprasegmental features, viz. vowel length

41

and tone. Possible, attested syllable structures were described, and examples were provided for each. Finally, commonly attested morphophonological processes were identified and exemplified.

42

Chapter 3: Morphology 3.0 Chapter Overview This chapter introduces the major and minor lexical categories; defines them each according to the relevant morphological, syntactic, and semantic criteria; and provides examples to illustrate their use. Notably, the morphology surrounding the nominal class system and the verbal system (tense/aspect/mood markers) are presented for the readers’ consideration. Finally, a description of morphological derivation is offered, specifically as it concerns verbals and semantically distinct nominals. 3.1 Lexical Categories The lexical categories of Aushi are defined primarily on their morphological and syntactic behavior; however, phonological behavior does sometimes serve a role. The two classes with the largest membership are nouns and verbs, partially the result of their open nature and partially the result of their being more clearly distinguished from one another. Nevertheless, other lexical categories to be discussed include adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, demonstratives, numeral and non-numeral quantifiers, interrogatives, prepositions, conjunctions, and ideophones. These are each introduced initially alongside their most typical behavior, and then the idiosyncrasies are engaged in more detail. Most examples for this chapter arrive directly from the collected narratives.

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3.2 Nouns The definitional criteria for a noun in Aushi are quite similar to those for other Bantu languages. A noun must obligatorily consist of a root and a class prefix, and it may optionally contain the corresponding augment (also called a preprefix in the literature) for the corresponding class prefix and may even stack class prefixes to differentiate the meaning of the root, e.g. ubwinanama consists of two prefixes and one root to refer to ‘the gathering [place] of animals.’ Additionally, there is some forthcoming research by Choti (p.c.) that indicates that the augment may function as a marker of definiteness; this is engaged further in the subsequent chapter. It can be stated presently, however, that there certainly does exist a clear proclivity not to use the augment in adjectivals accompanying a noun. Nevertheless, a noun must also be able to take adjectival modifiers (numeral and non-numeral quantifiers and actual adjectives) and demonstrative pronouns, to serve as the subject or object of reference in a verbal phrase, and also to be replaced through pronoun substitution (independent pronouns for Class 1/2 and demonstratives in the case of all others). There are eighteen actively used nominal classes, three of which function as locatives and the remainder of which very loosely adhere to the semantic criteria set forth in the previous literature (see e.g. Welmers 1973 and Demuth 2000). One major point of departure concerns parts of the body, which arise with multiple nominal class prefixes and resist assignment to a single class. Furthermore, it should be noted that these nominal class prefixes infrequently evince stability, as fieldwork with native speakers demonstrated a consultant could use different nominal class prefixes with the same nominal root without any intended or realized semantic change. Table 3.1 contains the reconstructed Proto-Bantu

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forms, italicized as per convention, and their corresponding realized nominal classes with an example for each. Hereafter, each of the common nominal classes is addressed in turn, the first ten of which form frequent, natural pairings and are discussed together. Table 3.1: Nominal Classes in Aushi and Proto-Bantu Class PB Augment Prefix Examples Gloss 1a *moumuumuntu ‘person’ 1b mayo ‘mother’ *∅∅∅2 abantu ‘people’ *βɔ-, *βa- ababamayo ‘mothers’ 3 *moumuumuti ‘tree’ 4 *meimiimiti ‘trees’ 5 shiishina ‘name’ i*leisabi ‘fish’ i∅6 *maamaamana ‘names’ 7 *keikiikitabu ‘book’ 8 *βi-, *liifiifitabu ‘books’ 9 *neiNimfinsi ‘darkness’ 10 insiku ‘days’ *li-ne iNng’kalamu ‘lion(s)’ 11 ulutanda ‘star’ *lʊuluulutambi ‘proverb’ 12 akashinshi ‘island’ *kaakaakalulu ‘little hare’ 13 utunwa ‘mouths’ *toutu14 ubwaato ‘canoe’ *βoubuubwang’a ‘magic’ 15 ukuya ‘to go’ *koukuukuboko ‘arm’ 16 pa ng’anda ‘at the house’ *papa∅17 ku mushi ‘to the village’ *koku∅18 mu sukulu ‘inside the school’ *mo∅mu3.2.1 Classes 1/2 The pairing of the first two classes are consistent with every other Bantu language in containing nouns that refer to humans, human-like beings, or human-based roles. The augment and prefix are realized as umu-/umw- in the singular and aba- in the plural.

45

(1) umukashana (‘woman’) umulume (‘husband’) umupupu (‘thief’) umulunshi (‘hunter’) umusambi (‘student’) umubomfi (‘worker’) umulimi (‘farmer’) umulwashi (‘sick person’)

abakashana (‘women’) abalume (‘husbands’) abapupu (‘thieves’) abalunshi (‘hunters’) abasambi (‘students’) ababomfi (‘workers’) abalimi (‘farmers’) abalwashi (‘sick people’)

Class 1 is bifurcated into marked and unmarked forms, as Class 1b frequently contains the inalienably possessed kinship terms, e.g. mayo (‘[my] mother’) and wishi (‘[your] father’). Additionally, it should be noted that the plural marker frequently serves as a marker of respect, or an honorific, especially when greeting people on the street or those in positions of authority. For instance, the English sister has been adopted as a loanword in Aushi to refer not to one’s kin, but rather to a nun; consequently, one would greet such an individual with, ‘Muli shaani, basista?’ Similarly, when one goes to the market and would like to purchase vegetables, he or she must first greet the seller, ‘Mwabombeni, batata/bamayo?’ It should be noted, however, that some terms, especially those that relate to kinship, may adopt a slightly different plural form, e.g. mayo (mother), bamayo (mother [honorific]), banamayo (mothers). Finally, there are certain nouns that do not utilize the Class 1/2 nominal class prefixes but which, nevertheless, utilize the concords of this class as in examples (2), (3), and (4). (2) aka-fundisha w-andi a-ka-beleng-a 12CL-teacher 1CL-1S.POSS 3S-FUT3-read-FV ‘My teacher will read the book.’

iki-tabu 7CL-book

(3) ba-∅-lee-sung-a amee-nshi Kalulu a-a-is-a 3P-PRES1-PROG-look.for-FV 6CL-water Kalulu 3S-PST 1-come-FV ‘They were looking for water [and] Kalulu arrived.’ (4) Ch-ofwe 7CL-hippopotamus ‘Hippo was tired.’

a-a-nak-a 3S-PST1-tire-FV

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3.2.2 Classes 3/4 The second class pairing frequently contains nouns that refer to parts of the body; demarcations of time; trees, plants, and other features in nature; or objects derived from products found in nature. The augment and prefix are realized as umu-/umw- in the singular and imi-/imy- in the plural. As a result, although the singular form of Class 1 and Class 3 are identical, they differ both semantically and in the marking of plurality. (5) umubili (‘body’) umukoshi (‘neck’) umunwe (‘finger’) umushipa (‘vein’)

imibili (‘bodies’) imikoshi (‘necks’) iminwe (‘fingers’) imishipa (‘veins’)

(6) umweenshi (‘moon, month’) umwaka (‘year’)

imyeenshi (‘moons, months’) imyaka (‘years’)

(7) umuti (‘tree, medicine’) umushi (‘village’) umulundu (‘island’) umwonga (‘river’)

imiti (‘trees, medicine’) imishi (‘villages’) imilundu (‘islands’) imyonga (‘rivers’)

(8) umuchele (‘salt’) umufuko (‘bag’) umufwi (‘arrow’) umuseke (‘basket’) umwando (‘rope, chain’) umwele (‘knife’)

imichele (‘salts’) imifuko (‘bags’) imifwi (‘arrows’) imiseke (‘baskets’) imyando (‘ropes, chains’) imyele (‘knives’)

3.2.3 Classes 5/6 The third class pairing considerably resists the semantic criteria used to characterize these classes. It contains loanwords that resist analogization to one of the other nominal classes, many (though not all) paired parts of the body, and non-count nouns or nouns that rarely arrive in the singular. The augment and prefix are realized as i- in the singular and ama/ame- in the plural. Although the examples provided below typify this pairing specifically, it should also be recognized that the Class 6 prefix (ama-) carries the greatest distribution 47

and functional weight in marking plurality. In fact, loanwords that resist phonological analogy to the other noun classes will usually be assigned this plural prefix, too. (9)

isabi (‘fish’) isako (‘hair’) isembe (‘axe’) ishina (‘name’) isukulu (‘school’) isumbu (‘fishing net’)

amasabi (‘fish[es]’) amasako (‘hairs’) amasembe (‘axes’) amashina (‘names’) amasukulu (‘schools’) amasumbu (‘fishing nets’)

(10)

amala (‘lungs’) amatako (‘buttocks’) ameenso (‘eyes’) amabele (‘breasts’)

(11)

amalasha (‘[pieces of] charcoal’) amafuta (‘fat, lotion, oil, gasoline’) ameenshi (‘water’)

3.2.4 Classes 7/8 The fourth class pairing contains a variety of nouns that refer to the natural world or products derived from it, the names of languages, and some other semantically less cohesive nouns. The augment and prefix are realized as iki-/iky- in the singular and ifi-/ifyin the plural. As mentioned in depth previously and as the examples below indicate, there is a tendency for some speakers to use /it͡ʃi/ instead. (12)

ikyakulya (‘food’) ikirungwa (‘potato’) ikibimbi (‘cucumber’) ikishimu (‘caterpillar’) ikyuushi (‘smoke’) ikyalo (‘world’) ikinongo (‘clay pot’) ichilundu (‘tree bark cloth’) ichitenge (‘fabric cloth’) ichituundu (‘basket’)

(13)

ikyaushi (‘Aushi language’) ikibemba (‘Bemba language’)

ifyakulya (‘foods’) ifirungwa (‘potatoes’) ifibimbi (‘cucumbers’) ifishimu (‘caterpillars’) ifyuushi (‘smokes’) ifyalo (‘worlds’) ifinongo (‘clay pots’) ifilundu (‘tree bark cloths’) ifitenge (‘fabric cloths’) ifituundu (‘baskets’)

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ikingeleshi (‘English language’) (14)

ikipuba (‘crazy person’) ikisansa (‘hand’) ikikala (‘penis, dickhead’)

ifipuba (‘crazy people’) ifisansa (‘hands’) ifikala (‘penises, dickheads’)

3.2.5 Classes 9/10 The fifth class pairing contains a large number of animals and a variety of other nouns, including those of a somewhat abstract nature. The augment and prefix are realized as iNin the singular and iN- in the plural, i.e. with an underlyingly unspecified nasal that assimilates to the place of articulation of the following segment. Thus, their differentiation is heavily dependent upon context and the surrounding words that may illustrate the distinction through the use of the concord. (15)

impombo (‘gazelle’) inkoko (‘chicken’) inkalamu (‘lion’) insoka (‘snake’) ing’ombe (‘ox’)

impombo (‘gazelles’) inkoko (‘chickens’) inkalamu (‘lions’) insoka (‘snakes’) ing’ombe (‘oxen’)

(16)

imbalala (‘groundnut’) insupa (‘calabash’) inkonde (‘banana’) inkalanga (‘ground pea’) imfinshi (‘night’) imfwa (‘death’) indeke (‘airplane’) ing’anda (‘house, family’) insolokoto (‘window’)

imbalala (‘groundnuts’) insupa (‘calabashes’) inkonde (‘bananas’) inkalanga (‘ground peas’) imfinshi (‘nights’) imfwa (‘deaths’) indeke (‘airplanes’) ing’anda (‘houses, families’) insolokoto (‘windows’)

3.2.6 Class 11 The nouns in this class were difficult to elicit and very rarely arose in the narratives. In fact, oftentimes speakers would employ the prefix for Class 11 to signal singular number but immediately thereafter correct themselves and substitute the Class 9 prefix. This

49

indicates that there is certainly a lack of stability regarding prefix attribution for the nouns in this class. The augment and prefix are unequivocally realized as ulu- in the singular and are expected to take the Class 10 prefix as a marker of plurality; however, speakers were resistant to pluralize the noun overtly on the prefix yet always demonstrated plurality through numerals. For instance, although speakers did accept ulukyelo kimo/inkyelo shitatu (‘one morning/three mornings’) as a possible pair, they far more readily accepted ulukyelo kimo/ukukyelo shitatu (‘one morning/three morning[s]’). Listed in (17) are the singular and expected plural forms, which were inconsistently used by speakers. (17)

ulutanda (‘star’) ulushishi (‘rope’) ulutambi (‘proverb’) ululamba (‘valley’) ulupili (‘hill, mountain’) ulukuni (‘[a piece of] firewood’) ulwimbo (‘song’) ulukyelo (‘morning’) ulubuto (‘light’) ulufumo (‘belly’)

intanda (‘stars’) inshishi (‘ropes’) intambi (‘proverbs’) inlamba (‘valleys’) impili (‘hills, mountains’) inkuni (‘firewood’) inyimbo (‘songs’) inkyelo (‘mornings’) imbuto (‘lights’) amafumo (‘bellies’)

3.2.7 Class 12 The nouns in this class are not especially semantically related to one another. In many instances these nouns refer to a human or non-human subject or to an instrument as in (18). On other occasions, they signify diminution when attached stacked onto another nominal class prefix or when attached to an adjectival root, both exemplified in (19). Finally, this class also contains other lexical items, including a few body parts and a few other unrelated nouns. The augment and prefix are realized as aka- in the singular. (18)

akafundisha (‘teacher’) akapoondo (‘criminal, gangster, dude’) akalulu (‘rabbit’) akalembe (‘arrow’)

50

(19)

akanama (‘a piece of meat or flesh’) akanoono (‘a little piece’) akalonde (‘small hoe’) akauni (‘small bird’) akamindwa (‘pinky finger’)

(20)

akakondo (‘toe’) akanwa (‘mouth’) akasuba (‘sun’) akashimi (‘story, narrative, tale’)

3.2.8 Class 13 The augment and prefix are realized as utu-/utw- in the singular and plural. This nominal class exhibits greater semantic complexity in that roots attached to this prefix realize a (sometimes) radical transformation in meaning. The most straightforward (morphological) usage of this class is to pluralize the corresponding singular nouns in Class 12. The lexical items in (21) illustrate this pluralization, though other non-count nominals rely on this prefix, e.g. utubuki (‘honey’). (21)

utulembe (‘arrows’) utunwa (‘mouths’) utusuba (‘suns’) utululu (‘rabbits’)

However, the most prototypical semantic usage of this class is to express diminution as in the first exemplar in (22). Frequently these are neutral referents to a particular growth stage believed to be progressive, as (22) indicates, i.e. there is no assumption that this size is negative or perpetual. On the contrary, stacking of the nominal class prefixes can also express pejorative diminution that is believed to be a continuous, unchangeable state as demonstrated by (23). (22)

ututabu (‘little books’) utubushi (‘little goats’) utumuti (‘little trees’) 51

utuuni (‘little birds’) utuboowa (‘small mushrooms’) utubwesela (‘immature pumpkins’) utwantutu (‘little breasts [prepubescent]’) (23)

utwana (‘small child [unhealthy]’) utwambwa (‘small dogs [rabid]’) utubantu (‘small people [unsatisfactory]’) utukafundisha (‘unsatisfactory teacher’)

/utu-∅-mu-ana/ /utu-iN-bwa/ /utu-∅-ba-ntu/ /utu-∅-ka-fundisha/

3.2.9 Class 14 Lexical items in this class frequently refer to abstractions as in (24) but also contains a variety of semantically unrelated nouns as in (25). The augment and prefix are realized as ubu-/ubw- in the singular. (24)

ubuntu (‘humanity’) ubulundu (‘friendship’) ubulendo (‘journey’) ubwanga (‘magic, charms’) ubulwele (‘sickness, disease’) ubwinanama (‘gathering place of animals’) /ubu-mu-ina-i-nama/

(25)

ubunga (‘mealie meal’) ubusanshi (‘bed’) ubushiku (‘day/night’) ubusonge (‘small marriage payment’) ubuta (‘gun’) ubukala (‘penis’) ubwalwa (‘beer’)

3.2.10 Class 15 This class primarily contains zero-derived deverbal nominals as in (26), though they are typically glossed with the corresponding infinitival phrase due to frequency of use, i.e. gerunds are used far less often than their infinitival counterparts. It should be understood, however, that these cannot be interpreted in any other manner, e.g. ukufwa can be glossed as to die or dying, but not as death; similarly, ukulanda can be glossed as to speak or

52

speaking, but not as speech. Nonetheless, there are a few other frequently used nouns, notably body parts, that are found in this nominal class. The augment and prefix are realized as uku- in the singular. (26)

ukumona (‘to see’) ukufwa (‘to die’) ukuti (‘to be able’) ukuleeta (‘to bring’) ukulanda (‘to speak’) ukufwaya (‘to want’)

(27)

ukuulu (‘leg’) ukuboko (‘arm’) ukutwi (‘ear’) ukubeeya (‘shoulder’)

imikonso (‘legs’) amaboko (‘arms’) amatwi (‘ears’) amabeeya (‘shoulders’)

3.2.11 Classes 16/17/18 The final three classes (16/17/18) correspond to locativity and are more effectively treated as prepositions, given their phonological behavior, their morphological usage in complex prepositional phrases, and their syntactic distribution. Furthermore, unlike the other nominal class prefixes, they do not correspond to number and may be employed with both singular and plural nouns. These are augmentless, and the prefixes arise as pa-, ku-, and mu-. Contextualized examples of each are provided in §3.9.

3.2.12 Singular-Plural Pairings The preceding sections have provided an overview of the nominal classes in Aushi and demonstrated, at least in the case of the first ten classes, the natural tendency to use one class for singular nouns and another class for plural nouns, even if this results in phonological symmetry (e.g. in the case of Classes 9/10). Nevertheless, many members of the classes beyond the first four have unstable affiliation with the classes presented here 53

and oftentimes arise even within the same utterance with a different nominal class prefix. What can be stated with certainty, however, is that the first four classes retain a certain degree of semantic cohesion not shared by the other classes and that the Class 6 prefix (ama-) is used most frequently to pluralize nouns beyond its own ‘natural’ pairing in Class 5. Listed in Figure 3.1 are the most common pairings evinced in the narratives.

Figure 3.1: Singular-Plural Noun Pairings 3.3 Pronouns There are four types of pronouns in Aushi, and they correspond respectively to each of the subsequent four sections. The first focuses on independent personal pronouns; the second, on possessive pronouns; the third, on the tripartite distinction among demonstrative pronouns; and the fourth, on relative pronouns. The first three are discussed in this chapter, while the fourth on relativization is addressed in the subsequent chapter on syntax.

54

3.3.1 Personal Pronouns The personal pronouns in Aushi arrive in two forms: independent and dependent. While the independent pronouns are optionally included in most clauses with a fully conjugated verb, the dependent pronouns, which are attached directly to verbs, are required. The former is discussed in this section, while the latter are introduced in §3.4. Nonetheless, the independent pronouns demarcate strictly between singular and plural in both first- and second-person. Third-person is indicated with a dependent pronoun, not in the form of an independent personal pronoun, but rather the corresponding demonstrative pronoun. There exist two sets of independent personal pronouns, which are clearly demarcated from one another, i.e. speakers of Aushi and Bemba—in Lusaka, Mansa, and Matanda—consistently defined the first set as more authentically Aushi and the latter as more authentically Bemba4. Nevertheless, while Aushi speakers do demonstrate a preference for the one set, they appear to use both sets regularly and productively. Examples (28) and (29) show how the Aushi set are used, and example (30) shows how they can be interchanged even with the same referent, i.e. both neebo and ine refer to the first-person singular. For convenience in the following three examples, the prototypical Aushi form is underlined; the prototypical Bemba form, italicized. (28)

ni-fwe fweebo COP-1P 1P.PRON ‘It’s us, us the Aushi.’

ba-ushi 2CL-Ushi

(29)

ala OK na fweebo kuti twa-∅-abuk-a INTERJ INTERJ and 1P.PRON able 1P-PRES-cross-FV ‘Oh yeah? OK, and we can cross [the river also]?’

4

In fact, upon hearing that my objective was to produce a linguistic account of Aushi, many speakers of Bemba started to joke with me about how rural the Aushi forms sounded to them, even going as far as to exaggerate the length of the vowel, i.e. [ne:bo] became [ne:::bo] and was followed by a great deal of laughter.

55

(30)

neebo 1S.PRON

efyo 7CL.REL

na-∅-ishib-a-po 1S-PRES-know-FV-LOC

nga COND

ca-ushi 7CL-Ushi

ine 1S.PRON

n-di mw-aushi 1S-PRES.FV 1CL-Ushi

fye simply

‘And I, this is what I know. If it’s Aushi [language], well, I’m Aushi.’

Person 1 2 3

Table 3.2: Independent Personal Pronouns Set A: Aushi Forms Set B: Bemba Forms Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl. neebo fweebo ine ifwe weebo mweebo iwe imwe uyu ba uyu ba

Additionally, there are two qualifiers that must be issued here. First, although these two pronouns sets might appear initially to be dissimilar to one another, they are actually morphologically related. The perceptually more authentically Aushi forms refer to the self using the same underlying pronominal roots, viz. [n, u, fw, mw]. Second, there are Class 1/2 placeholders included for both the singular and plural forms of the third-person, as these depend entirely upon the subject. As will become clearer in §3.3.3, these forms (uyu/ba) are in reality simply the proximal forms of the demonstrative pronoun in the appropriate person and number. Finally, although it will not be discussed extensively here, it is likely that Aushi is not unique in having a vocative form or topicalizer that utilizes the independent pronoun. In particular, the second-person singular pronoun weebo can be cliticized as a prefix to many nouns when used to address others. For instance, wemunandi literally means ‘you my friend’ albeit without the interpretation as a predicateless copular clause of e.g. weebo umunandi. Upon seeing a close friend while walking down the street, one can—without mentioning the individual’s name—simply exclaim, “Weebo!” In the narratives collected,

56

examples abound in interpersonal discourse for these purposes and also to call one’s attention to a particular statement. (31)

we-mw-aume uko w-a-fum-a ni 2S-3S-man LOC 2S-PST1-be.from-FV COP ‘You! Man, where did you come from?’

(32)

we-mu-kashana 2S-3S-woman

umw-aume 1CL-man

kwi where

uyu 1CL.DEM

w-a-fum-a ku Samfya 1CL.REL-PST1-be.from-FV 17CL PN ‘Young lady, this guy who has come from Samfya […]’ (33)

iwe 2S

n-di mw-aushi 1S-PRES.FV 1CL-Ushi

umw-ina Mu-kulo 1CL-member 3CL-PN

ku lu-lamba lw-a Lw-apula 17CL 11CL-valley 11CL-ASSOC 11CL-PN ‘Listen, I’m Aushi, a member of the Mukulo from the Lwapula [River] Valley.’ 3.3.2 Possessive Pronouns Possession can be indicated in four distinct ways, viz. with the use of possessive pronouns, through the genitive possessor, through syntactic juxtaposition, and through inalienable lexically specified possession (taata, wishi). One manner of accomplishing this is with the possessive pronouns below. These must, however, take the appropriate concord and appear after the possessed noun. (34)

a. imfwa yandi b. inkoko shakwe c. amakufi yandi d. ichitabo chenu e. kabalwe kesu f. ishina lyobe g. umwanakwe > umwana wakwe

(‘my death’) (‘his/her chickens’) (‘my knees’) (‘your [pl.] book’) (‘our horse’) (‘your [sg.] name’) (‘his/her child’)

57

Table 3.3: Possessive Pronouns Num. Sg. Pl. 1 -andi -esu 2 -obe -enu 3 -akwe -abo Another manner of indicating possession is through the use of the associative -a with the appropriate concord, resulting in the following phrasal structure: X of Y. This is most often used with the third person, not with the first or second persons. Moreover, these associative phrases sometimes arise paired with kwa, especially in front of proper nouns; however, this only seemed to arise consistently before religious referents as in (40) and (41). (35)

im-fumu y-a bw-aushi 9CL-chief 9CL-ASSOC 14CL-Ushi ‘chief of the Aushi’ (lit. chief of the Aushi)

(36)

umw-ana wa Martin 1CL-child 1CL-ASSOC PN ‘Martin’s child’ (lit. child of Martin)

(37)

mu mee-nso y-a ba-fyashi 18CL 6CL-face 6CL-ASSOC 2CL-parent ‘in front of the parents’ (lit. in the face of the parents)

(38)

ba-a-konk-a ulu-lamba lw-a Lw-apula 3P-PST1-follow-FV 11CL-valley 11CL-ASSOC 11CL-PN ‘They followed the Luapula Valley’ (lit. valley of Luapula)

(39)

mu-pepi 18CL-near

mu mu-shi 18CL 3CL-village

w-a 3CL-ASSOC

m-fumu Ba-kundamfumu 9CL-chief HON-Kundamfumu ‘close to the village of Chief Kundamfumu’ (40)

mu-ntu w-a kw-a 1CL-entity 1CL-ASSOC 17CL-ASSOC ‘a person of God’ (lit. a person of of God)

Leesa PN

(41)

im-fwa y-a kw-a 9CL-death 9CL-ASSOC 17CL-ASSOC ‘the death of Jesus’

Yesu PN

58

Finally, possession can be demonstrated through juxtaposition, especially for narrative effect. The possessor appears before the possessed, but the possessed additionally requires the use of the independent possessive pronoun. (42)

nomba now

n-∅-ko-mon-a uyu 1S-PRES2-15CL-see-FV 1CL

mu-ntu 1CL-entity

imi-bebe y-akwe 3CL-behavior 3CL-3S.POSS ‘Now I see this guy’s behavior.’ (43)

umu-kashana aba-pongoshi 1CL-girl 2CL-in.law ‘the girl’s in-laws’

b-akwe 2CL-3S.POSS

(44)

n-tons-ele umw-ipwa ing’-oma 1S-remove-PERF.FV 1CL-nephew 9CL-drum ‘Let me remove my nephew’s drum.’

3.3.3 Demonstrative Pronouns There are three types of commonly used demonstrative pronouns in Aushi that correspond to the degree of geographical or metaphorical (oftentimes emotional) proximity to the speaker, and these—proximal, medial, and distal—are listed below in Table 3.4. While the proximal is glossed as “this,” both the medial and distal are glossed as “that.” As a general rule of thumb, both the proximal and medial forms are used when the person or object in question is within sight of the speaker, while the distal is used when this is not the case. When used metaphorically to emphasize the emotional closeness (or lackthereof), however, the qualification of sight plays no rule. While the demonstrative pronoun most frequently occurs after the noun and is likely the preferred, default position, it can also be placed before the noun for emphasis. It should be noted that, despite their name, these function as determiners. The former is illustrated in (45) and (46), and the latter is illustrated in (47) and (48). 59

(45)

im-fumu 9CL-chief

y-a bw-aushi 9CL-ASSOC 14CL-Ushi

ilya 9CL-DEM

ya-a-fw-a 9CL-PST1-die-FV ‘That chief of the Aushi died.’ (46)

imi-tanda ilya 4CL-hut 4CL-DEM

ati ba-a-kul-e well 3P-PST 1-build-FV

na mi-tanda and 4CL-hut

eko ba-a-ile na mu-kw-ikal-a there 2CL-PST1-PERF and 18CL-15CL-live-FV ‘Those huts, they built the huts where they went to live.’ (47)

nomba n-ko-mon-a uyu mu-ntu now 1S-15CL-see-FV 1CL.DEM 1CL-entity

imi-bebe 4CL-behavior

y-akwe 4CL-3S.POSS ‘Now I see this guy’s behavior.’ (48)

ki-suma 7CL-good

mu=kwai kuti 1CL-respectful.term able

na-∅-bomb-a 1S-PRES-work-FV

uyu mu-limo 3CL.DEM 3CL-work ‘That’s fine, sir. I can do this work.’ 3.3.4 Relative Pronouns Because they interact with and are intimately bound to the verbal phrase, relative pronouns have very different syntactic behavior than personal, possessive, and demonstrative pronouns. As a result, they are not discussed here, but rather in §4.6.

60

61

amafi

icalo

ifito

imbwa

ulwimbo

inyang’ ge

akafundisha

utukondo

ubwato

ukutwi

6

7

8

9a

9b

10

12

13

14

15

---

isembe

5

18

iminwe

4

---

umuti

3

17

abalendo

2

---

umwaice

1

16

Example

Class

muno

kuno

pano

kuno

buno

tuno

kano

shino

lino

ino

fino

cino

yano

lino

ino

uno

bano

uno

Immediate Proximal

umu

uku

apa

uku

ubu

utu

aka

ishi

ulu

iyi

ifi

ichi

aya

ili

iyi

uyu

aba

uyu

Proximal

umo

uko

apo

uko

ubo

uto

ako

isho

ulo

iyo

ifyo

ichyo

ayo

ilo

iyo

uyo

abo

uyo

Medial

mulya

kulya

palya

kulya

bulya

tulya

kilya

shilya

lulya

ilya

filya

cilya

ilya

lilya

ilya

ulya

balya

ulya

Distal

Table 3.4: Demonstrative Pronouns

‘ this, that, that ear’

‘ this, that, that canoe’

‘ these, those, those toes’

‘ this, that, that teacher’

‘ these, those, those grains’

‘ this, that, that song’

‘ this, that, that dog’

‘ these, those, those charcoals’

‘ this, that, that world’

‘ these, those, those excrements’

‘ this, that, that axe’

‘ these, those, those fingers’

‘ this, that, that tree’

‘ these, those, those strangers’

‘ this, that, that young child’

Gloss

3.4 Verbs Verbal morphology in Aushi is complex due to the agglutinative nature of Bantu languages. The verbal template can contain up to eight separate components, and verbal distinctions attested in the narratives are made according to six tenses, three aspects, three moods, and at least five verbal extensions. Copular constructions are inconsistently employed, but they arise in four possible patterns, though the fully expressed copular verb is always used for the related auxiliary verb ‘to have.’ Finally, the most often found auxiliary verbs arise in unconjugated (ukuti) and conjugated forms (ukwisa, ukuya, ukufwaya). The definitional criteria for a verb are straightforward on the surface but grow in complexity when one examines each of the individual components. As such, a verb is a lexical item which minimally requires a subject prefix, tense/aspect/mood markers (even if unspecified), a root, and a final vowel. If belonging to a larger verbal phrase and acting not as a modal verb, an infinitive can be provided which only requires the infinitival prefix (class 15) and the verbal stem. In order to avoid unnecessary complication and to aid understanding, the relevant definitions follow Nurse (2008). As such, tense refers here to the “grammaticalized representation of, verbal inflection for, [or] location in time” (2008:317). Thus, if a verbal construction lacks such a morpheme, it may still have a temporal reference but will not be treated as a tense marker. Aspect refers here to the “verbal category that expresses the ‘internal temporal constituency’ of a situation” (2008:308). Mood refers here to the “categories indicating the speaker’s attitude towards the status or factuality of the utterance” (2008:313). Finally, the term marker is used here to refer specifically to a morpheme that indicates the subject or object, and they will be referred to as the subject

62

marker and object marker, respectively. By the end of this chapter, their distribution should be made clearer. 3.4.1 Structure of the Single-Word Verb The basic structure of the single-word verb is morphologically agglutinative and comprises up to eight components, many of which are optionally filled and depend upon the communicative objectives of the interlocutor. As schematized below, the verb is bifurcated (following Nurse 2008) into the inflection (INFL) and modified stem (MS). The inflection contains the pre-subject marker (Pre-SM), the subject marker (SM), the secondary negator (Neg2), and the tense/aspect markers (T/A). The modified stem, on the other hand, contains the object marker (OM), the root, any verbal extensions, and the final vowel(s).

Figure 3.2: Structure of the Single-Word Verb

63

(49)

ba-∅-mu-sambil-ishy-a 3P-PRES-3S-learn-CAUS-FV ‘They taught him/her.’

(50)

tu-ka-lal-an-a 1P-FUT3-lie-REC-FV ‘We will sleep together (with one another).’

(51)

a-a-tu-land-ishy-an-a 3S-PST1-1P-speak-CAUS-REC-FV ‘He made us speak to/with one another.’

(52)

ta-mu-li Kisongo NEG-2P-COP PN ‘You are not Kisongo.’

(53)

n-shi-fwel-e bwiino 1S-NEG-dress-FV well ‘I did not dress well.’

3.4.1.1 Pre-Subject Marker (Pre-SM) The pre-subject marker is optionally filled and can contain at most two components that must appear in the same order if both are present. The first is the morpheme nga that expresses the conditional mood. In other Bantu languages, this particular morpheme is infixed at the position of T/A; however, in Aushi, this always appears before the singleword verb is expressed. It is best translated as “if” or “when” and is context-dependent. The second is the primary negator ta-, and this can appear before every subject marker excluding the first-person singular. 3.4.1.2 Subject Marker (SM) The subject marker is obligatorily specified and indicates who or what is undertaking the action or who the focus of the state is. This corresponds in the case of human referents directly to the appropriate number and person. In the case of non-human, non-personified

64

referents, this corresponds directly to the concord for the corresponding nominal class. This is frequently, though not exclusively, related phonologically to either the augment or prefix in the case of non-human referents. Class 1a 1b 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Table 3.5: Verbal Subject Markers Augment Class Prefix Subject Prefix umunu∅∅aabatumubaumuuimiiishiliamaiikikiififiiNiiNshiululuakakaututuububuukuku-

3.4.1.3 Secondary Negator (Neg2) The secondary negator slot is optionally specified and cannot be simultaneously filled while the pre-subject marker contains the primary negator. The reason for this is that the secondary negator slot is only filled by -shi- and serves as the negator for the first-person singular. If both were to contain negators, then they would result in ungrammaticality due to different subjects being concurrently negated. However, as mentioned previously, the primary negator serves all other persons and numbers.

65

3.4.1.4 Tense/Aspect Markers (T/A) The tense/aspect markers arise both at the position of T/A and the final vowel (FV). While the slot allocated for T/A more frequently refers to the temporal dimension of the verb and less so to the aspectual distinction, this is not so easily separated due to the complex nature of tense/aspect expression. Still, this slot may be specified or unspecified, both of which serve as clues to the T/A. 3.4.1.5 Object Marker (OM) The object marker, which may be specified in the verbal template, refers to the indirect object that optionally follows. If the object is not overtly specified within the same clause, then the object marker serves as an anaphoric or cataphoric referent for the interlocutor; otherwise, this object marker helps disambiguate the indirect and direct objects that follow. The object marker is generally related phonologically to either the augment or class prefix of the corresponding nominal class. Class 1a 1b 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Table 3.6: Verbal Object Markers Augment Class Prefix Object Marker umu-n-m-ku∅∅-mu- -mwaba-tu-tw-mi-baumu-uimi-iishi-liama-iiki-kiifi-fiiN-iiN-shiulu-luaka-kautu-tu66

14 15

uu-

buku-

-bu-ku-

Nonetheless, this position is rarely filled in Aushi and does not seem to be obligatory—unless the object marker refers to a human or human-like object, specifically proper nouns, second- or third-person, kinship terms, and titles. In particular, the grammaticality of the presence or absence of the object marker seems to be directly related to the hierarchy described in Croft (2003:128): 1S/2S

>

3S

Figure 3.3: Animacy Hierarchy for Object Marking > Proper > Common > Common > Nouns Nouns Nouns (Human) (NonHuman)

Common Nouns (Inanimate)

3.4.1.6 Root The root is obligatorily specified and is formed by the removal of the infinitival prefix (Class 15), any derivational affixes, and the final vowel(s). The bare root structures attested in the narratives include those that are monosyllabic, bisyllabic, and trisyllabic and include various segmental combinations that end in a consonant. Table 3.7: Attested Verbal Roots G -yukuya ‘to go’ -isukwisa ‘to come’ VC -ibukwiba ‘to steal’ -fwukufwa ‘to die’ CG -lyukulya ‘to eat’ NCG -mfwukumfwa ‘to hear, to understand’ NVN -monukumona ‘to see’ CVN -temukutema ‘to cut down (trees)’ -tampukutampa ‘to start, to begin’ CVNC -konkukukonka ‘to follow’ VCVC -ishibukwishiba ‘to know’ CGVC -bwelukubwela ‘to return, to come back’ CVCVGC -beleng- ukubelenga ‘to read, to learn’ -kindikukukindika ‘to respect’ CVGCVC -sendam- ukusendama ‘to sleep’ 67

3.4.1.7 Verbal Extensions (EXT) There are six primarily used verbal extensions that are found in this position: reflexive, applicative, causative, passive, reciprocal, and stative. However, these are better treated as examples of verb-verb derivation and thus are defined and contextualized in more detail in §3.12.1.

3.4.1.8 Final Vowels (FV) The final vowel is obligatorily specified and, as indicated previously, provides insight into the tense/aspect category of the verbal phrase. The final vowel arises in three possible forms, viz. as -ile/-ele in perfective verbs, -e in the subjunctive mood, and -a in all other cases, including infinitival phrases.

3.4.2 Tense There are six morphologically marked tenses attested in the narratives collected. These correspond roughly to three past tenses, one present tense, and three future tenses. The past tenses are presented in descending order, and the future tenses are presented in ascending order. For clarity in understanding, they correspond to a number that demonstrates the respective positionality within that temporal frame. The remote/distant past tense (PST3) is formed using the infix -ali- for the affirmative and -a- for the negative. It generally refers to events beginning two or more days prior to the utterance or reference. It can refer to events from “a long time ago,” including even those from before the lifetime of the speaker, as in (55). Nonetheless, due

68

to its co-occurrence with other past tenses, particularly the immediate past tense as in (56), it is best understood as a perfect. (54)

n-ali-kwat-a iki-lundu 1S-PST3-have-FV 7CL-bark.fabric ‘I had gotten a very nice kilundu.’

(55)

shi-lya n-shiku tw-ali-kunw-a 10CL-DEM 10CL-day 1P-PST3-drink-FV ‘[In] those days, we really used to drink well.’

(56)

bw-a-is-a 3P-PST1-come-FV

ku-sang-a 15CL-find-FV

iki-suma 7CL-good

saana very

fye simply

bwiino well

ba-m-bashi HON-9CL-antelope

ba-ali-ba-kak-il-e 3P-PST3-HON-tie-APPL-FV ‘[The animals] came to find [that] they had tied up Antelope.’ The recent past tense (PST2) is formed using the infix -aki- for both the affirmative and the negative. It refers to events of the previous day or the day before yesterday, i.e. (pre-)hesternal. If the data in the narratives are any indication, however, it can also be used for any events from the past that are retained within the memory of the speaker but which did not take place immediately. For instance, the physical altercations with Rabbit in (57) and (58) demonstrate that the narrator recalls the engagement vividly and personally, but that this was neither an event from the remote past nor of the immediate past. (57)

Ka-lulu n-aki-mw-ikat-a 12CL-rabbit 1S-PST2-3S-catch-FV ‘I caught Rabbit.’

(58)

n-aki-mu-lump-ul-a palya pa mu-kyanga 1S-PST2-3S-throw-APPL-FV 16CL.there 16CL 3CL-sand ‘[and then] I threw him [Rabbit] into the sand there.’

(59)

tw-aki-sang-a uyu a-∅-lee-seep-a ifi-seepo 1P-PST2-find-FV 1CL.DEM 3S-PRES1-PROG-plant-FV 8CL-crop ‘We found this [person] planting crops.’

69

(60)

w-aki-mw-ebat-i u-∅-lee-be-pik-il-a ubw-ali 2S-PST2-3S-say-FV 2S-PRES1-PROG-3P-cook-APPL-FV 14CL-nshima ‘You told him [that] you are cooking nshima for them.’

The immediate past tense (PST1) is formed using the infix -a- for the affirmative and -∅- for the negative. It refers to events that have occurred during the last day, especially those taking place most recently to the moment of the utterance or the event described in that utterance. (61)

in-sofu y-a-is-a ku-pony-a 9CL-elephant 9CL-PST1-come-FV 15CL-drop-FV

na with

umw-ango yatiii 3CL-trunk IDEO ‘Elephant came [and] drop[ped his] trunk like yatiii!’ (62)

na-m-fumu ati a-a-is-a kuno mw-ina-mbulo FEM-1CL-chief PRAG 3S-PST1-come-FV 17CL 1CL-clan-metal ‘The chieftess came here [and is of] the metal clan.’

(63)

umw-aume w-a-fum-a ku Samfya 1CL-man 1CL.REL-PST1-come.from-FV 17CL Samfya ‘The man who has come from Samfya [...]’

(64)

ta-ba-a-lee-fumy-a ich-uma NEG-3P-PST1-PROG-expect-FV 7CL-money ‘They never used to expect payment.’

(65)

ukw-ikal-a kw-abo ta-∅-ku-ling-ile 15CL-live-FV 17CL-3P.POSS NEG-PST1-15CL-be.satisfactory-PERF.FV ‘Living with them was not satisfactory.’

The simple present tense (PRES1) is arguably unmarked, and it can be used both for events taking place at the current moment, such that it could be better described as an ‘immediate present,’ and also for general traits, characteristics, or actions. An important distinction, however, is that this form retains the infinitival prefix, which is frequently realized phonetically as /ko/ as opposed to the underlying /ku/. On the other hand, when used in conjunction with the progressive aspect, this denotes two morphologically identical 70

temporal frames, viz. present and immediate future (of today). These are glossed as PRES 2 and FUT1, respectively. Thus, the key difference between PRES1 and PRES2 is that the former is an immediate present to which aspectual morphemes are not added, while the latter refers to a verbal construction that is unspecified for tense but specified for aspect, leading to a present progressive reading. (66)

ba-∅-lee-fway-a uku-pa-na 3P-PRES1-PROG-want-FV 15CL-marry-REC.FV ‘They want to marry each other.’

(67)

u-∅-ko-mon-a 2S-PRES2-15CL-see-FV

ifyo tu-∅-lee-kit-a 8CL.REL 1P-PRES1-PROG-do-FV

fy-onse 8CL-all ‘Do you see everything [that] we are doing?’ (68)

ati u-∅-ko-ly-a-ko Q 2S-PRES2-15CL-eat-FV-LOC ‘So, do you eat nshima?’

ubu-bw-ali 14CL-14CL-nshima

(69)

neebo kwena n-∅-dee-kyul-a saana 1S.PRON however 1S-PRES1-PROG-suffer-FV very ‘However, I am suffering greatly.’

(70)

ta-tu-∅-mw-ishib-e bwiino NEG-1P-PRES2-3S-know-FV well ‘We don’t know him/her very well.’

(71)

niinshi n-∅-dee-mu-mon-a then 1S-PRES1-PROG-3S-see-FV

bwiino well taata w-andi father 1CL-1S.POSS

a-∅-kit-a umu-limo 3S-PRES2-do-FV 3CL-work ‘Then I saw my father doing the work.’ (72)

ta-ba-∅-ko-fway-a NEG-3P-PRES2-15CL-want-FV

im-fumu 9CL-chief

iya-ku-kwush-a 9CL.REL-15CL-suffer-FV

aba-ntu 2CL-entity ‘They don’t want a chief who makes people suffer.’ 71

(73)

ba-∅-ko-y-a ba-a-fik-a 3P-PRES2-15CL-go-FV 3P-PST1-arrive-FV ‘They were going [and] arrived in Kwembe.’

ku Kwembe 17CL PN

The near future tense (FUT2) is formed using the infix -alaa- for the affirmative and -a- for the negative. The FV for the former is -a; for the latter, -e. It generally refers to events of the upcoming or following day, i.e. (post-)crastinal. In situated language use, however, it refers more generally to an event whose future undertaking is not only in the upcoming future but whose completion or realization is known. As a result, future events that are possible but unlikely rarely use the near future tense. (74)

aba-fyashi ba-alaa-ipush-a umw-ana 2CL-parent 2CL-FUT2-ask-FV 1CL-child ‘The parents are going to ask the child […]’

(75)

kanshi w-alaa-biik-a ubu-shiku therefore 2S-FUT2-put-FV 14CL-day ‘Therefore, you are going to select a day.’

(76)

n-alaa-kak-il-a n-alaa-mi-kak-il-a 1S-FUT2-tie-APPL-FV 1S-FUT2-2P-tie-APPL-FV ‘I am going to tie [up], I am going to tie you [up].’

(77)

mukwai neebo n-alaa-is-a kw-ikat-a HON 1S 1S-FUT2-come-FV 15CL-catch-FV ‘Sir, I am going to catch Rabbit.’

ka-lulu 12CL-rabbit

The remote/distant future tense (FUT3) is formed using the infix -ka- for the affirmative and -aka- for the negative. The final vowel (FV) for the former is -a; for the latter, -e. It generally refers to events to be undertaken either the day after tomorrow or at a later, unspecified point. Nonetheless, speakers did accept the use of -ka- for crastinal reference in conjunction with or without the relevant adverbial, which seems to indicate that not only the temporal frame, but also the likelihood of the event’s occurrence in the foreseeable future, is significant in tense assignment. 72

(78)

na u-ka-mu-mon-a nga a-∅-is-a and 2S-FUT3-3S-see-FV COND 3S-PRES-come-FV ‘[…] and you will see him when he comes.’

(79)

kaano fye u-ka-kit-a ifyo-fway-a unless simply 2S- FUT3-do-FV 7CL.REL-want-FV ‘[…] unless you will do exactly what [I] want.’

(80)

nomba mu-ka-kit-a but 2P-FUT3-do-FV ‘But what will you do?’

(81)

ulya umw-ana ta-a-ka-fyal-e 1CL.DEM 1CL-child NEG-3S-FUT3-give.birth-FV ‘That child will become barren.’

(82)

ta-a-ka-bomb-e iki-ntu nangu NEG-3S-FUT3-work-FV 7CL-entity INDEF ‘S/he will not work, [s/he won’t even do] a single thing.’

shaani how

ki-mo 7CL-one

3.4.3 Aspect There are three morphologically encoded aspects attested in the narratives collected. These correspond roughly to a habitual, progressive, and perfective. The habitual aspect is formed using the infix -la- and was found in conjunction with the unmarked present tense (-∅la-), the recent past tense (-akila-), and the remote/distant future (-kala-). Nevertheless, it seems likely that a similar form could exist for the other tenses identified. It should be noted, however, that the habitual aspect was not found in the narratives collected and, instead, was uncovered during elicitations. The reason for this is readily understood, though: The narratives focus overwhelmingly on singular events situated in the past. In instances where a particular action is undertaken or an event occurs multiple times, this is encoded discursively through other means, the most straightforward of which is simply repetition of the clause.

73

(83)

n-∅-da-mu-mon-a aka-fundisha kila bu-shiku 1S-PRES1-HAB-3S-see-FV 12CL-teacher every 14CL-day ‘I see the teacher every day.’

(84)

n-aki-la-mu-mon-a aka-fundisha kila bu-shiku 1S-PST2-HAB-3S-see-FV 12CL-teacher every 14CL-day ‘I used to see the teacher every day.’

(85)

n-ka-la-mu-mon-a aka-fundisha kila bu-shiku 1S-FUT3-HAB-3S-see-FV 12CL-teacher every 14CL-day ‘I will see the teacher every day.’

The progressive aspect is formed using the infix -lee-. In Aushi (cf. Ilunga 1994) and Bemba (see e.g. Schoeffer 1907 and Hoch 1963), this has traditionally been treated in isolation as a morpheme indicating present tense with progressive aspect or immediate future tense. This would seem to indicate at the very least that the morpheme itself denotes non-past tense, but this doesn’t resolve the question of the aspectual distinction between the two forms described in the literature. Additionally, if one assumes that the traditional description of -lee- as immediate future tense or as a present tense is correct, how does one rationalize its co-occurrence with the recent past tense and the remote/distant future tense, both of which are morphologically realized? The language data collected in the Aushi narratives for this dissertation seem to provide an answer to this question: Rather than argue for six additional distinct tenses, which are frequently divided into three simple and three complex tenses, the more economical solution is to argue for three tenses that refer to distinct temporal frames but which can also be further categorized with the aspectual marker -lee-. (86)

n-aki-mi-peel-a 1S-PST2-2P-give-FV ‘I gave you the books.’

ifi-tabu 8CL-book

(87)

n-∅-dee-mi-peel-a 1S-PRES-PROG-2P-give-FV ‘I give/am giving you the books.’

ifi-tabu 8CL-book 74

(88)

n-ka-mi-peel-a 1S-FUT3-2P-give-FV ‘I will give you the books.”

ifi-tabu 8CL-book

(89)

n-aki-lee-mi-peel-a 1S-PST2-PROG-2P-give-FV ‘I was giving you the books.’

ifi-tabu 8CL-book

(90)

n-∅-dee-mi-peel-a 1S-PRES-PROG-2P-give-FV ‘I am giving you the books.’

ifi-tabu 8CL-book

(91)

n-ka-lee-mi-peel-a 1S-FUT3-PROG-2P-give-FV ‘I will be giving you the books.’

ifi-tabu 8CL-book

The perfective aspect is formed using the suffix -ile, which also arises in phonologically conditioned environments as -ele and -ine. In particular, -ile is used when the verbal root contains a front vowel; -ele, when the verbal root contains a back vowel; and -ine, when the verbal root contains a nasal obstruent. Nonetheless, the perfective aspect indicates that the event being described is completed and viewed as such in its entirety. Although this aspectual marker can theoretically arise in any tense, it is only attested in the narratives in those that refer to past events, particularly in conjunction with the immediate past tense. The short passages below are longer than previous examples, and this is done deliberately to ensure a fuller, contextualized understanding of how the perfective aspect is used, especially in clauses where other tenses are found. (92)

umu-lumendo 1CL-young.man

ki-lumendo 7CL-young.man

uyo 1CL-DEM

elyo when

ba-a-mu-lang-ile umu-kashana a-ali-kwet-e 3P-PST1-3S-show-PERF.FV 1CL-woman 3S-PST3-have-FV ki-lemba mu m-bukuli 7CL-bean 18CL 9CL-bag ‘The man, that young man, when they showed him the woman, he had beans in [his] bag.’ 75

(93)

ubu-songe 14CL-brideprice

ta-kw-ali NEG-15CL-COP

ba-a-buul-ile 3P-PST 1-take-PERF.FV

fye inindaminwe ba-a-mu-peel-a simply ring.finger 3P-PST1-3S-give-FV ‘There was no brideprice. They simply took the ring [and] gave it to her.’ (94)

nomba ya-a-t-ile uku-p-a umw-ana but 9CL-PST1-say-PERF.FV 15CL-marry-FV 1CL-child

kaano unless

a-ka-pw-ish-e uku-kamy-a iki-shima 3S-FUT3-finish-CAUS-FV 15CL-empty-FV 7CL-well ‘But [then] he said, [you cannot] marry [this] child unless s/he will finish draining the well.’ (95)

mu-ko-mon-a 2P-PRES2-see-FV

ifyo 7CL.REL

a-ko-kit-a 3S-PRES2-do-FV

uyu 1CL.DEM

mu-lumendo a-fum-ine ku Samfya 1CL-young.man 3S-be.from-PERF.FV 17CL PN ‘Do you see what this young man who has come from Samfya is doing?’ (96)

tu-ko-mon-a-po aka-na-kashi ka-mo 1P-PRES-see-FV-LOC 12CL-FEM-woman 12CL-one aka-a-palam-ine kuno 12CL.REL-PST1-come.close-FV-PERF here ‘We see the one woman who has come closer to here.’

(97)

ka-a-mu-let-el-a 12CL-PST1-3S-bring-APPL-FV

ubu-lwele 14CL-disease

na and

na imi-limo ba-konk-ele and 3CL-work 3P-follow-PERF.FV

ku mi-tunda 17CL 3CL-hut

uko there

n=oku-fw-a and=15CL-die-FV

ta-ba-i-bomb-ele iyo NEG-3P-3CL-work-PERF.FV 3CL.DEM ‘It gave him a disease, and he was dead. And they continued there to the huts, [but] they never worked [again].’

76

3.4.4 Mood There are three moods indicated by the verbal phrase: indicative, subjunctive, and imperative. The indicative mood is employed for factual assertions, declaratives, and questions. Because the majority of the tense-aspect distinctions in Aushi are found in the indicative mood, the conjugations presented in §3.4.3 are primarily indicative. Additionally, what is described in previous scholarship as the conditional and presented as a separate mood is actually constructed most frequently using the invariable conditional marker (nga) and the indicative mood. As a result, it is not treated in this section as a separate mood but rather as a construction The subjunctive mood is employed to describe hypothetical situations or to express wishes, desires, and polite directives. There are fewer tense-aspect distinctions for the subjunctive mood than there are for the indicative mood, but the subjunctive is attested in the narratives in the past, present, and future temporal frames. Still, this is not to say that the subjunctive is rarely used; on the contrary, while irrealis events do arise with frequency, oftentimes the verbal morphological distinction between the indicative and subjunctive moods collapse. Nonetheless, the most common signifier of the subjunctive is the realization of the final vowel as -e in the affirmative, which contrasts with -a in the indicative affirmative. The most commonly attested context for the subjunctive mood is arguably found in polite directives, like those in (98) and (99) below. Similar constructions also arise with or without the prefix /na/ before the grammatical subject, as (100) and (101a-b) indicate. There does not appear to be a semantic difference between the two constructions, but it is

77

noteworthy that this prefix primarily appears with subjunctive verbs, though a morphologically identical form does exist for indicative verbs of state (not statives). (98)

tu-∅-biik-e ubu-shiku ati 1P-PRES-set-SBJV.FV 14CL-day PRAG ‘Let’s pick a day, he said, on Sunday.’

pa ki-belushi 16CL 7CL-Saturday

(99)

n-∅-tos-el-e umw-ipwa ing’-oma 1S-PRES-remove-APPL-SBJV.FV 1CL-nephew 9CL-drum ‘Let me remove this drum for my nephew.’

(100) a. nomba na-tu-∅-y-e tu-∅-send-e m-fumu now SBJV-1P-PRES-go-SBJV.FV 1P-PRES-get-FV 9CL-chief ‘Now, let’s go [and] get our chief!’ b. na-tw-imb-e iki-shima apa ku-ti SBJV-1P-dig-SBJV.FV 7CL-well 16CL.REL 15CL-able tu-∅-lee-kunw-a mee-nshi 1P-PRES1-PROG-drink-FV 6CL-water ‘Let’s dig a well where we are able to drink water.’ (101) a. tu-∅-bomb-el-e 1P-PRES-work-APPL-SBJV.FV ‘Let’s work together!’ b. na-tu-∅-bomb-el-e SBJV-1P-PRES-work-APPL-SBJV.FV ‘Let’s work together!’

pa-mo 16CL-one pa-mo 16CL-one

This subjunctive verbal suffix is found in the immediate past tense (-a-…-e), the present tense (-∅-…-e), and the remote/distant future tense (-ka-…-e). Additionally, it is attested in conjunction with -lee-, which, as previously noted, is treated here as an aspectual marker and not as a defining component of multiple, artificially differentiated tenses. (102) nomba tu-∅-kit-e now 1P-PRES-do-SBJV.FV ‘What should we do now?’ (103) n-∅-dee-fway-a 1S-PRES-PROG-want-FV

shaani how

u-ka-y-e 2S-FUT3-go-SBJV.FV

ku 17CL

78

ma-somo mailo 6CL-lesson tomorrow ‘I want you to go to school tomorrow.’ (lit. I am wanting [that] you will go to lessons tomorrow.) (104) w-a-lee-fway-a 2S-PST1-PROG-want-FV

n-ka-y-e 1S-FUT3-go-SBJV.FV

ku 17CL

ma-somo mailo 6CL-lesson tomorrow ‘You wanted me to go to school yesterday.’ (lit. You were wanting [that] I will go to lessons tomorrow.) (105) Kisongo pa-kuti a-a-tamp-e uku-land-a PN 16CL-in.order 3S-PST1-start-SBJV.FV 15CL-speak-FV ‘Before Kisongo could start to speak […]’ The imperative mood is employed for commands, directives, and requests. While the subjunctive can be used to soften these requests, the imperative mood is far more likely and relatively neutral in comparison. It is due to this additional politeness that the imperative is also used for the majority of everyday greetings, such as: (106) a. Mwaiseni! b. Mwashibukeni! c. Mwabombeni!

‘Welcome’ ‘Good morning!’ ‘How is your work?’

Distinctions are made between singular and plural number in the imperative, whereby the singular is constructed from the root of the verb and the final vowel -a; the plural, from the root of the verb and the final vowel in the form of -eni. The examples presented in (107) demonstrate the singular and plural pairing for four verbs with different direct objects, while the excerpts in (108)-(110) contextualize the usage of the imperative. (107) a. Leeta tute! b. Leeteni ifitenge! c. Lya ubwali! d. Lyeni ifyakulya! e. Kabiya ku sukulu! f. Kabiyeni ku Kabunda! g. Berenga ifyebo! h. Berengeni ikitabu!

‘Bring cassava!’ ‘Bring the fabrics!’ ‘Eat the nshima!’ ‘Eat your food(s)!’ ‘Go to school!’ ‘Go to Kabunda!’ ‘Read the words!’ ‘Read the book!’ 79

(108) mw-ingish-eni 2P-enter-P.IMP.FV ‘Enter the house!’

mu ng’-anda 18CL 9CL-house

(109) palamin-eni ku ki-muti come.close-P.IMP.FV 17CL 7CL-tree ‘Come closer to the tree there!’ (110) ati buul-eni PRAG take-P.IMP.FV ‘He said, take Kisongo!’

uku 17CL.DEM

Kisongo PN

Finally, a subject or object marker can be specified, especially for human referents, to serve as a demonstration of respect or politeness. Sometimes the imperative can be used, and in other instances it is only grammatical to utilize the subjunctive. Both exemplars in (111) are acceptable to speakers, though the subjunctive construction extends greater respect or politeness. (111) u-sendam-e 2S-sleep-SBJV.FV ‘Sleep well!’ sendam-a sleep-S.IMP.FV ‘Sleep well!’

bwiino well bwiino well

On the other hand, there are instances where one of the two forms is completely unacceptable. For instance, while the subjunctive form in (112a) is grammatical, (112b) results in a nonsensical reading, viz. “God, may God bless you, God.” Similarly, while (113a) is the most common construction, (113b) is acceptable but carries a different meaning, i.e. “May your wife be greeted.” This absolves the recipient of the directive of actually undertaking the act of greeting the wife. (112) a. Leesa a-ku-paal-e God 3S-2S-bless-SBJV.FV ‘God bless you!’

80

b. *Leesa a-ku-paal-a God 3S-2S-bless-S.IMP.FV ‘God bless you!’ (113) a. mu-posh-a 3S-greet-S.IMP.FV ‘Greet your wife!’

mw-ina 1CL-wife

m-obe 1CL-2S.POSS

b. ?mu-posh-e 3S-greet-SBJV.FV ‘Greet your wife!’

mw-ina 1CL-wife

m-obe 1CL-2S.POSS

3.5 Adjectives There are very few true adjectives, resulting in a small adjectival class with members often zero-derived from their nominal counterparts. The definitional criteria for an adjective are relatively straightforward and identified primarily through their syntactic distribution and secondarily through their morphological behavior. As such, they are inflected according to the corresponding nominal and are located immediately thereafter; otherwise, it can appear as the head of a noun phrase with an elliptical reading. Due to the small size of this class, true adjectives contain semantic content that refers to dimension, age, value, quantification, position, and cardinal numbers. Quantifiers and numerals are discussed in more detail in §3.7, but listed below in (114) are the adjectives attested in the narratives while (115) demonstrates the usage of each. (114) a. -suma b. -bi c. -kulu d. -noono e. -tali f. -ipi

‘good, beautiful’ ‘bad, ugly’ ‘big, wide’ ‘small, little’ ‘high, long’ ‘low, short, narrow’

g. -bishi h. -pya i. -onse j. -tatu k. -ingi l. -mbi

‘unripe’ ‘new’ ‘all’ ‘three’ ‘many’ ‘other’

(115) a. ki-lundu ki-suma 7CL-cloth.tree.bark 7CL-good ‘good cloth [of tree bark]’

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b. umw-ana 1CL-child ‘bad child’

mu-bi 1CL-bad

c. ka-bu-uumba mu-kulu 12CL-14CL-clay 1CL-big ‘powerful creator’

d. ka-bw-ato ka-noono 12CL-14CL-canoe 12CL-little ‘little canoe’

e. ki-mw-ando iki-tali 12CL-14CL-canoe 12CL-little ‘long rope’

f. umw-ando 3CL-rope ‘short rope’

uw-ipi 3CL-short

g. iky-uungwa 7CL-orange ‘unripe orange’

ki-bishi 7CL-unripe

h. ba-ntu 2CL-entity ‘all people’

b-onse 2CL-all

i. n-kalamu 10CL-lion ‘three lions’

shi-tatu 10CL-three

j. ifi-ntu f-ingi 8CL-entity 8CL-many ‘many things’

k. ama-shikulo ya-mbi 6CL-engage.gift 6CL-other ‘other engagement gifts’

Nonetheless, there are three other means through which nouns can be characterized even without true adjectives. The first is through the use of the associative construction that frequently precedes an infinitival. The second is through the use of relativized verbal phrases. (116) a. mee-nshi ya-∅-ku-nwa 6CL-water 6CL.REL-PRES-15CL-drink ‘drinking water’ b. mu-ntu uu-sha-lub-ile 1CL-entity 1CL.REL-NEG-lose-PERF ‘[religiously] saved person’ (lit. person who is not lost) c. umu-bili uu-∅-kosa 3CL-body 3CL.REL-PRES-be.hard ‘hard body’5 d. ka-lulu ka-∅-li-tumpa saana 12CL-rabbit 12CL-PRES-be.stupid very ‘very stupid rabbit’ (lit. Rabbit he is stupid) 5

This was used metaphorically in one of the narratives to refer to a man’s erect penis, presumably not because this is the primary focus of his body but rather because this is the point of anatomical differentiation. Additionally, given the fact that one half-dozen lexical items were elicited for penis from a male consultant, at least one of which was metaphorical (ikyuuni—bird), it seems clear that this was a gendered decision.

82

e. mee-nshi ya-∅-talal-a 6CL-water 6CL.REL-PRES-be.cold-FV ‘cold water’ f. iki-ntu iky-∅-abuta 7CL-thing 7CL.REL-PRES-be.white ‘white thing’ g. iki-tabu ky-a kale 7CL-book 7CL-ASSOC already ‘old/historical book’ Finally, certain inherent qualities can also be provided nominally through a small set of prefixes as in (117), rendering unnecessary an adjectival in any of the three preceding forms. These most notably include ka- for cleverness, ba- as an honorific, shi- as a masculine marker, na- as a feminine marker, and utu- as an indicator of diminished growth. (117) a. ka-ka-lulu 12CL-12CL-rabbit ‘clever rabbit’

b. ba-n-sofu HON-9CL-elephant ‘respectable elephant’

c. shi-fwe MASC-1P.PL ‘our father’

c. na-kulu FEM-big ‘grandmother’

e. na-m-fumu FEM-1CL-chief ‘chieftess’

f. utu-boowa 13CL-mushroom ‘immature mushrooms’

g. ba-na-ka-bu-umba HON-FEM-12CL-14CL-clay ‘respectable female creator’ 3.5.1 Quantifiers Aushi quantifiers arrive in numeral and non-numeral forms. They are most accurately treated as a subset of the adjectival class, especially as it concerns numbers one through five and non-numerals.

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3.5.1.1 Numeral Quantifiers Cardinal numbers in Aushi utilize a base-ten system. Only the numbers one through five are inflected according to the corresponding noun’s class (-mo, -bili, -tatu, -nne, -sano), and this includes larger numbers that also contain it, i.e. the “two” in two, twelve, twentytwo, etc. Numbers six through nine always retain the same form, and the number ten (ikumi) is pluralized for all subsequent tens-groups (amakumi). The words for hundred (umwanda) and thousand (ikana) function identically in that they arise in singular and plural forms but do not take the prefix of the accompanying nominal. Numbers eleven through fifteen utilize the class 7/8 prefixes. The table below contains the forms one through twenty for the noun umuntu/abantu. Table 3.8: Cardinal Numbers 1 umo 11 ikumi na cimo 2 babili 12 ikumi na fibili 3 batatu 13 ikumi na fitatu 4 banne 14 ikumi na finne 5 basano 15 ikumi na fisano 6 mutanda 16 ikumi na mutanda 7 cine lubali 17 ikumi na cine lubali 8 cine konse konse 18 ikumi na cine konse konse 9 pabula 19 ikumi na pabula 10 ikumi (limo) 20 amakumi yabili Because the noun is the head of the noun phrase (as described previously in §3.2), the numerals must follow the nouns they quantify and take the appropriate concord. (118) a. aba-ana ba-bili 2CL-child 2CL-two ‘two children, both children’ c. in-soka 10CL-snake ‘three snakes’

shi-tatu 10CL-three

b. im-bwa 9CL-dog ‘one dog’

i-mo 9CL-one

d. i-sabi ya-nne 5CL-fish 5CL-four ‘four fish(es)’

84

e. ama-shina 6CL-name ‘two names’

ya-bili 6CL-two

f. utu-kondo 13CL-toe ‘five toes’

g. ify-uuni 8CL-bird ‘four birds’

fi-nne 8CL-four

h. iki-bwe ki-mo 7CL-stone 7CL-one ‘one pebble’

(119) aba-ntu 2CL-entity i-tatu 4CL-three

utu-sano 13CL-five

ikana limo 5CL-thousand 5CL-one

na and

na and

ci-ne lu-bali 7CL-seven

ama-kumi 6CL-ten

imy-anda 3CL-hundred

na mu-tanda ba-∅-li ku-no and 3CL-six 3P-PRES-COP 17CL-here ‘One-thousand three-hundred and seventy-six people (1367) are here.’ Ordinal numbers utilize almost identical forms of the cardinal numbers; however, they require the use of either (1) the associative marker -a or (2) a relativized verbal phrase with -alenga with the corresponding concord. Additionally, numbers one through five employ the Class 14 prefix (bu-) regardless of the nominal class to which the quantified noun belongs. (120) a. ikitabu kya kwambilapo/kya ntanshi b. ikitabu kya konkapo/kya bubili c. ikitabu ikyalenga butatu d. ikitabu ikyalenga bunne e. ikitabu ikyalenga busano f. ikitabu ikyalenga mutanda g. ikitabu ikyalenga ikumi h. ikitabu ikyalenga ikana

(‘the first book’) (‘the second book’) (‘the third book’) (‘the fourth book’) (‘the fifth book’) (‘the sixth book’) (‘the tenth book’) (‘the one thousandth book’)

3.5.1.2 Non-Numeral Quantifiers There are three non-numeral quantifiers used regularly, which all belong to the adjectival class: -onse (‘all’), -ingi (‘many, several’), and -mbi (‘[an]other’). As such, they are variable in form and require the corresponding nominal class prefix and are postposed.

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Nonetheless, -mbi was found in the narratives in prenominal position and pragmatically used to signal difference for narrative effect as in (125). (121) ba-a-mw-ib-il-a umunani ∅-onse 3P-PST1-3S-steal-APPL-FV 3CL-relish 3CL-all ‘They stole all of [his] relish.’ (122) mw-alaa-kut-a fye 2P-FUT2-call.out-FV just

aba-ntu 2CL-entity

b-onse 2CL-all

ik-walo kw-onse 7CL-chiefdom 17CL-all ‘You will call out to all of the people in the entire chiefdom.’ (123) ubw-ina-n-ama b-onse 14CL-entity-9CL-animal 2CL-all ‘All of the animals [in the group] agreed.’ (124) a. ify-akulya if-ingi 7CL-food 7CL-many ‘much food, a lot of food’ c. na imy-aka and 3CL-year ‘and many years’

iy-ingi 3CL-many

bw-a-sumin-a 14CL-PST 1-agree-FV

b. in-tambi 10CL-proverb ‘many sayings’

sh-ingi 10CL-many

d. im-fumu 9CL-chief ‘another chief’

iyi-mbi 9CL-other

(125) ka-mbi aka-shimi 13CL-other 13CL-story ‘[Here is] another story.’

ako 17CL.here

(126) ba-∅-ko-mon-a 3P-PRES2-15CL-see-FV

m-fumu 10CL-chief

shi-mbi 10CL-other

mu ncende 18CL 10CL-place

shi-mbi 10CL-other

ishi-∅-kwet-a 10CL-PRES-have-FV

sha bw-aushi 10CL.POSS 14CL-ushi ‘They see different chiefs in other parts of Ushiland.’ 3.6 Adverbs There are three major types of adverbs: temporal, locative, and manner adverbs. Each of the three types has similar syntactic distribution, i.e. appearing after the head of the phrase 86

they modify. If the adverb modifies an adjective, for example, it will appear after the adjective; similarly, if the adverb modifies a verb, then it will appear after the verbal phrase. Temporal adverbs provide greater clarity into the associated time frame of the utterance. These time frames can be absolute in the case of days of the week and months of the year, or they can be relative as in (127) below. The most important trait, however, is that these are invariable, i.e. their phonological and morphological remain constant. A few of these are illustrated contextually in (128), (129), and (130). (127) a. nomba b. nomba line c. na nomba d. leelo e. mailo f. masooshi g. niinshi h. kale i. kalekale j. nakabili k. kila

‘now’ ‘right now’ ‘still’ ‘today’ ‘yesterday, tomorrow’ ‘day before yesterday, day after tomorrow’ ‘then’ ‘already’ ‘long ago’ ‘again’ (lit. and [for the] second time) ‘every’

(128) nomba n-∅-ko-mon-a uyu mu-ntu now 1S-PRES2-15CL-see-FV 1CL.DEM 1CL-entity ‘Now I see this guy […]’ (129) pa-kutila ba-ka-lal-an-a 16CL-in.order.to 3P-FUT3-sleep-REC.FV ‘So that they can go and have sex tomorrow’

mailo tomorrow

(130) niinshi ba-ali-tamp-a kale uku-pekany-a then 3P-PST3-start-FV already 15CL-prepare-FV ‘Then they had already started preparing for […]’ Locative adverbs provide greater clarity into the relative location but differ from their demonstrative counterparts in that they do not qualify a nominal alone. They are formed using the locative class prefixes and indicate the positionality of the speaker and the clause being characterized (pa-, ku-, mu-). The following examples demonstrate the specificity of

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this location, as (131) is more general, (132) is specific (cf. ‘right here’), and (133) demonstrates inside location. (131) ta-pa-ali-fye NEG-16CL-PST3.COP-just ‘There was nobody here.’

umu-ntu nangu u-mo pa-no 1CL-entity somebody 1CL-one 16CL.here

(132) w-a-is-a ku-no ku m-fumu Bakalasa 2S-PST1-come-FV 17CL.here 17LOC 9CL-chief HON-PN ‘You have come here to the chiefdom of Bakalasa.’ (133) ta-mw-aikal-e mu-no mu ch-alo ch-andi NEG-2P-stay-FV 18CL.here 18CL 7CL-chiefdom 7CL-1S.POSS ‘You will not settle here in my chiefdom.’ (134) b-onse ba-∅-li 2CL-all 3P-PRES-COP ‘Everyone is there.’

pa-lya 16CL-there

(135) ba-∅-lee-y-a ku-lya 3P-PRES1-PROG-go-FV 17CL.there ‘They are going there to [his] house.’ (136) ba-alaa-mu-pi-sha-ko 3P-FUT2-3S-pass-CAUS-LOC

ku ng’-anda 17CL 9CL-house

umu-pongoshi 1CL-in-law

na with

in-dalama mu-lya 9CL-money 18CL.there ‘They will make the son-in-law go there [through] the inside [of the house while giving him] money.’ Finally, manner adverbs are employed to indicate how an action was undertaken. The most commonly used manner adverbs from the narratives are found below in (137), though it should be understood that many similar qualities are expressed lexically through particular verbs or morphologically through reduplication. (137) a. saana b. fye c. bwiino d. pamo e. bwangu f. panoono

‘very, quite, really’ ‘just, simply’ ‘well’ ‘together’ (lit. to/in one) ‘quickly’ ‘slowly’ 88

g. panoono panoono ‘really slowly’ (138) eya n-∅-dee-fway-a yes 1S-PRES-PROG-want-FV ‘Yes, I really want to get married.’

uku-p-w-a fye saana 15CL-marry-PASS-FV just very

(139) ta-ba-ala-ikal-a pa-mo NEG-3P-PRES-remain-FV 16CL-one ‘They have not [yet] sat down together.’ (140) na and

ka-lulu 12CL-rabbit

pa-noono 16CL-little

no and

mu-lya mw-ine 18CL-there 18CL-self

na uku-mu-kob-a ku ma-tako and 15CL-3S-hook-FV 17CL 6CL-buttocks ‘And slowly [he] hooked Rabbit on [his] buttocks.’ 3.7 Interrogatives Interrogatives are almost entirely invariable in form, excluding (ba)nani (‘who’), which must match in number the noun under investigation. Although the interrogatives can be found clause-initially, they are more frequently found clause-finally with raised intonation to signal the question. Speakers of Bemba frequently use the word bushe discursively to signal that the statement to follow is a question, but this was not found in a single utterance of the Aushi. (141) a. kwi b. nshi c. nindo d. ati

‘where’ ‘which, what type’ ‘what’ ‘what’

(142) mu-∅-ko-y-a 2P-PRES2-15CL-go-FV ‘Where are you going?’

e. lwisa f. (ba)nani g. shaani h. shinga

‘when’ ‘who’ ‘how, what’ ‘how much/ many’

kwi where

(143) mu-∅-lee-fway-a tu-kit-e 2P-PRES1-PROG-want-FV 1P-do-SBJV.FV ‘What do you want us to do?’

shaani how

(144) ba-ali-pap-a ati ki-∅-li 3P-PST3-surprise-FV PRAG 7CL-PRES-COP ‘They were shocked [and asked], how is it?’

shaani how 89

(145) ati ni nani PRAG COP who [They asked] who is it?’ 3.8 Prepositions The lexical category of prepositions indicates location and appear, much as their name signifies, before the nominal in the prepositional phrase. This is accomplished most often through the use of the prefixes from classes 16, 17, and 18, respectively pa, ku, and mu. These three class prefixes in Aushi indicate a wide variety of their English counterparts without differentiation in morphological form; statives are indicated with the copula as in (146)-(148), and directionality is indicated with other verbs as in (149)-(151). (146) ichi-tenge chi-∅-li mu ng’-anda 7CL-cloth 7CL-PRES-COP 18CL 9CL-house ‘The fabric cloth is inside the house.’ (147) ichi-tabu chi-∅-li pa chi-tenge 7CL-book 7CL-PRES-COP 16CL 7CL-cloth ‘The book is on/above the fabric cloth.’ (148) no kw-is-a kw-ikal-a and 15CL-come-FV 15CL-live-FV ‘[…] and returned to live in Ushiland.’

mu bw-aushi 18CL 14CL-Ushi

(149) ba-a-mon-a ku-lya ku chi-sankano ku maliketi 3P-PST1-see-FV 17CL-there 17CL 7CL-meeting 17CL market ‘They saw there in the meeting place at the market […]’ (150) a-a-fik-a pa mu-shi pa Kundamfumu 3S-PST1-arrive-FV 16CL 3CL-village 16CL Kundamfumu ‘He arrived at the village of Kundamfumu.’ (151) umu-sambi a-∅-li mu-pepi 1CL-student 3S-PRES-COP 18CL-near ‘The student is next to/near the woman.’

mw-anakashi 1CL-woman

However, when these are not used independently as simple prepositions, they still arise in complex prepositions, i.e. prepositions that requires another lexical item to signify the 90

location. In particular, the complex prepositions arise more frequently in conjunction with the copula, and the prepositions indicating positionality with reference to the first- or second-person are often possessed as in (155) and (156). It should be noted that syntactically complex prepositions are realized as one phonological word and function as one grammatical word, though they still retain their compositionality, i.e. consisting of a locative prefix and an accompanying noun. In the case of (152), for example, the complex preposition contains a locative prefix (pa), the noun for ‘ground’ (nshi), and the genitive possessor (ya), i.e. literally ‘on the ground of X.’ (152) ichi-tabu 7CL-book

chi-∅-li pa-nshi 7CL-PRES-COP 16CL-9CL-ground

y-a 10CL-ASSOC

chi-tenge 7CL-cloth ‘The book is under/beneath the fabric cloth.’ (153) iki-bwe 7CL-stone

ki-mo 7CL-one

uku-biik-a mu-n-shi 15CL-put-FV 18CL-9CL-ground

y-a mu-pundu 9CL-ASSOC 3CL-tree ‘[and] put a pebble under the tree.’ (154) ichi-tabu chi-∅-li pakati ka fi-tenge 7CL-book 7CL-PRES-COP 16CL 8CL-cloth ‘The book is between/in the middle of the fabric cloths.’ (155) umu-sambi a-∅-li ku n-tanshi 1CL-student 3S-PRES-COP 17CL 9CL-first ‘The student is in front of/before me.’

y-andi 9CL-1S.POSS

(156) umu-sambi a-∅-li ku numa 1CL-student 3S-PRES-COP 17CL 9CL-after ‘The student is behind/after me.

y-andi 9CL-1S.POSS

(157) ba-a-lee-y-a mpaka 3P-PST1-PROG-go-FV until ‘They crossed until they did what?’

ba-a-kit-a 3P-PST1-do-FV

shaani how

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(158) umu-sha a-∅-fw-a ne=fy-ebo mu ka-nwa 1CL-slave 3S-PRES-die-FV with=7CL-word 18CL 12CL-mouth ‘A slave dies with words in his mouth.’ Finally, expressions to demonstrate association (‘with’) or a lack of association (‘without’) are indicated differently than expected. While both rely on the copular verb in most instances, the latter is negated (e.g. tapali/takuli/tamuli), while the former requires the affirmative and the conjunction na (‘with’). (159) na ba-shi-bu-kombe with 2CL-MASC-14CL-representative ‘with his representative’ (160) nga if

w-a-ku-man-a 2S-PST1-15CL-meet-FV

b-akwe 2CL-3S.POSS

no=mw-aume with=1CL-man

u-ka-mit-a 2S- FUT3-be.pregnant-FV ‘If you meet with [have sex with] a man, you’ll become pregnant.’ (161) uku-leng-a 15CL-draw-FV

umu-bili 3CL-body

w-a kw-a 3CL-ASSOC 17CL-ASSOC

na-mayo na ka-punda FEM-mother with 12CL-hole ‘to draw the body of a lady with a hole [to indicate the vagina].’ 3.9 Conjunctions The lexical category of conjunctions is quite small, as many of the prototypical functions of this category are accomplished discursively through other means. Nonetheless, conjunctions are invariable in morphological form and defined based on their function as the unifier of independent elements at the level of the phrase or clause. Although their syntactic distribution is engaged in the following chapter, listed below are the most common conjunctions from the narratives. At the level of pragmatics, however, it should

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be stated that many of these also function as filler words while the interlocutor collects his or her thoughts. (162) na nga nomba leelo pantu awe so ati niinshi

‘and’ ‘if, when, how about’ ‘but, however’ ‘but’ ‘because’ ‘well, so’ ‘so’ ‘well, that’ ‘then’

3.10 Ideophones Unlike many of the other lexical categories proposed thus far, ideophones are less clearly defined based on linguistic criteria alone, especially when one recognizes that only seven such lexical items are identified in the narratives. As such, ideophones are treated here, following Doke (1935:118), as “[a] vivid representation of an idea in sound […] a word, often onomatopoeic, which describes a predicate, qualificative or adverb in respect to manner colour, sound, smell, action, state or intensity.” In this sense, there are seven such utterances attested in the narratives that meet these semantic criteria. Regarding morphophonological criteria, however, Bodomo (2006:2004) argues that ideophones constitute a phonologically distinct lexical category that contains members that “tend to be longer words to describe repetition or the intensity of an action or event they lexicalize.” This is not the case in Aushi, though, as ideophones are strictly monosyllabic as in (163ad) or bisyllabic (163e-g). Perhaps this is the reason, then, that repetition and intensity are indicated through full reduplication. Each ideophone presented in (163) is more fully contextualized in (164)-(171). One point of interest, however, is that ideophones are

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often—though not exclusively—introduced to the listener in conjunction with ati serving as a focus marker. (163) a. po b. wa c. kwaa d. mpii e. lulululu f. usuu g. yatii h. kilwa

‘splashing (of a hippopotamus)’ ‘swimming (of a hippo)’ ‘sound of surprise’ ‘beating a small drum’ ‘celebratory sound’ ‘spitting saliva’ ‘splashing (of an elephant’s trunk’) ‘hopping (of a rabbit)’

(164) Ulwapumu, po po po! ‘You jumped, po po po! (165) Cofwe kulya aisa mu meenshi, wa wa wa! ‘Hippo went into the water there, wa wa wa! (166) Ukaya chita fye ati kwaa! ‘You go there and just do it like kwaa!’ (167) Elyo kalisha pa ng’oma ati na mpii! ‘That’s when he beat the drum – and like mpii!’ (168) Lulululu, bebele awe chawama nokuwama! ‘Lulululu, [and] they’ll say, wow, this is nice, really nice!’ (169) Kamusakila na mate kumenso ati usuu! ‘He spat saliva in his face like usuu! (170) Insofu yaisa kuponya nomwango, yatii! ‘Elephant came and put his trunk down, yatii! (171) Kalulu efyo aingile pakwani kilwa kilwa kilwa kilwa uyoo! ‘Then Rabbit entered the bush kilwa kilwa kilwa kilwa, woo!’ 3.11 Derivation Derivation arises primarily through the use of verbal extensions and the nominal class prefixes. In the case of the former, these extensions serve to increase or decrease the valency of the root, which also changes the intended meaning and the requirements for grammaticality. In the case of the latter, nouns can be derived from other nouns through 94

the use of the nominal class prefixes; the presumed semantic cohesion of Proto-Bantu prefixes is not realized quite as neatly in Aushi. Finally, nouns and verbs can be derived from one another.

3.11.1 Verbal Extensions There are six frequently used verbal extensions that serve to modify the number of lexical slots allocated to a verb, five of which are found are found immediately between the stem and the final vowel and which are referred to in the literature as “modified stems.” The only verbal extension that is found pre-root is the reflexive, which is valence-decreasing and arises as /-i-/, thus indicating that the subject and the unspecified object are coreferential. Because of its pre-root location and its function, it is better treated through analogy as an object marker. The reflexive was not found in the narratives and instead was found through elicitation in the contrastive examples below. (172) a.

b.

(173) a.

b.

n-∅-dee-ku-mon-a 1S-PRES-PROG-2S-see-FV ‘I am seeing you (right now).’ n-∅-dee-i-mon-a 1S-PRES-PROG-REFL-see-FV ‘I am seeing myself (right now).’ ba-∅-lee-ku-mon-a 3P-PRES1-PROG-2S-see-FV ‘They are seeing you (right now).’ ba-∅-lee-i-mon-a 3P-PRES1-PROG-REFL-see-FV ‘They are seeing themselves (right now).’

The applicative is a valence-increasing verbal extension and is formed using /-il-/ or /-el-/. The former is found in verbs whose final vowel in the root is high or low, while

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the latter is found in verbs whose final vowel in the root is mid. The applicative oftentimes, but not exclusively, results in a benefactive meaning, i.e. for or on the behalf of someone else. (174) ukw-ipik-il-a 15CL-cook-APPL-FV ‘to cook for …’

ukw-ipik-a 15CL-cook-FV ‘to cook’

uku-ti-il-a 15CL-say-APPL-FV ‘to tell to …’

uku-ti 15CL-say.FV ‘to tell, to say’

uku-fwa-il-a 15CL-look.for-APPL-FV ‘to look for …’

uku-fway-a 15CL-look.for.FV ‘to want’

The causative is a valence-increasing verbal extension and is formed using /-ish-/ or /-esh-/. The former is found in verbs whose final vowel in the root is high or low, while the latter is found in verbs whose final vowel in the root is mid. The causative indicates that the subject is causing, forcing, or encouraging the object to undertake the described action. For example, the causative form of ukusambila (‘to learn’) is ukusambilisha, which literally means ‘to make someone learn,’ which understandably is the goal of education. (175) uku-sambil-ish-a 15CL-learn-CAUS-FV ‘to teach’

uku-sambil-a 15CL-learn-FV ‘to learn’

uku-shit-ish-w-a 15CL-buy-CAUS-PASS-FV ‘to be sold’

uku-shit-a 15CL-buy-FV ‘to buy’

ukw-en-sh-a 15CL-go-CAUS-FV ‘to drive’

ukw-end-a 15CL-go-FV ‘to walk’

uku-land-ishy-an-a 15CL-speak-CAUS-REC-FV ‘to cause to speak to one another’

uku-land-a 15CL-speak-FV ‘to speak’

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uku-pw-ish-a 15CL-finish-CAUS-FV ‘to make come to an end’

uku-pw-a 15CL-finish-FV ‘to finish’

uku-fum-ish-a 15CL-remove-CAUS-FV ‘to make something be removed’

uku-fumy-a 15CL-remove-FV ‘to remove’

The reciprocal is a valence-decreasing verbal extension and is formed using /-an-/. It indicates that both parties are participating in the action, either as subjects or recipients. This corresponds most accurately to “each other” or “one another.” Sometimes the reciprocal has a similar meaning to the non-reciprocal verb in conjunction with the adverb pamo (‘together’), but this is not always possible and can sometimes result in unintelligible utterances. For instance, ukulala pamo (‘to sleep together’) is related to but different from ukulalana (‘to sleep with each other’). (176) uku-lal-an-a 15CL-lie.down-REC-FV ‘to have sex with each other’

uku-lal-a 15CL-lie.down -FV ‘to sleep, to have sex’

uku-mon-an-a 15CL-see-REC-FV ‘to see each other’

uku-mon-a 15CL-see-FV ‘to see’

uku-p-an-a 15CL-marry-REC-FV ‘to marry each other’

uku-p-a 15CL-marry-FV ‘to marry’

uku-temw-an-a 15CL-love-REC-FV ‘to love each other’

uku-temw-a 15CL-love-FV ‘to love’

ukw-ipik-il-an-a 15CL-cook-APPL-REC-FV ‘to cook for one another’

ukw-ipik-a 15CL-cook-FV ‘to cook’

The passive voice is a valence-decreasing verbal extension and is formed using the infix /-u-/, which is represented orthographically as w due to glide formation. The use of

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the passive results in object promotion, i.e. the former object (patient) becomes the grammatical subject of the verbal phrase. If accompanied by an adjunct, the meaning of the passive extension can be expanded, i.e. ku precedes the agent and na precedes the instrument. Although the passive construction is generally neutral, the use of the active or passive form of the same verb is sometimes culturally encoded according to one’s sex. For instance, men “marry” but women “become married.” (177) ukw-ipik-w-a 15CL-cook-PASS-FV ‘to be cooked’

ukw-ipik-a 15CL-cook-FV ‘to cook’

uku-land-w-a 15CL-speak-PASS-FV ‘to be told’

uku-land-a 15CL-speak-FV ‘to speak, tell, say’

uku-p-w-a 15CL-marry-PASS-FV ‘to be married’

uku-p-a 15CL-marry-FV ‘to marry’

uku-fuund-w-a 15CL-teach-PASS-FV ‘to be taught’

uku-fuund-a 15CL-teach-FV ‘to teach’

uku-lemb-w-a 15CL-write-PASS-FV ‘to be written’

uku-lemb-a 15CL-write-FV ‘to write’

The stative is a valence-decreasing verbal extension and is formed variously by /ik-/ and /-ek-/. The former is found in verbs whose final vowel in the root is high or low, while the latter is found in verbs whose final vowel in the root is mid. Additionally, what is elsewhere described as a reverse (/-uk-/) does not always carry this meaning and, instead, also produces as a stative. Nonetheless, the stative extension is similar to the passive in semantics, but a key difference is that the stative cannot take an object of its own, while the passive can be qualified by an instrumental adjunct.

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(178) uku-temw-ik-a 15CL-love-STAT-FV ‘to be loved’

uku-temw-a 15CL-love-FV ‘to love’

uku-pyan-ik-a 15CL-new-STAT-FV ‘to be started, initiated’

ukw-im-ik-a 15CL-stop-STAT-FV ‘to be stopped’

uku-kambat-ik-a 15CL-stick-STAT-FV ‘to be put’

uku-kambat-il-a 15CL-stick-APPL-FV ‘to put’

uku-mon-ek-a 15CL-see-STAT-FV ‘to be seen, to appear’

uku-mon-a 15CL-see-FV ‘to see’

uku-fum-uk-a 15CL-be.from-STAT-FV ‘to (be) expire(d)’

uku-fum-a 15CL-be.from.FV ‘to be from’

uku-put-uk-a 15CL-break-STAT-FV ‘to be broken’

uku-putul-a 15CL-break-FV ‘to break’

3.11.2 Other Derivation The most straightforward derivation is that of gerunds, which are zero-derived from their infinitival counterparts as in (179). Nouns are also derived from one another through the use of different nominal class prefixes. While this can theoretically be accomplished with every prefix, this is infrequently the reality. In fact, there are only eight that yield significantly more consistent results: umu-, aba-, iki-, ubu-, utu-, ka-, na-, and shi-. Umu/aba- refer to singular and plural human or human-like entities. Iki- refers often but not exclusively to ‘things.’ Ubu- creates abstractions, and utu- is used for neutral or pejorative diminution. Agentives that are not created with umu- utilize aka-. Finally, na- and shicorrespond to masculine and feminine nouns, respectively. (179) a. ukukula b. ukubomba

‘to build, building’ ‘to work, working’ 99

c. ukwipusha

‘to ask, asking’

(180) a. umuntu b. abantu c. utubantu d. ubuntu e. ikintu f. akantu

‘person’ (human entity) ‘people’ (human entities) ‘inadequate humans’ (pseudo-human entity) ‘humanity’ (abstract human entity) ‘thing’ (non-human entity) ‘thing’ (small non-human entity)

(181) a. umwaushi b. abaushi c. ikyaushi d. ubwaushi

‘Aushi person’ ‘Aushi people’ ‘Aushi language’ ‘Aushi territory’

(182) a. inama b. akanama c. ubwinanama

‘animal’ ‘piece of meat’ ‘gathering [place] of animals’

(183) a. namfumu b. nabwinga c. banakabuumba d. shibukombe e. shichimbusa f. shibwinga

‘chieftess’ ‘bride’ ‘respectable female creator’ ‘male representative’ ‘male instructor of imbusa’ ‘groom’

(184) a. ukukula (‘to build’) b. ukulemba (‘to write’) c. ukufuunda (‘to teach’) d. ukutontonkanya (‘to think’) e. ukwipika (‘to cook’) f. ukwensha (‘to drive’)

kakula (‘builder’) kalimba (‘writer’) kafundisha (‘teacher’) katontonkanya (‘thinker’) kepika (‘chef’) kensha (‘driver’)

(185) a. ukusambilila (‘to learn’) b. ukuluunga (‘to hunt’) c. ukulima (‘to farm’) d. ukulya (‘to eat’) e. ukubomba (‘to work’) f. ukwipusha (‘to ask’)

umusambi (‘student’) umulunshi (‘hunter’) umulimi (‘farmer’) umulili (‘eater’) umubomfi (‘worker’) umwipushi (‘asker’)

3.12 Chapter Summary This chapter introduced the lexical categories in Aushi before examining each in turn. Nominal morphology is discussed through the presentation of the eighteen noun classes, three of which serve as locatives. Singular and plural pairings are described, and each class 100

is accompanied by example lexical items. Personal, possessive, and demonstrative pronouns are introduced before shifting to verbal morphology, including the most common morphological indicators of tense, aspect, and mood. Next, the remaining lexical categories are presented, viz. adjectives, which constitute a small class and have similar morphological behavior to nouns; simple and compound prepositions; and morphological invariates, including adverbs, interrogatives, conjunctions, and ideophones. Finally, the discussion turns to nominal↔verbal derivation.

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Chapter 4: Syntax 4.0 Chapter Overview This chapter introduces the basic constituent ordering at the level of the clause; describes the syntax of the noun and verbal phrase and how these two lexical categories interact with other lexical categories, including adverbials and complements; discusses negation, question formation, and conditionals; and presents the means through which simple clauses can be joined to produce compound or complex clauses.

4.1 Basic Constituent Ordering The basic constituent ordering of the clause in Aushi is SVO, where S represents the lexically specified subject, V represents the predicate, and O represents the lexically specified object. Adjuncts can appear at either the leftmost or rightmost edge. It should also be recalled, however, that the verb allocates a slot for a grammatically expressed subject and object. As a result, lexically specified subjects for first- and second-person singular and plural subjects appear primarily in focus constructions, while third-person singular and plural subjects are frequently expressed overtly to avoid ambiguity. Similarly, a lexically specified object often presents new information or provides ongoing clarity from utterance to utterance sometimes called cohesion; interestingly, these occur more frequently in the data than their grammatically specified counterpart. Nonetheless, the basic constituent ordering is better expressed as (S)V for an intransitive clause and as (S)V(O+) for a transitive clause. 102

For instance, the most typical intransitive clauses are provided below in (1) and (2); the most typical transitive clauses, in (3), (4), (5), and (6). Both of the intransitive examples follow the (S)V constituent ordering and contain a verbal phrase and a grammatical subject, but only the example in (2) specifies a lexical subject overtly. Similarly, all of the transitive examples follow the (S)V(O) constituent ordering, though transitive clauses were less consistent in the total elements supplied. While the subjects in (3), (4), and (6) are easily inferred from context, only (5) overtly specifies a lexical subject. Similarly, the example in (6) contains two clauses, neither of which specifies a lexical subject. (1) ba-a-lal-a 3P-PST1-sleep-FV ‘They slept.’ (2) ubw-inanama bw-a-fik-a 14CL-animal.gathering 14CL-PST1-arrive-FV ‘All of the animals arrived.’ (3) a-∅-lee-seep-a 3S-PRES1-PROG-plant-FV ‘S/he is planting crops.’ (4) m-peel-e 1S-give-IMP.FV ‘Give me my wife!’

ifi-seepo 7CL-crop

umu-kashi w-andi 1CL-woman 1CL-1S.POSS

(5) in-soka shi-bili shy-ali-fyel-e 10CL-snake 10CL-two 10CL-PST3-give.birth-FV ‘Two snakes gave birth to a child.’

umw-ana 1CL-child

(6) ba-aki-sum-a ala ba-aki-sum-a iki-puba 3P-PST2-bite-FV INTERJ 3P-PST2-bite-FV 7CL-crazy ‘They bit, wow, they bit the crazy person!’ Still, while the grammatical or lexical subject or object arises as a noun in each of the previous examples, the grammatical subjects and objects can also be supplied by a relativized verbal phrase, an adjectival, or even remain unspecified—particularly in

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copular clauses. For instance, the construction in (7) unites an unspecified third-person singular subject with an impersonal, but coindexical relative phrase. The exemplars in (8) and (9) do not specify a nominal overtly and instead promote an adjectival phrase to the position of grammatical subject, as the subjects are already understood due to frequency of use in the narrative. Finally, two clauses are presented in (10) that constitute a questionanswer pair, both of which can only be understood within a clearly defined discursive context: As such, these two clauses literally mean, “Is thing-what? Thing-of English.” (7)

a-li uw-a-ku-kimfy-a 3S-COP 1CL.REL-PST1-15CL-defeat-FV ‘She is the one who defeated her friends.’

(8)

bw-ingi ba-ka-y-a mu-ku-ni-totel-a 14CL-many 3P-FUT3-go-FV 18CL-15CL-1S-thank-FV ‘Many [animals] are going to thank me.’

(9)

ba-mbi ∅ ku n-tanshi 2CL-other COP 17CL 9CL-front ‘The other [people] are in the front.’

(10)

(ni) ki-nshi ky-a (COP) 7CL-what 7CL-ASSOC ‘Which [book] (is it)? The English [book].’

aba-n=ankwe 2CL-friend=3S.POSS

iki-ngeleshi 7CL-English

However, this does not account for all of the attested constructions due to the influence of valence-changing operations, multiple objects (cf. §4.3), and focus constructions (cf. §4.7) that foreground either the direct or indirect object. Additionally, adjuncts arriving in the form of adverbial phrases, prepositional phrases, and conjunctions can appear on either the leftmost or rightmost edge. 4.2 Types of Phrases and Phrase Structure Constructions in Aushi can be reduced to seven types of phrases, which receive their classification from the leftmost element that serves as the head of the phrase. These 104

generally correspond to the lexical categories described in Chapter 3 and include nominal phrases (NP), verbal phrases (VP), associative phrases (AssocP), adjectival phrases (AdjP), adverbial phrases (AdvP), prepositional phrases (PP), and determiner phrases (DP). These phrases contain lexical sequences that function as a single constituent. In order to avoid couching the syntactic discussion within a complex theoretical framework, syntax trees, although familiar structures, are not employed in illustrating particular phrases and/or constructions; in spite of this, glossed examples indicate the behavior and demonstrate the construction of each of these phrases according to the phrase structure rules in Table 4.1. S DP NP VP AdjP AdvP AssocP PP

Table 4.1: Phrase Structure Rules → DP+VP → D(NP) → N(AssocP)(AdjP)(AssocP) → V* → Adj*(AdvP) → Adv* → Assoc+(Assoc)+[DP||VP||AdvP] → P+DP(AssocP)

4.2.1 Nominal Phrases The nominal phrase (NP) consists minimally of a noun and its accompanying noun class prefix and/or augment as in (11). Although the noun can be immediately followed by an AssocP, the placement of this phrase is dependent on the other elements in the noun phrase and the intended semantics. However, if a possessive pronoun is specified, which functions morphologically like an adjective, its syntactic behavior dictates that it appear in the majority of cases before the AssocP but always before an AdjP. The post-nominal placement of the AssocP and the AdjP are exemplified in (12) and (13), respectively. (11)

iki-shima 7CL-well ‘a/the well (for water)’

im-puku 9CL-bush.rat ‘a/the bush rat’ 105

(12)

a. im-busa y-a pa=n-shi 9CL-education 9CL-ASSOC 16CL=9CL-ground ‘education on the ground’ b. in-kondo sh-a n-ifwi 10CL-war 10CL-ASSOC 10CL-spear ‘wars of spears’ c. umu-mana w-a Lw-apula 3CL-river 3CL-ASSOC 11CL-Lwapula ‘the Lwapula River’

(13)

a. umu-kowa w-andi 3CL-clan 3CL-1S.POSS ‘my clan’ b. ubw-ikashi bw-akwe 14CL-life 14CL-3S.POSS ‘his/her life’ c. ba-shi-buk=obe 2CL-MASC-representative=2S.POSS ‘your male representative’ d. ama-sako 6CL-hair.animal ‘your hair’

y-enu 6CL-2P.POSS

On the other hand, the noun phrase can maximally contain also an adjectival phrase (AdjP) and/or an associative phrase (AssocP). While the position of the AdjP is strictly defined (see §4.2.3) and consistently occurs in the same post-nominal position, the position of the AssocP depends upon the presence of other elements in the NP. For instance, although there does exist a clear, almost unequivocal preference among speakers to place the demonstrative pronoun in pre-nominal position, this occurs especially in post-nominal position when its placement otherwise would result in a different construction altogether, viz. a predicateless construction as in (15a). To ensure that the qualities of a demonstrative pronoun cannot co-occur in any possession with the possessive pronoun, the examples in (14) are offered for disambiguation. While (14a-c) are grammatical and illustrate differing 106

syntactic placement of the demonstrative and possessive pronouns, (14d) reinforces the strict placement of the AssocP and (14e-f) demonstrate the agrammaticality of this cooccurrence when juxtaposed. (14)

a. uyu umupongoshi (‘this child-in-law’) b. umupongoshi uyu (‘this child-in-law’) c. umupongoshi wabo (‘your child-in-law’) d. *wabo umupongoshi (*‘your child in-law’) e. *umupongoshi wabo uyu (*‘this your child-in-law’) f. *umupongoshi uyu wabo (*‘this your child-in-law’)

(15)

a. uyu ∅ umu-pongoshi 1CL.DEM COP 1CL-child.in.law ‘This is your child-in-law.’ b. uyu umu-pongoshi 1CL.DEM 1CL-child.in.law ‘This child-in-law [of] yours.’

w-abo 1CL-2S.POSS

w-abo 1CL-2S.POSS

(16)

nomba uw-a-buul-a but 3CL.REL-PST1-get-FV ‘But the one who got it is Kisongo.’

ni COP

(17)

iki-mpondwa 7CL-peanut

e COP

w-a ku-no 3CL-ASSOC 17CL-here

kw-esu 17CL-1P.POSS

ku 17CL

Bakalasa Bakalasa

mu-nani 3CL-relish

bw-aushi 14CL-Ushi

Kisongo Kisongo

mu m-fumu 18CL 9CL-chief

Lukangaba Lukangaba

‘Peanut butter is the relish here in our Ushiland in the Chiefdom of Bakalasa Lukangaba.’

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Elements 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4

Table 4.2: Elements of the Nominal Phrase Pattern Exemplar Gloss amasumbu ‘fishing nets’ N Leesa ‘God’ kilemba iyi ‘these beans’ N+Dem taatafyala uyu ‘this son-in-law’ uyu muntu ‘this person’ Dem+N balya abapongoshi ‘those parents-in-law’ ulupwa lonse ‘all of the family’ N+Quant ifyakulya ifingi ‘many foods’ ikibwe kimo ‘one pebble’ N+Num abaana batatu ‘three children’ ng’oma yandi ‘my drum’ N+Poss umwana wabo ‘their child’ N+Rel muntu uushalubile ‘a saved person’ ‘those who are Dem+Rel balya abaleechiseka laughing at him’ inshita sha kale ‘a long time ago’ N+Assoc umwonga wa Lwapula ‘the Lwapula River’ ng’anda itali ‘a tall house’ N+Adj ikitabu kipya ‘a new book’ ichinongo icali pa ‘the clay pot which is N+Rel+PP mumana in the lake’ uyu umupongoshi ‘this child-in-law of Dem+N+Poss wabo yours’ ‘all of those who Dem+Rel+Adj aba abashala bonse stayed’ ng’anda shandi N+Poss+Adj ‘my small houses’ shinoono imfumu iyimbi iyakuti ‘another chief who is N+Adj+Rel ikale able to stay’ akanakashi kamo ‘a woman who has N+Num+Rel akapalamine come here’ uyu umulumendo ‘this young man who waishile has come’ Dem+N+Rel ‘those people who aba bantu bakaisa will come’ munandi musuma N+Poss+Adj+Adv ‘my very good friend’ saana

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4.2.2 Verbal Phrases The verbal phrase consists minimally of a single-word verb, excluding copular clauses which are characterized by different syntactic behavior (see §4.5), which can be preceded or followed by complements or adjuncts. In particular, complements of the verbal phrase are determiner phrases (for direct and indirect objects), adverbial phrases (if qualifying the verbal phrase itself), or phrases introduced by a subordinating conjunction. On the other hand, adjuncts most often arrive in the form of adverbial phrases (if qualifying the time or place) and prepositional phrases. Listed below are an intransitive example in (18) and a transitive example in (19), the latter which also has an adverbial adjunct in post-VP position. (18)

ubw-inanama bw-a-fik-a 14CL-animal.gathering 14CL-PST1-arrive-FV ‘All of the animals arrived.’

(19)

ba-a-sang-ile na=m-fumu 3P-PST1-find-PERF.FV FEM=9CL-chief ‘They found the chieftess across there.’

bushilya across

Nonetheless, both intransitive and transitive multi-word (periphrastic) verbal phrases are also commonplace, and there are four major forms in which they arise. The first form begins with a fully conjugated verb specified for tense/aspect/mood and is followed by an unconjugated verb (infinitival), the former which functions either as an auxiliary or as a matrix verb. The second form begins with a fully conjugated verb and is followed by a fully conjugated verb, wherein the two frequently differ in mood. The third form begins with a fully conjugated verb that functions as an auxiliary and is followed by an unconjugated verb (infinitival) preceded by the particle mu. The fourth form begins with a

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fully conjugated verb and is followed by an unconjugated verb (infinitival) preceded by the particle na. Examples of each are presented and distinguished from one another in (20). (20)

a. n-∅-dee-fway-a 1S-PRES1-PROG-FV ‘I want to speak.’

uku-land-a 15CL-speak-FV

b. n-∅-dee-fway-a 1S-PRES1-PROG-want-FV ‘I want you to sleep.’

u-sendam-e 2S-sleep-SBJV.FV

c. tu-ka-y-a ku-kum-an-a 1P-FUT3-go-FV 15CL-meet-REC-FV ‘We are going to meet [each other].’ d. a-a-is-a ku-n-sang-a 3S-PST1-come-FV 15CL-1S-find-FV ‘S/he came to find me.’ e. ba-ka-y-a mu-ku-ni-totel-a 3P-FUT3-go-FV 18CL-15CL-1S-thank-FV ‘They are going [in order] to praise me.’ f. mukwai mu-send-e no=ku-mu-send-a HON 3S-take-IMP.FV and=15CL-3S-take-FV ‘Sir, get him/her! [Seriously], get him/her!’ g. ba-ka-send-a ichi-pe 3P-FUT3-take-FV 7CL-meal

ch-a bw-ali 7CL-ASSOC 14CL-nshima

no=ku-y-a ku mu-pongoshi and=15CL-go-FV 17CL 1CL-in.law ‘They will take that meal of ubwali, and [then they will] go to the in-law. Many of these periphrastic verbal phrases have been described in previous scholarship due to their syntactic behavior as “complex tenses” in contrast to single-word verbal phrases that have been described as “simple tenses.” Ultimately, it is assumed here that such terminology is counterproductive in that it creates a difference without a distinction, i.e. although the verbal phrase may contain a verb that encodes

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tense/aspect/mood, this is attributed to verbal morphology and not to the syntax of the verbal phrase generally. Nonetheless, while the status of (u)ku is straightforwardly recognized as the infinitival prefix, the semantic status of mu in these constructions is less understood, primarily because it co-occurs with the infinitival prefix. Thus, the difference seems to be semantically driven and imply metaphorical directionality not dissimilar to the English construction “in order to.” (21)

nga na-mi-luk-a COND 1S -2P-weave-FV

aya DEM

nangu INDEF

fye ku ki-ntu simply 17CL 7CL-entity

bw-ingi 14CL-many

mu-ka-y-e 2P-FUT 3-go-SBJV.FV

ba-ka-y-a 3P-FUT3-go-FV

mu-ku-ni-totel-a 18CL-15CL-1S-thank-FV ‘When I weave [your hair], even if you will just go to the crowd of people, many are going to praise you.’ (22)

tw-a-is-a mu-ku-p-a mu-no mu ng’-anda 1P-come-FV 18CL-15CL-marry-FV 18CL.DEM 18CL 9CL-house ‘We are going to marry here in [this] house.’

(23)

nga mu-ko-fway-a COND 2P-PRES2-15CL-want-FV ‘If you want to go […]’

(24)

fweebo twa-∅-y-a mu-ku-sal-a ki-lundu 1P.PRON 1P-FUT1-go-FV 18CL-15CL-make-FV 7CL-bark.cloth ‘Us, we’re going to make the kilundu.’

mu-y-e-ko 18CL-go-SBJV.FV-LOC

These constructions are presented as complex verbal phrases where particular verbs can and do serve as the primary verb of a matrix clause when in isolation but not when found in conjunction with another verb, where it will instead function as an auxiliary. For instance, this is the case with the the conjugated verbs of movement in (25) and (26),

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unconjugated modal of ability in (27), the conjugated modal of desire and permission in (28), and the conjugated modal of obligation and necessity in (29). (25)

ba-a-is-a kw-ikal-a 3P-PST1-come-FV 15CL-live-FV ‘They came to live [here].’

(26)

ba-∅-y-a mu=ku-fway-a in-kito ku mi-koti 3P-FUT1-go-FV 18CL=17CL-want-FV 9CL-work 17CL 4CL-mine ‘They are going to find work in the mines.’

(27)

ng’-oma ku-ti yapatila shaani 9CL-drum 15CL-able.FV 9CL-stuck-FV how How can [your] drum be stuck in the mud?

(28)

n-fwilefye ukw-iy-a ku ma-somo y-andi mailo 1S-need.to-FV 15CL-go-FV 17CL 6CL-lesson 6CL-1S.POSS tomorrow ‘I need to go to my lessons tomorrow.’

(29)

umw-ana 1CL-child

w-esu 1CL-1PL.POSS

mu matipa 18CL 6CL-mud

a- ∅-lee-fway-a 3S-PRES1-PROG-want-FV

umu-kashana pa-no mu ng’-anda 1CL-girl 16CL-here 18CL 9CL-house ‘Our [son] wants a woman here in this house.’ 4.2.3 Associative Phrases The associative phrase (AssocP) is a construction that semantically functions as a periphrastic genitive that demonstrates a relationship between two NPs that results in complex nouns or signals possession. It minimally consists of (a) the associative marker that agrees in class with the preceding nominal phrase and (b) a complement. This prototypical complement is realized as another nominal phrase. The former is represented in the example in (30), and the latter unites three nouns in two associative phrases in (31). Nonetheless, its placement within the nominal phrase is dependent not strictly upon syntactic factors, but also semantic. Specifically, the closely bounded nature of the AssocP to the noun, as indicated by (31), depends on the presence of other elements in the NP. 112

(30)

umw-onga w-a 3CL-river 3CL-ASSOC ‘the Lwapula River’

Lwapula Lwapula

(31)

umw-ana mu-suma w-a im-fumu y-a 1CL-child 1CL-good 1CL-ASSOC 9CL-chief 9CL-ASSOC bw-aushi 14CL-Ushi ‘the good child of the chief of the Aushi [people]’

Usually no more than two or three successive associative phrases arise within the same nominal phrase, but the inclusion of more, especially with those that serve a pseudoadjectival function, is possible with marginal acceptability. Such examples did not arise within the narratives, but rather were elicited, likely due to the complexity in understanding the extensive recursion. The exemplar in (32), for instance, contains four associative phrases and was accepted by speakers as grammatical. (32)

iki-tabu 7CL-book

ky-a iki-ngeleshi ky-a umw-ana 7CL-ASSOC 7CL-English 7CL-ASSOC 1CL-child

mu-suma w-a im-fumu y-a bw-aushi 1CL-good 1CL-ASSOC 9CL-chief 9CL-ASSOC 14CL-Ushi ‘the Aushi [people]’s chief’s good child’s English book’ (lit. book of English of child good of chief of Aushi) Nonetheless, adverbial phrases and verbal phrases can also serve as complements to the associative marker. The phrases in (33) and (34) illustrate two otherwise equivalent AssocP structures, albeit with complements from two different types of phrases, viz. an adverbial and a verbal. (33)

in-shita sh-a kale 10CL-time 10CL-ASSOC already ‘a long time ago’ (lit. times of already)

(34)

pa in-shita y-a ku-lim-a 16CL 9CL-time 9CL-ASSOC 15CL-farm-FV ‘in the time of farming’ 113

Finally, there is a singular exception to the Assoc+[DP/VP/AdvP] structure in which Assoc+DP serves as a complement to Assoc. Previous descriptions of Bemba argue that -a kwa only appears before proper nouns; however, this was used inconsistently before proper nouns and even arises before common nouns. It seems that this can be explained pragmatically, though: Two associative markers can appear in juxtaposition before common or proper nouns as an indicator of respect or status. In the case of (35), this respect is given to a female parent due to her status in such a matrilineal society; on the other hand, (36) ascribes this respect to a figure of religious stature. (35)

im-busa y-a kw-a na-mayo 9CL- education 9CL-ASSOC 17CL-ASSOC FEM-mother ‘the traditional education from the mother’

(36)

im-fwa y-a kw-a 9CL-death 9CL-ASSOC 17CL-ASSOC ‘the death of Jesus’

Yesu Yesu

4.2.4 Adjectival Phrases The adjectival phrase (AdjP) consists minimally of a single adjective with the accompanying nominal class prefix. As the data in (37) indicate, the augment occurs far less than often in adjectival phrases, but it does still appear particularly in post-possessive position. The specific behavior of the augment in all contexts, however, has not yet been subject to a fuller treatment. (37)

a. iki-tabu ki-pya 7CL-book 7CL-new ‘new book’

b. m-eenshi y-onse 6CL-water 6CL-all ‘all [of the] water’

c. ifi-soka fi-bili 8CL-snake 8CL-two ‘two snakes’

d. ng’anda i-tali 9CL-house 9CL-high ‘tall house’

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f. ka-ali-kwet-e ki-mwando 12CL-PST2-have-FV 7CL-rope ‘He [Rabbit] had a big, long rope.’ g. umw-anakashi 1CL-woman ‘my new wife’

ki-kulu 7CL-big

mw-andi 1CL-1S.POSS

ki-tali 7CL-long

umu-pya 1CL-new

The adjectival phrase only occurs in post-nominal position and allows for multiple embedded adjectival phrases, though their order is strictly regulated: Possessives are bound most closely to the noun, followed by numeral and non-numeral quantifiers, and ultimately followed by all other adjectivals as in (38). (38)

iki-tabu 7CL-book

ky-andi ki-mo 7CL-1S.POSS 7CL-one

ki-kulu 7CL-big

ki-suma 7CL-good

ky-a iki-ngeleshi 7CL-ASSOC 7CL-English ‘my one big, good English book’ As such, multiple adjectives are employed in juxtaposition to assign more than one quality to the nominal phrase. As demonstrated in (39), the possessive pronoun will precede a quantifier that precedes all other adjectives. When used predicatively, more than one adjective can be conjoined with the conjunction na (‘and’). However, when used attributively, this conjunction cannot be used without resulting in an elliptical reading as distinguished in (40) and (41). (39)

n-ali na iki-tabu ky-andi ki-mo ki-kulu ki-suma 1S- PST3 with 7CL-book 7CL-1S.POSS 7CL-one 7CL-big 7CL-good ‘I had my one good, big book.’

(40)

n-di na iki-tabu 1S-COP with 7CL-book ‘I have a good, big book.’

(41)

n-di na iki-tabu ki-kulu na ki-suma 1S-COP with 7CL-book 7CL-big and 7CL-good ‘I have a big book and a good book.’

ki-kulu 7CL-big

ki-suma 7CL-good

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4.2.5 Adverbial Phrases The adverbial phrase is similar to the adjectival phrase in that it minimally contains a single adverbial. As indicated previously, these two lexical categories differ morphologically and semantically; however, the two phrases are also distinguished according to their syntactic distribution. If modifying an adjectival phrase, the adverbial phrase will arise immediately after the final adjective of the adjectival phrase. This occurs especially in the case of the adverbial saana, where it appears after an adjectival in (42) and after different adverbials in (43) and (44). (42)

in-tambi sh-ingi 10CL-proverb 10CL-many ‘quite many proverbs’

saana very

(43)

i-∅-le-mon-ek-a 9CL-PRES2-HAB-see-STAT-FV ‘It [the hair] is looking very nice.’

i-suma 9CL-good

(44)

ku-mfw-a fye 15CL-feel-FV simply ‘to feel simply very good’

bwiino well

saana very

saana very

Two other frequently attested adverbials are fye (‘just, simply’) and bwiino (‘well’). If they co-occur, the former always precedes the latter. If only the former is present, on the other hand, it often modifies a verbal phrase and occurs immediately after said phrase. Traditionally this adverbial has been represented orthographically as if it were a component of the verbal phrase; however, it is represented here as a separate grammatical and orthographic word despite evidence that alongside a verbal phrase it functions as a single phonological unit. (45)

n-∅-dee-mi-luk-a fye 1S-PRES1-PROG-2S-weave-FV just ‘I’m weaving your hair just right, Uncle.’

bwiino well

yama uncle

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(46)

n-a-kw-abuk-a fye ulu-kasa n-∅-dee-end-a 1S.PST1-15CL-cross-FV just 11CL-foot 1S-PRES1-PROG-walk-FV ‘[She said], I just crossed walking by foot.’

On all other occasions, however, adverbial phrases that qualify time or manner have fewer restrictions in their placement and can occur throughout the clause, though typically they are more likely to be found immediately before or after the verbal phrase as (47) and (48) indicate, respectively. (47)

nomba tu-send-e now 1P-find-SBJV.FV ‘Now let’s find the chief.’

m-fumu 9CL-chief

(48)

pa-kutila ba-ka-lal-an-a 16CL-in.order.to 3P-FUT3-sleep-REC.FV ‘So that they can go and have sex tomorrow’

mailo tomorrow

4.2.6 Prepositional Phrases The prepositional phrase (PP) expresses spatiotemporal positioning and contains a preposition and a complement in the form of a nominal phrase as in the most minimalistic PP in (50a). This complement is obligatory and thus must be specified; additionally, the basic nominal frequently arrives in conjunction with the other elements of the nominal phrase, including the associative phrase (AssocP) to construct more complex prepositional phrases as in (49) and also the adjectival phrase (AdjP) to express qualification of the noun as in (50b) or to express positionality through the possessive markers as in (50c). (49)

ely-o CL-REL

ba-a-tool-ele 3P-PST1-pick.up-PERF.FV

uku-biik-a mu-n-shi 15CL-put-FV 18CL-9CL-ground

iki-bwe 7CL-stone

ki-mo 7CL-one

y-a mu-pundu 9CL-ASSOC 3CL-tree

‘In this way they picked up one pebble and put it under the tree.’ (lit. on the ground of the tree)

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(50)

a. ku Samfya 17CL Samfya ‘to/in/at Samfya’ c. ku n-tanshi 17CL 9CL-first ‘in front of me’

b. pa mu-shi pa-mbi 16CL 3CL-village 16CL-other ‘to/in/at another village’ y-andi 9CL-1S.POSS

4.2.7 Determiner Phrases Although it was noted previously that demonstrative pronouns can appear in pre- and postnominal position, this remains possible only when the NP contains a single nominal without any other modifiers. For instance, in the event that possessive pronouns, quantifiers, or other adjectivals are present, the placement of the demonstrative pronoun occurs almost exclusively in pre-nominal position and, given the extremely limited number of attested forms to the contrary, is potentially even blocked in post-nominal position. Furthermore, the existence of the determiner phrase (DP) is posited on three grounds. First, because a phrase receives its name from the leftmost element, to include a demonstrative pronoun as a pre-nominal element of the NP would mean that the head of a NP is a demonstrative pronoun as in (a), not a noun. Similarly, to argue that the demonstrative pronoun can underlyingly appear in either position results in seemingly unintelligible phrase structure as in (b) and would also require one to identify precisely in which node it is generated with very limited evidence. Thus, the most economical phrase structure is that which appears in (c).

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(a)

Figure 4.15: Possible DP+NP Structures (b) (c)

Second, because a demonstrative pronoun can replace the entire NP, it should appear higher in the dependency tree than the nominal it modifies. Third, in instances where the demonstrative pronoun can appear in post-nominal position without any other modifiers and without arguing that demonstrative pronouns function syntactically as adjectivals, their placement can be accounted for through a simple movement rule without resorting to complex, uneconomical rules for adjectival ordering and subsequent movement to pre-nominal position. (51)

il-ya m-fumu y-a bw-aushi 9CL-DEM 9CL-chief 9CL-ASSOC 14CL-Ushi ‘that chief of the Aushi [people]’

4.3 Types of Sentences and Sentence Structure Utterances at the level of the sentence can be reduced to one of three types: simple sentences, compound sentences, and complex sentences. While these distinctions may seem arbitrary at some level, they are important to understanding contextually the combinatory power of clauses. Examples of each of these three are presented and glossed below. The simple sentence comprises a single independent transitive or intransitive clause that fills the required number of lexical slots of the predicate and may optionally contain adjuncts. The examples below contain some of such various elements already discussed, 119

including a vocative (52a), interrogatives (52a-b), copular clauses (52b), relativized verbal phrases (52c-d), and prepositional phrases (52c). (52)

a. mu-kashana w-∅-aikal-a 1CL-woman 2S-PRES1-live-FV ‘Woman, how do you stay here?’

shaani pa-no how 16CL-here

b. ati ni nani w-alaa-balil-a-po PRAG COP who 1CL.REL-FUT2-be.first-FV-LOC ‘Who is he/she who will be first?’ c. a-∅-kapish-a-ko imi-nwe 3S-PRES1-place-FV-LOC 4CL-finger

mu ma-tanta 18CL 6CL-thigh

mu-li ifi-kashik-a 18CL.REL-COP 7CL-be.red-FV ‘She touches [with her] fingers something red which is inside between her thighs.’ d. aba-fyashi 2CL-parent

ba-∅-ti 3P-PRES1-say.FV

a-a-bweke-sh-a 3S-PST1-return-CAUS-FV

umw-ana 1CL-child

iki-sungu 7CL-female.initiation

‘The parents say [that] the child’s period has returned.’ (lit. ‘[…] the child has caused the period to return.’) The compound sentence contains two independent clauses that are joined in one of two ways: (a) by a coordinating conjunction, such as na (‘and’), nomba (‘but, however’), awe (‘but’), or leelo (‘but’); or (b) by a correlative conjunction, such as nangu…nangu… (‘[n]either…[n]or…’). The former occur far more frequently and are illustrated in (53), and the latter are described in more detail in §4.10. (53)

a. efy-o 7CL-REL

a-a-fw-ile na ku mi-tunda uko na 3S-PST1-die-PERF.FV and 17CL 3CL-hut 17CL and

mi-limo ba-a-konk-ele ta-ba-i-bomb-ele 3CL-work 3P-PST1-follow-PERF.FV NEG-3P-REFL-work-PERF.FV ‘That’s how he died, and at the huts they did not continue working.’

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b. a-a-fik-a ku-lya na a-a-eb-a ati ba-yama 3S-PST1-arrive-FV 17CL-there and 3S-PST1-say-FV PRAG HON-uncle ‘He arrived there and said, “Uncle […].”‘ c. ati eya nomba PRAG yes but ‘He said yes, but how to do it?’ d. a-∅-lolesh-a 3S-PRES1-look-FV

ku-kit-a shaani 15CL-do-FV how

a-∅-ku-my-a-ko 3S-PRES2-15CL-feel-FV-LOC

pa-no 16CL-here

apa-kashik-a awe bell y-a-atil-a 16CL.REL-be.red-FV but bell 5CL-PST1-ring-FV ‘S/he was looking [and] feeling [something] red, but the bell rang!’ Arguably the absence of a coordinating conjunction and the syntactic (discursive) juxtaposition of two clauses, especially but not exclusively those in which the subsequent clauses begin with an infinitival phrase, could be treated as compound sentences if semantically related, but these could be just as straightforwardly understood as a sequence of two simple sentences in which the second takes an unspecified subject that is mapped from the first sentence. For instance, despite specifying a subject only for the first VP, the sequence of clauses in in (54) and (55) results in both simple and compound sentences. (54)

ka-ka-lulu 12CL-12CL-rabbit

ka-a-y-a 12CL-PST1-go-FV

pa mee-nshi 16CL 6CL-water

no=ku-nw-a amee-nshi no=ku-samb-a no=ku-kundaul-a and=15CL-drink-FV 6CL-water and=15CL-bathe-FV and=15CL-dirty-FV no=ku-y-a ka-a-buul-a na iki-muti and=15CL-go-FV 12CL-PST1-take-FV and 7CL-tree ‘Rabbit went to the water and drank the water and bathed and dirtied and left. He picked up a stick.’ (55)

ka-lulu 12CL-rabbit

ka-a-y-a 12CL-PST1-go-FV

pa ki-shima 16CL 7CL-well

kw-a mee-nshi no=ku-tamp-a uku-samb-a 17CL-ASSOC 6CL-water and=15CL-start-FV 15CL-bathe-FV ‘Kalulu went to the water well and started to bathe.’ 121

Finally, the complex sentence contains two or more simple sentences that are joined by a subordinating conjunction, such as nga (‘if’), pantu (‘because’), pakuti (‘in order to’), or patila (‘so that’). While the actual ordering of these two clauses is relatively flexible and dependent upon the speaker, there are some patterns that emerge. For instance, while the subordinate clause containing pantu can theoretically be fronted, this is not born out by the data, and it appears speakers prefer to list the consequence first in expressions of causality. Similarly, pakuti and patila function much the same. On the other hand, if nga is expressed in both clauses of an if…then… construction, then the first clause is interpreted as establishing the hypothetical, while the second clause defines the result. If nga is only specified in one clause and it cannot be inferred that the other clause has an unspecified nga, then the nga-clause can appear first or second without impacting the understandability. (56)

kw-a-lee-ba ba-mbi 17CL-PST1-PROG-COP.FV 2CL-other aba-∅-lee-ib-il-a 2CL.REL-PRES1-PROG-steal-APPL-FV

aba-ana 2CL-child

w-a chi-sungu 3CL-ASSOC 7CL-female.initiation

ba-∅-lee-biik-a 3P-PRES-PROG-take-FV

mu=n-ama 18CL=9CL-animal

shi-lya 10CL-DEM

pa-kuti 16CL-be.able

umu-loopa 3CL-blood

in-ama 10CL-animal

shi-∅-lee-fw-a 10CL-PRES-PROG-die-FV ‘There were the others [other people] who would steal the menstrual blood of the [young lady and] they put it on an animal, so that those animals would die.’

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4.4 Benefactive Constructions The benefactive construction is ditransitive and thus allows for two lexically specified objects to serve as complements to the verbal phrase. It has often been stated that neighboring Bemba is quite dissimilar to many other languages in that it requires the indirect object (recipient) to appear before the direct object. Although this pattern does characterize speakers’ preference, the transposition of these two objects is possible and acceptable in Aushi if the accompanying indirect object is grammatically specified within the verbal phrase. (57)

(58)

(59)

n-ka-mu-peel-a umu-sambi 1S-FUT3-3S-give-FV 1CL-student ‘I will give the student the book.’

iki-tabu 7CL-book

n-ka-mu-peel-a iki-tabu 1S-FUT3-3S-give-FV 7CL-book ‘I will give the book to the student.’

umu-sambi 1CL-student

umw-anakashi a-a-ba-peel-a iky-akulya 1CL-woman 3S-PST1-3P-give-FV 7CL-food ‘The woman gave the food to the children.’

aba-ana 2CL-child

umw-anakashi a-ali-ba-peel-a aba-ana 1CL-woman 3S-PST3-3P-give-FV 2CL-child ‘The woman gave the children the food.’

iky-akulya 7CL-food

iyo 4CL.DEM

∅-kilemba a-∅-lee-fway-a iyo 1CL-bean 3S-PRES1-PROG-want-FV 4CL.DEM

∅-kilemba

uku-ba-peel-a ba-na-mayo 1CL-bean 15CL-3P-give-FV HON-FEM-mother ‘Those beans, he wants to give those beans to [that] woman.’ Interestingly, speakers also accepted benefactive constructions where the indirect and direct objects were not in juxtaposition, which seems to be the result of topicalization. All four of the following examples contain the same three constituents, i.e. a noun phrase functioning as the grammatical subject, a verbal phrase, and a noun phrase functioning as 123

the grammatical object. All four also contain the same tense-aspect morphemes and subject and object markers. Nonetheless, while (60a) and (60b) offer approximately the same meaning, (60c) foregrounds the recipient of the action and (60d) foregrounds the (indirect) object being received. (60)

a. n-ali-mu-peel-a Martin 1S-PST3-3S-give-FV PN ‘I gave Martin the book.’

iki-tabu 7CL-book

b. n-ali-mu-peel-a iki-tabu 1S-PST3-3S-give-FV 7CL-book ‘I gave the book to Martin.’

Martin PN

c. Martin n-ali-mu-peel-a PN 1S-PST3-3S-give-FV ‘I gave Martin the book.’

iki-tabu 7CL-book

d. iki-tabu n-ali-mu-peel-a 7CL-book 1S-PST3-3S-give-FV ‘I gave the book to Martin.’

Martin PN

4.5 Copular Constructions Copular constructions arise in four possible ways. The first construction is predicateless and relies upon juxtaposition of two nominal phrases to demonstrate the relationship between the two. Sometimes this results in potentially ambiguous constructions whose interpretation is depending upon the context. For instance, (61) below on its own can be interpreted as a predicateless copular clause; however, it can also function alone as a nominal phrase with additional clausal elements, i.e. “The very good God …” On the other hand, the example in (62) only has a single interpretation that assumes an unspecified copula. (61)

Leesa ∅ mu-suma PN COP 1CL-good ‘Leesa [God] is very good.’

saana very

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(62)

iki-mpondwa ∅ umu-nani w-a ku-no 7CL-peanut.butter COP 3CL-relish 3CL-ASSOC 17CL-here ‘Peanut butter is the [type of] relish [we have] here.’

The second construction utilizes the invariable copular-like morpheme ni, possibly a borrowing from the Swahili speakers across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Although ni is most often used as a copula for present-tense events as in (63), it is also found in the narratives to refer contextually to past events. As a result, (64) can be understood within multiple temporal frames but is glossed here as past tense, due to its context in the narratives. Additionally, it is found in constructions that utilize relative verbal phrases as in (65) and (66). (63)

aba-na-kashi ni n-doshi ta-ba-pwa 2CL-FEM-women COP 9CL-witches NEG-3P-finish.FV ‘Women are witches! They never [reach their] end.’

(64)

i-shina ly-akwe 5CL-name 5CL-3S.POSS ‘His name was Kunda.’

(65)

we=mw-aume uko w-a-fum-a ni 2S.PRON-1CL-man 17CL 1CL.REL-PST 1-be.from-FV COP ‘You, boy, where is the place you are from?’

(66)

iki-lundu ikw-andi uu-buul-ile 7CL-bark.cloth 7CL-1S.POSS 1CL.REL-take-PERF.FV ‘The one who took my kilundu is Kisongo.’

ni COP

Kunda PN kwi where

ni Kisongo COP PN

The third construction uses an overtly conjugated form of the copular verb (ukuba). This form occurs surprisingly less frequently, is often replaced by other verbs with greater specificity, e.g. speakers freely accepted ndi kafundisha (‘I am a teacher’) for the present, but opted instead for the use of ukusambilila (‘to teach’) for both the past and future. Whether this was simply idiosyncratic or more broadly reflects the generalized behavior of

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the copula verb is still unknown. Still, as the examples below indicate, the fully conjugated form arises in the narratives strictly in contexts signaling location, state, or existentiality. (67)

n-∅-di 1S-PRES-COP ‘I am in Ndola.’

ku 17CL

Ndola Ndola

(68)

tu-∅-li 1P-PRES-COP ‘We are very well.’

fye just

(69)

Mumbi ta-mu-∅-li PN NEG-18CL-PRES-COP ‘Mumbi is not (inside) here.’

(70)

apo a-∅-li 16CL.DEM 3S-PRES1-COP.FV ‘[Over] there is a beautiful lady!’

(71)

n-∅-dee-fway-a 1S-PRES1-PROG-want-FV

bwiino well

saana very mu-no 18CL-here

ci-sotwe 7CL-beauty

uku-p-a 15CL-marry-FV

uwa-ba 1CL.REL-COP.FV

nga mayo like mother ‘I want to marry [someone] who is like [my] mother.’ (72)

kw-ali-ba im-busa 17CL-PST3-COP.FV 10CL-traditional.education ‘There were two [different types of] imbusa.’

(73)

ch-ali-ba 7CL-PST3-COP.FV ‘It’s just fine.’

(74)

pa-∅-li ka-lulu apo 16CL-PRES1-COP 12CL-rabbit here ‘There’s a rabbit here.’ / ‘There’s someone sneaky here.’

fye simply

shi-bili 10CL-two

bwiino well

4.6 Relative Pronoun Constructions Relative pronouns arise in two different but semantically analogous constructions, traditionally called the tensed and tenseless relatives.

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The tensed construction is formed using the medial demonstrative pronouns, which stand alone but are linked through concord agreement to the preceding nominal—unless there is no preceding nominal. In the case of (75), for instance, the Class 8 relative refers to an unspecified—but contextually understood—nominal. On the other hand, the example in (76) represents the prototypical usage of the tensed relative, as the Class 7 relative refers to the bark cloth. (75)

u-∅-lee-umfw-a 2S-PRES1-PROG-hear-FV

ifyo 8CL.REL

n-∅-dee-land-a 1S-PRES1-PROG-speak-FV

ati ku-no PRAG 17CL-here ‘Do you understand that [language] which I am speaking here?’ (76)

awe Ka-ka-lulu PRAG 12CL-12CL-rabbit

ka-a-buul-a 12CL-PST1-take-FV

ne=ki-lundu and=7CL-bark.cloth

ikyo ka-a-sal-ile ba-n-kalamu 7CL.REL 12CL-PST1-make-PERF.FV HON-9CL-lion ‘So Rabbit took the kilundu which he made for Lion.’ The tenseless construction is formed using a relative pronoun prefixed to and acting as the subject of the subsequent verbal phrase. This relative pronoun is identical phonetically to the nominal class prefix; thus, one of the key differences between a relativized and a non-relativized verbal phrase is that the former is almost always accompanied by the augment, while the latter is never found in conjunction with the augment. Given the instability of use of the augment, the fact that it always occurs in relativized verbal phrases is an important, necessary distinction to recognize. As such, although the nominals in (77) and (78) differ in the presence of the augment, both necessarily contain the augment in the relativized verbal phrases. In (78) specifically, however, the absence of the augment in the tenseless relative (abakaisa → bakaisa) would

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result in two different clauses with the following meaning potential: ‘Do you see that which they are doing? Those people have come here in order to marry.’ This may appear at first glance to be a negligible difference, but the loss of the augment results in an implication of causality through clausal expansion. (77)

tu-ko-mon-a-po aka-na-kashi ka-mo 1P-PRES-see-FV-LOC 12CL-FEM-woman 12CL-one aka-a-palam-ine kuno 12CL.REL-PST1-come.close-FV-PERF here ‘We see the one woman who has come closer to here.’

(78)

mu-ko-mon-a 2P-PRES2-see-FV

ifyo 7CL.REL

ba-ko-kit-a 3P-PRES2-do-FV

aba 2CL.DEM

ba-ntu aba-ka-is-a mu-ku-p-a ku-no 2CL-entity 2CL.REL-?-come-FV 18CL-15CL-marry-FV 17CL-here ‘Do you see what those people who have come here to marry are doing?’ (79)

so so

Kalulu 12CL-rabbit

ena however

a-ali-y-a 3S-PST3-go-FV

aya-a-buul-a ichi-nongo 6CL.REL-3S.PST1-take-FV 7CL-clay.pot

pa mu-mana 16CL 3CL-lake ich-ali 7CL.REL-COP

pa mu-mana 16CL 3CL-lake ‘So, Rabbit himself went to the lake [and] picked up the clay pot which was in the lake.’ (80)

kw-ali 15CL-COP

umu-shi 3CL-village

umu-shi 3CL-village

uyo 3CL.REL

mw-ali 18CL-COP

im-fumu lya-kwet-e umw-ana 9CL-chief 9CL.REL-have-FV 1CL-child ‘There was a village—that village in which [there was] a chief who had a child.’

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4.7 Comparative and Superlative Constructions The comparative and superlative forms of adjectives are formed using an unconjugated form of the verb ukukila (‘to surpass, to exceed’). As previously mentioned, the verbal template allocates a position for the specification of an object marker. In comparative and superlative constructions, however, this can be specified or remain unspecified, and this depends on the intended context. Nevertheless, the specified object will take a form of onse (‘all’) that correlates to the noun class. (81)

mu-nandi ∅ mu-suma 1CL.1S-POSS COP 1CL-good ‘My friend is good.’

(82)

mu-nandi ∅ mu-suma 1CL.1S-POSS COP 1CL-good ‘My friend is better than me.’

uku-n-kil-a 15CL-1S-surpass-FV

(83)

mu-nandi ∅ mu-suma 1CL.1S-POSS COP 1CL-good ‘My friend is better than us.’

uku-tu-kil-a 15CL-1P -surpass-FV

(84)

mu-nandi ∅ mu-suma uku-kil-a 1CL.1S-POSS COP 1CL-good 15CL-surpass-FV ‘My friend is better than everyone.’

b-onse 2CL-all

These constructions contain up to six different components, viz. the comparee, copula, parameter, index, marker, and standard (cf. Dixon 2008). As previously discussed, the copula is infrequently used when the adjectival quality is expressed predicatively and results in ungrammaticality if ukukila has already filled the slot of the predicate. Additionally, the index appears to be quite rarely specified, excluding instances where the adverb saana (‘very, much’) is employed, as in (85). The comparee and standard positions can be occupied by increasingly complex noun phrases that include possessives, adjectivals, quantifiers, and prepositional phrases, as in (85)-(89).

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(85)

iky-akulya 7CL-food

ky-andi ki-suma 7CL-1S.POSS 7CL-good

(saana) (very)

uku-kil-a 15CL-surpass-FV

iky-akuyla ky-akwe 7CL-food 7CL-3S.POSS ‘My food is (much) better than her food.’ (86)

ka-fundisha w-andi 12CL-teacher 1CL-1S.POSS

mu-kulu 1CL-big

uku-kil-a 15CL-surpass-FV

ka-fundisha w-abo 12CL-teacher 1CL-3P.POSS ‘My teacher is taller than their teacher.’ (87)

umw-ina 1CL-wife

mw-andi umu-pya uw-aleng-a i-kumi 1CL-1S.POSS 1CL-new 1CL.REL-cause-FV 5CL-ten

mu-suma 1CL-good

uku-kil-a 15CL-surpass-FV

ba-na-kashi 2CL-FEM-woman

b-onse 2CL-all

mu ky-alo 18CL 7CL-world ‘My tenth new wife is the most beautiful woman in the world.’ (88)

ki-lya iki-kulwa ki-pya ki-tali 7CL-DEM 7CL-building 7CL-new 7CL-tall ‘That new building is taller than me.’

uku-n-kil-a 15CL-1S-surpass-FV

(89)

ng’-anda 10CL-house

uku-kil-a 15CL-surpass-FV

sh-andi 10CL-1S.POSS

shi-noono 10CL-small

ng’-anda y-obe iy-aleng-a 9CL-house 9CL-2S.POSS 9CL-cause-FV ‘My houses are smaller than your second house.’

bu-bili 14CL-two

4.8 Conditional Constructions The conditional mood is found in utterances that represent conditional situations, and typically these utterances contain two independent clauses: The protasis provides the hypothetical context of that situation, and the apodosis presents the outcome or consequence if the protasis evaluates as true. These can appear in any order, so long as

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both are present or can be inferred based on context. While the conditional has been grammaticalized and arises in Bemba (cf. Sharman 1956 and Hoch 1963) as the verbal infix -nga-, this morpheme only arises in Aushi before the verbal phrase, not within it. In fact, speakers exclusively employed this morpheme in the narratives in pre-VP position and rejected the VP-internal utterances from Bemba sources. (92)

nga COND

ba-∅-mu-twal-il-a 3P-PRES1-3S-bring-APPL-FV

ba-ka-la-yend-a 3P-FUT3-HAB-go-FV

insalamu brideprice

n=ankwe with=3S.POSS

‘If they bring the brideprice to her, [then] he will be going with her forever and ever.’ (93)

nga w-a-y-a COND 2S-PST1-go-FV

ku mukashi 17CL 1CL-wife

u-ka-ya-buul-a 2S-FUT3-go-take-FV

aka-mfwi 12CL-grey.hair

mw-obe 1CL-2S.POSS

‘If you went to your wife, you will go and take that grey hair.’ (94)

nga ba-ali-mu-lang-a COND 3P-PST3-3S-show-FV niinshi then

ichi-langa 7CL-show

mu-lilo 3CL-fire

ba-ali-mu-shikul-a 3P-PST3-3S-welcome-FV

‘If they have showed him chilanga mulilo, then he has been welcomed.’ (95)

nga ba-a-peel-a COND 3P-PST1-give-FV

umu-pongoshi 1CL-in.law

chansula mabula chansula mabula

ba-a-mu-peel-a 3P-PST1-3S-give-FV

in-sambu 10CL-approval

sh-onse 10CL-all

niinshi then

‘When/if they gave the chansula mabula to the son-in-law, then they gave him complete approval.’ (96)

tu-ka-ku-peel-a in-dalama nga 1P-FUT3-2S-give-FV 9CL-money COND

u-ka-kishit-a 2S-FUT3-buy-FV 131

iki-tabu 7CL-book

mailo tomorrow

‘We will give you money if you buy the book tomorrow.’ (97)

nga COND

tu-li 1P-COP

tu-ka-ku-peel-a-ko 1P-FUT3-2S-give-FV-LOC

na with

ifi-tabu 7CL-book

fi-bili 7CL-two

ki-mo 7CL-one

‘If we have two books, we will give you one.’ However, because nga means not only “when(ever)” and “if,” but also “like” (in comparisons) and “what/how about …” (in question-reversal), not every token of nga represents a true conditional. (98)

umu-ntu nga umw-anakashi fye nga fye b-ena 1CL-entity like 1CL-woman just like just 2CL-person ‘A person, just like a woman, just like [other] people.’

(99)

mu-li shaani 2P-COP how ‘How are you, my friend?’

we=mu-nandi 2S.PRON=1CL.1S-POSS

bwiino fye nga well simply how.about ‘Quite well. How about you?’

mweebo 2P.PRON

4.9 Focus Constructions Focus constructions result in the syntactic promotion in relative prominence of a constituent. Due to the relative infrequency of first- and second-person independent pronoun usage, their occurrence can sometimes be seen not merely as subject-marking but as an instance of topicalization, i.e. their explicit use independently or in cliticized forms (described here previously as vocatives) results in an interesting type of topicalization at either edge of the clause. For instance, the placement of this construction clause-finally and clause-initially is compared in (100) and (101), despite the fact that both make it clear that 132

the young lady is the one being prompted for a response. On the other hand, (102) begins with the independent pronoun but also incorporates a cleft focus construction in its reaffirmation of the speaker’s ethnolinguistic identity. (100) u-∅-ko-fway-a 2S-PRES2-15CL-want-FV

uku-p-w-a 15CL-marry-PASS-FV

we=mu-kashana webo 2S.PRON=1CL-woman 2S.PRON ‘You, lady, do you want to get married?’ (101) we=mu-kashana umw-aume uyu 2S-1CL-woman 1CL-man 1CL.DEM ku Samfya 17CL PN

w-a-fum-a 1CL.REL-PST 1-be.from-FV

a-ko-fway-a 3S-PRES-15CL-want-FV

umw-anakashi 1CL-woman

w-a=ku-p-a 1CL-ASSOC=15CL-marry-FV ‘Young lady, this man who has come from Samfya wants [someone] to marry.’ (102) fwe[ebo] 1P.PRON

ba-ba-bwii-sh-e 2CL.REL-3P-cross-CAUS-FV

ni=fwe[ebo] COP=1P.PRON

fweebo ba-ushi 1P.PRON 2CL-Ushi ‘We, those who made them cross, it’s us—we’re Aushi.’ (103) neebo n-di mw-ina 1S.PRON 1S-COP 1CL-clan ‘Me, I am [a member of the] anthill clan.’

kwelu anthill

(104) fweebo 1P.PRON

mu-ntu 1CL-entity

ta-tu-mw-ishib-e NEG-1P-3S-know-FV

bwiino well

bwiino well

uyu 1CL.DEM

no=ku-mw-ishib-a and=15CL-3S-know-FV

‘[And] us, we don’t know this person, we haven’t gotten to know him very well.’

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Left-dislocation also results in focus constructions where the object is fronted, and sometimes an accompanying pause serves as additional evidence. For instance, while it is perfectly possible to reverse the ordering of the NP and the VP in (105), ubusonge is fronted in order to reaffirm that, although brideprice was not given alongside a marriage proposal, something else was. In this particular context, the following clause establishes that it was, in fact, a ring that was provided in lieu of the brideprice. On the other hand, wishifyala is fronted in (106) as a means to clarify unambiguously that the victim of this theft was the father-in-law. Furthermore, a similar example of this left-dislocation in benefactive constructions was provided previously. (105) ubu-songe ta-kw-ali 14CL-brideprice NEG-15CL-COP.FV ‘There was no brideprice [in that time].’ (106) wi-shi-fyala 2S-MASC-in.law

uyo 1CL.DEM

ba-a-mw-ib-il-a 3P-PST1-3S-steal-APPL-FV

umu-nani onse 3CL-relish 3CL-all ‘They stole all of that father-in-law’s relish.’ (107) ifi-ntu ta-fi-∅-lapy-a pa 7CL-entity NEG-7CL-PRES1-be.ready-FV 16CL ‘Things [the beans] are not yet cooked on the stove.’

mu-lilo 3CL-fire

4.10 Negation Because positive polarity remains unmarked, the expression of negative polarity depends upon explicit marking to signal a construction as such. While a speaker can certainly respond to a previous utterance with awe (‘no’) to express disagreement with the assertion, this does not carry scope beyond the lexical item itself. On the contrary, the truest means of demonstrating negative polarity is through the imposition of the appropriate negative

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marker on the verbal phrase, which carries scope minimally over the phrase itself but potentially over the clause more generally. In the exemplar below in (108), for instance, there are three separate verbal phrases with negative polarity. The first corresponds to the conditional nga (‘if’), the second serves as the matrix clause, and third is subordinated using the conjunction pantu (‘because’). (108) nga if

ta-ba-biik-il-a-po uyu umu-pongoshi w-abo NEG-3P-add-APPL-FV-LOC 1CL 1CL-in.law 1CL-3P.POSS

ta-a-ly-a-ko NEG-3S-eat-FV-LOC

pantu because

ta-ba-mu-lang-a NEG-3P-3S-show-FV

ichi-langa mu-lilo 7CL-showing 3CL-fire ‘If they have not added [to the amashikulo], this son-in-law of theirs will not eat because they have not showed him the chilanga mulilo.’ Similarly, because there is no difference in the polarity of indefinite pronouns, negative polarity at the level of the clause must be overtly marked on the verbal phrase in order to differentiate the affirmative and negative readings of said pronouns, i.e. the verbal phrase carries the functional weight in distinguishing nangu -mo meaning both ‘somebody’ and ‘nobody.’ The example in (109) indicates how the copula is used to encode negative polarity not only on the verb, but also to extend its scope to the indefinite pronoun that follows. Similarly, the examples in (110) and (111) demonstrate how the scope of the negation on the verbal phrase extends not only to the noun phrase that immediately follows, but also to the otherwise affirmative indefinite afterwards. (109) Ka-kalulu 12CL-12CL-rabbit ta-pa-li NEG-16CL-COP

ka-a-is-a ka-a-lolesh-a leelo 12CL-PST1-come-FV 12CL-PST1-look-FV but fye umuntu simply 1CL-entity

nangu INDEF

u-mo 1CL-one

135

ta-pa-li NEG-16CL-COP

ubw-inanama 14CL-animals

nangu INDEF

bu-mo 14CL-one

‘Rabbit came [there]. He looked, but there wasn’t a person, nobody. There wasn’t an animal, nobody.’ (110) ta-a-ko-kit-a-po aka-ntu nangu NEG-3S-15CL-do-FV-LOC 12CL-entity INDEF ‘He wasn’t doing a thing, not [even] something little.’

ka-noono 12CL-small

(111) ta-a-aka-bomb-e iki-ntu NEG-3S-FUT3-work-FV 7CL-entity ‘He will not do a single thing.’

ki-mo 7CL-one

nangu INDEF

This also happens to be the case for the complex correlative conjunctions either…or… and neither…nor…, i.e. an unmarked verbal phrase in the affirmative signals the former, while a verbal phrase accompanied by a negative morpheme signals the latter. (112) niinshi bena ba-ali-tamp-a then 2CL-people 3P-PST3-start-FV

kale already

nangu ni ku chy-a-na-kashi INDEF COP 17CL 7CL-ASSOC-FEM-woman

uku-pekany-a 15CL-prepare-FV nangu INDEF

ni COP

ku ch-a=ume 17CL 7CL-ASSOC=man ‘Then the people have already started preparing [the food]: Either it is from the woman’s [side] or it is from the man’s [side].’ (113) nangu INDEF

ako mu-∅-lee-sang-w-a 17CL 2P-PRES1-PROG-find-PASS-FV

mu-∅-lee-sang-w-a fye ba-bili 2P-PRES1-PROG-find-PASS-FV simply 2CL-two

no=mupongoshi by=1CL-in.law

‘Either you are found there [or] you are simply found by the parents-inlaw.’

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4.11 Reported Speech It is understood here that direct speech refers to the precise wording of the original speaker, i.e. in the form of a quotation; indirect speech, a retelling by a different interlocutor of the words (or the intent) of the original speaker. Nonetheless, the difference between direct and indirect reported speech in Aushi is difficult to establish because major structural differences simply do not exist. Both types are quite frequently, though not always, introduced by the pragmatic particle ati, which oftentimes carries a meaning similar to the English complementizer that, or by the conjunction na and the repeated verb in its infinitival form. In fact, it seems that the sole distinction between the two types of reported speech is found in the verbal morphology following this particle. This is particularly recognizable when the subject marker differs in the clauses under investigation, especially as this concerns the addressee, e.g. the subject marker of the second VP matches the object marker in the first VP in indirect reported speech. For instance, the example in (114) contains two verbal phrases with the same subject marker and, more importantly, the addressee is the subject in both, i.e. the person who did the speaking and who did the cooking is also the one to whom this utterance is addressed. Thus, this is an example of indirect speech. (114) w-aki-mw-eb-a ati 2S-PST3-3S-say-FV PRAG

u-lee-be-pik-il-a 2S-PRES1-PROG-3P-cook-APPL-FV

ubw-ali 14CL-nshima ‘You told him that you are cooking the nshima for them.’ Conversely, the examples in (115) and (116) both contain two verbal phrases in which the grammatical subjects and the addressee differ. The direct reported speech in (115) is addressed to the young lady in the form of the second-person singular, while the quotation 137

itself is introduced by paying reference to the multiple individuals issuing the remark. The reported speech in (116) is a direct quote issued by the old man to a group of people that includes the person uttering this statement. Finally, the example in (117) is further defined by an overtly specified subject pronoun that demonstrates the two verbal phrases share the same referent. (115) ba-a-mw-eb-a no=ku-mw-eb-a 3P-PST1-3S-say-FV and=15CL-3S-say-FV

ati PRAG

nomba now

w-aku-la-ly-a w-eka ubw-ali 2S-FUT-HAB-eat-FV 1CL-alone 14CL-nshima ‘They told her, saying to her, “Now you will eat nshima alone.”‘ (116) shi-kulu MASC-big

uyu 1CL-DEM

a-a-tw-eb-ele 3S-PST1-1P-say-PERF.FV

ati PRAG

n-ali-kwat-a ify-uumbu na ifi-bwesela kale 1S-PST2-have-FV 7CL-sweet.potato and 7CL-pumpkin already ‘This old man told us, “I have sweet potatoes and pumpkins already.”‘ (117) Ka-lulu 12CL-rabbit

a-∅-eb-a 3S-PRES1-say-FV

ati PRAG

neebo 1S.PRON

n-shy-ake=mb-e-ko 1S-NEG-FUT3-dig-FV-LOC ‘Rabbit says, “I will not dig [the well]!”‘ On the other hand, the example in (118) combines both indirect and direct reported speech. The reader knows that this is the case, as the parent would not be addressing the young woman concerning the hygienic preparations for her menstrual cycle with both the secondperson and third-person subject markers, i.e. it is clear that aleetekanya is an indirect retelling of the speech that otherwise would be marked for second-person if it were addressed directly to the young woman, as in uleefwala. (118) no=mu-fyashi and=1CL-parent

ay-amb-a 1CL.REL-start-FV

uku-mw-eb-a 15CL-3S-say-FV

ati PRAG

138

a-∅-lee-tekany-a 3S-PRES1-PROG-take.care-FV

no=kw-end-a and=15CL-go-FV

u-∅-lee-fwal-a na bwiino 2S-PRES1-PROG-dress-FV and well ‘And then the parents who [will] start telling her [that] she needs to take care [of her movement]. “You [should] dress properly.”‘ Finally, reported speech can also contain different verbal moods, including the imperative and subjunctive as in (119) and (120), respectively; auxiliary verbs as in (121); or relativized and copular verbal phrases as in (122). It is precisely due to this difference in verbal mood that one recognizes immediately that the reported speech is direct. (119) a-a-ebel-e ati konk-eni 3S-PST1-say-FV PRAG follow-IMP.P.FV ‘He told [them], “Follow the water!”‘

amee-nshi 6CL-water

(120) a-a-ebel-e ati a-∅-lee-fway-a u-sendam-e 3S-PST1-say-FV PRAG 3S-PRES1-PROG-want-FV 2S-sleep-SBJV.FV ‘He said [that] he wants you to sleep.’ (121) elo then

ba-a-mw-ebel-e ati kuti 3P-PST1-3S-say-FV PRAG able

wa-∅-up-a 2S-PRES-marry-FV

umw-ana w-a m-fumu 1CL-child 1CL-ASSOC 9CL-chief ‘Then they told him, “You can marry the chief’s daughters.”‘ (122) a-a-eb-a 3S-PST1-say-FV

ati epo PRAG 18CL.REL

n-a-buuk-ile 1S-PST1-cross-PERF.FV

ni apa COP 18CL-DEM ‘She said, “Right here is where I crossed from.”‘ 4.12

Chapter Summary

This chapter introduced phrase structure rules and the eight major phrase types (nominal, verbal, associative, adjectival, adverbial, prepositional, determiner). Then the basic constituent ordering of transitive and intransitive clauses, which gives rise to sentence 139

structure and the three types of sentences (simple, compound, complex), was presented. Next, a variety of frequently occurring constructions were described and exemplified, including those that employ benefactives, the copular verb, relative pronouns, comparatives/superlatives, and conditionals. Finally, the discussion turns to other relevant syntactic topics, including the use of negation and focus constructions and the reporting of direct and indirect speech.

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Chapter 5: Conclusion 5.1 Contributions and Limitations of the Present Study The ethnolinguistic context of the Lwapula Province of Zambia is complex. At the request of native speakers and due to the uncertainty reflected in the literature on the M-40 subgrouping, this dissertation was undertaken. After arriving in Mansa, however, it became readily clear that spoken Aushi and the Aushi culture exist in a state of transition. While there are some straightforward differences between the speech of those who self-identify as Aushi or Bemba, these differences are quite underwhelming to younger speakers and, conversely, quite overwhelming to older speakers. Despite the language attitudes associated with Aushi by these two different generations, it cannot be denied that there exists such great mutual intelligibility that there are very rarely major linguistic difficulties in the two groups’ communication with one another. Perhaps the figures indicated earlier in Chapter 1 are, thus, overstated and refer to a more divergent form of Bemba than that which is spoken in the Lwapula Province, as it seems that Aushi and Bemba are, in fact, converging here due to intense contact. In any case, there does appear to be a general consensus among speakers of both groups that the Aushi constitute a separate ethnicity, and although the government has reinforced this distinction, there is personalized disagreement about precisely how that difference has arisen. In my experience during fieldwork, I found that the Aushi generally distinguish themselves from the Bemba due to the formers’ lack of reliance on paramount chiefs but also typically lend support to the historical research that indicates that they split 141

from the Luba-Lunda Empire. On the other hand, the Bemba consistently stated that the Bemba left behind a group in the Lwapula Province on their way to the Northern Province, and these are the people who today call themselves the Aushi. Such a statement ignores the complex history surrounding multiple waves of migration of Bantu-speaking peoples, though. Furthermore, due to the wider area being under the control of the Bemba-speaking ethnic group for at least the last hundred years, it is possible that many earlier linguistic and/or cultural differences may have collapsed. By any metric that excludes cultural identity and ethnic affiliation, this dissertation does not demonstrate that the Aushi speak an entirely distinct Bantu language, but it does fulfill a few linguistic and extralinguistic goals. First, this dissertation was undertaken at the request of the people, and it has resulted not only in the only descriptive grammar of their linguistic variety, but also a collection of culturally situated texts and a limited lexicon. Second, it provided evidence for the refinement of Maho’s (2009) classification due to the undeniable, extensive mutual intelligibility between these two groups. Third, it demonstrated that there are some limited phonological, morphological, and lexical differences, yet that these are not so great as to limit communicative exchanges, but rather serve as markers of a particular linguistic variety. The most recognizable are the preference for /k/ over /͡tʃ/ and minor lexical differences. Nonetheless, Aushi also utilizes multiple independent personal pronouns sets, always marks the second-person plural object as -mi(cf. Bemba descriptions that collapse 3S and 2P into -mu-), refrains from overtly marking objects if already contextualized and/or if referring to a human or personified object, utilizes the optative verbal affix nga only in pre-verbal position, and demonstrates far less cohesion in nominal class cohesion than other Bantu languages. Finally, this dissertation

142

provided a collection of fully translated texts that arrived from older speakers who feel that their linguistic variety is in danger, but which themselves demonstrate further linguistic and cultural transitioning due to wider linguistic and cultural contact. Nevertheless, this does not mean that there are not areas for improvement in future research. In fact, one of the primary criticisms of earlier work was that they did not pay enough transcriptional attention to the phonological system. An initial goal of this dissertation was, thus, to focus more on this area; however, since speakers’ comfort was prioritized in the recording of narratives, the locations where they felt most relaxed were infrequently conducive. For example, the two male speakers decided to share their stories in a newly built school, as they (rightfully) felt that they were my teachers; unfortunately, this resulted in a background echo that sometimes slightly impeded comprehension. Additionally, the five female speakers who shared stories did so in a small building located close to the chapel; however, after approximately five minutes, others inside the neighboring church began their service, resulting in a great deal of singing in the background. As such, extensive phonological analysis was not possible for the narratives, which constitute the bulk of the data. Still, this seems only to be a minor limitation of this research endeavor, as other scholars (e.g. Bickmore 2017) have focused specifically on the realization of grammatical tone and how this differs—also marginally—from the perhaps more codified Bemba language. Another limitation of this dissertation is that most of the data arrive in the form of fictional narratives and informative explanations. The use of these genres does result in a very particular type of language usage. Attempts were made to limit the representation of Aushi from a strictly literary standpoint through elicitation, though it was quite difficult to

143

observe natural speech on other occasions due to the speed with which younger speakers, who were those more frequently to interact with one another casually, would claim to speak both Aushi and Bemba, the data from such encounters that would conflate the presentation here, i.e. the risk was deemed too high to record typical daily encounters with younger speakers only to present a linguistic mixture as if it were recognizably, definitively Aushi. Still, one area where this dissertation differs strikingly from previous research in the area is that male and female voices are equally represented in a geographical area known for the widespread influence of matrilineality. Undertaking such a task has resulted in ethnographic texts that are available in their original, unadulterated form for native speakers and scholars, which shed light on the important lifestages of women in an oftforgotten community. Furthermore, it is through these texts that it becomes clear that the procedures surrounding these lifestages are changing due to contact with the larger world. Most important, however, is the fact that the variables of gender, age, and geography are actively accounted for and controlled. As a result, male and female voices account for a roughly equivalent length of speech, despite the latter providing more stories overall; all of the speakers belong to the grandparental generation and are approximately the same age; and speakers were selected from the towns most straightforwardly believed to contain the “purest” Aushi. 5.2 Areas for Future Research Due to the complex intersectionality of language, ethnicity, and identity (both individual and collective), one area for future research would be to determine with more precision the attitudes speakers have towards these dialectal varieties, perhaps also including Ng’umbo and Taabwa, which Bastin, Coupez, and Mann (1999:103) argue are even closer to Aushi 144

in terms of lexical similarity than Bemba is. Unfortunately, there do not exist widespread resources, which could be used for the type of comparison historically employed (e.g. lexicostatistical comparison), for either of those varieties. The data available from Tervuren seem to indicate remarkable similarity (see Appendix 1); thus, targeted research might be necessary to determine if there are phonological, morphological, and/or syntactic differences not reflected solely in the lexical items collected. This assumes, however, that the results of such research would be consistent, an oftentimes naïve assumption (e.g. research on Bena dialectology resulted in four drastically different accounts of tonology). Perhaps more important for future research, however, is truly the empowerment of the people of the Lwapula Province. When speakers realized that my presence was confirmed and would be actualized, they expressed simultaneous incredulity and appreciation that someone actually cared enough to study their speech. This was made explicitly clear to me on multiple visits to a nearby bookstore, which always seemed to have empty shelves due to limited funds and an inadequate supply from the capital, but whose owner told me he would be extremely happy to have copies of books published by local authors. If speakers view their linguistic variety as valuable, whether this is identified as “Aushi” or “Bemba” specifically, they are more inclined to utilize it and resort less frequently to other languages to accomplish their everyday tasks.

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Appendix 1: Positioning Aushi in M.40 Following Maho (2009), the M.40 family is entitled the “Bemba Group” and contains four subgroupings. The conventions stipulate that if the number assigned to a particular subgrouping is a whole number, then its location within the family has been determined definitively and has been substantiated by the previous literature. As a result, this indicates that a sufficient distinction has been made between Taabwa and Bemba to warrant their separation from one another but unification within the same subgrouping. Conversely, a language that has not been assigned a whole number still warrants (additional) research, viz. Bwile and Aushi. M40.1 M40.2 M41 M42

Bwilebwc Aushiauh, Usi Taabwatap, Rungu, incl. Shila Bembabem, Icibemba, incl. Bangweulu Twa

The greatest obstacle to this (sub-)classification, however, is in determining whether a particular linguistic variety is a separate language or simply a dialect of a larger, more widely spoken, recognized linguistic variety. In fact, Ladefoged, Glick, and Criper (1971:31ff) argue that purely linguistic criteria oftentimes cannot succinctly distinguish one group from another and that extralinguistic criteria might necessarily be consulted in pursuit of this task:

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“[t]here is no agreed way of defining what is meant by a language as opposed to a dialect. Generally speaking, differences between languages are larger than differences between dialects; and very often two groups of people are said to speak different languages when they differ not only in the way that they speak, but also in some other way, such as belonging to separately organized social or political groups. But there is no known way of determining on linguistic grounds alone when the difference between two speech forms is sufficiently great to require them to be regarded as different languages.” The difficulty, then, is in determining whether these (extra)linguistic differences—after they have been identified—are truly substantial enough that they warrant a distinction being made in the first place. In speaking with Zambians in the Lwapula Province, there appears to be widespread confusion and contradictory opinions on this issue. Speakers of Aushi in the grandparental generation, especially those who were born and raised outside of Mansa, consistently argue that they speak a different language and constitute a different ethnic group not only to the Bemba, but to each of the other groups listed in M.40 and even to other ethnolinguistic groups not identified as distinct. Younger speakers of Aushi and speakers of Bemba of any generation in Mansa were consistent in their belief that Aushi was certainly a separate ethnic group, albeit one whose speakers utilize the same language as the Bemba with some slight modifications. The most recent Zambian Census (2010) lends support to the grandparental generation’s feelings by allowing respondents to selfidentify as Aushi speakers of the Aushi ethnic group. Nonetheless, the question still remains: What is the role of the linguist in validating the community’s claims that they speak a separate language if there is widespread mutual intelligibility but a clear sense of identity attached to the concept of belonging to a separate ethnolinguistic group? Two different approaches will be briefly discussed here, though an easy solution will not be offered here.

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Crystal (1997) offers a definition for such linguistically contested situations by situating mutual intelligibility and cultural history alongside one another. If the two linguistic varieties are mutually intelligible and belong to groups with a common cultural history, then they are designated as dialects of one another. On the other hand, if they are mutually unintelligible and belong to groups with different cultural histories, then they are straightforwardly designated as separate languages. In the case of Aushi and Bemba, however, it is apparent that these linguistic varieties are mutually intelligible and also that their speakers have a relatively common cultural history and origin. According to Crystal’s criteria, nonetheless, one would be forced to identify the two as belonging to the same macrolanguage, regardless of the name to which he or she assigns it. Unfortunately, this does not reflect the perceptual reality on the ground for most speakers. Perhaps this tension can be mitigated through the seven criteria found in Bell’s (1976) sociolinguistic typology: standardization, vitality, historicity, autonomy, reduction, mixture, and de facto norms. While both Aushi and Bemba fulfill vitality, historicity, and de facto norms, only Bemba reaches standardization and expresses true autonomy. Although speakers of Aushi do genuinely believe their linguistic variety to be a separate language, they frequently cannot cite more than half a dozen linguistic differences and instead rely upon extralinguistic differences. Still, on strictly linguistic criteria, most speakers of Aushi and Bemba are quick to identify the minor phonological difference between /k/ in the former and /t͡ʃ/ in the latter, but is this difference significant enough to warrant their being separate languages, especially in that speakers of both varieties are completely mutually intelligible to one another? On the other hand, how many lexical items must be different from one another in

148

order to warrant their being separate languages? Ohannessian and Kashoki (1978:55), for example, treat the stems in (1a) as equivalent but the stems in (1b) as different. Presumably, the argument is that those in the former are distinguished by fewer degrees of differentiation; as such, those in (1a) differ by the height of the final vowel, the presence or absence of the nasal plosive, and the manner of articulation of the fricative. On the other hand, those in (1b) differ not only in terms of the nominal class prefix, which might not be a reliable indicator given their instability/inconsistency, but also strikingly in the realization of the root: /tV(V)/. (1) a. -onsi, -onthi, -onse, -ose, -oshe b. bu-to, vy-oto, u(w)-uti, i-toi, i-twe, i-twi

(‘all’) (‘ashes’)

Other scholars have attempted to reorganize the classification of Bantu languages through similar

studies;

however,

they

have

sometimes

utilized

data

fraught

with

misrepresentations that seem to indicate unnecessary differences. The pre-existing data for each of the assumed related linguistic varieties can be found below with accompanying notes. The data for Aushi arrive through this dissertation, and the remainder arrive overwhelmingly through compiled—and widely accessible—materials at the Koninklijk Museum voor Midden Afrika, viz. Manenga and Coupez (1963) for Temba; Gibson and Coupez (n.d.) for Bemba; Doke (1933) and Sumail and Twilingiyimana (1986) for Lamba; Crine (1967) for Bwile; Coupez (1976) for Sanga; Musanda (1994) for Sumbu; and Johnson (1919-22:197ff) for Bisa. To reflect more accurately the linguistic similarities of the data below, certain decisions have been made to standardize the orthographies employed, though not arbitrarily so. Where long vowels were represented in the original text with a diacritic, they are here represented as a doubled vowel. Where {si}/{sy} and {ci} were found in the 149

original text and palatalization is understood to be a recurring morphophonological process in said linguistic variety, they are here represented as {shi} and {chi}, respectively. Similarly, early descriptions used {ŵ} or {v} for the voiced bilabial fricative and here are represented uniformly as {b}. All acute and grave accents are retained as in the original, though their phonemic status at the suprasegmental level should not be assumed as accurate or uncontested. Any hyphens used to separate the noun class prefix and the root were removed. Moreover, any verbal roots that were originally represented without the final vowel (-a) are accompanied by it in square brackets below, as not to give the impression of greater distance between varieties. For instance, the Sanga -pi- looks quite different from the Aushi ukupya. However, this is because the former is unaccompanied by both its final vowel and nominal class prefix, i.e. even without specific knowledge of the phonological and morphological systems in Sanga, one could still reasonably propose /ukupia/ as the corresponding item. Additionally, the lexical category is specified where known or straightforwardly recognizable, in order to explain any distinctions that might not seem obvious to a reader unfamiliar with these linguistic varieties. For example, the English ‘good’ is documented through a number of lexical items that correspond to adjectival, adverbial, and verbal lexical categories (good, well, to be good). Finally, if a translation was not provided for a particular term, the reader will find “——” in its place.

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#

English

Aushi

Bisa

Bwile

Lamba

Temba

1 2 3

all arm ashes

-onse (adj) ukuboko (n) imitoyi (n)

-onse (adj) okoboko (n) ——

fìónsè (n)

4

bark

-onse (adj) ukuboko (n) amatoi (n) ichipapwa (n) ichipande (n) inda (n) amala (n) akapafu (n) -kulu (adj)

-onse (adj) ukuboko (n) -toyi (root) -pande (root)

Ng’umbo Taabwa onse (adj) ukuboko (n) imito (n) ichipapa (n)

-la (root)

ifumo (n)

-kulu (adj)

-kulu (adj)

ichuni (n) kusuma (v) ukufiita (v) umulopa (n) ifupa (n)

ikioni (n) -suman[a] (v) -fiit[a] (v) -lopa (root) iifupa (n)

ichoni (n) -suma (v) ichafita (n) mulopa (n) ifupa (n)

múkúhà (n) múndà (n) kùshîkà (v) lìkúmbì (n) pèpó (n) kwîsà (v) kúfwà (v)

ibele (n) ukupya (v) ikumbi (n) impepo (n) ukwisa (v) ukufwa (v)

-beele (root) -pya (v) -kumbi (root) -pepo (root) -is[a] (v) -fw[a] (v)

ibeele (n) -pya (v) ikumbi (n) impepo (n) -isa (v) -fwa (v)

kàbwá (n) kùmínà (v) kûmà (v) kútwì (n) kûlìá (v)

imbwa (n) ukunwa (v) chumine (v) ukutwi (n) ukulya (v)

-bwa (root) -nw[a] (v) -um[a] (v) -twi (n) -ly[a] (v)

imbwa (n) -nwa (v) -uma (v) kutwi (n) -lya (v)

5

belly

6

big

7 8 9 10

bird bite black blood

11

bone

12 13 14 15 16

breast burn cloud cold come

17

die

18 19 20 21 22

dog drink dry ear eat

ikipande (n) ulufumu (n) -kulu (adj) -kalamba (adj) ikyuuni (n) ukusuma (v) ukufiita (v) umuloopa (n) ifupa (n) ibeere (n) ukupya (v) ikumbi (n) impepo (n) ukwisa (v) ukufwa (v) imbwa (n) ukunwa (v) ukuuma (v) ukutwi (n) ukulya (v)

bùtó (n)

—— ifumo (n) mala (n) —— ng’uni (n) —— -fita (v) molopa (n) lifupa (n) libere (n) —— —— mpepo (n) -isa (v) -fwa (v) -shila (v) imbwa (n) —— —— kutwe (n) -dia (v)

fùmó (n) mùkúlú (n) kìónì (n) kûsúmà (v) kùfîtà (v) múlópà (n)

151

23

egg

24

eye

25

fat

26

feathers

27 28

fire fish

29

fly

30

full

31

give

32

go

33

good

34

ground

35 36 37 38

hair head hear heart

39

horn

40

kill

41

knee

iliini (n)

idini (n)

líí (n)

iliinso (n)

idinso (n)

lînsó (n)

amafuta (n) ukwina (v)

mafuta (n)

màfútà (n)

amasako (n) amapindo (n) umulilo (n) isabi (n) ukupupuka (v) ukupululuka (v) ukwisula (v) ukupeela (v)

—— mulilo (n) ins[a]bi (n)

lîsàkú (n) mùlíló (n) lîsàbì (n)

—— —— -peela (v) -pa (v) -ya (v)

kùfîmbà (v)

-wama (v) panshi (pp)

kìwémé (n)

umushishi (n) umutwi (n) ukumfwa (v) umutima (n) isengo (n)

ishishi (n) mutwe (n) —— mutima (n) ilisengo (n)

mùshílì (n) mùtwé (n) kùnfwà (v) mùtímà (n) lùsèngé (n)

ukwipaya (v)

-ipaya (v) -komeka (v?) likonko (n)

ukuya (v) -suma (adj) ukuwema (v) panshi (pp)

ikufi (n)

isana (n) ilindanda (n) ilinso (n) isio (n) amafuta (n) ukwina (v) ukunona (v) isako (n)

-yaayi (root)

ilini (n)

-inso (root)

linso (n)

-futa (root)

ifuta (n)

ifufuumbo (n)

isako (n)

umulilo (n) isabi (n) ukupululuka (v) ukupalala (v) ukwisula (v) ukupela (v)

-liro (root) -sabi (root) -im[a] (v)

mulilo (n) isabi (n) -pupuka (v)

-isula (v)

-isula (v) -pela (v)

kúpà (v)

-paana (v) ukuya (v) bwino (adv) ukuwama (v) panshi (pp)

-ya (v) -suma (adj) -waam[a] (v) panshi (pp)

panshi (pp)

-shishi (root) -twi (root) -umfw[a] (v) umuchima (n) iseengo (n)

ipiipi (n) mutwe (n) -umfwa (v) mutima (n) isengo (n)

kwîpàyà (v)

umushishi (n) umutwi (n) ukumfwa (v) umutima (n) isengo (n) ulusengo (n) ukwipaya (v)

-ipaya (v)

-ipaya (v)

líkúfì (n)

ikufi (n)

-kufi (n)

ikufi (n) 152

42 43

know leaf

44

leg

45

lie

46

liver

47 48 49

long louse man

50

many

51

meat

52 53

moon mountain

54

mouth

55 56 57 58

nail name neck new

59

night

60

nose

61

one

62

path

ukwishiba (v) ibuula (n) ukuula (n) ukulala (v) ilibu (n)

-ishiba (v) kulu (n) mukonzo (n) -lala (v) ——

kwîshíbà (v) lívúlà (n) —— kùlǎlá (v) líbú (n)

-tali (adj) ikyungwa (n) umwaume (n) -ingi (adj)

-tali (adj) —— mulume (n)

inama (n)

nama (n)

nyámà (n)

umweenshi (n) ulupili (n) akanwa (n)

mwezi (n) ulupili (n) akanwa (n)

mwéshì (n) lúpǐlì (n) kànwà (n)

ilyala (n) ishina (n) umukoshi (n) -pya (adj) ubushiku (n) imfinshi (n) umuna (n) impuno (n)

ichiala (n) ishina (n) munkoshi (n) —— bushiku (n) imfinshi (n) umona (n) impuno (n)

lùálà (n) dînà (n) mùkóshí (n) kípìà (n) bùshíkù (n)

-mo (adj) inshila (n)

-mo (adj)

ùnó (n) ngìlǎ (n)

——

——

mútálì (n) ndà (n) mùlúmě (n) bwìngǐ (n)

mônà (n)

ukwishiba (v) ibula (n) ukuulu (n)

-ishib[a] (v) iibuula (n) ukuulu (n)

-ishiba (v) ibula (n) ukuulu (n)

ukulala (v) ichibu (n) ulufyo (n) -tali (adj) inda (n) umwalalume (n) -inji (adj) ifingi (n) inama (n) ichinani (n) umwenshi (n) ulupili (n) akanwa (n) akamwa (n) ilyala (n) ishina (n) umukoshi (n) -abukumo (adj?) ubushiku (n)

-laal[a] (v) -bu (root)

-lala (v) ilibu (n)

-tali (adj) -da (root) -alalume (root) -ingi (adj)

-tali (adj) ijanda (n) umwaume (n) -ngi (adj)

-nama (root)

nama (n)

-enshi (root) -pili (root) -nwa (root)

umweshi (n) ulupili (n) akanwa (n)

ilyala (n) -shiina (root) -koshi (root) -kuumo (adj) -shiku (root)

ulwala (n) ishina (n) mukoshi (n) -pya (adj) ubushiku (n)

umona (n) imyona (n) ichona (n) -mo (adj) inshila (n) kashila (n)

-ona (root)

umona (n)

-mo (adj) akaloolo (n)

-mo (adj) nshila (n)

153

63

person

64

rain

65 66

red root

67

round

68 69 70

sand say see

71

seed

72

sit

73

skin

74

sleep

75

small

76

smoke

77

stand

78 79 80

star stone sun

81

swim

82

tail

umuntu (n) imfula (n) ukukashika (v) umushila (n) ukushinguluka (v) umuchanga (n) ukukosa (v) ukumona (v) inseke (n) ukwikala (v) inkanda (n) impapa (n) utulo (n) ukusendama (v) -noono (adj) ikyuushi (n) ukwima (v) ukwiminina (v) ulutanda (n) ibwe (n) akasuba (n) ukusamba (v) umukila (n) ikisuka (n)

muntu (n) mvula (n) —— —— —— —— —— -bona (v) —— -ikala (v) nkanda (n) chikumba (n) -lala (v) -shinshila (v) -nini (adj) -ike (adj) ubushi (n) -ima (v) -imilila (v) ntandala (n) ibwe (n) kasoba (n) —— mukila (n)

ntondo (n) mûntú (n) umuntu (n) imfula (n) infula (n) múswěshì (n) ukukashika (v) mùshílá (n) umushu (n) ukushinguluchile (v) ukubulungana (v) músèngà (n) umuchanga (n) kùsókómà (v) ukulabila (v) kùlóléshà (v) ukubona (v) mbùtó (n) ulubuto (n) imbuto (n) kwìkàla (v) ukwikala (v) inkanda (n) pápá (n) utulo (n) ——

-ntu (root) -fula (root)

umuntu (n) imfula (n)

-kashik[a] (v) -shyashi (root) -tuntuman[a] (v)

-kashika (v) umushila (n) -bulungana (v)

—— -laka (v) -mona (v) ulubuto (n)

umuchanga (n) -landa (v) -mona (v) ulubuto (n)

-ikala (v) -kanda (root)

-ikala (v) inkanda (n)

-lo (root)

utulo (n)

-noono (adj)

-nono (adj)

mwânìké (n) kìúsǐ (n) kwímànà (v)

-nini (adj) ukucepa (v) ichushi (n) ukwima (v)

-ushi (root) -imakana (v)

ichushi (n) -ima (v)

tândà (n) dìbwé (n) kàsúbá (n) kúsâmbà (v)

akabangabanga (n) ibwe (n) akasuba (n) ukusamba (v)

-bangabanga (root) -bwe (root) -suba (root) -samfi (root)

múshì (n)

umuchila (n)

umukila (n)

ulutanda (n) ilibwe (n) akasuba (n) -samba (v) -owa (v) umuchila (n)

154

83

tongue

84

tooth

85

tree

86 87 88

two walk warm

89

water

90

what

91

white

92

who

93

woman

ululimi (n) ndimi (n) iliino (n) ikimuti (n)

ululimi (n) irimi (n) irino (n) muti (n)

-bili (adj) ukwenda (v) ukukaba (v) ameenshi (n)

-bili (adj) —— —— menzi (n)

nindo (interr) shaani (interr) ukubuuta (v) nani (interr) bani (interr) umwanakashi (n)

—— -a buta (adj) —— mukashi (n)

lúdìmì (n) lînó (n) kímùtí (n)

ululimi (n)

ilino (n) ichiti (n) omuti (n) àbìlìì (adj?) -bili (adj) kwêndà (v) ukwenda (v) dìúzà ukukaba (v) méndà (n) amenda (n) ameenshi kǐnshì (interr) shani (interr) nindo (interr) kùswékà (v) ukutuba (v) nàní (interr) nani (interr) bani (interr) múkáshì (n) mwanakashi (n)

-limi (root)

ululimi (n)

-ino (root) ikiti (n)

ilino (n) ichimuti (n)

-bili (adj) -enda (v) -kaba (v) -inshi (root)

-bili (adj) -enda (v) -kaba amenshi (n)

nindo (interr)

-nshi (interr)

-tuba (v) naani (interr)

buta (v) nani (interr)

-anakashi (root)

umwanakashi (n)

155

#

English

Aushi

1

all

2

arm

-onse (adj) ukuboko (n)

Taabwa (Zambia) -onse (adj) ukuboko (n)

3 4

ashes bark

5

belly

imitoyi (n) ikipande (n) ulufumu (n)

imito (n) ichipaapa (n) ifumo (n)

6

big

-kulu (adj)

7 8

bird bite

9

black

-kulu (adj) -kalamba (adj) ikyuuni (n) ukusuma (v) ukufiita (v) umuloopa (n) ifupa (n) ibeere (n) ukupya (v)

imilopa (n) ifupa (n) ibeele (n)

ikumbi (n)

ikumbi (n)

impepo (n)

impepo (n)

ukwisa (v) ukufwa (v) imbwa (n) ukunwa (v) ukuuma (v) ukutwi (n)

-isa (v) -fwa (v) imbwa (n) -nwa (v) -uma (v) ukutwi (n)

10 blood 11 bone 12 breast 13 burn 14 cloud 15 cold 16 17 18 19 20 21

come die dog drink dry ear

ichooni (n) -suma (v) ichaafiita (n)

——

Taabwa (DRC) -ònsè (adj) kiboko (n) kùbòkò (n) mito (n) lyààmbà (n) munda (n) lùvùmò (n) -kata (adj) kòònì (n) kùsùmà (v) -a fi (adj) kùfììtà (v) mùlòpà (n) kìkùzà (n) lìbèèlé (n) kuleema (v) kuzyà (v) lìlèzì (n) lìkùmbì (n) mupepo (n) kàsàwà (n) kwìzà (v) kùfwà (v) kàbwà (n) kumina (v) kùùmà (v) kùtwì (n)

Bemba

Sanga

-ónsé (adj) ukùboko (n)

-ònsô (adj) -bòkó (root)

imìto (n) —— ȉfumo (n)

-tò (root) -ùdá (root) diifŭ (n)

-kalàmbà (adj)

-kátàmpé (adj)

ìchooni (n) ukùsuma (v) ùkufiita (v)

-oni (root) -sùm[a] (v) -fíít[a] (v)

ùmulopa (n) ifùpa (n) ibèèle (n) ukùpya (v)

-shî (root) -kùp[a] (root) -bědè (root) -pì[a] (v)

ìkumbi (n)

diikumbi (n)

ḿpèpò (n)

-shìká (adj?)

ùkwisa (v) ukùfwa (v) imbwà (n) ukùnwa (v) ukùùma (v) ukùtwi (n)

-íy[a] (v) -fù[a] (v) -bwà (root) -tòm[a] (v) -ùm[a] (v) -twí (root) 156

22 eat 23 egg 24 eye 25 fat 26 feathers 27 fire 28 fish 29 fly 30 full 31 give 32 go 33 good 34 ground 35 hair 36 37 38 39 40 41

head hear heart horn kill knee

42 know

ukulya (v) iliini (n)

-lya (v) ilini (n)

iliinso (n) amafuta (n) ukwina (v) amasako (n) amapindo (n) umulilo (n) isabi (n)

iliinso (n) amafuta (n)

ukupupuka (v) ukupululuka (v) ukwisula (v) ukupeela (v) ukuya (v) -suma (adj) ukuwema (v) panshi (pp)

-pupuka (v)

umushishi (n)

imishishi (n)

umutwi (n) ukumfwa (v) umutima (n) isengo (n) ukwipaya (v) ikufi (n) ukwishiba (v)

umutwe (n) -umfwa (v) umutima (n) ulusengo (n) -ipaya (v) ikufi (n) -ishiba (v)

isako (n) umulilo (n) isabi (n)

-isula (v) -peela (v) -suma (adj) panshi (pp)

kùlyà (v) liyai (n) lìyààyì (n) lììnsò (n) màfùtà (n)

ukùlya (v) ilìni (n)

-dí[a] (v) dííî (n)

ilìnso (n) amàfuta (n)

dîsó (n) -ánî (?)

lìsàkò (n) lìsàlà (n) mùlìlò (n) lìsàbì (n) nsabi (n) kùpùpùká (v)

ìlisako (n)

masàla (n)

ùmulilo (n) isabì (n)

-dídó (root) -sàbí (root)

ukùpupuka (v)

-tùmbuk[a] (v)

-a izwǐlé (adj?) kùpà (v) -ya (v) -sùmù (adj) weme (v?) pànshì (pp) bùlòngì (n?) mùshìshì (n)

ukwìsula (v) ukùpeela (v)

-yùùd[a] (v) -pà[a] (v)

mùtwè (n) kùùmvwá (v) mùtìmà (n) lisééngó (n) kwìpàyà (v) likufi (n) kwìzìbà (v) kùmànà (v)

ùmusùma (n) panshì (pp) ùmushishi (n) ùmushilì (n) umùtwe (n) ukùmfwa (v) umùtima (n) ulùsengo (n) ùkwipaya (v) ikùfi (n) ukwìshiba (v)

-wáám[a] (v) pánshì (pp) -súkì (root) -twè (n) -tèèdek[a] (v) mutìma (n) -sèngò (root) -ípay[a] (v) -kùfí (root) -yúúk[a] (v)

157

43 44 45 46

leaf leg lie liver

47 long 48 louse 49 man 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58

many meat moon mountain mouth nail name neck new

59 night 60 nose 61 one 62 path 63 person 64 rain 65 red

ibuula (n) ukuula (n) ukulala (v) ilibu (n) -tali (adj)

ibuula (n) ukuulu (n) -laala (v) ilibu (n) -tali (adj)

lyàànì (n?) kùùlù (n) kùlààlá (v) libu (n) -leepelé (adj)

ikyungwa (n) umwaume (n)

inda (n) umwaume (n)

-ingi (adj) inama (n) umweenshi (n) ulupili (n) akanwa (n) ilyala (n) ishina (n) umukoshi (n) -pya (adj) ubushiku (n) imfinshi (n) umuna (n) impuno (n) -mo (adj)

-nji (adj) inama (n) umweshi (n) ulupili (n) akanwa (n) --ishiina (n) umukoshi (n) -pya (adj) ubushiku (n)

ǹdà (n) mwalalúmé (n) mwàlùalúmé (n) -ingi (adj) nàmà (n) kwèzì (n)

inshila (n)

akashila (n)

umuntu (n) imfula (n) ukukashika (v)

umuntu (n) imfula (n) -kashika (v)

-ona (root) -mo (adj)

kànwà (n) lwààlà (n) lììnà (n) mùkòsì (n) -a leenu (adj?) bùshìkù (n) nshìkù (n) m(y)òònà (n) -mò (adj) kàmò (n) ǹzíla (n) ngila (n) muntu (n) mvùlà (n) -a kasha (adj) kùkàsìká (v)

ìlibuula (n) ùkuulu (n) ùkusendama (v) ilìbu (n) îtali (n) ishîtali (n) indà (n) umwààume (n)

diibŭŭlà (n) kuuulu (n) -dààd[a] (v) diitìma (n) -dámpè (adj)

ifìngì (n) ìnama (n) umwèshi (n) ulupili (n) àkanwa (n) ilyàla (n) ishìna (n) ùmukoshi (n) ikìpya (n) ubùshiku (n)

-vúd[a] (v) -nyámá (root) -ngóndó (root) mutumba (n) -nwá (root) -dyâla (root) -zìná (root) -koshi (root) -pyâ (adj) -fùkú (root)

ùmoona (n) ìmyoona (n) -mo (adj)

m(y)oona (n)

ǹshila (n)

dííshìndà (n)

ùmuntu (n) ḿfùlà (n) ukùkashika (v)

-ntú (root) -vùdá (root) -tìd[a] (v)

-kúsó (root) -ánà-dùmé (root)

-mô (adj)

158

66 root 67 round 68 sand 69 say 70 see 71 seed 72 sit 73 skin 74 sleep 75 small

umushila (n)

umushila (n)

ukushinguluka (v) umuchanga (n) ukukosa (v)

-bulungana (v) umuchanga (n) -landa (v)

muzi (n) mùshìlà (n) mùnzyùngǔlù (n) mùsèèngà (n) kùlààndà (v)

ukumona (v) inseke (n)

-mona (v) ulubuto (n)

kùmònà (v) mbèzù (n)

ukwikala (v) inkanda (n) impapa (n) utulo (n) ukusendama (v) -noono (adj) ikyuushi (n)

-ikala (v) inkanda (n)

kwìkàlà (v) mpapa (n) kùtèèndà (?) tùlò (n)

ukwima (v) ukwiminina (v) ulutanda (n)

-iminina (v)

ibwe (n) akasuba (n) ukusamba (v)

ilibwe (n) akasuba (n) -samba (v)

umukila (n) ikisuka (n) ululimi (n) ndimi (n)

umuchila (n)

utulo (n) -noono (adj) ichuunshi (n)

76 smoke 77 stand 78 star 79 stone 80 sun 81 swim 82 tail 83 tongue

ulutanda (n)

ululimi (n)

ùmushila (n)

-zyáází (adj?)

ukùbulungana (v) ùmusènga (n) ukùsosa (v) ùkulanda (v) ukùmona (v) ḿbùtò (n) ulubùto (n) ùkwikala (v) nkàndà (n)

-bùdungan[a] (v) -séngá (root) -dàk[a] -bùùd[a] -mòn[a] (v) -bùtó (root)

utùlo (n)

-dò (n)

-nini (adj) kyúnsì (n) byúnsì (n) vyunsi (n) kwimaná (v) kwìmánà (v) lùtàndà (n) ntàndà (n) lìbwè (n) kòòbà (n) kùsààmbà (v) kwituúza (v) mùkìlà (n)

ûûnôôno (n?) ichùnshi (n)

-néénè (adj) -ìshí (v?)

ukwìminina (v)

-ìman[a] (v)

ùlutànda (n)

kabangàbangà (n)

ìlibwe (n) akàsuba (n) ukùsambà (v)

(d)iibwe (n) katȇ (n) -òw[a] (v)

umùkila (n)

-kìlá (root)

lùlìmì (n) ndìmì (n)

ulùlimi (n)

-dìmí (root)

-síkat[a] (v) -kúpó (root?)

159

84 tooth

-bili (adj)

iliino (n) ichiimuti (n) kiimuti (n) -bili (adj)

ukwenda (v) ukukaba (v)

-enda (v) -kaba (v)

ameenshi (n) nindo (interr) shaani (interr) ukubuuta (v)

amenshi (n) -nshi (interr)

-ani (root)

92 who

nani (interr) bani (interr)

93 woman

umwanakashi (n)

umwanakashi (n)

85 tree 86 two 87 walk 88 warm 89 water 90 what 91 white

iliino (n) ikimuti (n)

-buuta (v)

lììnò (n) mùtì (n)

ilììno (n) ìchimùti (n)

dînó (n) -tì (root)

-bìlì (adj) tùbìlì (n) kwèndà (v) kuswééla (v) kyúúza (?) mèèndà (n) kiki (interr)

-bili (adj)

-bìdì (adj)

ùkwenda (v) ichìbe (n)

-énd[a] (v) -ùyá (v)

amènshi (n) chinshì (interr)

mȇmá (n) kâ (interr)

-a swe (adj?) kuswééta (v) nààní (interr) bààní (interr) uúni (interr?) mwànùàkází (n)

ùkubuuta (v)

-tóók[a] (v)

naanì (interr)

ánì (interr)

umwànakashi (n)

ànákàzí (root)

160

Appendix 2: Basic Phrases Uli shaani? Muli shaani? Uli fye bwiino? Muli fye bwiino? Bwiino (saana). Ishili bwiino (saana). Bwiino panoono. Nga weebo? Mwashibukeni! Kyungulo! Mwashibuka shaani? Hodi! Kalibu! Natotela (saana)! Napapata! Mwende bwiino! Ishina lyobe (ni) nani? Ishina lyandi (ni) … Nshilanda ikyaushi. Nshitesha/nshumfwa ikyaushi. Nshikumfwa. Nshaishibe. Ndefwaya ukusambilila ikyaushi. Ndefwaya ukushita … Ee Awe Tuli na nsala. / Natumfwa nsala. Tuli na ikilaka. / Natumfwa ikilaka.

How are you? (informal sg) How are you? (formal and plural) How are you continuing? (informal sg) How are you? (formal and plural) (Very) well. Not (very) well. Just OK. And how are you? Good morning! Good afternoon/evening! How did you awaken this morning? May I enter? Please enter! Thank you (very much)! Please! Leave safely! / Safe travels! What is your name? My name is … I don’t speak Aushi. I don’t understand Aushi. I don’t understand you. I don’t know. I want to learn Aushi. I want/would like to buy … Yes No We’re hungry. We’re thirsty.

161

Appendix 3: Comparing Word Lists of Aushi Lexeme

Doke (1933)

all arm belly bird blood bone cold dog ear egg eye fire fish good hair head heart horn knee leg long man meat moon mountain mouth nail name neck night nose one rain skin smoke

-ōnse ukuvoko inda/amala icuni umulopa ifupa impepo imbwa ukutwi ilini ilīnso umulilo isavi -weme umusisi umutwe umutima uluseŋgo ikufi ukūlu -tali umwaume umunani umwensi ulupili akanwa ilyala isina umukosi imfinsi impuno -mo imfula iŋkanda uvūsi

Kankomba and Twilingiyimana (1986) -onse ukuboko ulufumu ikyuni omulopa ifupa impepo imbwa ukutwi ilini ilinso umulilo isabi bwino umusisi umutwi umutima isengo ikufi ukulu -tali umwume inama umwensi ulupili akanwa ílyàlí ísììná umukosi ubusíkú umona -mo imfula inkanda ikyusi

Spier (2018) -onse ukuboko ulufumu ikyuuni umuloopa ifupa impepo imbwa ukutwi ilini iliinso umulilo isabi -weme, -suma umusisi umutwe umutima ulusengo ikufi ukuulu, umukonso -tali umwaume, umuntu inama umweenshi ulupili akanwa ilyala ishina umukoshi imfinshi, ubushiku impuno, umona -mo imfula ing’kanda, impapa ikyuushi 162

star stone sun tail tongue tooth tree two water

ulutanda ibwe akasuva icisuka ulumini ilīno umuti -vili amensi

intàndá ilibwe akasúbá umukílá ílììnò iliino ikimuti -bili amensi

ulutanda ibwe akasuba icisuka, umucila indimi, ululimi iliino umuti, ikimuti -bili ameenshi

Notes: Some orthographic differences result in lexical items being represented differently. For instance, Doke (1933) represents /β/ consistently as {v} in every instance where it is represented as {b} in this dissertation. Additionally, while Doke (1933) represents the voiced velar nasal as {ŋ} for seemingly every phonetic and/or phonemic occurrence of /ŋ/, Kankomba and Twilingiyimana (1986) allows this to remain as the underlyingly phonemic alveolar nasal {n}. This is represented as {ng’} in this dissertation when phonemic and as {n} when phonetic, especially before the velar plosive. Both of these orthographic choices undertaken were done so deliberately to assist in ease of reading for native speakers by following the standards established by the Ministry of Education. Nonetheless, there are other instances where the orthography alone did not result in a difference in lexical items. For instance, with reference to the term good, for instance, Doke (1933) provides one of the two adjectival forms, while Kankomba and Twiliingiyimana (1986) instead provide the adverbal form. On the other hand, in the case of the term meat, Doke (1933) actually provides the term for vegetable and/or meat accompaniments to ubwali, though typically the former is understood. Still, even though there are also separate words for both of these components that are subsumed under umunani, one could never use this term to refer to meat without additional context. With reference to tongue, Kankomba and Twilingiyimana (1986) provide the term for tooth. In 163

many other instances, both of these studies provided one of two lexical items with the same sense, e.g. night can be understood as both imfinshi and ubushiku. While both can be used for night, only the former additionally means darkness—with or without the temporal reference.

164

Appendix 4: Umunobe (‘Your Friend’) Class 1

Nominal Morphology Augment Prefix u

mu

a

ba

u i i a i i i i u a u u u ∅ ∅ ∅

mu mi shi ma ki fi N N lu ka tu bu ku pa ku mu

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Verbal Morphology Subject Object n-n-/-mu-kua-mu-/-mwtu-tu-/-twmu-miba-bau-ui-ili-lii-iki-kifi-fii-ishi-shilu-luka-katu-tubu-buku-ku— — — — — —

Syntactic Relative Associative

Demonstrative Pronouns Immediate Proximal Medial

uu-

wa (u-a)

uno

uyu

uyo

ulya

aba-

ba (b-a)

bano

aba

abo

balya

uuiiishiayaikiifiiiishiuluakautuubuukuupaukuumu-

wa (u-a) ya (i-a) lya (li-a) ya (i-a) kya (ki-a) fya (fi-a) ya (i-a) sha (sh-a) lya (li-a) ka (k-a) twa (tu-a) bwa (bu-a) kwa (ku-a) pa (p-a) kwa (ku-a) mwa (mu-a)

uno ino lino yano kino fino ino shino lino kano tuno buno kuno pano kuno muno

uyu iyi ili aya iki ifi iyi ishi ulu aka utu ubu uku apa uku umu

uyo iyo ilo ayo ikyo ifyo iyo isho ulo ako uto ubo uko apo uko umo

ulya ilya lilya ilya kilya filya ilya shilya lulya kilya tulya bulya kulya palya kulya mulya

Distal

165

Appendix 5.A: Dictionary (Aushi – English)

-abo pron. their -abuka vb. to cross -abula vb. to do sth. without -afwa vb. to help akabemba n. parrot akafundisha n. teacher akakondo n. toe akalembe n. arrow akalonde n. small hoe akalulu n. rabbit akambusu n. toilet akamindwa n. pinky finger, pinky toe akamponda n. basket akanama n. flesh akanoono n. a little piece akanwa n. mouth akapoondo n. criminal, gangster, dude (inf.) akapunda n. hole, toilet (in the ground) akashimi n. story, narrative, tale akashinshi n. island akashishi n. insect akashishilo n. heel akasote n. hut akasuba n. sun akatende n. heel -akwe pron. his, her, its amafi n. excrement amafuta n. fat, lotion, oil amakonde n. fishing nets amakumi chine konse konse num. eighty amakumi chine lubali num. seventy amakumi pabula num. ninety amakumi umutanda num. sixty amakumi yabili num. twenty amakumi yanne num. forty

amakumi yasano num. fifty amakumi yatatu num. thirty amakwushi n. suffering, struggling, pain amala n. lungs amalasha n. charcoal amaluba n. flowers amapasa n. twins amapindo n. feathers (for flying) amasako n. feathers amasangano n. meeting place amataba n. maize amatako n. buttocks -amba vb. to begin ameenshi n. water -andi pron. my -angala vb. to play -asuka vb. to respond, to reply, to answer ati interr. what awe interj. no, well -ba vb. to be, to become bakapaso n. guards (of the chief) bakapokala n. police bakeemba n. choir -bala vb. to be first bamama n. grandmother bampundu n. twins banafyala n. mother-in-law banakungula n. traders -bangilila vb. to start with sth. first basha n. slaves bashikulu n. grandfather batunga n. a kind of bush rat bawishifyala n. father-in-law -belenga vb. to read, to learn bemba n. lake 166

-beya vb. to cut hair -bi adj. bad, ugly -biika vb. to put, to place, to set -bikapo vb. to continue -bili num. two -bishi adj. unripe -bola vb. to be rotten -bomba vb. to work bomfwa n. bread -bomfya vb. to use -boola vb. to hit -botoka vb. to be stuffed -buta vb. to be white -butuka vb. to run (away), to flee -buula vb. to take, to pull out buyantanshi n. development bwangu adv. quickly -bwasula vb. to break -bwekela vb. to go back -bwela vb. to return, to come back bwiino adv. well chandwe n. parrot -che adj. little, slim, skinny -cheka vb. to cut -chena vb. to joke -chesa vb. to cut -chila vb. to surpass -chimfyanya vb. to compete -chinda vb. to dance, to have sex -chindika vb. to respect chine konse konse num. eight chine lubali num. seven -chinja vb. to change chitemene n. shifting cultivation chitente n. division (of territory or village) chofwe n. hippopotamus -chimfya vb. to win chitemene n. slash-and-burn agriculture cholwe n. zebra -eba vb. to say, to tell -enda vb. to walk -ensha vb. to drive -enu pron. your (pl) -esha vb. to try -esu pron. our

-fika vb. to arrive, to come to, to reach a location or place -filwa vb. to fail, to be unable to, to be unsuccessful in doing sth. -fimba vb. to cover -fisa vb. to hide from s.o. -fiita vb. to be black -fula vb. to be sufficient, to be substantial -fulumuka vb. to run toward -fulunganya vb. to be confused fulwe n. tortoise -fuma vb. to be from, to come from, to come out (of a house) -fumuka vb. to be expired -fumya vb. to remove, to take out -funda vb. to remove the skin -funkola vb. to run away quickly -fuunda vb. to teach -fuuta vb. to erase -fwa vb. to die fwaka n. tobacco -fwala vb. to dress -fwaya vb. to want, to seek out fweebo pron. we -fwena vb. to scratch -fwenkula vb. to dance intensely -fwika vb. to dress s.o. -fyala vb. to give birth to, to bear a child fye adv. just adv. simply -fyonga vb. to coil -fyumfwa vb. to play -iba vb. to steal ibere n. breast ibolo n. testicle ibumba n. group, crowd ibuumba n. clay ibwe n. stone ichaka n. year ichibanda n. devil ichibansa n. ground ichibeshi n. knife ichibimbi n. cucumber ichibokolo n. crocodile ichibote n. peace ichibuumba n. wall 167

ichibwesela n. pumpkin ichifuba n. chest ichifutwe n. salt ichiiba n. pigeon ichiibi n. door ichikala n. penis, dickhead (inf.) ichikolwe n. village founder, lineage ichikota n. sub-clan, lineage ichikulwa n. building ichilaka n. thirst ichilanga mulilo n. dowry meal ichilimba n. radio cassette ichilindi n. hole ichilolani n. mirror ichiloto n. dream ichimanti n. tomato ichimbayambaya n. truck ichimbusu n. toilet ichimbwi n. hyaena ichingalika n. zebra ichingeleshi n. English language ichinkumwa n. thumb, toe ichinshingwa n. shadow ichipamba n. rhinoceros ichipampa n. billboard ichipatala n. hospital ichipe n. container ichipembele n. rhinoceros ichipya n. forest with scattered trees and tall grass ichipyango n. broom ichisali n. sugarcane ichisansa n. hand ichishibilo n. identity, nationality ichishimu n. caterpillar ichisote n. hat ichisuka n. tail ichisungu n. initiation ichita n. soldier ichitabo n. book ichitekwa n. domestic animal ichitenge n. decorative fabric ichitonga n. maize ichitundu n. language ichituundu n. basket ichiwa n. ghost

ichombo n. ship ichongo n. noise ichoshi n. deep sleep ichula n. frog ichulu n. anthill ichumbu n. sweet potato ichungwa n. foolish person ichuungwa n. orange ichuuni n. bird, penis (inf.) ichyakulya n. food ichilembelo n. pen ichipuba n. a crazy person ichisankonde n. sweetheart, someone as sweet as bananas (inf.) ichungulo n. evening icyuunda n. sound ifiko n. dirty ifinsabwa n. vegetation ifisepo n. crops ifito n. charcoal ifufu n. tufted hair ifumo n. spear womb ifupa n. bone -iimba vb. to dig, to sing -iingi adj. many, plenty -iipi adj. low, short, narrow -ika vb. to fall down -ikala vb. to sit, to remain, to live ikana num. one thousand ikandi n. testicle -ikata vb. to hold, to catch, to arrest ikilundu n. cloth from bark ikimuti n. stick, tree ikinongo n. clay pot ikintu n. thing ikirungwa n. yam ikishima n. well (of water) ikufi n. knee ikumbi n. cloud ikumi num. ten ikumi na chimo num. eleven ikumi na chine konse konse num. eighteen ikumi na chine lubali num. seventeen ikumi na fibili num. twelve ikumi na finne num. fourteen 168

ikumi na fisano num. fifteen ikumi na fitatu num. thirteen ikumi na mutanda num. sixteen ikumi na pabula num. nineteen -ikuta vb. to be full (after eating) ikwalo n. chiefdom ikwebo n. business ikyalo n. world ikyani n. grass ikyanso n. weapon ikyebo n. word ikyushi n. smoke ilanda n. cowpeas iliino n. tooth iliinso n. eye ilini n. egg ilyala n. fingernail, toenail ilyashi n. news story -ima vb. to leave, to depart, to stand -imakana vb. to stop imbalala n. groundnuts imbale n. plate imbeba n. rat imbesa n. small hoe used to carve imbila n. message imbowo n. buffalo imbulu n. crocodile (land) imbushi n. goat imbwa n. dog imbwili n. leopard imfinshi n. darkness, night imfuko n. mole imfula n. rain imfumu n. chief imfungulo n. key imfuti n. gun imfuvu n. hippopotamus imfwa n. death imibebe n. behavior imikoti n. mines imilumbe n. traditional narrative -iminina vb. to stand, to stand for a position, to stand still imisu n. urine imitingi n. meeting imitonga n. baskets (for carrying

produce) imitoyi n. ashes impaanga n. sheep impaka n. cat impanga n. bush forest impapa n. skin (animal) impashi n. ant, fire ant impele n. bird (similar to a dove) impepo n. coldness impombo n. gazelle impongolo n. doorway impoto n. pot impuku n. bush rat, swamp rat impumi n. forehead impumpumpu n. motorbike impuno n. nose impwa n. local aubergine -imya vb. to raise, to lift one’s arms or hands imyono n. fishing nets, fishing baskets imyunda n. first year of chitemene gardens -ina vb. to be fat inama n. animal, meat incende n. place inchinga n. bicycle indalama n. money indeke n. airplane indimi n. tongue indofu n. vagina indoshi n. magic, witch indoti n. dirty -ingila vb. to enter ingo n. leopard ingubo n. blanket ingwena n. crocodile ing’anda n. house, home, family ing’ang’a n. traditional doctor ing’anse n. crab ing’oma n. drum ing’ombe n. ox ing’ombe ikota n. cow ing’ombe ilume n. bull inifwi n. spear inindaminwe n. ring injili n. pig 169

inkafi n. paddle inkalamu n. lion inkalanga n. ground pea inkanda n. skin inkito n. employment, work, job inkoa n. egret inkoko n. chicken inkoli n. walking stick, police baton (inf.) inkoloko n. wrist watch inkonde n. banana inkondo n. war inkota n. hen inkumba n. pig inkunda n. dove inkwilimba n. pigeon insaani n. plate insala n. hunger insalamu n. brideprice insalu n. cloth insambu n. approval insange n. monkey insapato n. shoe inseke n. chicken (female) inshi n. ground inshikishi n. palm oil, palm oil plant inshiku n. day inshila n. road inshinge n. flying ant inshita n. time, occasion inshya n. antelope insofu n. elephant insoka n. snake insolokoto n. window (of a small hut) insoni n. shyness insumbi n. chicken insupa n. gourd, calabash inswa n. flying ant intafu n. distance intambo n. rope intoyo n. ground pea inuma n. back inyange n. grains -ipaya vb. to kill -ipika vb. to cook ipinda n. traditional narrative

ipulanga n. wood -ipusha vb. to ask -ipyanika vb. to initiate -isa vb. to come isabi n. fish isako n. hair -isala vb. to close isembe n. axe -ishiba vb. to know (a fact), to know (a person), to become acquainted with someone ishiku n. taboo sexual behavior (viz. incest and pedophilia) ishina n. name -isula vb. to open isumbu n. fishing net -isusha vb. to pour full -ita vb. to call itaba n. maize itanta n. thigh itole n. testicle ituuka n. shop -kaana vb. to refuse, to decline kaano prep. unless -kaba vb. to be warm, to be hot kabalwe n. horse -kabila vb. to need kabili adv. again, once again, also kabwalala n. thief -kaka vb. to tie -kalamba adj. big, old kale adv. old kalekale adv. already, long ago -kali adj. fierce, hot, spicy kalume n. male entity (person or animal) -kama vb. to squeeze -kambatika vb. to fill, to stick -kampa vb. to create, to make -kamya vb. to drain, to empty kandolo n. sweet potato kanshi adv. then, afterwards kanyau n. cat kapoli n. pig kapolo n. beggar, destitute person kasalanga n. cage 170

-kashika vb. to be red kateeka n. leader kateka n. rat -kati POS. middle kibwe n. pebble kikopwa n. end kila adv. every kilemba n. bean kilwa ideo. hopping (of rabbit) -kimfya vb. to defeat kimpondwa n. peanut butter kipya adv. again, afresh kishinka n. truth kisotwe n. girlfriend, beautiful woman -kita vb. to do -koba vb. to hook kolwe n. monkey -kongola vb. to borrow -konka vb. to follow, to pursue, to look for -konkanya vb. to continue koote n. big rat that eats chicken -kota adj. female ku ntanshi ya prep. before in front of ku numa ya prep. behind, after -kula vb. to build, to grow, to mature kulila adv. sufficiently -kulu adj. big, wide kulya adv. there -kuma vb. to meet -kumana vb. to meet, to meet each other, to come together -kumba vb. to do sth. secretly -kumya vb. to touch, to feel, to lean the body against sth. kunda n. frog -kungula vb. to buy (in bulk) -kunsha vb. to walk alongside -kuta vb. to call kuti vb. to be able to -kutumana vb. to be quiet, to be at a loss for words kwesu adv. our home/place kwi interr. where -kwusha vb. to suffer -kyula vb. to suffer

-labilalabila vb. to be talkative -lala vb. to sleep, to have sex lamya n. phone -landa vb. to speak, to talk -langa vb. to show someone how to do sth. -lasa vb. to pierce, to hit leelo adv. today -leeta vb. to bring -leka vb. to stop -lekela vb. to let -lemba vb. to write -lenga vb. to make, to cause -lengela vb. to look inside (e.g. a window) libala n. garden -lila vb. to cry lilya interr. when -lima vb. to cultivate, to farm -lipila vb. to pay -lolela vb. to wait -lolesha vb. to look, to watch, to see -luba vb. to be lost -lubulube vb. to defend oneself -lufya vb. to lose -luka vb. to vomit, to plait, to weave lwisa interr. when -lya vb. to eat -ma vb. to dry mailo adv. tomorrow, yesterday maini n. mine (e.g. of copper) maka n. strength malinso n. lizard masomo n. lessons masooshi adv. day before yesterday, day after tomorrow mate n. saliva matipa n. mud mayo n. mother mayosenge n. aunt (maternal ~ and paternal ~) -mbi adj. other, another meenso n. face; prep. mu ~ ya in front of mupepi adv. close, not far away milyanga milyanga adv. everywhere 171

-mo num. one -mona vb. to see mpaka prep. until mpii ideo. beating of a small drum muchanga n. sand (of soil) muchenche n. parrot muchonde n. bush mukolwe n. chicken (male) mukwai n. a term of respect similar to “sir” or “ma’am” mulya adv. (inside) there musalu n. vegetable musange n. cell phone mutanda num. six mutonta mpanga n. bicycle mweebo pron. you (pl) -mwentula vb. to smile mwina n. person of na conj. and; prep. with nabwinga n. bride -naka vb. to be tired nakabili adv. again namutekenya n. driver nani interr. Who ndume n. brother neebo pron. I nga adv. if, when, while ngulube n. wild pig, boar nguni n. bird -niina vb. to climb niinshi adv. then nindo interr. what ninshi interr. why nkashi n. sister -nne num. four noko n. mother nomba adv. now; conj. however, but -noono adj. small, little ntanshi adv. first, front -nwa vb. to drink nyau n. cat nyika n. lake, river nyina n. mother -obe pron. your (sg) -onse adj. all -paala vb. to bless

-paama vb. to beat pabula num. nine pakati ka prep. between, in the middle of pakuti prep. in order to prep. so that -pala vb. to peel, to scratch (often in reference to a chicken) -palama vb. to come toward, to come closer palya adv. there pamo adv. together -panga vb. to make panoono adv. slowly panshi ya prep. under, beneath -panta vb. to kick pantu conj. because -papa vb. to be surprised, to be shocked -pata vb. to oppose, to be against, to hate -patila vb. to be stuck -peela vb. to give -pekanishisha vb. to prepare -pela vb. to reach the end -pembela vb. to wait -penda vb. to count -pepeka vb. to chase -pila vb. to remove -pilibula vb. to mean -pita vb. to use, to pass, to pass by po ideo. splashing (of a hippopotamus) -poka vb. to receive, to get -pokelela vb. to welcome s.o., to receive s.o., to embrace (figuratively) -pokolola vb. to confiscate -pomba vb. to wrap around pompwe n. thief -posa vb. to throw -posha vb. to greet -pululuka vb. to fly pumbwe n. goat (male) punda n. horse -pupuka vb. to fly pushi n. cat -putula vb. to cut -pwa vb. to end, to finish, to conclude -pwisha vb. to finish 172

-pya adj. new, fresh, ripe; vb. to cook completely saana adv. very, quite saawe n. goat (male) sacha n. bus -saka vb. to spit -sala vb. to make, to put together -samba vb. to swim, to bathe -sambilila vb. to learn -sambilisha vb. to teach -sanga vb. to find -sano num. five -seepa vb. to harvest -seka vb. to laugh at s.o. -senda vb. to carry, to get -sendama vb. to sleep -sepa vb. to run away -sha vb. to leave someone -shaala vb. to remain, to stay -shaana vb. to dance shaani interr. how, what shibwinga n. groom shifwe n. father (Catholic) shikulu n. grandparent shimaini n. miner shinga interr. how much, how many -shinga vb. to smear (e.g. with the foot) -shinguluka vb. to be moving around shinkwa n. bread -shipula vb. to doze -shita vb. to buy -shitisha vb. to sell -shya vb. to leave simwesimwe n. monster -soboola vb. to taste food while it cooks -sooma vb. to read, to study -suka vb. to be finally sukulu n. school -suma adj. good, beautiful; vb. to bite -sumina vb. to agree, to believe -sunda vb. to urinate -sunga vb. to take care of s.o. -suunga vb. to keep taata n. father, paternal uncle taatafyala n. father-in-law -talala vb. to be cold

-tali adj. high, long; adv. ~tali far away -tamba vb. to watch -tamfya vb. to chase -tampa vb. to start -tatu num. three -tebeta vb. to prepare a meal for s.o. -teka vb. to rule -tekalanga vb. to rule, to govern -tekanya vb. to wait patiently -telela vb. to move -tema vb. to cut trees -temwa vb. to love, to like, to be happy -tesha vb. to understand, to hear -tiina vb. to be scared, to be afraid -tinta vb. to soar through the sky to pull -toba vb. to break -tola vb. to be stunted -toloka vb. to jump tompwe n. brains tondolo adv. quietly -tonsela vb. to pull sth. out -tontonkanya vb. to think (about), to reflect, to contemplate -toola vb. to pick (up) -tula vb. to be from, to come from -tuma vb. to send -tuntulu vb. to be excellent, to be an appropriate choice tute n. cassava -twa vb. to be sharp -twala vb. to take ubukala n. penis ubukolanya n. television ubulendo n. journey ubulundu n. friendship ubulwele n. disease, sickness -ubune adj. good ubunga n. mealie meal ubuntu n. humanity ubupipi n. hair (of the arms) ubupuba n. insanity, craziness ubusaka n. cleanliness ubusanshi n. bed ubushiku n. night ubusonge n. small marriage payment ubusuma n. happiness, beauty, peace, 173

inherent goodness ubuta n. gun ubutala n. grains ubwaato n. boat ubwali n. nshima ubwalwa n. beer ubwamba n. penis ubwanga n. magic, charms ubwikashi n. life ubwinanama n. gathering of different animals ubwinga n. wedding -ufimba vb. to swell -ufya vb. to offer in marriage ukubeeya n. shoulder ukuboko n. arm ukuti prep. in order to ukutila conj. that ukutwi n. ear ukuulu n. leg ulubuli n. fight ulubuto n. light ulucelo n. morning ulufumo n. belly ulukasa n. foot ulukasu n. hoe ulukuni n. firewood ululamba n. valley, bank alongside water ululimi n. tongue, language ulumfukwe n. strength, power ulupaka n. border ulupayo n. spoon ulupi n. palm ulupili n. hill, mountain ulusee n. hoe ulusengo n. horn ulushimu n. bee ulushishi n. rope ulutambi n. proverb ulutanda n. star ulwimbo n. song -uma vb. to beat -umfwa vb. to feel, to hear, to understand umona n. nose

umubenshi n. termite umubili n. body umubomfi n. worker, employee umuchele n. salt umuchila n. tail umuchinshi n. respect umufuko n. bag umufwi n. arrow umufyala n. parent-in-law umufyashi n. parent umukaka n. milk umukalamba n. older sibling, elderly person umukashana n. girl, young woman umukashi n. wife umukoko n. sheep (male) umukonso n. leg umukoshi n. neck, throat umukowa n. clan umukulu n. grown-up person umukwa n. hole in a tree umulabasa n. radio station umulandu n. police case umulembwe n. okra umulendo n. stranger, guest umulilo n. fire umulimi n. farmer umulimo n. work, household chore umulomo n. lip umulonga n. river umuloopa n. blood umulume n. husband, young man umulumendo n. boy umulundu n. island umulunshi n. hunter umulwani n. enemy umulwashi n. sick person umulwele n. sick person umumana n. lake, river umunani n. relish umung’o n. thief umunkwala n. medicine umuntu n. person umunwe n. finger umunyang’u n. ant umupando n. chair 174

umupanga n. bush umupashi n. spirit, soul umupeto n. tire umupina n. poor person umupongoshi n. son-in-law, daughterin-law umupundu n. a type of tree umupupu n. thief umusambi n. student umusana n. waist umusango n. type of sth., kind of sth. umuse n. sugarcane umusebo n. road umuseke n. basket umusengele n. bed umushi n. village umushiika n. market umushili n. soil umushilika n. soldier umushimbe n. spinster umushipa n. vein umushishi n. hair (of the head) umushitu n. thick forest umusoja n. soldier umusompa n. long beak umusumba n. palace umusungu n. white person umutanda n. hut umutande n. sequence umutende n. peace umutenge n. roof umuti n. medicine, tree umutima n. heart, spirit, soul umutonga n. basket (for carrying produce) umutoto n. navel umutundu n. tribe umuulu n. sky, heaven umuumbu n. tuber, sweet potato umuunga n. thorn umwaice n. young child, younger sibling umwaka n. year umwana n. child, baby umwana mwaume n. son umwana umwanakashi n. daughter

umwanakashi n. woman umwanda n. hundred umwando n. rope umwango n. trunk (of an elephant) umwaume n. man umweenshi n. entrance umweenshi n. month moon umwele n. knife umwembe n. mango umwemfu n. hair (of the face) umweni n. stranger, guest umwenso n. fear umwina n. member umwine n. owner umwipika n. pot umwipwa n. niece, nephew umwonga n. river -upa vb. to marry usuu ideo. spitting saliva utubuki n. honey utubwesela n. pumpkin (undeveloped or immature) utulo n. sleep utumale n. finger millet utumatuloshi n. pants utwantutu n. little breasts (prepubescent, developing) wa ideo. swimming (of a hippopotamus) -wa vb. to bathe weebo pron. you (sg) -weme adj. good -ya vb. to go yamaa n. maternal uncle yatii ideo. splashing (of an elephant’s trunk)

175

Appendix 5.B: Dictionary (English – Aushi)

afresh adv. kipya after prep. ku numa ya afternoon n. chungulo afterwards adv. kanshi again adv. kabili, kipya, nakabili agree vb. -sumina agriculture n. chitemene (slash-andburn ~), imyunda (first year of gardens) airplane n. indeke all adj. -onse already adv. kalekale also adv. kabili and conj. na animal n. inama another adj. -mbi answer vb. -asuka ant n. umunyang’u, impashi (fire ant) antelope n. inshya anthill n. ichulu approval n. insambu arm n. ukuboko arrest vb. -ikata arrive vb. -fika arrow n. akalembe, umufwi ashes n. imitoyi ask vb. -ipusha aubergine n. impwa aunt n. mayosenge (maternal ~ and paternal ~) axe n. isembe baby n. umwana back n. inuma bad adj. -bi bag n. umufuko banana n. inkonde bank alongside water n. ululamba bark cloth n. ikilundu basket (for carrying produce) n. umutonga

basket n. akamponda, ichituundu, umuseke baskets (for carrying produce) n. imitonga bathe vb. -samba bathe vb. -wa be able to vb. kuti be afraid vb. -tiina be against vb. -pata be an appropriate choice vb. -tuntulu be at a loss for words vb. -kutumana be black vb. -fiita be confused vb. -fulunganya be excellent vb. -tuntulu be expired vb. -fumuka be fat vb. -ina be finally vb. -suka be first vb. -bala be from vb. -fuma be from vb. -tula be full (after eating) vb. -ikuta be happy vb. -temwa be hot vb. -kaba be lost vb. -luba be moving around vb. -shinguluka be quiet vb. -kutumana be red vb. -kashika be rotten vb. -bola be scared vb. -tiina be sharp vb. -twa be shocked vb. -papa be stuck vb. -patila be stuffed vb. -botoka be stunted vb. -tola be substantial vb. -fula be sufficient vb. -fula be surprised vb. -papa be talkative vb. -labilalabila be tired vb. -naka 176

be unable to vb. -filwa be unsuccessful in doing sth. vb. -filwa be warm vb. -kaba be white vb. -buta be vb. -ba beak n. umusompa (long ~) bean n. kilemba bear a child vb. -fyala beat vb. -paama, -uma; ideo. mpii (~ing of a small drum) beautiful woman n. kisotwe beautiful adj. -suma beauty n. ubusuma because conj. pantu become acquainted with someone vb. ishiba become vb. -ba bed n. ubusanshi, umusengele bee n. ulushimu beer n. ubwalwa before prep. ku ntanshi ya beggar n. kapolo begin vb. -amba behavior n. imibebe behind prep. ku numa ya believe vb. -sumina belly n. ulufumo beneath prep. panshi ya between prep. pakati ka bicycle n. inchinga, mutonta mpanga big adj. -kalamba, -kulu billboard n. ichipampa bird n. ikyuuni, nguni, impele (dovelike ~) bite vb. -suma blanket n. ingubo bless vb. -paala blood n. umuloopa boar n. ngulube boat n. ubwaato body n. umubili bone n. ifupa book n. ichitabo border n. ulupaka borrow vb. -kongola boy n. umulumendo

brains n. tompwe bread n. bomfwa, shinkwa, mukate break vb. -bwasula, -toba breast n. ibere, utwantutu (prepubescent, developing ~s) bride n. nabwinga brideprice n. insalamu bring vb. -leeta broom n. ichipyango brother n. ndume buffalo n. imbowo build vb. -kula building n. ichikulwa bull n. ing’ombe ilume bus n. sacha bush n. muchonde, umupanga, impanga (~ forest) business n. ikwebo but conj. nomba buttocks n. amatako buy vb. -shita, -kungula (~ in bulk) cage n. kasalanga calabash n. insupa call vb. -ita, -kuta carry vb. -senda cassava n. tute cat n. impaka, kanyau, nyau, pushi catch vb. -ikata caterpillar n. ichishimu cause vb. -lenga cell phone n. musange chair n. umupando change vb. -chinja charcoal n. amalasha, ifito charms n. ubwanga chase vb. -pepeka, -tamfya chest n. ichifuba chicken n. inkoko, insumbi, inseke (female ~), mukolwe (male ~) chief n. imfumu chiefdom n. ikwalo child n. umwana, umwaice (young ~) choir n. bakeemba clan n. umukowa clay n. ibuumba, ikinongo (~ pot) cleanliness n. ubusaka 177

climb vb. -niina close vb. -isala close adv. mupepi cloth n. insalu cloud n. ikumbi coil vb. -fyonga cold n. impepo; vb. -talala (~ cold) come vb. -isa, -bwela (~ back), -palama (~ closer, ~ toward), -fuma (~ from, ~ out of), -tula (~ from), -fika (~ to), kumana (~ together) compete vb. -chimfyanya conclude vb. -pwa confiscate vb. -pokolola container n. ichipe contemplate vb. -tontonkanya continue vb. -bikapo, -konkanya cook vb. -ipika, -pya count vb. -penda cover vb. -fimba cow n. ing’ombe ikota cowpeas n. ilanda crab n. ing’anse craziness n. ubupuba crazy person n. ichipuba create vb. -kampa criminal n. akapoondo crocodile n. ichibokolo, ingwena, imbulu (on land) crops n. ifisepo cross vb. -abuka crowd n. ibumba cry vb. -lila cucumber n. ichibimbi cultivate vb. -lima cut vb. -cheka, -chesa, -putula, -beya (~ hair), -tema (~ trees)< dance vb. -chinda, -shaana, -fwenkula (~ intensely) darkness n. imfinshi daughter n. umwana umwanakashi, umupongoshi (~in-law) day n. inshiku, masooshi (~ after tomorrow, ~ before yesterday) death n. imfwa decline vb. -kaana

decorative fabric n. ichitenge deep sleep n. ichoshi defeat vb. -kimfya defend oneself vb. -lubulube depart vb. -ima destitute person n. kapolo development n. buyantanshi devil n. ichibanda dickhead (inf.) n. ichikala die vb. -fwa dig vb. -iimba dirty n. ifiko, indoti disease n. ubulwele distance n. intafu division (of territory or village) n. chitente do sth. secretly vb. -kumba do sth. without vb. -abula do vb. -kita doctor n. ing’ang’a dog n. imbwa domestic animal n. ichitekwa door n. ichiibi doorway n. impongolo dove n. inkunda dowry meal n. ichilanga mulilo doze vb. -shipula drain vb. -kamya dream n. ichiloto dress vb. -fwala, -fwika (~ s.o.) drink vb. -nwa drive vb. -ensha driver n. namutekenya drum n. ing’oma dry vb. -ma dude n. akapoondo ear n. ukutwi eat vb. -lya egg n. ilini egret n. inkoa eight num. chine konse konse eighteen num. ikumi na chine konse konse eighty num. amakumi chine konse konse elderly person n. umukalamba elephant n. insofu 178

eleven num. ikumi na chimo embrace (figuratively) vb. -pokelela employee n. umubomfi employment n. inkito empty vb. -kamya end n. kikopwa; vb. -pwa English language n. ichingeleshi enemy n. umulwani enter vb. -ingila entrance n. umweenshi erase vb. -fuuta evening n. ichungulo every adv. kila everywhere adv. milyanga milyana excrement n. amafi eye n. iliinso face n. meenso fail vb. -filwa fall down vb. -ika family n. ing’anda far (away) adv. kutali farm vb. -lima farmer n. umulimi fat n. amafuta father n. taata, bawishifyala (~-in-law), taatafyala (~-in-law), shifwe (Catholic ~) fear n. umwenso feathers n. amasako, amapindo (~ for flying) feel vb. -kumya, -umfwa female adj. -kota fierce adj. -kali fifteen num. ikumi fisano fifty num. amakumi yasano fight n. ulubuli fill vb. -kambatika find vb. -sanga finger millet n. utumale finger n. umunwe, akamindwa (pinky ~), ilyala (~nail), inindaminwe (ring on the ~) finish vb. -pwa, -pwisha fire n. umulilo firewood n. ulukuni first adv. ntanshi fish n. isabi

fishing baskets n. imyono fishing net n. isumbu, amakonde, imyono five num. -sano flee vb. -butuka flesh n. akanama flowers n. amaluba fly vb. -pululuka, -pupuka flying ant n. inshinge, inswa follow vb. -konka food n. ichyakulya foolish person n. ichungwa foot n. ulukasa forehead n. impumi forest n. ichipya (~ with scattered trees and tall grass) forty num. amakumi yanne four num. -nne fourteen num. ikumi finne fresh adj. -pya friendship n. ubulundu frog n. ichula, kunda front adv. ntanshi; prep. in ~ of mu meenso ya, ku ntanshi ya gangster n. akapoondo garden n. libala gathering of different animals n. ubwinanama gazelle n. impombo get vb. -poka, -senda ghost n. ichiwa girl n. umukashana, kisotwe (~friend) give birth to vb. -fyala give vb. -peela go vb. -ya, -bwekela (~ back) goat n. imbushi, pumbwe (male ~), saawe (male ~) good adj. -suma, -ubune, -weme gourd n. insupa govern vb. -tekalanga grains n. inyange, ubutala grandfather n. bashikulu grandmother n. bamama grandparent n. shikulu grass n. ikyani greet vb. -posha 179

groom n. shibwinga ground pea n. inkalanga, intoyo ground n. ichibansa, inshi groundnuts n. imbalala group n. ibumba grow vb. -kula grown-up person n. umukulu guards n. bakapaso (~ of the chief) guest n. umulendo, umweni gun n. imfuti, ubuta hair n. isako, ubupipi (~ of the arms), umwemfu (~ of the face), umushishi (~ of the head) hand n. ichisansa happiness n. ubusuma harvest vb. -seepa hat n. ichisote hate vb. -pata have sex vb. -chinda, -lala hear vb. -tesha, -umfwa heart n. umutima heaven n. umuulu heel n. akashishilo, akatende help vb. -afwa hen n. inkota her pron. -akwe hide from s.o. vb. -fisa high adj. -tali hill n. ulupili hippopotamus n. imfuvu, chofwe his pron. -akwe hit vb. -boola, -lasa hoe n. ulukasu, ulusee, akalonde (small ~), imbesa (~ used to carve) hold vb. -ikata hole n. akapunda, ichilindi, umukwa (~ in a tree) home n. ing’anda honey n. utubuki hook vb. -koba hopping (of rabbit) ideo. kilwa horn n. ulusengo horse n. kabalwe, punda hospital n. ichipatala hot adj. -kali house n. ing’anda

household chore n. umulimo how interr. shaani, shinga (~ many, ~ much) however conj. nomba humanity n. ubuntu hundred n. umwanda hunger n. insala hunter n. umulunshi husband n. umulume hut n. akasote, umutanda hyaena n. ichimbwi I pron. neebo identity n. ichishibilo if adv. nga in order to prep. ukuti, pakuti in the middle of prep. pakati ka inherent goodness n. ubusuma initiate vb. -ipyanika initiation n. ichisuungu insanity n. ubupuba insect n. akashishi island n. akashinshi, umulundu its pron. -akwe job n. inkito joke vb. -chena journey n. ubulendo jump vb. -toloka just adv. fye keep vb. -suunga key n. imfungulo kick vb. -panta kill vb. -ipaya kind of sth. n. umusango knee n. ikufi knife n. ichibeshi, umwele know vb. -ishiba (~ a fact or person) lake n. bemba, nyika, umumana language n. ichitundu, ululimi laugh at s.o. vb. -seka leader n. kateeka lean the body against sth. vb. -kumya learn vb. -belenga, -sambilila leave someone vb. -sha leave vb. -ima, -shya leg n. ukuulu, umukonso leopard n. imbwili, ingo 180

lessons n. masomo let vb. -lekela life n. ubwikashi lift one’s arms or hands vb. -imya light n. ulubuto like vb. -temwa lineage n. ichikolwe, ichikota lion n. inkalamu lip n. umulomo little adj. -che, -noono live vb. -ikala lizard n. malinso long adj. -tali long ago adv. kalekale look vb. -lolesha, -lengela (~ inside), konka (~ for) lose vb. -lufya lotion n. amafuta love vb. -temwa low adj. -iipi lungs n. amala ma’am n. mukwai magic n. indoshi, ubwanga maize n. amataba, ichitonga, itaba make vb. -kampa, -lenga, -panga, -sala male entity (person or animal) n. kalume man n. umwaume, umulume (young ~) mango n. umwembe many adj. -iingi market n. umushiika marry vb. -upa mature vb. -kula mealie meal n. ubunga mean vb. -pilibula meat n. inama medicine n. umuti, umunkwala meet each other vb. -kumana meet vb. -kuma, -kumana meeting place n. amasangano meeting n. imitingi member n. umwina message n. imbila middle POS. -kati milk n. umukaka mine (e.g. of copper) n. maini

miner n. shimaini mines n. imikoti mirror n. ichilolani mole n. imfuko money n. indalama monkey n. insange, kolwe monster n. shimweshimwe month n. umweenshi moon n. umweenshi morning n. uluchelo mother n. mayo, noko, nyina, banafyala (~-in-law) motorbike n. impumpumpu mountain n. ulupili mouth n. akanwa move vb. -telela mud n. matipa my pron. -andi name n. ishina narrative n. akashimi, imilumbe (traditional ~), ipinda (traditional ~) narrow adj. -iipi nationality n. ichishibilo navel n. umutoto neck n. umukoshi need vb. -kabila nephew n. umwipwa new adj. -pya news story n. ilyashi niece n. umwipwa night n. ubushiku, imfinshi nine num. pabula nineteen num. ikumi pabula ninety num. amakumi pabula no interj. awe noise n. ichongo nose n. impuno, umona now adv. nomba nshima n. ubwali occasion n. inshita offer in marriage vb. -ufya oil n. amafuta okra n. umulembwe old adj. -kalamba; adv. kale once again adv. kabili one thousand num. ikana 181

one num. -mo open vb. -isula oppose vb. -pata orange n. ichuungwa other adj. -mbi our home/place adv. kwesu our pron. -esu owner n. umwine ox n. ing’ombe paddle n. inkafi pain n. amakwushi palace n. umusumba palm oil plant n. inshikishi palm oil n. inshikishi palm n. ulupi pants n. utumatuloshi parent-in-law n. umufyala parent n. umufyashi parrot n. akabemba, chandwe, muchenche pass by vb. -pita pass vb. -pita pay vb. -lipila peace n. ubusuma, umutende, ichibote peanut butter n. kimpondwa pebble n. kibwe peel vb. -pala pen n. ichilembelo penis n. ichikala, ubukala, ubwamba, ikyuuni (inf.) person of n. mwina person n. umuntu phone n. lamya pick (up) vb. -toola piece n. akanoono pierce vb. -lasa pig n. inkumba, kapoli, injili pigeon n. ichiiba, inkwilimba place n. incende; vb. -biika plait vb. -luka plate n. imbale, insaani play vb. -angala, -fyumfwa plenty adj. -iingi police n. bakapokala, umulandu (~ case), inkoli (~ baton) poor person n. umupina

pot n. impoto, umwipika pour full vb. -isusha power n. ulumfukwe prepare a meal for s.o. vb. -tebeta prepare vb. -pekanishisha proverb n. ulutambi pull vb. -tinta, -buula (~ out), -tonsela (~sth. out), -sala (~ together) pumpkin n. ichibwesela; utubwesela (undeveloped or immature ~) pursue vb. -konka put vb. -biika quickly adv. bwangu quietly adv. tondolo quite adv. saana rabbit n. akalulu radio cassette n. ichilimba radio station n. umulabasa rain n. imfula raise vb. -imya rat n. imbeba, kateka, impuku (bush or swamp ~), batunga (bush ~), koote (~ that eats chicken) reach vb. -fika (~ a location or place), pela (~ the end) read vb. -belenga, -sooma receive vb. -poka, -pokelela (~ s.o.) reflect vb. -tontonkanya refuse vb. -kaana relish n. umunani remain vb. -ikala, -shaala remove vb. -fumya, -pila, -funda (~ the skin) reply vb. -asuka respect vb. -chindika; n. umuchinshi respond vb. -asuka return vb. -bwela rhinoceros n. ichipamba, ichipembele ring n. inindaminwe ripe adj. -pya river n. nyika, umulonga, umumana, umwonga road n. inshila, umusebo roof n. umutenge rope n. intambo, ulushishi, umwando rule vb. -teka, -tekalanga 182

run vb. -butuka, -funkoloa (~ away quickly), -sepa (~ away), -fulumuka (~ toward) saliva n. mate salt n. ichifutwe, umuchele sand (of soil) n. muchanga say vb. -eba school n. sukulu scratch (often in reference to a chicken) vb. -pala scratch vb. -fwena see vb. -lolesha, -mona seek out vb. -fwaya sell vb. -shitisha send vb. -tuma sequence n. umutande set vb. -biika seven num. chine lubali seventeen num. ikumi na chine lubali seventy num. amakumi chine lubali shadow n. ichinshingwa sheep n. umukoko; impaanga (male) shifting cultivation n. chitemene ship n. ichombo shoe n. insapato shop n. ituuka short adj. -iipi shoulder n. ukubeeya show someone how to do sth. vb. -langa shyness n. insoni sibling n. umwaice (younger ~), umukalamba (older ~) sick person n. umulwashi, umulwele sickness n. ubulwele simply adv. fye sing vb. -iimba sir n. mukwai sister n. nkashi sit vb. -ikala six num. mutanda sixteen num. ikumi mutanda sixty num. amakumi umutanda skin n. inkanda, impapa (of an animal) skinny adj. -che sky n. umuulu

slaves n. basha sleep vb. -lala, -sendama; n. utulo slim adj. -che slowly adv. panoono small marriage payment n. ubusonge small adj. -noono smear vb. -shinga (~ with the foot) smile vb. -mwentula smoke n. ikyushi snake n. insoka soar through the sky vb. -tinta soil n. umushili soldier n. ichita, umushilika, umusoja someone as sweet as bananas (inf.) n. ichisankonde son n. umwana mwaume, umupongoshi (~-in-law) song n. ulwimbo so that prep. pakuti soul n. umupashi, umutima sound n. icyuunda speak vb. -landa spear n. inifwi, ifumo spicy adj. -kali spinster n. umushimbe spirit n. umupashi, umutima spit vb. -saka; ideo. usuu splashing ideo. po (~ of a hippopotamus), yatii (~ of an elephant’s trunk) spoon n. ulupayo squeeze vb. -kama stand vb. -ima, -iminina (~ still, ~ for a position) star n. ulutanda start vb. -tampa, -bangilila (~ with sth. first) stay vb. -shaala steal vb. -iba stick vb. -kambatika; n. ikimuti stone n. ibwe stop vb. -imakana, -leka story n. akashimi stranger n. umulendo, umweni strength n. maka, ulumfukwe struggling n. amakwushi 183

student n. umusambi study vb. -sooma sub-clan n. ichikota suffer vb. -kwusha, -kyula suffering n. amakwushi sufficiently adv. kulila sugarcane n. ichisali, umuse sun n. akasuba surpass vb. -chila sweet potato n. ichumbu, kandolo, umuumbu sweetheart n. ichisankonde swell vb. -ufimba swim vb. -samba swimming ideo. wa (~ of a hippopotamus) taboo n. ishiku (~ sexual behavior, viz. incest and pedophilia) tail n. ichisuka, umuchila take vb. -buula, -twala, -sunga (~ care of s.o.), -fumya (~ out) tale n. akashimi talk vb. -landa taste food while it cooks vb. -soboola teach vb. -fuunda, -sambilisha teacher n. akafundisha television n. ubukolanya tell vb. -eba ten num. ikumi termite n. umubenshi testicle n. ibolo, ikandi, itole that conj. ukutila their pron. -abo then adv. niinshi, kanshi there adv. kulya, palya, mulya thick forest n. umushitu thief n. kabwalala, pompwe, umung’o, umupupu thigh n. itanta thing n. ikintu think vb. -tontonkanya thirst n. ichilaka thirteen num. ikumi fitatu thirty num. amakumi yatatu thorn n. umuunga three num. -tatu

throat n. umukoshi throw vb. -posa thumb n. ichinkumwa tie vb. -kaka time n. inshita tire n. umupeto tobacco n. fwaka today adv. leelo toe n. akakondo, ichinkumwa, akamindwa (pinky ~), ilyala (~nail) together adv. pamo toilet n. akambusu, ichimbusu, akapunda (~ in the ground) tomato n. ichimanti tomorrow adv. mailo tongue n. indimi, ululimi tooth n. iliino tortoise n. fulwe touch vb. -kumya traders n. banakungula tree n. ikimuti, umuti, umupundu (a type of ~) tribe n. umutundu truck n. ichimbayambaya trunk n. umwango (~ of an elephant) truth n. kishinka try vb. -esha tuber n. umuumbu tufted hair n. ifufu twelve num. ikumi fibili twenty num. amakumi yabili twins n. amapasa, bampundu two num. -bili type of sth. n. umusango ugly adj. -bi uncle n. yamaa (maternal ~), taata (paternal ~) under prep. panshi ya understand vb. -tesha, -umfwa unless prep. kaano unripe adj. -bishi until prep. mpaka urinate vb. -sunda urine n. imisu use vb. -bomfya, -pita vagina n. indofu 184

valley n. ululamba vegetable n. musalu vegetation n. ifinsabwa vein n. umushipa very adv. saana village founder n. ichikolwe village n. umushi vomit vb. -luka waist n. umusana wait vb. -lolela, -pembela wait vb. -tekanya (~ patiently), -kunsha (~ alongside) walk vb. -enda walking stick n. inkoli wall n. ichibuumba want vb. -fwaya war n. inkondo watch vb. -lolesha, -tamba water n. ameenshi we pron. fweebo weapon n. ikyanso weave vb. -luka wedding n. ubwinga welcome s.o. vb. -pokelela well adv. bwiino; interj. awe well (of water) n. ikishima what interr. nindo, shaani when adv. nga; interr. lilya, lwisa where interr. kwi while adv. nga white person n. umusungu who interr. nani why interr. ninshi wide adj. -kulu wife n. umukashi wild pig n. ngulube win vb. -chimfya window n. insolokoto (~ of a small hut) witch n. indoshi with prep. na woman n. umwanakashi, umukashana (young ~) womb n. ifumo wood n. ipulanga word n. ikyebo, inkito, umulimo work vb. -bomba

worker n. umubomfi world n. ikyalo wrap around vb. -pomba wrist watch n. inkoloko write vb. -lemba yam n. ikirungwa year n. ichaka, umwaka yesterday adv. mailo you pron. weebo (sg.), mweebo (pl.) your pron. -obe (sg.), -enu (pl.) zebra n. cholwe, ichingalika

185

Appendix 6: Texts The following two sections contain bilingual versions of the texts collected during fieldwork. The reader is reminded that these texts primarily constitute the bulk of the corpus whose relevant phonological, morphological, and syntactic features were exemplified in earlier sections. Additionally, a conscientious attempt was made during collection to ensure that both male and female voices were adequately represented. To this end, the reader will similarly notice that fictional narratives—and especially the longer ones therein—were recounted by men, while almost all of the informational texts arrive from women. In fact, while traditional folklore in the form of trickster tales is quite commonly discussed, this is certainly the first time that a group of Aushi speakers’ beliefs surrounding the procedures of female initiation (i.e. first menses), engagement, marriage, and the provisions of traditional (sexual) education are shared with and documented for an English-speaking audience in their original form. As such, it is believed that the inclusion of these texts will not only provide a reference for and further exemplification of the characteristics of the language described in the grammar, but also provide a window into the most salient features of Aushi culture. Still, a few qualifying remarks must be issued about this collection, especially as it concerns the processes of transcription and translation. First, a conscious attempt was made to render the original text as accurately as possible to the speakers’ utterances. However, in order to ensure that they are useable for non-academic native speakers, false stops (especially in characters’ names) and repeated phonetic sequences were removed unless pertinent to understanding (e.g. tu tu tumanani 186

→ tumanani). Additionally, a broadly phonemic transcription is employed here that follows the guidelines established by the Ministry of Education but which does not present a phonological word as if it were a single grammatical word; most notably, the Aushi na (‘and’ as a conjunction, ‘with’ as a preposition) is spelled out, despite it frequently being subjected to vowel hiatus resolution, in all contexts excluding verbal infinitives preceded by it. (1) a. [na imfumu]

→

/nemfumu/ (‘and the chief’) {na imfumu}

b. [na mfumu]

→

/namfumu/ (‘and the chief’) {na mfumu}

c. [na namfumu]

→

/na namfumu/ (‘and the chieftess’) {na namfumu}

Second, it must be understood that there exist concepts understood or activities practiced by the Aushi that do not have direct translations in English. Rather than provide inefficient prosaic descriptions, the initial terminology is retained. For example, ichilanga mulilo literally means “the showing [of] the fire,” but it refers to the stage in the engagement process where the future mother-in-law prepares the different types of food/meals that the future son-in-law can expect his wife to cook for him during their life together. On the other hand, the exchange of money and labor during the engagement process is variously defined in Aushi or English. For instance, the concept of insalamu is readily understood by anthropologists and is presented here as “brideprice,” while the small sum of money provided to the future son-in-law during the welcoming in the house of his parents-in-law is less widely understood; thus, it is presented here in the original Aushi as amashikulo.

187

Third, personal names are presented either in the original Aushi or as a direct translation into English. However, this was done consistently: Personal names of fictional, anthropomorphic animals’ names are always translated directly, in order to result in a ‘fable effect’ that is comparable to the original stories. For instance, Kalulu and Fulwe are identified as Rabbit and Tortoise, respectively. On the other hand, the names of fictitious human characters are presented in English if and only if a direct translation is available and appropriate in a literary context. For example, while Mfumu Nkalamu is presented as Chief Lion, Mfumu Bakalasa is presented, on the other hand, as Chief Bakalasa. Nonetheless, it should be noted that there is one morpho-semantic disadvantage to the decision concerning such translation, as the honorific ba- is not straightforwardly recognized in characters’ dialogue, but this can certainly be inferred contextually. Fourth, the bilingual reader will find that the translations presented here are neither literal nor completely free. They have gone through two collaborative revisions with native speakers and three independent revisions, in order to ensure not only their overall accuracy but that the original literary qualities are retained. To this end, the reader will find that most instances of repetition are presented precisely as such, e.g. “He was drinking and drinking and drinking.” On the other hand, the same verb may be realized differently in English even within the same utterance, and this was done deliberately in order to avoid choppiness, e.g. “[so that] he returns to [his Samfya]. They chased him, [and] he went back to his Samfya.”

188

A. Fictional Narratives 1. In the Chiefdom of Bakalasa Mwaiseni wemwaume muno Young man, welcome here to the [1] mukwalo kwesu ikwamfumu [1] chiefdom of Chief Kalasa. Bakalasa. [2] [3]

[4]

[5]

[6] [7] [8]

[9] [10] [11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

Twaikala fye umutende.

[2] We live in peace.

So that you have come to Chief So ifi waisa kuno ku mfumu Kalasa, if you want to marry, you Bakalasa, nga ukofwaya ukupa kuya [3] should go and ask the [village] kumonana na bamwine mushi. residents. Kwali umuntu umo uwaishile muno There was a person who came here mu mushi ukufwaya ukupa [4] looking [for someone] to marry and nokwikala. to stay. Nouba ikyo aikele aisa besanga [But] he found that life was too ubwikashi afilwa konse uko [5] difficult for him to stay anywhere he alefwaya ukuya. wanted to go. When they cooked food for him, Nomba elyo bamwipikele ifyakulya [6] then they asked, “Are you going to apo afikile. eat nshima?” The young man answered, “[Yes,] I Umulumendo atile nkolya. [7] [will] eat nshima.” Ati nga ukolya ubwali, “If you are eating nshima, don’t spit, wilekushipa…wilekushipila panshi [8] don’t spit fish bones on the ground.” imyanga. Nga washipila panshi imyanga, “If you spit fish bones on the ground, ukuba na umulandu muno kwalo [9] you are going to commit an offense kwamfumu mubwaushi. in [this village] of the Aushi.” Bamubikilapo nomunani. Ifinani They gave him relish. The relish that [10] ifyo bamupeele ikimpondwa. they gave him [was] peanut butter. Ikimpondwa emunani wa kuno Peanut butter is the relish here in kwesu ku bwaushi mu mfumu [11] Aushi[land] in the chiefdom of Bakalasa Lukangaba. Kalasa Lukangaba. Umulumendo afililwe ukwikala. The young man failed to live Uku afumine takwali balupwa [12] [because] where he came from he bakwe. had no family. Aisa aenda ayakufika ku mfumu He proceeded where he arrived at Bamatanda ku Lwapula uko [13] Chief Matanda[‘s] in Lwapula where (kw)ailesanga ubwikashi bwakwe he found a good life. bwalifilika. Bamupeela ukuteya imyona, afilwa They gave him fishing nets to set, [14] ukuteya. [yet] he failed to set [them]. 189

[15]

[16]

[17] [18]

[19]

[20] [21]

[22]

[23]

[24]

[25] [26] [27]

They taught him to be able [to catch Bamusambilisha ukuti. Ukomona [15] fish using fishing nets.] “Do you see ifyo tukoteya amasumbu? how we are setting the fishing nets?” “Do you see how we are setting the Ukomona ifyo tukoteya imyona? fishing nets? Do you see everything Ukomona ifyo tulecita fyonse? Ati [16] that we are doing?” And he emukwai nkomona. answered, “Yes, I see.” Kinekine aikele kulya kwine. And he stayed right there. They Bamusambilisha bamusambilisha [17] taught him, they taught him how to ukuteya amasumbu. set the fishing nets. Nokuteya amakonde, nokuteya How to set the fishing nets, how to [18] imyona, fyonse. set the fishing nets, everything. Elyo nomba afumine kulya But then he said, “I’m going back umulumendo ati nkobwalelamo ku there—to where I came from—to bwaushi, mwaushi ati [19] Aushiland. I’m going back [because nkobwebelamo ku bwaushi. Kuno I’m] Aushi. I’m failing to live here.” nkofilwa ukwikala. Pantu ukuteya amasumbu ine “Because it is difficult for me to set [20] kyankosela. fishing nets.” Elyo afumine ku Nkulo nokwisa That’s how he came from Nkulo and [21] kwikala mu bwaushi. came back to Aushiland. Mu bwaushi aikala mu mfumu He started living in Aushiland in the Bakalasa Lukangaba umo eme. area of Chief Kalasa Lukangaba. He Nomba atampile ukulima, kutampa started cultivating, started [22] ukulima fye imbalala sheka sheka cultivating groundnuts for peanut nokulamo twilako ikimpondwa butter because it’s the only relish he emunani alelya. would eat. Ukolya kukolya ikimpondwa. Nga He eats the peanut butter [relish]. If akolya ikimpondwa kumfwa fye he eats the peanut butter [relish], he [23] bwiino saana, nokwikata noku feels really very good, and he would mwinapo na meenshi. also have a cup of water. Wamona nga kuya kukulima ulukelo You see, if going to the farm in the ufwile tuulayo kukulima ilyo ukuya [24] morning, before you go to cultivate, kukulima ufwile walyapo you [should first] eat peanut butter. akampondwa. Umulumendo efyo alekonka mu And the young man was following bwikashi bwakwe mu mfumu [25] this in his life in the chiefdom of Bakalasa. Chief Kalasa. Bamutwele ku mfumu Bakalasa The chief’s guards took him to Chief [26] bakilolo Bamfumu Bakalasa. Kalasa. Bamumwene ukutila uyu muntu They said to him that this person’s [27] ukulya kwakwe kwakosa. diet is so difficult.

190

Tukomona imilile yakwe ifyo ileba, “We are observing his diet. Whether nga kuya ku kulima, nga kobwela na he is going to cultivate or coming [28] menso mu mutwe ulilaswile, na [28] back, we see his eyes on his forehead menso mu mutwe milyanga wandering all of the place.” milyanga. Tukomona uyu muntu imikalile “We see how this man is living. He yakwe ifyo akaikala. Takoikalapo is not staying with what he sees, he ifyamona iyo, takoikalapo ifya is not staying in peace, he is not [29] mutanda, takoikalapo ifyokwebati [29] staying where other people stay. As efikalana bangu. Ifwe tukofwaya we want a peaceful person, someone umuntu uwamutende, uwakuti nga who is going to stay with the aikala na namfumu baikala bwiino. chieftess in peace.” Nangu ukoya mu Mansa mukushita So that even if they go there to utusabi kulya ku cisankano, ku Mansa to buy fish at the meeting [30] maliketi, bamona ukutila uyu muntu [30] place, at the market they see that this muntu wa kwa Leesa kabumba person is a person [child] of the mukulu uushalubile. almighty God, the creator. Now I’m seeing the behavior of this Nomba nkomona uyu muntu imibele man is like this person is [one yakwe efyo ili alikubati kapondo [31] [31] without education]. Because when mwe! Pantu akocita nga kolya bwali he’s eating nshima, he’s not leaving takoshapo iyoo bonse kupwisha. anything. Ngo koya kumwebati ikalakwapa When you are telling him to sit down ulye ubwali bwiino bwiino akotana, and eat nshima properly, he’s [32] [32] akokalipa ati nkofwaya fye ubwali refusing and getting upset, saying, “I ukwipwisha. just want to finish this nshima.” Even if the nshima is big, he is going [33] Wangu bukulile shaani kupwisha. [33] to finish it. Efyo kanshi ulya muntu ishina The name of that person his name is [34] [34] lyakwe ni Mwape. Mwape. Bamwene ukutila Bamwape They saw that Mwape staying with ukwikala kwabo takulingile bekale them wasn’t good, and therefore he [35] muno mubwaushi bafyile [35] should go back to where he came babwebelamo fye uko bafuma ku from Lubemba. Lubemba. “And even we cannot understand Kaili nokulanda kuntu bako labila him well, what he is saying, because [36] tatukofyumfwa ufya kulabila ifya ku [36] he speaks of Lubemba, [but] we are Lubemba uku fweebo tuli baushi. Aushi.” “We are Aushi. We are seeing when Tuli baushi. Tukomona nga we are working [that] he is just tulebomba imilimo ena akotamba [37] [37] watching us. We are teaching him fye, tukomulanga ukulima ena how to work, but he is just watching akotamba fye. us.” 191

“But he is just watching [us]. He Nomba ifi akotamba taakabombe never wants to work at all. We have [38] ikintu nangu kimo na tumutamfya [38] no hope for him [but] to send him fye aleeya. going [back to where he came from].” Umulumendo babula bamutamfya They chased the young man [and] [39] no mukashi bamupeele [39] took back the lady that they had bamupokolola. given him [for marriage]. When they got the woman back, Ati bamupokolole paisa paisa there came, there came another man umulumendo umubi nao uwafumine who [was] from Samfya, and this [40] ku Samfya na uyu mwanakashi uyo [40] lady, well, this guy came to where umulumendo afika ku kuli bamwine the headman was and said, “I want to mushi ati, “Nkofwaya ukupa.” get married.” [41] Ukofwaya ukupa?

[41] “You want to get married?”

[42] Ati eya. Apo ali cisotwe.

[42] “Yes.” There is a beautiful lady.

[43] Bamwita cisotwe.

[43] They called the beautiful lady.

Namfumu ati aisa kuno The princess that came here [is of] [44] mwinambulo. the clan of metal. Wemukashana umwaume uyu “Young lady, this young man is from [45] wafuma ku Samfya. Akofwaya [45] Samfya and is looking for someone umwanakashi wakupa. who wants to get married.” So the lady said then and there, “Yes, So nomba palya umukashana ebele, [46] [46] me, I’m very happy [to get “Awe mukwi ine natemwa.” married].” And what resulted from in that Ikwatumbukibemo muli ulya [47] [47] [encounter was that] the lady became mukashana kupwa. married. Ilyo aupilwe kuli ulya mulumendo, When she got married to that young kilumendo, alefwaya kisotwe man, wanted this beautiful girl, the wakwe ulya namfumu nga aipika chieftess when she [was] cooking, nga kwipika ilanda nangu akoipika while cooking beans or when [48] [48] ifipushi, ifibwesela, kufwaya balya cooking small pumpkins, this guy bashikulu bantu baye basobole wanted to eat, to taste test, whether ukusobalamo balye bomfwe nga the food was ready [this is not an fyapya. admirable trait for men]. Abantu bebele, “Mukumona ifyo And the people said, “Have you seen akocita uyu mulumendo afumine what this guy from Samfya is doing? kusamfya?” Ukwikala kwakwe [49] [49] We have failed to live with him. fweebo twafilwa tekuti ena fume That’s [the reason] he was not kulya Samfya esafike kuno kanshi married even from where he came.” eki ekwataupila nokwafuma. [44]

192

Mukomona ifya akokita? Abantu [50] bebele, “Awe uyu muntu takonka kupa!” Mutamfyeni! Bamutamfya napakwupo aya kwipusha kaili pa [51] mushi pambi, pa Kalyondo kulya ku kumasangano kulya kwakalyondo kulya kunani kunanikile. Nako afwaya kolwe, kolwe wampili uobale bali kushitisha abene [52] abafumine mu mpanga mu mitanda ilyo bafikile ashita kolwe uyu. Uyo kolwe ashitile aya kupeela wiba [53] wakwe ati antipikile. Ilyo mukashi amwipikile kolwe talapya ameenshi fye awabomo, [54] kilumendo kufuma epo ali ati musobwelemo. Akofwaya kumusobwela [55] musobwelemo kanono uyu. Bakosobola bamupeela apali umulumendo aeba noku efyo nkofwaya ifi uyu mwanakashi ena [56] nkoikala nankwe no kuninga ewaninga kwena nkoikala nankwe fye nemyaka iyingi umuyayaya. Efyo cilumundo ulya abulile na [57] insalamu nokupeela na bawiba bakwe ati namisonga insalamu. Umukashi wakwe mukakilumendo na banafyala na bawishifyala basumina ati mukumona mukumona [58] uyu muntu ewakonka ewankonka ukutila twingekala nankwe pantu eeondefwaya nalefwaya. Ndefwaya kupa uwaba nga mayo. [59]

“Have you have you seen what he’s [50] doing? No, this man never came to get married!” “Chase him!” They chased him, and he went and asked in another village [51] at the meeting place there in Kalyondoo kunani [that place I can’t remember]. There he looked for a monkey, a mountain monkey [baboon], that [52] people, who came from the bush, the huts, were selling. He bought this monkey which he [53] gave to his wife for cooking. When this woman was cooking this monkey, before it could have even [54] been cooked in the water, this man, said, “Give [me] something to taste.” He wanted this lady to give him a [55] small piece [of food], so she did. She took and gave it to this man, and he said “This is what I want. This woman, I’m going to live with her, [56] and, moreover, she is the one suiting me, and I’m going to live with her forever.” [57]

[58]

Kilumendo alikele aikala imyaka [59] ibili bamulanga ukutema.

Ngokoya mutema, basenda isembe, [60] mumfwaile isembe. Bamufwaila isembe akoya [61] [61] namukutema mukutema kulyo kuntu [60]

That’s how this man took the brideprice and gave it to his wife. His wife, his mother-in-law, and his father-in-law agreed and said, “Do you see, do you see this person who continued and continued [in order to] stay with us because it is what I want, what I wanted. I want to marry someone like [my] mother.” He stayed, he stayed for two years, and then they showed him where to cut down the trees. When going to cut down the trees, they carry an ax, [so] find me an ax. They looked for an ax and started going to cut down the trees. When he 193

aleya. Nga afika munshi wakimuti aikala fye tondolo takotema kabili ifyo akonkele ekele fye tondolo aba abwela.

[62]

Ukwakobwela kulya kwisa ku [62] kupuli fye ukwilupula mu mwenshi.

[63]

Ati mwabombeni? Alesumina ati [63] eya mukwai.

Na bamupekanishisha na ifyakulya, [64] akolya akolya na mailo fyenkefyo na [64] mailo fyenkefyo. Nomba banafyala abo aupile bebele, “Awe natuye tumone eko [65] [65] abapongoshi bakotema tukacite ichilanga mulilo. Bafika kulya eko batema abapongoshi bakusa fye munshi wakimuti mwaba na fute-fute. Tabakotema kabili efyo babebele [66] [66] kwonse ekwo babalangile. Tabakomba ikintu nangu kimo na tabakotema. Tabakobomba. Tabakokitapo ikili kwonse. Elyo babwekele abwela na bapongoshi babo mukomba ukwisa [67] [67] kufika bebele ukotwile abapongoshi tabakotema tabakokita ikili kwonse. Nga mukofwaya muyeko muye [68] mumone uko abapongoshi twaba [68] Twala muku mukutema. Ikwaishile konkapo banafyala [69] baebele fye ati awe umupongoshi [69] wesu ikwapo kikopwa.

arrived under the tree, he sat quietly without cutting down the trees, which is what he was going there for. He was just sitting quietly and coming back. Where he is coming back, he could just throw himself [down] at the door[way]. “So, you have worked?” He replied affirmatively, “Yes, sir.” And they prepared food for him, and he started eating, eating. Tomorrow the same thing [and the next day] the same thing. However, the mother-in-law of the woman he married said, “Yes, let’s go where our son-in-law is cutting down trees, so that we can make the ichilanga mulilo.” They reached where their son-in-law was cutting trees, [but] he was just sitting under the tree and the grass was flattened, was flattened [from sitting]. He’s not cutting down what they told him, all of it, that they showed him. He was not working, not doing anything at all, and he was not cutting down [the trees]. He’s not working. He’s not doing anything. When they came back, they returned from their in-law. They said, “Where we went, our in-law wasn’t cutting down [the trees]. He wasn’t doing anything.” “If you want to go, go and see where we took our son-in-law to cut down the trees.” The following day, the mother-inlaw simply said, “No, our son-in-law made the marriage come to an end [suggesting a divorce].”

Kikopwa. Akobwelemo kwabo ku “It is going to end. He is going back [70] Samfya takatubombele kintu [70] to where he came from, to Samfya. ikilikwonse akoya. 194

He’s not going to work [do] anything for us. He’s just going.” [71] Akopwisha fye pano.

[71] “He’s just finishing [the food] here.”

[72]

Kaili fweebo nomba iwakula yonka mu bana.

twakula

[73]

Nomba kaili apo alya fye akolya fye akolya fye.

Umunda twakwete onse wapwa no butala bulya bumbi twatampileko [74] kubuulamo tumale ukusokola ukwebati tulekulya bwali. Tukolya fye namwe. Takokitapo akantu, nangu kanoono. Kwenka [75] kwikala fye, kwenka ukulalya fye. Katumutamfye abwelelemo ku Samfya kwabo. Bamutamfya abwelelamo ku Samfya [76] kwabo. Kwamonekele umulumendo umo nao afumine ku Lubemba. Ishana [77] lyakwe ni Kunda. Bamwipwisha mune ngokotulile ni kwi? [78]

Ati uko ntulile? Ntulile ku Lubemba nomba mpitile ya yakuli Misawa.

Kuli Misawa? Ati eya. Mukoya kwi? [79] Ati mukwai nkonkele ukufwaya umwanakashi wakupa. [80] Mukofwaya kupa? Ati emukwai.

“Now that we have grown up, we [72] should be taken care of by our children.” “Now that he is just eating, eating, [73] eating.” “Everything that we had is finished, so we started to take those other [74] grains there, the finger millet, to prepare in order for us to eat nshima.” “We are just eating with him. He is not doing anything, not even [75] something little, just sitting, just sitting. Let’s chase him [so that] he returns to [his] Samfya.” They chased him, [and] he went back [76] to his Samfya. There appeared another man who came from Lubemba. His name was [77] Kunda. They asked him, “Where do you come from?” He said, “Where am I from? I’m [78] from Lubemba, but I passed by Misawa.” “It was Misawa?” He said yes. “Where are you going?” He said, [79] “Yes, I have been looking for a woman to marry.” [80] “You want to marry?” He said yes.

Ooo! Abanakashi ni ndoshi! “Oh! Women are witches! They are [81] Tabapwa mu kwalo. everywhere [they don’t fail].” Tukomonapo akanakashi kamo “We are going to look for a lady who akapalamine kuno lubali kwena is here in this area who certainly will [82] [82] umwaume takakwata. Mubale not [already] have a man. First, call mubale mukakute. her.” They will call [her]. She came [and] Bakakuta. Akaisa bakupusha, they asked, “Young lady, someone [83] “Mukashana ku kofwaikwako [83] [here] is looking for someone [else] ukuukupwa? Ukofwayaukupwa to marry. Do you want to get [81]

195

[84]

[85] [86] [87]

[88]

[89] [90]

wemukashana webo?” Umukashana ebele, “Ee mukwai, kuti naupwa.” Awe umulumendo amwipusha, “Ufumine kwisa, wemulumendo?” Ati mfumine ku Lubemba, nomba napitile kuli Misawa nkomfwaya umwanakashi wakupa. Ukofwaya umwanakashi wakupa? Ati eya. Fweebo muno mubwaushi umunani wesu kimpondwa elo nokutema nokulima ekito twakwata. Ooo! Kutema? Ati eya, kisuma mukwai. Kuti nabomba uyu mulimo, umulumendo, kilumendo uyo, elyo bamulangile umukashana. Alikwete kilemba mu mbukuli. Iyo kilemba alefwaya iyo kilemba ukubapeela banamayo ukweba ati namayo ukonjipikilako kilemba iyi. Bapeela banamayo uyu bamwipikila kilemba.

[84]

[85] [86] [87]

[88]

[89]

Kilemba tailapya, ati nsobwelemo [90] filya fine fyacitile munkwe.

married, lady?” The young lady said, “Yes, I can get married.” So, this lady asked the man, “Where have you come from, young man?” He said, “I’m from Lubemba, but I used Misawa. I’m looking for a woman to marry. You want a woman to marry?” He said yes. “Us, here, our relish is peanut butter, and chopping down [trees] and farming is what we have here.” “Oh, cutting down trees? Yes, that’s good.” “I can do that work,” said the man, that young man, when they showed him the woman. He had beans in his bag. Those beans, he wanted to give the woman those beans [and] request that the woman cook those beans. They gave [them] to this woman, [and] she cooked the beans for him. The beans were not ready, just like what his friend did. He said, “Give me some.”

Ati mukomona uyu shikulu “Have you seen that which this man [91] ifyakucita finshi? Uyu muntu [91] is doing? This man is useless.” muwelewelemwe. Things [the food] are not ready yet Ifintu tafilapya pa mulilo. Ati [92] [92] on the stove. He said, “Give me nsobwelemo. some to taste.” Uyu shikulu takonka kwikala. “OK, this man never came to stay. [93] Mutamfyeni abwelelemo uko [93] Chase him so that he goes back to afumine ku Misawa. Misawa where he came from.” Fweebo uyu muntu tatumwishibe “This man we don’t even know him [94] [94] nokumwishiba bwiino bwiino. well.” Nga mukowa mukowa uli mukowa “And the clan, which clan are you?” [95] nshi? Ati umukowa wandi neebo ndi [95] He said, “My clan? I am an anthill.” mwina kwelu. So mweebo muli bena kwelu? Ati “So you, you are an anthill?” He said [96] [96] eya. yes.

196

[97] OK fweebo tatupana na bena kwelu. [97] [98] Abena kwelu balikilamo ubusasa. [99]

[98]

Twalikwulile saana nowakukile uko [99] uwafumine ni kwa Milambo.

Umwina kwelu ulo afwile pa mushi [100] pa Malipenga kwali ukukwula [100] nganshi takwali ukwikala umutende. [101]

Efyo bamubweseshe ubusonge [101] insalamu shilya aya nokuya.

Baikala. Baenda enda enda enda [102] enda enda enda. Umulumendo afika [102] pa mushi pa Kundamfumu. Pa Kundamfumu palya [103] bamupokelela fye bwiino. [103] Wemwaume uko wafuma ni kwi? [104]

Ati mukwai mfumine ku Lubemba. [104] Mpitile kuli Misawa eko mponene.

[105]

Eko ponene? Ati eya. Nomba ukoya [105] kwi?

Ati uko tukoya nkofwaya [106] umwanakashi wakuti. Tulesungana [106] nankwe. Ati umwanakashi wakupa? [107] Abashimbe ni ndoshi. Tabapwa mu [107] kwalo. Ati iteniko umukashana kulya. [108] [108] Ishina lyakwe ni Mwape. [109] Bakuta umwanakashi, baisa kwikala. [109] Wemwanakashi, ukofwaya ukupwa kuli uyu mulumendo? Afumine ku [110] [110] Misawa. Atile ku Lubemba, atulile kuli Misawa.

“We don’t [inter]marry with anthills.” “The anthill people, they cross into danger [they are dangerous].” “We suffered very much with someone who came here from Milambo.” “When the anthill [man] died in the village in Malipenga, we suffered very much, we never lived in peace.” And they gave him [the new man, not the dead man] back his brideprice [payment], and he went back. They stayed. They walked and walked and walked and walked. The guy reached the village of Kundamfumu. There in Kundamfumu they received him quite warmly. “Young man, the place you’re from is where?” “I have come from Lubemba. I used Misawa [the route I used]. That’s where I came from.” “That’s where you came from?” He said yes. “But now where are you going?” “Where we are going I want a woman to marry. We will take care of each other.” They said, “A woman to marry? Spinsters are witches. They are everywhere [they don’t end].” They said, “Call [out] to a young lady there. Her name is Mwape.” They called the lady, and they came to stay. “Young lady, do you want to get married to this man? He has come from Misawa. He stayed in Lubemba, [but] he has come from Misawa.” 197

Abe emukwai nkofwaya ukupwa “Yes, I want to get married. It is what eko nkofwaya. Uyu umukashana [111] [111] I want.” This woman, that woman ulya abula na inindaminwe took the ring they gave her. bamupeela. Ubusonge takwali. Babuulile fye There was no brideprice. They just [112] inindaminwe bamupeela ukutila [112] took the ring and gave [it] to her, ubusonge bobe ubu. saying that this is yours [hers]. They are staying, they are staying, Bakwikala bakwikala bakwikala they are leaving, they are leaving, [113] bakwikala bakwikala bakwikuka [113] they are shifting [moving], they are bakwikala. leaving, they are shifting, and they are leaving. The father-in-law, they stole all of Wishifyala uyo bamwibila umunani [114] [114] his relish. They ate the relish in the onse. Umunani bakomba mu mpoto. pot. Kuli uyu wine umulumendo waishile It was this young man himself who [115] [115] mukupa. had come to marry. Abantu bebele, “Mukomona ifyo People said, “Have you seen what [116] bakokita aba bantu bakaisa mukupa [116] the people are doing who have come kuno? here to marry?” Ikateneni uyu muntu mumukake “Catch this person and tie him with a [117] imyando, mumutwale kuli [117] rope, so that we take him to the bakapokola. police.” Baikata ulya muntu. Bamukaka na They caught that person. They tied [118] imyando bamutwala nakuli [118] him with a rope [and] took him to the bakapokola. police. Bakapokala bamutwala nakuli The police took him to the chief’s [119] bakapaso. Bakapaso bamutwalana [119] guards. The chief’s guards took him ku mfumu. to the chief. There at the chief they released him, Ku mfumu kulya bamulubulwisha [120] [120] released him, released him [from the bamulubulwisha bamulubulwisha. rope]. [121] Imfumu yatila kutila aa mutamfyeni. [121] The chief said, “Chase him!” Efyo nomba bamutamfishe nokuya That’s how they chased him, and the [122] umulumendo uyu abwelelelapo [122] man went. He returned to Lubemba. nakwabo ku Lubemba. Mu kwikala, mu kwikala, mu kwikala, mu kwikala, bakwikala, While living, living, living, living, [123] bakwikala, bakwikala, bakwikala, [123] they were living, they were living, bakwikala, bakwikala, bakwikala, they were living, they were living. bakwikala.

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Awe inshita wakulima nayo wafika [124] uko bali kulimina kutali kwalilepe. Intafu iyikalamba nganshi. Baya uko balelimina bakula na [125] mitanda. Imitanda ilya, ati bakule na imitanda [126] eko baile namukwikala. Baleikala mu mitanda. Bakwete abana batatu mukwikala kwabo. Mu [127] mitanda bapokelelako na beni abaishile na mikate. [128] [129] [130]

[131]

[132]

[133]

[134]

[135]

[136] [137]

Until the time of cultivating came. [124] Where they used to go to farm, it was very far. It was a long distance. They went to where they had been [125] farming [and] built huts. Those huts, they built the huts where [126] they went to live. They used to live in huts. They had three children in their life[time]. In [127] huts they received guests who had come with bread. The bread they were selling the Iyi mikate baleshitisha mikate, [128] bread, a bread, they came with bread. mukate. Baisako nabomfwa. They call it bomfwa. Fwe[ebo] tutila bomfwa, buleti, [129] “We say bomfwa, buleti, shinkwa.” shinkwa. Baisako na shinkwa fimashinkwa [130] They call it shinkwa. filwa fi fishinkwa. They said, “Those who have come Ati ifi fishinkwa baisa nafyo fili with the bread, which are three [in fitatu abakopwisha ukulya shinkwa [131] number], are those who will finish utatu, ninshi kubapeele mbwa. eating three shingkwa, then give them a dog.” So they stayed there eating shinkwa. Awe baikala palya kulya bashinkwa. [132] They were eating, eating, eating, Bakolya, bakolya, bakolya, bakolya. eating. This one here is eating. This one here Uyu apa akolya. Uyu apa akolya [133] is eating [but] who failed to finish uwapwile afwilwa ukulya. eating. That one there failed to eat. He is Uku uyu afilwa ukulya. Aikuta. Uyu [134] full. That one there also failed to eat. nao afilwa ukulya. Aikuta. He is full. That one who finished eating, he Uyu uliku ati apwisha ukulya alya eats, eats, and eats, he is eating, he is alya alya akolya akolya akolya [135] eating, he is eating, and [his] akafumo kusuka kubotoka. stomach was finally stuffed. Akafumu kabotoka, bamupeela The stomach was full, [and] they [136] nembwa. gave him a dog. Akafumu ako kamuletela namalali, And the stomach right then brought [137] ubulwele. him a disease, a disease.

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It gave him a disease, and he was Kamuletela ubulwele nokufwa. Efyo dead. That’s how he died. And at the [138] afwile. Na ku mitunda uko nemilimo [138] huts he continued never doing the bakonkele tabaibombele iyo. work. Kwaba amakwushi nomba ukupitila And the suffering passed by through [139] mu kulya fishi, fishinkwa fyamikate [139] the eating of bre[ad], shinkwa, bread, fya buleti. the slices of bread. Elyo nomba bafumine apo ekwima And when they came from there, [140] nomba ubulendo, ubwakuya [140] they started a journey of just moving baleshinguluka. around. They were walking, walking, [and] Bakoya, bakoya, bafika ku Kwembe. they reached Kwembe. When they [141] Ku Kwembe uko bafikile apakuti [141] arrived to Kwembe, they had babukile tabapamwene iyo. nowhere to cross over [the river]. They started walking along the Batampa ukukunsha umumana wa [142] [142] Lwapula River. They were just Lwapula, balekukunsha. walking along. Baisa kusanga apali kabwaato They found that where they were [143] [143] akanoono. there was a small canoe. Baabuka baya nomba kufwaya They crossed over and went now in [144] [144] inkito ku mikoti. search of a job in mines. Baya mukufwaya inkito ku mikoti They went to look for a job in the [145] ku Luanshya na ku Mufulira uku kuli [145] mines in Lwansha and Mufulira bashimaini. where there are miners. There where they went, that’s where Uko uko baile eko baile kusanga [146] [146] they found the digging [mining] nomba imilimo iyakwimba. work. Batampa ukubomba. Batampa They started working. They started [147] ukubomba. Bakobomba fye. [147] working. They were just working. Bakobomba fye. They were just working. Bakoshita notwakufwala. They were buying clothes. They Bakobomba. Bakoshita were working. They were buying notwakufwala utwakwebati pakuti [148] [148] clothes, so that when they go back to elyo bakabwelelamo kwabo ku their Aushiland, they find something bwaushi bakese kusanga fye bakese their wives could receive. kupokelela ba baninamfumu. They could receive something that Bakese kupokelela utuntu tumo eto they would buy for them there, there bakabashitila kulya tu tu tu tu [149] [149] there there citenge and pants, and tufikwembe, tumatolo tumanani tumanani [clothes of different twakufwala twapusana pusana. types]. Bakobomba mu maini, bakobomba They were working in the mine, [150] [150] mu maini, bakobomba mu maini, working in the mine, working in the 200

[151] [152]

[153]

[154] [155]

bakobomba mu maini, bakobomba mu maini. Kulya uko baile ku maini kulya babomba. Bonse emo babele bambi beni kutampa ukulekubweluluka. Elyo babwelulukile nokwise kufika pa Kwembe nokwabuka baabuka ulwapula no kubwelulukila muno mwine mu mwensu mu bwaushi. No kwisa kwikala nomba ku mwabo noto uto bakwete babombele noto, noto uto babombele Utwakufwala uto bapeela na bakashana bana na bambi filya fine

[151] [152]

[153]

[154] [155]

[156] Na lupwa babapeelako tumalangeti [156] [157]

Mpaka baikala nomba yakubomba yafika

inshita

[158] Nomba kubomba, kulima, kutema.

[159]

[160]

[161]

[162]

[163]

Efyo baikala nomba mu bwaushi. Filya fine nokukota mu bwaushi emo bakotela no kukuli emo bakulila nemfwa shabo shabasa mulya mwine. Mu kwikala, mu kwikala imfumu y’abwaushi yafwa. Mu kwikala, mu kwikala, imfumu y’abwaushi ilya yafwa. Ukufwa kwa mfumu kufuya nomba bafwailepo imfumu iyimbi iyakuti ikale pakati kabo itampe ukutekalanga abantu mu busuma. Mu kwikala bakofwaya imfumu iyituntulu iyingatekalanga abantu mu bwikashi busuma. Bakomona mfumu shimbi ishikwete mu ncende shimbi ishi sha bwaushi: Bamilambo, Bakasomalwela, Bananinko.

[157] [158]

[159]

[160]

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mine, working in the mine, working in the mine. There, where they were in the mine, there they were working. All of them said [to each other], the other guests started coming back. When they came back, they arrived in Kwembe to cross, [and] they crossed Lwapula and came back here to our in Aushiland. They lived in their land with things they had, things that they worked for, things that they worked for. The clothes that they gave their wives’ children and others. They also gave the relatives some blankets. They stayed until the time of working came. Now [it is time] to work, to farm, to cut down the trees. That’s how they live now in Aushiland. And just like that they got old in Aushiland and growing up and they cried with their deaths right there. In living, in living, the chief of Aushi died. In living, in living, the chief of the Aushi died, the chief of the Aushi died. The death of the chief demanded them to provide another chief who could stay with them, to rule the people in peace. In living, they want an excellent chief who could rule people in good lives.

They used to see different chiefs in [163] those different parts of Aushiland: Milambo, Kasumalwela, Bananinko.

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Imfumu shimbi ishaikala na [164] Bananikile uku shaikala mu mfumu y’abwaushi. Shikote abantu umutende nabo [165] balikufwaya ukuteka abantu ukubateka mu mutende. Tabakofwaya imfumu iyakufulunganya. Tabakofwaya [166] imfumu iyakulabilalabila. Tabakofwaya imfumu iyakukwusha abantu. Bakofwaya fye imfumu iyakuti [167] bonse nga beta ku musumba bakabombela kwa pamo. So efyo nomba afwaile mfumu. [168] Babikapo yatampa. Baipyanika no kwipyanika yatampa. Nomba no kubombela abantu bwiino [169] bwiino pali Bakundamfumu. Baikele kuli mtwanikile uko [170] kulimisi kuli Fibobo kumulu kuli Fibobo eko baikele. Elyo bakutile imfumu ukupalamisha nokwisa aikata nabo nomba mupepi [171] mweka mu mushi wa mfumu Bakundamfumu.

2. Parents Like Snakes Apatile akantu insoka shibili [1] shalifyele umuntu, umwana umwanakashi. Umuntu nga umwanakashi fye nga [2] fye bena. Nomba uwaile ukulunga inama [3] atolila pa king’anda ikikulu ikisuma, ikikulu icha magilasi na maliti. Umulumendo ulya akumbwa ati “Mmmh, ching’anda cha musango [4] shaani ichi? Nomba nalaishiba shaani uwaba apa?” Alolesha alolesha alolesha [5] akumyako pano apakashika awe bell

[And the] other chiefs who stayed [164] there with Bananinkile, they lived in the chief[dom] of the Aushi. They used to rule the people in [165] peace, and they want to be rule, to rule people in peace. They don’t want a chief with confusions. They don’t want a [166] talkative chief. They don’t want a chief who will make people suffer. They just want a chief who, when [167] everyone, when they call them to the palace, they will work together. So that’s how they looked for a chief. [168] They continued and continued. They initiated, they initiated. He started now to work really well [169] for the people in Kundamfumu. And they lived somewhere, they [170] lived somewhere in Fibolo. Up to Fibolo, that’s where they lived. Then they called for the chief to [171] come and to stay, but near the village of Chief Kundamfumu.

[1] [2] [3]

[4]

[5]

Once upon a time there were two snakes who had given birth to a person, a daughter. A human being like a young girl, just like [other] people. Then he who went to hunt found himself at a big house, a big house with glass and electricity. That young man said, “Hmm, what is this type of house? So, this one, how am I going to know he who is here?” He looked, he looked, he looked, [then] he felt something there where 202

[6] [7] [8]

yatila—mukati umwanakashi. Uyo umwanakashi banyina ni nsoka.

umwali

it was red, but the bell rang—inside of which there was a girl. bawishi na This child’s father and mother are [6] snakes. Then she came out [and] said, Awe alifuma ebele mwapoleni. [7] “Mwapoleni?” They greeted each Baposhana. other. Mukashana, waikala shaani pano?

[8] “Lady, how do you stay here?”

Elo aasuka ati abafyashi epa mbiika Then she answered, “My parents put [9] pano. me here.” Elo umulumendo amwipisha ati Then the boy asked her, “Do you [10] [10] ulefwaya ukupwa? want to get married?” And then [she said], “Yes, I want to Eya ndefwaya ukupwa fye saana. [11] [11] get married very much, but my Nomba bataata na bamayo ni insoka. mother and my father are snakes.” Awe neebo mwandi ine ndekupa. “Oh my! Well, I will marry you. Call [12] [12] Bakute. them.” [9]

[13] Awe leka mbakute.

[13] “OK, let me call them.”

[14] Neebo ndefwaya ukupwa.

[14] “Me, I want to get married.”

Afumya nechipuna baikala mukwai Then she removed a chair [and] told [15] atuma ati. him, “Take a seat, mukwai.” Banyina na bawishi uko baleesa The mother and father where they [16] [16] fisoka are coming from [are] snakes. Umulumendo abutuka. Afonkola The boy fled. He ran away quickly [17] [17] ukuyafika ku mushi. until he reached the village. He said, “It’s bad where I come Atile ati kumbi uku nafuma. from.” There is a beautiful girl, she’s Alakulya umwanakashi umusuma, gorgeous, she’s very beautiful. And alitekateka aliwama uyo. Ala then everyone who was there said, [18] aliwama abali apa ati tuleya mupa [18] “We will go and marry her, us.” ifwe ati bawishi na bangina ni nsoka. [But] the father and the mother are Kweena bali emine bonse ati baleeya snakes. However, everyone wanted upa ulya umwanakashi. to go see that girl. Basanga ichisoka chileisa. They found a snake which was [19] [19] Balibotuka. coming. They fled. Group embi eya aleeko mfumu. Another group, well, the chief went Yaumwa bonse, “Kabyeni there. He told everyone, “Go there [20] [20] mwensendela uyo umwanakashi. and get that girl. Don’t be scared of Mwitini insoka.” the snake.” [15]

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The whole village went. They took Baya umushi onse batutwala. us there. They found something to [21] Bayasanga fye. Balapeela ifipuna [21] eat and [allowed us] to bathe very ukulya nokusamba ubusaka saana. well. Bwiino bwiino, aah, lekeni “Well, well, ah! Let me call my dad [22] [22] mbakuute batata uko baleisa insoka. where the snakes are coming from.” [23] Awe mwandi bonse balibotukile.

[23] Then, wow! Everyone ran away.

Then the others who were there, Nomba bambi abaeleko nomba [24] [24] well, a crazy person followed ichipuba chalikonka. [them]. They chased him, saying “You, Bachitamfya ati wechipuba wee. [25] [25] crazy man, you!” They [the snakes] Baleeya bakulye are going to bite you. Chalikonka chileya fye chilefisa, He followed. He was just going, [26] [26] chilefisa [then] hiding, hiding. Then finally they arrived, and [even] [27] Basuka bafika na chafika chipuba. [27] the crazy person arrived. Bapekanya ifyakulya kuli uyo Then they prepared food where that [28] umwanakashi. Chipuba chakana [28] girl was. The crazy person refused to ukulyako. eat. Bachipeela ameenshi ayakusamba. Then they gave him water to bathe. [29] [29] Chakaana ukusamba. He refused to bathe. Then her father [said], “What am I Nomba wishi, “Nalachita shaani?” going to do?” She gave the crazy [30] Bachipeela apakulaala apasuma [30] person a very, very nice place to apasuma na mablankets filya. sleep – with blankets too. Chakaana ukulaalapo. Abantu bena But he refused to sleep. However, [31] [31] balala. the [other] people slept. Uluchelo atuma bawishi na banyoko. In the morning she called the father [32] [32] Ifisoka fibili. and the mother. Two snakes. There they were drawing the [33] Uko fileshila pulululu. [33] boundary. Pulululu. Abantu ukumona filya balibutukile. The people saw that [and] then ran [34] [34] Ichipuba kyashala palya pene. away. The crazy person stayed there. Awe insoka yabalilapo yachipita pa Then the snakes started crawling on [35] [35] mubili [his] body. Then the people started looking Nomba abantu baya mukulengele ati [36] [36] inside, saying they are going to bite chilya balya fye bachisuma. him there. [37] Ala bachisuma ichipuba.

[37] Wow! They bit the crazy person.

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I told him, “Don’t follow [us]! WOW!” Umwaiche wandi! Mayo! Umwipwa “My young brother! Wow! My [39] [39] wandi awe mukwai nephew! No, mukwai.” Then her father was crawling there. Bawishi balya bashinguluka baya [40] [40] He was moving everywhere, and mukwikala. [then] he went to sit. [38] Nachicheba ati wikonka. Mayo!

[38]

[41] Baifyonga umutwe.

[41] He coiled the head.

Then her mother there is also coming out. Pulululu. Then they reached where that crazy Baisa bafika pa kipuba nacho [43] [43] person was, and even he didn’t takitelela move. Bakipomba bakipomba kuli banyina The mother was crawling over the [44] ati mwamona ichi katwishi chalikele [44] crazy person. Then the people said nachena. after the snake it went to sit also. Alo insoka shatile ati, “Mwana Then the snakes said, “My daughter, wandi! Ikala apa. Nomba waupwa. sit here. Now you will get married. [45] [45] Wakula. Mwana wandi, e taatafyala You have grown up. My daughter, uyu twamona.” this is the son-in-law we have seen.” [42] Na banyina uko baleisa pulululu.

[42]

[46] Mukwai, musende nokumusenda.

[46] “Mukwai, Get him. Really, get him.”

[47] Baingila na mu ng’anda.

[47] Then they entered the house.

Balesha fye mailo uluchelo. Uyo They just left the next morning. The taatafyala mu bupuba talimo na craziness was not inside that son-in[48] [48] wama takwishi takwishi nefya law. He’s looking good. He didn’t konkelepo. know, he didn’t know what was next. [49] Na motoka bamupeela. [50]

Nolupwa lonse nomba lwaba fye And the entire family was now good, [50] ichisungu chisungu very good.

[51] Na matraktar bamupeela. [52]

[49] They even gave him a car.

[51] They even gave him a tractor.

Awe balya abalechiseka ati chipuba So, those who were laughing at the [52] eko balebombelela. crazy person now work for him.

3. Chief Lion, Rabbit, and the Kilundu Patile akantu abantu baikele mu Once upon a time, people had lived [1] kwalo, mu kwalo baikele mwali [1] in the chiefdom. They had lived in imfumu Bankalamu. the chiefdom of the Chief Lion. Balitekele umushi uukalamba They made a village which was quite [2] [2] nganshi. large.

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[3]

[4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

[9] [10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14] [15] [16] [17] [18]

Nomba Bankalamu balyebele ukutila nkofwaya umuntu uwakusalilako ikilundu. Ikilundu? Kalulu amfwefyo aeba ukweba ati ikilundu fweebo twaya mukusala kilundu. Baya baikala ku mpanga mukusala ikilundu. Basala ikilundu nomba Kalulu atile ilyo aile kuli Bankalamu bebele ikilundu natusala.

Now Lion said, “I want someone [3] who can make me an ikilundu [cloth from tree bark].” Ikilundu? Rabbit heard [and] said, [4] “Yes, an ikilundu, we are going to make an ikilundu.” They went [and] sat in the bush to [5] make him the ikilundu. They made the ikilundu; however, [6] when he went to Lion, Rabbit said, “We have made ikilundu.”

Ati namusala ati?

[7] “You have made ikilundu?”

Ati eya. Nomba nabapokolola kuli “Yes.” However, it has been Kisongo. Imfumu yebele, “Ee, confiscated by Antelope. The chief [8] ikilundu ikwandi uubuulile ni said, “Ahh, Antelope is he who took Kisongo?” my kilundu?” “Yes, and you will see him when he Ati eye, na ukamumona nga aisa! [9] comes!” Now Lion remained [and] started Awe Bankalamu baikala batampa [10] investigating the place where ukufwailisha ubwinanama. different animals live together. “Who has gotten my kilundu? Who Bushe nani asendele ikilundu? Ni is it who has taken my kilundu? Who nani abuulile kilundu? Nani abulile [11] has taken my kilundu? Who has kilundu? Nani abulile kilundu? taken my kilundu?” Now while asking, Rabbit was Awe kwashupa Kakalulu kalefwala [12] putting on the kilundu that belonged ikilundu ikya kuba Nkalamu to Lion. He was putting on the kilundu. He Kalefwala kilundu kalemona eka eka [13] was looking just at at at at at the eka eka eka mfumu. chief. He said, “Lord, I made the ikilundu. Kabele, “Shikulu, ikilundu nabisala, [14] Now Antelope is the one who has nomba uwabuula ni Kisongo.” gotten it.” Inkalamu yabakwe, “Aa, Kisongo Lion was surprised, “Ahh, Antelope [15] ewabuulila kilundu? is the one who gotten the kilundu?” Kisongo ewaebati, “Neebo ndi Antelope is the one who said, “Me, I [16] mfumu.” am the chief.” Nomba mukacita shaani? “But what are you going to do? What [17] Mulefwaya tukite shaani? do you want us to do?” Ati Bankalamu ikilefwaiko? They said, “Lion, what is needed [18] Mweebo epo muli mfumu. here? You are the chief here. You are 206

Mwalakuta fye abantu bonse ikwalo just going to call out to all the people kwonse. in the whole kingdom.” Uomukamona afwele kilundu kwenu “The one who you will see putting [19] ninshi ewaebati nemfumu nine muno [19] on your kilundu is the one who said mukyalo. that he’s the chief in this chiefdom.” Awe kwakine kilya imfumu efyo [20] [20] And truly that’s what the chief did. wakita yabilano. He announced the message [and] Imbila ati ebeni bakapaso ukubilamo [21] [21] said, “Tell the chief’s guards to imbila. announce this message.” Bonse mulefwaikwa kwisamo. “Everyone is needed to come,” and [22] Yabila konse kufyalo munkende [22] he said this in every different part [of umwebe kana bekena. the chiefdom]. “And when coming, you, the Bonse pakwisa mulefwaikwa kuno [23] [23] residents of this chiefdom, are kwisano mwebekala icalo. needed to come to the palace.” Awe, Kakalulu kalya kuya nakuliba [24] [24] So, Rabbit went to Antelope. Kisongo. Kaebati, “Yama, mwayomfwa He said, “Uncle, have you heard this [25] mbila? Ati bonse balefwaikwa [25] message? That everyone is needed to ukuya ku kuli Bankalamu.” go to Lion.” Kisongo ebele, “Eya, kwena ine Antelope said, “Yes, but I have not [26] [26] nshifwele bwiino.” even dressed well [yet].” Aa yama, tamufwele bwiino kwena. “Yes, uncle, you haven’t dressed [27] [27] Nalikwata ikilundu ikisuma saana. well, [but] I have a nice ikilundu.” Ati ninshi bayama mwakita fye And then, “Uncle, you would be just [28] [28] bwiino. right.” Mukobomba efyamano saana [29] [29] “You are doing great things for me.” mweebo pali neebo. Awe Kakalulu kabuula nekilundu And Rabbit took the kilundu which [30] ikyo kasalile Bankalamu kafwika na [30] he made for Lion [and] dressed up Kisongo. Antelope. Awe batampa nokuya baleeya And they started going, going, going [31] [31] baleeya kwa Nkalamu. to Lion. Kakululu nakebela limo Bankalamu Rabbit has been already told by Lion ati uo mwamona afwele ikilundu that whoever you see putting on the [32] [32] inkwo namipangile, ninshi imfumu kilundu, which I made for you, that eitwa. is the chief. Mfumu ukula ebati ne mfumu The chief says, “The great chief is [33] mukalamba nine. Balya Bankalamu [33] me. That Lion is just nothing.” He apali ifyo bali. Ati sure? said, “Sure?”

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[34]

[35]

[36]

[37] [38] [39] [40]

Ati eye, awe afwika na Bankalamu Bakisongo ikilundu baamba nokuya baleeya baleeya ku mitini ukukwine baletile kuli Bankalamu. Bafika baikala, Nkalamu yalolesha yalolesha ibumba, yalolesha ibumba, yaisa kuloleshya, yaisa kumona ikilundu. Yebele efya nga ebele Kisongo efya nga ebele Kalulu ukwabati uyo mukamona afwele ikilundu ninshi, evyo wine! Inkalamu yatekesha imitingi ati kwaliba umuntu umo muno mu calo candi Neebo Nkalamu uyo uwiitunga ukuba mfumu. Yapita Nkalamu yalolesha, ati kwine ekilya kine kilundu elya wine alipaya! Ilolesha apekele kilundu.

Kisongo

apali

“Yes,” and he dressed Antelope [with] Lion’s kilundu, and they [34] started going, going to the meeting where they were called by Lion. They arrived and were seated. Lion looked at the crowd, looked at the [35] crowd, and he came to see, he came to see the ikilundu. He said, “That which Antelope said is that which Rabbit told him, saying [36] that the one you see putting on your kilundu, then he’s the one!” [37] [38] [39] [40]

Kaimya minwe. Kailanda, ilolesha [41] apekele Kisongo apali kilundu [41] uufwele kilundu. [42]

Awe Kakalulu kaamba ukupalamina [42] ukwali Kisongo.

[43]

Kebele mwemfumu Bankalamu [43] mwiya napatali: Ala umuntu uyu.

[44]

Bakapaso kale bafulumukile kulya [44] nokwikata na Kisongo.

Kisongo pakuti atampe ukulanda ati [45] lekeni na ndelekeni ndilubulube, kali [45] kale kamwikete na pa mukoshi. Kaili Kisongo alefwaya ukuti alande [46] ati uumpele ni Kalulu Nomba Kakalulu kale kapalamine, kamukama na pamukoshi, [47] [47] kamusakila na mate ku menso ati usuu! [46]

Lion held the meeting, saying there is someone here in my chiefdom. “I [am] Lion who is claiming to be the chief.” He passed by. Lion looked and said, “Truly it is that kilundu over there!” He was looking where Antelope was seated, which is where the kilundu was. He raised up his hands. He was talking, looking where Antelope was seated, where the kilundu was, and he who was wearing the kilundu. Now Rabbit started getting closer to where Antelope was. He was saying, “You, Chief Lion, don’t go any further: The person is this one.” The guards quickly ran there and arrested Antelope. Before Antelope really started speaking, he said, “Let me explain! Let me defend myself!” They arrested and choked him. Since Antelope wanted to say that Rabbit is he who gave it. However, Rabbit quickly went closer, he squeezed his [Antelope’s] throat, and he spat saliva on his face like usuu! 208

A slave dies with words in his mouth. And they arrested Antelope, and Baikata na Kisongo nokumwipaya. they killed him. They killed him [49] Bamwipaya kuli Bankalamu. Afwila [49] [for] Lion. He died for something he fye ikwonyongo asafwila ulwisha. did not do. He was killed for no reason. [48] Umusha afwa nefyebo mu kanwa.

[48]

[50] Nakashimi kapela.

[50] The story ends.

4. Rabbit Destroys a Friendship Patile akantu abantu balaikele mu Once upon a time people lived in the [1] [1] chalo. chiefdom. Chofwe na nsofu fyalya mbene Hippo and Elephant had a good [2] [2] ubulundu. friendship. Well, they even used to play [3] Awe baleangalila fye kya pamo. [3] together. Kakalulu kaya kuli Bakalulu ati Rabbit went to Rabbit [sic] and said, [4] yama yama baenda fye bwiino naba [4] “Uncle, Uncle, have you worked nanikile na Bansofu. well with this one, with Elephant?” Kabwela kakalulu kaisa kuli Rabbit returned [and] went to where [5] [5] bacofwe. Hippo was. Bacofwe, neebo kwena ndekyula [6] [6] “Hippo, me, I am suffering a lot.” saana. Ati ninshi ati neebo ng’oma yandi Then he said, “Well, my drum which [7] [7] ilyandisha naipatila mu matipa. I beat is stuck in the mud.” Muuu, Kalulu nga ng’oma kuti “Wow, Rabbit! How can your drum yapatila shaani mu matipa? Oh be stuck in the mud? OK then you set kanshi walabiika ubushiku! Nkesa a day. I will come to remove it. I will [8] [8] ku kufumisha. Nkesa ku kufumisha come to remove that drum in the iyo ng’oma mu matipa umo wapatila mud where it is stuck in the bank of ku lulamba lwa mumana. the river.” He went to Elephant [and said], Kaya kuli bansofu, “Bayama, neebo “Uncle, me, I’m suffering very much ndekyula saana ifyakukita nafinga and I don’t know what to do. What [9] fye.” Finshi ukufwaya? Ati neebo [9] do you want? “Well, I, Uncle yama insofu inanikile ing’oma Elephant, that thing, the drum is naipatila mu matipa. stuck in the mud.” Nomba kucita shaani? Ndefwaya “Now what is to be done? I want you [10] mukese kundosiselako [10] to come and pull it to come and mukesekunga bwilako. remove it.” [11] Ati abiika ubushiku.

[11] So, he set a day.

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[12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17]

[18]

[19]

He set a day [and] said, “We are Abiika ubushiku ati tukaya kukuma, [12] going to meet. We are going to pull tukaya kabuula pa kibelushi. it out on Saturday. He went to the place where Hippo Kaya ku mu kuli kyofwe. [13] was. Kakalulu ati iyo iyi ng’oma ing’oma Rabbit said, “This drum, hey, this nkesa kwabwila. Tubike ubushiku [14] drum, I’ll come and remove it for ati pa cibelushi. you. Let’s set the day on Saturday.” Nshita nshi? Ati ku malebeni What time? He said around eleven [15] koloko. o’clock. Nga mwamfwa fye nalishapo ninshi When you hear me beating [it], then [16] ninshi mukatampe ukucinta. then you will start to pull. Elephant also was there. He [Rabbit] Insofu nayo kulya. Kaya kuli [17] went to where Elephant was at the bansofu ku mulundu hill. “Uncle, around ten o’clock I want Yama, mu mateni koloko ndefwaya [18] you to come and remove the drum mukese kunga bwilako ing’oma. for me.” “When you hear me beating the Nga mwaumfwa nalishapo, ninshi [19] drum, then you will start to pull the mukambe ukutonselako ing’oma. drum.”

[20] Nshikwete nefyakucita.

[20] “I don’t even have anything to do.”

Iyo insofu yaisa kulya mu matwelufu Elephant went there around twelve [21] koloko. o’clock. He was stopped [a distance before [22] Baimika ngoko, yaimakana. [22] reaching], and he stopped. Cofwe kulya aisa mu meenshi – wa Hippo came into the water there – wa [23] [23] wa wa. wa wa wa. [21]

[24] Ulwapumu – po po po!

[24] You jumped – po po po!

Afika kulya na aeba ati, “Bayama, He arrived there and he said, “Uncle, imakaneni apopene. Nalakakila, stop over there. I will tie, I will tie nalamikakila nga namikakila elyo [25] [25] you [and] when I have tied you I nomba nga ndishe pa ng’oma ninshi [will] sound on the drum, then you mwambe ukuntonsela ng’oma, start to pull the drum, to pull.” utinta.” Kafumapo, kaya kuli nsofu ati yama And he got from there, he went to nga mwaumfwa nalisha pa pa Elephant [and] said, “Uncle, when [26] [26] ng’oma mwambe ukutinta uyu you hear me sounding the drum, you mwando. start to pull this rope.” Kalikwete kimwando ikikulu ikitali He had a very big, sufficiently long [27] [27] kulila. rope.

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[28] [29]

[30] [31] [32]

[33]

[34] [35] [36]

[37]

[38]

Kukakila na bansofu ku mwango He tied Elephant at his trunk [and] [28] uku kakakila na cofwe pa mukoshi. there he tied Hippo at his neck. Now [that’s] when he went to sit on Nomba elyo kaya kwikala pa [29] the drum where he put the drum ng’oma epo kabiikile ng’oma apa. there. Takwelemoneka ati cofwe It could not be seen that Hippo was alemoneka uku. Takwalemoneka ati [30] seen there. It was not seen that insofu ikomoneka. Elephant was seen [there]. Elyo kalisha pa ng’oma ati na mpiii Then he sounded the drum like mpiii [31] lilya kalisha pa ng’oma. when he sounded the drum. Cofwe kwamba ukutinta ati Hippo started to pull, [saying], “Let ngabwile mwipwa ntosele umwipwa [32] me remove this. Let me remove the ing’oma. drum for my nephew.” Cofwe insofu nayo uku nayo ati Hippo [Elephant] also where he was ntonsele umwipwa ing’oma. said, “Let me remove the drum for [33] Batampa ukotonsana, cofwe na my nephew.” They started to pull nsofu. each other, Hippo and Elephant. Cofwe kulya nga bamuleta na Hippo is there. When he’s being talefwa cofwe tekala ku mulundu [34] pulled, he also never wanted to be on kulya. the [land] there. Nga ashansha mu matipa na There he budged in the mud strongly [35] lumfumpapo na lumfukwe with power. Uku nsofu nga yanaka, baisenda When Elephant’s tired, they get and nayo, batinta insofu nayo. Taikala [36] pull Elephant. He doesn’t stay in the mu meenshi. water. Afterwards, there he was falling Kanshi apo epo naikile, ukunaika, down, falling down, pulling trees, ukutintana ifimuti ukunaika insofu [37] falling down—when Elephant tied nga yaikaka mu kimuti. [himself] to the tree. Cofwe uku nga atinta ifimuti And there was Hippo. When he [38] fyalikutampa ukupasauka. pulled, trees were falling, scattered.

[39] Ukunako nga fye pa suka

[39] The trees also broke there.

Cofwe bansofu baitwala kulya nayo Elephant took Hippo there, and then [40] nomba cofwe muka nga afika mu [40] Hippo [became] power[ful] when he meenshi. reached the water. Kwamba ukumuleeta nomba cofwe He started bringing him, but Hippo futi ukutampa ukumuto [41] [41] again started to pull him, to make ukumutintanya ukwisa kumufisha him go into the river. mu lulamba. Na cofwe nomba akwata maka nga And Hippo also then had strength [42] [42] anyamta mu matipa. when he stepped in the mud.

211

Nomba baambile ku masikisi Now that they started around six koloko, teni koloko, twelufu koloko o’clock, ten o’clock, twelve o’clock, [43] [43] ukwisa kufika mu kwungulo inama up to the evening the animals shanaka. became tired. Cofwe anaka ikibo kikyofwe Hippo was tired. Hippo was tired, [44] [44] kyanaka elo insofu nayo yanaka. then Elephant also was tired. Nomba nomba nga iyi ng’oma But now when this drum is able. “It [45] yakuti, kaisa kanakuka kaibwile [45] is coming, it is stuck, let me get kautu pa mbali nyendeleleko. closer, to go a bit further.” Hippo was also there. What Elephant Kyofwe kulya amano yatontokanya thought is also what he thought: “Let nsofu naye efyo atontonkanya ati [46] [46] me see this drum that cannot be mbale ngekumona iyi ng’oma iyi removed from the mud. You are just kafuma mumatipa tuletintana nayo. pulling each other.” Hippo went. Elephant also went. He Cofwe naye. Insofu nayo kwisa saw the drum which cannot be imone ing’oma itafuma mu matipa, removed from the mud, [so] he and [47] kwisa kukumana na cofwe apopene. [47] Hippo met just there. [Then] Hippo Kyofwe nensofu epafumine and Elephant began to hate each ukupatana. other right then-and-there. Tafyumfwana cofwe nensofu. They don’t play together, Hippo and [48] Tafyumfwana apopene epafumine [48] Elephant. They don’t play together. ukupatana. From then on, they hated each other. Uwalengele ukuti bapatana ni He who caused them to become [49] [49] Kalulu. enemies was Rabbit. Balinokuputula mwando cofwe They had cut the rope. Hippo and [50] nensofu ukutampa ukupepeka [50] Elephant started chasing Kalulu. Kalulu. Kalulu efyo aingile pa kyani kilwa Kalulu then he entered the bush kilwa kilwa kilwa kilwa kilwa kilwa kilwa kilwa kilwa kilwa! He ran for [51] [51] kilwa kilwa uyoo! Asepa his life [and] disappeared into the ulwakusepa aluba na pa ikyani. grass.

5. Dirty Water, Tortoise, and the End of Rabbit [1] [2]

[3]

Kambi akashimi ako.

[1] Here is another story.

Ubwinanama bwalaikele mu The ubwinanama [gathering of mukwalo. Mu mukwalo animals] lived in the chiefdom. In [2] ubwinanama bonse fye bwalina this chiefdom the ubwinanama had mwalinama mukwalo. all of the animals in the chiefdom. Nomba inama tashakwete apakunwa However, these animals had [3] meenshi. nowhere to draw water.

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[4]

[5]

[6] [7] [8] [9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

Tashakwete apakuti shikalakunwa They had nowhere from which to ameenshi elyo shakutene inama fye drink water—the animals, all of the fyonse bansofu, bananani, [4] different types of animals— baishapusana pusana insofu, elephant, antelope, fire ants, gazelle, bakisongo, bampashi, impombo, little rabbits and tortoise. utululu, bafulwe. They held, they held a meeting. This Shateka-shalitekele ikilye, ikelye meeting they held was to say that, shatekele chakutila fweebo [5] “We, the animals, we are suffering fwebwina inama tulekwala saana very much with [not having] kukunwa meenshi. drinking water.” Natwimbe ikishima apakuti “Let’s dig a well where we can drink [6] tulekunwa meenshi. water.” Ubwinanama bonse bwasumina ati All of the animals agreed [and] said, eye natwimbe ikishima apakunwa [7] “Yes, let’s dig the well from which meenshi. to drink water.” Rabbit said, “Me? I won’t dig [a Kalulu aebati neebo nshakembeko. [8] well].” Kalulu wakana ukwimbako “Rabbit, have you refused to dig the ikishima? Ati neebo nshakembeko [9] well?” He said, “Me? I’m not going ikishima. to dig the well.” Awe ubwinanama bonse Then all of the animals gathered. bwalongana, bwaamba ukwimba They started digging the well, ikishima ukwima ukwimba kwimba [10] digging, digging, digging, just ukwimba kwimba ukwimba fye digging the well—a big one and they kisuma—ichikulu na meenshi found water. bayasanga. All the animals go into the bush, they Ubwinanama bulekita nga mu go wandering. When all of the mpanga, bwaya bwashinguluka animals are coming back, this one ukubuko bwela bonse ubwinanama, [11] here is drinking, this one sitting here iyi yaikalapa ikonwa, iyiyaikala pa drinking, this one sitting here ikonwa, iyi yaikalapa ikonwa, iyi drinking, this one sitting here yaikalapa ikonwa. Shanwa shaikuta. drinking. They drank to satisfaction. Ifyo fine ifyo fine, nomba Kalulu Just like that, just like that, but amwene ukutila babiikapo Rabbit saw that they they put the the [12] nabakumusunga nabakusunga guards [there] to look after, to look ikishima. after the well. Babiikako abakusunga ikishima They put those there who guard the kibe. Tabalabikako abakusunga ku well. Before they put the guards ikishima, ngabaya ubwinanama there, all of the animals [would] go [13] bwaya mukwa mukulya mukulya there to graze [eat]. Rabbit used to mukwende ishalekana bekana, come where that was, and he went to Kalulu kufuma ekwali kuya pa the well to drink water and to bathe. 213

kishima anwa meenshi nokusamba He bathed and dirtied, he dirtied the asambako nokukunda ula akudaula water. ameenshi. Ubwinanama ukubwela kwisa All of the animals are coming, are kusanga, mwebanensu ameenshi bali returning to find that the water has kundawile pano. Iyi yaisa ameenshi been dirtied here. That water has balikundawile. Bakonwa fye come to be tired. They are just [14] [14] ameenshi ayankundwa. Bebele iki drinking water that has been dirtied. kokundawile ameenshi kinshi ilya They said, “Who has dirtied the shilya nshiku twalikunwa fye water? In those [previous] days, we bwiino. just used to drink [from the well].” So, it is the night [and] Rabbit came Awe bwaila bwakwe, baya kalulu to where, well, where the well was kumfumo uko ukwali kwisa pa at, in order to drink water. Here he meenshi mukunwa ameenshi. Apo refused to dig the well. He was [15] akene ukwimba kishima. Akonwa [15] drinking, drinking, drinking [that akonwa akonwa lilya Kalulu aikuta, water]. When he was satisfied, he kutampa ukusamba pamubili started cleaning his body and nokukundaula ameenshi. dirtying the water. [16] Akokundaula ameenshi.

[16] He [Rabbit] was dirtying the water.

[17] Nomba ubwinanama bwamona.

[17] However, all animals saw [that].

We are drinking dirty water. What is Tukonwa ameenshi ayafiko kanshi needed [is for] us to go to take [find] ikilefwaika twalabula uwakusopa he who is dirtying the water at the [18] ameenshi pa kishima! Babula ni nga [18] well! They took, but who can we uotwingabula uwakusopa ameenshi choose to look after the water? They ni nani? Ati buleni Kisongo. said, “Take Antelope.” Now Antelope remained looking Kisongo eo nomba ashale ukusopa after the water, to look after the meenshi kalekusunga ameenshi [19] [19] water here. And it is in the morning pano. Awe bwa kwa ulukyelo that Antelope remained looking after Kisongo ashala alesunga ameenshi. the water. Kalulu aisa kwisa kusanga kwisa Rabbit came to find, he came to find kusonga banani? Bakisongo whom? Antelope watching after it. [20] [20] balesopa ni shaani kalulu iwe? Ayaa! “How is it? Is it you, Rabbit? No, Ni shaani bayamo? Awe bwiino fye. how is it, Uncle?” Oh, it’s all fine. Bayama muli shaani bakisongo? “Uncle Antelope, how are you?” [21] [21] Awe ndi fye, tuli fye umutende. “I’m just [fine], we’re just fine.” [22] Muli umutende? Ati eya.

[22] “You are fine?” He said yes.

Oo! Yaa! Kwena see imishi[shi] “Oh, OK! See, your fur, your hair is [23] nanikile amasako yenu imishishi [23] looking very nice.” yenu ilemoneka isuma saana iyi.

214

Ilemoneka isuma. Ngakuluka, kuti namiluka fye bwiino saana. Kalulu abula bakisongo basum[in]a [25] basumina ukubaluka neshishi. Babula kisu babu kali na myando mu mupo mwitwimba, kwamba nomba [26] ukukako kisongo ati njemiluka bwiino bacisongo palamineni kukimuti uku. Kisongo apalamina kukimuti baamba ukumuluka ukumukake myando, ukumukake myando, [27] ukumukake myando, kwamoneka shaani kumutwe? Ati ndemiluka fye bwiino yama. [24]

[28] Ndemiluka fye bwiino saana yama. [29]

[30]

[31]

[32] [33]

[34]

“It is looking nice. If it is to be plaited, I can plait you very well.” Rabbit took Antelope agreed to be [25] plaited. They took Antelope he was with with ropes and and [in his] pocket. [26] He started now to tie Antelope that weaving you Antelope well. Come here to that tree. [24]

Antelope went near the tree and started weaving tying him ropes [27] tying him ropes how is it looking my head? Said I’m just weaving you well uncle. [28] “I’m plaiting you very well, Uncle.”

Awe Kakalulu kapwisha ukukaka Now Rabbit finished tying. He [29] kakomekela no kukowekela. closed and locked. He said, “First, do [it] like this, Ati mbale kitenifi bayama kitenifi, Uncle. Do [it] like this. Try to esheni ukusakana. Kisongo eshe [30] shake.” Antelope tried to shake. ukusakana, Kisongo totolo ... Antelope was locked. Antelope was Kisongo totolo bakakila. locked [and] tied. Kakalulu kuya na pa meenshi Rabbit went to the water and drank nokunwa ameenshi, nokusamba it, and he bathed and bathed and kasambapo nokukundaula [31] dirtied [the water] and dirtied [the kakundaula nokuya kaya kabula water] and went to pick [up] a stick nekimu nekwembwe kaamba uku and started whipping Antelope. fopola ikisongo. Ukumufopola saana ku kimuti na He whipped him terribly with the [32] ukufopola. stick and [continued] whipping him. Antelope was left swollen. He was Kisongo ashala alifimbile, ashala [33] left crying, [and] then Rabbit went alelilafye, Kalulu aya nokuya. [away]. Ubwinanama ukwisa All of the animals came and found ukwisakusanga ameenshi [34] the water was dirtied. bulikunduwile.

[35] Kisongo balikakile.

[35] Antelope was tied up.

“Antelope, what is [happening] Kisongo, ni shaani kuno kuntu? Ati [36] [36] here?” He said, “It’s Rabbit who tied ni Kalulu ankakile. me up.”

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Rabbit, who is just like this and you Kalulu uwakubefi naiwe Kisongo Antelope where you are a grown-up [37] apo apopelele wemuntu wemukulu [37] person (mukulu) he tied you up? bakukakila? Ati eye, ewakinkakila. Said yes he tied me up. Ati eya, nomba tukite shaani? He said, “Yes, but what should we Kisuma. Ubwinanama do now?” It’s fine. All of the animals bwakutumana. Ni nani tungabula kept quiet. “Who here is much more [38] [38] uukengele saana pamo? Ati buleni clever who we can choose?” They Imbashi, Imbashi yena ishale said, “Take Antelope.” Antelope ilekusungu apa. himself remained [t]here. Bwa kwa ukwelo Bambashi bashala It was in the morning [that] Antelope balesunga meenshi pa kishima demanded keeping the water in the [39] [39] balesunga ameenshi pa Kisongo well, keeping the water [and then] Kalulu aisa. Rabbit came. Ya bayama muli shaani? Ati awe tuli “Yes, Uncle, how are you?” He said fye bwiino, nobuki, teti mulundepo “No, we are just fine, and the honey, [40] [40] tubuki utu? Palamineni fichiti mbele can’t you add this honey? Come a uku. little closer first.” [41] Bapalamina ku ku ku ku kimuti.

[42]

[43]

[44]

[45]

Tumone imishishi namwetamuli. Tamuli bwiino. Inanikile tamuli bwiino saana. Imishishi yenu tali bwiino. Ilefwaikwa ukuluka, nga namiluka aya nangu mukaye fye ku kintu bwingi bakaya mukunitotela. Ati kine kine, yama? Ati ee. Balya Ka[lulu] balya balyako na Kakalulu balyako nobuki balyako nobuki na Kakalulu bulya nobuki balyako nobuki. Babula nembashi (na imbashi) ilya batampa nomba ukwikakila, batampa ukwikikala, batampa ukwikikala. Kalulu apwisha uku kakila Bambashi nomba ichisheleko nomba ukukita shaani? Kalulu kuya pa kishima kwa meenshi nokutampa ukusamba kasamba ka kanwapo mbele kanwa kanwa nokusamba kasamba kaya kupulula na kyembia kwisa mukuma Mbashi ukupuma saana.

[41] He went closer to, to, to the trees. “Let us see your hair and how you are. You are not well. This is not good. Your hair is not very good. [42] [This] hair needs to be plaited. When I plait you, they will praise you even if you go to a crowd of people.” He said, “Is it truly so, Uncle?” He said yes. Rabbit was eating, he was [43] eating. And Rabbit was eating honey and eating honey and eating honey and eating honey. He took Antelope, and now he [44] started tying him, he started tying him, he started tying him. Rabbit finished tying up Antelope, but what was left? What was left to do now? Rabbit went to the well [with] water and started to bathe. He [45] was bathing and drinking [from] thirst. He was drinking and drinking and bathing. He bathed. He went to [grab] the whip, and then he came to beat Antelope, beating him terribly.

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Ebele ya kwaba shaani? He said, “What is it?” All of the [46] Ubwinanama bwaisa bwaisa [46] animals came, they came to find kusanga ba mbashi balibakakile. Antelope tied up. Nani bambashi kulishani? Ati ni Antelope, “What is it?” He said, “It’s [47] [47] kalulu unkakile. Rabbit who tied me up.” “Now how clever is this Rabbit! Nomba uyu kalulu kanshi akwengela What are we going to do, in order to shaani? Tulekita shaani pakutila drink water?” You see, Rabbit tulenwa ameenshi monene kalulu ali refused to dig the well, and he is kene ukwimba ikishima kabili akoto destroying the water. “So, we’re nawila ameenshi? Iyo apa twalasala going to choose someone big—is abakulu—umukulu saana pano ni [48] [48] there someone here who is who can nani uwingeekata Kalulu? Ati catch Rabbit?” He said, “Oh, let’s natusale nsofu, awe bansofu mailo choose Elephant.” He left the fino bwakya bashala balesunga following day in the morning to look ikishima balesunga ikishima after the well, to keep the well safe. bakosopa bakosopa ikishima The well, he kept, he kept, he kept bakosopa kishima. the well safe. They were just looking around Pakuti bamoneke fye mu masebeni seven, around seven o’clock, [and] mu masebeni koloko, Kalulu afika, Rabbit arrived. “Uncle, Uncle, [49] bayama bayama bayama mu mu [49] Uncle, how how how are you this mwashibukeni? Kwipi kimukinshi morning?” He gave him very great ikukulua saana. respect. Kalulu ebele kalitumpa saana aka e Rabbit said that he’s very stupid. nani insofu yebele kalitumpa saana Elephant said, “He [Rabbit] is very [50] [50] aka ekakukundaula meenshi kaili stupid. He is the one who dirtied the mikila na bantu. water, and he’s spitting at people.” Na babasembeleka-sembeleka. And he was truly manipulated. [51] Bansofu babasembeleka nokukula [51] Elephant manipulated [through his kwakula bansofu. large size]. “Uncle, have you come to drink Bayama, naisa kunwapo ameenshi? [52] [52] some water? He said, “[Come and] Bebele kunwa. drink.” Kakalulu kafika katampa nokunwa Rabbit arrived and started to drink [53] [53] ameenshi. the water. Elephant came [and] dropped [his] Insofu yaisa kuponya nomwango. [54] [54] trunk. Yatiii! [Then] he grabbed Yatiii! Yaikata na Kalulu. Rabbit. Ati Kalulu wamona? Watukwusha He [asked], “Have you seen Rabbit? saana so leelo mfwa yobe kebele. Iyo You have troubled us very much, so [55] yama neebo fye. Nga munampule [55] today is your death. He said, “Uncle, pamabwe ninshi nshafwe. Fwayeni it’s just me. If you throw me on the fye apali umukyanga. Nga stone, then I won’t die. Just look 217

mwanampulu pa mukyanga niinshi mfwa yandi. [56]

Insofu yaumfwa, efyo nomba insofu [56] yafwaile apali mukyanga.

[57]

Insofu kwisa kwasimina mukwebati [57] nomba nalumpula pa mukyanga.

[58]

[59]

[60]

[61]

[62]

Kalulu aisa ku pantu umukyanga wakwe. Kalulu efyo apashikile nokupashika nokuya aya Kalulu. Ubwinanama ukwisa kubwela ukwisa kusanga bansofu ni shaani? Ati napulusha Kalulu. Kalulu nakimwikata na kimulumpula palya pa mukyanga nomba Kalulu eko aya eko nteshibe yaa! Fulwe aisa kwimya ukuboko pa mitingi, ati mukwai neebo nalaisa kwikata Kalulu. Ubwinanama bwebele imwe Bafulwe nimwe mwingekata Kalulu. Ubwinanama bonse bwafilwa na Bansofu bafilwa, Bakisongo bafilwa, ubwinanama epo bupelele bonse bwafilwa. Weebo wefulwe niwe wingeta Kalulu? Ati mukwai neebo ndeisa ngikata Kalulu.

[63] Shuwa? Ati ee.

[58]

[59]

where there is sand. If you throw me on the sand, then [that’s] my death.” Elephant listened, [and] that’s how Elephant now looked where there was sand. Elephant came to stand and tell him, “I threw him [Rabbit] on the ground.” Rabbit came [there] because the sand is his. In this way, Rabbit that ran and ran and went [disappeared]. All of the animals returned, and how did they find Elephant? He said, “I have missed Rabbit.”

“I caught Rabbit. I threw him on the sand there, but Rabbit has now gone [60] where I don’t know!” Tortoise came to raise his hand at the meeting and said, “Yes, I will catch Rabbit.” All of the animals said, “You, Tortoise, it’s you who will catch [61] Rabbit?” All of the animals have failed. Elephant failed, Antelope failed, all of the animals have failed. “And you, Tortoise, it’s you who can [62] catch Rabbit?” He said, “Yes, it is I who will catch Rabbit.” [63] “Sure?” He said yes.

“You’re going to catch him with [64] which means?” He said, “I will catch Rabbit today.” So, they sat and kept quiet, but Awe baika[la] bakutumana nomba [said], “Now what are we going to tukite shaani? Aleikata Kalulu do? Is Tortoise going to catch him Fulwe? Fulwe aamba ukubapanda Rabbit? Tortoise started to give them [65] amano, ati iwifusaiteni kipande [65] advice. He said, “Find me the bark, a ikikulu nga mwafwaya ikipande very big [piece of] bark. When you ikikulu, elo mutetule ikipunda neebo find the big bark, then pierce it [by mumputikile mu kipande. making] a hole. And put me inside the bark.” Ulemwikata na manonshi? [64] ndeikata Kalulu leelo.

Ati

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[66] Awe efyo bakita ulukyelo.

[66]

Fulwe aisa batetula na kipande [67] bamuputikila namukipande. [67] Ubwinanama bwaya. Bwaya bwinanama. Kakalulu kali kufuma nokufuma kaisa kalolesha [68] kalolesha kakwenkenta lelo tapali [68] fye umuntu nangu umo, tapali ubwinanama nangu bumo pano. So kakwenkenta kubula ameenshi [69] kanwa, kanwa, kanwa, nokusamba [69] akasamba. Ikipande fulwe apa bamuputikile apasuma kwati kipuna, kasamba kasamba nomba kebele kambalolele [70] [70] baisa bansange pamone kangikale pa kipande palya pene epawama epali kipuma.

[71]

Awe Kalulu kufuma napa meenshi [71] ayaikikalu na pa kipande.

[72] Mukati ka kipande, emwali fulwe.

Now that’s what they did in the morning. Tortoise came [and] they pierced the bark. They put him in the bark. All of the animals went. All of the animals went. Rabbit had come out, had come out, had come to look, to look around in every nook and cranny, but there was no person nor animal here. “So he looked in every nook and cranny. He took the water and drank, drank, drank, and bathed and bathed.” The bark where Tortoise [would] put him [Rabbit] was nice like a chair. He [Rabbit] bathed and bathed and then said, “Let me wait for them. They will come and find me here. Let me sit on the bark there. That’s where it’s nice. That’s where there is a chair.” Now Rabbit came out from the water, [and] he went to sit on the bark.

[72] Inside the bark was Tortoise.

Tortoise felt that someone was Fulwe alimfwa fye ikipande paikala sitting on the bark—Rabbit was umupaikala Kalulu. Alinokufumya sitting. He [Tortoise] removed his [73] ilyala nokumukoba Kalulu panoono [73] [finger]nail and hooked Rabbit no mulya mwine nokumukoba ku slowly, and right there he was matako. hooking him by the butt. Uku akoba panshi Fulwe, uku akoba Fulwe was on the ground there, [and] [74] pamulu, pamulu pali kipande, [74] he grabbed on top [where] there was pamulu wakipande napekala Kalulu. bark. Rabbit was sitting on top. Well, Tortoise [Rabbit] was Awe fulwe aonto akasuba ebele sunbathing. He said, “Now I’m nomba naya nshita yalinga, aumfwa [75] [75] going. It’s now time.” He heard fye uko ubwinanama bulei ati aa where animals were coming and naya. said, “Yeah, I’m going.” Ikipande kwakosa. Kalulu ena ati The bark was strong. Rabbit tried to [76] [76] akitefi ikipande kwakusa, kalulu eee do this, [but] the bark was strong.

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akitefi ale nomba kutampa Rabbit tried to do this now [and] ukutolaukafye. started jumping. Ubwinanama bwebele kalulu All of the animals said, “Rabbit has [77] [77] balikete kuli fulwe palya. been grabbed by Tortoise there.” Ubwinanama bwafika, All of the animals arrived [and] [78] bwasakusanga fulwe nabekata kuti [78] found that Tortoise has grabbed kalulu na meenshi alikundawile. Rabbit and that the water was dirtied. [They said to] Rabbit, “So clever. Ati kalulu, ukukengela wakengela [79] [79] You are so clever, but today you lelo bakwikata kuli fulwe. have been caught by Tortoise.” So efyo baikete nomba Kalulu. Ku So, that’s how they arrested Rabbit. bwinanama bonse nokulya akanama All of the animals ate a piece of kabishi. Uyu atintako kulu, uyu uncooked flesh. This one put the leg, [80] [80] atintako kulu uyu atintako kulu. this one put the leg. That’s how Efyo bafwa bakalulu babepeye. Na Rabbit ended, how [Rabbit] was akashimi epo kapela. killed. And the story ends here.

6. Rabbit and the Clay Pot Kwali imfumu yalikwete umwana There was a chief who had a [1] [1] umwanakashi. daughter. Pa kupa uyu umwana, imfumu In order to marry this child, the chief yaleeba ati, “Kaano fye ukachita ifyo says, “Unless you do what I want. [2] [2] fwaya. Kaano fye ukayabula Unless you are going to get a clay pot ichinongo pa mumana.” on the river.” Those who are tall where it’s very [3] Abali abatali apashita apaba deep. [3] deep. Nomba bonse balefilwa. Baletiina But everyone failed. They were [4] [4] ukufwa. scared to die. [5] [6] [7] [8]

Lelo kwa ushile fye Kalulu.

[5] Then there was Kalulu.

Kalulu ayebele ati, “Kuti nampa Kalulu said to [the chief], “I can [6] umwana wamfumu.” marry the child of the chief.” Elo bamwebele ati, “Chachine. Kuti Then they told him, “It is true. You [7] waupa umwana wa mfumu.” can marry the child of the chief.” “Eya kuti naupa.”

[8] “Yes, I can get married.”

“Na ine, ndefwaya ukuchita efyo “And me, I want to do what everyone [9] balechita bonse.” else is doing.” So Kalulu ena aliya pa mumana So Kalulu himself went into the [10] ayabuula ichinongo icali pa [10] water where he picked up the clay mumana. pot which was in the lake. [9]

220

Elo imfumu yalanda ati, “Uyu wine Then the chief said, “This one [11] ewashinga ukupa umwana wandi.” [Kalulu] is going to marry my child.” That’s how there was a celebration to Efyo kwali na celebration ayakufya [12] [12] give his child to Kalulu (for umwana wakwe kuli Kalulu. marriage). [11]

7. Rabbit, the Leaking Well, and a Marriage [1]

[2]

[3]

[4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]

Once upon a time they lived just like Apatile akantu bakaikele nga fine we live. And I am speaking only twaikele. Na ndelanda fye ikyaushi [1] Aushi, that which I’m saying [right ikyo nkolanda. now]. Kwali umushi, umushi uyo mwali There was a village, that village [2] imfumu lyakwete umwana. which had a chief who had a child. Elo nomba yatile ukupa umwana But then he said [he cannot] marry kaano akapwishe ukukamya [this] child unless he will finish [3] ichishima, ichishima icha meenshi draining the well, to remove all yonse ukufuma. water [from] the well. But then [that’s when] he will be Elo nomba bakamupile umwana. [4] given the child. Elo ichishima chalikwete akafukweThe well had an opening, an opening [5] fukwe panshi. on the ground. Nga balepila kafukwe-fukwe If there is an opening, it will burst ilepuuka filya fine. Baima [6] right there. The young men go there. abalumendo baya kulya “Are you the ones who have come Ati nimwe mwaisa? [7] [to remove the water]?” “Yes, it’s us, we have come [to Eee, nifwe twaisa. [8] remove the water].” Elo baishile abalumendo abati Then they should take the young [9] batwaleni. men who went. Ilyo baile kulya, basangile ichishima When they went there, they found [10] chinecho. the same well. “Who is he who is going to be the Ati ni nani walabalilapo? [11] first?” Ati nine. Efyo aingila umunabo He said, “Me.” Then their friend [12] ukupila ameenshi. entered to remove the water. He was removing [it], removing [it], Apila apila apila ati fye yalakamya [13] removing [it]. Just like that the water ameenshi, was just going to be drained. Umulumendo atile neebo nafilwa The man said, “I, I have failed this [14] ayaa. [to remove the water].” 221

[15]

Then another one – his friend and the Paisa naumbi – umwanakwe na efyo [15] same thing. What did they all do? fine. Bonse bakita shaani? Bafilwa. They failed.

[16] Elo kwamoneka Kakalulu.

[16] Then Kalulu appeared.

Kakalulu elo katila ati “Na ine wine Then Kalulu said, “I, myself, will ndeingilapo pa chishima. [17] [17] enter the well. You, chief, you are Mwemfumu, mwalamona efyo going to see when I drain the water.” neebo nalakamya ameenshi.” Kakalulu ako efyo kaingile palya. Then Kalulu entered there. He Kabomba ukupila. Kalepila kalepila worked to drain [it]. He was draining [18] [18] katumakasa kanyatapo yafuma [it], was draining [it]. He stepped ameenshi. where the water comes from. He broke [something and] stuck [it] Kaishina kakambatika apo yafuma [19] [19] where [water] was coming from ati palya. there. He was stepping right there [where [20] Kanyatapo palya pene. Kanyatapo. [20] the water was coming from]. He was stepping right there. Kanyatikishya, kapila. He was stepping very much. Well, Kanyatikishya awee ameenshi the water drained. Just like that he [21] [21] yakamya. Filya fine kanyatilepo had stepped, it was smeared shut [by nakashingwila. his foot]. Ati mwemfumu Kakalulu kapwa, You, chief. Kalulu finished, then he [22] elyo kalefuma kaletila ati, “Ine [22] came out, saying, “To me, give me mpeele umukashi wandi. my girl.” That’s when the chief was surprised, Efyo imfumu yapapile nabenakala [23] [23] [and] that’s how everyone was chalo. Bampile. surprised. They gave him [the girl]. That’s how Kalulu married her. Efyo Kakalulu kampile. Kwaba na There was everything happened. [24] fyonse na mbakashani mwaka shaani [24] And everything happened (like a kapwa. celebration). B. Informational Texts 1. Crossing the Lwapula River (History) [1]

[2]

Aushi, we are speaking Aushi with Ikyaushi tulanda nobe. Ni usango wa [1] you. This is a story of the Aushi, chaushi ikwo alefwaya. which you [he] want[s]. [Listen], I am Aushi, I am [of the] Iwe ndi mwaushi, umwina mukulo [2] Mukulo [clan] [along] the Lwapula ku lulamba lwa Lwapula. River. 222

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12] [13]

Mu bwikashi twaikala kuno kwesu, In the life that we live here in our [3] kuno uko twaikala. place, here is where we live. Are you understanding that which Uleumfwa ifyo ndelanda ati kuno? I’m saying here? Here [where] we Uko twaikala nshilelanda [4] are staying, I’m not speaking ichibemba. Awe ndelanda icaushi. Bemba. No, I’m speaking Ushi. Here where we live in our place, Kuno twaikala ku mwensu, starting from the valley of Lwapula ukutampa ululamba lwa Lwapula [5] from Matanda [up to] there at the ukufuma Matanda nokufika kulya ku border with Kasomalwela, we are lupaka na Kasomalwela, tuli baushi. Ushi. Mabumba, Kalasa, Milambo, Mabumba, Kalasa, Milambo, Kisunka. Ukushinguluka ino area Kisunka. Moving around this entire [6] yonse, baushi. Takwaba mubemba area, [we are] Ushi. No, there is no awe. Bemba. The Lunda people who are there in Baluunda balyo abali ku masamba, the West, when they came to cross ifyo baishile ukwabukila muno [7] here in our place in the chiefdom of mwesu mu kwalo kwa bwaushi, fwe the Ushi, so it’s us Ushi people who bababwishe nifwe fweebo baushi. made them cross. Baluunda balifumwike mwabo. Uko The Lunda have come from their nga ni ku Kongolo nga ni ku Angola [8] place. It’s either in Congo or in kulya bafumine. Angola there where they came from. They came and were fighting then. Balishile balelwisha filya. Inshita In the old days there were wars with sha kale kwaleba inkondo sha nifwi. [9] spears, they used to stab themselves ukwilasa ukukila shaani, bakimfya. to do what they own. Bakonka ululamba lwa Lwapula They followed the valley of Lwapula balishile kufika pali pa lupya pa [10] until they reached there Ulupya [that Matanda. place] in Matanda. Basangile namfumu bushilya. They found the princess across there. Naabuka umwonga wa Lwapula She had crossed the Lwapula River, nayo palya bushilya alesepa ifiseepo [11] and across there she was planting ati ifilungwa nangu tutile ifyuumbu crops, the potatoes or let’s just say nangu ifya imisango shaani ifyashala sweet potatoes, or any kind of type. filya. Elyo bamwipishe ati, “Iwe wabukile When they asked her, “You, where [12] kwi?” have you crossed?” They arrested her, [and] she said, Bamwinkata ebele, “Awe, lekeni [13] “No, let me lead you where I have mitungulule epo nga bukile.” crossed from.”

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[14]

Again when she is the one who Kabili eno ali uwakukimfya [14] defeats her friends [with] those abanankwe mu fyanso filya. weapons.

[15] Elyo batampile ukwisa.

[15] That’s how they started coming.

[16] Aeba ati epo nabukile ni apa.

[16]

[17] Epo wabukile apa?

[17]

Ati eya. Baloleshya pali ameenshi [18] eka eka ukufuma bushilya ukufika [18] bushilya. Bebele nomba uyu muntu abwike [19] shaani? Wakwabuka nenshi? Ati [19] nakwabuka fye ulukasa ndeenda. Ala, OK, na fweebo kuti twaabuka? Abele ati eye kuti mwaabuka. Kwakine balyebele ati kampeni [21] ulushishi ulwakifumbe. Balitampile ukukampa ulushishi ku [22] fimuti. Bakampa bakampa bakampa bakampa bakampa fye ulwingi, [23] ukutampa ukukanya ukukakanya ukukakanya, elyo batampa ukwikaka mu misana. [20]

[20] [21] [22]

[23]

Nomba ilya mfumu baishile nayo, tabaikakile. Awe, baishya ikwo [24] [24] balefwaya kushininkisha beshibe nga baleeyabuka nga tabayabuke. Elyo baambile ukwisa na namfumu pa ntanshi nabamukaka kilushishi [25] [25] mu musana. Elyo abashele nabamukonka pa numa. Baleeya baleeya baleeya baleeya [26] baleeya, mpaka bakita shaani? [26] Bayebuka bushilya. Elyo bayabwike bushilya. Baeba ati [27] iyo kishinka. Nomba natuye tusende [27] mfumu.

She said, “This is where I’ve crossed from.” “This is where you have crossed from?” “Yes.” They looked [and] there was just water, water from the other side to the other side. They said, “But how did this person cross? What did you use to cross?” She said, “I crossed walking with my feet, just walking.” “Aha, OK, and us? Can we cross?” She said, “Yes, you can cross.” Truly they said, “Make the rope of kifumbe [a type of tree].” They started making the rope [of] the trees. They made, they made, they made, they made, they made until they just made many [ropes], [and then] they started tying, tying, tying, and they started tying themselves at the waist. However, that chief they came with, they did not tie him. No, they left him [and] they wanted to find the truth, to know if they could cross or not cross. Then they started coming with the princess in front of them, tying at her waist a rope. Then those who remained followed her in the back. They were going, going, going until they did what? They crossed to the other side. When they crossed to the other side. They said, “That is the truth. Now let’s go and get our chief.”

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[28]

[29]

[30]

[31]

[32]

[33]

[34]

[35] [36]

[37]

[38]

[39]

Elyo kabili babwekele kipya kipya And again they went back afresh to [28] ukwabuka ukuya pa shilya. the other side. And they took the chief [and] they Nokubuula mfumu baibiika pa put him in the imiselo [the throne miselo. Bambi ku ntanshi bambi ku [29] you carry]. Some [are] in front, nuna imfumu pakati. others [are] behind, [and] the chief in between. The chieftess was not to be left Namfumu taaliwakushala. Ninshi [alone]. Then they are with her bali nankwe katungulula across she leads them. They were alebabushya, baleeya baleeya [30] going, going with the chieftess, nemfumu baleeya baleeya baleeya going, going, going until they mpaka baabuka. crossed. Elyo bayebwike palya, bebele When they crossed there, they said it [31] kishinka. is true. Abasoja bali nabo. Balibulile The soldiers were with them. They umuwifwi, akalembe kalya, atinta [32] pulled an arrow, and it soared akalembe auti mfwaa alasa mu through the sky and pierced the tree. mupundu. Even now the arrow is still there Na nomba akalembe eko kalishala [33] where they crossed from [but the tree ikishikifi apa bayebukile. is shrinking; ichiki]. Elyo batoolele ikibwe kimo ukubiika And they picked up one pebble and munshi ya mupundu. Ukufika na lelo put it under the tree. [Even] up until [34] lwaliba lutambi. Balatoole ibwe today it has been. They picked up a batentenka palya. stone and put it there. Nomba pano abakuno abaushi abo However, the Aushi who were here [35] asangile ulya Lungu aishile. found that Lunga [when] he came. Balwimfwile umwenso babutuka pa They were afraid [and] ran after [36] numa. [them]. They were at a loss for words [but] Balikutumene bebele, “Awe said, “Well, they arrested the namfumu nabambwikata kwishilya. [37] chieftess on the other side. Let’s go Natuye tumumone uyu muntu and see this person who was uwaikata namfumu.” arrested, the chieftess.” That’s when Matanda came back. Elyo Matanda abwelele. Nomba aba However, all of those who remained, abashala bonse baliya balipapa ati, [38] they became surprised [and asked], kili shaani? “How is it?” Ati awe twakisanga uyu aleseepa They said, “No, we found this person ifisepo pashilya ewatwabusha. Ebele harvesting crops on the other side, [39] uyu ni namfumu, emwine wakwalo and she was the one who made us kuno mwayebukilamo. cross.” He said, “This is the princess, 225

[40]

[41]

[42]

[43] [44]

Nomba nipesa epo twalaikala? Matanda alikene ati tamwaikale muno mucalo candi. Piteni. Kabuyeni uko. Elyo bapitile nomba ukuya kwa Milambo. Kulya kwa Milambo baile baile kusangako Myele-Myele, imfumu abakimfya, ifya kuti bekale kulya bafilwa. Babwela. Abele ati tentemukeni, konkeni ameenshi.

[40]

[41]

[42]

[43]

Elyo batente mukile. Nomba [44] ukutampa ukukonka ulwapula.

Epo bakimfya bashapo umuntu, apobakimfya bashapo umuntu, [45] apobakimfya bashapo umuntu – [45] mpaka Bakazembe bafika na palya baikala. [46] Neebo, efyo naishibapo.

the owner of this chiefdom you have crossed into.” “But where can we settle?” Matanda refused and said, “You’re not going to settle here in my chiefdom. Just pass. Go there.” That’s how they passed [and] now went to Milambo. There in Milambo where they went they found Myele-Myele. The chief defeated [them] and they failed to stay there. They came back. He told them, “Just go down. Follow the water.” And that’s how they went down. Now following they started following the Lwapula River. Where they defeated they left a person, where they defeated they left a person, where they defeated they left a person – until they arrived at Bakazembe and they lived (remained) there.

[46] Me, that’s what I knew.

Nga kyaushi, ine ndi mwaushi fye If it is Aushi, me, I’m Aushi, well, [47] bwiino bwiino uwakukana ipusha. well, you cannot even ask. I’m speaking Aushi here. It’s not Kuno ndelanda kyaushi. Te kibemba [48] [48] Bemba, definitely not. Here is where awe. Epo napela. I’ve ended. [47]

2. Brideprice, Part #1 (Insalamu) [1]

[2]

[3]

Brideprice [insalamu] means a Chipilibula ukutila umulumendo na young man and a young woman, umukashana, elyo bapangana ukuti [1] they are discussing [that] they want balefwaya ukupana. to get married. Elyo nomba bafwile bafisha But then they have to take the news [2] amashiwi ku bafyashi. to the parents. Nga bafisha amashiwi ku bafyashi, When they take the news to the elo nomba abafyashi ba mulumendo parents, then the parents of the bafwile nomba basakasaka bushe [3] young man must ask themselves, umwana wesu bamone mu ng’anda “Does this child of ours // the guys shi alaingilamo nga basuminisha parents should not get concerned 226

ukweba ati ng’anda asalile ili fye bwiino kwena ukolinga naku kale efintu chaleba. Ni ino inshita elyo kuli fye umuntu ati ine ohho temwene.

[4] [5] [6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

about what kind of house he’s going to marry into is OK/good (bwiino). Looking at a long time ago that’s how it was supposed to be done. It’s this time that now this time it’s just like this is what I want. Now long ago [it used to be that] the Nomba kale kwaleba abafyashi parents should also agree because basuminishako nabamona kwena [4] they also want to know where their umwana wesu uku alemupila. son will marry into. Ni ng’anda iki fye bwiino.

[5] It’s a house [a family] which is good.

Nensalamu ishi kale takwali Even this brideprice, there was no indalama limbi. Tabalefumya [6] money. They never used to give ichuma. payment. No, they used to get likosa, [and] Iyo, baliya bula fye likosa batwala [7] then they took [him] to the family of ku lupwa lwa mukashana. the young woman. Ati umwana wesu alefwaya They say, “Our child wants a lady in umukashana muno mu ng’anda. this house.” Sometimes just the Limbi fimo fimo filangilila ati [8] things they show [indicate] that they balefwaya ukusonga umukashana want a young woman in that house mu ng’anda ilya. for marriage. If there is no money, they used to Nga takuli indalama, balebuula ifipe [9] take [household] items [in place of] batwala nga insalamu. insalamu. But now this time it has reached the Nomba inshita chalifika pa kweba ati [10] point that they should just pay bafwile bafumya fye iichuma. money. Pa nshita eyo tufikileko fyali chinja. At this time that we’ve reached [it Abantu babula fye iichuma. Batwala has changed]. People just get money. ku kusonga umwanakashi, utiwo [11] They look for a girl to marry or if balefwaya ukuti umwana wabo they want their child to stay with akekale nao. them. Then insalamu: The child who is Neshi insalamu umwana uleupa [12] marrying is not the one who pays talefumya insalamu iyo! that money. That’s how we knew it long ago. The Efyo twaishibe akale. Abalefumya [13] ones who [are supposed to] pay for insalamu bafyashi. the brideprice are the parents. The parents are supposed to bless Patila bapala shilya insalamu pa that brideprice, so that there kutila ukoshileya kwikaba bwafya [14] shouldn’t be any difficulties [in the nangu umo. marriage]. 227

[15] [16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

When they take [it], then there Nga batwala elo nomba kabili kwa [15] should be some words [that] say they bwela amashiwi ati nabasumina. agree. That’s what we know about Efyo twaishiba insalamu. [16] brideprice. When [accepting] an engagement Pa kutwala ubusonge na ku kwine and [also] when you’re engaged for takwaleba ukutila ati umwine [17] real, there was nothing like the same umulumendo ala efwaila chikula young man should tell someone who wakuti atwale ubusonge bulya is supposed to take the brideprice. Bafyashi balalolekesha muntunshi The parents should already know [18] uyo. about that. We start to take our brideprice there Twalatuma ku kutwala insalamu [for a person who] wants to marry kulya alefwaya ukupa umwana our child, because the parents know wesu, pantu abafyashi baleishiba ni who they are who have traditional banani abakwata amafunde ayakuti [19] values/knowledge and who will umwana wesu. Nga bamutwalila [marry] our child. If they take her the insalamu, bakalayenda nankwe sidebrideprice, they will continue with by-side. her side-by-side. And explain to him the importance Na kumulundolela ubukangala bwa of marriage and explain to him the chupo na kumulondolela pa [20] importance of brideprice [where] insalamu batwala kulya patila. they have taken it. When they finish the work [the task Nomba elo balepwisha umulimo, of giving brideprice], then his niinshi shibukombe wakwe [21] representative starts explaining tumu aliyamba ukumulundolela tumu tumu [some other things that he tumu. doesn’t know yet].

3. Brideprice, Part #2 (Insalamu) [1]

[2]

[3]

Brideprice [is] when [that insalamu] Insalamu nga shafika batwala. [1] has reached where they have [accepted] it. Shibukombe aya elyo balafika ku When that representative has arrived ng’anda kulya ku bafyashi ba there at the house of the young lady’s mwanakashi, abafyashi ninshi parents, the parents, then the child umwana nabachinkula ati kuleisa [2] will explain that visitors are coming. abeni. Na beni baleisa kuno ba And the visitors are coming here, kwakuti, patila ati abafyashi nabo saying that their parents are from his baikala abaiteyanya. side. Elyo nga bafika kulya, bashibukobe So when they have arrived there, [3] baleeba abafyashi mukwai kwena their representative will tell the 228

efyo twayenda mukwai. Twaisa mukupa muno mu ng’anda. Emuli umwanakashi tulefwaya.

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

parents why we have come. “We have come to marry here in this house. Inside is the young woman we want.” Then the parents will ask the Abafyashi balaipusha umwana, daughter, “Child, do you know “Wemwana, ifi ifipe fyaisa muno mu [4] where these things are coming from ng’anda? Naufishiba?” here inside the house? Do you know them?” The child she will say, “Yes, I know Umwana alasumina, “Eya, nifishiba where they’re coming from.” Then if alekanshi.” Nga naufishiba you know [where they’re coming nokusumina nansumina. Imya ifipe [5] from], then you have agreed. Then ifi upele abafyashi kupeela abafyashi get these things and give them to ukuti bayambe imilimo iyo your parents, so that they can start kupekanya ubwinga. the work to prepare the wedding. So that the child can stand up, get Umwana alaima ati asende ifipe filya [6] those things, and give them to the ukupeela abafyashi parents. Elo abafyashi balalandapo Then the parents will say some utumashiwi tumo pa kupaala words to bless that brideprice like the insalamu shilya nga fintu abanabo [7] things they gave as an offering. Even uko pa kwimya pachichita. Na bena the guests will say some words. balalandapo utumashiwi.

4. Female Initiation (Ikisuungu)

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

A child, when she is of age, she’s Umwana lulya alekula, alekula filya growing just like that. When she is of fine. Nga aleya alekula umwana [1] age, when the child is of age, we just alekula tulamulolesha fye ati uyu look at her and say, “This child is umwana alekula. growing.” But when growing up, there we will Nomba mu kukula kulya twatampa see on [her] back a demarcation [2] ukumona pa musana pala patalala. between the butt and the waist [taking shape]. We will know that there are some Palatopeka filya, niinshi twaishiba [3] changes, then we will know that the ati umwana achinja. child has changed. Then we see on her face that there Twamona na ku meenso utuma are some pimples. They will be seen pimples filya. Twalamoneka. [4] [start showing]. We will know that Twaishiba ukuti akula uyu umwana this child has grown, with breasts mukwai no tumabele. [and all]. 229

Tulamoneka fye bwiino utwantutu [5] Even [her] breasts are looking nice. utumabele. Mwamona tuletenta nokutenta You [can] see [the breasts] shaking [6] [6] bwiino bwiino. really nicely. And the parent will start telling her Na umufyashi ayamba ukumweba that she should minimize her [7] ati aletekanya nokwenda, ulefwala [7] movement, that she should dress na bwiino. properly. And the way you’ve been moving Ifi uleyenda alashuwamoona efyo around, you should look at yourself, ulemoneka ukokankanyapo. the way you’re appearing. The child [8] Kalamona fye akamwana ukokechile [8] will just see wherever she goes, she kololesha ifya konkoloka mu will see that which comes from matanta. between her thighs. Then she touches it with her fingers Kapishako iminwe mu matanta. and she sees something red. Inside is [9] Muli ifikashika akati ngefi afya [9] something red, so she calls her kashika, awe kanjebe abafyashi. parents over. And then the parents say, “Wow! Elo abafyashi ati, “Mayo mimumone Look at what we see. You have efyo namona. Nga ifi nafyena.” Elyo grown.” Then the parents who see [10] abafyashi bamona abati wakula. [10] the [child] who has grown. “My “Mwana wandi! Ichisungu ichi.” child! This is [your] period.” We say, Tweba ati wakula mayo wasanga. “Wow! You have grown. You have found [the period].” [5]

[11] Ee, chisungu ichi!

[11] “Yes, this is the period!”

“You have to relax. You are now Utekanya wawa ichisungu mwana grown, my child.” Then from that wandi. Apo pene batampa [12] [12] moment they will start to teach her ukumufuunda ifyakufwala isalu ilya how to put a cloth, so that that the pakutila ichisungu chilya chilapona. [blood] won’t come out. Elyo abafyashi balakwatapo Then the parent will tell her one ulutambi limo ulwa kufwaila ulya proverb, in order to help that child [13] [13] umwana uwele ichisungu umuti who has started her period [to use ukumusunga. the] medicine to keep her safe. Bamweba nokumweba ati nomba Then they even tell her, “Now you [14] [14] wakulalya weka ubwali. will be eating nshima alone.” When she leaves some nshima, it [15] Nga ashako akabwali kuposa. [15] will be thrown away. Long ago that’s what they used to do. Akale efyo balechita ndakai That’s what they used to do long ago, [16] ichisungu nachisauka. Akale chali [16] not now. The period has lost its chindeme ikisungu. value. Long ago it had value. 230

Kwali kwalaba ukumuteka bwiino They used to take care of her nicely notowali ukumwipikila. Nga ni [and] cook for her. If it was long ago, [17] [17] inshita ya kale, kwali ukutwala mu it used to be you would go into the mpanga eko bafimbila kulya kwine. bush to eat. Na ifibwi fyalebapapa nga The hyenas would be surprised if [18] [18] balimufimbila mipanga. they have taken her to the bush. Nomba nga bamusambilisha Now when they teach her [how] to ukufwala isalu shilya, nga afumapo put on that cloth, then that blood will [19] ulya umuloopa waleka ukufuma [19] stop coming out from inside of the mulina mayo mukati. Elyo bamweba young lady. Then they tell her, “You ati uletina abaume. should be fearful of all men.” [20] Ulekutina abaume lyonse. Nga wakumona na umwaume, ukamita. Mu kwikala mu kwikala ikisungu kilya kyabwela kamuku wabubili. Kulya chisungu kibwela kamuku [22] wabubili, ichisungu chine chine. Abafyashi abati umwana abwekesha ichisungu. Mpaka napena bamufuunda. Akale baletulishisha ing’oma [23] ukuchesha fye pa kufuunda umulandu wandi. Ndakai baya fye na aleya, teti wishibemo kulutuka fye. Nga bamulanga filya nawo aishiba [24] ukufwala isalu ukubindika twalefwalamo. Bamulanga ukubula. [21]

[20] “You should be fearful of all men.” “Whenever you meet with a man, you will get pregnant.” After some time and some more time, that period will return for the second time. [When] that period [22] returns for the second time, that’s the real period. The parents say [that] the child has brought back the period. Even that time they will teach her. A long time ago there used to be [23] drums until morning so that they can teach us because of the period. Now these days they will just go. They won’t tell them anything. They just go. When they show her, she [24] knows how to fold it [how] we used to put it on. They show her how to get it. [21]

Limbi takwete ubulungu mu musana Maybe she doesn’t have beads on her umwakupisha kalya akasalu waist at which to put that cloth which bamulangile akakubindika. Limbi they tie. Maybe the cloth they fasten [25] akasalu fye bapyata bamukaka mu [25] to [her] waist, which they hang it musana emo balekofya from her, from where the [blood] is kakamubinde pa kweba ati filya coming. filakonkoloka ilafuma iyachisungu Then again it used to be [that] you Kabili kwaleba ukumemengela have to take much care and to keep it saana nokufundilila nga wakwata [clean], if you take care when you [26] fye wichisungu. Iwawa fye [26] start your period. When you start ichisungu ulefwala fye ififine bwiino your period, you have to dress bwiino. nicely. 231

[27] Wilafwala kanika kekakeka. [28] Ni inshita bakwete efyo balefwala. Kale tusalu. Twalepula kanshi kuti [29] alisungilila nga afumako akawasha bwiino bwiino. [30]

Apishamo na ishimbi nakamika, nakasalu.

akabika,

Kwaleba bambi bafundi abaleibila abana umuloopa wa chisungu [31] balebika munama, pakuti shilya inama shilefwa. [32]

Niinshi chapwa. Ulya umwana takafyale. Ubufyashi bwapwa.

Efyo ningalondo lola pali ichisungu, [33] naya ku mwenshi. Niinshi nachisa ichisungu.

[27] You don’t have to put on pants alone. It’s [in] this time that they have [28] [other things that] they are putting on. A long time ago [you used to use] [29] cloths. You used to cut a fabric, and you have to clip it nicely. After you’re done with your period, [30] you have to wash it, iron it, and put it away. There were those bad people who used to steal the period blood and [31] then they put on animals (mu nama) so that those animals die (shilefwa). Then that’s the end. That child will [32] not give birth. Parenthood has ended [she has become barren]. When someone is on her period, she [33] has gone to the [start]. Then she has started [her] period.

5. Traditional Knowledge (Imbusa) Nakabuumba, that’s what we mean [by] imbusa.

[1]

Nakabuumba emukutila ati imbusa.

[1]

[2]

Kwaliba imbusa shibili.

[2] There are two [types of] imbusa.

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

Imbusa ya kwa namayo na imbusa ya Imbusa for a lady and imbusa for a [3] kwa shitata. man. Ilya imbusa tulalenga, twalenga. We draw that imbusa, we draw [it]. Tulabumba ilya. Imbusa limo We make that imbusa. We have one [4] tulakwata imbusa ya panshi, imbi imbusa for the ground, [and] we tulakwata imbusa ya pa chibumba. have another one on the wall. So these imbusa, when a groom is So ishi mbusa shibwinga nga aleya going to marry that young lady, it is ukupa ulya umwanakashi, kulaba [5] [necessary] to make him go through ukumupisha mu mbusa. imbusa. There is another imbusa which we Kwaliba imbi mbusa eyo tupanga so make like umupeto for every house. kwati mupeto wa chila ng’anda. Inside [where] the third tree is, we Ifimuti eya butatu mulya [6] make him go through, he goes tulapishamo apitamo so ati “nsamba through [what we] say “bathe so that twikule bonse.” we pull everyone.”

232

What you like will strengthen your Echo utumenwe echikosha imbafu. ribs. So he has to pass through [7] Apitamo so mulya mwine, nga [7] himself, if he goes through that afumamo muli ilya imbusa. imbusa. He goes through that imbusa on the Alaya mu bulya imbusa ya panshi [8] [8] ground, akakoonko, which they got eyo kale balebula ati akakoonko. [experienced] a long time ago. Ilya imbusa ya panshi twalelumbula We used to call that imbusa on the [9] ati imbusa ya masaka. Kwaleba [9] ground the imbusa y’amasaka. ukusumina na masaka. So ilya imbusa kulaba ukupita muli So that imbusa they have to pass [10] [10] utulindi. through the halls. [11] Kuba kutanda bwiino. [12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[11] It [involved] climbing nicely.

If the children of the chief haven’t Abana ba mfumu abo, nga tatantele [12] climbed well, [it is possible] to fall bwiino, kutantalila pa tukondo. from your tippy toes. Elo aleya alechita nga shinguluka na Then he goes around doing that, and bawishi nabo balepitamo muli iyo [13] their father passes through that imbusa. imbusa. Nga afuma pali iyo imbusa, iyo When he’s done with that imbusa, mbusa kwaleba ukupoosamo na the [other] imbusa is to throw a little kalupiya nga sansamwishako [14] money if [the parents] are happy. bwiino. Basapila abafyashi The parents will let out a cry and say, notumpundu bebele, “Awe, “Oh wow, this is nice, very nice.” chawama nokuwama.” That’s how they do it even for a Na ku mwanakashi ni fyo fine. [15] young lady. Mbusa imbi ya baume iyapa Another imbusa for a man is that one chibumba kulaba ukulenga umubili on the wall, to draw a body of a [16] wa kwa namayo na kapunda. Filya young lady with a hole [to indicate fine. the vagina]. Just like that. Nomba tulabikapo color yakashika And now we add the color, which is pakuti peshitake ati kwena uyu [17] red, so that he can know that this mubili wa kwa namayo. body is [that] of a woman. And we also draw a grey hair here on Kuno ku mutwe nako natulemba the head, which is the one we create. akalumfwi eko twabumba. [18] We draw it [so that] that man, as he’s Twalenga ati shitata ulya alase palya about to have sex, he knows where it pali kalya ka kwa namayo. [the vagina] is for the lady. So when they are taking that person, So lilya balatwala ulya umuntu kano unless they teach him that when you bamusambilisha ukutila nga waya ku [19] go to your wife, you will go and get mukashi obe ukayabula akamfwi. that grey hair [find the vagina]. 233

[20] Ukaya chita fye ati kwaa!

[20] You go there and just do it like kwaa!

Nga kaya sopa palya pene pali And if you miss, then you haven’t [21] kanamayo, niinshi walipa. married. Nomba nga wapusa awe niinshi That’s how it had value. This thing taupile, akaleyali chindeme saana called imbusa. If she misses it, then [22] [22] imbusa. Nga apusa, niinshi takafyale she will never have a child, that the ati naupusa imbusa nomba ndekai imbusa has been missed right now. [21]

[23] Chaliba fye bwiino.

[23] It’s quite nice.

So about that imbusa: When you’re So pali iyo imbusa: Nga afumapo elo going somewhere, then the parents nomba bamufunda abafyashi ukutila [tell] him, “He is not to work right apa nomba wabomba wikaya now. He is not to argue with his pushanya na bashibukombe bakwe [24] [24] representative and her representative na bashichimbusa bakwe bonse bali [because] everyone is there palya pene—abakulu abakufunda outside—the older people who teach umulumendo pakuya mukupa ulya the young man when going to marry umwanakashi. that young lady.” So that they go and have sex Pakutila bakayalalana mailo, ekaya [25] [25] tomorrow, they shouldn’t fail to filwa ukupa umwanakashi. make marry the woman. Kwalebako notuntu utubalepeela There were some things which they abaume ati umubili ukosa patila gave men, so that their body [penis] [26] [26] akayetunga bwiino palya kwana is hard, so that he can go and chisungu. penetrate the virgin. If he goes and makes a hole there Ngayaya ukutulapo palya paka [27] [27] [breaks the hymen], the blood comes chisungu na blood ileya ifume. out. Then that means that he has broken Niinshi kalembalemba ninshi the kalembelembe, then he will go to ataluka no mukashana nowo nefyo [28] [28] the side of the woman just like that. fine, bamulengela imbusa ya They show him the imbusa ya bashitata. bashitata. Namayo fyonse, na fyonse filya mu Even a lady, and everything inside a katishi ukutila ilya ing’anda dish [just like that] which that house ukukwata. Na babiikamo [will] have. And they put [into the [29] akabulungu akakashika, akawhite, [29] dish] a red bead, a white bead, a na kablade akaleze, kasoapo, black bead, a razor blade, soap, kavaselin, kanyeleti, utumabutteni, vaseline, a needle, little buttons, and na kamashin ka kubeyelako imfyefu. a machine to cut beards. These are the other [things] that Ifi fimbi efyo ukaya mukubomfya you’re going to use where you’re [30] uku ukaya. Kuli wiba obe [30] going. For your husband you have to ufisungilile. Wakula nomba. Ilyo take care of them. You have grown 234

bakesa kusenda niinshi weebo ifi ifintu ukalabomfya.

now. When they come and get [you], then you, these are the things you will use. That itself is the reason they say that Kwena mwandini e mulandu they make you pay a lot of money, wakweba ati imbusa babatipilapo saying that they will teach [you]. It is nolupiya ulwingi pakweba ati something that is quite involving bafunde. Kulaba ukwaku filinkita because that female representative is [31] [31] pantu banachimbusa ulya alefunda teaching the bride to undress, to wear nabwinga kulefula ukushala fye only underwear, so that she [the kaputula keka pakutila alange uyo representative] can show that child umwana imbusa akayesanga ichupo. the imbusa in order that she can keep her marriage. Shichimbusa nakwe kulya alefula. His male representative will undress [32] [32] Aleshala fye na costume. there. He will only wear boxers. Pakutila afunde ulya umulumendo [Because] that young man learns the [33] imbusa, tekaya lufyanga pa beti nga [33] imbusa, he doesn’t make a mistake baya mukupana. in bed if they are making love. 6. Engagement and Marriage, Part #1 (Ukushikula) Umulumendo aupa. Baikala nga A young man has gotten married. [1] [1] fyofine. They stayed just like that. So nomba umulumendo aishiba So now the young man knows how [2] [2] ukuti twaikala shaani. we are living [here]. He takes out the money with which [3] Afumya indalama ayashita umunani. [3] to buy relish. [Then] he takes [it] to his parents-in[4] Atwala ku bapongoshi. [4] law. [His] parents-in-law didn’t [never Abapongoshi tabalyako uyo [5] [5] used to] eat this relish which he umunani ashitile. bought. And yesterday he bought relish [and] Na mailo ashita umunani atwala ku took it to the parents-in-law. They [6] bapangoshi. Bamunailapo ubwali [6] prepare nshima for him, but he but talyapo. doesn’t eat [it]. So niinshi baishiba ukuti alefwaya So then they [realize] that he wants [7] [7] ukumushikula. [them] to welcome him. Nomba ukumushikula umunani ulya But for him to be welcomed [with] [8] [8] ashitile that relish which he had bought. So now even they themselves, the Na bena balashita umunani abene, [9] [9] father-in-law and the mother-in-law, bawishifyala na banafyala. will buy relish. 235

Balashita umunani elo na inkoko They buy relish and they [also] kill a [10] baipaya. chicken. Elo bakasenda ichipe cha bwali And they will take that container of [11] nokuya ku mupongoshi nokuteka [11] nshima to the son-in-law, [and] they ubwali apa panshi. put the nshima on the floor. Elo ayebe ati, “Taata, twatotela Then he says, “Father, thank you for [12] [12] milimo wabomba yafula.” all the work that you have done.” But right here we have said, “We are Apa leelo twayeba ati tulelya pamo eating this relish together [and also] [13] utumunani uuleleta naifwe [13] that which we have brought we are utukwakileeta tulelya pamo. eating together. So ulya umulumendo mushi So that young man is he who they [14] [14] bamushikula. have welcomed. [10]

7. Engagement and Marriage, Part #2 (Ukushikula) Ukushikula is in [the form of] Ukushikula kwaba pa fintu ifingi, [1] [1] different things, to welcome the sonukushikula umupongoshi. in-law. Bamayo abachibalilapo. Bachilanda The woman who started first. They [2] [2] ukushikula ifyakulya. said to welcome [with] food. Nga basenda ifyakulya filya, bali When they carry that food, they are nokubiikapo amashikulo, kalupiya to put [down] the amashikulo, a little [3] akanoono aka, kulanga [3] bit of money, to show the son-in-law umupongoshi ati namupokelelwa that he can receive our food, [that] ichyakulya chesu kuti mwalya. you can eat [it]. The men who are going to marry Abalumendo abaleupa tabalelya cannot eat the food which is coming [4] ichakulya ichafuma ku bafyashi [4] from the parents without ukwabula amashikulo. amashikulo. And also the other welcoming of the Elyo kabili ukushikula kumbi son-in-law [is] when they send him [5] umupongoshi nga bamutuma [5] to do some chores [e.g. to do imilimo. gardening or to clean the house]. Mukwai napopene balabiikapo Even they would have to put [down] [6] [6] amashikulo nangu some amashikulo. Ni kuli ifwe banamayo. It’s [also] this way for us women. Abapongoshi nabantuma imilimo The sons-in-law are sent [for] [7] [7] nangu kutapa fye ameenshi ilyo chores, such just to fetch water like I ndeleta ameenshi yalya. bring that water. Niinshi nababiikapo amashikulo Then they have to put [down] the pantu ebushika bwa kubalilapo [8] [8] amashikulo because it’s the first day ukubomba imilimo mu ng’anda mu [for him] to work in their house. myabo. 236

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15] [16] [17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

Then if the guy, if [it’s] a garden they Elyo nga balumendo nga libala give him, then he has to enter [and] bamupeela ati elyo kwingilemo [9] then afterwards they prepare food for panuma bali nokupekanya ifyakulya. him. In that way to prepare [the food] for Ifya kutebeta umupongoshi na [10] the son-in-law and to add the babiikapo amashikulo. amishikulo. Nga tabamulanga chilanga mulilo, If they don’t show him the chilanga bali nokubikapo amashikulo pakuti [11] mulilo, they add amashikulo in order umupongoshi aye alyako filya for the son-in-law to eat that food. ifyakulya. If they have not added [to the Nga chakutila tababiikilapo uyu amashikulo], that means their sonumupongoshi wabo talyako pantu [12] in-law will not eat because they tabamulanga ichilanga mulilo. haven’t showed him the chilanga mulilo [yet]. And the chilanga mulilo means that, Na chilanga mulilo chipilibula well, when a man is married or he ukutila elyo umulumendo aupa [13] will marry, there is a proverb [we nangu akabekela kulaba intambi. say]. They make him pass [through Bapishamo ifyakupeela ifyakulya traditional culture] to give him food pakuti umupongoshi balemupeelako [14] in this way, so that they give the sonichyakulya. in-law the food. Maybe they are not living together Libe tabalaikala pamo. Abakalamba [15] [yet]. The eldery people prepare bapekanya ifyakulya. food. Baleeti akafiso balemwibiilako They will be bringing some food [16] ichyakulya. hidden from him. Balemupeela pantu balumendo nga The are going to give it to him when akobekela balekukila mu kupepi na [17] he moves nearby to the parents-inbapongoshi eko baleikala. law where they are living. So they are giving him food. Maybe So balebapeela ifyakulya. Libe [18] then they have welcomed him with niinshi nabashikulapo utumashikulo. the amashikulo. Elo baisa mulanga ichilanga mulilo After that, they are going to show ichakutila ati abantu bamona ukutila him the ichilanga mulilo, so that the ati ulya umuntu bamupeela insambu [19] people can see that they have given ishakulya ifyakulya mu ng’anda that person approval to eat the food muli banafyala. in the house of the mother-in-law. Niinshi nomba nababiikapo But then they also added [20] amashikulo. amashikulo.

237

They will arrive there at the son-inBalaya fika kulya ku ng’anda kulya law’s house [and] arrive there where [21] uko bapekenye ukutwala ifyakulya [21] they have prepared that food to be kulya. taken there. Natwakulya tonse nababiikapo uto And we eat everything that the [22] [22] balya abapongoshi. parents-in-law have prepared. Tumusalu utwakusashila, tunshi Vegetables they’ve prepared, [23] [23] tunshi fyonse efyo balyako. groundnuts, everything that they eat. Echo bafwile ukufumwapo fintu They should not make that which [24] [24] bashilya. they don’t eat. Pantu tabakatale tabamwipikilapo Because they will never prepare for [25] [25] icho ichakulya. him that food [that they don’t eat]. Nomba utobalya tonse, bafwile So everything that they eat, they [26] [26] bachata shaani babiikapo. should put it there. Then they have to add to the [27] Elyo babiikapo na mashikulo. [27] amashikulo [to allow him to eat]. Ulya umupongoshi nomba akwata That son-in-law now has the insambu ishakutila nangu atandalila approval, which means if he visits [28] umukashana abapongoshi bakwe [28] the lady’s parents, they will be able kuti bapekanya ichakulya bamupa to prepare food and give it to him alya. there. Elyo nomba nangu fifya However, whether he had started nachibangilila ati bamupeela early, they gave him work [and] he [29] imilimo abomba imilimo napopene. [29] does the work. If they show him the Nga balimulanga ichilanga mulilo ichilanga mulilo, then he has been niinshi balimushikula. welcomed. Kuti bamupeela ifyakulya ukwabula They can give him the food without [30] amashikulo. Niinshi balimushikula [30] the amashikulo. Then they say, you kale. have been welcomed already. Nomba kaile kuli amashikulo yambi, Then there is another type of [31] ukwingila mu ng’anda muli [31] amashikulo: Entering the house of banikofyala. the parents-in-law. There was [nothing like] entering in Takwaleba ukwingila mu ng’anda the house of the parents-in-law. [32] muli banikofyala. Awe mu [32] Well, [at the house of] the son-in-law bapongoshi kwaleba filya fine. it’s the same. Twalelolela bakanyingishe mu We used to wait until they make him ng’anda, kuli ukwingila ukwakuti enter into their house, to enter now [33] nomba cha babwinga again kuli [33] [in the time] of marriage partners, so ukwingila kulya ukwa kweba ati entering there [is] to say, “Child, you ubwana tekuti alefikela panse palya. can’t stay outside there.”

238

Mwingisheni mu ng’anda kwaleba Entering the house—it is kalusongu. [34] kalusongu. Umwana bamupeela [34] They give him the child [and say], taata semimupite mu ng’anda. “Tata, enter the house.” [35] Nga baingila mu ng’anda, chapwa.

[35] If they enter the house, that’s it.

But they will be waiting now [for] Nomba bakulalolela nomba inshita that time of entering into the house [36] ilya lya kwingila mu ng’anda [36] [for] the big wedding celebration ubwinga ubukalamba nakabili. again. The parents will be preparing a lot of Abafyashi balapekanya ifyakulya food. They will even call the family [37] ifingi. Nganshi baita abalupwa lwa [37] of the man. They will also call [the mwaume. Baita na lwa mwanakashi. family] of the woman. Then they have already started Ninshi bena balitampa kale preparing, whether it’s from the ukupekanya nangu ni ku chanakashi [38] [38] woman or it’s from the man. Both nangu ni ku chaume. Fyonse sides are doing everything [the filachita ka both sides. preparation]. Elyo nomba nga baya kulya ku But when it goes to [that process] of kwingisha umupongoshi making the guy enter, they will make [39] balamwingisha kutampa ku kitchen, [39] him enter starting in the kitchen, the ku sitting room, ku mabedrooms sitting room, all the bedrooms. koonse They will make the son-in-law pass Balamupishako umupongoshi through with the money right there, [40] nendalama mulya mwine na [40] and they prepare it so that he enters tulebapekenye ukuti aingila ku kati. inside. Alasendako kakuti—mpaka He will receive something—until [41] bamupishanya bamupishanya [41] they make him pass through moonse. everywhere. There are really a lot of traditional Kulaba intambi shingi saana esho [42] [42] sayings, which they show [say] balanga mukwingisha umupongoshi. when making the son-in-law enter. There is showing [telling] him that Kulaba ukumulanga ukutila when you borrow something little abapongoshi bobe nga wakongola [from] your parents, you cannot keep [43] akantu takafwile kaba kobe. Ufwile [43] [it] what is yours. You must return ukubwesha ikongole kwisa ku the borrowed [thing]. It goes to the bapongoshi. parents. Elyo kabili kuti ukutila ubwalwa When again it can be said the son-inlimbi umupongoshi nabakumba law secretly takes another beer. [44] nabo umupongoshi kuti achita [44] What can the son-in-law do? He shaani? Anwako utubwalwa drinks the beer secretly. bakumbile. 239

Elyo kulaba filya nga baingisha. When they do just that if they enter. Ulya ubushiku baingisha [45] [45] That night they enter, the son-in-law umupongoshi baposhanya tuntulu is made to do many things. utwingi saana. Uluchelo nga bwacha abapongoshi In the morning the parents-in-law [46] [46] balapekanya ichipe cha ubwali. will prepare a meal that is nshima. [47] Icho beta ati “chansula mabula.”

[47] Which they call chansula mabula.

This chansula mabula [is] when the Ichi chansula mabula nga bapekanya parents-in-law prepare [food]. They abapongoshi. Balaleka fye, nomba are just sleeping, but when they [the [48] [48] elo baita abana abapongoshi boonse parents-in-law] call the children, all ukwisa lila cha pamo na bapongoshi. the in-laws come to eat together with the parents-in-law. Ichilanga ukutila kwaliba nokwenda That shows that there is [a place] uko mwile limbi mwile na where you go, where you are with umupongoshi. Nangu ako the in-law[s]. Either you are found, [49] mulesangwa, mulesangwa fye babili [49] or you are both found [together] by nomupongoshi. Bushe nga kuli the in-laws. So, if there is food, the ifyakulya kuti umupongoshi alya eka in-law eats there with you? So [you na iwe? So kulila cha pamo. are] eating together. When they give the chansula mabula Nga bapeela umupongoshi chansula to the son-in-law, then they gave him mabula niinshi bamupeela insambu complete approval: When(ever) he [50] shonse: Nga aisa apali ponse apo ebo [50] comes at whatever time they meet, bakumana kuti alya mu menso ya he can eat in the presence of the inbafyashi. laws.

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Biography Troy E. Spier was born in 1991 in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, and he grew up in the Oley Valley. Facing uncertain economic circumstances, he first earned an A.A. in General Studies from Reading Area Community College (2012). After this point, he transferred to Kutztown University (2014) to earn a B.S. in English/Secondary Education, where he learned how to teach effectively and specialized in linguistics and African American literature of the Post-Bellum, Pre-Harlem. His interest in sociolinguistics, particularly language documentation and description, brought him to Tulane University, where he earned an M.A. (2018) and a Ph.D. (2020) in Linguistics. Along the way, he has studied Persian (2016), Swahili (2017), and Macedonian (2019) with native speakers in intensive environments, viz. the Critical Language Institute at Arizona State University and the Critical Language Scholarship in Arusha, Tanzania. His broader research interests include not only language documentation and description, but also discourse analysis, corpus linguistics, and linguistic landscapes.

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